Friday, January 26, 2024

Mall Madness

Began the morning with a quick breakfast and PAW Patrol on Paramount Plus. Farmers Yumi and Al are transporting Mindy the Manatee back to the swamp when they drive into a ditch and end up with a flat tire. The Paw Patrol helps get them back on the road, then the "Pups Save a Manatee" when her tank comes unhitched and starts to break. The "Pups Save Breakfast" when they help get Alex and the mini patrol crew unstuck from a syrup tree, so they can all have syrup on their pancakes.

Called Uber after the episode ended. No trouble at all getting to and from Cherry Hill Mall. In fact, it barely took the first driver two minutes to arrive. The one going home picked me up in front of Urban Outfitters in four minutes. No trouble on the road, either, no traffic either way.

The driver let me off at Nordstrom, and I went straight to the Grand Concourse from there. The big square where the three branches of the mall meet is where Santa is at Christmas and most events at the mall are held. The job fair had only been going for a half-hour when I arrived. The one booth there that really interested me hadn't started yet, so I decided to return later.

Since the pedestrian bridge is right across from the Mall's main entrance, I figured I'd head to Target next. Though it was chilly, cloudy, and damp, it was neither cold like it was last week, nor foggy like yesterday and the day before. In fact, at one point, the sun tried to come out. The snow is almost entirely gone now, with only the occasional large hill of ice, salt, and dirt to remind us it had even existed. 

Target didn't have what I wanted, which was refill brushes for my electric Spinbrush toothbrush. I did find the LP soundtrack from the new Disney movie Wish on sale and a flavor of Made Good granola bars I hadn't seen before (vanilla with chocolate drizzle). They were busy, but I had no trouble in self-checkout. 

Had lunch at the Silver Diner, the little chrome building on the hill overlooking the Cherry Hill Mall. They're a Maryland franchise specializing in comfort food made with sustainable and healthy ingredients. I was dying to try their quinoa-coconut pancakes. Oh, yum! In addition to the coconut, the pancakes also had pecans and blueberries. They were silver-dollar sized too, so they weren't too big to eat in one sitting. Had it with iced tea and a fresh fruit cup.

Returned to the mall after lunch to take a second look at the job fair. There really wasn't much there. Several booths were empty. I mainly saw Camden County law enforcement and legal branches, a hospital, a local citrus distributor, and an environmental agency. (I found black-eyed susan seeds for a friend who loves to garden at the last-named.) Sun Newspapers only needed people to sell advertising, not writers.

Explored the mall for a while after that. Picked up an Eagles 2022 Conference Championship t-shirt for $5 at Fan Treasures, a small Philly sports store. Hit a really good sale at Old Navy and picked up a pretty rose-print t-shirt and a pair of chinos for $20 all together. (The shirt came to $2.09!) Didn't see anything of interest in Build a Bear, FYE, Rumi Life, Miniso, JC Penney, the Loft, or the Squishmallows store. (And forgot one thing I did want to look for at JC Penney, which is new slippers. My old ones are falling apart.) Stopped at Nordstrom's EBar for a sparkling water before I called Uber.

Put on the third BBC Scarlet Pimpernel movie from 1999, which has more in common with the second half of the 1982 film. Sir Percy Blakeney (Richard E. Grant) fakes a fight with his wife Marguerite (Elizabeth McGovern) in order for her to insinuate herself back into the French stage. They and his men are hoping to rescue the little Dauphin (Dalibor Sipek) from the horrible orphanage where they placed him after the death of his parents. Chauvelin (Martin Shaw) is well aware of who Percy is by now, and will do anything to make sure he doesn't get the boy out of the country.

Did some job searching and worked on things online for a while before breaking for dinner and Match Game '79. In the first episode, Gene does his own ballet dance in response to a question about how a tutu got dirty in Central Park as Charles, sporting a cowboy hat, teases him about it. In the second, Charles and Daryl Anderson say they've swapped glasses, while a cheeky contestant claims she wants to be Charles Nelson Reilly.

Finished the night with more second-season WKRP In Cincinnati. Communist-fearing Les is upset to be attending a Russian hog convention. He brings Bailey along...but when a Russian man falls for her and wants to defect, she and Andy have to figure out how to complete "The Americanization of Ivan" and get him through Immigration.

"Les' Groupie" is a cute little blonde who thinks he's the best newscaster ever. Les is thrilled with the attention, until she moves into his home and takes over his life. He asks Jennifer advice on how to get rid of her.

Everyone's excited when the Who is "In Concert" at Riverfront Stadium. Not only do they all have tickets, but they're able to give two away as well. Arthur even takes his son. Their delight turns to horror when they learn about the real-life tragedy that took place before the concert that involved 11 teens dying in a crush to get into the venue. None of them were personally involved, but they all feel terrible anyway. This episode is an interesting response to an actual disaster, and probably the series's most dramatic episode. It's also one of Les' best moments when he tells Bailey why they have to report the news, even when it's hard or tragic.

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