Matched Caped Crusaders

Brightened a gray and gloomy morning with breakfast and one of my favorite episodes of Match Game PM from 1975. The first question in the Audience Match was "Admiral ___." Brett chose "Byrd." Richard, when goaded, went with "Admiral Color Television." Gene didn't think much of his choice. Rich made a bet that it would be the top answer...and lo and behold (and to Gene's annoyance), it was! Rich gave the money to Earl, the guy who opened the slots for the Audience Match. Or as he put it "Bless you, my boy!"

Headed straight to work as soon as the episode ended. I wasn't originally supposed to work today. They called me in because they put the head bagger on the registers. As it turned out, they didn't really need me. It got busy once, when I had to take two customers. Otherwise, we were mildly steady for most of the afternoon. After another bagger came in, I spent the morning sweeping, cleaning messes, and shelving items.

Ignored the steady shower after work and strolled to Audubon Crossings for lunch. Grabbed a slice of cheese, a slice of vegetable and ricotta, and a bottle of Cherry Pepsi at Tu Se Bella's. They were busy when I arrived. I took a small table next to the counter and watched the pizza servers hand slices to hungry shoppers. By the time I finished, the only people left were one other solo diner and a man and woman.

Had a lot of shopping to do this week. Got free 18-count eggs again from the Acme's rewards program. Grabbed whole wheat pasta in a slightly torn box, cinnamon Christmas tea, and boxes of their cranberry muffin and gingerbread mixes off the clearance shelves. Had online coupons for Jif peanut butter, yogurt, canned tomato sauce, and canned tuna. Found a small package of salad shrimp that will be great for dinner tomorrow. Restocked diced tomatoes, canned black beans, skim milk, oranges, bananas, cranberries, turkey hot dogs, sugar (liked the golden so much, I got that again), and strawberry preserves. Found magnetic note pads in the Value dollar section; grabbed the one with the watermelon background.

Not entirely happy with my schedule this week. Three days off will allow me to get a lot done and organized, including looking into writing projects and talking to Dad and Jodie. They also cut my hours, and I'm working early on Sunday again. While we've had trouble finding help in the morning, we're also past the beginning of the month. Not much going on this month besides March Madness and St. Patrick's Day, which aren't celebrated by everybody.

Moved on to another classic Match Game episode from 1975 while putting everything away. Charles Nelson Reilly took a six-month hiatus to direct a Broadway play. He came back in the grandest and wackiest way possible - he was "flown" in via flying harness and a stuffed bird he named Harry. "Well, I figured if they could fly me in," he quipped after he landed, "he could fly Brett out!"

Worked on writing for the rest of the afternoon. Malade joins Charles in the circle of fire that terrifies him. She taunts him, calling him cowardly and saying he could never be his best friend's champion. Ignoring his protests that it's his livelihood, she throws his lute into the fire. Unthinkingly, Charles goes after it, badly burning his hand. Gene finally gets him, Orson, and Richard out as Charles faints from fear and pain.

I got so into writing, I didn't break for dinner until 7. Thought I'd give Pluto TV another shot...and lo and behold, they seem to have fallen back to the older interface. It worked. I saw the second half of Sale of the Century and all of Let's Make a Deal while having turkey meatballs, pasta, and green beans and almonds for dinner. Deal was especially fun. Monty had the devil of a time with a woman in red who gave up a Mexican vacation and a man dressed as a moneybag who went for the big prize of the day. The man got nice kitchen appliances...but they really rewarded the lady, who traded in her trip for the big deal. I would have been happy with the gorgeous piano alone, but they also had a fine painting, a fur, and a big check.

Finished the night after a shower with the first episode of Batman between Match Game syndicated premieres on YouTube. The Roku Channel is currently running the infamously campy 1966 Batman for free. I never did get as crazy about this show as Rose did when we were kids, but I thought I'd give it another chance as an adult.

"Hi Diddle Riddle" has the Dynamic Duo caught in quite a pickle when the Riddler (Frank Gorshin) lures them into thinking he's committing a crime, then photographs them catching him and sues them when it turns out he isn't. They got to a nightclub to find out what he's up to, but an attractive barfly (Jill St. John) leads Batman into danger.