Sports and rankings

The Toronto Raptors lost last night. The team is out of the playoffs.

The Minnesota Wild won in overtime. It's down to the wire to determine whether it gets home ice or not for the first round of the playoffs.

It's a bit of a pain for me. I am at a holding pattern to book anything. I want to fly down and see a couple of games, but I can't until I know whether the team is in second place in their division (home ice advantage) or third (they play at least games 3 and 4 at home).

It's best that the team gets home ice. They do better. However, it would be cheaper for me to fly down to the Twin Cities if they don't get home ice advantage. It means that I can fly during the weekday, which is cheaper. If they start playing next Monday, flights aren't cheap!

Such a weird problem to have. I like booking ahead, but I can't in this instance.

Errands, including package pickups and Whole Foods

On Saturday, I ran a number of errands. I had a few packages to pick up at the post office. I also had an Amazon package to pick up at Whole Foods.

I like Amazon hub lockers. You simply scan your barcode that you get in an e-mail and the locker magically opens up. You take out your package and leave. It's great.

I haven't had a locker door open up and hit my face. That's my worst nightmare.

I then got groceries at Whole Foods. Hey, I'm here anyway. I might as well. I bought four items and they came up to $36.

I always find that I'm broke when I shop here. At least I like how unique the items that I get are.

Groceries and a white Christmas

On Wednesday, I went out to fetch groceries. I needed to get my Christmas dinner ingredients in order.

I actually visited two grocery stores. The first one tends to sell main staples, such as celery, onions, and bananas, at cheap prices. The quality is excellent. The other place had the whole turkey that I needed.

I feel accomplished. I really didn't want to hit the grocery store on Christmas Eve. It'll be crazy and we are also expecting snow. It will be a white Christmas here.

Google Pixel upgrade coming soon

The contract on my cell phone is up at the end of this month.  I own a Google Pixel 2XL phone. I love it.

On Saturday, I went to Best Buy to take a look at the Google Pixel 4a phone. It is roughly the same size as my first Google Pixel phone. It's smaller in size than my current phone, but the screen real estate is the same.

Rumour has it that the Google Pixel 4a supporting 5G networks will be the same size as my current phone, which is 6". I feel like holding off upgrading till that phone is on the market. I like the larger size. I need to figure out how much that phone will be when it's out and determine what I want to do. Options are always good.

I am excited to do a cell phone upgrade. I do love my current phone. I will still use it, as I don't have a decent tablet and I like having a backup phone.

Pillow and devastating news

I sleep with a pillow under my knees. It helps with my back.

For the past week, the filling from this pillow was coming out. It is an old pillow. It has seen better days.

On Sunday, I went to get a replacement. It doesn't have to be an expensive pillow. It simply needs to support my knees.

I found one at a local store. It was $6. It was a great find.

After running a few errands and then coming home, I learned that Kobe Bryant, along with his daughter and everyone else on his private helicopter, had passed away from the helicopter crashing down. It was devastating news. May Kobe and everyone on that plane rest easy.

It makes you realize how precious life is and to cherish it more than we do.

Visa photos, manicure, and price comparisons

I got a couple of errands out of the way on a soggy, rainy Tuesday. It felt good.

My first errand was to go to Costco to get photos taken for my tourist visa application for China. My guy and I had a talk about photos the other day.

"I always go to Costco to get my passport photos done. It's cheap at $6.99. I don't know whether it does visa photos," I said.
"It does. You can indicate what size you need and the place will do it for you. I went there to get my visa photos for India," my guy replied, being the seasoned traveller.
"Oh, good. I'll go to Costco," I said, with a hint of relief.
"You can't go wrong with that price. It is cheap bastard-approved," he stated proudly.

He was impressed that I have been going to Costco to get my passport photos done. He was also thrilled that I knew how much it cost.

After that, I went to redeem my about-to-expire Groupon for a shellac manicure. My manicure would take an hour, which was roughly the time that my visa photos would be ready to pick up.

I do like my nail polish. It's peach with glitter. Yes, I'm in a girly mood.

I got hungry and went to a Japanese restaurant within the same plaza. The lunch special was great. I had chicken ramen with salad and miso soup. I also got gyoza and a Diet Coke.

After lunch, I went back to Costco to pick up my photos. Sadly, I can't smile in them. At least I don't look like I just broke out of jail!

I then visited Staples to get some graph paper, which was an unplanned errand. Coincidentally, you can get passport photos done there. The price? It's double that of Costco.

My guy is so proud of me that he nearly called me a good girl. Nearly.

My guy marking up the price of laundry soap

My guy called me yesterday afternoon to chat.

"I went to our favourite liquidation centre last Friday," he reported.
"Great! What did you get?" I asked.
"I got two buckets of our favourite laundry soap. It was going for $15 each," he noted.
"Cheap, indeed. It's practically half price," I indicated.
"Yes," he agreed. "If you want a bucket, I can sell you one for $25."
"But, you got it for $15. You're marking it up just for me?" I asked.
"Sure," he replied.
"You're so mean. My boyfriend is not only a cheap bastard, but a meanie. You can take that laundry soap and shove it up you-know-where," I replied.
"At least my colon will be clean," he joked.
"I will be far away when you explode," I noted.

Naturally, my guy was joking. I brought it up again later on in our conversation, so he knew that he had to make it up to me.

It's a good start to the year so far!