I found myself less than a quarter mile from Wal-Mart this evening and couldn't resist stopping in to do a little shopping. I bought 60 pounds of black oil sunflower seeds and an additional 20 pounds of safflower, which should help the wild birds survive what looks like will be a rough winter, and should give our indoor cats something fun to watch when we're not around to entertain them.

I also tried to buy the type of oil filter jebra wanted, but my bad luck obtaining one continued. jebra's father has been getting phenomenal gas mileage on his highway driving — something like 35 miles per gallon. His trick is to use synthetic oil and to alternate changing the oil with changing the oil filter at three month intervals. We've decided to follow the same program, hence my search for the Fram oil filter his dad recommended. Wal-Mart wasn't the only place that didn't carry the Extended Guard version; neither did Murray's Discount Auto Parts, as I discovered when I went there this morning. I was quite vexed with Murray's when I found that out as not only had I called before going, the clerk told me he was pulling one for me and would have it waiting fat the counter. Turns out that they had a different type (high mileage, not extended guard) and he hadn't actually pulled it. I was not happy to learn I'd be lied to. On the other hand, I did find a pair of very cute penguin-shaped cigarette lighters there. I bought them and decided to tell the boss that I'd had such a frustrating morning I'd decided to start smoking again. That part's not actually true — I have no intention to resume — but I did buy the lighters.

My best purchase of the day was a music recording of something we'd heard while we were on our way to maddiec24's house. We were surfing radio stations at the time, looking for something I could tolerate, when we happened across a totally awesome version of Carol of the Bells. I made a note of the time, radio station frequency, and our location, just in case it became necessary to track down the station and ask for their play list. When the song ended, jebra and I began chanting "Back announce, back announce", but the DJ merely gave information about the next song. We kept listening, hoping that the station's call letters would be announced at some point, and were rewarded when, after the set ended, the DJ revealed the piece we'd fallen in love with had been recorded by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

My last find of the day was the Dora the Explorer version of Candyland. Having fond (albeit hazy) memories of playing Candyland when I was small, I decided to buy one and donate it to Toys for Tots. I'll take it to one of the drop sites on my way home from work tomorrow night.