My two cents' worth

Yesterday I mused about the perspective of temperatures. If it was 115 yesterday, would 109 feel cool today? The answer is an emphatic 'no'. 109 is still just plain hot. On the bright side, I could walk around without feeling like my lungs were cooking. On the not so bright side, it wasn't a very bright thing to do to walk around. The good thing about it being 115 was that I basically stayed inside most of the time. I should have done that again today. I made what was supposed to be a quick trip to the PX today. I ended up not being able to leave for about 45 minutes due to several successive mortar alerts. (It's nice that you can shop in a mortar shelter!) By the time I escaped I'd managed to locate what I came for, and spend a few extra dollars on impulse buys. I did finally locate a "manly" set of sheets for my brand new twin mattress! (A few of us managed to get them before they sold out, and were all congratulating ourselves on our luck.) You may recall my post from Baghdad about wooden nickels, the gift certificate the PX gives rather than actual coins. One thing I hadn't thought about until today was the fact that they don't come in penny denominations. In fact, the PX doesn't give change in pennies for cash purchases, and hasn't since 1986 (in overseas locations). They just round to the nearest nickel. Seems like a reasonable plan to adopt back in the U.S. I paid with a credit card, though, so the 23 cents didn't get rounded to 25, and I was able to save the extra two cents I would have paid using cash. I don't think I'll spend my time adding up my purchases later, though, to determine cash or credit. Especially because my change gets donated to the coffee fund anyway! Anyway, it's time to take my two cents and head to bed. Report on the new sheets tomorrow.