21 JUL 06: DAY OF VICTORIES

Mark your calendar: Thursday at 1:45 p.m. If you need to renew your car tag in Columbus, this is the perfect time to do it. I know, because that's when I did it Thursday - with hardly any waiting in line. Maybe the staff quietly wants Mayor Bob Poydasheff to win reelection.

Several errands were on my Thursday afternoon schedule, with the top two occurring at the Government Center. First was my annual car tag renewal - and again this year, I was given a sticker instead of a brand new plate. Do I have to wait until my humble Honda qualifies as an antique?

The security team at the East Wing of the Government Center was quick and polite while checking me. When I told them I was trying to keep cool, one man said, "You can't do it." I can't?! He should be thankful I didn't have a small gun hidden in my case....

After retrieving my case and metal items, I was so stunned by what I saw that I did a double-take. The car tag "waiting area" in the East Wing had NO people waiting. What could have caused this? Did someone spread sugar on the floor, which led to a fearful evacuation?

A woman entered the car tag area with me, and I let her go first. "What did we do to deserve this?" I asked her as we hurried through the barriers to the front of the line - acting a bit like teenagers trying to ride the roller coaster as many times as they can before closing time.

The woman was able to go to a counter almost right away - and I only had to stand for about a minute, watching United Nations Ambassador John Bolton give live comments to reporters on CNN. The wait was so short, the words on the screen never even told me what the developing story was.

By renewing my car tag at the Government Center, I saved the one dollar "mail fee." Years ago in suburban Atlanta, I waited nearly an hour for a car tag sticker - but I kept trying to impress people around me in line by saying, "I'm saving a dollar doing this."

With my new red sticker secured, we walked around the underground parking area to the West Wing of the Government Center. It was time to pay a city occupation tax for Power Frisbee of Georgia - which begins its introductory "Free Frisbee Sundays" this weekend in Albany and Valdosta. But under Columbus city rules, there are NO free home businesses....

The wait to pay the occupation tax wasn't that long, either - only a minute or two, while the cashier took care of a METRA employee. He walked away with what appeared to be a small bag full of money. I didn't think METRA bus drivers were able to make change for riders -- but then again, maybe those are his personal tokens for getting to work next week.

"That was too easy," I told myself as I finished my two tasks at the Government Center. But there was one more thing I wanted to check - so I exited through the tower entrance, looking around the security station from a distance. A man had told me there are pictures on the wall of everyone who's been barred from the building -- but I didn't even see Usama bin-Laden's picture anywhere.

Next stop: Cross Country Plaza - and this also was a doubleheader trip. I needed to make a few copies of a Power Frisbee sign-up sheet at OfficeMax. At the checkout, the woman asked me: "Did you find everything you wanted?"

"Oh yes," I answered. "The copying machines were right where I expected them."

Task two: go to Publix to buy postage stamps. Yes, I know you can buy them at any post office -- but how many post offices offer free samples of nacho chips and donut holes in the lobby?

But the big question at a store such as Publix is what to buy WITH the postage stamps. On this Thursday, the top contender was a bakery box of three dozen chocolate chip cookies on sale for $3.49. These tend to be "special event" cookies for me - but having no waiting line at the tag office didn't seem to qualify.

Yet the other snack candidates at Publix seemed too expensive. Even the packaged store-brand chocolate chip cookies in the aisle with Oreos had gone up to $2.19. These are NOT special event cookies, because -- uhhhh, welllll -- because they weren't on sale like the higher-priced ones were.

Using that inexplicably sound logic, I carried the bakery box of cookies to the fast lane of Publix and asked for stamps at the checkout with them. But then came trouble -- as the fancy new checkout computer screen showed the box costing $4.39. I didn't think my eyesight was failing that badly.

"I thought I saw a sign, showing that for $3.49," I said matter-of-factly. The checkout woman had someone, well, check out the bakery section -- and when that second woman came back singing "Everything's Coming Up Roses," I didn't know if I was right or she was newly engaged.

Both women stared at the electronic cash register keyboard, in what turned out to be my longest wait of the day. I finally half-whispered to one of them: "Does this mean I was right?" She nodded yes -- which was about as far as Publix went admitting a mistake.

The box of cookies was scanned a second time, to cancel the $4.39 price. The final total: $7.80 for stamps. "But I still want the cookies," I said.

"They're no charge. That's our policy." Wow -- catch Publix in a scanner error, and the item is FREE?! It was tempting to go to a second store and try it again.

"I'm shocked," I told the checkout pair. "And I didn't have to wait in line at the car tag office a while ago, either."

"This is your day!" encouraged a woman behind me in line. "Take advantage of it." Well, sorry -- I still don't play the lottery.

If all this was not enough, I got home from a 7:15 p.m. jog in time to beat the second thunderstorm of the evening by about ten minutes. I didn't get wet - well, except for stepping in puddles from the first thunderstorm, and sweating all over my T-shirt.

So all in all, I felt quite blessed Thursday. Events went much faster than planned. I wound up with a free box of expensive cookies. But I'm left wondering - should I have bought some roses for the Publix employee who was singing that song? Would my winning streak have stretched (ahem) into the weekend?

BLOG UPDATE: All the guesses about WRBL's next Chief Meteorologist apparently were wrong. Your blog has learned former Columbus weathercaster Bob Jeswald is returning to town, to replace Jeff Donald. Mitzi Oxford may have to plead with the Weather Channel, to get back on the air presenting forecasts.

Bob Jeswald currently is a weekend TV meteorologist in Phoenix. But he lists Columbus on his resume, from around 15 years ago. We'll see how long it takes Jeswald to learn how to spell it "Phenix" again.

The local weather made news Thursday, among other things....

+ A pair of afternoon thunderstorms left thousands of Columbus residents without power, and scattered debris downtown. I went running between the storms, and found large panels of what looked like insulation along the Riverwalk. Either the first storm was stronger than I thought, or the construction crew on Front Avenue is sliding down the embankment for fun like children do.

+ South Girard School in Phenix City held an annual "teen summit." WRBL reported one big issue was self-esteem. Why, of course - I found a church magazine article online saying young people have too much of it, and they really may be dumber than they think.

(Another topic at the teen summit was "dressing for success." Wear one of those Abercrombie and Fitch T-shirts with a sarcastic message to the job interview, and you probably will NOT be hired.)

+ The evening news showed how Eastway Christian School in Opelika is using "bio-fuel" for its buses, by processing vegetable oil. Take that, you nutritionists! Serving fatty foods at lunch can keep OPEC countries from overpowering us.

+ The Georgia Department of Revenue reported the state wound up the last fiscal year with a surplus of more than $500 million. Be thankful Sonny Perdue and Mark Taylor can't touch that money for campaign commercials -- because it might all be gone by November.

+ Instant Message to Lady Nana's Restaurant in Phenix City: The ad in the mail says you're open from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The sign outside your front door says you're open from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. I'm glad I drove by when you locked the door at 9:00 p.m., to settle this - but has the sign maker driven by yet?

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