dick van dyke documentary

 it was another day off for me, and i had lunch at the Ikea. i had printed a page from their website, and i saw mention of the 'as-is' section of the store. i got a look at some of the bookcases in that section but didn't buy one just yet. still a question of how i would get them home. but i liked the lunch there, the Swedish meatballs dish. it was my fifth stop of the day. two of them were normal Friday stops. i liked how i got plenty crossed off my list. i wanted a St. Paul winter carnival button, but the customer service counter at cub foods was closed. i went to a nearby credit union and bought the button there. four styles are issued each year, but i make it count and choose the one that i like the most. this year it was of the state capitol. then i went to a Walgreen, got the paper, string cheese, and some juice. then it was to hobby lobby, picked up a poster frame. after that i went for my weekly grocery order at Hy-Vee. i was reminded of why i usually go in the evening as it was midday and there was more of a crowd than what i am used to. it was another small order, just eight items. in many ways it was a good thing that the grocery trip was moved up as it freed up my evening for the Dick Van Dyke documentary on public TV, in honor of his 100th birthday. it does cover the highlights of his career, and it answered some questions that were long-dormant about my schooling. two songs from 'Mary Poppins', a movie dick starred in, we sang in music class. it was 'step in time' as well as 'supercali'. i had seen 'dick van dyke show' reruns on WGN when i was in high school, and i had seen some 'diagnosis murder' episodes as well. no surprise how there was mention of dick's costar from the sitcom, Mary Tyler Moore, getting her own show. left out of this doc was mention of his brother, jerry, also an actor. no mention of an Iowa-filmed movie either, 'cold turkey', where dick played the preacher. i liked seeing interviews with Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Jim Carrey as those three performers were influenced by him. 

shoes on subaru bag

 it was back at work for one day, before another day off. i noticed my vacation replacement left something behind. in one corner of the check shop, in the office i use, i saw shoes on top of a Subaru drawstring bag. i sent an instant message mentioning it. i know there was the recent snowstorm so this may have had something to do with it. looks like plenty of the supply orders arrived on my day off. i know the big envelope orders did, as well as the courier envelopes for the tax checks. another order arrived that i brought into the shop with the empty mail tubs, it was the cable or zip ties. it leaves just one box of envelopes to arrive, for a lower-volume business line. i did partake of the goodies i was seeing. there were some cookies in a box left in the breakroom so i had one. when i went to another floor to get some small rolls of tape, i saw some coloring pages for the season near that floor's breakroom. i claimed two of them. the dry erase board next to it spoke of juice in a refrigerator, although it was juice that didn't appeal to me. but the metal pan next to it had some scrambled eggs and bacon, and i heated up some of that. i was wearing my Snoopy Christmas sweater at work as i was planning on attending the holiday show at the Trylon cinema in the evening. i did participate in the sweater contest, it meant going to the front of the theater and the crowd clapped and cheered for their favorite one. a lady with a tree-themed sweater won. i had some popcorn and cider, paid for with quarters, six dollars in all. there were some cartoons before the feature, which was a hallmark movie and the storyline included time travel. there were some classic commercials in between, one of them was for a 900 number. we were given a bingo card and marker and i turned in the marker when i left. i already have another ticket for a movie at this venue, in a little over two weeks from now. 

wicked wort microbrewery

 i did a meetup event in the evening, it was at wicked wort in Robbinsdale, a micro-brewery. it was the second event i had attended since joining this group in the spring. i was pleased that the retired postal worker was there, who arrived after i did. first visit since the state fair. i said to the dude that i see him more often than my real family. this was the sixth time this year, including two movies early in the year at the Trylon cinema. i started my drive to the venue after watching 'jeopardy' as it was a day off for me, and i ate at the nearby McDonald's. i went to the Walgreen after the event and got some Reese's peanut butter and a greeting card. there was a deejay moderating a music-themed bingo game, called 'Singo'. i hadn't heard of such a game before. i would have preferred hearing whole songs though. besides beer i got some popcorn as well. i stayed for about two hours and then i left. there was one man at this event that was trying too hard to be funny, and i wasn't impressed with him at all. case in point, giving fake names on his two nametags. then making jokes about restraining orders. i stayed busy despite it being a day off. i did another annual viewing of a Christmas DVD, it was 'the grinch'. this leaves three Christmas discs to watch, four if you count a 'Simpsons' disc i probably have but haven't viewed in a while. and a simple way to stay occupied is to go to the Mall of America. i had lunch at home, but i still went there to get socks and boxers at American eagle. i had heard there is a 'grinch' meal at McDonald's that includes socks, but it has sold out in some areas. i had some 'gimmick' fast food meals already this year, it is hit or miss. when i did go to McDonald's in the evening, i got a quarter pounder instead of the big mac or chicken nugget 'grinch' meal. i got 'grinch' boxers and shorts at American eagle, then went to get some coffee at caribou. there are multiple locations for caribou at the mall. after this i looked around the mall some more as a 'fact finding mission'. it gave me ideas for stops to make on a day off next week. one of those is a photo booth, plenty of them there. also found a postcard about the Vatican exhibit that begins next month. 

greetings from ireland

 there was another dial-in meeting but i did tune in this time. it was a year-end celebration. it included teams from foreign lands, such as Poland, and Ireland. i had to look up the town name for where the Irish team is based, it is a commuting suburb of Dublin. this was in the morning. late in the day, i saw an instant message about the court file. i had to say that i can only help once the file has been approved to print, and it wasn't on my dashboard. i saw how it finally got approved, but it was after i had sent the regular mail tubs to the mailroom. it will just roll over to the next day, and my vacation replacement will handle it, as i will be having another day off. the first supply order arrived; it was the check stock. this was just after i handed off checks to the tax specialist. i stayed late to see that all of the overnights were caught up. there was more from the Cincinnati file than typical, it was fifteen. i care a lot about getting it done right, so i needed a few minutes to see that i was matching up the check with the correct UPS label. the payee, amount, or both must match, and for some it is harder to tell than others. it looked like i didn't make it in time for when the driver picked up from the box as i know they've been there earlier than posted fairly often lately. 

another check, more pie

 i delivered another check to a higher floor than mine, i sent it to the team lead as i couldn't find the manager. then i noticed the pumpkin pie from late last week was still there so i had another slice. a colleague that places supply orders for me sent an email to a supplier saying this is the purchase order, so the supply order must have finally been approved by a senior leader over the weekend. there was a dial-in staff meeting but i was too busy with my normal duties to tune in. the Fargo check volume was higher than typical for a Monday. in the evening i went to perform. i did stories about the bank, a popup store, a lady at Walgreen, and the drag brunch. i also did one about miracle whip, and the show runner seemed to take offense to that one. why, i don't know. i went to the bar area to reflect after my set, as i normally do, and i got sidetracked by two dudes who spoke of college football bowl games. it was about Notre Dame pouting after it wasn't invited to the playoff, then declining a bowl game. i know bowl game history fairly well so i couldn't ignore that one. but after a while, it was too much of a challenge as the conversation moved to things like theft in local stores. it was a thin lineup much like many other recent weeks, and when i went back into the showroom i saw they were doing the closing song so i had missed the rest of the show. 

winter carnival play

 in the afternoon i went to the play at history theater in downtown St. Paul, it was about the St. Paul winter carnival. i didn't enjoy the play that much. it was a hodgepodge of history that didn't work. a big theme was covering how the architect of the highland park water tower also did ice castles at the carnival. i would have liked it more had they chosen just one theme, such as bio about this architect. gnomes gave out historical facts; one actress spoke in Dakota language. the only character i really liked was the louis hill character, son of the railroad baron James j. Hill, but sadly he was portrayed as a villain in this play. i have chosen just one play per season at this venue, but i think it will be a while before i attend one again. i also didn't enjoy the one i saw there in May. i hate wasted time, and money. i haven't been to all that much live theater in recent years, aside from the fringe festival. attending movies is a better game plan, those tend to be cheaper as well. in the morning i did another annual viewing of a Christmas show, it was 'Muppet Christmas Carol'. it was the third of the year, and there are five more on the list. after the play i went to target and picked up a few things. there were some cookies, a Dolly Parton book, captain crunch cereal, egg nog, and cheese. i tried to watch some of the football games as well. the bears-packers game was nearly over by the time i got home, bears lost a close one. also tried to watch the Sunday night game but fell asleep. when i woke up i found out the chiefs lost to the Texans. 

drag brunch, elf theme

 around midday i attended a drag brunch in downtown Minneapolis, theme was the movie 'elf'. it was the third for me this year. i had a seat at the bar and besides having a burger and fries, i had two beers, both Schell's. this was likely why i had to go to the bathroom twice during the show, and i saw performers up close when i did. the main thing taken from the theme was audio clips of the movie. some songs were of the season, some were not. the ending song was Taylor Swift's 'welcome to New York', but it fits because this was the setting for the movie. another notable was Lizzo's 'truth hurts', of course this song goes over well with a Minnesota crowd. a curious one was a Christmas version of 'girls just want to have fun', i hadn't heard that one before. one patron kept wanting to dance with the performers. i said to the lady next to me at the bar that she looks like a handful, the lady made a gesture saying she was crazy. a little later, near the end of the show, the crazy lady made it over by me and slapped me on the back. i said i didn't like that and she left me alone, which is what i wanted. usually, a Saturday morning is more leisurely for me, but i wanted to be on time for the event. there was just one thing to do before i made it over to the venue, it was getting to the post office. no orders to pick up but i did send out two Christmas cards, the first of the season. there wasn't much to do after the event. i got groceries at Aldi, then i got a sandwich at Jersey Mike's. and i did another annual viewing of a Christmas show, it was the 'Rudolph' movie with john goodman and Bob Newhart.