envelopes runneth over

 around midday the branch manager rang the doorbell and it was to direct the courier to the check shop. there was an envelope order to be delivered. nothing unusual there, except it was more than expected. i ordered 26 boxes this month and already received 15, so i figured there would be just 11 but it was 26 that arrived this time. truly a case of the envelopes have runneth over. guess it means i will be ordering less of these fargo envelopes next month, as i only order what i need. i was informed that no other boxes arrived, and this means there still are some outstanding orders. this was after the boss had left for the day, i am getting used to seeing the boss for one day a week but then just for half of that day. there was a question that was duplicated from a business line, and i said i have 'returned to business line' before. i just need to know which checks. in the evening i watched the 'young sheldon' rerun, george's funeral. then it was over to baseball on fox, caught the ending of the diamondbacks-brewers game, d-backs won 5-1. i drank the can of schell's with the evening meal so now three beers are waiting. later on i went on a walk and found 65 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon and amy got proof that one of the fermi scientists was a plagiarist. it was followed by the one where the friends had a prom, and it had just as much drama as a real prom. 

but did you document it?

 i was sending two overnight envelopes to the branch manager's office and noticed a wall hanging there. it said 'but did you document it?' and i liked it as i know how important this is. two other notable things at work were things i finished. there was eight written procedures to review and this was the final day to submit it- according to what the team lead said, who had assigned them. two of them did not look familiar at all, so i had no revisions or updates to pass on for them. for others it was saying that we haven't done this since covid, or i haven't worked with that employee. i did add mention of our tax specialist to one of them, relevant as that is the main reason for having the courier lockbox. then there was submitting another round of five test checks to oregon. there was a member (or friend) event at the loft literary center in minneapolis after work. i was running late so i did not get there in time for the hour of chatting, with food and drink. i arrived shortly after the main program began where the open-mic happened. there was one story about a kiss from an orangutan. i didn't stay long after the event ended, wanting to get to the nearby bobby and steve's to get a burger and some juice. later on i went on a walk and found 25 cents. 

hot potato check

 in the afternoon the customer service boss emailed me and said there was a 'hot potato check'. found out it was a 'garden variety' overnight request. it was marked as such so i liked how this made it easier to find. it was in the second i-pay, near the end of the day, and i sent the tracking number once the label was created. all in a day's work, is what i would have to say about it. i liked how the mortgage file had a manageable number of overnights in it due to more than half being 'return to business line'. there was seventeen checks but just eight labels to create. i got started on looking at the written procedures, prompted by my vacation replacement asking questions about it by i.m. there are eight sections for me to cover, i have read through six and made notes about them. some of what is in there is outdated, especially when employees who no longer work for the bank are listed. in the evening i went on a walk and found 15 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon and amy did the sensory deprivation tank, sheldon loved it and amy hated it. this was followed by the one where sheldon and raj try to do a mining simulation and last just eleven minutes below ground. 

elephant keychain

 many years ago, my 'ohio friend' gave me a plush elephant keychain, found at FAO schwarz. for some reason i looked inside the bag it was in tonight and decided to move it to a place i would see it more often, making it a christmas tree ornament. i once kept it at the office, at a former job. i value most things given by friends because i like the reminder of who gave it. i must have been thinking of recent online orders placed, and a few more of interest to me. i have some plush met life snoopys in that same bag and just ordered another one. it was nice that the overnight package volume was low, although the number of checks for our tax specialist stayed high. branch manager at lunch spoke with a colleague how a bank employee from another office asked to use a conference room in our facility, and of course we have plenty to use. especially after most of the employees assigned to this building were moved to another one. as i recall, there are eleven conference rooms. in the evening i went to perform, and went on after the wild guitar player, who did 'house of the rising sun' and hallelujah'. i did some bank stories, as well as covering how there was plenty to do on sunday. later on, i went on a walk and found 25 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when the scientists from the fermi lab went on the 'ellen' show. it was followed by the one where the dudes try to work, then end up watching 'ghostbusters'. the ladies go to las vegas, where penny studies while amy and bernadette get drunk. 

seconds movie

 there were three events for me for the day, and the third was a classic movie at the trylon cinema in south minneapolis, it was 'seconds'. this was a sci-fi and thriller movie from 1966. i wanted to see it due to who stars in it, as i had heard of john randolph, and rock hudson. although i was more familiar with the former, who had played dads on the tv show 'family ties' and then the movie 'christmas vacation'. the latter, i mainly knew him for being name-checked in a song from the movie 'grease'. shortly after the movie ended, i said it was a weird one. it was about a man who decides to assume a new identity, except he doesn't adapt to it all that well. i liked how the opening scene was from grand central station in new york city, a place i have been to before. and it was cool to see an early ford mustang car in it, which would have been new when the movie was filmed. i already plan on getting back to this cinema soon, in a week. the first event of the day was massage therapy, in edina. it was moved back a day, was called and was told how the therapist was unavailable so i had to reschedule. i had done massage therapy before, but not much in recent years as i have cut spending across the board. hard to say if i will return to this place as there was too much of a sales pitch on this first visit. i am not signing up for a membership. event two was my first booya- vegetable beef soup- of the season, at a park in st. paul. the vikings football game was on when i arrived, and they went on to win over the 49ers. i bought one cup of booya, and a man i didn't know gave me another one although i noticed it must have been sitting out for a little while as it was lukewarm. i still finished both though. then i went home for a short time, and when i went out again it was to the cinema. in the evening after i ate i took a long walk around the neighborhood. during my walk i found 53 cents. i also bought a can of schell's at the liquor store near me, so now there are four beers waiting. when i was doing dishes later on i noticed one of the corelle bowls was cracked, so i replaced it with the plastic cardinals nacho bowl i picked up in st. louis this season. the bowl looks a lot like the st. paul saints bowl i have been using for over a year. 

edward hopper art

 in the evening i was looking at the writers almanac entries from garrison keillor, and saw mention of edward hopper, the artist. i liked what i read and decided to search his work online. i had seen 'nighthawks' many times before but was unfamiliar with his other artworks. as i recall that one was in 'ferris bueller' as the friends go to the chicago art institute, where it is kept. recently i went to the walker art center in minneapolis for the keith haring exhibit, and a hopper painting is there as well, called 'office at night'. when i was looking online i said that one looked familiar. it led to me ordering a book about his artwork from amazon, free to me since i had some gift cards to use. as a stage performer i was impressed with how one of his paintings is called 'two comedians', guess that was his final painting. i do have a postcard of 'nighthawks' and i am aware of how it has been parodied often. there wasn't a lot to do for the day. i went to the post office in the morning, two orders picked up. had to go to the window as a card not for me came back, even after i wrote 'return to sender' on it. then it was on to the copy store, an event ticket and some reservations were printed. then it was midday and time to have a sandwich at jersey mike's. i turned on the TV to some college football but didn't watch much of it, notre dame thumped purdue, i laid down pretty early and fell asleep. in the early evening i went to get groceries at aldi. late in the evening i went on a walk and found 65 cents. 

nerf turbo jr. football

 when i was taking a walk late in the evening, i saw a foam football. it was a nerf turbo junior ball and was blue and green. i scooped it up and during my walk i tossed it onto a playground, hopefully a kid will find it and enjoy having it. at work i liked being able to eliminate the backlog on running checks through the machine. it helped that the volume stayed low, and i sent out just two mail tubs for the day. there was a spike in overnight requests from the i-pay file. thankful i saw one was going to a p.o. box so that one still went regular mail. in the evening i went to hy-vee in eagan for groceries and picked up two more boxes of halloween cereal. now i am up to five, and there are twelve of interest to me. there was a 13-hour sale, in reference to friday the 13th. during my walks i found 2 dollars 92 cents. with all of the quarters i have there is more than enough to get some popcorn on my next visit to the cinema, which is this weekend. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when the friends did experiments on the two kids that howard and bernadette have. it was followed by the one where penny meets red-haired emily and the two ladies said at the end 'i hate her'. 

stray pallet jack

 when i was out for a walk i noticed a pallet jack, nothing on it, just looking like a stray. i got a picture of it. i have used these before at work and there has to be a good story as to how it ended up there. i see all kinds of things while out walking but wasn't expecting this at all. mostly i see trash, and maybe a grocery store cart. at work my boss was in the office, but left after about a half day, due to gout acting up. it was explained shortly after noticing his walking with a limp. i said my college roommate has had it and said it was painful, wanted to cut his toe off but didn't. i had seen these emails before about working from home due to gout, first time i had witnessed it. there was a dial-in meeting mid-morning with mail services, some questions were answered then and with an email later on. but not all. a contact was given about a lockbox for tax checks at the next facility. the other question was about where to send the mail tubs at the end of the day. already had a question answered earlier about where the UPS box is. as for running checks through the machine, i reduced the backlog a little more. i had hoped to eliminate it but there were other things competing for my attention such as dealing with test checks, sending them to canada, something my boss wanted done. and there was plenty of overnight labels to do. i noticed the toner cartridge needs replacement and i put up a note at the end of the day to swap it out the next day. i had some labels printed by the check printer because there was a streak in the middle where it was faded. i drank the can of bud ice with the evening meal so now three beers are waiting. during my walks i found 77 cents. 

employee discounts

 i had just heard from a colleague from a former job through linkedin and was asked if there were any employee discounts with the bank i work for. i said i was not aware of any, aside from when i saw a twins baseball game from the bank's suite. i let my vacation replacement know about it and was told there is a site where i can register to see employee discounts. didn't take that long, had to look up my employee number on a paystub to complete it. there are some of interest, but in some ways, it reminded me of groupon. used it once in april for a circus ticket and haven't used it since. i saw movie tickets there, i do go to movies on occasion. a car rental agency was also listed. some restaurants as well, but i stopped scrolling after it looked like jersey mike's wasn't listed. those were listed in 'alpha order'. hard to say how much i will use it. also notable from the day was how it took a while to see the two fargo files, so i was largely idle for a while. i did finally see them in the afternoon, after i returned from lunch and said i usually have heard something by then. thankfully it was a fairly low volume, and i had enough time to send out all of the smaller file. all told i sent out just over half of the checks from those two files, the largest of the day, same-day. the backlog at the end of the day was cut in half from the previous day. before lunch i went to a dairy queen and had a french silk pie blizzard. late in the evening i went on a walk and found 38 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when bernadette was part of a simulated space walk 'to prove a stupid point'. it was followed by the one where sheldon tries to be an instructor but only howard signs up for his class. i ordered a ticket for a play that will be opening soon, i will be seeing it a month from now. 

waiting for parts

 i saw an email forwarded to me near the end of the workday and it said my move to a downtown office has been delayed, again. transition team said we are waiting for HVAC parts that are not due to arrive until october, so i am told i may not be moving there until december. not a big deal for me to be at my current location a little longer. two other notable things about the day. one was a call from a hotel in canada, and i let them know if changes need to be made to a check to contact customer service. good chance i was contacted because i overnighted it to them. then there was an email in the shared box that my vacation replacement handled. something about a stop payment or a void request on a check. response was that the business line has to do it themselves, even if their boss is out of the office at this time. it got a laugh out of me when my colleague compared it to something ridiculous. i watched the presidential debate tonight on ABC, held in philadelphia, although it was like too many other debates that i have seen. not much of substance was covered, there was plenty of arguing, and the fact checkers were having a field day. later on i went on a walk and found 2 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon went to the 'zone zone'. it was followed by the one where sheldon ends up in arizona after his sabbatical of riding the rails. 

a drink with friends

 when i was heading out to go perform this evening i saw a neighbor, who asked how i was. i don't know my neighbors that well, i said i felt better after falling asleep and said i was going to have a drink with friends. this was true, and it sounded better than performing, for those who might not understand 'the need to perform'. i said the same thing to another neighbor before, except that was one where i was inside his place helping him move some things. when i made it to the venue i noticed the fancy comic was there, who did a story about biking. there was a new bartender there, same name as a regular one. i did a bank story, also about getting a bobble-head and going to some food events. at work i was asked to print some test checks and put them in a ruler and send them through the inserter machine. then after hearing they looked fine i was asked to send them to the testing place off-site. i haven't done this in over a year and near the end of the day i sent an email to both places, to see that i had everything i would need for it. correct, two places, as some are canadian checks. when i entered a vacation day request for later this month i let my vacation replacement know, who encouraged me to take some more days off and pursue a hobby. i said i still need a good reason to take time off, but being out of town is one of them. later on i went on a walk and found 50 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon and amy met the scientists from fermi lab who proved their paper. it was followed by a season finale, where the comic book store caught fire and sheldon decided to ride the rails. liked this one as we see penny kiss sheldon on the cheek and wipe it off. 

reagan movie

 in the afternoon i went to see the movie 'reagan'. when i got back from the movie i looked at the ticket more closely and noticed it was kind of weird to have seen 'reagan' in eagan, almost the same name. i was familiar with much of the story of this man once becoming president, as it was in my lifetime. it makes me feel old to see a biopic about somebody who was famous in my lifetime. i was less familiar with his life before becoming president, or even governor. although i have bought postcards on e-bay from his time as an actor, a cigarette ad (i had first seen it in a history book) and another while wearing an apron that was an ad for Pabst blue-ribbon beer. both of these are briefly shown in the movie, along with hosting a show sponsored by General Electric, my former employer. i am used to seeing the disclaimer at the end, how 'some scenes and characters were invented for dramatic effect'. i liked seeing the genesis song, 'land of confusion', in it. i saw a family connection on one song being included, as 'wild thing' was in it, written by chip taylor, and his brother, jon voight, was in the movie as the storyteller. a good crowd for this screening, sometimes i go to movies and the crowd is really small. after the movie i got some groceries at the hy-vee, delayed two days due to performing, then went home. after having the evening meal, a pot pie, i took a long walk around the neighborhood and found 88 cents. at midday i went to st. stan's church in st. paul and had a turkey dinner. also bought a history book from the garage sale. 

state farm bobblehead you

 tonight i went to the st. paul saints baseball game, my ninth of the season. near the end of the game i noticed a fan had a state farm bobblehead, and then i found the tent where i could get one. i passed on it when i was at the minnesota state fair- too much to do at the fair- but thankful i got another chance at it. i let them know i will be a state farm policyholder in a few days, when my policy with another company expires. there were various styles of bobbles to choose from, i chose the baseball player. it meant a quick photo, a headshot, and it was put on the bobble. and it is in its own box, much like other bobbles. the saints won, 8-6, over the iowa cubs. there was an inside the park home run, actually a grand slam if i am not mistaken, by the saints early in the game. the i-cubs did chip away at the saints lead but fell short. i picked up another saints ball from the souvenir shop, mudonna the pig mascot is on it. after checking what baseballs i already had, i was fine with picking another one up as i found out i had neither of the two that are currently being sold at the shop. i had two slices of pizza from the speedway gas station on the way there so i was good, didn't need any food or drink at the stadium. of course, it was a day for chores and errand running, got it done in the morning. there was the post office, no orders to pick up but i got a card re-routed, return to sender as it is not for me. then there was dropping off recycle near the capitol and getting a box of 'wednesday' cereal from target. i checked this season's  halloween cereal lineup and that one appealed to me, although i have only seen this show from the addams family franchise on youtube. and i got some cheese as well. it was midday by then and i went to an armenian festival at a church in st. paul. it meant buying a punch card if one wants food and drink, i got the pork kebab with rice pilaf, cabbage salad, and pita bread. i got a brownie and some hot tea from the upper level, and when i was leaving i got some bread with two kinds of cheeses inside. then i went home and watched the iowa vs. iowa state football game on TV, on CBS. iowa led at the half but lost a close one to iowa state. yemen native sent some pictures from the night before to my phone. late in the evening i went on a walk and found 2 dollars 4 cents. 

performing at packers bar

 i performed at a bar tonight, it was a guest set, first one after the emcee. this is a packers bar, and on most days not much of a crowd. but there was a packers game, playing the eagles in Brazil. and once the show got started it was a good idea to keep the door to the showroom shut due to the cheering about the game. Yemen native was headliner, that is who invited me to perform. i did some bank stories, and this included the one about wet pants. i recognized the emcee from mics i have done at this venue. notables that the headliner did was ones about punch cards, IUDs, and Adderall. went to use the bathroom after the show and a crowd member spoke of still laughing about one of my stories. i said i like performing and was thankful for the stage time. at work i liked being able to finish up with things a little earlier than usual. it helped that there was lower volume on check printing as well as the overnight labels. close to lunchtime my boss asked me to print some test checks, except i didn't see any recent ones. i let our i.t. man know i was going to lunch and hopefully there will be some when i get back. found out they needed to be approved, same as a live check file. later on i went on a walk and found 54 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when the second child of howard and bernadette was born. it was followed by the one where the couple gets a nurse for howard's mom. 

ice cream returned

 i like going to the walgreen near my workplace once a week, and for a while i didn't see any single servings of ice cream available. well this finally returned so i had a twix ice cream candy bar along with some dunkin donuts iced coffee. at work i did not see my boss at all, and in the morning got an i.m. stating he'd be working remotely. not a big deal to me. in the afternoon i got an i.m. about the oshkosh file, i said i do plenty of overnights each day and was currently closing envelopes. when i found that file and the special request i would notify. it was another check to be pulled out and sent to the recipient, and i already had the label for it. all others were returned to the business line. i got some more ideas about halloween cereal after doing an online search. i already picked up one box of monster cereal from General Mills, a mashup of the four offerings this season. kellogg, post, and quaker usually have offerings as well. in the evening i got a text offering me stage time in the near future. i drank the can of dual citizen with my meal so now four beers are waiting. later on i went on a walk and found 51 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when the friends went paintball gaming and raj and anu had a fight about a doorbell camera. it was followed by the one where professor proton died, and the funeral was on Star Wars Day. watched the season opener of the NFL on NBC, chiefs beat the ravens in a close game. 

you gotta believe movie

 after work i went to see a movie, 'you gotta believe', about the little league world series. normally i don't do events after work, but looked at fandango and it appeared the number of screenings this weekend was limited. saw it in st. louis park, where i have seen a film festival before. as a baseball fan i wanted to support a baseball movie. thin crowd at this screening, i was one of just three. it got a 'single but loud ha' out of me four times. one thing in it i knew wasn't real, the Ichiro Suzuki baseball card. as it said 'Seattle outfield' and not his name. scenes from Fort Worth, Texas, where this team was from reminded me of visiting this metro-plex when i was in town for the state fair and a football game at the cotton bowl. didn't notice the music in it much, but i stayed for the closing credits as usual. it listed plenty of songs credited to Mike McCready. an online article was found, and it did say 'the pearl jam guitarist' did contribute music to the movie, but apparently some of it was instrumental. i prefer songs with lyrics, might have been why i didn't notice the music in it much. i bought a sandwich from the nearby cub foods grocery store and ate it before i went inside the cinema. along with some lacroix water and what looked like twinkies but made by bimbo instead of hostess. i still had a craving for popcorn, likely due to being at a movie theater. my next stop was downtown st. paul, for a box of popcorn at Candyland. i walked around downtown and ended up near the saints stadium, but the game had already ended. then i went past a pizza place, looked inside the window to check for single slice prices, but the place had closed for the night. some patrons offered me a slice of sausage pizza, wasn't going to turn that down. one of them was wearing a jimmy eat world shirt, a band i had seen in concert, so we talked about music some. he spoke a lot of cannon falls. a man and his daughter were there, from eastern Canada. a memorable night, guess it is a reminder of how sometimes the best memories are from events not planned out that far in advance. at work i helped bring both of the big supply orders in. first was the check stock, then i saw the envelopes in the branch area. an upset customer was talking to the branch manager, i said nothing and just went about my business, moving out the boxes. during my walks i found 52 cents. 

left behind bag, envelope?

 the courier that picks up the mail at the end of the day, and brings tubs at midday, called me just before i went to lunch. i was asked if i had seen a bag or envelope left behind in the mailroom or the second-floor bathroom. i went to check and saw nothing out of the ordinary. there is actually two bathrooms on that floor, both are small and lockable. i used one of them before, and when i was doing the search i used the other one for the first time. at the end of the day the dude said it was found at the napa store near another bank facility. so all is well that ends well i guess. the check printing volume wasn't all that high, even after the holiday, but i know it is often on a one-day delay. still plenty of overnight labels to do. i had another one to pull out from the oshkosh file and the business line was slow on getting me the label i needed if i was going to send it for them. in the evening i went on a walk and found 26 cents. the 'big bang theory' rerun was when sheldon got drunk and ended up with a geology book in bed, and then drunk dialed steve hawking. 

chores then baseball

 i still had some things to do on labor day. there was some chores, the dishes were done first. then laundry. and then going to the copy store and printing tickets to two st. paul saints baseball games. it was a little past midday by then so i went to have lunch at arby's after i was done at the copy store. then i put away laundry and laid down for a little while. when i got up it was time to get to the saints game. normally the saints do not play on monday but the game was moved up due to the holiday. first pitch was in the mid-afternoon, playing the iowa cubs. it was tied 1-1 at the end of the first inning, but the i-cubs went ahead 8-1 not too long after that, aided by the long ball. saints lost 11-8, there was a late rally but it fell short. i will be attending another game in this series. since it was a laundry day and i had just picked up another shirt i decided to swap out two in my lineup. a shirt claimed when cleaning out desks and storage rooms at the bank replaced one from a former employer, and the great pumpkin shirt replaced a white sox shirt. i could have used both for a little while longer but i am trying to do 'one for one' when acquiring new ones and i still have plenty to wear. during my walks i found 72 cents. 

hanging kitchen towel

 i began the day in ankeny, iowa, at my hotel, the super 8. it was nice having the continental breakfast there, and i noticed one family was wearing outfits that all said 'turkey valley', a school in iowa. i had the make your own waffle, and some scrambled eggs. and much like most trips, there wasn't much to do on the last day in town. besides breakfast, there was pack up, check out of the hotel, and get on the road. i made good time on the road, my first stop being the same casey's in clear lake much like the previous day. then i didn't stop again until i was almost home, in lakeville, as i wanted to get a look at the cracker barrel store, the only one in the state. a wait for a table, but i still bought three charlie brown items. one of them was a snoopy hanging kitchen towel, a christmas theme. the others were candy bars with a thanksgiving theme, and a great pumpkin shirt. i had seen the shirt on the website. i still had lunch, a little farther up the road in eagan at the popeye's chicken. then i got some groceries at the hy-vee but not a lot. i made it home mid-afternoon and then got some more groceries at the aldi. then i laid down for a little while. when i got up i went to perform at the mic, and some of the stories were about visiting family in iowa. i was fine with going on a little earlier in the lineup as it gave me more time to get the rental car back to the airport. while on the road i heard songs by ELO, alessia cara, and eminem, the third song sampling a steve miller song. i was pleased with the chores and errand running i got done when i made it back into town but some of it will have to wait. since it is a holiday weekend i have one more day to get it all done. during my walks i found 35 cents.