lauer flats

 i went to a dinner at the Czech and Slovak building in St. Paul for lunchtime. i bought the ticket a month earlier at their festival. when i was going back to my car after it was done i noticed a building that had a national register of historic places plate on it. this was the Lauer flats, some residential townhouses that was listed on the national register in the 1970s. i found the Wikipedia article about the building and it said the Lauer brothers also did some work on the state capitol, as well as some churches in the area, and the former Schmidt brewery complex. i had attended this dinner before, it was a celebration of a Czech national holiday. i was at a table where all of the other attendees appeared to be related. a young lady there went up front to sing the American, as well as the Czech, national anthems as she has been an ambassador for the organization. a man seated next to me was trying too hard to be funny and said the door prize in the drawing was for a month-long trip to the Czech Republic. i even called his bluff and said that vacations are usually not that long. the door prize was for a glass pumpkin. i was given a shout-out by one of the speakers as i was one of seven who paid for the event at the festival. it was the only event that i had booked for the day, which is typical for a Sunday. before i went to the event i watched a DVD, it was one of three i had recently bought from a goodwill store. this was '42nd street', from the 1930s, ginger rogers was one of the actors in it. after getting home from the event i watched another DVD, called 'rockabilly legends'. it was inside a book i had bought at a silent auction many years ago. i finally got the disc into its own case after watching it. i had seen it once before, not long after acquiring it. i also bought some Halloween-themed cookies at target as well as a six-pack of klondike bars as i had a craving for ice cream.