MNF trucks arrived early

when i was taking the light rail into work this morning, i noticed the Monday night football trucks were already in town. surprised me a little how early they made it, for the Vikings-Bills game. must have wanted plenty of time to set up for the event. checks for the tax specialist were picked up, but i didn't see the courier until early afternoon. i guess it was the same young dude that i had seen before, just not wearing a soccer shirt. i went to have some pizza shortly after this was done. a little later in the afternoon i went to Walgreen but picked up just two items. it included the previous day's paper, i was told it was all they had. i was fine with it as i could read more about this week's election. the cashier liked my Charlie Brown shirt and i said it was a giveaway item at a Twins baseball game. the boss was complaining about the toner cartridges in the shop, it had been a while since i had sent out any for recycling. i sent out three of them and will likely do three a day until they are all gone. the boss left early, saying the nearby construction noise was too much. i went for groceries at Hy-Vee in Eagan in the evening. i asked the cashier about the recent changes announced in their loyalty program as i had been seeing some emails about it. 

delayed crowd for popcorn

 this was popcorn day at the office, held once a month. the young lady serving us didn't understand why there was a delay on seeing people show up. there was a company dial-in meeting, a town hall, happening around the same time. once it was done, then more people were there for popcorn. but it wasn't why my visit was delayed. for me i wanted to get the Fargo checks run through the inserter machine. sometimes i pay attention to those dial-ins, but if i have work to do i don't. i know there was mention of this week's election by one of the speakers, how it might affect our business. a ticket i had opened to get a maintenance kit for a check printer was closed, three days after the tech showed up. my complaint was that no one notified me that i might be hearing from someone. i figured there would have been a note on the ticket, which would lead to an email. i had a beer with the evening meal, a Sam Adams, and i went to a nearby liquor store and bought two more beers so four are waiting. i bought a Michelob and a Coors light. 

the 'lol' response

 i was asked to send check copies for checks i had overnighted in the Cincinnati file. i noticed those two were going to the same place so i used just one of the UPS labels sent to me. i chose the one that had the suite number on it as i knew it increased the odds that it would be delivered. it was odd that i was told a stop payment would have to be done on one of them, but this was beyond my control. something about how the check wasn't properly funded, but no one had informed me of it any earlier. i said i print and send our whatever checks that get approved, and i don't ask any questions. the response i got to saying this was 'lol'. i know what it means but i am not used to hearing a laugh at the office when i speak about what i did matter-of-factly. there was a dust-up about a check from the Marshall file that i had overnighted. it was delivered on Monday, but the complaint was that it didn't go into the box the same day i got the label. the second Marshall file of the day arrived late. in the evening i went to another meetup event at a micro-brewery, it was at wandering leaf in St. Paul. we had been there before. it wasn't the only event booked there that night, as there was a mahjong game happening. 

sandwich after voting

 i like how the polls on election day are open late, until 8pm, as this gives me enough time to go vote after i get off work. the precinct is in a big apartment building, and the voting area is in their community room. this must explain why i see vending machines nearby. much like when i voted at the primary in august, i got a bag of microwave popcorn. i was a little surprised to see so many people there to vote in the final hour the polls were open, as usually it is a thin crowd. after i was done voting i went to get a sandwich at a nearby gas station. two songs i heard on my car radio were standouts from this evening. it was 'one love' by Bob Marley on the way to the precinct. then it was 'these are days' by 10,000 maniacs when i was getting ready to leave the gas station and go home. the former reminds me of seeing the biopic. i didn't watch any of the election returns on TV. at work, i had a branch manager from California contact me. i got an instant message asking me about a check i had overnighted. i got no response when i said i needed a payee, check number, and amount to research it. another message was asking about tracking numbers from the Kansas City file. i had to repeat myself, saying i was unable to help as that was a day off for me, a week prior, the team lead would have to answer that one as that is who was filling in. 

check files imported late

 the two largest check files of the day, both from the Fargo business line, were late. the I.T. man said to have them imported before leaving for the day and i can print them the next day. what i didn't like is that i let the business line know around midday that i didn't have any files and didn't hear 'word one' from them. I know the importance of this task, so we don't end up one day behind on the checks we are sent. thankful this doesn't happen that often, where the file is really late. but we have more leeway on getting their checks out the door when those files take longer to print. the st. louis business line wanted a tracking number and i sent my findings. later on, i was told to disregard it, after i researched it. go figure. i think part of the problem was based on the email saying 'unable to find on the FedEx site' and we send those with a different courier, UPS. must have been delivered if i was told to disregard it. 

camp movie, anna kendrick

 not much booked for the day. i stayed in and watched a DVD movie, a recent purchase from amazon, called 'camp'. it was about a performing arts summer camp, and this was the debut for Anna Kendrick. i liked what one character said about performing, as it helps him forget about his quirks for a while. this is what i say about performing as well. Steve Sondheim has a cameo as himself. i might have to re-watch it sometime soon and write down the plays the cast were performing in it. while i had heard of Sondheim, as well as Neil Simon, i hadn't heard of all of the plays in it. one thing i will remember about this movie was the journey to get it. i was wondering why i didn't have it yet after all the other recent orders were given to me when i went to the window. i check amazon and it says it was delivered. i call the post office and the man who answered said it was lost. i go to the window again, the next day, and give them the tracking number and my box number and it was found. i didn't want to contact amazon anyway as i knew i usually get what i order when i send it to the box. the cast was mostly young actors and i think anna was the only one i was truly familiar with. before i put in the disc i did some ticket ordering online. when we just moved into a new month i said it was close enough on ordering for events in December. in the afternoon i went to Walgreen and picked up a small amount of discounted Halloween candy. i made a nice find while there, as the store does sell some books. one was about 'ghost ads' in the twin cities, and i bought it. i have probably been to many of the places profiled in it. i watched some of the pro football games of the day but not a lot. the chiefs-broncos game was on when i decided to go to the bar and perform. i was watching it some while waiting to perform, the chiefs lost. 

hunchback of notre dame, 1923

 in the afternoon i went to see a movie in Minneapolis. it was a special presentation of a silent film backed up by an orchestra, the 1923 version of 'hunchback of Notre Dame'. i understood the story well, as the bell ringer at the cathedral was ugly and despised by most. but Esmeralda being kind to him made a world of difference. a festival was a part of the story as well, and the king didn't like all of the noise from it. this wasn't the first presentation that i had attended from this organization. some others were two Charlie Chaplin films in one, along with 'Nosferatu' as well as 'phantom of the opera'. i am told that the actor playing the hunchback was also in 'phantom'. the venue was just down the block from a comedy venue i had been to many times before so i parked in a familiar area. when the main show was over i left like many others did. i was fine with seeing the movie, but i figured it would be boring to hear the conductor of the orchestra talk about the movie after it was done. it meant leaving through a side door, and i went around to the front as i needed to use the bathroom. then i went on to Eagan where i had the evening meal at cane's chicken and then some ice cream at a nearby Baskin Robbins. before leaving for the movie i watched a college football game on fox, Iowa at home against Wisconsin. Iowa won, 30-0. in the evening after i had eaten i went to a meetup event, my first in a little over two months. it was at a micro-brewery and i did wear the only costume that i own, the slasher from the 'scream' movies. as usual, i was fine with staying a little over an hour. it was long enough to finish my beer and chat with plenty of people. one of the TVs at the venue was on the American movie classics channel and was showing the first 'Halloween' move, and then the second. i didn't do much for the rest of the night after getting home from there. 

1 quincy, 2 houston

 i think that one colleague who sent me checks from the Cincinnati file didn't know what he was doing. i got various emails and instant messages about it, and i said nothing was shipped yet and when the pick-up time is. at one point i was sent three overnight labels but noticed two of them were duplicated. when i had the time after sending the regular mail tubs to the mailroom, i matched up the labels by the code that one sees on the checks. i understood that one check would be going to Quincy and two would be going to the same place in Houston. i said i have a policy of one label, one envelope after all were sent to the box to be picked up. when i entered the tracking number for the two going to Houston i noticed the label had been canceled about twenty minutes after being created, and wasn't notified of that by the sender, i trust that it won't hold anything up. two others were a case of 'putting out fires'. one was going to suburban st. louis and the sender was disappointed that it didn't go out the same day it was created. the other had a payee listed as a martial arts place, same issue with the sender. the boss ran interference for me on the former. with the latter once i found out which one it was i had to ask, 'do you want it sent out or not?' since one response was 'hold please'. but all was fine when i said it would likely be picked up shortly. i noticed someone tried to call me on a conference call about it but i was running the afternoon files through the inserter machine and didn't hear it. there was a dial-in meeting in the morning with the facility manager. it was another case of not going the full 3-minute allotment but i didn't mind. in the evening i went to the Hy-Vee in Eagan for groceries and bought ten items. one of them was a box of cereal inspired by the movie 'toy story 5'. i chose the one with buzz lightyear on it. when i arrived i had to listen until the end of a song i was hearing on my car radio. after searching online i found out later on it was 'tender' by blur. the line that stuck with me was 'tender is the night', which made it harder to find as this is the name of a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald and those hits were listed first. 

dial m for murder movie

 in the evening i went to a movie in south Minneapolis at the Riverview, 'dial m for murder'. i had been to this venue before, but it was years ago. this was the final night of a week of Hitchcock films. i guessed where i saw Hitchcock's cameo in it, this time it was in a framed photo. as the title suggests, when it is about a murder mystery, this would be considered a detective story. and a key was a big part of it. notable about this visit was finding out it was a cash-only venue. i was directed to an ATM and it was out-of-network so there was a small fee for using it. after getting my ticket i also bought a small cup of popcorn. i found some street parking a block north of the venue, and there was a street performer just outside of this theater. nothing unusual there, except it was an accordion, an instrument that one doesn't see that often. at work the boss was waiting for me at the turnstiles when i arrived, something about being locked out of the shop. this has happened before, forgetting the badge when leaving the shop. not too long after this happened i was invited to a donut shop in the same building and chose a donut with orange sprinkles on it. the tax specialist asked about the tax checks from my day off, then we found out those were sent inter-office. there is still a backlog on the Fargo check file, but it has gone down. i sent out four tubs the previous day and three for the day. there is just over a thousand not yet printed, but i see no point in printing them if not going out the same day. not a big deal to print them out the next morning. 

apple cider, then chili

 in the morning at work i went to the main floor for apple cider and a cookie. based on a past experience i knew it was a good idea to go kind of early in the 90-minute time allotment as one can run the risk of them running out close to the end of the allotment. i liked how i didn't need to sign up on an app for the event. around midday i went to another floor for some chili, two kinds. there was an email from an admin assistant that spoke of events for the week. this was the only event of the week that appealed to me, as it was actual food instead of candy or trivia. it was the first time on this floor, hadn't been that high in the building before. i had to transfer from one set of elevators to another to get to the floor i needed. when doing the transfer i saw an auditorium on that floor. i said i liked being able to see how the other half lives when i made it to that breakroom, and a lady at that table laughed. the boss requested that i search for a check and print it if found. all i had to go on was a torn check with not all of the information present. i found out it was the account closure file from Kansas City, and i was told to send out a reprint to the payee. i stayed late to see that the overnights were caught up. when i got on a light rail to get home i noticed a few items on a seat near me and claimed all of it. some of it was junk and thrown out when i got out at my customary stop. it included an empty bag that had held a Halloween costume, picture showed a monarch butterfly. the other junked item was a soda pop can. what i kept included some Band-Aids, a small tube of toothpaste, and a toothbrush still in unwrapped plastic. when i made it home i watched game five of the world series. the brewers beat the rays, 4-1, to take the series, 4-1. 

dvd order found

 i had the day off for an appointment, it was in the morning. one stop i made after it was to the post office. the previous day i gave a tracking number when i called and i was told it was lost, and call amazon about it. i said there was one more thing i could try, and that was going there in person. i gave my box number and the tracking number at the window and the DVD order from amazon was found. now i have all of the orders i have recently placed. i had lunch at Arby's in Eagan and then went to target in St. Paul and bought two items there. one was a container holding six Halloween-themed sugar cookies. the other was some Charlie Brown stickers for this holiday as well, from American greetings instead of hallmark. then i went to the post office. when i got home i watched 'jeopardy', the final clue was about jack ruby being on trial. in the evening i watched game four of the world series on fox. it went into extra innings, but i managed to see all of it despite being tired. rays beat the brewers in 12, so now the brewers lead the series 3-1. i was in bed and asleep shortly after the game ended. 

the craft movie

 in the evening i went to see the movie 'the craft' at the Trylon in south Minneapolis. i did not go home after work as i stayed late to get caught up and wanted to be on time for the movie. i stopped at a holiday gas station to get a sandwich and then it was on to the venue. a good crowd there for this screening. i saw it because i like Neve Campbell, although the main character to me was the new student who becomes the fourth member of a group of witches. i noticed one song in it, 'how soon is now', was also the theme song for the TV show 'charmed', which was also about young witches. there was a message from the storyline, about being careful how one uses their powers. after the movie ended, i went to my car and turned on the radio. it was game three of the world series, although the brewers were way ahead by then, 10-0, and went on to win the game. at work, team lead spoke of working remotely for the day. a payroll employee had her boss pick up two checks from me. a check for the manager that likes karaoke was sent to another floor and to her team lead. a ticket was created for one of the check printers, the one near the main door, as it needs a maintenance kit. 

john wayne as quirt evans

 i stayed in and watched two DVDs. one of them was the annual viewing of a Charlie Brown special, 'great pumpkin'. the other was the 1947 version of 'angel and the badman', the one with John Wayne. i liked this version more than the recent remake, it helps that John Wayne has charisma. i could tell that the remake does follow the original story closely but there were some variations. for one thing i know there wasn't a bar fight in the remake. in the evening i watched the Halloween episode of 'the Simpsons', known as 'treehouse of horror'. it included a shed where spouses enter and leave, along with driver education videos that homer was in. this led to having Patty and Selma as the DMV was a part of the vignette. then there was the Sunday night football game. chiefs lost to the seahawks. 

fork in the road movie

 in the afternoon i went to see a movie in a film festival in Edina, the final day of the 10-day event. it was 'fork in the road' about agriculture. i recognized the MC that introduced the movie, it was a fellow comic that once played for the local women's football team. there was a Q and A at the end and i was the first with a question. it was about CSAs, as i had to google it on my phone after the movie ended. i figured there would have been mention of the doc of what this is but there wasn't. found out it had nothing to do with co-op (Cenex) gas stations, which is what i am familiar with. it means community supported agriculture, sounds like a membership program. the Iowa vs. Minnesota football game was just about to start when i arrived at the venue and i caught the game on the radio after the movie was over. first this was while driving home and then at home as well. Iowa lost a close one on a last-second field goal. in the evening i stayed in and watched all of game two of the world series. the brewers beat the rays and are up 2-0 in the series. as a Midwesterner who has been to Milwaukee for games over the years i am for the brewers in this series. it goes back to riding with family while on vacation when i was young, but it continued beyond that time. i made trips there more often when i was living in suburban Chicago as it was a quick drive up there from the O'Hare airport area. a memory of driving back after a game there was hearing a Beastie Boys song on the car radio, 'no sleep until Brooklyn'. i had a sandwich at Jersey Mike's for lunch. 

walgreen thief

 i have heard about retail theft before but don't think I've witnessed it too often. this morning i made a quick stop at Walgreen before getting on the light rail and a man with a hospital mask on enters and goes behind the counter to get something and an employee tries to chase him out. then i think the thief goes to a cooler and gets a bottle of something liquid as well. i was motivated to get out as quick as i could naturally. there was a check for the manager that likes karaoke and i am told to hold it until Monday and give it to her team lead. she spoke of getting a free ticket to the Vikings-Colts football game this weekend through a friend. tax specialist was in the office and there were two trips to pick up checks. there was the Canadian file in the morning, one check, and the regular file, 13 checks, in the afternoon. there were two checks for payroll but a question of when those will be picked up. in the evening i went to Hy-Vee in Eagan for groceries. i did watch some of the first game of the world series at home when i was done, but just one inning. then it was on to a party in Minneapolis, a going away party for two comics who are on their way to Los Angeles. one of them ran a mic i would frequent. i did see a few others that i knew after a while, one was from 'the turkeys' comedy group. another i recall seeing a year ago when a comedy venue was closing. the house had some artwork on the wall, i knew it was Alfred E. Neuman from 'mad magazine'. 

all-day shadowing

 i had an all-day meeting scheduled and it was officially known as 'check shop training overview'. but it is also known as 'shadowing' so the team lead could become more familiar with the work. i was mainly there to answer questions but near the end of the day i had to do the work myself as we still needed to see that all checks went out same day. the overnight labels from the Marshall file were delayed due to system issues. the one going to Salt Lake City arrived on time, but the others didn't. i made another gem of a find on 89.3 the current, the local nonprofit radio station. not the first time i heard it, but i stayed in my car to hear it until the end. it was 'hard wired' by Stephen Wilson jr. and Miranda Lambert. the lyric i really liked was 'tears don't dry themselves' and there is a nod to a Pixies song as well, with the line 'where is my mind'. 

added to a dial-in

 there were some issues with a vacation replacement in the main system i use for check printing so i was added to the dial-in meeting. it meant going into the office that the boss uses in the shop but i agreed one thing the boss said, much of it was too technical, understood by those in I.T. mostly. this was in the afternoon. a big part of the issue was access to printers, i can use both but that is not necessarily the case for others. i also noticed that the Canadian check file from this week was an ad hoc file, so it should have went to the tax specialist. once i found out i did notify that those four checks went out regular mail. 

history of concrete documentary

 in the evening i went to another movie in Columbia Heights, my third of the month. it was the documentary about concrete. not too many screenings left, let alone in the evening in this area, so i said i needed to go. much of it took place in New York City, but the story started in Italy, with showing a wax museum, including talking statues of Elvis Presley and Jack Nicholson. there was also a visit to Ohio which had a historic road, apparently the first in America where concrete was used. it was a big deal that this doc had grossed $2 million in ticket sales as i am used to how most docs don't have a wide appeal and are lucky to pass $1 million. at work, there was a dust-up related to a check slated to go to China. i saw an instant message about it and almost immediately there was another chat created with that lady's boss on it. in the first one i said i want check copy requests emailed to me, and on the second i said 'i already said that'. and the boss said i was 'unprofessional' but when i asked didn't say how. it is also all about how much information i am given. there was no China check when searching based on the check number given, only with a different payee than what they gave me and going to Las Vegas instead. something about if the China check had been issued and if not, they'd need to ask for one. also hard to understand when the first thing said to me by the lady was 'sorry for the interruption'. i did talk about the upcoming world series a little with the manager that likes karaoke. team lead asked if i had responded to an email thread and i said i did last week. it was two and basically the same question so i responded to only one. odd about the follow-up. 

a new normal?

 this is the first week we'd be having on this team after three people were laid off, so is this a new normal? probably. not much out of the ordinary for the day. there were over two thousand checks printed and sent out. there was some 'hold for documents' requests from the Marshall file as well. still a question of when those documents arrive as those UPS envelopes are sent by interoffice mail. then i get the check into the envelope and the UPS box. there are two checks from over a month ago in the inbox, but it is likely that both will have replacements as one of them already has. i kept the printed page to prove it. looks like the world series matchup is set as Tampa beat Cleveland tonight to win the series, 4-2. it will be Tampa against Milwaukee in the world series starting in a few days. except i didn't see any of the game as some playoff games are on cable, but all of the world series will be on fox. 

angel and the badman movie

 just before midday i went to see the movie 'angel and the badman' at the mall in Eden Prairie. this was a remake of a John Wayne western. there was just one actor in it that i recognized, it was tommy lee jones as a lawman, and Mr. jones had limited screen time in it. i liked it, but i have seen some westerns before that work for me. as a history major, it seems to tell the story of American history. in order to advance as a nation from one ocean to another, we needed to let law and order prevail. after the movie i went to the nearby food court for lunch. i had a club melt from a place called 'melts and burgers' then had a blizzard treat from the dairy queen. besides the movie itself, i was impressed with how many previews i saw that interested me. sometimes zero, sometimes one, this time three. it helped that all three were biopics. these were about Jimmy Stewart, Milton Hershey, and an NFL player known as 'Mr. irrelevant'. i had heard about the first two already. when i got back to my car i found a pro football game on the radio, bears-falcons, and when i got home i found it on TV. the bears held on to win it. the packers beat the cowboys in the Sunday night game. the open mic i was performing at wrapped up just before that game began. in the evening i did call my dad saying what movie i went to see, and as expected the title was recognized as dad likes John Wayne movies. i said i had ordered a DVD copy of the one from 1947 and it just arrived this weekend and will try to find the time to watch it soon. the disc is actually a double feature, the other one is 'the outlaw', another western from the same decade. i found the time to watch my DVD copy of 'clue', based on the board game. i was planning on seeing it in theaters as part of 'flashback cinema', a weekly event. this wasn't the first time where it was a good thing i checked what discs i already had. this meant i had the time to see two other movies that had made my list.