James J. Hill

Toured the James J. Hill home in St. Paul earlier today. It was the second time there, first time in a while, I recall it as being part of the Winter Carnival. Bought some postcards there, three for a dollar and change. One had the logo of the railroad he owned, Great Northern, now part of Burlington Northern Santa Fe as I recall after some buyouts.
   After the event, I found a friend and went to get more Charlie Brown and Snoopy statue pictures. We found one in the west metro and and the others in the east metro. The owner at one business did give us some other leads. I am surprised how we haven't run out of ideas yet, and we've found over 120. I figured we would as we approached 100.
   At the comedy club tonight, one friend in town left early, said he was ill. He had commented on my 'Field of Dreams' picture on Facebook previously. Saw another friend after the show, she was onstage tonight. A couple, who had seen her at another club, talked to her for a while, and me. One of them spoke of 'Meet-up', I did that once with an ex. One song played after the show was over stuck with me, it was one where I had to write down some lyrics so I could find it later online. It was 'Fidelity' by Regina Spektor. 'Breaks my heart, hear these voices , hear this music'. After seeing the video on Youtube, I said it was 'powerful'.
    My music search didn't end there. Also decided to listen to 2 Eddie Rabbitt songs, as I heard one on the radio on the way to the event this morning. 'Driving My Life Away' was the one. Another one he's known for is 'Love a Rainy Night' so I found it as well.
   On the news tonight, there was a feature about a boy at Tartan HS who was barred from bringing an 'adult entertainer' to his high school prom. I went alone to my prom, couldn't find a date. I am with the boy- let him bring whomever he wants. It can be hard to find somebody who will accept, seems silly to tell him the wrong girl accepted.  I made it a Facebook posting, as it meant enough to me.
   Also on the news, there was a feature about a long basketball game being played as a benefit event for the tornado victims in Joplin, Missouri. I recognized the logo from the gym, it was the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis, a place I have stayed at since I was the guest of a member, friends of mine.

A Man Smoking

When I was waiting for the bus after work tonight, I saw a man smoking. Nothing unusual there, except it appeared to be a marijuana joint. I wanted to get a closer look to confirm it, just acted like I was looking way down the street for the next bus. In reality, I wanted to do both.
   When I returned from lunch, I had a massage therapy appointment for 15 minutes. I had won it in a contest, as I had answered some questions about a new website at work. The therapist said I looked familiar, I had done it before. I trust it's a good thing, I tell myself, to look familiar. In my comedy routine I have referred to how some likely think I look creepy, but I didn't hear how or why I looked familiar. Some might say I should give myself more credit, as we can all be our own worst critic.
   At the comedy club tonight, a friend was the MC, I call him 'Magic Man'. There weren't quite as many friends onstage as last week, but still some. The MC could hear my laugh real well at one point and did acknowledge it, though after the show he wanted to make sure it was me. It was likely why I got no shout-out, but the laugh did stand out like it often does.
    After the show, I saw a small plush toy nearby, and it made me think of my standard line. How I'm sure somebody misses it. I thought about depositing it in the trash, but I just do this for real trash like a paper drinking cup.

Comedy Store

Tonight at the comedy club I spoke with somebody who said he once performed at the Comedy Store, I recognized it as being in Los Angeles. He said he had a magic act, and finally got to go onstage at 3 a.m. I said the shows here don't run that late. Much like other chances I've had, I enjoy discussing the craft with anyone who wants to hear my take on it. I just wish I could recall the names of both who were there, I had to let them know things like when the list came out so they must be new to the place.
   At work I did hear from the theater guy as to how his St. Patrick's Day went. He spoke of being at a pub where some frat boys came in, and they were asked to leave after one of them ordered an 'Irish Car Bomb'. Hadn't heard of such a drink before, but was told it was disrepectful to order it in an Irish pub. At first he said he had no stories to tell, which I found hard to believe as he usually has some. I'm told him he has enough to write a book about, as they are adventures that likely few others have experienced.
   This week at work should be easier than previous ones, as I have one day off for a mentoring event. As I recall, this would be the anniversary of the Iraq War begininng back in 2003. A few days later, I went to a Chicago Wolves hockey game as I lived in suburban Chicago then. I saw plenty of military recruiters there, even leaving business cards next to urinals in the bathroom. Then there was somebody saying 'I will clap for him!' when veterans of various wars were honored during intermission, and it was a World War II veteran. Guess it's a good reminder of a scene I once saw in 'The Simpsons' where the VFW hall was called 'veterans of popular wars'.

Sending 4 Letters

After getting some birthday cards this month, I decided to write and respond to them, and say thank you. It was to my aunt, mom, a sibling, and my friend's mom. I wrote the most to the last of the 4 mentioned, saying the Jack Jablonski story has been a big thing in this state. I spoke of seeing an ad in a comedy club bathroom ecnouraging people to contribute to his benefit fund. Also in reference to finding out my classmate had another child, a third daughter.
   I went through the Charlie Brown and Snoopy statue totals on my official list, and it came out to 123, about what I expected. First time I had looked at it since November. Also decided to change the pictures on my Facebook page, there were 7 statues and now it's 5. There was 3 original Snoopys, but no Linuses. Now there is one from each series.
   Watched a Charlie Brown DVD tonight, it had 2 specials on it. There was the motocross special-'You're a Good Sport' but also the decathlon special called 'You're The Greatest'. The interview segment included had Schulz's son Craig describing his interest in motocross, also showing an original Snoopy statue with a motocross theme. Soon I will have to watch the history series, a birthday gift.
   I activated my resume on Monster and Career Builder, first time since 2006 and 2005 respectively. It's proven by already getting sales job offers I don't want.
    The Simpsons episode tonight was fun, where most of the nuke plant employees being replaced by robots. Because of the intelligent things that some robots said to Homer. After it I went to get a Little Caesar's pizza. It was the shift manager who asked 'what do you need?' when taking my order. It seemed more appropriate so ask what I wanted. He had just made a pizza and it went to me. I like how there was no waiting, sometimes there is for a pepperoni.

99 Problems By Jay-Z

I went to a Best Buy store in the west metro after dropping off a friend at a dress shop nearby. I would have been bored there, and it was no problem staying occupied while looking at movies and music. I ended up getting the Jay-Z single '99 Problems' for $5 as it made me think of a joke that a comedian friend has done about space aliens and a redneck. Already made it a Facebook posting, and got some likes on it. There weren't many men in the shop, no surprise there.
    I watched Inning 7 of the baseball documentary with my date today, the 1950s. Plenty about the New York teams, as they did well until 2 of the 3, the Dodgers and Giants, left for California. Surprised how there has been no mention of Stan Musial yet, but maybe in the next segment since he retired after the 1963 season ended. Some would call it a 'New York media bias'. I am impressed by mention of Yogi Berra playing in 75 World Series games for the Yankees, if a record it is unlikely to be equaled. But his team was real good when he played catcher. It is rare to see 2 segments in one weekend, but we had the time and we would like to get through it in a timely fashion.
   Notable today was where we ate. At lunchtime it was at a Boston Market, hadn't eaten at one in a year, since I was in Chicago for the weekend. The busser said there were 2 other locations in the metro. The other was Buca Di Beppo, in the evening, in Burnsville. Wanted to use up the gift card I had, good food there. Plenty of art on the walls, looked at it before leaving. It included Pope Benedict XVI and President Kennedy, both Catholic but not Italian. Another memorable one was Packers coach Vince Lombardi. After the dress shop and lunch it was on the state's museum for a lecture on Lincoln and the Civil War, related to civil liberties since he suspended the writ of habeus corpus. It was compared to presidents in later wars. The speaker had a book signing after the event was done.

One Republic Song

I like the drumming and the sound of the hi-hat crashing in the One Republic song 'Good Life'. It has been on the radio often lately. As usual, I like how search engines help with finding it when the radio doesn't always announce the song title and performer. The word stuck in my mind was 'hopelessly', but I had to add 'good good life' to find it.
    My colleague, the theater guy, is still fun to listen to. He spoke of making a go-cart out of a Ford F-150 pickup body and a sawmill engine. He said the speeds were 'on and off'. I was trying to think of what was appropriate for his plans for celebrating St. Patrick's Day this weekend, I said 'try not to get arrested'. It was all I could think of when he plans to drink a lot, and he did tell me about getting arrested once at a bar, though he wasn't part of the bar fight.
   At lunchtime I saw more than just Girl Scout cookies for sale, also daffodils, from the American Cancer Society, as I recall. I got another box of cookies, a  type I hadn't heard of before- 'Dulce De Leche'. Was told there was caramel in them, will have to see how it goes. It was the third box of the season, hard to say if there will be any more. I prefer to eat some more before buying another box as they are meant to be eaten. Notable was seeing no adult helping them at the table, but they were correct on the change back from a $20 when the boxes are $3.50 each.
   This evening I watched another segment of the baseball documentary with my date, Inning 6. It covered the 1940s, and it was longer than the others. It made sense why, since plenty was done about the sport during World War II, and then Jackie Robinson's debut in 1947. Quite a bit was about Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio as well, since they played for rival teams and both had good years in 1941.

Red Spraypaint On Trees

I had noticed for a while how there was red spraypaint on some trees nearby, and finally this week I saw the postings how they will be cut down on Friday and not to park on the street. So I went out to get pictures of them, 13 in all. Two of them were of the signs themselves, and some signs were shrink-wrapped to the trees. Still don't know for sure why they are being cut down. I would have done it earlier but the memory card was bought after sunset last night, and I get better pictures in the daytime hours. To be honest, I waited until it was official as it tends to mean more when the deadline is given on anything. So I got them shortly after getting off work.
    I used another gift card this evening, it was at Target, to get some winter shoes. So now I am down to three, another one has been ordered this week and is on the way.
   There was a lower volume of work today, so I am more caught up than I had been. Near the end of the day there was a signup sheet for a potluck next week.
   Notable on the bus tonight after work was the driver arguing with two riders, one of them had his music on too high. The driver threatened to have them evicted, eventually the riders just let it go.
  Normally I watch the news on WCCO, but not tonight since it is the CBS affiliate and there was the college basketball tournament on. I get used to a schedule, and prefer to avoid watching a late edition of the news, especially when I don't know for sure when it will be on. Can recall seeing it as a kid in the TV Guide- 'time approximate after sports'.