Won't Be Glowing

I had a dental appointment after work, and picked up some Oscar Mayer Lunchables at a Walgreen before getting there. Reminded me of a friend's joke about those things, they're tasty. The dental assistant had me do X-rays, some of it wasn't much fun as the things I had to bite into were pinching. I said my primary physician ordered a chest X-ray last month, asked if it was too recent. I was told the radiation from it is very low, and I 'wouldn't be glowing' tonight. The fill-in DDS was quite observant, looking at my teeth I was asked if I had braces, I said I had them for most of my 2 years of junior high.
   I had to wait a little for my appointment, so I read a Sports Illustrated article about baseball, what else? It was an extensive one about Albert Pujols, now signed with the Angels. He discussed hitting like it was a science, but of course the jury is still out as to if being given a 10-year contract is a good idea when he's 31.
   I decided to rip up another pair of pants, they were getting frayed much like the others. So I decided to go replace one of the pairs right away at JC Penney. I arrived right before closing, and used one of the gift cards I had. While there, I liked seeing a kiddie ride that happened to be Snoopy's doghouse. I would have taken a picture of it but didn't have my camera with me. I can go back to Maplewood Mall soon, like this weekend, for the photo-op.
    As usual, I think a lot about music. While at a senior leader meeting, held 6 times a year, eventually I thought of the Anna Nalick song 'Breathe' as I like the line in it about 'And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd, cuz these words are my diary screaming out loud' nailing how I feel about writing and comedy. So this evening I found it on Youtube, but not before seeing suggestions on the front page for the Eminem song 'Elevator'. So I listened to that one as well as '8-Mile'. After this I listened to 'Breathe', with clips from the TV show 'Greys Anatomy', along with Brandi Carlile's 'The Story'. I already had found the latter video from the same show previously.  

Three Coins In A Fountain

After seeing the comedy show tonight, I passed by a wishing well and saw plenty of coins in it. Nothing unusual there, except there were a decent number of quarters. I am used to seeing pennies and nickels. I haven't seen the movie 'Three Coins In A Fountain', but I know Steve Martin sang it in a scene in 'Planes Trains and Automobiles'. He got some odd looks when he did.
   Before the show I got caught up on some errand running, like shredding junk mail and retiring a pair of pants that was getting frayed. I would have went out right away to replace them, but didn't have the time. Later in the week is likely. I can use a gift card when I do.
    I did place another order of gift cards at work, before an attendance party. I figured it was best to do so only after the last one I ordered was received, and it was on Monday. So it will bring me current on awards. Hopefully these will arrive more quickly, as it took nearly two weeks for the most recent one, usually it is just a week.
   Yes, we do have an attendance party at work, once a month. Though they changed the type of game, and Bingo isn't my game. I was a few minutes late, they started without me. So I joined when the next game began, and didn't win in any of the 3 games I was in. I like it more when it is things like movie trivia, as I am good at it.

Leave The Club Now

There was a man who was asked to 'leave the club now' after being warned at the comedy club tonight. He likely had too much to drink. He was sitting near me, in the back. I could have helped with it, but it was best to leave it up to the professionals for multiple reasons. One, I was boxed in anyway. Two, they seemed to handle it well enough without any help. Three, I want to avoid conflicts of interest as I want to have chances to perform at this club. The comic onstage when it happened was allowed to 'start over' while it was being handled, meaning his time on the clock before seeing the red 'time light' started over. Some comics made jokes about it, but I saw nothing funny about it. Thankfully, this doesn't happened much before. As I recall, it was the first time it had happened.
   I called my dad back while at the club waiting for the list to arrive. He tells me he would like to see me perform sometime, don't know when it is possible. We talked about baseball a little, like about fellow Iowan Casey Blake. I said I was unsure if he had been signed by a team this year, he had previously played for the Dodgers. Dad was unfamiliar with who Bernie Madoff was or a Ponzi scheme, odd how I had to explain these things since it had been over 3 years. It was in reference to team owners, since I knew the Dodgers were sold due to a messy divorce, and the Mets may be as well since their owners had dealings with Madoff.
    It was easier than typical at work today, as we were short a few people so I was mostly covering for them and somebody else was making copies for most of the day.

College Hockey Regionals

Went to the college hockey tournament at the 'X' earlier today, where Minnesota beat North Dakota 5-2. Gophers went ahead 1-0 about midway through the first. Then early in the 2nd they got the 2nd goal, and North Dakota answered less than a minute later. Minnesota's third goal was midway through the second, and the 4th about 5 minutes later. The score stayed 4-1 until about 4 minutes left in the 3rd, when Minnesota got their 5th goal and North Dakota answered about a minute later. Many fans were cheering 'let's go Sioux' though the team no longer had the Sioux Indian head on their uniforms, just the state name on the front and the uniform number. No mention of the nickname in the program either. There were plenty of boos when videos of the NCAA president spoke, guess the fans blamed him for having to drop the mascot. Speaking of the program, I liked how it was cheaper than the college basketball tournament program, as this one was just $5. But when I looked at it more closely, I realized why- it was much thinner.
   When doing laundry before the game, I did listen to the basketball tournament on the radio. Kentucky defeated Baylor in the first game, from Atlanta. The second game was from St. Louis, where Kansas defeated North Carolina. But I saw very little of it, just on the TV monitors at the 'X' during intermission. So the Final Four in basketball will be Ohio State, Louisville, Kentucky, and Kansas.
   It was notable to attend this tournament, as it was my first time there. Previously I had attended other post-season college games. I've seen the College World Series 6 times, the college basketball tournament 7 times, and 2 college football bowl games- the Holiday Bowl and Outback Bowl.

Ft. Snelling State Park

The plans today involved going hiking at a state park, near Ft. Snelling. It was nice to see a maple syrup demonstration. Hadn't done this kind of outing in a while, they're nice to do. I think I had been over to the historical part of Ft. Snelling just once before, in 2009, for a themed weekend about the Civil War. I have a college roommate who works at the VA Hospital nearby, but was informed how they aren't over at the historical part much. It was kind of warm with the hiking boots on, but I had bought them recently as a replacement and I wanted to get some use out of them.
   I did an oil change at Jiffy Lube early in the day, and had a breakfast sandwich as McDonald's as well. After the event, I went to an antique shop in Burnsville with my date. I got 3 items there, 2 were books. One had Charlie Brown and Snoopy comics in it, paperback and hand-size. The other was a Michael Moore book, 'Dude, Where's My Country?' and the clerk said they didn't like him but they were older than me. The third item was an Eminem CD, 'Encore'. I have an Eminem shirt, and it is inspired by this same CD, which has 2 discs.  He is wearing a suit and holding a gun on the shirt. I thought about getting a reference book about Western movies that had some photos from 'Covered Wagon', based on an Emerson Hough book, but if it's still there on my next visit I can get it then. I wanted to limit my spending there, so it was a tough choice what to get.
   I definitely had Emerson Hough on the mind today, due to doing an outdoors event. It was why I had my EH hoodie, shirt, and metal drinking cup with me.
    In the evening, I watched another segment of the baseball documentary with my date. It was the 8th inning, covering the 1960s. Plenty of Cardinals were covered, like the retirement of Stan Musial. The others were Bob Gibson, since he was a dominating pitcher, and Curt Flood, since he challenged the reserve clause by refusing to report to the team he was traded to. We ate at Genghis Grill in Eagan, I like the food there. Plenty of TVs there, but the sports being shown wasn't the college basketball tournament so I had a hard time following the scores on the bottom of the screen. I did check online about the college hockey tournament, as I am attending a regional final. The matchup will be Minnesota against North Dakota, as they defeated Boston University and Western Michigan respectively.  

Regina Spektor

It was a long day at work, was nice to see it end. There was some leftovers from the previous day's potluck, liked the Little Smokies and the Sloppy Joes so I had more of both.
   I had thought about going out to see a friend's comedy show, but decided I needed to stay in tonight and rest. Also a good idea, in terms of wanting to get caught up on things like going through receipts in my wallet. I did make it to Arby's for a fish sandwich, and to McDonald's for a Shamrock shake. On the way back, I decided to get another photo album, so I have gobbled up another one of those 'school binder' type albums I had wanted to replace. Though I still have some pictures not yet in an album, and they've been this way for a while.
   I did watch some of the college basketball tournament tonight, but the games I wanted to see- from St. Louis- were not on CBS, but TBS. I had seen the tournament there twice before, in 2007 and 2010. I did follow the scores when given, how North Carolina needed overtime to beat Ohio. Then Kansas held on to beat North Carolina State. In the game I was watching, from Atlanta, Kentucky beat Indiana. Though I could have paid more attention to it. I wanted to do things like read the paper and do the 'Photo Shuffle' and check email, so it was largely just background noise. I have been to Atlanta as well, and to that venue, the Georgia Dome. I was there in 2006, but not for the tournament. There was some Taekwondo matches, got in free.
    I am still researching Regina Spektor, the musician. The Wikipedia page said she was Russian-born. I listened to some more songs besides 'Fidelity', including 'Music Box', as well as a cover of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah'. Oddly enough, I found the former when looking up the big instrumental hit 'Music Box Dancer'.
   

Peanuts in Mouth

When I was searching for the Regina Spektor song 'Fidelity' on Youtube I found a remix which intrigued me, as there was some Charlie Brown art on the album cover. It was from an act called Blockhead, and the album 'Peanuts in Your Mouth'. It was the Charlie Brown body, with the famous shirt, but another head superimposed on it. It was kind of a jazzy version of the song. It was all right, but I likely need to listen to it more in order to like it. At this point I still like hearing the piano play in the original version.
   When I dropped a coin on the floor, I went to find it and found a Canadian quarter under the refrigerator. Also found a Jawbreaker, unsure how it got there and how long it's been there.
   I am getting plenty of calls and emails about jobs, but need to wade through them to see if they interest me. Seems like most of them are sales, which doesn't interest me. I am responding to them to see if there are something available in claims.
   I needed to run errands tonight, so it meant getting more photo albums, and replacing the 'school binder' types. I gobbled up quite a few with 2 albums, over 400. So there is just 59 left in one album I want to retire.
    A classmate friended me on Facebook, hadn't heard from him in a while. He got divorced, I said I would be there for him.