Siebert Field, Gopher Baseball

   Went to a Gopher baseball game at Siebert Field in the afternoon with my date. It was opening weekend at this venue after an extensive renovation, and the Minnesota Gophers beat Ohio State 1-0. The game's only run was in the sixth on a home run. It was nice seeing a pitcher's duel. It was a quick game, the announcer said it was one hour 37 minutes. This is about the length of many movies. I had seen a game there in 2009, against Iowa. It's much nicer there now that the stadium has been rebuilt. As expected, I got plenty of pictures while there.
   I made it home in time to watch '60 Minutes' on CBS. There was a feature about the parents of the Connecticut school shooting victims, trying to lobby Congress to pass tougher gun control laws. A later feature was about pro basketball player Jeremy Lin. Watching 'The Simpsons' was fun as usual. It was about a standardized test at the elementary school in order to save the school. At the end they found a way to intertwine it with Homer having a rogue parking meter. He claimed the meter from the landfill after throwing out electrical appliances because the utility rates went up.
   Eventually I told myself I needed to see about finding a strong box for valuable items. I did so at Target after going grocery shopping. I was pleased with what I found when I started filling it. As expected, some of the things moved into it were taken out of a file cabinet I got at a secondhand store when I first moved to the Twin Cities over nine years ago. I liked finding the copy of my great-grandma's Ellis Island records from 1902, so I put it in the box. I decided to search for it when I was in New York City in 2005. It can be tough to select what belongs in it, but one must establish priorities in life. And of course with anything, what I have in it is subject to change. I also decided to scout out a venue for a baseball book sale which is in a week. It's in a part of the metro area that I didn't know well. Looks like it's a good idea to bring quarters with me as I saw plenty of parking meters nearby.

Caught On Tape Movie

     I saw the Redbox DVD 'Caught On Tape' this morning. Not your typical movie, as it was just over an hour and mostly told the story through raps. Cedric The Entertainer is in it, and this is why I chose it. But he had a small role in it. Looks like there are some other similar type movies out there, based on the previews. So now I have used the free day from my Redbox anniversary.
    In the afternoon I went to see a photojournalism exhibit at the Weinstein Gallery in Minneapolis with my date. It was called 'I have tried to let truth be my prejudice' and the photos were by W. Eugene Smith. I did learn something while there. One of the photos was the newspaper headline 'Dewey Defeats Truman' that Truman held up. It is a famous photo but I was unfamiliar with the photographer of it, as they can be kingmakers and not kings. There were two baseball photos, one of Joe DiMaggio waiting to take batting practice. Another was Babe Ruth at the World Series, as a spectator as he had already retired. Next to these two was one of Tony Bennett.
    We also continued watching the series of DVDs from the History Channel about robber barons. We are seeing two segments at a time as each segment is under an hour. It ended with an anarchist trying to kill H.C. Frick, an employee of Andrew Carnegie. So now we've seen them cover three of the five, starting with Vanderbilt and continuing with Rockefeller. The 9th segment is actually bonus features. I hadn't heard of Frick before but the part of the Carnegie story about a strike while he was in Scotland reminded me of a 'Simpsons' episode when Bart led a mutiny at Camp Krusty- as Krusty was out of the country and waiting to get an honor from the British Queen.

Garbage Concert

    I went to a concert tonight. The band Garbage was playing at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis. It was a general admission show and at first I didn't have a good view of the stage. I recognized one song about wanting to be a 'Dirty little secret' and then moved around some more. Eventually I did have a partial view of the stage, could see one of the guitarists most of the time and sometimes frontwoman Shirley Manson as well. She spoke of an early show at First Avenue in 1996 and seeing a line out the door, thinking it was for them. But it was for another band, and meant to say 'Jump the gun' but said 'Jump the shark' instead. This was the same year I had hoped to see them open for Smashing Pumpkins- in Moline, Illinois. But I didn't make it in time to see them as an opening act.
   They had a song for the 'Romeo and Juliet' soundtrack if I'm not mistaken- called 'Number One Crush'- and it was played at the show. I especially liked hearing them play 'Only Happy When It Rains' and let out a primal scream at the end of the song. It's proof of how I go to concerts to remember the pain, and forget it, at the same time. During encores they played 'Stupid Girl'. I like being on the upper level to stay above the craziness but it meant a bottleneck when leaving. I still didn't waste much time walking back to my car once leaving the nightclub. I had a Stella Artois beer. There was an opening act but I arrived for the show near the end of the opening act's time onstage.
   This evening before the show I ate 'The Box' at Taco Bell. Notable was seeing a job interview begin as I was eating there, and hearing the Billy Joel song 'For The Longest Time' as well. On the bus this morning the grouchy woman was herself as usual, unfortunately.

NIT Final, Madison Square Garden

   I went to Gabe's bar in St. Paul tonight as I kept seeing emails saying the Iowa Hawkeyes had made the NIT finals. Iowa ended up losing to Baylor by 20, but it was still a fine season. It seemed like Iowa wasn't getting the rebounds much in the first half, and Baylor was more aggressive on defense as well, with a few takeaways. I have been to this venue, Madison Square Garden, in 2005 to see the Eminem concert. I called my dad at halftime, he said he had sent me a pocket Iowa Cubs schedule but I hadn't seen it in the mail just yet.
  Both episodes of 'Big Bang Theory' were good tonight. The syndicated rerun was the one about Sheldon being forced to take a vacation- and decided to be an assistant to Amy Farrah Fowler in her laboratory. The first-run episode was about a tenured position opening up at the university. It serves as a powerful reminder of how sometimes it means doing some of the politicking if one wants a coveted job, as sometimes 'Letting the record speak for itself' is not enough when it's competitive.
  On the bus tonight after work, I heard a younger man speak of being caught with drugs, don't recall how much. And something about asking for directions from an officer, then being searched by the same officer. It rivals the one I heard the previous night. It was a couple who swore a lot, and the man said he wouldn't allow his mom to speak like that again. Both spoke of people being beat up but I'm not sure as to what it was for. Some people give 'Fair Warning' that there's no winning with them, and I pay attention to these warnings. Same was true at the sports bar, when somebody wanted to argue football players with somebody on the other side of the bar. Others did make it worthwhile for me. A woman who was sitting next to me with her young daughter said 'I'm not a crazy customer, I work here' in response to saying I wanted the TV switched over to ESPN to the game I wanted to see.

Baseball Cards For Comedians

   At the comedy club tonight I got a baseball card from one of the comics after the show ended. He stuttered a lot, and said he was from the Los Angeles area. I liked seeing many of my friends in the lineup, such as the one who does the 'Porn in the hotel room' joke. This included the show-runner from last night's show, doing the joke about the hot-air balloon announcer. I did see the 'Magic Man' but he did not go onstage, unsure why unless the lineup was full.
    I liked hearing a 'Scared Straight' joke from one comic, in reference to how kids shouldn't give up on their dreams. They were implying that working in an office was like jail. Well, not quite. But the joke was still funny as I have seen 'Scared Straight' so I understood the reference. I was riveted when I watched it on an anniversary showing as it's rare that they allow swearing on broadcast TV. But they do if it's a documentary, as too much of the impact from covering real life would be lost if they took out the swearing.
  I find out there is just about everything on E-bay, including the album for the 'National Park' state quarters. I do have some from this series already. It prompted me to look at the map from the original state quarter series. I noticed in the booklet how the wrong silhouette is used for some of the states, I counted three. Even the quarters themselves are available on this site, though at this point I haven't felt the need to pay more than face value for coins. I've lucked out as I've found most of the ones I want without having to order them. With the first three years of this series, I have all but two as I just picked up another one after doing laundry. I pay attention when using the dollar bill changer to see which ones I don't have yet. It helps to shop around for things like the albums, as I've told myself I shouldn't have to pay more than the face value of the coins. Don't recall what I paid for this map, as I got it at a Montgomery Ward liquidation sale. But there are multiple listings for the album on the site, and I did see some for under $10- lower than the face value of 56 quarters.
   I also looked up the American Indian Movement, after finding out this movement had occupied more than just Alcatraz after it was closed as a prison. This movement also occupied Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota for a few days in 1971. I must have been thinking of how South Dakota has Mt. Rushmore on both of their state quarters in one form or another- the original series and the National Park series.

Mr. Belvedere's Hot Air Balloons

  At the comedy club tonight there were some no-shows, which explains why there were some replacements including the show-runner himself. He did some new jokes like how he could call his dog 'Mr. Belvedere' if he wanted to as it's deaf. Then there was one about his dad being a volunteer announcer at hot-air balloon events. It seems to explain the need for doing comedy, and of course is relatable to me. I liked hearing the mention of 'Mr. Belvedere' as it's the first one I've heard in a while. It was a show that Bob Uecker did in the 1980s, with a setting in Pittsburgh. One of the other replacements included the Kentucky native that I hadn't seen in a while. I've seen him at Alary's before as we like the same football team. He did a joke about having colleage girls living at the house with him and his wife.
   The lollipop girl was asking about liquor stores downtown, and I like helping out as I like being able to find things. With a quick online search I found out there is one in Lowertown, close enough. Something about wanting cooking wine if i'm not mistaken. Though the joke from one colleague was how she was already drinking it at the office.
   I watched a quick video about my new Hotmail inbox from Outlook, it was a silent one that lasted about two minutes. Seemed fairly straightforward, at first look I'm not sure how much has changed as I usually delete most emails right after reading them.
   Not much postal mail today, two of the items received were catalogs from The Loft about upcoming classes. Haven't taken a class in a while so I would need to look through it more closely to see if anything interests me and meets my needs. There is even special catalogs about retreats and conferences like for mystery writing and children's writing.

Cracker Jack Prizes

   There was an Opening Day celebration for the Twins at work. There was peanuts and Cracker Jacks, and I picked up a small bag of each. I was too busy for the games as I wanted to finish the payoff report, the typical high volume for a Monday. The Cracker Jack prize looked familiar, as it was an Abraham Lincoln sticker. I already had one of these, along with one of Alexander Hamilton.
   After I was at the comedy club tonight, I went to the grocery store as I was out of food. Had to move back a day doing this weekly errand. I liked seeing a bag of Easter candy so I bought one. They are Snickers minis. When checking my voicemail after work I noticed there was a message from my dad, and I responded but I got his voicemail as well. He spoke of having an Iowa Cubs baseball schedule. I had already printed one from their website but there is no color difference between the home and away games. I said I was unsure at this point as to when I would make it to Des Moines for a game, but this month is not likely especially when the weather can be iffy. Here in the Twin Cities it was chilly for the Twins opener, they lost to the Detroit Tigers.
   I didn't stay for the full show at the comedy club as I was thinking about what errands needed to be run. At first it looked like the leadoff comic was a no-show but he finally emerged, I did the typical thing which was to say 'Where are you, man?' The show-runner from the 400 Bar before this show spoke about boxing champion Mike Tyson, I think in reference to a Broadway play about him. He also spoke more about having a gig in New York City, and the high cost of seeing a show there with the two-drink minimum. Before the show I liked hearing some Johnny Cash songs, including 'Hey Porter'.