Mints In Cup Near Door

      I did a long walk in the skyway at midday and saw a cup full of mints near a door. I decided to claim one and the wrapper said 'We love our residents'. There was a management office for apartments nearby. It was a part of the skyway that I don't see very often. I stayed inside as I was unsure how cold it still was outside, though the news said the wind chill advisory was set to expire by then.
    Tonight I made it to the comedy club. It was the first time I had been out with my car since Saturday, so it had been 3 days. Thankful that it started, though it was a little contrary. In some ways I may be addicted to the drama, in terms of thinking of what would happen if the car hadn't started. Or, even before that, wondering what the odds would be on it starting. Why- since the oil change place said there wasn't enough cold cranking amps in my battery at the last two oil changes? The gauge said it was in the normal range, and has been there consistently for a while.
   My 'Bestie' was the show closer. He did the 'Chivalry is dead' joke, and I said I liked the voice change for effect in this joke. He also did the 'Lost dog' joke, and has been adding to it. I did speak  about my blog, and I gave my business card so he knows where to find it. I spoke with the show runner after the show, he talked some about college basketball. As a fellow Iowan he spoke mainly about some of the college basketball there. The MC did the joke about 'ODD' and the most common cause is bad parents. I laughed really hard at this one as usual. I did get some shout-outs, which makes me feel good of course. I know this comic may have brought out this joke, knowing I like it. Her name is the same as a capitol city, and since I know capitols well it is memorable to me.  

Japanese Knotweed

       I stayed home from the comedy club tonight due to the cold weather, and I decided to read some more from back issues of the paper. I read the month of July tonight. This included the funny columnist, one of his columns was about Japanese knotweed, the latest invader of our fair state. We can say it's bamboo and paint the bears white with black accents, and presto- pandas. Everyone likes pandas, tourists will come. Earlier columns were about a MNDOT app promising happy trails for all drivers. It would have traffic updates on roads you're not on. Then there was one man's quest to make summer last. It was about back-to-school supply sales already happening.
    I read 6 papers for this month. Three were from Minneapolis, two from St. Paul, and one from St. Louis as it was the month of my annual visit for Cardinal baseball games. Egypt's old guard returns, cracks down. Liberty island, home of the Statue of Liberty, re-opens on a most fitting date, the 4th of July. It was the first time since Hurricane Sandy. There was an article about the movie '20 Feet from Stardom', a documentary about back-up singers. This was a movie I saw at theaters. The St. Paul paper had 'Stop, think, write'. It was about the 'Before I die' chalkboard downtown in the skyway. The streetcar arch at the state fair returns. The Minnesota Orchestra management and musicians have had behind the scenes talks with a mediator. It is one of the longest labor battles ever for a US orchestra, at nearly a year.
   Back to the St. Paul paper. Crews prepare to raze a building standing in the way of the new Lower- town ballpark. This is an event that I attended. The TV show 'Elementary' brings stateside Sherlock to London. Filming for the season premiere was at Paddington train station and Trafalgar Square. I know I did see the train station when I was in London in 2012. The once-mighty city of Detroit files for bankruptcy.
  On to the St. Louis paper. There was an article about sculptures at the Gen America building downtown, a place I took pictures of as I found an article stating some scenes from the movie 'Up in the air' were filmed there. There is a Post-Dispatch store, with plenty of Cardinal items, many of them collectibles, but not sure how many are in my price range. I subscribe to the Cardinal magazine and I ordered the Stan Musial commemorative edition when it was offered. I would have to check the website to see it anything appeals to me. South Dakota's Corn Palace, in Mitchell, renovations get city ok. This was a place I saw about a week later, as part of my South Dakota tour that included Mount Rushmore and Wall Drug. A look back had an article about food rationing in World War II. A new show, The Millers. This is one that I have seen, it is on CBS. What do you share when you swipe? This was an article about debit and credit card fraud at Schnucks grocery stores. It sounds a little like what just happened at Target. Breaking up Barnes and Noble could unlock its true value. But their PR department declined to comment about the company's plans. There are three main components to the business- retail, which is likely most of the stores. Then there's college, as I know many of the college bookstores are owned by them. Finally there is Nook, the e-reader business.
    I am watching The Fly Show, and they just covered the creepy deodorant commercial, I have seen it. This is an Old Spice commercial with 'Helicopter moms' in it when their sons are on dates.
   An E-bay order arrived, it was a comic postcard from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, so now there are 41 cards from this fair. I sent a holiday card to my aunt, who had sent me one. I had hoped to get a book returned to the History Book Club as I didn't order it, at midday. But the line was too long at the post office, just one clerk and I was the 8th in line. I didn't see myself making it to first in line in 10 minutes so I left. When I go back I will allow myself more time during my lunch to get it done.
   It wasn't too big of a deal getting to and from work today despite the weather. I saw that I was prepared so it meant getting out my green scarf to cover my face. It was knitted by my late grandma when I was young, it hadn't been used much lately. For a while it was the tie for my sleeping bag, that I no longer have. When I was walking home after work I heard somebody ask for a dollar, twice. If they were asking me I ignored them as I just wanted to get inside.     

Take Your Memory With You

        Recently I heard a song right after turning on my TV. I don't know what the show was, but I did look up the song. It was 'Take your memory with you' by Vince Gill. As usual, having key lyrics helped with looking it up online. I wrote down 'Take your memory with you when you go'. When I found it on Youtube I chose the video that was from the Grand Old Opry. It was about a relationship ending, it did make me think of another country song about relationships, 'Leaving here a better man' by Clint Black. So I found that Youtube video as well.
   There was very little on my schedule for the day, so I didn't venture out at all in this cold weather. I stayed in and watched the two football games. San Diego beat Cincinnati 27-10 in the first game and San Francisco beat Green Bay 23-20 in the second. San Francisco won on a last-second field goal. I also went through a tote bag I hadn't looked at in a while. It had forms in it from when I was a delegate at local political conventions in 2008. I shredded a decent amount of the papers since they were obsolete by now, and plenty of copies of my resume as it had addresses I no longer live at. I kept a small number to see the evolution of my resume. On one of these, when I lived in Des Plaines, I had written on the back of it. I wrote down various football stadiums, bowl games, or both, likely places that I wanted to see. A total of 19 are on this list. I did make it to many of them! I had four categories- West, Texas, Florida, and South. The first one was the U. of Washington in Seattle, and I did make it there for a vacation in 2007. Another was the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona. I did make it to Sun Devil Stadium in 2005 and saw two games there, but it wasn't the Fiesta Bowl that I saw. Then there's the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, which I saw in late 2006. For Florida I have the Hall of Fame (now Outback) Bowl in Tampa, which I saw in early 2009. I had hoped to see the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. But when I was in the area the driver didn't want to stop there, wanted to avoid the rush-hour traffic. For Texas I made it to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas during the State Fair in 2010 for a Grambling football game. For the south I made it to three of them. One of these was the Peach (now Chick-Fil-A) Bowl in Atlanta, as I did see some Tae kwon do matches at the Georgia Dome where the game is played. I saw the Clemson football stadium in the Carolinas but did not attend a game there. Last is the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, and I did see a Tulane football game at the Superdome in 2002. I did also list the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, but during my visit to see my college roommate in 2008 we saw a minor-league baseball game and I have no idea where the football stadium is. Four were listed at the bottom after all of the earlier listings were crossed out, and I've been to two of these four- Fiesta and Cotton Bowls, but not the Rose and Orange Bowls. For the Cotton Bowl I wrote 'Texas State Fair', maybe a game or concert besides just Oklahoma-Texas'. It is nice to get things crossed off my list, be a doer.
    I did get some more reading done on back issues of the paper, now read through the month of June. First was from VitaMN, and the Big Red 1 from the First National Bank building was on the cover. It was about an art festival in St. Paul. One picture was of Union Depot. There was mention of musician Jeff Buckley (and his dad, Tim) since a biopic was being released. Alexis on the Sexes, an advice columnist, tackled the issue of lending money to a casual date. There was an article about the death of Esther Williams, who swam her way to Hollywood stardom. And about the anniversary of D-Day from World War Two. It was disassembly time at the Ford plant in St. Paul. Flat Earth brewing moved to the Hamm's beer site. I liked how the article went through the history of Hamm's, including its cartoon bear ad campaign, and how it was a big East Side employer like Whirlpool and 3M. But all three have left now. City Pages had an article about 'The state of beer', microbreweries. One of these was 612 Brew, which I recall was a big sponsor of a comedy festival I saw in the past year.
  On the other side of the card I wrote on for notes, it continues with things like the George Zimmerman trial beginning. Dessa, the local musician, released a new album. I liked what she said about how most of her music is about herself, saying she can't tell a made-up story as well as a true one. There was a French movie 'Augustine', about a troubled maid. Carolyn Hax, the advice columnist, had a letter titled 'She wants wedding, he wants to elope'. The Mayan exhibit opened at the Science Museum. I think it just closed this weekend, and I didn't see it as it didn't appeal to me. At New York's JFK Airport, the Worldport terminal is endangered since it was abandoned by Delta Airlines. There was mention of trying to find The Griffin, a shipwreck in Lake Michigan that was led by famous explorer, La Salle, in the 1600s. Mandela's illness weighs on Obama, and Mandela passed away since then. There was a documentary movie, Secret Disco Revolution. Marc Rich, fugitive financier, dies in Switzerland. My ex once spoke of somebody who fled to Switzerland due to tax evasion. When I saw mention in the story of how this man dealt with minerals and metals, and fled to the town of Zug in particular, I am thinking this must be who had worked with my ex's dad.
   Last but not least, we have the funny columnist. He spoke of a PCA complaint, and how the sun will 'Make me look like a ranting fool'. Something about a weather-induced, bad mood epidemic. The weather is intended to keep us humble. There was something about moods and precipitation, and Twitter. What made me laugh was something about a statue of Bud Grant in the arms of the Pillsbury doughboy. Then there's why he will be out of juice the next time the power goes out. Something about buying batteries online at Amazon and not in stores. Finally there is the North Dakota tourism billboard, a puzzler- 'Arrive a guest, leave a legend'. He includes mention of South Dakota in it, about making a wrong turn and how slow the progress has been at the Crazy Horse Memorial. This billboard did make me think of one of my comedian friends, as the 'Extra murder' comic had a joke about it. He said you'll be a legend because 'You will be the coolest guy here'.  

Gameworks Tickets

       I did some cleanup today, going through two plastic sandwich bags full of event tickets. I found some Gameworks tickets, seven in all. I went online and confirmed they were from my time living in suburban Chicago, as there is a location in Schaumburg near Woodfield Mall. No other locations were in the Midwest. Not sure when I got them, but as I recall they had the free tickets for an advance screening of 'Shrek' back in 2001. During my next visit to the area I will have to see about redeeming them. Of course it means finding out if they are still of value. But I don't want to cram too much into one weekend. I would already like to see the World's Fair exhibit at the Field Museum, as well as a
Wolves hockey game, a comedy show, and the World's Fair postcard collection at a suburban library. It means studying how to make the logistics work, and I am up to that challenge. Some things are only possible on certain days, or certain times of day. And a ticket redemption won't take long unless it is hard to find a parking spot and I stay to play games to get more tickets. I do like Skee-ball.
   The day started off with some cleanup. I went into my box of greeting cards and was pleased that there were 3 postcards in it. One was from Thailand, it was from my college roommate. This was the second of his two visits there, and I was sent a postcard from the first visit as well. One was from Las Vegas, from my Little League teammate. The third was from Pittsburgh, from my mom. I got those into photo albums where they belong.
    There was some chores and errand running on my list to get done before it got colder. The first stop was to the Blockbuster Video liquidation sale. I bought two videos, Ordinary People and Crazy Heart. I also got a 6-pack of little Baby Ruth candy bars, and two Girl Scout candy bars. Then it was a stop for groceries, and eventually to Little Caesar's for a pepperoni pizza. I got the recycle and trash done shortly after returning with pizza. Because of this, I didn't see much of the first football playoff game. The Chiefs led the Colts 31-10 at halftime but lost 45-44. I probably saw more of the second game, Saints-Eagles, the Saints won 26-24 on a last-second field goal.    

Fireplace Video From Netflix

     I went to the comedy club tonight and the 'Extra murder' comic did a joke about fireplaces on Netflix. It of course made me think about 'Yule Log', a show I like to watch around Christmas. I got plenty of shout-outs since I was in the front row. My 'Bestie' performed as well, he did his 'Chivalry is dead' joke. I like it and I hadn't heard it in a while. We spoke briefly after the show but he left quickly. I said I would still like to see one of his shows on the road. I've heard plenty about the venue in Appleton, WI, near Green Bay. It sounds like he may be there in the spring. I had meant to see a show there previously but my schedule didn't allow it, this was three years ago.
    On the way to the venue I did pass by the site of a building destroyed by fire this week. I could still detect a burnt smell, likely since the demolition isn't finished yet.
    After the show I did find some videos on  Youtube about the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. Some of them were newsreels, and it included a demonstration of Chrysler cars on a test track. I am now up to 40 postcards from this fair since some more arrived this week.

Everything Is An Art Nowadays

       I had to look at my notes last week from reading the papers from the month of May. With not wanting to go anywhere due to the subzero weather it meant getting caught up on many things. As usual I liked the funny columnist. The last of 5 was how everything is an art nowadays, how the Twin Cities can add 'Creative' to the list of top 10 traits. The others included 'Bit o history', about Pearson's Salted Nut Roll buying Bit o honey. Minnesota has a place in candy history, with mention of Minneapolis nougat. Then there was 'Paper or plastic', about a bag of bags, and a nickel tax on the grocery bags. Next was four dollars a gallon on gas, 'You get a card!' because you don't have enough cards. The fourth was about expansion at Mall of America.
   There was a variety of publications, not just the Minneapolis paper. The notable articles started off with the star conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra threatening to quit if no deal was in place. There was a memorial for George Jones, the musician. Two popes call the Vatican home. A picture of
micro-apartments, many were the size of hotel rooms. There was the premier issue of the St. Paul Globe, and an article about the previous paper with the same name which ceased publication in 1905. It was about railroad baron James J. Hill and financier J.P. Morgan. Also an article about the sport of boxing in the city. The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra returns. Then there was the emerald ash borer and Asian carp. The gay marriage bill was signed into law. Apparently the Schmidt brewery sign will return. City Pages had a cover story about the 'Ag-gag war'. About those who expose the atrocities at factory farms. Advice columnist Carolyn Hax responded to a 20-something stuck in 'The friend zone' and this woman said she does comedy, like I do. There was 'Memphis blues'- due to lost flights since the merger of  Delta and Northwest Airlines. There was also a lawsuit filed by former governor Jesse Ventura, over defamation in a book.
     I watched two episodes of 'Big Bang Theory' tonight. The syndicated rerun was about Sheldon meddling in the relationship between Leonard and Dr. Stephanie. He shows up on their date at a movie theater. The prime time episode was penny getting a role on a TV show, but then her scene was cut. She proposes to Leonard, who doesn't respond. Sheldon keeps trying too hard to be funny.       

Jaclyn Smith Shoebox

       I went to the Timberwolves basketball game this evening, against the New Orleans Pelicans. I took the light rail to the game, and on the train I saw an empty Jaclyn Smith shoebox. I picked it up and put it in a trash bin at my stop near the Target Center. I know this was an actress that was on the TV show 'Charlie's Angels' in the 1970s.  The Wolves won the game 124-112, after leading 61-47 at halftime. I liked how the Wolves spread around the scoring, as I counted at least 6 players scoring in double figures from following the scoreboard. There were multiple technical fouls in it, which I know is not typical. I had to walk around the concourse at halftime to get the blood flowing as I was starting to fall asleep in my seat.
   This was my annual visit to see the Wolves, as I like the reminder of my 'Benchmark' visit to New Orleans. And it meant wearing the Mardi Gras beads I brought back from my 2002 visit at the game tonight. This is the first year the basketball team is know as the Pelicans. I knew it had been the name of their long-ago minor league baseball team, and Louisiana is known as the Pelican State. Then there's also the John Grisham book and movie 'Pelican Brief'.
   At midday I went to a sports bar and watched Iowa play in the Outback Bowl. Iowa lost 21-14 to LSU after trailing 14-0 at halftime. Iowa couldn't move the ball well, aside from an interception return and kick return, which set up both of their touchdowns.