Delta Wings, Batman Watch

    When I rode the bus home tonight, I saw somebody with wings from Delta Airlines and he was wearing a Batman watch. He was wearing a black sweater vest, and there was a bright red hankie in the pocket. Also had plenty of 'Griz', but wouldn't call it a beard, and sunglasses, probably what are known as aviators. I stayed late to try to get caught up on work before being out of the office for two days, so I took a much later bus than typical. It was a busy day at work. I took my lunch early so I could attend the St. Paul Saints season opening block party nearby. I got a Softee baseball much like before, and some pictures. The first was of the Little Caesars pizza mascot with the Saints mascot, Mudonna the pig. I have one of the team being introduced, and the ball pig. I liked seeing Saints boss Mike Veeck milling around in the crowd, this event in a previous year was where I got the Facebook photo with him. I did have some Little Caesars pizza there, and my employer furnished lunch as well, Subway sandwiches. It was their Health Ahead fair day. So it was the typical 'Complete your passport' like a punch card, including having a finger pricked by a nurse for health screenings. Late in the afternoon I went to a meeting in the main conference room where we heard somebody speak about compliance. I said to myself she isn't a good public speaker, seemed to hesitate or stammer too much.
   At the comedy club tonight, I find out there is high interest from many comics about this blog. Some haven't been written about yet. The International Falls native was MC. Since I was scheduled to perform I was getting ready with my material, so I don't recall as much of her set as I wanted to. But I recall hearing the animal violence joke. The speech therapist did one about running, and how she's not pregnant. The Kentucky native did some crowd rap about strict religious upbringings. One comic did a joke about her hair, and locks of love. I was fifth in the lineup, and did some about the Saints block party as well as seeing my dad over the weekend. The internet dating jokes also worked well. The Mason City native did one about dealing with a bathroom attendant at a Chicago venue. The bathtub comic did one about wearing sunscreen at night, along with one about a horse from a carriage ride. The exercise guru did some about his weight loss. The godmother did one about her bucket list, and the one about having candy bars and ranch in the checkout line. Others were Youtube life coach, latex gloves, and being at the Boston comedy festival. The conga line did one about being Lebanese as her leadoff, as well as being a seeing eye person. The Tetris comic did one about having a rental car since his car is in the shop. Another was about the movie 'Eyes wide shut'.
    One comic asked for a particular nickname, but his common outfit of sweater vest isn't unique enough. He is more likely to be known as 'Software developer' since it's his occupation as I recall. He described himself as a horrible person. He did a joke about errand running for cigarettes. And he did what is likely his best joke, about adopting from China. One comic shook my hand just before taking the stage, he moved from Arizona if I'm not mistaken. He did some jokes about having a lisp. The Louisiana native was show closer. He did one about e-cigarettes, as well as dog discipline. The dog theme continued, with one about being the 'Magic bathroom man'.  

San Francisco World's Fair

     I decided to get caught up on my mail tonight since I didn't on Monday. It meant getting more postcards from E-bay orders into the photo albums. Twelve cards arrived, 10 were from a single order. It had 3 each from New York, Seattle, and San Francisco. The tenth was from Chicago, the Black Forest village. I did have one postcard from the 1915 San Francisco world's fair, and these three were the first I have acquired from the 1939 fair. It was surprising how there were 2 fairs in the same year, as New York also had a world's fair in 1939. It shows the Temple Compound, the Court of Reflections, and Court of Flowers. The last one also had an ad for Union 76 on it. I now have four from the 1962 Seattle world's fair, in addition to one from the 1909 Seattle fair. And now I have 9 from the 1964 New York fair. Some of them are just of the Unisphere. With 3 from different orders, I now have 96 postcards from the 1933 Chicago world's fair. One of those that just arrived was of a Braniff plane taking off near Chicago's lakefront to deliver the mail.
     It was no problem staying busy at work today, as a colleague was out and we had to see that all duties were covered. I did most of the payoff report, and all of the new titles, nearly 200. I perfected and filed contracts from one of the two Fed-Ex packs. What I liked was how it got me out of doing letters, as it can be hard to keep up with the letter process.
    At the comedy club tonight, this edition of the contest had the godmother as leadoff comic after the MC. She did well with jokes about JV landscaping and being married to a cop, but did not advance. An announcement was made about an executive decision, it led to 3 comics advancing to the next round instead of two. I made it earlier there than typical, and decided to eat at the show. There was a big interest in the hockey game, as the Wild were playing in Game 6 of the playoffs against Chicago.

Monday Night Comedy Show Anniversary

     I went to the Monday Night Comedy Show anniversary tonight. I put on my costume after arriving, the slasher from the 'Scream' movies. Notable was hearing the song 'Manic Monday' by the Bangles when I was getting a beer. Another comic, who likes the bands Black Flag and Slayer, said the song was written by Prince.
   Some awards were handed out tonight. Recipients included the Mr. Pibb comic as well as the roller grill comic. The latter had a paper grocery store bag on his head, so I said he was the 'Unknown comic'. The bus fare comic did his Goldilocks and the 3 bears joke, along with one about picking up somebody at the airport. The preschool teacher did a joke about being raped by a catheter. The resistable comic did one about how her hair was too red for Target. The show closer was from the band known as the Dirty Curls, and she did one about her mom being British.
    I did get plenty of pictures in costume, one of them was with a comic who said he liked reading my blog. He does the Happy Meal joke I like, and in crowd rap he tells people to uncross their arms. When I had one photo done before he showed up I said I was afraid to cross my arms. There were door prizes, I ended up with a Rocking Rollers Moose Skier and it appears to be taller than my Christmas tree. So I am not sure yet what to do with it.  

Stockman House, Frank Lloyd Wright

    On my way back to the Twin Cities today I stopped in Mason City, Iowa, and toured the Stockman House. Frank Lloyd Wright was the architect. It is the third F.L. Wright building I have seen, the other two are a gas station in Cloquet, MN, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. I did see plenty of brochures there about touring other buildings he designed. For a long time I would drive near Mason City and see the sign from the road about this house but I seemed to be in a rush to get somewhere else so it was hard to schedule for a while. I figured I had enough time today to see one of the two buildings he designed in this town. I am hopeful I can see the other, a hotel, later this year. I bought a set of 8 postcards of the house while there.
   It took me a while to make it back home today. I left Mason City shortly after 2pm and finally made it back at 6pm. I am more leisurely when driving back home as I tend to get tired and make more stops. In addition, there was a construction delay and I had to figure out how to re-route myself. It was a parking lot on I-35 and I was able to get off at the Lakeville/Farmington exit, though I still needed some time to get home from there. I made it back with the rental car before the scheduled return time. I like having somebody receive the car and this service ends at 7pm, I got back just before 6:30.

Iowa Cubs Game Vs. Nashville

    This is what I call baseball and museum season. I was hopeful to get to both today, but I headed to Des Moines, Iowa, and made it around 3pm. Museums I wanted to see like Camp Dodge or the Bob Feller museum closed for the day an hour later, 4pm. I did get over to the Anderson Erickson dairy and got a picture of the famous cow and calf. On a visit later this year I can hopefully see one of those two museums. I liked how the drive didn't take long once I got started. it helped that I made just one stop along the way, at a Casey's in Clear Lake, IA. I got some pizza there, along with a pack of baseball cards. It is a nice place to stop since it is close to the midway point of the drive, and close to I-35 as well- easy in, easy out.
   I went to a minor league baseball game, an annual visit to an Iowa Cubs game. They lost to Nashville 10-1. They were shut out for a while. I recall the Nashville Sounds were also the opponent when I saw the Famous Chicken (or San Diego Chicken) perform back in 1987. But I think they had a different parent club then, a Cincinnati Reds team and currently a Milwaukee Brewers team. I still have the photo and cup that The Chicken signed. Notable was how it was hard to get to sleep after the game at the Motel 6 room I shared with my dad, since somebody's car alarm kept going off.
    Before I left town I got some errand running done this morning, and had to push myself to make the bus, not knowing when the next one would be.

Coconut Candles

    It probably wasn't your typical night at the comedy club, as some talked about this blog since one comic mentioned it on Facebook. But I like how my writings are getting attention. I am told the boss man at this club read plenty of entries, dating back months. I know he asked on Facebook who certain comics were, since I use nicknames. I liked seeing the skits director, back from California.
     My 'Bestie' was one of the performers tonight, doing a joke about taking things for granted which led to something about coconut candles. He did some new jokes, including Mike Tyson and dreams. I really liked the one about bringing lunch for his lady. The Rut-roh comic did one about the Bruce Springsteen song 'Glory Days', saying people are pathetic if they think high school is the best years of their life. And there was one about a small bank withdrawal. The 'Extra murder' comic did one about how his wife likes George Clooney, spurred by Clooney recently getting engaged. And he brought back the 'Extra murder' joke since he moved recently. He also did one about his car's check engine light. The ex-TSA agent did ones about his car and swearing in winter, along with slapping people who stutter. The movie reviewer gave fake movie reviews, I shouted out two of my favorites, 'Rain Man' and 'Good Will Hunting'. The hipster detective did one about looking like Shawn White, the Olympic athlete. The International Falls native did one about bears working at K-Mart. The show closer was the Mr. Pibb comic, who did do the Mr. Pibb joke. He also did ones about fidgeting as a kid, and online banking wanting certain passwords. There was also a one-legged comic.
   Even though a colleague was out of the office today, it was no problem seeing the work was covered due to the lower volume at the end of the week. For once this week I left on time. After eating at Taco Bell in the evening, I did watch some of the two reruns of 'Monk' shown on channel 29 tonight. It looks like after showing what must have been the final episode last week that they started over with the early ones.

Brad Paisley on 2 1/2 Men

    This was the typical 'Get caught up on paperwork' night. I watched plenty of CBS shows, including 'Two and a half men' where Brad Paisley, the musician, was guest star. He showed up when Alan was about to get married to his ex-wife, played by Kimberly, Brad's real-life wife. It was really funny when Alan made a joke about why Brad's character got divorced, saying the story sounded a lot like a song from country music. Then he said he was more partial to hip-hop.
   I did watch 2 episodes of 'Big Bang Theory' tonight. The syndicated rerun was where Howard annoyed all of his friends with talk of being in space. It ended with Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin, the astronaut, as guest star. I liked the Halloween costume party, as Amy was Raggedy Ann and Sheldon was C3PO. The prime time episode was where Penny got fired from a movie role, along with Wil Wheaton. Then she gets engaged to Leonard. Raj saw Emily, an ex, at a movie theater with another man. Howard and Bernadette take care of Howard's mom after she gets injured. Sounds like next week is the season finale, and there will be more about the engagement.
   I participated in a festival at midday near my workplace. I got a button as a souvenir. It says 'I love gateway corridor transit'. Much of what I saw seemed to be about bike riding. I got plenty of pictures, starting with one of Mounties in Mears Park. I also saw a news van from Kare-11. And I was given a booklet full of bike cartoons, including what kinds if bikes certain artists would own like Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso. There were plenty of chalkboards as well, and one said 'Imagine'. I wrote on it how I am looking forward to the new Saints baseball stadium, which will be nearby.