Winnipeg Hockey

I had to pause when the announcement was made about the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers moving to Winnipeg. I had visited there, for a Van Halen concert in 2004 on Halloween weekend, the final event at the old Winnipeg Arena. I had seen the minor-league hockey team, the Moose, play the Chicago Wolves before. And of course I had seen the baseball team, the Goldeyes, play the St. Paul Saints. The MTS Centre I said was built to attract an NHL team, and it has. But it took a little longer than some fans had hoped, I am sure. The example I had given was the Met In Bloomington, MN, now the site of Mall of America. That stadium was built to attract a major league baseball team, and it did after 5 seasons as a minor league venue. I had even bought a book about Manitoba at a second hand store after visiting Winnipeg, as I liked my visit there. It was a long drive, and a rather gruff security guard on the American side. Also memorable was how it was the weekend before the election, so the joke I could have made was 'please let me back in the country so I can vote!' On the radio was profiles about the candidates, Bush and Kerry. Also recall songs like 'I'm on Fire' by Bruce Springsteen, as well as some French songs that seemed to be in rotation, they were repeating. A few years back, after this visit, I saw an arthouse movie called 'My Winnipeg', which did show the old hockey arena being demolished.
    I had some ice cream after dinner, went to Dairy Queen to have a Blizzard, they didn't have the German Chocolate Brownie type as flavor of the month so I got French Silk Pie instead. After the comedy show, I tried adjusting my car seat while driving, likely not an advisable thing to do, but nothing bad happened.
   

Como Zoo

Made it to Como Zoo in St. Paul today, we did find parking though it was still hard to do for a while. Liked seeing 2 different seal shows there, and got another smashed penny souvenir there. We waited a little to head out since there was some storm warnings in the area, but those passed quickly. We had heard some sirens in the area and decided to turn on the TV to find out more. Watched some of the game show 'Price is Right', something I don't see often since I am usually at work. After being at the zoo we watched 'Jeopardy', and didn't know the final answer, which was 'Twilight Zone' about the name of a part of the ocean. It's nice what can be learned from this game show.
   The final thing we did at the zoo was go on the carousel, liked seeing the history of it being displayed there about how it had been moved from the state fairgrounds a mile away in the name of preservation.
    I finished my errand running, when I got back home I put away the dishes, as well as the laundry. I got around to grocery shopping as well, at  a Rainbow Foods.
   Naturally a big part of the news today was Memorial Day observances, it's nice that it's more than just honoring veterans who have died but also those who are still alive.

One Coupon Left

I got laundry done after waffles this morning. Taco Bell coupon number 19 was used today at lunchtime, got a receipt. There's just one left to use now, and it expires in just over a month.
    I went to a birthday party today, apparently it was a multiple celebration, within my date's 'second family'. We had cake and ice cream, and after a while most of us went out to a restaurant, Green Mill. I was getting tired by the evening, and it was fine with me when my date decided it was time to leave. We watched another DVD, this one was 'Elizabethtown'. I liked it since it was a road movie, and there was plenty of good music in it I recognized such as 'In the Name of Love' by U2.
   Since it was a holiday weekend I knew I would be getting another chance to complete my errand running before having to go back to work. I had hoped to get my grocery shopping done but it will have to wait. I may have had enough time to go do laundry but not to put it away, I just left it in the basket. Same is true with the dishes. But it won't take long to put away either when I get around to it.

Shoe Shopping

I had hoped to go to Como Zoo in St. Paul today with my date, but it was crowded and couldn't find a parking spot. So we decided to postpone, also since it looked like it was going to rain, and it did shortly after we made alternate plans. First was to get to Rosedale Mall in Roseville for shoe shopping. My dress shoes were due for replacement, and a gift card had just arrived earlier in the week. The card was nice, it meant the shoes were half price.
   After the mall, we went to find more Charlie Brown and Snoopy statues. Many of them I knew about were in downtown St. Paul. The total is now up to 34, as 16 more were found. I liked finding something I was looking for, it was a covered wagon, apparently moved downtown. When I had seen it before, it had reminded me of Emerson Hough, since he had written a book called 'Covered Wagon'.
    The evening ended with us having dinner and seeing a DVD, 'While You Were Sleeping' starring Sandra Bullock. I liked it since it had a Chicago setting, and I had lived in the northwest suburbs for a while. I also like trains, and commuter trains figured into the storyline.
    

First Avenue Show

Saw my first-ever concert at First Avenue in Minneapolis tonight, Jimmy Eat World. They played their popular song 'The Middle' during the encores. I went crazy, vigorously dancing and gyrating, during it. Tired, just went through 2 days worth of email, didn't get much sleep last night after the comedy show.
   Saw a comedian friend between acts, it was nice talking to him there. I did my best to walk around at the venue before the show, paying attention to all that was there. The amenities looked good, tile walls and metal toilets. There were 2 painted stars on the walls of this venue, dedicated to Prince and to Joe Cocker. I knew it was a favorite place for for the former to play, and I had read how Prince's movie 'Purple Rain' was filmed there in the 1980s. The latter star may have been the first show there, not sure. But it was dated 1970, and the venue opened that year.
    I did get a souvenir there, a pack of three buttons for $5. Since they kept my ticket at the front door I definitely wanted another souvenir.  The original confirmation of the ticket order may do in terms of having a ticket as a souvenir. Saw a vending machine there, the prices were expensive, reminding me of the airport. Liked seeing plenty of TV monitors there, in case you couldn't see the stage well. Before the show it was showing 'Beavis and Butthead'. It was likely the movie instead of any episode of the TV series since there was some racy things in it, even for them.
   One memorable thing was seeing two young men there wanting to keep me company apparently, I wanted to sit down since I was tired and this was in an area where you couldn't see the stage well. I was bobbing my head to the beat of the music, and they spoke of how they saw me 'riffing' I think. I don't see it as a big deal to go to an event by myself.
   After the show I liked getting some free stuff, not just flyers for upcoming shows but also bottles of Minute Maid juice, it was pomegranate blueberry. I drank it down real quick.

Killebrew Service

Left work an hour early to attend the Killebrew memorial service at Target Field, plenty of VIP's there. Made it to a comedy show across town right after it.
   First, the service. It was actually another date, met her first for dinner at a pizza by the slice place near Target Center, near the 'other' Target-named arena. We saw his statue and Hall of Fame plaque on display before going in. There weren't many people waiting when the gates opened, no problem getting in. The news said about 4,000 attended it. There was a helicopter overhead, guess the news wanted an aerial view, it after all was news. I liked how they started out with when he appeared on a show called 'Home Run Derby' back in 1960, playing for the Washington Senators. I had seen reruns of it on ESPN before. I liked the music quite a bit, there was a choir singing, and the recorded songs playing were nice as well. These included 'Tears in Heaven' by Eric Clapton, and as we were leaving it was 'The Dance' by Garth Brooks. It did bring back memories of being at the Kirby Puckett memorial service in 2006, although Puckett's had a larger crowd, maybe due to being a more recent player than Killebrew.
   I wanted to rush across town for a comedy show I would be performing in, so I got my date on the train and then left to get to my car. I arrived 5 minutes before the scheduled start of the show, but the start time was delayed nearly 30 minutes. Found out I would be doing more than just a duet at the end of the show, but co-hosting it by making comments about each comic after they performed. There was some musicians there, playing on an electric piano, reminding me of being at the memorial service. I liked getting the stage time, after a while my friend let me be the sole host and I did my best with it, was told I did quite well. Looking forward to when I can do it again. Even signed a few posters after the show, and taking cues from what was said about Killebrew having a legible signature, I decided to go with a more legible one.   

Early Bus Ride

I decided to take an early bus to work in hopes of getting more time to find some of the Charlie Brown and Snoopy statues, but came up empty. I got a few more leads though, just by going to some of the sponsors and knowing where the home offices of those sponsors are. I did find 2 more after work, before and after attending a comedy show. One is in Lilydale, near a gas station. I knew this one due to mention on a blog when doing searches earlier.
   There was a meeting about the health ahead program ending, it lasted shorter than the time allotment given, 30 minutes instead of 45. Liked some of the snacks there, like small bags of pecan sandies.
    I must have some passion for the statue search, as I was walking for a while next to a road with plenty of traffic on it and trying to find house numbers in the dark, hard to guess how much I walked but needed the exercise. Saw a few police cars go by with lights and sirens on, made me think of a joke where whatever they were being called for was more important than me. Though I did see some automatic lights go on when walking past at one point.