Doritos Chips After Laundry

   At work we had another meeting, in the afternoon. It was to announce how a new committee works and who will be on it. I threw my hat in the ring and wasn't picked. I later emailed and said I deserved an explanation. The interest period was extended and I was one of the few who expressed interest initially. There was some cake after the meeting, I had a piece. The meeting didn't last long, about 30 minutes.
   I did laundry tonight. I was running out of clean clothes so it was time. I went a little longer than typical but probably got more of my money's worth. I wanted to get potato chips while doing laundry but was afraid of getting locked out of the laundromat. This has happened before, when arriving close to closing time. So I stayed inside until I was done and got a small bag of Doritos at a nearby grocery store for 50 cents. I read some more in Jack Kerouac's 'On The Road', two chapters. I am moving right along with it, three quarters done now. I like having these small chip bags available, as it helps with weight control since they are smaller servings. Didn't see anyone while at the laundromat except for somebody who showed up to use the change machine. I saw one washer still had wash in it, including some blue jeans.
   I saw two 'Big Bang Theory' episodes tonight. The syndicated rerun was about a feud between Sheldon and Penny, where she was banished due to his 'three strikes' rule. The first-run episode was also about a feud, between Sheldon and Howard. It was over a parking spot Sheldon doesn't use as he doesn't have a car. I liked the syndicated rerun more. Also liked the 'Simpsons' rerun as it was an episode with gangsters, including my favorite, Johnny Tightlips. Krusty was trying to get his daughter's musical instrument back after gambling it away.

Old Navy Gift Card

I finished up the Old Navy gift card this evening. After trying on a few pairs of pants I chose some jeans. With discounts and the gift card balance it was under seven dollars. I had considered getting socks but there was a limited selection of these, and didn't want sweat socks. Earlier in the day I went to the Macy's liquidation sale and got a shirt to replace the retired one from Monday. So there was no need for a shirt by the time I went to Old Navy. A clerk said the expected final day at Macy's in downtown St. Paul is March 16, so it is coming soon. Now that the Old Navy card is finished it will likely be a while before I shop there again. It's an all right store but I am used to what is available at J.C. Penney. The one remaining gift card happens to be a J.C. Penney card.
   I saw the grouchy woman on the bus this morning, at times it sounded like she was singing her complaints. When I said to another rider how I've already suggested that she move to Arizona since she complains about the winter he said she'd complain about the hot summers there. At work I was informed about some of the things discussed at the staff meeting that was held on Tuesday when I wasn't there. One of the things was how our boss is still on leave, it has been extended another month to the end of March. This is often what happens, a date is given for her return and this date is pushed out again. The lollipop girl said she is starting to wonder if our boss will return at all, since it has already been more than four months. But officially the thing we are still being told is 'When' and not 'If'. There was some food at a midday meeting about health insurance coverage, liked all of the cheese but there was some little smokie pigs in a blanket as well.
    At the comedy club tonight, a friend was onstage and did a joke about being diagnosed with Lupus, by somebody who flunked out of nursing school. She also did one about leveling the playing field at Pampered Chef parties. I once did clerical work at Pampered Chef when living in suburban Chicago.
I liked the 'Simpsons' syndicated rerun tonight. It was the one where Homer was a food critic. Another critic at the paper had a priceless line in it, where he said 'It's time we all sent John Deere a Dear John'. I've often caught myself saying this line as it's catchy.

Governor Mark Dayton

I had the day off from work so I could meet my representatives at the Capitol in St. Paul. One was unavailable, plenty of meetings and committees booked. The other I saw at midday, and when we were finished I went to the Transportation Building and had lunch. I did take plenty of pictures inside and near the Capitol, as expected. This included numerous ones in a rathskeller, and I liked how there was a wall display about the history of the room. This included mention of the meaning of the term, basically 'Town hall basement' in German. I know my dad liked to say 'You can find me in the Rathskeller', and I like the sound of it. In many ways I like this place as it reminds me of visits to New Ulm for Oktoberfest, as I like having a drink at the Rathskeller at Turner Hall.
   But the highlight of the day was how I got a picture with Minnesota's governor, Mark Dayton. I went to the governor's Reception Room as I like seeing the paintings there. Many of them are of Civil War battles. At first I noticed the door was closed, then it opened. And I saw the governor was still inside! It looked like he had just been meeting with members of AFSCME, a government workers union. When one of them asked for a picture with the governor, I said I don't get opportunities like this too often so I asked for the same. Needed three tries before it took, as the assistant didn't know how to operate my digital camera. Then shortly after this he went through a private door and that was it. A tour group showed up shortly after this and when a private door opened again, albeit very
briefly, I noticed there were portraits inside of both presidents named Roosevelt. I was in the right place at the right time, in more ways than one.
   After the Capitol I was driving past on Snelling and decided to investigate why the Cheapo music shop appeared to be empty. A sign said 'We moved across the street'. Hadn't been there in a little while so I visited that location. I got two postcards, one was with a 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' theme. Also got two CDs, a Smashing Pumpkins single, 'Disarm' was one. The other was a self-titled Pearl Jam, from 2006. I did my best to guess on which ones I don't have yet. I'm fine with getting Pumpkin singles, even if I already had the song on the full album as sometimes the artwork can be different.
   I did get home in time to watch 'Millionaire' and 'Jeopardy'. The Final Jeopardy question was one I knew, a year when 3 men served as President, I knew this was in 1881 since James Garfield was assassinated. The other was 1841, when William Henry Harrison died in office after serving just a month. After doing dishes I fell asleep in my chair, but did check email before leaving for the comedy club. Upon arrival I did get comments about my patriotic shirt. I said it seemed appropriate for being at the Capitol. One friend did a joke about wearing 'Double Flannel', I was thinking more about calling him Paul Bunyan as he had a winter hat on as well. I've seen him more often since he completed the rap/comedy duet tour at the end of December. After this I went to get two photo albums at Walmart, as I needed it for some of the postcards I had ordered on E-bay. Also since there are plenty of photos still in envelopes from Walgreen.

Protesting The Bank

I was passing by the bank earlier today and noticed the entrance was more restricted than typical, most of the glass panels were up. When I inquired within one of the tellers said some group was protesting the bank. Why, I don't know.
   When doing more online Emerson Hough research I may have found another book, but it is hard to tell at this point. Available on E-bay, and Amazon, is books known as 'The cowboy', Volumes 1 and 2, apparently published in 1897 and 1908. These are being sold as reprints. I know Hough wrote 'Story of The Cowboy' in 1897. There was also a link to the University of Iowa, which has some of his papers, about doing a book for a Western series. I don't see myself ordering it at this point, other things interest me right now. It was a recent reprint, just last year. Some of the items available on the
E-bay site include articles he wrote for magazines like the Saturday Evening Post.
   I am retiring a shirt the typical way I do, by ripping it up. I noticed a tear near the right cuff while at work, and knew eventually the hole would get bigger. This happened while at the comedy club. Liked hearing the show closer doing the 'Aggressive Cuddler' joke again, about his lady friend. I spoke some about the diner skit I am in to those I saw there. I am hopeful to find it online somewhere after seeing it this weekend. There was also one comic that used another comic by saying he was a unicorn. After the show I saw the aftermath of a crash at the exit I used, looked like a semi hitting a car. At work it was a typical busy Monday, doing the larger payoff report. I could have done more errands at lunchtime but didn't give myself enough time to do so, like get trash bags at Walgreen. So I got the trash bags after the comedy show. Also checked the loyalty program balances, it looks like I lost most of my points with Best Buy. The sad thing is I don't think I really care, when I don't shop there much. Something about an annual point expiration. It's 250 points to a $5 gift certificate, and little can be had for that amount.
  A notable event was hearing the news how former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop had died. He had achieved some press when advocating condom use. I recall being on a church work camp one time and when a fellow camper knew plenty about 'Nutrasweet' I said 'Thank you, C. Everett Koop'. No, I didn't mean it as a compliment by any means. Not at that age anyway.

Venus In Fur Play

    I went to see the play 'Venus In Fur' at the Jungle Theater in Uptown Minneapolis tonight. I had seen mention of it in City Pages, and it intrigued me since I had read about S and M before. Of course this is also the name of the novel, written by who gave us the 'M' in this term- Masochism. It was funny throughout, especially what Vanda said and did. First time at this venue, liked seeing plenty of art inside the theater. There was some S and M depicted in it, like the outfits, but little else aside from being tied up at one point and being slapped in the face.
    I had to be careful when walking over to the place after parking my car as I saw some people gathered outside at a nearby establishment. It sounded like this may have been a fight about to happen since it was getting loud. So when I took a picture of the venue I waited until I had crossed the street so nobody would yell at me. I usually pay attention to a 'Fair Warning' like this one.
    I haven't read the novel that inspired the play, but had heard of it before and read the Wikipedia page about it before seeing the play. The book is mentioned often in the play, so it was helpful to read about it in some form. With my upcoming schedule I was unsure of when else I could go see it, since its run will end in two weeks. But I said if I wasn't watching the Oscars tonight then I had the time.
   I made it home in time to see the end of the Oscars, and many of the major awards hadn't been given out yet. Of course Best Picture is awarded last. This award was announced by First Lady Michelle Obama via satellite from the White House. I hadn't seen 'Argo', the Best Picture winner, but I did see 'Silver Linings Playbook' and 'Lincoln'. Those two movies did win in other categories.
   After the play I did make it over to the grocery store, and used the gift card I got from the loyalty program at Superamerica. I picked up the card in the late afternoon after I had seen an episode of 'Little House' with my date. It was one where a boy wanted to see the Pacific Ocean as he had been diagnosed with leukemia. He had painted the ocean quite a bit before he was diagnosed.

Then, Now, Wow Exhibit

For breakfast this morning I had some Tagalong Girl Scout cookies. I didn't have much else to eat and didn't want to go out and get anything. I am used to these being fewer by the box than the Dosidos. I mainly like the peanut butter cookies, so it means getting these two though they are different. The Tagalongs are patties, and the Dosidos are sandwich cookies.
   I did go out to move my car for the snow ordinance, and I did see some get tickets on cars last night after getting back from the comedy show. I am used to the day-plow routes being in effect after the night-plow routes. I also kept finding grocery carts in my neighborhood, six in all, and took them back to the store.
   Sometimes I read online articles. On Yahoo I found one about an 'Internet Casanova', real name Ray Holycross. He also used various aliases. He is being arraigned in Indiana, as he was scamming women, apparently 38 in all, that he had met online. I agreed with some of the comments, such as
'Ladies, learn to love yourself more'. Another was 'Why is it that women keep falling for scary men?' But of course there are scammers in both genders.
   In the afternoon I did see the 'Then, Now, Wow' exhibit at the state's museum. It was a fairly big one, and I liked sitting in a boxcar for a few minutes. It reminded me of my dad's story about his bachelor uncle who hopped trains during the Depression. There was even something about the 35W bridge collapse, the back door of a bus that was on the bridge. It reminded me of where I was that night- I was home- and I fielded way more calls than typical that night from friends and family. The comedy show in minneapolis in the evening was actually a house party, and the diner skit I am in was near the end, after midnight. I had the last lines in it, but I'd like to think this is a good thing as it means I am more memorable this way.

Think Fast, Broken Glass

   I went to a comedy show tonight as a friend was the MC. When I arrived, fairly early, I saw somebody getting ready for the show and they spoke about the broken glass from the previous show. Something about it being called a 'Think Fast' show. My comment was it sounds like they may not have been thinking fast enough. I knew many of the comics in the show, one of them is now using a stage name apparently. It's a slight variation of her real name- the southern girl who works at the university. I parked at the university's ramp and walked a few blocks as it was good exercise and a good deal after-hours. The hotel ramp near the bar and comedy club can be expensive. I liked seeing a friend before the show, I helped him get a screen out to his vehicle. He tells me the diner skit we are both in will be shown at his show tomorrow, so I will have to find my way there.
  At lunchtime I did mail a button to a school, at the post office that moved recently. It was mentioned in our weekly 'News To Know' email as it is now closer to us, across the street. It would be inaccurate to say it is connected by the skyway, as the only customer entrance is from the street and not the skyway. I picked up another box of Girl Scout cookies, from the popcorn wagon. This is the same place where I got the first box, which I just finished.
  On the bus home tonight I saw a man wearing a PBR, as in the beer, cowboy hat, and plenty of bling on his hands and neck. He also had a cane and a cigarette. In the mail I finally got the postcard I sent myself from the weekend in Chicagoland.
  Tonight on 'Nightline' there was a segment about bookwriters, especially those who write for younger readers. It was followed by one about bodyguards for famous people. There was even a clip from the movie 'The Bodyguard', which I still haven't seen yet.