Touchback Movie

   I did a tour of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis earlier today with my date. It was nice to see things behind the scenes. I saw a few rooms that I hadn't seen before, like a 'Red Room' where concerts are held. After the tour we went outside and saw what is known as the 'Mill Ruins Park'. It looked like the sign hadn't been up for long. The current Guthrie building has been there since 2006, so it's a possibility that the park sign has been up for a comparable amount of time.
  It was nice to go to the gift shop and get some souvenirs. I was unsure what I had when doing the 50th anniversary event last week and didn't want to duplicate anything. I got some postcards, one was of their production of 'Streetcar Named Desire'. I liked getting a magnet from 'Glass Menagerie'. This play I had seen at the Guthrie a few years back. It has a setting in my favorite city to visit- St. Louis- and my favorite era of history to study- the Great Depression of the 1930s. Yes I am familiar with how Tennessee Williams did both of these plays. He knows how to write passionate women well, and in another show I saw as a movie, 'Cat On A Hot Tin Roof'.
   After leaving the theater we did go over to Bobby and Steve's near 35W and I ended up with another loyalty card. Since I like the little Godfather's pizzas there I expect to get some use out of this card. When looking them up online I found out there are plenty of other locations in the metro area, but this is the only one I have been to. It has a convenient location.
   In the early evening we did get a movie at Redbox, 'Touchback'. It is a football movie with Kurt Russell as a football coach. I had considered renting it a few months back, around the time of the Super Bowl. It had a good story all around, a fantasy that reminded me of 'It's a wonderful life' or 'Field of Dreams', even 'Hoosiers'. There were some places where it was unrealistic, like having the state championship at a non-neutral site and a big difference in the size of the schools, but I understood it was still a fantasy. I told myself it may have been easier to film it in certain areas if this was written into the story.

Isadora Duncan Stamp

   I picked up a package at the post office this morning. I knew this year's Civil War stamps were in it along with first day covers. I like having the covers, and most notable would have to be Isadora Duncan. I first heard about her when I was doing a team building quiz when working in suburban Chicago. Unfortunately I think she is most famous for how she died, accidentally strangled by her own long scarf while riding in an open-top car. I did see a movie about her life, Vanessa Redgrave played her. I knew her sister, Lynn, better. I knew she was a dancer, explaining why she is in the choreographer series.
   After this I did go to Walgreen as I needed some supplies, like clear tape. I also decided to get some more baseball cards, in a pack of 100. I chose the pack where I noticed Kevin Youkilis was the top card. I liked seeing him play for the Red Sox at spring training in 2006. Before I went to the post office I did find more baseball cards to get into the binder. The ones I bought at the Twins fan fest in January were in a bag of tourist items that I hadn't looked at in a while. On the top was a reprint of the famous Honus Wagner card. Another reprint in there was of the Andre Dawson Topps card from 1981. I already had the original. The reprint had a different display on the back of the card. I did start using another binder, moving the pocket schedules and business cards into their own binder as there were so many of them. I got two Chicago Wolves minor-league hockey schedules in there after finding them in the same bag as the baseball cards.
    I liked attending Kaposia Days in South St. Paul with my date this afternoon. It was nice to get a button and see the car show like in previous years. We arrived there just as many of the cars were leaving, but we still got some good pictures. Before leaving we did go over to the Armour stockyard gates like last year as it a quiet place with park benches. There was some construction on the road so we had to park across the street to get there.   

Tacos, Nachos and Beer

   When I was riding the bus to work this morning I saw somebody wearing a short sleeve shirt with a collar that said 'Tacos, nachos and beer'. It reminded me of what Dad often would say to me when I was young. If it's advertising a particular food establishment I don't know where it is.
   After having the evening meal I did go take a long walk around the neighborhood, for over an hour. I picked up plenty of trash along the way, 30 items in all. As expected, most of it was food and drink containers. One of them was a plastic gallon-sized jug. It netted me four more pull tabs for the Ronald McDonald house at work. I at one point thought of the Pearl Jam song 'Rearview Mirror' as the lyrics seemed appropriate. 'I took a drive today, to emancipate. Saw things so much clearer once I saw you in my rearview mirror.' A long walk can help me think more clearly. I liked walking over an interstate as it is nice to be above the craziness.
   I liked seeing a 'Simpsons' episode this evening from last year, it was a parody of the movie 'Social Network'. I called it 'The Facebook movie'. I liked hearing a choir doing a cover of Radiohead's 'Creep' in it. I hadn't seen the movie since it was at theaters. Lisa had the lead role in this parody.

How To Make Money Selling Drugs

     I just read an online article about an upcoming movie called 'How To Make Money Selling Drugs'. It was mainly about rapper Eminem being honest about his addiction to pills. I had seen an interview on '60 Minutes' with Anderson Cooper in 2010 where he spoke of being near death due to an overdose. Hopefully I will have a chance to see it at theaters, but not every art house movie makes it to the Twin Cities. It sounds like an art house movie to me, a documentary.
  Tonight after work I went to get some Little Caesar's pizza. I did so after watching two episodes of 'Big Bang Theory'. I did some cleanup which included using another binder. Now the first day covers are in their own binder and the other stamps are in a separate one. I already have 20 first day covers and I know some more are on the way. They may have just arrived, as I did get a 'Sorry we missed you' card. So I can go to the post office and pick up whatever it was on Saturday.
   I had seen both episodes of 'Big Bang Theory' but I still liked seeing them. The first was when Sheldon and Raj did a double date and Sheldon brought along a 'green lantern'. Danica McKellar, who I knew as 'Winnie' from 'The Wonder Years', was Raj's date. The second episode was when the guys spoke to students at Howard's former school, and the girls went to Disneyland.
   I am slowly getting things better organized, as I did go through another box, which was labeled 'Tourist brochures'. I fished out some business cards and pocket schedules and got them into another binder. The same was true for some postcards. I had no heartburn whatsoever when I destroyed a business card from a boss I didn't like, this was from my suburban Chicago days. It's something that I have said before: remember the positive.             

Dollar Stores

   At the comedy club tonight the show closer was the Wisconsin native back from New York and spoke of shopping at dollar stores in that city. Most notable was something about how much of the shampoo in these stores is often in Chinese. When he arrived to greet all of the comics he knew he did pass on me as I had my hands full with popcorn and a beer. I would have put both aside if need be but we still acknowledged each other, so for me it was close enough.
    A server found me before I made it to the upper level, as I was sitting down while listening to a favorite song. It was 'Tonight, Tonight' by Smashing Pumpkins. It is played often at the club but I still like hearing it each time. Another one was a CCR song that mentioned Buck Owens. The bartender on the upper level did make a joke about the server stealing his customers. I was asked by this server if I planned on being back next week, and I said I was there nearly every week. Part of this was due to knowing I don't go outside once I have my beer, as I don't care to violate any open-container laws. I've been to some places before, like a concert in Chicago, that the ushers threw out your beer before leaving the venue. But when I see enough people I know inside to talk to before the show then I have little need to go outside anyway.  

Almost Adopted

   When I rode the bus home this evening a little boy, maybe age 10, started off by singing 'You're never fully dressed without a smile'. Then he did some tricks with flowers. When my stop arrived, I said this is where I live. He said not anymore, you're coming home with me. I still got off at my stop, but I was a little flattered that I was nearly adopted by this kid. Wonder what his home life is like if he felt the need to say this to me.
   It was a notable day at work, as we celebrated the 10th anniversary since our office was bought out. I did get the gift for the 10-year veterans, though a senior leader said it was a mistake. I got a glass egg, maybe a paperweight. I was with the company 10 years ago, but at another office, and arrived at my current office less than a year after the buyout. But I was told it would have been tacky to take my name off the list, much easier to let me have the gift like the others received. We had cake, along with catered food- chicken and salad in pita bread from a Greek restaurant.
  I went to the St. Paul Saints baseball game tonight against the Lincoln Saltdogs, the Saints won 6-4. It was Craigslist night, but we didn't arrive early enough to get the special tickets for what was being given away. We did see some books, and CDs as well, then there was items like a charcoal grill, furniture, a microwave oven, and some box fans. They waited until the end of the game to do my favorite between- innings entertainment, 'What's in the bag?' but I still liked seeing it.

Wrong Car Pulled Over

    At the comedy club tonight the comic who likes to do the bathtub joke did one about seeing a cop car behind him recently and he pulled over for the cop. But it was the wrong car, as it was for helping with another car pulled over. Sounds like something I have done before. The show closer was the Worthington native and did speak of Paula Deen, but I am not too familiar with the story as I don't have cable TV. I understand this was somebody who had a food show on cable. I liked hearing jokes from the Italian restaurant employee, like his 'I'm finally happy meal' joke along with ones from the sub-teacher. Before the show the sub did repeat my 'Other Hepburn' line to another comic when I thought he said 'Holly Golightly', the Audrey Hepburn character from 'Breakfast At Tiffany's'. I said it was the other Hepburn- Katharine- who was in 'On Golden Pond'.
   Tonight was the first time I had been on Facebook in a while, there were three friend requests there. I also let the show runner know that I was not attending some shows coming up due to scheduling conflicts like a baseball game and a concert. It's a band he likes so I may even see him at the show.
   It was also the first time in a while on Youtube. I listened to 'Wrong Side Of Memphis', and this is a Trisha Yearwood song. I like road movies, and this does tell the story of being on the road. The lyrics include 'Full tank of gas and a 69 Tempest' along with wanting to make it in Nashville.