angel and the badman movie

 just before midday i went to see the movie 'angel and the badman' at the mall in Eden Prairie. this was a remake of a John Wayne western. there was just one actor in it that i recognized, it was tommy lee jones as a lawman, and Mr. jones had limited screen time in it. i liked it, but i have seen some westerns before that work for me. as a history major, it seems to tell the story of American history. in order to advance as a nation from one ocean to another, we needed to let law and order prevail. after the movie i went to the nearby food court for lunch. i had a club melt from a place called 'melts and burgers' then had a blizzard treat from the dairy queen. besides the movie itself, i was impressed with how many previews i saw that interested me. sometimes zero, sometimes one, this time three. it helped that all three were biopics. these were about Jimmy Stewart, Milton Hershey, and an NFL player known as 'Mr. irrelevant'. i had heard about the first two already. when i got back to my car i found a pro football game on the radio, bears-falcons, and when i got home i found it on TV. the bears held on to win it. the packers beat the cowboys in the Sunday night game. the open mic i was performing at wrapped up just before that game began. in the evening i did call my dad saying what movie i went to see, and as expected the title was recognized as dad likes John Wayne movies. i said i had ordered a DVD copy of the one from 1947 and it just arrived this weekend and will try to find the time to watch it soon. the disc is actually a double feature, the other one is 'the outlaw', another western from the same decade. i found the time to watch my DVD copy of 'clue', based on the board game. i was planning on seeing it in theaters as part of 'flashback cinema', a weekly event. this wasn't the first time where it was a good thing i checked what discs i already had. this meant i had the time to see two other movies that had made my list. 

backrooms movie

 in the evening i went to see the movie 'backrooms' at the discount theater in Maplewood. this was my second visit since it re-opened. it was kind of weird, but i expected it to be when it was listed as a sci-fi/fantasy/horror movie. it was starring the Norwegian actress that was in 'sentimental value'. the setting was mainly in a furniture store, and i laughed a little when the man in charge of the store was living there. although it just serves as a bridge to where the weirdest things happen, when traveling through walls in the basement. it was a decent crowd at this screening, but not as big as when i went to see 'toy story' two weeks prior. hard to say what i will see at this venue next as the movies to be screened are listed just days in advance, makes it harder to do the long-range planning. there were some posters on the wall inside of those movies likely to be there soon, i said 'too long' about one of them- odyssey. just before midday i got groceries at Aldi, then it was on to get lunch at a popeye's chicken in Eagan. the order at Aldi was smaller than usual, just six items, but i get what i need at this or any other grocery. after having chicken i went to the nearby cub foods and bought four items. one of them was a single slice of pie, which was eaten in my car. 

more about backup forms

 there were more questions about backup forms related to checks from the Marshall file. i wanted to stay ahead of my normal duties so i responded to it near the end of my workday. i said i don't know if the forms went with the checks, especially if they were overnighted. but i didn't hear if this one in particular was sent that way or regular mail. i had two requests from different people asking about the same check cop that i was unable to find. i made another visit to a Walgreen in my neighborhood in the morning before going to work and used some of the points from this week's vaccinations to lower my bill. for lunch i had some pizza. in the evening i went to Hy-Vee in Eagan, and eight items were in my order. 

one more skyway lunch

 there was a lunch in the skyway for the department to celebrate a birthday, and it also served as the final one before some of my colleagues are officially laid off. one of them is vacation replacement. the other two i don't know quite as well. this was a place we had eaten at before, but not too often. then some of these colleagues were in the shop near the end of the day and said 'bye' to me while i was wanting to stay ahead in my work. there is that question if the world will end with a bang or with a whimper. in this case, both seemed to apply, as it didn't occur to me how it might be the last day when some do work from home on Fridays. a contact from the Fargo file asked for a tracking number, because there was no email asking for it before i created it. for whatever reason, my instant messaging was turned off for a while. there was an inquiry from the Marshall office about their overnights as to if backup forms were included in the envelopes. i said i didn't know as i trusted vacation replacement to handle the overnights for that file. i saw this question after getting back from the lunch as an email said it was there. usually, this kind of notification arrives only when the message is sent after i have left for the day. 

world without cows

 back at a movie theater in the evening for another documentary, this one was called 'world without cows' and in Oakdale. hadn't been to that theater in a while. as expected, it did say the main problem the world has is pollution from fossil fuels and that cows are an asset to the food chain. it was the only screening of this movie in the area, which may have explained a pretty decent crowd there. as usual, i sat near the front. i had a quick evening meal at a gas station before heading to the venue and wanted more to eat after the movie. i looked at the menu and ordered the waffle fries. sometimes it is the little things that impresses me, and in this case, it was the cardboard holding the order spoke of a 'movie tavern'. i did not go to this tavern, though. but i like the word whenever i hear it, and old school term for a bar. after i was done eating the fries i went home. at work there were more questions from vacation replacement about updating the binder. this time i was asked about a name i don't hear that often but knew it was the name attached to the overall UPS account. it must have been the address for its specific cost center. around mid-morning an I.T. rep arrived in the shop to help with more check shop training. 

reboot for call

 back at work, and my boss spoke of having to reboot his computer to do a call through the instant messaging system. there was more check shop training done in the afternoon, spearheaded by vacation replacement. a colleague i don't know well was the one being trained. i was asked to save two files, a small file from st. louis that is sent interoffice as well as a file of government agency checks. it also meant sticking to just one file for check printing, the one near the main door, so training could happen on the other one. the special order of the check stock and the envelopes arrived in the morning. 

last picture shows

 an active day even though it was a bank holiday. i capped it with seeing another movie in Columbia Heights, it was called 'last picture shows'. it was a documentary about movie theaters in small towns in the American west. it does sound a lot like a movie i had heard of before, 'last picture show', with a setting in Texas, and this is one of the movies that we see clips of in this doc. a little disappointed that none of the theaters profiled were in the Midwest, but ten states were covered. the filmmaker was present and there was a q and a after the screening. notable was about one man who tried to hijack the session, but the filmmaker finally asked what his question was. the man was going on and on about theaters in his hometown in Sheboygan, Wisc, if i am not mistaken. before that it was a day of two appointments. first was an oil change for my car. then i stopped at a target and found a replacement for my oven mitt and potholder. i found some Charlie Brown-themed deodorant as well. then it was on to mall of America for lunch, where i ate at the A and W. after this i left the mall and went to get two vaccinations at a Walgreen. i was asked about a third one but i think two at a time is enough. then i went home and watched 'jeopardy'.