bing bing chocolate cones

 i went to Hy-Vee in Eagan in the evening and sometimes i buy items in the discount cart. this time it was a box of chocolate cones called 'Bing Bing' and it tasted like sugary wafers. also notable was getting a single serving slice of spam. i made a morning visit to Walgreen near work as well. when i got back from the grocery store i continued to watch the baseball game on TV, the St. Paul Saints were playing Louisville and the saints won. i will be attending a game there this weekend. at work i swapped out a toner cartridge from one of the check printers in the morning. i don't get the same warning message from it like i do from the one near the main door, though. with that one it is a case of having to swap it before i can print again. but for the one farther in the shop, i knew it was time as there was too much 'residue' building up on the checks. the message board did say 'very low' for a while but i usually don't care as long as i can print. 

video call testing

 the boss asked about calling me to test the video calling. i saw multiple images. first were purple mountains, then a field of white flowers, then a loft apartment. eventually i saw him superimposed on the loft apartment scene. something about needing to test it for calls over to India. vacation replacement said it was likely a background filter. it was popcorn day around midday and as usual i like doing this event. i wasn't there for long, eat the snack and then back to my floor. i also sent returned checks to another floor, i don't leave the shop that often to go there but i wanted those moved by the end of the week. and i heard a weird conversation in an elevator, a man on a cellphone who was oblivious to the fact that i was there. in the evening i went to the u of Minnesota, west bank, for the first day of the fringe festival. i did two ushering shifts, in the Rarig building. i saw some show cards already on the table on the main floor and picked two up. but i would expect more in the coming days at this venue and others. there was a dust-up about picking up my credentials, but it was worked out. i was sent to two different places in the building, neither one had my shirt or volunteer card. then i went to the lower level and someone at the information booth said it was found at the main floor table. i was given a shirt by her, and it worked out as i had the card by the end of the night. probably won't see the two shows i ushered at, as i picked out what interested me before this 11-day event began. i liked the second shift more than the first as i had more to do. i was taking tokens as patrons entered the venue and let them know we were ready to admit when the tech gave the green light. it was the same volunteer usher i was paired with on both shifts. i have one more shift to do, this weekend. i prefer seeing shows after all of the ushering is done that i signed up for. i got some juice, cheese, and ice cream at Bobby and Steve's at the end of the night, then drove home. 

dairy queen hats

i let the manager that likes karaoke know that i saw an email from the Twins ticket office saying there were still tickets available for their Charlie Brown theme night. i responded to it and said i had already ordered my ticket for that event. she spoke of already having plenty of shirts and jerseys as giveaways from baseball games. i said i had plenty of hats, shirts and jerseys as well. this explains her ordering tickets right away but was fine with no themed item, claiming it wasn't on the app it was ordered from. i spoke of how i had no Twins hats when i moved to Minnesota, and at one point had four but now i am down to two as i donated two of them to goodwill. some of those were sponsored by dairy queen and hat coupons attached to them. payroll was notified about two checks that are ready for pick-up.  

pen found on bus

still riding the bus to and from work while the light rail is unavailable. in the evening i saw some discarded items near me. i kept one of them, a pen promoting a credit union. there was a smiley face on the clicking end of it. most of the rest of what i found was trash, including two empty beer cans, and was tossed in bins when i got out at the hockey arena. i heard from the Marshall office, asking if i got all of the UPS labels for their checks and i did. this was due to the man being at a medical appointment. there were three in all. two checks were sent to the manager that likes karaoke near the end of the day. i spoke of how 'yeah' can have different meanings. for this colleague, i knew it meant 'great to have what i need'. with my niece i know it means 'understood'.  

i want your sex movie

in the evening i went to see a movie in Edina at the mall, 'i want your sex'. this was the title of a song by George Michael, but the song wasn't in the movie. i was trying to figure out how to get it in my schedule, and weekends were pretty much already booked for a little while. this was why i made a weeknight available. the movie storyline is mostly told through flashback to police officers who are questioning one of the main characters. then eventually we get back to the scene it started with, the reason why police got involved. i liked the movie until it got to the ending as some things about it just didn't make sense to me. i was familiar with some of the actors in it. this included Cooper Hoffman, Johnny Knoxville, and Margaret Cho. this was about cooper's character working in an art studio, being hired to be a sexual muse, hence the title. at work i did a recalibration of the sensors on the inserter machine and it works better now. i figured it was better to try it early in the day as i had more time available. 

pancakes and basketball

 in the morning i went to have coffee at caribou and a lemon loaf as i knew the pancake breakfast through the alumni chapter was later than when i usually eat breakfast. it was at a bar where they have game watches during the football season. much less crowded for this event though, and fine with me as i usually won't go for the football games. we did a group picture before leaving for the basketball game. the local team, the Minnesota lynx, was playing the Indiana fever, and Iowa alum Caitlin Clark plays for the fever. the game stayed fairly close throughout, the margin wasn't any higher than 13 points as i recall. the lynx won, 108-100. since it was a close game i feel that i got my money's worth. there was a dust-up about seating, i had to ask someone to move as they were in my seat. she claimed to be confused, being off by a row, but i check the row before i go in. i got a hot dog and bottled water at halftime. later in the day i went to perform at an open mic, i was on near the end as usual. i heard from my niece and the gift of toy cars was enjoyed, i liked hearing that. a picture was even shared with me. i had previously heard, a few days prior, about the other gift i had sent, the book. these were sent in the same box. 

american graffiti movie

 went to Canadian days in little Canada in the morning, for the pancake breakfast. i was able to pick up a festival button at that time to get into this event. i noticed the buttons didn't say 'thunder bay' like before, their sister city, and the schedule of events didn't list a performance of the bagpipe band either. who knows for sure why? once i was done eating i did get a good look at the car show. one of the pictures i shared from my camera phone was of a Packard clipper, owner said it was a 1955 model. i sent it to the meetup friend, the retired postal worker. it was in the back of my mind about a request to share photos from an earlier car show and wasn't sure how. then i told myself it was easier to share if it was taken on my phone instead of my more customary camera. another one shared was with cul-de-sac, as i saw a Hamm's beer bear in the back of a chevy pick up next to an old Milwaukee sign. i guess it was simulated tappers. i also saw a Rolls Royce there, you don't see those too often. and when i saw a smashed penny machine i needed some time to justify another visit at this event. i said i usually make two visits and didn't make it the night before. the other was that i could have some ice cream when i returned. i found the necessary two quarters and a penny at home. i returned only after all of the errand running was crossed off of my list, which included getting to the post office to pick up an e-bay order. i also had lunch, a sandwich at Jersey Mike's. along with getting groceries at Aldi. it was the first smashed penny i had acquired in a while. no surprise when i looked at the collection, as the most were from st. louis. this was ten in all, a city i visit annually. next highest appeared to be from mall of America, along with one of two albums. the other album was from mt. Rushmore. after this i noticed a decent number from the Minnesota state fair, mostly from the KARE-11 booth, the local NBC-TV affiliate. in the evening i went to a screening of the movie 'American graffiti' at a place near the former Schmidt brewery on west 7th in St. Paul. i hadn't seen it in a while. last time likely was when i saw it on VHS during my year and a half of living in West Des Moines after i had finished college.