i stayed in and watched two DVDs. one of them was the annual viewing of a Charlie Brown special, 'great pumpkin'. the other was the 1947 version of 'angel and the badman', the one with John Wayne. i liked this version more than the recent remake, it helps that John Wayne has charisma. i could tell that the remake does follow the original story closely but there were some variations. for one thing i know there wasn't a bar fight in the remake. in the evening i watched the Halloween episode of 'the Simpsons', known as 'treehouse of horror'. it included a shed where spouses enter and leave, along with driver education videos that homer was in. this led to having Patty and Selma as the DMV was a part of the vignette. then there was the Sunday night football game. chiefs lost to the seahawks.
Friday, October 30, 2026
fork in the road movie
in the afternoon i went to see a movie in a film festival in Edina, the final day of the 10-day event. it was 'fork in the road' about agriculture. i recognized the MC that introduced the movie, it was a fellow comic that once played for the local women's football team. there was a Q and A at the end and i was the first with a question. it was about CSAs, as i had to google it on my phone after the movie ended. i figured there would have been mention of the doc of what this is but there wasn't. found out it had nothing to do with co-op (Cenex) gas stations, which is what i am familiar with. it means community supported agriculture, sounds like a membership program. the Iowa vs. Minnesota football game was just about to start when i arrived at the venue and i caught the game on the radio after the movie was over. first this was while driving home and then at home as well. Iowa lost a close one on a last-second field goal. in the evening i stayed in and watched all of game two of the world series. the brewers beat the rays and are up 2-0 in the series. as a Midwesterner who has been to Milwaukee for games over the years i am for the brewers in this series. it goes back to riding with family while on vacation when i was young, but it continued beyond that time. i made trips there more often when i was living in suburban Chicago as it was a quick drive up there from the O'Hare airport area. a memory of driving back after a game there was hearing a Beastie Boys song on the car radio, 'no sleep until Brooklyn'. i had a sandwich at Jersey Mike's for lunch.
walgreen thief
i have heard about retail theft before but don't think I've witnessed it too often. this morning i made a quick stop at Walgreen before getting on the light rail and a man with a hospital mask on enters and goes behind the counter to get something and an employee tries to chase him out. then i think the thief goes to a cooler and gets a bottle of something liquid as well. i was motivated to get out as quick as i could naturally. there was a check for the manager that likes karaoke and i am told to hold it until Monday and give it to her team lead. she spoke of getting a free ticket to the Vikings-Colts football game this weekend through a friend. tax specialist was in the office and there were two trips to pick up checks. there was the Canadian file in the morning, one check, and the regular file, 13 checks, in the afternoon. there were two checks for payroll but a question of when those will be picked up. in the evening i went to Hy-Vee in Eagan for groceries. i did watch some of the first game of the world series at home when i was done, but just one inning. then it was on to a party in Minneapolis, a going away party for two comics who are on their way to Los Angeles. one of them ran a mic i would frequent. i did see a few others that i knew after a while, one was from 'the turkeys' comedy group. another i recall seeing a year ago when a comedy venue was closing. the house had some artwork on the wall, i knew it was Alfred E. Neuman from 'mad magazine'.
all-day shadowing
i had an all-day meeting scheduled and it was officially known as 'check shop training overview'. but it is also known as 'shadowing' so the team lead could become more familiar with the work. i was mainly there to answer questions but near the end of the day i had to do the work myself as we still needed to see that all checks went out same day. the overnight labels from the Marshall file were delayed due to system issues. the one going to Salt Lake City arrived on time, but the others didn't. i made another gem of a find on 89.3 the current, the local nonprofit radio station. not the first time i heard it, but i stayed in my car to hear it until the end. it was 'hard wired' by Stephen Wilson jr. and Miranda Lambert. the lyric i really liked was 'tears don't dry themselves' and there is a nod to a Pixies song as well, with the line 'where is my mind'.
added to a dial-in
there were some issues with a vacation replacement in the main system i use for check printing so i was added to the dial-in meeting. it meant going into the office that the boss uses in the shop but i agreed one thing the boss said, much of it was too technical, understood by those in I.T. mostly. this was in the afternoon. a big part of the issue was access to printers, i can use both but that is not necessarily the case for others. i also noticed that the Canadian check file from this week was an ad hoc file, so it should have went to the tax specialist. once i found out i did notify that those four checks went out regular mail.
china check dust-up
there was a dust-up related to a check slated to go to China. i saw an instant message about it and almost immediately there was another chat created with that lady's boss on it. in the first one i said i want check copy requests emailed to me, and on the second i said 'i already said that'. and the boss said i was 'unprofessional' but when i asked didn't say how. it is also all about how much information i am given. there was no China check when searching based on the check number given, only with a different payee than what they gave me and going to Las Vegas instead. something about if the China check had been issued and if not, they'd need to ask for one. also hard to understand when the first thing said to me by the lady was 'sorry for the interruption'. i did talk about the upcoming world series a little with the manager that likes karaoke. team lead asked if i had responded to an email thread and i said i did last week. it was two and basically the same question so i responded to only one. odd about the follow-up.
a new normal?
this is the first week we'd be having on this team after three people were laid off, so is this a new normal? probably. not much out of the ordinary for the day. there were over two thousand checks printed and sent out. there was some 'hold for documents' requests from the Marshall file as well. still a question of when those documents arrive as those UPS envelopes are sent by interoffice mail. then i get the check into the envelope and the UPS box. there are two checks from over a month ago in the inbox, but it is likely that both will have replacements as one of them already has. i kept the printed page to prove it. looks like the world series matchup is set as Tampa beat Cleveland tonight to win the series, 4-2. it will be Tampa against Milwaukee in the world series starting in a few days. except i didn't see any of the game as some playoff games are on cable, but all of the world series will be on fox.