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. 

conflicting dial-ins

i had two dial-in meetings this morning at work, scheduled for the same time. the way i handled the conflict was to do the one with my boss first, as it was about the midyear evaluation. it was scheduled on short notice, but it didn't take long, about seven minutes. then it was on to the other one, with facilities management. we now have an interim director. i said i liked attending the events where an app is not needed to register for it, such as the popcorn event most months. going through an app started this calendar year, and it is not compatible with my phone, so i said i had to 'bow out' of many events. the boss asked me about the contact for one of the fraud files, there are three. i said it would be the same contact for all of them. one of those files usually has a higher volume than the other two by far. i entered a vacation day request as well, a day off for the state fair next month. the supply order was also submitted. when i know that it usually needs approval from a senior leader, i prefer to avoid any delays on my end. in the evening i went to eat at cane's chicken in Eagan, then went to get groceries at the nearby Hy-Vee. there is plenty that i have planned for the weekend, and i shared some of that when asked by the cashier that recognizes me.  this included Canadian days in little Canada, but i did not make it there tonight. i was at work later than typical, in order to get things caught up, and i was tired and it had rained some. it meant skipping the corn on the cob feed, but i know it is easier to attend events on days when i am not working. 

korea coin

 in the morning i was between buses on getting to work, on layover in downtown St. Paul near the hockey arena. on my way to the next bus stop i passed by a pay station and saw coins on the pavement. i picked up all four and noticed two were American dimes. those went into my change bank when i got home. the other two were foreign coins, one i could tell right away was from Ecuador. the other had Asian characters on it. i googled it on my phone once the bus ride began and found it. i entered Chinese 100 coin and found out it was a Korean 100-won coin. both of these foreign coins were about the size of an American quarter. i keep seeing online how the exchange rate for the Korean coin would value it as being a little less than one of the dimes. but i like having it, and this is how i get most of the foreign coins i have- dumb luck. seeing them while out and about.  at work, i let the manager that likes karaoke know about my trip to st. louis over the weekend. i also spoke of how i have ordered a ticket for a Twins baseball game, it is a month from now. sometimes i am asked to pull checks from the fraud file. i was asked near the end of the day if i had, and i did. i will if i see it in time as i can print the email request and put it on the pile to remind me to look for it before i send those checks through the machine. in this case, i understood more of the urgency about it when it was for over a million. a little bit later, after seeing the instant message, i made the official response on the email thread. 

taxidermy stories

 i went to perform at an open mic tonight, first time in a while at this venue, although at one point i frequented it. there were some wild card slots but i didn't know that many people besides the MC, magic man. got a fist bump from the show closer, who i guess will be a performer at shows for the rest of the week. notable about the show was one of these wild card performers, or replacement for a no-show, did stories about taxidermy. we spoke after the show, enjoyed each other's sets. when i spoke of being an Iowa native, she said she was too, from Clinton, in eastern Iowa. it felt great being onstage there again, and much like after being in st. louis i didn't want the night to end. it was likely why i stopped at a nearby holiday gas station before going home to get a juice drink, some cheese, and two hash browns. at work, i was asked how many envelopes to a box, it was related to the order for the special project. i said it was 2300, based on the label on those oblong boxes. a file that does 'make-up' or 'replacement' checks sent me a file where many were to be overnighted. i checked the address and contact name and noticed it was actually 'return to business line' with the Kansas City file. i recognized the contact's name as well, not someone who i have met in person but based on electronic communications i would describe this colleague as a little 'loopy'. i had one of their checks that UPS was unable to deliver. for this reason, it was lumped together and it meant eight checks went to Kansas City instead of seven. i also noticed on emails that there was some 'duplication of efforts' on returned UPS checks. i don't enjoy it at all when this happens, having to answer a question twice. i guess somebody wasn't copied the first time. 

security cashiering

 at work i went through the returned checks and there was some refund checks sent to me by the mailroom as well. two were marked as such, and two others as 'security cashiering'. when vacation replacement was notified, all four were moved on. there were donuts on another floor for my boss and another member of our team. when i went to get one i noticed how no one said anything, i figured i would have been recognized, especially by the team lead as the donuts were on a table next to her cube. there were a thousand checks from the Jacksonville file, normally their daily volume is 20 so i had to ask the business line if it was a 'one-off' and copied my boss on it. in the response, it sounded like it was. had to ask as we had enough envelopes to cover it but not if it was a larger 'special project'. the colleague that places supply orders for me asked about the envelopes to order. this was for a special project and i deferred to the boss, who said it was our 'home' or 'catchall' envelopes but the response was delayed. 

consecutive rental returns

 i checked the voicemail on my phone and found out my car was ready so i went over to the dealer to pick it up in the evening. i turned in the rental or loaner car as well, and it meant consecutive days where i had turned one in since i was out of town over the weekend. i went to have ice cream in my neighborhood after i got home. at work, i was asked to hold off on printing the Fargo files, the largest ones of the day. i needed to wait for a 'green light' from someone in I.T. this arrived late in the day, so most of them were not printed the same day. before this happened, i scanned some check copies. i found out i had to cover up the credit card numbers at the top in order to have the scans to go through. i used the same post it to get this done, on about twenty of them. a second check for payroll was printed, and i let that colleague know about it. same one that had a check on Friday when i was out of town.