jack links steak bites

 in the morning i went to Walgreen for my weekly visit. since i had picked up some heart-healthy snacks near the security turnstiles, my order was slightly different. some of the refrigerated aisles are still locked up, and i don't feel like waiting for someone to unlock it. i found some jack links steak bites near the cashier, and the newspaper rack, so i got a pack of that snack. i think there is something similar to it in the vending machine at work. it tasted fine, listed as just a hundred calories. pack said it was made my Frito-Lay, which must explain why it was near the cookies i usually get. there were some visitors, i know this can happen even on a Friday when the building is nearly deserted. the order of check stock arrived, and the janitor was in before that but as usual wasn't there for long. matter of fact, i left to get the snacks near the turnstiles as on my way in they still getting set up. and i got the reject fax to scan from another floor. when i got back from doing both of those, the janitor was gone. there were more check copy samples to send. one file was from the boss, a 'zip file' where i noticed a senior leader was copied on it. this was six checks. i was asked to print some more from a 'test check file' as well, a different system than where i print 'live checks'. i printed seven from there, but noticed the signature said 'void-void' instead of an actual person's signature. and i was asked to send a copy from a file i get just once a week, guess it had some formatting changes as well. in the evening i went to get groceries at Hy-Vee in Eagan, first stop was their liquor store. i got a can of bell's so now there are five beers waiting. then it was on to the grocery part, a larger order than in recent weeks, twelve items. when i got home i watched a rerun of 'Boston blue'. i am aware that all-new episodes will return later this month. 

deflated popcorn balloons

 at work the building management company had their popcorn event. i would pass by the venue in the skyway and for a while i would notice that the larger-than-life popcorn box had deflated balloons on top, white and yellow, meant to 'simulate' popcorn. i noticed when i went to this event that the balloons were replaced with re-inflated ones. as usual, i didn't stay long, had too much to do. it was long enough to eat the popcorn, so just a few minutes. i let our tax specialist know there was two checks for courier pick-up for the next morning. one was from the ad-hoc file, the other was going to be sent inter-office by vacation replacement. i noticed the latter would have been barely enough to by a snack out of the vending machine in my neighborhood. matter of fact, in the evening i did just that, getting some potato chips. the Fargo check file was held up as i was waiting for a 'green light' on sending out checks after the business line wanted to see samples. there was some kind of formatting change. i did get one green light so i sent out the smaller file, the other i decided could wait until the next morning. it meant just over a thousand checks were left over. then late in the day i did hear 'i am happy' about the samples, as the first wanted to get a second approval. the colleague who places the supply orders for me was asking questions through our instant message system. it was about picking up a check from the i-pay file late in the day. i said i am thankful i don't get that many visitors at that time of day as i am busy on finishing up getting the regular mail checks into tubs and to the mailroom. i know i am not going to be 'chatty' at that time of day for that reason. i said it is still a matter of if the check in question would even be approved to print. then i was told 'not needed but thank you for answering my questions'. huh? the team lead asked for a check from an early PDF file to be pulled, then it was picked up upon arrival in the check shop that same morning. the boss was in the shop and talked with the team lead for a while. i drank a can of bell's IPA with the evening meal and got a can of icehouse from the nearby liquor store so there still are four beers waiting. 

donuts, super bowl party

 there was a super bowl party in the morning on another floor. i saw that i was caught up on my normal duties before i went there. i wasn't there for long, i ate a donut and was there for just a few minutes. the karaoke-loving manager was there as well and left about the same time as me, also having work to do. some had football jerseys on, but less than half. i said i don't have that many, but i do have plenty of baseball jerseys. the boss asked me to send an empty Fargo envelope by inter-office mail to an office on the other side of the metro area, an odd request to say the least. the manager from the Kansas City business line asked me about checks i had overnighted to Las Vegas late last week. i said that checks going to the same address are lumped together, to help save with the costs of overnighting. it was eleven checks in all, with various payee names on them. this was why there was the question, as the expected list when sending the tracking numbers was short. in the evening i did a little more than just watch 'big bang theory' reruns, and the news, as i found 'the Muppet show' when i was changing channels. Sabrina Carpenter was the main guest star, at least i have heard of her. the show was all right, but i noticed at times when the puppeteers weren't hiding their sticks that are used to control the puppets. 

printer stops, starts over

 a curious thing happened at work and i reported it when i noticed it. a check printer was printing a big Fargo file and for some reason it stopped before finishing and then started over. i knew to expect just under three thousand checks for this file, and when it said 'feed printer' after printing that many i knew something was wrong. i check the dashboard and this gives me the first and last check number in the file, this helps with when i investigate. found out there was over three hundred checks that i needed to re-print. thankful i caught it when i did as this held down how many 'duplicated' checks were printed. it was decidedly less than when this same thing happened more than two weeks ago. fewer to send to the shred bin then. there was a dial-in meeting that started mid-morning, and it was an all-colleague town hall meeting. some of the issues presented to the executive were typical, such as asking about layoffs as well as 'return to office'. i am used to working in the office every day of the week, same as branch employees, so working from home, the latter issue, does not apply to me. the month's envelope order arrived, just as the boss was asking about the printer. a check was picked up by the payroll manager for one of his reports. i don't care too much who picks up a check. i went to another floor to drop off checks, mailroom sent those to me, and they were ones i can't handle. one of them was a refund check. the newer colleague took ownership of them, i knew the team lead would be out of the office for the day. 

cat people movie

 in the evening i went to see the movie 'cat people' at the Trylon. i was interested in this one as i knew john heard is in it. i liked how it took place at the zoo in New Orleans, a city i have visited but i didn't make it to their zoo. since the movie was from 1982 i did notice some things that make it look dated now. there was an image of a now-defunct eastern airlines plane at the airport, along with a public payphone as well as a rotary dial phone in someone's home. and there were cigarette ads on billboards. it was a good story. i know i had seen a movie about a werewolf before, this would be the closest comparison. this would be the third Paul Schrader-directed movie i have seen there, the others being 'blue collar' and 'hardcore'. after getting home from the movie i ordered a ticket for another movie at this venue, a month away. at work i was asked to pull a check from the PDF file, and i did. then later on i was asked to send it out, but it was late in the day by then so it would have to go out the next day. not sure why there was a 'flip-flop' on this request. i was asked about fed-ex envelopes, i said i don't have that many but could use some more. so far i have used four, an average of one a month. one was used today, thankfully it is still 'few and far between' as we mostly use UPS for overnighting checks. i let the branch manager from my former worksite know that a check was on the way, likely for notary fees. and i sent a scan of returned checks to an office in suburban St. Louis, after seeing an email earlier about not seeing any for a while when i just send them regular mail. 

melania movie

 sometimes i have two-movie weekends, this was one of them. i went to see the documentary, 'Melania', about the first lady, this morning in Eagan. i figured there would be a slightly smaller crowd that early, even on the opening weekend. there was a decent crowd at this screening, and as usual i sat near the front of the auditorium. as a history major, i knew this would be a movie that i should see. and i like how Melania does honor those before her, as there is mention of some other first ladies. as expected, when her name is the movie title, it is mostly about her. sometimes a mention of her husband, and son. no doubt that one doesn't see things like what was shown too often, such as inside trump tower, showing campaign signs. there were no posters on display at this theater about this doc, likely because it was a doc. that genre usually doesn't bring big crowds to see it. thankful i saw it. nice thing about seeing it this early in the day was driving home to have lunch after it was done. i did some shredding of junk mail in the afternoon and then performed in the evening. i did stories about the bank, coffee and donuts, a meetup event, and attending the winter carnival. then i called my dad later on, a long call as usual. 

formula one movie

 this afternoon i went to see a movie, 'formula one', or 'F1', in Edina at Southdale mall. it was an IMAX screening, so i had to pay a little more. this is now the second of the best picture nominees that i have seen in the past year. i liked how quite a bit of the scenes were on the racetrack as it is a car racing movie after all. plenty of talent in this movie, as it was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, a name i have heard of before with some popular TV shows. and it helped that Brad Pitt was the star. then there was music being done by Hans Zimmer, who has been around for a while, also doing the music for 'rain man'. after the movie, i was pleased to find a Kowalski's grocery store in the same mall. i got some cheese, some beef jerky, and a bottle of A and W root beer. then i went home. in the morning i went to the post office, an amazon order was picked up. then i dropped off recycle near the capitol and went to see the ice sculptures at the St. Paul winter carnival. one of them i didn't recognize at first, but there was more than one sculpture telling its story. then i looked closer and noticed the playing cards in front and a young lady and said, 'that's Alice in wonderland'. after that i saw the cheshire cat and mad hatter in the back. i got some fries and hot cocoa from two different food trucks nearby, although there was too much seasoning on the fries. there were dancers onstage inside the landmark center, one of them was dancing to Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean'. i saw some clowns inside a life-size snow globe and got a picture of it. at a table inside the same building, i saw a clown making buttons for kids. i already saw some smaller ones in a bag under the table, i asked for one and got it. i paid for just over an hour of parking, and it was long enough to see what i wanted to see. then it was on to Jersey Mike's for a sandwich as it was time for lunch. then i went home and rested a little while and went to Aldi for groceries before going to the movie.