harmar mall article

 i spoke of an article i had found recently about Harmar mall in Roseville to vacation replacement. it said that the mall has an uncertain future. no surprise there when most of the storefronts are now empty. i have been to the cub foods grocery store there, as well as the Barnes and Noble book shop, and that is about it. not much else of note is still there. the response from my colleague was that it was old and outdated, surprised that they haven't closed down yet. like most people, i go to Rosedale more often, in the same town, way more stores there. the tax specialist was out, and i was told to hold all checks until Monday. i got a rare request on the Fargo file, it was to pull out 58 checks as those were duplicated. this made sense as i did pull one of them from the foreign pile, and another from the special handling file. i saw the list of check numbers from the printed email, and i still wanted to send checks through the machine in a timely fashion. i noticed the check numbers were not scattered throughout the file; it meant just one stack needed to be set aside for a short time to find what i needed. the boss brought cookies from another floor, made by the colleague that places supply orders for me. another payroll check was picked up, by the colleague that i more typically see from that department. late in the day i had to say that i was unable to help with a pull and shred request on a check as i had already sent the regular mail tubs to the mailroom. 

just a line item

 a colleague in another office tried to gaslight me on a form that was sent as an attachment to be included with a check from the Marshall file. i said it didn't look like a bill to me, just a line item from an excel spreadsheet. i am used to a bill having more information on it, such as where to mail payments to. then eventually i got a form where this address was added to the page with just a 'line item' on it. i showed it to vacation replacement, who said the same thing as i did about seeing it. there were questions about overnighted checks from this same file, and i was asked by instant message about it. i decided to add her to the email thread, when the check in question was mentioned there. i said someone in Marshall sends me to overnight labels that i use. i got an ice cream sandwich and a can of sparkling water from the convenience store on the main floor, in the afternoon. 

ginger beer

 in the breakroom at work, i saw four unopened bottles of ginger beer on the table. i claimed one of them, i don't think I've had it before. the label said it was from Aldi, but it was confusing that the brand name was summit as that is the name of a local beer as well. this drink was much sweeter than i care for, but i finished the bottle. the bottlecap was a plain one, black, no logo or anything like that on it. a payroll check was picked up before i went to lunch. the employee from that department asked if it was a good time, i said it was good as any as i wasn't at lunch yet. it was an elevator ride down two floors to get to me. i did follow up with the team lead from the earlier inquiry, i spoke of sector 7-g as i like to say this is what i call my work area. it is in reference to 'the Simpsons' and i usually have it written down somewhere to remind me. it feels more at home when i do this. 

cherry top donut

 there was an email early in the workday saying there was donuts in honor of 44 years of service to the bank. i didn't know the colleague but i went to that floor and chose a donut with a cherry on top. it was from the place that is in the skyway nearby and opened in the past year. there was a dial-in meeting mid-morning, a quarterly town hall if i am not mistaken. when the team lead asked how things were going by instant message, i said i was doing the best i can. i know this was due to the boss being out, but i still like the gesture. in the evening was a mic that i normally perform at, but this is the first one that i skipped. i found another one where i feel more comfortable and welcome at, which is most important. 

cisco pike movie

 i liked how i didn't have that much booked for the day. the main thing was getting to a movie at the Trylon, it was 'cisco pike', starring Kris Kristofferson and Gene Hackman, in the afternoon. the former was a musician, blackmailed by the latter, a dirty cop, into selling weed to have a charge dropped. i recognized a few other actors in it, but not too many. there was Roscoe Lee Browne, as a pawnbroker, in the early part of the movie. i did some research leading up to seeing it and i found out musicians have been in movies pretty much as long as there have been movies. i had seen the ones with Elvis Presley, and the Beatles, but it goes back even farther than that. one article spoke of Frank Sinatra, as well as Bing Crosby, doing movies in the 1940s. i had seen Sinatra in 'cannonball run', but not those earlier ones. with Crosby i had heard of the 'road movies' done with Bob Hope, guess i could likely find some of them on amazon. as usual, there were promos for upcoming film series at this venue. one of them was the 'road movie' series for the summer. there are three in that series that interest me. i bought a ticket for another movie at this venue over the weekend, but in a different series, a month from now. around midday i went to a park and had a cup of booya soup. i am used to this kind of event being just in the fall. before the booya i watched a DVD, a recent purchase, 'vacation'. since both movies seem to play just fine on this disc, i am fine with junking the other one as one of them on the earlier disc did not. after the movie i had some pizza at home and then went to perform at an open mic where the friend is the show runner. i got some more ideas for places to perform at, since another mic is in transition and i don't like the show runner that just took over. i didn't do much else in the evening, besides call my dad, who has a birthday coming up soon. 

two-dollar beers

 in the afternoon i went to the twins-cardinals baseball game in Minneapolis. i had heard there was two-dollar beers at those games, from gates open until first pitch. i made it there early enough to get one. i found out it was for just three kinds of 12-ounce beers in cans, i chose bud light. i waited in line for a beer on the main level, then went to my seat on the upper level and found out i could have bought one there. you live, you learn, i guess. i also got the giveaway item, a pack of Topps baseball cards. the company is marking 75 years in business. i got a bag of peanuts with the beer, but as expected not all of the nuts were eaten there. about half of them were taken home as that is a lot to eat all by myself. as for the game, the cardinals won, 9-6, and never trailed in this one. although a relief pitcher walked the bases loaded in the ninth but gave up just one run in that inning. i got some things done in the morning. there was going to the post office and i picked up an amazon order, a DVD. i also got some stamps, profiling historical figures from the American Revolution. after the game, i went home and rested a little, then went to a meetup event in downtown St. Paul near the Saints baseball stadium. in the morning, i went to Aldi for groceries, then got on the light rail to the baseball game. 

mailroom at lunch

 sometimes mailroom employees can be weird. i was at lunch and one of them finds me in the breakroom, and leaves before i can even get up. then the same one returns a few minutes later and i am asked to sign for something. not a big deal, I've done it before. then whatever i am given i put inside the shop and go back to lunch. vacation replacement heard about it and said this is why he'd stay in the shop for lunch. well i said it wasn't the hill i wanted to die on, as the saying goes. sometimes i get a sorry but not every time. also at work, i noticed a UPS envelope going to Wisconsin, from the Marshall file, had just one check for ten dollars instead of two checks for five each. i let the business line know that i was sending all of it in just one envelope, and the second UPS envelope i used for something else. when i was flipping through envelopes in the Fargo file before getting them in the regular mail tub, i found three that were refund checks. i set them aside, no need to send them out as they would eventually be sent to us when it is the same address. in the evening i bought a few items at a speedway gas station, as well as the Aldi. one of them from the latter was an america-250 themed product, Rice Krispies.