Why Is That Door Closed?

   I recall the movie 'Breakfast Club' where the teacher in charge of Saturday detention asked 'Why is that door closed?' Well I had to ask this earlier today. I wanted to drop off some mail and the post office I went to was closed. So it means finding another place for it. Not sure why as many other businesses were open today, more so than last week. I made sure to be out to get the bus earlier, as I expected the buses to be on the weekend schedule and I didn't want to be late. The payoff report arrived late so I was still working on it when I wanted to go to lunch. I was willing to help a newer colleague when there were questions about special requests by saying I needed to go back to my cube anyway since it was time to get a snack. It was a Little Debbie Christmas brownie.
  I went to a different club tonight for a comedy show since it was New Year's Eve. I liked reading about being able to see the act known as Valley Meadows, and I happened to see them last year as well. I had some Lone Star Beer as I don't see it too often and it reminded me of the movie 'Urban Cowboy'. I had seen this act at their CD release party back in August. This was when I also saw a mock country music act known as the Dirty Curls, and one of their instruments happened to be a banjo. The Curls did this NYE show as well, it didn't take long for me to confirm it was the same act. All I needed to hear was their song about being obsessed with Vice President Joe Biden. At the end of the night I ended up with a tour shirt. The show ran long, plenty of comedians before the headliners, but it was worth it to see the Meadows.

Blind Side Movie

  Finally saw the movie 'Blind Side' with my date in the afternoon, on video. I had heard good things about it but I tend to be picky when it comes to seeing movies at the theater. So some movies will get a chance from me on video. I recall how the mother of a classmate spoke well of it. Some things depicted in it really moved me. Since I was equipment manager of my high school's football team I liked the parts showing the training and practicing. I had read how Sandra Bullock got an Oscar for her role so the movie is largely immortal now. So it made sense that I would have more chances to see when I was ready for it.
   We did watch a football game on TV before putting in the movie, it was the Bears-Lions game from Detroit. The Bears won 26-24 after leading 20-10 at the half, but it wasn't enough to make the playoffs as they needed a Green Bay win over Minnesota. This game was in a later time slot than Chicago's, and Minnesota won on a last-second field goal, 37-34.
   I called my dad in the evening and we did speak about various subjects, many of them related to history like how he had seen the movie 'Lincoln' just like I had. I did speak of seeing 'Hyde Park on Hudson' as well but he lives in southern Iowa and when it's in limited release in the Twin Cities I'm not sure if he would be able to see it in theaters unless he goes up to Des Moines. He was interested in hearing about the re-opening of St. Paul's Union Depot as a transit hub, telling me about the Rock Island line running from Minneapolis to Kansas City. He was watching a John Wayne movie, 'The Shootist', which was The Duke's last movie. I had seen this one before, unsure how often.

Holiday Lights in Phalen Park

 In the early evening. I went to see the Holiday Lights in Phalen Park in St. Paul with my date as I hadn't seen them yet this season. This is the final weekend for it if they run through New Year's Day.
We were given a pamphlet at the entrance, saying it was sponsored by the IBEW, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. It is in partnership with the King of Kings in Woodbury, apparently a Lutheran church. I know Christ was often referred to as the King of Kings. It is called a 'spectacular drive-through holiday light show'. The web address is 'lights in the park' and has the running time listed as November 20 to January 1. All of the net proceeds are to be donated to four different charities, one of them the Saint Paul Parks Conservancy. Most of the pages are advertising the four charities. Then there is a map, reminding us how the park includes Lake Phalen. There is a thank you for coming, and 'remember to turn your headlights back on' as we were asked to turn them off at the entrance. This helps with seeing and enjoying the lights. The back page lists more sponsors, including St. Paul's paper, the Pioneer Press. Each set of lights seemed to have a sponsor banner next to them. There was a wide variety of lights available, I liked one of a train.
   In the early afternoon, we went to St. Paul's Union Depot to look around. My date hadn't seen it yet since it re-opened this month, though I have of course and it looks great. A security guard was on duty and had brochures  available about the depot. I liked how somebody was so willing to help out.
   I did a show at a place called the Icehouse in Uptown Minneapolis tonight, and I liked how one of my friends was also doing this show. It had an informal interview session after each comic did their jokes. Also saw two of my friends who were back from California, who were sitting in the upper level next to me. As I was preparing to leave at the end of the night, I was spotted by a crowdmember who asked about getting started in comedy. I advised them to try the open-mic shows, as there are some I regularly attend. I had just went to the bathroom and washed my hands when this happened, and recall this girl had some tattoos on her arm. I did many of the same jokes I did earlier in the week, though the interview session helped as I thought of another one. It was how I didn't see the circus as a kid, my first visit was to the Barnum and Bailey show when I was living in suburban Chicago. Some are likely surprised to hear this.    

The Box at Taco Bell

 This is actually Friday's entry, but I fell asleep and missed the cutoff for the same day. For the evening meal I had 'The Box' at Taco Bell, according to my receipts for the month it was my third visit to this establishment. I like what I get in this particular choice, due to the variety. But I was a little surprised when this time one fo those three wasn't the Loco Taco. I'm not too picky, and everything still tasted good. I just recall how originally I chose it after having a free Loco Taco after a 'Stolen base at the World Series' promotion.
   It was a fairly busy day at work, as I was just one of two people in the department. I was reciting this to a few people as to why. One of them had his last day a week earlier, another is on leave and not sure when returning. Then the other two were taking vacation days. So it was just me and the 'Lollipop Girl' from New Jersey, our newest member who was hired earlier this year. But we found a way to get things done. I did my normal duties, our larger payoff report. But the volume was fairly low. It was less than my share for a Monday, our busiest day, so it didn't take long to do. Then I did special requests starting around midday after finding out nobody had done them yet. There weren't many waiting, just six requests all day.
   One of the things I really wanted to get done was finish my application for another role in this office. I thought I had on Monday but there was a message waiting for me earlier today. It arrived on Thursday, when I wasn't there. It said I hadn't submitted an internal resume when I 'threw my hat in the ring'. So I had to figure out how to do so, and wanted it done by the end of the day for the peace of mind. It said I had a week to re-submit, and when I had the time right away I didn't want to wait until the last minute. It wasn't too big of a deal, just a few clicks on the computer and attaching it on the reply to the HR rep, who happens to be in Milwaukee. I got a confirmation later in the day saying it was received, so far so good.
   I liked watching 'The Simpsons' syndicated rerun instead of the 10pm news tonight. It was the one where Bart and friends go crazy on spring break, and arrive at the Knoxville, TN, World's Fair more than a decade late. I think I like it as it's a road story, and I do like road movies. It was also funny as it included Principal Skinner deciding to close the school a day early due to his travel reservations to Hong Kong. Then he sends a note home saying the kids can go to work with the parents, but being a housewife doesn't count as one doesn't get paid for it. There was also a joke about Branson, MO, in it. This served as a reminder of the late Jeff Rhody, one of the reasons I ended up in comedy. He said he liked the Branson joke as bart said 'My dad tells me this is what las vegas would look like if Ned Flanders were running it'. Meaning, all of the entertainment but none of the gambling.

Schwan Cup at Ridder Arena

   I went to see the Schwan Cup at Ridder Arena at the University of Minnesota earlier today, where Minnetonka beat Blaine 6-2. Tonka was up 1-0 after 1, and 4-1 after 2. They got 2 goals early in the 2nd. The teams traded goals early in the 3rd and the final one for Tonka was in the last minute of the game. It was nice seeing this venue for the first time, and I noticed it was much smaller seating than the university's other hockey venue, Mariucci Arena. It didn't take long to walk around it. Plenty of pictures up about Gopher women who played on national teams- some were for Canada and Finland, besides the USA- and those who were Olympians as well. There was a trophy case about the Ridders, who the arena was named for. The husband was John Mariucci's friend, and his wife wrote a book on feminism. A copy of the book was in the trophy case. I chose this game as it fit in my schedule well, being the lead-off game of the day, which began at noontime.
   After the game I went to find the University Technology Center, formerly John Marshall/University High School. It was in the Dinkytown neighborhood. I walked there after finding a cookie near campus at a Bruegger's Bagels in Stadium Village. It was expensive to eat at Ridder, I had a hot dog and some hot chocolate for $6.25. I got some pictures outside of the UTC, including of the doorways as there was the lamp in it which represents knowledge. On a lark I went inside to see what I could find, since the front door was unlocked. I saw what looked like a basketball gym, but the door was locked. Eventually I saw some artwork of the Grim Reaper, so I got a picture of it. Around this time I saw a construction worker pass by. He showed me his tattoo by rolling up his sleeve, also of the Grim Reaper. So I got a picture of it as well, and said 'Thank you so much'. I then heard him say to a colleague 'He wanted the reaper'. I left shortly thereafter. The Star Tribune article was from nearly a month ago, saying the sale would close soon and it would likely be demolished for housing as I recall. Hard to tell if there was any businesses still in operation there, or if all of them had to move out by then. But I am thankful I found it. The next thing would be to find out more about the University High School itself, such as how long it was in operation. I'm sure some of the answers are available online.
   This evening after watching 'Big Bang Theory' I went to Roseville to get socks from J.C. Penney and use up my other $5 gift certificate. Then it was on to the library to print things. It included two posters I saw on Facebook that were posted by friends.

The Novel, Not The Hurricane

  When I was researching Emerson Hough I thought I had found another book, but it was not to be. There is a novel called 'Sandy', but it's a different author- Alice Hegan Rice. This is a contemporary of Hough's, as the novel was published in 1905. Like many others, I am fully aware of how there's no requirement for accuracy online, and the correct author name is included on the front page of the version I found. It is listed a little after the claim that Hough wrote it. This is likely why it was a hit on the search engine I was using.
  At work I found out I was paid for just two hours when we had an early release on Monday. This means I was left an hour short. So I am deciding to make up the time with taking shorter lunches. There still are a considerable number of personnel not in the office right now due to the holiday.
   I did get stagetime at the comedy club tonight, so I liked being able to try out my 'Uncle Buck' joke. I also spoke of watching the TV program known as 'Yule Log'. Many others seemed to like this program, based on the crowd reaction. I was running out of time so I decided not to do another joke about spotting a fellow comic at church recently.
   There is some mention of the Schwan Cup hockey tournament in the news, I have attended this event before but it's been a while. It looks like the venues have changed some, mainly held at Ridder Arena at the U of M or at the Schwan Complex in Blaine. I liked being able to see it at Aldrich Arena in Maplewood. I have been to Blaine for the Twins Fanfest, but haven't been to Ridder yet. I know it is the women's hockey venue at the university.

The Grinch Stole Hockey

   I decided to get more pictures of a painting in a window at an eating establishment near the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul today. Once I got a better look at it close-up, it made sense why the Grinch and Cindy Lou Who were part of it. Cindy Lou had a lock but no key, and the Grinch carried a hockey stick. It is in reference to the NHL's lockout, so I guess the Grinch can steal hockey and not just Christmas. I like seeing how they're adding others to it. Next to these was Statler and Waldorf, the 'balcony critics' from the Muppets, and one of them had a thumbs down. This is likely also in reference to the labor dispute. Then we have Woodstock on Snoopy's doghouse, Snoopy with a turkey on a tray, Charlie Brown, and finally Frosty the Snowman. This establishment happens to be known as Tom Reid's Hockey City Pub.
   I am looking at my to-do list and I have accomplished plenty in the past few days. I just finished the Hawkeye Alumni Magazine reading, so yay for that. They pack a lot into these editions, published six times a year. I read articles about the diabetes epidemic, the university's Art On Campus program, fromer wrestling coach Dan Gable, and the Blue Zone. The last one is a program based on a book about practical, simple ways to increase health and well-being. The Gable article included an offer for a shirt that listed Gable after the 'Fab Four'- or the Beatles. Apparently there is a class offered at the university about the similarity between Gable and the Beatles.
    Then there's also the article about University High School in Iowa City, which closed in 1972. I had some classes in that building, now known as North Hall. It prompted me to look up another similar school, Northern University High School in Cedar Falls. It closed at the end of June, I knew it had low enrollment. I liked hearing about the concept of a K-12 school owned by a university, or a 'lab school' where teachers, principals, and superintendents have training available right on campus. It looks like the U. of Minnesota had one of these as well, not sure when it closed.  I would like to think there are some of these still in existence, but I can understand why some have closed. N.U. High was nearly closed ten years earlier. One must think of budgets and the priorities that go with them. In the case of Iowa City, I know they have three high schools- City, West, and Regina, the last of these being a Catholic school. So closing University High was likely due to low enrollment as well, as I know the movie 'Final Season' was also about closing small schools.

Ben-Hur and The Beatles

  I was watching 'Jeopardy' today and learned something as usual. The final Jeopardy clue was about a number one hit in 1967 which sampled from 'Greensleeves', among other songs. The answer was the Beatles song 'All you need is love'. Under a category about territorial governors, there was something about a governor who wouldn't pardon Billy the Kid in New Mexico, and host Alex Trebek said this governor wrote 'Ben-Hur'. This was Lew Wallace. I am familiar with how Emerson Hough made it to this area after Pat Garrett shot Billy the Kid. I am not entirely familiar with his time there, as I am more so with his novel-writing days that came later. But it was what inspired him to be a writer, as he originally went there to be a lawyer in White Oaks. With Ben-Hur, I don't think I have seen the movie in its entirety. I know there has been parodies of it, or certain things that were borrowed. This apparently includes the chariot races where one side used 'predator hubcaps' as I called them. I knew this was in 'Grease' when one side used them to tear into the other car on the race for ownership papers on Thunder Road. A college roommate said this was what they borrowed from in a 'Simpsons' episode as well, when doing a soapbox derby race.
   We had an early release at work today. About ten minutes after I returned from lunch my boss informed us we could leave if all of our work was done. I didn't have much left to do, but I still stayed a little longer than others and one colleague said 'go home'. I ended up leaving before 2pm, less than an our after we were informed. At lunchtime I passed through the food court and noticed everything was closed except for McDonald's, no surprise there. They usually stay open later than most. I got some chores done like the recycle and doing dishes before venturing out to walk the dog but I said I was going to watch 'Jeopardy' first. This evening I can look forward to the 'Yule Log' program. I've seen it before, kind of fun to have them play all of the Christmas music. It looks really authentic, with somebody tending the fire.

Singing In The Bathroom

Went to church today since the holiday is coming up. Had to wait to go into the bathroom before services, recall how it was odd to me to hear singing while waiting. I've heard of singing in the shower but not in the bathroom. After services I had cookies and juice and saw somebody there I knew from comedy, now he's in Madison,WI. I said he looked like somebody I know or should know. I like seeing this church as it's downtown and on the National Register of Historic Places.
   I had lunch back home, finishing the Little Caesar's pizza I got on Friday. Saw a message from the dog owner asking how things are going, I couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. It's been rather simple, see that the dog has food and water and is walked regularly. I did speak of the 'Napoleon Complex' where the dog kept barking at a larger dog, I said 'not happening' and it took a while for the calm to set in.
   Later on I did make it back downtown, to the fitness center. Liked seeing a 'Cosby Show' episode on there, from TV Land. I think I may have seen it first-run, it was about Denise having trouble as a college freshman. I don't make it there as often as I would like. Then it was on to a sports bar to see a football game, it can be fun to see one in a bar, especially when there's cheering for a good play. I called my college roommate at halftime and we spoke for a while about various subjects, including football. Looks like it doesn't work out to see him with his family at a casino in Sioux Falls over the holiday, as I have off Tuesday and Thursday only. Would be too hard to drive there and back the same day. But there will be other chances I am sure. After the game I made it to the Chicago hot dog place I like. It was a little busy, right before closing time, but I didn't mind too much. Spoke with an employee when I was done, he was closing up shop. He told me about having a friend working on a microchip at Lockheed Martin, going into stealth bombers. Sounds like my college roommate, a grad student in physics now working on a super collider.   

Uncle Buck

It took me a little while to think of movies comparable to what I'm doing for a friend. Best one I could think of is saying it's sort of like the movie 'Uncle Buck', except I'm just taking care of a dog. Buck does more than this, as he is also taking care of kids. Three in all, one of them a teenager. With the dog, the most memorable scene would be when he lets the dog have some of his beer. 'Some for you, some for me'. I don't plan on doing this, readers. Hopefully all of you were paying attention there. I have multiple reasons as to why. For one thing, beer is mostly drank by me when at the comedy club. I have drank it some away from there, but if anything it will be wine. Then there's getting yelled at by the owner, and then getting yelled at for using the term 'getting yelled at'. I've used the 'yelled at' line at the office, I am told in response to it how they- the managers- don't yell at people.
    Getting back to the dog again, I also recall the scene where he says he feeds the dog four or five times a day, when asked on the phone. He was told 'he eats once' and that is what I have been doing, per my instructions. It really hasn't been too hard for me yet, as I see it's walked regularly. Still doing some of my normal activities, as much as possible. Had to make a list to figure out what I want to get done, and then I realized that some things like Redbox movies can wait for now if need be. I said I wanted to get caught up on reading, and I have some magazines ready to read tonight. While the movie 'Uncle Buck' was successful, the lead role well-done by John Candy, I know that the TV show was not. This happens fairly often. I know Kevin Meaney had the lead on the TV show. I once had this movie on VHS tape, recorded from a movie channel, but not anymore. I have downsized in this area, since it's mostly obsolete. I recall the other movies on the tape to be 'Crocodile Dundee' and 'The Sting'.

Golden Retriever Pulling Lawn Cart

Today was the theater guy's last day, he left at midday. I did get some more good stories before then. When I spoke of being caretaker for a friend's dog he spoke of having a golden retriever that was as happy as a clam to pull the lawn cart. A colleague said 'He's the random advice man'. One of his fellow bus riders said they should tell him to be careful, but I'm not even sure you know the meaning of the word. There was also flying a Cessna, thought he said a 152. I did find a group page on Facebook about his shows, but I had to send an invite and hopefully I will be accepted. I did recognize a card shown, as it was the same one I have near my laptop. It advertises a fashion show called 'Il Tempo Vola' that he was a part of in October. It's also a spooky tea party. He wasn't a Facebook friend as I didn't need this connection as long as he was a colleague. I sent a card, he said thank you. I said I haven't done this for many before. But I wanted to acknowledge somebody who had taught me plenty and somebody I could relate to as were are both performers in some form. I gave him a salute as he was leaving. He didn't have to make his rounds to say goodbye to anyone, as those who wanted to found him. I have seen many come and go in nearly 14 years working for the same company. But he was truly one of a kind, and this is anything but cliche. He is one of those from work in my 'ring of honor', and relatively few colleagues have this distinction. It was from last year's state fair. I knew well enough to ask as there was no longer a chance for pictures at the office.
   There is plenty of inspiration to be found everywhere, it helps to pay attention of course. When I was taking the bus home tonight I saw somebody who was wearing a winter hat which said 'parental advisory, explicit content' much like the sticker on some CDs. He also had a hoodie coat with a pattern of skulls all over it. While waiting for the bus I saw four young dudes pass by doing a rap. 'Never trust a (expletive) you have to watch'.

Santa Is A Vampire

The theater guy went through a funny story really quick at the end of the workday. He spoke of how Santa Claus is a vampire. Here goes: first, due to his longevity. Next, being able to withstand the extreme cold. Then, flying only at night. And his helpers aren't elves, just kids. He has a red suit to cover up the bloodstains. Finally, due to solarity moving so fast around the world. I even said how he's often good writing material, in response to his saying it will be quieter soon as his final day is Friday. Apparently just a half day, as he is out at noontime. He said he wanted to move a few things out of the office a little early, like the Nerf gun from the Olympic competition from this summer.
   We had a potluck today, I brought a fruit tray. About half of it was eaten, I liked the pineapple the most. There was a good variety of food there, first time I may have had a Cinnabon treat. I know it had been a while since I had eaten deermeat, or venison. Probably not since college, as one of my roommates liked to hunt. With the cheese and crackers, it was mostly crackers remaining by the end of the day. I liked the pepperoni slices, and all of the cheese was eaten. Somebody brought 'loaded potatoes'- at least I think that is what he called it. This is the sarcastic farmboy that is the clone of my college roommate. I had the potato separate from the beef casserole. Still tasted good that way. We had to wait until the conference room was available, as two managers were meeting in there. So I put the fruit back in the refrigerator for a little longer. I think the potluck officially got started about 20 minutes late, but it was still early for me as this was before 11:30 and I often don't go to lunch until about an hour after that.
   'The Big Bang Theory' episode tonight may have been a rerun, but it seemed to be one that I hadn't seen yet. I say this as it was about Howard in space. Still a good storyline, especially the interactions between Sheldon and Penny. I got another Christmas card, from my friends in St. Louis.  I walked a dog for a friend tonight, the dog sure was anxious to get outside.

Mark Twain Home in Hannibal

I had the day off from work today so I decided to get caught up on some reading. This included reading the Friday editions of the Minneapolis paper for the month of November. I still like this funny columnist they have. He covered yes and no lawn signs, a winter travel kit, Black Friday, and Christmas LED lights. With the last one he made a reference to the Chevy Chase role in the movie 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation'.
  After getting this done, I switched to my alumni magazines and read a year-old edition. Yes, I am a little behind on my reading. It mentioned a University of Iowa PHD graduate working at the Mark Twain home in Hannibal, Missouri. I did visit this place in March 2010 as a side trip from St. Louis as I was there for the college basketball tournament. There was mention of them selling a CD with spoken word performances and songs which featured the likes of Garrison Keillor, Clint Eastwood, and Brad Paisley. Since I have a friend that likes Brad Paisley I showed them the article tonight before I made it to the comedy club.
   In the afternoon I did venture out to do some errand running. First stop was the bank to have them count change and deposit the total into savings. It was $5.20: 85 pennies, 10 nickels, 21 dimes, and 7 quarters. It was a high total of quarters but I recalled wanting to replace what I had taken out when I wanted to get two burritos from the nearby grocery store on a Thursday. I wanted to close the gap on my food needs before making my weekly grocery run. The card I was using to keep an accurate total was filling up anyway. But I wanted to wait until it was at least five dollars.
   Next it was on to Taco Bell on Snelling, as I wanted 'The Box', with a regular taco, loco taco, and a burrito. A good deal in my opinion. Then it was on to Rosedale Mall in Roseville to use a gift card at J.C. Penney for some PJ's. Since I was wanting to replace a blue pair I said this one would also be blue. I noticed there was a button with a loose string so I pulled on it until the button was off, then went to rip it up entirely as there was a small hole by a lower button. I had wanted to replace this pair for a while, and destroying it made it more necessary. Much of my clothing gets ripped up and thrown in the trash and usually doesn't end up donated to a secondhand store as I often believe in 'use it until it's junk'. Then on to the library so I could type out two letters for my Christmas cards. I wanted to send out six, to those who had sent ones to me. I had hoped to make it home to see 'Jeopardy' but it was not to be. I did get all six cards ready before going out again in the evening, and got them over to the post office after the comedy show.
    There was light snow falling as the comedy show was ending. Before the show I discussed various subjects with a fellow comic that I hadn't seen in a while. He said he had read about German leader Otto Von Bismarck, who unified the nation. Other subjects included movies like 'Hyde Park on Hudson' and 'The Campaign', as well as 'Lincoln' since I had seen all of them recently but I don't think he had seen them yet. With Lincoln it led to talk of not knowing for sure what his voice sounded like, and I said Tom Edison invented the phonograph after Lincoln died. In terms of the actual show, the most notable thing may have been one comic who said the owner should have a sense of humor. It was in reference to some photo of his being taken down where he is showing 'the finger' twice.

Kiss Me For Charity

At the comedy club tonight, the first comic after the M.C. had a sandwich board saying 'Kiss me for charity'. He had a suit on and a red bowtie and red-framed glasses. There was some mistletoe hanging over his head, that he took down when not on stage. He ran over his time and was drowned out by the music. He wasn't that funny but those who came onstage later were when referring to him. The show closer was also the show runner, somebody I greeted on the way in after getting my drink. He spoke of musician Brother Ali being at a club recently, I spoke of knowing very little about this act. I mainly knew about the mention on the Saturday Night Live 'Weekend Update' fake-news segment, where they also spoke of 'Chemical Frazier' in reference to the famous Frazier-Ali boxing match.
   At work I saw to it that things were caught up as I would be taking the following day off. It meant handing off one item, where the VINs didn't match on an electronic title that recently arrived. It went to my manager.
   After getting home from the comedy club, I decided to get some more of my stamps applied onto a throwaway 8 1/2 by 11 page. I had a fair amount waiting, and it meant the page is already over half-full. While they are mostly American stamps, there are some Canadian stamps and one British stamp. The Canadian stamps are from ordering items on E-bay, as sometimes the sellers are from there. The British stamp was left over from my traveling to Great Britain for a wedding in June. I decided to keep just one style of stamp each, no duplicates. So it meant not using a few penny stamps, which had been used as 'make-up' stamps at the times of rate increases.
   There is still plenty of media coverage about the shooting in Connecticut, and on Yahoo there was an article about the deadliest school shooting ever in America. It happened in Michigan in 1927, killing over 40. It was in a town called Bath, about 10 miles northeast of the capital city of Lansing. There was some mention of how the media coverage of the event was largely over after a week. This was in part due to the famous Charles Lindbergh flight across the Atlantic, which happened just a few days later.

Kellogg's Olympic Cereal

    Earlier today, I finished a box of Kellogg's Olympic cereal. I like trying items from the discount table at the grocery store, and this was one of them. When it was first bought the cashier was surprised to see it. I said it likely ended up on the discount able as it wasn't selling well. It's a shiny box and is vanilla flavored multigrain cereal. They chose well on the colors of the little rings of cereal, as it happens to be red white and blue. There are 8 official Team Kellogg's athlete cards on the back, for Team USA. It is mainly from the sports I would expect, as America does well in swimming (2 cards) and track and field (also two). Others are for competitors in gymnastics, beach volleyball, soccer, and table tennis (or ping pong). Since I haven't followed the Olympic Games much in recent years I recognize just one name: Summer Sanders, listed as a 'swimming legend'. She is described here as the most decorated U.S. Olympic swimmer in 1992.
   At the comedy club tonight I did have a drink at the bar with a comic I knew, who is doing a show I got a Facebook invite for. The show is in January. He has done other shows around town, like at the 400 Bar in Minneapolis. Liked seeing the show closer, the Worthington native who is back from California. He did a joke I had heard before but still like, it was about a play which was a takeoff of the variety show 'Hee-Haw'. He called it a hillbilly version of 'Saturday Night Live', which is fairly close if somebody wanted to describe it to somebody that hasn't seen it before. I have met a few people who haven't. I saw the show some as a youngster. My parents liked the country music on it, and when I saw some episodes on DVD I noticed they did plenty of corny marriage jokes. That's bad, no that's good. Also that's good, no that's bad.

Mills Fleet Farm

   Today in the afternoon I went with my date to the Mills Fleet Farm store in Lakeville. To the best of my knowledge, it was my first-ever visit to this particular chain store. When passing by I had often noticed the silo built into the side of the store. There was a wide variety of products there, and I did buy two. I bought a baseball-themed Christmas ornament and a set of 2 Ford (blue oval) stickers. Some things I saw there brought back memories of childhood like seeing some Magic Chef microwave ovens, and then the chainsaws as my dad had some chainsaws when I was a kid. Though he had Homelite and McCulloch, neither one apparently was sold there- I just saw Poulan and Husqvarna.
   I was expecting to see 'The Simpsons' tonight but coverage of an interfaith prayer service from Connecticut, in response to the school shooting, pre-empted it. They cut away eventually, and all we saw was the closing credits of the show. After this I said I didn't want to wait for the president's speech, so I went home as I needed to get the necessary errand running done like groceries and dishes.
   After going to Mills Fleet Farm, we did have dinner at the Cracker Barrel across the highway. We looked around in the store a little before the table was available, but I bought nothing. Some of the ornaments looked nice but I told myself it was enough to have bought one earlier.
   When I arrived home I liked getting some more online surveys done. It was enough to convert survey money into 500 miles for my Delta Airlines account. Thankfully this happened just a few days after the minimum 30-day waiting period between redemptions, or 'dumping' miles. So now I have over 5,000 miles in the Delta account. It was odd what one survey happened to be, it was about car brands and asked us to compare it to types of relationships like if it's an old friend, a fling, a secret.   

Dining A La Card

   This morning I got a message saying 'Hurry, survey waiting' from E-rewards. It said the opportunity had expired even though it hadn't been there long, just over an hour. I know some of their surveys are like this. I try all of them as even if I don't qualify for the survey I still may get a small amount of survey money like a quarter. I like having the surveys available as it helps with building up the balance in my frequent flyer account with Delta Airlines. Originally the agreement was with Northwest Airlines and then continued when Delta bought them out. I looked at the other rewards and none of the others appeal to me as much. I am still weighing my options on other ways to get points for my American Airlines account, a program sounding much like 'Dining A La Card' which I once took calls for. Pay with a registered card at a participating restaurant. But I think many of these are sit-down places and I prefer fast-food or simple sandwich shops.
   There were various booklets available when we were taking these calls for club memberships, based on the agreements we had. Dining A La Card was the generic one. Then we had others with most of the major airlines, named after whatever their frequent flyer plans were called. One of my colleagues liked to refer to some of the callers as 'diner whiners' as they seemed to be much like other customer service calls, the 'complaint department' as dad likes to call it. We did have some famous people listed as members, I know some of those memberships were free. Another colleague showed me some of them, as I recall it was all of the members of the band Metallica.
   I was not sure about the events planned today, as many things are 'weather permitting' of course. In the morning I looked outside my window and saw rain but it didn't look like freezing rain at all. I recall a Stone Temple Pilots song with this sentiment, I think it was 'Plush', 'And I feel so much depends on the weather, so is it raining in your bedroom?' I did end up going to a comedy show in the evening with my date, the later show which began at 10pm. I got a shoutout from both headliners and both of them signed the poster. I recognized the MC as well, who did the timeshare joke.

'The Writer' Magazine

  I had the day off from work and decided to get caught up on some reading. At first I thought about it being the papers, but reminded myself how there are some magazines I haven't read yet. Good thing I've cut back on subscriptions. It's still hard to find the time to read the ones that are left! One of these is 'The Writer' magazine, the one I kept after deciding to go from four writer magazines to one. There was one issue with an advice article saying that a writer doesn't have to write everyday. Well I am fine with writing on a regular basis, and I am a big believer in this not being a 'one size fits all' world. Different strokes for different folks. I am keeping one of these issues out to show to a friend soon, as there is an article about literary historic sites to see. Actually I have already seen some of them, like the Mark Twain sites in Hannibal, Missouri, and the Margaret Mitchell home in Atlanta, where she wrote 'Gone With The Wind'. What also interests me is mention of a place in Massachusetts related to Theodor Geisel, better known as 'Dr. Seuss'- a memorial garden. I have been to that state, when I went to Boston in 2001. But I mainly stayed in that area and this place is in another town, west of there in Springfield. I still have some more issues of 'The Writer' to read, along with the alumni magazine from the University of Iowa, a throw-in with my alumni association membership.
   I got plenty of errand running done in the afternoon, starting with returning the Redbox movie 'The Campaign'. Next was a sandwich at Superamerica, and the paper since I get it on fridays. I would have bought it at an earlier stop but the coin rack didn't work for some reason. This was when I heard about the school shooting in Connecticut, as I had it on public radio and the president's speech was on. I made it home in time to see 'Jeopardy', and it sounded like regular programming was pre-empted for news coverage for a while. According to what has been reported, the death toll is higher than at Columbine in 1999, and just below Virginia Tech in 2007. I recall both fairly well. I have seen the Michael Moore movie 'Bowling For Columbine' and recall the Virginia Tech shooter being mentioned at the Crime and Punishment Museum in Washington, DC, that I saw in 2009.
   In the evening I went out to get a sandwich downtown at the Erbert Gerbert shop, since I wanted double points on my loyalty card. Then it was on to Walgreen where I got 3 different kinds of soap, which is not typical all at the same time.  I needed bar soap, dish soap, and laundry soap. The first one I have to buy more often than the others. Then I went to Walmart nearby and got two poster frames. One was for a reprinted Lincoln campaign poster that I've had for a few years and the other was for a movie poster, 'North of 36', that I recently bought from E-bay since it's based on an Emerson Hough novel. Of the three things I ordered late last night on E-bay, two are already listed as shipped- it helps to pay right away. It includes a Linus mini-statue, and I will be pleased to have it as I had been looking for one for a while that was affordable. The other was a postcard of St. Paul's Union Depot, known as 'Union Station' when the postcard was made. I would expect the third, a combined order or postcards, is not too far behind. Both are from Canadian cities- the two I have visited (Montreal and Winnipeg) and from events they hosted in 1967. For Montreal, it was the World's Fair (known as Expo 67, and the origin for the name of the baseball team they once had). For Winnipeg, it was the Pan-Am Games, a warmup for the Olympic Games which are held a year later. It was nice finding a listing with both in it, usually I have to order postcards individually.

The Campaign Movie

After finishing the Harvey Pekar book- The Quitter- and returning it to the library I ended up at the Rainbow Foods in Maplewood, noticing there was a Redbox inside. So I decided to get the movie 'The Campaign' as it had been on my list. I took it as sometimes referring to John Edwards since it took place in North Carolina, also the way the campaign signs looked as they looked much like his. Liked seeing Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow in it, even though they had small roles. Also liked hearing a Green Day song in the closing credits, called '99 Revolutions'. But I have long known this band for having strong political beliefs, so hearing them do a song in a political satire movie wasn't surprising at all.
   It was a farce, hard to know where to begin as there were so many jokes in it. Memorable was a scene where somebody was stopped for drunk driving and then they're shown hitting a cow with the car. Or somebody punching a baby, and then a little dog. A junk food meal, with the dogs getting a similar meal. Admitting to wearing a Lady Gaga costume for a while and liking it. This is something I chuckled about as a Lady Gaga fan. Or somebody being fired from a campaign when pointing out all of the jobs lost due to NAFTA. It might have been silly, but I liked most of the jokes in it. Some (actually quite a few) of the jokes might have been low-brow, but I like seeing a political satire as politics can be an easy target for comedy. I say it was definitely worth seeing. I saw it as I got a button and poster for it at the comedy club advertising it at theaters, saying it would be worth a try on video. I hadn't seen many movies with Will Ferrell or Zach Galifianakis, but both did well in it.
   I liked 'The Big Bang Theory' episode as usual, where Sheldon has a nightmare when Santa comes for a visit due to having Santa in a Dungeons and Dragons game. I thought about watching 'The Simpsons' rerun at 10pm but knew there would be an interview on WCCO I wanted to see, Frank Vascallero interviewing President Obama about the looming fiscal cliff.

Hyde Park on Hudson Movie

I went to an advance screening of the movie 'Hyde Park on Hudson' with my date tonight at the Lagoon theater in Minneapolis. Tickets were won through the St. Paul Saints baseball team, as lead actor Bill Murray is a part-owner of the team. There were some drawings going on as we arrived.
    I really enjoyed this movie since my college major was history. I noticed how they got the mannerisms down real well for President Franklin Roosevelt, Murray's role. I was used to seeing his picture in the history books with a cigarette holder and having his head looking up. I thought it was odd that I didn't see the movie title on the screen until the closing credits were rolling. But it wasn't too big of a deal to me.  I should have expected it to be funny when it's a Bill Murray movie, and it was. There was a joke about famous people from that time that really worked for me since I knew who they spoke of. I was familiar with just the lead actors in it, Laura Linney as well as Murray. I saw an ad on TV for it after getting home, something how it may be worthy of awards. I noticed in the credits how the British Lottery helped fund it, so it had cooperation from the Brits, which is helpful when it's about the royal couple visiting America.
   I like going to advance screenings, dating back to the original 'Shrek' in 2001. And I did pick up a poster for it much like when I saw 'Shrek'. This was near the door. Also picked up a card about 'On The Road', based on the Jack Kerouac book. I've told myself I need to read the book first, then see the movie. Otherwise it's unlikely that I will read the book at all.
   Traffic moved better today to and from work, I was pleased with seeing this as I don't enjoy being late for work. I made up the 30 minutes today with a shorter lunch. Since there was a 'Lunch and Learn' speaker on Tuesday I didn't want to do it same-day.

Microsoft Excel Class

I wanted to test some things out in a Microsoft Excel class between sessions one and two, as session two is in a few days. I had to ask the instructor how to find it on my computer, and I said I liked his 'substance over style' quote. When I was trying out figures on the spreadsheet, at first I was at a loss for what to use. Then I saw the game scores from the Iowa Hawkeye football schedule, so I used them. I noticed they scored at least 18 points in the four games they won, and 17 or less in 5 of the games they lost. The point differential was minimal, an average of less than four a game. They couldn't find a way to win the close games, which was why they didn't go to a bowl game.
    I got to know my fellow bus riders fairly well today, since the bus wasn't moving all that fast in the morning or the evening. I wasn't thrilled about being 30 minutes late for work, but what can you do? In the evening it started early, a younger man behind me who said things like 'we better not get stuck going up this hill'. It was about 30 minutes late getting home as well.
   I did make it to the comedy club tonight, after giving up last night's show I didn't want to skip another one if I could help it. Liked seeing the show closer there, he was unfamiliar about the Twins fanfest which will be in January. I said I like the bathtub joke but know he will probably do plenty of new material. He did one about somebody shopping at Menards on Black Friday, I liked it. Another comic was wearing a hockey jersey, which is commonplace in a hockey-mad state like Minnesota. But this was a fairly rare kind, the 1980 Olympic 'Miracle on Ice' edition. At first I couldn't tell what name was on the back, just the number 30. But eventually I did see it said 'Craig', as in goalie Jim Craig.

Three Guys and a Girl

I was behind on errand running due to the snowstorm this weekend so I decided to go do my laundry tonight. I hated having to stay away from the comedy club, but I knew it was tough going by car out there. For a while I was by myself at the laundromat, but as the dryer was about to finish a group of four people showed up, three guys and a girl. One of them asked me while I was reading a book if I had a quarter for two dimes and a nickel, I said no. The girl said I was a liar, but also proved later on how she just loved to argue with them. One of them spoke about the Vikings game on Sunday, then she tried to say they didn't play the Bears. But of course, they did really play the Bears. I didn't feel the need to engage them in conversation, like saying I had attended the game, as early on they proved to be types that I wouldn't enjoy being around. They swore a lot in that short time I was there. Not sure where all of their names were, but I know the guy in the glasses was Tito and another man was Tic-Tac. The girl had a work ID on for Champs, not to be confused with the bar and grill as there was some mention of games. If it was a video game parlor, I wouldn't know much about those kinds of establishments as I haven't been there much in recent years. They showed up shortly before the doors were going to lock up for the night, and many of them were goofing around and their leader told them to knock it off. I was very focused during that time, wanting avoid them as much as possible and get out of there quickly. They had left their laundry unattended for a while, as upon my arrival I did see some full but finished dryers.
   Another E-bay item arrived earlier today, it was a book called 'American Quality Legend' about the Maytag Appliance Company, published at the time of its centennial in 1993. I did think it was ironic how I was reading it a little while at the laundromat, where there were some Maytags but mostly other brands like Whirlpool or Dexter.
   At lunchtime I walked over to the remodeled Union Depot in Lowertown and got a good look around, which included finding the repainted Snoopy statue. I've seen some of these historic railroad depots before, like Union Station in Chicago. I liked seeing some of the artwork on the wall of the terminal, or friezes, as it was depicting the railroads in a nice pattern. I will want to get some pictures soon but it means coming back with my camera.  

Football Game Odyssey

It seems appropriate to call it an odyssey on attending a football game today, Bears-Vikings at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. I started out with clearing snow off my car, then being thankful to see a snowplow arrive to make it easier to leave. I did take it slow until leaving the main road to get back to where I live. I checked the bus schedule to find out how much time I had, and as expected on Sundays the buses don't run as often, about every 20 minutes. So I checked email and gathered up what I needed like the game ticket and my bus pass and headed out. I took the bus to the airport and then transferred to light rail. I got some pictures outside the Dome of the artwork depicting the types of events held there over the years like concerts and baseball, then headed inside. It was already close to kickoff by then. I ended up spending nearly all of halftime waiting in line for food, I got a hot dog and a bottle of soda pop. I was very much thankful to the cashier when I was given some sauerkraut for the dog, as it was a packet of Frank's Sauerkraut instead of what I've seen before, a smaller amount in a little plastic cup. I did get a packet of Frank's before, when I was attending the college basketball tournament in St. Louis at the Rams stadium. Vikings led at halftime 14-7 and went on to win 21-14. Vikings were aided by 2 interceptions, one was ran back for a touchdown. The other was overturned on replay, saying the runner was out of bounds about 5 yards short of the goal line. But tailback Adrian Peterson still got a quick touchdown from it, his second after getting one early in the first quarter.
   What truly made this an odyssey was after the game. I saw the long line for the light rail, going in both directions, and said I wanted to take a bus instead. At first I didn't see buses that were running, just some that were stuck in the snow near the Dome. I walked a few blocks farther and found some heading over to downtown St. Paul. I did get on one of these. We were able to go for a while but then got stuck short of downtown, near the Capitol. So I got out and walked over to the Xcel Energy Center and found a bus that took me a little farther. After this I didn't feel like waiting long for any more buses and walked the rest of the way home. I tried to eat dinner at two places, but found out they were closed. One of them was a Burger King, where some of the staff was outside and said they were closed. I got some satisfaction out of knowing a McDonald's was still open, so I decided to eat there. I ended up at BK's competitor instead! By then I really needed a bathroom break. I had a fish sandwich there and heard a heavyset woman on her cellphone tell somebody she was at a McDonald's, basically stranded as her car tires were no good. Something about North Carolina tires, and I did see a car with North Carolina plates in the lot when I was leaving. She also said something about not wanting to get married. I had thought about getting a movie at the Redbox there, but it was stuck and the cashier said it was broken. It was stuck on 'Insert your disc'.
  After getting home I did fall asleep for a little while, then knew I needed to get up and go for my weekly grocery run. I watched the news before heading out again. I liked getting some pictures along the way to remind me of the odyssey, this included one of the McDonald's I ate at along with a snowman near my home. I said 'Hello, Frosty' before deciding to pull out my camera.

Bagpipes from Baghdad

   Early in the day, I decided to listen to each of the CDs I had bought on Friday. One of them was 'Relapse' by Eminem. It includes the song 'Bagpipes from Baghdad'. I had found this one on Youtube before when looking for bagpipe music. I noticed it was mainly used as a backdrop, but musicians often do sampling for the desired effect. The other two were 'Achtung Baby' by U2 and 'Human Wheels' by John Mellencamp, both of these I had before on cassette.
   It seemed relevant to hear this Eminem song when I did as I had another odd dream. This one was about being trampled by a bagpipe band. I recall saying I think I will still like that kind of music in spite of it. I think it was in reference to going through pictures and seeing plenty from Canadian Days in Little Canada. Each year at this festival, I like to hear the bagpipe band from their sister city in Canada, which is Thunder Bay.
   The mail arrived early this morning, and an item I ordered from E-bay just arrived. I don't get a knock on my door that often, but I had been up for a few minutes and was getting breakfast ready so I was decent even though I was still wearing PJ's. It was the Maytag microwave oven cookbook I had ordered a week earlier. I said there was another thing I had ordered, so it should be arriving soon as well. I was pleased to see how my Enterprise Rentacar loyalty card had arrived, so now I have a card for all of my loyalty programs.
    In the afternoon I went to a Godfather's Pizza with my date so I could get a free dessert pizza which was on my loyalty card and was going to be available for just a few more days. We arrived just in time to have the lunch buffet, as they packed it up shortly thereafter. Afterwards I was along for the ride on some errand running, which included getting some bottles of wine. There was a clock counting down the time to the end of the Mayan calendar at the liquor store. In the evening we watched a movie, '61', about Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris chasing the home run record in 1961. I knew it had been produced by Billy Crystal. Before this I decided to watch some of the Army-Navy football game on CBS, won by Navy. Vice President Joe Biden attended, apparently President Obama couldn't make it. As usual, when watching a game I pay close attention to the announcers. I thought Verne Lundquist did fine with the play-by-play, but the color commentator Gary Danielson was a waste. He wasn't getting the terminology down, like saying 'trying to pick up a first down on a goal to go' when it wasn't even goal to go. It would have been contradictory anyway, as a first down when starting off goal to go is a touchdown. Ex-players or ex-coaches can be good announcers, but some of them are really poor.

Unique Thrift Store

    I went to a secondhand store today known as the Unique Thrift Store in St. Paul, on Rice Street. Not sure what makes it unique unless it's because it's not a Goodwill or a Salvation Army or a Savers. I've been there before, pleased to find three items I will likely have use for. One of them was a photo album, which is already filled. I had wanted to get the last of my 'school binder type' albums thrown out, and this was a good time to do so. It was aided by deciding to take out and destroy plenty of low-quality pictures where it was too dark for me to tell what was in the picture. I had to do this less often when I got to pictures taken with digital cameras, especially the current one which I bought last year.
    I had hoped to use another as a photo album, on the cover it said 'General Mills International Board of Directors Meeting' from 1997, but the pages seem to be too narrow for most photos or postcards. It cost just a dollar and would hold just 24 photos, so I'm not out that much. I am still trying to figure out a use for it. The third item was the second season of episodes of 'The Office', a show I liked watching on syndicated reruns.
   The receipts help remind me of other places I went to today, as I wanted to get plenty of errand running done on this day off, especially when I normally work on a Friday. I started off with getting some lunch at Superamerica, then got three CDs and two postcards at Cheapo. Two of the three CDs were replacing ones I already had on cassette. The third was an Eminem CD. The postcards were of Willie Nelson and Natalie Merchant. Odd how I ended up hearing Nelson's version of 'Frosty the Snowman' later on, as I was arriving at the thrift store. I got socks at J.C. Penney, using up one of two gift certificates from the buttons. Then there was Walgreen, where I got a lightbulb to replace the one in the kitchen that had burned out two weeks ago.
  Before leaving on my journey I decided to take inventory of my music. As expected, there is not much left on cassette. And I moved four more CDs into the wallet I recently bought at Best Buy, so it is nearly full now. This was due to wanting to save space in the box it was in, and those were not in standard CD cases. They were singles in cardboard sleeves. Not too surprising as to what I all had, just that I didn't think of taking inventory any earlier. Next big project to tackle would be to take inventory of the books, which will be harder to do when I have 3 cases full already.

Regus Business World

My membership card for Regus Business World arrived today. This is a free membership offered to me due to having a loyalty account with Enterprise Rentacar. It looks like there are some locations in the Twin Cities that I can try out. It will be nice to have this card available when I travel to places like Chicago and St. Louis. It has complimentary Internet access and refreshments being offered to its members. This is something I do need while traveling, as it gets expensive paying a quarter a minute at a place like Kinko's.
   I just watched a rebroadcast of 'Twin City Live' and there was a review of the upcoming movie 'Hyde Park on Hudson' starring Bill Murray. I had seen Bill Murray in 'Get Low' as he played a loopy funeral director in it. Since it is a period piece like 'Lincoln' it was being mentioned along with it. I would like to see this one, but it sounds like it may be in limited release.
   I did get a look at the City-County Building in St. Paul at lunchtime today, and there is more than just a police officer memorial there. It is included with a firefighter memorial, on a small standalone display next to some flags. It lists just those killed in the line of duty for the city of St. Paul. The more extensive memorial there was a veterans memorial, which was multiple columns in the middle of the building. One large sculpture inside did remind me of a postcard I have in one of my photo albums, but I don't recall where I bought the card.
   I went to a holiday dinner tonight where lasagna was being served, Garfield the Cat would have liked this. I brought some little pumpkin spice cupcakes from Rainbow Foods. I liked another dessert item just as much as what I brought, which was some Sultan Maamoul date-filled cookies. It says in smaller print 'with selected Saudi dates'. I had two of these.

Loretta Lynn Interview

  I liked seeing an interview with Loretta Lynn on ABC's 'Nightline' show tonight. They called her '80 years young'. I had seen the movie 'Coal Miner's Daughter' and I knew about some of the songs mentioned in the interview like 'Rated X' and 'Now I've got the pill'. But I didn't know they were controversial or pioneering at the time, as these subjects are no longer taboo really. Sounds like she's still touring often.
   There was plenty of news coverage about the funeral for Officer Tom Decker of Cold Spring. It did remind me of the news coverage of other officers killed in the line of duty since moving to the Twin Cities in 2004. I do recall Jerry Vick of St. Paul, Rick Crittenden of North St. Paul, and Joe Bergeron of Maplewood. There was also Mike Wilken, a deputy sheriff hit by a car while helping with the Haunted House in Maplewood. I know there is a Peace Officer Memorial on the Capitol grounds, and I've been inside a City-County Building in St. Paul which does list some officers. I found a web page called 'Officer Down Memorial Page' and it did list Decker there. Having grown up in Newton, Iowa, I recalled Dan McPherren being killed in the line of duty in 1985. He had given a tour to my church group at one point. From an article about Joe Bergeron, who was killed in 2010, it said that 257 officers in Minnesota have been killed in the line of duty since 1881. The paper had pictures showing plenty of police cars from miles around at McPherren's funeral, and this was also the case with Decker's.
    At the comedy club tonight, there was at least one no-show. But I was pleased that one comedian friend was performing, though I haven't heard the 'Lugar' joke in a while. He's been doing one about his lady and writing in calligraphy. Then we did some improv after the show in the lobby. I said I wasn't sure if we could remember all of it. He said I had a 'pornographic' memory instead of an 'auto- biographical' one.
  The theater guy said before lunchtime how he had tendered his resignation, effective in just over two weeks from now. It was tough to hear but I knew he had wanted out for a while. We also had the company's holiday gathering. Plenty of food there and it was a good thing that I didn't have the soup I normally bring. I went to the later session of the two, figuring I would need more time to finish the payoff report. We also got another gym bag with the company logo on it. At some point I may need to go through these again and decide to get rid of some as I likely have too many. There has to be some I don't use much, if at all.

I Don't Smoke, Sorry

   It was an eventful day, which of course meant a visit to the comedy club. I saw a few comics I recognized onstage tonight but didn't speak to any of them. I liked how the bartender called me 'champ' so I said I was giving an extra dollar in my tip after getting my beer.
  After I left the club a younger man said his girlfriend was stranded and was asking for a dollar. She even offered to sell her cigarettes. I said 'I don't smoke, sorry' and then went on my way. As I recall she was wearing a Domino's Pizza jacket.
  This morning I was next to the girl on the bus who is seen with her mom. Hard to estimate how old the girl is, maybe ten or twelve. I usually dodn't speak to them at all. But I did notice the book she was reading, 'Cinderella'. Looks like she had just begun reading it as I saw the part about the wicked stepmother assigning her all of those chores.
   In the evening the bus did not arrive on time, and when it did I eventually gave up my seat near the front and moved to the back. I saw the need for it as somebody said their companion had fallen before getting on the bus. I noticed she seemed to be out of it and wasn't moving around much (or at all) under her own power, and fell on the bus at one point before settling in her seat.
   After getting back from the comedy club tonight, for some reason I decided to go through some of my rare coinage kept in small plastic bags. This includes the Canadian and British coins. I then told myself that I should try to find what is in a plastic piggy bank, where there would be two coins I had kept with a description as they had been taped in a photo album for a while. Here we go: first one is a German coin, a 10 Pfennig. Got it in high school, I claimed it right away after seeing it laying on the floor. Then the Canadian penny, from Charlie Brown's barber shop. As a kid it was a big deal to see foreign coins in small-town Iowa so I said I would save that one. Finally we have an American nickel, and I got it in a science class in high school. I stood up to the bum, a day to remember. I acquired it after a classmate I didn't like happened to throw it at me. He then wanted it back and I said it's mine now. I have seen this classmate some since graduating, but I don't think he was at this year's reunion.
   Another thing I did was decide to move some more souvenirs to the office. This includes a piece of the Metrodome roof, a Minnesota Fighting Saints (defunct hockey team) patch, and some stickers depicting various Twin City tourist sites. The first two I bought at the Twins Fanfest earlier this year, the third was from the state's museum, or officially the Minnesota History Center. The fourth item moved to the office will be the coinage from Iceland, as I had a layover there to and from Great Britain in June. It is a set of seven coins from 1967-1980.

Brandigg in Germany

   I am still amazed at times as to where my writings end up. Recently I saw how some entries were picked up by a German website called 'Brandigg'. So far I have seen two of them were there. The first found was Hilton hotels, as I did stay at the Airport location in St. Louis in July. The other was about Marlon Brando, as I had written about seeing the movie 'Wild One' on video after finding it at the library. Since this site appears to cover famous brand names, there might be even more entries there.
   Even though I was handling our biggest payoff report at work today, I liked how it was a lower volume than typical for a Monday. So it meant I could go to lunch a little earlier. After lunch I knew I needed to submit a monthly stat report to the boss. I also got around to throwing out my records from September, as we just keep them for 60 days. I copy the pages from the payoff reports so I can do my record-keeping in a quick fashion.
     At the comedy club tonight, there was a no-show and I was saying 'Where are you, man?' when I noticed they didn't answer the call. Still surprised at the no-shows. But I have bemoaned this in other things as well, like with online dating. I usually refer to it as 'lack of effort'.
   I did destroy a pair of socks tonight after getting back from the comedy club as there was a big hole in one. Another was frayed and about to have a big hole. At this point it's hard to say if I need to get another pair right away. I tend to keep a fair amount in inventory, so even if I am a little late on doing laundry by a day or two I will still likely have all the clean clothes I need.  

Water Park of America

I went to the Water Park of America with my date today, which is near the Mall of America in Bloomington. I am impressed with all of the water rides there, including being able to shoot baskets in one spot. It in some ways exorcised some demons of turning down a chance to play water basketball at the YMCA when I was a youngster. But I was like Jim Carrey in the early part of 'Yes Man' at that time in my life, turning down most everything that was offered to me.
   We ended up closing down two places today. We got out of the water park around closing time in the late afternoon, and then this also happened nearby at the IKEA store in the evening. We went there to eat since we didn't want to have lunch too close to going to the water park. But besides eating there, we didn't buy anything else. I liked the Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes and the apple dessert with some vanilla sauce (tasted like pudding) on the side. Then after looking around we ended up near the snack bar which had frozen yogurt, so I had some of this as well.
   This morning I had another odd dream. I was checked into a hospital and it was due to being tired. As I was about to leave a nun came around and said I was staying right there. Then I heard a nurses's aide swearing and said it made sense to me as it wasn't the nun. So eventually they left, and I got the courage to do so as well, but not until I had looked at some empty whipped topping bowls in the room. Then after I had left I saw a high school classmate and said 'Maybe I should tell them I left AMA (against medical advice)'. Even more odd was seeing a gold-leafed building, which had the French spelling of the Quaker City, as it read 'Philadelphie' instead of 'Philadelphia'.
   I tend to analyze my own dreams well. I had college friends who are Catholic, this makes sense why I was in a Catholic hospital even though I'm not Catholic. The part about being there since I was tired is likely in reference to often feeling tired lately. I just haven't been turning in early enough to get the sleep I need. But it's also due to recalling acting like a hypochondriac earlier on in my life, but just a few years back. I even quoted the movie 'Wayne's World' in it as Wayne said he realized he was just tired, but at first thought he had mono. The nurse's aide swearing, maybe since I've had family members in that occupation. The high school classmate? I'm not sure what it means. He was a goofball, the class clown. But since I do comedy now maybe I've taken on this title.
   Later on in the evening I made it to a Best Buy as I had an invite to a special shopping event. I was invited as I have a loyalty program card and a credit account with them, even though the card has been paid off for a while. I ended up buying just one item, it was a CD/DVD wallet. I like having it as I was able to destroy more of the thin plastic cases that I didn't like. There is space for 16 discs in it, I filled 11 sleeves with this project. So this is my third 'disc wallet'. One of them I got due to a previous gig, when taking calls for a shopping catalog called 'Shop at Home'. Another was given by a friend when some music and comedy discs were 'burned' for me.

Daniel Day Lewis in 'Lincoln'

I saw the movie 'Lincoln' starring Daniel Day Lewis in the afternoon in Eagan with my date. He did real well in the role. It covers a fairly small part of Lincoln's life, which is the final months of the Civil War. Seeing Lincoln tell stories and being seen often with his son Tad, with the war as a backdrop, did remind me of the movie known as 'Abraham Lincoln' from 1930. I have it on VHS. But this older movie covers much more of his life, practically his entire life. Good cast all around, with Sally Field as his wife Mary. I also liked seeing David Strahairn and James Spader in it. Spader's role as a lobbyist reminded he of his lawyer role on 'Boston Legal', as he was smarmy in both. But I said I would want Alan Shore as my lawyer, his role on 'Legal'. Though Tommy Lee Jones seemed to steal the show as a legislator.
  It was odd how I was thinking I would be printing the gift certificate for the J.C. Penney buttons, as this is what I was told I had won. But I still needed to register to receive my prize by email. So I will be waiting to shop there until it arrives.
   This morning before I went out I did go through old tax preparation booklets and took out any personal information before sending them to the recycle bin. Some of them were from Illinois, and I haven't lived in suburban Chicago for a while. I just have to reflect a little when I see this address on any mailings now. The thing I often say is when I moved to the Twin Cities is I would have said 'Barack who?' as the president had yet to be elected a U.S. Senator when I moved in February 2004. He was elected to this office later that year, and it was on ABC's 'Nightline' news show that night. I have to reflect in terms of how much my life has changed since then, and the world as well. Facebook was just getting started that year, as social media was a fairly new thing then. Still not on Twitter, but I do use Facebook fairly often and I'm using Linkedin more often as well.
  Another thing I did was throw out stickies with outdated notations on them. Some of these things near my laptop I hadn't looked at in a while, maybe a year or more. I probably should throw out even more of them, but I still had to think of all the things I wanted to get done today so this means it has to wait.

Welcome To The Black Parade

When I was driving back from the Gopher hockey game tonight I heard on the radio the song 'Welcome To The Black Parade' by My Chemical Romance. The song is kind of sad but there's also a way out being offered by it. This song is memorable to me as it begins with how his dad took him to see a marching band. Hadn't heard it in a while but I like it.
   The Gophers lost to Nebraska-Omaha 3-2 after leading 2-1 after one period. They fell behind early 1-0 but tied it up right away, and it was tied 2-2 after 2. One UNO goal was on a power play, just as the penalty was about to end. Liked walking around Mariucci Arena and looking at the team pictures, especially the ones with John Mariucci and Herb Brooks in them. I was fine with seeing coach Herb Brooks wearing an athletic warm-up suit instead of a formal dressy suit, this changed during his time coaching the team in the 1970s. I got plenty of pictures, some were of the display about the Olympic games which is a Brooks shrine. Then as I was leaving I got one of the Mariucci picture in the lobby.
   I was a little worried about making it on time after working today, but it all went smoothly on making connections. I took the bus home as usual, the email volume in my personal account was low so I cleared it quickly, then I got gas for the car. Then I was really on my way, and the traffic did bottleneck a little right before the first exit for the university. So I said it was academic that I would get off here instead of later, and parked in a ramp that was closer than where I normally park to the food establishments. I had a chicken strip basket at Dairy Queen, as I had a coupon. I made it to the arena just a few minutes before the scheduled start time on the ticket, but nothing important had happened yet. I still got to see player introductions and the national anthem.
   I ended up seeing a work colleague during the first intermission, who was on the way to the ATM with her mom. I had seen them at a St. Paul Saints game before.
   In the mail today was another postcard I had ordered from E-bay, the one of the Maytag home at Lake Geneva. So it arrived quickly, which I like. Same as the one of the Automatic Washer Company of Newton at the Iowa State Fair, which arrived a little earlier.
   I got another look at what was left on the Wonder Bread and Hostess items, I've been steadily working on it by eating one on most days. It should all be eaten before the expiration dates arrive, which is in about two weeks.

J.C. Penney Buttons

I had heard something about J.C. Penney giving away buttons as part of a contest, so I went to their location inside Maplewood Mall tonight after I was done printing things at the library. One is blue and has a white bird on it, possibly a dove. The other is red and white, looks like it's depicting a ribbon. I have entered both codes on these buttons, will find out later what I won if anything. Looks like it's a holiday shopping campaign as the website includes the word 'Christmas'.
   I picked up a Harvey Pekar book at the library, it was hard to find the graphic novel section at first. I did a search for his books and chose 'The Quitter' as the title intrigues me. I have three weeks to read it. When first flipping through it I noticed two things: a beatnik next to a microphone and some football players. This was called a 'virtuoso' graphic novel in the inside cover.
   There was a long all-employee meeting today in the afternoon, I had mostly the baby carrots and the fruit since it was between lunchtime and dinner and of course I had already eaten lunch. Then I had to rush to finish up special requests that had piled up before leaving for the day. I actually took a later bus home but it was a minimal difference, about 15 minutes. When I reached my stop I went to a convenience store to get a sandwich and potato chips, and got the same clerk from Sunday who wanted to talk about the special on bananas. I said I already had one at home. I wanted to get in and out so we didn't talk near as long as before. I think this is the first time I've heard somebody at a convenience store try so hard to sell fruit. Most of the time, people aren't thinking of eating healthy in these types of establishments, they're thinking of eating fast.
   I decided to destroy another disc so I could make room for one I valued more in a nice folio. The disc moved into it was one of me singing 'Take Me Out To The Ball Game' at the All-Star Game fanfest in St. Louis in 2009. Before I went to the library I sent another donation to a Salvation Army box. In the bag was a photo album that I had no use for as it was meant for larger postcards/photos, along with a few books that didn't do anything for me. I had meant to send the album there as part of last week's cleanup, and said I need to make it count when going to send another bag their way so I wanted to find another item to send with it.

Buy Me a Buzzcut

When I was waiting for the bus this morning, I threw out some trash which included a package of chicken flavored Ramen noodles. I had some of these while still in high school when I was visiting somebody I knew- they were already in college. I didn't like them and don't think I've had them since. On the way home I threw out trash I found on the bus when I reached my stop, a wrapper for a roast beef sandwich from Superamerica.
   I think sooner or later I will end up with an account at Amazon, as when I am searching I keep finding things they have that I like. This includes some Maytag books, such as the laundry encyclopedias and a microwave cookbook. I have two editions of the laundry encyclopedias, hand size and paperback, the third and fifth. Looks like they have the second and fourth. With Maytag cookbooks I already have a paperback handsize edition and something with larger pages but thinner volume, it appears to be a companion to their Dutch oven.
   At the comedy club tonight I spoke with a comic I had seen perform before a few times, once in the Twin Cities and another time in July in St. Louis. He was introduced by another comic I know, then I found out why he spoke of St. Louis. I said I had seen a comic do a joke about the menagerie owner who killed himself and released his wild animals- saying it was a neighbor to his parents- then he said 'I'm that guy'. The other comic when I was leaving said he would buy me a buzzcut, I said 'oh, we must be back at that one again'.
   After I was at the comedy club I decided to go through my box of music, and decided to destroy two sample CDs that had been sent to me in the mail. They were from the Teaching Company, and I still have two others remaining from them. I might go through and evaluate these again real soon.
   I had the Pretenders song 'Don't Get Me Wrong' stuck in my head for a few days so I finally had to go onto Youtube and find the song. My guess is I was thinking of it as I knew it was in the movie 'Gung Ho', starring Michael Keaton. It's a movie I have on VHS.
   I did watch the Charlie Brown Christmas special tonight before heading to the comedy club. It was largely by accident as I was switching over to the ABC where they air those specials now. Reminds me of how it has been parodied on 'The Simpsons' with Santa's Little Helper playing Snoopy.

Duplicate Requests

I am doing special requests at work this week. It's rare that we get duplicate requests, but I got one today. I print them before trying to find them 'in the files' and noticed right away it was for the same account, different requestors. So I decided to give the title to who requested it first, figured this was the fairest way to decide. There was a 10-minute difference on the requests. Then I had the fill-in boss arrive right before I went to lunch asking why I hadn't delivered it. I said I had noted the system saying it was a duplicate request. Odd that it brought management around, this is not typical. I later joked with a colleague how I wasn't about to give half-titles to two different people. It truly was a judgment call as to who got the title from me. But once I reiterated how it was a duplicate it looks like that was the end of it.
   At the comedy club tonight I liked hearing some favorite jokes of mine from somebody who has joked about wanting to do a 2-man routine since I had a Hawkeye jacket and he has a Gopher jacket. He did one about Tony the Tiger and winter, along with a masterful one about Minnesota and Wisconsin towns that sound like innuendo.
   When I went to do a weigh-in at work I saw somebody in that room, I am used to it being empty. They said there was a 'Turkey to Mistletoe' challenge to lose weight, first time I had heard of it. Then she said something about liking Zebra cakes from Hostess, but also something about them being like paraffin. I hadn't seen any of these kind of cakes in my recent searches.
  Recently I was thinking of a song I really liked, and jogged my memory how it was 'Impossible' by Shontelle. Liked the lyric 'all my scars are open'. While driving to the comedy club tonight, I heard 'Christmas Canon' by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. When I stopped to look around in a convenience store, I liked hearing 'Closer to Fine' by the Indigo Girls. So much good music out there in various genres.  

Ceylon Court, Lake Geneva

I ordered a postcard on E-bay earlier today, it was the Maytag home on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. It was also known as Ceylon Court as it was a building from a World's Fair in Chicago. What prompted me to do so was seeing how the volume dropped to two listings and I wanted the cheaper one. I liked how all three orders from last week have already arrived, surprised how all of them were received today. It is not typical for them to arrive on the same day. There was the Wonder Bread postcard from the World's Fair in Chicago in 1934, the Wonder Bread magnets- 6 in all- and the 8 Hostess buttons. I am used to Monday being a high volume day for my personal mail and then very little on most other days of the week.
   I decided it was a good time to get some other postcards in the photo album since another one arrived. This included the one from the Embassy Suites Hotel in Bloomington as I had attended a conference there recently. The other was one that said 'Thank you for your service', which was from my employer. This was available around Veterans Day to send to members of the military. I kept this one as I thought my handwriting was a little too sloppy to be read so it was better to use another one to actually send out. It looked like it wasn't too popular of a thing to do. I had checked the box after placing my card in it and noticed it was just one of about five cards, and as I recall the office I work in has over a hundred employees in it.
   I made it to the comedy club tonight, and what was notable was how one of the performers said he was a native of Idaho but now lives in Great Britain. He was back to do some shows as he will be headliner at the same club for the rest of the week. Also got to speak with one of my comedian friends about a recent Facebook invite, as it was about a podcast. Haven't seen one before.
  Also notable today was what I sent back to the office after having it at home for a while. This happened to be two framed items from my work in suburban Chicago. One of them was kept as a joke, saying I was no longer employed by the company as of late 2001 all due to a computer error. I even said to them 'Somebody must think I still work here, they're still taking out taxes'. The computer error was due to my 401-k contributions as I recall. The other was an advertisement to my fellow customer service reps, if they wanted to move over to taking life and health insurance calls like I did. I used Power Point for it. I already had at my current office the teamwork award and 'key plaque' from my time working in the suburban Chicago office. I keep those just like I keep my bowling trophies. I tried to clean the bowling trophies over the weekend- which was when I found the framed items again.

Whopper Jr. at Burger King

I went to Burger King in Eagan this evening and had a Whopper Junior, first time I had been there in a while. Liked reading the paper there, at least what was left of it by then. Besides ads, I found two sections of comics- one from the St. Paul paper and the other from the Minneapolis paper- and the local section where I liked reading about the development plans for the former Schmidt brewery and the Union Depot in St. Paul. I had driven past the brewery before and mainly noticed the water sales being advertised, like a gallon of spring water for 50 cents. It's nice to see the Grain Belt bottle up on the corner as well, as it can't be covered up like the other billboards were.
   I stayed in with my date and watched the Bears-Vikings football game, Bears won 28-10. We later on watched an episode of 'Little House' where the town of Walnut Grove banded together and said they didn't want the railroad taking away their farms.
  After I went home tonight I went over to a convenience store and asked if they had any Wonder Bread or Hostess items left as I didn't see any, but the clerk was unsure if they had ever carried it. He seemed unaware of why they went out of business, I said it was likely a combination of factors. He kept telling me about certain items being sold for real cheap, like 6 bananas for 99 cents. I got a compliment about the winter boots I was wearing, I said it was due to going to the Gopher football game this weekend. He also seemed unaware of what the game result was so I said the Gophers lost. He must have been bored if he wanted to talk to me for a while, but at first I didn't mind too much as I like to hear people's stories. But eventually I knew I needed to move on as it was the stop I wanted to make before going to the grocery store.
   It was nice to see a picture I was in tagged on Facebook, it was taken at the comedy club on Tuesday. I said I don't dance much but I took two dance classes in college, as the caption made a reference to dancing. Not sure why, but it was the one where I was wearing a black shirt.
   This morning I had an odd dream, then again many of my dreams tend to be odd. It was one where I was reading a writer magazine that had the work 'bankrupt' in its name. I like to analyze my own dreams, I know I had been thinking about writer magazines quite a bit recently since I had done an assessment to choose which one out of four writer magazines I would keep as I didn't read them enough. The bankrupt part was likely due to Wonder Bread and Hostess deciding to liquidate recently, helped by already being in bankruptcy protection at the time of a labor dispute.  

Gopher Football vs. Michigan State

There's a columnist in the Minneapolis paper that I like reading. I just read through each Friday paper from the month of October and I often laugh when he writes about ridiculous things. There were three columns, may have been on vacation for the fourth. He wrote about curling toes at a Target store, in reference to how he's fine with no greeter at the door as it's why he likes going there. The next was about the lobby at the orchestra, where there currently is a labor dispute. It was suggested that the musicians still have shows at other venues, like at the Target Center and have Lady Gaga as the guest conductor. Even the one about the boring Halloween had redeeming qualities, though I don't see a big deal about many things being pumpkin-flavored in the fall. This is likely since a comic tried doing the joke on an open-mic night, and I like pumpkin pie and pumpkin-flavored Dairy Queen Blizzard treats. But I still liked the Halloween column as it made a reference to something I contend with often, which is somebody who keeps pressing the 'walk' button at a traffic light. I press it once, I know it means a pedestrian will get a longer walk time. It doesn't mean that the walk light will arrive any quicker.
   I also like the Charlie Brown and Snoopy cartoons. The ones for this month included Sally being overwhelmed when trying to learn math from Linus, along with Linus writing to the Great Pumpkin. There also was Linus wondering who took the last piece of cake, it was Lucy. Then there was Lucy being told by Schroeder that he doesn't give her gifts as she's loud rude and overbearing and mean, she said those kinds of people still like gifts.
   I went with my date in the afternoon to see the Gopher football game against Michigan State, as we got some cheap tickets from Cub Foods, a big sponsor of Gopher athletics. Gophers lost 26-10, their only touchdown was on a pick-6. We left early, at the end of the third quarter, as it was cold and it looked like the outcome of the game wasn't in doubt. We missed just one touchdown due to leaving early. We parked at the state fairgrounds and took a shuttle to the stadium, it worked out real well. As we were leaving there was something about how Gopher coach Jerry Kill did not emerge from the locker room at halftime.
   After the game we watched a video, it was 'You're a Good Man Charlie Brown'. We had seen the play earlier this year, and I did recognize some things in the video that was also in the play. Liked seeing the bonus features, like creator Charles Schulz being interviewed on 'Tonight Show' by Johnny Carson. There was mention how it was just some songs at first, then these songs inspired the play. 

Walgreen Loyalty Points

I've had the Walgreen loyalty card since Monday, made two purchases and no points despite some of the items being store brands like their soap and toilet paper and razors. Well I finally got some points tonight, by buying some Duracell batteries. Had to get some for my flashlight and for my video camera, so some C and some AAA. The flashlight is really special to me as I've had since I was ten, got it when I was in scouting. I got over a thousand points on these two eligible items, so it's different from other loyalty programs I'm already a part of. Same is true with how I got a discount on the batteries. I'm sure I will find some more eligible items that I can use at their store.
   I accomplished quite a bit today, a day off for me. I was with my date at a McDonald's in order to use the wi-fi there but I like their breakfast sandwiches anyway, especially the Egg McMuffin. Then I was on my way to do some cleanup around my home. I am pleased with what I got done but I can do way more. I needed to start somewhere, and that was in the bedroom by moving most things out so I could dust under the bed and then mop the wood floor. Also got around to cleaning the bathroom and two closets. I did decide to donate a few items, some were plush Christmas toys, as I wasn't using them enough and they do me no good just placed in a bag out of the way. Found one thing in a box that I said 'they're playing my song'. It was something called a 'record guard'. I said I wanted to write down what I had for media, especially the movies. Well there is a section called 'inventory and appraisal', and while they may not have had this in mind I did want to take inventory of it. As expected, I had way more DVD than VHS. I counted 119 DVD and 48 VHS if I'm not mistaken. This excludes two special categories, baseball movies and Charlie Brown specials. This adds about 25 more movies to the total. I got the movies in alpha order, so I now have a better idea of what is there.
   I was pleased to find out I guessed well on movies I bought last night at Walmart. I got 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' and 'Wayne's World' on DVD, thinking I just had them on VHS. I was correct, so I junked the VHS copies of those two as well as 'Roger and Me' since I also recently acquired a DVD copy of it.
   It wasn't too distracting to have the TV on while doing cleanup, as I focused well on what I was doing. Iowa's football game against Nebraska was on ABC, Iowa lost 13-7 despite leading for a while to end a dismal season at 4-8. Also saw some of the second game, Iowa State hosting West Virginia, and Iowa State lost as well.
   I do like days like these where I stay in and go outside only when I really need to. In my case that was in the evening to get some Little Caesar's pizza. I like pepperoni, and I am thankful I checked the box before leaving as I was given a cheese pizza at first and showed it to them. The shift manager corrected it right away. Before that I went over to the grocery store and dropped off a bag full of plastic shopping bags. Then later on I found even more in another closet! So when I went out a second time I sent them three more bags full of those plastic bags. The other things I did the second time was send the Internet bill to the post office, make the donation of plush items to a Salvation Army box, and then Walgreen. I had to make another stop, at Superamerica, as they didn't have the Minneapolis paper, must have been sold out. The Superamerica did have some Hostess items, but mostly little donuts and honey buns. There was also some Dolly Madison donuts, another brand owned by this bankrupt company, but I've avoided these as no expiration date is given.
   I did get one Hostess item, it was at a Holiday station early in the day when I went in to use the ATM. They had some orange cupcakes, a two-pack. The expiration date is farther out so it works for me. Today I had two Wonder/Hostess items for lunch: a hamburger bun and half of the strawberry fruit pie. Then I had the second half of the pie in the evening. Figured it would be easier to handle the high calories for the pie if I did half-servings, portion control you know.