The 'Holiday Road' Song

     I saw something on CNN on the way to work this morning about a real-life Griswold family having a wagon queen family truckster much like in the 'Vacation' movies. They were taking it down to Disney World in Florida, from their home in Georgia. It prompted me to look up the song 'Holiday Road', since mention was made of it in the online article I found. The song was performed by a member of Fleetwood Mac. I am somewhat familiar with the band's music, but not with all of its members and their work as soloists. It's a short song of just over two minutes, not many lyrics to it, but still catchy.

    The show runner at the comedy club asked how was my visit to South Dakota. I said we made it to Wall Drug and the Mitchell Corn Palace besides Mount Rushmore. She spoke of some place where there were 'You break, you buy' signs up. I was trying to think of where I had seen it, as I recall it was at the Crazy Horse Memorial. I know we didn't go into all of the shops at Wall Drug. Part of the reason was that some had 'no food or drink' signs up in them. But these were the same shops selling items that didn't appeal to me like apparel besides just T-shirts, or even Western wear.
   Notable about tonight's show was one performer dropping the microphone, possibly on purpose, when doing his joke about being a 'baller'. He was enthusiastic- to say the least- when describing his first car, a 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass. But he couldn't come close to matching this enthusiasm about any other cars he had owned. As I recall, the Cutlass was one he owned while in school.

National Lampoon's Vacation Movies

    I went to the St. Paul Saints baseball game tonight. It was due to the nightly theme, a common reason for choosing a certain game to attend. The theme was honoring the 30th anniversary of the 'Vacation' movies from National Lampoon, a comedy magazine. The Saints beat Fargo-Moorhead 11-1. I sure did get my fill on these movies as I had hoped. Every so often they showed clips on the video board. It was mostly about the first one, but there was four. Of these four, I liked #1 and #3. The third was 'Christmas Vacation'. The karaoke guy did 'Viva Las Vegas', as the fourth movie was 'Vegas Vacation'. I of course think of this song as being from an Elvis Presley movie. I think I saw this fourth  movie only in theaters. It was a reminder of my time living in the Valley Junction section of West Des Moines after college. Number 2 was 'European Vacation'. It was all right but I haven't been to most of the places depicted in it so some of it was lost on me. I have been to Great Britain and that is it. They do go to Stonehenge and I have been there. I liked hearing the song 'Holiday Road' as well. It was in more than one of the movies in this series. It was helpful to read about it in advance, by printing the Wikipedia article about these movies.

   It is hard to say how many more Saints games that I will attend this season. There will likely be one or two more. Usually the last one of the season is in the final series, and they tend to wrap up the regular season around Labor Day. 

   

Steelcase Office Chairs

     Upon arrival at the office I noticed new chairs. I had wondered when they were placed there but I was told it had just been over the weekend. So I saw them just as quickly as the others didt. There was a card attached saying they were Steelcase office chairs. It is called a healthier way to sit. How this is the case, I don't know for sure. I still need to read the card more closely. There is an adjustable headrest and it is called a leap chair. It does feel different from before, that's all I can say so far. I just need to get used to it, same as most new things.

   At the comedy club there were some comments from my fellow comics how they saw the posting on Facebook abou how I had been at a show in Sioux Falls this weekend. Notable about the show itself was how one comic ran the light. I had a hard time paying attention throughout the show as I was tired. I did pick up a movie poster, it is called 'We're The Millers' and it starts on August 7. It had been a while since somebody had showed up to promote a movie, more than four months. An early performer had a thick Irish accent. The bathtub comic used a joke from his dad, it got laughs and he didn't expect this at all. I do like hearing from comics as to what family members have to say about them doing comedy. The priceless one to me was the suggestion to bring a puppet onstage so then crowdmembers would ask about the puppet.
      

Ramada Inn, Sioux Falls

   Today marked the end of the South Dakota tour. Before checking out of the Ramada Inn in Sioux Falls we did go swimming there. We found a big waterslide and some other pools. I liked the hot tubs since the water in some other pools was much colder. It was nice to shoot baskets at one pool, in fact it was at the end of the waterslide. There was even a pirate ship called 'Jolly Roger' but it appeared to be just for kids. As we were checking out of the hotel I got two more postcards, at their gift shop. I counted them when I got home and I ended up with other 40!
   We spent some more time in Sioux Falls, first getting a look at the minor league baseball stadium across the road. The team is known as the Canaries, and they do play the St. Paul Saints. The wait was too long for us at the Cracker Barrel, so we didn't eat there. My companion did get a book on CD before leaving Cracker Barrel. It was written by actor Michael J. Fox. Then we went to the Hy-Vee deli to eat. We were home by early evening, it helped that we were efficient on the journey and made just two stops as I recall.
   It looks like the posting about the comedy show I attended last night is still popular, as now nearly 50 people like the Facebook posting. One of them asked if I could attend his show in Madison, WI, this weekend.
   I called my dad when I got back into town, he did like hearing about the South Dakota tour. He did share some memories of my family visiting there in 1973 and 1987. I got more of the story about what I had called 'The South Dakota jinx' as he told me about the car breaking down on the first visit. This was a 1967 Chevrolet and there was a problem with the fuel pump. They had to limp into Custer and then have it worked on Monday morning.    

Wall Drug

    We went to Wall Drug after seeing Fort Hays where some of 'Dances With Wolves' was filmed. As expected, I got some more souvenirs along the way. I liked the hot beef sandwich at Wall Drug. I got a wooden nickel there as well, along with some postcards. Then at the 1880 Town down the road, closer to Murdo, I got a wooden nickel and postcards but we didn't want to take the time to tour it. The plan was to get to Sioux Falls by evening to see a comedy show. We made it to the rest stop in Chamberlain, but the Lewis and Clark exhibit was again already closed for the day. Then it was on to Mitchell, where I liked finding a Godfather's Pizza Express. I got a small beef pizza. We checked into the Ramada and had just enough time to find the comedy club- where I knew one of the performers. It didn't take long for him to recognize me in the crowd. He made it a Facebook posting and within the hour 23 people liked it. I responded by saying 'What can I say? I like my comedy, even on the road. It was a good way to cap a South Dakota tour after seeing Mt. Rushmore.'
   It was nice to see this club in Sioux Falls, called Rookies. The bar and grill according to the sign has been open since 2007, but the comedy club just earlier this year. Also liked seeing the feature act, who was from the city of Chicago. He did some jokes about being stood up by a friend at a gay bar and having a half-Chinese nephew. I shared how I had lived in the northwest suburbs before moving to the Twin Cities. 

Mount Rushmore At Night

    We started off the day at the Bison Museum in downtown Rapid City. Nearby, we found many of the president statues, and got pictures of them. In the early afternoon it was on to the Crazy Horse Memorial. It looks like very little progress has been made on it since I last saw it in 1987. It was nice to see a group of violin players from Omaha, playing near a gift shop but outside.
   After Crazy Horse, it was on to Mount Rushmore. I got plenty of souvenirs here, as expected. This included a baseball and a shirt, besides postcards of course. It was a big day for postcards, but it helps that they are cheap. One place said four for a dollar, an other said five for a dollar. Just one card was from Crazy Horse. One of those of Mount Rushmore had a Lincoln impersonator on it. And I have counted 13 more for the day, so over 20 for just today. Another one not in this total is a jigsaw puzzle card. Some were of places we didn't travel to, like Grand Teton or Devils Tower, as both are in Wyoming. The one from Dinosaur Park, also a place we didn't go to, has a T-Rex in the foreground that makes me laugh since it appears to be smiling. I do have the joke postcard of Mount Rushmore from the front and the back, and no, it was not bought at the actual memorial site. Some are likely to say it is in bad taste. But plenty of shops sell souvenirs, so choices do exist. We went to Keystone in the evening to eat at Teddy's Deli, where Theodore Roosevelt's picture is part of the restaurant sign.
   After this we made it back to see the evening show at Mount Rushmore. There was the lighting of the mountain, and I did get this part on video camera. It was why I brought the camera out all the way to South Dakota. Then the park ranger introduced all of the current and former military personnel who went to the lower level to help with lowering the flag. I liked the video shown before the lighting of the monument. I am thankful to have found a mailbox inside a dining hall as I was able to mail myself a postcard back home.          

Corn Palace- Mitchell, South Dakota

  I started the drive fairly early this morning for South Dakota with my companion. Stopping at the Corn Palace in Mitchell was nice. I liked finding the picture on the wall from what it looked like in 1987, my previous visit to the state. The smashed penny machine there was cranked by what looked like the helm from a ship. It is the first day and I already have more postcards than what survived from the earlier visit (five) as I have nine. This included a stop at a Sinclair station before heading over to the Corn Palace. This place had a logo that reminded me of the stars from the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic logo, but different colors.
    I liked seeing the familiar wherever I went. In the case of the Corn Palace I liked seeing the inside where there was a mural of Mount Rushmore. This was mainly what I remembered from this place during the earlier visit. The other thing was how my family stopped there for the night as we just wanted to go halfway to Mount Rushmore on the first night.
   This stop was the first of two smashed pennies for the day. I also got one at Wall Drug, but when we got there we didn't have much time to look around since they were closing within the hour. We got a lay of the land and then went to eat across the street. Now we are in Rapid City for the night. It was nice to stop at a rest area in Chamberlain to see the Lewis and Clark dedications outside, and the Missouri River bridge off in the distance. It would have been nice to see more but the museum part was already closed for the day.   

20- Minute Difference

   I noticed before heading to a dental appointment how there was a 20-minute difference on times. I had a small card showing it was scheduled for 20 minutes later than what was on a postcard and in the recent follow-up call. Before the end of my workday I called them and said I will make it when I can, which was close to the later time. When I stopped at Super-America for a quick dinner on the way I dealt with somebody in the parking lot sitting on a nearby curb. I didn't know what they wanted, I said 'Can't hear you, don't have the time'. I was asked to repeat it and I did, then I got in my car and left. It was the truth, in both cases. Not much notable about the appointment, all I saw was the assistant and at times she just seemed to be making conversation as I had to repeat what I was doing for the weekend and she said 'Duh'. She didn't ask about any concerts this time but I started off with mention of some upcoming comedy gigs. She also asked about what night the show 'Big Bang Theory' was on, in prime time.
   At the comedy club tonight, my 'bestie' was the show closer. He did the 'I am a 6 1/2' joke, along with 'Suicide by cop'. Near the end he brought back 'Life Coach', which I really like. An earlier comic had a joke that I was laughing uncontrollably to, it was about mistaken identity and he wasn't Neil. 

Mug Filled With Coffee, Finally

    I was too busy to attend a meeting listed on my online calendar, wanting to finish my share of the payoff report before midday. I did go into this large conference room and got some donut holes and some Caribou coffee. I am not much of a coffee drinker, and this is largely due to the taste. But if this was the case, I would drink less beer as not all beer tastes great. It made sense to have some type of drink with me while having the donut holes, and it was right next to them so it was easier than going to get some water.
   At the comedy club tonight, I saw a friend, my 'bestie', say there may be a spot in the next show he does. I am thrilled to hear about this of course. The MC did a joke about the Bible that was funny to me as it was also about the band Genesis, fronted by Phil Collins. It reminded me of my dad, as I had seen them in concert and all he said was how it's the first book of the Bible. But I am not aware of them doing any religious music. The MC is a Wisconsin native, a pastor's kid, and was a music major in college. I liked his joke about an opera singer being stabbed, though he didn't do it tonight. Apparently he was a classically trained music major.

Laying Down, Making A Call

   When I was at the comedy club tonight I wanted some privacy when making a call so I went down some stairs. After the call was done I stayed there as I liked laying down. A security guard came to lock up and I said 'I will move'. He said he wanted to be sure I wasn't passed out. I had heard things like this before. It reminded me of seeing the movie 'Syriana' and one theater employee asked another if I was asleep. I just wasn't moving, that's all. I did acknowledge them by saying I like staying for the closing credits as I like to see where movies are filmed.  
    I liked how the bathtub comic did a joke about hang gliding. I let the same comic know I liked his CD, as I had just finished listening to it earlier today when riding the bus to work. I wanted to listen to it before I went to South Dakota, even though I plan on bringing it while driving there. Much of it was familiar, I just hadn't heard it in a while as it said it was recorded in early 2010. Comics must try some new material every so often to avoid being known as a 'one-trick pony'. It's a short week at work, and I know well enough to see that my duties are covered when I am out of the office for two days at the end of the workweek.    

Woodson Terrace Days

   It was nice to make it to Woodson Terrace Days, a festival, on my final day in the St. Louis area. I saw a car show there that included a 1901 Oldsmobile. It was nice to make it to the pool at the Airport Hilton hotel, after finding more photos of famous people flying TWA. So many notables, it was nice to see Cary Grant was one of them. Last year I saw them on four floors. Well my wing has
this many floors, but the other two had 9 each. I got a few comments when I was looking at them and getting pictures, like one of the maids saying she was famous. There was two little boys who saw me while taking the elevator down to the pool. I said I wouldn't count on having enough time to get to the pool, as I needed to check out by midday. Well I did find the time, albeit just 10-15 minutes. The boys said 'I'm the one from the elevator' when I arrived. I also made it to the nearby Denny's for lunch. I am thankful I made it over to the office at the trailer park where I like seeing signs about the 'Smile Piper'. A resident informed me the owner's late husband was the piper and he liked to perform for the Shriners at various parades in the area. 
  Notable when I returned to the Twin Cities was finding out the nearby Little Caesar's pizza had closed. I still had pizza with my date, at an Old Chicago.    

Red Schoendienst

  I went to the Cardinal baseball game tonight, they lost to the Padres 5-3. The giveaway was a Red Schoendienst jersey sponsored by Delta Airlines. It was odd how one text message poll listed one choice as a lifelong Cardinal, which isn't true. He played a few seasons with other teams, the Giants and Braves. I liked sitting next to some young men from Springfield. This was likely Missouri as no mention of any other state was made. I was asked about baseball in Minnesota and I said I do attend some Twins games but also the St. Paul Saints. The one next to me was interested in how Bill Veeck's son, Mike, is part-owner of the Saints. I said he is a promotion guru as well. He also said Kevin Youkilis had a nickname besides 'Youk' when I said I saw him play at spring training in 2006. Apparently also 'The Greek god of walks'. And how manager Terry Francona was asked about it, and said 'I have seen him in the shower, he isn't the Greek god of anything'.
   The day started with getting a rental car and then finding a friend for breakfast. First in-person meeting in a while, we had plenty to talk about. After this I mailed 2 postcards back home and eventually found Ted Drewes frozen custard and got some souvenirs besides some of their treats.
  Before and after the game I liked finding sites where the movie 'Up in the Air' was filmed. This included a school and church in the suburbs, along with a hotel and apartment complex downtown. Of the 7 buildings on my list, I found 6. I wanted to see the museums at Forest Park but it was too hard to find a parking spot, and I didn't want to pay $12 to park at the zoo. I had to make choices, and that meant not going to the Arch as the line to go through security was too long. I wanted the jersey so I made tracks to the stadium. Good thing I arrived when I did as it looked like they were gone about 10 minutes later.         

Central Library in St. Louis

    I arrived in St. Louis earlier today, and saw the Central Library downtown in the late afternoon in the final hour before it closed for the day. There was a nice Wizard of Oz exhibit, about the books that inspired the movies, 14 in all. The building was designed by Cass Gilbert, same architect who designed Minnesota's Capitol building. It is warm here, I made sure to get drinks when needed.       
   I went to the baseball game tonight, Cardinals beat the Padres 9-6. It was a case of winning ugly as they led 9-2 at one point. I didn't make it in time to get the giveaway, which was an Ozzie Smith bobble-head. It doesn't mean as much to me as the jersey, which is Saturday's. I was in line to get my ticket scanned when I heard they were all out.
   When I arrived at the airport I stayed a little while to look around. I got a picture of a cat statue. Then I had to wait to check into the hotel, so I went to a nearby park and did my best to plan out the weekend. I liked how I largely had the place to myself, all I saw was some workers getting things set up for the weekend's festival. One of them came over to the picnic table where I was sitting and asked what I was studying. I went to the park after eating lunch at Subway. This was my first time staying at this Quality Inn near the airport to the best of my knowledge.                 

Bar 508, Minneapolis

   I went to a Hawkeye event after work at Bar 508 in Minneapolis. It is near the Target Center. There were 4 panelists at this event, former Hawkeye athletes including Les Jepsen and Chad Greenway. There was a silent auction as well, but nothing appealed to me. I either didn't need it or it was too expensive, or both. Most of it was framed art or autographed sports souvenirs. One item was a Vikings helmet autographed by Greenway. It was nice taking the light rail to the airport. As usual, I picked up some trash and threw it out at my stop. While riding after the event I was able to clear out plenty of text messages, some were from last year! On the bus on the way into the event I was sitting next to some OMG! type girls. One of them had a 'Giraffe on fire' tattoo and 'Love' was upside down.     
    I called my dad after I got home, while I was watching 'Sherlock Holmes' and after checking email. He plans on making reservations to visit me soon.
   It wasn't too bad in the office today, but I knew well enough not to push myself too hard despite taking Friday off. I wanted to be on time for the Minneapolis event so I knew well enough to leave at the normal time and not take on too much on special projects. I did what I could finish on a 'Gap report'.      

Taxidermy At The Cabin

   At the comedy club tonight the radio station employee did the joke about staying at a cabin in Wisconsin when doing a gig at a Catholic school fundraiser. It involved seeing taxidermy, and eventually they were too scared to stay so they drove to a truck stop and slept there. Apparently it was around the time of Grandma's Marathon in Duluth so hotels were hard to find. I know how going up north to the cabin is what many of us do here, but I haven't done this yet.       
   I did hear from the main office in New York so now they have received my form for an upcoming convention. I was sent a flight schedule and will have to figure out how to add the miles to my frequent flyer account. But it shouldn't be hard to do, as long as it makes my priority list. The convention is in Chicago, and I will be using both airports- flying into O'Hare and flying out of Midway. I haven't used Midway in a while, probably not since I lived there as I wanted to use Southwest Airlines. I lived much closer to O'Hare so it makes more sense to fly into that one as it is closer to many of my old haunts that I like to see on each visit. I expect to stay in the city and will be kept busy enough that a visit to the suburbs this time is unlikely.                   

TWA Postcards

   Periodically I check E-bay for what is in certain categories after getting more purchase ideas. They do seem to have just about everything on this site! I was reminded of how I stayed at an airport hotel last year which had plenty of framed posters that were TWA ads since it was a hub of activity for the airline. There were various souvenirs available. I saw some first day covers commemorating new routes like St. Louis to Frankfurt and Chicago to Zurich. Also found was postcards from some destinations like Philadelphia, Paris, and Cairo. There was even magnets, as expected I liked seeing those that said 'fly TWA' to Chicago or St. Louis.
    I was onstage at the comedy club tonight, and I did some new jokes. One was thought of just earlier today after getting user errors on my computer at work and having to call the help desk in India. I was on the line for 30 minutes and found out it could have all been prevented had I bothered to look at an icon where it told me where my passwords were. I told myself to learn a lesson from it so I don't repeat this mistake, and of course this means act mature, and forgive myself. Some of it was due to the auto-filling of passwords, as I don't need to remember as many passwords.            

Call Of The Wild By Jack London

   I went to Target tonight after I was at the comedy club. I needed some supplies like travel size toothpaste and toothbrush for the upcoming weekend. Before finding it I found a one-dollar paperback copy of the book 'Call of the Wild' by Jack London. It is likely a kid's version, since there are plenty of pictures, but I don't think I have read it before. I know he was a contemporary of Emerson Hough's, as he died in 1916 at age 40. Hopefully I can get some of it read this week on the bus. I understand it inspired 'Into the Wild', but I haven't seen that movie at all. I know London also wrote 'White Fang' but I haven't read it either, or seen any of the movie versions.
   I looked at various items there and also bought a pair of socks. There were plenty of novelty t-shirts but I already have enough of those.   
   I liked hearing 'extra murder' comic add to the one about food recognition. This time it had mention of pigs and how they could make a statue of him at the grocery store approving them as food. Another was how it would be a bad idea for his wife to ever be a character witness on his behalf. Apparently she is too honest at times.               

Minneapolis Aquatennial

    I went to Minneapolis Aqua-tennial this afternoon with my date, first time attending this event. I did get a 'Skipper' pin, it was attached to a schedule of events. I had to check after the event to see what I already had from the auction last fall, it was two buttons- from 1959 and 1985. I just recalled the one from the 50s. The older one does say 'Skipper' on it as well, and 'Vacationland USA' on it in the middle. The other has a maple leaf in the middle, and under it 'between friends/entre amis'. But the newest one doesn't have a helm on it like from a boat. I got 10 pictures, starting with an airboat from the fire department. Others were of  sand castles, and boats on Lake Calhoun. We also went to the ice cream social at Nicollet Island Pavilion, for the sister cities of Minneapolis. Pictures from here included one of a bell from a Japanese city outside, and inside was the flags lined up of where the sister cities are, 10 nations in all.
   Before and after this event we looked at a stamp collection sent by an uncle. I was given 3 postcards from it, one from Italy and the other 2 from Egypt. Hard to sum up the collection, aside from saying it is extensive as it seems to include stamps from everywhere. Few of them I had seen before, as I have mostly just seen American stamps before. We found a shoebox full of first day covers, in a Montgomery Ward box.                 

Diamond Products Building- St. Paul

   I went to the Saints event with my date at the Diamond Products Building in Lower-town St. Paul this afternoon. It was nice to see many of the Saints personnel there, like the live pig mascot as well as the dressed- up one, 'Mudonna'. The latter got a turn at the demolition. Mayor Chris Coleman was in one picture, I was informed by one man how it was former employees of the building. One of them was wearing a long-sleeve Gillette shirt. I did hear about it being a shampoo factory for Gillette. I saw various media outlets filming there, though some may have just been with the city's cable TV station. I got plenty of pictures there, including one that said 'Lower-town ballpark coming soon'. It depicted baseballs, gloves, bats, the stadium (2 views, one was aerial) and a player swinging a bat.        After making it to the library to print some things- along with other errands to run- we made it to a hotel in the evening. It was the Sofitel in Bloomington, where the Alliance Francaise was having their Bastille Day celebration. I did get some souvenirs like last year, found some reprints of old French postcards in the gift shop. We did dance to one song, 'La Vie En Rose', but I waited until others were on the dance floor, didn't want to be first. It was relevant since I had seen the movie of the same name in the past year and I recently got the first day cover stamp of Edith Piaf.          

Ramsey County Fair Centennial

    I went to the Ramsey County Fair in the evening after work. It was the centennial and I did get two items commemorating it. One item was a button, and the other was a pamphlet about its history. Much like before it doesn't take long to go through the event, as I was satisfied after about 90 minutes. I had pork chop on a stick. It was nice to see some of the art on display, especially stamp collections. One was a sampling of stamps from A to Z, and B was for baseball, saw Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson stamps. Another was first day covers of Americana.
   When I walked through the midway I saw 2 notable sites. One was a girl who was posing for pictures, with a leg playfully in the air while holding cotton candy. Another was at one of the booths as I said to the carnie how it looks like they hung their stuffed animal. In the 4-H section, the barn where they also have the haunted house for Halloween, I saw an R2-D2 costume and said it was cool. There was also a historical timeline about scouting where it was mentioned how a membership drive in the 1930s was done by covered wagon. I would have liked having ice cream there but it was more than what I wanted to pay. So I had it at the McDonald's on the East Side, an old haunt.
   I wasn't home for long after the county fair, it was a busy evening. I went on to Hell's Kitchen in Minneapolis to see my friends doing The Turkeys show. Plenty of skits were shown but not the one I am in. I liked the show closer, he said he lives in South Dakota and previously had lived in New York and Oregon. He did a joke about watching porn for half of the week, a divorced dad, so the half when he doesn't have his kid.       

Dancing With Wii

    At work today there was a dancing event at midday. I found it was on Wii. It was a nice workout, as it is geared towards our Health Ahead program. But I haven't had a workout like this in a while. Early on I said I felt like a fool and don't know why when I do comedy and it was a small group. I was just one of four at first, then two others arrived and this included the perky girl. Notable songs we danced to included 'Are you going to go my way' by Lenny Kravitz and 'California Girls' (Katy Perry, not the Beach Boys). It was the first 30 minutes of my lunchtime, then I went to have soup in the break room and take a walk. Unsure if this program will be repeated, but I could get used to it as long as it's not too often. But we have been doing these special health-related events once a week so I am thinking it won't be any more frequent than this.
    I asked if they had certain performers on it, and was given the cover and it didn't have anything from Lady Gaga or Green Day. I think Lady Gaga would have been more likely as she is known for dance music. My name on this program was 'Funky'. Apparently points are scored when your moves are close to what is depicted on the screen. I did my best to follow along but it was hard to do.    

5 Scheduled, 4 No-Shows

     I had my contest night at the comedy club, and I won, albeit by default. Five contestants were scheduled, and four were no-shows. I still did the jokes I had planned on doing as it would be nice to advance to the semifinals at the end of August. I did do a joke about no competition as I referred to entering a pumpkin decorating contest when I was working in suburban Chicago. I took 3rd, but there was just 4 entries. My prize was 2 beer cozies and a pair of sunglasses. My date made it to the show but nobody else did, despite sending out a Facebook invite. I did know the MC from attending shows before, a skinny guy who has done a joke about killing a rat with a brick.
   It was nice to speak with the co-headliners before the show. The bearded guy is interested in history like I am, which I liked. He is from North Jersey and a New York Giants fan, was wearing a Giants hat. The other was a girl from Brooklyn. He did good jokes about lady friends judging what porn a guy watches along with one about people wearing costumes while watching 'Apollo 13'. The Brooklyn girl did jokes about sponsoring a kid in Bolivia and about her roommates, along with what food she ate while in Japan.
   At work I went to a panelist discussion with some senior leaders from other offices, and one of them was a good interview. This event was postponed from the previous day due to the weather.

Contrary Paper Tray On Copier

      I wanted to clear a paper jam at work, and it meant taking out a paper tray above it to do so. But then I couldn't get it back in. I at first wondered if calling our facility czar was a good idea, but I didn't. So I went to a supply rep and an IT guy finished the job. Another issue was hearing how the perky girl wanted butter, later found out she couldn't find any. Salt and pepper wasn't good enough for her food selection.
   I made it to the comedy club tonight after a conference call related to the writer union, which lasted 30 minutes. Upon arrival I said 'I had a thing, made it as quick as I could'. I did find the show-runner and presented what I got at last week's concert, a picture of the band Social Distortion. He was pleased to have it and said so on Facebook. I said comedy has given me plenty and I like to give back when I can. The barber did a joke about women wearing outfits that no longer fit them.
   After watching the movie 'Up In The Air' on video after the comedy show I'm not sure if I noticed something that I hadn't before but I still liked watching it. If I did, it was probably the exchange on airport codes, I picked up IAD as Washington Dulles and ORD as Chicago O'Hare. I have flown into both before, but of course more often with the latter.                   

Car Ownership Anniversary

   Today was a benchmark of sorts, as I have now owned my current car for 10 years. It is a notable holdover from living in suburban Chicago. I moved to the Twin Cities less than a year after buying it. This is just the fourth I have owned, and the longest by far on ownership. I did own one for more than six years. I am hopeful it still has some more years left in it. I am also reminded of how it is personal preference on a word like benchmark. I like using it, but I have a friend that prefers milestone. These words do have similar meanings.   
   I was onstage at the comedy club tonight, a warmup for my contest night this week. I liked hearing the compliments along the way. The show closer was the one who likes doing the bathtub joke, and he did do the joke so I was pleased. I asked if he had any of his CDs and did, so he got one out of the car and he was paid for it. I wanted one earlier but didn't have the cash money on me at the time. Two people ran the light early in the show.
   Notable about the long day at work was hearing from a colleague who has nicknames for sportsmen he doesn't like. He reminded me how his nickname for the Twins manager, Ron Gardenhire, was 'Santa Claus'. Since he kind of looks like Santa.

Library Waiting List

    I needed to print a script for an upcoming movie I will be in, a small role. I am thrilled to be a part of it, many of my comedian friends will be in it.  So I went to a library and had to go on the waiting list as it was a busy day. Thankfully I didn't have to wait for long. After getting myself added to the list I walked around and noticed four computers would be expiring soon, in under 10 minutes.
   It was warm and humid, eventually it did rain a little. We went to Godfather's Pizza in Burnsville in the evening. But I was unable to cash in on the points from my loyalty program, needed my card with me. I said those in my wallet are the ones I use the most. Besides a pizza we also got some monkey bread. We ate just half of the pizza, as it was ten slices (I am used to a large being 8) and about half of the monkey bread as well. When I was first given a box I said I wanted a smaller one, saying I try to practice 'Waste not, want not'.
   We did go to a new dog park in Eagan, and the dog did go into the water where available but not very far. I noticed this section of town had many street names inspired by the space program, like Neil Armstrong, Aldrin, Apollo, and Lunar. Must have been a new neighborhood in the 1960s when the space program was a big deal due to the moon landing.

Broadway Play Cancellation Insurance

    While doing more cleanup I found some more items to get into the photo albums and binder. One of these was a card about cancellation insurance on Broadway plays. It was an insert from when I saw 'Rent' on Broadway in 2005. There was also one about 'Calling all fame monsters'. It was from the Lady Gaga show and was about seeing photos from the concert.
   Plans today called for seeing the St. Paul Saints game this evening and then fireworks after the game. We did make it after the scheduled start time, but the game hadn't started yet as there were ceremonies honoring veterans due to the holiday. The Saints beat the Kansas City T-bones with a walk-off hit after the game was tied in the top half of the inning. Sometimes the announcer changed the name of the opponent, one of the names used was 'Porterhouses'. Don't know how many were paying attention to this besides me.
   We did some errand running before leaving for the game, this included a stop at a hobby shop. I saw a Snoopy banner near a check-out lane and decided to see what other Charlie Brown and Snoopy items they had. I found a note pad, Linus was on it but didn't look happy. The caption at the bottom said 'Happiness is a sad song', and I can relate as I thought of how I like Smashing Pumpkins music.

Spam Museum Postcards

   While going through the box of tourist brochures I noticed one of them, from the Spam Museum, was actually postcards. There was 3 in all. So they were placed in the photo album with the others, along with my ticket from the Titanic exhibit at the Science Museum in 2009. Another notable find was a card from the Ellis Island research center that was placed in the business card binder. I am reducing the volume, noticing some duplicates and shredding what I don't value. The trash can is already full for this reason.
   I called a friend that I hope to see during my upcoming travels, first call in over half a year. Also returned 7 carts back to the grocery store. At first we were just exchanging text messages, but after a while I realized I do better talking on the phone as the keypad is small on my phone. I noticed it didn't take long to get a response to the text, as I hadn't finished returning the first cart. So once I had I made tracks back home where I could feel more free to talk. I am more comfortable when laying in my easy chair, so that is where I ended up. And I don't think I do well when I talk on the phone while
walking. Things tend to work better when I avoid dividing my attention. Sometimes multi-tasking works, but not in this case.

Ulysses Grant Impersonator

   I went to the state's museum with my date today, the Minnesota History Center, for their holiday event. It was called the Gettysburg and Vicksburg anniversary family day. One of the things that I looked forward to was the Ulysses Grant impersonator. Eventually we did find him inside when he was doing a speech. There was a nice backdrop, besides a podium some patriotic bunting and two flags, the federal and state flag, along with a red chair. I got plenty of pictures while at this event.
There was a camp outside, showing battle soldiers doing a march. I liked seeing a map of the Civil War battles. There was also a fashion show. I liked getting a picture of myself in a period outfit with a rifle. Inside there was also depictions of the postage stamps about the Civil War from this year and the previous two years. I got a picture of the one from Gettysburg. They had five, all but New Orleans. So they had Fort Sumter, first Bull Run, Antietam, and Vicksburg as well. I liked making a Union photo case, but no picture in it just yet. Will have to go to Walgreen soon and get the one in costume printed. I even used a quill pen and signed up as a volunteer for service.
   Before the event today I did go through some more boxes and found a few items I liked seeing again. This included voter registration cards from when I lived in the Valley Junction section of West Des Moines. I continued with this project in the evening, but mainly what I did was move tourist brochures out of one box and into another and shredding duplicates or those I didn't value at all. I also needed to quit a little early so I could get my online votes in for the All-Star Game. I was eligible to vote 25 times and did the maximum.

Broken Bus Mirror

  On the bus this morning we heard a crash and somebody wondered out loud, 'What was that?' When I got off at my stop it appeared to be a broken bus mirror but sounded worse than it really was, almost like a gunshot.
   I was onstage tonight at the comedy club, I liked doing some new material about subjects like the grouchy woman on the bus that I see fairly regularly. I am thankful the show runner got me onstage tonight, in many ways moving me up a week as I am at another club next week for their annual summer contest. I liked getting some compliments from peers about the jokes I did. I even got a business card from somebody. It was from Painter's Plus in Pine City. It was another comic but all he had was this card, as I said it would be more helpful on remembering him. I recall saying how I hadn't been up in that general area much, just for the Kenny Rogers concert at the Hinckley casino in 2005. And I haven't been up to Duluth much either, just once. Eventually it may end up in the binder with the other cards. Thankfully the workday was fairly uneventful, you just never know the day before a holiday.

Social Distortion Concert

   I went to the Social Distortion concert at the Cabooze in Minneapolis tonight. It's nice that the venue is near a light rail stop, easy on and off. At first I was unsure how early to show up, when it said the show begins at 6pm. No need to leave work early, I found out. There were 2 opening acts. In fact I first went to a nearby Taco Bell for the evening meal, yes the box, before I went in. When I went in I found out the first opener was still onstage, but they finished shortly thereafter. My dad would have liked the inside of the Cabooze, since it had a railroad theme. But this can be expected with a name like theirs, which sounds close to caboose. There were plenty of tin signs of railroads there, I recognized ones like the Burlington Northern, Chicago Northwestern, and Rock Island.
   I walked around a lot, it was an outdoor general admission show. I did have to sit every so often as I was getting tired. But it was worth attending, as I heard some songs I knew and liked. This would include 'Story of my life', 'Ball and chain', 'Reach for the sky', and their cover of Johnny Cash's 'Ring of fire'. The Cash cover was the final song of the night. Hard to say how it compared to seeing them in concert before, also in Minneapolis. It was at what is now Epic but was then known as the Quest Club. I did get a souvenir for myself and for a comedian friend who couldn't make it, a picture of the band.
   I spoke with somebody on the light rail after the show. He said he had known their music since 1987, I said I didn't know them for quite as long. He did recommend checking out their earlier CDs, I have the self-titled one from 1990. The one I have I really like. It did have 3 of the 4 songs I recognized from tonight, all but the more recent 'Reach for the sky'. From this CD I also like 'She's a knockout', 'Place in my heart', and 'It could a been me'. It helps that all of these are relatable. This man apparently traveled up from Sioux Falls, SD, to see the show with his wife. He spoke of knowing somebody who saw Brad Paisley in concert 15 years ago when he was an up and comer near Fort Bragg, NC. He got an autographed CD I think.
   It was crowded after the show on the train as the Twins game had just let out. There was a Yankee fan near us who had a gaudy hat that mentioned many of their World Series titles. He kept elbowing me and then I said 'Hi!' and acknowledged being elbowed. He said I was 'observant' and I said it helps to pay attention to your surroundings. He may have had too much to drink, hard to say for sure. It did remind me of the episode of 'Cheers' with the obnoxious Yankee fan that gets his comeuppance at the end of the episode.    

Pentecostal Dominatrix

   There was an older comic who happened to be second in the lineup tonight. She brought a whip on stage and acted a little like a dominatrix, then spoke of growing up Pentecostal and having to rescue your brain from the church. Hadn't seen a comic like her in a while.
   I liked hearing the show closer do the 'extra murder' joke, but I liked a new one as well. It was about food recognition, somebody claiming they were hungry but roosters were crowing in the background on a public radio program. 'And his wife lays eggs you can eat' was priceless.
   Since this is the beginning of the second half of the year, there are likely some laws taking effect today. But I am not sure what these laws are. I think I have heard plenty about student loan interest rates changing, since Congress couldn't agree before their 4th of July recess. I know the rates are doubling on federal loans, but I need more information so I can compare apples to apples. I know my student loans have been paid off for a while, but I don't recall what the interest rates were. I had a Perkins Loan and that was paid to the university, it was a federal loan. The Stafford loan was a bank loan, and paid to a 'service corporation'.