mountains, sia with lsd

 i heard a song in a honda-crv commercial and said to myself it sounded like sia. it was, but with a super-group called 'LSD'. it includes not only sia, but also labrinth, a british rapper, and diplo, a DJ, songwriter and record producer. i listened to 2 different versions on youtube, one had a video that was colorful and animated. the song starts out slow but does pick up tempo. the part i liked was in the commercial. i guess i have seen this before, where a commercial is short and they find the best part of the song that will fit the short format. the lyric i heard often, and liked the most, was 'what we gotta lose?' there are some other songs from this group, and album of the same name, but this is the only one i have listened to up to this point. i am still wondering when the movie called 'music', where sia is listed as writer-director, is going to be released. this was another sia song that was in a commercial for this year, called 'together'. 

at work it was a crazy day, the biggest files of checks to print did not arrive until late in the day due to I.T. problems. i still imported them before leaving for the day, i think i was advised to do at least this much before. i made calls to new ulm about oktoberfest this weekend, including about ordering a brick. i have an order form again, but the price is higher than what i had seen before. i am going to try hard to get it done this time. i can justify doing so more than earlier when the car loan is paid in full and i am going to the ATM way less since the pandemic began. i was mainly going there to get beer money. in the evening i went on a walk and picked up 4 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon, and his friends, were double crossed on doing a military project. it was followed by when sheldon had dinner with penny, and went to disneyland with her as well. 

knocking on heaven's door

 i went for an oil change tonight and when i threw out parts of the replaced wiper blades i said i don't need them anymore. i said it was in an song once, i knew which one. it was 'knocking on heaven's door'. it does remind me of being on the high school football team and telling a teammate on the bus 'not so loud' when he was singing it. i watched some of the debate while at the dealer and when i drove home as well, and watched the rest of it at home. at work i was really bust with getting refund checks ready, the typical high volume of checks to print for a tuesday, and doing a one on one with the boss. such is month end i guess. i went on a walk after the debate and found 10 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when bert decided to work with leonard instead of sheldon. it was followed by the friends going on a bowling outing, where wil wheaton was on the opposing team. 

insurance cards

 over the weekend i finally switched insurance cards in my car, as a new policy went in force earlier this month. the odd thing was i left the older card in my coat pocket, and noticed this when going to work this morning. so i put it in my lunch bag as i empty it at the end of the workday. this way i knew it would get moved to the envelope holding the policy in my home. when i went out for a walk i said i had to do this first or it wouldn't get done. guess this is true on looking through coat pockets as well. at work the notable thing was the 2 boxes of UPS envelopes arrived. saw them on the delivery table on another floor so i got out the cart to move them to the check shop. i also did my best to have an agenda ready for my boss as we are doing an 'one on one' on tuesday. in other issues i went on a walk in the evening and picked up 35 cents. there was a man at a bus stop that kept shouting, not sure what it was about, but i was far enough away that it didn't bother me too much. i just kept moving. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon auditioned for the reboot of professor proton, but wil wheaton got the role. it of course was nice to see bob newhart guest star. it was followed by when sheldon got drunk at an awards ceremony, after at first planning on refusing an award due to stage fright and needing to make a speech. 

boys on the side movie

 this morning i watched a DVD movie, 'boys on the side'. i recognized whoopi goldberg, drew barrymore, and matt mcconaughey in it. this was a road movie, for a while. they start out in new york city, pick up drew's character in pittsburgh, and then they get to tucson. much of the movie takes place in tucson, after one of the ladies gets sick. the music in it was good, liked seeing 'dreams' by the cranberries in it. other notables were seeing the indigo girls performing in it, a music act i have seen in concert at the minnesota zoo in apple valley. and there was 2 versions of 'you got it', whoopi sang one of them and the other was in the closing credits and sang by bonnie raitt. i liked finding out how roy orbison co-wrote it, i knew he had performed his own version of it. at times it felt like the movie was too long, i am aware the running time was nearly 2 hours. part of the storyline was how one character was trying to re-create this road trip from her childhood, and there was flashbacks to it. the movie was all right but i have seen better road movies than this one. it was just as much a 'chick flick' as it is a road movie. 

i got some things ordered this morning before starting the movie, one of them was an amazon order of a charlie brown DVD. i am still narrowing the list of those specials that i don't have yet, but now i am basically down to the hardest to find once this one arrives. either only on VHS or australian editions. the other was a ticket to get to 'the state's museum', minnesota history center in st. paul, in october to see the exhibit about the music venue known as first avenue. i did watch some pro football in the afternoon, first game was bears-falcons, bears came from behind to win it 30-26. then i went on a walk and found 48 cents, cowboys-seahawks was the second game but i didn't watch much of it. i did see 'the simpsons' episode in the evening, mr. burns goes under-cover at the nuclear plant. it was nice finishing up the popcorn left over from attending opera the previous day, as it reminded me of my family having this snack on sunday when i was young. i am still trying to finalize plans for attending oktoberfest in new ulm, checking their schedules and having some numbers to call. 

opera in the outfield

 tonight i went to the st. paul saints baseball stadium and went to see 'opera in the outfield'. my curiosity is what drove me there, as having opera at the ballyard seemed kind of odd. i am thankful i saw not only the main program but also the pre-show, which had cartoons in it as well as clips from black and white movies. the two i recalled were buster keaton playing baseball, and charlie chaplin doing a burlesque version of 'carmen'. the show made me think of 'the simpsons' multiple times. when there was a cartoon that had 'blue danube waltz' in it (as homer once said 'so hungry'), when minnesota opera played a clip from 'the shining' and how homer once played an opera singer in a parody of 'phantom of the opera'. i haven't seen much opera before, aside from seeing 'phantom' at the orpheum in minneapolis many years ago. i liked the passion in the singing, even if it isn't in english. it reminded me of seeing french subtitled movies, something i do every so often. i was pleased that there were some baseball themes in it, such as songs from 'the fix', about the 1919 black sox scandal, and a version of 'take me out to the ballgame' with an opera theme. i was in line to get popcorn when the latter was playing, and i said 'brilliant!' this wasn't the first time i had seen non-baseball games at this venue, CHS field. i have seen the movie 'space jam' as part of a 4th of july fireworks show, a soul asylum concert as part of the all-star game celebration, and a baseball-themed play, 'safe at home', from the mixed blood theater. other notables would be sledding during the winter carnival leading up to the super bowl, and the 'miracle on ice' anniversary. the pre-show also included a youtube video of watching pavarotti sing puccini's 'nessun dorma', when i looked at the lyrics translated it appears to mean 'no one shall sleep'. i panicked a little about the ticketing thing, since it said they were all digital ones and i have a flip phone. but i found out i could have them print a ticket for me upon arrival. the rain meant i spent most of my time there standing. i tried to sit but then the rain came back rather quickly so i went back under the roof. 

it was a day of errand running, and i got my car into the shop as it was running loud. i was told it was a wheel bearing, fixed in 90 minutes, might have been caused when i hit a pothole at a construction site on the way home from work a few weeks ago. i dropped off recycling after it was done. i watched some of the college football on TV, but also fell asleep for a while. it was after getting back from seeing the opera show how i found out the wedding i was invited to still happened, on zoom. i logged onto facebook and saw the invite there, but it was short notice, less than a day. i asked about it a week in advance, since i had a 'save the date' magnet, but got no response to my private message. sounds like i was not alone, on not seeing it in time. during the walk on the way back to the shop i found 70 cents, all pennies. it was mostly in a gas station parking lot. 

you should have left movie

 this evening i watched a DVD movie, a redbox rental, 'you should have left'. i recognized kevin bacon in it. this was about a couple and their young daughter renting a house in wales for a short time. the family was having bad dreams, but especially the dad. the mom is an actress, filming on location, and the dad is apparently a banker. the daughter asked why people hate him, some mention of being accused but acquitted of killing a woman. this would be considered a thriller, and it got weird at times. such as flashbacks to earlier scenes of the movie where the main character can see himself in them. the closing credits say the movie was filmed in new jersey, and one song i recognized in it and their wasn't much music in it. there was 'should i stay or should i go', but not the version by the clash. 

in the evening, after getting back from the hy-vee in eagan, i went on a walk and picked up 66 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when bernadette conned sheldon into doing chores, a take-off of 'tom sawyer'. it was followed by when the friends fought over a ring, a take-off of 'lord of the rings'. at work it was a fairly slow day, though there was some checks to print from the foundation and i don't see these too often. in the baseball world it was nice to read how yadier molina reached the 2,000 hit club on thursday night. he is just the 6th to get this many hits as a cardinal. four of the others are in the hall of fame- musial, brock, hornsby, and slaughter- and the fifth is still active-pujols. but of course pujols now plays for another team. a big deal that a catcher reached this milestone, as one article claims he is just the 12th. it includes joe torre, who played about half of his games as a catcher. the cardinals appear headed to the post-season, and i made my peace a long time ago with how i wasn't going to st. louis this year due to the 'fan ban' at major league baseball games. i have noticed how much money i am saving by cutting way back on traveling. 

no parking, no dumping

 when i was out on a walk tonight, i went past a place that had signs saying 'no parking, no dumping'. except it was near a place where plenty of trash was dumped, just across a railroad track in a wooded area. it may be a homeless encampment as i saw 2 grocery carts with things in it and in the wooded area it looked like somebody was lighting a cigarette. during this walk i picked up 5 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when raj made baby clothes for bernadette. it was followed by the one where sheldon is found in contempt of court and then tries to meet stan lee. at work there was payroll statements that arrived at the end of the day, and as usual i said those will be done the next day as there wasn't enough time to finish them before getting the tubs ready. i was asked by my boss about the capacity of boxes for some supplies such as check stock and envelopes, and there were some variations depending on the item to be ordered. 

yellowstone travel trailer

 i have noticed a yellowstone travel trailer for a while in my neighborhood when i am going to get into my car to go to work. i found a page on pinterest, when i entered 'vintage' as a keyword, yielding images of these kind of travel trailers. of course i also saw the terms 'campers' and 'RVs'. most of them said they were from the 1960s, including an ad posted there, saying the company is based in elkhart, indiana. another thing i noticed on the trailer was a sticker saying 'screw it, let's ride', for harley davidson motorcycles. it appears to be a family of three living in it, a couple and their young daughter, hard to say how old but my best estimate was age seven to ten. 

at work i searched for a box of envelopes that was ordered more than 2 weeks ago, to no avail. there was proof of delivery given by email by who placed the order for me, but nobody knows where it is. in the evening i went on a walk and found 27 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon convened the council of 7 sheldons, after he was caught daydreaming by amy. it was followed by when leonard went to switzerland for valentines day, and raj was a last minute replacement because penny, and sheldon, were sick. 

yesterday laughs, tomorrow cries

 i like taking a CD with me for the commute to and from work. today it was the band called the offspring. in a song called 'can't repeat' there was a lyric-'yesterday laughs, tomorrow cries'. it is a line that makes you think. other notable lyrics were 'life goes on' and 'turn the page'. i think this was a song that i barely noticed when listening to this CD before. i liked ones like 'keep them separated' and 'kids aren't all right' more. but sometimes a song can really stick with you, and that is what this one did. i am aware that i am not the typical music fan. of course i like songs with good instrument play, but the song writing means just as much to me. because it is 'poetry that you sing'. 

in the evening i went on a walk and picked up 34 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when amy and bernadette argued about their careers. it was followed by when sheldon ended up in a ball pit because he was stuck at a career crossroads. sometimes i can make some nice finds on email. there was a message from the st. paul saints. there was mention of two events coming up soon at the saints stadium, one of them was opera and the other is oktoberfest. i bought a ticket for opera, although there weren't many left by then. based on what i was reading about ticket prices and such, i think i will just stick to the plan i already have of trying to get to oktoberfest in new ulm. at work i noticed that apparently the courier for two tax-related checks did not arrive until the end of the workday, hours after i placed them in the lockbox. i figured they would arrive more quickly than this. also odd to have to open up a ticket jsut to get my name on deliveries for the department such as the toner cartridges. guess they wanted to make it official. a colleague from a former job accepted a connection request on linkedin. i had tried to call multiple times but those calls went unanswered. i said it had been a crazy ride since i had left that office.  

walt kuhn

 i have known this for a while-sometimes famous people have the same name. in this case, i was looking at the baseball cards from fedex office, 32 in all. and there was no name on the front of one of them. found out it was walt kuhn, who played for the white sox from 1912-1914. it was a minor-league card from playing for portland, in 1911. i found out there was another walt kuhn, due to wikipedia, who was a painter. these two men were famous around the same time. as for the painter he was known for an 'armory show' of 1913, america's first large scale introduction to european modernism. but it sounds like the lives of both of these men didn't end well. for the baseball player, he committed suicide, and the painter, he was institutionalized. i did see a postcard on e-bay of one of his paintings, it looked pretty good. and there was a baseball card for when he played for the white sox as well, if i wish to order it. when i was there i noticed some more moe berg cards, the catcher who was also a spy. 

   in the evening i went on a walk and picked up 50 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when amy accepts sheldon's proposal and amy thanks ramona. it was followed by when sheldon leaves pasadena when the apartment is robbed, only to return when he is robbed in bozeman, montana, as well. i did a virtual open-mic after the walk. the two that got the most reaction were the ones about sponge bob, and the delivery at work. as for work, i liked how some checks arrived with a deposit slip because a personal banker was willing to deposit them so i didn't have to wait in line at the window. this was the case with three separate envelopes. 

sure thing movie

around midday i watched a DVD movie, 'sure thing'. i recognized john cusack, as well as tim robbins and anthony edwards, in it. this was a road movie, and it followed a storyline that many others do. two people that are opposites are thrown together. in this case it was two college students that are in the same english class, trying to get to los angeles from the east coast. there are scenes involving the act of 'shot gunning' a beer. and much like in 'planes trains and automobiles' there are multiple forms of transport that are used. the two do reach los angeles, their destination, wouldn't be much of a story if they didn't. and then the adventure becomes the subject of their writings in the class that they are both in. the movie was pretty decent, had its moments. 

i ended up watching the pro football game once the movie was done, giants-bears, it was nearly halftime by then. i did a lot of 'fact finding' before then online so i got started late on watching the movie. the bears were leading 10-0 when i started watching and 17-0 at halftime. they held on to win 17-13, but it shouldn't have been that close. it came down to the final play, penalty called, but it was against the giants who were on offense. so the referee said 'by rule, the game is over'. it was masterful that the bears started running the ball a lot late in the game as it chewed up much of the clock. then i went on a walk and found 20 cents. when i got back it was nearing the end of another football game, chiefs-chargers. the chiefs kicked a field goal at the end of regulation and got another one in overtime to win. they had to kick the winner 3 times for it to count. first was a false start penalty, then the chargers called their final timeout. in the evening after eating, and watching 'the simpsons', a rerun at an italian festival, i called my college roommate. this is the one that works at the VA hospital in the area. he spoke of his son playing hockey.  

run the race movie

 i watched a DVD movie this morning, a redbox rental, 'run the race'. this turned out to be another 'faith-based' movie. it was about a high school football player and the relationships with family members. it includes the absent, alcoholic father, a brother who has epilepsy, and an aunt who raises him and his brother in place of his late mother. i had to wait for the closing credits to see names of actors i truly reocngized. mario van peebles played the preacher, mykelti williamson played the football coach, and eddie george is listed as well. i figured it was the same eddie george who had played tailback at ohio state. tim tebow is listed as executive producer. the setting was florida, but it was filmed in alabama- birmingham and bessemer. i liked how some scenes were inside a small grocery store. the movie got its title as the main character and his brother also run track. and there is romance in the storyline, this is where much of the talk of religious faith is covered. 

this was a day for errand running. after watching the movie i made 5 stops. this included the post office for 3 e-bay orders, printing things at fedex office, and getting a CD and DVD at cheapo. the CD was 'uno' by green day, after hearing 'oh love' on youtube this week. the DVD was a compilation of comedians, surprised a little that kelsey grammer was part of it, didn't know he did stand-up. the DVD was two dollars, and in the same section i saw a social distortion live disc. so i might pick up that one at a later date. the other two places were a 'fact finding mission'. i found listings for photo booths online and the turf club in st. paul, a music venue, was mentioned. i get there and it was closed, boarded up. it is on university avenue, next to a CVS pharmacy that is also boarded up. this is the general area where riots happened. so i will try a mall to do a set of photo booth pics, inspired by the missy higgins song and video 'where i stood'. the final stop was walgreen, to find out about flu shots. then it was home to drop off things and get the movie so i could return it to the holiday gas station. i got a pretzel hot dog and some cheese at the holiday station. after getting the orders and prints into binders it was time to get going again, to an event near the saints stadium. opera singer was there as part of an allman brothers tribute band, at the st. paul farmers market. also in the crowd was breakfast, a little surprised how both recognized me while i was wearing a mask. i did hear the allman song i know best near the end, 'rambling man'. after i got home i went to get groceries at aldi and watched a little of a baseball game on fox, white sox were leading 2-0 over the reds when i fell asleep. both scores were from solo home runs. during various walks throughout the day i found 28 cents. 

walmart wishing well

 i went to the walmart in bloomington, near the mall of america, tonight to pick up a redbox movie. i noticed a canadian penny on top of a change counter, then noticed a wishing well next to it. so i put it in the wishing well. it is fun to see it swirl around until it goes all the way in, i think it is a fund raiser for the children's miracle network. then the next stop was the hy-vee in eagan for my weekly grocery order. i noticed there still was some red and blue rice krispies left over from summer so i bought a box, my second of the season. along with a box of pumpkin spice twinkies, deciding to 'get while the getting is good'. didn't want to wait another week on that one and find out they were all sold out. the pumpkin spice cereal still had plenty of boxes left so that one can wait longer. in the evening after getting back from these two places i went on a walk and picked up 33 cents. i was walking past a fitness center that had plenty of TVs on and one of them showed the news that supreme court justice ruth bader ginsberg had died. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon meets ramona again, and after she kisses him he goes to princeton to propose to amy. it was followed by when sheldon got incredible hulk hands from raj, because raj wanted to go to a mixer and meet women. 

at work my boss arrived in the afternoon, he found me more pink tickets for the weekly deposit of refund checks at the branch. he also gave me updates about fire and tornado drills. there probably will be one in october since it is the month that has national fire prevention week. there was 2 call-in meetings about how to process one refund check, thankfully it went down to one ticket because at first they called for 43. 

Replacement vending machines

 at midday i went to the breakroom for lunch and there were no vending machines. eventually a delivery man spoke with somebody from the branch about getting new ones in. and by the end of my lunch, when i was getting back from picking up a few things at walgreen, i saw them getting one of the new machines through the front door. not too surprising how the prices went up even more, due to being more high-tech. the machines, one drinks and the other candy/snack, now accept credit/debit cards. the chips i like getting were 75 cents when i started in june, recently went up to a dollar, and are now $1.25, $1.35 if using a card. so it is less likely that i will be using them. even on my walk in the evening i passed by a laundromat and their machine was gone. it was fairly routine at work, got out at a fairly normal time. had to make calls about the toner cartridge and one was found in an abandoned desk on another floor. also called about the toilet overflowing, clogged with paper. tried to handle it myself with a wet/dry vacuum. in the evening i went on a walk and found 31 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when amy went to princeton for the summer. it was followed by when sheldon taught penny about what leonard does. also did a virtual open-mic hosted by the resistable comic, only performer besides the moderator. 

like a domino

 there is a line in the song 'walk like an egyptian' by the bangles, 'falling down like a domino'. i guess i am seeing this fairly often at work when the envelopes are on the conveyor belt. this happens more often once i end the run, although i am not sure why it is happening now as for a while they would be facing forward and facing backwards is what is causing the domino effect. it is still fun to look at, whatever causes it. the envelope stuffer often stopped due to double feeds on the larger volume check processing, but i still was caught up by the end of the day without having to stay late. 

in the evening i went on a walk and picked up 6 cents. the 'big bang theory' rerun was when howard serenaded berndadette at the cheesecake factory. i called my college roommate, the one that lives near des moines, this evening. i started off by saying that he must be happy watching football. it was in reference to the announcement that it appears the big ten season is on next month, after it was called off in august. in the emails there was another update on the ancestry DNA test from late 2017, even more specific than before. this is the third update, they are averaging one per year. so i will likely print it this weekend and put it in the binder next to the others. 

end call, no response

 after work i heard my phone ring and i stated my name twice. what is typical is that i then say 'end call, no response'. except this time just before i hung up i heard something, it was somebody from a political campaign. it was odd that they only knew i was from minnesota, nothing more specific about me. i said i am interested in hearing more about being able to do early voting, but my precinct just changed. and i am wondering how it would be handled when it is at a school. we spoke for about five minutes. i said i was uncommitted, but like to see candidates for office doing debates. speaking of that, when i was out doing a walk this evening i walked past a place with plenty of TVs on and one of them showed the president. it was on ABC, and when i got home i watched it. this was a special edition of '20/20' as it was a town hall meeting from philadelphia. various issues were covered, the most memorable was a lady who was crying, it appeared to be about her late mother. and she spoke of living the american dream, being an immigrant from the dominican republic. first time voting, just became a citizen. a rerun of 'the conners' was on after this program. during the walk i found 17 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when bert dated rebecca, and announced on 'fun with flags' about getting her back by buying her things. it was followed by the one where sheldon helps penny after she gets injured. at work i stayed late to get the UPS caught up, and during this time somebody tried to get a red bag sent out same-day but i said the mail tubs were already sent out to be picked up. 

oh love, green day

 recently i 'rediscovered' a song, because of re-using some note paper. i had written down some lyrics, not sure how long ago. and i said it was time to try to find the song. i wrote down 'faraway, won't you rain on me tonight'. and it appears to be 'oh love' by green day. i really liked listening to it on youtube. there is an un-censored version as well, since the video shows rock star stereotypes of the band having a private show with young, tattooed, scantily clad women. they are drinking and smoking as well, and eventually the band gets up on stage to play the song. the track is from the 'uno, dos, tre' trilogy, from 2012. i do not have any of those three CDs though, guess i hadn't heard enough of the songs from them. although i do have most of the other green day CDs. the lyrics i liked most from it are in the middle. 'talk myself out of feeling/talk my way out of control/talk myself out of falling in love'. the note paper was found in my car, in a caddy near the shifter. so i must have heard the song on my car radio if i had wrote it down there. although it may have been an earlier car i had owned as my current car was bought 4 years ago. i do this all the time, hear lyrics from a song i like, so i write them down and look them up later on. most of the time i can find the song online with enough key lyrics. 

at work the doorbell rang just before midday and it was the lady that had been ordering supplies for me. she said there was a box in her desk, and it was given to me. there was pens and note pads in it, the slip inside said it was ordered in early june so probably not by me. i found some space for it in the check shop on a shelf. she was wearing a snoopy mask. in the evening i went on a walk and picked up 51 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon got drunk at a cowboy bar. it was followed by when sheldon grew tired of everyone arguing around him, so he sat in a corner by himself at the comic book store, i also performed at a virtual open-mic, last one of the night as i fell asleep and joined the show a little late. i got reactions to the ones about attending the fine arts exhibit, as well as a yoda reference to one of my stories. 

the layover movie

 i watched a DVD movie around midday, 'the layover'. i recognized molly shannon in it, but she had a small role. it is about two friends wanting to fly to florida and spend time at the beach, but they are diverted to st. louis due to a hurricane. i found out from watching the closing credits that it does not appear to have been filmed in st. louis, but vancouver, canada. stock footage of the downtown area was used, including the arch, busch stadium, and the old courthouse. the friends are competing for the same man, who was on the same flight as they were. eventually it becomes a road movie as the friends end up getting a ride in a lincoln in hopes of making it to their destination. it was a farce, especially once it becomes a road movie. one of them is a teacher, and is teaching the book 'lord of the flies' to her students. also part of the story is a jewelry and jeweler convention that is happening at the same hotel. 

in the afternoon i did laundry and went on a walk after it was done, and picked up 13 cents. i watched some of the pro football games today, but not a lot. there was packers-vikings, then bucs-saints. 

10 minutes gone movie

 i watched a DVD movie this morning, a redbox rental, '10 minutes gone'. bruce willis was in it, playing the kingpin of a bank heist. this was classified as a thriller, and some scenes showed flashbacks to give a different perspective of what was happening. the movie was given this title as one of the gang members was knocked out for this long and the rest of the story is about trying to find out who did it. this movie was filmed in cincinnati, and includes scenes from a train station. there is mention of the line 'honor among thieves' in it, and there was some double-crossing, and of course there was a body count. one line i really liked was from a lady bartender, who spoke about working in bars. 'it is about figuring out who is drunk and who is stupid'. and there was a mysterious 'cleaner' that worked for the kingpin, who would kill and then torch the places she was in. there was a trailer for another bruce willis movie on this disc, called 'reprisal', but i found out it is not currently available at redbox. 

it was a day of chores and errand running, and during all of this walking around i found 23 cents. there was many of the typical things to do, starting off with going to the post office to pick up e-bay orders. three of them were there. then it was to drop off recycling, and the next stop was to a place i hadn't seen in a while. i wanted to go to the office max to get baseball card sheets, but it was closed- the one on university avenue in st. paul that is. this strip mall near the soccer field was hit by the riots of late may, and all of the businesses were boarded up. one of them, the foot locker, one could tell had a fire. i got photos of it and the nearby liquor store, also closed and boarded up. there was some kind of religious gathering in a nearby parking lot. the speaker spoke of actor kirk cameron. i saw a security company vehicle in the area, but thankfully they didn't interact with me. i got my pictures and then i left. next stop was a fedex office to print some things. then it was home for lunch, picked up at a holiday gas station when i was there to drop off the movie. i got another nathan's pretzel hot dog since i didn't see a little godfather's pizza. after resting at home for a little while i was on my way again, to the office max in eagan, where i had been to get masks just over 3 months ago. they had the baseball card sheets i wanted, as i got the team card set for the st. paul saints this week. i was back in time to watch the 6pm news and then get groceries at aldi. i tried watching the baseball game on fox, twins were playing cleveland, but i fell asleep. twins were ahead 3-0 in the 3rd as i recall. 

baseballs galore

 after putting away the two baseballs from thursday's saints game in a box, i had to look at all of them that i know i have. there was a list of 20, but that was before finding two during cleanup that had been stored at the office. this was one from mt. rushmore, and one from my alma mater, the iowa hawkeyes. so i added those to the list, and it is 24. but it is probably 25 as i recall having a 'simpsons' ball. it means looking in the box of 'simpsons' and 'star wars' items. it was a nice walk down memory lane, looking at them. i guessed well about a saints ball to buy, it was one i didn't have yet. i got one that had 'st. paul as a pig'- it was probably from 2017, the 25th season of the current saints franchise. one was a giveaway, probably when the saints were at midway stadium, sponsored by super-valu grocery store. and it was nice to see the home run ball i got when i was living in suburban chicago, at a schaumburg flyers game in 2002. i now have four game-used baseballs from saints games if you count a college game played at the saints stadium, as hamline's team play there. the first, from 2013, was from midway stadium, and the other three from CHS Field. one ball is a tourist souvenir, saying 'i love new york'. there are also two that were sent due to (at the time) having a subscription to the sporting news, a magazine that is now online-only. the two had mickey mantle, and ken griffey, on them. and some have all-star game logos on them. 

in the evening i went on a walk after getting back from the hy-vee in eagan and found 26 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon and amy decided to collaborate on their science work, but had to establish ground rules about it. this was followed by when leonard tried to watch football with penny and her friends but decides to fly a kite with sheldon instead. at work the team huddle was in the afternoon, so my lunch was moved up so i could be back in time for it. the volume was low enough that it was not a big deal to do so. same was true with four test checks, which were done after lunch and the huddle. i saw that most of the non-test checks were printed by then as i have to switch systems. 

northlake beer

 went to the st. paul saints baseball game tonight after work, and got a beer for the first time since march, it was on special. it was northlake beer, brewed in wisconsin. it was card night at the game, arrived shortly after the gates opened. it is a nice souvenir, in 4 previous seasons i have been there when this giveaway has taken place. saints lost to fargo-moorhead 7-4, never led in it. they got close, 6-4 at the end of the 6th. it was the season finale. i still found 2 cents even though i didn't have the set-aside time for walking in my neighborhood. at work there was more boxes of check stock delivered in the afternoon, didn't know that any had been ordered. 

first UPS box

 i guess the catch-up from the holiday finally happened today, as the volume was much higher on the checks to print. this included the requests to have checks overnighted. first time using a UPS box as one batch had over 300 checks going to somebody in cincinnati. usually i am using thin envelopes. but the box fit inside the drop box, so things worked out fine. it of course meant assembling the box, and i decided to put the checks in two separate envelopes inside the box. it would have seemed wrong just to put them loosely in the box. i care a lot about doing my job correctly, and it didn't take long to complete it. when i arrived in the morning i noticed the box going to virginia, the toner cartridge to be recycled, was not picked up. so this time i put it right in front of the drop box where the driver had no choice but to see it. i noticed there was a place on the drop box where there is a code to enter to open the door as well. in the evening i went on a walk and picked up 13 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when howard cooked for his friends and said he had a 'bowl of meat'. it was followed by the one where sheldon trains penny with chocolate, along with the time when howard and raj tried to pick up chicks by posing as goth. i liked this one because there was the lady in it who kept saying 'not that anyone cares'. i listened to some of the st. paul saints baseball game on the radio, saints beat fargo 4-2. i have a ticket for the season finale. 

bazooka joe fortune

 at work i decided it was time to do some vacuuming in the carpeted section of the check shop. when i went to use the vaccum i found a bazooka joe fortune, as in the chewing gum. there was a cartoon on it about a waiter having a finger in a soup. the fortune said 'your restlessness will make you a celebrated traveler'. i do enjoy traveling, but of course haven't done much of it this year due to the pandemic. seeing the muppet movie when i was young got me started on 'road movies' and of course i like attending festivals. this is the second one i have found there, i threw out the first one but will keep this one. it was kind of a slow day at work, first day back after the labor day holiday. i did an online class in hopes of filling in the time, as it was due at the end of the month, but it didn't take long to finish. 

in the evening i went on a walk and picked up 28 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when bert was stood up on his date and sits with sheldon and amy. then it is revealed to the two about the gossip on their sex life. it was followed by the one where sheldon and howard made a bet about crickets and lewis black, the comedian, was the guest star as the cricket expert. i also listened to two baseball games on the radio. the twins played a doubleheader in st. louis, caught some of the second game, it was a split. then after the walk it was the saints game, saints beat fargo. 

where i stood, missy higgins

 when i was out and about over the weekend i heard a song on the radio that stuck with me. never mind that it was released back in 2007. it was 'where i stood' by missy higgins. the memorable line to me that helped me find it later on was 'i don't know who i am without you'. i did some researching online and it said there was two music videos for it- for australia, and for the united states. so i watched both on youtube. i like how both help with understanding the message of the song. i watched the australian version first, it takes place in a photo booth at a commuter train station tunnel. this might have reminded me to look through various boxes and bags to try to find what pictures i still have from photo booths. the american version takes place in an artist loft, where she is playing the piano. eventually she gets to work with a paint brush to paint boxes white for a movie screen background for a slide projector. the lyrics i ended up liking the most was: 'i thought love was black and white/that it was wrong or it was right/but you ain't leaving without a fight/and i think i am just as torn inside'. i like it because of the final line, as i often speak about being ambivalent about many things. the wikipedia article said the song was in episodes of some TV shows, including 'greys anatomy'. 

even though it was labor day, a bank holiday, i found things to do. although one idea was scrapped. i had that 'welcome back' coupon from IKEA and tried going there, but there was a long line to get in and i said 'nope'. it meant lining up alternate plans, and since i was mainly going there for lunch i decided on going to the walgreen in my neighborhood instead. so i got  a 'burger in a box' there along with an M and M ice cream sandwich and a can of arnold palmer to drink. there were echoes of the big cleanup i had been doing earlier in the year, as i filled 2 bags from paper shredding. i hadn't done it in at least a month i think. it also meant going through boxes and a few things i just don't value were thrown out. i added another ornament to the christmas tree, as i strung up a metal GE keychain, a company i once worked for. i also labeled one of the boxes 'charlie brown' since i have so many things in this category. it meant some things were moved to this box, and it led to freeing up space all around. it rained off and on today, a good day to stay inside and do some cleanup. i did go on a walk in the late afternoon, after listening to the twins-tigers game on the radio and falling asleep, and found 30 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon called the bluff of his friends, saying they were a 'blockhead' as he drew a charlie brown face on a dry-erase board. the ladies tried to have a night out, but the baby sitters for bernadette's kid kept calling, raj and stuart. it was followed by the one where the friends return from their expedition in the arctic and sheldon runs home to texas when he finds out he was lied to. 

born yesterday movie

 around midday i watched a DVD movie, 'born yesterday'. this was the 1993 version, i recognized john goodman, melanie griffith, and don johnson in it. i found out there was an earlier version from 1950, broderick crawford was in that one. it is about a business tycoon trying to bribe senators, and one of these senators was played by fred thompson, credited as 'fred dalton thompson', an actual senator. memorable will be the mnemonic device used on the constitutional amendments, the '12 days of christmas'. as well as how she reads 'democracy on america' by alexis de tocqueville, a book i read because it was mentioned in  college class. i understand this movie was also based on a play. 

after the movie was done it was early afternoon, and time for lunch. then i went on a walk and found 41 cents. i also saw two young ladies in a car smoking a blunt cigar in a motel parking lot. they had called out to me and i recalled how they had done the same on another walk. we spoke for a few minutes, they asked if i was warm due to wearing the leather jacket and i said it holds my camera. later on i went to the st. paul saints baseball game, the third one for me this season, saints beat winnipeg 7-3. saints were the road team on the scoreboard as the series had a change of venue, originally scheduled for fargo. this was why i got started earlier on my trek to the stadium as i didn't want to miss their first turn at bat. i was inside before the two national anthems were played. i was sitting near a man who said he was a texas native, i found him to be annoying when he wanted to talk to me about various subjects he claimed to be an expert on but it was all common knowledge. saints were way ahead by then, 7-0, and thankfully he eventually left although i could have moved away from him if i really wanted to. saints were aided by the long ball, although their first run was scored through 'little ball' in the first inning. but the others were on home runs, including a 3-run shot in the 5th inning. there were fireworks after the game, and i have a ticket for one more game this season, the finale on thursday. when i got home i went through emails and one of them was a press release from the st. louis cardinals saying that hall of famer lou brock has died. i am thankful i met him at a centennial event at a twin cities hospital in 2011. 

the favorite movie, john schneider

 i watched a DVD movie this morning, a redbox rental, 'the favorite'. i recognized john schneider in it. it was the story that was driven by sibling rivalry, one brother a soccer player and the other a mixed martial artist. it was a 'faith-based' movie. this became especially evident after the car wreck happens and one of the brothers ends up in the hospital for an extended period of time. john schneider plays the dad. i did like the scenes showing the cage matches. the story was inspired by actual events. 

this was a day of errand running. besides returning the movie to the gas station, there was also going to the post office. two orders were there, but two were not. since it had been 3 weeks, i decided to notify the sellers that those orders have not arrived yet. i also made it to the fedex office and printed some things. this included the ticket to the fine arts exhibit at the minnesota state fairgrounds. and while i was printing things i bought what was the seventh, and likely final, poster from their racks. it was note cards from the 1930s of national parks. two of them were yellowstone, and the grand canyon. hadn't heard of the other two, zion and lassen. going to the grocery store was moved up a few hours, due to the event ticket i had. not a big deal, had already moved up some errand running due to performing on friday.

 i am thankful i went to the fine arts exhibit, even though i was unaware i could park onsite. i parked at como zoo, and walked a little ways to get there. i have been walking a lot since march, not a big deal. some of the art was inspired by the pandemic, as well as social unrest. there was two that i really liked. one was of a giraffe ready to eat a bowl of marbles. the other was a series about the corona-virus, it showed various scenes with a frowning covid puppet. the latter was the one that i officially voted for as my favorite. also notable to me was a collage of a boxer. then i saw a poem called 'the boxer' and then realized it was the simon and garfunkel song. since the refrain was familiar, 'lie la lie'. and there was one of the chicago theater sign, with the stairs from a nearby commuter train partially blocking it. since i have been to a show there, i liked seeing something familiar. when i got back from the fairgrounds, it was time for the evening meal, had some pizza. i went on a walk and found 27 cents. i tried listening to the st. paul saints baseball game on the radio, but what has been happening all too often lately is that i end up falling asleep as i am laying down while listening to the game. the saints were playing winnipeg. i have a ticket for sunday's game. another baseball game i 'didn't finish' was the one on TV, on fox. san diego was playing in oakland, and oakland was leading when i needed to get on the road to the art exhibit.  

masked performing

 i performed stand-up in a bar tonight, actually a micro-brewery, for the first time since march. i kept my mask on while performing, it was a guest set, 5 minutes. i looked at my set lists since april to try to find the gems, and got to everything on my list. it was a long lineup as the headliner wanted to get as many comics on as possible. so besides the MC and feature, there were 9 others, including me. the night reminded me of how i have a love-hate relationship with performing. i like the actual time onstage performing, but there are a lot of other things that go along with it and those other things aren't near as enjoyable. reminds me of a lyric from the TI and rihanna song 'live your life'- 'got love for the game, but not in love with all of it'. i barely talked to anyone while at the venue, really just one other comic besides the yemen native, who was the headliner. one comic tried to bust my chops on my way in, but i have tunnel vision when i arrive at the venue. most important thing to me is to check in with somebody. it took longer than expected to find a parking space, construction near the venue was a factor. i started off my set with mention of the job i started back in june. since i was given a mask upon arrival that day and was masked during this performance, it seemed like a good way to get started. 

at work i started off the day by being unable to get stamped in on the HR site, as well as email. so i had no choice but to re-boot, even though i didn't care at first since i was still able to print checks during that time. incoming mail was kind of light, and i was able to process all by the end of the day. so it is nice that i will start next week after the holiday ahead of the game. i moved up another one of my errands tonight due to performing, which was getting a redbox DVD. and it meant seeing just one 'big bang theory' rerun. it was the one where the friends do an expedition at the north pole. it also meant a shorter walk, but i still picked up 33 cents. 

mail tubs re-labeled

 i decided it was time to re-label the mail tubs. i have been on the job for 3 months and figured it was best to have my name on them instead of who trained me. so i got out the plastic used for UPS labels and wrote out some new labels. it said 'return to (city name)' on one side of the tub, and my name and mail code on the other side. it is no doubt more uniform now. there are 8 tubs and i noticed how one of them had a label on only one side of it. i also decided to peel off all of the old stickers from them, which took a little while. in other issues, i was unable to get into an application for about 2 hours this morning, so check printing was delayed. but it didn't take long to get caught up, aided by being a fairly low volume day. building maintenance was also called in to take care of the emergency door alarm, a 9-volt battery was replaced as it kept chirping. 

i went on a walk in the evening and picked up 12 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon was asked to draw up a 'relationship agreement' for leonard and penny. it was followed by when leonard was approached by both penny and stuart for advice on their date. i also made it to the hy-vee in eagan, moved up this weekly visit by one day as i have plans on friday. there were a few items i didn't buy for this reason, such as bananas. hopeful to find some when i go to aldi this weekend. 

a safer celebration

 i am still researching events to see what is happening this year. one of them is st. paul oktoberfest, this is normally held at the former schmidt brewery. what i found online is 'a safer celebration', looks like it is going virtual like many other events. there was mention of an event on the germanic american institute site and their facebook page as well, but only one day. normally it is a 2-day event. 

at work i got more inter-office envelopes sent, but not as many as expected. i got a box full before. but i understand they may have sent all that was available at the time. another day of no visitors to the check shop, nobody ringing the doorbell. i went on a walk in the evening and found 64 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when the friends shared their christmas stories. it included sheldon and amy going to texas to visit sheldon's mom, and his mom knew they already were living together. it was followed by when the friends went to las vegas, and a hooker was hired to cheer up howard. sheldon stayed home and got locked out, and spent the night with penny. 

belated birthday coupon

 in my email i saw a 'belated birthday coupon' from IKEA, a place i sometimes shop at. it seems to be related to the pandemic. there is an offer for free frozen yogurt, which does sound appealing as i am more likely to eat there than anything else. it is all about needs at this time, and i have cut back on non-essential items. the coupon is good until the end of october, so plenty of time to use it, two months. 

at work it was a fairly routine day. there was a question about using a pre-printed UPS label and i said i do use them when it is supplied, but so far i have done this only once. in the evening i went on a walk and picked up 30 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when bernadette had her first baby. it was followed by when sheldon and stuart discuss comic books after stuart goes on a date with penny on 'anything goes thursday'. i listened to the st. paul saints baseball game on the radio after the walk, the saints lost to milwaukee 1-0. odd that one of the items that arrived in the mail today was from a credit card company, as this month there is a zero balance. i filed it with the other bills in the order by due date.