concert list found

 there were plenty of stops made on my day off, but also notable was finding a partial, handwritten list of concerts attended that i had sent a friend a while back. so i decided to get out the ticket stubs and wrote out another list. during my walks i found 76 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when zac thought the friends were going to blow up the moon. then we meet amy, when raj and howard blackmail sheldon into the date. it was followed by the one where raj and penny act like twins after raj moves in, leaving leonard out of their fun. i drank the can of pryes with the evening meal so now five beers are waiting. 

  i stayed busy for much of the day. early on i went to print an event ticket at a fedex office. then it was on to target where i got a box of christmas- themed capn crunch, along with a stick of irish butter. now it will be easier to use up a box of mac and cheese, but i still want to get some spam to put in it. i don't cook that much. next was a muffin and a mint mocha from caribou. then midday had arrived, and i went to eagan. i had lunch at the taco bell, inspired by the commercial with a green day song in it. i got the five-dollar box. i ate the cinnamon twists and the burrito there, then took the rest home. i had the crunchy taco and chalupa for the evening meal. and i went to the kohl's where i got the snoopy book near the checkout, which benefits their official charity. and i got another tree ornament, a metal snowman. i passed on the snoopy christmas stocking, then decided to search for something similar on e-bay. i found one there that i liked for half as much and had more characters on it, including linus, and peppermint patty. and i got caught up on shredding junk mail. i did it  three times throughout the day, filling up six bags. i hadn't done it in a while, some of the things in there were from may. i made a list and the only stop i didn't make was walgreen, but i have another day off next week. i liked watching jeopardy as well, the final clue was history and i got it correct, the warren commission.

three lunchtime visitors

 there are some days when there are no visitors to the shop, this was not one of them. there were three around my lunchtime. my vacation replacement showed up to be briefed on anything related to my day off, and decided to break down some empty boxes on the shelf. then my boss showed up, asking about the check stock order for the month. we really did order 40 boxes, he grumbled about the price going up. i showed the packing list we were given. then the maintenance man returned to work on the inner door and get the rubber door stop replaced. there was mention of being over budget, but i didn't mark it as an emergency because it wasn't. and when my boss says to create a ticket for a repair, i do it. so needless to say, i ended up having lunch late. good thing i decided to have it in the back room of the shop as i was able to let the maintenance man in. the branch employee was not familiar with what or where the shop was, i said this is it. that is who let me know that maintenance had arrived. just one thing of note was left over, a check that will be picked up when that colleague is in the office. in the evening i ordered a ticket for the holiday lights event at the saints stadium for next month. i found out a discount code was expiring soon, so it was time to get it ordered. i got a an of warpigs from the liquor store near work so now there are six beers waiting. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when leonard told the story of moving in to the building to penny, while he had a dispute with sheldon. it was followed by the one where raj moves in with leonard and penny, then howard and bernadette. sheldon and amy get a life sized batman statue.

signing for checks

 most of what was waiting for a week was finally moved out or picked up by midday. this included meeting two colleagues in the branch area and asking one of them to sign for a check as i didn't know them as well as someone who works in the building. i picked up what had just been delivered at that time, as i do check for deliveries twice a day. there was a fist bump with the dude who brings the mail from energy park. late in the evening i went on a walk and found 75 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon had a visitor that penny called 'dr. slut bunny'. it was followed by the one where raj works for stuart after sheldon becomes his money manager.

showroom construction

 i went to to perform tonight and first thing i noticed was the construction inside the showroom so it meant the candy brought by the show runner was moved over to the piano. one dude there insisted on telling me about his social media arguments even though i said we've had this discussion before. in my set i spoke of how i spent my thanksgiving as well as grilling hot dogs at a meetup walk. at work i got caught up on running checks through the machine as it was lower volume on the two largest files. there was a very late request to intercept four checks from a file. i was still able to find them as i had just run them through the machine. during my walks i found 26 cents, the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon had dinner with penny after giving up most of his hot dogs to a fierce dog. it was followed by the one where amy found out about the gossip on her sex life with sheldon. meanwhile, raj said he was finally going to live without his dad's money.

smashing pumpkins, disney world

i liked how i didn't have much to do for the day. i watched a holiday program on ABC in the evening as smashing pumpkins was in the lineup. it was from disney world. the pumpkins performed 'silver bells'. liked seeing the 2-hour show close with a cover of  'holiday road'. i didn't recognize many of the performers but mariah carey was part of the lineup, doing her famous christmas song. there was a DJ who was showing what the theme park has to offer, including the star wars section. two performances were from other venues. one was from the disney park in paris and another was from an american idol winner's native hawaii. sounds like the pumpkins may be part of another disney show on christmas morning. during the first thirty minutes i was largely watching 'the simpsons', homer as the leader of crossing guards. i watched some of the pro football games but not a lot. i had other things to do. i got more of my set lists onto a souvenir page, and sewed a button back on a coat. i placed an order at amazon, first time in four months, for a DVD. i did a walk in the late afternoon and in the late evening. during my walks i found 98 cents.

campfire hotdogs

 i did a meetup walk this evening, at a park in bloomington. it looked familiar while driving in, going past a ski jump, and i had done a walk there before, also a moonlight edition, over a year ago. it will be memorable for the campfire at the end, where we were grilling hot dogs. at first i saw others doing so, then asked if i needed to grill my own. it was hard to see when it is dark, and was told the dogs were in a crate near the benches, hebrew national. i hadn't grilled anything over a campfire in a while, so i tried one at first. we were using metal roasters, which looked like a big fork with two prongs on it. when i saw smoke rising from the hot dog, i pulled it away and looked at it with my flashlight and it was blackened enough on both sides for me. so i was given a bun and paper towel, put ketchup and mustard on it, and it tasted fine to me. and then i grilled another one. somebody played 'southern cross' by CS and N on a guitar as well. memorable from the walk itself was getting up to the top of the skiing hill where snow was being made, although it was starting to snow when i arrived for the walk. there were two signs up saying hiking was prohibited near there, but we kept going anyway. i got a picture of the second sign. i spoke with two people there besides the event coordinator. one had a saints baseball hat on, and said his wife was there, who had been hit by a car. the other spoke of working at a theater that will have a burlesque show early in the new year and had been struck by lightning apparently. i saw it as personal growth on grilling my own hot dogs- it just meant asking about it and was better than trying to find food somewhere else. all a matter of do it right or not at all, as i saw that the dog was pushed on the roaster far enough so it didn't fall in the fire. i left just as they were grilling marshmallows for smores. i had eaten some m and m cookies from the picnic table, as well as some potato chips. i also brought a 2-pack of reese's peanut butter, football shaped, so i had eaten plenty by then anyway. 

  i got plenty done before going on the hike. i picked up two orders from the post office, then took recycle to the capitol. by then it was time for a sandwich at jersey mike's. when i got home i went to aldi for groceries. then i watched more from the prep bowl, stewartville was already leading over annandale 21-7 by then late in the 3rd and went on to win 43-13. i decided this was the best game plan- watching it from my easy chair- as i likely would have missed the hike if i had laid down. after the hike i got a can of pryes from the liquor store so now five beers are waiting. during my walks i found 1 dollar 3 cents. 

prep bowl, no reruns

 after getting off work i was ready to watch reruns but the prep bowl was on, from the vikings stadium. i watched some of the 4-a final, hutchinson beat rocori 14-6. i had seen this event in person four years go if i am not mistaken. then after i was done with online activity i went to hy-vee in eagan. twelve items were bought, used a gift card that dad sent nearly a year ago. first box of cereal bought in weeks, it was rudolph for the christmas season. still have four boxes left from halloween. at work it was busy for a while, especially in the morning. the california factor led to a big volume on an early check file. but things evened out as one business line did not send any checks so there was less overnight labels to do. and nothing to pick up from the mailroom at the end of the day. found the dolly parton halftime performance from turkey day on youtube. it was just over seven minutes and included a cover of queen from her recently released 'rockstar' album. so it wasn't much different from halftime show performers at the super bowl- tried and true songs, and musicians. read how dolly has three movies on TV this season. found the schedule for it, and the willie nelson birthday concert as well, for mid-december. while at hy-vee i found a 1-cent euro coin and it was added in an album next to others. i have six kinds now and according to wikipedia there are eight. i don't have the 5-cent and 2-euro yet, lucked out on finding them all so far at coin counters in the return chute. during my walks i found 68 cents.

lonely dog

 when i was taking a walk in the afternoon i passed by some houses with dogs as usual. what surprised me a little was one house where the dog didn't greet me with barking. at the end of the fence it put up its front legs like it wanted to be petted. i just said 'bye' and kept walking. so it must have been a lonely dog, it was a big dog, possibly a golden labrador. it was a pretty good day off for me for the thanksgiving holiday. before the football games began i put in a DVD, it was the annual viewing of the movie 'planes trains and automobiles'. seen it many times before, not sure if i noticed anything from this viewing. there is plenty of music throughout, and i still think the most impactful songs were the instrumental ones. a rock version of  'red river valley' and one called 'power to believe'. i still think of it as showing four now-defunct airlines, representative of what has happened in the industry since deregulation. the four either shown or mentioned were swallowed up or liquidated. of the three games, the first one was the one i watched the most of, packers-lions, a packers win. i did the midday meal, the first of two turkey dinners in the microwave oven, during this game. i drank the cans of surly and indeed with these meals so now four beers are waiting. after it was done i went on the longest walk of the day. second game was cowboys over the commanders. i put in another DVD, the annual viewing of the charlie brown thanksgiving special. then i watched the 'big bang theory' reruns, no surprise how both were about turkey day. it was when bernadette's dad bonded with sheldon and they talked football, while leonard helped penny get an annulment on a las vegas marriage to zac. it was followed by the one where elon musk was a guest star in a soup kitchen, while sheldon and amy go to the aquarium as friends. this was why i didn't see much of the second game. third game was a 49ers win over the seahawks, saw some of it but took another walk during it. during my walks i found 1 dollar 57 cents. i picked up a postcard  at a bus stop that was promoting an event at a venue next month that interests me. 

the minus sign

 i chose a different day off, it will still be next week. i needed help to figure out how to change it in the system though, when it looked like it wouldn't let me change it. so my boss called me and i did a screen share, ended up clicking on the minus sign to remove it. then i was able to choose a different day. so the goal was accomplished, deciding when to use the last of the vacation days before turkey day. branch manager saw them pick up from the UPS box before i got envelopes there and let me know about it. i am hopeful that they end up picking up a little later on in the day. i checked a tracking number from the previous day where it was picked up same-day and i was home by then. the overnight volume was half as much as the previous day, as one business line did not send anything and they account for a big part of the volume on the labels i create. it still was busy for much of the day, and i liked picking up the toner cartridge from the branch before midday for the copier. then i could print the labels from there and not the check printer. late in the day there was a check marked as courier pick-up, but not for the tax specialist. i emailed this colleague and the request was to pick it up on tuesday, so more items are waiting in the shop and will likely get moved out on that day. late in the evening i went on a walk and found 39 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon accepted an award and gave a speech while drunk. it was followed by the one where sheldon got a prototype emotion detector machine.

pick another day off

 after conferring with my vacation replacement in the morning i entered vacation day requests, four of the five were accepted, with one i need to pick another day off due to proper coverage. not a big deal, but i was busy throughout the day so it had to wait. there was plenty of overnight labels to create, a total of fifty for the day. this was the only colleague in the office, and customer service is also working from home for the week so plenty of mail and boxes will wait in the shop a little longer. in the evening i got a look at my monthly bank statement, it had been unopened for a few days. as usual having receipts for most purchases takes the guesswork out of the spending. i got some english muffins at aldi, and a can of surly hell at the liquor store, so now six beers are waiting. i have been trading text messages with yemen native for a few days, starting off with saying i got another covid vaccine. i did speak of performing as how it wasn't the only place where i cut spending, how during covid i understood it was an expensive hobby. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when the dudes were fighting over a ring from the 'lord of the rings' movie and sheldon had a nightmare of looking like gollum. it was followed by the one where leonard and penny have a fight, then penny and amy go to the spa together and sheldon helps his friends with drawing up an agreement.

annual upgrades here

 there are days when i get no mail at all, this was not one of those. there was five items, four of them junk. one of them said there was annual upgrades available if i switch to their cell phone company. except i am not switching, happy where i am. same is true with where i have my checking account, same place as my employer. i haven't shredded junk mail in a while, so it has piled up in a shoebox. at work there was mention of the option of working from home for the entire week due to the holiday, except of course this is not available to me. this was even mentioned in the email from my boss. in the evening i went to perform, on near the end of the night, getting used to it. university accountant was there. i spoke of how i spent my day off, and the postal employee. later on i went on a walk and found 4 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when stan lee was a guest star. it was followed by the one where sheldon and amy spend christmas in texas visiting sheldon's mom, and he puts undies on his head.

robin hood movie, eve hewson

this morning i watched a DVD movie, a redbox rental. 'robin hood'. this was the one from 2018, with eve hewson as marian. it is not too often that i get two redbox movies in the same weekend, but when i researched this one and saw how it was not listed on the redbox site i knew i needed to see it right away. i had found it at cub foods in eagan when doing an alpha search of movies there. i've seen robin hood movies before, including the ones with kevin costner as well as russell crowe as robin. along with the animated disney version. and this one wasn't as good as the others. plenty of action in it, and this one had more about fighting the crusades. the sheriff of nottingham wasn't the only villain in this one, so was a church cardinal. once it was done i went to do laundry. i watched some of the pro football games on TV but i mostly had other things to do. saw the ending of the later game, a vikings loss to the broncos. when i dumped the movie at the gas station i also picked up two hash browns and an oreo ice cream treat on a stick. when i got home i laid down for a while, then had the evening meal. i did the dishes and then went on a walk, and found 1 dollar 83 cents. heard two country songs from a nearby car, 'amarillo by morning' by george strait, and 'always on my mind' by willie nelson during the walk. 

transfusion movie

 this morning i watched a DVD movie, a redbox rental, 'transfusion'. at first it was not entirely obvious that i was an australian movie, because it starts off with scenes from a war. but then i notice the cars having the steering wheel on the right side of the car, unlike the left in america, along with seeing australian flags on the wall and on the military uniforms. then there was mention of various cities that the soldier lived in after leaving the army, a special forces unit. i chose it because it is a thriller, and it was since the former soldier does jobs in the underworld to protect his teenage son. also since he didn't do well in legit jobs such as sales rep for a beer company. plenty of action in it, and it was a compelling story. i have seen way worse movies than this one. the main thing for me was at times when i was lost on the dialogue either due to the accents or the terms being different than in american english. before midday i went to get groceries at aldi, then dumped the movie at the gas station before going to the post office. i made it there to pick up one order just before closing time, and i saw the loopy postal employee for the first time in a while. he asked what i was picking up and then it led to some jokes. then i had a sandwich at arby's and went to walgreen for a covid shot, number five. when i got back i laid down for  a while, then had the evening meal. once i was done i went to get another redbox movie. then it was on to the karaoke venue, where i did two songs. i did not see my co-worker this time. i sang 'don't dream it's over' by crowded house, and 'jump' by van halen. the bartender sang as well, and i had to wait to get a beer, a hamm's, until she was done singing. during one song there were highlights of the iowa hawks game, a win vs. illinois. and another TV had a football show with dave wannstedt, former bears head coach, pro football weekly if i am not mistaken. later on i went on a walk and found 70 cents.

pretzel bites

 i went to a meetup event in the evening, at clutch brewing in st. paul. it was my fifth brewery event this year, and second at this place, in the former schmidt complex. a comment before the event took place said it was closing soon, and i found an article that said it would close at the end of the year. so it meant i was part of their long goodbye. i got one beer and then met somebody 'far from the madding crowd' and we walked around the building. eventually we found a pizza place, but i didn't want a whole pizza. but they did have pretzel bites, so i ordered some of those. the dude works for the same bank as me. while eating the pretzel bites i met another dude there and we spoke for a little while after the first dude decided to go to the upper level and get another beer. since i think of it as my grocery shopping night i told myself that one was enough. after a little over an hour there i went on to hy-vee in eagan. eight items were bought, and i bought four at the nearby cub foods. the latter will be my thanksgiving dinner. i picked up a redbox movie at the cub as well. at work i heard from my boss for the first time in a while just before midday, who has been on vacation. later on there was a request to print some more test checks, guess the ones sent to toronto failed again. near the end of the day i picked up four boxes for the customer service boss from the branch. late in the evening i went on a walk and found 58 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when leonard and raj went to switzerland, sheldon and penny were sick. it was followed by the one where howard and bernadette have their first baby, and it interfered with amy's birthday celebration.

shared boxes

 there usually are some emails i have to respond to when i return where i say 'it was a day off for me'. with one of them there was a request to overnight a check. i let them know that a different shared box would have been enough to let the department know about it and still get it overnighted. basically, the wrong shared box was copied on the thread. customer service was the one copied, operations needed to be copied. my vacation replacement said that i.t. would call me about the copier, but did not. when i got a snack at walgreen during my lunch i noticed the cashier had a half-eaten barbecue sandwich on the counter. i drank the can of fulton oktoberfest with the evening meal so now five beers are waiting. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon was stuck and ended up in a ball pit. it was followed by the one where christopher lloyd was a guest star as a tenant found by sheldon after there was a dispute about shared belongings. leonard decided to wear the apartment's flag.

back at cajun grill

 i had the day off for a dental appointment. i ended up having lunch in downtown st. paul, in the food court i often ate in when working downtown. i chose the cajun grill. i noticed this court still has plenty of  empty store-fronts, at least half. then it was on to the appointment. somebody tried to step into the elevator just before i left, to ask me how to get somewhere. i said i can't help you, i wanted to be on time. in the morning i had plenty of little things to do on my list, and got to all six of them. things like get toothpaste, go to the post office, ask about a vaccine, add to my bus pass. along with get a haircut and get to a coffee shop. after the appointment i went to rice park, where there was a big christmas tree. a man asked for pictures on a camera phone, and i was pleased to do so as it was with two of the charlie brown and snoopy bronze statues. i pointed out where the other six were in a nearby park. i also looked around inside the landmark center, and it was a good place to go to the bathroom. when i got home i went to the liquor store near me and got a can of schell's oktoberfest, so now there are six beers waiting. i watched 'jeopardy' and was pleased that i got the final jeopardy clue correct, about the jefferson memorial. none of the contestants did. i got two things scheduled as well, a vaccine for this weekend and ordering an event ticket for more than two weeks from now. during my walks i found 86 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon decides to move to montana after the apartment was broken into. it was followed by the one where sheldon is jealous of bert for his award and keeps hurting himself.

throwing out a toilet

 when i was taking a walk during lunch i saw a crew cleaning out a restaurant that has been closed for a few months. one of the things being thrown out was a toilet. i would like to think some of the scrap will be recycled. this wasn't the only time where i was outside during my work hours. i also decided to get a box moved. it was next to the UPS box for a week but wasn't being picked up because it was meant for the postal service. so i took it across the road and dropped it off at the post office. i wanted to get caught up as much as possible before my day off. in the afternoon there was a request to re-send a check by overnight delivery but i said it had already been returned, the recipient had moved according to the return label. we need a better address. i made it official, de-activating my account with a survey site. reason given was 'other'. but it was requiring a driver license of course. i had confirmed that miles from another survey site were going to my frequent flyer account, this was all i needed. it even meant taking their page out of a sheet protector in a binder. the section on memberships went from six to four. i kept e-bay, and amazon, as well as meetup. two of these were celebrating an anniversary, the middle one was my first review on their site. the fourth was answering surveys with enterprise rentacar, and a reminder of when i was an award winner. i also took out the redbox page, it was just about getting a free movie for my birthday. i of course still rent from redbox from time to time. late in he evening i went on walk and found 1 dollar 2 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when leonard and penny argued about psychics. it was followed by the one where sheldon tries to seduce amy as a 'rat pack pee wee herman'. liked it because amy said 'that was close'.

dual monitors, secure print

 a colleague arrived and was able to handle some issues i was dealing with in the past week. i now have dual monitors again, for a few days one of them said 'no signal'. that one was swapped out and the colleague said it stank like cheese. the other issue was printing from the copier. found out the work-around for it was switching to secure print. it means using my key card and then pressing the release button for all of the waiting prints. and it means doing overnight labels is easier than it was. i was playing from behind for much of the day. i felt good about what was left over but then i realized i still needed to close all of the overnight envelopes, and it takes longer when i am using stick-on pouches. so it looks like most of them were likely dumped in the box after the courier did the daily pick-up. the envelope delivery for the month arrived mid-morning, nice how that is out of the way as we were running low. in the evening i went to perform, the last one on as i was on the upper level of the venue talking to a musician and saw his song book. it brought back some memories of songs i had done on karaoke nights. some of those in the book i hadn't heard of before. the wild guitar player did two bob dylan songs, 'don't think twice' and  'wagon wheel'. during my walks i found 25 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon tried to teach physics to penny. howard was jealous that bernadette was interested in leonard's work. it was followed by the one where we see 'fun with flags' about merged nations and cities. the friends speak in other languages, the dudes in klingon, when trying to figure out if somebody is lying, one of those issues was penny moving leonard's collectibles into storage.

switching survey sites

 i hate having to change up things but sometimes i have no choice. i was with a survey site for years, choosing airline miles as the reward. i go to redeem points tonight and they were asking me to re-verify myself, by taking a selfie and scan a driver license picture. i sent an email to the site and said nobody else asks me to do this. then i found another site where the miles go directly to my frequent flyer account, don't have to wait a month to redeem. there was mention of bonus miles from completing the first survey. once i confirm those miles are going to my southwest airlines account i think i will dump the other site. the last thing on my to-do list for the weekend was crossed off in the morning, watching some DVDs that were recent purchases. one was from a liquidation sale, about innovators in america's postwar era. the other was 'all in the family' episodes, including a retrospective hosted by henry fonda. in the afternoon i went to kohl's in eagan and returned shoes from a week ago that were hurting my feet. i got another pair that was wider width and a half-size larger, along with a charlie brown book, sticker by number. i went on a long walk around the neighborhood as well. during my walks i found 1 dollar 40 cents. after the walk i got some english muffins at aldi so i could finish the peanut butter and jelly i bought a week earlier. 'the simpsons' was about petey the parrot. i watched some of 'yellowstone' as well, before and after it.

french alliance sketches

 i had plenty of things on a to-do list and i liked how i got to most of them. one of these was seeing some sketches at the french alliance. not the first time i had went to this place in minneapolis for art in their gallery, as this summer i went there for a photography exhibit. notables to me included mention of a trail named for writer robert louis stevenson, as well as a national park in texas on the rio grande river. there was even mention of a planned community called richelieu, named for the catholic cardinal. i went there after i had a sandwich at jersey mike's. after i was done looking at the art i went to bobby and steve's and picked up a small godfather's pizza for the next day. there was some displays inside that were of the hamm's beer bear. i moved up going to get groceries at aldi to the morning, then went to the capitol and dropped off recycle. after getting back with pizza i laid down for a little while, then went to a church dinner in mendota heights. i was on their email list from attending their fish fries during lent. there was rice, kebabs, pita bread, garlic, and salad. then i went back for apple crisp, which looked like a muffin inside paper, and i presented a separate ticket for it. i spent some more time at home, then went out again, this time to sing karaoke in little canada. the customer service manager was there with her guy friend, and i sang two songs. there was 'joey' by concrete blonde, and 'good ole boys like me' by don williams. the couple sang 'SOB' by the night sweats, as well as 'pride and joy' by SRV. they bought both beers i drank, we all had grain belt in bottles. i had some popcorn as well. during my second song the 10pm news had just started and there was mention of a shooting, on the TV near the bar area, farther back than the monitor where the lyrics were. hard to ignore, but i kept singing. as the saying goes, 'if it bleeds it leads'. later on i went on a walk and found 1 dollar 36 cents. i went to the liquor store in the morning and got a can of fulton lonely blonde, and this week drank the can of natural ice with an evening meal, so there still are five beers waiting.

show your mouth a good time

 when i was at lunch i noticed a box in the trash and it said 'show your mouth a good time'. it was from a company called 'devour', guess it was chicken with mac and cheese. it was a memorable slogan so i got a picture of it. at work i sent two overnight packages to foreign countries, to canada and australia. i had emails to let me know about both so i sent the tracking numbers when available. i spoke with the courier that delivers the mail tubs from energy park around midday, who also likes karaoke. in the evening i went to the hy-vee in eagan and got groceries, another small order, eight items. i liked seeing some christmas displays there, one was of rudolph. but even more were charlie brown and snoopy. late in the evening i went on a walk and found 48 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when kripke sabotaged sheldon's interview on public radio. it was followed by the one where sheldon and amy have dinner guests. i like what sheldon said about bad words, it was sad but true. there are still plenty of other ways to hurt people without using them. 

afternoon server issues

 i was already a little behind on getting overnight labels done and then there was server issues in the afternoon, it affected not just the UPS site but also the check printing. at one point there was weird characters on the checks instead of the MICR line. it went away eventually but it meant i stayed late to get the overnight packages caught up. i sent just over half of them to the box just before the expected pick-up time, all i had ready at the time. with the check printing it meant re-selecting the server, which was annoying as i had server issues less than a month ago. but you do what you can. the delivery of check stock was just before midday. i was in the breakroom when it arrived but confirmed with the branch manager how the courier was sent to the service entry so i went there with carts. hopefully the envelopes arrive soon as well, as we are getting low on them. i put two checks in the overnight pile and then looked more closely and noticed these were meant to be inter-officed. i let the business line know i did pull them and these will get sent the next day. late in the evening i went on a walk and found 25 cents. the 'big bang theory' rerun was when sheldon and amy decided to share a toothbrush holder. howard and bernadette found out raj and stuart were using their hot tub. 

here comes the merry

 when i was out for a walk i saw a sign from the nearby coffee shop, a starbucks. how it got across the road, i don't know. but it said 'here comes the merry', and it was advertising the holiday drinks and snacks available. one of those was a sugarplum cheese danish. reminds me of the christmas story where there is mention of sugarplums dancing in their heads, 'the night before' as i recall. i have a loyalty account with caribou, wondering what they might have for the season. during the walk i found 1 dollar, mostly in quarters. the 'big bang theory' reruns were both when we see arguing. first it was sheldon being scared off by it. leonard and penny argue about penny's friend visiting, then it was raj's parents with raj, then howard and his mom. it led to sheldon getting a comic book and robot. i will admit that i laughed at the arguing, even though arguing usually isn't funny to me. it was followed by the one where amy moves in with sheldon, a pipe burst at her building. then sheldon and amy argue, leading to them being turned on. i laughed when penny said 'damn!' when the two were matching wits, including mention of null bona fides. at work there was a conference call that didn't involve my boss, who was on vacation. a colleague called me about an email he was copied on, the customer service boss had questions about getting equipment back from a former employee. it led to us figuring out that what was already sent was enough, a box for the laptop, as something found online said company-owned monitors do not have to be returned.

white castle in vending machine

 it was election day, and my voting precinct is inside a high-rise apartment building. i noticed, much like on a previous visit, how there are vending machines in the voting area. nothing unusual there, except it is more than just candy bars and potato chips. one of them sold milk as well as sandwiches. this included not just deli express sandwiches but also the famous white castle burgers. i didn't buy any but i still checked the price, three dollars. another thing that caught my eye was a big cookie, it was one seventy-five. since it is an odd numbered year there wasn't much on the ballot, city council, school board, and a tax referendum. i liked how it didn't take long to vote. i made it there in the final hour the polls were open, as i waited until i got off work, ate, and watched 'big bang theory' reruns. it was when leonard tried to learn football to impress penny, then after watching half of the game he decided to fly kites with his friends. it was followed by the one where raj calls his dad as bernadette isn't excited about being a mom. i laughed as one could tell the dad was taking a swipe at raj. late in the evening i went on a walk and found 78 cents. after i got back from voting, i went to the aldi and got some cheese. i tried to get some at the gas station close to where i had parked but that section was empty. it was around the corner from the precinct, harder to find the polling place due to the construction. at work i got placed in a conference call with the boss and the i.t. man about printing test checks, i later emailed them copies of the six checks. i was doing overnight labels and didn't let on how i was about to go to lunch. thankful the call didn't last long as i still could go to lunch in a timely fashion. looks like i am getting my wish, how after five months i will go back to sending the supply orders to somebody i know that will place them right away. this is effective next month. i said all along how i didn't care who does it, all i care is that it gets done. 

it was on the belt

 there was a late request to intercept a check, i didn't want to do it that bad but then i did admit it was likely on the conveyor belt as i had just run it through the machine. i found it but of course i could only go by the payee name when it is in the envelope until i decide to open it. likely a good idea why i run this file a little later when doing the afternoon files. there were more emails about checks not arriving by UPS, i said they either picked up too soon on friday or did not pick up at all as i had them in the box by the end of the day. with one of them i said somebody needed to approve the file, so oshkosh had two files of checks lumped together. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when we meet bernadette, as howard asked to be fixed up by leonard. it was also when sheldon faces wil wheaton in a tournament at the comic book store. it was followed by the one where the friends have a meeting with the air force at their lab and sheldon hates having to say nothing for a while.

little free libaries

 from time to time, i see little free libraries. when i take a long walk around the neighborhood, i see one near a co-op grocery store. this serves as the turn-around point in my walk to head back home. sometimes i claim something and sometimes i don't. on this walk i claimed two books. there was 'me' by brenda ueland, and the other was 'french perspectives'. i looked up brenda ueland and found out she was famous for two books, this one and 'if you want to write'. i liked how the walk filled in the time well in the afternoon, as i was gone for well over an hour. during my walks i found 1 dollar 47 cents. i went to the liquor store and bought a can of heineken so now there are five beers waiting. in the morning i did my annual viewing of one of my charlie brown specials on DVD, 'great pumpkin', the halloween special. 'it's magic' was on the disc as well. it still gets some laughs out of me. in the evening i went to perform at an open-mic, cool to see cul-de-sac there. i did more bank stories, going to hy-vee, redbox, and target. somebody recognized me from a long-ago venue after the show. i enjoyed talking with him more than the bartender outside the venue, who reminded me of how some who claim to be comedy experts are really just fans.

barbie movie

 this morning i watched a DVD movie, a redbox rental, 'barbie'. i recall how i at first passed on it, thinking it is just a movie about a doll. but a friend from meetup groups spoke well of it, so i said i would wait for it to arrive at redbox. liked it more than i thought i would, aided by plenty of social commentary. although it was the supporting characters more than the 'lead barbie' that made the movie for me. this would include the weird barbie, and the mom that works at mattel. she saves barbie from the executives. when this car chase began it reminded me of  'terminator 2' where arnold said 'come with me if you want to live'. and it was brilliant to have ken join barbie in the real world, which he likes more than barbie world. i noticed things in the background such as the 'rocky' movie posters. even the mattel CEO was funny, played by will ferrell, who is good a playing goofballs. the song selections in it helped as well. loved how 'closer to fine' by the indigo girls was included, a nice reminder of hearing it when i was driving the u-haul during my move to minnesota. i later saw that band at the minnesota zoo in apple valley. also hard to beat nicki minaj doing the barbie song. and then there was 'girls just want to have fun'. i had read many years ago how that song was actually written by a man, robert hazard. but it took on a different meaning when cyndi lauper sang it. 

when the movie was done it was time to get started on errand running. i picked up one order at the post office, and paid for 6 months on my box. then it was on to eagan where i parked in a central location and went to four nearby places in a shopping complex. first was taco bell for lunch, the ads during the world series spurred me going there for locos tacos. while there i heard concrete blonde's 'joey'. not the first time i had heard it, but worth staying until it was done. it's a song that sticks with you, with lines such as 'all is forgiven' and 'i'm not angry anymore'. next was the fed-ex office, printed two event reminders. then to kohl's as i needed some shoes. i went there instead of walmart after finding out it was next to wally world. while there i also got a barbie ornament for my little tree. finally was the walgreen where i got a little halloween candy, along with a special magazine about life hacks. then it was home. in the evening i had some pizza, then went to aldi for groceries. i saw those crustless pbj sandwiches again but still passed on them since they are not to be microwaved. so i eventually had the urge to go to a target and get english muffins, jif to go, and french jelly. i am big on single serving items, but i had the craving so it meant make them myself. later on i went on a walk and found 60 cents.

she went over there

 i went to shop for groceries at hy-vee in eagan tonight. at one point i saw a little girl run right by me in the produce section. i heard her name being called. then what was likely the mom and sister were trying to figure out where she was. so i was able to see and pointed her out and the mom said thank you. then i went on my way to the next section. at work there was a service call on the envelope stuffer, nothing was getting through. tech arrived just as a last minute meeting about test checks to canada had started. had to explain why i didn't join it right away to my boss, although much of it was other people arguing it out. it led to me sending another overnight package to canada at the end of the day. most of the checks went out despite the machine being down for a while, aided by a lower volume. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon and raj work together after raj said he was in fear of getting deported. it was a rare one when music is played, it was 'eye of the tiger' in their scenes together at the university. it was followed by the one where penny's family shows up for leonard and penny renewing their vows.

it's a coffee shop

 at work i was noticing a new building across the road. it was an oil company but was demolished, was hard to tell what was going up on the same site. a sign went up this week and it will be a coffee shop. i figured it would be either that or a food outlet. there were a few check copy requests late in the day, and still a long email thread about test checks going to canada. hard to follow what part pertains to me. i sent a test check to the thread, two versions. one on the canada stock and on the regular stock. i got some discounted halloween candy at walgreen at lunchtime. it was three pieces of reese's peanut butter. i drank the can of plank road icehouse with the evening meal so now four beers are waiting. late in the evening i went on a walk and found 34 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when howard and raj tried to pick up goth chicks. i liked the one named sarah, as she kept saying 'not that anyone cares' because she was dour. it was followed by the one where we meet leonard's dad, played by judd hirsch. then he bickers with leonard's mom. it was leading up to leonard and penny deciding to renew their vows.

ken griffey commercials

 game five of the world series was tonight, rangers beat the d-backs 5-0 to take the series 4-1. it was a  scoreless tie at the end of the 6h inning. there was plenty of commercials starring ken griffey jr. some were for insurance, some were for hotels. there was two that were shown fairly often. one was where he is seen from a window and asks for cotton candy, then it ends with blowing a bubble after asking for bubble gum. the other has an umpire as a neighbor, where at one point the umpire kicks leaves that ken is raking. with the series done, guess i will go back to my routine of watching the news on Fox-9 plus in the early evening. at work there was the quarterly town hall meeting, i like how these are dial ins as i can still get some work done. one email requested check copies, when doing an 'alpha search' i was unable to find them and said i needed check numbers. later on i found out those checks weren't issued yet. the 'big bang theory' reruns started off with another halloween episode i hadn't seen that often before, or at all. howard was told to stop talking about being in space, then we see edwin 'buzz' aldrin guest star, giving out candy to kids, doing the same thing, still wanting to talk about it. penny visits leonard's lab and the couple has sex, more than once. it was followed by the one where leonard's mom visits and penny keeps trying to make a connection with her. then the mom spoke of being disappointed that she got no wedding invite.