napoleon cake

 i stayed active for much of the day. there was going to the post office, four orders were picked up including two CDs. i needed some things at JC Penney and went to the one in Roseville. I got a pair of socks with a Halloween theme and some shoes. while there i decided to use a small bench a little farther away to sit down and try on shoes, saying 'let him have some fun' noticing a little boy was on a bench next to his dad, and the dad was trying on shoes like i was. then it was on to the French alliance to see the art display. usually i get there before midday, when there isn't much of a crowd in the building. this time i heard 'bonjour' and was asked if i needed help, i said 'art gallery', stating what i was there for. the theme was black and white photos in Paris and mention of acupuncture as well. i had heard of some of these places but not all of them, and i found a black crayon in a kid's room so i could write some things down in the pamphlet about the exhibit. when i was done i returned the crayon to where i found it. then i make a quick stop at home to drop off what was acquired at the store and post office, and i was off to the Armenian festival at a church in St. Paul. i had been there before and the food is good there, this time i had the Napoleon cake after having the pork and rice pilaf meal. i also read the stories from families escaping the genocide, which were posted in the sanctuary. i went home again but wasn't there for long. i rested a little and then got groceries at the Aldi. then it was off to the stadium to see the St. Paul Saints baseball game. the Saints lost to Columbus, 9-3. it was fan appreciation night. it was my tenth game of the season, actually eleven as one night in June was a double-header. i had to choose a different food truck this time as the lineup can change. as usual, i chose one right away after the floodgates were opened as the lines get long really quick. i went to the fish and chips place and had the chips. when i got home i found out it was on the 'dining for miles' program, and it was nice to get some unexpected airline miles. there were some songs to keep people interested before the fireworks show, including a parody of an Oasis song. another was from the movie 'midnight cowboy'. during the fireworks there was the Sinatra song about baseball. 

thailand package

 there was another international package i had overnighted where i am called and emailed about it, this time going to Thailand. not much i could do besides notify the business line, in this case two shared email accounts were copied. it is up to them to supply more contact information to see that it gets delivered. matter of fact, i had to do the same for the one stuck in the Virgin Islands. it was nice getting caught up again on running checks through the machine at the end of the week. there was just over a thousand to do in the morning and i had two full mail tubs to send to the mailroom near the end of the day. i am finding out it works just fine to go on Friday morning to the Walgreen as i can get the paper there. i get it just once a week, and at times if i wait until i go to Hy-Vee in the evening it is already sold out. this way it counts towards my loyalty points total, and i know it doesn't at Hy-Vee. i did go get groceries in the evening, and it was the first time this season where i saw the 'monster cereals' so i bought a box of Count Chocula. this year it has a Muppets theme, honoring an anniversary at Jim Henson's studio, so we see Muppet versions of these cereal mascots. it was a small order, nine items. i found out i tend to have the same problem with listening to the Saints baseball game on the radio even in my car. the signal can be crowded out at times by the station next to it. good thing the game was also on local TV. the Saints beat Columbus, so their long losing streak ended. soon i will be attending another game in person though. 

undetermined pizza

 there was plenty of goodies to be found in the breakroom, and i did partake of most of it. i ended up taking a late lunch and i saw three boxes of pizza there, although i am not sure what the meat was on it, possibly chicken. best to just say 'undetermined'. some were cut into squares; others were cut into triangles. and i think some had onions on it. i felt a little weird after eating the pizza and made two trips to the bathroom in the afternoon, one right before delivering the regular mail tubs to the breakroom. when i got home i did drink some Pepto-Bismol, to help out a little, before i had the evening meal. i also made a good haul on the goodies that were left on the counter when i went there for some water for my mid-morning snack. i claimed a muffin, as well as some yogurt. with the latter i saw the post it on the refrigerator that said, 'for anyone'. i also claimed what was in a cardboard box for the next few days. this included some small bags of popcorn and chips, peanut butter crackers, trail mix, and some little Reese's peanut butter cups. wouldn't surprise me at all if some of it had just expired, or would be soon, as this is often why so much snack food is left in breakrooms as whoever leaves it wants it to be eaten. 

quick door inspection

 it was a weird day for meetings and visitors. i let the tax specialist know in the morning about me having a team huddle during the time that those checks are normally picked up. except the dude wasn't in yet and didn't see my instant message. then my boss was called during the team huddle and i went to the other floor to hand them off. this was after my boss dismissed what i had said, even though i knew it was relevant, and it was confirmed to be. then when i got back to the shop, there was two visitors. one was from the mailroom, not a big deal. it was the customary delivery of the empty mail tubs. the other was the preventative maintenance visit, which didn't last long. the dude said he'd be there for just two minutes. and all it involved was inspecting the door, starting with me badging into it. the check stock arrived as well. i showed the check copies to my boss when requested in the afternoon and found out i have to submit just twenty-four of those. some were essentially the same business line, and we need to submit only once. i said i would do so the next morning when i have no check files to print. it means blotting out the payee names as well as the DDA account number for each one, but it won't take long. and then i send it to a folder called 'reporting' on a drive i use all of the time for moving the PDF checks to after they are printed. 

fanning the checks

 my boss does one day a week in the shop and when coming back from a meeting on another floor saw the 'hot product' error on the machine. i had to say that the checks were hot, not the machine itself. this was when i was advised to pull a fan over and see if this would help with cooling down the checks enough. i don't think that it did, though. i am used to running through as much as possible until just before i go to lunch and then switching over to creating overnight labels. then whatever Fargo checks are left over are run through the next morning, when i don't get that error at all as the checks have been sitting for quite a while by then. i know best how to do my job. there was also mention of needing check copy samples for each of the business lines that i handle. i did some by the end of the day, the ones that i see most often. still need to find out the deadline on getting those submitted, and where to submit them, of course. 

answer was jealousy

 as we all know, i have been riding the light rail to work at the bank for months now. i see all kinds of things on these rides. this morning i saw a transit cop ask if a rider was all right. the dude had his shoes off and pants down far enough that one could see his undies. the cop said the shoes needed to be put on and the pants pulled up. then there was a question about what happened to his face, and the answer was jealousy. i try to avoid interacting with other riders as all i care about is getting to work. in the evening there was a lady asking about what train that goes to the airport, and i boarded the same train as her. but then i kept quiet and left her alone for the duration of the ride. at work i did make it to another floor, where many of my colleagues are, to deliver a check. it was for paying off a corporate card, and i ended up saying 'not my first rodeo' about it. then i was able to hand off some returned checks to vacation replacement. i was tired for much of the day and fell asleep for nearly an hour after i got home and ate. then i went out to perform. i did stories about the oil change, a meetup event, visiting the speedway gas station, and the cinema. and i started off with answering a joke from a comic i wasn't familiar with, about fireworks at baseball games. i have answered jokes before when i know i am more knowledgeable than the comic who first tried to joke about it. there was a thin lineup, show didn't start on time for this reason. i know the Vikings were playing that night, this might have been given as the reason. i did watch some of this football game in the bar area when i wanted a break from the showroom. the Vikings were on the road, in Chicago, and beat the Bears. 

all through the night movie

 in the evening i went to the Trylon and saw another classic movie, 'all through the night', starring Humphrey Bogart. the supporting cast included Jackie Gleason, and Phil Silvers. i liked finding another movie about World War Two when it was a current event. in both cases, the story or setting takes place just before the United States entered it. i laughed a lot at the deadpan humor in this one. Bogart was really good as usual. i am trying to figure out when my next visit will be, although it might not be for a movie as there is a poster sale in October. that month is shaping up to be a busy one, so it may be just as well. a film festival at another venue interests me, as well as Halloween- themed events at places like the Saints baseball stadium. i did laundry in the morning and finished up just before midday. then i went to speedway again and got another Slurpee, but this time it was in a plastic Green Day-themed cup. it was a larger volume cup than the disposable one from the previous day, it meant i drank half of it before i got home and then the other half was my drink for the evening meal, a small pizza. when i first saw it i was about to leave the store but got a picture of it to remind me. i am a big believer 'get while the getting is good', even though there were plenty of these collectible cups still available. it was on my mind and didn't want to forget to pick one up, so it was no big deal to go there on consecutive days. i also got two snack items. there was some ice cream on a stick, and a pack of Reese's peanut butter- combined with Oreos. according to what i had found online, this promotion was announced months ago but i hadn't seen it before. this is likely due to me usually getting bottled juices in the refrigerated aisle. it was opening weekend for pro football, but i didn't watch any games. guess it was due to the teams i wanted to see weren't playing that day. 

two fist bumps

 as usual, the weekends are about chores and errand running. this included getting an oil change for my car. i went to a new place, sort of. first visit to a Tires Plus location in more than a decade. there were two techs but i liked the second one more. the first was trying to joke around, and when it comes to my car i am not interested in jokes. it is the way that i get around. i liked the second tech better. i got two fist bumps from this dude, who said my car could run forever. also asked me if i had pets, and i do not. and if i was planning on watching the football game on Monday night. notable was seeing a crew boarding up a plate glass window which had a hole in it, boarded up on both sides. i made it there before midday, and my visit to the post office was moved up for this reason. three items were picked up, one of those was postcards from brawler. there was four, and one appeared to be from Paris. another was from Madrid, which made sense as the dude now lives in Spain. after i was done at the shop i picked up a quick lunch from the speedway gas station near me, actually it was a breakfast sandwich under the heat lamps. then i went home and watched the second half of the Iowa football game at Iowa state. Iowa lost a close one. in the evening i went to a meetup event at a micro-brewery in Brooklyn Park. a friend of mine was there, our first visit in a while. she was willing to speak a little about getting sued for a snowboarding incident but i didn't ask about it, figuring it still might be a sore subject. i parked at the adjacent steakburger place, Freddy's, and ate there. once i was done i went to the brewery. 

frames at michaels

 in the evening i made my first stop at the Michaels in Eagan, instead of Hy-Vee for groceries. i wanted a frame for a poster and when i went online this was one of the results. i wanted a 14 by 20 frame, couldn't find one so i chose a 16 by 20. some were more expensive than others, i just needed a basic one. when i got home i put the poster from the Charlie Brown movie of ten years ago in it, which was in a frame that was too big for it. then a St. Paul Saints poster that was acquired in August was put in the larger frame. now i have two framed Saints baseball posters, although i have four total. the other two are still in cardboard tubes so still well preserved. the framed ones are more about the team, and the tubed ones are of individual players and i am the type that roots for teams when it is a team game. then i went to Hy-Vee, and ten items were in my grocery order this week. i got the paper when i went to Walgreen in the morning to get some tea and cookies. i was busy at work all day, but i didn't mind. i wanted to get caught up by the end of the day and i did. it helped that the volume of the Fargo checks dropped, finally. the checks i printed today was a lower total than the backlog, which was over two thousand and run through before the newer ones. this was another day of deciding to get the returned checks caught up, over fifty were sent in interoffice envelopes to the corresponding business line. as usual, it was just in time to get some more. the check stock and envelope volume is getting low; order was placed two days ago. i was copied on an email thread about our office address, saying it needed to be updated. wondering if this is causing the delay. 

virgin islands package

 once again i couldn't hear my phone, but this time the one connected to my laptop, when i had the inserter machine running. i saw it was UPS, calling about a package going to the Virgin Islands. i tried to call the number given but it was the wrong one, something about medic alerts. i went online and found the correct number for UPS. it was a waste of time as i was on hold for a while and kept getting transferred, and what i was trying to tell them was to just 'return to sender'. i know this will happen after enough inactivity on the package anyway. i didn't like how the call center rep tried to hide behind 'this is our procedure' and i said i had done call center work before and it was getting ridiculous. when i was asked how to contact me, by email or phone, when i didn't want to be transferred again, i just hung up. as it was taking way too long for something that seemed simple enough to me. also notable about the day was being asked to send a package through fed-ex, except i don't use that courier. i didn't have any of their envelopes and didn't know where the closest box was. a colleague who was working from home was asking for help about it and wanted to email me what was to be overnighted. when i confirmed i had none of those kinds of envelopes i was told that the colleague would handle it next week when in the office. fine with me. i drank a can of surly with the evening meal so now four beers are waiting. 

end task function

 i was trying to go too fast near the end of my workday when i was trying to get a check copy for a colleague. it was from the PDF file and sometimes all i can do is a screen snip. when i realized i was going to print all eight checks in the file i tried to stop it and print just the one i wanted. then the screen froze, or i usually say 'got stuck'. i sent an instant message to an IT rep who said use control alt delete, then task manager, then 'end task' and this got me un-stuck. now i will try to learn a lesson from this experience so this doesn't happen again anytime soon. also notable about the day was getting the spare maintenance kit from the tech who was working on the check printer last week. i was running the inserter machine and it can get loud so i didn't hear the phone ringing but i picked it up from the security desk on the main floor. some mention of needing to go to Mankato so couldn't stay for long. i said i wasn't going to complete the survey until i had this item, and at the end of my workday i stayed a few extra minutes to complete it. this was also a day where i finally got started on the online classes due at the end of the month. i did one in the morning, doesn't take long but i still just do one per day. in the evening i went to the liquor store and got two cans of beer. it was a Michelob and a surly, so now five are waiting. 

alternate hotmail login

 i check email in my Hotmail account in the evening and it said i was unable to log in through the laptop. hard to understand why this happens at all but it has a few times in the past month or so. this meant viewing it on my phone, although this is not preferred as i like the larger screen and keyboard on the laptop. as usual, most of it is not too important. the surveys i do for airline miles mean the most to me, although i did not do one due to the issues i was having. although i have logged on to their website directly before. most of the time i go to surveys through the daily email. at work it was the first time in nearly a week that i had printed any of the ACH-PDF statements. getting checks out was more important when we were having printer issues. it meant sending out four tubs of regular mail as the ACH was well over a thousand pages. also printed the stubs for payroll, four days' worth, although those didn't go out just yet. the boss kept asking about the printer, i said it was running just fine after the tech visited. i saw how i was assigned more online classes, due at the end of November. i have some due at the end of this month, i will want to get started on those real soon. i usually do one a day until they are done as it just takes a few minutes to complete. there is still a backlog on checks to run through the machine, but it is manageable. it is the larger Fargo file. running it through the next morning still works fine. the Twins baseball game against the White Sox was on Fox-9. i watched some of it after the news on Fox-plus but fell asleep and missed the ending but i knew the Twins were way behind. 

voting on comics

 in the evening i went to a comedy show in the basement of a bar in northeast Minneapolis. i was interested in attending after having seen a text message from brawler, who was in town. this is who was performing when the votes were being counted at the end of the show. i was given a ballot but did not turn it in, as i wanted it for a note page. it was my first time at this venue in more than five years. i was introduced to the booker, who was wearing a 'cow onesie', and now i have stage time there in a month from now. i recognized two other performers at this show, one of them i call a 'ball of energy', and that was the night's winner, and the prize was a burger king hat. the other is now a mailman and spoke of getting bailed out of jail once by a stripper. the latter said i was 'the real deal'. i found out that brawler now lives in Spain, after being in the Carolinas for a while. this was another move for his wife's job, a physician. there was some mention of sending postcards to me and gave out my PO box address. even though it was a day off for a bank holiday, Labor Day, it was still an active one for me. i was at the state fair in the morning and afternoon and was able to get most things crossed off my list. i think it was the first time that i went on the final day of the fair. i did make it to an animal barn, for cattle, and chatted with a young man there. i learned there is a French cattle breed called 'Limousin', the name almost looks like the kind of car. there was one final day deal i liked getting, it was at the fan zone building, where i went to see the St. Paul Saints display. i got a picture frame and a long sleeve shirt, both were half off. it looks like the shirt was once going for way more than this but had been marked down apparently even before the fair. i am still doing 'one for one' on shirts and this will replace the long sleeve Chicago Bears shirt. i knew the cuffs were getting ratty on it. i made a return visit to the milk booth, as i didn't have milk for breakfast, which was another Egg McMuffin and orange juice at McDonald's. and it was nice to make it back to the giant slide as well, i got a better Lt. Dan from 'Forrest Gump' scream this time. and a big reason for the second visit this year, the fine arts building, i did see some paintings i liked. there was one about hot dish, along with ones depicting ice cream, and a pencil sharpener. i finished the walking tour map and my prize at the historic society was a magnet. i sang at the karaoke stage, 'bad reputation' by Joan Jett, after hearing it the day before when i was performing. and i had lunch at the Hamline church dining hall. it was meatloaf and mashed potatoes, for dessert some blueberry pie. after choosing some other dessert options first, i said i wanted the pie even more. i left the fairgrounds shortly after i had sang, it was mid-afternoon by then, and i made it home on the bus in time to watch 'jeopardy'. 

meetup picnic near zoo

 at midday i went to a meetup picnic near Como Zoo in St. Paul. it was hard to find a parking spot, as the lot nearest the picnic grounds was full. i ended up finding street parking a few blocks away. i brought a box of twinkies much like before and ate two of them there. i left with seven, so it meant that just one was eaten by somebody who wasn't me. one of the games i played after eating, ladder golf, was with this man. this was the third meetup picnic, out of six in the series, i have attended this summer, and i said it will be the final one. there is another one in three weeks, postponed from an earlier date, but i prefer to avoid getting annoyed and i was at two of them, including this one. in both cases, it was due to others being critical of my nametag. i had plenty to eat there, including a hamburger and a hot dog along with desserts and some potato salad, and i slept when i got home. for this reason, i had very little to eat in the evening, just some popcorn saved from the show i had attended the night before. i performed at an open mic in the evening. i did stories about the picnic, the bank, a Facebook posting about being spotted, and movies i had attended. i was the final performer in this show. 

relay movie

 in the afternoon i went to see a movie at St. Anthony main in Minneapolis, it was 'relay'. i chose it as i like a thriller, and this one kept me guessing until the end. the setting was New York city and was about a man that called through a relay service whenever someone needed his help as a whistle blower. i was planning on attending the 1pm screening but changed it to the one at 4pm. with the errand running i was doing in the morning, i still wanted to be able to enjoy the sandwich i ordered at jersey mike's instead of wolfing it down. after lunching there in Richfield, i went to the nearby target and bought two frames for posters. when i got home i went to Aldi for groceries. two of the comedy posters recently acquired were put into frames, replacing two that had no pictures of performers on them. i still have ten posters from comedy shows for this reason. essentially, the two frames i bought meant that two posters I've had for years, not related to comedy, were finally framed. one of the frames i realized was too big, at 24 by 36, for most of the posters i have. but i noticed the 'Herky on parade' poster, from a visit to Iowa City, fit in it nicely. the other one was from an advance screening of the first 'Shrek' movie. some of the shuffling was due to realizing that some frames were kind of big for the posters i had in them, and wanting to cut back on the 'empty space' that one might see. there is one more that i want to get a frame for, it was from a St. Paul Saints baseball game this month. some posters i realized that i didn't value them enough and were ripped up and tossed in the trash. there is one bag full of rolled up posters and it now has nineteen in it, down from twenty-three. in the evening i went to a comedy show at the parkway theater in south Minneapolis, called 'the brothers'. i knew many of those on the lineup, including school bouncer and the fancy comic. the first member of the ring of honor performed as well, who now lives in Boston. i bought not only a can of Hamm's beer there but also some popcorn. it is a much nicer venue for comedy than what i am used to, including the bathrooms being cleaner. guess this should be expected when it isn't a dive bar, and this venue still sometimes shows movies. 

patterns movie

 i made another visit to the Trylon cinema tonight, my second in this month of august. it was to see 'patterns', a corporate drama written by Rod Serling. i knew i was tired before i departed for the theater, but i managed to last until the end so i was pleased with that. when i left the venue i said 'passion', as there was plenty in this movie. i said i like passion in my entertainment, but hearing that much arguing in my own life, no. it was about a new executive who agreed with an older one that was in conflict with the boss over ethics. while there i said the popcorn smells good, but i didn't get any during this visit. i already have a ticket for another movie at the same venue next month though. guess i am saving the quarters i have for another event that i plan on attending on Labor Day. i do pay attention to the promos before the feature, in this case a series called 'Nixon land' in October. i looked it up after getting home, looks like mostly horror movies from the era when Nixon was president. i am not big on horror movies but this cinema has plenty of other offerings that i like. for the evening meal i went to McDonald's and had the limited time meal known as McDonald land. this is the second 'gimmick meal' i have had this month, the other being at Wendy's of course. i chose a quarter pounder this time because i wanted something different after having chicken nuggets before. the shake was good, and i liked the tin that was included with the meal. it was a 'luck of the draw' and i got the one about Mayor McCheese. there were some stickers inside, a passport, and two postcards, the thing i liked the most. i know, shocking. i have to give the edge to McDonald's here as i recall those characters from my childhood. and i made more visits there as my hometown had one but not a Wendy's. i saw a Facebook posting when i got home. mason city, a fellow comic, spoke of seeing me, likely either when i was walking to the fast-food place or after i had left it. at work the tech arrived around mid-morning and the parts were swapped out. it was an assembly put in, so it meant seeing the machine taken apart essentially. we tested it and it works fine once again, and i am caught up on check printing and the overnights. thankful that the number of emails i will have to send out about the printer being down for a day will likely be done. 

pumpkin is here

 my visit to Hy-Vee for groceries was moved up one day due to being booked on Friday evening. i got a picture of the fold-up sign near the entrance saying, 'pumpkin is here'. it was an ad for pumpkin spice coffee from Starbucks. this was a small order, nine items. i am aware of how i skipped a week there, didn't need enough from that store. at work there was a notice about the parts needed for the check printer. guess there will be a delay, i said we prefer in the morning because someone needs to be present when any maintenance is done. easier for me to test it when ready as well. i decided to print as much as i was able to, even if it meant some from the Fargo file would be held until the next morning to be run through the inserter machine. it also meant making choices on the overnights, still a day behind on getting those out. i have a life outside of work and didn't feel like staying until late in the evening just to get those caught up. this is especially true when i know the driver picks up from the UPS box just once a day and anything put in after that time waits until the next day anyway. i know the best game plan is to print all i can before the tech arrives, then switch over to doing the overnight labels. 

our god, our help in ages past

 i usually don't talk about 'the news of the world' in this forum, as i prefer to talk about my own life. this evening i watched the vigil on TV held at a school in Richfield related to a shooting at a catholic school and church in Minneapolis, two fatalities. three if you count the shooter, who turned the gun on themselves. the first song during this vigil, shown on fox-9 plus instead of the 7pm news hour, was 'our god our help in ages past'. we all know i like the hymns better than scriptures at church services, because i am a more active participant in hymns. i liked this hymn, i think because it was sung by the church choir in the movie 'cold turkey', which was filmed in my native state of Iowa. when i heard it in the movie, the line i liked the most was 'our shelter from the stormy blast'. when i looked it up online, i saw how the hymn has been around for a while, apparently going back to 1708. and the inspiration is much older than that, apparently being from psalm 90. proverbs, as well as psalms, have the most meaning to me in the bible. it makes sense that psalms would, when those are most like poems and songs or music. at work, we did see a technician about the check printer, in the afternoon. we were able to get printing again, a temporary fix. some strong glue was used on the plastic part that broke off in the output tray that was causing it to jam. we were told to let it dry for a while, more than an hour. when i got back from a team huddle on another floor, we started it up. one thing, though. those two parts, which work in tandem, were often staying up after about five checks saying it was full when it wasn't. we found out it meant having to push it down for it to keep printing. i was able to get hundreds of checks printed this way, but we still have a way to go to get caught up. i was told to send checks to the Marshall office, and about a hundred checks were sent there, mostly the PDF files. this included four that were marked as overnights. the final file sent there was the midday i-pay. 

chair massage

 a little after midday, i did my first chair massage at the workplace since i moved to this office less than a year ago. it was about fifteen minutes and i liked seeing cans of LaCroix sparkling water so i got one. if i am not mistaken, this was the same place that had the puppies not too long ago. i went there shortly after the check printer started jamming and i couldn't get it running again. i wasn't about to skip this massage when i knew nobody was coming right away about the printer. i opened a ticket about it after i got back, and i ate lunch before i went. no surprise, nobody came by the end of the day. i sent out as much as i could, but there was plenty that i couldn't print. this included a little over a thousand Fargo checks as it was a high-volume day. it jammed on a three-check file, kept trying to print the same check. first one notified was vacation replacement, and then eventually the team lead and the boss knew. this is why i wasn't thrilled that our alternate printer was picked up nearly two years ago, although we've lucked out that it was the first time breaking down since then. 

minimal carryover

i started off the day at work with some carryover, not just about a thousand Fargo checks but also ACH statements. i was pleased that the carryover was minimal by the end of the day, just six Canadian checks. when i have to change the stock for Canadian checks, i usually don't print those first. when i knew the next day is likely going to be a high volume one, i preferred being caught up again. it meant sending out three regular mail tubs to the mailroom. i did see vacation replacement for a few minutes shortly after i had returned from lunch. we swapped a few stories, as usual. no surprise how some were about my day off. in the evening i went to perform at an open mic. one performer was an elderly man who sang two show tunes and did not want to climb the stairs to go onstage. one of them was from 'paint your wagon'. it was a small list of performers for the night and i went on after this man and there was just one performer after me. i did stories about a former boss, a Walgreen cashier, attending the state fair, a bank story, and a venue closing. the road construction near the venue is still a mess. 

hike and brew, meetup

 not much on the docket for the day, it is how i prefer a Sunday. i gave my car the day off, as the only event i had planned i was able to walk to, a meetup event known as 'hike and brew'. we did a hike at a nearby park, then went to a micro-brewery. i have done some long walks around the neighborhood this summer, but i think this distance was even longer. i had done some hikes in this group, but it was the first one since November, and those were usually evening hikes that i had done before. i am a brisk walker, and this is helpful when i get annoyed with one hiker and want to talk to someone else. in this case it was a lady who showed up right before we began, who was being a 'contrarian' and trying to provoke an argument but i wasn't taking the bait. i prefer being near the front, close to an event coordinator anyway. i saw one organizer before the hike began, she thought she had arrived at the wrong entrance to the park and left but then came back. i went by what the map said as to the meeting spot. my guess is that not everybody from the hike went to the brewery after it. i had one beer and then i left, and some left even before i did. when i went home i had a TV dinner for the evening meal. i am aware that the lynx, the local women's basketball team, was playing the Indiana fever. i had a last-minute ticket offer but when i inquired further about it the night before, i heard no response. i said i passed on the ticket offer from a few days prior as those seats were all upper level, and when i saw this same matchup a year earlier my seat was lower level. the one lynx game i had attended this season was a free ticket, and this game was a hard sell as the fever's star player, Caitlin Clark, is still sidelined with an injury. the game was in the evening, and it would have been hard to attend it and do the hike, so it was just as well that i heard nothing back. i was signed up for the hike more than a week in advance. 

coptic church festival

 we all know i like to attend festivals. i found another one to attend this summer, and it was at the Coptic church in South St. Paul. i went there around midday and had lunch first, a gyro sandwich, some fries, and some baklava. then i did the church tour, where i learned something. i know, shocking. i put me in situations all the time when i do. in this case, it is how 'Coptic' refers to a 'dead language' that looks like Greek. i bought some souvenirs as well, two postcards and a magnet. all these items are about Egypt; the magnet was of 'king tut' and Nefertiti. one of the postcards had a camel on it, a reminder of an earlier church festival i had attended. i also bought an item from the bakery section in the same room as the souvenirs, it was a loaf of chocolate chip banana bread. before i went to the festival i went to the post office, two orders picked up. then to the copy store where i printed an event ticket. after the festival i went home and had the evening meal, then got groceries at Aldi. later in the evening i performed at the final open mic at a venue that i hadn't been to in a while, the corner bar in Minneapolis. i know full well why i had been absent for a while, as even before covid i said i would go to venues only if i get stage time. i did have some nice memories of when i had performed there, and i enjoyed seeing some comics that i hadn't seen in a while. one of those now lives in Kentucky, in the college town, but spoke a lot about being in Florida before that. i attended his dad's memorial. i did stories about a boss at a former job, attending the state fair, a cashier at Walgreen, and a bank story about I.T. issues. i took plenty of pictures, not only of some comics onstage but also of the venue, including the list of those signed up for the mic, using a marker on the wall. plenty of show posters were put out in the bar area on the upper level, i claimed three. mind you, i did not attend any of those shows, but the performers on it i recognized. a few small items such as a paper clip and a bottlecap were claimed out of the 'green room'. some joked about looting, and i guess that does happen when a venue reaches the end, where it tends to be stripped for souvenirs. the wolf tagged me in a Facebook posting about being there, where it showed John Wayne on a quaker oats container saying, 'listen up, pilgrim'. 

meetup group postcard

 in the evening i went to a meetup event in the micro-brewery group, it was at dual citizen in St. Paul. when i arrived i liked chatting with the event coordinator, and there were postcards on the table where i picked up my nametag. i got one and a sticker as well, why not? i attend more events in this group than any other, by far. i did catch up with those i recognized there, one is a former coworker from the bank. another is a dude that wears a cowboy hat, who once lived in Austin, Texas. then there was a dude i know from the comedy circuit, who made an intro for me to a man from Austria who spoke about his homeland and Europe in general. i didn't go to Hy-Vee after that i like i normally would as i didn't need much, i just went home. at work an early morning PDF check file had over two thousand checks in it, i saw that all of those went out. ACH statements and some of the Fargo checks did not, but i can run those through the machine the next workday. i was just about to leave for the day and got an instant message saying a check needed to be stopped. i said the regular mail tubs had already been sent out an hour ago. then i found out it was a check i had overnighted as it was for over two million. it is still annoying how often i am asked to clean up other people's messes. i have intercepted checks many times before, and it is easier to do so when i hear early enough in the day. but i can still only do so much for others. 

flight beers, state fair

 it was a day off to attend day one of the Minnesota state fair. i went to McDonald's for an egg McMuffin and hash browns for breakfast, normally i have cereal at home. before leaving for the fair, i got a text message from vacation replacement, asking where the Canadian check stock is. i said where it was, then heard okay, thank you, and as expected i didn't hear any more from work the rest of the day. i got on a bus less than thirty minutes later, the first leg of the journey as it meant getting a transfer to another bus once i reached downtown St. Paul. and then when we got close to the fairgrounds, it slowed down a lot, so i got out and walked the rest of the way. a staff member said she didn't want to be late, working in a ticket booth, and when she got out i did too. i was leaning towards doing so even before she got out. i did a few activities before i met up with a friend from meetup groups, the retired postal worker. i brought quarters from taking carts back to Aldi and used most of them. there was the 'all you can drink' milk booth where i got a cup of white milk and chocolate milk. then there was the giant slide. finally, i bought a sticker at the 4H building that reminded me of a green day song. then i got a look at the newspaper museum near it. those things cost 10 dollars, and for the rest of the day what i bought went on the debit card. when i met my friend, it was at the agriculture and horticulture building, where we got flight beers. later on, we stopped there again and i got a different set. first time was pilsner, second time i got award winning ales. i got a Schell's Oktoberfest at the hangar. for food i got fish on a stick, walleye, then plenty of garlic fries for lunch. for dinner i got a pork chop and a dr. pepper. after both trips for flights, we sat in a gazebo nearby and he chatted with those next to us. near the end of the night, we stopped at the DNR stage for some music. i left the grounds shortly after that as it was a little after 9pm and many places had already closed for the night by then. i got to some of the things on my list, but not all. didn't make it to the fine arts building, it was closed by the time i made it over there. i decided it would be fine to make a second visit, on the last day of the fair, Labor Day, as i have nothing booked on that day just yet. there are a few other things i can see besides fine arts by giving myself a second day there, such as finish my punch card of historic places at the fair. i found five and that means there are seven left to find. it means buying another ticket, guess i can get it online if i want to avoid standing in line to get one. music was everywhere i went, notable were songs by Carrie Underwood, Mel McDaniel, Marc Cohn, and Jelly Roll. 

death on the diamond movie

 i watched a DVD movie tonight, a recent purchase from amazon. it was 'death on the diamond', as a big baseball fan, especially of the St. Louis Cardinals, i liked finding this one. and as a history major, this one spoke to me as i knew it was released in 1934, and i liked studying the great depression. there is an NRA image at the end of the movie, the national recovery act or administration, with the eagle, sometimes it also says, 'we do our part'. child star Mickey Rooney played the batboy in this one. this was a whodunit that kept you guessing until the end. the cardinals were in a pennant race, and their players were getting bumped off. the movie was kind of short by today's standards, running time given on the case was 71 minutes, but i didn't mind as the story was still good enough. at work i swapped out the toner cartridge fairly early in the day, then opened a ticket to get another one. it always seems to be a struggle just to get one, i was trading instant messages about it near the end of the day and still not sure if one is being sent even though i really need it to get my work done. i wanted to see that i was caught up by the end of the day as i have the next day off, it meant sending out five tubs of regular mail. normally i think i would have held back about a thousand Fargo checks so then i would be only sending out four tubs. 

little ham sandwiches

 i went to a picnic in the evening at Como Park in St. Paul, sponsored by an organization i had joined a while back. there was plenty of food there, i had some of the little ham sandwiches, three in all. along with some potato salad and some peanut butter cookies. there was food left over, and the event coordinator encouraged people to take some of it home, and i did. i claimed three sandwiches and will have them for the evening meal the next day. i did speak with one couple there, they live in crystal. i said i had once worked nearby, one town over. at work we mostly got caught up after the 'idle day'. i could tell it was a big deal as i heard from a senior leader that i hardly ever hear from in the morning, by instant message. i said i would try importing files. first one i couldn't, some already were. the others i was able to import. the one i couldn't, i notified the business line, and they worked it out with someone from I.T. we had a replacement file to print by the end of the day. i sent out four mail tubs as over six thousand checks went out. just over four thousand were printed but didn't go out same day. i will run them through the machine the next morning. with the high volume, it wasn't realistic to be completely caught up in one day as the highest number of tubs i have sent out in any day is five. and i rarely send out as many as four. vacation replacement was helping out in the shop, tending to the inserter machine, as it freed me up to do the overnight labels in a timely fashion. there were just over forty sent out, although five were labels supplied by the business line that i didn't have to create, only print. this makes it easier for me. 

only pdf checks printed

 i thought i had seen it all in my time at the bank, but i am still seeing more issues if what can prevent me from printing checks. i was unable to print most of them for the day, due to server issues apparently on the system where most of them are found. a small number are emailed to us in a PDF file, i could still print those. it also meant the overnight volume dropped a lot, i sent out just seven envelopes and one of them was returned checks going to Ohio. the team lead said to notify business lines, i notified three. those were the ones that email us with their overnight requests. although she had emailed most business lines and asked me, as well as vacation replacement, to follow up with calls to all of those business lines. except i am used to communicating with them by email. the one i tried, i couldn't get through, not knowing what prompt to press, so i was hung up on. it was largely an idle day, and hopefully we are back up and running the next day. i performed in the evening and did bank stories. other subjects were seeing a movie, attending a baseball game, and getting a fast-food meal. i saw the show runner of another mic when i was leaving, and he spoke with tonight's show runner. eventually there was a lady who showed up with a guy, didn't know her but she said she had performed stand-up but had quit. she told stories for over thirty minutes and i was bored, and she was shouting down anyone else who had tried to talk. i was not impressed with her at all. 

spill before twins game

 my alumni chapter had their annual outing at the Minnesota Twins baseball game. we meet at a bar near the stadium. this was the first year where i already had the ticket, did not have to pick it up there. because it was sent to the ballpark app. although i prefer the paper tickets. i didn't make it right when the time allotment began as there were some things i wanted to get done before i got on the light rail. but i got them done and made it a little after midday. i had some of the appetizers ordered for us, enough food that i knew i wouldn't need to eat anything at the game. this time it will be memorable as an event coordinator spilled a cup of water at a table i was sitting at, while eating some chicken. some of it got on my pants, guess i didn't quite get up in time. the dude apologized twice, i said it could have been a lot worse. i had ordered a beer, a can of Pabst. i saw that i finished it before leaving for the stadium. i was there for about thirty minutes by then, and most people were leaving as the gametime was fast approaching. but then it was delayed as there was a team hall of fame induction, the game started about twenty minutes late. even though there was rain in the forecast, i am thankful that it didn't rain at all. the twins won, 8-1, over Detroit, aided by three home runs, one of them a grand slam. there was one dude a row in front of me that was in our group that i found to be annoying. he talked a lot during the game, especially about places to eat, and i was there to see the game and it was harder to follow the game because of him. will i do things differently next year? probably. one man got up a couple of times during the game and took a walk, sounds like a good idea to me! my entrance and exit from the stadium were from different points. i knew the main entrance had guitars on the wall that celebrated concerts at this venue. i wanted to see what they had for the show i saw a year earlier, green day and smashing pumpkins. got a picture of this 'guitar' on the wall, along with other shows that i didn't attend. but they were bands i had seen in concert, just not at that venue. there was pink, Billy Joel, foo fighters, and pretenders. i slept for a while when i got home, after having the evening meal, and then called my dad and spoke of being at the game. 

superman movie

 there were plenty of things on the docket for the day, and one of them was to see the movie 'superman'. it had been out for a little over a month, but i had other things to do for a while. i was out of town, i went to see other movies, and then there was two weekends of the fringe festival. still a decent crowd at the screening i attended. at times i wasn't enjoying it, as one would see superman being pushed around by the villain, Lex Luthor, for quite a while. but i kept watching, figuring it probably wasn't going to end that way. much like a James Bond film, or other superhero movies, good wins in the end. this movie did make me laugh at times, such as seeing a slow garage door and then one of the robots taking care of superman quipped about names. i knew there was a scene filmed at a baseball stadium, this was a rather short scene. i did like the message given by the movie how superman couldn't do it all on his own, as there was help from various people along the way. i saw this one in Eagan. i did have to change my schedule a little, but not much. i made it to the post office first, four orders picked up, including a DVD ordered from amazon. then i printed two event tickets at a copy store. next stop was the French alliance to see an art display; it is closing in a week. i am used to those art shows lasting just a month. some was paintings, some was sculptures. one painting was of De Gaulle during World War Two. what changed in the schedule was related to meals. i went to Jersey Mike's for lunch and decided the India-fest at the capitol in St. Paul could wait until evening. i ordered a chicken platter at the festival, and took half of it home with me, plenty of rice in it besides the chicken itself. i had a blizzard treat at Dairy Queen after the movie, another one of those superman blizzards, a notable way of promoting the movie. then i got groceries at Aldi before i went to the capitol, where i dropped off recycle besides attending the festival. i watched part of the baseball game on fox when i got home, tigers beat the twins. 

meal of misfortune, wendy's

 i had seen an ad recently about a 'meal of misfortune' at Wendy's, promoting the show 'Wednesday' on Netflix. i had to go online to find the closest Wendy's locations for me and decided that one in Eagan worked best for me. i had the evening meal there, then went to Hy-Vee for groceries. it was a small grocery order this time, just seven items. there are two Wendy's locations in that town but i chose the one closest to the grocery store. when it arrived i said 'i love it' with all of the packaging being specialized for this meal. the bag saying, 'there's nothing happy about this meal', 'the spoon of gloom' for the frosty treat, and for the frosty itself it said, ' best served cold, like revenge'. the food itself was what one would expect at a Wendy's, and that is fine with me. the dipping sauce for the chicken nuggets was spicy, but i was smart enough to pace myself when using it and made it through without any issues. only used it on the nuggets, the fries were fine by themselves. i usually have ketchup for those and didn't see any and didn't ask for any. at work the backlog of checks was eliminated, although more than six hundred Fargo checks were run through the machine in the afternoon as i was getting the 'hot product' error before i went to lunch. i went through the returned checks and opened over a hundred envelopes, then had them sent in inter-office envelopes. good thing i did all of those as i was given some more later in the day. 

leaking fluid, pump issue

 the second service call of the week was in the morning. the inserter machine was leaking fluid even though it was still running just fine. i knew i couldn't ignore the leak though. technician said it was a pump issue, and it was handled right away. i pointed out another error in a different part of the machine, when it reached the end of the stack and i would auto-end it. i was told this was a sensor issue and it was handled as well. the backlog on the checks went down some more, now it is just over five hundred. a box arrived, found out it was the data-vac that was ordered two days ago. i put it on a back table as my normal duties were more important. i was given refund checks to overnight, as vacation replacement is on vacation for the week. i was also given plenty of returned checks that i will go through when i have the time. i did another long walk around the neighborhood, but it was shorter than the previous two days as the skies looked threatening. 

three boxes already picked up

 the team lead was in the shop, and as usual said 'knock-knock' but i was sitting down in my office so i didn't get up right away. but i didn't have to say who's there as i knew who it was. i had to say that the supplies recently ordered had been signed for by me and were picked up by our boss already. also notable about the day was getting booked for a chair massage appointment, for two weeks from now. it was due to getting an emailed newsletter from the same organization and going back to the bank's monthly events announcement. i saw one appointment available and signed up for it near the end of the four-hour time allotment, but it is just 15 minutes. since i moved to the building over six months ago i had wanted to do that but it seemed to be all booked up rather quickly. either that or i was avoiding the QR code. this time i used the code and it led to what was available. i did another evening walk after watching reruns and the news. also at work the backlog of checks went down, to under two thousand. but it usually goes down as the week goes on, but it means sending out four full mail tubs. usually the most i will send out per day is three.  

datavac ordered

 at work the service call happened in the morning. the tech said the problem was caused by a straw from the air cans being stuck in the machine. we were told to order a data-vac instead. it means just one purchase instead of ordering air cans all the time. the machine moved along at a brisk clip after that. there was still a backlog though, due to the high volume on the Fargo checks. it meant over five thousand checks were left over, but i am used to some kind of carry-over on most days. my boss announced a schedule for the next two weeks, due to visiting California for his daughter's surgery. in the evening i took a long walk around the neighborhood, first time in a while. i felt better after it, but had to push myself to get out there as i felt tired after work. 

century link service canceled

 i finally made the call in the morning when i was at work, it was to century link to cancel my internet service. i had switched providers and the service i am getting seems to be better than theirs. it was time to call them since they were finally going to do something about the cables, but it was too late. it had been down for two weeks, even said that was unacceptable. at work i placed a service call as the inserter machine wasn't folding properly. technician said arrival would be in the morning, there was another one in front of us. not that much was left over though, just over a thousand Fargo checks as well as five hundred ACH forms. in the evening i went to perform and part of my set was about internet service, along with a bank story, attending fringe, and the art search at a baseball game. 

search for paintings

 went to the St. Paul saints baseball game this afternoon, my ninth game attended this season. saints beat the Iowa cubs, 3-2. this was 'artsy-fartsy' day, i went because of the team card set giveaway. it was one of two, though. the other giveaway was a poster depicting this year's program cover, i will likely get a frame for it soon. part of the art events was a scavenger hunt, there was various paintings throughout the stadium. there was code words from each one to write down. the standard to get the prize was twelve, i found thirteen. then i was told i had missed one. i went around again and found it, there was two hot dog paintings. i liked how one of these fourteen depicted Charlie Brown. i didn't do much after getting home from the saints game, i laid down and fell asleep. when i woke up i did the dishes. i had lunch before reaching the stadium, getting a deli express sandwich from a gas station near it. 

palmer's bar closing

 i had heard the news how the bar known as palmer's, in the cedar riverside area of Minneapolis, is closing soon. i went there in the afternoon, after attending a fringe show, and drank a can of grain belt. i heard a johnny cash song on the jukebox, 'Sunday morning coming down'. i knew i had to wait until after the show to go to the bar as i saw the plate on the door last week saying it was open at 3pm. i saw two fringe shows, the one in the afternoon was a variety show at mixed blood. i saw a fellow comic on the way in after stepping off the light rail, wanting to avoid the traffic at the Vikings exhibition game. she has a solo show at fringe, and i said i would see it later in the day and i did. i sat next to her during the variety show, liked the burlesque performer the most. it was 25, a Fargo native now based in la-la land, who had the solo show. it was finny at times but also honest. it was in the final time slot of the night, 10pm, at Rarig. i am thankful i saw the volunteer coordinator after the mixed blood show, who said there were sandwiches from Caffrey's at Rarig later on, along with popsicles. this was part of volunteer appreciation day. i went to an Arby's near me for lunch, and didn't have much for the evening meal due to the Caffrey's sandwich. fringe is an 11-day festival, and there is one day left, but i am booked at another event on the final day so this capped my fringe involvement for the year. 

white meat chicken tender bites

 during the morning walk i found five unopened packs of jack links white meat chicken tender bites. i ate one of them right away and it tasted fine, I've had this kind of snack before but not too often. at work, it was a case of 'good news bad news'. check stock order for the month arrived, nearly a week late. but it was dumped in the hall, all forty boxes of it. saw it on the way to lunch. i ate lunch and then got out a cart, moving eight boxes at a time into the shop. i told my boss that i am cool with letting him argue it out with the supplier about the way it was delivered. in the evening i went to Hy-Vee in Eagan for groceries, ten items bought. Saints baseball game against the Iowa cubs was on fox-9 plus, but the Saints were way behind. saw some of it before, and after, the grocery run. listened to the game on the radio when i was in my car. i laid down and fell asleep and missed the ending of the game. 

mad magazine, 80's spoof

 i picked up more than just the typical bottle of tea and some cookies when i was at the Walgreen in the morning. i also decided to get the special 'mad' magazine, that spoofed pop culture things from the 1980s. most of it was familiar to me, except for the TV show 'dynasty', as i didn't watch that show. there is another special magazine i am seeing that i will pick up eventually. i got this one at Walgreen as i got points on my loyalty account there. also saw it at Hy-Vee but usually don't get points when i run my card there. 

modem picked up

i saw the UPS tracking number from the modem order and entered it at work. this was mid-morning and found out it was delivered to the store less than an hour prior. i found the time in the evening to pick it up just minutes before closing time. now we are back in business! i didn't waste any time getting things done once again, after too many trips to check email at a fed-ex office location. i placed an amazon order and registered for a meetup event later this month. 

whiter shade of pale

 when i was out and about recently, i heard the song 'whiter shade of pale'. it probably wasn't the original, as that is from the 1960s. it sounded good, then i looked it up and it said the song was inspired by drug addiction. well i know that inspiration can be found anywhere, but i still like the song. 

month of transition

 over the course of my life, i have noticed how the month of august can be one of transition for me. i have moved residences twice during that month, ended friendships and dating relationships as well when i said 'i have had enough'. and now another case of change when it was necessary, as my home internet provider service was no longer performing. i shopped around for another provider, it will be cheaper and hopefully more reliable. the modem had to be ordered but it should be arriving in a few days. 

husk/vessel show

 i attended three shows at the fringe festival. the one standout for the day was the first one, a non-verbal dance show called husk/vessel. sounded like it was performed by an out-of-town dance troupe, but they were really good, using curtains as props with their dancing. this was at the southern theater, the second show was right after it at the rarig. then i went to perform at an open-mic and then went home and did the dishes. third show was the final time slot of the night, 10pm, about a lady artist that died decades ago. the second show was about storytelling. there were some bright moments from those other two, but in my both fell short for various reasons. 

nightshift, british movie

 i did the second and third ushering shifts for the Minnesota fringe festival in the afternoon. at the third and final one the box office manager had stickers, and i got one, it said 'bang!' reminding me of seeing Eminem in concert. in the morning i did the pancake breakfast at Canadian days, then the car show, but no bagpipe band this year. in the evening i went to the trylon and saw the movie 'nightshift'. this is the British movie about a hotel desk clerk. it had the feeling of a documentary without a narrator, i liked it. 

pop and a pizza

this is what i heard from a pizza vendor when i went to canadian days in little canada. also got a can of dr. pepper besides a slice of pepperoni, and a tweety-space jam ice cream treat as he also owned the ice cream truck next to it. 

thunderstorm?

recent

it the

was

link

century

with

issues

having

still

more festivals found

 we all know how i like to attend festivals. i did some more online searching and found two more to attend this summer. one is at a church, and another is near downtown St. Paul. both are on weekends where i had very little or nothing was booked just yet so it works well in my schedule. 

to be or not to be movie

 not much on the docket for the day. in the evening i went to see a movie at the Trylon, 'to be or not to be', a comedy from the World War Two era. hadn't seen too much before starring jack benny. the crowd loved it, plenty of laughing after deadpan lines. 

mideast fest, st. george

 i made it to a middle eastern festival at a church in West St. Paul, called St. George. i spoke to some people there how i had found it by accident. i was confirming information for another festival i have attended. i googled 'St. George festival, St. Paul' and found it. two churches, same name, their festivals are held a week apart. one drawing card there appears to be the camel rides. i got some pictures of the two camels, probably hadn't seen that many before. i made it a little after midday so i was ready to have lunch by then. i got a chicken kebab, although it looked more like a wrap sandwich, and some fries, along with beer. three beer choices, and i picked the most local one, Leinenkugel. i bought some dessert items as well from the bake sale inside the church. there were some small green French cookies, macarons if i am not mistaken, ate those right away. the other two items were taken home, some baklava and a small loaf of cranberry nut bread. i did a tour of the sanctuary, and i learned something. there were plenty of artworks of icons, the saints especially. one of these was of the 'last supper', except it was called 'mystical'. i bought two small souvenirs as well, there was a button saying, 'only positive vibes' and a greeting card depicting a camel with bright colors such as blue, green and purple. festivals are known for food, drink, and music. after the sanctuary tour i went to the tent and saw some dancers performing. i said 'worth it!' about being there. i got plenty done in the morning before the festival. i went to make a deposit at the credit union, and i bought two pairs of pants at the JC Penney, both in Roseville. then i had a superman blizzard treat at the dairy queen, in the same mall where i got the pants. i had a sandwich at the Jersey Mike's in the evening, except i was annoyed because the sandwich maker was making comments about my shirt. i watched some baseball on fox when i got home. the cubs were home against the red sox, and the cubs won, 6-0, aided mostly by solo home runs. 

small toner cartridges

 mailroom manager, who i don't see much of, delivered a box in the afternoon at work. i wasn't expecting anything, opened it and found out it was small toner cartridges. i can't use those for the check printer. now it means figuring out how to return it to the sender. in the evening i went to get groceries at hy-vee in eagan, first time in two weeks as had to skip last week's visit. ten items were bought, it has been fewer than this before but it is usually more than this. 

chicago mix, candyland

 coworker got me chicago mix from candyland, picked it up before lunchtime. 

next bridge over

 a bridge was closed for construction, had to use the next one over to get to fringe volunteer training after work. 

luncheon at d-brian's

 there was a team huddle in the morning, then i went back to work on my normal duties for a little over an hour. then there was the luncheon, for some birthdays this month. we went to d-brian's, i had a turkey blt sandwich. it left be behind on work as it was a high-volume day for the fargo checks. i stayed a little late to see that all were printed, over four thousand did not go out and will be run through the machine the next morning. 

filtering out by zip code

 as usual, i have to tell someone it was a day off for me. in this case i don't know why i was copied on an email about checks that were not 'returned to business line'. i filter out the checks that have no zip code, for the business line in kansas city. went to perform in the evening and had some stories about visiting st. louis to share. 

lunch bowl, evening sandwich

 began the day at my hotel in Saint Ann, Missouri, near the St. Louis airport. as usual there is not much on the docket on the final day out of town. get breakfast, check out of the hotel, get to the airport. returned the rental car after breakfast and before checking out. arrived at the airport mid-morning, and departure was on time. i wrote a postcard -to myself- and sent it while at the airport, not sure how long it will take to arrive. stayed a little while at MSP after we touched down there, ate at panda garden, chose a bowl meal. it was past midday by then, so it made sense that i wanted to eat before leaving the airport. also got some postcards, saw the snoopy statue, and got a Charlie Brown book. there was a display about the artist community found in northeast Minneapolis as well. i got a picture of the bison artwork. didn't do all that much after getting home. there was unpacking my bag, then i laid down and slept for a while. i got groceries at Aldi, then got a sandwich from a speedway gas station in the evening. as usual, it didn't take long to unpack my bag. it was mostly full of dirty clothes and cheap souvenirs. i did find some loose change during the trip, i checked the bag and it was 30 cents. as expected, i made it back with more than what i took with me to the gateway city. this was evident with how the gym bag wasn't the only thing i had when i boarded the plane. not all of it fit in that one bag. there was the metal tumbler, and the plush Charlie Brown. those two items were put in an overhead compartment, in the same plastic bag, and the gym bag was put under the seat in front of me. 

rawlings sporting goods store

 went to another baseball game, cardinals lost to the braves, 7-6. in the evening i went to the Rawlings sporting goods store, at a mall in the suburbs. this was in Maryland Heights, i had seen a show the comedy club in that complex before. i bought a ball at the Rawlings place. plenty of baseball artifacts on display there. also sang at a nearby karaoke bar. i did two songs, 'bullet with butterfly wings' by smashing pumpkins, and 'bird set free' by Sia. this appeared to be a jazz club, according to what i was seeing at the entrance there on the walls. i made it earlier to the convenience store this time and found a can of beer to have when i am writing. i was a bud light platinum. i picked up the rental car in the morning from enterprise, a one-day rental. this makes it easier to get around to more of places that interest me. although in recent years, i went without one as i wasn't using it enough and wanted to save some money. i found a place where the movie 'up in the air' was filmed, an office building in the suburbs. i used the hotel's computer in the lobby to look up driving directions after i had the continental breakfast, including the 'make your own waffle' that i enjoy. most of my pictures of the office building were outside. i did go inside, saw a piano, photographed it and i left. also liked seeing a constable statue nearby, and a fountain. next stop was a bank facility i send checks to, in another town. since the game was in the afternoon, this was all i could do in the morning as i wanted to park the car back at the hotel and get to the stadium. i wanted the giveaway item, a big metal tumbler, and got it. this was sponsored by Coca-Cola and QT stores. it was nice having the car radio on, heard a catchy song on a countdown, it was called 'anxiety', it was sampling 'somebody that i used to know'. although the theme song i chose for this trip was 'i am not okay' by jelly roll, as i was hearing it often enough leading up to this weekend. also heard Alessia Cara's 'scars to your beautiful', a theme song from a Chicago trip, and Chappell Roan's 'good luck babe'. in the evening the one i heard was Rihanna's 'umbrella'. before the game i got a plush Charlie Brown from the stadium's souvenir shop. it wasn't the only cardinal item i bought throughout the day though, as i stopped at a Schnucks grocery store and bought a beer cozy. i ate at the stadium, getting some pepperoni pizza and a bottle of coke. i got some ice cream as well, chocolate and vanilla, except they called it a 'swirl' instead of a 'twist'. i liked seeing a photography display at the airport, even chatted a while with a man who was from Columbia, he was waiting for a flight that had been delayed. i got the evening meal at a McDonald's near the Rawlings place after checking the directory. i had to pause while writing back at the hotel at the end of the night, as i got a text from a friend, Yemen native, and i was getting emotional about what performing has given me. i was asked about what i had sang at the karaoke bar. 

freddy's steak burgers

 flew to St. Louis, picked up at airport by a friend of mine. first time eating at a Freddy's steak burgers place. i am not quite sure what town it was in although i know it was just a few miles from the airport. i later noticed there was a location at the baseball stadium as well. i ordered tater tots with the bacon double burger, and the drink i chose was a lemon custard shake. i was dropped off at my hotel after we were done. i hadn't spoken at length with this friend in a while, it was the first in-person visit in over a decade. probably was the first time ever one on one, as usually i see the entire family, as i happen to be a classmate of his wife.  but i knew his wife was out of town, attending a golf tournament that their youngest son was participating in. must be a real good golfer, already doing out of state tournaments at age twelve. i didn't do much after checking in at the hotel, mostly resting. i wanted to get back to the airport fairly soon to get on the light rail downtown to the baseball game. cardinals lost to the braves, 6-5. the cardinals never led in this one, falling behind 3-0 before even their first at-bat. this makes it harder to win. after the game i did go to the main souvenir shop and bought one item on my list, it was a pair of socks as i knew the pair of cardinal socks i already had was nearing the end of its life span. another item, a long sleeve t-shirt, was out of my price range. i didn't eat much at the stadium due to the late lunch. i liked how i had plenty of time to get some errands run before having to board the plane. i made it to great clips shortly after they had opened for the day and got a haircut. i still had a wait a little but i could afford to. my flight on southwest wasn't scheduled to leave until just after midday. i also went to the nearby FedEx office and printed a St. Paul Saints baseball ticket i had just ordered. during my walks i found 50 cents. i wrote about the day back at the hotel, but no beer this time, it was tap water instead. i went to the nearby convenience store, on the run, but arrived around midnight which is during their shift change. i didn't feel like waiting it out. my flight was delayed 30 minutes, found out shortly after arriving at the airport. i snacked a little before my flight left. i wasn't in the terminal for long, went to the bathroom and when i got out i checked my phone, had just taken it off airplane mode. found out my friend was already there, so i said what i was wearing, and i stood out when i got to an exit. a beige cardinal hat and a leater jacket, especially the jacket as it was warm there. 

big ten night

 it was big ten night at the St. Paul Saints baseball game, i had a reserved seat this time, first base side. saints beat the Iowa cubs, 2-1. there was a group picture done near the top of the section in the concourse. this was done shortly after the seventh inning stretch. just a few innings before then, i saw the event coordinator from the alumni chapter, and she spoke of it. also mention of how she'd like to quit as leader of the alumni chapter but i said i am not a leader. i know i am a lot of things, but not that. i even spoke of a time when i was part of the writer's union where i was given a bag of cash as the chapter treasurer wanted to quit and i turned down the opportunity, giving the bag to another officer in the union. at work, there was over fifty overnight labels to do. many of them were for various IRS offices, eleven in all. easily seen when i look at the list for the day, after the labels are created, and put them in 'alpha' order. i pointed out how a recently retired colleague was still invited to a team huddle next week, i got an 'lol' from vacation replacement when i did. when i made a stop at the Walgreen to get a bottle of tea and cookies in the morning, i also saw some Charlie Brown items and bought one. i know, shocking! these were die-cast model cars, something like five to choose from. i chose the yellow one with various images of snoopy on it, one of them hitting a baseball. during my walks i found 2 dollars 15 cents. 

foreign ach statements

the boss asked me about foreign ach statements that arrive in the afternoon, i am only printing the ones in the morning. the afternoon ones are low volume, was told it was fine to skip over those, something about not wanting to send out anything with the bank's logo on those files. at first i just sent the attachments, found out this was not good enough. i ended up forwarding each email from the shared box. i picked up two fluid bottles for the inserter machine after i heard they were in the mailroom. it had the boss's name on it as that is who had ordered it for me. i did not do much in the evening after getting off work. i sent a text message to a college roommate, and to a meetup friend from the brewery group. during my walks i found 25 cents. 'Big bang theory' reruns were when Leonard returned from the North Sea early and wanted to spend some time with penny but was found out by Sheldon. it was followed by the one where Sheldon used a 'quadruple negative' when he crashed her date with Stuart in a movie theater. it led to Sheldon and Amy taking their relationship to the next level. 

credit union night

 it was credit union night at the St. Paul Saints baseball game against the Iowa cubs. i got the giveaway item, a plastic cup with the credit union's logo on it. also nice seeing a bagpipe band performing there. saints won, 11-5. i understood the bagpipe band was due to a cross-promotion of the police and fire department foundations. this led to three first balls being thrown out, one of them by the credit union CEO. the mascot truck, the 1952 ford known as 'archie' was what gave him a ride to home plate. i did not know in advance what the giveaway item would be, just that there would be one. i bought one item at the souvenir shop, it was a glow in the dark ball. i am careful about what i buy, wanting to avoid getting what i already have. i did the 'taco Tuesday' special, except the two tacos were small. i later got a cup of fries. i did not spend any time at home after work, wanting to increase the odds of getting the giveaway. although i noticed there were plenty of cups on the table near the main gate well after i got one. showing up early to see the bagpipe band was worth it. naturally this is a different one than the one i see at canadian days in little canada. the drink was a jarritos soda, i recall getting those at a venue i once performed at. i was tired by the end of the game, but thankful i lasted until the final out. at work, the boss said to call in a ticket for the air conditioning system in the shop. an email was forwarded to customer service. it was about a check that i had overnighted. nothing unusual there, except there were plenty of executives copied on it, including both CEO's, the current and former one. two checks for payroll department, both canadian, were finally picked up. during my walks i found 25 cents. 

more overnights?

 a business line asked us to do even more overnighted checks for them, deferred to the boss, who turned it down, not capable of covering it. when asked, i said it would more than double the checks we already overnight for them. i knew we were only capable of covering it if all of them were returned to business line, as we do with the file going to Oshkosh. the request was to do thirty to sixty additional per day. it is rare that i even do that many per day across all business lines. vacation replacement said his brother quit; this is who was giving a ride downtown to work. there is now a need to order a bus pass and i was asked what i paid for mine. i know it is not much, and it is a payroll deduction that is done once a month. during my walks i found 64 cents. 'Big bang theory' reruns were when the friends help with making penny blossoms. it was followed by the one where sheldon said 'she sounds weepy' about amy. it was when she found out by accident about not being invited for dress shopping. later on she calls from a liquor store parking lot, and is taken home by sheldon and leonard. this is one of my favorite episodes, because her observations were spot on. and i know what it is like to be snubbed this way. 

footloose, tremors mashup

 in the afternoon i went to a show at Bryant Lake Bowl in uptown Minneapolis. it was a mashup of two movies starring Kevin Bacon, 'footloose' and 'tremors'. i have seen the former but not the latter, although i found the trailer of the latter on YouTube so i wasn't entirely lost about that part of the mashup. it was more about 'footloose' in the end. it was campy, but not that great, reminds me of some of the fringe shows that i have seen over the years. then there was the server, who kept checking my beer can and sent me the check too soon. i am used to 'dropping checks' near the end of the show, but even a performer admitted aroud  that time how it was jsut two thirds of the way through. when asked why i hadn't paid yet, i said 'show not over yet'. it led to me giving a lower tip. i got a can of Hamm's beer. before the show i went to the nearby McDonald's for some ice cream. in the morning i watched a DVD movie, a recent purchase from goodwill, 'o brother where art thou'. as i recall, i got the movie soundtrack from a second-hand store as well. it was the last of the four goodwill purchases to watch. i knew the premise of the story, 'homer's odyssey' in the depression-era south. i recognized George Clooney and John Goodman in this movie. i also listened to both of the jelly roll CDs that i own, it was the first time hearing the most recent, 'beautifully broken'. i wasn't home for long after getting back from the show. i had the evening meal a little early, then went to perform at an open mic. i did stories about a Facebook singles group, two meetup events, the bank, and the show i had just attended. later on, i did the dishes, after getting back from performing. during my walks i found 25 cents. 

tango art exhibit

 the first half of the day was active with chores and errand running. this included seeing the tango art exhibit at the French alliance in Minneapolis. since it was a holiday weekend i lucked out that the building was still open. it looked like that the coffee seller was closed for the day, but there was a conversation group still happening. i like how i am usually the only one in the art gallery and can get in and out without having to say a word to anyone. there were eighteen works of art on display, and some had been sold already. but all of them were out of my price range, most were going for four hundred dollars each. there was two of the subway trains that i liked, as well as one of a lady with a camera. and some that were silhouettes of dancers. i knew it was the best day to attend as, like most of the exhibits there, it is for just one month. first stop of the day was the post office, one order picked up. then to the capitol complex, where i dropped off some recycling. on to the credit union, where i made a deposit into my savings account. the coin counter said it was over eight dollars, and i have it counted quarterly. then i saw the art, and after the art it was midday so i went to have a sandwich at Jersey Mike's. i was asked about what i did on the fourth. when i got home there wasn't much else to do for the day. i got groceries at the Aldi, then shortly after that i had the evening meal, a frozen pizza. there was a baseball game on fox, Detroit beat Cleveland 1-0, only run was on a home run. during my walks i found 36 cents. 

hairball concert, saints stadium

 in the evening i went to a concert at the Saints baseball stadium. it was hairball, a cover band that plays 80's songs. i recognized a decent number of the songs played and had seen some of the original artists in concert before. there was guns-n-roses, in Iowa City, and Van Halen, in Winnipeg. the band led off the show with two by GNR, 'welcome to the jungle', and 'paradise city'. there was even a prince tune, which works in Minnesota, as 'let's go crazy' was played. i noticed the pattern, for lack of a better term, as usually it was a two-song block. i also liked hearing 'under pressure', when doing the block of queen songs. i ate before getting there, stopping at a speedway gas station for a sandwich and apple juice. i bought a can of tea and lemonade at the stadium. for souvenirs i got a sticker, and a patch, i could justify those when it didn't cost much. when i was leaving the venue i said i would be back for a game next week. this was an active day, and i preferred it that way. there was a fourth of July picnic at midday, in south Minneapolis. i brought patriotic twinkies. it was a box of eight and i ended up eating half of them, two at the picnic and two in the evening. two were left behind, and i guess someone ate two there. i saw an ice cream truck in the same park and got a treat while there. i counted out my quarters first and got an orange dream bar for two dollars. i paid for parking for two hours and when i went home i watched a DVD movie, a recent purchase from goodwill. it was 'last man standing', a gangster movie, bruce willis as a hired gun. before leaving for the picnic i got a look on the fringe site to get a good idea of what shows to attend this year. i found five that are of interest to me, including some that have performers i have seen before. during my walks i found 65 cents. the 'big bang theory' rerun was when the friends did a new years eve costume party at the comic book store and zach was superman. 

leaning beer can

 i drank the can of Michelob tonight with the evening meal so now there are four beers waiting. i noticed this one was leaning a little so i didn't want it to tip over, and it was put next to books on the table when i was eating and drinking to prop it up better. of course, this meant it was dented near the bottom of the can. it is a reminder of how i am not that picky about what i buy when getting single cans or bottles from the nearby liquor store in their discount cart. a discount for a dented can, fine with me. the weekly visit for groceries at Hy-Vee in Eagan was moved up one day as i am already booked for the next day. it was a small order, just six items bought. i didn't want to take two plastic bags to the car so i put it all in one bag. at work i went to Walgreen in the morning and got some vitamin water and some cookies. of course this was done after the morning files were printed, but those didn't take long. i liked getting the carryover done first, over a thousand checks run through the machine, and there was no backlog at the end of the day. i stayed ahead on the overnight labels even though it was a little over thirty. it meant i could leave close to my normal leave time and see all of a 'young Sheldon' rerun. it was the final episode, from a little over a year ago. also notable about the day was getting registered for two events. i looked at this month's events at work and one of them required registration and it only took a few minutes to complete. the other was done in the evening, and it was volunteer training for the fringe festival. now it means getting a look at the list of shows to see as well. in recent years i have attended just five, as the saying goes, less is more. it requires me to be pickier about the shows i see and i am more likely to leave the venue pleased with my choice. during my walks i found 50 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when we meet 'shel-bot', as Sheldon is using a virtual presence device. it was followed by the one where Howard kicks a girl out of bed as Bernadette doesn't want him to go to space and tells his mom about it. 

two re-calibrations

 i was getting an error often enough from the inserter machine in the same place, in the wetter section, that i decided to re-calibrate the sensors. hadn't done this in a while. except i got another error that i couldn't clear in a different part of the machine and had to call remote service. found out it was due to re-calibrating while two checks were in that other part of the machine. a second re-calibration was good enough, but the delay left me behind on my work. i decided to get a sandwich and a bottle of juice from the convenience store on the main floor as it saved a little time. there was the mortgage file to overnight, over twenty checks, so i still had to stay late to get it caught up. i saw the team lead in the afternoon, who was in the shop to drop off returned checks, and i was wished a good fourth. vacation replacement dropped off some checks in the morning as well. the boss was not in, an early email said it was gout so that meant working from home. i heard from Oshkosh as i was told no checks had arrived this week. i said i had to check tracking numbers. for the first one it said on the way, mechanical issue with UPS. the second said it was not picked up yet. sometimes the driver picks up a little early from the box onsite. i saw to it that the third envelope of checks was in the box a little earlier to increase the odds that it would get picked up same day. in the evening i went through my bank statement after letting it sit around for days. most of the receipts were there, and all of what i saw i checked off and made sense to me. although i still wanted to confirm a few things such as the amazon order so i logged on to my amazon account for that. during my walks i found 4 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when sheldon gets a napkin for christmas from penny. it was followed by the one where we meet deaf emily, who dates raj. 

tom reid's pub

 in the evening i went to a meetup event, it was scheduled two days prior, at Tom Reid's in downtown St. Paul near the hockey arena. event coordinator wanted to go to a place to celebrate Canada day. i parked in a lot near the place and saw a sign about getting it refunded if i spend at least ten dollars at the pub. i got a cup of Molson beer, and a cup of chili. i was there for a little over an hour and got a good look around as it was my first visit there. naturally, most of what was on the wall were hockey artifacts. but i did see a few related to baseball, both cereal boxes. one was about the twins winning the world series, a Wheaties box. the other was a Safeway box, Mark McGwire and Tony LaRussa was on it. i didn't get many pictures there, as i knew my battery was low. one was of the Canadian flag in the patio area. i should go back soon and get one of the Safeway box. i learned something from looking at the artifacts, i know, shocking. i found out tom reid was a pro hockey player, who had played for the north stars and blackhawks. i had seen bars and restaurants named after sports stars before, so not too surprised to find this out. i knew i had been there long enough when a dude in the patio area was being condescending, i even said i was annoyed. at work it was a high volume day on check printing. there was a backlog, a little over a thousand fargo checks did not go out. the checks to be overnighted was a fairly low volume, though. during my walks i found 56 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when we hear 'be my yoko ono' as we meet ramona, who reveres sheldon but also controls him. it was followed by the one where leonard attends a wedding with amy. 

fluid bottle hiked up

 in the afternoon i was getting an error on the inserter machine at work, low fluid. i decided to hike up the bottle and it worked; it managed to last through the end of the day. then i can swap out the bottle in the morning when i have more time to meet deadlines. i liked how it was a fairly low volume day on check printing. vacation replacement was not in, saw an email early saying 'working from home' due to a visit from a plumber. in the evening i went to perform at an open mic. i saw a guitar player for the first time in a while, who does 50's inspired music. when the show runner sang a Dave Loggins tune i said i had it on a compilation CD, because 'the night Chicago died' was a hit that same year and on the same disc. i did stories about the bank, a pharmacy liquidation sale, a meat market, and going to the Saints game. during my walks i found 25 cents. at work the building events for the new month were announced, no popcorn event in July as it is too close to the holiday. this led to me getting a small bag of popcorn out of the vending machine at work. it was my mid-morning snack, along with the customary granola bar. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when Sheldon and Leonard cleaned penny's apartment. it was followed by the one where penny got a free chair and then said 'what's up buttercup' to Sheldon after Sheldon tried to remove it, hearing it was a throwaway. 

pancakes then rest

 in the morning i did the pancake breakfast at Kaposia days in south St. Paul and got the button, it says 50 years. i got some pictures as usual, there was the lion mascot from the Lions club. another was of some of the St. Paul winter carnival ambassadors. i got a look at the new cars at this dealership, which sells Chrysler brands. much like before, i am reminded of how those sticker prices are usually more than what i make a year. this is why i have bought used cars. it was nice chatting with an older couple who was at the same table as me. i spoke of some other festivals i plan on attending this summer. i was there for about an hour, arriving just after the breakfast began. it was long enough to do what i wanted to do. i drove past the stockyard gates before leaving town, not far from the dealer. i didn't do much else for the rest of the day, mostly resting. also got some event tickets ordered, and reservations made. then it meant going to the copy store to print these four items. i stopped at a Walgreen for string cheese, ice cream, and a bottle of Dunkin donuts coffee as well. except i didn't like the ice cream being locked up, as there was a wait for a store employee to unlock it. i already don't buy soap there for that reason, and i guess i might have to add ice cream to that list. late in the evening i did the dishes. during my walks i found 1 dollar 51 cents. 

health mart pharmacy

 in the morning i went to a health mart pharmacy that will be closing soon, the one on west 7th in St. Paul. it had been on the news because the business has been around for over a century. i recall a pharmacy in my hometown being an independent franchisee of health mart as well. i bought two items there, some razors and a sticker. it would have been three, but the Charlie Brown portrait was out of my price range and i didn't want to haggle over it. as the saying goes, 'if you have to ask you probably won't like the answer'. there was no price tag on it but there was on the two items i bought, so no mystery on those two. then it was on to the post office, two orders were picked up. i also heard about some window employees who have already retired or will be retiring soon. with two of them i liked one but not the other, the third i didn't know that well. then on to the former work site with the bank, except i get there and find out the toner cartridge is one that i can't use. it is laser jet and that can't be used for check printing. i said to the branch employee it can be returned to the sender. i stayed in town for a little while after this first stop. i tried finding a festival button but went to five places and no luck. although the fifth one had more information than the others did. i bought some cookies and Gatorade at the meat market, and it sure smells like the cookies have been in the meat market for a while. then i left town and had lunch at the taco bell in Eagan, loco tacos. i went home and rested for a little while, then got up to get groceries at the Aldi. had to move that one up as i wanted to get to the St. Paul Saints baseball game. actually, it was a double header as a rainout from earlier in the series was being made up. it meant starting two hours earlier than originally scheduled and shown on my ticket. saints played Louisville, and it was a split. saints lost the lid lifter, 7-3, but the saints won the nightcap, 5-4. the long ball played a big role in both games. i liked doing the food truck thing again after the second game was done, going to 'dine 1-1' like before. i got fries and a 7-up this time, the slushie from before wasn't satisfying. between games i got a chili cheese dog and some root beer and old Dutch chips. i chatted with a ticket sales employee before entering the stadium. it was nice hearing music throughout the event. there was 'walking on sunshine' on the way in, being played at the nearby farmer's market. then Eminem's 'berzerk' as the second game began, and katy perry's 'firework' during the fireworks show. during my walks i found 1 dollar 75 cents. 

dragon fruit vitamin water

 in the morning i went to Walgreen to get some cookies and a drink. this time i bought a bottle of vitamin water, dragon fruit. i wanted something fairly low calorie, and there was not a lot to choose from. i not only drank it with the peanut butter cookie in the morning, but also with my lunch. backlog of checks has been eliminated, except there was a delay on getting the Fargo files. thankful the volume across the two files was just over a thousand so i still had enough time to print them and send them out same day. there was a late request to pull twenty-two checks from a fraud file. i could have said no but i noticed my boss was copied on it. i was told that those were duplicated from the previous day. i had already run them through the machine but not in the tubs yet, and it meant going by payees when already in envelopes. i noticed two of them were less than a dollar, but most were for way more than that. it meant some checks did not go out as i wanted the time to find the duplicated ones as it sounded like a high priority. there must be some new people in that department as their files have been late the past two days. in some cases, late enough that i have to print them the next morning. while i was waiting for the Fargo files i did the overnight labels early, in order to stay busy. it was nice to have those out of the way, and it meant i could leave a little earlier as there were no overnights in the second i-pay file. in the evening i went to get groceries at the Hy-Vee in Eagan and reminded myself to bring the envelope with the gift cards in it. another one was used so now it is down to two partials and one full card. during my walks i found 1 dollar 12 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when we see the friends doing group karaoke, much of it was baby related as Bernadette is with child. it was followed by the one where penny does a hemorrhoid ad. 

tiger portraits

 i see all kinds of things when out for a walk. this morning it was two tiger portraits, next to a dumpster. i got a picture of it. one of them was two Siberian tigers, the other was three white tigers and two of them were cubs. i see getting pictures as a way of taking it home without actually having to. this was true of some other 'dumpster art' i saw earlier this month, the one of a man praying that is seen in the background of scenes in 'young Sheldon'. i found out that one is called 'grace'. i had hoped to find a postcard version of that one online but i haven't. only available copies appear to be larger ones. at work i was surprised to see the boss in the shop in the morning, but as usual he doesn't seem to stay the entire day in there. and i was ordered to call in a ticket about the door, as it wasn't locking properly. it has to be pushed or pulled all the way through. vacation replacement noticed it a few days earlier as well. it wasn't too big a deal to me, but when the boss says to do something i do it. backlog of checks went down, it is now just over five hundred. there was an event sponsored by the building manager on the main floor, i went for just a few minutes around midday. i picked up a cowbell and a paper fan on a wooden stick and then i left. there was a granola bar included with the bell, both were in a small sack. i had the can of surly with the evening meal and got two more cans of beer at the nearby liquor store, another surly as well as a bud ice, so now five beers are waiting. during my walks i found 55 cents. the 'big bang theory' reruns were when we see a valentines day edition of 'fun with flags'. it was followed by the one where it was likely a season finale, as we hear Priya is moving back to India.