paper found on train

 i didn't have to buy the paper as i found a copy of the Minneapolis edition, all four sections, on the light rail that i take to work. i still made it over to Walgreen though, and picked up some tea, cookies, and cheese. at work, the manager of a business line said the Poland team was still going to be working on Monday, the Labor Day holiday. this business line gives us a list of what checks to overnight. i said it shouldn't affect the file much, we print the checks whenever we get them. i let my boss know about the inquiry as i don't get a question like that too often. i found out what i had said was accurate, good enough. at first i was thinking i had another check for the tax specialist as it said 'ad hoc' but it wasn't. sometimes the Marshall business line has a file marked as 'ad hoc' too. it helps to pay attention to what the check looks like before it gets moved on to anyone. there are still two checks to be picked up. i completed another online class at work in the morning. there was three due at the end of the month, and i do one per day early in the month it is due and they don't take long. in the evening i went to Hy-Vee in Eagan, 12 items were in my order. 

oktoberfest ad, liquor store

 in the evening i went to the liquor store near me and got a can of natural light from the discount cart. it was the first time there in a while. i drank the can of Coors light with the evening meal, and there still are three beers waiting. i saw an ad or a sweepstakes with an Oktoberfest theme next to the cases of Schell's beer on display. i will be getting to Oktoberfest in New Ulm soon enough. i had been doing plenty of weeknight events lately and this meant i was less likely to have the customary beer with a meal at home once a week. i like drinking Gatorade or sparkling water with meals at home and still wanted to see that those were used up. and i figured that beer has a fairly long shelf life as long as it is refrigerated. at work, the tax specialist said hold all checks until Tuesday, so after the holiday. i would expect to see plenty of out of office replies when sending emails, more likely on Fridays especially right before a holiday weekend. 

look at both printers

 the tech from HP arrived to look at the check printer in the morning. we got it squared away on the communication issues. the previous day i was called on the laptop phone but i couldn't hear it as i was in the other room. i said call me on my personal cell phone, and a time was set up for the later day as the tech had already left the vicinity. as expected, the printer works just fine now after the maintenance kit was swapped out. i asked that both printers be looked at. a plastic part on the other one in the lower tray was hanging a little low and was making a snapping sound whenever i put the tray back in after filling it with check stock. it just needed to be moved up a little, and now no issues there. i am told the kit on the main one is at about thirty percent so it might need to be swapped out soon enough. but i think we can delay that a little by being able to switch between these two printers each day. vacation replacement wanted me to ask the Marshall business line in the afternoon if there were any UPS labels to print for the first file. there was, but not the second. i think the delay was due to the main contact being absent and there was a fill-in handling it. there was an ad-hoc check for our tax specialist in the afternoon, first time in a while. 

branch employee, phoenix area

 i heard from a branch employee in the phoenix area. i had overnighted a check there, per the request on the check itself. the spelling of the recipient's name was a little off, i went by what i was given by the business line. this did make it harder to find him in the employee directory. then we found out this colleague mostly works from home. i had to re-add the branch employee to the thread when we were trying to figure it out and let them know it had already been delivered to the branch. there were refund checks to pick up, for vacation replacement. i also got the supply order in for the month. i like having it in the last day of the month in case there are any delays due to needing approval from a senior leader. but i had a hard time getting it done that day, so it had to be done the first of the month. 

special project completed

 this was the sixth and final day of the special project. we were sending out two thousand checks per day, and this day's file was a little under that amount. as usual, i like it when special projects are done as it tends to be a lower volume of checks to print and send out. three mail tubs were sent out, and the backlog of Fargo checks went down, just a thousand. any carryover is run through first the next day. i did hear from the manager that likes karaoke, who attended the same baseball game as i did over the weekend. she had a fun time, but i did not see her there. we ended up having two checks for payroll to pick up, payee on those two were the same, state of Delaware. 

guthrie theater open house

 the lid-lifter for the day was the open house at the Guthrie theater. i shared a photo booth picture from the event on Facebook. i was mindful of how much time i should spend there as i had another event to attend just down the road. it was the Minnesota Twins baseball game. the twins beat the white sox, 5-1. it was the third Twins game for me this season, and likely the last as the season's ending is about a month away. i go see the St. Paul Saints more often as well. i saw that i arrived early enough to pick up the Charlie Brown jersey i had ordered, it was a special themed ticket. it looks like his black and yellow shirt. the Twins pitcher, Zebby Matthews, i had likely seen pitch for the Saints. it was a good outing, had a perfect game into the sixth inning. the crowd cheered when he went to the mound when the ninth began. then the crowd booed when the manager pulled him. i had no problem with it, though. up by 5, two on, one out. winning the game is more important than a complete game. the relief pitcher did fine. only one run scored and that made no difference at all. odd that the attendance was not announced or even put on the big video board. it was also odd that a dude sat next to me in the eighth. that is a really late arrival for a game. the dude said i looked like someone famous, i wrote the name down on my scorecard. songs from the day included Lady Gaga's 'just dance' at the Twins game. a different Gaga song was played as my 'walking up' song when i was performing in the evening. another was 'choosing Texas' by Ella Langley. a big deal to hear it on a radio station that normally doesn't play country music. then later on in the evening i called my dad. 

bob uecker documentary

 in the late afternoon i drove over to Hudson, Wisconsin, and saw the documentary movie about baseball personality Bob Uecker. some of the clips from his performing career were familiar, including the movie 'major league', the sitcom 'Mr. belvedere', and the miller lite beer commercials. i was most familiar with 'the front row', but that wasn't the only one in it. this did lead to the term 'Uecker seat' being coined. another one had john goodman in it, who later on was the dad on 'Roseanne'. i made it just in time for the movie as i made a stop along the way to find a catholic church that had been converted into a Muslim Mosque. i got a few pictures and then i left, this was on the east side of St. Paul. it had likely been a while since i had driven that far to see a movie. i did that all the time growing up in central Iowa though, to see movies in Des Moines. besides interviews with Uecker himself, it was nice to see Bob Costas, as well as Joe Torre, and Bud Selig in it. after the movie i stayed in town and ate at a culver's, first time at one. the food tasted fine, but i am not used to having to specify what i wanted on the burger. or in the ice cream treat. lunch was at Jersey Mike's. songs from the day were from the car radio on the way to the movie. there was 'I'm the only one' by Melissa Etheridge, and 'bang' by AJR, i know it as the 'here we go' song. 

file won't open

 near the end of the day i was sent a UPS label but the file wouldn't open so i let them know. even if i could have printed it, there wasn't going to be much time to send it out same day. same colleague was asking for a check copy when i was out of office. i found out vacation replacement did handle it, though. the ticket opened on one of the check printers is still open, no one has arrived yet to look at it. i let them know that my manager has been notified about the delays. and now the printer is jamming in the maintenance kit area, so we definitely have a need for a tech visit. vacation replacement did the picture that was shared with others. payroll department had two people asking about checks to pick up, but there is just one to pick up currently. i said i don't know who the approvers are but i know i am most likely to get out of office replies on a Friday. in the evening i went to Hy-Vee in Eagan for groceries and it looks like based on the nametag that the cashier helping me in express lane was in HR. 

dolly parton postcard, newspaper museum

 i had a day off and went to the Minnesota state fair. an early stop for me was the newspaper museum, i had picked up postcards from there before. this year there was one honoring entertainer dolly parton, who just died this week. when i sang karaoke i heard two of her songs being performed, 'Jolene', and '9 to 5'. when i sang it was 'today' by smashing pumpkins, and the song after me was hole's 'malibu'. lunch was at the Hamline dining hall, meatloaf and mashed potatoes. the evening meal was in the food, and garden building where sang karaoke, a steak poor boy sandwich. i had some ice cream from the place next to the carpet slide, and when i went down the slide i screamed like lt. dan from 'Forrest Gump' in the hurricane. many of the places i visited were familiar. there was the milk booth, all you can drink for three dollars. and the St. Paul Saints section of fan zone, where i bought a scarf and a sticker. i picked up a free magnet, a round one, at the 4-h building. and i liked doing the scavenger hunt where the prize was a magnet, it's called the 'history walking tour'. one of the twelve stops mentioned visits by President Theodore Roosevelt. at the fine arts building, my favorite was one depicting a dog, using beer bottlecaps. i went to the oink booth at the pig barn, my only visit at a animal barn. and i saw the Charlie Brown statue at the kemps farm hands exhibit. i watched the 6pm newscast for WCCO, and did a massage chair demo in the marketplace under the grandstand. while waiting my turn at karaoke i went to some nearby places, including the farm bureau building, where i got a mixing bowl utensil. i capped the day at the america-250 Ferris wheel, where i was in the Andrew Jackson gondola. all of them had a president on it. i rode with a special needs kid and his parents. i was a little nervous about being so high up in this ride but managed to do well enough by talking a lot through it. nice view up there, seeing the capitol lit up at night. i picked up three buttons throughout the day, and one of the purchased postcards was a Minnesota version of 'grace', the old man praying over his meal. 

late arrival at picnic

 i went to a picnic in the evening, it was sponsored by one of the organizations that i am a member of. it was in Como Park in St. Paul. i was a late arrival as i wanted to get to cub foods first to pick up another state fair ticket. it was the last day that the discounted advance tickets would be available. this explains why i had to wait in line a little at the customer service counter. retired postal worker spoke of having a scheduling conflict on day one and we decided to reschedule for Labor Day, the final day of the fair. i said i was still going to attend on the first day as i already had the day off from work. there were little sandwiches in a big box, i had four ham or turkey with cheese sandwiches there and took four more home with me for later meals. i didn't know anyone all that well there besides maybe the event coordinator. at work, i sent the refund checks in a UPS envelope for vacation replacement, who spoke of having a mild back injury. the tracking number was sent to a colleague that i don't know as well but she was the one who arrived to drop them off in the shop. i hadn't done these in a while but the boss confirmed the address hadn't changed on where i send them to. 

two inquiries, same check

 i know well enough not to get too loud when i see 'duplication of efforts', but i still don't enjoy seeing when it happens. this was the case for the day. the st. louis file had an overnight from Friday that i found but no one emailed me in advance. the Iowa native first asked about it, and i said it arrived on Monday. then the manager of the same department asked about the check. i said it was no big deal to check the file for special handling even if there is no email as their file is usually low volume, around 25 checks. but i also said it was harder to notify it was overnighted, and share the tracking number, if not emailed. i noticed how the check didn't have to travel far, staying in the metro area, ending up in the east metro. i said my vacation replacement likely wouldn't have searched the file if there was no email, and i had a day off coming up for the state fair. the Iowa native said she hadn't been to Iowa's fair in years, and the same is true for me. maybe once since i moved out of state. 

goth theme at show

 in the evening i went to a comedy show at a venue i had seen before. it looked weird when i was in the parking lot, seeing someone dressed up for Halloween, a skull in their hand. i went in and found out the night's theme was goth. i spoke with the show runner after the show and was advised to send a private message through Facebook for stage time inquiries. the booker i was most recently familiar with had just stepped down from that role. i had most recently performed there in October. a few performers were familiar to me but not too many. memorable was seeing the new paint job for the bathrooms, looking like Popeye and Olive Oyl in the entrances. at work there was a request from the account closure file in Kansas City to add a check to the 'return to business line' overnight envelope. not a big deal, already had 19 in there by the time i saw the request. it was another check going to sin city. vacation replacement asked if anything had been set aside, i said there was three items. a blue company envelope, a FedEx envelope, and an interoffice envelope. 

late fame movie

 in the afternoon i went to see the movie 'late fame' in Columbia heights. i recognized Willem Dafoe in it, who played the main character, the writer. this movie was more 'impactful' than most as i could relate to many aspects of Dafoe's character. living as a recluse, a steady day job, isolated from family, and keeping his artist exploits a secret from those who know him best. i liked the 'gloria' character as well, the actress. she seemed to be a callback to the 'holly' character played by Audrey Hepburn in 'breakfast at tiffany's'. she was fun to be around, secretive about her life, and when the truth was revealed, it was ugly. another reviewer said it was also inspired by the character played by Liza Minnelli in 'cabaret' but i wasn't as familiar with that movie. the lies and 'with-holding information' unraveled near the end of the story, and when this led to arguing i said 'passion'. i like seeing it as long as it is onstage and not in my real life. i also found a scene that was a reminder of how i took charge of my own performing. all too often, i would support friends and i wouldn't see them reciprocate. then i said i mostly show up only if i have stage time, and no surprise i got better as a performer. this was when the main character said to a young man, 'you don't read mine i don't read yours'. and i did perform at a open mic in the evening, the fill-in show runner was there. when i arrived i said i am ready to go, it helped that i had just heard johnny cash's cover of 'hurt' on the car radio. in the morning i did laundry and went to a caribou coffee as well. after the performing i went to have some ice cream at McDonald's. after the movie i was driving home and heard Pink Floyd's 'wish you were here' on the car radio. the line that resonates with me most was 'did you exchange a walk-on part in the war, for a lead role in a cage?' thankful i did the opposite, due to performing. i prefer to be 'in the fight' as refusing to fight got me nowhere. 

hadestown movie/play

 in the evening i went to see a filmed version of the play 'hades-town' in st. louis park. down to one screening a day, so i said i needed to see it now. i read how at the outset that it was expected to be just a five-day run in theaters, but it was 'brought back by popular demand', staying in the top five in the box office for longer than those first five days. the film started its run in theaters a month ago, on the weekend when i was in st. louis, MO, and this was likely why i didn't hear about it at first. i lucked out finding a listing for it on fandango and said this was a better idea than attending another event that i heard about on Facebook as i likely would have had some awkward conversations about why i was no longer at an open mic that i was performing at for a while. the story was good, i knew it was a modernized version of a story from ancient mythology. and i had seen Eva Noblezada from some earlier movies, among these 'yellow rose', and 'easter Sunday'. i liked her character, and the narrator as well, but it was hard to like Eva's love interest. it was a reminder of my former self, as that character wore his heart on his sleeve and was naive. i found a quick meal at the grocery store, cub foods, near the theater before going in. i found some things to do before the movie as well. there was getting a blizzard treat at a dairy queen, then i had lunch at matt's bar in south Minneapolis. i had a 'Jucy Lucy', their famous sandwich. i had a seat at the bar near the door, close to the cook and we chatted a little. i took home half of the fries as even a half order was more than what i usually have, and i drank a grain belt beer with the meal. i didn't do much after getting home from the movie. 'Freeze frame' by the j. Geils band was playing at the bar, and 'Radiohead's 'creep' was playing on the car radio on the way to the movie. 

answered own question

 the Marshall office can be weird. i was contacted by a colleague from there asking if a check had been overnighted. i said i could only research it if i have a check number or a tracking number. then she supplies the tracking number and said it was on the way, so she answered her own question. there were two ad-hoc files for our tax specialist. there was more of an interest in the first one, the Canadian file. sounds like it had to go out same-day. just minutes after i was emailed the file, it was printed. had to wait until a big Fargo file was done printing, but it was nearly finished by then. in the morning i got a ticket in for the check printer that needs a maintenance kit. now it is a question of when the tech is arriving as these are usually marked as 'low priority'. i picked up another Charlie Brown word-find at Walgreen along with some tea, and cookies. in the evening i made it to Hy-Vee in Eagan for groceries. the autumn cereals have arrived, i bought two boxes. one was Count Chocula and the other was pumpkin spice cheerios. i went there after a meetup event at a micro-brewery. saw the dude that wears the cowboy hat. i ordered from the food truck our front, but only fries as they were sold out of sandwiches by then. i was talking to someone on the patio who didn't know a meetup event was happening, but when a dude cut in and she was more interested in talking to him i said 'it's been nice' and moved to another part of the establishment. truly a case of 'reading the room'. 

no second check

 the payroll manager asked me of there was a second check to pick up, i said there wasn't. already had one and she said 'she'd pick it up when back in the office. still wondering when that one check will be picked up but i have a place in the shop to keep it until then. there was a check for the manager that likes karaoke, i found the time to get it there shortly after i was done with lunching. i said an upcoming weekend, at the end of the month, will have a baseball theme. there is a movie, and a game, i want to see that weekend. this was a 'drop and leave' as she was in a conference room doing a dial-in meeting. i asked vacation replacement if he'd eaten at a culver's but hasn't. i don't think i have either. i know it is a burger and fries place and there are plenty of others that I'm more familiar with. i got the idea to eat at one due to finding out that the baseball movie I'd like to see out of town is in a town that has one. i see their ads on TV all the time, and i know there are locations nearby it just hadn't made my list yet. not even during lent when it sounds like they have a fish sandwich. i get one at McDonald's instead, the famous filet-o-fish. 

nimrods movie

 in the evening i went to see the movie 'nimrods', or 'the green day movie', in Eagan. normally i see movies on the weekends but i checked the schedule on fandango and it said there weren't going to be many screenings if i waited that long. i was in a rush to make it there on time where i didn't even go home after work and ended up eating at the theater. i got chicken tenders, fries, and bottled water. i still like it where they deliver to my seat, and of course it means i have to let them know what auditorium i am in. i was the only attendee at this screening, this has happened before. and it seemed to explain why there won't be many screenings this weekend in this area. the music in it was good, recognized plenty of the songs in it but there were some 'deep cuts' as well. the only 'spoiler' i could offer really isn't one at all. the three friends make it to Los Angeles to see green day in concert. it wouldn't be much of a movie if they didn't. i fully expected this to happen. but it was 'the thrill of the chase' that i wanted to see. too. and when it was said that the band would 'appear as themselves' then most people should expect that it would end with a green day concert. i saw on Facebook in advance a posting that said, 'say what band member you are'. i said 'drummer' and i was correct. i was the 'forgotten person in the back' in the jobs in held in school, being a dishwasher and janitor. this helped me identify with drummers. this character was nerdy and more sensible than his friends as well. after the movie i went to a Walgreen and got some string cheese, and an ice cream sandwich. the latter was inspired by the movie i had just seen, as one of the vehicles the friends drove in it was an ice cream truck. while driving home i heard on my car radio a song that had been in the movie, 'time of your life' (good riddance). and i was wearing my green day shirt in honor of the event. at work, vacation replacement asked if there were any checks to forward on in the shop, i said there weren't any refund checks just returned checks. i was also asked if any checks i print start with a 5, i could think of three business lines fitting this description. guess it was a refund check issue. 

copy the shared box

 i let a colleague from the Marshall office know that it is best to copy the shared box when sending overnight labels. she is the vacation replacement, it explains why some were sent on a one-day delay. i had to email them to say we didn't have the labels yet. nothing like the threat of sending it regular mail will get them to send us what we need. i got another overnight request, this time from account closures in Kansas City. this was from the 'loopy lady' and was after i had sent the tracking numbers for the day. normally we only overnight if it is 'return to business line' or if over 10-grand, this was neither. then the manager i am more familiar with, who gets the 'return to business line' checks, contacted me and asked if i saw it. i said i had, two checks going to the same place in sin city. and my standard line is 'will send tracking numbers when available'. this day of the week is usually high volume for check printing due to the two Fargo files, and this was no different. i don't like having checks left over at the end of the day, but any 'carryover' is run through first the next day. and i am trying to avoid the printer that needs a maintenance kit until i find the time to call in a ticket to get a tech to look at it. we all know how i like it when i can use those two printers simultaneously. but i also know those two files have a longer leeway on getting their checks out. 

abbey road themed jacket

 in the evening i went to a karaoke bar and went up to sing two songs. notable was a lady who asked me at the bar if i had been on the 'comics unleashed' show. i said i wasn't but some of my friends have been. she was wearing a Charlie Brown jacket that looks like the Beatles crossing the street, so an 'abbey road' theme. she had sung 'landslide'. another lady did a smashing pumpkins song, '1979'. the songs i did were inspired from where i was over the weekend. there was 'drive' by incubus, and 'kids aren't alright' by offspring. the stories i get from karaoke bars are good for my comedy sets. i think this is why i missed going there on a regular basis. but now i am averaging once a month, which is easier than once a week. at work, the lady that places supply orders for me asked for a check to be overnighted. she said the business line was bugging her about it. i said i would send a tracking number when it is available. 

wet hot american summer movie

 before midday i went to see a movie in Eden Prairie, 'wet hot American summer', 25th anniversary edition. the screening started so early that the mall's food court wasn't open yet. but it was open after the movie was done so i still ate there, hat a gyro sandwich from the Greek place. as for the movie, saw it as i recognized some of the actors in the cast, especially Janeane Garofalo and Molly Shannon, both SNL alums. i had seen some movies about summer camp before, most notably 'poison ivy' with mike fox. much of the story was ridiculous and unlikely, so one would call it a 'farce'. memorable was the camp director and the science teacher trying hard to impress each other when they started a dating relationship. this was after the teacher first said 'no' when asked to teach some of the campers. it was another reminder of how the movies depict the kind of summer camp that i didn't experience. for one thing, it depicts most kids getting to and from camp on buses. i was used to parents getting us to camp. i went to three kinds of camps, two of them were church-related, and didn't enjoy any of them all that much. my cousin once contacted me about the first of two church camps, saying she had good times there. except she didn't recall the camp's name or even the camp's executive. well, she didn't have the same experiences as i did. on the way to the movie, i heard 'sweet dreams' by Eurythmics again, still a reminder of a trip to San Francisco where i bought their greatest hits CD. besides a gyro, after the movie i also had a blizzard treat from dairy queen. and i picked up some Charlie Brown stickers from the Miniso store. along with a history book from Barnes and Noble. then it was to the cub foods in Eagan where i got some cereal and a pair of socks that look like piano keys. in the evening i did not go to perform as i went to the 'nitro circus' at the Saints baseball stadium. it was moved back one day, even though there was little or no rain on Saturday. i hadn't seen an event like this before, in person at least. maybe on TV. this was plenty of BMX and dirtbike stunts. notable for songs played there was 'kids aren't alright' by offspring. it was kind of loud there, it was why the information booth if any patrons wanted or needed them.