Women, Money, Weed

   When I was waiting for the bus in the evening after work I saw a young man with a shirt on that said 'Women, money, and weed: all I need'. I could have said he would also need food and drink, but then I am reminded of a 'Simpsons' episode in reference to this. Homer had to remind himself how finding money was good, as it can buy goods and services. He was looking for food in the couch if I'm not mistaken.
   At the comedy club tonight was another edition of the contest. I arrived while the first comic was onstage, and she ran the light so of course she didn't advance. I did know all of those who did advance, including the Rochester native that is an older woman. She decided to pull out her pantyhose to show to the crowd. I did see a fellow comic and asked if he was in the contest, but he said he was not. All he said was he doesn't work, is on disability, so he really can't claim a dayjob. I think he said he once worked in New York City and graduated from Ohio State.
   After the show I looked more closely at what was in the strongbox, and changed the lineup a little. One card advertising a comedy show I moved into the tin that has notes in it as I did write on the back of the card. It was a 'Men With Hats' show at the Corner Bar in Minneapolis. I also looked more closely at the preferred cards I had for two grocery stores I frequented in suburban Chicago, Jewel-Osco and Dominick's. If you can believe it, I kept them glued to the letter they were on, and I hadn't detached them- until tonight. I haven't used them in a while so it's hard to say if they're still valid in any way. I destroyed some of the cards as they were duplicated. I kept the full-size Dominick's card and one of the keychain Jewel-Osco cards. Don't know what happened to the other full-size card. I do recall how they were across the street from each other where I lived, so this is why for a while that I went to both. I also went to a place called Butera, and have found out in recent visits back to the area that the Butera I went to has closed. We all know how change is constant. I did go to a Jewel when I was visiting in February. Seeing these cards does lead to me reflecting back on my time there. I know I've said before how I feel my life is better now in the Twin Cities. But my time as a Chicagoland resident is still a part of who I am now.

Northern Lights Playhouse

   Two E-bay orders of postcards arrived earlier today. One of them included a card advertising the Northern Lights Playhouse in Hazelhurst, WI, 'The best of Broadway in Wisconsin's beautiful northwoods'. Never heard of it. This was a throw-in card with the one of the minor-league baseball stadium in Des Moines, known as Principal Park, where the Iowa Cubs play. This had happened before when ordering postcards, and at times I am intrigued with them. I know how postcards are a simple way of advertising, explaining why one tends to see them everywhere. The other card that arrived was of the One Minute Manufacturing Company, a defunct washing machine company that was based in my hometown of Newton, Iowa. This card arrived from Tennessee.
   At the comedy club tonight I saw a newer comic who had plenty of questions, and I was fine with answering them since I like discussing the craft with others and sharing my knowledge of it. He said he had a film school project to do and this was why he wouldn't be staying for the show since he didn't make the list this week. I also let him know about the summer contest, as there was a box for the sign-up forms on the counter. I did get my form in this week, didn't see any forms last week. So I should hear about my contest night soon.
   There were some time-honored jokes told tonight that I liked hearing. One of them was from my friend's friend who did the one about the corporate gig, 'Want to buy some green beans?'  

Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen

   I was reading the paper earlier today and the Minneapolis paper had an article about upcoming summer movies. One of these was 'Great Gatsby', starring Leonardo Dicaprio and directed by Baz Luhrmann. I recognized this name as Luhrmann also had a song in 1999. I had to look up what the title was as I hadn't heard it in a while. It was called 'Everybody's free to wear sunscreen'. It was a song I discussed with a military recruit when I was taking the Amtrak train between Chicago and St. Louis that year. I said the best advice I could give was two things: do the simple things well, and be a doormat to no one. The recruit said it made him think of this song. I knew it wasn't the typical song as it was performed more like spoken word, meant as advice to those who were graduating.
   It's hard to say how many of the movies mentioned are ones I will go see, but 'Gatsby' is one on my list as I liked reading about the music in it which includes Jay-Z. I also liked reading about the Superman movie, 'Man of Steel', due out in June. I found out that Hans Zimmer is doing the music for it. He also did the music for one of my favorites, 'Rain Man'.
    I didn't do much with my date today, who was ill. We did watch the Wild's playoff game against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Wild won 3-2 in overtime. This hockey game was on NBC. We also went out to Godfather's Pizza in the evening, and with this purchase I have enough points for a free large pizza. We did watch 'The Simpsons' after we got back, which was delayed after a stock car race. They brought back the 'Bleeding Gums' Murphy character, a jazz musician Lisa liked, as a hologram.

Festival of Nations

  I attended the Festival of Nations at the St. Paul River Centre this afternoon and evening with my date. It was my first time at this event. There was plenty of food and drink as expected, along with music. I got a free program near the front gate and on the cover it says 'Think global, discover local'. There was cultural exhibits as well as a section for folk art demonstrations and an international bazaar. We went to see the dancers, found out this was inside Wilkins Auditorium. We did see the Hawaiian dancers, shortly after we arrived. In the bazaar section I did get two postcards. One was a generic postcard of the festival itself, and the other was of the lesser- known Custer. Not George, the general, but his brother Thomas, a captain. It said he fell at Little Bighorn along with his brother. It made me think about how being famous is sometimes a family affair. I got a passport and got plenty of stamps in it, and some of these were nations I had never heard of. Some were signed instead of stamped as we were told how some of the stampers were stolen.
   We did have food there, near the end of our time at the event. I liked having a cheese sampler from the Swiss cafe. I had Pancit from the Filipino cafe, which is sauteed noodles with chicken and vegetables. We picked up a cream puff from the Dutch cafe on the way out so we could eat it later at home. We had to wait for the bus for a little while outside, saw some limousines pull up as there was a high school prom happening nearby. I spoke with one of the employees while in the eating section as he liked seeing my St. Louis Blues hockey sweater as it reminded him of living there. I said I've had it for a while as it's a durable piece of clothing.
  I did more digging into boxes and bags I hadn't looked at for a while, before I went anywhere this morning. I found a few more postcards to get into the photo album. One was from a comedy club advertising a contest, and two were from the Lady Gaga concert I attended in 2010. It's nice to keep discovering, or in this case re-discovering. I decided to use all of the copy paper boxes from the office to make things look less overwhelming. So now a larger box is gone, sent to the recycle bin. In its place is six smaller boxes.

Salsa Tasting, Repeat Potluck

   We had a salsa tasting at work at lunchtime as our way of celebrating Cinco De Mayo. I liked the one with peaches in it, but it didn't get the most votes. I didn't want to vote for a spicy one. The repeat potluck went well, most of the food was eaten. I had a kind of roll that I didn't have on the first day.
   In the evening I got started on another cleanup project. It meant going through a big box and as usual I found a few things! This included postcards, which I am sticking into a photo album. It should be full soon.
   It was entertaining to ride the bus this morning. This was true from the word 'go'. When I boarded the bus I saw somebody with a fold-up grocery cart who was putting a plastic grocery bag on her head. but at first it looked more like she was going to suffocate. It was snowing this morning, which is not typical for the month of May. Somebody near her said something about the comments she hears about the cost of daycare- $800/month. That's a mortgage blah blah, they're raising your kid for you. We passed by a restaurant that was closed, she said 'if it's out of business it should be a shelter'. Then she said there was a real nice shelter in Arden Hills, which tells me that somebody who talks about shelters this much likely is homeless and had used them before. We passed by another restaurant, this one was open. She said it's nice to see a Denny's here. (It wasn't a Denny's) Then she said there should be a Denny's in St. Paul. It reminds me of jokes I've heard at the comedy club, how this isn't a high-end restaurant by any means. She asked somebody across the aisle- 'Freida, do you like garlic cheese bread?' She sure seemed to speak a lot about food. I also heard 'they don't teach this in college', but I don't think it was from her. I liked it when she shut up for a while since others boarded the bus and were the buffer zone. It ended with her saying 'see you tonight, you know where to be'.

Bob Newhart on 'Big Bang Theory'

    I had really been looking forward to this week's prime time episode of 'Big Bang Theory' after hearing Bob Newhart would be a guest star. He played a former TV star, the host of a kid's science show, and Sheldon wanted to meet him. I like how he still does some roles, like at the end of the movie 'Horrible Bosses'. I liked his line to Leonard, saying 'Is she your girlfriend?' about Penny. Then he said you're the genius, instead of Sheldon. He also guest starred on another favorite show of mine, 'The Simpsons', when Krusty the Clown faked his death. I have claimed Bob Newhart as a comedy influence, as he is good at the dry, dour, deadpan comedy. I found a picture online from 'The Bob Newhart Show' and it is now on display at the office. This show was what made me a Newhart fan, as I liked watching it on syndicated reruns back in high school. When I spoke of this earlier in the week at the comedy club another comic said he liked how he is still relevant. He referred to his role in the movie 'Elf' as the North Pole dad. And I liked seeing him do a comedy show when I lived in suburban Chicago, went out to Rockford to see it in 2002.
   I would have liked seeing the first syndicated rerun tonight, but I just caught the ending where Sheldon had a Snoopy snow cone maker. I tuned in for the next one, but I had already seen it more than once. It was the one where a North Korean refugee arrives at the university, and he's a competitor to Sheldon.
     I hadn't eaten by the time the prime time episode had aired, so I didn't want to be distracted by running the microwave oven. But I didn't notice right away that I was hungry, as we had the potluck at the office today. I finally had something to eat after watching a Halloween episode of 'The Simpsons' as I went to a nearby convenience store. I got two small Doritos bags, but had to be careful as two of them had already been opened. The clerk was playing country music, didn't recognize the song. I just recall one lyric in particular, as I kept hearing about 'Going downtown'.
   I did read some more from the paper, three editions, two of them Fridays. There was a writeup about the Jackie Robinson movie, and a cartoon about the winter weather in April. It was 'Chip chip' instead of 'Chirp chirp'. Former Iowa basketball coach Steve Alford apologized for actions in 2002 when a player was in trouble with the law, Pierre Pierce. Alford was just hired as the UCLA coach. There was more about the younger Pitino hired as the Gopher coach. Plenty of writeups about the MSP Film Fest, but I had limited chances to see any one movie, usually just two screenings.  So I didn't go at all. Carolyn Hax had an advice column about a guy friend who was verbally abused by his wife. The funny columnist lamented his neighborhood Caribou Coffee closing, and spoke of the Wi-fi there. It would be like your parents going to the counter at Woolworth's and demanding a radio and typewriter.
   The non-friday edition was a St. Paul paper, after the Boston Marathon bombing. One blurb was about new stores to open at the Mall of America. A letter to the editor lashed out at political correctness- related to a court case involving the atrocities of an abortion doctor. Then there's the other Friday edition. One article spoke of former college football coach Lou Holtz at Wells Fargo, sounded like he was a motivational speaker. Carolyn Hax had an advice column about alarms going off about a new boyfriend. She said that waiting indefinitely for a visit from the tact fairy is cruel. The funny columnist write about weather sirens going off while it's snowing, then about having a huge flashlight. Something about people in Duluth would wonder what movie was premiering in the Cities, then about National Poison Licorice Month.

Empty Roundup Container

    It was a little unsettling to see a visitor in the breakroom at work today at lunchtime. He had an empty Roundup container and proceeded to fill it with water from the sink. When Roundup is a herbicide it just seems to spell trouble when having it in a room where people are eating. But there was more of the story to find out. He was there to defrost one of the refrigerators. I had to do this with the one I had in an apartment in West Des Moines, Iowa. After a while it really accumulates. So I saw that this was done shortly before I moved out.
   At the comedy club tonight, there was a 2-person act where one was feeding lines to the other. The MC called one of them 'The Handler'. This is the one who likes to talk about a swear word sometimes pronounced with an 'H' in the middle.
   After the show I figured it would be a simple thing to find a fruit tray for a company potluck. But it was not to be. So I went to a grocery store in another town. What I ended up with was more like a fruit bowl. Hard to say how much time it took all told, but I am used to it being leisurely after a show. So I didn't like having to line up alternate plans of course. I did get small bag of Doritos as well, and ate it right away. The bowl doesn't have the sweet dip like the tray does.
  I liked the syndicated rerun tonight of 'Big Bang Theory'. It was one where Sheldon was ill and his friends were at screenings of 'Planet of The Apes' movies, wearing ape masks.