unitarian whodunit

a late add to my plans for my birthday was attending a play. it was a 'whodunit' at a unitarian house of worship in st. paul. I had seen a flyer for it at a place where I sometimes sing karaoke. i let them know what promotion worked for me. it was called 'mystery manor'. the actors were young people. memorable when looking through the program was seeing a listing for the rubber chicken, who doesn't have much stage time. what I liked was seeing the thieves move the hands on the clock just before they pull off their thievery. there were a few good laughs in it. the investigating cop was a 'bumbling idiot', balanced out by another cop. the plat lasted a little over an hour. it was all right, for community theater. and I liked getting a good look around at the artwork in the fellowship hall. the front desk said when I was departing that it changes once a month. 

   there was plenty of birthday wishes on facebook, about 20. since it is the weekend i still needed to do some of my typical errand running. the stop at the post office box yielded two e-bay orders. i stayed home after that and watched some of the state high school hockey tournmanet on TV. hermantown tied it with less than a minute left in regulation, but mahtomedi won it in OT. i actually fell asleep and missed much of it, but knew i needed to get up and watch it when it sounded like the game was almost over. then it was to the grocery store. i wanted to see it was done before attending the play. after the play, eventually i went to a second grocery store, hy-vee, to get a few items that i couldn't find at aldi. and i sang at a karoake bar, it was 'live forever' by oasis. final stop of the night was to see a once a month comedy show. i arrived while the show closer was on, somebody i had done a fringe show with. as usual, it is nice to see people i know. once the bartender found out it was my birthday, it was decided that we would do 'grape ape' shots. although i said i knew very little about liquor, as i mostly drink beer. 

colin powell leadership academy

i went to a fish fry tonight at the American legion hall on the east side of st. paul. I noticed there were some young people working the event from the colin powell leadership academy. I said I could remember that name as the man worked for both presidents named bush, and he was portrayed on Saturday night live for this reason. ketchup for the fries seemed a little spicy. besides the fish and fries, I also got some macaroni, as well as corn. there was baked beans, but couldn't find any place for them on my plate. after eating there I picked up a few items at a nearby Walgreen. later on in the evening I did some karaoke, it was 'something so strong' by crowded house.
   at work I spent more time studying. my boss works for home on this day of the week. I think I understand things a little better, but I have a ways to go. I got an I.M., and responded to it. I said it was going better than the previous day because of being able to read the manual. so far I think I have only been shown what is important to get my work done, but I like to have an understanding beyond this. so I spent a big part of the day looking at every line with an attachment, so I could understand what documents were there. and it meant teaching myself what part of the file is shipped to the investor. I didn't bother to ask before, but I also know there are plenty of acronyms and I don't have a cheat sheet yet to understand the meaning of all of them. so I didn't do all that much actual work in the file, but what I did do was valuable. sometimes the important thing is to understand what is not shipped as much as what is.

where is the manual?

at work I felt lost trying to attempt my normal duties after doing orientation off-site this morning. it meant having somebody look at what I was doing. then I said I was used to seeing a manual, and my boss emailed one to me. I ended up reading it for much of the afternoon, as well as the checklist once I printed it. so I would like to think this will make a difference. it was 56 pages, although I noticed the last three were blank. I showed some of it to my shadowing partner. the second half is loans I haven't seen yet. the first half included something that wasn't familiar to me, and I was told we didn't do that kind of loan in this department. my boss sent an I.M. asking how it was going, I said not well. so this is when I asked to be the one driving and then have somebody advise me at my desk. although I am aware that my shadowing partner leaves earlier in the day than I do. this was also a factor in the shadowing itself, as I took a later lunch.
   I made it to the karaoke bar tonight but did just one song tonight as I was tired. it was 'desperately wanting' by better than ezra. I heard it on the radio on the way there. and memorable was the lyric about 'i remember running through the wet grass'. I liked seeing a big dude there for the first time in a while, we have decent conversations about music and sports. I liked how the karaoke jockey was able to find the song for me. I wasn't sure of the title. but he has a smart phone and was able to speak into it with the lyrics given. I can do this on my laptop-enter key words- but of course that stays at home.

on phone in minivan

i went to mail a friend's birthday card tonight and I saw it as odd to see someone on their phone in a parked minivan. when I went to leave to run the errand, as well as when I got back 10 minutes later. but I mind my own business and kept moving. I was prompted to do that because the friend had sent me a card. I stopped to get the card, and some cough drops, at a Walgreen after I was done performing. as usual, I had a karaoke story to share.
    I went to perform after printing some things at the library. at work I had 8 pages of notes from job shadowing. I had to spend some time looking them over as my handwriting can be a little sloppy when going fast. so it meant rewriting a decent amount to see that I could read it. I got a look at two loans today. it sounds like this is the only kind of training to be held, not anything in a classroom environment like what I am used to. I got the direct deposit form entered. much like the I-9, I wanted it done and over with. because I wanted an important document sent home. will see soon enough how well I understand what I am being shown.

beeps from dumpster

i was walking past a dumpster and heard beeps coming from it, had to get closer to confirm it. naturally this is a weird thing. not sure what was causing it, but I decided to keep moving. I have seen enough movies to know where something ticking is probably going to explode soon.
   in the evening I went to perform, and it was a much shorter lineup than last week. there was a fill-in show runner as well, who is also the techie. I didn't mind about fewer people this time, as I went onstage unlike last week. still a big deal to me when the bartenders say they like my performance. I am surprised when anyone is paying attention to what I am doing.
    I had an interview in the morning and then drove across town to my first day at work at a mortgage company. I did plenty of online classes, 15 in all. and the 'orientation' was the first 30 minutes or so, with the I.T. department getting my computer set up. I got my I-9 form done with HR, they only needed a copy of my passport. but I still need to do the direct deposit form. I found out my work station is close to where my boss is.

disturbia movie

i watched a DVD movie on loan from the library this afternoon, 'disturbia'. i did not recognize any of the actors in it, and it had nothing to do with the rihanna song of the same name. at least the song was not in the movie. it was a thriller, and I like thrillers. it was all right. this movie was about a young man who go house arrest, and saw some disturbing things in suburbia. so it made sense as to the choice of the movie's title. it reminded me of a 'simpsons' episode, based on a jimmy stewart movie, where somebody was stuck in a house. 'rear window' if I am not mistaken, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
   I was to have a phone orientation for a job this morning, but found out it was to be done at the office. so I called my boss and was informed to start on Tuesday, so a one-day delay. it was confusing to me, and I figured it would be like when I do phone interviews.
    I saw that I got plenty of loose ends tied up, including doing another interview that was already scheduled for later that morning. also made it back to the library to return a movie and print some of the attachments related to the new job. but I have a good idea of what is needed to do the I-9 forms, so I am not sure if I needed to print all of them.
    in the evening I performed, I was on near the end of the show. and after it I decided to get a bag of potato chips as I had found enough small change today to get one. and on the way to the library I got some more sheet protectors for baseball cards. it took care of most of the backlog on the charlie brown cards, 117 out of 144. actually it was 147, but I took out three once I noticed they were just checklists. there was the same image on the front- so I kept one of the four.
   

bone tomahawk movie

i watched a DVD movie on loan from the library this morning, 'bone tomahawk'. I recognized kurt Russell and david Arquette in it. I was excited at first about it being a western, but 'tombstone' this isn't. this becomes a mission to bring back somebody abducted by cave dwelling savages. it gets graphic at times, hard to ignore somebody getting scalped. this movie was long, more than 2 hours. a compelling character in it was a 'vain' man, played by matthew fox. he is often using a spy glass while the four men are on their mission, and his actions are often called into question. this movie wasn't that great.
    it was a busy day for me, as after I returned the movie to the library I got another one. then it was on my way to a baseball game at the Vikings stadium. my school, the iowa hawkeyes, was playing in the cambria classic, hosted by the Minnesota gophers, six teams in this tournament. iowa beat duke 7-5, but duke scored 2 in the first inning. those who like the long ball weren't disappointed, as there was four home runs, two for each team. although Iowa's home runs were both 2-run shots, and duke's were both solo shots.
   after a brief stay at home, then I was venturing out again, this time to a pro wrestling event in northeast Minneapolis. when I get to the venue I recognized it as one where I had seen a fringe show. I knew two of the wrestlers in this event, one of them the mad hatter, who was also playing music. it was nice seeing some performers I recognize in the crowd.