The Easter Beagle

   I went to church at Central Presbyterian in downtown St. Paul, and liked seeing some art on the wall in the fellowship hall. It included a map of the city in the 1880s. I liked seeing a Turner Hall being listed, a reminder of being in New Ulm. After this I went over to the former Schmidt brewery and walked around, finding a regional park on the other side, Shepard Road. I got plenty of pictures while there, including of the 'West 7th Fort Road Federation'. Like many businesses, it was closed today. But I was still able to get laundry done, and if I needed any food I went to a Superamerica. I waited until a college basketball tournament game was done before doing laundry, Michigan won to reach the Final Four. Louisville won the other game, but I didn't see much of it.
   In the evening I did watch the Charlie Brown specials on ABC with my date. It was 'The Easter Beagle' and 'Charlie Brown's All-Stars'. I looked at my bookcase in advance and found out I did have 'Easter Beagle' in book form. I've noticed how many of those TV specials seem to follow the book form fairly close. It is also a nice reminder of reading programs in schools, as there was a stamp from the RIF (Reading Is Fundamental) program inside it. When I was driving home the song I heard on my car radio was 'King Of Pain' by The Police. It is kind of a haunting song, starting off with 'A little black spot on the sun today'. It serves as a reminder of growing up in Newton, Iowa, as this was the theme for homecoming in 1983. It was stamped on that year's button, and it was memorable since it was my family's first year in Newton. With Maytag gone, and the football team not winning like before, it leaves me wondering 'Who's the king of pain now?' These two things were the source of pride in town for a long time.  

Haggar Comfort Waist

    I went to the J.C. Penney at Rosedale Mall in Roseville to use up 2 gift cards. I got some khaki pants, one of them was the Haggar 'comfort waist' model. It also spoke of Gabardine, which is not the color. The two pairs were worth a total of $50, which was also how much I had in gift cards so I owed nothing. I also went to the library to print some things.
   This evening I saw a DVD with my date made by the History Channel about the 'Five men who built America'. In the segments we saw tonight they covered 'Commodore' Vanderbilt and John D. Rockefeller. I had studied some of these people in various history classes, they were usually known as 'robber barons'. But it was the first time I recalled hearing about these businessmen partnering, at least Vanderbilt and Rockefeller anyway. Carnegie and Morgan are covered later, and as I recall those two partnered on some ventures.
   In the afternoon we went to do some errand running, like going to the pet store and shoe store. Then we ate at Boston Market, first time I had been there in a while. Since I was finishing up the Little Caesar's pizza I said I wanted something besides pizza.
   I did watch some of the college basketball tournament, I know Syracuse and Wichita State advanced to the Final Four. I didn't watch much of these games though. It prompted me to look up the meaning of the Wichita State mascot, the 'Shocker' or 'Wheatshocker'. As expected, it is much like the Nebraska Cornhusker, as both are involved in harvesting the crop. Wheat is a common crop in Kansas. I liked hearing some of the spring training baseball game on the radio, the Twins against Boston, the final one before the regular season begins. I liked knowing they were so close to the action that one could hear the food vendors in the stands, selling popcorn, peanuts, and cracker jacks.

Park Nicollet Ad

   I was answering surveys online tonight and one of them included a Park Nicollet ad, a Twin City health provider. I wasn't sure as to if I had seen the ad before, but responded and said I probably had. What are the odds? I saw it multiple times tonight after doing the survey. The most memorable thing from it was holding a fish that got away. I did watch some of the regionals tonight in the college basketball tournament. The one game that I saw any part of was Duke against Michigan State, from the Midwest regional in Indianapolis. I know Duke won to advance and will play Louisville in the regional final.
    I also heard from my college roommate, which was nice as it had been a while. I had a fish sandwich at McDonald's for lunch but not the fries. According to the board I think the fries were higher calories than the sandwich! I had heard this one in my employer's health program, how skipping the fries does save on plenty of calories.
   This day is known as Good Friday, and it reminds me of what my mom often would ask me- if I got the day off. I said no, but we get Easter Sunday off. She's more religious than I am, but times have changed as well- as more businesses are open on Sundays and other days when they had previously been closed. On ABC's 'Nightline' show there was a feature about a day in the life of a polar bear. The leadoff story was about parents getting a sleep consultant when their kids keep them awake nearly all night.

Briefcase In 5th Grade

   I stayed in after picking up a Little Caesar's pizza after work as I wanted to get more caught up on reading the papers. I read 4 more editions- 3 of them Fridays- so now I am finished through the middle of the month. It's all about choices and priorities, as I can go to the library to print things on another day. I wanted to stay in and watch some of the college basketball tournament anyway as it's now the regional round. Not all of the games are on CBS, just the two from the East regional in Washington, DC. Updates were provided from the West regional in Los Angeles, broadcast on TBS. Marquette and Syracuse won in D.C. When I was halfway through what I wanted to read for the night I stepped out and had a Shamrock Shake at McDonald's. While walking over there I picked up plenty of trash, and ended up with 7 more pull tabs for my bank at work. It still saddens me to see how much litter is out there, but I do what I can.
   The funny columnist was good as usual, he was in the Friday editions from the Minneapolis paper. The first column was about what the state should ban on Sundays, and suggested that Target stores be closed that day. It of course was a reference to car dealers and liquor stores being closed on this day. In the next column he weighed in on the bully laws going through the state legislature, and claims he had a briefcase in 5th grade which was likely why he was bullied. The third column was about the 'Snack tax bill'. He said we should slap a tax on what other people enjoy the most.
   I found plenty of notable articles in these four editions. One was on the front page, about Best Buy founder Richard Schulze ending his bid to retake the company. Then there was former pro basketball player Dennis Rodman meeting with the North Korean dictator. The controversial former sports star stories didn't end there, as one writer suggested that baseball whistleblower Jose Canseco sign with the St. Paul Saints. Advice columnist Carolyn Hax said a woman should skip the 'Hands off my man' confrontations. At the Sabes film festival, there was a screening of  'Roman Polanski- a film memoir'. I have been to this film festival before, 2 years ago.
   I found multiple articles about the woes at J.C. Penney, how the stock price isn't doing well. It's a reminder of how I have two gift cards and maybe I should use them soon. It depends as to what the news is in the entertainment realm as to if I am interested. There was mention of actress Valerie Harper having terminal brain cancer, I knew her as Rhoda on 'Mary Tyler Moore' and then of course 'Valerie', a show she left due to a contract dispute. There were articles and pictures about the death of Hugo Chavez, the head of state in Venezuela. The one non-Friday edition, from my birthday, was the St. Paul paper and had a review of a restaurant called Ward 6 on the East Side of St. Paul.
   In business news, there was mention of the first opening of a converted chicken outlet- from Kentucky Fried Chicken to Popeye's. More than a dozen in the Twin Cities were sold after the franchisee filed for bankruptcy, and GE Capital, a major creditor, approved of the deal. A former congressman didn't like seeing airline mergers, but expects the proposed merger between American Airlines and US Air to go through. I leafed through the special section from the Auto Show, an event I did attend. A Cargill analyst has been doing well on the game show 'Jeopardy'. There were multiple articles about the new pope, Francis, and how he chose this name in reference to St. Francis of Assisi. Next to it was an article about his order, the Jesuits, and how it began with St. Ignatius of Loyola. They operate various colleges in America, including Georgetown in the nation's capital. An exhibit on photojournalism has opened at the Weinstein Gallery in Minneapolis. Hostess is selling its Drake's Cakes unit to Little Debbie, and there was an arrest of a teen who did the 'Gallon smash' prank at a Target store in St. Paul. I am on the City Pages email list and liked reading part of the article about the declining TV ratings for Major League Baseball's World Series. I hope to find a hard copy so I read the rest of it as I am still fine with reading hard copies.  

Somerset Maugham

    Tonight I was going through a catalog of books that had been mailed to me recently. I wanted to look through the entire catalog before destroying it. I had to look up one of the writers mentioned, it was Somerset Maugham. By pure coincidence I'm sure, I found out it was the author of 'Razor's Edge'. I knew the movie version was available at the library, starring Bill Murray, but haven't seen it yet. I don't plan on ordering any of the books or videos as usual but there is some knowledge to be gained from reading the listings. I'm keeping three pages for this reason, and I've done this before. I have them in an envelope that includes a catalog from the History Book Club, which I did order books from. It may have been how I ended up on their mailing list.
   At the comedy club tonight, I did go onstage and it went well telling more new jokes. This time it was about the crazies on the bus. Besides the grouchy woman, who I saw this morning, there was another older woman in the evening who kept saying 'National security, national security'. She had a hoodie on and a doily for a scarf. She was behind me on the bus by a row or so, and due to this I heard her rantings well, like it or not. One was about George Bush, another was about how New York City didn't do this. And how to pick their czar, but Gorbachev wasn't a czar. And he she can't discuss national security in libraries. Even something about the Catholic Church. The joke I had was how I've seen crazies before on the bus, and they either are crazy or just want people to think they are so other leave them alone. Either way, I don't bother to ask them. This includes somebody who talks to themself, saying 'what' and 'so what'.
 

Cat Carrier On Bus

   Tonight after work a woman boarded the bus and had a cat carrier or 'pet taxi'. She said the cat had just been to the vet and this is why it kept meowing. It probably was going to happen as long as it was 'in jail'. Also near me was a man from Mississippi, who said that it was great being in Minnesota 'except for the weather'. He also spoke of his annoyance with the media coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, saying too much emphasis was put on New Orleans. I said I had heard the joke how FEMA means 'Forget everyone but metro areas'.
  At the comedy club tonight there were two comics introduced as 'special guests', I knew one of them but not the other. The one I know does the carrot cake and balding jokes. The one I didn't know was from out of town, the show runner told me New Jersey. I liked his joke about 'Star Wars', in reference to Harrison Ford doing another one of those movies despite being long in the tooth. It worked for me as he did a good imitation of Chewbacca. When an earlier comic did a joke about Lou Gehrig's disease I said 'it's been done', as I recall Denis Leary did a similar joke. I get bored with those who do unoriginal jokes.
   'The Simpsons' syndicated rerun I saw tonight was one I liked, a recent one where robots worked the nuke plant. Homer was the token human employee. One of them had hilarious observations about things, like the DH rule in baseball, also about 'Rudy', the Notre Dame football player. How he was put in at the end of a meaningless game, in reference to Milhouse wanting to play.  

Rappers And Clowns

   It was a more enjoyable night than typical at the comedy club. It helped that I knew the show closer, who is back from California to headline this week. I liked his joke about how rappers and clowns have plenty of things in common. It was one of the two shout-outs for the night. The other was when I laughed at the joke about a Mariachi band request at an Italian restaurant. Same one that has done the bathtub joke, along with 'Aggressive cuddler'. I was told that many recognize my laugh, not sure how. But another comic said my laugh 'Pierces the soul' and is like a supervillain. I said I was going for that, at least the latter.
   I was picked to go onstage, which also helped with this feeling as there is no substitute for stagetime. I did a few more new jokes, such as bathrooms at concerts and the feeling of being a 'Crockpot in a world of microwave ovens'. This was actually the third shoutout, since I got one from the comic that followed me. I like the feeling of being a tough act to follow. A crowdmember found me after the show, and I gladly answered questions about the craft. I said the best advice I could give anyone is: Have fun up there, otherwise why do it if one doesn't enjoy it? I was told how he liked my enthusiasm telling jokes, of course I like hearing this. It can be helpful to see the mirror image, it is why I like to film myself as much as possible to see what works and what doesn't.
  At work I liked seeing a former colleague when returning from lunch. We embraced, can't recall the last time we had seen each other in person. I referred to her as the 'Perky girl'. She said she was interviewing for a position, so she may be coming back to the office.