Expenses Without Receipts

You know what?  If I'm going to vow to do EWRs more often so I don't have to write a month's worth of that stuff, I need to start now.  Besides, I don't have anything I want to blog post about right now.  So, from Monday, August 22:

• I decided it was time to make my annual pilgrimage to Al's Breakfast, the venerable alley-wide diner in Dinkytown.  I needed to wake up very early in the morning because 1) there is always a line and I knew I would have to wait and 2) the parking spots close to Al's start getting enforced at 8 in the morning.  Nevertheless it was better to go now before the student body comes in the fall.  So I get there a bit past 6:30 (they open at 6) and, lo and behold, I didn't have to wait in line because half of the 14 stools were open.  Guess I didn't need to wake up that early, although it got sort of busy after I left after an hour.  Got two pancakes (both with walnuts, one with blueberries and the other with blackberries) alongside my glass of orange juice.  With tip the total was: $11.
• ETA in the 8 o'clock hour in the a.m. of August 26 that while eating these flapjacks I looked down from my stool and saw a dime.  An Infusion of: 10 cents.
• I couldn't stay at Al's forever, and I still wanted to work on my computer, so I went to Diamonds up Central and stayed there a few hours while working on the lap.  Mocha plus tip: $5.
• Charged everything on Sunday and have receipts for everything on Saturday, so we go back to Friday, August 19, where, because I was going in the MRI tube early in the morning I decided to do coffee at Anelace.  This is a good shop, by the way; this day (though it doesn't happen all days) they brought the pour-over coffee out to my table, and not in a cup.  They bring you an empty cup and a ... what is it, a carafe with a lid on it?  And you get to pour as much as you want out of the carafe into the cup.  That leaves the coffee in the carafe (which is more than your usual cup of coffee) hotter for longer.  That's absolutely brilliant, and I wonder why more coffeehouses don't do this.  I used to think the coffee here is overpriced, but now that they give you more than one cup and they serve to you (at least sometimes), I'm getting value for my coffee.  With tip: $4.40.
• I had to go to my temp agency and then an interview in downtown Minneapolis.  Because those meetings were 90 minutes apart, I decided to pay for parking downtown and try to take a nap before and during those meetings.  Parking downtown remains expensive: $9.
• And since I skipped lunch I got a doughnut at Bogart's.  Still so good.  With tip, which makes this total a little more expensive than I wish it to be: $4.25.
• That evening was the Minnesota United announcement officially entering Major League Soccer next year at CHS Field in St. Paul.  I drove out of downtown, parked at Midway Market (which, by the way, is just north of the Metro Transit bus barn which is the site of the future MNUFC stadium, which will be built as soon as the Legislature passes the tax breaks United ownership demands in order to build it) and took the light rail into downtown St. Paul.  I know it's unethical to park at the strip mall and take the LRT to CHS, but no one has stopped me.  In fact, I think what I'm doing is kind of clever.  I paid cash (on express rates) going there and charged the fare on my way back: $2.25.
• ETA, also in the 8 o'clock hour in the a.m. of August 26 that, although I'm not entirely sure, I think there was a dime that someone left in the dispenser receptacle where the LRT tickets and receipts come out.  Change doesn't come out through there, does it?  Well, regardless, I grabbed the dime, so it is an Infusion of: 10 cents.
• There at CHS, in what turned into a complete washout (local rap collective Doomtree was supposed to play from 7 till 9:30 but they closed it down after a half-hour because it was pouring rain outside) I got a coupon for half-off the St. Paul Saints' ordinary hot dog.  I also decided to try a Bad Weather Windvane, which was good.  By the way, I'm glad I brought my umbrella with me, even though I wasn't absolutely sure I could bring it into the ballpark.  I still got wet, but not as wet as most of the other supporters who attended the announcement.  Oh, double by the way, I hope the rain that ended the celebration early isn't a bad omen for the expansion franchise.  With tip for the beer, I spent on food and drink for this occasion: $9.50.
• On Thursday the 18th I spent my morning at Caribou.  Medium coffee still on August special, cookie, tip: $3.25.

Whew, that was less than a week and I still spent a long time on this blog post.  If this isn't motivation enough to do these EWRs more frequently. ...  Good through August 22.