Expenses Without Receipts

Starting from Monday, July 16:

• Went to Caribou/Einstein.  You know, I don't want to get caught up on customer service, and it's not as if she was a bitch or anything, she was just ... curt.  Oh, and I know I'm due a free drink but she said I didn't have one coming.  Whatever.  I made a mocha into a coffee instead.  That'll teach her.  With bagel and tip: $6.
• Realized that if I'm going to be furloughed for the next two weeks (should blog about that), I should go to the U. and look at the experiment boards and pick up a couple studies.  I brought the lunch my folks packed for me; along the way I would eat the steamed bun after heating it up in the microwave in the student union.  Along the way I remembered that sometimes there would be a tent where the U. would be serving food.  And alas, there was this pop-up restaurant right on the Quad called, I think, U. BBQ.  It wasn't really a barbecue, it was mostly just your usual grillable meat.  But it was there, and I was there, and even though I could have saved my stomach and money, I got a hamburger.  Why not?  Live a little!  And I didn't even have to tip, even though I had a dollar out due to force of habit.  Total: $5.75.
• Then went to the Dunn Bros. at the Rosedale library because I needed to know the price of the small mocha frap I bought there on the 11th.  With a dollar tip this sweet treat was: $5.83.
• Went to exercise, felt the need to drink pop, went to Wal-Mart for a Pepsi, but that was all sold out, so I walked over to the Coke machine, which I wanted to avoid on this day because of this article.  Cost: 50 cents.
• Sunday the 15th was the World Cup Final.  France won.  My pre-tournament pick actually won!!!  And so I wasn't too cheesed off that the Nomad took cover, especially since I got a t-shirt for it.  Charged the Marla's Caribbean wrap and Bloody Karenina and got fully reimbursed for parking; the cover was: $5.
• I then had time to go the library and then celebrate National Ice Cream Day by going to a spot from Franklin Ave. to this new spot called Wonders before seeing my friend's show in St. Paul.  They do this thing called rolled-up ice cream.  I still don't really believe there's much of a difference, but golly, that ice cream was good!  Sure it was hot outside, but it was good.  Really pricey, though.  Anyway, I got to the theater just as the lights went down.  Whew!  I actually got lost finding Wonders, but I'm glad I was able to fit seeing my friend's musical into this Sunday.  And I got in via student rush, and so the ticket was only: $10.
• Saturday, July 14 ... went to the United match.  Got my usual hot dog and Redd's for: $15.25.
• After the game I went to Glam Doll.  Saturday was National Mac And Cheese Day, and once I learned what day it was, I made a day of it.  I went to the Minneapolis Revival, which many people say has the best mac 'n' cheese in town, for lunch.  (Thirty bucks total with a burger and a banana cream pie.  Glad I charged it.)  And then I made a point to eat the Bellybomb, Glam Doll's mac-and-cheese donut, tonight.  I had wanted to eat it again for a while, and this was the perfect occasion.  With two bucks in tips because the guy giving me the Bellybomb was really cool and generous with chips and the mac-n-cheese tots as a reward for waiting as he sorted out some other dishes from people lined up in front of me: $13.07.
• To Friday the 13th, where I had to go back to the library and get another thing for the HR person for the company I'll be working for full-time, namely a paystub: 10 cents.
• After the library, and then working out (well, I had to return a call and check my e-mail, so I was on the treadmill for, like, 20 minutes before the gym closed at 5), I went to Wal-Mart.  This summer's been so damn hot I've had to get a pop can, in this case a Coke, and for price, you can't beat Wal-Mart, which charges only: 50 cents.
• Thursday the 12th -- while waiting for word of when we're going back to the law firm (a call that, apparently, will never come), I went to the combo Caribou/Einstein.  Was going to get a bagel, but apparently my card said I could get two bucks off a breakfast sandwich.  Cool.  That plus a medium mocha (for which I got a buck off because I filled out a survey) and tip and it all came out to: $8.50.
• Figured that I should start printing off these pages I need for my new job in case I start on Monday.  Turns out I won't, but I still printed them out at the library: $3.80.
• Before coming home I went to Wal-Mart to get a Pepsi from the vending machine.  Is there any other place on Earth where you can get a can for: 50 cents.
• Back to Wednesday, July 11 -- Caribou in the morning.  Small mocha, cookie, tip: $6.
• Then I went to the Nomad to take in the Croatia-England semifinal.  Thank Buddha this bar reimburses at the parking lot.  I turned around and used the money I got back for parking to pay for the Tecate that was on special all tournament.  With tip it came out to: $5.
• And then I went to Dunn Bros. for a mocha frap.  With tip: $5.83.
• Went to the United match afterward.  They're in the middle of a two-match-per-week spate.  This is where they lost that Friendly/Exhibition to Costa Rican soccer club Saprissa, 2-1.  Since I expected way fewer people attending this game (and I was right; I got to the gate 20 minutes before 7 and I breezed through) I indulged by eating food at places where there would be lines for official matches.  Got a bacon-wrapped hot dog to go with my Redd's.  With tip: $16.50.
• Satur Tuesday the 10th: Parked downtown for what would be my last day at this gag.  Still find it weird that I was sent off with a "We'll call you back when we need you," and then they never called back.  Whatever: $8.
• Stopped by Caribou because I got a free size upgrade.  With tip for my medium coffee, priced as a small: $2.50.
• After work I went to the alumni chapter's Plan B place.  Our first game of the season has to be here because it's on a specific network our main bar does not have.  I went there a few times after work to make myself familiar with the people there.  Coors Light at Happy Hour plus tip equals: $4.
• Back to Monday the 9th, where I parked downtown: $8.
• Then I decided to eat at a food truck because, hey, who's going to track my lunch break?  I had heard of O'Cheeze and I waited for several minutes (actually a half-hour total) to get a mac-'n'-cheese sandwich.  It was ... good.  Maybe it would've been good for cheaper somewhere else, but it was good.  With tip the sandwich came out to: $9.88.
• Sunday, July 8 ... I finally had time to see my friend in the cemetery.  Went to the closest floral shop I could find to slap a rose and a carnation together.  The man who helped me was really nice and generous; he knocked off the tax, so I just had to pay a clean: $2.
• ETA on July 18 at 3:15 a.m. that I forgot to put this EWR in: With the Mega Millions jackpot jetting past $200 million, I'm back to getting tickets for Father, for which he pays me back, like he did on this afternoon after I came home.  An Infusion of: $20.
• On Saturday the 7th I decided to mix up my World Cup-watching routine.  There were three main places I watched the World Cup, and these three places are the ones where I usually watch soccer once the club season begins: Brit's, The Local, and the Nomad.  But on this day, the second of back-to-back Doubleheader Quarterfinals, I switched it up ... mostly because the American Swedish Institute was hosting a watch party for the first match of the day, Sweden vs. England.  England won, and easily, but I have always wanted to go to this museum, and this WC Watch Party was the perfect excuse to see the mansion and try their version of the Bloody Mary, which the lauded restaurant, Fika, calls the Bloody Swede.  (They use aquavit and beet juice instead of vodka and tomato juice.  It has a brighter color of red, but it was a bit too sweet and smooth for my taste.)  If you attended the match (which, I have to say, cut out from time to time; this was taking place in the auditorium upstairs, but they had to use an online stream of the game, and it lagged when buffering on several occasions), you got free admission into the mansion.  And I'm glad I did.  The mansion is OK, a standing relic to the Swede that built the mansion.  But there was an accompanying exhibition by a Finnish sculptor named Kim Simonsson.  He is known for pieces of stubby-looking children he calls "Moss People," for the velvety finish he sprays on this sculptures before he fires them up in the kiln.  Check out the work; his "kids" are a combination of cute and creepy.  But the ingenious thing about the exhibit is that his pieces were just dotted conspicuously over this conservative and staid mansion.  For example, there is a recreation of the mansion's dining room ... but there is Simonsson's sculpture of a girl splashing into a puddle on the dining room table, and an alien-looking being with sharp "ears" and that moss-like skin sitting next to the fireplace.  These out-of-place works were just dropped willy-nilly all over the mansion, and thus these eerie kids are even eerier.  Genius, AmSwed Institute!  Oh ... I forgot that I put the Bloody Swede on my credit card.  Anyway, for the second game, Russia versus Croatia, I went over to the Town House on University Ave. in St. Paul.  It was recently bought and will be turned into a soccer pub, but right now it's still an LGBTQ bar.  And it still isn't much of a soccer pub either; there were many screens, but all of them seemed to be smaller than 30", except for the projection screen, and it had so many reception issues that it was pixelated and frozen most of the match.  Hope the new owners get bigger TVs and a bigger antenna.  Oh, I hope they make good on taking credit cards.  I had a late lunch and ordered some bar food combo, but they didn't take credit cards, so I had to use cash even though I didn't want to on this day.  With a Michelob Golden Draft on tap and tip the whole shebang cost me: $12.50.
• I got up and left after Russia tied the game in Added Extra Time.  Didn't want to see Croatia lose.  So I went home ... well, I went to DQ first to enjoy a sundae.  They have a TV there.  It was tuned to ESPN, and I saw on its crawl that the Croatians survived the Russians on Penalty Kicks.  Phew.  The sundae cost a penny more than it used to: $3.21.
• After that I went home, then went out to "work out."  Really, I went out to Brit's for its United FC Watch Party.  Except there wasn't much of a party; there were no tables available outside and I couldn't eat on the lawn, so I went to the bar to watch the Loons get the shit kicked out of them by Houston without any sound.  Yeah, I need to re-evaluate going here for MNUFC road games.  I charged all my food to my card.  Went to Glam Doll afterward.  Charged the coffee and my first donut, I think.  Tip along with the second donut: $3.75.
• Going back to Friday, July 6 ... downtown parking for work: $8.
• Hit up another food truck because I was working downtown.  This time I went to another lauded food truck, Tacocat.  Their street tacos were ... good.  With tip: $9.
• Went to our alumni club's main place to say hi and grab a Bud Light.  With tip: $3.
• Wednesday, the 4th of July: Tooled around at home, ate a light breakfast, then lit out to Caffetto to work on my computer over a Dang! butterscotch root beer.  Nice pop.  With tip: $2.75.
• My Favorite Stripclub (Non-Cover Version) was open for the day and was closing at 6.  I stopped by there before the Loons game.  No dances, just a Sprite and stage tips.  Saw an old stripper who hadn't danced there in months because she's transitioning into real estate.  She was scared that she was going to subconsciously walk up the stairs and start taking her clothes off, hah!  Total: $8.
• MNUFC ... dollar dog (they don't seem to be much different from the regular dog; are they not the same?) and Redd's: $10.50.
• Realized the game ended before fireworks usually lit up the sky.  But I couldn't really go home immediately after the match (where the Loons had to hold on for dear life to be Toronto, 4-3) because I told my parents I was seeing fireworks with a friend.  But I knew that Caffetto would be open and immune to any holiday shenanigans.  So I went there a second time (the first time I've ever done that at Caffetto) for a Bubble-Up (a Sprite-like drink I always had when I was a child) and a piece of chocolate cake.  With tip it set me back: $7.
• Tuesday the 3rd was the final day of the World Cup Round of 16 (which I like to call the Eighthfinals).  I was kind of perturbed I was furloughed for that day from work, but that meant I could spend the entire day at the Nomad taking in both games.  So I threw in enough dollars at the parking station so I didn't have to move my car for either game.  I thought I was going to be given full reimbursement for which I would use to buy a Bloody Karenina (their version of a Bloody Mary; tastes like a Bloody Mary but spicier), but the bartender (who, and I will expound on her, was fucking hot, yow!) gave me that drink without giving me back the dollar which would make up the difference between what I paid for parking at that Bloody Karenina with a dollar tip.  In other words, she took a dollar from me.  Oh well; I made up for that by ordering a Tecate tallboy and something from the food truck outside in time for the second game, Colombia-England.  I was going to give two bucks' tip for all of that, but I reduced that to one to make up for being ripped off for the first game, Switzerland-Sweden.  For this, things balanced out.  Total for all was a pretty good for six straight hours: $15.75.
• And after that I went to the library to print out some stuff.  Total: 30 cents.

Phew!  Good through July 16.