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November 2006 ________[11.28.2006]_________________________________ Another week with no posts? Shit man. A fun week of goings-on no doubt. It all started Tuesday evening with a little birthday
party action for my boy Timmy at the downtown Grumpys for beers and deep-fried
mac&cheese. The females talked about cross-stitch while Hribar
pretended to be a Cylon, Dre got pissed because her father once
lived on one of the 12 Colonies of Kobol so she threatened to kick HribarÕs ass and he stopped. However, once she
left the table he surreptitiously stole her nachos. It was a short night, as I had to get up at 5am the next
morning so I could tie-up loose ends before we left for North Adams. Wednesday, Dre and I hopped out of work and onto the train as
quickly as possible to try and make it onto the 2:30 flight to Newark via
standby giving us more leeway on making our train out of Grand Central. As luck would have it (though we were
at the gate 10 minutes prior to boarding) we were first on the list and
managed to get on the flight. However, the flight was delayed until 3:30. ÒNo
sweat!Ó we thought ÒÉthat still gives us plenty of time to make the train!Ó
So we kicked it over to the Copper Kettle and dug into some big ass Schell
beers. ÒFlight 210 to Newark has been delayed until 4:00.Ó came the voice
over the loudspeaker. ÒNO SWEAT!Ó we yelled defiantly into the air as we
tipped back our second round and ordered some shots. We boarded the plane and were looking
good for making it to NYC with time to spare. Long story short, the fates are
a bitch. A bitch with a strap-on that delays planes on the ground and in the
air and put people in Newark at 9:30 at night like a jerk. The fates owe me a
drink. (All pictures at the end of recap.) So after getting into NYC, we headed towards Grand Central to get
a hotel in midtown so we could just go out, party a little, and roll out of
bed and onto the train. Let me
say this, you see caricatures of guido/chach New Jersey and Long Island
youths on television and never imagine these are actually subdued in their
portrayal of how grating and obnoxious these people are. I have been to NYC 7
or 8 times as an adult now and have never seen what I saw in Penn Station
Wednesday night. I wish IÕd
taken pictures. Incredible! We
watched the crews setting up for the parade, made a little trek to the deli
for a pastrami sandwich, and took it very easy. Thursday morning we jumped on the first train north, and
enjoyed the rainy but picturesque countryside of the foothills to the
Appalachians. I saw two swans in a pond through the hazy mist of rain and
swore I was living a Swarovski commercial. Dre had a hard time staying awake,
but it made for interesting filmmaking. Once we made it to Wassiac we were
lucky enough to be greeted by two of our favoritest people ever. A quick drive on the windingest road in
the world and we landed smack dab in the middle of North Adams, ÒGateway to
AdorablenessÓ. So cute. Finally got my hands on my boy Brian, got to meet
Erik and Tif, who are terrificÉan event almost as cool as seeing Cohan, Tim,
and Ashley again. Gerg and Marie are here too!? We love these people! The cooking had commenced and the house was beginning to smell of
holiday. Erik, Tim and Brian had been prepping and putting on adorable aprons
and generally being handsome chefs for the morning. Got to catch up a little,
after which the Dr. and I scooted over to Porches to take showers and change. Fun place
to spend a night. Good energy, light, duvets. Came back and continued the
cooking, now, with BEER! Made some sweet potatoes, Katy made the
cranberry sauce (always my favorite), Erik made garlic mashed, Ash kicked
some excellent stuffing, Gerg and Marie pounded out the green bean casserole,
Tim murdered some mom-worthy gravy with Brian, and CohanÉI think, drank. I
really canÕt remember. Sat down to a beautiful table with beautiful people to
eat beautiful food. Following dinner, the PARTY started. Note the caps. They are
totally emphatic. Peep it. The kegs were flowing freely, DreÕs shirt started
getting itchy, Tim was granting wishes as a magic mirror, and I was sweating like
a stuck pig ripping lines off CohanÕs ass. At some point Goldschlager sounded like a good idea, a
dance party broke out in the living room, (which is the custom when Dre and
Marie are within 10 feet of each other) wine bottles collected, vodka might have
been mixed with formula, hand turkeys were drawn, football was watched, and
general merriment abounded. Then, the beer ran out. It was like the god damn Wedding at Canna and no matter how many
times Brian tells me he is Jesus, the taps still flowed with water. Suzy and
I made a run to Vermont because it seemed logical that liquor stores in
Vermont would be open at 11pm on Thanksgiving. Apparently all the liquor
storeowners in Vermont were off at gay weddings as they sure werenÕt selling
us booze. Coca Cola was procured from a gas station and the party continued
with rum and cokes, a rousing game of Celebrity, and Cohan going face first
into a pile of jackets. I might have touched him softy as he slumbered. Retired to Porches and I think I
watched Murder She Wrote. The next morning we left, sad. So sad we had to say goodbye to so
many people we love so much. Took the train back to NYC, said farewell to
Erik and Tif who were off to a Virginian wedding, and Tim to explain text
messages to his girl and look for pictures of weight lifters with their asses
turned inside-out. Ran to Newark to drop our shit at the hotel and made out way back
into the city. On this day, Dre and I traveled on the following modes of
transport: NY Transit Train, Subway, Cab, Airtrain, Airport Shuttle, and NJ
Transit Train. It was tiring. Not so tiring however that we couldnÕt make it
over to GrimaldiÕs
for our favorite pizza and a big-ass carafe of wine (we ate and drank it
all). I wonÕt bore you with the rest of the night, but it involved partying
around the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn, cocktails in Greenwich Village at a place staffed by
Dominican prostitutes and patronized by the kind of people that like drinking
bad cocktails poured by Dominican prostitutes, drinking in Midtown, then
sleeping on a NJ Transit Train back to Newark. My wife had to yell at me to
wake up and get off the train, which was great as I awoke to a train-full of
people laughing at me, so I laughed along not getting the joke until she told
me on the platform. Let me take
this time to say how bad an idea it is to fly into Newark. What a craptacular
airport. To take the Airlink Train, which travels all of 50 feet, you must
pay $5.50 for the privilege of standing on this piece of shit for 2 minutes
to get to your airport shuttle. NJ is for assholes. There, I said it. LGA from here on out folks. To summarize, we had an absolutely fabulous time seeing, hugging,
kissing, eating with, and partying with all of these people and towns that we
so thoroughly love. Thank you to B&S for their hospitality, graciousness,
sacrifice, and access to their child whom we hope is a little more corrupted
now than he was. Our only regret was not getting to spend more time with
these fabulous people, especially the Miksic family. PICTURES FROM THANKSGIVING WEEKEND! Dre and I returned for what we have termed Òdecompression
weekendÓ. Decompression weekend was made-up entirely of eating pate and
drinking Trappist beers at NE Bulldog, playing shuffleboard, and passing out while watching
football on the couch. The 215 NE 5th shuffleboard leaderboard is
currently at 1-1 after 6 games. Finally, the Dr. and I went to Conga for the first time Tuesday
night after living a block from it for 3 years. Half priced drinks from 4-7
and passable ceviche make it a winner in our books. Contact us for happy hour
America! Listening to: Tapes Ôn Tapes: The Loon Hall & Oates: S/T Ricardo Villalobos: Alcachofa Sonic Youth: Goo Deluxe Edition (SevilleÕs Copy) Stiff Little Fingers:
Inflammable Material everything on blentwell.com Drinking: Luzon Verde ________[11.20.2006]_________________________________ Packers lost. Badly. So that sucked to watch and stuff. Went to Foundation Friday night for NickÕs birthday party. Great time dancing and
commiserating and making out with my wife. Terry Mullan was first rate, loved the
scratch, loved the acid tracks. HavenÕt seen Terry Mullan since some
eucalyptus party in Rockford back in 1996 that had an owl die-cut flyer. During the evening, Bobby Shoestrings hipped me to the knowledge
that warehouse parties are back and going all-night in the city. Told him to
make sure he gives us the 411 next time there is madness going on. Badass homeboy Justin Pitts was able to fix AndreaÕs Powerbook I dislike sharing my computer, and Dre loves her machine, so
everyone is happy, including JayPee who was rewarded with Spring
Street wings for breakfast. We always manage to have the
raunchiest conversations over breakfast when Jana, Justin and I are involved.
On the bright side, no one is chagrined but Michelle usually. Post dance party, Clay hooked
us up with a ride back to 215, I proceeded to make a white castle
run. I gave the boombox that was in my car to the drive-thru guy. He thanked
me. We ate Slyders and passed out. As noted, Dre, Justin, Michelle, Todd and I met Jana and Jason at
the Springer for some bloodies and NE shenanigans Saturday morning. Watched some football, drank a
Guinness, talked about disgusting shit, specifically what kind of shit I
donÕt recall. Lounged around the
house, cleaned a bit, watched more football. Saturday night Todd, Michelle,
Dre, Gerg, Marie, and Myself had a no-spend dinner party (take that capitalism!)
eating and drinking whatever we were able to find it our own homes. Ended up
eating and drinking like kings/queens and having a grand time playing
Balderdash and carrying on. While at the dinner party, I finally got a chance to hear some
rough mixes from the new Dallas Orbiter record and they sounds
divergent, hard, spacey, and generally fantastic. CanÕt wait to listen to the
finished product and party it up at the supporting shows. Still the best show
was 400 Bar
when some teenage rap metal band opened. It must have been just before or
just when Magnesium Fireflys came out. Anyway, I hate 400 Bar, but that night
the fellas sounded spot on. Sunday we watched the Packers lose. Dre and I sulked around the
house for most of the rest of the day and watched a terrible movie. Sunday evening, Dre was feeling
rather festive and asked me out on a date to share a garbage can lid full of
barbeque from Famous DaveÕs. Two
funny things happened at DaveÕs. 1) the blues band that was playing Sunday
evening featured a washboardist. He played no other instrument,
just the washboard. And it sounded terrible. 2) A crazy lady with 4 bags FULL
of crap was asked to leave the bar by security while we were there. We
werenÕt sure what was going on, but we knew she was being forcibly ejected. We
simply thought, Òcrazy lady, feh.Ó When we left however we heard witchy
cackles and screams and had to turn around to see what was going on. 3 cop
cars were now behind Calhoun Square and the cops had her bent over the cop
car and were going through the 20 pounds of junk she was carrying. She was
calling the cops ÒanimalsÓ and was screaming. It was great. I was going to
take pictures, then I thought better of it. Listening to: Sepultura: Beneath The Remains The Dead Milkmen: Bucky Fellini Duke Ellington : Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins Madvillain: Madvillainy DJ Krush: Zen ________[11.15.2006]_________________________________ A week with no posts!? I must be busy. In fact, I have been busy enjoying the Packer win on Sunday. It was
a good deal of fun listening to it in the car. I am sure other people on the
road were wondering why we were shouting and clapping while driving like
maniacs on 94. Why were we in the car during a super pivotal PackerÕs win you
ask? Because we had just completed a weekend of visiting with awesome friends
in Oshkosh,
thatÕs why! Dre and I scooted east for a couple days to visit Courtney,
Jason, Jenny and Brian, with special guest appearances by Herman and Alicia! Friday evening we stayed in, shot the shit, drank some beers, and
just partied tilÕ 3am. Dre and Courtney made a late night stomp out to the teepee as well. Saturday was a fun bit of running
around town. We started by going to Reeve Union and shopping for UWO gear. Then,
off to House of Flowers for mimosas with the Jim & Randy and to
admire the holiday decorating. Following that, we went downtown to a couple
new boutiques (way to go Oshkosh!) then back to the LaskyÕs for lunch.
Following lunch, Jason and I cruised down to FDL to pickup Brian from a grad class and had some beers
while watching the end of the Ohio/Northwestern game. Jason also took me past
one of his company's
processing plants, which I must say looks totally crazy awesome. They have a
machine that can grind a car to bits in 2 minutes. COME ON! Saturday evening,
Courtney and Jason welcomed everyone with beverages and THE BEV CART! God damn that bev cart was sweet.
I subsisted on delicious J&B sodas, everyone else seemed less
interested in drinking for some reason. We munched on appetizers provided by
the HermanÕs and some cheeses we had brought from Surdyks.
Courtney and I made dinner for the crew, which consisted of
day-boat halibut with a native rice concoction and a viognier/orange
reduction and rockinÕ gruyere oven potatoes and glazed carrots followed by
some sick deserts from Jenny. Following dinner, we went out to the teepee for
a little drum session and partied it up ( 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ) After the drum session, the Hermans had to
vamoose but the party continued with some kind of crazy sexual
pictionary/charades board game which devolved into wackiness( 1 2 3 4 5 ) . The night ended with Brian, Jason and I
drinking some very fruity shots and eating the cheese dip Dre had crock-potted earlier. One of the highlights of the weekend was our wedding gift from the LaskyÕs. Dre had been to
the Mondavi/Rothschild
vineyard at the end of last year and brought back a bottle, which
she and I both enjoyed a great deal. Thank you LaskyÕs for an outstandingly
delicious gift! While we were away for the weekend, I received a call from seville
letting me know he was in the market for an external hard drive as he was
looking to rip his collection of approximately 2600 CDs to it! I have been
waiting for this day to come for a long time. An incredible collection of
music that will benefit many once in compressed form. Best of luck Mark, I
wonder how many CD drives youÕll burn up in the process. ;) Sunday night we headed to the Southside for some birthday party
action for bad-ass Mrs Smith! Brad and Bobbi have found a superb
place with solid renovations and first-rate tile in the kitchen. Kids
abounded with Lotus and the Lodahl twins filling out the house with
pointing/crying. As mentioned in MarieÕs webblog,
GergÕs camera went south Sunday, which sucks as Marie and Gerg take some
sweet photos. Enjoyed some wine, some conversation with cBass about the new place and the new lady, and
playing drums with Lotus and the band. Went out last night for Nea. Half-price wine nights are Monday
and Tuesday and Nea
still makes a first-rate Neapolitan pizza. Drank a young Valpocella, talked
about work, walked home with full tummies and red cheeks. Beautiful evening. Tonight weÕre sitting around enjoying Swiss chard and red chard
salads following an appetizer and watching Top Chef
which is a rather annoying show as I really would prefer to watch people make
really good food rather than trying to cook around lame gimmicks. Of course, getting to see Padma Lackshmi acting badly yet adorably is
nice. HellÕs
Kitchen is better. Definitely looking forward to next week in NYC
and North Adams
with the Brooklynites and the Flannagan/MartinÕs. The
last time we visited the Miksics we had an absolute blast and enjoyed
good food
and a warm house. Very interested to see how a hot tub
interacts with a stomach full of turkey. Bound to be a weekend of fun and
excitement. ________[11.08.2006]_________________________________ big ups to marie for rocking the hot hand camera action over the weekend! so election day is over and the dems got what they wanted. I am
skeptical that they will know what to do next. likely fight amongst
themselves and get nothing done as usual. I hate voting for democrats. they
donÕt really represent my interests. they say they represent some of them,
but when it comes down to it, they represent the status quo which is fucking
broken. mike reed, a close personal friend, hipped me
to a whiney bleeding heart blog today, which while
somehow more pathetic and whiney than the daily kos, made some terrific points about last
nightÕs results, mostly the fact that g-dubs will now just do what clinton
did and executive order the hell out of whatever he wants. feh. wisconsin totally told gay people that their love isnÕt valid on
tuesday, thatÕs good. thatÕs a good thing to put into a state constitution: discrimination. I canÕt wait for the outrage when the
country-christian common-law bumpkins that voted for this abomination figure
out that donÕt have any rights when their ÒspouseÓ dies or gets sick in a few
months. I consider myself lucky to work for a company enlightened enough to
recognize domestic partner benefits regardless of gender.
if your company doesnÕt offer them, speak to your HR rep and get them on the bus. on the bright side, minnesotans
approved the money needed to fix the highways and, more
importantly, improve mass transit in the corridor including the northstar
rail and a new light rail line to go from downtown mpls to
downtown stpl. hereÕs to no more 500 car backups @ the kellogg exit during
events at the xcel. totally rocked some free dins @ punch last night with the family demerit. I had
my new favorite: the vesuvio. still not as good as the salsice from nea
though. met the wife and kids of the artist who painted all the clowns and
made the masks hanging in ne punch while on my way to pick up our pies.
surprise: heÕs Italian. btw, meryl streep loves punch pizza. enjoy the change! listening to: misfits: collection ll cool j: bad godspeed you black emperor!: f# a# (infinity) fugazi: repeater david banner: certified sparklehorse: dreamt for light years in the belly of a mountain ________[11.06.2006]_________________________________ GET OUT AND VOTE TOMORROW PEOPLE !!!! (unless youÕre a republican, in which case, get out and vote day
after tomorrow) reminder for nordeasters: free pizza @ punch after 5pm on
election day. first and foremost: a HUGE thank you to all the people that came
out friday to surprise andrea for her birthday! she was truly surprised, and
told everyone who called her this weekend about how great her friends are and
how much she loved the event. andrea had had a rough day and told me it was
just what she needed to be cheered up by all these people she loves. so
again, thank you! for those that werenÕt around to celebrate, we hit keeganÕs,
ne bulldog, and suziÕs. for those that missed suziÕs. andrea was toplessly
rapping on the patio for the enjoyment of john, paula, and brandi. hilarious!
no idea what time paula and john brought us home, but I know it was before
bartime. big-ups to head on the new gig. at the bulldog someone was spouting that brown eggs were magically
more nutritious than white eggs. I donÕt recall with whom I was having that conversation, I
just remember rolling my eyes. made the 3-year-tradition birthday beef bourguignon for andrea saturday. really
just another reason to go to the new lunds. went early morning and scored
free baguettes, reusable shopping bags, and bouquets! we might have reached
the end of eating out every night (shudder to think). watched wisconsin squeak one out against penn state.
coach bielemaÕs trickery at the end of the first half was funny
(go about ¾ down the page). ate, drank, was merry all night. went to champps for the packer game. I wish the packers would
stop losing due to turnovers. 2 in the redzone? just killed us. this season it
isnÕt even favre trying to win every game, its just carelessness. well, at
least we could watch the bearÕs getting whooped at the same time at champps.
beer is cheaper than at the herk too, so there was that. afghani pizza for
dinner and sat on our asses. if you live in ne and have not had crescent moon
uzbek or afghan pizza, you are a numbskull and must go order it NOW! looking forward to an exciting weekend this weekend upcoming.
totally canÕt wait to see some peeps. listening to: sharam: GU29 dubai (cardio) lady sovereign: public warning (stretch and warmup) aaron spectre: live
@ beat research (cardio) sepultura: chaos a.d. (chest and arms) 7 seconds: the crew (back and shoulders) dan fogelberg: longer (core) ________[11.02.2006]_________________________________ two days and SO much dish! hypothetical: first. ÒandreaÓ had an employee attempt to bribe
her. oh the reason why is so good. ÒandreaÕsÓ employee asked ÒandreaÓ to
allow her to retract her 2 week notice because a) she is pregnant, her doctor
will recommend bedrest in 1 week, and she wants to get on the companies fmla
benefit and b) she caught her
husband who is 15 years her junior having sex with his stepmother. please
read that again. dude was giving his dadÕs wife the in/out. AWESOME! anyway,
she offered ÒandreaÓ a bribe so ÒandreaÓ hella fired her. such a sweet story. went to the ne bulldog again last night. a few mentionables. correction from
last post: they have an extensive belgian beer selection in bottles AND taps.
great taps. I wish IÕd stolen a beer menu to give a heads up on the choices,
but highlights include la chouffe houblon, st bernardus, leffe, delirium tremens, deus
and about 8 others. one of the other highlights is that they donÕt let their
beer stagnate, so they have specials on barrels they need to drain, meaning
you get $6 beer for $3. I just wish theyÕd sell the $3 beer for $1.50. the
downside: I have been to terrific belgian beer bars in chicago, NYC,
and london and they all had one big thing in
common: when you ordered an outstanding craft beer from belgium, it was
served in the glass made for that beer. bulldog serves
everything in pints or belgian witbeer half-pints. sorry, but $6 - $44 beer
deserves to be served as the brewer intended. another addition; the
shuffleboard is hella free and hella keeps score. last item: the staff needs help. the guys that work
backbar and behind the bar seem to have together, but most of the cocktailers
(but 1) are oblivious to where their sections are and the characteristics of
the beers served. dre was told the belgian beers were all Òhoppy, too hoppy.Ó tonight we went to the grand opening of the ne lunds. andrea was making meatloaf and we
needed ingredients. it is the perfect size. it is smaller than any other
central MPLS grocery store (not including co-ops), but it packs a lot of
good stuff into a small package. great fresh seafood, good organics, the cheese section is about half the
size of surdyks.
better charcuterie than surdyks though (but not half the pates). some
details: thereÕs a caribou like
most other lunds/byerlyÕs, there is a drycleaer in there (like weÕd ever go
anywhere but gopher cleaners) , the crown however is the freshly prepared
dinner elements from which you can make dinner. similar to kowalskis,
however it is self serve at lunds. the checkout area is like those in other
downtowns (walkup, no conveyor belt) with the addition of tvÕs above the
counters. I never realized how much I missed watching the food channel while
I was being checked out. there werenÕt any signs for this at lunds, but I see them at the
coops, whole foods and kowalskis: wine with dinner. go to that site and sign the
petition. seriously, itÕs one of the things I miss most about wiscompton. in more nordeaster news:
after voting this upcoming tuesday, stop by the new ne punch pizza to enjoy a free pizza and meet the
artist who did the massive clown paintings in the back of the dining room.
dre and I highly recommend the vesuvio DOC style (wet). It is a magnificent
pie but nea
is still first in our hearts, especially for half price wine nights monday
and tuesday. goodnight. listening to: dj kicks: vikter duplaix dj kicks: the glimmers coldkrushcuts nick cave and the bad seeds: live at royal albert hall sonic youth: dirty diplo: favela on blast |
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