Ok, I know ever since some *ahem* unfortunate events a few months back there has been a vague uneasiness surrounding those silly web "personality" tests. Hell anytime something is done to obsession it can be difficult to look your partner in the eye afterwards.
With that caveat, I wish to point you in the direction of The Geek Test, as there are many self-avowed geeks amongst us.
Take it in the spirit it is offered, as an amusing 5 minuet exercise, and realize no one here is going to judge you harshly one way or another. at 41.22288% I am only a Major Geek.
OK, this weather has finally gotten to me. I'd firstly like to say that I haven't posted in awhile and it's only due to a lack of a BRAIN! Yepperz that's right, my brain (or parts of it) have been out wreaking havoc on heros and really hot space ladies. I guess my brain found some sympathetic monkeys but then some ,probably republican, space-hero jerk had to come along and laser the containment jar....grrr...poor my brain...now I'm cloudy, wet (not complaining on this one) and BRAINLESS!! If any pdd'ers come across my brain at cub or terrorizing a quilting circle or hovering menacingly surrounded in an eerie purple iridescence over a playground, please get it for me. ..Until then, I've substituted a mixture of extra-firm tofu from the co-op, some gumi worms and an old casio led watch I had laying around...Actually works pretty well, I'm always on time and relatively flavorless without a sauce of some sort. Actually, if I could come to think of it, being brainless isn't all that bad, I'm mainly concerned about everyone who has to deal my my dis-embodied brain floating outside their window...Satisfying it's many and diverse purient interests. So please do our perfect little town a favor and try coaxing it with talk of ancient astronauts, pictures of victorian steam powered space ships or wave an Eames swag lamp hypnotically until you can throw a muslin tarp (no plastic please) over it and email me.
read this and thought I'd pass along seeing as it is MN related
"Tammy Lafky has a computer at home but said she doesn't use it. 'I don't know how,' the 41-year-old woman said, somewhat sheepishly. But her 15-year-old daughter, Cassandra, does. And what Cassandra may have done, like millions of other teenagers and adults around the world, landed Lafky in legal hot water this week that could cost her thousands of dollars. Lafky, a sugar mill worker and single mother in Bird Island, a farming community 90 miles west of St. Paul, became the first Minnesotan sued by name by the recording industry this week for allegedly downloading copyrighted music illegally. The lawsuit has stunned Lafky, who earns $12 an hour and faces penalties that top $500,000. (...) A record company attorney from Los Angeles contacted Lafky about a week ago, telling Lafky she could owe up to $540,000, but the companies would settle for $4,000. 'I told her I don't have the money,' Lafky said. 'She told me to go talk to a lawyer and I told her I don't have no money to talk to a lawyer.' Lafky said she clears $21,000 a year from her job and gets no child support. "
Behold the world of the Meatrix, a hidden reality beneath a faux venner. Learn the truth behind the food and animal products we buy. Go to www.themeatrix.com for the full saga.
I have had movies on the brain lately. Recently I became a 1/3 member of a Netflix subscription and this has been wonderful so far. Now I don't have to go to the Movie shop and stare blankly at the stacks and wonder what the hell I want to watch. Instead I line up my choices online while reading reviews and recommendations. The trouble with this is I WANT MORE! I want to go to the Theaters and see first run Indie movies and art films. I want a drive-in theater. I want to drink while watching my films.
Well my friends are you in luck.
Several good things are happening or will soon be happening in Duluth to scratch our cinematic itch.
1. The NorShor is opening their screen free of charge to anybody that would like to show a movie. In today's Duluth News Tribune Wave section is an article about it. This is a nice new option in town. The movies will be free and this will offset the new higher prices of hooch at the Shor.
2. The Duluth Public Library has also been showing monthly movies in that really green room in the basement. I went to the first one and received a 5 dollar gift card for Caribou Coffee. I am not sure if this will continue through the summer but it is a nice addition. Smuggled booze might be noticed in the stuffy environment.
Now comes the fun part.
3. Movies and music in the park. This has been my dream for some time but I am finally going to do it. Initially I wanted to have this take place in Leif Erickson Park but that would have meant dealing with the city, finding a big screen, raising money, blah blah blah. Now I want to do it at the Sailboat Park. That is the name I am giving the park located at 7 Avenue West and Superior St. The city refers to it as a triangle but it is so much more. The shape of the structure protects from the wind and the noise of Superior St is deflected. It will comfortably seat 30-40 folks and the walls are white, so no screen needed. As far as music goes I envision completely acoustic performances for a half hour or so till it gets dark enough to start the flick.
Movies will be chosen by a diferent person each week and that person will also pick the music act and introduce the movie. I think Tuesdays will be a good day to do this and I want to start as soon as possible. This saturday we may have a dry run to see how it works, weather permitting of course.
Does anyone have a video projector?
4. You may all be aware of the new movie Theater being built next to the DECC. I for one am very excited about this but I think we need to let the owners of CEC Theaters know that we want more. We want more than the same Hollywood Shlock playing at two or three of their theaters. By my count they will now have 35 screens in the Duluth/Superior area. I have heard that they plan on turning the Haines Rd Theater into a second run venue which would take eight screens away from new movies but that leaves 27 screens to program.
I proprose that we form an informal lobbying organization to bring better movies to the Twin Ports. I believe that there is more than enough support to make it work. If anyone out there would be interested in forming this group with me send an email.
So there you have it. Four reasons to be excited. Is there anything I missed?
I suggest catching up with Frontline on PBS this evening to watch their "The Way Music Died." Sounds like it's going to be a pretty provocative program on the direction of the music industry over the last thirty years...obviously critical of the record execs who wouldn't know talent if it bought them lunch...which is why we have acts like Britney Spears, and any number of rediculously overrated and overhyped lip sync money makers who've come down the pipe in the last few years...I think it's on at nine...
The monkeys I'm talking about are the ones that when, in a quiet room, you feel like someone or something is staring at you. You look up and the beast's fangs are already bared, and with a murderous look it leaps at you, screaming and clawing with a furious mixture of hatred and fear. You barely have time to cover your face when your enemy is upon you, and it has already scratched one of your eyeballs. You finally subdue the screeching, slashing, mad animal by bashing its head against a file cabinet, but it has already taken a chunk of flesh out of your left hand. You stand over the now-still body, shaking with adrenaline and nausea. You don't know if the thing is dead or unconscious...
I was going to go on and on about shoveling it into a plastic bag because no one must know of your enemy’s presence here, and about how maybe you contract a rare disease from the bite, but I won't. But don't say I never warned you…
Meet Francis. She is a puppy that was abandoned and was not well cared for before that. I picked her up on Saturday night and briefly entertained the idea of keeping her. Alas I am not a dog person but she is such a sweet puppy. So I thought I would offer her up for adoption to you , my Blogging friends. She seems very healthy, I have no idea if she has had her shots and she is definitely not "fixed" yet.
Everybody that meets her loves her but who doesn't love a puppy.
If you want any more info shoot me an email. I will have to enter her in the Animal Allies system soon so don't wait.
Here are Chuck and Lorika after the DFL Convention playing with Francie.
So this guy who was captured and held prisoner for a month or whatever... The first thing I thought of when I saw him was this: He's not afraid of dying. Watch all the video clips (there's a dateline special about it coming up). And you'll see, not once was he afraid, not once did he not believe he was coming home. When he's sitting in the car with his captors, on TV, a position most likely to terrify your average person, he calmly says to the camera "They attacked our convoy." and "I can't say anything else".
Motive? Publicity... political gain... I have no idea. The only thing I know is that guy was as 'calm as a Hindu cow'.
Fahrenheit 9/11 has won the Palme d'Or (top honors) at Cannes! This film is Michael Moore's exposure of the Bush administration and this farce of a war. It uses footage from stealth film crews imbeded with the US forces in Iraq. Although produced by the Weinsteins (Miramax), Disney (which owns Miramax) has refused to distribute it in an election year. The Weinsteins and Moore are seeking alternate distribution.
Let's get this film to Duluth, folks. I, for one, want to see it. I'm doubting that any of the CEC cinemas will carry it. What's up with the new operators of the NorShor? Will they be showing films? Who would I contact to urge them to bring this film to Duluth?
I have had a long standing affinity for intelligent, intellectual acts of Civil Disobedience for quite some time...I regard some forms of C.D. as being little subliminal messages that let society know that there are people out there who try to keep the populace thinking a little bit beyond what's handed to them on CNN or FOX...
A friend in Emerald, WI has sent me a picture or two of an overpass on I-94 headed toward Hudson. There are about four or five overpasses that have "Support Our Troops" spray painted on the westbound side of the overpasses. Someone had cleverly obliterated the "T" and "R" in "Troops" on the last overpass, making it appear to read "SUPPORT OUR OOPS."
I've been going through the deepest darkest recesses of my computer and having a look at all the things I write and never show to anyone. Having a look at all the things I wrote years ago and thinking 'Hey, that's not too bad. I wonder why I thought it was so crap and wouldn't show anyone?' Having a look at letters I wrote and never sent.
I also found this: Solar System Walk. A year ago my husband and I took my son's class out to the park to do this. I worked out the relative sizes and the approximate number of steps for a walk of just over 600m. It's a seriously, seriously cool thing to do, especially with kids... but I'll tell you what, when we did it my husband, my son's teacher and I were all completely blown away by it as well. Unless you do something like this you have no concept of just how huge the solar system really is.
You will need: 11 popsicle sticks 11 small squares of paper. Each one glued onto one end of the popsicle sticks. Pen, pencil, fine tipped coloured markers, coloured pencils ruler
Now: Download the Word doc and print out. With your pens, pencils or markers draw one 'planet' (it includes the Sun and the asteroid belt) on each stick using the Walk measurements on the document. Make sure you write the name of the planet on it. For the Asteroid belt you can just draw some v v v tiny dots all over it. They are tiny so you can't use fat markers. You can just do it in pencil if you want, but with kids it's good to use different colours (the more senses they use when absorbing information the better).
Go to the park or a field, somewhere where you have a clear 700m to walk (I used a city map and worked out where in the park I could do it). Remember to take along the document.
Start the walk by sticking the Sun's popsicle stick in the ground. Notice how tiny the Sun is. Read out some facts about the Sun. Now look at how many steps you'll need to take to get to Mercury. I measured out 2 steps per metre - fairly small steps. When you get to Mercury stick the popsicle stick in the ground and again read out some facts about it. Continue...
When we did it there were 10 of us in all so we all lined up tallest to smallest and assigned each person a planet. That child was in charge of that planet - putting the marker down, reading the information.
When we got to the Earth we pointed out that everyone and everything they knew was on that teeny, tiny dot.
We had a little snack at the Asteroid belt.
It was seriously cool.
If you want you can try and work out where, on this scale, you have to travel to to get to the next star, Proxima Centauri which is 4.2 light years away... We brought a little globe with us, worked out the direction our walk was heading (SE) and guessed that we'd have to travel to somewhere in Indonesia to get to the next star. I'm in London. Basically you have to travel about a third of the way around the Earth at this scale to get to the next planet.
Andy Kaufman apparently pulled off one of the biggest pranks in history...According to a Yahoo story from yesterday (I think) the man is still kickin in NYC...andy kaufman returns
I'm distressed because at work the other day, I got pissed off and slammed my cup onto my desk and it cracked near the lip. It is the very same Hardee's Moose Cup that I bought the day I moved into the dorms at UW-Eau Claire my freshman year.
The cup says Summer '89 and features the Moose in a variety of mildly amusing situations, including fishing (he's tangled up by the fishing line), bowling (he didn't let go of the ball and is himself crashing into the pins), swimming (there is a fish in his scuba mask which is half full of water), and the other side shows him standing on a skateboard, sipping pop with one hand and balancing books of various subjects on one finger of his other hand.
The bad thing is that I tried to melt the crack and repair it, but only made things worse. It became discolored and warped (much like myself). I wound up having to break the entire section off, and now it looks kinda dumb and holds about an inch less water. I figure I've dranken a couple thousand gallons o'water from that cup over 15 years of faithful service. Moose Cup!
1. I [8 votes, 14.81%] 2. II [7 votes, 12.96%] 3. Women and Children First [4 votes, 7.41%] 4. Fair Warning [5 votes, 9.26%] 5. Diver Down [14 votes, 25.93%] 6. 1984 [16 votes, 29.63%]
Thank you Calvin Johnson for reminding me why I like music. Thank you for making us all sit on the stage and making the drum riser the stage. Thank you for playing that Little Wings song even if you didn't really know it. Finally, thank you for being as weird as you are.
I know if I tried to buy some property, I'd be tied into a 30 year mortgage. It wouldn't be given to me for free. I'm sure money will be lost on the deal, thats why one of the guys lives in the castle next to Glensheen.
Okay, baseball season is nearly upon us. Yes, I know the so-called professionals have been playing for months, but I'm talking about real baseball like you can see at a real ballpark like the Wade. (God bless the Wade!) But one of the things I love about minor league baseball is that the players often have a sniglet of music that is their theme song as they come to bat - like the opening bars of "Wild Thing" for example.
And I was thinking, how cool would it be if we could all have our own personal theme song that could play when we entered a room to announce "Here I am! Behold!"
This is my second attempt to post an image for the first time. To make it worth your while either way, I present this link to all things Fred: www.fredsociety.com
Garnett goes to War!! (and then issues a retraction)
I think it's very interesting that Kevin Garnett apolgized for comparing his preparation for playing game seven of the playoffs with preparing for war. Does this say something about our changing attitudes toward war? toward sports? toward metaphor? I write more about this topic on my blog.
I have been a fan of Calvin Johnson for some time. I discovered him first through the Halo Benders and worked my way back to Beat Happening. He is from Olympia, WA. which I have long thought Duluth needs to emulate. He also started K Records, home to many great artists.
So get off yer ass and head down to the MAC. More info here.
John Holden, local poetry slam god opens and I have a snazzy playlist on the iPod for in between things.
I'm working on ...something. Not sure if it'll a traditional play with characters from my head, interview people then write monologues ala "Vagina monologues", or just do a performance art piece with a bunch of jello molds. I'm just glad I again feel the urge to write something other than press releases......
My muse: Breasts
AND I NEED YOUR HELP! Um, not with my breasts.
I'm looking for all slang terms you have heard for yours and others headlights, titties, nubs.
Post them here or email them to me.
Thanks for your help on this most mountainous of projects.
It's been an exciting week in the Viets/Strel household! Lilo, the dog won the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce photo contest and has been named the new mascot for the area.
AND today John and I closed on our new house. We managed to buy in the city of Chicago and still get a yard with trees and personality. Now my Duluth/Superior visitors will have a real guest room and not the aero inflatible in the noisy living room on Halsted!
Yesterday at work I couldn't stop thinking about Tempeh Reubens. The Scenic Cafe has a pretty decent Tempeh Reuben but who can afford to eat there all the time. So I began planning. Bread is easy, a nice Rye. Cheese, Swiss of course, sliced thin. Tempeh, I purchased the White Wave-Five Grain variety. Saurkraut, any variety will do but hoemade is best. So this leaves us with the most important part, the sauce. I was going to go the easy route and buy some Thousand Island Dressing but V-Nick intervened. So I thought about getting some sort of Amy's dressing but nothing seemed right. Then the big breakthrough! Julie Zimmerman was at the Co-op shopping and I asked her what to put on my Reuben. She suggested a Sour Cream and Horseradish mixture, VOILA!
Now making a Tempeh Reuben is pretty easy.
1. Cut the Tempeh in half lengthwise. 2. Fry the Tempeh in some butter (mmm butter.) 3. Prepare the bread by buttering the outsides. 4. Place the bread, butter side down in pan, place Swiss Cheese and Tempeh on top, cover with other piece of bread, butter side up. 5. Brown both sides until cheese is melty and delicious. 6. Remove sandwich from pan and take off the bread piece away from the cheese. 7. Slather with Sour Cream/Horseradish mixture and preheated Saurkraut. 8. Replace bread and cut in half. 9. Enjoy.
After 12 years, Detective Lenny Briscoe says "To hell with all of you" and leaves the 27th Precinct for good. Such events always cause me to wonder, "What was I doing twelve years ago?" The answer, of course, is watching Law & Order.
So, from the Brandon Bird gallery, I present a tribute to Lenny Briscoe, American. (You'll have to click the links, though. It's a do-it-yourself tribute.)
For many of us, Apple's Ipod mp3 player is an important part of our lives and to carry hundreds of CD's worth of music in your pocket is simply amazing. However, one frustrating aspect of the Ipod is that music files can only move from your computer to the Ipod and not vice-versa. This was done by design so the Ipod would not become a portable piracy machine allowing you to plug into other's computer and copy all their music files for free. Until now...
Three programs, Ipod Access, Ipod Viewer and Xplay, are available online and allow for two-way transfer of music files to and from Ipods and computers. Voila, you can plug your Ipod into someone's computer and copy all or select songs from their library and store them and/or transfer them to your own computer. Each program works well and are easy to use. Ipod Access can be downloaded from the web as Shareware for $10.00 from Findley Designs, Xplay is $29.00 from Media Four and Ipod Viewer is Freeware from Intigraf Software. I have used them all and personally prefer Ipod Access simply because it is fast, mimics the I-tunes library, and allows for free future upgrades. Ipod Viewer only works on Mac's running OS X 10.2 or greater and does not support AAC files. Ipod Access works on most Macs, supports most music files and reads PC formatted drives. Xplay is for PC users. All three programs read Ipods and display their contents and you simply highlight the files you wish to copy and move them to your computer. This is a fast and efficient means to copy and share music with others.
"For those curious, the May 23 airings will begin with [Home Movies] season 4's first episode "Everyone's Entitled To My Opinion", cycle through season 4, and then begin over at season one (according to as.com). So prep the VCRs."
Tis the season for great finds once again. This weekend I went to alot of neat sales. My best finds were a 5ft stuffed trout pillow and an inspiration Richard Simmons cassette tape. Maria bought a novel entitled "Switch Hitters" from a lesbian couple. At the sale at the Temple Israel there were matching neon green stocking caps that said, "Mitzvahs Happen" on the front. I can't believe the stuff people get rid of!
ummm I think it was irionic1 that was committing on Negativeland, made me remember this. The Mashin' of the Christ - Press Release There was some discussion about whether this really was the work of outsiders or a sort of viral marketing scheme spun to minimize fallout... Hard to say I don't know the habits of the band outside of music.
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aaaand, numbers are starting to go seriously south for our dearly beloveded *cough* prez. Some out there may have caught pollster John Zogby's prediction that Kerry will win. Certainly Bush's current numbers are good news to many of us (on a political scale) (42% positive, 58% negative, 30% saying economy is good). Of course the standard disclaimer applies, it still too early to say for sure, however time is dwindling and barring a Sept. surprise (say Osama being "found") Bush is in trouble.
Ok, two notes before I relate this story. 1. I generally do not delight in the misfortunes of others 2. The people involved where most likely pretty intoxicated thus there intelligences where impaired. Now having said that, this is the funniest bathroom conversation I have ever heard. The setting: men's restroom main floor Fitgers Brewery complex The Time: eh, 11:45pm-ish Thursday
I walk into the restroom, thee is one ballcap boy at the urinal already and while I am thee another walks in and takes a stall. After a few seconds the first says to the new comer. "So dude, your mom's a nurse, did you ask her about the burning?" second bcb (ballcap boy) "um, yeah she said you need to go have it checked out." First bcb "Oh man, is that good or bad?" [embarrassed silence] second "Well... She says they have like penacin for it" [no that is not a typo, second bcb is a little uncertain of what his mom told him so this is how it comes out, of course what he means is penicillin] first{asks whining}"When is going to go away?" second"Well, you know the penacin is suppose to be good for that." first"Really?" first "um... yeah." At which point I finally exit. Now of course in of themselves STDs are not particularly funny, but this conversation was just a little mind numbing. I thought of finding a pic of cylimidia (sp?) to post along side the text but decided discretion was the better part of valor in this case.
Times Square Billboard-The ad is for a new Swatch watch with touch crystal technology. When the watch dial is touched, the hands spin around to land on different Bunnysutra positions, then return to the correct time.
"It's a playful and fun launch," said Yann Gamard, president of Swatch Group US. "There is no sexual connotation to it, in my opinion."
My son, Simon, and I went out for supper tonight at our friendly neighborhood Fine Chine Dine. Our favorite waiter, Wacky Jack, brought the ubiquitous fortune cookies with the bill. Simon opened his and got the fortune on the left. I kid you not.
This opens up a whole new venue for political activism. Imagine Bush getting this fortune after his meal and his reaction after Laura explains it to him.
I hate it when you're sick and trying to fight it off. The sick just won't let go; and it keeps pummeling you and making your life hell for a few days. You can't sleep, you can't or don't want to eat, and working-forget about it. That's the worst. Concentration is a minimum, you're stuck, sicking away and feeling horrible, not only because you genuinely feel like hammered shit, but because everyone around you is soon going to be in on this very un-funny joke. If they're not already, you're going to give it to them in the form of whatever it is that you have. When I was a kid, I used to go through major spells of sick. Sometimes, they'd have to take me to the E.R. and the only way they could bring my fever down was to put me in ice water. That obviously didn't sit too well with me. I can remember screaming bloody murder as my folks and the nurses and doctors attempted to keep me calm and hold me down. Not an easy task. It's kind of eerie for one of my first memories. All I could see was white. White walls, white tub, and white faces behind white masks; the panic and screams that I heard in my head being my own. The merciless grip of cold as the ice and water surrounded me. As I got older, those spells and their intensity diminished. I still get sick, but not as bad as I used to. I'm still afraid of water, though.
So, Memphis was better and not as good as expected. Graceland was amusing as one might expect;
I was disappointed at the bed in one of his jets. I had heard he had a bed installed and I imagined a huge affair taking up the whole back part of the airplane perhaps with mirrors on the ceiling,(something like this bed in Graceland) but what I got was actually just a smallish thing with a brown bedspread, Ah well.
But what I really liked was the tour of Sun Studio. Not so much for the Elvis connection, but more for the Johnny Cash angle. Got to walk around the recording studio where he first played. So from a historic POV that was fun. On Sunday we drove to Tupelo, Mississippi (If you havent heard it Nick Cave has a song called Tupelo that's pretty rocking), as this was where Elvis was born. An interesting comparison seeing where he started (a two room shack) and where he ended up (Graceland) and led me to two observations... 1. Considering the level of attention and excess he lived under at the end it is no wonder he was popping those pills and I could empathic if he actually took he life on purpose, not a life style one could maintain in a sane manner. 2. Comparing Elvis career with Cash's I notice at least a major superficial difference. Elvis started out clean-cut innocent looking/acting and ended up an overweight decadent drug user, while Cash was pretty rambunctious punk/druggie in his early career and mellowed his lifestyle as he got older. Of course they both played integral parts in the development of American music but, without trying to dis Elvis, I think Cash has had a much broader, longer lasting influence, which may be strictly because of living so much longer but I think is deeper than that. There was much more, the race observations, some amusing store names, my new fav. car, observing Elvis' vs. Jim Morrison grave sites (I know Morrison is in Paris), customer service, Graceland wall, the road patches in Arkansas, and the Krispy Kream Donuts, but this is a long post as is and I shall only bore you with the rest if asked to. It is nice to be back.
The setting: A cocktail party at the old Dark Horse Theater in Duluth.
In attendance: my parents, former baseball superstar Tony Gwynn and about 25 strangers.
The only thing I remember before the zombie part is that, while it was exciting to meet Tony Gwynn, I had nothing to say to him. "Hey, nice job hitting the baseballs," was about the best thing I could come up with, so I just said nothing.
Suddenly, I started to notice that more and more people at the party were developing pale skin and wild, bloodshot eyes. One of them was my mother. She came over and told me she was going to turn me into a zombie too.
I told her I didn't want to be a zombie, but she started pointing out all the benefits of becoming a zombie, and it started to sound pretty good.
Then I noticed my dad wasn't a zombie yet. I asked my mom about this. "Oh, your father is so stubborn," she told me. "He never wants to do anything fun."
My dad came over and told me that, while it's fun to be a zombie, it's also important to be responsible. "Do you think Tony Gwynn could have won all those batting titles if he was zombified all the time?"
"Probably not," I said, "but at least zombies have something to talk about."
Homegrown was fun, and the balmy Saturday weather rocked just as much as the music. I'm still not a videographer, but here's a little something I whipped up -- pasty-skinned rock stars taking a rare voyage into the sunlight and enjoying life, Dullyouth style. It's a 15.7 Mb download, WMV format.
Here's a big, ugly Quicktime version for people with big, ugly Macs. (20Mb -- and the WMV version is much, much better. View that one if you can.)
And now to put "Rock Lobster" on the hi-fi and slather on the aloe vera lotion. Man, I am burned to a crisp.
-Sturdy cro-moly steel road frame with braze-ons for linear pull or cantilever brakes on the seat stays and fork. -14-18 tooth cogs on a flip-flop hub (fixed gear on one side and freewheel on the other). -Sun Ringle 26 inch rims with 26X1-1/4 pizza cutter tires pumped up to 120 psi. -Wellgo pedals on a decent three-piece crank set. -36 tooth Big Ring. -Moustache handlebars mounted upside down with aero brake levers, all wrapped up in black cushion tape. -A comfortable racing saddle. -A good set of linear pull or cantilever brakes. (If you have linear pull brakes, you won't be able to use the sleek aero levers, so you'll have to use cantilever brakes, which are easier to set up than linear pull, but are a little more labor intensive in the long run.) -Bearings, Grease, and brake cable. -Piece it all together accordingly (make sure you use the right tools, or take it up to Brynn, he's good with a wrench.)... -Take it out and ride...
Ssssssscaryfassstttt!!!
This is a similar bike recipe used by bike messengers all over. It's light, compact, low maintenance, and...FAST if you want it to be. It's not what yer ride looks like (unless you happen to be Starfire, and you pedal round on a delicious red fat tire cruiser...), it's what's on it that makes it fast.
A dream o mine. I'll have to suffice with my Mule for now: a Schwinn aluminum S-95.4 hack w/ Michelin center slicks, Spinergy carbon fiber rear wheel and Manitou fork.
There has been some talk about the Friday night bands actually having a shot at winning the annual kickball game. That is about all it is, TALK. They will never win! Long live saturday.
Currentt odds, Saturday favored 3 to 1 with a total run over\under at 11. Wagers will be taken until 11:50am. See Mr. Lindquist.
Out of respect for th rest o the blogger krew...I'll post the link to the picture...sorry...newbie @ this thing, and I didn't think about the bandwidth issue.
Thanks to everyone that came out to the Twin Ports Brewery. The only hitch to the evening was Tony Bennett's illness, he had to stay home and ache and blow his nose. His spot was abley filled by Ryan Deblock.
Tonight is the "official" kickoff at the Starfire Lounge. We will cut a ribbon, schmooze with the Mayor and drink Homegrown Hempen Ale. The fine folks at the Brewhouse are rolling in some more beer stations so the wait for hempy goodness will be much shorter.
The Cacophones will be performing around 10 or so and local music will be blaring out of the speakers all night.
Keeping with a tradition begun last year, the Lake Superior Cacophonic Choir will be performing at Fitger's Brewhouse on Thursday night at the Homegrown kickoff edition of Starfire Lounge. I'm not sure if this post is an invitation or a warning, but it will happen and it will be utterly mint.
Also, of course a bunch of people including myself will be playing some hot Rawk and/or Roll Devil Music. So come on down and help kick off the biggest birthday party of the year.
Thursday Night (5/6) - Pizza Luce - Music - Mixed by DJ Ardour
I will be DJing at Pizza Luce on Thursday from around 10pm until whenever ;) . Come down, get some cheap martinis, say hi, grab a free CD, and enjoy yourself. I have procured a CD player for the evening to augment the typical two turntables, which should open up some new options. Here are some things that will get played:
Electro, techno, house, and other various forms of electronic music
Slightly older stuff like ministry, depeche mode, new order, etc.
Anything else I can get to mix. Soul Coughing? REM? The Who? Perhaps.
A healthy dose of Orbital, as they are disbanding. (They represent a turing point for me, musically)
A friend sent this to me a while back. He lives a little ways east of the Cities in Emerald, WI. This apparently appears on every overpass between Emerald and the state line. It origionally said "Support Our Troops," but someone has cleverly obliterated the T and R in troops...
I showed perfectduluthday.com to a friend yesterday. She took one look at the navigation options on the top of the page and said, "What comes up if I click 'fag'?"
So, next week I get to go to Graceland as part of work... Disappointingly this means missing Homegrown, but I will have access to "the best gift shop this side of the Vatican" (as my boss puts it), plus will be in Memphis until Monday afternoon so Beal Street might make up for Homegrown, any other suggestions of what to do in Memphis?
I'm moving this weekend, so I'm giving a bunch of crap away for free. There's a pile of it at 519 East 6th Street. Nice heavy wood table & chairs, desk, entertainnment center, bookcases, metal podium thing, an old 50s-era Huffy bike in pretty nice shape and whatever the heck else I threw out there while swearing like a madman. I also have half a basement full of stuff for anyone out there looking to furnish their apartment for free - lamps, clothes, fans, chairs, art, cooking stuff, books - just about everything. Call me about that stuff @ 723-8762. I know you won't, but do it anyway. Please!
This site makes extensive use of cascading style sheets and JavaScript, and will probably look awful on systems that do not allow such fancy technology. Also, it probably looks better on version 6.x browsers, and monitors with 1024x768 resolution.
OK, this weather has finally gotten to me. I'd firstly like to say that I haven't posted in awhile and it's only due to a lack of a BRAIN! Yepperz that's right, my brain (or parts of it) have been out wreaking havoc on heros and really hot space ladies. I guess my brain found some sympathetic monkeys but then some ,probably republican, space-hero jerk had to come along and laser the containment jar....grrr...poor my brain...now I'm cloudy, wet (not complaining on this one) and BRAINLESS!! 
If any pdd'ers come across my brain at cub or terrorizing a quilting circle or hovering menacingly surrounded in an eerie purple iridescence over a playground, please get it for me. ..Until then, I've substituted a mixture of extra-firm tofu from the co-op, some gumi worms and an old casio led watch I had laying around...Actually works pretty well, I'm always on time and relatively flavorless without a sauce of some sort. Actually, if I could come to think of it, being brainless isn't all that bad, I'm mainly concerned about everyone who has to deal my my dis-embodied brain floating outside their window...Satisfying it's many and diverse purient interests. So please do our perfect little town a favor and try coaxing it with talk of 
Happy Brithday, Duluth! 
My son, Simon, and I went out for supper tonight at our friendly neighborhood Fine Chine Dine. Our favorite waiter, Wacky Jack, brought the ubiquitous fortune cookies with the bill. Simon opened his and got the fortune on the left. I kid you not.
Here's the $30 you asked for. Don't spend it all in one place!
I will be DJing at Pizza Luce on Thursday from around 10pm until whenever ;) . Come down, get some cheap martinis, say hi, grab a free CD, and enjoy yourself. I have procured a CD player for the evening to augment the typical two turntables, which should open up some new options. Here are some things that will get played:
