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January 07, 2008

my 15 minutes of fame

So my loft was picked to be made over for the HGTV program Decorating Cents. They began filming this morning. It’s a very weird experience and we can’t go back to our loft until tomorrow night. I’ll be sure to post links to before and after photos when the process is complete.

I am happy to say that we had a Chris Monroe print on the wall while filming this morning.


the before photo

September 07, 2007

OMFG!

This is the most amazing story I have heard in a while. Via the DNT.

'The only guy running nude in Duluth': Observation Hill couple recounts how they thwarted burglar
Mark Stodghill
Duluth News Tribune - 09/07/2007

Wayne and Kathie Boniface returned from a dinner at an Observation Hill neighbor’s home Thursday night to find a burglar in their house.

Kathie Boniface asked the burglar who he was? “I’m with the FBI and you are blowing my cover,’’ the burglar said.

When Wayne Boniface got done with the intruder, he had no cover.

The suspect ran from the home carrying less than he came with. A lot less.

Read full story here.

June 18, 2007

...

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Why is it that when I think of Hazel taking her first steps this afternoon, my mind conjures this image?

Not that I'm complaining. I love the idea but...we're in Very Big Trouble. So here we go, blissfully into the breech that is a fully mobile, very rambunctious young lady.

April 26, 2007

Bought and sold

PDD is now Product.

What does it all mean?

March 27, 2007

Come on Dad Give Me the Car Tonight.

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Alan Sparhawk tells a story about his first car crash here. I have had my share of car crashes but my first accident was under similar circumstances. I was driving to school without permission on a snowy, slippery day. Of course I lost control and ended up in the ditch. No damage done but it still sucked.

What about you? Ever steal the family car?

March 20, 2007

40 for 40

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Continue reading "40 for 40" »

November 12, 2006

Invitation For Your Anecdote

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In my entire life, I have never seen anyone play volleyball outside the Anchor Bar. How about you?

October 23, 2006

Nonchalant Moment

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My favorite moment during the Nonchalant Jaunt was when Barrett and Jerree found a plastic baseball and bat, and immediately started playing. Barrett threw the first pitch and Jerree ripped it directly back at him, putting a wicked welt on his chest. Oh the humanity.

(For now I'll file this under "anecdotes." There should be a category called "wacky injuries.")

September 29, 2006

PDD Blog Round Up

pdd-round-up-1again.jpgMany PDDers have their own blogs and I don't often wander off to see what they are talking about on their personal blogs, so here is my first installment of PDD Blog Round Up where I point you to what I think are some notable blog posts on personal blogs by PDD regulars. Feel free to post your own links.

Chef Barrett cooks up the Mac & Cheese o' the Week.

BadCat! gets on the couch and talks about her Semi-Naked Dreams.

And I, Ironic1, manage to piss someone off in a local coffee house.

September 08, 2006

small beer \small beer\, noun:

1. Weak beer.
2. Insignificant matters; something of little importance.
3. Unimportant; trivial.

We dined early upon stale bread and old mutton with small beer.
-- Ferdinand Mount,, Jem (and Sam)

I was not born for this kind of small beer, says Joan the wife of the colonial governor, who imagines leading armies or "droves of inflamed poets."
-- Nancy Willard, "The Nameless Women of the World", New York Times, December 18, 1988

Call me a geek, but for biologists, marvels like the parasitic flatworm are on tap every day, making the reveries of Hollywood seem like small beer.
-- Jerry A. Coyne, "The Truth Is Way Out There", New York Times, October 10, 1999
(Word of the day from dictionary.com)

September 01, 2006

Hattie, John Holden and Crew Jones in Bemidji

In this video, Hattie from Hattie and the Blackframes takes a headbutt. And Mic Trout from Crewjones talks about how words have meaning, among other things.

July 17, 2006

The Opposite of a Blizzard.

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Man was it windy and hot at Green Man on Saturday. I missed the 2nd stage tent collapse by 5 minutes. Here is the aftermath.

July 06, 2006

Now serving table 29C

Incidently, anyone notice what a lovely acronym the phrase "The War Against Terror" makes?

Incidently, incidently... Anyone going down to the Twin Cities to see A Scanner Darkly next week?

June 29, 2006

Perfect Edith Day

My favorite options from the InDesign spell checker when it encounters "Duluth"

Dullish
Dulls
Duels
Death
Dollish
Delouse
Deathly
Dells
Dills
Dolls
Deaths
Dallas
Edith
Tulsa


"Edith?"
Huh?

May 22, 2006

Swimmin'

This morning as I was coming home from work, the calm, placid lake looked really inviting. However I know better.

I think the earliest I ever dove into Lake Superior was in late March. That was back in 1992, and I think I spent about 90 seconds in the water before scampering back to the beach fire. Actually, it felt really good. But I was young and kind of crazy.

What's the earliest you've ever gone swimming in the big lake? (That whole "polar bear" nonsense doesn't count.) How'd you like it? When do you usually first take the plunge?

May 21, 2006

How to Mow Smugly

GS_18in_815_18.jpgI bought, assembled, and used the mower to the right yesterday. Yep, it's a pushie. I can now mow the grass with the fervor of an environmental zealot, knowing that not only am I saving myself from the scurlious stares of lawn conscious neighbors, but every time I use it I am a poster boy for conscientious environmentalism. I am neither consuming fossil fuels nor am I contributing to global warming. And isn't half the fun of being green that self-important feeling of being greener-than-thou?
Continue reading "How to Mow Smugly" »

March 29, 2006

Playing Devil's Advocate

I want to talk about Grandma's, because lately I've been thinking about it and it really baffles me.

Recently, in.dog.neato commented that someone told him the new Dubhlinn bar was "Grandma's with Guinness." Now, I suppose this might also mean that the place isn't very "Irish," but it has another meaning that I think most people who've spent at least a few years in this town understand.

Among many Duluthians, consensus is that Grandma's blows.

But here's where the whole Devil's Advocate thing comes in: I'm not exactly sure why people think that.

If you compare Grandma's to, say, Pizza Lucé, it's different, but it really isn't that different. The prices are pretty similar. Both have very good bartenders and good happy-hour specials. They're both restaurants at heart. Both are small regional chains. Grandma's doesn't have live music and probably doesn't serve any vegetarian fare, but other than that, the main difference is that vastly different types of people frequent each place.

And most people who frequent Pizza Luceé wouldn't be caught dead at Grandma's, I suspect for that very reason.

Another comment in.dog.neato recently made (I'm not picking on you -- seriously -- your ideas just make me think a lot -- it's a compliment, really!) was "Duluth doesn't really have distinct lines between the various social cultures or 'scenes.'" To a certain extent, this is true. But here is an example of an extremely distinct line. Others on this site have often said that Duluth is "clique-y." Maybe this kind of thing is what they were talking about, but I doubt it.

It sometimes seems like there are huge swaths of people we don't even consider when we think about our city or our lives. I can guarantee you that there are thousands of people in this city who do not even know that the Homegrown Music Festival exists, and it isn't for a lack of advertising or hype. I've met a lot of them. They were all very nice.

So what do you think about Grandma's and the people who frequent it? What do you think about other "scenes"? What/who do you hate? Who do you love? What do you want?

March 25, 2006

Homegrown: Only 40 (?) Days Away

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This is Hotrod Heartthrob, standing next to the lead singer of TOTO, shortly after Hotrod sang "Rosanna" with the band. It may not be the TOTO, as their Web site says they're playing SCHEIDEGG CH tonight. Wherever that is, it's not close to the Forest Lake bar where Hotrod accidentally encountered TOTO. (And yeah, the singer guy -- whatever his name is -- said Hotrod had a better falsetto than him.)

Basically, this post is a reminder that the Homegrown Music Festival exists primarily as a showcase for Bone Appetit. From winning the event to headlining it to saving it (as they did last year, when they filled in for a missing band), Bone Appetit dominates the Duluth music scene, even when they live in the cities and play only sporadically.

Low, assorted bands with the word "Black" in your name, fake punk "grrrl" bands, Northeastern Minnesota rappers: Bow before the alter of Bone Appetit

March 21, 2006

The Two Questions

There are two questions that we native Duluthians always ask people when they move here. The first question we ask, usually with a tone of confusion and shock in our voice, is "Why did you move here?" Maybe we don't seem all that confused if you moved here from Ashland or Grand Portage, but if you moved here from any distance -- or even from a foreign country -- we are baffled that you have even heard of this place, let alone chose to live here.

The second question we ask, usually with a bit of sadistic glee, is "Have you spent a winter here yet?" We ask this for obvious reasons.

Because it just officially turned spring (um, yeah) let's assume your answer to question #2 is affirmative. But I would like to hear people's stories about how and why they chose to move to a place like Duluth, Minnesota. If you think your story is too big for the comment section, by all means make your own post. It would be nice to hear from some of the quieter people out there -- maybe some of the member/lurkers who haven't posted yet.

Also, if you haven't seen it, "Why Do You Live Here?" was a recent VoxPop topic on Minnesota Stories. It was a great video with some familiar faces, but I'd like to read some longer, Duluth-centric stories.

Anyone?

March 14, 2006

Banner Story - Simon's Mohawk

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I love the new rotating banners and I have been curious about the stories behind some of them, so I thought I'd kick it off with the hopes that some people would share the story behind the picture.

The above head and attached mohawk belongs to my son, Simon. You can see the unbannerized photo here. At the time of the picture he had just turned 6. He had been begging for a mohawk for over a year and in the summer of 2003 we decided, "sure, what the heck." Simon's mohawk was an interesting experience for him. He got a lot of attention, and not all of it welcomed by him. He's basically a very private person and it was weird for him to have strangers talking to him on the street, even if it was overwhelmingly positive.

I loved Simon's mohawk and am kind of sad he has returned to more mundane hairstyles, but it's his head after all. I particularly liked that it annoyed my mother.

March 07, 2006

Snow

I never really knew him in life, not in his prime at least. I'm leading Van's funeral today and I can't say I really knew him, but I barely know the people I help bury, or marry, or baptize. I'm a page in their long book, or maybe even a footnote.

I was with Van when he died, though, and there is something in that. I said the words. I touched his brow. I comforted his children and grandchildren. I cried with them.

The next day it snowed. I was sitting in the car with my son and we watched the snow come down on the car. We just sat there for ten or twenty minutes observing with some satisfaction and wonder the snow cover us. I felt warm as the car was embraced by snow. We were buried. We laughed, wiped the snow off, and went on with our lives.

March 02, 2006

New York, New York.

V-Nick and I arrived in New York yesterday along with his Swedish friend Yufang. We are staying at a lovely apartment in Brooklyn that I found on Craigslist. The owner told us about a neighborhood Blog that we could read to find out whats happening in the 'hood so I was perusing the site and lo and behold there was a story about our building. He did tell us about the event but it was funny reading about it on a blog not much different than PDD.

Our Brookly Apartment


Last night we went to a neighborhood bar for an event called Cringe. Once a month 20 and 30 somethings get together and read from their youthful journals. It is as awesome as you would expect (video snippit to come.) Barrett Chase and I have long wanted to start Cringe Duluth and now I really want to. It would be awesome if we could drink Brooklyn Lager as well.

Today the Empire State Building and a museum or two.

February 22, 2006

Good for them.

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I love lottery stories like this. My biggest pet peeve is when someone in their 80's wins. If you are gonna win, win young I say. Congratulations you Ham Processors.

February 17, 2006

Naboo Tattoo

naboo.jpgI was in the Center for Personal Fitness in Miller Dwan today and saw a woman who had the Royal Crest of Naboo as a tattoo on her back. Whoever you are, mystery woman, you are automatically entered into my top ten list of geekiest women in Duluth.

February 13, 2006

Who's got wood for sheep?

Catan.jpgI had a great time the other night playing Catan with my kids and some friends. My eight year old, Simon, uttered one of my favorite Simonisms to date:

"I'm not having one of my better games. I almost never have one of my better games."

It was a lovely Charlie Brownesque moment. Truth be told, he almost won it. I love my geeky kids.

January 18, 2006

Lists.

searching the past and the future


I love stats. Don't you? In particular I love to see how people come to PDD. Above are the top searches which yield a PDD visit. My favorites? #19 is always a classic. I think it is a bit ironic that #9 is the band i saw before I got a #10.

Enjoy.

September 25, 2005

This is the Roaster...This is Destoner

I origionally posted this on my blog a couple of months ago, but Brunch w/ Barrett & Co. this morning prompted me to re-publish it to PDD...

Continue reading "This is the Roaster...This is Destoner" »

September 12, 2005

Requiem for a worn out sock...

I'm a sock person. I pretty much love all types of socks...the only exception would probably be those thin nylon dressy things worn by guys who wear suits and ties. My favorite would probably have to be the thick warm wooly socks I get on occasion from some thoughtful soul around christmas time. Why christmas? I'm not sure. I rarely get socks at any other time of the year, and although I love socks, I rarely purchase them for myself. Perhaps I'll have to do better at buying my own socks, given my propensity for pickiness when it comes to my personal attire.

The last pair I got was three years ago at...christmas. I got two pairs of thick wool socks. Both grey, but one had a red stripe at the top with red toes and the other a black stripe with black toes. I've yet to wear the socks as a matched pair. It's always been pretty much one black and one red sock at all times.

I wear socks all year round, with nearly every type of footwear, except my Chaco sandals. There is something so very wrong with men (or anyone for that matter) who insist on wearing socks with any type of ugly chunky teva-style sport sandal (the sport sandal thing is a whole other issue, which I'll spare you the details...for now.) . The only exception to this rule in my opinion (and I know quite a few who would disagree with this opinion) would possibly be a nice thick pair of wool socks and a pair of Birkenstock sandals worn on a chilly autumn morning.

Two pairs of socks worn at the same time can help you avoid the searing and disabling discomfort that can only be inflicted by a blister on your foot when you're out on the hiking trail by adding a little extra cushion and layering between your skin and the inside of a hiking boot...they also, when worn in the proper combination...such as a polyester sock under a heavier weight wool sock...help your feet to stay warm and dry in your boots.

I did laundry this past weekend and as usual, I have to wash the socks I wear at work. Standard black cotton socks. I've managed to pretty much keep the same six pairs of socks for a good four years now, without losing one for any longer than a week or so. Occasionally, one would find its way to the back of my sock bin in my closet for a few days and escape being worn and washed a couple of times until I'd find it again and mate it up with its twin.

Anyhow...as I was sorting out the clean socks and mating them up with their significant others, I noticed a hole the size of a dime in the heel of one of my black work socks. Ordinarily, holey socks wouldn't bother me all that much. I've been known to wear the same pair of wool socks til the feet were completely disentigrated and were nothing more than the necks of the socks on my ankles. My solution to this was generally to wear a pair of thinner cotton socks underneath. This time however, I don't think I have any other recourse than that of disposing of the afflicted hoisery for good. The problem with holes in my cotton socks being that although they can be darned, I wouldn't wear them because the knot of thread patching the hole would feel like something balled up in a tight knot and stuck to the inside of the sock, which would cause me to try and shift the sock around to a more comfortable position. This wouldn't work because as anyone who wears cotton socks can tell you, once that sock has been worn and broken in to the shape of your foot, it's almost impossible to get a comfortable fit in any other position.

So, it appears that I'm off to Target at some point to purchase a new pack of socks. Black socks that come in packs of six or eight and cost five bucks. Unfortuantely, the sock that developed the hole was purchased at the same time as and has seen about the same amount of wear as the five other pairs I have that are just like it, and once one starts to go, the other eleven aren't far behind. So, even though I'll probably wear those other socks til they too disentigrate, another fresh supply of socks is definately in order. Perhaps while I'm there, I'll see if they have any cool wool socks. Winter is approaching and I'd like to scare up another couple of pairs to see me through the cold months ahead. Perhaps they have some toe socks as well. I like toe socks too.