Zygi buys new apartment in NY

Would someone tell me what Brad Bennett said yesterday on his 710 AM talk show re: “Indian giver?” A friend of mine (who is Caucasian) said it was disrespectful, insulting and racist.

I’m seeking a little help from the PDD community. I work for 50 Below Sales & Marketing and, like everyone else there, I haven’t been paid in over a week. That’s roughly 300 people who have had to get through Thanksgiving without the money they earned. Some have gone even longer due to bounced checks.

I don’t really want to get into how this came to be, maybe someone else can step up with that info if anyone is curious. What I’m here for is some advice on what (if anything) I can do. I’m sure everyone will see their money at some point but that’s not enough. Who does people recommend I talk to to try and make sure we don’t get screwed again? Lawyers? I hear they cost money. Unions? Some kind of labor group?

Any thoughts are welcome.

The DNT ran a story today detailing a new mixed-use residential/commercial plan for the site of the former Woodland Middle School.  The developer bought the site from the school district in September. You may be familiar with the developer’s other projects like Boulder Ridge and Campus Park.

Currently the plan is to reuse the school building itself, and add one-to-three additional buildings. The student-focused housing would have 300 beds in mainly four bedroom units. If demand is high enough this could be increased to 1,000 beds. The retail aspect of the new development would include restaurants. The DNT story named  Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods as some potential additions.  A hotel is also being considered.

Sounds like the new development would open in Fall 2013 or 2014.

The full story can be found here.

What do you think about this plan? Is it a good idea? If not what would you propose? Personally, I think no matter where students go in high concentrations that residences in the same area will take a “not in my backyard” attitude. This development may not solve all the student housing issues, but it will alleviate it to some degree, and create jobs.

On the retail side what would you like to see at the site? A friend of mine would really like to see a Chipotle, Panera, or faster food pasta place. I would love to see more locally owned restaurants go in. Duluth Grill part 2?

On Tuesday, November 15, after a long day of working on my unfinished, but indisputably kick-ass, novel, I cracked an adult beverage and logged onto the Internet to make my usual rounds.

On Perfect Duluth Day, I found a post by City Councilor-elect Jennifer Julsrud, titled “Duluth’s Plumbing Needs Big Fix,” regarding Duluth’s aging water infrastructure. Accompanied by a short YouTube video (serious people talking seriously about water, serious music playing in the background), the post listed a series of upcoming community meetings that were to be held on the subject.

Naturally, this irritated me greatly. As far as I was concerned, this was just the latest example of Duluth’s tendency to be serious one minute about issues that actually need attention, and the next minute to stampede giddily off in pursuit of unneeded, but very expensive, luxuries that we want RIGHT NOW—as if the money we spend on the luxuries has no relation at all to the money we need for necessities.

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Warning: political, intemperate.

…aaand here’s the sequel (warning: f-bomb, gutter talk, mature situations):

The best Vietnamese restaurant in the City of Duluth is gone. (Thank goodness we still have Lan Chi’s in Superior.) (more…)

I love this site. I love how inquisitive everyone is. I love the willingness to share.

But I hate the “Advice” and “Recommendations” posts.
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Now that I have your attention, what struck me as odd about the original objections to Marc Gartman’s Ween post was how the comments were so out-of-context and un-community in nature. I did see the “bigger boobed” version, am familiar with Ween, and have a fairly well-honed ability to read and comprehend.
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I’m a huge proponent of locally owned businesses. I feel that they generally do what they do better than their franchised competition. Because of this, I’m totally cool with paying a higher price.

I’ve been to Burrito Union probably close to a dozen times, so in no way am I staking any sort of claim, but I can count on more than one hand how many times I’ve placed an order, only to have it incorrectly made. Never anything to the point where I won’t eat it, but when I pay something like $2.25 extra for something like adobo sauce and I don’t get it, I have to ask why? Why would you forget to add a topping that costs between 20-25% of the cost of a customers burrito? Especially when its a delivery order. 

Again, this wouldn’t be such so bad if it were a one-time occurrence, but when the majority of experiences is like this, it really puts me off. I’m a real big fan of Tim and Rod’s other ventures and look forward to Tycoons, but I really hope service comes before ambiance.

Since the I-35 reconstruction is wrapping up and the freeway will be getting back to normal soon, it’s probably a good time to get rid of any lingering road rage.

So … wow … did the past two years suck or what?

This was spotted on First Street next door to Ace’s on Monday afternoon. Let’s hope they teach kids to sing and dance better than they spell. Which begs the question, do pop stars even need to know how to spell?

Are there any fenced-in parks around that are dog friendly? I just got tossed out of one that I found. We were playing, and the pooch was getting a good run, when someone came out of the church and told us that we were on private property. She was pretty nasty about it, as well. So I’m looking for a place to take our pup for off-leash running.

Side note: Church folk apparently don’t have to post private property signs. Also, they don’t like it when you point out that private church property could be considered an oxymoron.

A couple of weeks ago I emailed Chip’s office stating my views on Obama’s jobs bill and I asked for Chip’s view on the bill and if he would be supporting it.

To date, I’ve heard nothing from him.

In the past I’ve email Franken on an unrelated matter and at least his people bothered to send me a standard response in a timely fashion.

Are elected officials obligated to reply to the questions those they represent have for them?

If not, I’ve not sure how appropriate the term ‘representative’ really is.

Did you see this front-page article in today’s paper?  Should neighborhood residents be the ones to decide whether or not sidewalks are included as their street is reconstructed? Is it about building a transportation network that serves current and future residents, those who drive and those who don’t?

Caution: Sidewalk fight ahead on Duluth’s Glenwood Street

Has anybody else being driven crazy by all the mosquitoes in Duluth the past week?! Seriously, it’s like Alaska out there. I can’t work in the yard without getting drained. I can’t ever remember it being this bad. Theories? (Sustained west winds? Moth spraying killed all the dragonflies? Hurricane Irene sucking them all down from northern Canada?)

OK, so what’s the deal? There are no garbage bins anywhere! I want to pick up after my dog, but I end up walking blocks and blocks carrying a bag of … you know.

I’ve just come from Chicago, where garbage is a city service (never mind the pay for play aspect of this city service). And garbage bins are everywhere. One every block on the major streets. And no one worries about throwing garbage into someone else’s bin, because it’s all covered.

As an aside, I used to live two doors down from Blagojevich. I took extra happy pride in throwing those nasty little bags into his bins.

Are there no curbing laws in Duluth?

With the notable exceptions of the PDD Grammar Post and the PDD Troll Zone, what has been the most controversial post on PDD?

Support the public library at the Duluth City Council Meeting.
Please join us on Monday, Aug. 15, when we again attend the council meeting. We’ll gather at 6:30 p.m. outside the Council Chambers at City Hall. Please come and help to support our coordinated campaign to keep the Duluth Public Library a top priority for city funding. The message is, “Our libraries are essential!”

From time to time the geeks who comment on this website will get into arguments about grammar, spelling and so on. It doesn’t happen too often, but when it does it kind of excites certain people while it embarrasses and annoys others. Some people just love to show off their mad English skills, while others don’t care if their capable of getting there sentences from here to they’re properly.

With that in mind, this post has been created as a separate bitching ground — similar to the Troll Zone — for uptight word nerds.

Don’t let this post stop you from creating your own post to showcase public blunders in the future, it just seemed like this type of stuff needs a home base.

Here are some related posts from the past:
Really? And I had my hopes up …
Need Fun!
Great food. Bad punctuation.
Unnecessary quotation marks are sometimes disturbing
A Small Request

To help this discussion along, we’ve started the “Perfect Duluth Day Writer’s Guide,” as a handy reference to Duluth-related nouns that are frequently botched.

Let your ranting begin.

Folks, please be on the lookout for a bass guitar that was taken during a burglary at my home recently. This bass is a viola-type, hollow body (think Paul McCartney, Hofner-type bass) painted green with a small spot on the back that was sanded down to the original wood. It was in a soft gig bag. I don’t have a picture, unfortunately, but really you can’t miss this if you see it. Very high sentimental value. If you happen to see it around please call the Duluth Police Department, or call me at 341-8175.

Anybody else notice a high amount of burglaries in Duluth lately? It seems that a lot of people I tell about this has a similar story of being burglarized recently.

Thanks,
Tony Derrick

Spock is not impressed with the Cascade Park mural. Apparently neither are some of the Hillside residents.

While I was getting coffee at the London Road McDonald’s, I noticed these signs popping up from the other side of the fence.

Three blocks away from my home, every Sunday morning, in front of Holy Rosary Cathedral, in spite of a two-thirds empty parking lot kitty corner from the church, Wallace Avenue is clogged with cars parked up on the sidewalk on both sides and in no parking zones.

Since my neighbors and I have been cited for parking facing the wrong direction (but on the correct side of the street) there’s obviously enforcement available in the area. So what’s going on just up the hill? Maybe they’re actually parked legally… But on the sidewalk? Really? On both sides of the street? So they can avoid walking 80 yards? That’s odd.

I emailed the chief of police, Donny, and my city counselor to bitch (okay, I’m a crank). Not a peep.

In the great scheme of things this is wholly without significance — who cares where the Catholics park? — but in the microcosm of my own petty concerns, it feels just a little bit unfair.

Holy Rosary parking lot during mass

West side of Wallace during mass

East side of Wallace during mass

I recently moved out of a property that was managed by Eagle Hill Development. After I moved, I received an invoice that listed what was going to be deducted from my security deposit. However, many of the deductions were for ambiguous things such as “repairs” without any explanation of what the repairs were.

They provided a number that we could call if we had any questions. Unfortunately, after three voicemail messages and six calls over the span of three weeks, I have received no response of any kind whatsoever.

This behavior is very characteristic of what I experienced when I was renting from them. If we had an issue/question of any kind, it took them days and sometimes weeks to respond. My question is: Has anyone else experienced a similar problem with this company?

My patience is wearing very thin at this point and I just want the money they owe me which, as of now, has still not been sent to me (over a month after I moved out). Please help. I am tired of being taken advantage of by these people.

“In a message to Congress in 1977, I said the country should decriminalize the possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, with a full program of treatment for addicts. I also cautioned against filling our prisons with young people who were no threat to society, and summarized by saying: ‘Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself.’”

— Jimmy Carter, New York Times Op-Ed 2011/06/16

PDD appears to be infected with malware, which may harm your computer. Please leave immediately and take proper measures to cleanse your computer of our apparent filth.

We’re working on the problem, but it may take awhile for us to set things straight. Don’t check back. Keep an eye on our Twitter and Facebook accounts for further information.

And may God have mercy on our souls.

Is it just me, or is there an insane amount of vandalism in Duluth this spring? It seems like everywhere I go there’s a bunch of random scribbles on everything. I’m even seeing it on the sides of people’s houses! I went for a walk down in the ol’ Canal Park this morning, the first time this year since the thaw, only to be pretty disappointed by what I found.
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I am asking all opinions on the state of literature today. Does it exist? Is there a difference between Literature and what most people read today (if they do happen to read).

It makes me sad that many men see reading as a “women’s” activity. Don’t we all appreciate a good story? Why is any novel that has an “Oprah” symbol on it now seen as weak fluff that is not suitable for men to read?

I hate buying books that have the movie cover on the book. Most of the time I have never even heard of a really good book until it is set to come out as a movie. Is that the only way books actually sell?

I am not sure if I will ever own an e-reader but I know I will never give up my books.

Somebody tell them to turn down their music at Leif Erickson and/or Bayfront Park. I live above Skyline and it’s been driving me insane. And while they’re at it, get off my lawn.