Apparently all I do is obsess about TV?

Who knew you could buy the items shown on each episode at RunwayAuction.com? This week's winning design, by Daniel V., is currently at $45. It looks like past auction items have went for around $300 which isn't that ridiculous.

From the Project Runway store you can also buy other items, from tees designed by participants to real clothing designed by contestants. Guess what I think? The number of items available by designer is a clear indicator of how far along in the competition they will progress. I see Santino, Nick, Emmett and Chloe going far.

YEAH SCRUBS!!!

Hallelujah - Scrubs will be back in January. Mark your calendar for Tuesday, January 3 at 8pm CST. Each Tuesday night in January, they'll show 2 back to back NEW episodes. Then it goes off the air :( because of the Olympics. In March, it'll be at 8pm and Joey (ick) will likely follow at 8:30. But January holds in store 8 NEW EPISODES! Yipee.

I've been stalking a few websites for Scrubs fans my favorite is this message board. - turns out the show hasn't been renewed past this season so you can contact NBC and tell them you love the show. I also found some fun video blogs about the show.

If you do not watch this show, you are likely not my real friend. But regardless, you should tune in next week for the premiere of the award winning season 5! The show rocks!

Fun things

I like this quiz about news stories in 2005 - I got only a 60% but some of the questions were unimportant to me aka "Which state did Katrina hit first?" I don't really care, I'll remember important things about Katrina that I'll be able to recall in years to come and don't care what state it hit first.

I had fun browing this list of best shopping places in the world by type and enjoyed finding out that Manolo Blahnik doesn't have a website (even though Google had helped me conclude this about a month ago). I've been to a few - Harrod's in London, the Harvard Bookstore, a Manolo Blahnik shoe store...

I read about this beer, Pyramid, which looks like it's a series of brewhouses on the left coast but they also sell bottled beer. I can't quite tell if it's sold in retail outlets or only at their brewhouses? Perhaps Bejota can shed some light since there's one in Sac. I've never heard of the brand but would love to try their holiday beer, Snow Cap.

Back home (well J-town)

My family and I made the 7 hour trip home from Rapid City to Jackson after spending the last 4 days in South Dakota. Let me tell you - 4 people plus loads of my sister's luggage packed in our car is not fun. Not fun. Especially on your birthday :(

But now I'm at my parents till Thursday, then back ot Mpls, then to Chicago for New Years. I'll give a full report later but now I'm getting hassled to share the internet, because more than one computer can't be online at once at my parents :(

But, I'm enjoying Boulevard Brewing's Nut Cracker Ale so all is not lost. Mmm, beer.

Really?

This guy is taking a 2 year hiatus from Harvard to pay the U appx. $20K to let him play basketball as a walk-on for the Gophers. At least Chad Roberg ended up with a degree from CSOM out of being a walk-on.

Go to hell Johnny Damon

Johnny Damon is headed to the Evil Empire. I can't say I'm surprised because money talks, but I can't believe that if you hate a team like the Yankees as much as you do as a Red Sox player/fan/person who has ever entered Fenway, you would go to play for the Yankees. Bastard.

I found more wedding pix of him and his pornstar wife, in case you're interested.

MN featured on Daily Candy!

I love the Daily Candy newsletters - thank you to Christina to turning me on to them last year. Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) there's not a version for Minneapolis - but there is for fun major US cities + London. For the rest of us, there's a non-city-specific Daily Candy newsletter I subscribe to and today it featured Minnesota products! The MN reference Daily Candy newsletter can be seen here, and the MN products it was recommending has a website, CapsuleShak.

There's a nice reference to Prince and Spam in the Daily Candy newsletter.

Easily entertained

I enjoyed Forbes' Fictional 15 - though I didn't exactly figure out how to calculated the net worth of characters included in their list. I don't who Arthur Bach is, and am disappointed Mr. Malfoy made the list.

Also entertaining - an article that essentially confirms that boys are dumb - it's an article persuading men to go to the doctor.

An update

In October, I posted a list of takeaways/recaps Alicia and I complied after our MBA roadtrip. Since we'll be redoing that route for New Years (one night in Madison, 2 in Chicago) I thought I'd update you on what we've accomplished in the last 3 months:

TO DO
Zoo Imax
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Summit Brewery Tour - scheduled a tour date in February
Frank Lloyd Wright home - Purcell Cutts
Cribbage Tournament at the Otter
Loft Living Tour - attended in October
Frank Lloyd Wright fan club - not as dorky/crazy as it sounds
Hard core book club - not joined but I've been researching
Hang out w/ Minta - not done but I have her email now

TO EAT
Ethopian food
Chatterbox - Alicia did it, I haven't so I'm leaving it on the list
Rossi's - done w/ Alicia and Heidi
Dino's - done w/ my mom
St. Paul Mexican restaurant - done on Sunday night
Asian restaurant by Beth's house
Martini Blu happy hour

I won't add anything to the list at this point, but I'm expecting additions in January - 12 hours of car time tends to end in lists...

Chicago loop subway plan

I thought this forward thinking plan for what Chicago should do with the El long term was interesting. DC has a similar "theoretical" plan for it's Metro system - build a purple line that would loop around this city. I believe it's Moscow that has a series of criss-crossing subway lines with a loop around them - who knew the Russians would get it right before Chicago or DC...

Word of the Day

Logorrhea

Two thumbs down

My friend Nate asked me to go to the Vikings game with him - it was my first time going to a pro FB game and I had a good time despite it being in the teens for tailgating and the Vikes losing by quite a bit. He admitted I wasn't his first pick for going to the game with him, but a couple of guys he invited couldn't go because their wife/girlfriend put down the kabosh on going to the game.

Why do girls like that (that suck) have boyfriends when I don't? I'm sure some set of extenuating circumstances could possibly maybe perhaps push me to tell my boyfriend/husband they couldn't go to a game - but I'm not sure what the circumstances would even have to be. Good lord, let the man go to the game. Girls like that s-u-c-k.

On a related note, I found this on the Overheard in New York website:

Girl: Wow, look at all these vegetables and things.
Guy: Yeah.
Girl: This is great! We should come here all the time.
Guy: I think my testicles are falling off.

iPod speakers for home

I was actually impressed with the selection of options at Target today for playing your iPod at home. They had a display setup with an iPod so you could test the sound on each - nice display.

Options include:

Altec Lansing Inmotion Portable Speakers

Logic3 iStation Speaker System for Apple iPods

JBL On Stage Portable Music Station (not on Target's website)

Since all of these are sketchy brands, I'm not sure about any of them. I like the JBL the best because of the look and the volume controls - you just touch this metal button and it moves up or down - very iPod-like controls (no actually pushing buttons you know). Not necessary but a purchase I've been thinking about - especially because it would rock out in my studio much more effectively than in normal people's houses...

Recommendations? Thoughts? Aside from Jen Meyer's Bose iPod player, I don't know anyone else with a home iPod player speaker system.

Beer + Goldy but not = football tailgaing

Tuesday night is a Specialty Beer Dinner featuring 5 beers in 5 courses at the Campus Club at Coffman Union. $45 is a bit steep but I'm sure the food is good - my question would be if they are pint o' beer or little sippy cups of beer with each course...

At some point, I'd like to check out the member's only Campus Club - w/ alumni membership you can get a 1 month trial membership for free so it could be used just once to check it.

I might be wrong? There's a first time for everything :)

I've been telling people that Anheuser Busch's seasonal beer Celebrate sucks. My mom was excited about it, but I had to give her my review when my dad and I had pints of Celebrate at Matt's Bar a few weeks ago.

Then I learned Sierra Nevada has a beer called Celebration. After reviewing the description of both beers, and realizing the Sierra Nevada's Celebration is on tap many places in Mpls, I think this might've been the beer that sucked. How confusing to name two beers practically the same name just to confuse me.

PS I highly recommend Schell's Snowstorm. From the website it sounds like their winter beer each year is called Snowstorm, but the formulation changes each year. Which makes sense why Julie didn't remember it tasting this good...

A night at the orchestra

Friday night I classied it up and spent the evening at the Minnesota Orchestra. Okay, I admit it was a holiday pops concert conducted by Doc Severinsen. I had no clue who he was till my mom told me, but he's quite famous. And wore flamboyant (but not gay) Christmas themed outfits to conduct - very much like Rod from the Price is Right. Fun.

My work friend Lauren suggested the event, and props to her - she also hearts Christmas music :) The concert was super fun - including Benjamin Britten's a Ceremony of Carols, O Holy Night, and a fun version of Jingle Bells.

I saw an ad in the program for the-orchestra-does-Led-Zeppelin. Sounds fun, right? Until I went to look for tickets and it's AT THE TARGET CENTER. Seriously, are they on crack? I can't believe an orchestra would agree to perform in such a bad acoustic venue. No longer interested, thank you very much.

Hawaiian Covered Wagon

For a laugh, look at this picture of a covered wagon decorated w/ Christmas lights in Hawaii. The blogger's explaination is funny.

Craigslist

I'm not sure if I've ranted before about my love for Craiglist. I love Craigslist. I've been searching it this morning and have a few fun things to share. At least I think they're fun.

SF was the first Craigslist. What was the second? Boston (all the other cities are listed here along with other facts)

I mentioned finding a date by dangling a ticket to a sporting event in front of them - I saw a posting for hockey tix last year in Boston. It's caught on in Mpls - want to go to a Wild game?

People post on Craigslist asking for help because they're poor. I'm not sure if this is real or how I feel about it.

RSS feeds on Craigslist RULE. I'm all hooked up to Mpls RSS for groups, activities, childcare, and volunteers. If you were searching for an apt, how much would RSS rule?

I heart public radio

I was just reading my email newsletter from MPR and it turns out one of my membership perks right now is something I appreciate and value:

Exclusive Movie Screening
Minnesota Public Radio supporters have an opportunity to see the film "Memoirs of a Geisha" on December 22 at the Block E Crown Theater. Pick up your tickets at The Fitzgerald Theater box office starting today. Ticket good for you and a guest. One ticket per person. While supplies last.

Unfortunately, I'll be out of town for xmas the 20th - 29th but I'm glad NPR sent me that email. It made me feel value in the membership even though I can't use it and don't "actually" get anything of value out of it. Just a warm fuzzy.

PS If anyone wants to finagle getting this ticket b/c you can use it, let me know.

Sex bomb

Am I a loser for thinking it might be fun to go see Tom Jones at Mystic Lake? He's preforming April 13 at 7:30. Unfortunately, tickets are $50 which is a lot but he's old and will probably be dead soon so, what the hell, you only live once. Who want to go see Mr. Sex Bomb himself in a few months?
PS Tix go on sale on Saturday - for real.

Word of the Day

Apropos. I'm pretty sure if you use this word orally, you'll sound like an asshole. If you use it when writing, you'll most likely also sound like an asshole.

Just my opinion.

TSA is helpful???

While this website tool by the TSA won't give you to the minute updates, I think their last 30 days historical averages by security checkpoint by day of the week and time of the flight is quite helpful. Surpringly helpful for the government I'd say.

What not to give

This article sums up the 10 Worst Gifts to give to your sweetie this holiday. Not applicable for me, but interesting anyway. I disagree with jewelry being cited on the women's list - I've gotten appropriate and pretty jewelry for a gift with minimal hinting so I think it's not the "worst gift".

As for the men's list - I thought all items listed were obvious. Would a woman really buy her man a self help book or clothes hamper? Annoying girls probably DO buy their guys "cute teddy bears, a mix CD of love songs that’ll make your heart stir, and flannel pj’s with a really cute heart pattern" - why don't guys dump girls like that? They should.

"Wild and Crazy" Word of the Day

How I would define the word: surpass, replace, overwhelm

The real definiton of the word: 1) To seize and hold (the power or rights of another, for example) by force and without legal authority 2) To take over or occupy without right 3) To seize another's place, authority, or possession wrongfully

I was sort of ish on track?

Click here for the word of the day.

Birthdays

As I wish Amy a Happy Birthday (your card is in the mail!), I'd like to announce my own birthday coming up in less than 2 weeks.

OH wait, I don't need to announce my own birthday, the good ol' Jackson County Pilot was more than happy to broadcast the birthday news. My parent's didn't submit this request (when a friend/family member submits a birthday request, it looks like Liz Voss' on Dec 3o - reference to "still being Daddy's puppy") but somehow (probably through the Our Saviors Lutheran Church monthly newsletter?) the paper gets the birthdays for the 3500 residents (and apprently, people who haven't lived there since 1998) and publishes them without even asking for your birthday to be announced. This will be sure to result in birthday wishes from little old ladies all around town.

Thank you Google Alerts for letting me know this was out there on the interweb for all to Google.

Hello lover

Prince William has been mountain climibing. He's entering the royal military academy in Camberley next.

He's also been working with the HSBC Bank in London???? Missy - hook me up!

Not to neglect Prince Harry (Trudy's favorite if I recall correctly)... He's been busy playing the British lottery twice weekly. He spends 2 pounds per week, and would donate any winnings to charity.

Prince Harry trivia - isn't it funny he was born at 4:20pm? No wonder he parties.

Also - if you missed these September 05 pix from Harry's 21st birthday (which you probably did b/c I didn't blog about it) they are WORTH a look. Yummy black and white pix of Harry and Wills together.

170 Baby

A month ago, I blogged that I thought I was on pace to hit 150 points for the NWA Xtreme Miles 2005 promotion. Au contraire. I already have 170 points, and have 1-3 work trips in the works before the promotion ends the end of January. Nice work, Laura.

Holiday bar hop

These people hosting the 2nd Annual Holiday Light Rail Bar Hop are NOT messing around. I was sure I'd see a name I recognized on the Evite but after skimming the nearly 300 attendees on it, I didn't see anyone.

This makes me realize that even though I feel like I know loads of people in MSP, I really don't b/c I bet at least 75% of the people attending are in my peer group and don't suck yet I don't know them. Makes you think.

Doing the Netflix math

I think I've stated the I'm not sure what it would take to cancel Netflix. I'd have to be severely budget cutting to consider cutting off Netflix.

However, I still thought it'd be fun to figure out how much my cost/movie Netflixed would be. I've had Netflix 17 months and Netflixed 140 movies. This equals a cost/Netflix of $2.18.

I think this is a super good deal, way better than buying or Blockbustering AND there's not an easy way to calculate how many new releases I got within the first 2 weeks but it's a lot, let me tell you. For example, when I get home tonight there should be Roll Bounce and 40 Year Old Virgin waiting for me. Both came out on DVD today but Netflix mailed them to me yesterday so they're here today. Boo-yah.

I don't know much but I'll rant anyway

I've watched a bit of covereage of the execution of Stanley Tookie Williams, the man who started the Crips and was punished w/ the death penalty in CA early this am. I realized while watching coverage of this that I don't have a position on the death penalty. I feel like the death penalty is a topic in HS that we would've debated - similar to abortion or other debate exercises Mr. Christopher would attempt to lead so we could "learn" to debate.

On a bit of a side note, while I'm sure he did horrible things and because of the gang he started loads of people died, he had to be a quite convincing and determined leader to "found" a gang and have it as "successful" and "popular" as the Crips. It's sort of like leadership skills and power gone wrong (like with Lord Voldemort). I mean everbody has heard of the Crips - I'm sure my mom has and maybe my grandma might even know?

I don't think I really care if coinvicted bad guys are executed or not. An NPR debate confirmed that the lifetime cost for prision is about $2M and the cost for execution is usually about $2M but can be more. Does it really matter which way they're punished? I guess I'd be against the death penalty just a bit because I think people could've been wrongly declared guilty and now DNA evidence clears them so if we kill them we can't free them. But really, I don't really have a stance.

Is it bad that my first thought was ooh, remember that priest who molested kids in Boston got put in jail and then the other prisioners killed him? That's better than life in prision OR execution. I'm a bad person?

Bytch please...

I'm so sure that this is the silliest co-marketing advertisement I've seen in a while. As if MLB is "soooo in need" of applicants for their internships and full-time positions working for a professional baseball team. Wow, they really need Monster to hook them up with some quality candidates for these tough to fill positions.

Pure ridiculousness. Shame on you Monster - I wish you'd publish a few stats about how many of these open MLB positions are filled by a Monster applicant. Please.

March of the Penguins

I know that March of the Penguins was an improbable winner this year - it made a tidy $76M profit (the $8M budget helped). Yeah, surprise hit, the only people I knew that saw it in the theatre was my grandparents. I don't remember even one discussion with my friends about wanting to go see this movie. (I wonder if Americans would've loved it as much knowing it was originally a French movie and Morgan Freeman just did the narration for the American version... I don't care but everyone w/ their Freedom Fries and F the French might...)

However, as it came out recently on DVD, I pushed it to the top of my queue. And 4/8 of my "Netflix Friends" have it in their queue (and most have it at the top) , and one other friend has already watched it viaNetflix. Apparently, when this movie came out it INSTANTLY became a non-discussion movie and an instant add to Netflix among my peer group.

God bless Netflix! Long live Netflix!

PS If you're looking for a holiday gift for that "person who has everything", buy them a 3-month Netflix Gift Certificate. It's an awesome gift! Too bad I won't make commission if you click through my link...

Word of the Day

Sylvan. I feel like I knew this at some point, maybe from a poem read in HS?

Wicked ha(r)d

For the life of me, I can't figure out when Red Sox home game tickets for June, July and August go on sale. The ticketing website is unhelpful.

Beer Friday

My return to blogging will be on a high note - to say how much fun Beer Friday is. (My return to blogging apparently does not include correct grammar and taking time to avoid the dangling participle).

Friday was Beer Friday at work. Leine's Honey Weiss and Miller Genuine Draft were the choices. This is my second job (and 2/2 for jobs in which I work in an office) that occasionally features Beer Friday. I heart Beer Friday and wish it were weekly.

It is SO much more fun to drink beer IN the office as opposed to drinking beer in a bar w/ work people. Let managers around the world hear that message.

Word of the Day

Scrapple.

How I heard this word and why it's my word of the day:
After the Washington, D.C.-area's first predicted snowstorm of the season, Safeway and Giant Food Stores said the evidence suggests that the legend of a rush on milk, bread and toilet paper before a storm is a myth. Milk and bread sales did rise, but so did sales of eggs, bacon and scrapple, while toilet paper was not a top-50 seller.

As a side note...

My lack of blogging can be contributed to the fact that I've been sleeping 12+ hours/day because I'm sick. It seems to be a viral throat infection, thus no meds to make me better. My body can't get enough sleep so I'm going with it. FYI.

Business quotes

I thought these "words of advice" gathered from business leaders by Business 2.0 were interesting to read through. Good times.

Masa

I saw that this was opening but didn't know anything about it. Masa is the Mexican child of D'Amico.

Bad

The description of the new rules for searching people in airport security frustrates me - I feel this "randomness" they're seeking is more annoying than productive.

Passengers also can expect more randomness at security gates so would-be terrorists won't know for sure what they might see.

For example, an airport might require all passengers to remove their shoes one day but not the next. Some passengers may have to show their identification an extra time or have their carry-on bag hand-searched.

"By incorporating unpredictability into our procedures and eliminating low-threat items, we can better focus our efforts on stopping individuals who wish to do us harm,'' Hawley said.

Using their shoe example - if potential bad guys know you're doing shoe checks half the time, wouldn't you think they'd avoid that rather than taking a 50/50 risk? With this line of thinking, they'd almost be better if they only did it once a week so the terrorists would be more likely to try this but then they'd be less likely to get caught... which is bad...

I'd rather have them check 100% of the time so that people that fly know what to expect from the screening process which makes it smoother for everyone, and gives the searchers more time to search sketchy stuff because they aren't searching my grandma because she didn't take off her shoes because nobody told her to.

In the end, I think that bad guys will figure out how to do bad things that we haven't yet anticipated. Thus, we should try to screen against things to make people feel good but net-net, if bad guys get a good idea they can act on it undetected.

FINALLY!

An awesome new club opened in Minneapolis - Club Three Degrees. I'd never heard of it but read the review on CityGuide. It's in the Warehouse District, it's a large club, and it's up for CityGuide's "best club of 2005" voting.

Oh wait, it's a no drinking club run by a church. Nevermind.

Word of the Day

Alfresco.