Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Minneapolis Population Growing Faster than Expected

January 31, 2006
City planning officials analyzing population and housing trends have concluded that Minneapolis could have a population as high as 466,000 by 2030, reports Sarah McKenzie in the Downtown Journal.

Most of the increased population is settling in Downtown and Uptown neighborhoods, but there is also significant growth along the Hiawatha Corridor, home to the city’s light rail line.


All this emigration to the city is creating new housing stock. Planners expect the number of housing units in Minneapolis to rise from 168,629 units in 2000 to nearly 190,000 in 2010, an 11 percent increase.

Nice pick, Alicia - buying along the Hiawatha Corridor!

The StL trip in pictures (ok, and captions)

One of the St. Ann bars Matt and I visited Th night. Pretty sure all the people there have been sitting there, smoking, drinking Budweiser for the last 20 years, straight.

Over 150 people played Trivia on Friday night for Juice and Drew's birthdays


Our team: Gabe, Angie, her boyfriend, Katie, her boyfriend, Flores, Jenny, yours truly. Matt's sisters are super fun even though I can't remember their boyfriends names.


Bringing sleeping bags into Cusamano's and checking them in coat check (read: scary basement)


Coat check dude. I didn't catch him dancing but he was ripping it up on the dance floor.

Jenny and Drew. Note Drew's sunglasses he's wearing on the dance floor at the club.


Gabe waiting with all the gear for a ride home and looking cool.


Kyle (half cut off), birthday boys Drew and Juice. Please note the classy shirts they're wearing.

After getting back to Juice's house, he was done for the night but the boys attempted to convince him to get up to play poker and drink the backup beer. Attempted this though a half hour of whispering sweet nothings in his ears. Unsuccessfully.


The remainder of the pix from the weekend are in Flickr.

Monday, January 30, 2006

Beer - here's to your health!

An increasing body of serious research backs up beer's benefits...
  • Bone protection.
  • Lower risk for cardiovascular disease.
  • Better heart attack survival.
  • Improved cholesterol levels.
  • Sharper brains.
  • Healthier kidneys.
  • Antioxidant effect.

Yeah, considering I calculated that on average, each person at Friday's trivia night drank 7 pints of beer.

O happy day!

It is after 5pm. I am still at work. The sun has not yet set. I likey.

Complete sunrise/sunset info can be found at this Naval website. Unfortunately, sunset for Mpls is scheduled in 5 minutes and I don't think I'll be outside by then...

Tee of the Day


From Busted Tees. I think it's funny.

10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage is Wrong

01) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

02) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

03) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

04) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

05) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

06) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

07) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

08) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

09) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

I found this on the "Best of Craigslist" - you can Craigslist's Best index to your RSS with this link.

Trivia (?) of the Day

Q: What percentage of high school seniors said marijuana was "fairly" or "very" easy to obtain?

A: 88%. Moreover, more than one-third of teens ages 14-17 say they could purchase marijuana within a five-block radius of their home.

Another fact - More teens enter treatment with a primary diagnosis of marijuana dependency than for all other illicit drugs (cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, alcohol) combined. Among those who have used the drug at least five times, the rates of marijuana dependence are estimated at 20-30 percent.

Yummy soccer boy




While watching the US team play Norway yesterday, I couldn't figure out who Taylor Twellman on the US team looked like. Today, I like to think thanks to enduring years of Felicity while living with Heather (ok I actually grew to like the show, same thing w/ 7th Heaven) I realized it's Ben from Felicity, Scott Speedman. Taylor was a integral part of yesterday's win - he scored 3 goals in the game.

Reading about him made me mad I never went to a Revolution game while living in Boston - I could've watched soccer which I like, seen hotties like Taylor, AND saw the Gillette stadium which is supposedly great. Stupid Laura - I need to start a list of "should've, would've" things, esp. in connection w/ living in Boston, because they make me crabby.

UPDATE: I noticed Taylor has his thumb taped in this pix, and also remember it was taped during yesterday's match. Why does a soccer player need a taped hand?!?!?

Saturday, January 28, 2006

Report from the road

I'm at the Flores-Hogan house and have internet access so I can holler at you and give you an update of my last few days. Trivia night was last night and went over very well - our team got 5th out of 20 - quite a respectable performance. There were 20 tables of 8 people and we went through 8 kegs - Alicia is you could calculate that out that'd be great. Also there was some wine and I think some people brought their own drinks...

Categories included, as best I remember:

St. Louis Trivia
All about Drew
Music
Supersize this (fast food category)
Years in Sports
Black Trivia
Places Juice has been
Captain Obvious
2 others I can't recall right now

UPDATE: The categories I forgot were 70s/80s Sitcoms and Potluck.

There were 2 Mpls questions and 1 Boston question which made me happy because they were gimmies. I contributed a fair amount to the team, and Jenny had a few answers that no one else knew which were quality. Gabe and Matt didn't suck it up for sports trivia so kudos to them. The rest of our team was Matt's sisters Angie and Katie and their boyfriends - I'd never met them so that was fun.

We headed to Cusamano's after trivia - and had more beers than necessary but it was fun. Pix of the coat check dude dancing were captured and will be posted soonish, promise. Today was spent laying in bed, watching TV, and avoiding the rain (how it rains and is crappy after being 60 yesterday is frustrating). Now we're getting ourselves together to start up another night of drinking, good times.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Wal-Bank

Pretty sure if Mr. Alan Greenspan is anti- "Wal-Bank", then I'm against Wal-Bank. On an unrelated note, do you feel like Alan Greenspan and Warren Buffett are friends and hang out and drink beer? I think they should if they don't already...

Outgoing Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has sent a letter to the US Congress opposing efforts by Wal-Mart to open a bank, according to a story this morning in the Wall Street Journal. However, it is unknown whether “incoming Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke would endorse every word of Mr. Greenspan's comments,” the Journal reports.

Analysts say that the Fed may oppose a Wal-Mart bank mostly because the retailer could dramatically challenge the current financial services balance of power by bringing its “always low prices” approach to banking.

Wal-Mart says it wants to open a bank so it can handle its own credit card and debit card transactions and save millions in fees currently being charged by other banks, though critics are convinced it wants to get into the broader financial services business. The FDIC expects to hold a public hearing before deciding on whether or not Wal-Mart should be allowed to open a bank.

Tee of the Day


From Busted Tees. I think it's funny.

A few thoughts...


I was glad to see that rather than ripping down a building, they're turning an Art Deco building in DT Mpls into a Westin Hotel. I hadn't realized there wasn't a Westin in Mpls so this will be the first in the state.

It was so nice to meet up with Michael for drinks last night, even though he almost punk'd me by not telling me he would be in the city until the last minute. I'm not mad - he complimented me on my hair and outfit so I can't stay mad at him.

Prior to drinks with Michael, I joined Julie's dinner club for dinner at the Ecopolitan. Even if you've driven down Lyndale a hundred times, I doubt you've noticed this place, it's a very unobtrusive building. ATTN Rich - do not go here, you won't like it. (PS Rich and Nicole reviewed the Creole restaurant I blogged about - not suggested - it's not spicy and two thumbs down - not a replacement for Copeland's.

Ecopolitan is a "raw food" restaurant - the only hot thing on the menu was the tea I had. They had a large menu considering nothing was cooked - I was expecting less variety of options. I give this place 3.5/10 because the food wasn't great and it's a restaurant in a house which makes you assume it's dirty there (dirty like the Purple Onion - unscrubbed). But, if you've never tried a raw food restaurant it's ok to check it out - I think it was about $15 total inc. tip that I paid and I was surpringly full considering portions are not large.

A shout-out to Heidi - we had a mini Civic parade on 35W South about 8am as we were both heading to work. It was exciting.

I'm signing off because I'm flying to St. Louis and (gasp) leaving my computer in Mpls. I don't have a good reason to bring it there so I'm not... We'll see if I suffer symptoms/signs of withdrawal. I'll be back Sun night and *promise* to post pix in a timely fashion, considering I haven't posted Vegas, xmas, or new years pix yet I suppose that's overpromising but it's a goal at least.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

My boyfriend Frank

I can't stop stalking FLW. Ok, stalking is a strong word - I'm just focusing on this hobby...

This girl has a FLW website - and it includes a great list of homes designed by FLW. A good reference to map out where his places are and when I'm in a place where there's a tour available, I can hit it up.

This Slate slideshow is all about FLW designs - check it out. Two thumbs up.

FLW built a Usonian home in a suburb of St. Louis and they have tours. They're closed till March 15 because the road to the home is "snowy and icy" through the winter. #1 that's BS - it's 50 in STL right now. #2 you think I'm not scheduling a tour when I'm in STL in March. Boo yeah.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Tee of the Day


From Busted Tees. I think it's funny.

Sadly, I like Dunkin Donuts better...

While Google Image searching Dunkin Donuts for my last posting I found this picture. It was funny. Then I looked at the article from which it was pulled on pbs.org. It's an article from a show that aired about 6 weeks prior to the 2004 elections in which they said American voters associate Bush with mainstay, traditional brands while Kerry is associated with premium, challenging brands. This simply idea makes sense to me, and help me make sense of why a state like Ohio went Bush in that election.

If you go to the article there are funny pix of the cars and retailers with which Americans associate each candidate.

Please come to Mpls!


Jet Blue just started serving Dunkin Donuts coffee on flights. Since there aren't stores in Mpls, it'd be a great chance to get my yummy coffee while going somewhere, 'cept there's no Jet Blue in Minnesota, either. Damn.

As I've stated before, Dunkin Donuts is good because of their coffee not the donuts (but the donuts are certainly not awful). This article confirms - "although its name may suggest otherwise, about 70 percent of Dunkin' Donuts' sales come from the beverage and not the baked goods."

As a side note, for some reason, Forbes has a slide show featuring the top topless beaches? Why I'm not sure...

Monday, January 23, 2006

Craigslist is addictive

I'm searching the personals on Craigslist - both men looking for women and, scoping the "competition" out by cruising women looking for men. A few postings were, um, notable:

  • This girl posted lewd-ish pix of herself then complained that creepy men approach her because they think just because she's sexy, she's slutty. Really? That's crazy...

Tee of the Day


From Busted Tees. I think it's funny.

Getting nickeled and dimed

An article on Smarter Travel (one of my favoritest travel websites) gives some predictions about how air travel will be changing in the future and I enjoyed the listing of actual in-flight changes/charges that may be on their way.

  • You pay for a meal, brownbag, or you don't eat.
  • Many have added their own charge for curbside baggage check-in—in addition to the tip most travelers have given skycaps.
  • Many lines have charged for inflight movies and alcoholic beverages for some time.
  • Most already charge extra for phone or airport-counter reservations and ticketing.
  • It's a foregone conclusion that travelers will pay for the onboard wireless Internet service that's on almost every traveler's wish list.
  • American Eagle is already experimenting with a charge for the usually-free soft drinks, coffee, or tea.
  • Several low-fare lines overseas are charging for each piece of checked baggage—no more "free" baggage allowance.
  • Air Canada charges extra for a "comfort" package of a blanket plus an inflatable pillow.
  • Some European charter lines already charge extra for the extra-legroom exit-row and bulkhead seat assignments; some charge extra for any advanced seat assignment at all.
  • Some writers have speculated that airlines might soon charge extra for the preferred aisle and window seats.

Your thoughts/comments?

Mark your calendar!

The Jim Busta Band is playing in St. Paul on Saturday, March 4, 7pm. Be there.

Wal-Mart is EVIL EVIL EVIL

OK, I didn't come up with this thought randomly today, but clearly came to this decision after watching Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. I've obviously suspected this for a long time, backed up especially by Buy Blue, and while I clearly know they're evil, I also to some degree understand that business is business - if everyone stopped shopping at Wal-Mart, city council members stopped Wal-Mart from building in their city (like the state of Vermont has done), and, in theory, manufacturers stopped selling their products to Wal-Mart, the company wouldn't yield the power they currently do.

My review of the movie was good - I'd definately recommend Netflixing it. My thoughts:


  • Seriously, people have to question their city council members and legislatures that both give tax breaks to build stores, and allow Wal-Mart to drain state's funding for Health/Human Services -- the movie says Wal-Mart distributes info on WIC, food stamps, Medicare/Medicade insurance to new employees so they can sign up for their state benefits. So sketchy.

  • The Walton family gives less than 1% of their worth to charity. Bill Gates gives 58%. This discrepency is based on Sam - he didn't believe in giving "any undeserving stranger a free ride... any money given to charity should come from employees or shareholders." Evil.

  • While Wal-Mart theoretically offers full time employees health insurance, as they interviewed employees, single people working for Wal-Mart were essentially paying the same amount for insurance premiums as I do - and their prescription coverage is minimal at best... No wonder single moms trying to pay a "family" premium have to have their kids on state insurance while they go uninsured. Evil.

  • Lots of clergy have petitioned and advocated against Wal-Mart, which I didn't know. It's mostly in poor communities and one pastor basically stated that Wal-Mart plays themselves off as a "Christian" company, and then keeps their employees in poverty and that's un-Christian. Makes sense to me.

  • 80% of crime on Wal-Mart property occurs outside the store in parking lots. Granted, there are many many Wal-Mart parking lots so it'd be silly for there to be no crime in their parking lots considering square footage of parking lots that exist. However, Wal-Mart internal documents have shown this, they've tried patroling parking lots (which results in minimizing crime to as low as 10%) but for money reasons, they stopped any parking lot surveilence. I'd have to know if other retails have pkg lot security in order to really view this as evil on Wal-Mart's part, but it's still sketchy.

  • There's dialogue when the credits run about the Worthington, MN store -- paraphrased, it says that the Wal-Mart sign is 10' over code and the building inspector red flagged it. The next day, the district manager (no longer w/ the company) received a check for $10K to give to the building inspector. The day after that, the violation was un-written up.

  • The documentary is much less forceful that Michael Moore's - they do very little narrative aside from what those interviewed say. I found this refreshing and to some degree, less propaganda-ish. One of the most disturbing things is that they compile probably 20 real Wal-Mart commercials that clearly were developed to go against each claim that has been brought against Wal-Mart -- from being racist to hating women to paying employees low wages to having minimal benefits to being bad environmentalists. Seeing all the commercials in the span of an hour or so is disturbing because they're trying to market their brand to cover up their evil.

  • The "alleged" overtime not getting paid complaints from past employees seem very founded - the store's budget for help is lowered every month as the volume quota for the store is raised. After a store's been open a while, they are cutting their budget so closely they need to have people stay later than scheduled to finish things - if they aren't willing to stay late they're fired. Talk about a store that needs a union.

  • Speaking of unions, the day the word "union" is overheard by a manager, they're required to report it to HQ. The next day, a team from AK flies in to "take over" the store and squash the union idea using Bush-like spying tactics. Wondering if this is where Bushy got the idea for spying? :)

  • I hadn't thought about Wal-Mart being awful for the environment, but apparently to save $ they don't put their lawn fertilizers under any cover - they just put pallets in the pkg lot. When bags split and it rains, it runs into rivers sometimes. That happening is somewhat understandable. But when the county called the store and HQ to complain and ask them to change it, they screened calls and ignored them until a news story ran. Then it was fixed the next day. And they put together a "Wal-Mart is pro-environment" TV ad.

  • When someone suggested Wal-Mart charge more in order to be able to pay employees more, they asked, "Should we pay our thousands of employees more, or save millions of poor Americans money every day that they shop here?" Simply stated, capitalism says that Wal-Mart is right to charge a low price and not pay people more just for the heck of it. That said, I'd still say they're f-ing evil -- some of their practices are illegal in addition to evil.

I want to now rewatch the MSNBC special about Wal-Mart - I wonder if that's Netflixable?

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Pandora helps you discover more music you'll like

I might have beaten Bejota to announcing Pandora. I can't figure out how to search his blog so I'm just going to assume I'm "first to market" with this recommendation rather than waiting for Bejota to judge one way or another.

Pandora is a website that will recommend music for you based on what you like. Simple enough.

Except the cool part is that it creates a "radio station" that plays other songs you'll probably like based on what you tell it you like - and then describes why they recommended it, and you get to listen to similar-ish songs/artists. It's very fun.

Yahtzee Player Wanted

On a scale from 1-10 with 10 being the weirdest, how weird do you think this person would be? Again, a random Craigslist posting I found today...

Yahtzee Player Wanted
Date: 2006-01-19, 9:22PM CST

I'm looking for someone who loves to play Yahtzee or Triple Yahtzee. Location would be a Starbucks or Caribou Coffee somewhere in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis. I supply the sheets. All you need to do is bring your own dice. Official rules prefered.

This would be only in the evening. If you love to play Yahtzee and don't have enough opportunities to play or just sick of playing on the internet and love the sound of real dice rolling, give me a message and we can set up a time and location. No personal information needs to be exchanged.

Fortune of the Day

Last night Beth, Alicia, and I went to Chin's Asia Fresh - it's yummy yummy yummy. Two thumbs up - they have locations in the Milwaukee, Madison, and Minneapolis area. But only 3 in Minnesota - so hopefully more may be coming soon?

I got a "special" fortune cookie that had 2 cookies accidently packaged together in the same wrapper - so I knew it'd be a super fancy special customized only relevent to me fortune.

And I was right - my "dual" fortune is............

"There are big changes coming that will make you happy."

and

"Move forward."

As a side not, these "dual" fortunes follow-up my last fortune cookie fortune a few months ago:

"It is better to give than to receive."

January 23-26, 2007 - Las Vegas?

Apparently, the World of Concrete trade show is quite a large show held in Vegas every year. Concrete is the second most used element aside from water in the modern world. The premiere event is the brick laying contest - seriously this sounds fun to watch and I'm not kidding.

They do lots of exhibits and demonstrations (you can stain and polish concrete or make it into countertops - I think Tim the architect hearts concrete?) and apparently makes concrete "fun". Anybody want to plan a Vegas trip around next year's show dates? :)

You might've wondered the difference between concrete and cement?

Cement + rocks and sand = Concrete

Trivia of the Day

What baseball great received the highest percentage of votes ever cast for induction into the Hall of Fame? With 98.84% of votes cast the year he was elected for induction.

Tee of the Day



From Busted Tees. I think it's funny.

2005 Travelers' Choice Hidden Gems

I spotted this list published by Trip Advisor. This is "technically" my website of the day, even thought this posting title isn't named that. I realized that there are several websites I consult weekly if not daily that I haven't shared with y'all. I let the cat out of the bag w/ my Craigslist accolades, now I'm doing it for Trip Advisor.

My favorite Trip Advisor features are the fact that people can write in their reviews of hotels in bazillions of cities in which you may be planning a trip. I feel that their reviews are MUCH more honest and helpful than some sites that allow users' reviews - where the mgmt talks about restaurants having "GREAT service and yummy wings and the bad reviews of this place are bitter ex-employees." Um no - you're the un-bitter current employee writing the review. Annoying.

Anyway, Trip Advisor has good, believable reviews and is dedicated to every place I've ever vacationed. I give it 4/5 stars. If you have a travel guide site you like better, comment, ladies and gentlemen.

The list of "Hidden Gems" to visit before they get discovered...

1. Holiday Inn Charleston (Historic District), Charleston, S.C.
2. Palazzo di Pietro, Crete
3. Norwood Hotel, Lancashire, England
4. Residenza Cellini, Rome
5. Chateau des Ormeaux, Amboise, France
6. The Bungalows Hotel, Cabo San Lucas
7. Hotel Davanzati, Florence
8. Aparthotel Bonaire, Majorca, Spain
9. Living Waters Spa, Desert Hot Springs
10. Hotel Villas Las Anclas, Cozumel

Friday, January 20, 2006

Are you a genius?

ALZHEIMER'S EYE TEST

Count every "F" in the following text:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...


(SEE BELOW)




HOW MANY ?



3?


WRONG, THERE ARE 6 -- no joke. READ IT AGAIN !

The reasoning behind because the brain cannot process "OF".

Anyone who counts all 6 "F's" on the first go is a genius. Three is normal, four is quite rare.

Pond hockey

The US Pond Hockey Championship is this weekend at Lake Calhoun. Since it's right by my house, I feel like I should at least check it out for a bit. More interesting to me is the Gopher alumni vs Badger alumni on Sat at 5:30pm. Could be fun.

More pond hockey news:

Christina's going to the Feb 11 Badger vs. Ohio State hockey game at Lambeau (yes Lambeau). I want a full report!

Apparently, the Gophs are planning a game in the Metrodome next year? Not pond hockey but interesting...

Fireside chats

I like this list of "places to warm up in the cold MN winter" - and that a majority of them I've never been to! I've heard about WA Frost and think it'd be fun to go to sometime - maybe dinner club?

I was somewhat disturbed to see that one restaurant was listed as being in "Irvine Park" which I've NEVER heard of. Thank goodness it's in St. Paul - I'm not horribly embarassed about being unfamiliar w/ St. Paul neighborhoods...

This sounds like a poorly parented child.

This etiquette column entry piqued my interest - the advice/answer wasn't exactly what I was expecting...

Dear Prudence,

I have been with my wonderful boyfriend for two years. I have good expectations as to the direction our relationship will go. My problem is not with him, but his 6-year-old niece. I believe the little girl has a crush on him. My reason for thinking this? She is extremely rude to me. I have been informed by her that I have a "huge bum," I smell bad, that I'm an "idiot" ... I'm sure you get the picture. I have ignored the insults and name-calling for some time now; she is, after all, a child. But now things have progressed.

On a recent outing I was repeatedly shoved aside by this kid, who, while shoving, loudly proclaimed that it would be she, not me, holding his hand. When it came time to be seated at a restaurant, she gave me a shove and loudly declared that she would sit next to him, not me. Suggestions by her parents that he sit in the middle were ignored. There were comments made to my boyfriend by the kid that later in the evening he should bring me home and come back by himself!

He finally made the astute observation that he thinks she gets jealous when I am around. Well, duh. We agreed that he would talk to his sister about the problem. Her answer was that I need to "develop a thicker skin." My boyfriend thinks talking to his niece will embarrass her, because "she is only 6 and does not know what she is doing." Help!
—Sick of Dealing With It

Thursday, January 19, 2006

If you missed Earl you are a bad person.


Tonight's episode guest starring Giovanni Ribisi is definately in my top 3 list. Which doesn't seem like a lot because there have only been about 12 Earls so far, but it was super funny.

One of my favorite parts: the Crab Man act in a heist like the Rubberband Man he plays in the Office Max commercial. (Office Depot? obviously not a highly effective branding impression...)

In order to make up for it, you can come to my house in the next week or so and see it in my DVR - after that it gets wacked.

Set your Tivo

Dave Chappelle on Inside the Actors Studio, February 12 at 8/7 central

Wanna...

The Trib profiled this art show at the Mpls College of Art and Design featuring cool concert posters. This is my kind of art - you know the kind that teeters on the line of "is that art?" Like Thiebaud's cakes :)

The dets are at the school's website, and it's practically next door to my house and runs through Feb 19. Anybody interested?

Heath Ledger doesn't like West Virginia, Mormons

I think we'll probably form our friendship based upon this fact :)

The article is on The Superficial - I feel like I've read this blog before but don't regularly visit it - probably because it doesn't appear to have RSS feeds. It's awfully snarky.

Tee of the Day

From Busted Tees. I think it's funny.

I love you

JT is slated to come out with his sophomore album sometime in 2006. Finally - I though he might procrastinate the completion of this album more by getting engaged and becoming a dad and pushing back the whole coming-out-with-an-album-I-can't-wait-to-buy.

PS It's apparently "so dope", the musical style can not be explained...

Which would you rather?

I know I've mentioned Della before, but once again, I'd like to give kudos. No, not for her shining review of the Brad Paisley concert. (Eew Brad Paisely - but isn't he married to the chick from Father of the Bride?)

Her blog today of What's Worse?, similar to Which would you rather? I found amazingly thought provoking and interesting. I'm not sure what it is - probably the variety of topics and their level of reality made it fun for me.

Visit Della's blog. Comment on her What's worse? questions. Do it.

Do it.

Do it.

Van Gogh's drink

I'm pretty sure I've never drank absinthe. There was a big fuss when we first got the London in May 2000 - I'm not sure if it was the time or place, but absinthe was oft a topic of discussion. And maybe Alicia drank some (she's loosey goosey like that) somewhere, sometime, (maybe the night she threw up on herself on the Tube?) but I'm quite sure if I had drank some it would have been memorable...

Have you tried absinthe? Is it as "powerful" as they say it is? I'm looking for your story (and this blog is mom censored but I'm pretty sure she doesn't care what you write so don't edit for her).

And why haven't I heard jack about absinthe in the last 5 years?

PS The vintage art ads for absinthe are pretty. But not as office appropriate as my pet posters.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Copy-cat

Michael copied me with his green is the new pink is the new black blog template.

Gosh you're unoriginal. OK I know it's slightly different but still...

Speaking of Michael, I saw Brokeback Mountain last night with Alicia. Obviously, it was v. good. But it also makes me a little sad that Heath gets all the accolades - Jake was good too. I know why Heath's role is more award-winning but it makes me sad b/c it took both of them to make it good. Kinda like how Nathan Lane gets all the award nominations for the Producers as if Matthew Broderick is trash.

Looking for a Wedding Crasher

As I'm planning out my 2006 wedding calendar, flights to book, hotels to reserve, and presents to buy, I'm getting a little frustrated. Not that I don't like weddings, heck no - I heart weddings! I'm notorious for diving for the bride's bouquet (and winning it a fair amt of the time) and think generally, weddings are a great way to spend a night. If you're one of the weddings I'm attending, don't be alarmed, I'm stoked to get to attend your event!

HOWEVER, the thought of traveling to 4 out of state weddings without a date makes me not-so-happy. I like weddings - but I also like wedding dates, as in a mister to go with me... Booking hotel rooms in faraway locales without knowing I'll have a date is not the most fun thing in the world. I know, Alicia is going to go w/ me to Kerry's but that's 1/4...

If, and only if, I can't wrangle a "real" date for these weddings, be aware that if you are a single man who is my friend, a gay man who is my friend, or a girl friend who is fun-loving and likes me enough to possibly accompany me to one of the weddings of 2006 without us looking lesbianish, you "may" be getting a phone call from me with my formal invitation to be my "fake date". Just a fair warning.

When Citysearch just won't cut it...

I've found several either Minneapolis specific or focused websites lately that give fine reviews of a variety of things. I like joining mailing lists and knowing where to find info on the web so I'm going to share these with you, but you probably know about some:

Thrifty Hipster - guide to cheap drinks in Mpls/St. Paul
Minneapolis Happy Hour - ditto

TC Restaurant Guide - self-explanatory
Twin Cities Breakfast - again, self-explanatory (and not a self-congratulatory GenMills site)

Restroom Ratings - you can add your own bathroom review to their expansive, worldwide database - but since they're based in Mpls many are reviews of Mpls potties

Joke of the Day?

Q: What's grosser than Kevin Federline?

A: Kevin Federline with long, greasy hair.

Think about it.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Today's Motivational Message

It's a little hard to read but says: MEDIOCRITY - It takes a lot less time and most people won't notice the difference until it's too late.

Thanks 'lici for sending this onto me along with 20 others, I found comedy in this one especially - but IDIOCY and PROCRASTINATION were my runners up.

Word of the Day

Comity.

I like the Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English definition of this word the best.

And no, I didn't spell comedy incorrectly.

Forty percent done

In my 1,000 Places to See Before you Die Calendar, today's entry talked about America's Historic Homes, including:


  • Hearst Castle, San Simeon, CA
  • Biltmore Estate, North Carolina
  • Fallingwater, Pennsylvania
  • Monticello, Virginia
  • White House, Washington, D.C.

I've visited 40% of these, and curse myself for being within a 3 hour drive of both Monticello and Fallingwater and not making the trip. Damn.

I've never been to NC (or SC for that matter) so I don't feel as bad about the Biltmore...

Watch out Madison!

After emailing Flat Top to beg them to consider adding a restaurant in Minneapolis, they responded with this:

Hi Laura--

Thank you for your interest in Flat Top Grill. We are always looking for new sites so thank you for the suggestion. Minneapolis is one of the most requested locations! We're opening in Madison, WI and 2 more Chicago locations in 2006. I’ll add your name to our files and keep you posted on growth opportunities.

Thanks for being a Flat Top fan!
Flat Top Grill management team

Madison is not Minneapolis, but considering that Madison will continue to be Christina's address through May 2007 I'm happy with this developement. And with Flat Top's move to the West - we can only keep hoping for a MN Flat Top to become a reality!

UPDATE: This location will be at the Hilldale Mall not on State Street as I'd have expected.

Is today your Monday?

Like Bejota, I didn't get yesterday off for the MLK Holiday. However, nearly a third of U.S. companies give employees a holiday on Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

This number seems low to me - mostly because my last two employers did give me MLK off... And I thought I was an East Coast thing, but clearly more than 1/3 of companies are HQed on the East Coast so I'm not sure what's up w/ how HR determines if we get the day off.

Monday, January 16, 2006

Yeah!

My friend Amy booked a trip to visit me the end of April. It'll be her first time to Minnesota so trips to the MOA and other fun MN places are in store... X your fingers that there isn't a blizzard :)

However, her request to "visit a Dakota" because she's never been there (and no one she knows has been there) has been denied. We're not trucking to Sioux Falls or Fargo during your 3 days in MN. Although, believe it or not, I've never been to NoDak so maybe a Fargo trip isn't that inappropriate...

Banned words and phrases for 2006

Lake Superior State University's 2006 list of words banished "for mis-use, over-use and general uselessness":

--Surreal
--Hunker down
--Person of interest
--Community of learners
--Up-or-down vote
--Breaking news
--Designer breed
--FEMA
--First-time caller
--Pass the savings on to you!
--97 percent fat-free
--An accident that didn't have to happen
--Junk science
--Git-r-done
--Dawg
--Talking points
--Holiday tree

Step it up!

I understand that loads of people hate the new format of the Star Tribune - in mid October, they revamped both the hard copy and online edition. I'm not against change - I probably like it more than most people.

My biggest complaint about the hard copy is that it's hard to figure out which section contains which type of articles - labeling the Variety section "Source" still doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

However, my much larger complaint is this:

No, it isn't that there are more advertisements on the Trib's web edition now. Nor is it that Honda is advertising - I like Honda. No, it's the fact that this "summer" ad appeared on the Trib website just a few days ago - aka mid-January.

Something is wrong with their systems - "summer" ads appear in mid-January, and the main page keeps showing headlines that came out dated December 30, January 3, and similarly - aka 2 weeks old. If I accidently click on "Pay Dirt: Live it up on a budget" offering cheap New Years options or "Will factories have a Merry Christmas? Cyber Monday", a mid-Dec forecast of retail Q4 trends, I'm seriously boycotting the online Tribune.

Remove these old articles from the spotlighted articles on the main page, damn it.

UPDATE: I just saw the Honda Summer ad on Dictionary.com so it may not be the Trib's fault. But everything else is clearly the Trib f-ing up.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Trivia of the Day

What was the first black-controlled company traded on the New York Stock Exchange? In 1991.

Highlights


Just got back from a low-key weekend in Chicago. I stayed with Amy and Marc and highlights of the weekend included:


  • Dinner at Sushi Samba w/ Zip and Oli and Amy and Marc. It was fancy and yummy - especially the beef rolls. Great atmosphere!
  • Getting to ride the El more than I have in quite a while. I heart public transportation.
  • Buying a nice pop-up map of Chicago. I don't "get" the layout of Chi as much as I'd like to so this is a step in the right direction. Also need to drive around Chicago for a couple of days through the neighborhoods.
  • Having FREE Flat Top. I'd gotten a birthday coupon that expires later this week and was happy to have a chance to use it. For the first time ever, I tried the soup option at Flat Top - the vegetable soup, not the sweet and sour. I give it two thumbs up and will probably have it again next time I'm at a Flat Top.
  • Finding out that there is a Zip and Oli wedding website. So dorky, but it is a pretty site.

Word of the Day

Photogrammetrist.

Hint: It's what Amy's dad does...

Friday, January 13, 2006

SHHHHHHH!


Guess where I went last night? The Safe House. I'd never been so thankfully Lyn gave me the password so I didn't have to do something silly to get it. I thought it was super fun - even though the bartender was subpar at best.

He pretty much ignored Lyn and I (which just doesn't even make sense so we decided he's gay, we're reasonable people) but the magician liked us. He performed a few tricks with each of us and we were appropriately impressed and delighted. Two thumbs up for the Safe House.

PS I think I like Miller High Life!?!?!?

Thursday, January 12, 2006

I concur...

with 90% of this lady's statements.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

I'm here in MKE again for work and hot damn, I land at 11:30am, it's 50 degrees. Nice. I had an "interesting" meeting for work this afternoon, and got to chat w/ M. Dorey. He's living in Milwaukee and we exchanged business cards, so cliche but oh well - no harm done. I'm doing some work now and then am stoked for dinner w/ Lyn - likely yummy real Mexican here. Yum. Might make my first trip ever to the acclaimed (at least by cheeseheads) Boston Store if I have time tonight around dinner plans.

Tomorrow after a few meetings, I'm Amtraking to Chicago to stay w/ Zip for the weekend - not fulfilling my "I'll be back once a month!!!" statement made in October, but I was there in October, saw her in Vegas in November, was in Chi in December for NYE but didn't see her then, and am now here in January so I'm not doing too bad.

We'd love to go to the Bulls-Pacers game but tix are hard to come by since it's a big rivalry. If we get them, awesome. Otherwise "to dos" in Evanston include... going back to the store where I got the earrings I promptly lost, having sushi, seeing Amy/Marc, and possibly Todd.

Ooh, and meeting and falling in love with a cute MBAer who loves me back. Oh wait.

PS The travel continues as I used a voucher (read: free free free) to book to SFO the end of March/first weekend of April. A trip to Tahoe is in order considering I've skiied only once this winter and who knows how long MD will be based in SF.

Joke of the Day


Two blonde girls were working for the city public works department. One would dig a hole and the other would follow behind her and fill the hole in. They worked up one side of the street, then down the other, then moved on to the next street, working furiously all day without rest, one girl digging a hole, the other girl filling it in again.

An onlooker was amazed at their hard work, but couldn't understand what they were doing. So he asked the hole digger, "I'm impressed by the effort you two are putting into your work, but I don't get it – why do you dig a hole, only to have your partner follow behind and fill it up again?"

The hole digger wiped her brow and sighed, "Well, I suppose it probably looks odd because we're normally a three-person team. But today the girl who plants the trees called in sick."

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Joke of the Day

A new young monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to help the other monks in copying the old canons and laws of the church by hand. He notices, however, that all of the monks are copying from copies, not from the original manuscript.

So, the new monk goes to the head abbot to question this, pointing out that if someone made even a small error in the first copy, it would never be picked up. In fact, that error would be continued in all of the subsequent copies. The head monk, says, "We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son."

So, he goes down into the dark caves underneath the monastery where the original manuscript is held as archives in a locked vault that hasn't been opened for hundreds of years. Hours go by and nobody sees the old abbot. The young monk gets worried and goes downstairs to look for him.

He sees him banging his head against the wall, and wailing, "We forgot the 'R'. We forgot the 'R'." His forehead is all bloody and bruised and he is crying uncontrollably. The young monk asks the old abbot, "What's wrong, father?" With a choking voice, the old abbot replies, "The word is celebrate."

Evil MySpace?

I've been questioned lately as to if I "MySpace". I had to go to Bejota to find out what this even meant, and felt stupid for not knowing when "everyone is doing it".

So I read up on MySpace, figured out it's Friendster-ish and didn't sign up because I don't care to do another of those things... Then last night I read in a NYT article that MySpace is owned by the Evil Empire (not the Yankees) but Rupert's News Corp. They were thinking about rebranding it and associating it with their Fox brand, but it took off so quickly (started I think in late 2004, and since July it's members have literally doubled) they wanted to capitalize on the MySpace name so they stuck with it.

Rupert, a self admitted "digital immigrant", isn't sure how to use the internet to News Corp's advantage, but I bet that I won't like what they decide. Stay out of the internet, Rup - it'll overwhelm you old man.

Sounds like Alicia

From Tales of a Post Grad Nothing, a story about playing with a 7 year old. If this hasn't happened to Alicia yet, it sounds an evening that's almost certain to occur at some point in her life. I'm just sayin...

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

So many blogs, so little time

I thought RSS feeds would enable me to more easily keep track of the blogs I read. It has, and I highly recommend them, but I keep finding more and more blog to read. This became even more realized when I found this list of the best of blogs.

While I'm sure some (the inspirational ones) are cheesy and won't get on my RSS list, the snarky ones are especially good. I'm scanning through them and trying to decide who makes the cut. Hopefully I find some super fun ones (maybe even Mpls ones?) - I'll keep you updated.

FLW Fan!?!?



Let me make it QUITE clear - I do not like FLW as much as this guy. And I'm way to scared to ever get a tattoo of any kind, ever.

His website was started to feed his obsession with FLW and he's roadtripped around the US of A to see FLW stuff which makes me jealous. I'd just like to visit a few more places during my somewhat frequent roadtrips MSP-CHI - that's all I'm looking for right now...

I also tracked down what "Fantasy Architecture Camp" is - we saw a man wearing a camp with that phrase on his shirt while touring the SC Johnson Wax building in September. There are other "adult" programs for FLW enthusiasts.

Carlson School's expansion is U's highest priority

Again, why CSOM is special and everyone hates CSOM. The U is pushing for the expansion of CSOM, as I understand it a separate building will sit in the carpool lot next to CSOM with a skyway connecting the two buildings. I think the "official" plans will be revealed in March maybe? I'll be interested to see what it looks like.

Three things caught my eye in the article:
  1. 7/8 people that apply to CSOM are rejected - those accepted are usually in the top 5% of their HS class.
  2. CSOM graduates only about 450 business students annually, compared with the Big Ten business-school average of 1,000.
  3. Seventy-seven percent of our applicants are Minnesota residents, and half of undergraduate students are women.

I think the "better" a business degree from CSOM becomes, the more value in the degree I've already gotten from there. Is that true do you think?

The economic impact of the big party


Mardi Gras in New Orleans is looking for corporate sponsors for the first time ever and many companies are interested. Some say it's in bad taste to have Mardi Gras while thousands are still homeless, but I think from an economic standpoint it makes sense.

If people travel to New Orleans for the festivities, the money they're flowing into the city makes it worth it - and gets the city's #1 business, tourism, going again. Your thoughts?

93X

This morning I saw a bumper sticker:

"Drive it like you stole it." Another sticker tells me they also like 93X.

This comes after seeing a bumper sticker last night, "Build more schools for boys instead of more prisions and gallows for men". Strangely enough, they also like 93X.

The shennanigans of Mr. Tom

I've discussed roommate Tom before - just last week I believe. Roommate Tom is known for crazy business plans and making soap in our 115 sq ft living room. This headline screams Tom:

ScubaPixels.com Revolutionizes Online Advertising, Dubbed "The Web's First Scuba Diving Portal"

Tom has yet another new business and again, wrote a press release announcing it to the world. I'm stalkerish and found it - I'm glad I remembered his last name so I can keep track of him (I also have our lease saved in my memory box so if he's ever rich and famous I can prove I know him) and see what new business he's running.

The sad thing is that all his businesses are such silly plans that they make $0 and attract virtually no attention and within 2 months he's started another one.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Wanted: Fashion Police


For the gym. You should have to pass by "gym fashion police" before entering during the month of January.

I ventured to the gym for the first year and first found the elliptical machines signed up for the next 45 minutes (and then being empty for most of this time which I found highly questionable - perhaps first time gym-ers signed up for more than they could handle?)

Next, I started noticing everyone's highly questionable gym attire, including:

  • Acid washed jean shorts on a dude
  • Green too-tight cargo shorts on a dude
  • Swim trunks x2 (both dudes)
  • Fuschia sweatpants (w/ elastic at the ankle) with matching fuschia sweatshirt on a lady
  • Jeans, granted they were loose-ish on a dude
  • Tennis shoes w/ no socks (not just short socks - NO socks) on a dude
  • Prefontaine running shorts on a lady
  • A black shirt and shorts that you'd usually see worn at a Korn concert on a dude
  • Biker shorts on a dude and a lady
  • Electric blue business suit on a lady

OK, the last one is a lie. But aside from that, I'm telling the truth - all this in maybe an hour and a half at the Midway gym. Ooh - and one very smelly, smelly man. I had to get away asap. Smelly.

You made a resolution to go to the gym - that's acceptable. Just remember to ask for new gym duds from Santa first.

Brokeback - pull out!

Despite Michael's raves for Brokeback Mountain (and the Bushy photoshopped poster!), one theatre pulled the film this week.

In which state did this occur?






That's right kiddies, Utah.

The Sandy, UT theater is owned by Larry H. Miller, who also owns the Utah Jazz pulled the film Thursday night after originally agreeing to play the picture. Somewhat surprisingly, this is the only theatre to pull the film - SLC residents will be able to see the show at many other local theatres.

This seem like as good a time as any to ask the question:

Which would you rather - live in Utah or lick the bathroom floor of the AKPsi house?

Art at Work (Work at Art?)


I ordered these two posters from AllPosters.com (the selection is fabulous) last month and just got the British one framed and the French one foam-backed. I now have the prettiest office in the building!

No comprende

Nothing about this picture of Donny Osmond hugging Snoop while at the Consumer Electronics Show last week makes sense to me. Are Mormons even allowed to go to Vegas?

This photo courtesy of Trent at Pink is the New Blog - his blog is fun to read, and I really like the way the pix of books, movies, and CDs he's listening to show up on the panel on the right. (I think Trent is from Boston. Can anyone confirm or deny?)

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Your Stipper Song Is

She Wants to Move by N.E.R.D.

"Her off beat dance makes me fantasize
(Her curves) She's sexy!!"

You are 100% sex appeal. As simple as that.

Friday, January 06, 2006

You know you want it

This cereal dispenser isn't actually very expensive. And would look slick in your kitchen if it's bigger than mine.

Word of the Day

Numismatic.

I really don't think anyone will know this without looking it up. If you do, why do you know it?

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Pretty

The format of this chick's blog is very pretty. Spring-y.

This McMansion would make FLW vomit


This Slate article has great pictures of McMansions and points out what a crime it is for an architect to actually design them - it's well written and examples of the worst McMansions (above) and those that aren't as bad - like a Pac Heights home (perhaps near Missy and Nat's?).

I had blogged about Chevy Chase, MD McMansions earlier - apparently my interest in these is related to on of these:

1) my interest in architecture or
2) my amazement that people think they need this much house or
3) envy because I live in a studio apartment.

You decide.

Christina's African Safari



If my calculations are correct, Christina and friends have already:

  • "Done" Johanesburg
  • Had their Safari
  • Taken a flight wholly within Africa (perhaps a Russian airline-like experience?)

And are currently visiting with Malowi businessmen while wearing suits. In Africa. Fun.

Minnesota businesses on the Fortune 500

27 Target $49.9
40 UnitedHealth Group $37.2
77 Best Buy $24.9
85 St. Paul Travelers Cos. $23.0
104 Supervalu $20.2
105 3M $20.0
143 U.S. Bancorp $14.7
190 Northwest Airlines $11.2
197 General Mills $11.0
198 CHS $11.0
246 Medtronic $9.1
256 Xcel Energy $8.5
279 Land O'Lakes $7.7
319 Thrivent Financial for Lutherans $6.4
402 Hormel Foods $4.8
442 C.H. Robinson Worldwide $4.3
455 Ecolab $4.1
476 Nash Finch $3.9

* 2005 Revenue (Billions)

UPDATE: Anon gave me a link to the updated 2005 numbers - thank you! Sorry, ATK didn't make it even now, they're at 675 w/ $2.4B.

Words! of the Day

Extrapolate and Interpolate.

If you're not a mathmatician and you got that right, you are very smart.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

PHEW (not crazy)

Alicia and I have been shopping at JC Penney lately.

I'm not being sarcastic.

We've found super cute clothes there lately. And we were questioning our sanity and if we were about to start buying electric blue business suits. But now we can stop our self-doubt because I found an article online that "proves" JC Penney actually has cute, trendy clothes.

Now all I need is one confirming it's okay I've recently bought clothes at Maurice's and Herberger's.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Error



Netflix has categorized Wedding Crashers as "Romance" instead of "Comedy". It is a comedy - is it possible that Netflix makes errors? I thought the movie was okay, not great. More Anchorman/Dodgeball humor that Old School in my opinion, and I like the Old School way of things. Speaking of Old School - did you know Blue died for real? The old guy? Yep, just read his obit.

If you DID love Wedding Crashers, for $20 you can buy it plus another DVD (there are several choices but Harold and Kumar... is the obvious choice). Good deal at Best Buy.

Resolutions

Don't worry, I'm not making any New Years resolutions - I rarely (if ever) do. I think 2005 turned out okay without any so why start now.

However, I'm guessing that you likely put as one of your resolutions, "review insurance policies," and here's a link to help you - a "quiz" that helps you determine if you're adaquately covered. So maybe you didn't make this resolution, but Amy, you love quizzes so you'll have fun w/ this.

Do I live under a rock?

James Frey.

No idea who he was until yesterday, when PlanetDan's favorite book of the year was written by him (My Friend Leonard). Then, another blogger from Mpls had this as her top book of 2005. Then today at lunch, one of the Men at Work asked if anyone had read A Million Little Pieces. No one had. I had no clue who the dude was and all of a sudden he's top of mind for everyone.

I read a blog somewhere where a guy commented "Why is everyone on the subway reading the same book???" and then he found out it's an Oprah book and then he damned Oprah's Book Club. It's similar with this - I checked Amazon and found that A Million Little Pieces is indeed an Oprah book. But PlanetDan's selection is not. I think I'll add both to my request list and wait 6 months till they come available to find out what's the big deal about Mr. James Frey.

UPDATE: A Million Little Pieces is being made into a movie. And set in MN. Now you know.

Don't forget!


Scrubs. Tonight. 9pm EST/8pm CST.

TWO BRAND NEW EPISODES IN A ROW.

Also, plan ahead for Thursday night:
7pm Will and Grace 8pm My Name is Earl
7:30pm Four Kings 8:30pm The Office

Theatre

I've went to approximately 10 theatre performances life to date excluding the 10 or so I saw in London. So I'm not exactly a theatre aficionado. But I like the idea of going to the theatre, I just don't do it very much.

I think something that might help is a comprehensive theatre calendar for the Cities might motivate me - as well as MPR discounts :) I found a great theatre calendar at a website that presents awards for TC theatre. Check it.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Methodology

I'm sure you've often wondered how the "box office estimates" are calculated. As in "Narnia edges Kong at the box office".

Okay, maybe you haven't wondered.

Regardless, here's the explaination. The jist of the article - studio execs guess, most of the time they're right on, under certain circumstances they're off, why estimate when you can just wait for the real numbers?

PS Saw Narnia at Jackson's Historic State Theatre while I was home (this was my "history" in my hometown). The Jesus references are so strong it blows my mind that some people don't notice them in the movie, though I didn't catch them in the book. Granted, I was 8 y.o. when I read the book.

Da Brits Da Bears Da Bulls Da Brits

I like the BBC's RSS feeds. (NOTE: If you haven't caught onto RSS feeds yet, do it now. I use Bloglines but there are others - it's not just for blogs but also for news and pretty much any cool websites. Here's an article from Slate on RSS and why it's AWESOME!)

It's fun to have the view on news from the otherside of the pond. Two stories I enjoyed today:

A BBC reporter outlines the celebration Austria is planning for the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth. For all you marketing majors out there - the description of the co-marketing between Mozart and yoghurt (as the Brits spell it) cracks me up.

Virgin Radio conducted a poll of 7,000 listeners to find out Brits' favourite songs. This year they are:

  1. Imagine - John Lennon
  2. Hey Jude - Beatles
  3. Let It Be - Beatles
  4. One - U2
  5. Angels - Robbie Williams
  6. Bohemian Rhapsode - Queen
  7. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
  8. Every Breath You Take - The Police
  9. Hotel California - The Eagles
  10. You're Beautiful - James Blunt

Are they on YOUR iPod?

Apparently they also do other polls - this one from 1995 shows Oasis topping the charts.

Finally, stolen from PlanetDan's blog, this list of 100 Things of 2005 is fun to read.

2 new places to try

I like getting AOL Cityguide's weekly "weekend planner" email. The website is similar to Citysearch but I feel like it finds out and announces different places than Citysearch does for some reason... Two restaurants were reviewed in this week's email (not that I was in Mpls for New Year's anyway) but I'll add them to my TO DO list.

Both in Uptown and both featuring homestyle cooking - duplex is American while Antoine's Creole Maison Restaurant is cited as a much needed replacement for Copeland's. Anyone interested?

Cityguide also outlined the best Twin Cities Best Bars of 2005 - fun list. Alicia also commented that she wants to hit up Snap! created by the same people that put together Pop! Rice Crisipies jokes not necessary.

I couldn't make this shit up

I read one of the more "out there" Craigslist posting today:

Millionaire Group
Date: 2005-12-28, 3:10PM CST

want to get together with others to support each others quest for wealth etc. Brainstorming in required and please no neggies.

Sounds like the perfect play group for ex-roommate Tom. He was so nuts but I wish I had a picture of him and his attempted business plans spread throughout our small apartment (North End restaurant guide, "fancy" soap to name a few) so his memory doesn't fade in my mind.

Because he was a strange, strange man. I'd also like to remember his last name so I can google him. It started with an R. Maybe he has a blog so I could keep in touch with him from afar. I haven't talked to him since the day he moved out of his apartment and got married.

UPDATE: Figured out his last name. And that aside from a budding businessman, he is also a budding author. You can actually buy his book?!?!?! And here's an interview with him regarding the book. Damn, he's famous. Tom also posted a review of the book he wrote himself.