Updates

I took part in minimal debauchery yesterday at Mardi Gras in St. Louis but had a good time. I think I actually had more fun making fun of drunk people than being the drunk girl... We ended up getting to Soulard around 1:30 after a two hour trek to get there. Jenny and I called it a night at 10 and cabbed home so it was a full workday's worth of celebrating Mardi Gras.

Work took my computer on Thursday to do a major update and I won't get it back till Thursday so my posts will be minimal if any until I'm back in Minneapolis on Friday. I'm not exactly looking forward to a week of meetings from 7:30am - 5:30pm but am happy it's only Tu-Wed-Th instead of my days at NAM of trainings in NYC/Wilton that lasted 4 or 5 days in a row...

She's a swinger

Sandra Day O'Connor is visiting the U to speak at a UMAA event on Tues May 23 8pm - who thinks it would be "fun" to go? OK, maybe fun is an overstatement, but I think it'd be v. interesting... Alicia and I attended a panel of speakers on how the news media has changed in the last 40 years at the JFK Center last year and it was cool - and we lowered the average age by a good 35 years.

Tickets are currently on sale - $40 and $5 off /w UMAA membership. My thoughts are that no one will want to go since Alicia is in DC that day, but I'd like a buddy to go with. Maybe someone related to law/politics - which brings me to either lawyer Heidi or poly sci major Gabe.

Surprise me - tell me you think this'd be wicked fun to go to and I'll put in our ticket order.

PS This article puts a spin on the new justices to the court and makes it sound not so bad...

The European version of Mr Clean is

Mr. Proper. I think this is quite entertaining...


Other funny P&G European brands can be found here. My other favorite is Fairy Liquid. Like Palmolive dishwashing soap. But funny name.

Black and white twins

So you've probably already heard about these twins - in a case of 1 to 1 million odds, they were born last year as one white twin, one black twin. The parents each have a white mom and black dad and in this explaintion (long but interesting) it gives the genetic reasoning:

The odds against of a mixed race couple having twins of dramatically different colour are a million to one. Skin colour is believed to be determined by up to seven different genes working together.

If a woman is of mixed race, her eggs will usually contain a mixture of genes coding for both black and white skin. Similarly, a man of mixed race will have a variety of different genes in his sperm. When these eggs and sperm come together, they will create a baby of mixed race.

But, very occasionally, the egg or sperm might contain genes coding for one skin colour. If both the egg and sperm contain all white genes, the baby will be white. And if both contain just the versions necessary for black skin, the baby will be black.

For a mixed-race couple, the odds of either of these scenarios is around 100 to one. But both scenarios can occur at the same time if the woman conceives non-identical twins, another 100 to one chance. This involves two eggs being fertilised by two sperm at the same time, which also has odds of around 100 to one.

If a sperm containing all-white genes fuses with a similar egg and a sperm coding for purely black skin fuses with a similar egg, two babies of dramatically different colours will be born. The odds of this happening are 100 x 100 x 100 - a million to one.

Update on R. Petty

I think Russell's ghetto pix might have been taken in his "ghetto" Dodge Neon. Looks Neon-ish to me...

I pulled the photo from his new website for his group 200 Proof. I am quite impressed with Russell's web building skills I must say.

Now if Russell would only start a blog...

Not kidding

The website Name JLo's Baby is as funny as it sounds - submit your guess on what JLo will call her baby if/when she has one.

Star Magazine reports she's been buying LOTS of baby clothes lately...

Word of the Day

Titivate.

There are ways to correctly use this word at work. $1 if you do it and tell us how.

News

I have a new car - it looks like this:
It's a Nissan Altima and it pretty and fun. Yeah!

I didn't get the mini-promotion at work I've been talking about. Boo, but it's okay. This means I'll definately be going to Seattle in June for my meetings there, which is a thumbs up.

Can't lay off the Craigslist...

I agree. ten things I hate about local TV news

I agree. The DMV hates you too

I think this is funny, don't necessarily agree. Why it's so hard to find a decent guy in DC

Tee of the Day

From Busted Tees. I think it's funny.

Where's Doug?

You probably either loved or hated Doug from TLC's Trading Spaces. He's back as the host of "Moving Up" also on TLC. I watched this show for the first time and I like the idea of it -- the premise is this:

Couple #1 is moving into a new home, and will remodel 3 rooms.

Couple #2 had been living in home #1, and is now moving into a new home.

Couple #3 had been living in home #2 and is now moving out.

Everybody moves and remodels, then couple #2 and #3 check out their old homes as they've been remodeled. The current homeowner gets to see the old owners' reactions to their remodels.

Kinda confusing, but essentially you get to see your old home after the new owner fixed it up. It's fun! I like Doug's role in this show - he's still opinionated and bossy without being mean or annoying (so far). New episodes at 7pm Sat nights.

Tee of the Day

From Busted Tees. I think it's funny.

Back in Minneapolis

Alicia and I visited Beth for about 23 hours over this weekend - we drank wine while playing dominos, did a driving tour of DT Roch, ate sketchy (but more yummy than sketchy) Mexican and went to "where the party is at" to close out the night. Alicia got to play with the cats and when given the "Which would you rather - have a baby, have a dog, or have a cat?" answered with "cat". Good to know.

I'll post pix asap.

Quiz of the day

Name the only state that borders both of them - I got 5/5! Post your answers in comments and I'll post the correct answers in comments in a few days. Enjoy!

1. Kentucky / Georgia
A. Virginia
B. Alabama
C. North Carolina
D. Tennessee

2. Wyoming / Minnesota
A. Nebraska
B. South Dakota
C. Kansas
D. Colorado

3. Delaware / Ohio
A. New Jersey
B. Virginia
C. Pennsylvania
D. Maryland

4. West Virginia / Missouri
A. Kentucky
B. Ohio
C. Indiana
D. Tennessee

5. California / Colorado
A. Nevada
B. Arizona
C. Utah
D. New Mexico

UPDATE: I've posted all the answers and people's scores in the comments section. Congrats to the winner :)

Funny shit

I came across this album by Richard Cheese just relased this month on iTunes Music Store and was strangely amused by it. Being musically inept, it's not surprisingly that I've never heard of this guy, but has anyone? His big-band-Vegas-lounge-style covers of explicit lyric songs such as Gin and Juice, Bust a Move, and Rock the Casbah are entirely hilarious. He has a couple of other albums as well in the same style...

Have you heard of this guy? Am I weird to be entertained by him? Take a sec and listen to a few of the clips from the link to Amazon I provided above. I'm scared I should be embarassed for liking this?

The Greatest Love Songs and Break-Up Songs of All Time

as told by The Current. I don't listen to enough of this station - mostly because if I'm not listening to my iPod I'm on regular NPR. The complete playlists are shown at this site - I feel like y'all planning weddings should look at the Love Songs list... The lists look good but I'm musically a little retarded so don't take my word for it. I love lists and thought these were fun.

Happy VD

I was going to tell you about my extensive plans for celebrating Valentine's, but since it only consists of going to the eye doctor to have my contact trials I've been wearing a week checked out, I thought I'd skip that... Instead, here's an article compiling the best and worst VD I mean Valentine's Day stories. The "good" ones aren't as sappy as I expect I don't think, and the bad ones aren't that awful... So check it out if you care...

PS I think Amy did the BEST job of talking about VD - I concur with all that she said.

Wills at pub when drug deal goes down...

One of the trashy British tabloids was happy to fill me in on all the dets of this - apparently lots of fancy Brits (the Princes and other royalty) hang out at the bar and drugs are readily available. Two things to note:

1. At one point in the article, someone makes a comment that Wills is nice, but Harry can be a real w*****. I believe that's wanker? Can you confirm or deny?
2. Apparently, Wills is getting ready to propose to his girlfriend. I don't like the sounds of this...

Wowsers

I'm not a big fan of George W. Bush. But this website REALLY reflects his distaste for our current President. He has about 82 reason proving why GWB is the anti-Christ. He's not messing around...

Online video

This site, YouTube.com, is quite fun. It has loads of videos, both from TV shows, movies, etc. as well as crap people made that is funny or not so funny. Quality clips from Project Runway can of course be found here - my favorite is this video of Santino's impression of Tim Gunn "Andre is our little lamb... make it work... carry on... make it work... carry on..." It's no Tim and Andre in a tiff at Red Lobster but it's still quite good.

London for Pence

Even though Minneapolis St. Paul magazine has turned COMPLETELY worthless with the same articles repeated every other month and 3/4 of pages devoted to ads for Botox, fancy dentists that do Veneers, and cabins up north I found something on their website I liked. This article talks about how to do a trip to London on the cheap - I want to look into their recommendation about the hotel with the "dollars for pounds" promotion - sounds like a good deal w/ the crappy exchange rate currently in place.

The Rosedale of the future...

I was happy to finally put the research in and figure out what's going on with the remodeling at Rosedale Center. In August, they ripped down the old Mervyn's and have been digging in the dirt ever since. Turns out, the new complex, named "The Plaza" will open this fall and include an AMC Theatre, and a Granite City Brewing Co (which I give 3/5 stars - there's one in Eagan).

The rest of the stores are yet to be determined, hopefully they'll get some good stores! I can't quite tell from the website if each store in the plaza will have it's own door (like an outdoor shopping center plaza thing...) so I'll have to keep looking back at the site and pix - it's quite a good site devoted to the Plaza update at Rosedale...

Food News of the Day

• Even with food manufacturers focusing on people moving toward more nutritional, healthy lifestyles, Nestle will not stray from its roots in chocolate - people still love indulging themselves, and can do this by enjoying some of Nestle's products.

• Coca-Cola Sends Bloggers To Olympics but I can't find where the blogs are posted. Help?

• More Americans are using frozen dinners to control their portions and understand exactly the nutrition included in their meals. This isn't exactly the reason I consume frozen dinners on an almost daily basis (my key reason is laziness) but it makes sense.

• Apple is building a new Boston 4-story flagship store where Copy Cop on Copley Square is located - right next to the two-story CVS. Literally, kittycorner from the Library and less than a block from the bottom of the 'cock. How fun this will be - and it will look something like this:

A HARRY POTTER IPOD!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?

Bejota does not understand my excitement over the HP iPod. Seriously, how cool? I'm not getting it because Mr. iPod mini is still truckin', but it makes me happy that Apple plays nice with JK Rowling. Two of my loves combined...

iPod + HP = :)

Word of the Day

Deus ex machina.

Fancy.

Tee of the Day

From Busted Tees. I think it's funny.

Hello fun

Imagine a Friday night in London, touring the city, and flirting with boys. Sounds like a study abroad program? Perhaps.

But this is for grownups - The Flirting and Walking Tour of London. $30 gets you flirting tips, a guided tour, and a beer. I've had worse for $30, trust me. Added to my London "to do" list (not that I actually have a trip planned).

They're also doing a stateside version tomorrow night in Chicago - maybe some of the Chi town peeps should check it out.

We are seriously in a fight.

That's right Kenneth, I'm talking to you. I wouldn't say you're as bad as Best Buy, but understand, my anger is very real. I was browsing the nice, pretty catalog you sent me with witty one-liners, enjoying it all.


Then, I look at the list of stores and something catches my eye --- there's a Kenneth Cole store in St. Louis, but not in Minneapolis??????

Bitch please.

This is one of the most ludicrous things I've ever heard (nothing personal, Missouri). I challenge you to lay your target demographics next to Minneapolis - it's gotta be a better match than St. Louis. This is the craziest thing I've ever heard and you'll once again get an email begging for you to put a store in Mpls. COME ON!

Or am I being to desparate? Maybe Mpls needs to play hard to get? Kenneth - I'm sick of your games. Just put a store in Mpls and I will shut the hell up.

Mpls vs. StP

Sometimes people unfamiliar with the Twin Cities ask about the difference between Minneapolis and St. Paul. Those of us that live here know there are big differences. I thought Mpls nightlife vs. StP's scary empty streets at 5:01pm summed it up nicely, but this might do a better job:

From an article about the "free" vehicles that MN/UofM people drive for free...

MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR R.T. RYBAK
What he drives: 2005 Toyota Prius
What it's worth: $19,314 (invoice)
What's the deal: The mayor's office budget includes a $500 monthly car allowance, which covers lease payments, gas and insurance.

ST. PAUL MAYOR CHRIS COLEMAN
What he drives: 2005 Ford Crown Victoria
What it's worth: $22,956-$27,948 (invoice)
What's the deal: The car is owned by the city.

Who let the dogs out?

I visited the good ol' MOA during my lunch hour today to pick up a few things and though my expectations are quite low, I was still amazed how hick everyone shopping there was. Granted, there were a few moms pushing babies in strollers and a few businessmen having lunch at the Napa restaurant, but beyond that, it was bad outfits (spandex), bad hair (worst roots growing out I've seen in probably six months), bad teeth (lack thereof), and families of 3 generations, 5-8 people in herds looking broken, wandering the mall.

Where are they driving from to visit the Mall on a Wed at noon in February??? Alabama?

New things

I got a new mousepad for work after working without one for the last 4 months. It is cute, and I just decided this week after petting Rich and Nicole's new boxer puppy that I like puppies. Who knew I'd like puppies even though dogs are not my favorite.

I also got a new travel mini mouse I hooked up just to test it - it is AWESOME. Compared to a tube of Chapstick so you can see how mini it is. The retractable cord really hits the spot. Nice - I'll never be on the road mouseless trying to Excel again!

Christina has a blog!!!

OK, not really HER blog, but still fun.

Facts

• The NFL has 32 teams, but none in Portland, Ore., Orlando, Fla., or San Antonio. All three metropolitan areas rank among the nation's top 32, and all of them are growing much faster than the national average - this credited to the fact that loyalty to teams in stronger in the Midwest than anywhere else. "People who live on America's coasts smugly explain the popularity of Midwestern sports teams by saying there isn't much else to do there." The profile of NFL teams vs. America's demographics was interesting to me.

• More than 45 percent of students ages 18 to 24 at the U reported in a 2005 survey that they had five or more drinks in a row within the past two weeks - 5 drinks is considered binge drinking. This number seems low to me?!?!? The Upper Midwest has the highest overall binge-drinking rates in the nation. More dets on drinking at the U here.

• Wal-Mart is the #1 seller of salmon in the USA. Costco is #2.

• Wal-Mart sells 50% of the jeans in America - resulting in the average price for a pair of jeans to fall to $20. This forced Levi's to start manufacturing jeans meeting far lower quality standards than they usually abide by in order to compete with Wal-Mart's presence in the market.

• There's an extensive and reasonably priced wine list at Palomino in Mpls, but you can also bring in your own bottle. The bonus? If your wine is not one it offers, there's no corkage fee.

Answering machine message of the day

"Hi, you've reached Matt and Fiona. I'm not home right now, and Fiona doesn't have opposable thumbs, so please leave a message. Buh-bye."

Me no comprende. Yo comprendo?

An article from the Trib details proceedings in Congress that failed to ban horses from being slaughtered. What I don't understand is why horse slaughter is so hotly debated while hog, cattle, chicken slaughterhouses are commonplace. Why is it that people are so crabby about horses getting eaten? I don't want to eat horse, but if there's a market, why do people care about horses so much?

Help me out.

I miss Bill! (can someone make bumper stickers?)

I've been listening to Mrs. King's funeral on NPR. It was more of a "celebration of life" than a funeral, so it was a good listen. I truly enjoyed all the people at the church hootin' and hollerin' during the funeral - at first I thought they were laughing or crying but realized after a while they're shouting out in agreement with the speakers.

It was very sad to hear both Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton speak at the funeral - and to some degree, even Bushy #1. I had truly almost forgotten what it's like to have a President who can deliver a speech so damn well - Clinton is such a good speaker it makes me even more embarrassed about W. Superb joke delivery, poinant and insightful words - he even manages to sound smart with his Southern accent.

And while he's speaking I'm not imagining him wearing the I'm-clever-or-just-pooped-my-pants look that W. favors.

PS I have a new template - I think it's calming and nice. Consider this your notice in case you use RSS and don't actually visit my pretty blog.

Highlights from Gastofs

For Dana's birthday on Saturday night, Alicia and I headed to Gastofs with my cousin Anthony from SoDak and his friend Ian. They came to town for the weekend and stayed in my studio apt (I got to have sleepovers with Alicia) and enjoyed a motorcycle show and Hooters at the MOA. Good times for 19-21 year olds that live in Rapid City :)

Highlights from the night include the following - the rest of the pix from Gastofs are on Flickr.

With my cousin Anthony - his close and tight haircut is the result of a mohawk sported last weekend for a party.

This man got his coat airbrushed with Scarface. Why? I don't know. But it was pix worthy.

Members of Team Boot: Alicia, Ben (Nut), Chrissy, me w/ Alicia's fun necklace.

Chrissy looks amazed the beer went down so easy. Team Boot finished two boots - don't worry, there were other contributing members b/c if 4 people dranks two boots we'd probably die.

SB

THANKS to Rich and Nicole for hosting a kick ass HDTV Super Bowl. The food was yummy, beer was cold, and everybody "Sssssh"ed for the commercials. Thus, a kick ass party. My fav commercials were Bud's Secret Fridge, Bud's streaking lamb, Bud's the Wave, and a really funny Sprint commercial - but not the one w/ the couch on fire but the one with the phone as a theft deterant. I love Google Video's posting of all the commercials. Your favs?

Rich pulled out all the stops, making veggie pizza decorated like a FB field. Yummy.

It was a fun weekend of birthday parties, visitors, and sleepovers. Maybe I'll get dets/pix posted soon? I pulled through with the StL pix, I'll challenge myself again on this one.

Tee of the Day

From Busted Tees. I think it's funny.

Craigslist - would I let her watch my children? No way.

Is their Anyone who needs a Babysitter, Monday-Friday or even on Saturday and Sunday, Please give me a call or e-mail me. I do Babysitting at my home, Because I do not Drive and I Do have Children 2 Boys ages 14&5 and 2 Girls ages 13&3, I'm very good with children, Please give me a try I will not let you down. Thank You Nadine F

Huh?

This Craigslist posting makes no sense to me. A fraternity is coordinating volunteer opportunities for non-fraternity members through Craigslist? No comprende.

Fraternity Seeks Volunteers
Date: 2006-02-02, 2:29PM CST

Sigma Tau Omega Fraternity is a service organization that trains and equips young men to respond when their community is in need. We are currently seeking volunteers (non-members) for the following opportunities:

Instructor Opportunities (train members in the following areas): Crisis Counseling and Communications, Recruitment/Sales, Law Enforcement, Vehicle Maintenance, Forestry, Construction, Health and Preventative Medicine, and Food Service

Emergency Operations Opportunities: Truck Drivers, Sanitation Specialists

Headquarters Opportunities (work one to two hours a week): Grant Writing and Researching, Records Management, Supply cataloging, Recruiting

Our website is www.sigmatauomega.org

You won’t regret serving your community through Sigma Tau Omega Fraternity!

Dating advice for your 20s

I found this article on MSN and thought it was decent - most single people I know are in their 20s (is Todd the only person I know in 30+ and single?) so I'm posting that advice, but in the original article there's advice at all decade marks.

I disagree with the "post-college dating scene can often seem deceptively easy" quote, I'd call that b.s. I'd say I solidly follow 1/3 of their points of advice, and point #3 which I've broken in the past doesn't come up again till I'm dating someone for a while so I'm not worried about it...

The post-college dating scene can often seem deceptively easy: After all, singles are rarely looking for a long-term commitment, as Katie, 25, from Oklahoma City can attest. “I’m not sure what I want out of life or a relationship,” she says. “When I date someone new, I’m not thinking about whether or not he’d be good husband material—I just wonder if he’d be fun to hang out with!” Even so, there’s a lot this age group can do now to make the most of their freewheeling days and pave the way for regret-free romance later in life. Such as…

Expand your dating horizons
Sure, twenty-somethings date plenty of people, but often get stuck dating the same type, says Andrea Lavinthal, co-author of The Hook-Up Handbook: A Single Girl’s Guide to Living It Up. “You should definitely date as many different types as you can to get a good sense of what’s out there and to weed out the kind of people you don’t like,” she says. “At this point, dating is more about you than it is about the other person. You’re figuring out what makes you happy in a partner.”

Leave room for a love life
Dating often takes a back seat to career development for singles in their twenties. “They avoid relationships because they don’t want anything to derail their dreams,” explains Hannah Parmelee, M.S., of the Center for the Family at Pepperdine University. But blanket statements like “I’m not dating anyone for the next six months/until I get promoted” can be dangerous, warns Lavinthal. “This closes off your possibilities, which is a bad thing—especially if the right person comes along in that time period,” she explains. So instead, make a conscious decision to give your love life a little TLC by posting your profile on an online dating site or accepting at least one date invitation per month.

Think twice before moving in together
Because finances are often tight at this age, it can be tempting to move in with someone you’ve gotten serious with. But Parmelee says that cohabitation often backfires. “People end up getting stuck,” she says. “They slide into marriage not because they choose to, but because it’s just too hard to move out.” Tempted to move in together to save money? Move in with a friend instead, and keep those options open.

New Cabinet position?

President creates new cabinet-level position to coordinate scandals.

Candidates for Scandal Secretary, from left: Jack Abramoff, the Republican lobbyist at the center of a public corruption scandal; Scooter Libby, former vice presidential chief of staff indicted on five counts; Tom DeLay, former House majority leader charged with conspiracy to violate election laws; and Michael Brown, who resigned from FEMA over his criticized handling of Hurricane Katrina.