Apparently not?

I totally thought Zooey Deschanel (below) and Brittney Murphy (above) were the same person. Apparently not.

JT is back

According to his website, Justin Timberlake is back this summer - releasing a single in Summer '06 and a new album in Fall '06.

What is up...

I realized I haven't posted "Laura updates" lately - so I thought I'd give you the top line summary:

• Last night, Heidi and I went to see Sandra Day O'Connor speak at Northrup as part of the Univ of Minn Alumni Assn event. It was super fun to see her (she is older than expected) and she is real funny - we also got to cheer for the outdoor Gopher stdium at least 3 times!
• I'm looking at buying a condo. Sort of a spur of the moment decision - I'll keep you updated.
• Sunday Alicia and I did the AIDS Walk - thankfully it was chilly-ish and overcast or we would've been SWEATY. It was a super nice walk. Thank you to all that donated, specifically: Aunt Jeanne, Amy, Mom, Bejota, Heidi, Kerry, Erica, Zippy, Julie. THANKS!!
• Saturday I had THREE BBQs to attend, Jodie from work, Beth, and Ghetto Dave. We had a super fun time at all of them, especially Jodie's I think...
• Christina was in town for 4-5 days 2 weeks ago - it was fun to bring visit Pepito's, Rudolph's, and a Twins game w/ her.
• I've been babysitting more lately - it's been kinda fun to get extra $ plus one of the babies is 4 months old which is fun.
• I'm headed to DC at 6am tomorrow (ick) for a Th-Sun vacation. Can't wait to meet my new best friend Roxie there, and visit Charlottesville (I've never been). Hopefully Russell won't pull a Houdini and we'll get to see him, too.

I'll probably update y'all from DC if I get online there - I gotta upload stuff to Flickr one of these days...

It's not my time

I scored a paltry 18 on this "quiz" that lists 100 things you should do before you die. Some I have no interest in any doing (#31, #59), one you can't do anymore (#45), and for some reason there are three that have to do with space (#8, #22, #51).

Comment with your score. If I am correct, Michael has completed more things on this list than anyone I know - which either makes him my most fabulous friend, or the one closest to death?!?!?

Beer me

The owner of the Father's Office in Santa Monica gives advice in the Thrillist on what beer to add to everyday foods. I like the advice on Mexican food and Popeye's the bestest.

Chinese Takeout
"Try a Belgian White Ale like Hoegaarden. The coriander and orange peel flavors should marry neatly with your #8 combo."

Ham and Cheese Hot Pockets
"It's time for tall glass of Anchor Porter. The nutty, smoky flavors should really compliment the porky, cheesy aromas of a freshly nuked hot pocket."

Popeye's Fried Chicken
"If you go for the spicy, and you should, I'd reach for a Belgian Golden Ale like Duvel. The beer has a nice spiciness of its own and will do a nice job cutting the grease."

Subway Club
"Ham, turkey, roast beef and all the fixin's. Try a Rogue Dead Guy Ale. It's an American version of a German Maibock. It's lightly hoppy and toasty. Jared would approve."

Tacos, Chimichangas, Burritos, et al
"Don't even think Corona. Spicy Mexican flavors need a Belgian Triple. Try a Canadian version. Unibroue La Fin Du Monde. The killer buzz from the 9% alcohol should blur the memory the next morning."

Wasting time

I swear you could waste hours upon hours on YouTube - there is SO much stuff on the site! This video featuring the dancing guy (not Napoleon) is long but is quite funny - the Backstreet Boys was so Wendorf. I give it 2 thumbs up.

The COMPLETE Happy Hour Guide to DT

This happy hour summary page, from the Downtown Journal, is flippin' awesome - they literally surveyed every DT bar to find out happy hour, and at the bottom have listed those that either don't have HH or didn't respond. I love their dedication to seeking out ALL happy hours. Beware it is a year old list, but as Adam Sandler would say, not too shabby.

Strangely, there's no listing for DT St. Paul, oh wait, the city turns off at 5pm.

Free contact lens stuffs

Apparently Bausch & Lomb is worried about the backlash after they pulled product from stores when everybody got eye infections last month. They're offering a coupon for a free bottle of solution, and you can enroll in their "Wear & Care" program and get a bunch of lens cases (you're supposed to throw them away and get a new one monthly) and other stuff. I signed up - yipee!

Word of the day

Insidious.

This doesn't make sense

You've heard about custom made clothing - Chanel, Levi jeans made to fit, my 4-H clothing projects, etc. However, did you know you could order custom fit clothing from Target.com????? I know all business is trending toward customization, but seriously, Target couture? Wowser.

Anyone who can offer an insightful explaination of this (Marc) holla...

Take note, Amy, of good MN drivers...

In a survey re: who has the worst road rage, Minneapolis came out pretty good. I'm surprised Atlanta is also on the good list - people there are always pissed about the traffic.

THE BEST
Minneapolis, Nashville, St. Louis, Seattle and Atlanta rated as the cities with the most courteous drivers who were less likely to change lanes without signaling or swear at other motorists.

THE WORST
Phoenix, New York, Los Angeles and Boston among the top five cities for rude driving in its first "In the Driver's Seat Road Rage Survey."

I love you Vine Park.

I like Vine Park - we made beer there this winter and their root beer was real yummy. How about this policy regarding their root beer? So smart!

River City Root Beer is available exclusively at Vine Park Brewing Co. Our root beer is hand crafted in small batches using locally produced honey and other secret ingredients. River City Root Beer can be purchased in individual 12 oz bottles ($0.85), six packs ($5.00), and by the case ($20.00).

Kegs of River City will make a great addition to your next graduation party, family re-union, or any other group event. River City Root Beer kegs cost $65.00 with a tap and ice bucket rental of $10.00. Not sure if you need that much root beer? Vine Park will allow you to return any unused root beer to be re-carbonated and chilled; you then return to bottle it in 22oz bottles to take home. Nothing is wasted.

They also are hosting a Brews Cruise on Sat Aug 19 - I'm in SD that weekend so I can't go but I wish I could... My only booze cruise experience was muy caliente and I'd like another.

Grey's Anatomy Dunzo

Grey's Anatomy will no longer be shown. On Sunday nights. Instead, it'll be at 9pm on Th nights, starting this fall. Not sure how I feel about this but w/ Tivo, it's all good.

In other ABC news, these stars and shows are coming out in the fall:

Calista Flockhart and Rachel Griffiths star in "Brothers & Sisters,'' a drama about a maladjusted family. Ted Danson is a self-help guru going through a midlife crisis in the comedy "Help Me Help You,'' Anne Heche is a relationship counselor who moves to Alaska in the drama "Men in Trees'' and Taye Diggs is in "Day Break,'' a thriller that uses elements of the movie "Groundhog Day.''

All sound average-ish - I'd like the Taye Diggs show to be good but it sounds the worst.

For the summer of '06

ponder this:

Which would you rather - Chris O'Donnell or Patrick Dempsey?

YUM YUM YUM

My Beyonce

I cracked up when I joined Myspace and promptly found Kerry. Her profile talks about her calling her fiance her Beyonce instead and then watching their response.

Ex. "My Beyonce and I are going to DC for my sister's graduation the end of the month."

Go on myspace, find Kerry, and read her description of this- it's much funnier. And not to disappoint you, but after an hour on MySpace, I'm pretty sure I'm much more interested in using it as a networking (read: stalking) tool and don't care about having mucho friends on it.

Craziness

After watching Best Week Ever (which informed me of the gov't official announcements), the email I received from my company last week made more sense. I received the following email (there was more but it was along the same lines) which prompted a "WTF?" when I opened my inbox:

To All Associates:
As you may know, last night ABC broadcast a highly dramatized, made-for-TV movie that depicted a worst-case scenario of what could happen if the H5N1 strain of avian influenza virus mutated into a pandemic virus that could easily be transmitted from human to human.

In light of the movie and related media attention, as well as the U.S. Government’s publication last week of its national pandemic influenza preparedness plan, we thought it important to reassure associates that no cases of the H5N1 virus have yet been reported in the Americas.

I hadn't realized the made for TV avian flu movie had prompted White House staff and the VA governor to make proclaimations regarding the movie - the VA gov felt prompted to state that if the bird flu came to VA, he would NOT lock up those infected in buildings and surround them with barbed wire fences. Thanks for clearing that up Mr. Gov.

'arry Potta trivia!

If you haven't read a HP book in the last three months, I predict that this quiz from The Leaky Cauldron.com will be HARD. I got through the first page and then quit b/c it just wasn't fresh enough in my head to remember these kinds of details. It made me feel like rereading book 6... See if you can post a decent score - it's hard!

Free miles

Have you seen the new NWA WorldPerks University? I took WP101 and WP102 and was promptly credited with 100 miles for each. Not a lot of miles, but so easy.

UPDATE: OOH - I just got 2,000 miles for "extra credit" because I flew within 90 days of passing WP101. Much better.

UPDATE II: I also found out I will earn 1,000 Bonus Miles for completing 2 qualifying purchases within 60 days at the WorldPerks Mall from passing WP102.

I didn't realize there was a state mapper - 37!

create your own personalized map of the USA

Pickup line of the day

Is your dad a mechanic? Cause you've got all the right parts.

This is clearly not that funny, but I'd never heard it before so it made me laugh.

I've been to 18 countries

create your own visited country map

Children are invading the Castro

Read it here.

Minneapolis one of the greenest cities!

The Green List rating incorporates parks, public transportation, recycling, etc. The list (in no order) includes:

Portland, OR
Austin, TX
Minneapolis, MN
Boulder, CO
Burlington, VT
Madison, WI
New York, NY
San Francisco, CA
Santa Monica, CA
Chicago, IL

Arr, come play with the Captain!

After working in Milwaukee this week, I took the Badger Bus to Madison on Friday afternoon in order to see Christina before flying back to Minneapolis tonight for COPPERFIELD!!!

We started off our Cinco de Mayo with margaritas and yummy Mexican (and Christina wrangled us a table for 8 after only a 15 min wait - NICE) and then headed to Paul's Bar (the one w/ the tree in it). We ended the night at Tchotchkies (actually the Church Key?) - highlights included:

* vodka cranberries (is that the right plural?) possibly made with Silver Wolf vodka b/c they were NASTY (and caused Chrissy to puke red)
* the Captain promotion (pictured below)
* darts

Vegas baby

I've never been to Vegas anytime other than November but I'm headed there in June for work. Woo hoo!

Free movies are more fun

The Chinese film nominated for Best Foreign Film, The Promise, is being shown at the Landmark Lagoon Theatre on Thursay, May 4 at 7:30pm. I have won a pass that will admit 2 to the film but I'm in Milwaukee. Does anybody want to go and use my name to get the tix from will-call? I'll issue the tix on the first come basis - no trivia contest this time believe it or not.

Lemmie know and I'll send you the email with all the dets.

If I weren't in MKE I'd be there...

Arborfest 2006 is happening this Thursday, May 4 5:30-9pm at Macalester in St. Paul. It's a beer tasting fundraiser with over 35 beers sponsored by 12 breweries raising $ for Family Tree Clinic (Planned Parenthood-ish).

Tix are usually $40 but are $30 for Rake readers (or anyone that clicks on the link provided).

Hasta la vista

One of my wisdom teeth is angry and thus needs to go buh-bye. I think his three friends will go with him, too. My first wisdom tooth first came in when I was attending prom my sophomore year - so it's been a great 10 years, you've made me wiser, but as soon as I can schedule it, you're outta here.

What is that

a picture of you might ask?

Yesterday Amy suggested I round brush my hair to give it more volume. Great idea, considering I have the worst flattest straightest hair ever. However, unfortuantely, I'm downright retarded at round brushing my own hair. I even did a demo for Amy, and the look in her eye confirmed my self doubt in performing this activity.

I commented that I needed to strap my dryer to the wall in order to have 2 hands to use to round brush. Turns out, there is a product designed to do just this. I may test out the Hair Dryer Stand to see if helps me get pretty hair.

Preduction: If I do so, then Alicia will yell at me for putting one more things in my house.

The crowd @ Dunn Bros

There's a man that looks Italian at Dunn Bros. He has hair to his shoulders and is wearing a headband - one of those skinny headbands that is like a large thick hair tie. I can't stop staring at him.

Why you need renter's insurance

I'm sitting down to work at Dunn Bros right now, and realized I have electronics worth mucho money. Currently in my posession are the following (amt listed is replacement value I think):

Laptop $1500
Memory stick $100
Travel mouse $40
Bluetooth adapter $40
iPod $250
iTrip $40
Canon digital camera $300
Camera case $30
Nokia 7610 $500
TOTAL: $2800

That seems like a lot of high value items to have on me all at once, but in all honesty, I carry almost all of these items with me 24/7. It's weird, similarly weird to the dollar value if you ever add up to total value of everything you're wearing and find it's higher than you'd expect.

Mark your calendar

Summit 20th Anniversary Event, Harriet Island, Saturday, September 30th

It would've been nice for them to reference the Gopher's home schedule prior to picking this date, but I will not hold it against them. Anyone who hosts a beer festival can not be scolded.

British pronunciation of the day

Basil.

We say it with a long a.

Brits say it with a short a. Rhymes with hassle.