News

1. I got promoted. Yeah.

2. This has resulted in me working Joe Colletti hours. SERIOUSLY. Joe called me at 8:30pm last night and I was still at work but he was on his way home from work. This needs to end soon (and should - I'm doing 2 jobs right now which isn't my cup o' tea.)

3. Zippy is coming to visit me this weekend - yipee! It better not be cold this weekend or she'll probably never come back :)

4. Mr. Glenn got a new job w/ Goldman Sachs - yeah for Glenn!

Interested?

I think this would be fun - anybody interested? It's a little pricey but does include drinks all night...

2007 Vine Park Brews Cruise!

Come cruise with all your favorites from Vine Park! Enjoy beer and a dinner of BBQ Chicken, Penne Pasta salad with grilled vegetables, Caesar Salad, fresh veggie trays, and lots of cookies & bars. And a free VPBC logo pint glass!

Our annual Brews Cruise departs at 5:30pm promptly on Saturday, August 4th from Harriet Island across the Wabasha Bridge from downtown St Paul. It will be 3 hours of fun, food, and beer enjoyed with friends. We are limiting ticket sales to 180 on a first come basis.

Price: $65.00 per person if you buy before the Fourth of July, $75 after the 4th.

Why Americans' cell phones suck?

This article pretty much sums it up - based on my experience with the cell phone industry. I'd say all is true but they perhaps don't put enough emphasis on the fact that carriers dictate pretty much everything - not the case abroad.

Yipee!

Could I be any happier about direct flights MSP-LGA on AMERICAN starting on September 5? Woo who.

Laura's anticipated itinerary for next trip to NYC:

Fri night dep MSP at 7pm, arrive at LGA 10pm
Monday morning dep LGA at 6:30am, land at 8:30am

Love it!

You're a dick if...

you have your DUVET monogrammed, aka:

Sheets are also highly suspect.

In my book, things that are okay to monogram include towels and those Lands End tote bags.

Finally, I haven't figured out if men's shirts are okay or not...

Your take on the "rules" of monogramming?

Come on!

She was 22 and tired of exotic dancing for a living. So Irene Thomas bet her future on real estate, hoping that becoming a landlord would be her first step toward exiting the stage.

With the help of Universal Mortgage Inc., a brokerage company in Brooklyn Park, Thomas signed the papers to buy a house early last year. And she kept signing. And signing.

In 90 days, with none of her money down, Thomas had $2.4 million in debt and 10 houses in her name, most in north Minneapolis. Nine belonged to officials of Universal, the same company that handled the transactions for her.

Less than 18 months later, Thomas was losing every property to foreclosure after the monthly payments weren't made. Her credit ruined, she now says she was duped by a group of real estate insiders who sold houses at inflated prices.

This is the beginning of an article from the Strib that tells a tale of the increasing foreclosures in the Twin Cities. Several questions went through my head while reading it:

• How can you realistically think you can sign up for more than $2M in debt with $0 down?
• Who LETS someone do this? These people are evil.
• How did the reporters find this chick's story to report?
• WTF?
• Come on!
• Really?

Literally, this why I live in Uptown

Tonight I got home from work after booking a "surprise" trip to MKE (aka I booked it at 4pm today and leave at 5pm tomorrow) to do laundry and then headed to my 2nd architectural tour sponsored by the Minneapolis Public Library. I came home at 8:30 from this v. fun endeavor (did you know there's part of the old streetcar line that still runs along Lake Harriet?!?!?) planning to pack and hit the sack.

But, Christina had changed her flight to Europe from 6am to 7pm so she didn't need to go to bed early. Plus, it was SO nice outside I decided that we should definitely have have "a" drink outside. So 3 hours later and 3 drinks at Bar Abeline later, I'm sitting in my house delighted by the fact that I had no plans to go out (nor should I have gone out - definitely packing in the AM now) that I managed to get drunk in Uptown on a Tu night, accidentally.

Literally, as of 7pm ZERO plans to have a drink tonight but 4 hours later, I'm tipsily blogging and happy that I live somewhere that facilitates this type of behavior. Yeah, responsibility free (mostly) city living!!!

Spendy but...

I think this grill is quite fancy - its claim to fame is that it can be used on decks where propane grills are against fire code. I like that they tout it's good design as a selling point in the description on the website.

Pledge

I've decided that this is the summer I'll look back on fondly as the time when I started using reusable bags for groceries, Target, etc. instead of choosing paper or plastic.

Don't worry - I'm not starting to shop at The Wedge or anything, I'm just taking a "green" step and want you to hold me accountable. I figured I don't have a good excuse NOT to use reusable bags.

PS This did help me justify the purchase of a couple of v. cute reusable bags from IKEA over the weekend :)