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Monday, May 31
Worst Memorial Day Ever
Not only was it rainy and hurty, but the Timberwolves season is over. I did get in a 5 mile run before the rain started, although due to some hefty breezes I'm going to call it a half marathon, k? My lousy MP3 player pooped out on me, but before any of you run out to buy me a new one, I should mention that my headphones need to be replaced as well - to prevent an iMugging, of course.
Susan and I went on a "NE Minneapolis Pub Crawl" on Saturday, which turned out to be drunktastic, striptacular, and puke-a-riffic. Venues included:
I did get some errands run, and in doing so reminded myself why I hate Wal-Mart - such an unpleasant experience. Circuit City had $9.99 CDs, so I took full advantage:
Did you know that Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks has a blog? I didn't think so. Ugh, I have to go to work tomorrow - to start a 1.5 day work week! Good night!
|337 Word: tub3r
Pronounced: tuber
Defined: While this could be an individual sitting in a tube floating on a body of water, in my world it refers to one who likes to eat a lot. Before losing weight my senior year in college, I was a massive tub3r. Dmitry is a tub3r as well. Used as a verb, "tub3ring out" is the |337 way to eat a lot.
Now Playing: Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
posted by Brad at 5/31/2004 11:27:00 PM | permalink |
0 comments 
Sunday, May 30
Butt Rot
Due to spending the better part of the past 10 hours at my desk, my sore ass has relegated me into bed. As I have switched to my laptop, the post I started an hour ago has been regrettably abandoned. Good thing though, it didn't have a very witty title.
I was listening to Robbie Williams, but now find myself chillin' to one of the CDs I acquired from emusic.com. Their selection of "popular" music leaves quite a bit to be desired, but I picked up some decent Jazz & Zydeco with my trial memberships. If you'd rather choose your own than pilfer mine, just follow a simple equation:
# of credit cards X 50 = Total # of MP3s comin' your way, baby
In addition to completing the aforementioned Operation Format C:\, I've been doing quite a bit of reading over the past couple days. It started with an article in Wired, in which I learned about a cat named Nick Denton who is behind some of the most-red entities in the blogosphere:
- Gawker -- "a must-read for Manhattan's media elite"
- Gizmodo, a blog for the gadget obsessive
- Kinja, the self-proclaimed "blog of all blogs" launched on 4/1/04
- LA is the world's cultural capital. Defamer is the gossip rag it deserves.
I'm admittedly somewhat hesitant to endorse too many other blogs, for fear that my scarce few "loyal" visitors will realize that the bigger fish in the sea are much more clever writers than I. Haha, as if my "endorsement" means a damn thing - the truth is that its' "connected" nature is what makes the Intarweb so powerful. But who didn't know that, right?
Apparently I have spent enough time reading today, as I'm starting to find myself going in circles. The Wired article drove me to Denton's blog, where he responds to a recent feature in Business 2.0 that was sitting in the same huge pile of magaazines as Wired - I think I'm going to read that now.
|337 Word: w00t
Pronounced: woot (rhymes with hoot)
Defined: An expression of joy and excitement that stems from 80's hax0r lingo. When a hacker 'rooted' (got root access to) a 'box' (a computer hooked up to the internet) he would exclaim "woot. (I have root.)"
Now Playing: Miles Davis - Bags' Groove
posted by Brad at 5/30/2004 11:52:00 PM | permalink |
1 comments
Saturday, May 29
WTF is a Countertenor, Mate?
It's a man who sings like a woman, that's what. Last night, Heather was kind enough to accompany me to a performance of Carmina Burana by the Minnesota Orchestra. I won the tickets from work, but you would be amazed at how difficult it was to give one away! There are two reasons that this event was significant in my life:
- I've lived in Minneapolis since 1998 and graduated with a Music minor, yet this was my first ever orchestra concert.
- During one of my 4 (or 5?) years in the Lighthouse Brigade, our field show was selections from Carmina Burana. Of course, I don't remember what year it was - too bad I wasn't blogging back then ;)
I failed to mention it yesterday, but Jill and I had dinner on Thursday at Red's Savoy Inn and Pizza, where the food was delicious and the service left a bit to be desired. It was great to see her again, and catch up on the past 8 months or so. Speaking of delicious food, anyone in Minnesota interested in free Chipotle?
I thought so.
Because Susan is working this rainy Memorial Day weekend, I've decided to take the opportunity to electronically "clean house," which means that the www portion of bradleypjohnson.com will be unavailable until things are back up & running. Thanks to the constant monitoring of the good folks at DiscountASP, The Myth will undergo no such downtime.
Get er done!
Now Playing: Blast! - Official Soundtrack
posted by Brad at 5/29/2004 11:30:00 AM | permalink |
0 comments
Friday, May 28
Just Pissed
A wise man once noted that blogging is "as close as we're going to get to becoming columnists for ESPN." This is probably true, although I haven't used The Myth as much of a soapbox for sports, besides commenting on the Timberwolves success (or recent lack thereof) in the NBA playoffs.
I hate the Lakers.
I'm not too keen on Lakers fans either, but I'm going to have to make an exception for Dmitry. Yesterday, he picked up a sweet new ride, and is closing on a new house in a few weeks. Hopefully by a week or so from now, I will have a house of my own to show off. If you want to cast a vote for your favorite, check out californiamoves.com
There was a rather interesting article in the New York Times yesterday about obsessive Bloggers. Since reading it requires a free subscription, I uploaded a copied version for your convenience. It's pretty interesting, even if you're only remotely interested in this weblog phenomenon (apparently 2.5 million exist). A few choice quotes...
One blogger "...noticed that he would rather be with his computer than with his girlfriend"
"If this were beer, I'd be an alcoholic."
Another woman thinks that blogs are nothing more than "something read by five second cousins and a dog"
I don't think I'm anywhere close to these levels of infatuation with my blog, although I have been openly wondering if I think about it too much.
I'm currently enjoying the first batch of the infamous stolen Olive Garden coffee (not as good as in the restaurant), and reading Will's blog about the Harvard Business School for the first time. Good to know, eh?
|337 Word: k33d
Pronounced: keyed
Defined: Popularized by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, "I k33d, I k33d" is a super |337 way to tell someone that all the horrible things coming out of your mouth are actually harmless jokes.
Now Playing: The Pianist - Original Soundtrack
posted by Brad at 5/28/2004 08:14:00 AM | permalink |
2 comments
Wednesday, May 26
I H8 Templates
If you see this before blogblog.com is back up and running, you'll notice that it looks a bit "off," since many of the pretty images are missing - now I know why I wanted to create my own template. I hope the sheer ugliness doesn't turn you off forever - of course it will probably be fixed soon so this will all appear as meaningless drivel. What else is new, eh?
Fantasia Barrino just won American Idol (not that I was watching). Her acceptance speech?
"I broke my shoe."
Yes, I am looking forward to purchasing that album. Those of you who know me understand that singing isn't my passion, but I was a decent trombone player back in the day. Sadly, I'm not currently playing on a regular basis, but maybe my future is with the Sacramento Philharmonic? Susan will sigh when she reads that, but she should actually be comforted by the fact that I'm not this guy (thanks Jeff.)
Our team went out to lunch today at Santorini, where I sampled the Lamb and Beef Moussaka. It was not bad at all. I got a card signed by everyone, and felt compelled to share one of the comments therein:
Brad,
Although we have only worked together, I must say that I am excited to see you go.
Take Care,
Jason
And that, my friends, just about sums up how much I'm appreciated at work. Not only is he a smart ass, his grammar suX0rZ. He was so excited to .hurty my feelings, he skipped right over the fact that we have only worked together FOR A SHORT TIME.
|337 Word: Pwnz0r
Pronounced: pone zor
Defined: Originally a misspelling of the word own, as in to totally have a skillful advantage over someone or something. To pwnz0r is to absolutely pwn something. To completely and undoubtedly deny someone/something. Dmitry thinks that the Lakers pwnz0r the Wolves, but I beg to differ.
Now Playing: David Gray - White Ladder
posted by Brad at 5/26/2004 09:22:00 PM | permalink |
0 comments
Tuesday, May 25
Mad Props...
...go out to Susan's Aunt Carolyn, who picked up the tab at the Olive Garden tonight, in celebration of Susan's 23rd* birthday (a mere 2 weeks ago). I should also thank our waitress, who swiped a package of their coffee (the best I've ever had) that can't be bought in stores. Too bad the T-Wolves lost, or it would have turned out to be a pretty sweet night.
Did you know that there is an awards show for movie trailers? It's called the Golden Trailer Awards, and is hosted by Tom Green tonight in LA. I don't know who won yet, but one of the awards is called the "Golden Fleece," given to the trailer that best makes a terrible movie look really good (this year's favorite is Dumb and Dumberer)
Ever wonder what I do at work?
Dmitry K says: howstuffworks.com is awesome
Brad says: yark
Dmitry K says: i just found out how babies are made!
Dmitry K says: it blew my f-ing mind
|337 Word: 700|
Pronounced: Seven Hundred Pipe
Defined: I work with quite a few Seven Hundred Pipes, which is my |337 way of calling them "tools." Being called a tool is not a compliment, and is synonymous with "dork" or "huge nerd." This blog debates whether or not Michael Moore or Bill O'Reilly is a bigger tool.
Now Playing: Godsmack - Faceless
posted by Brad at 5/25/2004 10:56:00 PM | permalink |
2 comments
Monday, May 24
Fool In The Rain MP3
Just finished a wet round of golf at Hollydale - the score (51) wasn't as bad as last time, but I putted (23) for absolute shit. Is it sad that I'm constantly thinking about things to blog about, even if I'm in the middle of a birdie putt? I sorta think so, so hopefully I will soon be able to resist that new blog smell...
Last week, a suspender-wearing intern started work in the cubicle farm row next to mine. I'm not sure what his deal is, but for some reason the fact that he wears suspenders every day gives me this creepy "I'm better than you" vibe - frankly, it pisses me off. If it wasn't for the Doughboy clip that Muck sent me today, I would have probably tried to pick a fight with the poor kid. Instead, I spent some time this morning explaing the systems at work to our group's suspenderless intern, which felt really weird since I was our group's intern a mere 3 summers ago.
I wanted to point out a few new features of "The Myth"
- Links to my MSN and AIM screennames
- An Atom XML site feed, which allows you to use an aggregator to read multiple blogs in one place
- Search tool for previous postings & comments, provided by Atomz
- Yummy delicious Google food, better known as links to websites I think you should check out
The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article today about the prevelance and lack of security of WiFi networks, including a nifty map of one San Francisco neighborhood. FYI, our apartment's network is called "sophie," but uses |337 MAC address filtering to bloXor 3vil h@x0rs.
|337 Word: |@m3
Pronounced: lame
Defined: All we're doing here is using the |337 equivelants of L, A and E, but I think it looks sweet.
Now Playing: Led Zeppelin - Remasters
posted by Brad at 5/24/2004 08:01:00 PM | permalink |
1 comments
Sunday, May 23
Do I actually like basketball?
Maybe it has just been easier lately, watching the Timberwolves march towards the NBA Finals. I find it amusing that I'm typing this, as I had all but given up on their chances after a bad home loss in Game 1 on Friday - tonight's game was much better. Mostly, I think I am concerned that my newfound love will leave me less time for sports I think I enjoy more.
We spent the day in Eagan, and have a sweet ass table to show for our efforts - a mere 10 hours after arriving. I didn't take any pictures of it yet, but I hereby solemnly swear to post pics of all the furniture we created in the Rich Larson workshop at some point soonish...
Did you know that the Olsen twins, er, Mary Kate and Ashley are legal in under 20 days?
Of course you did, pervert. But if you were a true fan, you wouldn't have called them the Olsen twins in the first place.
I used the phrase "no skin off my back" today, and instantly realized that I don't know what the hell it means. Unlike past cliches that I've recklessly used, I didn't get much help from Google on this one. This has led me to implore you, the blog visitor, to educate me on what this phrase truly means.
While brushing up on my blog etiquette the other day, I learned that posts are apparently supposed to be short, and that it is not KEWL to post something only to change and re-post it at a later time. I will neither admit to or deny any wrongdoing in the past, but I will stop typing approximately now.
|337 Word: bal33ted
Pronounced: bull eated
Defined: The |337er way to say "deleted", this word was popularized by Homestar Runner himself.
Susan is currently singing: Clay Aiken - Measure of a Man
posted by Brad at 5/23/2004 10:38:00 PM | permalink |
1 comments
Saturday, May 22
Happy Publishday!
Blogs aren't born silly, they're published. To commemorate the one month anniversary of The Myth's inagural publishing, one will notice that I've made a few changes to the blog. I also prettied up my website, after discovering a tool that allows you to export the Windows Media Player Library into MS Access. In addition to being able to browse through my music, visitors can now also search by Artist, Album, and Song Title. Exciting, huh?
Susan and I went for a nice misty run this morning, and then joined Jeff & Sarah at Willow Creek to check out Shrek 2. I laughed pretty good on several occassions, but I don't think it deserves to be 90% fresh. Apparently Antonio Banderas thought the ending was pretty good, though. I did, however, enjoy Mean Girls quite a bit - and I'm not even a 14 year old girl.
KG & the Timberwolves lost Game 1 to the Lakers, and the Twins have dropped 3 of their last 4. They are currently leading the White Sox 9-1 in the top of the 9th, so hopefully they are back on track. I think it's time for me to do some "moving stuff" now...
|337 Word: haX0r
Pronounced: "hack sore"
Defined: The |337 equivelant of hacker, these "computer enthusiasts" can be naughty or nice. 2600.com is a relatively well-known publication - are you a subscriber?
Now Playing: 8 Mile - Official Soundtrack
posted by Brad at 5/22/2004 07:18:00 PM | permalink |
0 comments
Friday, May 21
Are you a n00b?
My mom is - she wanted so desperately to add a comment, but couldn't figure out that you have to create an account on Blogger to do so. To encourage random and frequent comments, I have decided to remove this restriction. This gives you non-commenters one less excuse, which I'm certain will open the floodgates to a new wave of Verbal Diarrhea.
Speaking of diarrhea, I made a chilling discovery while using the Ladies room at the Metrodome yesterday. BythewaytheTwinslost10to3andthegameprettymuchsucked. Apparently all the real hard core sports fans are running out to buy the Stadium Pal, for "When You Gotta Go, But You Wanna Stay..." Sick.
If you own one of these, please use the blessing of anonymity granted above to defend your purchase for anything other than medical reasons...
While I'm on the subject of bodily functions (which I appear to dwell on at an alarming rate), have you ever wondered why extremely neat & organized people are referred to as being "Anal Retentive"? I did - but definitely NOT because anyone has ever actually accuesed me of being anal...
I have two brothers, the younger of which recently taught me a thing or two about how I should be folding my clothes. Check out his super great webpage at michaelrjohnson.com for a technique so advanced, I personally guarantee that it will blow your friggin' mind...
|337 Word: n00b
Pronounced: "new bee"
Defined: This the |337 equivelant of "newbie," commonly used to refer to techno-novices
Now Playing: John Coltrane - Giant Steps
posted by Brad at 5/21/2004 04:44:00 PM | permalink |
1 comments
Thursday, May 20
Tuesday was the day of the park
First, Susan and I went for a run in Central Park, Roseville style. Later that evening, we headed to Becker Park (site of an April Fool's joke by KDWB) to watch some softball. The Dr Black DDS All-Stars rode their nifty new maroon shirts and a screaming crowd (or was that Prull?) to back-to-back nail biting victories.
Speaking of screaming crowds, I went to the Timberwolves game last night - and boy was it loud. The cheers were all worth it, as they beat the Suckramento Kings and advanced to the Western Conference finals against the Lakers. Tonight we are going to the Twins game with John & Katie - the weather is gorgeous today, so it should be a great night at the ballpark... indoors :(
I met with the moving company this morning, and was a little surprised when the guy (he had to be 50) shrieked when he saw Susan's closet - clothes hanging down both sides, stacked to the ceiling, and all over the floor.
"She's a girl," was his only comment.
It's going to be a bit awkward just standing there while a bunch of strangers box up and carry off your belongings - but at the same time I sure won't mind not breaking a sweat ;) In other moving news, Mrs. Gierok returns to MN in a mere 13 days! Too bad we're leaving the next day for the homefinding trip...
In an effort to help everyone become more |337, I have decided to (at my discretion) include a |337 word of the day. Today's word is |337 (pronounced "leet"), which is the "I'm a cool computer geek" way of saying "elite." For example, I could describe myself as a |337 programmer. Or you may think that this blog is rather |337. What is |337 about you? (That is my desperate way of asking for you to post comments, since there are a scarce few so far)
If you'd like to study ahead and learn more, I recommend the |337 Sp34K g3N3r4t0r
Now Playing: Limp Bizkit - Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water
posted by Brad at 5/20/2004 01:17:00 PM | permalink |
1 comments
Monday, May 17
Nothing is cool about the number 58
Guess who isn't thrilled about his performance today in the Monday night Men's League at Brookview Golf Course? Two eights and no pars make me somewhat less than a happy camper, but I shouldn't complain too much as I was golfing rather then at work...
As I was washing off the crappiness in the shower, I remembered that May is PGA Free Lesson Month. True to my promise of soap-induced revelations, I envisioned myself telling a PGA pro what I wanted to correct about my golf game during the free lesson:
"My biggest problem, Mr. PGA man, is consistency. I say this with tongue in cheek, but I think I have a pretty decent swing."
Well, Koz thinks I have a decent swing - but my scorecard today (and most other rounds) doesn't quite scream, "He's a natural!" Hookay, enough about my lack of golfing prowess. Immediately after thinking the "tongue in cheek" thought, I began to wonder where that cliche came from - and, quite honestly, what it meant. So I asked Google, and now fear I may have used the phrase incorrectly.
Another cliche I was wondering about recently was why people wanted to hear things "straight from the horse's mouth." I discovered that it comes from gamblers & horse racing, because who better than the horse itself to foretell the outcome of the race? Viola!
This is getting lengthy, but I got some oFotos in the mail today that you should check out.
Now Playing: Kill Bill, Vol. 2
posted by Brad at 5/17/2004 08:08:00 PM | permalink |
1 comments
Sunday, May 16
Retro is Metro...
| Do you want one of these? |  |
| The correct answer is yes. |
Now just get your ass to Miller Park on Friday June 18th @ 7:05 PM to see the Twinkies take on the Brew Crew and get your very own.
Now Playing: ESPN - Jock Jams (how appropriate)
posted by Brad at 5/16/2004 10:51:00 PM | permalink |
0 comments
Buford? Anyone?
The T-Wolves just lost, which sucks. Now the series is tied 3-3 and headed back to Mpls for a decisive game 7. Is it a bad thing that I had the title for this entry figured out halfway through the 4th quarter? I have never claimed to be a big basketball fan, but I also shudder to think that I had given up. Buford, by the way, is some no-name on the Kings who came off the bench and played just slightly above his "level".
After making all the changes to the blog yesterday, I went and told a bunch of people about it - Mom, Dad, Nick, Rebecca, Rich, Jan and now Nicki. I should be honest and admit that it was her blog that inspired me - so far I have been quite glad that it did :) So now that more than 2 people are visiting (I hope), I feel a wierd obligation to entertain everyone...
The most entertaining thing I've seen on the Intarweb lately is one guy's vision for how the world will end. A big congratulations to Becca Bergner, who was recently recognized as the coolest kid in Carlson. In true Becca style, some of the comments are a little over the top.
Now Playing: Howie Day - Stop All The World Now
posted by Brad at 5/16/2004 05:05:00 PM | permalink |
1 comments
Saturday, May 15
Version 2.0
The good folks at Google upgraded Blogger, which guilt-tripped me into making my own set of upgrades. Bid adieu to lookmom.blogspot.com, and say hello to my little friend blog.bradleypjohnson.com. I hope my mother doesn't take offense that I never sent her the link to the old site, even though it had the potential to be a permanent shout out to her.
Speaking of my parents, yesterday was their 28th wedding anniversary - way to go. I wonder if any orchids were purchased? So we are now piggybacking on the static IP goodness of Bob Insurance, a nifty insurance agency that my dad runs out of the basement of our house.
In addition to eliminating ads and overall giving me more control over the appearance of the site, the new digs allow me to create links out of what used to be boring CD cover images. Those links could take you to bn.com, who graciously agreed to serve as a free image hosting service. Instead, they will take you to the directory on my home computer where the mp3s are available to download. As long as you like my taste in music, you'll never need to buy a CD again!
It's 5 PM, maybe I should get off my ass and shower...
Now Playing: Incubus - A Crow Left of the Murder
posted by Brad at 5/15/2004 04:31:00 PM | permalink |
1 comments
Thursday, May 13
Bloogle?
Google started a blog recently, which clearly supports the Myth of the First Mover Advantage - right? In other news, I'm still trying to figure out how to host this thing on my compter at home, but so far have proven to be technically incompetent.
Oh and by they way, I got the job in Lodi - hopefully they don't read this and realize that I'm actually dumb. It's funny, now that I "officially" have the job, a mixture of chaos, excitement and fear has descended upon me. There are lots of details to work out in the coming weeks and months, and guess where I'm going to vent about them?
Pops had an adventure with spyware today, and even Google didn't know what to do about it. Did I mention that he has a website? It's a work in progress (what website isn't), but worth checking out at bobinsurance.com. Maybe if more people start using it, I will have more motivation to write elegant code for it...
Now Playing: Stereophonics - You Gotta Go There to Come Back
posted by Brad at 5/13/2004 06:04:00 PM | permalink |
0 comments
Tuesday, May 11
Could I be blogging any more in one day?
That was supposed to read Chandler style, in honor of the passing of Friends. Is that how you read it? I hope so.
As if posting all my notes from New Orelans isn't enough for an afternoon, I wanted to put up a "non journal" entry in a desparate attempt to make this an interesting read. I was looking for Zydeco music online last night, and stumbled across musicvine. It's a pretty cool artist-genre-style-influence-linkie-thingie, check it out.
No seriously, check me out.
If that last comment doesn't mean anything to you, then immediately go to homestarrunner.com.
Anyways, I swear there was another online service - called something like "Spinner" that did this exact same thing - just not as flashy. I must warn that Dave Matthews was awarded a small hurty fuschia bubble from musicvine, which makes me sad.
Also, if you don't read fark.com on a regular basis, you should. Anyone who wants to volunteer to send out a daily "Filtered Fark" newsletter would get a subscriber out of me.
Now Playing: John Mayer - Heavier Things
posted by Brad at 5/11/2004 03:49:00 PM | permalink |
1 comments
...but I am le Tired
Apparently I was too tired to write anything last night, so we have to rely on my (shaky) memory. The swamp tour was cool, but the gators weren't biting. Believe it or not, the tour guides throw marshmallows at the damn things in a futile attempt to provide "action shots" for tourists to snap away at. No such luck. But we did hear quite a few interesting stories, most of which I already forgot. "Skippy" apparently had a ginormous hangover from the previous night of drinking, but toughed it out for the twenty or so of us in the "small boat."
We stopped at a local Target on the way home, and consumed approximately 1/2 gallon of Icee. Dinner was at Dookie Chase, one of those places that you have to visit while in town. All of the volunteers that live with Rebecca (Katie, Rilda, Ann and Ray) came with us, so it was a big party - and a big tab. The Larson's were kind enough to pick up the tab for everyone (which wasn't the only time by any means), and the food lived up to most everyone's expectations fo sheezy.
We headed into the (all together now) French Quarter, and miraculously found a street parking spot in front of Pat O'Briens. After we couldn't find a spot in the courtyard, we settled for a pseudo-table by hoarding all the bar stools and making our way through the drink menu. The Timberwolves game was on the big screen, and they were doing quite well - while we were watching the game from the bar. Nobody would steal a glass for me, so we headed home and turned the game back on.
We should have stayed at the bar. The T-Pups eventually pulled it out, but not before going down 10 points with 4 minutes to play. With all the drama, you would think that McHale signed Eddie Guardado to close out the game with his traditional flair.
I just realized this entry is going to be long, but I don't want to forget anything from what has been an incredible trip. In true Southern cookin' fashion, below is a 10-ingredient recipe for spending Mother's Day in New Orleans:
1. Attend a 2 hour service at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church - "An African American Roman Catholic Church Community," which was equally interesting and inspiring.
2. Buy Susan an $8 bloody mary and watch her get wasted, then put away 1 1/2 delicious Mojitos over brunch on the rooftop of Sugar Magnolia Restaurant.
3. Ogle at the beautiful houses while driving up & down St. Charles, and buy a 1954 recording of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture by Minnesota Orchestra for $1 at the library's book sale.
4. Head back into the Qwata (for the third time?) and enjoy cafe au lait and bengiets from Cafe du Monde (for the second time?).
5. Walk through several galleries for photography inspiration, then spurn the local art community by taking the pictures yourself.
6. Relax at 2750 Esplanade (pronounced es-pluh-nod), remove the Sasser worm from the computer and Snood it up while Sleepy McPooper does her thang...
7. Enjoy some praline (pronounced prah-leen) Gelato and a Cannoli (not to be confused with Canneloni) at Angelo Brocato's on chairs that "don't cover your whole butt."
8. Buy some food for Sammy, the local cat that sleeps under the van and happens to be missing most of his tail and part of an ear from when Mike Tyson visited a few weeks ago.
9. Drive through City Park, and wish you had brought golf clubs and had another sunny afternoon to tackle the golf course nestled amongst the 1500 acres.
10. Pay one last visit to Fair Grinds, and sample the french press coffee while hogging the WiFi bandwidth and answering some burning questions about moving to California.
Now Playing: Stan Getz & J.J. Johnson - Live at the Opera House
posted by Brad at 5/11/2004 03:46:00 PM | permalink |
0 comments
Buckwheat!
I just clogged up the toilet in a roach infested bathroom at Betty's Pancake House. So that was gross, but the buckwheat pancakes weren't bad at all. I've got time to PDA it up, as we are headed out towards Slidell for a swamp tour, courtesy of the good folks at Cajun Encounters
Yesterday, a flambuoyantly gay man served us breakfast at Elizabeth's Cafe, we toured Laura Plantation and drove by Oak Alley Plantation. We spent a few more hours in the Qwata - sampling pralines, sipping Cafe au Lait at Cafe du Monde, and supporting some local artists.
Then we met the most incompetent waiter in New Orleans, who tainted an otherwise nummy dinner at Fellini's Cafe. I read some more "Black Boy" before bed - I'm actually compelled to read this book for some reason.
Time for some Cherry Whiz-Bang...
Now Playing: Jack Johnson - Brushfire Fairytales
posted by Brad at 5/11/2004 03:45:00 PM | permalink |
0 comments
transcribes est wry bulno
let's try again. Transcriber est may bueno. That's not bad. hookay. so in case you didn't already guess, I am writing this blog entry from my trusty PDA. I think that makes this the iourtbconputl (4th Computer) I have used to nurite.(write)
tonight, I find myself in Nev orleans Louisiana, visiting Susans sister where she has been volvnteenng since last fall. Susan is next to ne, deep into ''the dannci code" which is clearly the hit book by adam frown. whoop's. it's almost funnier when Idontcorrect what the little nachml thought I wanted to twrite.
nachml= machine, just so yo. know
anyh oo. it is nearly midnight Sol should pridly try and sleep - stay tuned for more adventures from the deep south
Vow Playing: Coldplay - a Rush of Blood to the Head
posted by Brad at 5/11/2004 03:44:00 PM | permalink |
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Spider Box? What?
Today was an interesting day. We woke up around 7, and got ready just barely in time to catch a ride to Bishop Perry Middle School, where Rebecca has been volunteering for the past 9 months. We met quite a few of the 56 boys who attend the school, grades 5 through 8. After morning assembly and some internetting, we headed to a neighborhood restaurant for breakfast. Always up for an adventure, I ordered a ginormous waffle with embedded pecans complete with peanut butter and sliced bananas. It was tasty, but didn't seem "breakfasty."
Susan and I ventured into the French Quarter, and wound through the French Market and flea market, seeing table after table of the same "touristy shit." We stumbled upon a movie shoot near Jackson Square, Kate Hudson and some nameless man were filming a movie called Skeleton Key.
Or was it Spider Hut? What3v@r.
Dmitry showed up, which meant it was time to start drinking. 4 beers and a goddamn Hand Grenade later, we were chatting it up in a local bar with retro chick, who thrilled us all with her stories about Gremlin (apparently her boyfriend). Then we gots swindled to the tune of $15, but it all happened so fast that it really is funnier than it is sad. Susan stole my phone and tried to convince me that the swindlers had swindled it right out of my pocket, but I was too smart (drunk) to believe her.
I started sobering up in time for a flying burrito from Juan's, which was GOOD. We watched the season finale of Friends and walked down to Fair Grounds for some libations. Susan's mom and dad landed tonight and, after a scenic drive through N'awlins, should be here soon.
Now Playing: Ben Harper - Live From Mars
posted by Brad at 5/11/2004 03:42:00 PM | permalink |
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Wednesday, May 5
My name isn't Joe, but...
...why is it sometimes so hard to find a cup of coffee that I actually enjoy? I chuckle as I write this, given that I could hardly stomach the stuff a short 2 years ago. I am far from a connisueur - I'm guessing that I average about 5 cups of coffee a week. A pretty modest number, given the prevelance and popularity of the stuff these days.
When I worked in downtown Minneapolis, it didn't take me long to realize that a paper cup from Starbucks or Caribou was pretty much your ticket to wander the maze of skyways. Since the array of options was scary & confusing to me, I stuck with a "you get what you pay for" mentality and started ordering a $3.50 mocha on a regular basis - chocolate is GOOD. I also made the perfectly logical assumption that you should order the biggest size available - you get more for your money.
That was, until I started to get the jitters. The combination of 3 or 4 shots of espresso and all the sugar in the milk, chocolate sauce and whipped cream sent my knees on a spasmic bouncing spree - and my brain went right off the deep end. My productivity and pocketbook were starting to hurt - I didn't accomplish much more than being extremely alert at work, and couldn't afford to pay the bills. Something had to change, so I switched to straight up coffee and half & half, and have been in search of the perfect cup ever since.
Currently, I am enjoying a cuppa coffee (complete with foam cup) on my Northest Airlines flight back to Minneapolis. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was better that what I got from a restaurant boasting a huge yellow & red "Coffee Shop" sign in south Sacramento the other day. There are a few other coffee consumption adventures over the past year worth noting:
1. Bull Run Roasting Co. coffee at the Eagan Sydney's for Easter brunch in 2003
2. I enjoyed an incredible cup at the Olive Garden in St Louis Park after Zac Watne's going away lunch
3. Midwest Express serves decent coffee on board, although the accompanying warm chocolate chip cookie doesn't hurt
4. La Minita Peaberry is my personal favorite offering from the folks at Caribou Coffee
5. I tried my first breve at Grounds Keeper in downtown Racine where Samantha works - mmm, tub3rous.
Now Playing: Charlie Hunter Quintet - Right Now Move
posted by Brad at 5/05/2004 08:37:00 AM | permalink |
25 minutes and counting...
While packing up my room, I discovered a coupon for a free wine tasting at the nearby Lodi Wine & Visitors Center. Since it doesn't open until 10, I'm going to catch up on some writing...
California has been an incredible experience. The weather is absolutely gorgeous, most of the cities I have visited have impressed me, and the tour of the plant yesterday was pretty cool. That being said, I have been surprised at how mixed my emotions have been during this trip. I may have temporarily turned into a woman, because my mood has swung more in the past couple of days than a married couple that sleeps with other people on an hourly basis.
Greg and I had a fantastic dinner last night at the Wine & Roses Restaurant. I'm glad I took him up on the offer, it was a reassuring and informative experience. I expect to hear back from the folks at the plant as early as tomorrow, so that will hopefully quell some of the uncertainty I am currently feeling.
Another emotion I didn't expect to feel during this trip was the sheer distance between northern California and back home in the Midwest. Greg & Natalie have spent the past 2 years doing a lot of the same "adventures" that I hope to experience while working at the plant, and his comment that they didn't regret the decision to move out here was a fantastic thing to hear. He always seems to say the right thing to put me at ease.
Now Playing: Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown
posted by Brad at 5/05/2004 08:37:00 AM | permalink |
I'm bleeding!
I just checked in to the Wine & Roses hotel, and immediately headed for the bathroom in my plush King Garden room. The TV mounted in the wall was a nice touch, but I had to fix the toilet just so the damn thing would flush. I assumed that would be the only problem in such a nice place, until I sliced my leg open on a wire sticking out of the upholstery of a bench at the foot of my bed.
After controlling the hemmoraghe, an intelligent person would have moved the bench to prevent a repeat injury - but I am clearly not an intelligent person. A few hours later, I added a matching cut and now resemble someone who got into a toothpick-sized swordfight with a midget.
Now Playing: Dave Matthews - Some Devil
posted by Brad at 5/05/2004 08:37:00 AM | permalink |
Do people actually finish crossword puzzles?
They make me feel dumb. Dan and I attempted the NY Times crossword last weekend - after about 5 minutes our tiny minds were exhausted and we found ourselves trying to get Google to figure out the answers for us. That worked for a while, but eventually I was typing in "New York Times crossword solution" in a desparate attempt to fill in all those little white boxes. I confirmed my incompetence a few minutes ago, having given up on this month's crossword in NWA World Traveler Magazine. It was over before it started, when I noticed that "Answers to this puzzle can be found on page 60."
You guessed it, I'm blogging at 35,000 feet and 500 MPH. Actually, I'm writing this in dirty Notepad and will upLOTR it later - for now I am going to enjoy the foodservice Cheerios I was just served. Too bad I don't have the manuevering room of first class, I could put more than milk and a spoon in the bowl ;)
Now Playing: Howie Day - Australia
posted by Brad at 5/05/2004 08:36:00 AM | permalink |
Saturday, May 1
47 + 49 = 96
Just returned from a nipply round of 18 on the Championship course at Baker National in Medina. I played with Wade and two of his buddies, Taylor and Tyler. We probably only got the names confused 3 or 4 times, so that's respectable. I guess what's most exciting is that I broke 50 on each side and therefore kept it under 100. That's pretty consistent for me - it's also worth mentioning that there was only one snowman in the round, and I parred 3 of the 4 par 3s. So I'm happy about that, but also that it was part of a relatively productive day. I got up at 7:30 (muy early for me on a Saturday) and did some laundry before heading to the house and filling in for one of the rituals there. I've done that several times as a student, and today reminded me of how much fun it can be when a person believes the fate of all their efforts lies solely in your hands ;)
Last night was quality as well, we packed out JJ's Clubhouse on 394 to watch the Timberwolves beat Denver and advance to the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs for the first time in franchise history - after losing in the first round for 7 YEARS IN A ROW. Whew! Those of you who know me are aware that basketball is my least favorite professional sport, probably because I was terrible at it when I played on the church team in middle school. I will never forget the tournament @ St. Rita's when I actually scored like 4 points in the championship game - after we won, I grabbed the trophy and held it in the team picture like I was the friggin MVP or something. N-E-ways, for those of you about to fall off the edge of your seats in suspense, here's my personal power ranking of sports:
1) Hockey (Golden Gophers moreso than Wild)
2) Football (Go, Pack Go!)
3) Baseball (Twinkies, mmm)
4) Basketball (T pups)
Have I mentioned that I absolutely loved the Pepsi/iTunes promotion?
      
posted by Brad at 5/01/2004 07:30:00 PM | permalink |
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