Gratuitous Amos

For future reference

Here's a list of bars that have a permit to stay open until 4 a.m. during the RNC, including Coney Island (?) and a handful of gay bars (?).

Republicans gone wild!

How cute are these MSP cycling posters? Unfortunately, I am not much of a biker, so I feel like a poser buying them. On the other hand, the Grain Belt sign and our new faux-Calatrava pedestrian bridge are a couple of my favorite Minneapolis sites. See 6 more, that are just as fun, here.

On the road again

Off on a Milwaukee/Chicago road trip to visit peeps and see Stevie Wonder at Summerfest. Hell yeah!

New shoes I forgot to tell you about

I will not be buying these shoes with my insurance check* - because I already own them.

Let me count the ways I love these puppies: they're wedges, with a peep toe, and an ankle strap, and they're shiny, and they're crayon-green. The only thing I'm not overly excited about is the cork heel, but they're pretty close to perfection.

These are some solid work shoes. They look polished, but are still fun and the heel is low and sturdy, so I can frickin' fly around the office in them.

*No, I am not really stupid enough to blow even the smallest part of that check on shoes.

This just gets stranger....

An update on my hail-damaged Civic and why I may soon be going to prison:

I took the Civvie in for an estimate today, hoping to God that the insurance company did not total it, which I did not even think was an option until I heard that a few people that were at the same BBQ had had their cars totalled. I was positive that if my car were totalled, I would receive less than the actual amount needed to repurchase my car (in theory) on the open market. Plus, what a hassle, right?

So I take my car to a makeshift claims center in an abandoned Hyundai dealer in St. Louis Park, where a man with an intense Southern accent and uncanny resemblance to Kip from Napoleon Dynamite inspects it and comes up with an estimate of damages, which was thankfully only ~1/3 of the value of my car. Phew!

Now the strange part - they straight up cut me a personal check for the amount of the estimate, less my deductible. If the estimate from my body shop that does my repairs is more, they call the insurance company and get the extra money (within reason, obviously), but if their estimate is below the check that I have in my possession? "Well, good for you" says Kip. And then, he also adds, without provocation, that if I take it to a shop where I frequently do business, "maybe they'll help me cover my deductible." He straight-up called out what Brandon has assured me is illegal.

Then, the man who writes my $4K check comes out to just hand it over and begins discussing my options, which include not even getting my car fixed, but instead just pocketing the $4K and taking my chances when trade-in/resale time comes around.

Do you think I was part of some sort of sting operation? Like I was supposed to know all this jive was illegal and not take the check? Is Dateline gonna come knocking?

Also, does anybody have any thoughts on not getting my car fixed at all? I did not think this was even a legal option. Now I'm thinking putting that $4K towards my mortgage and driving a not so perfect car isn't a horrible option. The damage is far from embarrassing. Even if I pay for the repairs myself or take a hit on the trade-in value later, the interest that I'm saving by knocking down my mortgage principal so early in the game would totally be worth it.

Maybe I should call Suze Orman. She'll know what to do!

Short notice

David Sedaris is reading at Coffman tomorrow at 7.00 and it's FREE. I wasn't holding out on you guys, just found out yesterday myself.

If you're coming down, holla. I will be drinking somewhere on campus beforehand.

Lo siento

Such a bad blogger lately. To sum up the last month or so: trips and visitors and bar crawls, oh my!

...and thank God it's finally nice outside. Except when it's storming like hell. Speaking of which, my car got some pretty impressive hail damage last Saturday while I was out in Hopkins for Beth and Gregg's BBQ. If you have any pointers for handling the situation, holla. My dad tells me some body shops will pay your deductible for you if they can complete the job for less than the limit the insurance company gives you. This sounds illegal, but he assures me it is not. Will this really fly in MN or is it just a South Dakota thing?

I knew this day had to come, but it seems Project Runway is about to jump the shark long before it's due. With the show moving from Bravo to Lifetime, alledgedly starting to shoot in LA, and losing Nina Garcia (she isn't a dealbreaker on her own, but a nail in the coffin when you start to add this all together), it's clear PRun will never be the show it was ever again...and I can't imagine that being a good thing.

I wouldn't be surprised if Tim Gunn bails as well...and then you'll know it's OVER.

Good Stuff

I'm impressed again, Jason Mraz. Now let's get a Minneapolis show scheduled.

Random thought: How long until "Lucky" becomes a wedding staple?

Re: My blog name is nonexistent/shitty

This is what it should have been called.

Mark your calendars

Here's my preliminary short list of the best things (read: things I am going to or want to go to) coming up in the Twin Cities:

Friday, May 2: Bob Schneider at The Fine Line

Thursday, May 22: Rilo Kiley at First Ave.

Saturday, June 14: Amos Lee at Music in the Zoo

Sunday, August 24: Buddy Guy & Jonny Lang & Big Head Todd at the MN State Fair. For those who have wondered what it will take to get me into the State Fair, the answer is Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang & Big Head Todd...and James Taylor has done it before. I haven't gotten tickets to this yet, so if you'd like to be my Buddy buddy, holla.

Friday, October 3: Kathy Griffin at The Orpheum

...and the summer hasn't even started. I am giddy just thinking about how great all these shows are going to be.

New shoe Thursday

New shoe day is not very exciting for the second time in a row. It was time to buy some clip-in shoes for spinning, so here they are. Believe it or not, these were the cutest pair Erik's had.

New shoe last week

I suppose since I mentioned my new running shoes, I should do a new shoe post. They actually look cuter here than they do on, which is odd. Anyhow, if you tend to run/walk on the outside of your foot, check em out - these are Saucony Grid Propel Plus.

I've had better ideas

Winds from the SSE at 20-30 mph
+ no wind blocks around Lake Nokomis
Not fun

On the bright side, a good workout...and it was so nice out, wind excluded.

I was also wearing some new running shoes especially for supinators, which really did make a difference. Thanks to Roxie's friend Nicole for turning me onto the concept. See the Zappos running shoe guide for options for your stride.

In case there was a question where I got the cleaning/organizing gene, check out this email I just got from my mom:

Do yourself a favor and go to wal-mart or target and get yourself some
space bags that hang in your closet. I am working on that today. Had only
bought one bag and thought I was going to get all my winter coats in
one....silly me. I got 3 goose downs in one bag, then sucked the air out and the
3 coats were not as wide as one coat. I am in the process of doing my vests now.
Got 3 vests and 1 long goose down in this bag. I am so excited!!!! What a great
way to store away those winter clothes!!

This is a picture of 7 goose down coats and 3 heavy vests...2 were goose
down.

Keep it clean

Y'all know having a clean, organized house is one of my "things," so with spring cleaning on peoples' minds I thought I'd share a few of my favorite (cleaning) things.

I couldn't have been more excited when my parents gave me the Bissell Steam Mop for Christmas. Old school mopping is for suckers - this is easy to use, gets my floors crazy clean, and doesn't use anything but water. This means there's no chemical cleaner smell, which I hate. I just want my house to be clean, not smell fake clean. Plus, it's better for the environment.

Speaking of no chemical cleaner smell - my cleaning spray of choice is Seventh Generation All Purpose Cleaner. I've tried quite a few fragrance free, environmentally-friendly cleaners and this works the best by far.

Lastly, I can't tell you how happy I am that I bought the Woolite Pod carpet cleaner. I spilled cran-grape juice on my white shag carpet last week and you'd never know it now. Definitely a must have.

Happy cleaning!

Run, don't walk

There's an unbelievable sale going on at the MOA Nordstrom Rack. I was there this (Sunday) afternoon and it was not picked over yet. I got $1,000+ worth of clothes for under $80. For reals - the deals were insane.

Now if it will just warm up here so I can wear my cute new dresses.

They're baaaaaaccckk

NKOTB!!! And they've got a blog!

Shortcut

I think The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic - and How it Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World is a wonderfully interesting book, but can see how reading an entire book about a cholera epidemic in 1850's London is not everyone's idea of time well spent.

Lucky for the rest of you, you can see author Steven Johnson (of Everything Bad is Good For You, Mind Wide Open) give a 10 minute overview of the whole book here. I promise it really is entertaining.

I officially rescind my excitement

If you've read "Bringing Down the House," you probably don't want to see "21." Let's just say there were artistic liberties taken. Laura summed it up by surmising the screenwriter was told the original story while drunk and was only able to recall 3 0r 4 plot points.

It's so frustrating that such a uniquely interesting story wasn't allowed to stand on its own. Instead they added a completely fabricated worried-but-well meaning mother, love interest, double-crossing teacher, jealous peer, and last but not least, created an entirely fictitious motivation for the main character - he was only playing blackjack to earn money to pay for Harvard Medical.

So disappointing.

If you haven't read the book, you may have an entirely different opinion of the movie. Anyone?