Mini Book Corner

Clinton and Me: A Real Life Political Comedy - Autobiography of Clinton's humorous speech / joke writer. Funny and interesting - great summer read.

I haven't read anything else worth mentioning lately.

Other than that, I'm rereading the Harry Potter books, which everyone either loves or doesn't want to hear about.

Magazine Corner

• I bought the premier issue of Radar on my flight to San Francisco. I was drawn in by the tagline "Pop Politics Gossip Glamour." I said to myself, "self, that may be the perfect magazine." It's pretty darn close - I recommend you subscribe immediately.
• Has anyone else notice that Mpls/St. Paul magazine has approx. 10 pages of original material a month and the rest of the magazine is dentist's ads and replayed restaurant descriptions? Definitely letting that subscription expire.
• I used some NWA miles to subscribe to Star (the new Us Weekly), Time, and Harper's Bazaar. Quite the assortment, huh?
• I don't like Budget Travel. To be fair, I was expecting it to be "Let's Go: The Magazine," which it is not, so I was biased to start. However, I just don't think it's aimed at my demographic and it averages about 1 interesting article/month. I'm gonna let this one expire and just keep reading this great travel blog: Gridskipper

Reason #436 I'm a nerd

I'm really excited to get the Masters of Modern Architecture stamps I just ordered from usps.com

Sketchy

Guess what I found in my office? A Mr. Sketch marker. Does anyone else remember these things as fondly as I do? I liked them all except the black, which I recall as smelling like black licorice. Ick!

Home Sweaty Home

As Craig Kilborn might say - "Lindsay Lohan, I am exhausted!" I got back to the fabulous town of Minneapolis (I missed you) Friday, but only got to spend an hour here before heading to Eau Claire, Sconnie for the Allen/Muckenhirn wedding. Having not seen any of my friends for at least a solid two weeks (I missed you) ...and some much more than that, I was very excited to join them all for drinkies and fun on Water St. Friday night and, of course, at the wedding on Saturday. After dropping Laura off at the airport this morning (I'll miss you), I came home and collapsed in my own bed (I missed you) while watching the Lindsay Lohan True Hollywood Story - symbolic, no?

Oh yeah, it's f-ing hot here, which makes me even more bitter that stupid people on the West Coast think there's snow on the ground year-round.

Phat Phree

This website is hilarious, especially this funny 'cause it's true article about why it sucks to be a woman.

Amen brother.

I admittedly went to band camp AND business camp, but I think this is even nerdier:

From the StarTrib - Teens explore nanotechnology at tech camp

Indian Wells Resort pool 

Quick follow-up to Palm Springs:

Above is a picture of my view for pretty much all the daylight hours I was there. You can't really pick out the mountains in the background, but trust me, they're there.

I got to stop at my favorite outlet mall, the Desert Hills Premium Outlets. I was pretty restrained and only purchased a pair of shoes from my friend Kenneth Cole (the same style I blogged about a few months back) and a cute top for Erin and Muck's wedding.

Babylon

David Gray is coming to Minneapolis and I'm going to be in town. That's all there is to it. I'm not going to buy tickets again and be sent out of town. Not happening.

I'll be buying tickets on Friday if anyone wants to join me for the show.

I'm holding out for the Crazy Bitch Brew

If you see this beer anywhere, drink it. Thank me later.

Arrogant Bastard Ale

Dear rest of the country:

It DOES NOT snow in Minnesota in the summer.

Thank you for your attention.

Against my sister's warnings, I'm spending another weekend in CA. This time I'm in Palm Springs (technically Indian Wells) with coworkers. The weather is absolutely perfect - I'm heading out to the pool.

As an added bonus, here are some oxymorons I've heard this week:
British aerospace
Palm Springs nightlife

I'm pretty sure this is a sign of the apocalypse.

When "War of the Worlds", Tom's latest movie, was first performed (on the radio), people freaked out because they thought the broadcast was real, although it was, of course, completely fictional. Read up.
Hmmm, a fictional situation played off as real news. How would that relate to Tom and Katie's current relationship? I'm at a loss.

A link to "my" earthquake. The magnitude was 5.3, not 5.8 - just to clarify.

Earthquake!!!

I just felt my first earthquake! The epicenter was ~25 miles away and it was a 5.8 on the Richter scale. I don't know what that translates to where I am, but it was loud and it made my legs wobbly. That's my highly scientific explanation. Thankfully it was harmless and fun - definitely got my adrenaline pumping.

Red letter weekend

Below are pictures from my fantastic weekend in San Francisco. Missy and Tim were fabulous hosts and I got to see Josh Danielson and Marc "Queen of the Bitches" Wendorf, not once, but twice during my stay. Every girl should be so lucky.
Friday we hit the wharf for lunch and a sunburn and hit the town at night.
The Napa tour on Saturday visited Ravenswood, Larson, and Cline vineyards, which were all new to me. The day started with Mimosas, logically progressed to wine, and somehow digressed to shotgunning beers on the bus (yes, shotgunning beers in an enclosed space is a GREAT idea).
Sunday, after a yummy breakfast at Crepevine, we went to Stinson Beach, which was ~ an hour north of the city. It was perfect beach weather, so it made for a great final day to my trip.

Note to self: Must work visit to "Full House" house into next trip

Big boat by Pier 23, where we got lunch, beers, and I got a sunburn 

The Embarcadero 

Tim Raduenz - classy guy and great host 

Missy Dolski - classy lady and great hostess 

View from Missy and Tim's apartment 

Look - it's the Queen of the Bitches Marc Wendorf 

On the party bus 

Barrels at Ravenswood 

Hi llama. I know our tour guide keeps referring to you as a sheep, but I am certain you are a llama. She also claims your name is Lucky, but now that Napoleon Dynamite is so popular, you will only be referred to as Tina by hoardes of drunk people.  

Ryan and I took a picture of the other person taking a picture - very clever! 

Cline Vineyards - our last stop 

It was pretty at Cline 

THE red truck at Cline 

Stinson beach - our Sunday hangout 

Damn you George

A couple nights ago I was watching Seinfeld while getting in a little eliptical action in the Jesse James Workout Room (I'm not sure what the connection is there) at my hotel. In this episode, George had "Master of the House" from Les Mis in his head and kept singing different parts throughout the episode. Take a guess what song I have stuck in my head now.

Hopefully I didn't infect anyone else by bringing it up.

Has it been 2 years yet?

How about now?
Are we there yet?

From the StarTrib: Paris Hilton quitting - in two years

Wow, that's really clever

And by "really clever" I mean the strangest, dumbest, most impractical thing I've ever heard.

From the Star Tribune:
The first day I drove my new Toyota, my son inadvertently locked us out and I had to get a locksmith. Since then, I always carry a spare ignition key on a strong, thin cord and pin it inside my bra with a small safety pin. I just have to remember to make the transfer to new underwear each day.
Petrina Cordes, Minneapolis

I hate to think about what else she keeps in there.

Less than 525,600 minutes until RENT: the movie

Thanks Michael for alerting the world that the RENT trailer is now online. Let me just say I have goosebumps after watching it - so excited to see how the movie turns out. I'm v. impressed they've got the majority of the original cast in the movie.

My mom alerted me to this article in the hometown paper:
Sexual abuse lawsuit names former bishop

Debbie K. remembers this bishop from Sioux City (not our parish), but I was too young to remember him. Anyhow, when it hits this close to home you realize how much the Catholic church needs to get its shit together. It's just anecdotal evidence, but Sioux City had multiple cases and my town of 500 people had at least one case (that we know of). I can't even begin to fathom how widespread the molestation and coverup must be. I also can't even begin to begin to fathom how people thought covering it up and shuffeling the priests around was the correct way to react to the problem....and it's still going on today, so they clearly haven't learned. The priests and anyone who aided in the coverup should be in jail; if they weren't priests that's where they'd already be. Not to be soapboxy, but how does the church tolerate such harmful behavior, yet condemn people having consensual homosexual relationships or taking birth control? I'm no Jesus, but I can tell you I'm positive molesting young children is much worse.

Back on top

After a disappointing second place finish last week, the Right Ons won music trivia last night. Only this time, instead of 100 big ones, we won Hall and Oates....well, technically, Hall and Oates concert tickets. Same thing.

Know that part in "Maneater," where it sounds like they say "she can tell by the purple jaguar?" Here's what they're really saying:
The woman is wild, a she-cat tamed by the purr of a jaguar

I still can't hear this song without thinking of Chad Roberg singing it at the Otter. He really owned it.

Q: How excited am I for Michael Ian Black's new show "Stella?"

A: Pretty darn excited.

Get the detes here.

Aviry's Theory Part II

Aviry's Blog: Free Michael

My sister, who thought the Cardinals were playing "Weekend at Bernie's" with the Pope prior to his official death, now thinks Bubbles the Chimp could be implicated in the Michael Jackson molestation trial.

'Nuff said

Me: Are you an Eleanor Roosevelt fan? You know a lot about her.
Laura: I don't know I'd say I'm a big fan...
Me: More intrigued by her...?
Laura: Yeah, I think it's amazing that a crippled man and a lesbian can be elected President and wife.

Watching the Muck and Erin slide show  

Still watching the video. 

Our cab driver had a baby sticker. I put the shoes on the baby. It was definitely picture-worthy. 

Minta, Beth, really happy Rachel.  

Erin, Dana, Laura. Please notice the classy, penis-free bride. Nice work. 

Don't let the couch fool you - you're still in public. 

While we made over the recent divorcee below, his friend stuck his tongue down this girl's throat in the privacy of 5th St.  

Laura and I Ambush Makeover-ed this guy by telling him to lose the chain and then Laura paid him $1 for his bald eagle/American flag hat and promptly threw it away. Our work was done.

Don't quit my day job

I am a bad photographer. A) I'm far from understanding my new camera (but I'm working on it). B) I have some drinks and forget to take pictures or forget to take pictures of the appropriate subject.

As you can see, we had a bachelorette party for Erin Allen (Muckenhirn) last night. For a while I remembered to take pictures of the bachelorette party and everything went as planned. Then I had a few vodka tonics and felt the need to point out that both Mike and Erin could be spelled from the letters in Muckenhirn and that they should use up the rest of the letters and name their first child Chun. Around this time I also started forgetting that I had a camera to take pictures of the bachelorette party.

Also, for those who don't know, I'm vehemently anti-PDA and drunkenly decided that if you want to put on a PDA show, I will take a picture and post it on the interweb. Haha.

Homos Bad

Check out the comment Southy McIgnorantson left on Laura's blog. I'd make the obvious smartass comment about his stupidity screaming at readers via his misspellings, but it's just too easy.

If I were a rich girl.....

I would buy these.

New jacket

For my iPod, that is. It's shiny and pretty and matches my iPod.

This was also my first WorldPerks Mall purchase, made so I can Fly Free Faster. I'm definitely hitting it up more often. I'm a miles glutton and I'm buying the stuff anyway.

What are the chances? Apparently pretty good.

Today my iPod played the original "Lover, You Should've Come Over" by Jeff Buckley then immediately played the cover by Jamie Cullum. Clearly the chances of this are approx. 1 in 1119 (number of songs on my iPod less the song currently playing). I don't think having more sets of doubles changes the odds, but I'm not an actuary just an accountant. It got me wondering how many other sets of duplicate songs I have, and the answer is A LOT more than I thought:

• All You Need Is Love - The Beatles and Lynden David Hall
• Alright* - D'Angelo, Stevie Wonder, Supergrass
• Are You Gonna Go My Way - Lenny Kravitz and Tom Jones
• Baby Please Don't Go - Muddy Waters and Van Morrison
• Brown Sugar* - The Rolling Stones and D'Angelo
• Burning Down the House - Marcus Miller and Tom Jones
• Girl* - Cassie and Destiny's Child
• Good Morning Little School Girl - Eric Clapton and Jonny Lang
• In a Sentimental Mood/Sentimental Mood (close enough) - Duke Ellington and St. Germaine
• Karma* - Alicia Keys and Lloyd Banks
• Livin' for the City - Stevie Wonder and Jonny Lang
• Lullabye* - Ben Folds Five, Shawn Mullins and Billy Joel
• Mama Told Me Not To Come - Tom Jones and Wolfgang Press
• My Girl* - Musiq Soulchild and Otis Redding
• Respect* - Otis Redding and Pink
• Ride* - The Vines and Wayside
• Sexual Healing - Ben Harper and Tim Mahoney
• Summertime*# - DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, The Roots, Miles Davis, Janis Joplin
• Sweet Thing* - Van Morrison and Mary J. Blige

* Not the same song, just the same name.

# - Yes, I really like "Summertime" (the Porgy and Bess version, not the Will Smith version) that much.

Total side note: I'm watching Goodfellas and it's the "no one's going to jail, Karen" part. Such a good movie, huh?

Deep Throat

When Laura and I saw Ben Bradlee, editor of the Post during the Woodward/Bernstein/Deep Throat saga, speak in December at the Kennedy library, he gave the following two clues to the identity of Deep Throat:

• He was going to die soon
• It was pretty obvious (ie the person was among the list of suspects and is someone who would have unrestricted access to the information)

Even though Woodward, Bernstein and Bradlee won't confirm/deny until Mr. Felt dies, he seems to fit the mold.