Shoe care tip

A pair of shoes I bought was a little too tight around my toes (thanks for the wide feet gene, Dad), so I purchased leather shoe stretch spray at Target to see if it would really make them more comfortable. I was hesitant to believe it would really work, but it did make the shoes totally wearable instead of my pinky toes going numb....and for only $1.99 it's a steal if it saves a pair of shoes.

Design advice

I don't know if anyone has actually been following the smallest, coolest apartments contest I blogged about earlier, but I am positively obsessed. Seriously, you need to check it out.

Somehow, though, looking at 100 cool apartments has not gotten me any closer to choosing paint colors for my own condo. Help me out, here are the details:

• I can choose up to 3 colors and dictate which walls will be each color
• It's a small, open space, so the colors should not clash horribly - see floorplan above
• I'm thinking a neutral color since a) I don't have living room furniture yet and would rather get my "color" through furniture and accessories and not be pigeon-holed into finding furniture that matches the wall, b) I've done the dramatic red accent wall thing and I'm sort of over it, c) I'll need to sell the joint someday, d) I don't love any color so much I'm ready to commit to it for 5-ish years, i.e. being over red now

My dilemma - how to do neutral without being boring. Ideas?

Sir Sex Bomb

Elton John and Paul McCartney must be pissed - Tom Jones has also been knighted by the Queen. Don't get me wrong, I like a little "Delilah" as much as the next person and I'll admit I LOVE his Reloaded duets CD I bought on the street in London (chances are I was a little tipsy). But really...Tom Jones? This guy? >>>

Craigslist fun

You could honestly fill an entire blog with dumb stuff found on craigslist...but this post I found while half-heartedly hoping to find a deal on some fantastic mid-century modern furniture (read: doesn't exist in Minneapolis) made me giggle out loud trying to imagine what a shabby sheik would look like and how that would translate to furniture:

WANTED: White "Shabby Shiek" looking Furniture

If I were a rich girl....

Even if these were "everyday" shoes, which they clearly are not, I couldn't ever justify the $400 price tag...but a girl can dream.

Better late than never

Especially when it comes to nerdy pictures. I finally got my pictures from the RSRM static fire up on Flickr. To give you a reference, the yellow area here is the actual rocket, which is 150 feet long (yellow box courtesy of my rockin' Paintbrush skills). You can do the math on how big that makes the flame coming out of the rocket. As Craig Kilborn would say: "Marc Wendorf, that's a big flamer."

This is Jeopardy, bitches!

If you love Jeopardy as much as I and the rest of the Truhe clan do, you'll be excited to learn you can now apply for Jeopardy online. The central region testing will take place tomorrow night at 8.00 pm sharp. You take a 10-minute, 50-question test and if you pass you'll be invited to a formal tryout when Jeopardy rolls into your area.

I'm interested to see how I'll fare. It's one of my lifetime goals to appear on Jeopardy, although I believe I'm not yet to the optimal Jeopardy age. I'd also be nervous I'd pull a Cliff Claven or not be able to come up with an interesting anecdote for the contestant interview portion of the show. I'd have a real complex about that part since my dad and I got a big kick out of mocking all the contestants who talked about their cats or the one vacation they'd taken in the last 3 years. I'd hate to imagine people at home mocking me while I talk about my experience at adult space camp or something....

PS How old is Alex Trebek? He's got to be getting up there, but he's still quite handsome.

Stadium News

It's looking like the Gophers will be the first Twin Cities team to get a new stadium. Thanks to a land deal that will help fund the stadium, construction on an outdoor on-campus Gopher stadium is likely to start next year, according to U president Bob Bruininks. Pretty darn exciting if you ask me..and I'm glad the Gophers are getting first dibs on stadium since I could give a rat's ass about the Twins (although I would enjoy games in an outdoor stadium) and even less of a rat's ass about the Vikings and their new stadium in Blaine.

Book corner

I pretty much forget what I've been reading lately. I was on a Dorothy Parker kick for a while and read a bunch of her short stories. There was another Kurt Vonnegut book in there somewhere. I read Bel Canto, which was good. But, what I'm most excited about right now is Silent Bob Speaks: The Collected Writings of Kevin Smith. I picked it up at the library Thursday night and read almost the entire book in one sitting. Which reminds me, I need to Netflix disc 2 of An Evening with Kevin Smith so I can hear the Prince story Julie and Brandon love so much.

So this confuses me. Straight from Netflix recommendation page (the WTF? is my own):

Other Roger Ebert Picks:
The Yes Men
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Regret to Inform
Biggie & Tupac <----WTF???

Ouch

In case you were thinking about it, I would not recommend accidentally falling asleep with teeth whitening strips on. Makes your teeth quite sensitive the next day.

Setting the record straight

Since Laura refuses to print a retraction, let me just state for the record that I do not listen to Larry the Cable Guy. The line she quoted is from Ron White, who is part of the Blue Collar Comedy group, but is faarrr from being Larry the Cable Guy or Jeff Foxworthy or the other hick guy....at least that's what I like to tell myself. Check out some videos for yourself if you'd like.

Which would you rather?

• Live in a town named Coon Rapids?
• Live in a town named Ham Lake?

Rocket Man

Burning out his fuse up here alone

NOT: Burning all the shoes I've ever owned

Thanks Family Guy for clearing that up for me.

Wedding Fair Blues

Julie, Laura and I went to the wedding fair on Sunday to try to find Julie somewhere to get hitched. The experience wasn't horrible, but besides trying to find a venue for Julie, we were all there out of curiousity more than genuine interest. Here are some highlights:

• Bride-to-be Julie almost getting us kicked out by saying she didn't like "tulle and shit" and wasn't necessarily fond of flowers. Thankfully no one but Laura and I heard her or I'm sure we'd be blacklisted from all future wedding fairs.
• A boy we know from college, who shall remain nameless, was there with his fiance and (presumably) her mother. We decided to avoid him since we didn't think we could talk to him for more than 5 seconds before asking how extremely pussywhipped he was in order to get dragged to the wedding fair.
• We got to see a fashion show, which was fun, even though I find 99.5% of wedding dresses to be putrid looking. There were some cute ones...and cute bridesmaids dresses, too.
• Techno music. Enough said.
• More chach-y wedding DJs than you can imagine. Seriously, you must have to take an exam proving you're in the top 5% of jackass-dom to get a wedding DJ license. (I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as a wedding DJ license, but humor me here.)
• Ooh, lots of knocked-up brides. Some of whom didn't appear to understand the concept of maternity clothes.

Fun website

Maybe I've missed the boat on this one, but I just discovered sotanLife, which is a very useful website. It's also a good alternative to Citysearch, which I like, but want to dislike since it's run by the evil Ticketmaster. As a bonus, their neighborhood profile this month is my future hood...and they have an Alcohol Fact of the Day.

Marc Wendorf

I know you're a big attention whore, so I thought seeing your name here would encourage you to come back and play in Mpls more often. Perhaps if you do, I'll put your beautiful face on here for the whole world to see...and by the whole world, I mean the 20 people who read my blog. Friday night was a good start, but we barely had any time for you to inappropriately grab my and Laura's boobs or say nearly enough catty things about other people in the bar. I'm just sayin'.

New obsession

Apartment Therapy has a contest to find the smallest coolest apartment in America. It's amazing what some people can do with <650 sq. feet.

It's no Project Runway...

...but I like Top Chef much more than I ever would have imagined. It's a good option for 2 p.m. on a Sunday.

This is going to make a great movie

Dispatches From a Mob Trial

I'm becoming my mother

I just washed my ironing board cover.

At least I don't wash rubberbands (true story) yet, but probably only because I think rubberbands are icky to touch, so I throw them away immediately.

Coming soon

This insider's guide to Trader Joe's will come in handy soon - they're putting one in the newest building at Excelsior & Grand. I've never been to a Trader Joe's myself, but know the kids who lived/live in San Francisco and Boston are big fans and I'm excited to check it out.

Whoa whoa whoa

This kid just sang Part-Time Lover, one of my favorite songs of all time. I may never be the same.

PS - Paula Abdul is trashed, right?

While I was stuck in Utah...

Santino Rice had the Best Week Ever

Confession

So, I'm watching American Idol. I will defend myself thus:
a) I'm a little buzzed from Yuengling and Chianti
b) I'm in West Virginia
c) The contestants are singing Stevie Wonder songs

Next blog, please

I enjoyed this girl's post about the Navbar on Blogger, a resource which I underutilize. I should really putz around on Blogger more often because it makes me realize how fantastic my blog is compared to the majority of randomly selected blogs thrown my way. Click Next Blog (top right hand corner) and I virtually ensure what you get will be worse than my blog.

I don't care who you are...

...this is funny

Palm Springs wrap up

Never. Stopped. Raining.

Never rains in Southern California my ass. That Albert Hammond is full of shit. Of course I had a good time anyway and definitely can't complain about a weekend in PS. I got to see my parents and learned to play a new card game and the shopping's great...which is good, because it's about the only thing to do in PS when the weather's crappy.

New shoe Friday

I only bought one pair of shoes at Palm Spring's fantastic outlet mall. The trip was far from a total loss, however, since there is now a Michael Kors outlet there!!

Mormon joke of the day

Yes, this is a real beer...and it's good.

Another day at the office

So I've been bitching about Utah, but what I saw today was cool enough to make up for an entire month in Utah - I got to see a static fire of our reusable solid rocket motor (RSRM).

Quick lesson for those who aren't space nerds: The RSRM is the white rocket in the above picture. Two RSRM's are attached to each space shuttle and power the shuttle from liftoff through the first couple minutes of its flight, then separate and drop off into the ocean, where they are retrieved. They're then refilled with propellant to be used again on another mission, hence, the "reusable" part of their name.

For the static fire, they lay one of these babies horizontally on the ground, secure it (obviously), and let it rip. Needless to say, this is pretty damn impressive and I was muy excited to get to see it. The flame, smoke, noise and rumbling were unbelievable...even from approx. 2 miles away.

I also got to meet fun rocket scientists who were more than happy to share their RSRM knowledge, an important lady from NASA, and one of the men on our bus worked in the control room for Apollo 13 to 17....and that's just the few seats around me. I was in nerd heaven. Here are some RSRM facts for your reading pleasure and I'll be posting pictures. I have a video that I'm happy to email upon request 'cause it's too hard to put on my blog.

Key facts about the Space Shuttle RSRM:

• Each RSRM consists of 11 case segments designed for reuse up to 20 launches or static tests. One of the RSRM case segments on Columbia was used on its first flight in 1981.
  
• The RSRMs provide 71 percent of thrust at liftoff and during first-stage ascent.
  From ignition to end of burn, each RSRM generates an average thrust of 2.6 million pounds and burns for approximately 124 seconds.
  
• Each motor is just over 126 feet long and 12 feet in diameter. The entire booster -- including nose cap, frustum, and forward and aft skirts -- is approximately 149 feet long. Of the motor's total approximate weight of 1.25 million pounds, propellant accounts for approximately 1.1 million pounds.
  
• By the time the RSRMs have completed their task, the space shuttle orbiter has reached an altitude of 24 nautical miles and is traveling at a speed in excess of 3,000 miles per hour.
  
• With safety, quality, and reliability as their primary objectives, engineers from ATK Thiokol Propulsion direct approximately 110,000 quality-control inspections on each RSRM flight set.

Bullshit

Just a few days ago, the forecast for Palm Springs this weekend was 80 and sunny, now this.

Mormon joke of the day

Press Release

My condo got some press today: Redevelopment rides on the train

Mormon joke of the day

So it's not really a joke. Come to think of it, neither was yesterday's picture, but enjoy....


MORMONS GONE WILD

Mormon joke of the day

If you can concentrate on anything but the half naked cowboy's package thrust at you in the foreground in this picture, you'll see that the sign behind him says "Brokeback Mormons." The mischievous side of me wants to plaster this picture all over Salt Lake City.

Not my fault

I blame my latest half.com spree on Laura for blogging about Amazon.com's list of best CD's from the new millennium. I will now be the proud owner of the De-Lovely soundtrack, Rachael Yamagata's Happenstance, and Solomon Burke's Don't Give Up On Me, which I am most excited for. He sings songs written by Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, etc.

You heard it here first

Back in December, I called out that Matt Leinart looked like Bachelor Bob ...and Della and Mark expounded on the creepiness of both men....well, the Go Fug Yourself girls seem to agree on both parts, calling out Leinart on his Bachelor Bob-esque appearance and date rape potential.

Look what I found

Slumberland has a knockoff of a knockoff of the Design Within Reach lamp I want! I have one waiting for me when I get back to town in a couple weeks...and for 1/3 of the price I was willing to pay. Yay!!

Ugh

Off to Utah....

Sorry to copy you Laura, but I have a fun tee of the day. From the intersection of the Beatles and Project Runway - Happiness is a Warm Gunn. That's funny.

Also, I highly recommend this clip from Best Week Ever in which they ponder what the Tim Gunn TV Network would be like....including Tim telling Dick Cheney if Whittington was wearing orange chiffon Cheney was completely justified in shooting him.

Prediction

I think my PR obsession is finally becoming contagious. By the time Season 3 rolls around, I will be hosting PR-viewing parties. You heard it hear first.

As long as we're talking about shoes....

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the wonderful experience I had at Fast Eddie's shoe repair. I had sworn off getting shoes retipped after attempting a couple pairs at the Shoe Doctor (booooo!) on Hennepin. The workers there were rude/weird, it took them literally weeks to do the job, they didn't feel the need to tell me when they finally did finish, it was expensive, and the work was shoddy. I concluded that, except in extremes situations, I was better off just buying new shoes.

Then, Laura told me about Fast Eddie. I had some hot little slingbacks that needed retipped, but were in excellent condition otherwise, so I took them to Fast Eddie and he fixed them up good-as-new in only 3 days and for only $12.50.

Laura was also in this week and Fast Eddie told her how much he hates the Shoe Doctor, because that's the only shoe repair place many people have ever been to because of it's prominent location, and the Dr. gives a bad name to shoe repair. So I thought I'd help Eddie out and spread the good word. Plus, his shop is behind Shuang Cheng...if only it was behind Village Wok, the world would be perfect.

New shoe Friday

I was on a peep-toe mission...and the others were just a fluke. If I told you how very little I spent on both pairs, you wouldn't believe me. Ask nicely and I'll give up my secret shoe shopping locale.

Daily robbery

So I love getting my Daily Candy emails alerting me of fun things to buy on the interweb, but the items are consistently WAY more expensive than I would expect. I know the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly expecting a different result, but every time they show me a cute little handbag, I check out the designer's site only to find out that cute little rainbow clutch, which you would get very limited use out of, is $227. That's crazy!

Sad :(

I wish I had realized the auction of the PR designer's sketches ended so quickly and that some of the sketches would have been so cheap. How cool would they have been to own?

Reactions to last night's show? I am starting to question Daniel as the frontrunner. I believe Santino has brought his A game.

On a happier note

The season finale of Project Runway starts tonight!! I honestly don't have a favorite at this point, although I think Daniel will win. I think the judges will decide Santino is too artsy, Chloe isn't artsy enough, and Daniel is just right. Bring it on.

New hate

I've told you before how much I hate the Empire flooring commercials - that jingle makes me want to jab pencils in my ears. And seriously, they must have the largest advertising budget EVER because that damn commercial is on ALL THE TIME. I've noticed an eerie similarity between Empire and Aero, the drapery company. In-home selling - check, poorly produced commercial - check, horrible theme song -check. My best guess is that the companies are indeed related, but frankly I don't care to research it.