Jello Shots and Afrobeat

This weekend gerg and I had a kegger with Jello shots and Afrobeat.

I made three flavors of Jello shots: lime, peach, and strawberry/black cherry. The peach were by far the favorite. They also had the most vodka in them.

We got a 1/4 barrel of Leinie's Original from Zip's. Click here for their crucial selection of keggers. They ain't messin around!

And the awards go to........

Prize for the most wasted goes to seville.


Prize for the the newest beard goes to clay.


Prize for the best pose with our robot goes to Bryn.


Prizes for passing out go to both gerg and jana.




Prize for showing up with a bottle of Patron at 3am goes to megs.





















Prize for the shiniest shoes goes to cBass.





















Prize for wearing leather pants and a western shirt goes to Gundie.


Prize for the best random crack commment goes to Scott.


Oh yeah, I got new red glasses!


So I wore red tights to match.

I had a little too much to drink and felt it on Sunday. I rested, and then had a massive craving for pad thai.

--------------------------------------------------------

New poll!

Today, I asked a bunch of folks the following question: "What is your favorite hangover food?"

18 people responded.

RESPONSES:









Observations:
- 6 respondents meals included eggs (pad thai often has egg in it)
- 5 respondents meals included bacon
- 6 respondents meals included cheese.
- 6 people included an alcoholic beverage...The ol' hair of the dawg that bit you routine....

Reetsyburger's Scientific Conclusions:
-My wonsen pad thai hit the spot on sunday. The sweet radish, dried shrimp, and glass noodles were a nice twist on the originial.
- Spring Street has great bloody mary's
- "Sleep" is not a food; nor is "Dunno".

Recommendations:

Paint a robot mural.

Make Jello shots sometime.

Smile more often.


Don't put Dan in charge of making sure jana doesn't start on fire.

Whiskey Attacks

I'm currently studying Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis in Nonprofit and Public Administration as I head toward obtaining my MPA (Master's in Public Administration).

As such, I've been bitching and moaning about this stats class to basically anyone who will listen. Thank Gawd for Dan, who knows how to calculate complex formulas in Excel, and is willing to share his knowledge.

A recent conversation about an "incident" at Foundation and the memory of an incident involving me, Nye's, and whiskey got me thinking that it would be more fun to conduct a random, quasiexperimental survey about drunken attacks and whiskey.

Yesterday, I asked a bunch of people two questions: 1) Have you ever drunkenly attacked? 2) Was there whiskey involved?


Whiskey Study Resluts

18 people responded.
About 78% of respondents had drunkenly attacked.
Of those respondents who had drunkenly attacked, 78% indicated that whiskey was involved (although identical, the variables aren't covarying - can't prove nonspuriousness).
66% of the respondents identified themselves as male.
44% of the respondents identified themselves as female.

Obervations:
-Some respondents wanted me to define "attack". I didn't. They had to determine for themselves if their action was considered an attack.
-Respondents wanted to tell me what other booze was involved. I wasn't interested for this study, but overall, I was interested.
-Respondents wanted to know if I (or my study) was "serious".

Reetsyburger's Scientific Conclusions:
Drunken attackers sometimes drink whiskey.
I'm not serious.

Recommendations for Future:
Take a vacation.
Read some nonfiction.
Give Dan beer.

Seward Co-op Moving Closer

The Seward Co-op is moving closer to our house!

Technically, we live in the longfellow neighborhood, but we share a zip code with Seward.

Old news? Relatively. For those of you not too familiar with the story, it's moving to the former Riverside Market location.

They created a forum to discuss all sorts of topics about the project.

RIP Footjoy!

My blue 1993 Chevy Corsica has died it's final death.

See it at the Car X? It's the blue one with the popped hood.

I bought my car from my brother 4 years ago when I lived in Oshkosh, WI. He lived in Indianapolis...still does. It was my first car (at age 25), and I babied it more than my plants. Ol' "Footjoy" and I enjoyed trips to Washington Island, Door County, Minneapolis, Madison, and Milwaukee. We blasted drum n bass with the windows open, whistled at cross country runners, hauled my golf clubs around the state, and kept a long distance relationship alive. Footjoy was reliable until the end. Hell, last month we took it to Wisconsin 4 weekends in a row without incident. Hell yeah, Footjoy!! You da bomb!

So....yesterday morning started as any other morning. Gerg and I ate cereal, grabbed my coffee, kissed gerg goodbye, barked at the dog, and headed out. However, the car would not start. I had it towed to Car X (for free! Thanks AAA). They proclaimed it DOE. Bad internal computer.

I took a walk yesterday, and just had to walk by the Car X to see how it was doing, and I saw that sad sight pictured above...my dead, dead car.

Now I am without vehicle, and without a downpayment for a new one, but with good credit and excitement about getting a new car. I'm slightly pissed off at the timing since I: a) have to be in Wisconsin next Saturday to present my research for my grad class, b) don't have sufficient time to look for a car, and c) don't have transportation to Wisconsin.

I gotta find something fast and it's gotta be cheap, but I hope it has a moon/sun roof!

Corsica photo ops...

Bent 2007 Minneapolis Recap

This is what I look like when I circuit bend.

From Wednesday-Saturday night, gerg and I lived among the circuits.

Friday night, we hit the Bent Festival and checked out the exhibit at Intermedia Arts. All kinds of fun toys and bent whatnots were available. Reed and Sarah joined us, and I think Sarah also fell for Beatrix*JAR, which isn't that surprising because they rule, and you know it.

Friday night's lineup was rad:


Igloo Martian: complete with a crab that played keyboard




Jeff Donaldson: Bent Nintendo with some serious beats. For awhile I felt like I was at a spaceage quilt show.



Tim Kaiser - this guy brought the coolest bent toys I saw at the festival. I especially liked his TankPodDrum.




Beatrix*JAR - They're good for me.





Datura 1.0 - a possessed witchy character was a part of his act....you can see her behind him. She was seriously possessed.


On Saturday, gerg and I had the chance to do some of our own bending! And attended some workshops. The Lodahls made an appearance with their adorable rugrats. Saturday night brought 5 more crucial acts to Intermedia Arts.


Circuit Master




Roth Mobot - played a video of Lasik surgery behind them while they were playing. It was super disgusting. I kept averting mine eyes so as not to upchuck in the nerd's hair in front of me.



Spunky Toofers (not pictured) - rolled around on the floor, inspired by lightning. At the end of his act, he collapsed. I hope he didn't zap himself.



Loud Objects - Live circuit bending over an overhead projector. Very "out of the box" in terms of circuit bending. Plus they rave danced during Ron S's act, which was pretty cool.




Ron S. - Ravey. Very electro.




Mystery Palace - always a pleasure on my ears. Each time I hear them, I wonder why I spend so much time listening to bands with terrible vocalists when I could be soothed by Mystery Palace instead. Awesome band.

Check out all of our photos of the Bent Festival in Minneapolis here.

Did you Hear that? Sound in Art!

Let's hear it for the noise!

Until July 1, the Minnesota Museum of American Art is exhibiting Art in Sound/Sound in Art. We motorcycled to St Paul on Wednesday night for the opening of the exhibit and the opening of the Minnesota Bent Festival. There aren't a lot of pieces that compose the exhibit, but the pieces there are interesting.

The Storm by Jack Pavlik












The Storm was the most visually interesting piece to me. Click here and look for the photo of the piece; you can actually see it in action. As the huge sheet moves, it sounds like waves of thunder. Pretty f'n cool.

Green by Shawn Decker












Green was most intriguing piece for me. The piece is made with 32 small speakers, light sensors, and four homemade custom-programmed micro-controllers, the clicks and buzzes it makes are created by impulses from ever-changing light levels and natural radiation. It was inspired by the sounds of insects.

Urban Echo is an interactive piece in action! What do you hear? What do you want others to hear? Call 612-501-2598 and answer these 2 questions.

MMAA associate curator Theresa Downing approached me while I was staring at Meza's pet carrier bag. It's a pet carrier bag that makes animal sounds. Friggin wierd. I must've been making a goofy face, cuz she said something like, "It's a little strange, isn't it?" She asked how I heard about the exhibit and I told her we were there as supporters of the Bent Festival and strange sounds. I digged her knee-high socks/ knee-length skirt combo. Gerg waltzed over and then Theresa introduced us to Mike Rosenthal, the curator of the Bent Festival. Talked about the festival. He asked about interest levels in this area. I said it was impossible to find a Speak n Spell around here, which we all agreed was a good thing for Bent, but a bad thing for us.

We met this cool guy named Tim who was rokking the same Reddy Kilowatt patch that I have. He's a wikked cool circuit bender. We talked about running into each other this weekend, which increased our excitement about the festival, since he had some really cool toys with him at MMAA. While we were talking with him, one of the Sonic State guys joined in the conversation. This site is a synth lovers wet dream.

Ran into BeatrixJar on our way out - they were leaving too. Bianca was also sporting knee-high socks and a knee-length skirt! I'm starting to notice a trend! I've also noticed that this seems to be Bianca's signature "look" cuz she was totally sporting it at the Nomad show as well. We talked about the fact that they had sent me an offer for free Bent passes the day after gerg bought our weekend passes. DOH! gerg and I agreed that the exhibit is totally worth checking out, and since there isn't a ton of stuff to see, you can easily pop by after work or before a weekend outing.

Stop back for loads of photos and stories from Bent. We're totally amped!! gerg bought weekend passes and a load of toys just waiting to be corrupted.

Jerome Exists...but is he for Real?

I wrote about this bizarre character named Jerome that we met last fall. Spoke with a few bartenders in the area who shared other too-good-to-be-true stories about Jerome. IE - His grandmother babysat for Hitler.

We spotted him tonight at the E. Lake Street construction area! He was talking with some folks who were surveying the area and collecting bit n' pieces of the old E Lake St.

click on the photo for a larger version
Jerome! What are you pointing at???

Click here for other construction photos.

Ben and Jerry's Free Scoop

gerg and I headed over to the Washington Ave Ben and Jerry's for a free scoop tonight. We didn't have the time to wait in line, even though it might've been heaps of fun what with the weather and fun-looking student types.


CHOMP!













The Corral! ROUND EM UP!


























Huddling on the sidewalk sukks...unless you've got free ice cream!












Huggin the fuzzy cow. Hey! Is she touching his chubby hubby?!?!

My Boss has the Virginia Tech Blues

I know we're all trying to make sense of what happened at Virginia Tech on Monday, April 16, 2007. Speculation and confusion seem to litter the conversations I've had with folks around here. Seems we just can't understand, yet again, why a student would randomly walk into a school and shoot a bunch of other students. The sad fact is, we've had this conversation before.

At this point, unlike some, I don't blame Virginia Tech. Perhaps it's because I've worked at universities for the past 10 years, and truly believe campuses and professors value their students' safety. I figure if the 23-year-old South Korean English major wanted to off innocents, he would've found a means by which to do so, regardless of the existence of metal detectors at every building, or cops searching backpacks for Glock 9mms (I found the link to his plays on Boing Boing). When it comes to murdering people, my philosophy is "where there's a will, there's a way." What willed his attack? That remains to be seen. Perhaps the shootings might have been prevented, but I assume Cho Seung-Hui would have devised some other means for carrying out his mind-boggling act.

The tragedy hit closer to home on Tuesday morning when I received the following message sent from Virginia Tech to our department chair, and forwarded from him to me:

"I write with great sadness and deep regret to inform you that we have lost one of our {Virginia Tech's} fine BSE graduate students to the horrible tragedy that occurred yesterday morning on the campus of Virginia Tech. Julia Pryde, a graduate student of Dr. Mary Leigh Wolfe, was killed while attending a class in Norris Hall. Dr. Wolfe and I met with Julia’s parents and sister at the Inn late last night. Words can not begin to describe this enormous loss and tragedy. Amidst the shock and disbelief, we could not help but think about Julia’s family and friends. There have been many other losses on campus and we should keep all of them in our prayers and thoughts."

Julia was actively researching in sustainablity topics surrounding land and water use at Virginia Tech, a pratical expert on composting. Mary Leigh Wolfe graduated from the U of M. My boss was a professor in Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech before coming to Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering at U of M. He knows Mary Leigh Wolfe. He knows the buildings where the incidents took place. He seems sad.

My New Crush: IceStone

On many, but not all Thursday nights, gerg and I have a tradition. We come home from work, work on a project or walk the dog for awhile, make a tasty dinner, and watch the This Old House hour on PBS.

This Thursday night we had potato gnocchi served a vodka cream sauce laced with sauteed shallots, yellow bell peppper, broccoli, garlic, oregano, basil, sea salt, and black pepper. We used Ciroc vodka, cuz that's what was in the booze cabinet. Asiago and mozarella were also recruited for the dish. It was fantastic, and in case you didn't know, vodka sauce is my favorite of all pasta sauces.

The Austin House Project on This Old House has been particularly intriguing because of the "green" renovation they undertook. From the windows, to the raingutters, the landscaping to the photovoltaic cells on the roof, this project has been SO INTERESTING. And then, last night, during the middle of a delicious bite of vodka sauce, I saw it. My new crush: IceStone.


ICESTONE IS BOSS!!











This Old House travelled to the factory where it is made. It is the most beautiful countertop surface, and it's made from recycled glass. Add some mirror flakes to the glass mix, and NOW you're in business.

I've mentioned before that I'm a "sustainability gal." I work fulltime for the USDA on a sustainable agricultural research grant program. I was raised with the concept, in organic gardens watered with captured rain water. Our first computer was purchased with $ saved from collecting and recycling alumimum. It was the 80s, and this wasn't cool, but it's how I was raised.

IceStone uses recylced glass for their VOC-free countertops. The mother of pearl shells they use are sustainably harvested. Hell, even their facility is day-lit. But the best part is the beauty of the surfaces they create without ripping the earth open.

Podcasting and the Cure for the Boring Drive

Okay, so I'll admit that when podcasts first came about, I wasn't thrilled. For one, all of the techy talk gives me a case of the *yawns*.

A few weeks after that, I realized that there's an entire world of podcasts out floating around on the www (I pronounce this "dubdubdub").

Sometimes we listen to them for the routine 5+ hour drive to Wisconsin, and they don't put me to sleep. Gerg loves listening to podcasts in the car. Can't you tell?





Sometimes I listen to them at work. Of course, NPR is always an option, but sometimes "Calling all Pets" ain't what we are wanting to hear. Please share your wikked cool and crucial podcasts with me.

Check out these podcasts for cool, interesting, and sometimes laughable commentaries and/or reviews. I listen to these podcasts.

Withering Glance. Rick Nelson and Claude Peck dispense unasked-for advice about clothing, relationships, and grooming among other topics. All with a Twin Cities flair that makes the podcast especially fun for Twin Cities dwellers.

gerg introduced me to Inside Home Recording. Inside Home Recording (IHR) is the longest-running podcast covering the latest in home studio recording, hosted by Paul Garay and Derek K. Miller (who replaced original co-host James Devon in mid-2006). The Canadian duo review all kinds of cool gadgets for recording and listening.

Musicheads is a podcast brought to us weekly by the musicheads at The Current. Bill Deville brings guest hosts to the show and they review some of their favorite new albums. I first heard the Earl Greyhounds on this podcast. We were driving though Wausau, WI on hwy 39 when they played them, and I literally stared at the radio, as if somehow staring at the radio would help me concentrate on the music more cuz I was falling for the Earl Greyhounds with each passing note. Lots of new and sometimes interesting music on this podcast.

Who doesn't love Chicago Public Radio's This American Life? It's not easy to describe the show, as they admit: "There's a theme to each episode, and a variety of stories on that theme. It's mostly true stories of everyday people, though not always. There's lots more to the show, but, like we said, it's sort of hard to describe." You get to peek in on some insanely interesting day-to-day story of someone out there in America. They broadcast the complexity and randomness of how things come to be in this land of the free through stories about real people.

I Dream of Jeannie...and "Gunky" Money

Who hasn't found $.25 in a pop machine or a dollar in the laundry? I once found $3 in a purse I bought at a resale shop. Finding money is cool, especially when you have no idea who lost it...then you don't feel bad about keeping it. I've never found a large ground score of dollars; I know my dad has probably found $25 in quarters from pay telephones.

But it's something else to find $17,000 in lost change.

While I'm on the topic of casinos....We went to New Glarus for Easter to visit some of gerg's relatives...truly a great group of people. When we headed back, we stopped at the Ho Chunk Casino, for a break from the 5 hour drive. What better way to celebrate the resurrection of Christ than with some nickel slots?!?! I had $6 in cash in my wallet, so I put $5 into a I Dream of Jeannie nickel slot machine. It's a little creepy playing this machine, cuz every 60 seconds or so, you'd hear Barbara Eden's voice say "Good job, Master!" or "Master, it's fun playing with you!" I guess I'm not into being called "Master", at least by Barbara Eden anyway. But I wasn't creeped out when I ran the max spins of the wheels each time, and hit it pretty big with a $250 win! As usual, the worst part is collecting the "gunky" money to cash it in. Touching all those coins really grosses me out.


Thanks Jeannie!











gerg hit the video poker machine and hit big with 4 aces for a win of about $175. He also taught me how to play in the process, but I didn't win anything there. No biggie! I was happy with my magical Easter Jeannie winnings.

A link to our Easter photos...

and a mysterious appearance of Buddy Jesus at Paula and John's Easter gathering.

Polenta on the South Side

Last night, we had the pleasure of an impromptu dinner with IIII and Dre (great hat) after a UW Oshkosh alumni reception. IIII was interested in heading to our side of town and checking out the Craftsman. Although we've enjoyed cocktails there, gerg and I had never dined there, so the opportunity was very very.

Seated at a gargantuan booth in the back corner of the restaurant, we pored over the menu. gerg was tempted by the flat iron steak, but opted instead for the Fisher Farms pork chop, served with a surprising grilled maple sausage. He said his favorite part of the dish was the new potato with cipollini onion gratin, and I tried it, and it was tasty, but a little concerned about why the best part of his $23 meal was a side item. It was creamy, oniony goodness, however. I had the oven roasted polenta with a fall vegetable ragout made with cauliflour and (perhaps turnip) greens. The ragout was buttery and not particulary seasoned. The polenta was fluffy, creamy, and totally satisfying. Worth $17? Prolly not, but it was delicious. I think IIII and Dre enjoyed their eats, but I didn't beg a critique from them.

"The Craftsman Restaurant uses only the freshest ingredients. Whenever possible, we purchase our products directly from local growers and producers who use responsible and sustainable methods of production." - from the menu.
A good amount of regional faire is on the menu - along with organic and chemical free. They strive to use local, independent growers and producers, and that's evident in their menu. Star Prairie rainbow trout, Fisher Farms pork and bacon, Wild Acres pheasant and duck, Hook's bleu cheese, grass fed lamb and beef, and an emphasis on seasonal produce give a sustainable agriculture girl (that's me) a good feeling.

The interior gives a nod to prairie design, I thought of Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin design when regarding their seating and light fixtures. The open space might be a little too open for an intimate dinner. Service was friendly. Our server forgot to water our glasses until after he brought out our drinks, but I forgave him because he cracked a joke about my leftover nametage from the alumni event. He also raved about an NA beer, which gerg said wasn't particularly tastey. Then again, good-tasting NA beer isn't easy to find.

Got $130 laying around for a night out? Check out the Seven Slow Chefs event at the Craftsman on April 29. Seven chefs will each create one course using seasonal, local, sustainably produced foods served with wine.

My Favorite Project

FINALLY! (click here to see why I'm excited)

First person who tells me when season 4 is going to start broadcasting will receive a gypsy blessing.

What's that Ringing in my Ear??

When I turned 25, my friend qbert took me to get my ears pierced for the first time.


For the first couple of years, I had like 3 pairs of earrings. I just didn't really get into it that much. gerg bought me my first-ever diamonds for Christmas in 2005, which I'm rokking in this photo with my dad.

Recently, I've found some pretty crucial earrings and have kind of started getting into the whole earring "thing". It's as if I'm making up for lost time with earrings I missed in my youth; I love the kitsch styles - from the 80s especially. Not pictured are my crucial tassle earrings that gerg bought for me at the Walker, my assymetical cowboy boot earrings, and my new FAVORITE lightning bolt earrings.



Yellow Robots (with movable arms and legs!)













Vintage Lucite Earrings














Huge Heart Hoops















Mirrored Skulls with Bows













Guitar Picks with Robots and 80s charms















Cherries


















Vintage Reddy Kilowatt














I have no idea where this collection is going to go. So far I've managed to avoid the customized bling, which is a difficult task, what with my passion for OTT hip hop style.