William O'Brien

Since I have Mondays open after 9 am (when I'm done at the radio) and before 8 pm (Heroes), I headed out today to walk around William O'Brien State Park. It's pretty close to the cities, and I'd never been there before so I figured, "why not?" Unfortunately, most of the trail have been dedicated as ski-only, which left me only one short hike option. It was easy difficulty, too, which is always a downer. Trails in Minnesota state parks are so damned short that you usually don't get enough out of 'em unless they're "very difficult," and that's usually a very generous rating. Anyhoo, here's some pics.

This first one, while an otherwise unimpressive picture, is notable because this thieving little twig tried to steal my camera. As I walked by it snagged onto the wrist loop of my camera an lifted it out of my pocket. I didn't realize until about 30' later when I saw something else I wanted to take a picture of. It was funny because it was just hanging there like someone had put it there on purpose. Stupid twig.

This one is shortly after the twigging...

And I think we can all sympathize with this squirrel I saw, desperately trying to find his nuts...

Gyar!

On weekdays that I work at Joe's I typically take myself and my laptop over to the nearby Dunn Bros, grab some coffee, a comfy chair, check some e-mails, blogs, and web comics, and watch some Dungeons & Dragons animated series (from back the 80's, and one of the formative shows in my childhood). It's a five disc series, and I'd finished disc four on a fun episode that paid a lot of homage to Margaret Weiss, and author I don't believe capable of writing fantasy that isn't amazing. Anyhow, they have little fact snippets at the end of every episode, and one of them for that particular episode was that the series was not discontinued because of the controversy it raised (a popular misconception), but because of low ratings and diminishing funds. I didn't realize that it was the last episode!!!!

So here I am with nothing to do but bitch on my blog to kill time. Yeah, catching up on some Stargate SG-1, followed by Firefly, is next. But I don't have any of that here, and it really sucks. Oh well, at least the Wild beat the Stars, and that traitorous bastard Modano.

Fun 'n the Sun

My original plan had been to take a few good sunset shots in the plane yesterday. Alas, between a dirtr window and extremely hazy conditions, none of them really turned out...



...So instead, here's a picture of my friend Tasha well into her cups the other night. Enjoy!

Painstation2

Last night as I'm getting ready to go to bed I make the foolish mistake of walking around after shutting the lights off in the living room. I step on the cord to my PS2, at the perfect point where it pulls the machine off the entertainment onto my foot. Luckily, the angle it dropped at kept the machine from being significantly harmed, though there is now a dent in my foot. No bruise, and I don't think it's broken, but it actually dented the skin. There'a about a one inch canal right down the top and center of my foot. And it hurts like hell. On a separate note, woot, flying.

P.K is my proof that a cat does not need two eyes to look at you like you're an idiot.

Air Head

Looks like I'll be up in the plane again soon, which will be a nice break- even though I'm really not makin' any money doing to. It's still nice just to be on air for a station with that many listeners. If anyone's bored next Tuesday, tune into to 830 am. They do traffic on the 8's, and I'll be doing reports from 4:08 until 6:38 (roughly) in the evening. Of course, if the weather's bad I won't actually be flying and I'll be driving around in my car instead. And I might not be wearing pants...

I've got a quarter bottle of Cuervo in me and these babies. You in?

Impressions of Home

So, watching "Supernatural" on tv tonight. The show takes a trip up to Duluth of all places, and it's always interesting to see what the "Hollywood" take on your hometown is. For the most part it's non-committal (inside restaurants, half shots of signs, etc.) I do get a kick out of it when they have a scene down by the "docks." While they don't actually show any decisive Duluth shots, they do show the classic pier shot (which doesn't look anything like the Duluth shipyards), but just for good measure they do have a loon calling in the background. Just get a kick out of how they fell the need to have that little "Minnesota" touch.

Tribute to a Fallen Hero

The world lost a hero yesterday. Reports released today list the official cause of death as suicide, ruling out "foul play" given the condition of the body. While parts of the victim were strewn about, it was clear that the victim had jumped to it's death, and was not pushed or thrown. Those close to the victim commented that "We never got any pictures together, so all I'm left with are memories." Time of death was listed as 10:25 am.

So yeah, yesterday on my way into Joe's, my coffee cup and it's handle parted ways in my hand. The little s.o.b just popped off, sending the cup to it's doom. This really sucks, because now not only are my caffeine portions significantly smaller (meaning more trips to the coffee pot), but now I have to go back up to Duluth for a replacement (it was a Duluth Pack mug). Harumph.

On the upside, my Brett Favre jersey showed up today, and I'm wearing it now. It's green (my favorite color), has #4 (my favorite number), is a Favre jersey (my favorite athlete), and is a packer jersey (my favorite football team). All in all, it's my perfect jersey. So I now officially have jerseys for the only two teams I really give much of damn about (Twins and Packers). I'll have to get a Wild jersey too, but I don't follow them as closely- yet. Besides, I don't yet have a favorite Wild player (especially since the Boogie man got hospitalized in a fight- his freakin' specialty!).

Game Over

So, the big game's over, Colts won (big whoop), Rex Grossman didn't win a Superbowl he didn't deserve to be in and Peyton Manning won an MVP award he didn't deserve. Game highlight? Well, for me it was the venison chili, but that doesn't really count as "the Game." Was it Prince dressed as Lucy Arnez at half-time? Was it surprisingly mundane performance by Cirque du Soleil in the pregame show? The fact that one of the major parts of the Colts game plan was to get possession of the ball to the opposing quarterback? In the end, I'm forced to go with the sheer quantity of turnovers keeping things up in the air (though having the opening kick-off returned for a touchdown was a really close second).

My big beef, however, was the crappy commercials. There were less than a handful that were funny, more than a few that were repeats (some many years old), and nothing that stuck out. Even the beer commercials were lame, which is almost unheard of at the Super Bowl. My personal favorite was probably the Blockbuster "pet shop" that aired before the game started. From what I've been able to catch over the past few years, the commercials seem to have been getting weaker. Will the trend reverse, or are the days of memorable commercial franchises (Jordan vs. Bird's "Nothin' but net" or the various Budweiser Clydesdale runs) over? Career Builder and Doritos to a lesser extent gave it an admirable try, but they still came up short. Only time will tell if the serial commercial days are done for.

In football related news, last night I dreamt of Lambeau. It was quite the dream, one of those where you don't skip around like in some dreams but actually carry through in your dream in a realistic progression from place to place and action to action. It started with me bar tending at Lambeau Field (something that would definitely keep me in the serving industry) and meeting Brett Favre on opening day. Some fans behind me in line gave him a Lowry's Seasoning Salt gift pack because they were happy he was giving them "one more season," which is just proof that even in my sleep I'm not funny.

Strangely enough, I end up being at the game with Rach, and I never get to the game in the dream (damned alarm clock, we would've won) because every spot she picks is somewhere we can't even see the field from. We go back to a spot we'd been at earlier, but "Cirque" cast from the Super Bowl pregame show have filled that section by then (they're eating popcorn and cooing like pigeons, the one obligatory "weird" of the dream). There's no rush, though, because the hockey players haven't gotten off the ice/field yet. And yes, I know, Green Bay (or even Wisconsin in general) doesn't have a hockey team, and even if they did the wouldn't play at Lambeau, but it was a freakin' dream, so leave me alone.

Anyhow, I'm gonna recap my chili, 'cause I really liked it. First, I cubed a venison rump roast and gave it a quick marinade in Worcestershire sauce and Dave's Insanity Sauce. Browned the venison in olive oil with garlic pieces, and pour off the juice. Add some cayenne, chili powder, and beef bouillon, and let that mix. Pour it back onto the venison and let it marinate over night. Then brown some diced onion and green pepper in chili oil and a little Marechal Foch red wine. While that's going on I heat two cans of beef stock, two small cans of tomato paste, one can each of drained and rinsed black and kidney beans, a can of diced tomatoes, and more cayenne, chili powder, a healthy dose of cumin, and some brown sugar. Pour the venison and marinade into the onions and green peppers, heat it back up, and dump it all in the the pot. Simmer for six hours. Seemed to go over pretty well (even got the nod from Mercedes once she gave in and tried it). I've gotta say, I think I'll have to make more next year. 'Course, I may have to go get my own deer in that case...

4 The Love of the Game

It's official, and I'm ecstatic- FAVRE'S COMING BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd tried to put the issue out of my mind, because it was worse than waiting for Christmas (not that any holiday's really that big to me). Just not knowing if the only player I root for as a player in and of himself (and I happened to luck out that he joined my fav team early on) was coming back was nerve wracking. But, he's back, and now he's gonna break damned near EVERY QB record there is (so what if that includes interceptions). And best of all- I have a second chance.

You see, I've never been to Lambeau. I've never had a way to get tickets, and I've never had someone to go with. Well, my little sejour to the coast has taught me that I may prefer to travel with someone else, I'd never go anywhere if I waited for that to happen. So, I hereby declare that this is my Year of Lambeau. I don't know which game it's going to be, but I'm going to one. I'd like to see them whoop the Vikes in Green Bay, but I'm also hoping that they'll have a Saturday game the 22nd of December (my birthday). Should the stars align and all of the above combines, I may explode.

I figure that between scalped tickets, gas, motel (if I travel with company) and extras it's gonna cost me a couple hundred bucks, but I'll be damned if it won't be worth it. Who knows, maybe I can bring Wendy's dad to the 50 yard line...(if you don't get that last part, don't feel bad- if you do, don't let Wendy hurt me).