fall colors camping trip- worth every moment of wrath from my kitty

in my humble opinion, there's no better way to celebrate a birthday than to go camping with some friends in northern minnesota at the peak of the fall color season. lori, lindsey, michael and aaron are definitely good camping friends.















we drove up on friday in the dark with no idea how gorgeous everything around us would be until the sun came up the next morning. we were in for a treat...















first, we hiked to the top of carlton peak near tofte minnesota. the hike follows the temperance river waterfall area for about a mile before heading into the woods, which were gorgeous and smelled like only fall can smell.




















then we headed up the side of the peak and were rewarded by a breathtaking view.















so after we exhausted ourselves, we headed back to camp for a nap and a little dinner over the campfire.

the next day we headed to split rock lighthouse for a bit.



















i've been to the lighthouse a few times, and i never get tired of it. there is a black sand beach nearby that i could visit for hours.















all in all, the weekend was amazing. just a group of good friends hanging out and loving nature.

check out all the pictures here.
here is a little video-

camping was phenomenal!!

i promise to post pictures soon.

hiking was great!

lighthouse was great!

fall colors were great!

hanging with friends was great!

fun.

kickball birthday party

i'm so lucky that my birthday comes smack dab in the middle of the kickball season every year. it means that i get to have a great time celebrating with all my friends.

this year was no different. first, they gave me a balloon and a hat and a pin and made me play kickball with it all.




















then they gave me a birthday cake and sang me happy birthday.















then they took me to the bar and made me drink beer.

then they all said something to me on video that i watched this morning to start my birthday off right.

and it was awesome.

thanks for a great kickball birthday party!!!

today i get to have lunch with my dear friend linda, who shares this birthday with me- HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDA!!
then i have my cello lessen with my new bow (that i bought for myself for my birthday)
then, if everything goes right, i'm going to a burlesque show with jules at first avenue
then to top it all off, i'm going camping up near the north shore this weekend with lindsey, michael, lori, and buddy, where the fall colors will be peak, and the weather will be crisp!

woohoo, 31 rules!!

new poll

please take my new poll (if you want).


it's over there in the side column somewhere ------>

it will be a nice week

tomorrow night is time for aaron and i to be buds.
wednesday is kickball- woohoo!
thursday is cello lessen- oh yeah, and my birthday.
friday is the beginning of our camping trip near the boundary waters. weather.com says it's going to rain all weekend. that would stink! please be wrong. i want wonderful weather for hiking and checking out all the fall colors.

=)

why do people love love love sprawl?

cool site that shows panoramic views of sprawl (not so cool)

i can't imagine living in sprawl. i love living in the city, where i can walk to the corner store, or the train station (which is 10 minutes from downtown, tops).

there are people we know who love their house out in the middle of nowhere, within a sea of identical houses, which have only minor color differences to set them apart.

how, i ask you, how?

flipbook

this is a cool site where you can make your own flipbook:
http://www.benettonplay.com/toys/flipbook/flipbook_maker.php



















i always wanted to make my own flipbook. =)

life after advertising??

those people in advertising, they love to show boat and draw attention to themselves. they like to make cheesy interactive sites like this to show how clever they are...


















aren't advertisers great? (i'm a knife thrower's assistant??)

kickball (again)

so here are the latest photos.















don't miss the team picture.

here is the video clip of the week-

relief

it's a little new still, but i feel great!!!

some of my friends have noticed that i have been a little down recently.

i think tonight was a turning point. i made some decisions that i think will help me turn this bus around a little and the result was instantaneous, actually.

i smiled.

i felt lighter all of a sudden.

i came home and cleaned the house up and had energy.

i've really been working things over in my head a lot lately, and i was really down. a lot of my friends were so good to me. they gave me tons of support, and it was all worth it.

i feel good.

thanks to all of you. having friends around allowed me to just bounce around a little until i figured my shit out.

=)


(whew)

this is the song that never ends...

you know those ear worm songs, the one's that get stuck in your head all day? i've stumbled on quite a few recently, but they have animations with them, which is a new twist. i have to share them in the hopes that by passing them on, i can be done with them. =)

these three are silly, in a meaningless animation kind of way.

(don't say i didn't warn you about the ear worm thing...)

i've got a big bag of crabs, here















badger badger badger










llama llama duck















i like ducks.

city-wide wifi- awesome

minneapolis is one of the cities who is working toward a city based wifi service. it could be available as early as next fall!

minnesota public radio story

will this really help close the digital divide?

it's such an exciting time to see all the cool stuff we can do with computers and the internet. especially when we can get a project like this off the ground.

my own birthday present to me

i think i'm going to buy myself a new cello bow for my birthday.

you may think i'm a geek, but really, these bows are cool, and i want one.

they are hand carved out of real wood instead of the composite crap that my current bow is made of. and they are really pretty.

i've taken two of them home to play with a little bit to see which one i like best, but i think it will be the eastman (second from the top).















happy birthday to me!!

oh yeah, and for my birthday weekend, aaron and i are going camping up north with some friends. i love the north shore for my birthday... it's peak season for fall colors.

welcome 31, i like you.

kickball highlights- jeff is a cutey

so i posted some pics from the really really awesome game on wednesday- here.















(aaron got a little dirty from sliding on the field every chance he got.

and i posted a short video of jeff mueller here.

first, he pitches with a little extra... je ne c est qua... then he kicks a home run.. and makes it home by the skin of his teeth... before... yes, i do believe... he prances into the arms of our cheering team.



i'm not sure, but he may be gay.

jeff, you rock!!

the team we played was awesome- the kickle monsters















thanks for a great game!!

david's new snail

kids are amazing and david is no exception.

listen to him talk about getting a new snail.


















YOU get the keys... open the door... shut the door... open the garage door... and go in the car... put the keys in... twist it... and drive OUT OF TOWN!!

aaron is a badass

buddy and i had a few friends over on saturday to watch a movie and we had an awesome time.

we watched 'the last dragon' which was so damn hilarious. somehow it kept us laughing through the whole thing!!

the film probably wasn't half as funny when it was originally released- it's true genious is that it is an unapologetic time capsule for the 80's. simple brilliance.




















also, aaron was looking like a badass.




















so i took some pictures.

more kickball pictures

we played the crappy team that were assholes to us, and it went fairly well after all. their babysitter must have shown up.

flickr pics

mgm grand- cool site

of course every web company searches for that perfect site, the kind that 1. communicates all that needs to be communicated, visually and through written form, 2. has a perfect balance of 'eye candy' without disrupting the experience for the user that wants to find info quickly, and 3. leaves an impression on the user that enhances their impression of the company.

okay, there are many other criteria for a successful website, but this site hits these i've mentioned pretty well if you ask me: http://www.mgmgrand.com/


















i mean, i've heard the mgm grand was pretty cool, but this brings it all home for me. very nice.

don't miss the 'enter maximum vegas' link. i think it's fun.

susan's life- busy as ever

susan's life shows no signs of slowing down. in fact, the last couple of weeks have been even busier for her than ever. it's gotten so bad, she's had to pay me to write this blog update.

here is what she's been up to:

jules- new condo
susan helped julie move into her new, fabulous condo in uptown. according to susan, the place is an amazing improvement over the closet jules was living in. congratulations jules!!

saire and mark- summer party
susan and aaron went to mark and saire's summer party where they stayed up late and told goofy stories around the bonfire. the evening started off weird when mark greeted aaron with 'i can see that you cleaned up for the party', leaving susan and aaron wondering when mark had seen aaron not-cleaned-up. before long, though, everyone was laughing and drinking, some more than others, as they took turns telling childhood stories around the campfire. mark's story about his worst day ever was a clear winner with the crowd.

susan did mention that sometimes she feels really sad when these sorts of storytelling situations occur, since they bring up so many bad childhood memories for her. telling those stories usually brings the party down, so usually, she just keeps her mouth shut and feels like an outsider (struggling to get past all the crap that happened in her childhood in order to find the good stories that are appropriate to tell).

all in all, though, she spent the entire ride home 1. talking about how fun the party was, and 2. drunk.

lenka's baby shower
as if susan doesn't have enough to keep herself busy, she decided on saturday morning (of last weekend) that she was going to knit some baby socks for lenka, in time for the baby shower the next day. believe it or not, that actually worked out very well, lenka was very pleased with the gift.

the shower was very fun and extremely well hosted. susan wouldn't have put this on her blog, but since i am reporting this for her, i'm happy to inform- she won a game which required her to suck 5oz of water out of a baby bottle before anyone else could. who knows how she trained for the game, but she did walk away with a beautiful set of fall plates for her efforts.

she also mentioned that this shower and a few other baby situations are starting to prepare her for the thought that she may be getting pregnant herself in the next few years. she states that her feelings when thinking about maybe having a baby soon have gone from feelings of trepidation (are we ready yet?) to one of anticipation (i finally get to be pregnant, something i've wanted for so long). she cautions friends and family against any sort of pressure, claiming that they waited 10 years to get married and can hold out as long as they have to with the baby too.

ywca- recommitted
susan and jules have cancelled their membership at the ymca and have signed up at the ywca (mostly because of location convenience). they have renewed their committment to working out regularly, and have set the following goal: by the end of the year, they want to be able to run for 20 minutes straight, together.

lori- yumminess dinner
lori invited jules and susan over for a little salmon and brocolli dinner. it was superstupendous. lori is a terrific cook. she also treated them to blackberry and blueberry shortcake. Mmmmmm.

then they hung out and played with lilly and chit-chatted. lilly doesn't sit still for long, see:















here are some fun pictures of the doggy and here is a little video of the claw.

kickball
the kickball game on wednesday went pretty well for susan and aaron. they are planning something a little evil for the next game (let's just say- to get even with the 'baby' team), so stay tuned. here are some pics of the game.

and then there's labor day weekend...

amanda's bachelorette party
when susan told me about amanda's bachelorette party, she got very excited. she said it was the raddest b-party she's been too in a long time.

amanda's sister set up a pole dancing instructional class for all the girls. they were instructed to wear a push-up bra, stretchy shorts/pants, and high heels.

unfortunately, susan says that what happens at pole dancing class, stays at pole dancing class.

shockingly, i spoke with an insider who stated the instructional subject matter went into the realm of lap dancing. susan doesn't know this, but i was able to get a look at some of the pictures from the event. check them out here.




















i heard there is a very provocative video that was made, but i haven't seen it- yet. word on the streets is that amanda has paid steeply to keep it under wraps, since rumor has it, she let completely loose and charmed the hell out of that mirror (and pole for that matter).

alen tarik has been born
lenka's baby shower (mentioned above) must have really impressed the baby in her belly, cause he decided he wanted to meet the world a little sooner than planned (he was expected sept 14). susan and aaron got the call on saturday afternoon, and dropped by shortly thereafter to meet the newborn child.

he is beautiful, tiny, and very quiet (mainly because he was sleeping).




















mommy is doing very well, though not sleeping much, and daddy is as same as ever (silly but completely devoted).

check out some pictures here and a little video here.

congratulations lenka and tarik!

the illusionist- no illusion after all
aaron and susan went to see the latest edward norton flick on sunday, and she tells me they were terribly disappointed. the makers of the film probably thought they were being so clever, but the film has already been made a hundred times and was super predictable. bummer, cause edward norton usually picks better films than this to be in.

other craziness:
susan has also cleaned the whole house, the garage, and the car, reorganized and archived her music and photo collections, shopped like a true affluent for gifts and other items, and is now in need of another 4 day weekend to recover from the last few weeks.

next on susan's list:
depending on the weather, today could be the state fair or the science museum, then a little bbq party at heidi's house.

more blogging to come:
susan has lots more stuff she is planning to post soon, including some interesting sites she has stumbled across. stay tuned.

san fransisco- in jello?

lit from underneath and set to jiggle, this scale model of san fransisco is making me a little hungry.












don't miss the video of the jiggling.

selfish? self centered?

lately i've been feeling really bitchy, selfish and self centered. either i really have been those things, or i'm imagining that i am those things. or maybe some of both.

either way, i'm sorry world. i want to try to be more positive and less about selfish expectations.

hopefully this weekend will give me some good time to chill and get back to center.

i am uncool (when it comes to music)

i may be uncool when it comes to other things as well, but when it comes to music, i'm so uncool, i define the word uncool. i just can't help but love my eighties favorites.

all those one hit wonder ballads are perfect for turning up the volume in my car and belting out my love for some fine woman with big hair and dark eye makeup.

aaron says we're not going to apologize (or hide) our love for 80's ballads anymore- 'those are good songs and it's cool to stick by our preferences'.

but sometimes i long to join the 'in' crowd. i like to turn on 'the current' whenever other people are in my car and pretend i listen to it all the time.

so when i find a site like http://www.google.com/trends/music, i get a little excited.















now here's a site that makes joining the next generation of music easy. i can check out popular songs (popular based on what others are choosing to listen to, not what the overly commercial radio stations are forcing down our throats because it's what they've been paid to do), and i can find some stuff i like easily, without having to dig through the proverbial haystack.

now the tricky thing is to find time to explore, when i can barely find time to water my plants.

okay, but i feel like i have to say something like- long live the 80's!!

can you catch a human?

so this week i was trying to reach a company to discuss a charge they had made to my credit card that I wasn't expecting.

I needed to call back several times to try to re-navigate my way through their automated phone system, since I wasn't able the first few times to find the exact right combination of buttons that would get me a live, breathing human.

haven't we all been there?

and what a coincidence... i ran across this site shortly thereafter: http://www.gethuman.com/us/

you can go to this site and get phone numbers (sometimes unreleased) and detailed instructions for how to get ahold of an actual human.

I have to laugh at some of the instructions on the page... my favorite is:
SUNOCO- 800‑278‑6626- Press 0 five times, then mumble when prompted for an account number.













it's such a frustrating state of customer service affairs in america, when companies decide to bury their human support.

my other favorite is the statement- 'i'm sorry, it's our policy'

roughly translated, that means 'someone way high up in the company made a decision to fuck you, and i'm the front person who is completely unempowered to do anything more than listen to your complaint and pretend like i care.'

the visual dictionary

this site is pretty neat: http://thevisualdictionary.net/
















they have over 3000 images (and growing) of words, catalogued so you can find them easily.









someday, i'm going to be glad for this site, i just know it.

rmg connect- company picnic

we played a little kickball, pounded a few nails, ate a little food, enjoyed all the kids.

pictures
video- kids

it was a good time.

ever need something to do tonight?

if you ever wanna see what there is to do in your location tonight, or in the near future, check out this site: http://busytonight.com/

if you're like me, when you want something to do, or somewhere to go, you think of all the things you've done before. it's hard to get out of that box and do something new. that's what's cool about this site, it helps with the i-wanna-do-something-new-and-i-don't-know-how-to-think-of-new-things situation.

internet video ratings- most popular videos

video is exploding on the net, for better or for worse.

well, if you're looking to find more of the 'better' than the 'worse', you can check out this site: http://www.worldtv.com/charts/

supposedly, this site is supposed to show the most popular video on the net from four of the main video sites, with filters for inappropriate content and stupid content that just gets a lot of visits.

i found a few things on here that were worth checking out and a few things that probably should have been caught by the 'stupid content' filter.

it's still fun to get an overall view of what's goin' on out there, eh?

the star tribune can help you with your marriage

aaron and i went out to breakfast, and grabbed a newspaper to read while we waited for our eggs and bacon.

poor aaron was trying to read the sports page, but i kept interrupting. cause all i could do was bitch about this shitty article the star tribune printed about marriage.

okay, seriously, marriage is tough. aaron and i have been through plenty of shit and we still happen to have some crap still on us. it has been a wonderful relationship, but it hasn't always been easy.

what pisses me off, is the stupid star tribune has decided that it's going to hand out clever, cheeky marriage advice to those of us in the early part of our marriage, including # 3 from the list- have more sex. i would expect this from some stupid '10 things to drive him mad in bed' magazine, but from the star tribune? seriously.

so i'm reading, and i figure it's really no big deal. the strib thinks they can give sweeping generalizations to pass as marriage advice to all the people out there, and somehow, the 2 paragraphs they have for each suggestion will be enough to actually accomplish something for someone.

and as i read, i encounter stupid little suggestions like this one: Know when to engage in an argument and when to let it go -- without resentment.

okay, now that they've told me to do that, it should be fairly simple, right? problem solved, eh? shit, we spend half our fucking lives figuring that one out, don't we? come on. does this kind of crap really help anyone?

okay, still reading and at this point i'm just minorly annoyed at the nerve that the star tribune displays in thinking that this is really helping anyone.

then i get to the place where they talk about making up quickly during an argument so that you can move on, which doesn't royally piss me off until i read this part of it:

'Move on to making up. That's the best part anyway, right? Skip the handshake and go straight for sex.'

seriously, that's the end of that section. go straight for sex.

i'm stumped, i don't know what to write. that's just fucking outrageous.

most of the world can't even stomach an argument, because it's uncomfortable. when we probably need to sit with it and really work through our problems, we're told to move on to make-up sex.

article takeaway- if you're in debt, and they gain a few pounds, and the sex slows down, and you fight about your families- you have a shitty marriage.

seriously, strib, you really fucked this one up. you could encourage people to work hard in their relationship, stick with it even when it's tough. stand up for themselves and be real. love themselves and their partner just the way they are. commit to each other on a deeper level and embrace the bad along with the good. work as a team against the crap that the world throws at you. be each other's best friend.

but no, you focus on the superficial crap and reinforce all the shallow expectations of a relationship that americans have come to expect for a few years before divorcing out of sheer laziness.

keep the good stuff coming.

housewarming gift- realized

when we moved into our new home, our good friends linda and rob offered to give us a fantastic housewarming gift, if we agreed to some conditions.

a while back, linda came into possession of a wonderful set of china (settings and platters to serve 12 people) from a friend of the family that had passed away. the china is probably as old as this house (built in 1916) and simply gorgeous. since she already has china from her own family, she offered to give us the extraneous set on two conditions:

1. We had to agree to use it, not just store it.
2. We had to agree to wash it by hand, rather than use the dishwasher on it.














Well, of course we can handle that!

We finally initiated the china on Saturday night with Kat, Scott, Tawny and Leon. Aaron made us a fantastic meal.

appetizer- caprese (fresh mozzarella, with basil and tomato from the local farmers market)
main dish- rack of lamb with 'minnesota cous cous' (veggies and wild rice mixed in)
dessert (brought by tawny and leon)- homemade carrot cake
lots of wine (brought by kat and scott)















the dishes accommodated us marvelously and we had a terrific evening.

thanks to linda and rob and kat and scott and tawny and leon and especially aaron.

conjunctivitis- unspecified

poor aaron. he was working on thursday and got a desperate call from me:

'buddy, i'm really scared. i think i hurt my eye and i want you to take me to the hospital to get it checked.'

so aaron got a ride home from someone and rushed a very nervous me to the hospital. he was freaked out, as was i, by an unusual red marking on my face.




















warren was my doctor, he was funny. he put some yellow flourescent stuff in my eye...




















... and said that i had scratched the white of my eye (i don't have the slightest idea what got into my eye, or how it got there- i was only watching tv all night). he said the unusual red marking was a blush reaction to the scratching. technically, the injury is called conjunctivitis- unspecified.















it's pretty scary when your eye get's hurt. you realize how much you depend on them and how easily they can be damaged.

i'm glad it wasn't serious. thanks for your help, warren.

hero machine

if i were a superhero, what superhero would i be? (well, first of all, i am a superhero)

go to the sci-fi channel website to create your own superhero.

i created the superhero that i think aaron would be. here's the link to him.

















i named him 'underwear man' but it doesn't keep the name. this little engine falls a little short of complete usability, but it's a fun idea for kid's i guess.

it's like fashion plates, without all the tactile fun of running a crayon over a piece of paper.

ah, the internet.

inxs- need you tonight / mediate MUSIC VIDEOS

my adrenaline is rushing, i am alive!!!!

this is some serious stuff so sit up and listen.

80's music videos

yes, 80's music videos

you heard me right

80's music videos

are on this site!!

and they are the real deal. holy hell, i can't even tell you how thrilled i am to see some of these gems again.

remember these videos?
eric carmen- hungry eyes (dirty dancing)
men at work- down under
europe- final countdown
motley crue- girls girls girls
def leppard- photograph
janet jackson- nasty
whitney houston- i wanna dance with somebody
robert palmer- simply irresistable
Chris De Burgh - Lady In Red
patrick swayze- like the wind (more dirty dancing)
bon jovi- livin on a prayer (they were flying!!)
madonna- like a virgin
and the video to rule all videos... michael jackson- thriller (can you believe that thing was 13 minutes?)

how did i wait so long to find this stuff online? i love you internet!!

more artwork

here is a necklace i made for my stepsister, kristen.

porsche boxster

a porsche site has launched (those germans have done it again).













a porsche is a nice car.

cello update

suzanne (my teacher) and i have been having delightful fun for the last few months. I've even been playing with a duet partner, errin. cello really is as wonderful as i thought it would be, and i'm really enjoying it.

i've been working on one of the unaccompanied bach pieces (simply amazing music) and something called the scarlloti, or something like that.

i really wanted to have a recital this summer, but the more i play, the more i realize that i want to give myself time to just enjoy playing, and when it's time for a recital, i'll know it. i'm not sure yet when that will be, but you'll all be invited.

in the meantime, don't miss any of our parties. kat and scott always talk me into playing a little cello for our guests.

lori is... um ... 31?

we went to lori's birthday party yesterday, and despite the blistering heat, we had a good time.

here is lori. she said she was turning 31, but something about this picture doesn't seem right. =)




















also, here are some pictures of the necklace i made her.






























the pictures didn't turn out as well as the actual necklace, but you get the idea.

happy birthday lori!!

apostle islands- last weekend

aaron and i went up to check out the apostle islands in wisconsin last weekend.















we made it over to madeline island, and though it was a nice day and we were away from everything, we were somewhat underwhelmed by the place. we rode bikes around the island for several hours (about 15 miles) but really only had about a half hour of good viewing.




















practically the whole island is private property. almost the whole 15 miles looked like this:















well, anyway, it was fun to be with aaron for a weekend of chillin'.














check out all the pics here.

apology note generator and bitch letter generator

this site is, excuse my language, fucking hilarious. go to this site to create either an apology letter, or a bitch letter, and laugh your ass off.














there's got to be some company out there in the corporate universe that could make something like this into a huge, branded viral campaign.