Too Much Alone Time

Since I've been out of a job, I've been spending a lot of time alone, especially during the day.

And you know what? When you're by yourself, with no other people around to enforce rules of social decorum, things get weird.

And the more time you spend alone, the weirder they get.

Like when a song gets stuck in your head (let's say, for example, Ray Charles singing "Shake a Tail Feather" from The Blues Brothers), you might start singing it. Loudly. And then you might start changing the lyrics to make the song about your boyfriend's cat ("twist it" = Triskit). You might even dance around a little.

Because no one's watching, right?

You'll also probably stop closing the door when you use the bathroom. And when your roommate comes home early from work, it's quite likely that you won't be wearing pants.

If I ever do get a job, I may have some trouble readjusting to the outside world.

Twin Cities Thursday

1. Max Sparber's encounter with Michael Jackson is picked up by The Guardian.
   
   
2. Bill Roehl finds his own (uncredited) photograph on his doorstep.
   
   
3. Bigboxcar has some fun with TPaw's signature on Al Franken's election certificate.
   
   
4. Overheard in Minneapolis makes me sad I missed Pride. I LOVE a good drag queen.
   
   
5. And speaking of Pride, Alexis reports that there were some homophobes who deserve a good kick in the teeth there this year. Then this morning, she tweeted that the crazies from the Westboro Baptist Church are in downtown Minneapolis. Is this the week for hateful people to come out of the woodwork?
   
   
6. But in more positive Pride news, MINNpics shares some photos of the parade.
   
   
7. The Heavy Table provides a handy flowchart to help you make burger-related decisions.
   
   
8. It turns out that Jess is a defective woman because she hasn't had her "first marriage" yet.
   
   
9. James Lileks takes some pictures of dogs at his local Humane Society that make me want to take them all home.
   
   
10. Though I've already linked to this picture, I'd just like to note that Zach only likes taking pictures of the back of his fiance's head (see additional evidence here and here). She has a face, Zach!

Ladyblogger DSi Party

Last week I did a bit of whining that all the other ladybloggers in the Twin Cities seemed to be getting free Nintendo DSis in exchange for being "Brand Enthusiasts," or, basically, inviting their friends to a DSi "Girlfriend's Guide to Gaming*" party.

I'm a ladyblogger. I like free stuff. Where was my DSi?

But, despite my whining, I decided to go to the party Doniree was hosting (Amber was also nice enough to invite me to hers, but I was under the impression at the time that my camping trip was going to last more than one night and I wouldn't be able to make it.)

So last night, with no idea what to expect, I headed to the Soo Visual Arts Center** for the event, and when I first entered, I saw a number of hot ladies who were dressed in all black, had some sort of fanny-pack-yet-more-stylish deal around their waists, and looked a little bit like Nintendo secret agents.

This was a little intimidating, but I was soon greeted with a giant hug from Doniree, got to meet Kaeti for the first time, and was promptly handed a DSi to play with. So far, so good.

One of the hot girls started to explain one of the games to me, but then I noticed that there was a huge spread of sandwiches and other tasty snacks from Whole Foods and a hot waiter with long hair and some sort of generic European accent (Nintendo, you know your audience) serving unlimited wine and champagne. Which obviously meant I needed some food and drinks.

Anyway, back to the games. There were five stations set up: general info on the DSi (a.k.a. playing with the camera), some sort of crossword/jumble game (right up my alley), Mario Kart (hooray for dorm life nostalgia), some sort of music game (requiring more rhythm than I possess), and Brain Age (not great for the self esteem, and I don't think the wine was helping my mental math skills).

At each station, we were given a gold coin that we would be able to redeem for prizes at the end of the night. Which I definitely didn't think was going to be a free DSi (!!!) for everyone there.

I mean, I thought there might be some sort of drawing where they'd give away a few of them, but I didn't think all of the ladies there would be going home with one (though Art had told me he was concerned this might happen and that it would interfere with my job search).

I mean, look at the shock and excitement Doniree captured when they started passing them out, particularly from the girl to my left:


So anyway, I have a new toy that hopefully won't distract me from my job search even more than the Wii. Strangely enough, I think my favorite feature so far is its Wi-Fi capabilities (I don't have a smart phone, okay?), but that might change when I actually get some game cartridges.

In any case, it was a great evening, and I have no qualms about writing this enthusiastic blog post so that Nintendo's PR firm can put this in their "tracker" and count some "impressions."

Because that's what it's all about, right?

*They kept shortening it to "GGG," but this made me keep thinking of the way Dan Savage uses this acronym and making me feel uncomfortable.

**Note: If you're heading to a location near Lyndale and 27th and the only thing you can remember is that the word "art" is in the name, you might be in trouble. I had never noticed how many galleries and such there were around there, and I did a little bit of wandering.

Ticked Off*

During this weekend's mildly disastrous camping trip, I got into a campfire discussion about ticks, and I realized that not only have I never had to remove one from my body, I have never even seen one.

Now, this might surprise native Minnesotans just as much as the fact that I've never set foot in the state of Iowa (it's not really necessary to pass through it going many places from Wisconsin, and you'd never set it as a final destination, right?), but ticks just aren't that common in the southern half of Wisconsin, where I've done most of my camping.

Now, I'd always assumed that if a tick did start burrowing into my scalp that I'd be able to feel it, and when I was informed that this was not the case, I got a little paranoid and started asking if pretty much any bug that crawled on (or near) me was a tick.

Everyone else around the fire had a story about being covered with dozens of them as a child or thinking their dad was trying to set fire to their head because of a tick, so I felt like a giant baby for being so worried about it, but I don't like an unknown enemy.

Anyway, ticks apparently look like this:


Ewww.

I'm not sure how I feel about the existence of this animal. Or the fact that it apparently refuses to die unless extreme measures are taken. I think I'm just going to hope that the tick and I continue to avoid one another.

*OH NO, that title was a pun. The influence of the Punsultant is both subtle and insidious.

Cute Local Animal of the Week

I've never been all that into rabbits, but a week ago I met Art's sister's two rabbits, and they were pretty cuddly and cool (though not as cool as her dog).

So this week, I give you a cuddly-looking rabbit named Pat:



As a bonus feature, Pat lived with a cat in his former home, so you can feel free to grab a kitty (or two!) while you're at The Humane Society.

Campventure

This weekend Art and I headed up to St. Croix State Park for a camping adventure (or "campventure") with our friends Zach and Julie.

It . . . could have gone better.

Our troubles started on Thursday when Art came down with a case of pinkeye. And while I think I did a pretty good job of being an understanding girlfriend (after all, I'm no stranger to the conjunctivitis) and even put in his eyedrops for him, I was a little nervous about the prospect of spending two nights in a two man tent with someone with an infectious disease.

This, however, wasn't really a problem because there is plenty of extra space in the picnic shelter Art grabbed from his mom's garage instead of a tent.

You know, one of these:

But, as the optimistic group of campventurers we were, we decided that if we put a tarp on the ground (I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture that there is no bottom) and borrowed Zach and Julie's sleeping mats, everything would be okay as long as the forecasted rain wasn't too heavy.

And it was okay when we first went to bed. It was actually quite pleasant to have a breeze blowing through the "tent," and since we were at a walk-in site, there weren't people walking by and seeing us in that awkward position.

But then it rained. Hard. And while the "tent" offered some protection, there was water dripping on our faces for the better part of the night, and my sleeping bag was getting increasingly wet at the bottom, forcing me to curl into a smaller and smaller ball as the water seeped toward me.

By morning, we were both pretty miserable, and since it was still raining, the group decided to abandon nature for a few hours and seek shelter at the Grand Casino in Hinckley.

Side note: I had never been to a casino before. They are really, really depressing.

After losing a bit of money at the penny slots (and watching Zach win quite a bit of it), we headed back to the park. The the rain had stopped, so we spread out our wet belongings in the hope that they might dry despite the overcast weather and went for a hike.

Side note: Here are some pictures from Zach's photoblog of our hike and Art looking defeated by our tentlessness.

After the hike, we returned to discover that there was just no way Art and I were going to have dry sleeping bags or pillows by nightfall, and we all decided that we had better just cut the campventure short.

However, I will say we made the most of those last few hours by drinking the beer we had left and making s'mores.

So all was not lost.

Twin Cities Thursday

1. The Walker posts a very cool Rock the Garden time-lapse video.
   
   
2. Max Sparber writes a thoughtful response to a horribly offensive chain email. When I'm in that situation, eloquence normally fails me and I just shake my fist and swear a little.
   
   
3. MINNpics posts a great picture of the Lowry Bridge implosion.
   
   
4. Stephanie pits Betty White against Mary Tyler Moore. Now, I know MTM has a local connection, but I think I'm going to have to go with Betty White on this one. Mostly because my love for The Golden Girls runs so deep I felt compelled to discuss it on my third day of blogging.
   
   
5. Bill Roehl writes two stories about what happens when liquor meets politics in Rosemount and Burnsville.
   
   
6. Ed Kohler, who's probably one of the most proactive people around about unsubscribing to phone books, receives another set of them. Meaning there's no hope for the rest of us.
   
   
7. This Minnesota Monthly "pizza personality test" generates quite a bit of discussion, from fresh.mn to Secrets of the City to The Heavy Table.
   
   
8. Muscleyarm discovers a helpful product for cats that are elderly, overweight, arthritic, and pregnant.
   
   
9. Jess would like to remind religious crazies that unless you have information about cheese or booze, you don't need to leave a note on her car.
   
   
10. Girl Friday responds to the FTC cracking down on bloggers getting free stuff and mentions she recently received a free Nintendo DSi (as did Amber and Doniree - WHERE'S MINE?)

Bacon Wednesday

Here it is, another Bacon Wednesday, and another opportunity for Stephanie to claim that she never ever ever EVER wants to use Twitter. Which really only makes me think that the lady doth protest too much (as the English majors say) and that she probably has a secret Twitter account that she self-loathingly uses to announce what she had for lunch each day.

Because that's just what happened when she told me not to start a blog (because of the narcissism) and then secretly started her own.

Just a theory.

-Emily

Bacon Wednesday #22

Heart Attack on a Plate

or

I'm Still Not Joining Twitter, Emily.

I am a feast-or-famine grocery shopper. My fridge is usually either too full for its own good or I have about three items in there. Right now I'm in famine mode.

Last night I wanted to make something with the spaghetti I had in my cupboard. I knew also that I had bacon, and eggs, and cheese, and a giant jar of minced garlic from Costco. And then I recalled Emily's post about a meal she made with similar ingredients. She had raved about it, so I thought I'd give it a go. Ignoring the snide reminder to me at the beginning of the post that this recipe was just another good thing to come from Twitter, I followed the instructions for Pasta Carbonara. I was hopeful. I like cheese. I like pasta. And lord knows I LOVE ME SOME BACON.

And yet . . . I don't know. Fail? Ish? It just wasn't that good. It wasn't that I made it wrong; I just am not a fan of things that are THAT rich. I ate my giant plateful, and then I just felt icky. But there was a silver lining to the situation. And that (of course, as it is Bacon Wednesday and I wouldn't end this story any other way) was the bacon.

The bacon I got from Costco the other week was truly the highlight of the meal. The little bits of crispy goodness provided some relief from the egg and cheese, cutting through the Extreme Fat of the rest of the dish (how is bacon the antidote to fat? Maybe the smokiness? I don't know. I'm not a scientist. But it was great). This just further convinces me that the uncured all-natural bacon from Costco is my number one bacon love. I will continue to buy it as long as they stock it and never look back. Seriously, y'all, get to a Costco now. There are several around the Twin Cities and you will not be disappointed when you cook this up.





And Emily, I'm sorry, I don't feel this helps your case that I should join Twitter. Nor does the general lexicon's increasing use of "tweeted" and "twittered" as actual verbs. Argh. But let's make some bacon-wrapped maraschino cherries and hug it out.

A Report from Northeast's Worst Cribbage Player

I'm not sure why I didn't write about this sooner, but this morning I'm feeling compelled to share that the weekly cribbage tournament at the Otter* (you know, the one I was all excited about**) is fantastic.

Here are some reasons you might want to think about going:

• The majority of the players are over 65 and not messing around with their cribbage. You will learn something whether you like it or not. You will also vaguely suspect that some of them are cheating due to their super fast hand counting skills, but they're probably not.
  
  
• The $11 entry fee includes an all-you-can-eat lunch, and I, for one, really enjoy eating fried chicken out of a giant crock pot. Paired with a $2.75 "beer of the month" special (which drops down to $2 during happy hour), you can have a day of food, drinks, and entertainment for a very reasonable price.
  
  
• If, like me, you are the worst player in the entire tournament, winning only one of your seven games, you will be rewarded with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (king size!) and encouraged to try again next week.

The tournament takes place every Saturday at 1:00 p.m., and all you have to do to sign up is show up. Good luck!

*Please note that this link will take you to U Otter Stop Inn's MySpace page and that "Sister Christian" will start playing immediately. Just something to note if you have one of those "job" things.

**Please note that you probably shouldn't follow this tournament with a number of other activities that require you to keep drinking and walk all the way to the Metrodome (and back) in the sun. Sunday wasn't fun.

Air Conditioning

It's looking like it's going to be a week of scorchers, and I am far too cheap (and not nearly employed enough) to run the air conditioning all day.

Therefore, I'm on a mission to use some free/inexpensive air conditioning this week.

So far, my plans include:

• A movie at the budget theater in Hopkins ($2.50 every day and $2.00 on Tuesdays, plus the option of sneaking into additional shows!)
  
  
• Going to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (I've actually never been there and wasn't aware that admission is free, so thanks to Kristin and Fiona for the suggestion.)
  
  
• Spending the day at the library (This would probably be the most responsible choice since it's a great place to do some job hunting.)

Any other suggestions? (Please, no malls. I don't want to spend much money, and the idea of going to MOA today makes me want to breathe into a paper bag.)