First off - Vita.Mn has announced it’s one-year anniversary. What’s Vita.Mn you ask? Vita.Mn is a website owned and operated by the Star Tribune and bills itself as “your ultimate guide to what’s going on in the Twin Cities. Here you can connect with other locals to share thoughts and recommendations on Twin Cities hotspots and happenings.”

Project MBOT is a direct competitor to this. It’s for people that love music and art. It features a quick clean design and lets you subscribe to bands you like (Such as NOFX, Bad Religion, Deathcab for Cutie, etc) and you will be alerted to concerts happening within a radius you define. It’s running on an engine I’ve been working on called StarShine. StarShine is a highly adaptable screen scraper/XML reader that uses fuzzy logic to match band information.

Eh? Ok, but really, I don’t quite understand. Ok, after the jump I’ll tell you more about it.

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So I’ve been debating on saying screw it, and turning the front page into a new blog, keeping it more local, and seeing if I can’t stir up a few things. So I might be doing that, I’ve been messing around with MovableType - once I can get the damn 500 errors to stop, I can check it out.

I’m also working on an article about how Google is the new Microsoft and alternatives for everything they have. Coming eventually.

I’m an incredibly more ornate writer then I am orator. I can’t speak at all. The words, I try, but they all seem to jam together and want to come out at once. So alas, I write instead of speak.

I’ve been soul searching. It’s an interesting ride - I’ve stirred up a lot of sediment that forgot about.

Wow, it’s been a crazy last 7 days so far.

First on Friday at Studio Bricolage I noticed a gentlemen that looked quite familiar. He had a couple of mannerisms that were very unique, and I knew I saw them before. He must have thought the same thing because as we were soldering things to other things he asked me “I think I know you from somewhere”. I told him that he looked very familiar as well, and inquired as to if he had been to any MPR events, involved heavily with the MN Fringe Fest (Maybe he saw me on stage this year - I get that a lot now), or gone to a lot of smaller art shows. He said no, and then I asked if maybe we worked together - then asked him where he worked. He said he worked in Chicago, and I replied that years ago I to worked there. He said “Where did you work?” and I told him “Townsend Analytics”.
We used to work together

Over 7 years ago!

Turns out he lives here, and just happened to be in Chicago for a year we worked together then went back to telecommuting. He still works there.

Then, a couple of days ago, as you all know by now - I won tickets to see the Smashing Pumpkins. I never win. I just don’t.

Yesterday I was feeling like crap, so I decided to take a small financial hit and stay home - rest up. I lay down on the couch and pick up the remote and watch some shows that my DVR recorded last night - one of them happens to be the hilarious Colbert Report.
Many of you know about the incident with Larry Craig, a cop, and a bathroom stall at the Minneapolis International Airport. What you don’t know is said cop grew up here - he grew up in International Falls for a bit, where I grew up. Now the Colbert Report tried to get him on for an interview and of course it didn’t happen. But, weirdly enough, one of the associate producers for the show also grew up in International Falls and went spent some time with him. Her name? Katie Bruggeman. She was one of my classmates too. See the whole video right here. Go Broncos!
Anyway, so I couldn’t believe it - how cool was that. Someone I knew and grew up with was on a national show. So I hit google, search for her, and find her on a social networking site - along with a couple of dozen of my fellow classmates! So I spent the rest of the day seeing how they’ve changed, exchanging emails, and being totally amazed at how some of them have transformed in a dozen years. And now, I’m looking forward to going to the next reunion - seems like they do it every year, too.

And today I learned some of my photos were chosen to be published in the next edition of the Minneapolis Schmap - Schmap is an interactive map which is like your guide to a city. It shows you how to get to places of interest, and once you’re there, what you’ll see. Pretty sweet, eh?

So I hope things keep going well. Tomorrow I’m shooting the opening night of Jane Eyre at the Guthrie - maybe something good will happen during that to really make this a perfect week. *shrug* We’ll see!

In about 2 hours I’ll be at the fair, and I’ll be there until about 7 tonight. If you’re out and about, feel free to stop by and say hi to me from 3 - 6pm in the Education building at the MNArtists.Org booth!

Pictures and more when I return, as usual!

And next week? Well that’s the Ren Fest. Not the one in Minnesota, we’re going to the larger one in Kenosha, WI. I’ll get to go back to a place I lived once, yay

    I’ve been to the Taste of Chicago, I’ve been to the Taste of Milwaukee, and the Taste of Minnesota…. pales, in comparison. It really does. I was shocked but just how few choices they had there food wise - do you want cheese curds, or a tube of meat?

Regardless, I still had fun. The Village People played, that was fun to watch - though they certainly were looking their age hehe.
There were also some rides and games - mainly a Ferris Wheel, a whirl-you-around-in-a-circle thing, a few rigged throw something into and/or at something to win a prize, and an interesting game that was packed - you launched a water balloon at the other side and tried to hit a few areas that would soak them. It was fun to watch, and I was half tempted to give it a go as I made the horrible mistake of wearing black jeans, a tshirt, then a black overshirt - I was sucking up the rays and sweaty.

The Ferris Wheel, that was cool. The guy operating it saw my camera and said he’d pause at the top for a minute or so to let me get some good pictures, and boy did I - even though it was my first time on a Ferris Wheel and I was freaked the hell out hehe.

See the whole set I’ve uploaded over at Flickr. 
The 4th was fairly uneventful - Mishka worked, I stayed at home playing video games. Went to meet up with her at around 4, we had some dinner at Tony Roma’s (Another first, the food was excellent too!) then we went to go see Transformers! It was one hell of a movie, I liked it very much - I heartily encourage you to go see it if you haven’t done so - especially if you’re a child of the 80s like I, and grew up watching them AND went to see the first movie.

Mishka’s family is having a reunion this weekend, so she’s heading over there tonight, I’ll be heading there tomorrow - expect some pictures next week.

Anyway, I’m oncall, so I’m making this short - I’ll write more later.

I forgot that the Taste of Minnesota began yesterday. We’re going today, camera batteries are charging as we speak. And tonight, there’s a concert by The Village People - huzzah!

The best part is next year, we’ll be within walking distance!

So I busted out the Dremel, the dremel cleaning & polishing kit, and some PlastiX to try to clean my clock. It didn’t work - at all. In fact, the dremel had to be moving pretty fast or it gouged it - luckily I tried a more hidden side first.  I was researching this a bit and found this link, it’s to the Janvil Plastic Polish system. So I’ll order it, and give it a shot - I’d love to see the clock look brand new in all it’s 1970s glory!

Bad news too! Raven Hill apartment complex, a couple miles from my house, burnt down today. I had 2 friends who lived there, and Mishka had a friend who moved there just a couple of weeks ago - worst part though is she was going to get renters insurance TOMORROW with her check. She was devastated. I feel sorry for all of those now homeless people.

Also received yet ANOTHER crime alert about people breaking into cars in my apartment complex. I’m quite happy we’re moving out and into St. Paul. The next 45 days are going to go soooooo slowly. But it’ll be worth it - when we went on Tuesday I noticed they ramped up the amount of art murals in the place.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Till the next time!

I must say that last weekend has to be the most perfect weekend I’ve had in a long time. Friday we got our tattoos. Saturday, that was pretty uneventful, but we did stop at Best Buy for a few things - added on to my Dylan collection. From zero, to 4 albums heh.

But Sunday, Sunday was grand!
We both got up really early, around 8. We headed to St. Paul - first we stopped at the Black Dog for some coffee and breakfast burritos, then we walked across the street to the farmer’s market and stocked up on things. It’s early in the growing season, so there aren’t a lot of fruits or vegetables, but we did end up with about $60 worth of meat - mainly from Prairie Pride Farms - they have some incredibly wonderful meat and their barbecue sauce can’t be beat.

After that, we were off to Swank Interiors where we picked up some wonderful modern vintage items. Swank sells things from the 50s, 60s, and 70s mainly. I’ve been looking for a few things, one of them something to put my sugar/flour/etc in, and that’s when we
spied these guys - Sugar, Flour, and Coffee tins. Remember these things growing up? I know my grandma had a set, only hers was green. We’ll use the sugar and flour tins for their intended purpose, but the coffee tin will probably end up holding tea bags, since I have a ton of them in my cupboard.

I’ve got a thing for older clocks, especially the ones with the date/time numbers that ‘flip’ down into position. Mishka pointed this one out, and I had to have it - the owner even gave it to us at $10 off what she had it listed for. It looks a little rough right now, but I intend to pick up a few things and restore the plastic to like-new condition - it’ll be grand. The only thing that could be better is if it was orange.

We also picked up a few other things, which you can see on this flickr set, but the one thing I really dug was these candle sticks.
You may or may not be able to tell by looking at this smaller photo, but the base of the candle sticks are made from an actual gear from some now no longer used machine. As a result, they are very heavy and a tad steampunk in a way I find perfect.

While at Swank, we also learned that next weekend there’s the “St. Paul Retro Loop” - it’s a yearly event where 5 retro/vintage stores in that particular area have sales and cross-promote themselves. You’ll find everything from vintage furniture to retro clothing, LPs, appliances, and general kitsch. We were in the market for a particular style of bookcase, which happens to be in the warehouse, so next week we’ll do the retro loop, ending at Swank where she’ll take us over to the warehouse. While we’re there, I’ll casually mention how I like to take photos, drop her card, and let her know I’d be happy to help inventory all of their items. Michelle will need contacts like these, and the people that hang out there are fun and funky, so I think it would be a great time.

Afterwards, we went home and unloaded our goods, then headed back out - this time to Valley Natural Foods. Valley is an organic co-op, one of 8 stores located in the Twin Cities area. They specialize in natural foods, organically grown, with a focus on local farmers. There’s one literally 5 minutes from my house. I’ve driven by it many times, stopped a few, but thats about it. This time, we bought a membership and now own 4 shares of stock in the company - and more importantly we plan to do all our shopping there from now on. We’ve been trying to eat healthier over the last couple of weeks and I’ve really noticed it - I wake up early on the weekends, need less sleep, have more energy, it’s been grand.

Other then that, everything is same old same old, though I have been spending entirely to much money on gig posters lately, but there are so many absolutely gorgeous ones out there, and the price is right! (Not to mention: Having a girlfriend who can decipher all of the different types and weights of paper and printing processes really helps, too.)

So the Geek Prom came and went this year. Me and Mishka have vowed to go to it every year now, and to work on some better costumes for next year! As it is, here’s some pictures to brighten your day!

Mishka behind the sign!

This is one of the winners of the “Spaz Dance” contest - look at how damn sweaty he was. It was a typical dance contest, dance until the judges tapped you out.

And this is one of said judges - yes, he does look a tad like the actor in the Starburst ‘Berries and Cream’ commercial - and he did a perfect imitation of it too.

Tunes were provide by ELno, a twin cities coverband of Electric Light Orchestra.

And when ELno were in the green room relaxing, the tunes were provided by this DJ. I can’t for the life of me remember his name, all I remember is he was chosen as the city pages reader’s choice best DJ for 2003,2004,2005,2006 and 2007. Go him!

Us by the dance floor. Yes, I gained some weight. 2 months of unemployment does that to a person, but I’m getting it back down thanks to NutriSystem and an exercise bike

Ah hell, just go here and few some of the ones I took whilst I was there.

 The geek prom was friggin awesome - there were some crazy costumes to be found and the ELO cover band, E.L.no, was excellent as well. I’ll post some pics later, all I gotta say is I know what my next shirt purchase is

And remember, the Fringe Festival is coming soon!