Instead of doing a ‘guest book’ like in the usual tradition, we decided to go with a newer trend - the ’signature plate’. A signature plate is just what it sounds like, instead of a book they sign a plate with a special pen. You then bake the plate and voila, it’s permanent.

So I went poking around Etsy, one of the greatest craft sites out there, and stumbled onto Serendipity Crafts. We liked their designs, but wanted something a little more ‘us’ so we contacted them. A few (amazingly quick) responses and a day later and bam, they had a mockup for us. They had 2, we picked one and there you go.

And it’s bloody perfect - it fits the colors of the wedding, the geek factor, and everything else - wanna see it? Well here ya go (Click to make it larger):

Signature Plate

Just really really busy. I’ll get back on track soon, I promise. In the meantime here’s a time-lapse video of us moving out of the old place on the 18th. No music, no fancy editing, just quick & dirty.

Well we certainly had a busy weekend! We went to La Crosse to celebrate the 3rd birthday of Mishka’s nephew. The house was full of people and food and screaming kids. It was truly an adventure.

Sunday, though, was awesome. We ate some food at a place called Buzzard Billy’s, then Mishka and her Dad both got new tattoos. We went to Mind Altering Tattoos and the artist we had was named Chad, he has his own shops in East Grand Forks, MN and soon in Duluth. His work was absolutely amazing - especially for the price. Mishka’s dad paid just over $200 for his, a huge Dharmacakra¹ on his right shoulder. The detail is amazing and they shading looks gorgeous.

Afterwords it was Mishka’s turn. She chose a Tiger Lily on her right thigh. He drew it on her freehand, then proceeded to color it in - another absolutely beautiful one.

I don’t have a shot of the completed tat, once it heals up a bit I’ll see if I can’t snap a few. It looks great though, and at only $150, it was at the ’stupidly low’ price.

Needless to say, we have a new tattoo guy. We have a thing we need to next month, the soon-to-be sister-in-law’s graduation from college. We’ll be in contact with the tat guy before then and hopefully he’ll be at his shop there, otherwise we will end up going to East Grand Forks. The main reason we’re sticking with this guy is Mishka’s mom will be getting a tattoo as well (Which is a big thing!) and he’s the guy I think that can best design a Fenghuang for me on my right forearm. The Fenghuang is the Chinese Phoenix. It doesn’t stand for rebirth, this one stands for loyalty and honesty. Essentially, the Fenghuang only stays there when the owner is without darkness and corruption.

And, because we always need some drama - Mishka learned the importance of looking while you backup.

1. Her father is a Buddhist [↩]

This Saturday I had the… pleasure, I guess, of going to an armory in Cottage Grove to watch MCW. MCW stands for Minnesota Championship Wrestling.

Yes, it really is as bad as it sounds - and I haven’t even begun to describe it.

Think WWF circa 1988 with worse actors and a shoddy production value.

Think of ‘wrestlers’ with names like Johnny Riddlin, Tommy “Spiderbaby” Saturday, Little Tiger and Lover Kid.

My betrothed works with some people who go to this bi-monthly event religiously and as such, she was asked to go - and then I was asked. I went, of course, because I love her dearly and had nothing else to do.

We drove from her place of employment to the armory. It took about a half hour. We passed what I think was one of the largest liquor stores I’ve seen - inside of what was an old Byerlys¹. There was also a Family Dollar inside of said store - so you could pickup a case of “Old Grandad” and gifts for the kids and spend less then $20. Apparently the people of Cottage Grove like to drink. And buy items for a dollar or less. So it goes.

We slide on past there and hit the armory - upon walking in we’re immediately hit with the strong odor of testosterone, stale sweat and something close to nachos. We wait in line. Yes, there was a little line. After a few minutes, they open up and we pay for our ticket. Our $10 a piece netted us a stamp that lists us as “#1″. At least they had that right.

It started around 7, we got there at 6:30, and had more then enough time on our hands to watch what was going on as we waited for her friends. People mulled in in groups of 2 or 3. I had never seen so many mullets in one place. The parking lot was awash in IROC Z28s. It truly was an amazing starter.

Oh, and the girl who checks us out at our local Target was also the one who took our money. How did we know? The obnoxious pointless tattoo she has and the style of dress - she’s one of those “I’m not fat at all, look at all the skin tight clothes I’m wearing - I’m so hot” girls. Granted, we’re a chubby pair ourselves, but we don’t attempt to shove ourselves into items picked up in the ‘junior’ section of Target. To put it another way, she is impossible to not remember.²³.

Anyway, her friends show up, we go - there’s a table where they are selling DVDs, clothing and sloppy joes. We pick a row thats far enough back and wait for… well, I had no fucking clue what I was waiting for. So we wait and eventually a gentleman in a ’suit’⁴ comes out with a mic, hops into the ring, and starts talking.

Sadly, he’s talking into a camera that is inexplicably pointed away from the entire audience and so we don’t really hear anything but a 10 minute mumble. Then a match begins. I can’t quite describe, except to say it’s a lot like you used to see in the WWF, only it is even more comical then you could imagine. After the second match we left, even though there was another 2 hours left to go.

I do have to admit, I did like it a little bit. You got to talk shit to the ‘wrestlers’. And I love to talk shit. Though I was trying to be humorous in a high brow way with insults such as “Improperly file his taxes for him, prompting an audit - that will show him!” and “That move was as original as your tattoo”⁵

Anyway - I don’t think I’ll be back again.

This is a clip of video I took. Stupid camera phone, I forget I need to orient it in a weird way to have a normal looking video.

1. Which was a ‘top shelf’ grocery store [↩]
2. Not to you, checker girl: It’s called style, please find some. [↩]
3. Oh, and no matter how hard you try, a pushup bra is not an elastic miracle, and will not create boobs out of nothing, stop trying [↩]
4. Whatever passes for a $30 suit these days [↩]
5. Said tattoo being of Jesus on the cross. [↩]

I’m engaged. For really reals this time. I proposed, showed her a big ole ring, and she said yes. Go me!

Ichiban, like every teppanyaki restaurant I’ve been to, was wonderful but expensive. Four people came to over $200 after it was all said and done. And I had to sit with a cute suburban family - dad and son in matching MN Wild jerseys. I had the Ichiban dinner, which came with shrimp, teriyaki chicken and filet mignon. Shrimp was great, very fresh. Teriyaki chicken was excellent. Filet mignon was good, but it wasn’t cut into small enough chunks nor was it trimmed properly - I came upon a very large chunk of gristle I couldn’t eat.

After words, we went to Macy’s to see the Nutcracker suite. It’s on the 8th floor, we fought our way onto the elevator and get up there. The line didn’t look to bad at all - maybe a 30 minute wait we had thought. So we wait. The line was apparently in a figure eight shape that wound into itself. Five minutes go past, we’re waved to go to the other side of the ‘figure eight’ - so off we go. We get to a new line…. Peek around a corner… We can’t see the end. And that’s just half the line - the top half of the eight.

We ditch it and look at furniture instead. I look at my watch and sadly we missed the Holidazzle parade too, since we were in Macy’s looking around. Furniture is on the 5th floor - the line to see the Nutcracker grew that long. People were booted off at the 5th floor and told to just wait. Line is easily over an hour and a half long. We ride the escalators down, grab a cup of coffee and walk the skyway - then stop at the bar inside the Hyatt where I had one of the best pulled Black and Tans of my life. Kudos to you, weird sports bar with the basketball lights.

I posted awhile ago about how I was the cyber bounty hunter. So far I’ve found and talked to (almost) all my classmates. It’s weird how much has changed. Everyone is married, everyone (well, almost). Almost everyone has kids. Reminiscing is fun. Though it always starts with a flurry of back and forth ‘Where did you go where are you now’ posts and slowly putters out to nothing. Oh well.

Today marks the first anniversary of Mishka and I - and a lot of people are surprised that it hasn’t been longer - I assume that it’s because we work so well together. We have, to quote crap words, synergy.

Checked out Underwater Adventures yesterday, it was a lot of fun - more then I thought it would be. Even got to go ‘on deck’ which is the place that visitors aren’t allowed - so we got to be above the big tunnel people walk through, looking down. I’ll have to upload some of those pictures and write about it.

I feel like crap though. Hopefully I don’t end up calling in sick tomorrow. Though I might - since I have tickets to Smashing Pumpkins and I really don’t want to let 3 people down because I have a cold. Stupid fall weather.

Besides that there’s the typical First Friday’s at Northrup King, Studio Bricolage, Urinetown, Rollergirls and more.

Seriously, I’d write more, but I just don’t have it in me. I just felt like I should be posting something today since it’s been awhile. I am working on a”HOW TO” piece, on restoring old plastic - restoring an old plastic retro/mod clock we picked up at Swank a few months back. Oh, and True Orange sucks. It might be 100% Vitamin C, but it sucks. Period.

I literally had a perfect weekend. Saturday, Mishka worked most of the day so I just sat at home and lunged around, relaxing. Stopped at Michaels to price some frames for some screenprints I have laying around, then balked and came home. Then, we made steaks with a new cooking method which didn’t turn out like we had hoped.

Then I got to open up some presents for an early birthday!  Mishka gave me an absolutely beautiful watch from Fossil that I was drooling over several months ago and several books; Anansi Boys, Timbuktu and Comrades. I’m already halfway through Anansi Boys

Afterwards we went for dessert - Ice Cream at the famous Grand Ole Creamery, then a long walk down Grand Avenue and a long walk back - stopping at Cafe de Amore for some coffee then the Wild Onion for a night cap and appetizer. We had the Thai Chili Wings - awesome - highly recommend them! I love the Wild Onion, it always reminded me of the places I went to in Chicago. When researching links for this entry I happened upon the Wild Onion story - turns out that’s what they had in mind, a Chicago style bar & grill. I think we’ll be going there more often - great selection of beers and service that was absolutely amazing!

Sunday, we cleaned up the loft - made it sort of sparkle. In the evening, we went for another walk - stopping at Mickey’s for dinner, then the Wabasha7 market on the way back for some supplies.

I couldn’t have planned a better weekend myself - it was just a slow lazy weekend with the woman I love. Doesn’t get much better then that, really.

It’s been a few days, and I apologize. Normally I steal some time away from work with which to write but time has been fairly short - not to mention, we’ve been taken things easy lately - beginning to wind down.

I may head to the Minnesota Music Festival today - it’s a mile away, well within walking distance. Not sure though, tickets are $30 a pop and there’s the 2 of us.

Today marks my month anniversary of not smoking. I’ve gained some weight - though I’m not sure if it’s because I’m eating more or because I no longer take the 5+ minute walk to the smoking area several times a day. It doesn’t matter, I’m taking care of it - need to exercise more, but the eating side is under control - a lot more water and a lot less soda. In fact, except for coffee I’m slowing down on the caffeine consumption as well.

I bought Mishka a couple dozen roses last week and a balloon. She’s spent a lot of money on me for my birthday, I can just tell, and I feel so guilty about it - no one ever really spends money on me, girlfriends included. So I had to ‘give something back’.

This is going to be a long post, so I’ll cut it short here - click to read the rest of it.

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It was a busy weekend! As soon as work ended on Friday we packed up and headed out to see Mishka’s friend Dubya outside of Milwaukee. Heading east the entire time, we got to see a beautiful sunset in our rear-view window - we also got to see a large RV pulling a boat, with the words ‘Noise Pollution’ proudly written across the rear of both. Pulling alongside to pass this behemoth of steel and noise the likes of which H.G. Wells could only dream of, I couldn’t help but notice the side of the bus was adorned with multiple advertisements for BangBus.Com - which makes me think this had to be the bang bus! It was like bumping into a celebrity to me, I was quite shocked! For those not in the know, BangBus.Com is a decidedly not safe for work (NSFW - which is why I didn’t create a direct link) website where young men lure young women into a bus, have sex with them, then ditch them somewhere (I’m fairly certain its all scripted - I doubt you could find that many naive woman around!). I tried to explain what an epic event this was to Mishka, as if we found an elusive, almost extinct creature, that just happens to video tape itself having sex with girls - but surprisingly she wasn’t very amused and didn’t quite share my enthusiasm.

We drove on, passing about 37 police cars - it being labor day weekend and all - before finally getting to Kenosha. After accidentally giving her a little sight-seeing tour (I used to live there long ago) we finally managed to hit a Super 8… But it was booked solid, no room at the inn for us. So we continued on to the next stop, the Value Inn.

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