Can ya take us out to Pappadeaux

What had happen' was...

Since my last post I've visited Chad and Justin in Philly, interviewed for a new position, attained said position, put my condo up for sale, and moved to Dallas.

...and thats what had happen'

Photos

Sin Comments, for your viewing please...



Apologies if the entire frame doesn't fit on your screen, I'm afraid its a limitation as the flash program is not re-sizable (afik).

Pardon the Delay

As is custom when returning from vacation, my job is taking up most of my time. It seems like we always have an important visit right when i return from holiday, and this time is no exception. Our visitor will be gone tomorrow, but i also have to work this weekend, and then I'm on another plane to Philly next Wednesday to visit Chad & Justin.

All this to say the the writing i had planned to do about my trip won't be up for some time yet. (Unless i get a crazy burst of energy over the weekend which if you know me seems quite unlikely.) There's a slim chance that some of the photos might make it onto the blog sooner, but if you want to see them in advance you can find them already uploaded on the ol' facebook page.

Malas Aires

I'm back from BA and extremely tired form a long day of traveling. Photos and commentary to come. While I can't exactly say I'm thrilled to be here and not there, at least i got away from this:

Take a Stress Pill and Think Things Over

To Joe

It simply wasn't meant to Wii

The Owls

I cant really take any credit for "discovering' this band (or any other for that matter), but in case you haven't heard of them, may i present to you The Owls...


They've been playin' round mpls for a few years now, but if you live far away maybe you dont know?

When I Think about You

iTouch myself

(happy birthday to me!)

White,

a blank page or canvas, so many possibilities...

Bring out your Dead

A recent text message:

I am sad that u r dead.

.

NYTimes.com

Sometimes Behaves so Strangely

Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich produce Radio Lab, a program that is, at least to my thinking, the most consistently mind-blowing radio series ever created. They are between seasons right now, and are using the free podcast to expose listeners to some archived episodes. Of course, if you need to hear more than the weekly podcast, a number of old shows are available for download directly from the web site.

Here's a sample i ripped out which is one of my favorite moments form the show, and a great example of the exciting things they are doing over the air waves. The first time I heard this clip i was speechless, but did manage to laugh out loud several times even though I was alone while listening. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did...

Shocking! That is just Shocking!

ISU 15 - Iowa 13

Labor Day Weekend: A tour of the Upper Middle West (Part 3)

Madison
(Saturday, September 1)

Friday night in Madison is a mess. I'm still sick, but feeling obligated to bar hop. Rick drives his car, a manual transmission, and proceeds to get too drunk to drive home. Rachel, the person with whom we are staying, gets completely messed up on whiskey shots. There's some drama about where I will take the passed-out-on-the-street Rick whilst Rachel continues to drink the night away. Eventually it's settled, and we cab it back to Randy's place for a couple hours of sleep.

Next morning, having retrieved Rick's car, we meet Rachel at IHOP for breakfast. I'm feeling much better, but Rick and Rachel understandably need some time to recover. So we spend much of the day Saturday at Rachel's watching Family Guy episodes on DVD. We finally get motivated for dinner around 6. Rachel takes us to a Jamaican restaurant on "Willy St." Because Rachel is dog sitting and we've already kenneled up the pups, we are out for the night. I question wheter we'll have the stamina to make it until bar close with me still recovering from feeling sick and the other two still recovering from the night before.

Its a pretty laid back night really. We bar hop through State street with the crazy college kids after the Wisconsin game. Once we're through there, we head back toward the towny bars to finish out the night. And yes, we do make it until nearly 2, although none of us was rip-roaringly drunk. All in all a pretty fun night out.


Madison to Minneapolis
(Sunday, September 2)

Sunday we're up for breakfast at the Come Back In. It's the taste of Madison on the square this weekend, so we do a quick tour after lunch. Rick and I are ready to get back on the road, and so by 1 we're back at Rachel's packing up the car. Its time for the drive home, back up I-94, through Eau Claire on the way to pick up my car, and onto Minneapolis.

The 5-day 3-state tour is coming to a close. It's been a satisfying road trip despite my feeling under the weather, and the Cyclone loss to Kent State. We survived a bit of drunken drama on Friday night, and salvaged a really great time in Madison, a city I'd like to get to know a little bit better. I've heard Rhianna 1000 times, been in a car for nearly 20 hours, and yet I'm still sad to have this trip end.

I think another road trip is in store for later in September, but the question is where should I go next? I'm thinking the UP of Michigan, and then on into Canada. anyone have any suggestions?

Labour Day Weekend: a tour of the Upper Middle West (Part 2)

Cedar Rapids to Madison
(Friday, August 31)


Rick is notorious for sleeping in. Late. Much later than most people past the age of 25 could justify. On the drive to Cedar Rapids from Ames he had promised to sleep in typically late, even though we had plans to have lunch with his parents. I woke up at 8 AM this morning, and knew that there was no way Rick would be awake for several hours. Since I was still feeling feverish and generally sick, I decided to go back to bed to try to sleep it off. And sleep it off I did. All the way to Noon. At which time I found my way to the shower, and spent half an hour getting ready for the day. When I'm all set I go looking for Rick, and find him in the kitchen siting with his mom, talking. It turns out the sprinklers outside had woken Rick up at 9, and he couldn't fall back asleep. He and his mom had been waiting around for me to get up for more than 3 hours. It's a nice way to meet a friend's parents.

We pick up Rick's dad at his printing company and head off for lunch at a local pizza place. I wish i remembered the name. Rick's dad, Jim, is apparently the typically schmoozey business man, as the apparent owner of the place comped us our meal: Pepperoni and Black Olives on thin crust. Yummy. But I'm still to sickish to really taste any of it. Jim is a winker, and though later Rick tells me "he does that to everyone," at the time it made me feel as though he was trying to communicate with me in some kind of secret code. Two winks for "I know where you live."

The conversations revolves around the embarrassing loss from the previous night (Rick's parents are Hawkeye fans), the upcoming Iowa game in Chicago -- to which Rick's rents are going -- and politics. I'm uncomfortable talking politics when first meeting people. It so dangerous, especially in Iowa, that I might say something to completely alienate myself or someone else. Turns out the rents are fairly pragmatic, share a dislike of the religious right, are appalled that Fred Thompson is a legitimate Presidential candidate, and think Hillary is a liar. I can deal with most of these thing, but i do think Hillary gets a bad rap. I let it go in the interest of keeping things amicable.

With Jim back at work, Rick and I have a couple hours to kill back at his house before we can leave for Madison. Its about a 2 hour drive, and i we arrive to early, everyone will still be at work. We spend the time shooting the breeze with Connie (mom), playing with an oversize Black Lab named Sammy, and drinking lots of fluids in an effort to recover enough for tonight's compulsory bar hopping. Having killed just enough time, we hit the road once more.

The drive between CR and Madison is very pretty . Lots of big, rolling hills, and low valleys as you skirt the Mississippi river. I sleep for most of it. When we arrive in Madison, its a quick stop to meet Rick's pal Randy and his new condo. Its a nice place and Randy has good taste. You can tell even though the place still feels new and not quite home yet. Although I have to say that it looks much more like a home than my place, and I've got 6 months on him as a homeowner. Thats just plain old ambition on his part.

Labor Day Weekend: A tour of the Upper Middle West (Part 1)

Eau Claire to Minneapolis
(Thursday, August 30)

This is one of the shortest and least interesting legs of my journey. It's a quick stop in the Warehouse district to pick up Rick & change cars, and then we're on our way to Ames, IA for the first Cyclone Football game of the Gene Chizik era! It is my first drive back into the cities since the California calamity, so I'm a little tense but relax a bit after i start driving.

Minneapolis to Ames
(Thursday, August 30)

Rick starts the trip out on a rather inauspicious note, getting a parking ticket after failing to feed the meeter during the 5 minutes it took us to pull his car out of the garage, and put mine in its place. Parking ticket aside, we're off on the road with high hopes for the coming game. Hopes that would be dashed by a rather unspectacular performance from the boys in Cardinal and Gold -- losing to lowly Kent State. The pregame warm up includes a trip to the famously famous barbecue joint, Hickory Park, and a stop at Dogtown to pick up some fancy new ISU duds.


Ames to Cedar Rapids
(Thursday, August 30)

With the game lost there's nothing to do but drive to our short trip's waypoint: Cedar Rapids, IA. Rick's hometown. Second worst smelling city in Iowa, right behind Sioux City. The drive is 2 plus hours and tedious as we're both dead tired from cheering our beloved Cyclones to another loss. Rick manages to get us there without hitting any wild animals. Using our better judgment, for once we bypass the liquor cabinet and hit the sheets. We've got more driving to do tomorrow, and I'm fighting off a head cold. It just wont due. There's too much fun ahead of us for me to get sick now.

Pop Culture in tiny, bite-sized portions

I'm so happy the New Pornographers finally released their latest album, Challengers. Its not as all-out-rock-out as either Electric Six or Twin Cinema, but at least on the first listen though i think it has potential to end up in the regular rotation of favorites. I know some people probably think Dan Bejar's song are over the top and a little circus-y, but i always look forward to his contributions the most. They usually end up being my favorite songs.


Has anyone seen Rocket Science yet? Living in Eau Claire sort of limits my access to new movies. I wonder if an independent movie theater would be successful here. It seems like it could be, with the university in town. The local megaplex is showing Superbad though, which stars my celebrity look-alike, and which Ebert gave 3 1/2 stars.


I just purchased a new game for my Wii called Trauma Center. I haven't played it yet but it sounds like a pretty entertaining new idea for a game. I'm a little worried that it might feel a little too real, and I will get grossed out and have to stop playing. We'll see what happens.

What does it all mean?

An online subscription to the OED costs a mere $275 per year. You could luck out with the word of the day.

From the good folks at Merriam-Webster:

rhet·o·ric
n.

1. 1. The art or study of using language effectively and persuasively.
   2. A treatise or book discussing this art.
2. Skill in using language effectively and persuasively.
3. 1. A style of speaking or writing, especially the language of a particular subject: fiery political rhetoric.
   2. Language that is elaborate, pretentious, insincere, or intellectually vacuous: His offers of compromise were mere rhetoric.
4. Verbal communication; discourse.

This word strikes me as being the evolutionary ancestor of "Flip-flopper" in politispeak. At least the dictionary definition has been adequately reworked to incorporate the emerged colloquial use. Of course, with the 4 accepted definitions above, rhetoric can basically mean whatever the hell you want it to mean.

You might point out that, on an elementary level, words are just abstract symbols for real-world observations. And as such their meanings are subjective by default. At the same time, its not unrealistic to argue that all of modern society is founded on the rather bizarre notion of object-i-fying certain of these abstract symbols in order to advance humankind. That is, the modern world relies upon the ability to take for granted the objective, concrete status of some here undefined 'fundamental' notions despite their inherent abstract, observational nature.

Where am i going with all this? The sub-prime mortgage crisis. Specifically, the way in which one can find an almost infinite number of explanations for what went/is going wrong. And not just from the guy who's always spouting off at the local pub. It seems every economist in the world has a different explanation for what is happening and why it is happening. They can't all be correct, and yet a number of conflicting opinions create rhetorically sound arguments.

Which is to say that anyone can be "right minded" about any issue if he or she can convince enough people to agree (And likewise may be "wrong minded" if enough people disagree). Which is to say that society is actually and fundamentally subjective after all. And those arbitrarily object-i-fied notions are not so agreed upon after all.

As the world and its human systems and processes become more and more complex, I'm afraid those looking for answers are bound to come up with nothing but more rhetoric.

I'm a BELIEVER

But I only buy it for the pictures.

Bravo is teasing us in the lead up to the next Season of Project Runway with Tim Gunn's Guide to Style. The first episode airs Thursday, Sept 6.

I found the link to this article on Towleroad -- are we all just sims? The first page you're like "ok this is interesting but way out there" and then you click to the second page and you're all like "wow this is totally blowing my mind."

I'll be chillin' in the Eau C this weekend. But fear not, it just so happens to be the weekend of the Chippewa Valley Gay Pride!

Annie Hall is from Chippewa Falls you know.