That Would Be Super-Excellent!!!

Foo Fighters - Xcel Energy Center - 9/14/2011

2011-09-15T21:51:00.001-05:00

Foo Fighters - Xcel Energy Center - 9/14/2011, a set on Flickr.

FOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings - Fargo Theater - May 18th, 2011

2011-05-19T18:18:00.001-05:00

Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings - Fargo Theater - May 18th, 2011, a set on Flickr.

Boooooogie

Kylie - O2 Arena - April 11, 2011

2011-04-14T14:15:00.001-05:00

Kylie - O2 Arena - April 11, 2011, a set on Flickr.

Fun times with Kylie again!

DSCF8899

2010-12-30T15:34:00.001-06:00

DSCF8899
Originally uploaded by erintheredmc

Robyn
Fine Line Music Cafe
Minneapolis, MN

0091DSCN4953

2010-10-30T20:31:00.001-05:00

0091DSCN4953
Originally uploaded by erintheredmc

10/29/10

Maroon 5 - Shooting Star Casino

My favorite shot of the night.

DSCF8495

2010-09-13T00:14:00.001-05:00

DSCF8495
Originally uploaded by erintheredmc

Jenny and Johnny at The Cedar in MPLS

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2010-08-19T17:03:00.001-05:00

DSCF8082
Originally uploaded by erintheredmc

See if this works.

Interpol

First Ave

August 10th, 2010

What the hell have I been doing?

2009-09-29T19:27:00.002-05:00

I don't know. But here are some slideshows to shows from the past couple of months.

The Roots
First Ave
July 2nd, 2009

This is one of the best live acts I have ever seen. I hope I will have the energy to hit up their standing gig at the Highline Ballroom in NY in two weeks. Last night in town might be a late one.

Elvis Costello & The Imposters
Taste of Minnesota
July 2nd, 2009

Elvis Costello is a dude I had been dying to see for most of my life. I didn't know about the show until a few days before it took place. I luckily was notified by City Pages's weekly emails. It was the most fun 4th of July I've had yet. I hope I get to see him again someday (but indoors where I can't get sunburned).

No Doubt with Paramore and Bedouin Soundclash
Xcel Energy Center
July 5th, 2009

Before this show, the last time I saw No Doubt was in April of 1996. That was a long fucking time to wait to see them again. I hope their new album kicks some serious ass.

Old 97's
First Ave
July 19th, 2009

This was the third time in 5 months that I got to see Rhett Miller. Seeing him with the full band was a wicked blast as I'd not seen them as a whole since October of 2004. If you haven't check out Old 97's, do it. They are best.

Jenny Lewis @ First Ave

2009-06-04T21:50:00.001-05:00

Flickr

Jenny Lewis with The Sadies
First Ave
6/3/09

Lily Allen

2009-04-25T10:35:00.002-05:00

Lily Allen
Roseland Ballroom
New York, NY
April 20th, 2009

Lily's version of Womanizer kicks Britney's lip syncing ass!!

Rhett Miller of the Old 97's

2009-04-25T10:17:00.002-05:00

Rhett Miller
Le Poisson Rouge
New York, NY
April 16th, 2009

A brief description of the day of the show:

Jennie and I were both departing for NY on the 16th. We both got up around 3AM to get ready for the flights. I left Fargo at 5AM and met up with Jennie at the MSP airport around 6:30Am. We got our McDonald's breakfast and jumped on the plane to JFK. We arrived around 10:45AM Eastern time. We probably got to Heather's apartment in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn around 1PM. After a couple hours of rest, Jennie and I headed out to Manhattan to meet up with Heather. She couldn't get out of work so we proceeded down to Bleecker Street to explore. We ate at John's Pizza on Bleecker, had a drink at Thunder Jackson's, and then went over to Le Poisson Rouge. The Red Fish is a great venue except for one crucial thing: the bar is a total rip off. I will remember that if I ever go there again. Nine dollars for a Morgan diet??? Funk dat! Rhett kicked ass until about 11:30PM. Jennie and I waitied forever both for and on the L train. I think we got back to Heather's hood around 1:00AM. It was a very long day that went very fast. We had lots of fun!

Fargo flood... God this sucks!

2009-03-26T22:33:00.001-05:00

I'm getting the hell out of here tomorrow. Minneapolis is my destination. I've got my fingers crossed...

Fun in Fargo?

2009-03-01T11:08:00.003-06:00

*Note: Flickr has been acting weird. Just refresh if the slideshow doesn't work right away.

Dropkick Murphys
The Venue @ The Hub
February 26th, 2009
Fargo, ND

I went to Dropkick Murphys on Thursday night with a co-worker and a few other friends. A good time was had by all. It's nice to not have to drive 3 1/2 hours to have fun. I wish it happened way more.

This Dropkick Murphys show was the first time I have set foot in "The Hub" as it is now called. It used to be called Playmakers until November of 2007. It is all split up into several bars now. It is kind of a cool gimmick. We spent some time in the Monkey Bar section during Civet's and H20's opening sets. Lynn and I ditched the crew to go to the floor for the main show.

Next shows up are Lily Allen in NY and No Doubt in St. Paul. Maybe Howie Day? We'll see how the next week goes. I shall be entertainment starved until then.

You know you are getting old when...

2009-02-16T17:53:00.003-06:00

You know you are getting old when you are talking to your parents like they are the children. I feel like an a-hole because I'm telling my Mom she can't have sugar as she is laying in her hospital bed. She is a diabetic in denial. Huge print on the dry erase board says "diabetic & low sodium diet." I hope staring at that for a few days will get the message through but I'm kind of doubting it.

Hospitals are getting more and more tech savvy. Medcenter One is wireless ready for patients and visitors. It came in very handy this weekend. I showed my Mom all about Facebook and online TV watching. She missed Thursday night's 30 Rock episode so I punched it up on NBC.com and voila! Instant watching for us!

I'm thinking I-94 is going to be all kinds of tore up this summer. Eastbound from Bismarck is not very nice I must say. Not looking forward to it.

Positive thought: only 59 days until vacation!!! NEEDS IT!!!

I got our Lily Allen tickets in the mail over the weekend. THEY ARE HUGE! Live Nation makes some big-ass tix. Zowie! April 20th at the Roseland Ballroom is where I will be.

Rhett Miller photos 2/08/09 Fine Line Music Cafe

2009-02-09T21:09:00.004-06:00

This weekend was my first non-holiday weekend out of town since Halloween. It was very badly needed. The past several weeks have just been crazy and this weekend made up for it.

Here are the Rhett Miller photos from last night. Chandra, Allison, Greg, and I had a great time. We all can't wait to see him and/or the Old 97's again.

Oh yes, and Happy Birthday to my beeoootch Allison!

Sick days are borrrrrring

2009-01-15T17:14:00.002-06:00

How creepy is it that I have been watching Lost for a while today and a plane crashes in the Hudson River? I thought it was a little weird.

I would say today was the perfect day to be sick. It was -30 degrees when I woke up at 5:30AM this morning. I made a sad attempt to get ready by taking a shower. Usually, that makes me feel better. Today, it made me feel worse. Dizzy, light-headed, etc. I would rather not have been sick and braved the weather. I hate being sick. I'm a big fan of being able to breathe and not having the chills.

I'm boring.

My brain is frozen.

2009-01-13T12:07:00.002-06:00

It was -26 degrees Fahrenheit this morning. I'm going to crack...

I am a tiny bit embarassed to adimit this

2009-01-04T21:43:00.003-06:00

I am currently enjoying a refreshing glass of Charles Shaw Merlot (AKA 3-buck Chuck). It is the last of my case of Chuck. I got two of most everything for the lovely price of $35.88 before MN tax. Good thing - I'm kinda poor. I might get two more when I roll down in a month. Never know when I'll feel like inviting people over to my humble digs for eats, drinks, and such...

My cabin fever is getting really bad. I'm not used to staying home like this. The snow has made it rather unsafe to travel most places. The streets are plowed down to ice and there is no gravel. I'm terrified because I've seen so many accidents. I seriously don't remember ever seeing it like this.

I got back into my gym swing yesterday. I pumped up all the weights a brick for good measure. I hate being inactive. I just want to ride my damn bike!

At least one good thing has happened so far today

2009-01-02T10:40:00.003-06:00

Ad.yieldmanager.com error messages have been the bain of my existence for a while now. Neither Ad-Aware or Spybot would get rid of this annoying thing. Clearing out all of the cookies sometimes allowed me get by the roadblock. Today, nothing was working. I used the ol' google to search AGAIN on how to get rid of the fucking bug. Answers at yahoo had an answer that finally worked - Adblock plus add on for Firefox. Who uses Firefox? ME!! I added ad.yieldmanager.com to the filter rules and it has been smooth sailing ever since. One less headache...

This morning has otherwise sucked ass. My front passenger side tire blew on the way to work. I lost control of the mobile a little bit and went into a snowdrift while trying to turn in by Roosevelt school. No damage done thankfully. I was a little shaken and pissed though. I just got that goddamn tire fixed fifteen days ago! The tire set is only about nine months old, too! Just my luck! However, there was a moment of hope when I saw two fellow NDSU friends of mine, Bud and Theresa, stopping to see what was up. They were surprised to see me get out of the mobile. Bud kindly helped me by putting on my spare. I didn't have a jack in my car but they did. Phew! I will be buying them a thank you card and a gift certificate for their kindness.

So, gotta buy a new tire, renew my expired AAA card, pick out thank you card, and acquire gift certificate after work. Then I'll be broke again.

What to do when there is a statewide civil emergency and blizzard warning

2008-12-14T11:03:00.002-06:00

Stay home and do nothing. Yay?

I realized yesterday that I left my shovel in Bismarck. I hope I can dig myself out tomorrow if NDSU is open. Thankfully, I live about a mile from a co-worker that has an SUV and she has offered to acquire my stranded ass if necessary.

Not in the mood for this, but who is?

58103
Light Snow and Fog
-8°F
Feels Like
-39°F

I'm staying inside today and catching up on my reading

2008-12-06T14:05:00.003-06:00

I have to admit that it is pretty nice living in a relatively stable area. I know that quite a few places have had layoffs (like Bobcat) in our state but it has been nothing compared to most other places. I consider myself lucky to be up here in the frozen tundra. North Dakota = wind farm!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/us/06dakota.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1228593643-rtz3QwViDEqiA1ZqRcc4Rg

December 6, 2008
North Dakota Asks, What Recession?
By MONICA DAVEY

FARGO, N.D. — As the rest of the nation sinks into a 12th grim month of recession, this state, at least up until now, has been quietly reveling in a picture so different that it might well be on another planet.

The number of new cars sold statewide was 27 percent higher this year than last, state records through November showed. North Dakota’s foreclosure rate was minuscule, among the lowest in the country. Many homes have still been gaining modestly in value, and, here in Fargo, construction workers can be found on any given day hammering away on a new downtown condominium complex, complete with a $540,000 penthouse (still unsold, but with a steady stream of lookers).

While dozens of states, including neighboring ones, have desperately begun raising fees, firing workers, shuttering tourist attractions and even abolishing holiday displays to overcome gaping deficits, lawmakers this week in Bismarck, the capital, were contemplating what to do with a $1.2 billion budget surplus.

And as some states’ unemployment rates stretched perilously close to the double digits in the fall, North Dakota’s was 3.4 percent, among the lowest in the country.

“We feel like we have been living in a bubble,” said Justin Theel, part owner of a dealership that sells Toyotas, Dodges and Scions in Bismarck. “We see the national news every day. We know things are tough. But around here, our people have gone to their jobs every day knowing that they’re going to get a paycheck and that they’ll go back the next day.”

North Dakota’s cheery circumstance — which economic analysts are quick to warn is showing clear signs that it, too, may be in jeopardy — can be explained by an odd collection of factors: a recent surge in oil production that catapulted the state to fifth-largest producer in the nation; a mostly strong year for farmers (agriculture is the state’s biggest business); and a conservative, steady, never-fancy culture that has nurtured fewer sudden booms of wealth like those seen elsewhere (“Our banks don’t do those goofy loans,” Mr. Theel said) and also fewer tumultuous slumps.

As it happens, one of the state’s biggest worries right now is precisely the reverse of most other states: North Dakota has about 13,000 unfilled jobs and is struggling to find people to take them.

“We could use more people with skills for some of these jobs,” Marty Aas, who leads the Fargo branch of the state’s Job Service North Dakota, said as his offices — where the unemployed might come for help — sat quiet and nearly empty. State employees outnumbered the six clients on a recent afternoon. (Mr. Aas insisted that such a slow afternoon was rare.)

State officials and private companies have begun looking elsewhere to recruit workers, including traveling in October to Michigan, where tens of thousands of workers have been laid off, and, this month, holding an “online job fair,” anything to lure people to a place that is, at least for now, removed from the deep financial dismay — if also just plain removed.

“Our problem is that everybody thinks that it’s a cold, miserable place to live,” said Bob Stenehjem, a Republican and the State Senate’s majority leader. “They’re wrong, of course. But North Dakota is a pretty well-kept secret.”

With 635,867 residents, North Dakota is among the least populous states, and, in the past few years, more people have moved away, census figures show, than have moved here.

Katie Hasbargen, a spokeswoman for Microsoft’s Fargo campus, which is in the middle of a $70 million or so building expansion and is, even now, looking for a few additions to its work force (of more than 1,500), said false perceptions of the state are the problem when it comes to recruiting workers. “The movie,” Ms. Hasbargen said, referring to the 1996 Coen brothers’ film that bears this city’s name, “didn’t do us a lot of favors.”

On a recent evening, as the night shift arrived at DMI Industries, where 383 workers (an all-time high) weld gigantic towers for wind turbines and where a $20 million expansion is under way, Phillip Christiansen, the general manager, wandered the plant, noting those who had been recruited from elsewhere — three from Michigan not long ago, another from Louisiana. “It’s very competitive around here trying to find people,” he said. “In this environment, it’s a little hard.”

Not that people are complaining much. Downtown, in the line of gift shops along Broadway, where shop owners reported sales that were healthy (though always sensible), residents said they were pleased — if a tad guilty — about the state’s relative good fortune.

No one was gloating. No wild spending sprees were apparent. No matter how well things seemed to be going, many said they were girding, in well-practiced Midwestern style, for the worst.

“You’re always a little worried,” Mr. Christiansen admitted. “You get a tickle at the pit of your stomach.”

In truth, economic analysts said North Dakota has already begun showing some of the painful ripples seen elsewhere. Some manufacturing companies here have lately made temporary job cuts as orders for products have dropped nationally. Shrinking 401(k)’s — “201(k)’s,” some here grump — are no bigger here than anywhere else. And, most of all, drops in oil prices and farm commodity prices are sure to sink local fortunes, experts said.

An economist at Moody’s Economy.com recently warned that conditions in North Dakota had “slowed measurably in recent months, and the state is now at risk of being dragged into recession.” In an interview, Glenn Wingard, the economist, described North Dakota as “an outlier” up to now in a broad, national slump.

“It’s not going to hold,” Mr. Wingard said, suggesting that the state would now probably have to suffer through a reversal, or at least, a slowdown, much like other places that benefited from rising fortunes tied to energy, high oil prices and booming farm commodity prices.

Still, Ernie Goss, an economist at Creighton University in Omaha, who conducts a regular survey of economic conditions in nine states through the nation’s middle, found North Dakota to be the only one expected to experience an expanding economy over the next three to six months. “This will hit North Dakota,” Dr. Goss said of the recession, “I just don’t think it’ll ever be as significant.”

Just as state officials in Minnesota — due east of here — this week revealed a staggering $5.2 billion deficit, Gov. John Hoeven of North Dakota gathered with lawmakers at the State Capitol to talk, in part, about the $1.2 billion budget surplus — the result, in part, of increased revenues from oil, and a sum that is all the more astonishing given the size of the state’s total budget, $7.7 billion over the next two years.

Mr. Hoeven, a Republican whose party controls both chambers of the state legislature and who was re-elected last month with more than 70 percent of the vote, offered proposals few other states are likely to hear this year: $400 million in property and income tax relief, $130 million more for kindergarten through 12th-grade education, 5 percent raises for state workers, $18 million for expansion of a state heritage center, and so on.

The surplus, several lawmakers asserted, will actually make their jobs and choices far more complicated.

“Now that there is money,” said State Senator David O’Connell, a Democrat and the party’s minority leader, “I could go to three meetings a day with people who will say they want more money or want a one-time spending package or something.”

Mr. Stenehjem, who likewise complained that “when you have $1.2 billion sitting around, there’s about 50 billion ideas of what to spend it on,” quickly noted that there were worse budget problems to have.

“Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I would rather deal with this.

“Prudence is important at this point,” Mr. Stenehjem, a lifelong North Dakotan, went on. “North Dakota never gets as good as the rest of the country or as bad as the rest of the country, and that’s fine with us.”

Honorary Dixie Chick

2008-11-24T21:09:00.003-06:00

I have to say that I have always been a Semisonic and Dan Wilson fan. Jennie and I used to see Dan and the boys at concerts here and there back in the day. It was awesome to see Dan, John Munson, and Jacob Slichter having a chat with Gary Louris of the Jayhawks before one of the Oasis/Travis shows. I died in Minneapolis music heaven.

Here is Dan's little myspace blog entry from today. I have had the fantasy of going to another country and talking to people about how the US election affected them. Here is his story from Australia.

PS - make sure to check out Jacob Slichter's book So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star: How I Machine-Gunned a Roomful of Record Executives and Other True Tales from a Drummer's Life

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Monday, November 24, 2008

Oz & Obama

Just got back from Australia, a short and sweet tour. For a lot of the trip I wore the Obama shirt my brother Matt gave me, a limited edition gift he made for friends and family a few weeks before the election. The shirt shows a victorious Muhammad Ali exulting over his defeated foe (Joe Frazier?) at the end of a boxing match, with the simple title "Obama" over the image. Matt said he saw this photo in the background of a picture of Barack Obama's office in Chicago. To me it's the expression of not only victory but of the toughness and single-mindedness that it took for Obama to win the election.

While I was in Australia, many people asked me about the shirt, both on the street and at the shows. It gave me a chance to talk with Aussies about our election, which I was hoping it would. Even so, I was pretty blown away by how emotional they were about it. During my shows I mentioned Obama's election and how relieved and happy I was about it, and how even some of my Republican-voting friends are kinda excited about it. I also told the people there that I was aware that our country has lately been like a dark cloud on their northeastern horizon, but that the weather hopefully is changing. People cheered wildly.

After my shows, the Aussie fans really wanted to talk more about this, and many of them got tears in their eyes while trying to express to me how much this change meant to them.

Here's me performing on the TV show "Rockwiz" with Matt's home-made Obama shirt.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=32796290&blogID=451467324

Looking forward to it

2008-11-17T21:44:00.002-06:00

I am finding it hard to believe that next week is Thanksgiving already. ALREADY! Where did this year go? There were so many things I was looking forward to and hoping for. I'm glad to see that most of the big things worked out. Maybe next year will see a few more big things work out. All I can do is keep hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

I am sorry to my dozen reader friends for the lack of actual writing. My mind has been super fried from life and politics. My soul was totally sucked out of me thanks to this election. I'm pretty sure I lost some hair. Seriously, some major shedding. Thank you stress, you bitch!

So, next week... PEACOCK ALLEY! Let's roll out and have a few.

Time for The Daily Show now. Must brush teeth.

On point - Mr. Keith - as usual

2008-11-11T10:33:00.002-06:00

This is why Keith Olbermann is THE MAN.

Everybody's got rights!

Funny, I was thinking the same thing.

2008-11-05T20:26:00.001-06:00

Suck it!

Speaking of the world...

2008-11-05T20:19:00.004-06:00

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a8S3Q62uDRtU&refer=us#

`Unimaginable' Obama Win Resonates Beyond U.S.: Global Voices

By Berni Moestafa and Heejin Koo

Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Here is a sampling of the world's reaction to Barack Obama's victory in the U.S. presidential election.

``Forty-five years ago, Martin Luther King dreamed of an America where men and women will be judged not on the color of their skin but on the content of their character,'' Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters in the southern island state of Tasmania. ``What America has done is turn that dream into a reality.''

French President Nicolas Sarkozy congratulated Obama in a letter released to the public, saying the outcome ``resonates well beyond your borders.''

``Your stunning victory rewards a tireless commitment to serving the American people,'' Sarkozy wrote. ``It is also the crowning achievement of an exceptional campaign whose brilliance and high tone demonstrated the vitality of American democracy to the entire world, while keeping them spellbound.''

``A hundred years ago, he would have been a slave,'' said T. K. Kurien, president of strategic programs at Wipro Ltd., India's third-largest software services provider, in an interview from London. ``A hundred years on, he is the president. That's massive.''

``For Obama to overcome what people consider to be synonymous with America -- race -- it's unimaginable,'' said Eric Shepherd, a professor at City University in London. ``It's given the world a lot more faith in America. America has become a place that does deliver on its promises. People can achieve anything.''

``So often crudely caricatured by others, the American people yesterday stood in the eye of history and made an emphatic choice for change for themselves and the world,'' the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper said. ``Savor those words: President Barack Obama, America's hope and, in no small way, ours too.''

``The new president has transcended tensions to achieve the essential: balancing black resentment and white anxieties, and uniting them in a single design for justice,'' the French newspaper Le Monde said. ``After having elected George W. Bush twice, in an incredible turn of boldness and faith in its own resources, America has put an end to its conservative revolution made from deregulation and the wild law of the market which resulted in the sub-prime crisis and the collapse of the financial system.''

``President-elect Obama was inspirational, and I'm certain he will continue to be,'' U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters in Washington. ``One of the great things about representing this country is it continues to surprise, it continues to renew itself. It continues to beat all odds and expectations.''

``I have the honor and pleasure to congratulate you wholeheartedly on the impressive win you have had,'' Iraqi President Jalal Talabani wrote in a letter released to reporters. ``We look forward to the relations between our two countries under your mandate, and further consolidation and development in all fields.''

Pope Benedict XVI, the leader of more than 1 billion Catholics around the world, hopes Obama ``can respond to the expectations and the hopes of those that look to him,'' Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told reporters in Rome. He said Benedict also wants the new American president to ``favor human growth and dignity with respect to essential human and spiritual values.''

``While this is without a doubt a moment of great happiness, at the same time we should remember those men and women that made the greatest sacrifice, their lives, in the fight for an equal society,'' Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said in a letter to Obama. ``I'm sure many veterans of those days have been reflecting on the words of Reverend King: `I have a dream that my four small children will someday live in a country where they aren't judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their characters.' This day has arrived.''

``I thank God for having lived to see that we have a U.S. president of color,'' said Yehude Simon, Peru's prime minister. ``Peru wins with the change; it's a change that we all expected. God help us he won't fail us, that all his proposals during the campaign can be real.''

``The historic election of an Afro-descendant to the head of the most powerful country in the world is a sign that the change that's been carried out in South America may be reaching the doorstep of the U.S.,'' the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said in an e-mailed statement. ``The hour has arrived to establish new relations among our countries and with our region.''

``The profoundly symbolic value of Obama's victory escapes no one,'' Jean Leonard Touadi, the first black man to be elected to the Italian parliament, said in an interview in Rome. ``Martin Luther King's dream has been realized by Barack Obama.''

``We hope Obama can restore America to become a great nation again,'' said Yustina Amirah, principal of Asisi Elementary School in Jakarta, where Obama studied for a couple of years as a child. ``Obama's election may motivate children here to see that dreams can be reached. We hope that our children have dreams as high as Obama's.''

Mohammed Abdo, a 32-year-old restaurant employee in the Gaza Strip, said the election result won't make any difference where he lives. ``The only difference between the two American candidates was their color,'' he said. ``U.S. policy will remain biased in favor of Israel.''

``This is beautiful,'' said Ijaz Shahid, who was leading a demonstration of landless peasants protesting the seizure of their farms by local landlords at barbed-wire barricades outside Pakistan's presidential offices in Islamabad.

``A true democracy has elected a person from the oppressed people of that country,'' said Shahid, a retired army major.

``Obama winning the election shows just how much the U.S. has changed,'' said South Korean Kim Sang Hyuck, 32, watching the results on his mobile phone in downtown Seoul. ``When I was studying there in Philadelphia nearly 10 years ago, there were still pockets of racism. I never thought then that the U.S. would choose an African-American president.''

``A new face offers Europe a new chance to remarry America,'' said Wolfgang Ischinger, 62, a former German ambassador to the U.S. ``That's the good news. The bad news is that this outburst of Obama-mania does create expectations which no president can possibly fulfill. Sooner or later there will be some disappointment on the way.''

Pinch me

2008-11-05T19:13:00.005-06:00

I'm officially getting my life back from this election... starting tomorrow. Of course I'm watching the post-election coverage to see reactions of people from around the WORLD. Yes, WORLD! My mind is beyond blown how this election has affected so many people. I wish I could have been one in the crowd in Chicago or New York City. I even heard Seattle had some people hitting the streets! Instead, I was here in Fargo watching everything unfold on my television. It wasn't so bad except it would have even better to have someone present to share it with. I had my Mom on the phone for a while in the early evening. She's a very happy lady today. I later had Josh on the phone seconds after the election was called for Obama. We were both doing the happy dance around our respective apartments.

One thing that bummed me out is one of my closest friends does not feel the same great feeling that all of my other friends do. My ORF (one republican friend), I'm sorry you feel the way you do. As I pointed out last week, we will have to continue to agree to disagree on this. I wish you could see what a massive turning point this is for everyone REGARDLESS of political party affiliation. As many have already said, we were all winners yesterday. That includes you!

I'm very optimistic for the future for once. Getting out of the bed in the morning was a hell of a lot less difficult this morning. Sure, I was tired as fuck but I did it. I'm thinking a lot of other people were feeling the exact same way.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck came around today. I was very touched by what she had to say on The View this morning. Check it out for yourself!

NY crowds celebrating in the streets! http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/11/election_aftermath.html#photo=1

Highlights from the weekend

2008-11-03T14:26:00.003-06:00

I forgot my camera battery in my camera case which I left in my car. NO PICS! But here is some video action from the Get Out The Vote Show in St. Paul. It was a blasty blast!

Who dat?

2008-11-02T21:57:00.002-06:00

See if you can spot anyone you know in the crowd...

But I needed a hook so I called Nikka Costa

2008-11-02T20:30:00.005-06:00

I have posted my pictures of Nikka Costa from the Minneapolis Varsity Theater show. It was a fantastic show! Can't wait for her to come back around!

http://flickr.com/photos/erintheredmc/sets/72157608607055111/

Posting yet another video

2008-10-24T09:21:00.000-05:00

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

ONLY 11 DAYS TO GO!

And I stole this from your blog P-Man

2008-10-21T17:49:00.002-05:00

I like cartoons.

Not too much longer

2008-10-20T20:29:00.002-05:00

Jon Stewart uncensored if f***ing awesome.

Jon Stewart to Sarah Palin: '[Expletive] You.'

Speaking to a college audience in Boston, Mass. Friday, "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart used his stand-up routine to respond to Sarah Palin's comments about "pro-America" parts of the country, shedding the profanity restrictions that govern his Comedy Central show.

"She said that small towns, that's the part of the country she really likes going to because that's the pro-America part of the country. You know, I just want to say to her, just very quickly: [expletive] you," Stewart said to raucous applause.

Palin addressed a North Carolina fund-raiser Thursday night saying, "We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. We believe...that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation."

The comment was quickly picked up by media outlets and the Obama campaign, whose spokesman Bill Burton asked in an e-mail to reporters, "What part of the country isn’t pro-America?"

Stewart didn't let his own harsh language stop him from criticizing John McCain and Palin for divisiveness.

"I can't take it anymore...After eight years of this divisiveness, we're back to this idea that only small-town America is the real America," he said.

The Manhattan native accused the Republicans of "writing off whole swaths of the country," saying "cities are just a lot of towns piled on top of each other in one place. "

During the same routine, however, he seemed to write off Palin's rural swath of the country, referring to the governor's home not as Alaska, Wasilla, or Juneau, but as "the woods."

"McCain made an interesting vice presidential choice," he said. "I like the woods...I just don't know if I would pull my vice president out of the woods randomly."

Stewart also joked about Palin's recent statements on Barack Obama's links to domestic terrorist Bill Ayers and Obama's abortion stances, distorting her statements:

"I've never seen someone with a greater disparity between how cute they sound when they're saying something and how terrible what they're saying is," he said, launching into an impression of Palin. "Don'tcha know, Obama, by golly, he just is a terrorist?... Oh, you know, he just, gosh, kills babies, you know."

Palin has referred to the relationship between Obama and Ayers by saying Obama "pals around with terrorists." She has also attacked his opposition to a state version of the federal Born Alive Infant Protection Act during his time in the Illinois senate, which would have required that medical care be given to infants born alive during attempted abortions.

The media has devoted hundreds of stories of late to the tenor of audience comments at McCain-Palin rallies, fretting about "rage" and "incitement" by the campaign, but the only account of Stewart's appearance is a one-sentence mention in the Boston Globe, and his abusive Palin comments are not included.

Below is video of Stewart's comments, with the audio improved as much as possible (earphones may help). A rough transcript of the video is after the jump. Please observe a content warning for bad language and some crass jokes:

"He (McCain) made an interesting vice presidential choice.

I like the woods...I just don't know if I would pull my vice president out of the woods randomly.

She came out again today. She was talking to a small town, she said that small towns, that's the part of the country she really likes going to because that's the pro-America part of the country.

You know, I just want to say to her, just very quickly...[expletive] you.

I've never seen someone with a greater disparity between how cute they sound when they're saying something and how terrible what they're saying is.

Don't ya know, Obama, by golly, he just is a terrorist? What? Oh, you know, he just, gosh, kills babies, you know.

I'm so over the idea that only small-town America is the heart and soul. Small-town America is fine, but it's the same as cities. Cities are just a lot of towns piled on top of each other in one place.

They have this whole thing that somehow we can write off entire swaths of the country, that we are somehow...I get it. You know, New York City wasn't good enough for [expletive] Osama bin Laden, it better be good enough for you.

I can't take it anymore. After eight years of this divisiveness, we're back to this idea that only small-town America is the real America.

I get it. I'm from New York. We have a lot of gay people. But homosexuals don't have sodomy on Russian flags."

I got lots of shit done today FOR ONCE!!!

2008-10-20T20:21:00.002-05:00

Got out of bed.

Got to work on time.

Got a free lunch.

Got all my paperwork done at work.

Got some apples from Michelle.

Got rid of my Kings Of Leon tickets.

Got my VOTE counted!

Got some shit at Target.

Got some money for my guitar.

Got no mail?

Got to get ready for bed soon.

Still got no idea what I'm doing.

Undecided voters still undecided

2008-10-18T19:17:00.003-05:00

How hard is it to form an opinion? How hard is it to make a decision? That's right! It's because you people are still stupid.

I hate Bill O'Reilly, but I love this

2008-10-16T15:27:00.003-05:00

So wrong and so funny! It has made my sick day not so bad.

I woke up today to Days of Our Lives on the TV. Just listening to it for a few minutes robbed me of some soul. Now I better understand why the occasional housewife goes insane. I suppose the constant running of campaign ads from Al Franken and Norm Coleman don't help either. I must have fallen back asleep just after Angelina Jolie's interview on the Today Show. I don't remember much after that.

Erin's anti-romantic comedy tirade - part 1

2008-10-15T18:50:00.003-05:00

I'm sorry I didn't like 27 Dresses. I only watched that godforsaken piece of crap movie because I love James Marsden. DUH!!! I'm also sorry that I refuse to watch the movie Fools Gold. Oh yay! See Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey reteam! Ummm, I lived through watching How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days multiple times without killing myself while in Pracs. What did I learn from that? Bring with noise cancelling headphones for my Pracs studies.

What is my problem? Well, first of all, I like movies that involve using my brain. It is nice when there is some kind of plot or story involved. Cut and paste romantic comedy scripts just infuriate me! Let's be as formulaic as possible so we can sell this pile of shit to the low brow masses!

I'm sorry that I'm the party pooper that keeps saying "Yeah, like that would REALLY happen." PLEASE! These movies insult what little intelligence I have. I know that I'm supposed to suspend my disbelief but this is just ridiculous.

What do I like? The movies that have a soul and a great story behind them. A little bit of love or romance isn't so bad when you throw those elements into the mix. Say Anything is pretty much my favorite movie ever. Why? Because it has a huge soul, a wonderful story, and a bitchin' soundtrack. Reality Bites!!! Another fantastic piece of cinema. It would be nice to have a couple of gems like these more often. Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Bridget Jones's Diary only come around once every couple of years dang it!

Guilty confession moment: I shed a tear or two at the Sex and the City Movie. I own all of the DVDs. I'm not made of stone after all!

I've got to watch Pushing Daisies now.

I'll be voting in the next day or two

2008-10-13T12:55:00.001-05:00

I'll be headed down to the courthouse one of these near days to VOTE EARLY!

Obama for America

Every day is Election Day in North Dakota because you can vote early -- in person or by mail.

Early voting is fast, easy, and it could make the difference in this election. Show your friends and family that you've made up your mind and you're ready for change now.

Take the first step today. Take a moment now to request your Mail-In Ballot, or find your early voting location.

Early voting is simple, safe, and convenient. It's also a vital part of our strategy.

The more supporters who make their voices heard now, the more energy and resources we can devote to our Get Out The Vote efforts closer to Election Day.

Vote early today and see if you can get five or more friends to vote early with you.

All across the country, supporters like you are working together to grow this movement for change. We know that North Dakota families can't afford four more years of failed Bush-McCain policies.

That's why we need you to help make sure we have an advantage in North Dakota before Election Day.

Take a moment now to fill out some basic information and make your voice heard:

http://www.voteforchange.com

This is our chance to take America in a new direction -- so the next four years don't look like the last eight.

We can't do this without you.

Thanks,

Obama for America

P.S. -- Once you've gone through the process, tell us about it. Did you take people with you? What are you going to do on Election Day, now that you've already voted? Share your early vote story today:

http://nd.barackobama.com/earlyvotestory

Today's copy and paste action...

2008-10-13T11:13:00.001-05:00

God I hope MN and ND go blue...

http://www.startribune.com/templates/Print_This_Story?sid=30810474

Garrison Keillor: Life is hard; we dig in, and we can spot deceit
By GARRISON KEILLOR

October 11, 2008

We are a stalwart and stouthearted people, and never more so than in hard times. People weep in the dark and arise in the morning and go to work. The waves crash on your nest egg and a chunk is swept away and you put your salami sandwich in the brown bag and get on the bus. In Philly, a woman earns $10.30 an hour to care for a man brought down by cystic fibrosis. She bathes and dresses him in the morning, brings him meals, puts him to bed at night. It's hard work lifting him and she has suffered a painful hernia that, because she can't afford health insurance, she can't get fixed, but she still goes to work because he'd be helpless without her. There are a lot of people like her. I know because I'm related to some of them.

Low dishonesty and craven cynicism sometimes win the day but not inevitably. The attempt to link Barack Obama to an old radical in his neighborhood has desperation and deceit written all over it. Meanwhile, stunning acts of heroism stand out, such as the fidelity of military lawyers assigned to defend detainees at Guantanamo Bay -- uniformed officers faithful to their lawyerly duty to offer a vigorous defense even though it means exposing the injustice of military justice that is rigged for conviction and the mendacity of a commander in chief who commits war crimes. If your law school is looking for a name for its new library, instead of selling the honor to a fat cat alumnus, you should consider the names of Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, Lt. Col. Mark Bridges, Col. Steven David, Lt. Col. Sharon Shaffer, Lt. Cmdr. Philip Sundel and Maj. Michael Mori.

It was dishonest, cynical men who put forward a clueless young woman for national office, hoping to juice up the ticket, hoping she could skate through two months of chaperoned campaigning, but the truth emerges: The lady is talking freely about matters she has never thought about. The American people have an ear for B.S. They can tell when someone's mouth is moving and the clutch is not engaged. When she said, "One thing that Americans do at this time, also, though, is let's commit ourselves just every day, American people, Joe Six-Pack, hockey moms across the nation, I think we need to band together and say never again. Never will we be exploited and taken advantage of again by those who are managing our money and loaning us these dollars," people smelled gas.

Some Republicans adore her because they are pranksters at heart and love the consternation of grown-ups. The ne'er-do-well son of the old Republican family as president, the idea that you increase government revenue by cutting taxes, the idea that you cut social services and thereby drive the needy into the middle class, the idea that you overthrow a dictator with a show of force and achieve democracy at no cost to yourself -- one stink bomb after another, and now Sarah Palin.

She is a chatty sportscaster who lacks the guile to conceal her vacuity, and she was John McCain's first major decision as nominee. This troubles independent voters, and now she is a major drag on his candidacy. She will get a nice book deal from Regnery and a new career making personal appearances for forty grand a pop, and she'll become a trivia question, "What politician claimed foreign-policy expertise based on being able to see Russia from her house?" And the rest of us will have to pull ourselves out of the swamp of Republican economics.

Your broker kept saying, "Stay with the portfolio, don't jump ship," and you felt a strong urge to dump the stocks and get into the money market where at least you're not going to lose your shirt, but you didn't do it and didn't do it, and now you're holding a big bag of brown bananas. Me, too. But at least I know enough not to believe desperate people who are talking trash. Anybody who got whacked last week and still thinks McCain-Palin is going to lead us out of the swamp and not into a war with Iran is beyond persuasion in the English language. They'll need to lose their homes and be out on the street in a cold hard rain before they connect the dots.

I still can't believe that people haven't figured it out yet.

2008-10-08T08:05:00.002-05:00

If you haven't figured out who you are voting for yet for president, you are stupid.

Jargon and catchphrase hell is what we live in these days

2008-10-07T09:41:00.003-05:00

I've been incredibly irritated by all of the Republican jargon and catchphrases as of lately. Frankly, who hasn't been? I was yelling at my TV last Thursday night during the debates just getting infuriated by the lack of content spewn from Ms. Palin. Insert talking point here, base lingo there, and repeat the question in the form of an answer... but don't answer the question.

One question I've asked myself many times over the past few weeks is what exactly is the definition of the Republican Main Street. I'm glad the Washington Post has so concisely answered my question today. I was wracking my brain over this one.

Can't wait for tonight's town hall so I can get pissed off all over again.

Palin's Imaginary Washington

By Anne Applebaum
Tuesday, October 7, 2008; A21

"I think we need a little bit of reality from Wasilla Main Street there, brought to Washington, D.C."

-- Sarah Palin to Joe Biden, Oct. 2

A specter is haunting this presidential election -- the specter of "Washington." Not Washington the city of museums and monuments, and not Washington the home of 588,000 mostly ordinary people, but "Washington" the metaphor: Washington, the bastion of elites who look down on the rest of America; Washington, the embodiment of the East Coast liberal establishment that scorns outsiders from the provinces. So frequently have we heard this idea invoked in recent days that I think it's time to dissect it a bit more closely. Increasingly, I am convinced that it alludes to something that doesn't exist at all.

I speak here as one of the very few living native Washingtonians -- or at least as someone who is always treated as one of the very few living native Washingtonians. "You really come from here?" I'm often asked incredulously. "I didn't know anyone was actually from Washington." And they have a point. Although there are plenty of native Washingtonians working as doctors or cabdrivers or bank managers, most of the people who actually control the city's most famous institutions -- Congress, the White House, the federal government -- weren't born in Washington. Like Sarah Palin, they are from "in the heartland," in places like Wasilla, and it is the values of the heartland and Wasilla that they must be therefore presumed to embody.

There are exceptions to this rule: Among the people who matter in "Washington" are some who could be said to belong to a hereditary East Coast elite. Al Gore and the Kennedys might fit that bill, and when Chelsea Clinton runs for president, she will, too. Plenty of bona fide East Coast establishment types work for newspapers and law firms in Washington, and they do, of course, matter, not least to the media coverage of national politics. But the District is not Manhattan. In Washington, the significance of this "elite" pales in comparison with that of the "hockey moms," "Joe Six-Pack" and "Main Streeters" who have dominated the political conversation in the nation's capital for as long as I can remember.

Among these "outsiders" I would include our current president, who was raised in Midland, Tex.; our vice president, who was raised in Casper, Wyo.; our most recent former president, who was born in Hope, Ark.; even our most senior former president, who comes from Plains, Ga. I would also include the large numbers of ex-Texans -- Karen Hughes, Karl Rove, Alberto Gonzales -- who have towered over national politics for the past eight years, as well as such notable figures as Michael "heck of a job" Brown, the Oklahoma native who presided over the government's response to Hurricane Katrina as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Above all, I would include Congress, which by definition contains hundreds of "outsiders," many from places just like Wasilla. I am thinking here of Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska (a resident of Girdwood), now on trial on charges of corruption, and Texas Rep. Tom DeLay (born in Laredo), who resigned in disgrace. For the sake of bipartisanship, I'll mention Louisiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson (originally of Lake Providence), recently indicted on charges of corruption. But if more small-town Republican names come to mind, that's because small-town Republicans have figured among the most powerful and most prominent Washington politicians for much of the past decade.

The result: Washington, however stuffy it may once have been, is no longer in need of "a little bit of reality from Wasilla Main Street." Washington is in need of expertise, management experience, long-term thinking and more political courage -- from wherever in the country it happens to come. More to the point, Washington needs people who think like national politicians and not like spokesmen for the local business executives who fill their reelection coffers and the local party hacks who plan their campaigns. Let's be frank: The "bailout" bill was passed last week not because members of Congress decided it would work but because it was stuffed with the pork, perks and tax breaks without which no piece of legislation, however important to the nation as a whole, can now pass. Maybe it's unfair to call that "small-town" thinking, but it sure is small-minded. And small-mindedness, not snobbery, is the dominant mind-set of 21st-century Washington.

Don't get me wrong; populism can be a fine thing: It's healthy for a democracy to renew itself. It's also absolutely true that many of our greatest leaders have had obscure origins, and many of our worst have had Ivy League educations. But Sarah Palin, though she may be an arresting and compelling cultural phenomenon, seems to rail against a nonexistent "Washington" because it's easier than making any actual arguments. Her phony, made-for-TV populism is a terrible distraction in a time of genuine crisis.

Lifeline

2008-09-29T13:58:00.003-05:00

http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2008/09/28/mccain-palin-letterman-and-snl-what-a-week/

I love comedy at the expense of Repooplicans. They make it so easy.

Good advice from a bullshitter?

2008-09-28T16:39:00.003-05:00

Last month, I met a guy named Michael (sorry dude, I'm using your real name) who would not shut the hell up. He works for a company that also employs a friend of mine that I hang with at trade shows. They just happened to be in Fargo last month for a conference. We went to a Redhawks game and he sat right behind me. I wanted to smack him because he was being loud, drunk, and obnoxious. I also wanted smack him when he was trying to tell the other guy behind me that Joss Stone was Sly Stone's daughter. I turn around, look at him, and ask him where he got his misinformation. He told me that he saw it in Rollingstone (which I subscribe to) and also saw them perform together on the Grammys (music nut who watches boring awards shows). Yeah... the dude is a moron. I could not wait to get away from him. I told him that he MIGHT want to Google that business when he gets back to the hotel because his information is not correct. Jeez, fact check?

Two days later, I had the slight misfortune of hanging out with this gentleman again at the Hotel Donaldson. He was on the rooftop bar with a couple of other people from the conference yakking up a storm again. Of course, as the youngest lady present, I was subjected to the usual questions of curiosity by my all-male crowd. Am I married? Single? Dating? Kids? Michael chimes in about how difficult the dating world is and how he was lucky to have found his second wife. His first wife was a musician and was a rather unstable individual. He looks at me and tells me point blank that the best advice he can give to anyone is this:

Never, never, ever date or marry a musician.

Michael said that he should have known better because his aunt was a somewhat successful studio musician in California (supposedly) and she was a less than stellar wife to his former uncle. Michael gave examples of their similarities like how they were both heavy drinkers, possible cheaters, suspected drug users, and other unfavorable traits. I thought to myself how he was probably right in a lot of cases. However, at the same time, it could be considered a slight generalization. Oh well, I got a bit of good advice from a bullshitter. I'll leave it at that.

So why am I sharing this story? Because recent events in my life led me to remember this useful tidbit of advice. No, I was not dating a musician, but someone close to me was. And what was I thinking when I heard about what went down in this failed relationship? Damn that son of a bitch was right!

Katie Couric hates you

2008-09-24T21:36:00.002-05:00

Katie: No Fluff. I like it.

Nailed her.

It's all because of me

2008-09-21T20:02:00.001-05:00

Stephen Colber just won his first Emmy a few minutes ago. YEEEEEESSSSSS!!!

Oh technology...

2008-09-21T16:52:00.003-05:00

I finally got an Ipod Touch the other week. I am greatly indebted to one of the bookstore student employees who did not want her free Ipod with computer purchase. I asked her if I could have it and she said yes! THANK YOU! You've made my September.

Last night, I added a few more applications to my Ipod Touch. I had Facebook, Myspace, NY Times, and Wikipanion already loaded up. I was scrolling through 43 pages of the freebies Itunes had to offer. One of the freebies, to my surprise, was MPR Radio. I of course added it along with Earthscape, AP News Mobile, Virgin Radio, and the Medical Calculator.

One of the things that occurred to me on the way into the gym was how awesome it would be to listen to MPR at the gym. I was hoping that Southpointe (an apartment complex that I used to reside in) would have a person or two not securing their wireless so I could steal it from across the street at Meritcare. Signals faded once I went into the building unfortunately. When I checked in to the MC, I commented to the girl behind the desk that it would be awesome if there was wireless in the MC. She said that there was and she was currently using it on her personal laptop. SWEET!!! I listened to the Current and MPR News with no problems. Oh technology, how you have improved my life once again!

My other favorite new app: KICKMap of the NYC subway system. It was only $1.99 and it will come in handy for my next trip. You'd think I would have that shit memorized already. Also purchased LocalEats. Maybe it will come handy in my travels as well.

Religulous

2008-09-19T12:17:00.005-05:00

I didn't like the other Religulous post slowing down the page. We'll try this again.

Can't wait for Real Time tonight!

It's time to WIN already

2008-09-19T12:17:00.002-05:00

My Stephen has been screwed out his Emmy for the Report way too many times. He should have won every year! I'm not saying that Tina Fey would be a terrible win for her spin on SNL but the Emmy should go to Stephen!

WIN WIN WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sure it will be at the Fargo Theater a week before it hits DVD

2008-09-18T19:06:00.006-05:00

Battle In Seattle

I'm wishing I was in the Minneapolis area this weekend. If I was, I'd be catching a screening of Battle In Seattle. It is in VERY limited release starting this week. Oh, to live in a selected city... I'm sure if it does come to Fargo, it will be about a week before it is released on DVD.

I admit I know little about the World Trade Organization. I'm pretty sure that one of the first times I had ever heard of the WTO was when Jennie and I went to the Tibetan Freedom Concert in East Troy, WI back in June of 1999. There were all kinds of booths up promoting fair trade, non-violence, social justice, human rights, etc. I vaguely remember something about the WTO Convention in Seattle and people discussing the protest(???). The World Bank was also a topic of interest because of their involvement with China and Tibet (I obviously really should go back and do some learning and re-learning on this topic).

I am reminded by all this how far we haven't really come in the past nine years. I need to help change my little world already. Grrrrrrrrrr!!!

FREE TIBET!!!

Check out two dorks in Wisconsin!

Further reading:

http://www.battleinseattlemovie.com/

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/battle_in_seattle/

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Pamela%20Troy/49

http://www.wombles.org.uk/article2008091970.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WTO_Ministerial_Conference_of_1999

Gimme a break already

2008-09-18T19:06:00.002-05:00

Today, I challenged myself to not read any news articles or visit my favorite blogs. It lasted about five minutes.

Sad.

Why are Republican officials so insistent on taking rights away from people? Oh yeah, because they are bastards.

Posted on Thu, Sep. 18, 2008

GOP seeks ban on political clothing at polling places
By Mario F. Cattabiani

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

HARRISBURG - If top state Republicans get their way, you can forget about wearing that Obama T-shirt when you step up to cast your vote Nov. 4.

Palin pins will be off limits, too.

It's called "passive electioneering" and GOP officials today called on the Rendell administration to enforce a little-known, decades-old law they say bans such things.

"We strongly believe Pennsylvanians should be able to look to the polling place as a safe harbor, free of any type of electioneering, without any outside influences," Robert Gleason, chairman of the state Republican Party, said at a Capitol news conference.

In past years, some local election officials across Pennsylvania - but not in Philadelphia - have enforced the provision, going as far as asking voters to turn their T-shirts inside out.

But this year, the Rendell administration has softened its stance on the issue.

The ACLU and the League of Women Voters last month asked the Pennsylvania Department of State to weigh in on the topic, believing that preventing voters from wearing T-shirts with a candidate's name on it infringes on their freedom of speech.

Two weeks ago, Department of State officials sent letters to the state's 67 county boards of elections advising them that, although state law bans electioneering inside a polling place, it doesn't define what the term means.

Merely wearing shirts and buttons doesn't constitute electioneering as long as no other attempts to influence voters are made, the memo said. In short, the state is letting the county boards of elections decide whether to police what people wear.

Having to decide on their own whether a shirt stepped over the line would turn election poll workers into "fashion police," said Sandra Newman, a former state Supreme Court Justice and head of the Republican Party's Fair Election's Task Force.

"We might even have to become Vogue editors."

Newman joined Gleason at today's news conference.

Their comments came as two local election officials from Allegheny County were filing a lawsuit in Harrisburg asking Commonwealth Court to force the state to impose a uniform standard against T-shirt, buttons and other campaign paraphernalia inside polling places.

Allowing individual counties to decide has led to confusion, said Gleason, who accused the Rendell administration of creating its own laws as opposed to enforcing those on the books.

The department of state is standing by its memo.

"We want to see every eligible Pennsylvanian have the right to vote. We don't want to get them bogged down in thinking about taking off a T-shirt," said Chet Harhut, who heads the state's bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation.

Some counties don't plan any changes.

T-shirts and buttons won't be allowed inside any of the 418 polling place in Montgomery County, said Joseph Passarella, its director of voter services.

Before the flap Passarella said he hadn't heard of "passive electioneering" before.

"No one had," he added. "And by saying it's passive electioneering aren't you implying that it is a form of electioneering."

Still, Passarella said it's much ado about very little. In the past 15 years, there might have been one or two instances in Montgomery County of someone making an issue out of someone wearing a political T-shirt or button.

Philadelphia officials, however, say they plan to continue with a longstanding practice of allowing voters to wear whatever they want.

"We have interpreted the law the same way for more than 30 years: You can wear a button, wear a T-shirt as long as you are in the act of voting," said Fred Voigt, the deputy city commissioner. "It's called the First Amendment."

Gleason stressed that the issue was not partisan, and called on the state Democratic Party to join their push. That won't happen.

"While people are losing their jobs, their homes are being foreclosed at an alarming rate and the economy is literally collapsing all around us, Republicans are worried about buttons and T-shirts at polling places," said Abe Amorós, spokesman for the State Democratic Party. "It's further evidence of how out-of-touch they are."

A recurring theme in my daily thoughts...

2008-09-16T19:28:00.002-05:00

How the F do people sleep at night? Why is this bitch smiling and laughing? I would like to punch her in the face.

How can ANYONE possibly believe what these people are trying to sell???

Watching our economy crumble is not a laughing matter.

It has been ten LONG days

2008-09-07T15:59:00.003-05:00

Today's copy/paste action was found on Zimbio.

I can't wait until the debates. I will try not to post anything else on this evil 2868 until then again. Joe Biden is gonna eat you!

http://www.zimbio.com/Sarah+Palin/articles/565/read+Sarah+Palin+Email+yet

The Anne Kilkenny Email:

ABOUT SARAH PALIN
I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a "babe".

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months.

She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.

She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.

She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.

Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans.

Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.

She's smart.

Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.

During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative." During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn't even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later; to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.

These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for needs.

She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal; loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State's top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he "intimidated" her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council

became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her.

When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the "old boys' club" when she dramatically quit, exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined).

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects; which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance; but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork."

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative.

Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.

Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state initiative that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior's decision to list polar bears as threatened species.

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President.

There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she.

However, there's a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.

CLAIM VS FACT

"Hockey mom": true for a few years
"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since
"NRA supporter": absolutely true
Social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
Pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.
"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation.
"Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.
Political maverick: not at all
Gutsy: absolutely!
Open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.
Has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
"A Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
Fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
Pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th centurystandards.
Pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents.
Pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla’s history.
Pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn't make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.

WHY AM I WRITING THIS?

First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.

Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.

Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that’s life.

Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's attempt at censorship.

Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.

CAVEATS

I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall; they are swamped. So I can't verify my numbers.

You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. The day Palin’s selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s

Anne Kilkenny

August 31, 2008

The RNC was a perfect place for Triumph... to poop on

2008-09-06T20:26:00.003-05:00

Tonight, I am catching up on my DVR viewing. I'm financially embarrassed from my shenanigans in the Twin Cities so staying home is the ticket. Hopefully, I can get all the way through this episode of Conan before my DVR takes a poop on me. Several programs are corrupt or something because they go black and don't proceed forward. God dammit! My episodes of Mad Men better not be messed up.

I'm kicking myself for not bringing my bike

2008-09-05T21:22:00.004-05:00

What does one do on a b-e-a-utiful Wednesday morning after making a beer run to Wisconsin and hitting up the yuppie boutiques in Stillwater? You go check out the police state that is downtown St. Paul. Thanks RNC for ruining one of the alleged god's more beautiful cities.

It was a spectacle for sure. The amount of police and other forces made me feel uneasy but I had to explore it for anyway. I was hoping to find a somewhat reasonable place to park my car and wander around. Alas, that would not happen. I was ticked at myself for not bringing my bike. I easily could have parked on Shephard Road and headed up the hill for better observing. Oh well, next time a bunch of piece of shit douchebags take over a nearby city, I will have the sense to bring my damn bike. Worst case scenario on bike was I could get the hell out of there fast (unlike in a car).

I took some pics and observed the locals mixing with the sore thumb RNC goers. Plazas and corners were filled with peaceful protesters. Most eye opening was the Guantanamo-gear wearing people protesting torture. I am wondering if that was the Rage Against The Machine boys pulling one of their stunts.

Still mad.

2008-09-01T22:08:00.002-05:00

I had to get my HBO back just for Bill Maher and Entourage. I've watched this episode four times this weekend. Why? Because I'm mad and have no life. At least I admit it.

Watch -

There goes my long weekend

2008-09-01T15:12:00.004-05:00

*Crabby blog*

This Labor Day weekend was not a typical one for me. I usually go home to Bismarck and spend some quality time with my family and whatever friends may be around. Since I am rolling down to MPLS for Rage Against The Machine tomorrow, I decided it was best to conserve funds and stay here in Fargo. That saved me approximately 14 gallons of gas at $3.60 which equals about $50. It also saved me a lot of money because I wouldn't be eating out every day and dropping some bucks at the Peacock Alley. Being a "middle class" citizen is interfering with my drinking and dining. Dang it!

So what did I do this weekend? Not exactly anything constructive or fun unfortunately. Like quite a few people I know, I spent way too many hours on my computer being pissed off at the Republican VP choice. I've had since Friday to cool off. Today, I find myself even more angry. Shame on people who consider Ms. Palin a good choice. I'm guessing these people are the 28% that think our current president is doing a good job. It was a dangerous, foolish, and most disgustingly calculated choice. All the bad words out there still don't seem to be enough to describe my level of disgust.

Guess what people who want to vote for McCain? He is going to make shit decisions like this one over and over again and probably on an even more epic scale. Not exactly choices you can take back either. Take your pointer finger and aim it at yourself for making a shit decision now.

The most entertaining moments of the weekend did come courtesy of poor Bristol Palin. Looks like abstinence education works really well in this case. Just ask Hockey Mom (insert laugh)! I wonder if we'll ever find out the truth about what really happend up there in Alaska and all that baby business. I'm still not buying it. Since I am kind of a bastard, I hope the bad stuff is true. It is so Desperate Housewives!

What pisses me off more than anything was how this Palin BS took away from the most exquisite acceptance speech given by Obama at the DNC on Thursday night. I went from being more inspired than I've ever been to being more disgusted. Oh how things changed overnight...

Now I must do something constructive.

PS: Stop staring at "Hockey Mom's" ass you old pig.

And the winner is...

2008-08-29T12:46:00.002-05:00

...Miss "I'm just a simple hockey mom from Alaska"!

All I can think right now is that this is just fantastic. Talk about pandering to women voters.

Since when was Andrea Zuckerman from 90210 in politics?

Bedtime

2008-08-24T21:53:00.003-05:00

Argh, it has been a long couple of days. It is back to school rush right now for me right now so I have worked everyday since last Monday and will continue through Friday. I look forward to the long weekend ahead where I will do nothing but chill out and ride my dang bike.

As bedtime approaches, I thank the alleged god for my relative ease of sleep. After I read this article I've attached below, I wondered how the hell some people do sleep. How do you face your adopted daughter after you've fed a bunch of shit to the media over how you supposedly found her? The excuse is plain ridiculous. I'm not saying the blue side is perfect by any means (ummm hello Hilary, you got called out by Sinbad). But freakin' Mother Teresa? That's just beyond disgusting.

Do I need to make a bad joke about somebody's former pill problem?

-----

Watchdogs make it harder for politicians to stretch the truth
Cindy McCain's past is the latest to be questioned after errors were found.

By Alexandra Marks | August 20, 2008 edition

Gilding the lily is nothing new to politics. From the 1840s when William Henry Harrison claimed to have been born in a log cabin (it was actually a Virginia plantation) to Ronald Reagan’s reminiscing about flying over Germany in World War II (he did, but only in a movie), politicians have taken perfectly good stories and embellished them.

This campaign is no exception. During the primaries, Hillary Rodham Clinton had to back away from claims she “ducked sniper fire” in Bosnia in 1996. Mitt Romney found himself having to explain how he “saw my father march with Martin Luther King,” when it turned out his father never marched with the Rev. Mr. King.

The latest embellishments come from the McCain camp. Cindy McCain has repeatedly referred to herself as an “only child.” This week came news that she actually has two half sisters, although apparently she had very little contact with them.

The McCain campaign had also put out the story that Mother Teresa “convinced” Cindy to bring home two orphans from Bangladesh in 1991.

Mrs. McCain, it turns out, never met Mother Teresa on that trip. (Once contacted by the Monitor, the campaign revised the story on its website.)

Such exaggerations may simply be the product of a faulty memory or a desire to be “better” than one is in a political culture that requires larger-than-life idols. But with the advent of the fact-checking obsessed blogosphere – and a media racing to keep up – such self-aggrandizement doesn’t last as long as it once did.

“It’s all about myth-making,” says Darrell West, the director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “Politicians love to turn their stories into great epics, and sometimes they have to embellish to smooth out the story line.”

“But now there are too many professional and amateur fact-checkers,” he says. “And there are hundreds if not thousands of bloggers who have detailed knowledge on specialized information, so you really can’t get away with stretching the truth anymore.”

The story about Mother Teresa “convincing” Mrs. McCain to bring home two children from an orphanage in Bangladesh has been retold many times. Initially, the “About Cindy McCain” page on the McCain campaign website read: “Mother Teresa convinced Cindy to take two babies in need of medical attention to the United States. One of those babies is now their adopted daughter, 16-year-old Bridget McCain.”

The media picked up the theme. A story earlier this year on ABC’s “Good Morning America” stated, “With Mother Teresa’s encouragement she brought her fourth child, Bridget, home.” An April 2008 Wall Street Journal profile states that Mother Teresa “implored” Cindy to bring the girls to the United States. Other articles say Cindy did it “at the behest” of Mother Teresa.

But a source who was with McCain on that 1991 trip, and who asked that his name not be used because of prior legal dealings with the McCain family, says that Mother Teresa was not at the orphanage when Cindy decided to bring the two girls home.

A 1991 article in the Arizona Star at the time of the adoption only mentions that the children were from an orphanage that was started by Mother Teresa. It does not mention a meeting with Mother Teresa or her asking McCain to bring the girls to the US.

According to biographies of Mother Teresa, in 1991 she was in Mexico where she developed medical problems. From there, she went to a hospital in La Jolla, Calif.

A McCain source acknowledged that Cindy McCain did not meet Mother Teresa during the 1991 trip to Bangladesh but said McCain did meet her later on, although the source could not say when or where. The campaign has since reworded the reference to the adoption on its website.

In another instance, McCain told the Chicago Tribune earlier this year that on one of her medical missions to Vietnam she was in “the very hospital – and in the very room – where her husband was brought after being shot down and then beaten by a mob during the war.”

A 1992 Washington Times story recounts a different version: “Mrs. McCain asked to see the operating room and her husband’s cell, but was turned down. She took the rejection philosophically. ‘It’s 27 years later. Let’s go on,’ Mrs. McCain said.”

The McCain campaign again declined to comment on the discrepancy.

On background, a source close to Mrs. McCain confirmed that she was denied entry. But, the source added: “At some point thereafter, she toured the hospital and did coincidentally end up in the senator’s room.”

“Everybody tells white lies, but in the political world it’s a little different because it raises the question that if people lie about little things, are they also going to lie about big stuff that really matters?” says Mr. West.

Misremembering and stretching the truth is without doubt a bipartisan phenomenon. Twenty years ago, Sen. Joe Biden (D) of Delaware’s presidential campaign faltered when it was learned that he had lifted passages from a speech by then-British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock and that he’d also said he’d done better in law school than he actually had.

Earlier this year, Barack Obama’s campaign admitted that he overstated his father’s connection to the Kennedy family.

In speeches, Obama had said the Kennedy family provided funding for the 1959 airlift that brought his father from Kenya to the United States for an education. But according to research done by The Washington Post, the Kennedy clan didn’t contribute to the airlift efforts until 1960, a year after his father was already studying in Hawaii. When The Washington Post brought the discrepancy to the attention of the Obama campaign it readily acknowledged there was a mistake.

“You always have to look for a pattern,” says political analyst Larry Sabato, at the University of Virginia. “If it happens once, you can say it’s a memory problem, but if there’s a pattern there, there’s a problem.”

[Editor’s note: the original version did not specify when Mrs. McCain had not met Mother Teresa]

To whom it may concern:

2008-08-21T18:32:00.002-05:00

Clear your PM schedule for the night of 10/30 for Nikka Costa. Also clear your schedule for the night of 11/1 for Kings Of Leon with We Are Scientists (YES!!!) and The Whigs. We're going to have fun. After that, you won't see me until spring. That isn't a threat, it is an unfortunate reality.

Hee hee hee

Famdamily Togetherness

2008-08-17T20:41:00.004-05:00

Just got back from a somewhat swell four days in Bismarck. My Aunt and Uncle from DC were in town so I got to hang with them. I went to Tropic Thunder twice because it was so damn funny. Oh, and I ate too much. The gym will be my best friend this week unlike last week. Grrrrrrr.

I was shocked not one person bugged my Dad and I about the Cat Bus commercial. He did get some looks in yucky WalMart though.

To see what good-looking people look like, go to the FLICKR page. Click to your right to go that direction.

It's OK - I'm used to being disappointed.

2008-08-04T17:10:00.002-05:00

I headed over to Moorhead's Discontent to get a refund for the NIN tickets. I'm horribly disappointed of course. How convenient that they reschedule right before Thanksgiving (insert sarcasm here). At least I got to hang out with one of my dear best friends in MPLS this weekend so it wasn't a total wash. I got a couple of shirts from H&M and Fossil, a boatload of groceries from Trader Joes, and a couple cases of New Glarus brew. However, none of that makes up for the lack of concerting. GRRRRRRRR!

Anyhoo, I hate Moorhead. Most of it burning to the ground wouldn't be a bad thing. I can't believe I keep going over to Discontent for tickets. It must be because I miss record stores and it might be the only one around. I don't even know! I feel sorry for the people who work there and the trash they have to deal with. I always see a situation of sorts while I'm there. Today, I saw Mr. and Ms. Methmouths trying to return a shirt with no receipt that had visible pit stains on it. F***ing PIT STAINS PEOPLE!!! Then they kept swearing at the three sales associate girls that they never got a receipt. Ummm helloooo you piggies!?!? You wore it. No receipt. No return. PS: you are vile. The day I picked up my tickets, there was a cracked up dude who put his mouth on one of the glass smoking apparatuses. The sign under his nose clearly forbid anyone from doing that. Ridiculous.

I noticed on the way out of the store that they are looking for a part-time sales associate... How about no f-ing way.

Starting to get way too excited

2008-07-29T10:51:00.003-05:00

The NIN tour started the other night. I am going on SATURDAY with CHANDRA! Here is the rehearsal setlist from a few days ago. It will probably change. They can kill the Ghost stuff and put in Everyday is Exactly the Same, Starfuckers Inc, Deep, The Perfect Drug, and the Queen cover of Get Down Make Love (which will probably never ever be played ever). I plan on having a good time whatever they play.

93X PRESENTS
NINE INCH NAILS
2008
TARGET CENTER
600 FIRST AVENUE N, MPLS
SAT AUG 2 2008 7:30PM

1. 999,999
2. 1,000,000
3. Letting You
4. Discipline
5. March of the Pigs
6, Head Down
7. The Frail
8. Closer
9. Gave Up
10. Corona Radiata
11. The Warning
12. The Great Destroyer
13. 1 Ghosts I
14. 25 Ghosts I
15. 19 Ghosts III
16. Piggy
17. The Greater Good
18. Pinion
19. Wish
20. Terrible Lie
21. Survivalism
22. The Big Come Down
23. 31 Ghosts IV
24. Only
25. The Hand That Feeds
26. Head Like A Hole

Encore
27. Echoplex
28. The Beginning of the End
29. The Good Soldier
30. Hurt
31. In This Twilight

I know I don't suck when...

2008-07-29T09:32:00.003-05:00

...there's a batch of cupcakes waiting for me on my desk.

THANKS DOLLY!

It is apparent to me where all the talent went.

2008-07-18T19:56:00.002-05:00

I was told through the grapevine today about an article in the Boston Phoenix about the 50 best bands in 50 states. The greatest band ever in ND? The Pink Slips! My sister Kelly's old band. Kelly can rock the guitar, drums, and do some wicked vocals on top of that. Too bad they aren't still around. They were killer.

Full article: http://69.25.198.13/Supplements/2008/50States/NorthDakota/

All-Time Best Band: The Pink Slips
All-Time Best Solo Artist: Peggy Lee
Best New Band: Vaz

“Bismarck is a dead town,” once said the Pink Slips’ Kelly in an interview. “You either drink, smoke, screw, die, eat, have a craft show, or have a band.” In this case, the Pink Slips opted for the last one: a teen-girl pop-punk band with more attitude and ideas (such as “ND Surf,” a B-52s-ish paean to wave-running in their landlocked home state) than talent. But they make for a fascinating look at what DIY rockers can do when geographically and culturally challenged. | Sultry Peggy Lee put the boom-boom in pop music 50 years before Miami bass was shaking the palms on Ocean Drive. Best known for “Fever,” the naughty Lee navigated many genres, from jazz to rock. She also is the only artist on our list to earn a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, for 1955’s Pete Kelly’s Blues. | Brooklyn may be home to Vaz now, but the band emerged from the desiccated husk of Fargo trio Hammerhead, which made thunderous post-punk prog rock as inspired by Travis Bickle. Vaz (which started as a duo — Hammerhead minus guitarist Paul Sanders) cover similar terrain, only adding more Clockwork Orange avant-chaos (especially in the drumming of Jeff Mooridian) to the mix.

All fifty states: http://69.25.198.13/Supplements/2008/50States/

So my sister Kelly is as cool as The Replacements in MN!? I agree with PA's choices.

Sweet! I love form letters!

2008-07-17T09:55:00.003-05:00

Alright-alright. I have not received a form letter from anyone in quite some time. At least this was a good one. I actually read the whole thing! This is a topic that has troubled me recently so the fact that I got any feedback was kind of shocking.

I got this courtesy of Mr. Pomeroy's office because I filled out the Stop Oil Speculation Now petition. I wonder if I'll get anything back from Dorgan or Conrad's office too?

Speaking of Dorgan, I'm thinking Mr. Dorgan should be on the Colbert Report again. Write another book already! I'm thinking I'll have to re-read it.

We've got a good crew representing us in the NoDak!

---

Dear Erin:

Thank you for contacting me regarding excessive speculation in the energy futures markets. I appreciate hearing from you.

Like you, I am very concerned about the impact rising oil prices are having on North Dakota families, seniors, businesses, and farmers. The effects of higher prices can be seen everywhere, from increased gas prices to increased food prices.

To help ease the effects of higher gas prices, Congress has taken several important steps. First of all, Congress, in the recently passed 2008 Farm Bill, closes what is commonly referred to as the "Enron Loophole" by granting the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulatory power over certain over-the-counter electric trades in the energy and metals commodity markets which are believed to be contributing to excessive energy speculation. In addition, on June 26, 2008, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed H.R. 6377, the Energy Markets Emergency Act of 2008, which directs the CFTC to use all of its current authority, including emergency powers to curb excessive market speculation. I was an original cosponsor of this important legislation which has been forwarded to the Senate for its consideration.

However, I believe Congress must continue to evaluate legislative options to further curb excessive speculation. The House Agriculture Committee, of which I am a member, has been taking a leading roll in addressing this issue by holding multiple hearings on market speculation. It is my hope that these hearings will further shed light on appropriate next steps for Congress to implement to curb excessive speculation and help lower fuel prices. Please be assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind as Congress continues to work to address this important issue.

Again, thank you for contacting me. To receive information on this and other issues, please visit my website at www.house.gov/pomeroy. Should you have further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Earl Pomeroy
MEMBER OF CONGRESS

Every other show is coming out on dvd so why not this???

2008-07-15T17:25:00.003-05:00

Big Chris Isaak fan. I've seen him four times. Too bad his next show in the cities is on a stupid Wednesday and this girl has to save the vaca-time and $$$.

When I was perusing the Netflix for stuff to queue up, it occurred to me that maybe The Chris Isaak Show has hit DVD by now. I was sadly mistaken. I did see some of the bastardized episodes on VH-1 back in the day. However, I found a petition website asking Viacom to release it on DVD. I am signer 3327.

http://www.petitiononline.com/cishow/petition.html

To: Viacom, Inc. (Viacom Consumer Products division)
In regard to your television program "The Chris Isaak Show," we the consumers, are requesting that this series be released on Video/DVD. We would purchase the series to enjoy in the comfort of our homes. A season-by-season box-set of the complete series or individual box-sets, in air date order, are a mere suggestion. It would be wonderful if the tapes were released in NTSC, SECAM, and PAL standards and the DVD released in all zones, so they could be enjoyed all over the world. By signing this petition each person is stating interest in the product mentioned above and a general intent to purchase if said product were to be made available in their country.

Thank you for taking the time to view our points and considering this development.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

Must... Not... Cry...

2008-07-10T21:04:00.002-05:00

Joe-Joe my dearest:

I'm thinking about taking 2 out of 3 of my poopsies to Wall-E one of these days soon. Maybe you should come too? You can see how beautiful my (not) babies (anymore) are. We can try to not cry like bitches together. Good thing you didn't go with me to Sex and the City. You would have discovered that I've got feelings after all.

Dammit.

emac (apple sound)

I wonder how many people got this email today

2008-07-10T07:46:00.003-05:00

I wonder what it is going to take and how long...

-----

An Open letter to All Airline Customers:

Our country is facing a possible sharp economic downturn because of skyrocketing oil and fuel prices, but by pulling together, we can all do something to help now. Visit www.StopOilSpeculationNow.com.

For airlines, ultra-expensive fuel means thousands of lost jobs and severe reductions in air service to both large and small communities. To the broader economy, oil prices mean slower activity and widespread economic pain. This pain can be alleviated, and that is why we are taking the extraordinary step of writing this joint letter to our customers.

Since high oil prices are partly a response to normal market forces, the nation needs to focus on increased energy supplies and conservation. However, there is another side to this story because normal market forces are being dangerously amplified by poorly regulated market speculation.

Twenty years ago, 21 percent of oil contracts were purchased by speculators who trade oil on paper with no intention of ever taking delivery. Today, oil speculators purchase 66 percent of all oil futures contracts, and that reflects just the transactions that are known. Speculators buy up large amounts of oil and then sell it to each other again and again. A barrel of oil may trade 20-plus times before it is delivered and used; the price goes up with each trade and consumers pick up the final tab. Some market experts estimate that current prices reflect as much as $30 to $60 per barrel in unnecessary speculative costs.

Over seventy years ago, Congress established regulations to control excessive, largely unchecked market speculation and manipulation. However, over the past two decades, these regulatory limits have been weakened or removed. We believe that restoring and enforcing these limits, along with several other modest measures, will provide more disclosure, transparency and sound market oversight. Together, these reforms will help cool the over-heated oil market and permit the economy to prosper.

The nation needs to pull together to reform the oil markets and solve this growing problem. We need your help. Get more information and contact Congress by visiting www.StopOilSpeculationNow.com.

Robert Fornaro
Chairman, President and CEO
AirTran Airways

Bill Ayer
Chairman, President and CEO
Alaska Airlines, Inc.

Gerard J. Arpey
Chairman, President and CEO
American Airlines, Inc.

Lawrence W. Kellner
Chairman and CEO
Continental Airlines, Inc.

Richard Anderson
CEO
Delta Air Lines, Inc.

Mark B. Dunkerley
President and CEO
Hawaiian Airlines, Inc.

Dave Barger
CEO
JetBlue Airways Corporation

Timothy E. Hoeksema
Chairman, President and CEO
Midwest Airlines

Douglas M. Steenland
President and CEO
Northwest Airlines, Inc.

Gary Kelly
Chairman and CEO
Southwest Airlines Co.

Glenn F. Tilton
Chairman, President and CEO
United Airlines, Inc.

Douglas Parker
Chairman and CEO
US Airways Group, Inc.

Oh god, not again

2008-07-09T10:47:00.003-05:00

Just when the harassment dies down, they put out a new commercial. I was starting to enjoy hanging out with him in public again. I think I only heard one CAT Bus comment last weekend.

NOTE: Pa did this for free again.

Hey Mr. McCormack! Did you take the CATBUS to get here?

The best Op-Ed ever has just written another great one

2008-07-06T14:12:00.002-05:00

Maureen Dowd is pretty much the coolest lady ever. It isn't just because of her lovely hair color either. My Joe-Joe would agree :-)

Oh, to only be as witty as her... I have such a girl crush on her.

July 6, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
An Ideal Husband
By MAUREEN DOWD

This weekend, we celebrate our great American pastime: messy celebrity divorces.

There’s the Christie Brinkley/Peter Cook fireworks on Long Island and the Madonna/Guy Ritchie/A-Rod Roman candle in New York.

So how do you avoid a relationship where you end up saying, “The man who I was living with, I just didn’t know who he was” — as Brinkley did in court when talking about her husband’s $3,000-a-month Internet porn and swinger site habit? (Not to mention the 18-year-old mistress/assistant.)

Father Pat Connor, a 79-year-old Catholic priest born in Australia and based in Bordentown, N.J., has spent his celibate life — including nine years as a missionary in India — mulling connubial bliss. His decades of marriage counseling led him to distill some “mostly common sense” advice about how to dodge mates who would maul your happiness.

“Hollywood says you can be deeply in love with someone and then your marriage will work,” the twinkly eyed, white-haired priest says. “But you can be deeply in love with someone to whom you cannot be successfully married.”

For 40 years, he has been giving a lecture — “Whom Not to Marry” — to high school seniors, mostly girls because they’re more interested.

“It’s important to do it before they fall seriously in love, because then it will be too late,” he explains. “Infatuation trumps judgment.”

I asked him to summarize his talk:

“Never marry a man who has no friends,” he starts. “This usually means that he will be incapable of the intimacy that marriage demands. I am always amazed at the number of men I have counseled who have no friends. Since, as the Hebrew Scriptures say, ‘Iron shapes iron and friend shapes friend,’ what are his friends like? What do your friends and family members think of him? Sometimes, your friends can’t render an impartial judgment because they are envious that you are beating them in the race to the altar. Envy beclouds judgment.

“Does he use money responsibly? Is he stingy? Most marriages that founder do so because of money — she’s thrifty, he’s on his 10th credit card.

“Steer clear of someone whose life you can run, who never makes demands counter to yours. It’s good to have a doormat in the home, but not if it’s your husband.

“Is he overly attached to his mother and her mythical apron strings? When he wants to make a decision, say, about where you should go on your honeymoon, he doesn’t consult you, he consults his mother. (I’ve known cases where the mother accompanies the couple on their honeymoon!)

“Does he have a sense of humor? That covers a multitude of sins. My mother was once asked how she managed to live harmoniously with three men — my father, brother and me. Her answer, delivered with awesome arrogance, was: ‘You simply operate on the assumption that no man matures after the age of 11.’ My father fell about laughing.

“A therapist friend insists that ‘more marriages are killed by silence than by violence.’ The strong, silent type can be charming but ultimately destructive. That world-class misogynist, Paul of Tarsus, got it right when he said, ‘In all your dealings with one another, speak the truth to one another in love that you may grow up.’

“Don’t marry a problem character thinking you will change him. He’s a heavy drinker, or some other kind of addict, but if he marries a good woman, he’ll settle down. People are the same after marriage as before, only more so.

“Take a good, unsentimental look at his family — you’ll learn a lot about him and his attitude towards women. Kay made a monstrous mistake marrying Michael Corleone! Is there a history of divorce in the family? An atmosphere of racism, sexism or prejudice in his home? Are his goals and deepest beliefs worthy and similar to yours? I remember counseling a pious Catholic woman that it might not be prudent to marry a pious Muslim, whose attitude about women was very different. Love trumped prudence; the annulment process was instigated by her six months later.

“Imagine a religious fundamentalist married to an agnostic. One would have to pray that the fundamentalist doesn’t open the Bible and hit the page in which Abraham is willing to obey God and slit his son’s throat.

“Finally: Does he possess those character traits that add up to a good human being — the willingness to forgive, praise, be courteous? Or is he inclined to be a fibber, to fits of rage, to be a control freak, to be envious of you, to be secretive?

“After I regale a group with this talk, the despairing cry goes up: ‘But you’ve eliminated everyone!’ Life is unfair.”

I've only been wanting this for about half my life

2008-07-02T20:41:00.003-05:00

I'm thinking the summer of 1994 was one of the more memorable musical years of my life. I was 16 years old, chillin' in the Bizzo, and pretty much having the time of my life. I always had a party to go to, a dude to have fun with, and some money in my wallet. The family went to DC for the first time as a whole. I remember sharing cds with my sister Kelly in the back of the van. I would be rocking out to Live's Throwing Copper and Stone Temple Pilots' Purple. Kelly would be loving Hole's Live Through This and lots of Smashing Pumpkins. I remember borrowing her Nine Inch Nails Downward Spiral CD several times while she probably borrowed my Reality Bites soundtrack. That was the summer Nine Inch Nails made a deep impression on my wee mind.

Many NIN songs create vivid memories for me. I remember hauling ass through downtown St. Paul on the way back from Coldplay in Wisconsin. I'm positive it made me drive a bit too fast. The Perfect Drug makes me think of that shitty movie Lost Highway. It was one of the movie's few redeeming qualities. Sin makes me think of my sister Kelly and how I would always borrow the single from her. I still totally dig the B-side/cover of Queen's Get Down Make Love. I put it on my July playlist.

Fast forward to 2008, I'm finally going to see Nine Inch Nails. Finally...

Here are the top songs of 1994!! Some good, some bad. They all make me feel old.

1. The Sign, Ace Of Base
2. I Swear, All-4-One
3. I'll Make Love To You, Boyz II Men
4. The Power Of Love, Celine Dion
5. Hero, Mariah Carey
6. Stay (I Missed You), Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories
7. Breathe Again, Toni Braxton
8. All For Love, Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting
9. All That She Wants, Ace Of Base
10. Don't Turn Around, Ace Of Base
11. Bump N' Grind, R. Kelly
12. Again, Janet Jackson
13. I'll Remember, Madonna
14. Whatta Man, Salt-N-Pepa
15. Wild Night, John Mellencamp and Me'shell Ndegeocello
16. Without You/Never Forget You, Mariah Carey
17. You Mean The World To Me, Toni Braxton
18. Can You Feel The Love Tonight, Elton John
19. The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, Prince Symbol
20. Fantastic Voyage, Coolio
21. Baby I Love Your Way, Big Mountain
22. Regulate, Warren G and Nate Dogg
23. If You Go, Jon Secada
24. Back and Forth, Aaliyah
25. Now And Forever, Richard Marx
26. When Can I See You, Babyface
27. Please Forgive Me, Bryan Adams
28. So Much In Love, All-4-One
29. Shoop, Salt-N-Pepa
30. Any Time, Any Place/And On And On, Janet Jackson
31. Shine, Collective Soul
32. Said I Loved You...But I Lied, Michael Bolton
33. Return To Innocence, Enigma
34. All I Wanna Do, Sheryl Crow
35. Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm, Crash Test Dummies
36. Can We Talk, Tevin Campbell
37. Funkdafied, Da Brat
38. I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That), Meat Loaf
39. Gangsta Lean, Drs
40. Because The Night, 10,000 Maniacs
41. Cantaloop, US3
42. Whoomp! (There It Is), Tag Team
43. Come To My Window, Melissa Etheridge
44. Stroke You Up, Changing Faces
45. I'm Ready, Tevin Campbell
46. 100% Pure Love, Crystal Waters
47. Anytime You Need A Friend, Mariah Carey
48. Because Of Love, Janet Jackson
49. Linger, Cranberries
50. Loser, Beck
51. Found Out About You, Gin Blossoms
52. Gin And Juice, Snoop Doggy Dogg
53. Never Lie, Immature
54. Streets Of Philadelphia, Bruce Springsteen
55. Getto Jam, Domino
56. Endless Love, Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey
57. I Miss You w/ Aaron Hall
58. Understanding, Xscape
59. This D.J., Warren G
60. Cry For You, Jodeci
61. Keep Ya Head Up, 2Pac
62. Who Am I (What's My Name?), Snoop Doggy Dogg
63. Another Night, Real McCoy
64. Your Body's Callin', R. Kelly
65. Tootsee Roll, 69 Boyz
66. I Can See Clearly Now, Jimmy Cliff
67. Never Keeping Secrets, Babyface
68. Crazy, Aerosmith
69. Just Kickin' It, Xscape
70. At Your Best (You Are Love), Aaliyah
71. Rock And Roll Dreams Come Through, Meat Loaf
72 Amazing, Aerosmith
73. Always, Erasure
74. Groove Thang, Zhane
75. Dreams, Gabrielle
76. Mr. Vain, Culture Beat
77. Mary Jane's Last Dance, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
78. Anything, SWV
79. Beautiful In My Eyes, Joshua Kadison
80. Stay, Eternal
81. Flava In Ya Ear, Craig Mack
82. U.N.I.T.Y., Queen Latifah
83. Prayer For The Dying, Seal
84. Secret, Madonna
85. Here Comes The Hotstepper, Ini Kamoze
86. Everyday, Phil Collins
87. Don't Take The Girl, Tim McGraw
88. Got Me Waiting, Heavy D and The Boyz
89. December 1963 (Oh, What A Night), Four Seasons
90. Indian Outlaw, Tim McGraw
91. Always, Bon Jovi
92. I'm The Only One, Melissa Etheridge
93. Back In The Day, Ahmad
94. Love Sneakin' Up On You, Bonnie Raitt
95. I'll Take You There, General Public
96. Always In My Heart, Tevin Campbell
97. What Is Love, Haddaway
98. And Our Feelings, Babyface
99. Bop Gun (One Nation), Ice Cube
100. I Wanna Be Down, Brandy

I do believe that it was a year ago today that I knew everything would be ok.

2008-06-28T19:16:00.003-05:00

Today is the one year anniversary of knee surgery number four. Tomorrow is the two year anniversary of knee surgery number three. If you know me personally then you know that I feel a huge sense of accomplishment for making it this far.

Knee surgery number three was rather hellish and what led up to it was even more hellish. I wobbled around for four months in varying degrees of pain. The pain would wake me in my sleep. Post surgery, I got sick from my pain meds and my cat kept me up most of the night with her howling. It was hotter than hell outside so I just rotted in my parents basement for the most part. Worst of all, I was no longer able to drive my beloved Civic because it was a five speed. Getting my flexibility and strength back from this surgery was a bitch. I still don't know if I will get it all back.

Knee surgery number four was quite a bit different than the previous. There was quite a bit of pain pre-surgery but I tried to not let it stop me. Post surgery, I woke up and had a total feeling that everything was going to finally be ok. That first trip out of the hospital chair to pee was a breeze. I got home to Bismarck to my Mom (who had just gotten out of the hospital herself from knee replacement and complications from it) and took care of myself as best as I could. I would usually harass her to do her physical therapy exercises after I did. She did not like it when I stayed in the basement to play XBOX or watch Twin Peaks because she got lonely upstairs. Sorry Ma, I hate cooking shows. My poor cat was no longer with us so I could sleep through the night. I got different pain meds that didn't make me sick and I barely took them. It still blows my mind how different the last time was.

Fast forward to today - I'm at the gym and I am equal to or greater than the weight amounts that I was at pre-surgeries. Most of my flexibility is back and I am working hard to get more back. Last weekend, I went bowling in Harrisburg, PA and I could use my right leg to lower myself down and throw the ball almost properly. My wee mind was blown that I could do this and not fall on my face. In April, I managed to truck up and down the subway stairs of NYC with minimal assistance. I felt like I could take over the world after that trip.

All I can say is that I hope to not have to deal with all this knee bullshite again for a long ass time. If I do have to do it, I know I can make it through again because nothing can stop me.

I guess we don't have anything better to do

2008-06-25T14:40:00.002-05:00

The Forum is wasting lots of ink today on the whole OJ business in Fargo. It's kind of embarrassing. The loser should be shunned. However, the comments on the first article need to be checked out. A bit outrageous.

http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=206175§ion=news

and

http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=206180§ion=news

A whoa moment I don't think I'll forget

2008-06-13T17:13:00.002-05:00

I just got back from the rainy and slightly flooded Madison, WI about an hour ago. A nap is needed big time. I'm very tired from learning stuff and meeting new people. My brain is mush. I only got free Spotted Cow for one night. PISS ON BUD LIGHT!!!

Around 2:30ish something, I was half snoozing while listening to the Kooks because my flight was delayed. I opened my eyes up to survey the crowd waiting for the FAR flight and noticed all of them looking at the 47" LCD hanging above me. The small crowd looked shocked so I got my dead ass up off the chair to see breaking news that poor Tim Russert had died.

Another great person passes on way too soon.

(why couldn't it have been someone at Fox News?)

Note to self:

2008-06-09T19:18:00.002-05:00

Don't be a dumbass and forget to bring with your pills.

Don't be a dumbass and leave your earrings behind.

Don't be a dumbass and lose your phone (again).

Don't be a dumbass and forget the camera.

Now pack.

Going to Madison tomorrow!

And I always thought that I'd end up with you eventually

2008-06-04T21:31:00.002-05:00

Dododododododododo

*Not my video

A couple of days have passed since the Kooks show on Saturday. If you know me, then you know I was coming out of my skin for this show. I'm glad to say the show more than lived up to my expectations. Guys and girls were freaking out just as bad as I was. It is always nice to not be the only crazy person around.

Check out the opening band The Morning Benders. They were a hell of a lot of fun.

I took a couple of ok pics. Check them out on the Flickr if you feel so inclined.

Does this mean the solo album isn't coming out yet?

2008-05-29T15:47:00.003-05:00

I have never seen the Sarah Conner Chronicles. I've always thought Lena Headey was cool. Now maybe I'll watch it because foxy Shirley Manson will be on it?

I still want a solo album or another Garbage album goddamit!!! I will stalk Smart Studios when I go to Madison in two weeks.

Shirley Manson cast in 'Sarah Connor'
Garbage lead singer to be regular on 'Terminator' series
By Nellie Andreeva

May 29, 2008, 01:00 AM

Garbage lead singer Shirley Manson is venturing into acting in a big way with a regular role next season on Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles."

On "Sarah Connor," produced by Warner Bros. TV, Scottish musician Manson will play Catherine Weaver, the CEO of a cutting-edge high-tech company.

The sci-fi series, an offshoot from the "Terminator" feature franchise, is returning for a second season in the fall after launching in midseason as the highest-rated new scripted series of the 2007-08 season.

It stars Lena Headey as Sarah Connor, Thomas Dekker as her son John Connor and Summer Glau as terminator Cameron Phillips.

Formed in Madison, Wis., Garbage broke on the national scene in 1995 with its self-titled debut album, which spawned the modern rock hit "Only Happy When It Rains" and has gone double platinum. The quartet, which also includes Nirvana producer Butch Vig on drums, has released three other albums, the most recent in 2005.

Movie review - short version

2008-05-25T21:30:00.004-05:00

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - I haven't been that pissed off at a movie since The Matrix Revolutions. Was that skull a left over prop from Mars Attacks or the X-Files?

...Oh yeah, new X-Files movie in July...

Iron Man - best movie ever. I can't believe it took me two weeks to finally get around to see it. It made up for the steaming pile of poo that is IJ4.

I wish Paul Bettany was the voice of my computer...

Maybe I'm late hearing about this one

2008-05-21T14:02:00.002-05:00

My favorite new blog is:

Things younger than Republican Presidential candidate (oh, and did I forget to mention war hero?) John McCain

In case you didn't know - I'm a Democrat.

Name dropping the NoDak

2008-05-21T10:31:00.003-05:00

Oh I94, how I love to travel thee... preferably eastward...

Last Friday's drive back home to the the Bizzo was kind of a bitch. It was windy as hell (big shock) of course and I was forced to pay attention to my driving. The big white wind turbine was moving rather quickly west of Fargo. This always makes me wonder when we are going to turn North Dakota into one big-ass wind farm. Looking at the big white wind turbines would be a hell of a lot more scenic than what is going on now.

Later Friday night, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. came out to discuss his article in last month's Vanity Fair on the Late Show with David Letterman. Due to my inability to remember stuff, I forgot to renew my Vanity Fair by the cut-off date and therefore did not get the opportunity to read the full article. Mr. Kennedy name dropped the big NoDak and how we could supply vast amounts of power with our insane wind. No shit? Too bad we can't make this happen already.

Something to break my monotony

2008-05-15T10:52:00.003-05:00

Oh Zithromax, please knock out this sinus infection/flu that has been haunting me since last Tuesday already. GAAAAD!!! My back and chest are sore from coughing so hard and so much. My head and eyes hurt from the snot clogging up my head. Vitamin C is a fraud because it has not made me better. Oh well, at least those chewable C's taste yummy. My new box of raspberry green tea is almost gone and I will be thirsty later. Woe is me.

Network decision.

2008-05-09T15:41:00.003-05:00

I have decided that ABC should cancel Grey's Anatomy so a far more superior show can expand it's time slot. LOST, being the greatest show on television (other than 30 Rock), should run for two hours. Why? Because Grey's Anatomy is crap. It has been for two seasons.

But Erin, how can you say this?

Um, easy, I'm not some soap opera addicted wifey who thinks that tired story line is still interesting. Trust me, it's way past tired.

Oh Erin, you need to give it another chance.

I tried to watch it for a few minutes last night but it still was unwatchable. Poor Katherine Heigl needs to get off that sinking ship.

Oh and how do you think you could make it better Erin?

Easy. I'd kill off most of the characters and blow up the hospital. We'd leave McSteamy and McDreamy but that is only because they are pretty. Then we would move them onto LOST along side the hotness that is Matthew Fox. DUH!

Sick, bored, and hungry.

2008-05-06T18:02:00.003-05:00

I'm currently dreaming of a Trader Joe's Apple Turnover. The closest Trader Joe's is in Maple Grove, MN. This presents a distance problem which is why I have filled out the location request form at Trader Joe's website.

http://traderjoes.com/location_requests_form.aspx

Please fill it out for FARGO! Not whatever crappy city isn't Fargo.

Get your own damn car.

2008-05-01T09:32:00.003-05:00

Government waste anyone? Doesn't sound too public servant-like to me. Thanks for wasting more of our tax dollars.

NY Times Article

May 1, 2008
What Would You Drive, if the Taxpayers Paid?
By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ
Representative Anthony D. Weiner, Democrat of Brooklyn and Queens, drives a 2008 Chevrolet Impala, leased for $219 a month. Representative Michael R. McNulty, a Democrat from the Albany area, gets around in a 2007 Mercury Mariner hybrid, a sport utility vehicle, for $816 a month.

“It gets a little better than 25 miles a gallon,” Mr. McNulty said.

Charles B. Rangel, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is not so caught up in the question of gas mileage. He leases a 2004 Cadillac DeVille for $777.54 a month. The car is 17 feet long with a 300-horsepower engine and seats five comfortably.

“It’s one of the bigger Cadillacs,” Mr. Rangel, of Harlem, said cheerfully this week. “I’ve got a desk in it. It’s like an airplane.”

Modest or more luxurious, the cars are all paid for by taxpayers. The use of a car — gas included — is one of the benefits of being a member of the House of Representatives.

There are few restrictions on what kind of car the members can choose, and there is no limit on how much they can spend. But the benefit can be politically sensitive, given the growing concerns about automobile emissions and an economy that has left many people struggling to pay for the rapidly rising cost of gas, which was averaging $3.63 a gallon nationwide earlier this week.

Not only does the federal government pick up the cost of the lease and the gas, but also general maintenance, insurance, registration fees and excess mileage charges. The perk itself may draw heightened attention in the coming weeks as members of Congress consider proposals to address gas prices, including one to suspend temporarily the federal excise tax on gasoline, 18.4 cents a gallon.

Congressional records show that about 125 members of the House make use of the benefit, which has been in place since at least the 1980s and is part of the allowance provided for their office operations. They include Representatives Charlie Melancon of Louisiana (2007 Chevy Tahoe), Bobby L. Rush of Illinois (2007 Lincoln Navigator) and Alcee L. Hastings of Florida (2006 Infiniti M45).

The Senate does not permit its members to lease cars with public money.

Of the 42 representatives from New York and New Jersey, at least a dozen lease cars, and their choices run the gamut. Some choose not to lease a car, in an effort to avoid yet one more headache.

“There are so many ethical issues people can raise,” said Representative Peter T. King, a Long Island Republican, who stopped leasing a car through his office in 2004. “I felt it just wasn’t worth the trouble or the aggravation. With the issues that people can raise against you, I just figured it didn’t make sense.”

Members have found themselves under fire in their districts for what their constituents may regard as extravagant tastes or for leasing foreign cars. Before the 2006 election, one Ithaca resident denounced Representative Maurice D. Hinchey’s lease of a BMW 530i to The Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, saying that Mr. Hinchey, a Democrat, “sticks it to” the taxpayers and American workers. (Mr. Hinchey also leases a 2007 Nissan Altima for $200 a month for his chief of staff.)

In 2007, the House adopted a rule requiring members to choose cars from a list of low-emissions vehicles approved by the Environmental Protection Agency. Asked about their cars over the past week, many New York representatives offered environmental rationales, some more persuasive than others.

Representative Edolphus Towns, a Brooklyn Democrat, said he had begun to take fuel economy into consideration and recently traded in his 2005 Lincoln Town Car (at $845 a month) for a 2008 Lincoln MKX, called a crossover utility vehicle, (at $715 a month).

“I no longer have the big car because of the gas situation,” Mr. Towns said.

It turns out, however, that the Town Car and the MKX get the same gas mileage: about 16 m.p.g. in the city and 23 on the highway, according to the Department of Energy. House leaders were concerned enough about the issue that they sent a memo to members suggesting that they consider leasing hybrids, according to one lawmaker who leases. Still, among the New York and New Jersey delegation, only one member — Mr. McNulty — uses a hybrid, according to the best available information.

“I think more members are going to be going to the hybrids,” said Mr. McNulty.

Mr. McNulty would not offer an opinion of members who lease more luxurious cars. “I’m not going to judge another member’s decision,” he said. “Mine was utility.”

Other members stand out for their more downscale choices.

Representative Jim Saxton, a Republican of New Jersey, leases a 2004 Chevy TrailBlazer at what he views as a reasonable $310 a month.

“Congressman Saxton feels an elected public official should choose a car that doesn’t cost taxpayers an extravagant amount,” said Jeff Sagnip, his spokesman.

Of course, there are concerns beyond cost, other members say.

“I can tell you Lexus has one of the best services and is one of the most reliable cars I know,” said Representative Gregory W. Meeks, a Queens Democrat, who leases a 2007 Lexus LS 460 at $998 a month. Mr. Meeks, interviewed a few feet from the House floor last week, seemed reluctant to go into detail, saying he was worried that a story about members’ cars could be “distorted” or negative.

“These are never lighthearted stories,” he said. His spokeswoman declined to discuss details of his leasing agreement.

Mr. Towns said leasing makes sense when you put as many miles on a car as he does traveling his Brooklyn district. He typically turns in the cars every few years. “After two years of traveling in the district, that’s a lot of wear and tear,” he said.

For Representative Louise M. Slaughter, a Buffalo-area Democrat, safety was a worry, given her sprawling district. Ms. Slaughter used to drive her personal car to get around, she said. Then, in 2002, her political rivals in the Legislature in Albany redrew her district, in what she viewed as a deliberate effort to force her from office.

The new map, she said, resulted in a vast swath of western New York that is treacherous to travel in winter. She turned to a 2007 Buick Lucerne, which she leases for $808.29 a month.

“For the longest time, I didn’t do it at all,” she said of leasing. But the Lucerne, she said, had good traction and, perhaps more important, came equipped with a satellite tracking system. “I figured if I got stuck in a snow bank people could find me,” she said. “If I’m in an accident, they might be able to find me and not have to wait until the thaw.”

Mr. Rangel said he frequently offers rides to constituents so they can discuss their concerns in the luxurious confines of his DeVille.

“I want them to feel that they are somebody and their congressman is somebody,” Mr. Rangel explained. “And when they say, ‘This is nice,’ it feels good.”

Under my sink is too many plastic bags

2008-04-27T19:30:00.003-05:00

I like to pass on helpful and/or useful (?) information sometimes. Hopefully my silly stuff will inspire one or two people to not be as daft as me.

I've had a day or three where I've felt especially motivated to get some things done. I just happened to have two of those days in a row! Yesterday, I went and acquired a new comforter (the first Martha Stewart brand thing I've ever bought), a small wok, and a new wallet. I have been sadly dreaming of these three things for a while now and my Macy's green coupon got my ass out of bed to acquire them. Wee-hoo! I'm awesome for once.

Side note - I honestly don't think I have EVER gotten out of bed early to go shopping. Sorry, no Black Friday outings for me because I'm usually too hungover for such business.

Today, I took the glass and magazines to be recycled at Hornbacher's and plastic bags to Cash Wise. The magazines that don't get recycled go to the Exercise Physiology department of Meritcare Southpointe. A handful of Target bags were kept to be reused as trash bags in my small waste baskets. Now that I have a fresh start, I am going to seriously start using the canvas grocery bags. I ordered three off of Ebay which only cost me about $12. My normal visit to the grocery store is 2-3 bags so that should work. One of the things that inspired me to FINALLY get off my ass and switch was my visit to two Whole Foods Markets (Chelsea and Union Square) in NYC. As of April 22nd, they are no longer bagging up their goods using plastic bags. They do have recycled-paper bags and canvas bags for sale instead. Click on HERE to read more about what they are doing. Pretty cool I must say.

I wonder if I'll wake up and be motivated again tomorrow? I'm feeling a strong sense of urgency these days so maybe it will continue.

My manners are better than most peoples (?!)

2008-04-27T11:32:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was the ideal day for a matinee of Baby Mama with Josh. Gloomy and rainy? Check! Note to Greg: I will continue to bitch about the weather FOREVER. This weather has made me crabby and therefore I must compose an angry blog.

I would like to apologize to the West Acres 14 staff for the dumb, umm over sized, and trashy family of piggies who made a mess in your lobby outside of the Ultra Screen. I'm sorry a particular member of this family (the son) decided to throw popcorn up into the air and try to catch it in his mouth. I'm sorry he never got any in his mouth and it was all over your floor. I'm sorry me giving the kid the look of death and shaking my head in disgust didn't give this child any indication that what he was doing was extremely rude. I'm sorry his parents were complete morons who said nothing and apparently thought making a mess for other people was okay. I'm especially sorry to the nice young gal who busted out the dustpan and swept up all the damn popcorn off of the CARPET once the moron squad proceeded to the Ultra Screen.

It was no shock to me that these people climbed into a big, fat SUV after the show. They fit the stereotype of being a big, fat, dumb, American wasters.

I'm going to Hornbacher's down the block to recycle all my goods today to counteract some of the waste this family created.

Argh.

2008-04-23T21:27:00.001-05:00

My tired feet are back in ND.

The weather here f***ing sucks.

Last weekend of my twenties.

2008-04-19T16:08:00.004-05:00

Well, I turn 30 on Monday which means that this is my last weekend as a twenty-something. It's kinda weird. Hopefully it is the start of the best decade of my life? The twenties have been brutal at times but we're still growing up, right? I'm an almost 30-year-old kid. Crazy.

I've been in NYC since Thursday and it has been quite wonderful. The weather is warm and sunny which is a shock to the system. The Pope is here which is strange to me. I never thought me and that guy would be in the same city as each other. We are without a car this weekend but that is OK because the whole Pope tour has screwed up traffic.

I got a couple miles of walking in so that is cool. I'm very proud of myself because I can go up and down stairs at the subway stations with some ease. That has been almost two years in the making. Wee hoo! I got four shirts at Uniqlo for $48. No pants yet though. I have four days to find those still.

Two cupcake places down. Sugar Sweet Sunshine and Batch. Go check them out if you ever get a chance. PISTACHIO!!!

I've lucked out again. We get to see Barack Obama on the Daily Show. I kind of wished that for a second but didn't think for a second second that it was a possibility. I was hoping most for Tina Fey. I figured that was a possibility because promotion for Baby Mama has started. She is my female hero! But we get to see my dude hero instead!

***Now I'm reading that the appearance is via satellite? Guess we'll find out tomorrow.

I would have died.

2008-04-15T10:15:00.003-05:00

They should cut an album together.

Bugger off.

2008-04-14T21:55:00.005-05:00

***I am a member of the mind your own business/not my problem party. Please read with a sense of humor and irony.

I wish I was leaving town on Wednesday instead of Thursday. Why? Other than cupcakes, pizza, my sister Heather, Johnny, the Daily Show, and beer? Because the people who aren't minding their own business are coming to campus. GOD DAMMIT!!! Bugger off!!! What sucks worse? It is that they are going to be protesting/displaying not too far from my parking space. Um hello a-hole? I need to park my defective body on the other side of campus so I don't run into these people. How inconsiderate of them to inconvenience me in such a way. I don't fucking care about their right to free speech! What about my parking spot?!?!?

All I know is I'm glad that I'm not in the brand new addition of the MU with the glass windows anymore. Poor Mary. She will have to sit with me at my desk where I will teach her about Ryan Adams.

See why I'm ticked here: http://www.in-forum.com/News/articles/197712

Gimme some cupcakes bitch!

2008-04-09T20:44:00.002-05:00

View Larger Map

Some preliminary mapping for my mini cupcake tour. The goal is to go to at least one place per day (minus the two travel days). That means at least FIVE destinations.

Any suggestions?

Well, I think it might be that bad outside...

2008-04-06T18:14:00.003-05:00

97mph?

I had a few of his cassettes dammit

2008-04-04T18:24:00.005-05:00

I saw this one on Perez Hilton today. I've been Rick Roll'd a few times and now Beaker Roll'd.

I must point out that Rick Astley is quite foxy even now.

April tunes

2008-04-03T12:25:00.007-05:00

It's another new month so that means another new playlist for the Ipod. Spent a few bucks at Amazon and Itunes last night so I have some fresh tunes. Wee hoo! I must admit it is a tad bit generic for one of my playlists but whatever. I'm not putting this out there to out-indie anyone. Feel free to mock me and my choices. Feel free to share your own choices. I'm always open to musical suggestions.

I guess you are a gentleman after all?

2008-04-01T09:41:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, a man stopped by my desk at work to apologize for being rude and curt to me. Oddly, I have no memory of this. I normally remember when somebody has been a dick to me and add them to my shit list. Maybe I just kind of brushed off his curtness as having a bad day or something? Who knows. Apparently, the man's daughter thought he was being a jerk and thought he should apologize. She said I was very nice (I am) and helpful (damn right!) and didn't deserve the treatment I got. So I accepted his apology and told him that I didn't remember him being rude to me. He told me that since we all work in the same big place, we all need to be nice to each other. I agreed and spent the afternoon trying to figure out what this guy's name is.

Boy's Fridge

2008-03-29T19:38:00.004-05:00

It is the penny sale at Happy Harry's right now. I dropped a small chunk of change today. I am officially stocked up for guests who might come to town to visit. Townies over for dinner is an acceptable scenario as well. You bring the food though.

Fargo is moving up in the world?

2008-03-17T18:25:00.002-05:00

Since when do cool bands like Wilco come to Fargo? This will make up for when I saw them with REM back in 99 and caught only two songs? Thanks Kristen, you dumbass.

Also surprising was The Hives coming to the Hub. I think I know somebody (Joe-Joe) who should buy me a ticket to The Hives. I know it isn't Reel Big Fish but you owe me! Mark your Ical appropriately please.

Instant pleasure (nearly) = the Raconteurs release for next week already. It is pretty swell how they are taking a non-traditional route. Skip the promotional bullshit and get the tunes out!

--------------------

The Raconteurs are happy to announce that in one week’s time their second album, entitled "Consolers Of The Lonely", will be available EVERYWHERE Tuesday, March 25th.

"Album" meaning: full length vinyl, CD and digital formats; and "everywhere" meaning: local mom and pop Indie retailers, corporate superstores, supermarkets, iTunes, Amazon, the band’s own website and any other location that could get the record up and going this quickly (some places couldn’t move this fast, so they will join in as soon as they can).

It contains 14 new recordings and is being released globally on Third Man Records in conjunction with our marketing/distribution partners, XL Recordings and Warner Brothers Records.

The album was mastered and completed in the first week of March. It was then taken immediately to a vinyl pressing plant. Then to a CD pressing plant. Then preparations to sell it digitally began. March 25th became the soonest date to have it available in EVERY FORMAT AT ONCE. The band have done no interviews or advertisements for this record before this announcement.

The purpose: to get the album to the fans as soon as possible and as we promised. We wanted to get this record to fans, the press, radio, etc., all at the EXACT SAME TIME so that no one has an upper hand on anyone else regarding it’s availability, reception or perception.

With this release, The Raconteurs are forgoing the usual months of lead time for press and radio set up, as well as forgoing the all important "first week sales". We wanted to explore the idea of releasing an album everywhere at once and THEN marketing and promoting it thereafter. The Raconteurs would rather this release not be defined by it’s first weeks sales, pre-release promotion, or by someone defining it FOR YOU before you get to hear it.

Another purpose was to also allow people to have their own choice as to exactly which format they would like to hear the album in IMMEDIATELY, rather than having to wait for their favorite format to become available. The band are also not releasing any version of this record that contains bonus tracks. Musically this album will be the same as the band created it no matter what format it is purchased in (The sound quality of each format however, is a different story. The Raconteurs recommend hearing it on vinyl, but the choice is of course up to the listener).

The band also prefer that fans buy the album as a whole instead of breaking up the tracks, but until iTunes and other digital services allows bands to release their albums with the option of NOT breaking it up, it will be sold in that fashion on those particular sites. On the band’s website however, the album will be sold in its entirety as an mp3 at 320kb bit rate. Also in Japan, fans will be able to download the record via their mobile phones, as that is how a majority of recorded music is consumed there.

The reason we are announcing this release one week ahead of time is because of retail pre-ordering and stocking, information about this album’s imminent release was bound to come to light and could be confusing to fans. Also in the event that the record leaks, we didn’t want this method of release to be seen as a REACTION to such a leak. It’s not. The actual worst thing about a leak is the usual poor sound quality, akin to watching a movie on a wristwatch instead of in a theater. Which for the album’s creators is a bit of a letdown, but again, it is completely up to the listener.

There will be a video up on the internet for the first single, "Salute Your Solution", on the 25th as well, provided it gets edited in time. We just filmed it the other day!

We hope not to confuse anyone with too many options, or deny them the formats that they like best. The Raconteurs feel very strongly that music has worth and should be treated as such. Thank you to all those who respect music in this fashion, and thank you to our label partners for working with us to get this album to fans in as many formats as possible all at once.

Thank you, and we hope that you enjoy "Consolers Of The Lonely".

Sincerely,
The Raconteurs

Thanks Neal.

2008-03-15T20:03:00.002-05:00

I have opened up the second to the last bottle of Yokel. Dang.

When I was in Wisconsin at the end of January to buy beer, the gentlemen at the liquor store told me that there was no Yokel on the 2008 New Glarus Beer schedule (as I've discussed in a previous post). That got me thinking when Neal picked up my Yokel in November, he might have gotten the last of it anywhere. Michelle told me that he had to go to more than one liquor store to find it. It must have been the alleged god's (or gods or whatever) plan that I get the last of this fine beverage.

I must now savor my beverages.

Something only my Joe-Joe would understand.

2008-03-09T18:19:00.002-05:00

I finally got around to listening to the more recent Sugababes tunes at the gym today. All I have to say is there is no magic since Mutya Buena left. Thank god her solo effort was pretty good.

Oh how I love British pop music.

Travel Season starts soon.

2008-03-09T17:25:00.003-05:00

It is my favorite time of year pretty soon. What does this mean? It means I'm probably coming to visit you. I thought it was best to refresh my peoples minds about how to best accommodate me.

ALSO, please tell me what you would like as a gift. You know, for storing my worthless ass for a few days. Heather, I'm glad you liked the red toaster.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Your Favorite Redhead Erin Mc’s
“Downtime Requirements”

The items listed below are not per se “required” for Erin’s downtime. However, they would make your life extremely more tolerable if she was provided with the items on this list. If you have any questions, don’t contact anyone. Just assume you’re in deep shit and you will have a very unhappy redhead on your hands.

• Hide-a-bed, full size couch, or clear spot on the floor away from other people
• Location near window for Erin to sit and use her laptop
• High-speed Internet access
• Clean bathroom (clean means clean – no goddamn underwear on the floor)
• Minimal lighting as Erin is either hung-over or has a headache the size of Texas
• Fox News Channel blocked on all televisions (Erin finds this channel VERY upsetting). Comedy Central, HBO, National Geographic, Science, or TLC is preferred
• A toaster oven or toaster that can accommodate bagels.
• A Coffee Maker full of Mud or Caribou Coffee
• Large quantity of ice be it bagged or in tray for mixed drinks
• Filtered water or bottled, Beer (New Glarus, Leinenkugels, Yuengling, Harp, Miller Light, Stella, etc.), Vodka, Wine, Champagne
• Names, phone numbers, and menus of nearby restaurants in case of incapacitation from excessive drinking or general desire to not cook
• General reading materials (not including US, National Enquirer, Life & Style, In Touch, or any other magazine that has Britney Spears on the cover)

Please make sure to provide keys in advance in case of early arrival.