January 2003

1/30
First of all, don't miss this. (In summary, Sebastian Bach plays a lousy Jesus. Big surprise.)
I saw a Segway in action today. Someone dropped five grand to bundle up in their snowmobile suit and chug along, not really belonging with the pedestrians on the sidewalk, and not really belonging with the cars and bicycles on the street. But I guess that person proved me wrong when I suggested that it might be bigger than the Internet (as proclaimed by John Doerr) on the West Coast and much of the East Coast, but useless for five months out of the year here in flyover country. It did look kind of cool. Oh, and did you see that San Francisco banned them already?
David rode my bus today. I've seen him around. He might be homeless, and he carries a walking stick with him. Sometimes it has a hubcap on it, sometimes feathers, sometimes other things. It always looks somehow tribal, for lack of a better word. David wears a trenchcoat that he asks people to sign. There must be thousands of signatures on it. I signed it today. He only rode with me for a few blocks.
I'm getting a little bit nervous that I might not get to be on the extra board on our next pick. That means I'd have to pick my work. More on that if it happens...
1/28
It's my day off, but I went to my garage for the annual, mandatory Right-to-Know class.
It's my right to know about emergency evacuations, diesel exhaust, defusing difficult situations, and system security awareness (presented in a Madeline Hunter-friendly way on some software created by the National Transit Institute).
Yes, that was a fascinating two hours.
I got the news today that Paul and Jolana B. had a baby girl last night! Congratulations! And a big welcome to Hannah Ruth. I have never heard of the Apgar test until now. It's named for its creator, an anesthesiologist named Virginia Apgar. There seems to be some confusion here and granted, it's a small point, but some sites (including CNN) say she was a pediatrician. It just leads this librarian to remind you: don't trust the Internet. "Apgar" apparently also doubles as an acronym for the criteria measured by the test: appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration. Huh. Good thing her last name wasn't Mientkiewicz. Anyway, H.R. Pufnstuf (look, I'm already pointing out ways to make fun of her; pay attention, kids!) is apparently very healthy.		free clipart! uh... very cute! this is probably exactly how it looked! smile everyone!
1/27
My split went well today. I drove the 52C this morning. That's a limited stop route that runs between Lyndale Avenue (through South Mpls) and the University of Minnesota on I-94. The passengers are primarily U students and workers.
After a shaky start (I took a wrong turn), it was easy. Very quiet.
I came home and took a nap. Then I went back to drive the 20. The 20 runs between Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis and Highland Park in St. Paul.
On the 24th I mentioned that a guy named Jim got on my bus who I've known since elementary school. He's one of a couple guys who I knew in Bloomington who I see all over the place. I saw the other one, Ross, today. He passed me in his work van at Wirth Parkway and Plymouth Avenue. I honked, but I don't think he noticed.
Then my friend Dean (also elementary school, come to think of it) rode my bus. He reads this and he had some nice things to say about it. (thanks, dude) He apologized for not telling me about Sherlock's Home closing. I guess I'm over it. His wife is going to send me an Ask the Driver question. Well, now that I wrote that, maybe she will. If she does, I might as well make it a thing. If it's the only question I ever answer, that's OK. I mean, you've seen the magic I worked with that one book...
1/26
I just got home from watching the second half of the Super Bowl. There's not too much to say about that.
I was driving the 23 during the first half. It was pretty slow all day. It's usually slow everywhere on Sunday and I'm quite sure the cold weather kept some people in.
My last round trip was a treat, though. The woman who gave me her number on Friday found me. She had some time to kill before another driver showed up on the 21, and she asked if she could ride with me. So she got on. Then Oz showed up. And got on the bus. Between Driver Groupie, Oz and another couple of passengers who were fairly chatty, that last trip went pretty quickly.
I have an early day tomorrow, but it's a split, so I can take a nap.
1/25
I had a lovely day on the 2. It's an interesting route and today was more interesting than usual.
It started with a protest march. Approximately 1000 people (according to that article) were on Franklin Avenue at the same time that I needed to be there, too. A street supervisor was on the scene, so he and I and an 8 bus took a quick detour around the march.
Then I got to the University of Minnesota and ran into inbound hockey traffic. The Gophers tied Minnesota State, Mankato for the second day in a row. I ran into the outbound hockey traffic later in the afternoon.
Then, this evening, I got stuck in both the inbound and the outbound basketball traffic. Minnesota beat Northwestern. The inbound traffic was the worst. I finally got out of it half-an-hour late. Fortunately, the next bus was supposed to be a half-hour behind me, so I was on time for the people who were waiting for that one. Unfortunately, I was 15 minutes late on my next trip, and I heard about it.
One guy told me he bet his rent money on the Super Bowl tomorrow. So if you don't care who wins, and you're reading this before the game, I'm sure he would appreciate it if you would cheer for the Buccaneers. I'm pulling for the Raiders.
Sometime late in the afternoon, two guys got on my bus eastbound at Franklin and Bloomington. They were drunk, but they weren't super hammered. They sat down behind me and talked to each other at a reasonable volume, seemingly not paying attention to anyone else. As I pulled away from the stop, I saw a transit cop sitting in a place where I'd never seen one before. I just figured that it was Saturday on Franklin Avenue and it was a good idea to have a cop near one end of the Zone. I went several blocks and another transit cop was parked on the other side of the street. He made a u-turn to get behind me. I noticed that the other cop was back there, too. Then Control called. The guy told me that if the two guys ("I'm sure you know who I mean.") gave me any trouble or hassled any of the other passengers, I should call him. He said that the squads were going to tail me. I assured him that I was not having any problems. By then, we were at the Zipps Liquor stop. (It's a popular destination. Much of the 2 is on Franklin Avenue, playing connect-the-drunks between Zipps Liquor and Franklin Nicollet Liquor.) Anyway, the two guys got off my bus at Zipps. I suppose they must have caused some excitement on someone's bus.
1/24
I'm back on normal time. It was pretty easy to get back to regular.
I went to the Utne office yesterday. I know a guy who works there and he offered to introduce me to Chris Dodge, their librarian. I wasn't there very long, but it was pretty cool. I think I would actually stop driving the bus if I could find a job like that guy has. Unfortunately, his position might be unique. Oh well.
Well, it's not like it really means anything, but music fans might be interested in this. Good bye, Satan. I'm sure Beelzebub is on his way.
I drove the 17 today. And I got a woman's phone number! hee hee hee! For those of you who care, don't get your hopes up. She's some kind of bus driver groupie.
There are a couple of guys who I knew growing up in Bloomington who I seem to run into a lot. One of them, Jim, got on my bus today. Besides the time a couple weeks ago that I saw him on the sidewalk and honked at him, the last time I saw him was at the Great Minnesota Get-Together. We went to elementary school through high school together. He's doing well. He was my mom's Junior Achievement (yikes! get 'em while they're young and impressionable, I guess...) guy when she was teaching. Anyway, it was good to see him.
And there was this guy who sat behind me. He muttered, "Pig! Slimebag!" I didn't see any cops around, so who knows who he could've been talking about...
And did you think that I was actually going to quit without a comment on the Appointed One? Look at this. Pathetic, really.
1/21
I hope I've managed to keep my sleep schedule somewhat normal.
I got to bed around 8:00 last night and my alarm went off at 12:15 this morning. I drove the 21. I really don't remember much of my morning. I know I was really fighting to stay awake from about 7:00 until 10:31 when I got relieved.
I only had one guy who was destination-free. Midway through my shift we pulled up behind another 21 at the Uptown Station. I gave the guy a transfer to get him off my bus and onto the other one. He smelled bad and my already very active gag reflex gets ridiculous when I'm tired.
I had a dream in one of my naps recently about a guy I knew in Death Moans. His name was Matt* and he was in law school at Drake. I dreamed that I was at a party with da Mons and Matt had a coke spoon stuck in his nose. It was sticking out horizontal to the floor but for some reason he couldn't get it out. Well, that guy had a bit of a coke habit in real life. It led me to wonder if he developed the affinity for blow because he was in law school or if he went to law school because he already had the habit and knew he could never be President.
*names have not been changed to protect anyone
1/19
I've had a couple of quiet days. I was 5:00am call both today and yesterday. I got done at a reasonable hour yesterday and got to watch most of the day's football action. Today at 10:00, I volunteered to go back in and drive the 6 in the evening. I planned to take a short nap when I got home. It lasted almost three hours. When I went back in, I found out that I'm driving a night owl run tomorrow. I pull out at 2:10am and drive until 10:31am. So it's 7:30 right now and I'll get a few hours of sleep in before I go back out. I have never done one, so I'm kind of looking forward to it.
Hey, here's something for that W lover in your life who also likes to hike, hunt, fish, eat, breathe...
I think I should try to get some sleep.
1/18
I had a most lovely day today. I was on call at 10:30, then I drove the 6 for a while. It was quiet, as usual.
One lady got off my bus and said, "Have a safe day!" I always like that. When someone says that, I always feel like they mean it. Whether it should or not, it means a lot more than "Have a nice day." It's much more specific to my day.
One guy was on his cell phone right behind me. He told whoever he was talking to that his mother had found nude pictures of him on the Internet. That's funny on a couple levels...
Well, it's looking more and more like W is going to find an excuse to kill more people, so I guess all the college seniors who were worried about finding a job have some hope. Maybe they'll be able to fight Iraqis in the desert. I guess that's something to do.
I got distracted by this, gotta go.
1/17
Long day yesterday? ha. I laugh at yesterday. I was the noon call guy today and I got done at 11:00pm.
I volunteered to drive 9.5 hours on the 2. Why? To show the dispatchers that I still like to be helpful. Also, they would've split up the work so I kind of took one for the team. Plus, the 2 is pretty laid back and it was good for three hours of overtime. I only had three super-drunk people all day. That's pretty good for that route.
I got an extra $10 cash for being drawn from a list of people who qualified for DEQA. I don't know what that is, to the point of not really being sure how to use it properly in a sentence. But the cash was nice, I guess.
Our safety supervisor tried to give me a one-year safe driving pin, but I reminded him that I took a mirror off a bus in September. He'd overlooked that in his records, so I didn't get it. Whatever. I'm not really too excited about the certificates and pins and commendations. I almost get a little embarrassed about that stuff. However, I have been assured that many companies give out token crap to make their workers feel loved.
Did you hear about this? I was nowhere even close. I think the guy was looking for a nice warm place to stay for a few years.
There's a White Castle at one end of the 2. On my way from my bus to their restroom, I noticed that the sign outside said:
MAKE YOUR VALENTINES RESERVATIONS NOW 651 646 1811 EXT 12
I thought it was a joke until I saw a sign inside that promised hostess seating, candlelight dining and your own server. So it's no joke, but they are being funny. It's from 5-8pm on Valentine's Day, and you need a reservation. Call now. I did, but it was 7:00 and Tanya was either on the phone or away from her desk.
And finally, one guy got on the bus and asked me how I was doing. I was doing rather well and I said so. He said, "It's Friday night and you're working! Aw, but you ain't got no sex life anyway!"
And to that I say... touch�.
1/16
Long day today.
I spent a lot of time on the 21 today. It's quite cold outside, so things are still kind of slow.
And everyone wants to talk about the weather. I don't even bother to read the weather anymore. I don't need to. This town is full of meteorologists.
I met a guy who was going to catch a Greyhound to Watertown, SD. He's originally from Waubay, SD. When I lived in SD, I dated a woman who got a job with Even Start in Webster and spent a lot of time in Waubay, which is about 10 miles down the road. There are a lot of clear lakes in that area of South Dakota and it's really nice. To visit.
One guy spent much of a trip singing along to his Walkman, often in falsetto. Some kind of R&B, from the sound of it. He stopped though, when a young couple got on with their baby. He gave them his phone number and offered them "a lot" of baby clothes that his daughter has recently grown out of.
I was listening to Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals on the radio on the way home. Now that I'm looking at some information online, I see that I heard lions, hens and roosters, tortoises, elephants, kangaroos, mules, and a cuckoo before I got home. As I was listening, I tried to figure out which animals I was hearing. I was pretty sure that I heard elephants, big birds, more elephants, birds and then more birds.
1/13
After yesterday's major whinefest, I think today's entry should be light-hearted and whimsical.
Check out this link.
There. Do you feel better? So do I. Oh wait, I felt better this morning, even though I had a scary nightmare that kept me awake for an hour in the middle of the night.
I did some driving today. The 6 and the 18. It was all very nice.
One guy told me about breaking his hand on his former roommate's skull while he was drunk, but since today's theme is Light-hearted and Whimsical, I should point out that he's probably healing nicely.
Oz called me today and he seems to be doing OK.
OK. Look at this link. Yeah, we all feel better now. For what it's worth, my situation, as described below (1/12), has been resolved, sort of. The resolution was fine with me, but not with the dispatcher who encouraged me to go to the union guy. She's still a bit ticked about it. That's cool.
Well, I guess it might not have been all that light-hearted and whimsical. I'm going to bed. I have my DOT physical tomorrow. I'll probably throw up.
1/12
Well, I had an interesting day. Three things happened.
The third thing happened at the end of the day. I had a turkey dinner at my parents' house. And it was good.
I went to a baby shower. My friends Paul and Jolana are due in a couple weeks. I've never been to a baby shower; I don't recall ever being invited to one. Someone said it's the new thing to invite boys. It was all I ever dreamed it would be and more. Well, it was all I imagined it would be. Interesting people, interesting conversation, gifts, etc. There was some mention of games that would not be played because of the extra testosterone in the room. I wouldn't have been able to play anyway, and I barely got to meet everyone because I had to leave after an hour. The other thing that happened is the reason that I had to leave.
I was on 6:00am call. One of two things typically happens on a Sunday morning call shift: either a call driver a) is given a run and drives a route for all or most of their day or b) sits around, fills the schedule bins at the garage, makes bus changes, fills in on routes - basically does small things over the course of 7-8 hours. I was kind of hoping to leave around 1:00, in time to get to the shower a little late.
On any call shift, the dispatcher can keep a driver for ten total hours or split their day and send them home for a couple hours for a total maximum spread of twelve hours. It is somewhat common to split call drivers on weekdays when there are shifts to cover for both rush hours. It's generally not necessary to split drivers on weekends because weekends are slower and there are plenty of call drivers scheduled to be in the garage.
Yes, you know where this is going. I got split. I had a similar day on 12/10. After I been sitting around for four hours and forty-five minutes, the dispatcher, a guy who I thought I got along with pretty well, called me up and gave me work that went from approximately 3:00pm-5:30pm.
The list of other people not only available to do this, but who should have been assigned the work before me, goes like this: 7:00 call, 8:00 call, 11:00 call, 12:00 call, 1:00 call, 2:00 call. And I knew this, so I was a little ticked off. But I'm still not sure how much to rock the boat.
I came in after driving (which, fortunately, went well for both me and my passengers) and the dispatcher on duty, who I definitely get along with, said, "What did you do to make [the other dispatcher] so angry?" The bottom line is that I got screwed and my anger is justified. She encouraged me to talk to our union representative. And I'm going to.
I'm not at all happy about doing that. My usual plan is to fly under the radar and hope no one notices me. But it was a completely chump move on his part and I need to call him on it. Jackass.
1/11
Well, I bought a ticket to fly to Portland in April. I'm looking forward to that.
It's still quite cold and the 9 was very quiet today.
It's my last day to watch Duke.
Hey, the governor of Illinois commuted the death sentences of 167 inmates on death row. If you've read much around here, I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that I consider this the best news I've heard in quite a while. I am in favor of less comfortable prisons, though.
I've got an early morning tomorrow.
1/10
Wednesday I was running errands with the windows in my truck down. Today Duke's pee froze before it hit the ground. Well, almost. Winter finally found us.
Today I drove the 9 for a few hours, then the 21 for a few hours. I think the cold weather kept a lot of people indoors.
Ahh, this is perfect. Check it out. My favorite part is definitely the ™. What will the maids at the Hyatt think when Haysoose throws a TV out the window?
My Riffraff Meter was set to tolerate drunks with money and sober folks with a good story and no money, but it was not set to handle drunks with no money. And so, for what I think might be the first time, I kicked a guy off the bus. He got on and started talking drunk gibberish. He got in close to me, which seems to be the preferred place to try to bargain for a free ride. And he reeked. So I pointed at the door and he actually got off without much fuss.
I think the biggest news of the day was proclaimed by the Benilde-St. Margaret's (it's a school) sign:
CONGRATS MEAGHAN STAR SEARCH SEMIFINALIST
Hopefully, this will finally make up for the disappointment Meaghan suffered when she was unable to find a little license plate with her name on it at Valleyfair.
1/9
There is a very nice woman who rides the 23 and the 18 every night to the Hub Shopping Center in Richfield, where she works all night at Walgreen's. I've seen her quite a few times and we always talk a little bit. Tonight she told me a little bit about herself. She is kind of hard to understand, but I'm pretty sure this is what she said:
Several years ago, a man knocked at her door and asked her daughter if he could use the phone. Something triggered a flashback to Vietnam and he hit her daughter with the phone and crushed her skull, killing her. Um, wow. That was sad enough, but then she told me that she was diagnosed with uterine cancer and her mother has (had?) a malignant tumor on her brain.
It's late. I'm tired.
1/7 special edition
It's the time of year to make best of lists. I don't see enough films or read enough books to even come close to giving those categories a fair shot. And it could be argued that I don't listen to enough new music releases to do that category any justice either. So, with the caveat that I didn't hear the new releases from the Flaming Lips, Tender Trap, Of Montreal, Richard Buckner, Sigur Ros, Low and Sleater-Kinney among hundreds of others, I'm giving you, in alphabetical order:
CJ's Favorite Music Releases of 2002
The Apples in Stereo - Velocity of Sound This is a little bit of a change of direction for the Apples, but it's a good one. Simpler, faster, and still sweet, but not cloying.
Belle & Sebastian - Storytelling In addition to a few proper wuss rock songs, this CD includes dialogue from, and instrumentals for, the film of the same name. Much of the work B&S did for this project was cut out of the final version of the film. I really like the songs, so even if this could've been an e.p. as easily as not, it's still on my list of favorites for the year.
Brendan Benson - Lapalco If I had ranked these CDs, this would easily have come in at #1. As with One Mississippi, Benson's fantastic 1996 release, several of the songs were co-written with Jason Falkner. So yes, it's power pop, and it rocks.
David Bowie - Heathen Elvis Costello - When I Was Cruel Hey look, the old guys still have a little life in them! Not their best releases ever, but probably their best in many years.
Doleful Lions - Out Like a Lamb I just got this for Christmas, so I'm still digesting it. Lots of harmony, pretty melodies, acoustic guitars. It certainly does not rock.
Steve Earle - Jerusalem Well, this record got some publicity for "John Walker's Blues," a song empathetic to Mr. American Taliban. Country, folk, blues and rock & roll all have a solid tradition of songs written from bad guys' (and girls') perspectives. If the reactionary lemmings want to get all fired up about this one, I say let 'em. This is a fine album, though not as good as some of his earlier ones.
The Flops - Ooh La La Ben Folds Live These two CDs are alike in several ways. They are live, which means that they feature material mostly released before, they both include a multimedia disc and they're from some of my all-time favorite artists.
The Flops are Matt Wilson and John Munson, both of Trip Shakespeare, and John is in Semisonic. One disc is live recordings of The Flops. They mostly play stripped down (guitar and bass) versions of Trip Shakespeare and Matt Wilson solo tunes. The other disc is a CD-ROM featuring a story by Wilson's Harvard roommate, Sam Magavern, with help from Munson. The Flops provide the soundtrack while you read. I can't say I'll ever feel the need to read the story again, but the accompanying photos of places around Minneapolis are worth another look or two.
Ben Folds' 2001 release Rockin' the Suburbs was his best since the first Ben Folds Five CD. This record is from his Ben Folds and a Piano Tour 2002, which was the tour to support RtS. Live includes a DVD of several of the tracks on the CD. It's a good place to check out his hands while he plays and see what you've been missing if you've never seen him live.
The Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious This one was a 2000 release in Sweden. The Hives get lumped in with The Strokes, The Vines, The White Stripes etc. as the "new garage" bands. Or something like that. Of course, the sound has been around for years, but that's the way it goes. I generally didn't get too excited about any of it, but I made some inquiries at Roadrunner Records and bought this one as a result. It's good and it rocks.
Kevin Tihista's Red Terror - Judo Kevin Tihista intended to release Don't Breathe a Word and Judo as a double CD called Back to Budapest. Instead, Atlantic released DBaW in 2001 and Parasol released Judo. It's great orchestral wuss rock. The kind I like.
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot You've heard the story about this one, right? Warner/Reprise wanted them to make this more commercially viable and they refused. (Warner subsidiary) Nonesuch scored when they released it and it debuted at #13. I don't really think it's all that strange sounding. It didn't grab me immediately like Wilco's last one, SummerTeeth, did. However, YHF grew on me and it's somewhere in my top five for the year.
Good, But Didn't Thrill Me in 2002
Beck - Sea Changes Jay Bennett & Edward Burch - The Palace at 4am (part 1) The Loud Family - From Ritual to Romance (live) The Soviettes/Valentines e.p. Stretch Princess - Fun With Humans Supergrass - Life on Other Planets
Excellent Reissues and Compilations, 2002
Jellyfish - Fan Club (box set) The Suburbs - In Combo, Credit in Heaven, Love is the Law The Three O'Clock - Arrive Without Travelling/Ever After Three of my all-time favorite bands, and three of my all-time favorite albums (IC, CiH, AWT). I've been waiting a long time for them to get reissued. Marc Bolan & T. Rex - 20th Century Boy: The Ultimate Collection Get this and Electric Warrior and you're probably good in the Marc Bolan/T. Rex department.
Disappointments, 2002
Marah - Float Away With the Friday Night Gods Bob Mould - Modulate In both cases, I'm not sure what went wrong, but something sure did...

1/7
I was on 1:00 call yesterday. I got done around 8:00. After I took Duke for a quick walk, Eric and I headed out to Sherlock's Home, home of arguably the best micro-brewed beer in the country. Closed! No one even told me. I guess they weren't making enough money on the food side of the business and lost their liquor license. I didn't get there very often (it's in Minnetonka, might as well be South Dakota...) but it was always a bit of a treat to go. I'll get over it. Sometime.
1/5
Another long day today. Yesterday was ten hours, today nine.
I was on call. I sat around for about four hours, then I drove the 21 for five hours. It was quite slow all day except for one trip. It was like everyone called each other and agreed to meet on my bus during that one trip.
I was thinking about something, but I can't remember what it was. I'm going to take a short nap now.
1/4
Hey, remember when Brett Favre was 35-0 when the game temperature at Lambeau was under 34 degrees? When the Packers never lost a playoff game at Lambeau? When the Falcons didn't have a chance? Yeah, me too.
The 17 Lady rode my bus again today. But I was driving the 18!
She remembered me this time. She told me that I couldn't "hide on her," because she's "everywhere." She had someone with her who I assumed was her granddaughter. She went to the casino in Hinckley last night and won $350. I'm not sure if it was in celebration of her big win or not, but looking at her bangs, I noticed that she'd given herself a haircut.
I'm Duke-sitting again.
1/3
I drove the 21 for a little while today, then the 17.
A lady on the 21 asked me about computers. Where should she buy one? What kind is good? Should she look for one at a pawnshop? Have I ever been to a pawnshop? What are they like?
Um, is it kind of odd to ask your bus driver about computers? Maybe it's not, given that a lot of people have them, but I'm glad she didn't have any questions about where to get a Power Slot Disc for her 1990 Corolla.
The 17 Lady rode my bus again today. After riding with me and talking with me three times last Sunday, she still didn't recognize me today.
There's a rumor around town that I might have a guest contributor on the TL...
I'm watching the Fiesta Bowl. It's now in overtime and Miami just scored a touchdown. I'm really pulling for Ohio State here. Touchdown, Ohio State, and we're into the second OT. I need to get to bed; I have an early morning. Ohio State scores a touchdown. Oh, I hope they stop Miami this time...
Ohio State wins! Sweet. Good night.
1/2
Happy New Year! and all that...
My year is off to good start, I guess. That is, it's not bad. I was on call at work today. I drove an express route for about three hours this afternoon. As usual, very unexciting. I got done with work in time to go catch the Orange Peels at Bryant Lake Bowl. Or not. I found out that I was going to wait in line to probably not get in, so I came home. Instead, I got to see the bad half of the Orange Bowl in which my alma mater got whupped by some pretty fellas from USC. And I was actually cheering for Iowa this time, which is unusual.
I drove the 17 last night until the wee hours of this morning. It was very slow. I did get one guy who I've driven before. He's developmentally disabled and very friendly. He was telling me all about his mother's doll house and all the things he's found for it and where he got it all. I think the doll house is like the ones you could see at the Great Minnesota Get-Together if you went into the right building. He kept talking about Department 56 as if I should know what that is. Well, I Googled it and now I do.
Late last night, a group call came from Control: "The state of Minnesota has issued an AMBER Alert blah blah blah." I immediately racked my brain to remember where amber fell in the Asscroft Rainbow of Terror. But it turns out that, unlike the ART, the AMBER Alert actually means something. The name is an acronym for America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response. A child had been abducted in St. Cloud and we were all supposed to look for a grey MINIVAN. The St. Cloud Police found it and the baby. Two runaway teens took the MINIVAN when the mother left it running outside a liquor store.
Holy Cow! I just saw that SD Governor Bill Janklow just pardoned American Indian Movement activist Russell Means. That's pretty big of him. He's not been too keen on the AIM in the past. And guess what? I once saw him sitting in his underwear smoking a cigarette in front of the TV. ha.
Geek alert: Mark is getting obsessed with The Lord of the Rings. I mentioned that he got the super-fantastic-deluxe version of the DVD, right? Well, he spent all day yesterday watching it. And he threatened to put it in again this evening. Geek. (But in his defense, it is really cool...)
Well, New Year's Eve was fun. The theme was Tex Mex, in honor of our esteemed president. So we ate delicious food, created and recited Cowboy Poetry (using words and phrases that evoked Texas and/or Bush- words like cocaine, electric chair, fuzzy math, strategery, etc.), played pin the missile on... uh... the george, smacked a pi�ata around, and played a particularly nasty version of Jenga (I opted out as I had to drive the next day) that culminated in a bare-ass spanking. Don't get caught in mid-play when the clock strikes midnight! Even though I went dressed as Tom Landry, I managed to win the Best Cowboy Hat prize.