A Challenge!
Friday, March 31, 2006
The time is upon us, The Great epic Slacker's Dating Odyssey is finally ready to start being released. Starting next week (April 3rd), I will start posting (2-3 at a time) some of the what will eventually be about 20ish books (chapters) for your reading pleasure. It will be a wondrous tale of love and mischief, of gods and their trials. You will definitely have to check it out.
Since the original chapters have been written, it's also time to start adding to it. This epic is not complete and you are now challenged to help be muse to the rest!
The Challenge:
Slacker's Dating Odyssey is a tale of the travels of yours truly in the dating world given a mythological twist. However, I have yet to find my personal Penelope and and the tale will continue until then.
This is where you come in.
Slacker is still single, and while single, no chapters are being added to the epic journey. I've tried bars, tried school, Match, and even given in to the evil eharmony to no avail. So, now I am appealing to all of you.
The blogosphere is broad and full of connections, full of possibilities though, so it's time this is explored. I challenge all of you so scour your links, to explore new blogs and to find someone worthy of a new chapter. You get to play matchmaker, to play muse to the next part of the Epic.
You have read through this blog, you know much of my taste. The challenge is to find and connect your Slacker with someone you believe could be the elusive Penelope.
To win this challenge, the new book of the Odyssey must extend to the third date. And to this victor will go a beverage of their choice In Person with myself at a future date to be determined!
So there you have it, you have been challenged. Let the adventure continue!
posted by Chief Slacker @ 2:08 PM,
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Another Booked Weekend!
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
***THIS JUST IN!!!!!!!!!***
The iTunes 8-Ball predicted an invasion from the Planet of Women!!! Prepare yourselves accordingly and read more about it on the AV Edition!
So yeah, sounds like this weekend is already going to be fun and it hasn't even started yet!
The week has good. Monday was a fun time. Mistress of Charades invited me to a benefit for a progressive teen website Scarletteen and it turned out to be a very good time. It had some Drag, some live Music, Some fine belly dancing (including the wonderful Miss C herself) and a silent auction. I ended up winning tattoo work and a T-shirt in the silent auction. Now I have to figure out what I want to add to my tattoo.
Besides that, tonight is Stub and Herb's night like usual. G-Spot will play poker and I'll drink and play trivia. It's a good arrangement. hehe.
For the busy weekend, I now have a "date" with O'Gara's Girl to see the Minnesota Orchestra Friday night. We did get talking again, seems she just got back from a nice long vacation to L.A. If you wonder why "date" is all snuggly with the quote marks, it's because she made the disclaimer that she'll be moving away soon and doesn't want to be "dating" but would like to hang out. No reason not to hang out and have some fun though eh?
Saturday I've been invited to get my geek on at a friend's place by joining in on a LAN party. For the new uber-geeks here, that mean a whole group of people get their computers, network them and kill each other in online video games. It's like nerd Nirvana.
Saturday Night is another game at the Minnesota Swarm. It's April fools as well so who knows what else will happen. After the game I have an invite to a housewarming party of Miss Charade's Ex. So yeah, it's one hell of a busy day.
Sunday, well, I have a feeling some rest will be required.
Anyway, I'm off. I should be around your blogs more, so keep on coming by here as well! And one other thing: Keep slackin!
posted by Chief Slacker @ 3:30 PM,
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I'm a little TPOT.
Monday, March 27, 2006
Flower: [about two birds fluttering around] Well! What's the matter with them?
Thumper: Why are they acting that way?
Friend Owl: Why, don't you know? They're twitterpated.
Flower, Bambi, Thumper: Twitterpated?
Friend Owl: Yes. Nearly everybody gets twitterpated in the springtime. For example: You're walking along, minding your own business. You're looking neither to the left, nor to the right, when all of a sudden you run smack into a pretty face. Woo-woo! You begin to get weak in the knees. Your head's in a whirl. And then you feel light as a feather, and before you know it, you're walking on air. And then you know what? You're knocked for a loop, and you completely lose your head!
Thumper: Gosh, that's awful.
Flower: Gee whiz.
Bambi: Terrible!
Friend Owl: And that ain't all. It could happen to anyone, so you'd better be careful.
[points at Bambi]
Friend Owl: It could happen to you…
[points at Thumper]
Friend Owl: … or you, or even...
[Flower looks at Owl shyly]
Friend Owl: Yes, it could even happen to you!
Thumper: Well, it's not gonna happen to me.
Bambi: Me neither.
Flower: Me neither.
Chief Slacker: Me neither.
So, Saturday when I was out with Calvin for his birthday this Outkast song comes on. The lyrics were, well, stupid, but the refrain kinda hit me: "Love hater, hater of love." Yeah, that's totally me right now. Unfortunately for me it's spring. Spring means twitterpation season. Twitterpation season means Chief Slacker has to do his best not to be bitter and reclusive. Bitter and reclusive is no good. Therefore spring is no good. We'll call this the transitive property of twitterpation. TPOT for short.
Yeah, basically due to TPOT I really hate this season. I completely enjoy the warm weather that eventually comes with it, but there always seems to be something lacking. Usually the void seems to be centered in the relationship department. The bigger problem is that everyone I know seems to hook up around me. Conservative Girl is all infatuated with her Net Boy, Miss Charades has her new Punster, I found out last week the last single person I know at work is now dating someone (and this is NOT a small company) and it just keeps going. I feel like a terrible friend lately because I just can't really find it in me to be happy for them. I want to be, as a friend should, but it's just not there. I felt extra bad last night when G-Spot called to say "He hasn't called me!!!" because this guy she really likes didn't call like he said he would and I was actually a little bit glad. I completely ignored phone calls from CG Sunday because I just didn't want to deal with all that either. I'm officially crossing over into bitter asshole land and I don't like it.
"Wait, what about Bright Eyes?" you ask? Well, that's quickly turning out to be another one (and a half) date wonder. She called me last week Tuesday to apologize for not calling since she had been super busy and promised to call later in the week. It's now next week. We talked of going to church together sometime, so I called Sat to see if she wanted to, but no answer. This is getting to be a pretty standard routine.
It's probably my own fault. Maybe it's because I always look left and right before crossing the street. Maybe I just need to take Friend Owl's advice and look "neither to the left, nor to the right," and hope the thing I run smack into is indeed a pretty face, worthy of twitterpation, and not a speeding bus.
Tea makes me yack, so the sooner I get rid of the TPOT, the better.
posted by Chief Slacker @ 12:20 PM,
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Water and bridge part ways... Girl Updates too.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
So yeah, I found this REALLY COOL new idea for The Wednesday Wist. Over on Miss Charades' blog, she posted a meme from another Blogger that was much like the Wednesday wist, but taking it a step further and even more fun! Basically it's asking life's questions and letting the music player be a sort of new age Magic 8-Ball. I would skip the shaking part though, might make the computer mad. It went amazingly well, apparently I need to learn how to ride bulls and should consider selling my soul. Check it out!!! Now! It's an order, and it said I will be king, so you better listen!
Anyway, so yeah. I finally hung out with Tom again since the whole date stealing incident. He suckered me back in with free tickets to see the Minnesota Wild play the Calgary Flames. they won. Yay!
I did ask him about the whole O'Gara's Girl thing and what was up with that. Turns out he had actually gotten her number a good week prior to that night. Apparently that's what she considered asking her out. They went out once and she was just to quiet for his tastes and when he found out I was going to ask her out pretty much stopped talking to her.
Damn you women! Always gotta make things confusing!
Anyway, since he's obviously not in her picture anymore and since she never has called, my guess is she's not all that interested anyway, so whatever.
In other girl news, after the game while I was having some drinks with Tom, Bright Eyes called. Yay!
She apologized for not having called me back after St.Patty's when I left a message and said she had been super busy but totally wants to hang out again sometime soon. So that's a good thing. Unfortunately it looks like the rest of this week is already book, but we'll see.
Oh and if you missed yesterday's long ass post, check it out, there's an update about Cute Paramedic amongst the St. Patty's day shenanigans.
Yup, ok, time to get ready to head to Stub and Herb's with G-Spot like usual! :O)
Later peoples. Keep slackin'. King Slacker commands!
posted by Chief Slacker @ 3:53 PM,
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St.Patty's Day 2006: A Study In... Self Control?
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
**Sorry, this got long, but it gets interesting :O)**
St.P Day Recap:
Ahh Saint Patrick's Day, the international day of drunken fun! I had big plans for this year, but unfortunately they didn't all pan out and at one point there was some moral dilemma. I still ended up having a fun time though!
The original plan was to join up with The Player and his buddy from Cali and possibly do a party bus pub crawl type of thing. Problem is, he disappeared for the day before and the day of SPD. Luckily I knew of Miss Charade's (Mistress of... too long!) group of bar crawlers that would be out perusing the cities!
I messaged MC, but found out that, sadly, she was sick on St.Patty's. However, she directed me to The Cute Paramedic as she was out with others still. I did such and found out they were heading over to the ill MC's place and since it's three blocks away I invited them over for some drinks at my place before going back out on the town.
After some phone connection issues, we did meet up and they (TCP, Skylark and Frat Boy) came over. With the first round of drinks there my St. Patrick's Day officially began! And for the record it was a whiskey diet. I know, so original. Bite me! Anyway, we enjoyed our drinks along with some Reno 911. After the round we decided it was time to head out on the town again and went to O'Gara's.
O'Gara's has a huge St. Patty's Day celebration, they have the main bar area, the "Garage" area where their concert stage is, and then also have an big tent outside with live music as well. Obviously this place gets to be a bit of a zoo so we wanted to make sure to hit it early before it was too terrible there. We squeezed in and had a round there. We also met our first uncomfortably friendly drunk. I'm not sure what she was carrying, but it resembled a very long, very skinny plastic funnel and had a dowel rod in it. We had one and a half rounds a there and decided the we had enough of the crowds there.
After checking in with Raelun and MC's Consultant so see if they were going to meet up we decided to head over to Minneapolis (I should state that Frat Boy was sober-cab) and eventually make our way to The Otter Stop Inn for some Karaoke. On the way though, there would be a stop at Mac's Industrial Sports Bar for cheap $3 Guinness and Reach-Arounds (the drink you pervs!). Sometime in here is when self-control started to become an issue, but I'll get back to that later. We had a round of Reach-Arounds and I had a couple Guinness as we all split some fries.
Next up was a couple blocks down the road to Otter's. This place is a little hole in the wall, but it's fun. Karaoke there doesn't mean one person up front singing, no. It means basically anyone who knows the song singing it, but that one person has a microphone. ;O) We drank, we sang and were quite merry! Definitely made for a good St.Patty's Day! So after they finally started to tire (this group had been going since 10am, but I had to work, boo!) we called it a night at about midnight. FIB dropped off TCP, Then me and that was the end of the night with them!
Right here is here you should be asking yourself: "Midnight??? Chief Slacker went home at MIDNIGHT? On SAINT PATRICK'S DAY?" Yes, I really did go home at midnight. But that doesn't mean I stayed there :O)
About 12:30 G-Spot calls wondering what I'm up to and when she found out that I was home already we formulated a plan to continue St.Patty's day! Her sister and a friend were in town, so I picked them up and we headed to downtown Minneapolis to The Local "An Irish Pub". We got there, had a couple drinks and closed the bar down :O) It was fun to meet the sister, I recall even asking G-spot permission to hit on her, but found she had a boyfriend. heh. Anyway, yeah went home, played some drunken World of Warcraft and went to bed about 5. Now that's a pretty dang good Saint Patty's day. Yup.
Damn You, Morals. Damn You:
So? What's this self control problem? I mean it's Saint Patrick's day, usually the only moral dilemma one should have is whether drinking green American crap beer is really in the true Irish Spirit or not. No, no, this one ran a little deeper than that and the temptation had a name: Cute Paramedic.
Previous to Saint Pat's I had been informed by Miss C that TCP had been dating someone new and, though he was quite a bit older, was really happy with him. When it turned out to be a couples type situation since it was Frat Boy and Skylark, then me and TCP I kinda put the guard up. I mean, it's not like I had liked her quite a bit or anything and that and had a weird end either.
So yeah, we had been having quite a bit of fun, bar hopping and whatnot. TCP stated at several times that she missed me and that we need to hang out more. I of course prodded her stating that I wasn't the one you disappeared. On the way over to Mac's I brought up that she was dating someone and we decided we should still hang out. She declared to the car that we had the
"It's Ok." talk. Heh.
Anyway, yeah, at Macs though, the morals started to come into play. At one point she asked me to lean in to tell me something but instead of speaking when I was next to her, there was nibbling of the ear. Nice move. WAIT!
Umm, Hi!
"Be good!!" Said me. She apologized and we went back to munching on fries and Guinness. There were several other points a Mac's as well where there was a hug that turned out to have ulterior motives on her part and several attempted kisses. Turns out this was just a warm up though.
We headed over to Otters and the real trials began.
It started with a bunch of the same, the not so innocent hugs and also a couple lectures from me about how she was dating someone. If she wanted to do that, she shouldn't have stopped dating me! Unfortunately this didn't have much effect and the fact that I was drinking on a fairly empty stomach did not help things either. There were pecks here and there and a couple times where she demanded that I kiss her. When reminded she had a boyfriend the eventual answer became "So?" Holy wrong and completely unhelpful answer batgirl.
Unfortunately soon after the alcohol kicked in during one lecture and when she interrupted it by making out with me I suddenly forgot the lecture and remembered how entirely fun for about 10 seconds until the brains kicked back in. Again I had to use the damn brakes. This is getting old!! After applying the brakes I was successful in playing the "dodge and hug" game for a good while. I figured her nibbling the ear was a lot less morally fuzzy than making out.
Then she grabbed me right in the Moral Dilemma.
Yes, by that I mean there was goosing of appendages she should not have been visiting in much the same way she did back in the post linked though "entirely fun" above. I think just about any guy would agree, once she goes there, she better be prepared to finish what she started. I believe my comment was "Ok, you so don't wanna go there, because that will make me want to do things we definitely can't be doing."
Luckily soon after it was decided to go, and also luckily I was not driving or I'm quite certain this could have ended in a morning full of regrets. Instead it just ended with some drunkish texts.
It does make me wonder about her relationship and how happy she really is. The age difference always makes me wonder. In all the relationships I've seen the younger girl dates the older guy because he's more established in life and they're attracted to the stability and supposed maturity. Ends up though he's dating someone much younger because, really, that maturity isn't there or he wants to "daddy" the girl. In this case a 15 year age spread really makes me wonder. But, alas, it's really not for me to worry about, so I won't.
Anyway, yeah. I have had to use these brakes way to often, but it's definitely for the better. Hopefully one of these days a girl will come along where the brakes won't need to be used anymore.
Until then, Keep slackin'!
posted by Chief Slacker @ 1:07 PM,
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The Dates
Monday, March 20, 2006
Ok, so here you finally go. No I haven't kept you in suspense this long just to be cruel. The honest reason is actually kinda selfish. I haven't written about it because I really didn't want myself to get excited about it. When I enjoyed something the more I talk about it the more excited I can get and so far, with my dating history, getting excited about a date just ends with me being disappointed. Anyway, Here's the dates!
Bright Eyes, Date 1:
Being the first person I met off of eHarmony (Which, by the way, I completely DO NOT recommend for anyone to use.) I was wondering how this would go. We did a little bit of emailing, then she gave me her number to call her. Since we both had busy schedules we found Sunday was a good day to get together and planned to meet at Nina's, The coffee shop near my place also know as Slacker Post One. Turns out she lives four blocks from me as well.
We met up around 5:30ish and things went pretty well. We talked about all sorts of things. We even made it into the "first date taboo topics" and none of them killed the mood or momentum. She had some tea, I had some coffee and the convo kept going. She was very fun, a playful personality like mine so it was easy to make jokes and enjoy the time. She's got pretty short brown hair a very pretty smile and incredibly sparkly brown eyes, hence the name Bright Eyes! She reminds me a lot of Janine Turner circa Northern Exposure with less fluffy hair.
After the beverages, we decided to have a few more of the alcoholic nature and walked across the street to Costello's a cozy little neighborhood pub. We chatted more and more, there was luckily no shortage of conversation! We had a couple rounds of drinks, she had her beer while I had my whiskey diets. After round three we decided to get the check and she invited me over for a drink if I would like. "...and by drink I mean Miller Lite because that's all I have." hehe. We walked over to her place and she showed me around a bit. I saw much of her collection of Virgin Mary stuff, but never did see the fake moustache collection. We grabbed a beer and plopped down on the couch to watch Eddie Izzard. If you don't know of him, he's and English cross dressing comedian. Very funny!
So during the show there was some fun with making sentences out of candy hearts and also a kiss. And then another. And then full on make-out. And then the roommate/cousin coming home and the quick fix-ourselves-up-so-we-don't-totally-look-like-we-were-making-out thing. We relaxed for a while and watched some more of the show and made a few more candy heart phrases. The roommate hit the hay and things stayed snuggly for a while with a little kissing in between. Eventually the show was over and there was talk of parting ways and then talk of company. "Yeah, but no funny business you got that mister?" That last about ten minutes when kissing led to her getting kinda of frisky and definitely crossing over to the land of funny business. I actually had to put on the breaks at two different points (Go ahead and chastise me Cap'n) to keep it from being full on funny biz. It finally reverted back to snuggling and then sleep.
We got up at 6:30 in the morning and she ushered me out so she wouldn't be distracted and would actually get up and get going to work. So I wandered home to begin the morning from hell with no jacket. Heh. If only I had decided to get off of the interstate one exit earlier, I could have spared myself most of that headache and would have been snuggling watching a movie with Bright Eyes while the snow cleared. Oh well. Good date though. :O)
Bright Eyes, Date 2:
So Monday we chatted her and there and after work she decided to come over and watch a movie. We looked through all the movies and after some discussion she decided she wanted to watch Closer since it was on her Netflix list.
For the record, I think Closer is a terrible date movie since it basically exhibits just about every horribly bad trait anyone could possibly have in a relationship.
Anyway, we watched the movie and relaxed with a little very minor snuggling. We both agreed that Jude Law's character had some serious issues, Clive Owen's character was a hugely manipulative asshole and that Natalie Portman was pretty hot in that movie. After the movie she decided she should head home and get some sleep so I walked her back home, gave her a kiss goodnight and we went our separate ways. I then proceeded to get nowhere near enough sleep before heading out for some Mini-Spring Break Debauchery.
So there you have the two dates! We talked of hanging out this past Wednesday, but she called and said she would have to work late and couldn't make it. I called this weekend to see what she was up to but haven't heard back, so here's hoping this wasn't another case of the one date wonder!
So yeah, now I need to work on a St.Patty's day weekend recap. It was definitely interesting with some Cute Paramedic action. Check ya later!
posted by Chief Slacker @ 10:44 AM,
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Oops / Mini-Break Recap
Friday, March 17, 2006
First off, HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY!
So the suspense of the date has built long enough, but will have to wait for one more post :O) After this one I'll post about them!
Anyway, yeah, even power slackers like myself have physical limits and I apparently found mine yesterday. I got up to go about my normal morning routine and whilst attempting to put toothpaste on the toothbrush, suddenly found my face being smacked into the medicine cabinet. Yes, I passed out mid toothpasting. This then prompted a phone call to Idiot Boss which I don't remember, but wherein I did say I was not going to make it to work. Then came sleeping till 2:30 when Big Mike woke me up to make sure I was still alive.
So, since you know how things turned out, let's go back Tarantino style...
Last week it was proposed that a group should be assembled and go on a mini-spring break road trip. Since we're all busy and yet any good slacker MUST partake in some spring break debauchery, the trip was planned by The Mistress of Charades (Formerly Outta Leaguer and because she rocked at the charades part of Cranium, hopefully MoC is acceptable?) to be a one and a half day affair. So we met up over at MoC's place at 8:45am and awaited Skylark to pick us up and then go get Frat Boy (I'm stealing MoC's nicknames for them because well, I'm a slacker). Once we all gathered, there trip was on!
The remnants of Monday's blizzard made the drive a little interesting at times, but it went well. Stopped at a Perkins in the middle of WI for some late breakfast, potato pancakes and French toast, yum! We eventually made it to Wisconsin Dells and the Kalahari Resort, the world's biggest indoor waterpark. Yes indeed, a little island paradise smack in the middle of the chilly Midwest. And you thought Wisconsin only had cheese and beer! HA!
Anyway, the day was very much fun. There was the waterslide roller coaster, the wave rider thing, and the "Pro Bowl" which I can only explain as being "flushed." heh. And then there were the Spas. Mmmmmmm, hot tub.... Nothing like having a margarita in a bubbly hot tub. We soaked so long in those things I think I still smell of chlorine several showers later. The wave rider was fun, you basically boogie board on a big wave that never really moves. It did have one issue, it caused mayhem with the swimsuits if you happened to fall off. At one point Skylark had a minor wardrobe malfunction when the decorative mesh layer of her bikini bottoms got hooked on the grating of the machine. In freeing herself she ended up giving a good number of young boys a good rear view. I'm fairly certain Skylark has about 17 adolescent boys who think they're dating ;O) Luckily after some trimming the suit looked fine and enjoyment of watery fun resumed.
After we had enough of the hot tubbing, (well, ok, since "enough" may not have been impossible, I'll modify that to, decided to move on with the night) we went and got some dinner at Houlihan's and then stopped off at Evil-Mart and picked up some games and some beer (WI rules!) and found a hotel to crash at. Unfortunately they didn't have Apples to Apples, but we made due with "Boxers and Briefs" and "Cranium." B&B was ok, but the real fun when we played Cranium. The performing category is when it got really interesting, humming and acting and charading oh my!
A couple highlights:
MoC: *Hands on hips and chest pronounced* "Beam me up Scottish Person!!"
Skylark: "Climbing, Climbing BOOM!!!!"
Me: Angle 1: *Ringing a bell* Angle 2: *Spank spank spank*
We eventually just gave up on the game (Well, after the men thoroughly trounced to women) and played only the performance part. There are incriminating videos... I'll work on that for y'all.
For a little bit I kinda got stuck being the odd man out with the couple (Sky and Frat) and with MoC on the phone with her new prospective man. But luckily there was genuine Wisconsin beer (Leinenkugel's) to help with that.
We slept for a bit, got up at an ungodly hour of 6:15am weds, then drove the 3.5 hours back to the cities. I went to work, felt incredibly funky after three cups of coffee and a big ass Rockstar Energy Drink and tried not to pass out all afternoon.
In all it was a very fun trip.
After work I went home, slept for like an hour, then went out to the bar with G-Spot. Bright Eyes had to work late and couldn't make it out, but G-spot and I had a pretty good time. One girl we met a couple weeks back, that G-Spot thought was cute and tried to arrange so I could ask her out ended up hitting on HER, so that was interesting and soooooo my luck. i got home at like 1, ended up staying up until 3 something with the roomie, and yeah, we know how the morning ended up.
Oh well, anyway, time to head out and get my partially-Irish ass drunkity drunk!
Later peeps!
posted by Chief Slacker @ 3:48 PM,
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Post Mini-Break Down-ness.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006The Wednesday Wist is up. Check it out
Ugg, maybe it's from being dead tired after having to drive back from the Dells way to early this morning, or maybe it's subtle hangover, or maybe just plain but mild depression, but I'm just mentally down. I'm supposed to go out with G-Spot to Stub's like usual on Wednesdays tonight and Bright Eyes said she might come. Hopefully the latter will happen and, well, brighten things up!
Anyway, I'll get you a recap on the dates and on the vaca either tonight or tomorrow and now I'm going to take a nap.
Later taters!
posted by Chief Slacker @ 4:59 PM,
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Spring Mini-break
Tuesday, March 14, 2006So Outta Leaguer last week propose taht we needed to get people together and do soemthing fun for spreaing break. And, with the weather being so incredibly nasty this morning, I can't think of any place better aorund here to hang out than the Kalahari Resort in Wi Dells.
So we're heading there in a few hours. hang out and have fun in the water park, then get some beer and a cheepy hotel room and crash then head back bright and early wednesday morning.
Yup, so the suspense about the date will be postponed one more day, and just as an added tease, Bright Eyes came over for a while tonight as well.
Ha! see you all wednesday!
posted by Chief Slacker @ 2:40 AM,
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Mother Nature, I Apologize!
Monday, March 13, 2006
Since this has been a busy day, make sure you start down with "Kool-aid + Cable Modem = F#$% Me!" and work up.
HA! You were hoping for news on the date weren't you? Well guess what, I'm going to keep you waiting in suspense for at least ONE more post :O)
Anyway, yeah, I owe a big apology to Mother Nature. On Friday, I got a little cocky after hearing a report that we would be getting from 3-10 inches on snow Sunday/Monday morning and stated "Yeah, right, we'll probably get 2 inches!" After all, this winter has had an incredibly small amount of snow for us and the predictions have been a good deal off for most other snowfalls. I think Mother Nature heard, and then devised a plan to make me regret those words.
I got up this morning to make the five block trek home from Bright Eyes' place and found this. Yeah, pay attention to slide 7 and also the last one.
So yeah, to Mother Nature and anyone else in the Twin Cities area, I beg your forgiveness!!!
Anyway, I went home and got ready for worked, unburied the car and hopped in at 7 thinking it would give me a nice fat 2 hours to get the 26 miles to work. HA! I slay me! It took me about an hour to make it 4 miles at which point the interstate became a parking lot. And by parking lot I mean, people actually had their cars in park and were standing there talking with each other. I heavily contemplated making a snowman in the middle of the interstate but decided that would end up being a hazard if/when traffic did resume movement. I could have hung out with Bright Eyes again since she tried to go to work but they told her to stay home till it cleared. But NOOOOO I happened to be parked 1/2 mile from the next exit and it took over an hour and a half to get there including the part where my car died because the alternator couldn't keep up with the headlights, heater fan on high, rear window defroster, and radio.
Turns out that not one, but TWO busses and three vehicles had spun out on the same incline/overpass thus blocking the entire three lane chunk of highway. One of the buses was a the double length variety jackknifed in much the same fashion as the one in the last slide. By the time I got home, Bright Eyes had decided to go back to sleep.
So, I attempted to head to work, only to have my car be stuck in my parking space. I dug it out and then it proceeded to get stuck in the street at the end of the driveway. In the midst of trying to extricate my car the second time it managed to ran out of gas. Yeah, go ahead and laugh. If it wouldn't have been blocking the building next door's driveway, I would have just left it and gone back to bed. Because that sounded like SUCH a good option at that point
I eventually did make the drive and it took me 55 minutes after I finally got on the road. Got to work and Idiot Boss said: "Wow, you're in! You could have just used a vacation day." Dude. Oh. The pain I should cause you.
Anyway yeah. A half day it will be and Bright Eyes just called, so the day just got better :O)
Now, the question is how long to wait till I write about the date...?
posted by Chief Slacker @ 5:43 PM,
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Music to the Ears.
So in the midst of attempting to be more social again in the last couple weeks, I've gotten back into a habit of going out with friends. On several of these outings I've managed to also get back into another habit I've missed: Live Music.
I'm a huge fan of music, especially live music. In the past two weekends I've managed to catch three shows:
1 .The first one was Lucinda Williams with The Outta Leaguer. I managed to score some sweet front row balcony tickets the day of the concert, so we moseyed on over and enjoyed a very kicks show. It was stripped down to just her and another guitarist. If you dig blues with a hint of country you would love this music. It lasted about three hours and she played five songs off her new album. If the rest of the songs are half as good, it's going to rock.
The rest of the weekend we good too, went out with G-Spot to the movie Pride and Prejudice on Friday and then out with The Player (a buddy of mine who just moved to the area) to "hit the bars and pick up chicks" as her said.
2. This past weekend, on Friday I went out with Conservative Girl to see a band called The Prophets of Soul. They were a totally fun band, played some good funk/disco/blues music. They were a pretty big band with a drummer, keyboards, Bas, Guitar, a three piece horns section with sax and trumpet along with three singers. That place had good food too!
3. On Saturday I met up with G-Spot again and headed downtown Mini-Apple to see the principle's (of the school she teaches at) son's band. They play some music I'm not really sure if I can classify, but it was pretty neat. they had a bass, drums, and then a violin and cello/guitar. The two bands that came after them were crap, but they played some very cool music.
The other events this weekend intermixed with the music definitely made for an interesting time. Friday I found out CG is totally infatuated with this guy she met online and has yet to meet but they talk every single night. The odd part is that she'll not be meeting this guy for a minimum of a year since he's in training to be shipped out to Iraq. she's apparently planning on meeting up with his brother and sister in law though. Anyone else think that sounds like a weird and possibly bad plan? Saturday G-Spot's principle's husband COMPLETELY his on her at the concert, he even slipper her his cell number "...you know, in case you wanna chat or something." that one snapped the needle of the creepy meter.
Sunday was a date with Bright Eyes, a new girl I met which went very well, so there will just have to be a whole post devoted to it :O)
posted by Chief Slacker @ 4:28 PM,
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Kool-aid + Cable Modem = F#$% Me!
So I must apologize for the complete lack of updates for over a week. The abrupt postponement of Audio Visual Week was brought on by catastrophic Cherry Kool-Aid mishap.
I'm still not sure how a Lienekugel's Pint glass full of the modem killing kid's drink ended up sitting next to the wonderful piece of technology, but it certainly wasn't a good plan. In an attempt to fix some performance issues, I decided to rest the modem, which requires unplugging it and plugging it back in. While performing this intricate procedure I was attempting to avoid knocking over the Chris Farley, Tommy Boy Bobblehead and instead knocked over the modem and the Drink of Modem Death, heard a small pop, smelled cherry scented ozone and then stood there in disbelief for a good thirty seconds.
Luckily it has now been replaced!
I just today realized that this whole time I could have been phone posting. I suck.
So I owe all of you a few days worth of AV Week and also an update on some fun occurrences of the past week and a half! Today will be busy! Make sure to check back!
posted by Chief Slacker @ 3:16 PM,
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Idiocy in Motion! (CARS Research)
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Stupid Drivers, they're everywhere! Breakdowns in driving skills seem to be increasing on the roads today. Like some virus slowly propagating and degrading the abilities of the motorists of the world. We'll call it Crappy Auto-driver Regressing Syndrome or simply CARS. This scourge must be stopped. I think it's time we assemble a crack team of investigators (ok, fine, slackers will do) and find a cure! Karla apparently has completed her research into a cure for pediatric AIDS, so she clearly needs a new challenge, and I'm hoping some of you will join in this fight!
Our first mission, like any good investigative team, is to isolate the cause of these issues. In order to do that though, we must first isolate those afflicted with CARS. We need to compile a thorough list of possible carriers so that we may study and possibly quarantine these subjects. I have compiled a list of some likely cases along with descriptions, but I need all of your help to add to this list and give us a large pool of persons to study! Read up and Add on! Help the cause!
Tailgaters: Tendencies to hump your rear bumper worse then a dog in heat. Suffers from delusions that drafting is legal on highways. When placed behind a slower moving subject, will sometimes have a redness of the face and uncontrollably spew profanities.
Weavers: Often mistaken for people sitting behind looms these cases are much more dangerous. Common tendency to alternate lanes for little or no reason. They typically lack a perception of speed and this creates a near paranoia that another lane is going faster. This paranoia can also lead to hallucinations of space betweens the cars of the other lane and seizures causing them to switch too fast.
Velociholics: Typically occurring in the left lane of major roads going well above the speed limit, these subjects have an addiction to high rates of speed. In these cases, the CARS virus seems to manifest itself with a densening of the right foot forming a condition commonly know and "Lead Foot." Velociholics can also have the traits of a Tailgater, Weaver or other as well.
Velociphobics: Suffering from an apparent fear of speed, this group is rarely found moving at or near the posted speed limits. This condition is often compounded when rounding a bend in the road and especially when cornering. Susceptibility to this condition seems to increase with age.
Road-Blockers: This is an acute case typically found within the Velociphobic group but not limited to it. The primary characteristic of this set is inability to change lanes regardless of speed and traffic behind themselves. Sometimes accompanying this condition is a flailing of the arm in what can be described and a "go around" motion.
Blinkaholics: This portion of the CARS population seems to have an innate need of rhythmic clicking and flashing. In some cases these subject have been known to drive for miles with their turn signal on in order to fill this void.
Blinkaphobics: As above this condition is associated with rhythmic lights and clicks, but these persons have the opposite reaction to them. Avoiding these sounds and sights, they use the turn signal as little as possible. There is also a possibility Blinkaphobics posses a fear of flipping small handles though this has yet to be confirmed.
Brighters: This group typically have low night vision, or possibly forgetfulness with removing their sunglasses. Having a need for more light, they will tend to keep their high beam headlights on as much as possible and only dim them at the last minute when needed if at all.
Rubber-neckers: Having an extreme addiction to staring at anything unnatural on the side of the road, these subjects will temporarily show signs of Velociphobia and often Road-Blocking. This manifestation of CARS seems to be one of the more prevalent ones and can be spread very quickly among motorists in the same vicinity.
The International Bureau of Slacking needs your help with this continuing investigation. If you have discovered or witnessed any other exhibitions of the CARS virus, please record your findings here so we can stop this epidemic!
posted by Chief Slacker @ 5:27 PM,
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Technical Difficulties
The Wednesday Wist made it up on the AV Edition yesterday but Audioblogger refused to cooperate with me and kept locking up after I entered my pin so hopefully it will work tonight and I'll double post.
I'll work on getting today's content up ASAP as well! hope you all are enjoying!
In other news:
I have never before with sincerity contemplated what I am right now and damn does a nap under the desk sound good.
I.
Am.
Tired.
Yup.
Ok, on to the regularly scheduled slacking.
posted by Chief Slacker @ 9:12 AM,
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