This past Saturday's Powerball jackpot was estimated at just a shade over $180 million. Upon hearing this, I excitedly licked my chops and promptly forgot about buying a ticket. Then, en route to church Sunday morning, I saw the giant billboard that denoted the new, paltry $10 million prize. I was fully expecting the monies, like in previous Powerball payouts, to go to one of this country's many "hick" states which would then be spent on meth, store-bought moonshine and a new NASCAR racing team, but the Star Tribune and several television stations started reporting Sunday night that the buyer was actually from here! Wow, imagine the excitement.

Again I forgot about it, until today when the winners came forward. And after reading the story and seeing them on the news, I must say that I think they are the most deserving couple so far. An excerpt:

"I guess there was divine intervention," Paul Rosenau said. "This happened for a reason."

[...]

As for what they'll do with the money, Sue Rosenau has ideas of a trip to Hawaii while Paul Rosenau spoke of philanthropic plans, including giving money for research toward the disorder that took their granddaughter's life.

Good on you, guys.

In a loosely related story, Strib sports columnist Patrick Reusse took Minnesota sports fans to task for treating former Wild majority owner Bob Naegle like a deity while vilifying Twins owner (and 2008 Forbes Magazine Richest Man in Pro Sports) Carl Pohlad. Now I'm not a fan of either; Pohlad has pulled his share of dick moves on the Twins fan base (see 2001 contraction attempt) but he seems to be at least trying to make sonething happen now while also keeping the team in the black. My favorite part of the article though is in the comments, where illiterate and belligerent hockey fans try to defend their patron saint and then get collectively ripped to shreds by a guy called 'cartwa':

You can rip the Twins, Vikings, T-wolves, and gophers but you cant rip the Wild. It isnt fair. It is much like ripping on the kids on the short bus. Wild fans can barely read and logic is something they just dont understand. Expecting them to grasp reality would be way too much to ask. Keep in mind that these are the same fans that think mullets are cool and that wearing an oversized jersey with jeans and tennis shoes is styish. Wild fans think nothing of having their winter sport championship in June. Wild fans dont find anything odd about having teams in hockey hotbeads like Atlanta, Nashville, Phoenix, Charlotte or Florida (twice). Wild fans actually wait in line to purchase $85.00 game tickets and then never complain when their team musters only a handful of shots. Wild fans are so loyal that the mere attempt to open their eyes generates 80 plus comments that are so creative, you question our public school system. My favorite is the post that simply says "Reusse, you are an idiot." Please Mr Reusse, please dont rip the Wild.

Thanks for the humorous yet astute characterization of Wild fans, my friend.

now playing on iPod: Josh Kelley "Travelin'"

[Photo courtesy roadsidenut and Flickr]

Labels: local, media, twins

Fine Line Music Café, April 15, 2008

I know, I know, it seems like I'm always at the Fine Line. Shut up.

Tax Day 2008 turned out to be very pleasant weather-wise. Mostly sunny skies and temperatures hovering around 60. This is why there was a tinge of regret in my soul as we headed downtown to catch an early show featuring the rising Sara Bareilles. But all was well, because we grabbed sone Panchero's beforehand and ate while waiting outside for the doors to open.

Six o'clock, and the opener comes out. I've had pretty awful luck with opening acts since the Mandy Moore show back in like September, and tonight was no different: an atrocious chick-quartet called Raining Jane came out and channeled the Indigo Girls, dashing my hope of them being a Saving Jane clone. We suffered through about six of their songs; the highlights of their set were 1) a cello solo, 2) the surprise reveal that Rachael Yamagata was on the bill, and 3) when they left the stage. Oh, and in case you wanted to hear what the dumpy girls who didn't get asked to prom have been doing since you graduated high school, check out their album!

One bad thing about early weekday shows is that every act feels crammed in and constrained. Rachael came out about 15 minutes after the lesbians had torn down their equipment and wasted no time getting underway. She has a new record due soon, and is apparently using this tour as a vehicle for trying some of her new material out. Her performance was good but unremarkabkle, but was highlighted by an a cappella song that managed to silence even the activity in the smoking alley adjacent to the building.

Shortly before 8:00, Sara Bareilles came out. Touring in support of her major-label debut, Little Voice, she also had new material to show off. Honestly, I went into the concert expecting a Colbie Cailat-style experience, with unenthusiastic, by-the-book performances that were essentially the album played live, but Bareilles proved to be much more than that. She was engaging, had non-album stuff to play, and actually seemed to enjoy playing and mixing it up a bit. The last two songs she played were "Love Song" and, as an encore, a tune by Bonnie Raitt, and finished just a shade before nine.

Overall, the Bareilles/Yamagata show was a good time. One thing I didn't enjoy was one of the things that bugged me about the Cailat show: the crowd. Listen, I know it's an all-ages show, but really, if you have no idea how to act at a show, go to a free one to learn or stay the fuck home. And if you act like an ass at a show, don't get pissed if I mock you.

Coming next week: The ES.com Primer on Being a Good Concert-Goer

Labels: local, music, personal, review

Everyone who knows me knows I am super excited about the new Twins ballpark.  So much so, in fact, that I track pretty much anything I can regarding it: the webcam, construction galleries, etc. I even track down news articles from the Star Tribune. Which is why I read an article concerning the vendor selected for the new concessions. My favorite part? (emphasis mine):

Labels: internet, local, twins

This is the first entry to ES.com that I'm posting with the iPod touch so bear with me if I make any mistakes...

Yesterday being April Fools Day, the internet was all atwitter with random-ass pranks. Some of them were lame: MacUser, one of my favorite Apple blogs, chimed in with a dizzying array of occasionally-funny news stories. But the prank I found most amusing came from Woot. On top of it being 2-for-Tuesday, they had a woot-off! Only, everytime an item sold it was replaced by an identical item. Pure hilarity.

The real April fool was on us though because this snow is goddamn ridiculous. On top of that, the wet snow pack is gonna make it almost impossible to reach 55 this weekend like it was supposed to before the snow fell. DAMN IT. Oh well, welcome to Minnesota, guys.

[photo credit: houseofglass' Flickr]

now playing on iPod: Josh Kelley "Small Town Boy"

Labels: internet, local, mac, weather

We got some winter finally, dudes. Ever since I started seriosuly blogging on ES.com back in 2004, and even before that, I have bitched at length about the pussified winters we have had of late. This year though, even with the snow being late to arrive. the chilly teps set in early enough to get the ground frozen and allow any snow we do get to stick around. You know, like the six or so inches we got this past weekend and the three more due to us today and tonight.

Why am I so gung-ho about winter? I'm glad you asked: I'm driven by the need for a Norman Rockwell Christmas setting and that is something that has been seriously lacking here the past few years, especially with the way it has been secularized. Now, I'm not about to go all Bill O'Reilly war-on-Christmas on you, because that's just nonsense, as well as ignorant. But it is nice to go into a store or a mall now, and see and hear "Merry Christmas" alongside "Happy Holidays" as well as hearing songs about Christ's birth instead of just Santa and commercialism.

One favor, guys: remind me of this post on like four months when I get sick of snow and cold. Kay, thanks.

Labels: christmas, local, personal, weather

Fine Line Music Café, October 7, 2007

I think that by now I've seen the Pat McGee Band somewhere around four billion times. The greatest thing though is that it's never the same show.

Labels: local, music, personal, review

Fine Line Music Café, September 27, 2007

I've been to a few live shows in my day. I had never been to one put on by a former pop princess though, and I'm not used to entering a venue before 6:00 on a weeknight. But there were a couple of extenuating circumstances here: first, I am a Mandy Moore devotee, and secondly I haven't yet seen a show at the Fine Line that disappointed me. Luckily, the fan in me won out over reason, and I made it out to see the show.

The official support act for the Midwest spate of shows was Ben Lee, a Twin Cities fave who will be headlining at the Varsity in mid-November. Equipped with only a tiny acoustic guitar and a keyboard player, he proceeded to wow the eclectic all-ages crowd with a mix of tunes from his new album Ripe and standards from his back catalog. Specific winners in his set were the light, whimsical "American Television," the frank "Sex Without Love" and his biggest U.S. hit "Catch My Disease."


Mandy appeared on stage for her set shortly before 8:00 and jumped right into "Slummin' in Paradise," wasting no time in getting into the music:

.... and so the set continued. The short-by-my-standards 50-minute set was made up mostly of songs from her new album Wild Hope, though she mixed in a couple of covers (the buzzed-about sendup of Rihanna's "Umbrella" and Cat Stevens' "Moonshadow" which she recorded for Coverage) and closed her set with the bubblegum anthem "Candy."


Overall, I was impressed with the show, though the forgettable Chris Stills could have easily been left off the bill, and while Mandy's set was short, the bonus of 45 minutes of Ben Lee made this show worth the price of admission. B+

Labels: local, music, personal, review

ever since the venerable Blogwise bit the dust, I've been without a blogrolling service. today, to hopefully increase my blog's visibility, I registered at Technorati. also, nowe that I have the new design in place I can update with some frequency again, and I'll kick it off with a grip of concert reviews starting with Thursday's show at the Fineline featuring Mandy Moore and Ben Lee.

as always, comments and suggestions are more than welcome.

now playing on iPod: John Mayer 'Wheel'

Labels: internet, local, media, personal, site, web2.0

OH MY GOD THE TWINS GOT SWEPT OUT OF THE LDS BY OAKLAND

that was unexpected :( oh well, still a hell of a season even though it ended in a less than desirable fashion. next up is a crazy busy offseason, with many holes to plug and decisions to make for '07. thusly, here is the official ES.com "Hot Stove To-Do List". Terry Ryan, take note:

1) Pick up Hunter's option, and get a three year extension done, pronto. Torii has his detractors, but there are three key points to remember regarding him: he is the best defensive fielder in the game hands down, he is a genuine guy who lacks a Major League ego, and since 2000 he has been the face of the Twins both locally and internationally. get the $12.5 million option ride, and try to negotiate a $27-30m/3-year extension. that will get Hunter on the grass of the 2010 ballpark he helped make reality, and also help the Twins' parsimonious public image.

2) Get one of the Big Three a multiyear deal, and save the other two for later. The M&M boys plus Cuddyer are due big paydays for the 2007 season, as they are all up for arbitration for the first time after having career years. it's unrealistic for the Twins to be able to secure all three of their boppers for more than a couple years, especially with the way the home run dominates the headlines. this is why they need to get one contract solved this year, then save the other ones for down the line. Morneau's 33 homers and sick OPS will assure him a huge raise from his $500k check in '06 but Mauer is the guy with more upside and consistency, as well as having the hometown label. this is why a 4 year deal worth about $28m makes a lot of sense. it'll allow the Twins to scale the contract and backload the dollars to the new ballpark era, and give them flexibility for '07-'08.

3) Forget about Carlos Silva. his $6m club option for 2007 is way too much for a once-effective starter who was Kyle Lohsed into mop up duty. instead, use that money to pick up a proven fifth starter, like Kip Wells or John Wasdin. and while we're at it...

4) Don't count on Francisco Liriano being around next year. the mystery elbow could be soreness or Tommy John surgery, and if it's the latter you can scrub Franchise till the next Presidential election. this is a prime opportunity to look at the farm, and give guys like Scott Baker and Glen Perkins the chance to break into the rotation. even so, the rotation will look a bit rough, with Santana and Boof up front and no one to back them up.

5) Don't back off Punto. sure, he's not the prototypical threebagger, but he flashes an amazing glove and held his own in the #2 spot especially in the second half. don't give in to the free agent hype and try to sign someone, and just let him be. please?

6) Bring back Rondell and bring on the round-robin DH. the Twins will never afford David Ortiz or Jim Thome, but they have enough proficient outfielders to let Jason Kubel be the odd man out and spell Hunter at center, Cuddyer at right and White at left while giving Kubel time to rest his bionic knees.

these are the six main thing the Twins absolutely have to remember going into the offseason if the expect to be successful. and only time will tell if my prognostications turn out to be correct...

now playing on iTunes: Matt Nathanson 'Pretty the World'

Labels: local, twins

OH MY GOD THE TWINS WON THE DIVISION



I know it's been far too long since I posted something worthwhile here. I'm not in a mood to write about anything that has happened to me in the past three or so months, but I promise I will be doing semi-regular updates again very very soon.

thanks for viewing.

Labels: local, site, twins

Minneapolis mother jailed for leaving son, 5, in hot car (Star Tribune)

so this woman wants to go out and celebrate her birthday with her friends, but can't find a babysitter. of course the logical thing to do is leave your preschool age child in a car with a glass of water for hours on end on one of the hottest days in recent memory while you go get sloshed in a hick dive. this also means that she'd drive home, and my money's against her being responsible with her drinking so she won't be impaired by alcohol on the way home. BRILLIANT

this is the maturation of society? Christ.

now playing on iTunes/iPod: silence

Labels: internet, local, media, personal

Tax data package feared stolen was actually just at post office (Star Tribune)

the same day Bush gets his stem cell veto, this happens. and they wonder why people are always so skeptical of the compentency of the public sector

in other news, the Twins are winning again! yesterday I got to go see the pitchers' duel lopsided victory between future rookie of the year Francisco Liriano and something named Scott Kazmir. somehow, Rondell White managed two hits, and then tonight he knocks out two dingers in the 7-2 W. I'm taking Austin tomorrow to see Santana pitch, and it should be another easy win. pictures to come, I'm sure.

now playing on iTunes/iPod: silence

Labels: internet, local, twins

now playing on iTunes: Stephen Kellogg 'Predisposition'

Labels: local, personal, weather

wow, it's been a while.. sorry. well, I've been pretty busy but at the same time not a lot has happened. the big plans I had for last weekend never really came to fruition so I pretty much just sat around. um, I also finally went to a Twins game today. it's really interesting that they can have an awesome outing one night, then the next day when I actually decide to attend a game, they get their asses handed to them on a big silver platter carried by one CC Sabathia. thanks a lot, you fucks.

I've also been spending a lot of time helping the Followers gear up for the '06 tour, which I am super excited about. there's also a decent amount of trepidation there, but then that's kinda par for the course when you're dealing with a horde of mostly unruly teenagers. I feel bad for poor Rob, who's probably gonna have a full head of gray hair by the end of the tour, and he may just spontaneously combust from the stress level. either way, I'm gonna be entertained.

THE BALL PARK IS FIINALLY BEING BUILT I'm gonna just start doing all my shopping and eating in Hennepin County. because that will, unless my years of construction wisdom fail me, heighten the construction pace to almost human levels to enable the first game to be played next Thursday rather than 2010. I mean, my god, I'll be like 206 30 by then. I CAN'T WAIT.

I saw this article at Yahoo! today. that's good research right there. oh and also? what's the deal with Yahoo! rolling out this new front page, and not building in compatibility with Safari? I mean, it's only the most used Mac browser out there. and the lack of video content compatibility also angers me. I mean, one would think you'd wanna build in support for the OS choice of affluent gay creative professionals.

I'm done, totally tired. plus I think I have another vomit inducing headache coming on. later!

now playing on iTunes: Jim Gaffigan Beyond the Pale

Labels: internet, local, mac, personal, site, twins

so yesterday, the Quest reopened. you know what that means: the PMB show booked for the 25th at the Ascot is finally a sure thing. I was worried for a while there, because the Entry, Fineline, and 3 Degrees were all booked for that night, so there would be no place to move the show to if it did get shut out. so big sigh of relief there.

also finally saw 'Waiting...' tonight. pretty humorous. but why, in every comedy now, does there have to be some poor schmuck that reminds me of me? this fact was overshadowed by Ryan Reynolds, who is fast becoming one of my favorite actors. outside of Mandy Moore of course!

I turn 26 in like, a week and a half. and the countdown begins...

now playing on iTunes: Guster 'Homecoming King'

Labels: local, media, personal

hi everyone! man, I gotta stay on top of this updating thing.

so this past weekend I got to hang out with Pat and Elena. 'twas teh goodtimes, as always. watched some flicks, ate too much, and drank. a lot. we decided it'd be a fantastic idea to head over to the Hard Rock Cafe' again, but the wait was slightly longer for this go around. by which I mean, we waited for like an hour to get in as opposed to sitting down right away like last time. oh well... the food there is good and the drinks there are extremely tasty, and the atmosphere is lively if not crazy loud. the only down point is I don't remember too much of Saturday night, when apparently Elena confiscated my phone and my amaretto. :-/ oh, also I woke up Sunday feeling like I had been hit by a truck. most likely the drunkest I've been in a while.

the weekend was a much needed release though from the past couple of weeks. things have been pretty stressful at work and with my random personal drama, and lately I feel like I disappoint almost everyone I come in contact with. hopefully I'll get over that soon though. I do need to finally finish up my room project though, because we're having some form of shindig here at the house for Emman that my personal sensei Leo Bickelhaupt is supposed to attend. I haven't seen that fucker for many years, and I look forward to catching up with him. I also somehow got roped into having a Super Bowl party. I wasn't planning on having one this year, instead looking forward to just kicking back and watching Jerome Bettis have that last brief moment in the sun, but enough people have asked about it to make it happen.

PAT McGEE is headed back to town!! February 25th, to be exact, only five days after yours truly's birthday. I'm so looking forward to checking out the set, since the last time out he toured in support of hanson and we only got a 40 minute set in which 'Beautiful Ways' and 'Fine' were omitted. boo! but since he's the headliner in this go-round, we're sure to get a full 90+ set. CAN'T WAIT. I also hate waiting for packages from Amazon which is why I'm happy to be in the Amazon Prime trial program. their end works beautifully: for a flat yearly rate, you get free two-day UPS on every fucking thing you order from them. so far, Amazon has fulfilled on that. the bad link in this chain just happens to UPS. I have yet to get one of my Prime orders in two days due to their random snafus like claiming my house didn't exist and shipping a book from Portland Oregon to Kentucky before it got to my house. oh well. I still get the low low Amazon price on media plus I get to dodge the ol' sales tax. life is good!

I think that's about it for now. a couple of short thoughts before I hit 'publish' though: 1) I love Front Row. 2) One Tree Hill is crazy addictive. 3) I can't wait for the baseball season.

OUT.

now playing on iTunes: Five for Fighting 'America Town'

Labels: local, media, personal

anyone who knows me well knows I'm horrible at dealing with things that relate to death. especially when it comes to cemeteries and funeral homes. one thing that frightens me to no end is the exhumation of buried coffins and the remains in them. I honestly had no idea of this concept until about ten years ago, when I read a book about my church's history and found out that one of the previous buildings had a small graveyard next to it, and when encroaching downtown development threatened the church, they de-interred the existing caskets and moved them to Oakland Cemetery. the idea of this completely scared and disgusted me; the image of vaults being moved on flatbed trucks through the city stayed in my head for a long time. then, me being me, I just like forgot all about it.

fast forward to today: I click over to the Star Tribune website for the day's news and I find out that there's an investigation on in central Minnesota regarding a fifty-year-old death case. not only that, but they include a photo on the front page. not a file photo of the victim in question, but of a burial vault being lifted out of the ground:


good lord, Strib! warn a brotha'. if this isn't a totally morbid picture to look at, I don't know what is.

now playing on iTunes/iPod: silence

Labels: internet, local, media, personal