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Vacation Journal

October 27, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

Here is a copy of the journal I kept while I was on vacation last week. It covers parts of 10 days and over 1300 miles. While I doubt anybody reads this whole thing, it was an important exercise for me.

There are no pictures, but I will post some pictures from my vacation at some point in the futre.

Friday
17:33 – Put up my hard hat. Clocked out. Left the Computer Mine. Vacation officially started.
17:53 – Check mail. Brandi Carlile tickets have not arrived.
18:45 – “Cleaned” living room for the arrival of the Gorshes. Sat on Clockwork Couch. Fell asleep.
19:15 – Gorshes arrive. Order Casey’s Taco and Hot Sausage pizza.
19:16 – Realize my house is not really clean enough for Evie. I hate it when my Mom is right.
20:00 – While enjoying Casey’s pizza, determine that Evie enjoys Miles Davis. Not such a fan of live Led Zeppelin.
21:00 – Finish the 6/6 Gorshes Photo Project.
21:45 – Evie makes an incredibly loud sound.
23:57 – Bid the Gorshes a fond adieu and sleep the good sleep.

Saturday
8:45 – Wake up in time to watch Game Day. Might be the last time I get to watch Game Day for a few weeks. This saddens me.
10:58 – Lee Corso picks Wisconsin to beat Ohio State.
11:47 – Mail arrives. Assorted bills and political advertisements. No Brandi Carlile tickets.
11:48 – Call UNI ticket office to ask: “What the Hades?” I am told that for some reason they just decided to never mail me the tickets. But they will be waiting for me at the Will Call Window. “Thanks UNI Ticket Office”. This statement is a mixture of sarcasm and gratitude. About 60% sarcasm. 40% gratitude.
12:47 – Clean out Foster Bunny’s cage and let him roam the back porch while I clean the back porch.
14:48 – Clean the fridge. After the “Great Cleansing” the follow items remain in my fridge. 8 different types of jelly, 5 different types of salsa, 3 different types of barbecue sauce, 3 different types of pickles, 3 different types of mustard, 3 different types of root beers, about 24 cans of pop (7 different varieties), 6 bottles of bottled water ( 2 different varieties), 10 slices of processed American cheese, 1 jar of Miracle Whip, 1 jar of pickled beets that I bought due to a miscommunication with Derrick, 1 tub of butter, 3 sticks of margarine and a bag of baby carrots.
16:35 – Meet Sara in the Computer Mine Parking lot for trip to Cedar Falls for Brandi Carlile concert.
17:45 – Stop in Wellsburg, Iowa to try the award winning tenderloin of the Town House Supper Club. When we can’t find the restaurant we stop at the local Casey’s. They have scorpions in shadow boxes for sale as “art”. Kid behind cash register tells me that that the Town House Supper Club is closed for remodeling. I thought I was only cursed by old timey ice cream parlors. I am not pleased. Sara buys me a Fig Newton to assuage my pain.
18:30 – We arrive on “The Hill”. I had contacted my Cedar Falls “expert” earlier in the week to find out a restaurant to eat at besides Sub City. The response came back: “There are other restaurants in Cedar Falls?” But what I heard was “I’ve criticized my parents for not wanting to try new restaurants, but perhaps that was hypocrisy.” We try Great Wall Chinese Restaurant. This experience is similar to when Jill and I ate at Jade 88 back in February. We are the only people in the restaurant. The food is tasty though. Not to the level of Chinese Homestyle Cooking, but not bad. They have cool fish lamps on their walls. I don’t feel that Sara appreciates them at an appropriate level.
19:20 – We arrive at Gallagher-Bluedorn. It is not what I’m expecting. Although the auditorium itself is beautiful, it is “designed” to make it as extremely difficult as possible to find your seats. After picking up tickets at Will Call, we approach Volunteer #1 looking for assistance. She tells us that we have to go up the elevator. Volunteer #2 walks us to the elevator. After getting off the elevator we hand our tickets to Volunteers #3 and #4 that are standing right outside the elevator. They tell us to go to Door 5. Door 5 is 10 feet away. We walk the 10 feet and give our tickets to Volunteers #5 and #6 that are standing outside of Door 5. They tell us to go into Door 5. Inside Door 5 Volunteer #7 points out our seats. There are two of us. There is 1 open seat. We point this out to him. He tells us that they will “make room”. We get near “our” seats. People have made room. We sit down. Sara notes that the height of the wall that prevents you from falling 150 feet to your death is about 2 feet tall.
19:30 – Opening act Pieta Brown takes the stage. She plays about 5 songs. She isn’t bad.
20:15 – Brandi Carlile and her band take the stage. They play a set without the Cedar Falls-Waterloo Symphony. It is amazing.
20:45 – Volunteer #8 approaches me and asks to see our tickets. I give them to him. He tells me that these aren’t our seats and points in kind of a general direction of where we are supposed to be sitting. He is not friendly or jovial.
20:47 – We give our tickets to Volunteer #9 who points out our seats to us. They aren’t really seats. They are more like chairs that overlook the two foot wall. I actually love this because it means legroom!
20:52 – There are only two other people sitting in this “section”, so rather than sitting in our assigned chairs, we sit next to them and strike up a conversation. Volunteer #9 doesn’t seem pleased about this, but she doesn’t do anything about it. I ask them: besides Sub City, where is a good place to eat in Cedar Falls? She recommends Beck’s or Pablo’s. An exact quote from the lady: “There is more to Cedar Falls than Sub City.” I feel I should text this to my Cedar Falls expert, but I fear she might drive up to Cedar Falls and slap this poor lady. Decide I will tell her about this swipe at Sub City in an indirect passive aggressive manner. Hi Shannon! While Sara goes out to the hallway to drink a Diet Pepsi I learn that the male in this couple moved from California for the female in the couple. He is “looking forward” to his first Iowa Winter. My Aunt Sherrie would think he moved here because he had “no options”. The less cynical side of me would ask “are there options to love”?
21:00 – Brandi Carlile comes back on stage and kills it in the 2nd set. I had thought maybe it was foolish for me to go see Brandi Carlile for a 3rd time this year. But all told, I spent about $100 dollars on 3 shows. I will find out later in the week that there are people willing to spend quite a bit more than 100 smackers to see just 1 show. So maybe I am cheap. Brandi plays many of her best songs: “Dreams”, “The Story”, “Oh Dear”, “Closer to You” and “Turpentine” to name just a few. But perhaps the highlights of this show for me were two covers I’ve never heard her play before. I’ve always felt that her voice is reminiscent of Patsy Cline, but I’ve never heard her play a Patsy Cline song. She played “Crazy” and nailed it! Near the end of her set she played a cover of Lenard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”. With the beauty of her voice and the majesty of the backing symphony orchestra, I’m not ashamed to say that I got goosebumps.
22:00 – After the show, (Brandi included her traditional Johnny Cash cover of “Folsom Prison Blues” in her encore) Sara tells me “I want to be Brandi Carlile.” She did this with an inflection that only Sara can do that makes you think that it actually might be a possibility.

Sunday
8:50 – I’m surprisingly up for Church, despite the lateness of the previous evening, when Mom arrives to pick me up.
9:40 – Andrea gives an awesome (truly awe inspiring) sermon about superheroes and how the greatest superhero the world has and ever will see is a Christian. At the end of the sermon Andrea and Phil take off their robes to reveal that they are wearing Batman shirts underneath. I have a sinking suspicion that they didn’t have to go out and buy those shirts special for this sermon.
10:05 – The combined choirs of 4 churches perform a song to conclude our worship service. I’m disappointed to see that my Grandma isn’t in the choir, but excited to see a choir with lots of men in it. Our church choir is a little light on the men. Of course that is partially my fault for keeping my angelic voice under wraps.

10:15 – Josh tells me that Wesley’s hair color must have come from the Schwan’s man. I assure him that I was born with red hair. Then the red went away. Then the hair went away. Mom tells him the story about how my Grandma (Paternal) knew I would be born with red hair because I “visited her in a dream” before I was born. I’ve always doubted the veracity of this tale because I don’t remember visiting anybody before I was born. However, Josh thinks it is a great story. I am reminded that I should really make an extra effort to make it to Taize Worship next November.

13:00 – Angie, Jon and Alice arrive for Alice’s 3 month photo shoot. I don’t really know how to take baby pictures, but Angie has ideas. I give them a tour of the house that consists mostly of the phrase: “This room is too dirty to go into…” and “someday this will be different”. Alice photography goes seemingly well.
17:30 – Meet the Howards near a private pond for the Howard family photo shoot. The light wanes quickly and Jesse limping around on his crutches doesn’t help the speed of the event, but I think good work is accomplished.
19:30 – I show up at the Howards for supper. Kelly makes a very good Shepherd’s Pie. We watch the Phillies-Giants game.
21:00 – Willy shows up because he is a social butterfly and needs to be around other people.
21:30 – I realize that I was supposed to go to the Mehtodist Men Steak Fry tonight. Whoops!

Monday
9:00 – I wake up with one goal: to stay in my pajamas as long as is humanly possible.
10:00 – I thaw out hamburger to make Hamburger Helper. I have friends who look down their long noses of judgment at me because I occasionally eat Hamburger Helper. I don’t have the ambition to cook anything better on this day.
11:00 – I think about cleaning my living room.
11:03 – I email my weekly picks to Andree, Russell and Baier. Upset: Baylor over Kansas State Lock: Oklahoma over Missouri.
12:00 – I realize I don’t have any milk to make my Cheesy Enchilada Hamburger Helper. If I go to the store I would have to put on nonsleeping attire. I go down to my Mom’s to borrow milk. Instead, she makes me homemade chicken noodles.
13:23 – I think about cleaning my living room.
16:30 – I dust some stuff.
16:42 – I put the hamburger away. I’ll make Hamburger Helper later this week.
18:00 – Show up at my Mom’s for supper.
20:15 – I put on real clothes and leave for the bowling alley.
22:47 – The Patio Pros enter the night in first place, but get handled by C&B Drywall 18-6. I personally have a decent night. Winning 3 out of 4 personal points, but it isn’t enough.

Tuesday
8:30 – Depart for Kalona with Mom.
10:45 – Buy Buttermilk Cookies at the Bakery. I love these cookies. I refrain from buying any more jelly. I have 8 jars at home in the fridge.
11:02 – Community Store is closed on Tuesdays.
11:11 – Stringtown Grocery Store is closed on Tuesdays.
11:17 – Jackpot! Cheese factory is open. I buy two pounds of cheese curds, in case any friends drop by the rest of the week. I also buy, Smoked Swiss, 2 Year Old Cheddar and Chocolate Cheese. I need to buy some crackers when I get a chance.
12:17 – Mom wants to go by Riverside Casino to see what it looks like. I take her to the Future Birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk. I text a picture to a few people to let them know that this guy doesn’t waste his vacation time.
13:15 – Don’t find the casino, but decide to go to Iowa City to eat at Steak’n’Shake for lunch. This is despite the fact that both Sara and Jesse have tried to shoot down my dreams of eating at a Steak’n’Shake in the past.

13:37 – Turns out I don’t know where the Steak’n’Shake in Iowa City is located even though I KNOW I’ve driven by it many a time. Aimlessly driving around Iowa City.
13:47 – Call Sara for directions. She doesn’t answer. Call Toby for directions. He doesn’t answer. Call Jesse for directions. He answers. Apparently we drove by it about 5 miles back. Nice!
14:02 – The joyride works to our favor. 2-4 is Shake Happy Hour at Steak’n’Shake. Steak’n’Shake isn’t anywhere near as bad as Sara and Jesse hyped it to be. In fact, it was actually on the enjoyable side. I wouldn’t go out of my way for one again, but it certainly beats the offerings of the Evil Clown Empire, Burger King and Wendy’s. Plus, to my knowledge, none of those places have a Shake Happy Hour. Game, Set, Match. Steak’n’Shake.
15:37 – Arrive at what is left of the Czech Village in Cedar Rapids. They have a “Speed Hump” sign that is moderately amusing. We stop in a bakery and buy some stuff.
17:17 – Stop at an abandoned gas station on Highway 30 to photograph it.
18:22 – Stop in Tama to photograph historic Lincoln Highway Bridge.
19:02 – Stop at Country House Family Restaurant in Colo for supper. I love this restaurant. I have the fried chicken dinner and it is great. Order raisin cream pie to go.
21:30 – Sitting at home. Eat raisin cream pie. Some cheese curds as well.

Wednesday
8:30 – Watch Prospect Place episode of Ghost Adventures on On Demand.
9:15 – Watch Waverly Hills episode of Ghost Adventures on On Demand.
10:00 – Watch Stanley Hotel episode of Ghost Adventures on On Demand. Text Jill. Find out she has been by the Stanley Hotel on an Orchestra trip. Color me with the colors of jealousy. I think they are green. I decide to watch The Shining later that night in honor of my Ghost Adventures marathon.
10:45 – Watch Return to Bobby Mackey’s episode of Ghost Adventures on On Demand. This is an episode I’ve never seen before, but Jill spoke very highly of it. By watching this episode I learn that Bobby Mackey’s is in Wilder, Kentucky. I decide that if I go with Teresa to visit Ernie in Kentucky next year, Bobby Mackey’s is definitely one place we are visiting. That list now consists of Lambert’s, Beale Street and Bobby Mackey’s. I don’t believe in ghosts, but I’m willing to believe in the possibility of ghosts. That must make me a ghost agnostic. Episode is as good as Jill advertised. I leave the epidosde confused as to why anybody would turn a slaughterhouse into a music club.

12:00 – Mom and I pick up Vi for lunch. Since I get to pick the restaurant, I pick Pickles Pub in Kamrar. I’m not sure that they are open for lunch, but there pizza is so good it is worth the risk. If not, Webster City probably has a restaurant or two that serve edible food.
12:47 – We are in Kamrar. At this point I tell Mom and Vi that I’m not sure that they are open during the day. I had eaten here once with Shannon during the day, but that was a Sunday.
12:53 – They are open, but they don’t serve pizza during the day.
12:57 – Mom asks the waitress if they will serve us pizza. The waitress says it will be a little wait, but they will turn on the pizza oven. Big points for Pickles! We order Fried Pickles because Vi has never had Fried Pickles.
14:00 – Pizza was excellent, as always. We leave a large tip because they turned on the pizza oven and it looks like our waitress has been crying.
14:30 – Stop at Stanhope Meat Locker. I don’t buy anything, but Mom does.
15:15 – Home cleaning living room. It is spotless and I can finally get under my entertainment center to hook up the switch that makes it possible for me to sign up for Netflix.
15:20 – I sign up for Netflix.
15:25 – Watch Food, Inc. on Netflix.
18:00 – Eat pastries from Czech Village bakery. They are terrible. I spit some out. I think about giving some to Foster Bunny, but decide not to be cruel.
20:00 – Pop some popcorn and open up some ice cold Pepsi Cola. It is time for The Shining on Blu-Ray!
22:30 – I love Stanley Kubrick!

Thursday
7:30 – I’m up. I rearrange my bedroom. I theorize that this new arrangement will help me keep my bedroom cleaner. I have lots of theories on cleaning. However, I don’t actually do much cleaning. Cleaning is more of a theoretical activity for me.
11:30 – I’m cleaning my office. The goal is to clean out the Hat Closet and make it a second Frame Closet. I also want to be able to see the floor again.
11:47 – I get an email from Russell that he is “vetoing” my upset pick of Baylor over Kansas State because he doesn’t “feel” that it is an upset.
11:48 – I point out that Kansas State is a 6.5 point favorite and ranked. Baylor is not ranked.
13:30 – Russell emails that it technically might be an upset, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Baylor won.
13:33 – Of course, I’m wouldn’t be surprised. That is why I made the pick. I change my upset pick to Texas over Iowa State.
14:22 – Russell refers to the belief that Iowa State could beat Texas as a “fantasy”. I don’t respond. I shut off my computer. I believe I won’t touch a computer again until Monday.
3:30 – I can see the floor again. I am a cleaning god.
16:37 – Teresa calls me to tell me she is in my driveway. I tell her that she might as well come inside. We aren’t leaving until my show is over, even though the show is on Netflix and I can watch it at any time.
16:56 – We leave for Trostel’s Dish.
17:30 – I get a text from Vest at the Computer Mine. He has a question about the Microsoft eOpen website. It is good to be needed.
17:47 – We arrive at Trostel’s Dish. I can smell Yuppie all over this place, but despite being under the weather, I give it a shot.
17:48 – This is a sharing restaurant. I wasn’t prepared for that.
17:57 – Teresa orders Arancini and a Taco Pizza. I order Beef & Shrooms and Pomme Frites.
18:30 – The Pomme Frites were kind of average, but the Arancini is incredible. The Beef & Shrooms and Taco Pizza are also above average, but the Arancini really steals the show. If I were to come back I would just order 4 orders of it and call it a night.
18:31 – Teresa asks me if I would come back. I tell her I would, but since it is a sharing restaurant I would come with a larger group of people (like when I went to Chino Latino back in April). Teresa is somewhat offended by this statement, but I tell her that I would let her come along.
20:02 – I’m standing in Sara’s garage. She has offered to give me a mirror that is roughly the size of a twin bed. I’m hoping that Teresa’s Murano is the perfect vessel to convey my new prize home. I have been eying the Gorshe Forrester behind their back for about a month now, but I’m hoping I won’t need it any longer. Teresa says she doesn’t know if she can help lift the mirror because of her bad neck. I give her a pep talk and she’s willing to give it the old college try.
20:06 – By the slimmest of margins the mirror fits in the Murano! Oh bliss! Heaven and bliss!
20:22 – Standing in the Beaverdale Walgreen’s. I am out of acetaminophen. They are having a sale on it. Buy 1 get 1 Free. They are completely sold out of all sizes except for the Super Jumbo bottle. I now have enough acetaminophen to ease the aches and pains of a small village.
21:03 – At the Casey’s in Madrid. They are selling scorpions in shadow boxes as art. Did I miss something?
21:30 – Leave giant mirror in my garage because Teresa can’t carry it to basement due to bad neck. Start thinking about strong friends that will be able to help me move the mirror to the basement.

Friday
10:45 – Stop at the Computer Mine to answer a Microsoft Eopen website question. This seems to be my expertise at work. Some would call it job security. I call it reason #345 why I hate Microsoft.
11:00 – On the Interstate.
12:22 – Drivers from Wisconsin are stupid.
1:17 – Drivers from Nebraska are stupid.
2:00 – Wheels down. Eagan, Minnesota. The Promised Land. Nate and I go to lunch.
2:08 – Lunching at Genghis Grill. There are small differences between Genghis Grill and HuHot. They are as follows: Steak is marinated, seasonings, eggs, sauce is thicker, sauce is put in a separate bowl and cooks mix rice in for you.
2:25 – Genghis Grill is a winner.
2:32 – Nate and Bethany have canceled cable. There goes Plan A for watching Iowa State-Texas game.
17:00 – Nate has left for work. I’m heading to Minneapolis to see Becca and Gelli’s new apartment.
17:07 – On 77. Becca’s directions say to take 62 East. GPS says 62 West. Trusting Becca.
17:15 – GPS was right.
17:28 – Arrive at the new apartment. It is nice. Get to meet Ponyo who is cute. Becca and Gelli don’t have cable. There goes Plan B for watching Iowa State-Texas game.
18:02 – On the way to a tea house we drive by the Uptown Theater. I still long to see a movie at this theater. Their midnight movie this weekend is The Lost Boys. I am reminded that The Lost Boys terrified Bethany when she was young. I don’t think I could talk her into going to see it. Then my thoughts are stopped cold. I see an advertisement that lists their next several midnight movies. In a couple of weeks they are showing The Shining. If that wasn’t such a terrible weekend for it, I would come up to Minnesota just for that. I’m still miffed about missing A Clockwork Orange at the Uptown a few months back.
18:15 – At a tea house called Tea Garden. The baristas look like cliché hipsters, but the clientele looks decidedly normal. I wonder if the baristas secretly wish to work at a more hip tea house.
18:32 – Becca tells me that she was willing to pay 600 dollars for a ticket to see Shakira in concert in Chicago. I’m flabbergasted. I’ve seen my favorite band in concert and it cost me 38 bucks. I’d be willing to pay more, but not 562 bucks more.
18:48 – Back at the apartment awaiting Bethany’s arrival. We are deciding between two locations. Hard Times Café and Mac’s Industrial Sports Bar. We decide on Mac’s Industrial based on the fact that their menu includes a Fried Plate of Death.
20:37 – I am face to face with the Fried Plate of Death. It is a good distraction because despite the fact this is a sports bar, all that is on their televisions is stupid hockey. I secretly hate this state. Saint Cloud State is embarrassing Minnesota. 1 billion chinamen and this American could care less. Fried Plate of Death is good, but not great. It pales in comparison to the appetizer combo plate at The Open Flame. Now I am longing for The Open Flame.
22:28 – Make plan with Becca to go to the Sculpture Garden at 1 PM on Saturday.
23:13 – Watching Weeds with Nate back in Eagan.

Saturday
11:00 – Search in vain for a way to watch Iowa State-Texas game. Ends with me staring at Bethany’s computer watch Gamecast on ESPN.com.
11:04 – Bethany calls from work. Suggests I go over to John’s to watch football. That would be awesome, but I already have plans with Becca to go to the Sculpture Garden.
12:28 – Halftime: Iowa State 14 Texas 3. Really wish I could watch this game.
13:00 – Arrive at Becca and Gelli’s. I watch Iowa State-Texas game on Gamecast on my phone.
13:14 – Becca and I head for lunch at Hard Times Café.
13:26 – Becca thinks Hard Times Café is in Dinkytown. We end up in a traffic jam. Minnesota must have a football game at 2:30. Look at all these people headed to the stadium.
13:43 – We drive past Minnesota Stadium. All these people aren’t driving to the stadium. They are leaving the stadium! There is 5 minutes left in the game and there is maybe 10,000 people left in the stadium. I text Jesse to find out the score of the Minnesota-Penn State game. Minnesota is down by 9. They are down by 9 and their stadium is empty.
14:11 – We find Hard Times Café. It is in a Somalian neighborhood. That is code for ghetto in Minnesotan.
14:16 – This is a true hipster place. Vegan and vegetarian food. The baristas AND the clientele scream cliché hipster. Who am I to judge though? They probably look at me and think I look like a cliché badass and it is true, but badass is who I am. I can’t run from it.
14:18 – Hard Times Café has an interesting way to order. You write down your food order on a piece of paper and hand it to the barista. But for the drink, you can actually talk to the barista. I order an Eden Omelet and Organic Grape Juice.
14:22 – Derrick calls me. Iowa State has officially beat Texas for the first time in school history. We discuss how proud we are to be Cyclones.
14:25 – I text Russell to ask him if he believes in fantasies. I still haven’t heard from him. Andree and Jesse both text me to celebrate the victory. I had received texts from Baier earlier in the day, but surprisingly he does not text me after the game. Perhaps he was still in shock.
14:27 – Our food is up. It is very good. I try some of Becca’s biscuits and gravy. It is surprisingly good for not having any meat in it.
15:03 – We arrive at The Sculpture Garden. Although they have moved some sculptures around, I don’t think there are any new sculptures from the time I visited it with Bethany a couple of years back.
15:05 – Lots of wedding parties here getting their pictures taken with a giant cherry. Little weird Minnesotans.
15:27 – The flower garden hear is amazing!
16:47 – At Jamba Juice. This is my first lifetime visit to a Whole Foods. I order Banana Berry Smoothie without a boost. I don’t believe in performance enhancers.
17:00 – Hug Becca goodbye. Going to Bloomington to meet Bethany and John at John’s place to take some pictures.
17:03 – The quickest route between Minneapolis and Bloomington involves 35W South. The police have closed this road because Obama is in town. I appreciate the meaningful health care reform. I appreciate Wall Street reform. I appreciate removing combat troops from Iraq. I don’t appreciate this Obama! It will be a long 8 mile drive down Nicollet, with the sunlight wasting away.
17:22 – Arrive at John’s. Bethany still isn’t ready. Sorry for the angry words Obama.
17:47 – Arrive at Century Park. It is pretty dark, but we take some good pictures. At least I hope they are good.
20:27 – At The Park Tavern Bowling & Entertainment Center in St. Louis Park. For years I’ve listened to Bethany praise the green chicken wings served here. Here with John, Bethany and John’s friend Ryan. Hostess asks us if we want a table near the karaoke or far from the karaoke. We ask if they can just “not do karaoke”. She responds, “I wish. Believe me. I wish.” Her eyes glaze over as she seems to be remembering a traumatic experience from the past. Then in an instant she is back with us. She seats us around a corner and far from the karaoke.
20:33 – Some guys is killing Journey on stage. Not in the Brandi Carlile way, this is literally musical homicide. Hatred for karaoke is reinforced.
20:47 – The green chicken wings arrive. They are excellent! They are also very spicy and very large. They are least 4 times the size of normal chicken wings. Also interesting is rather than celery, the “side dish” is cucumber slices. Tasty, but I think it actually makes the burning sensation on my lips worse.
20:52 – Woman who actually belongs a stage is doing a serviceable job on Janis Joplin. As it turns out, serviceable is as good as it gets on this night.
20:55 – Nate calls and says to order for him in 15 minutes.
21:10 – We order for him.
21:14 – The guy that murdered Journey is now murdering Survivor. Fantastic!
21:20 – Nate’s wings arrive.
21:40 – Nate arrives.
23:23 – On the way back to John’s I hear my first legendary John-Hardcore-Right-Wing-Rant. Ryan holds his own as his Yes Man! Some of my favorite phrases include, “Back in the 70s” and “I heard a scientist say once.” Okay, my real favorite phrase was when Bethany says, “I’ve asked you to show me documentation of that claim before and you can’t find any!”
23:42 – Back at John’s watching Jim Gaffigan clips on YouTube.

Sunday
00:47 – I hug Bethany goodbye.
1:13 – Nate is already asleep. I read several website reports of Iowa State’s historic victory over Texas.
8:45 – This is the 4th Sunday of the year that I have missed Church. I missed Super Bowl Sunday, the Sunday after my Birthday Barbecue and Swell Season Sunday. Now this Sunday. Based on the Shorty Peterson Church Credit Theory, I still have perfect attendance. I have missed 4 services, but I also went on Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. I also once stopped in on a Contemporary Service. However, that is partial credit at best. I should really go to the Taize Worship in November. I know I’ll also go to the bonus Christmas Eve service. If they don’t cancel the midnight service this year, I might hit two services on Christmas Eve. I might end up with better than perfect attendance before the year is over.
10:02 – Nate wakes up.
10:15 – I say goodbye to Nate. No hug. Get in the car to head to Oakdale.
10:45 – I knock on the door to Jill’s apartment. There is a small amount of time before we have to leave to make it to Hell’s Kitchen. Our reservation is for 11:30. Jill is watching the Travel Channel’s all day marathon of Ghost Adventures.
10:52 – I make an effort to be friends with Kitty Baby. The other encounters I’ve had with her have not gone particularly well. This time she doesn’t hiss or run away from me. This is known as progress.
10:58 – Jill is going to see Maroon 5 in concert on Thursday. I already know this, but you probably don’t.
10:59 – Standing in the parking lot trying to decide who will drive. Jill says, “Don’t you want to ride in the Poor Man’s Porsche?” Truth is that I never miss a chance to ride in the Poor Man’s Porsche.
11:04 – Jill tells me that when she made our reservation, they told her that Hell’s Kitchen has a jazz band playing during brunch. Considerable improvement over karaoke. In fact, it is nearly impossible to quantify the breadth of that improvement.
11:06 – Jill asks if “How” is still my favorite song from Maroon 5’s new album. I tell her it is, but the acoustic versions of “Never Gonna Leave This Bed” and “Misery” along with the cover of Alicia Keys “If I Ain’t Got You” are closing the gap. She plays for me the iTunes Bonus Track “The Air That I Breathe”. She tells me she’s excited for Thursday.
11:11 – Jill tells me she’s excited for Thursday.
11:16 – Jill tells me she’s excited for Thursday.
11:20 – Jill tells me she’s excited for Thursday.
11:28 – We arrive at Hell’s Kitchen. The hostess asks us if we want a table near or far away from the jazz band. We give the exact opposite answer that we gave the hostess from last night.
11:48 – This is a really cool restaurant. Live jazz band. The servers are wearing pajamas. The art on the wall is cool without being contrived. There is an awesome angel statue on the stage behind the jazz trio.
11:52 – Our food arrives. We ordered Sweet Potato Fries as an appetizer. Jill ordered Shrimp & Crab Cake with Poached Egg. I order Bison Benedict.
11:57 – I’m not a huge fan of breakfast at a restaurant, but this is phenomenal. This definitely goes on the list of the best restaurants I’ve ever eaten at.
12:22 – The jazz trio announce when they will be playing Hell’s Kitchen again. On the list of their future appearances is a night when they will be playing Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy. I wish I could be here for that.
12:28 – While paying the bill we discuss whether or not we could steal the sweet pen our server brought her to sign the check. We do this in front of the waiter. He tells us to go ahead and steal it. He says he sometimes brings stuff to people for them to steal. We decide not to steal the pen.
13:30 – We are at the Carmike Cinema in Oakdale. The original plan was to go see “Hereafter”. That isn’t actually true. The original plan was to see “Life As We Know It”, but after Jill’s most recent trip home, I showed her the trailer for “Hereafter” and “The Fighter”. She decided that she would rather see “Hereafter” and we made very soft plans to see “The Fighter” when it comes out. However, we didn’t make it back from Hell’s Kitchen in time, so we are back to the original plan of seeing “Life As We Know It”.
15:30 – It is a fair but predictable movie. Most romantic comedies are predictable, so I don’t hold that against it. I can deal with predictable as long as it is well done.
16:15 – Hug Jill goodbye. Wish her luck at darts.
18:30 – Stop in Albert Lea for gas and fast food at Burger King.
20:00 – Home. Foster Bunny survived my absence, but I swear he looks lonely. A trick of the eye.
21:00 – Start of first Computer Mine basketball game of the season. 9 players here. This is promising. Played a couple games last year with 5 or less players. Still haven’t recovered from cold completely and am feeling the aches of being in car for 3.5 hours. I decide to play as little as I can in this game.
21:15 – First extended playing time in this game. I feel like I’m going to vomit. Burger King was a big mistake.
22:00 – We kept it close for most of the game, but lose by a final score of 66-45. Although that sounds bad, this is actually very promising.
22:22 – Ha! Ha! Brett Favre loses to the Packers!

Monday
8:58 – Back at Computer Mine. Vacation officially over.

Becca, Bethany, Derrick, FNSC, Jen, Jill, Music, Nate, Road Trip, Sara, Willy

In This Old Purple Town

August 3, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

“This song is about a man that tells the truth about things that didn’t happen. It seems to be a male thing.”
-Glen Hansard – Introducing “Lies” at First Avenue – July 25, 2010

Most of this comes from an email that I wrote about my weekend in Minnesota.

Sara joined Willy and I for FNSC at The Colorado Grill. After the meal had concluded, Sara and I packed up into the car and headed for Crystal, Minnesota to stay the weekend with her brother Steve and see my favorite band, The Swell Season, in concert.

The trip started with a cloud of sorrow as I was hoping that Jen and Derrick would be joining us for the trip. I had tried to convince them to make the trip even though I knew First Avenue was not a good venue for a 7 month prego to watch a concert. Even if that concert was going to be transcendent. I even went so far as to give Derrick a Mr. T sticker from my childhood sticker book in an attempt to help him see the obvious solution to getting Jen to Minnesota.

My immense powers of persuasion did manage to move them from “no way Jose” all the way to “sitting on the fence”. Unfortunately while they were sitting on that fence a storm with 85 MPH winds came through one Saturday night and shattered the fence and 3 of their favorite trees. This ended my dream of their attendance.

It would not be the last disappointment this weekend.

As I opened up the Buick on the highway, Sara fired up her iPod and we had a Johnny Cash sing-along. At least we did when I knew the words.

Fueled by Johnny Cash and Big League Chew we made it to Steve’s residence in record time.

Our hosts Steve and Maggie

Maggie

We woke up in the morning and headed to Harriet Island to watch Flugtag. I was expecting it to be a pretty big deal, but nothing like it ended up being.

I was hoping to find The Britsons down there, but when we got down to the river there were 90,000 people crowded on both sides of the river. We started our day on the north side of the river, but the entrants and all of the “stuff” appeared to be on the south side of the river. So we made the several mile walk to the south side of the river where we met up with Becca.

Flugtag was cool and I’m glad that I went, but I’m not sure I would go again. It was so crowded on the south side of the river that a person could barely turn around. Although one flying craft did set a new world record, almost every other craft just fell 30 feet off the ramp into the water. There were no food vendors and the only drink for sale was Red Bull and they sold out of that before I got my thirst up.

After we met up with Becca we made the several mile trek back to the north side of the river so we could actually see something and breathe.

On the move to the south side.

St. Paul

I don’t know what these people were, besides interesting.

View from the Bridge

A “Flying” Craft

Another Entrant

A Hamburger “Flying” Craft

It was so crowded on the south side that you couldn’t see anything but the video screen.

Back to the north side.

Underneath the bridge.

Stopping to pose with Becca.

At least you could see the flight deck from the north side.

Straight Down

This would be fun!

Think it will fly?

If you said, “Sort of.” You win!

Sara getting hot, I imagine.

Becca photographing Flugtag.

It was hot enough and dry enough by the river that Becca went for a refreshing romp through a fountain.

After Flugtag we ate at a joint called Shamrock’s. I had my third Juicy Lucy this year and I’m still declaring Matt’s Bar to have the best in the business.

After the meal we dropped Rebecca off at her car with plans to meet up for supper at a restaurant that I saw on Man vs. Food.

On an episode of Man vs. Food they went to Gasthof zur Gemutilichkeit to try their Meterbratwurst Challenge. I had no desire to try downing a Meter long bratwurst on my own. I had plans for the remainder of the evening and big plans for the next day. I didn’t want to be miserable.

However, I did want to see the Meterwurst and photograph it. So my plan was to try to convince Jill to split one with me despite the ludicrous $8.00 fee for splitting meals. But fate worked against me and Jill had to cancel on Gasthof zur Gemutlichkeit because she was pressed into babysitting duty after her friend’s dad had a heart attack.

I regrouped and made a new plan. I talked Becca into splitting the massive bratwurst with me.

Bethany joined us at the restaurant. As did my friend Matthew. Despite the website making a big deal about getting a reservation and the restaurant calling me back twice to confirm the reservation, the restaurant was only about 70% full when we got there.

Then came the biggest disappointment of the trip. They were out of Meterbratwurst. Becca and I ended up splitting some kind of bratwurst plate that was disappointing. Their bratwurst ended up being the blandest tasting bratwurst of my life.

Becca described it perfectly:

“It tastes like a mixture of bland bratwurst and potato bologna.”

That is not a good combination if you aren’t familiar with potato bologna.

Another huge disappointment was the no free refill policy on pop. Are you kidding me? Are we in a Nazi Germany themed restaurant?

On the positive side, the side dishes were excellent and what I ate off of Steve and Sara’s platter was also delicious. Also, the house accordion player belted out an awesome version of Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight”. I believe that I have used my immense powers of persuasion to convince Bethany to book the guy for her wedding.

Then after the meal, it got a little bit weird. The waitress approached us and asked us if we wanted some post dinner smokeless snuff.

I passed as I like to keep my body a temple. No alcohol or tobacco in this temple. Only extremely greasy fried foods are allowed in The Bennett Temple.

My five dinner compatriots tried both the spearmint and raspberry “flavors”.

What they do is put a little bit of the snuff on what looks like a teeter totter. Then they place it under your nose. Then when you are ready they slam down on the teeter totter and you breathe in, snorting the “goodness” up your nose.

Gauging from the pictures below, it was a very enjoyable experience.

Becca wiping her nose.

Bethany in pain.

Bethany enjoying her smokeless snuff.

After the meal, I was planning on meeting up with Nate to go to The Uptown Theater to see Troll 2. Troll 2 is supposed to be one of the worst movies ever made, but highly entertaining. It is so bad that there is currently a movie playing art house movie theaters about it called Best Worst Movie. While that fits into my personal sense of humor, I really just want to see a movie in The Uptown Theater.

However, the timing of things just didn’t work out. I ended up outside of Toby Keith’s talking to Lenny about his 50th Birthday Party and his 35 year old wife. I don’t know Lenny or his brother Lorenzo, but they did provide a certain amount of entertainment until Nate picked me up and we went to Perkins so he could have supper.

At Perkins I had a bottomless cup of Cherry Coke. I don’t think I ever appreciated free refills more.

I spent the night at Nate, Bethany and Becca’s place.

The plan was for Bethany, Becca and I to meet up with Steve and Sara for brunch at Hell’s Kitchen, but it turns out that you need to have a reservation to eat there. Hell’s Kitchen will also have to wait until my next trip to Minnesota.

It also turned out that 11 am was too early for Becca to wake up, but I will let it slide since she was up late watching Once.

The substitute for Hell’s Kitchen ended up being Stabby’s Cafe. A small cafe that Bethany had been eying since we drove past it on the way to Matt’s Bar back in February.

It was a tasty little breakfast, although I was slightly disappointed with their logo. It was a knife through a heart. I knew it was a long shot, but I was hoping that they sold t-shirts with a “stabbing hobo” logo.

There had been much discussion about where we should eat before the concert. Becca had been pushing pretty hard for Azia, but her boyfriend Gelli pushed for his parent’s restaurant: It’s Greek to Me.

Gelli, Becca, Bethany, Jill, Sara, Steve and I met up there before the concert. Gelli kept bring out appetizer after appetizer. Although they were all tremendous, including the Sagnaki, one that really struck me was very simple. It was watermelon with feta cheese on top of it. I thought it looked so extremely weird, but it was so extremely tasty.

I had the Roast Leg of Lamb. It was incredible. Well, I don’t want to go too far with the superlatives though. Because the desert: Kadaifi was truly off the charts when it comes to superlatives. I have spent a few restless nights dreaming about it.

The meal ended up being on the house, but that is not the reason that I highly, highly recommend checking out It’s All Greek to Me if you are anywhere near the Uptown area.

Becca and Gelli left us to go to work. The rest of us made our way to First Avenue. The doors opened at 7. We got there at about 6:20. The line was already around the block.

While there were a few disappointments over the weekend, these were definitely erased by the concert. The Swell Season did not disappoint.

We picked a spot about 50 or so feet from the stage to watch the opening act. The opening act was fair and his voice reminded me of Neil Young and that is a good thing.

After the opening act was done, Bethany, Jill and Sara went outside to smoke. The crowd almost immediately took their spots. It was so compacted in there that it made Flugtag feel like an open field.

A small highlight of the evening for me was when a guitar tech walked across the stage with Glen’s trademark Takamine NP15 and the crowd gave a big cheer.

The Swell Season started the show with my favorite song from Strict Joy, Low Rising. As the song concluded I got a text from Jill. They couldn’t get back to me. They were back by the shirts.

So I made my way through the crowd to get back to them. I made no new friends in this process, but I did make it back to them.

They followed Low Rising with two more songs from Strict Joy: In These Arms and The Rain. Two more great songs.

This was followed by another favorite from Once: Lies. Lies is one of the greatest driving alone and singing songs ever recorded.

Then Marketa took over the vocals for If You Want Me.

She played guitar on their next tune Fantasy Man.

Glen took back over vocals for my 2nd favorite Swell Season song: Leave. This was followed by Back Broke.

Then they played a great cover of Van Morrison’s Into the Mystic. I was very excited to hear a band play a cover of a Van Morrison song that wasn’t Brown Eyed Girl.

They followed this with another Marketa song: I Have Loved You Wrong.

Next was a classic from The Frames: Revelate.

Then they finished up with two great more songs from Once: When Your Mind’s Made Up and the Oscar winning Falling Slowly.

Glen started the encore with a completely unplugged version of my favorite Swell Season song Say it To Me Now. Just him standing at the front of the stage wailing. It was awesome! I had to show Jill that I had goosebumps.

Marketa followed with a new song called Crossroads. I look forward to a time when I am in possession of a recording of it.

There are really only two songs I don’t like in Once. One is Fallen from the Sky that is more than slightly too techno for me. The other is the only song that isn’t performed by The Swell Season. It is called Gold.

Strangely, every musician I know seems to love this song. I think it might be the vocal harmonies that annoy me, but whatever it is, I just don’t like the song.

Gold was the next song they played and I actually enjoyed. The harmonies were less grating in person. Also, the current incarnation of The Swell Season does not include a violinist. Gold is also much more enjoyable without the violin part.

It makes me wonder if I would like Fallen from the Sky live.

Before the final song of the night Glen gave the crowd a vocal lesson and we sang the backing vocals for High Horses.

It was an absolutely amazing show and probably the best concert I’ve ever seen. Even though I had been standing for well over 3 hours I didn’t want the show to end. They could have still played their cover of Springsteen’s Drive All Night that they played at the Hollywood Bowl the week before. Or their cover of The Byrds’ You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere from the I’m Not Here Soundtrack. Or their cover of Candi Staton’s Young Hearts Run Free. Or their cover of The Pixies’ Gigantic that they play on one of their live DVDs. Or numerous other Frames songs like What Happens When the Heart Just Stops or Fitzcarraldo. Or Paper Cup or The Verb from Strict Joy!

But I have no real complaints. Their voices are even better live than they are recorded. I can’t wait until they come around again. Hopefully to a venue where we can sit, but if not, I will still be there.

Alexis, Becca, Blogging, Brog Frog, Cousin Amy, Derrick, Jen, Music, Photoshop, Robert, Sara, Shannon

Post No. 850

July 3, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

Every 100 or so posts, I like to make a list of the most popular pictures on this blog.

Here is the list of the 10 most popular photos in the Artistic Gallery.

1. Outburst of the Soul

2. Self-Portrait

3. Jen Relaxing Between Sets

4. Grizzly McAlpine

5. Rebecca – Senior Pictures

5. UnHingd Publicity Photo

7. Abandoned Piano – McCallsburg

7. Obama

Campanile Self-Portrait

7. Alexis – US 30 Flood

The 10 Most Popular Pictures in the Snapshots Gallery.

1. Jesse and I with the World’s Largest Cheeto

2. Jesse eats a Bob’s Dog

3. Jesse and I at the Surf Ballroom

4. Jesse Kissing the Blarney Stone in Emmetsburg

5. Shannon reading map in Backbone

5. Jesse and I in Clinton

5. Jesse in the Surf Ballroom

5. Jen and Shannon making a deal at a Bonne Finken Concert

5. Cousin Amy, Sara and Jen at a Bonne Finken Concert

5. Sara and Jen at a Bonne Finken Concert

Robert checking out the view in Balltown

If you want to see how this list has changed since the last time I posted it follow this link:

Number 750

I will check this out again in another 100 Journal Entries.

One other thing…

If you would like a Username and Password for either of the galleries, send me an email with what you would like your username and password to be, and I will get you set up.

Having an account to the Galleries allows you to Rate, Favorite and Comment on Pictures. Plus, it allows you access to the “Secret” Albums.

Basketball, Becca, Bethany, Jesse, Jill, Jim, Nate, Vacation

Vacation Day 5 – The Juicy Lucy

May 6, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

On Wednesday morning I woke up and most of my anger about the Fred Hoiberg hire had dissipated. I had come to accept the fact that while this was mostly a public relations move, there is a chance that it could work. I’m not saying that this is an uncontested breakaway slam dunk. This is more like a turnaround fadeaway with a 7 footer in your face from the baseline.

While it is scary that he will be learning on the job, there is a potential huge upside. He should be able to recruit and he should be able to evaluate talent. 95% of basketball games are won by the team with the more talented players.

I also assume that since Hoiberg has years of NBA experience he will be able to relate to the younger, more talented players and the great exodus of talent from Ames will finally come to an end. Any Biblical scholar can tell you that after the exodus ends it is only a matter of time before the years of wandering in the desert comes to an end.

Even though we will only return 5 scholarship players from last year, I still feel that we will have a better record next year. I’m not sure why I have this optimism, but I have come to peace with the Hoiberg hiring. On Wednesday morning I accepted that it might just work. After all, Hoiberg is a graduate of the nation’s premier land grant university. That fact alone qualifies him for about any job that I can name!

After coming to that conclusion, I got out of bed and took a shower. After Nate woke up we went to Puffy Cream for breakfast. It was excellent, again.

I wasn’t sure how long I was going to stick around, so I contacted Jill about getting supper. She wasn’t sure when she would get off work because her company was enforcing mandatory overtime, even though it wasn’t even Georgia-Texas week.

Eventually it worked out and we agreed to meet at The 5-8 Club at 6:30.

I don’t watch lots of television. I’m always leery of saying that because I don’t want to come off as one of those snobby people who don’t own a television and feel that this gives them a degree of superiority to other people. I can’t stand those people. I’m better than those people.

That being written, I really don’t watch much television. Of the shows that are currently being broadcast on network television, I’ve probably seen a single episode of maybe 10 shows. But on this day, I spent a good portion of the day sitting on the couch watching tv with Nate.

We watched two episodes of The West Wing. Then we watched the show Parenthood. Then we watched the movie Parenthood. Then at about 3 o’clock when Nate was leaving for work, Becca woke up and I watched television with her. We watched local news and she lectured me on why I should watch BBC news because it wasn’t “biased”. I thought this was funny because I once wrote a paper on media bias when I was in college.

At 6:30 I met Jill at The 5-8 Club in Minneapolis. When I was in Minnesota in February I ate at Matt’s Bar with Jim and Bethany. Matt’s Bar and The 5-8 Club both claim to have invented the Juicy Lucy. I was happy that I was going to be able to have both sandwiches so I could determine which one I consider to be the superior burger.

The 5-8 Club

The 5-8 Club was set up a little bit weird. It wasn’t a huge restaurant, but it was of a decent size, but the weird part about it was that you sat yourself. I don’t think that I’ve been in a restaurant this large where you sat yourself.

The place was packed, but there wasn’t a line and a couple of people left as we entered the building, so we were able to get a seat immediately.

I was pretty hungry since all I had eaten on the day was a couple of donuts and some leftover walleye from Houlihan’s. Well, I guess that wasn’t exactly true. Becca fed me some food that she had bought at Trader Joe’s. A place that Becca is very passionate about. Regardless, I was still hungry.

We ordered mushrooms for an appetizer and I’m not sure if this was a mistake or how they do things, but rather than ranch dressing it came with bleu cheese dressing. I’m not a fan of bleu cheese dressing and this has lead to many a discordant evening with me and Jesse at our favorite wings eating places across central Iowa. However, their bleu cheese dressing was fairly good. It didn’t make me instantly want to vomit like most bleu cheese dressing.

I orderd The Juicy Luicy:

By far our most popular menu item, the Juicy Lucy is a mouth-watering half pound burger stuffed with American cheese. The cheese is HOT – be careful and take your time. Bleu, pepper or Swiss cheese is also available. The wait’s a little bit longer; but we promise it’ll be worth it!

Jill ordered The Saucy Sally:

Lucy’s little sister. Born on May 8, 2005. She making her public debut! A half pound burger stuffed with our secret sauce, and topped with American cheese, shredded lettuce, raw onions, and a smear of Thousand Island Dressing. Make sure you have plenty of napkins.

While Jill was explaining to me her theory on why she is an evolved being, the people sitting in the booth next to ours stopped her. They apologized for eavesdropping on our conversation and then made commentary on why they agreed with Jill’s theory on highly evolved human being.

Really!

Have your own conversation people! I understand that we are probably more fascinating and interesting than you are and it must be hard not to eavesdrop on us, but at least try to have your own conversation.

After we had ate as much food as we could, we waited patiently for our bill. This was the type of joint where you pay the waitress, but our waitress had disappeared. In fact, I didn’t see any waitress. We probably waited for a good 20 minutes before the waitress showed up and said:

“You guys probably want to go home.”

Then a few minutes later she showed up with the bill.

I gave her my Bank of the Bear card. She took it and when she came back to give me the bill she handed me somebody else’s credit card. After hopefully getting the finances of the evening squared away I’m ready to make this proclamation:

Matt’s Bar serves the superior Ju(i)cy Lucy. The 5-8 Club wasn’t bad and I would certainly go back, but Matt’s is superior. At some point I might have to go back to try the Saucy Sally.

After the meal I bid Jill a fond adieu and hit the open road back to the Cyclone State. It was a pretty great 3 days in Minnesota.

Andree, Baier, Basketball, Becca, Bethany, Bill, Brog Frog, Candid Portrait, Derrick, Jesse, Music, Nate, Russell, Sara, Schmidt, Shannon, Vacation, Willy

Vacation Day 4 – Cotton Candy

May 5, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 7 Comments

I was set on going back to the Cyclone State on Tuesday night after visiting Faust on his day off, but Bethany and Becca requested that I stay one more night. I had no plans for Wednesday (Sara’s attempt to convince me to go to Iowa City failed since she couldn’t produce a single credible theory on why it would be fun for me to sit around while she put stitches in a pig’s foot), so I agreed to come back to Eagan after my visit to Mankato.

Nate, Becca and Bethany live a couple blocks from a donut store by the name of Puffy Cream Donuts. After I woke up and showered, I hit the open road to Mankato after picking up some cream filled goodness at Puffy Cream.

When I got to Mankato I stopped at Target so I could buy some extra clothes for the extra day in Minnesota.

I arrived at the Faust home and we discussed potential new coaches for the Cyclones.

My dream has always been that Iowa State rights the wrong it made several years ago and brings back Eustachy. I know this was a pipedream, but there are several great options out there. It was exciting to think about what guy Pollard would bring to Ames to return the Cyclones to glory.

We went to Mr. Goodcents for lunch. I hadn’t eaten at Mr. Goodcents since the one in Ames closed down while I was still in college. The sandwiches are no longer as epic in scope as they were all those years ago, but it was definitely still very tasty and I wasn’t disappointed. Not like how disappointed I am with the horrible joke that is masquerading as Panchero’s across the street from the Computer Mine.

At 2:30 we walked over to Jackson’s school to pick him up. I got to admire some of his artwork and look around his school.

As we returned to the Faust abode, I checked my email on my phone. I wasn’t expecting any messages of great consequence, I was just trying to hammer out lunch plans for Thursday with Shannon, but then I got an email message from The Swell Season updating their Summer tour schedule. They are coming to 1st Ave in July! Hallelujah!

After further discussion about who Iowa State could get as a coach, Nicole came and picked us up to get cotton candy!

The residence hall where she works was trying to get the students to leave their dorm rooms by serving cotton candy, popcorn and playing approved music. I don’t know how well it worked on the students, but it worked on Jackson, Faust and I.

On the way over to Minnesota State’s campus, Jackson flexed the golden pipes and wowed me by singing along word for word with the Justin Bieber CD playing on the stereo.

A portion of the day was following Jackson while he ran through the hallways of the dormitory.

Jackson has yet to develop his dad’s patented “Leaning Weiner” shot.

Now I’ve been able to school two generations of Fausts on the court. Plus Faust and I did relive some old Saturday Morning Basketball memories. Including how he felt that he owned The Salmon on the court. Hmmm… two friends that think they own The Salmon.

Jackson nailed somewhere between 3-5 shots depending on how he retells the story.

Faust manning the popcorn machine.

Jackson and his Mr. Freeze

Fronting for the Cyclones in Maverick Country

Faust Knocking Down Cotton Candy Goodness

Shortly after we got back to the Faust Estate my phone rang. It was Jesse.

“We just hired a new coach. Fred Hoiberg.”

I was instantly pissed. Are you kidding me? We just hired some guy because he is super popular with the fan base even though he has NO coaching experience on any level. Was this the cheapest publicity stunt ever?

Full disclosure: I’m not and never was a ravenous Fred Hoiberg fan. He was a solid player and a nice story. His teams were okay and they went to the tournament, but they were not my teams and I could not stand their style of play. They were soft. I was and always will be a Dedric Willoughby fan. He actually won a championship. I’m sure if Pollard would have announced that Willoughby was the new coach and he was filling out his staff with Jacy Holloway, Kenny Pratt and Shawn Bankhead I would have jumped for joy. Hoiberg doesn’t do it for me like he does it for the grand majority of Cyclone nation.

Jesse and I vented our anger. Then Faust and I vented our anger.

I sent text messages to Baier, Bill, Russell, Andree, Derrick and Schmidt.

Bill wrote back:

“Fred? As head coach?”

“Yep.”

“Does he have any coaching experience?”

“None. Not at all.”

“Not good at all”

Andree wrote back:

“I guess he didn’t even entertain the idea of hiring Larry back. Well, here’s hoping Hoiberg’s NBA connections can help with recruiting. Was Pollard expecting another Paul Rhoads or something? He’ll be fired next year. This is a cheap move by hiring Ames favorite son to get fans off his back. Idiot!”

“It might be a popular move. I guess we can hope this works out.”

“Popular or not Hoiberg has some cache in Ames. Maybe he can sell to future recruits: “I got all the GMs phone numbers. If you got the chops, they’ll take my call.”

Then I got a call from Baier. We vented. Then I got a call from Russell. We vented.

Then I got a text from Schmidt.

“They are reporting The Mayor as our next coach.”

“I feel that we are worse off now than we were on Sunday with McDermott as our coach.”

“Typical Chris response that I expected!”

“Maybe he is a quick study.”

“We won’t know for three years. Its the Hall of Fame coaching staff!”

Then Derrick called. Of everybody I talked to he seemed the most optimistic that this might work. Although he had just got off the phone with Shawn and Shawn was extremely negative about this hire. But we didn’t get a full conversation because some customer came into the store and he had to “work”.

Faust and I discussed this move for quite a bit longer. Then I headed backup to Eagan.

Nate and I went to Houlihan’s for supper and then we came back to the house. I watched Weeds with Becca until about 2 in the morning and then I went to bed.

Much of my anger over the Hoiberg hiring had subsided and I was able to go to sleep rather quickly

Day 4 of vacation was still pretty great, despite the surprise Hoiberg hiring!

Baier, Basketball, Becca, Bethany, Bill, Derrick, Jen, Jesse, Jill, Nate, Schmidt, Still Life, Vacation

Vacation Day 3 – Guinea Pig Denial

May 4, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

I woke up early on Monday morning. I’m not sure if it was the excitement of the forthcoming trip or if the rumors of Greg McDermott’s departure were so exciting to me that I was like a little kid on Christmas anxiously awaiting the chance to rip the wrapping paper off of his new Omega Supreme!

As I prepared for the trip (as much as I always wish that I was a night before packer – I am definitely a 15 minutes before leaving packer) I listened to the local sports talking heads Deace and Miller discuss McDermott’s departure to Creighton. Only they weren’t using words like “potential” or “possible”. They were talking about his departure as being a done deal.

I always liked McDermott. I hoped that he was going to get it done. While almost all of my other Cyclone friends had left the McDermott sinking ship, I was certain that this past year was going to be his season. He had two future NBA players on his roster. A capable veteran point guard. A pair of sharpshooters. A serviceable center. A bench full of athletic underclassmen.

However, it all went downhill very fast. I remember the moment that I knew that McDermott wasn’t going to get it done.

Jill and I had went over to Derrick and Jen’s to watch a movie. Derrick had called me earlier in the day to make sure that we were a “unified front” on being able to watch the Cyclones demolish Northwestern before we watched a movie. Of course we were a unified front!

The only problem was that Iowa State didn’t demolish Northwestern. In fact, they lost to a Northwestern team that was missing one of its best players.

This was a bad sign.

True many Floyd and Eustachy teams were terrible in the early part of the season, only to cohese and become a dominant force down the stretch. After all, the Elite Eight team lost to a bad Drake team.

Only one of the warning signs that McDermott was in over his head at ISU was the disturbing fact that his teams did not become better as the season went along. In fact, they seemed to get worse.

Even though my head knew that this highly touted team was going nowhere fast, I think my heart forced my mouth to utter the phrase “wake-up call”. Only this wasn’t a “wake-up call” for them. It was a wake-up call for me.

The season went downhill fast. A loss at home to UNI. Barely beating Iowa’s intramural team. Barely beating Houston. Lucca leaving in the middle of the season. 4 conference wins.

Then moments after the season was over, Brackins goes pro. Buckley and Hamilton transfer. The NCAA punish Iowa State for being Iowa State and doesn’t grant Gilstrap another year of eligibility.

It seemed like there was blood in the water. The only question was how would Pollard come up with 2.5 million dollars to payoff McDermott?

Only instead of dropping the axe on McDermott like he did on Wayne Morgan (despite Wayne Morgan having 3 straight winning seasons) Pollard gave McDermott a vote of confidence.

Then a month went by and it got weird. Two assistant coaches left. Colvin left. Pollard sent out two enigmatic letters. One to a kid telling him that he understood his concerns about the direction of the ISU basketball team, but his records indicated that the kid didn’t donate money to the athletic department, so bugger off. Then another letter where he blamed McDermott’s inability to keep players (including a finalist for Player of the Year honors that played for Syracuse this year – yeah that hurt to watch) not on McDermott, but on this generation of worthless kids. He started the letter by throwing Fennelly under the bus and ended it with some very fuzzy math. He tried to make the argument that kids transferring is an epidemic, but if you actually do the math with the numbers he provides, the average Division 1 school lost .5 kids to transfer in the last two years. Iowa State has lost 6. Now 7 with the transfer of Boozer.

Then Christmas came. Oregon hired Dana Altman. Creighton wanted Greg McDermott to replace him!

Not only was Iowa State not going to continue its long descent into irrelevance, it wasn’t going to cost us 2.5 million to go in a new direction. In fact, Creighton is going to have to pay us $800,000 for the right to take our problem off of our hands.

The only problem was that I wasn’t going to be in the state to hear the news. I was going to be in Minnesota.

However, I’m a problem solver. After I gassed up the car and picked up some needed supplies for the trip (two bottles of water, a bag of beef jerky and two Whatchamacallits) I texted Baier, Jesse and Schmidt and asked them to let me know when it had become official that McDermott was heading to Nebraska! Then I hit the open road.

I arrived in Eagan at about 11:30. Nate was the only one home and awake.

I had assigned Nate the task of finding us interesting places to eat at during my two day stay in Minnesota. He handed me a magazine with reviews of numerous Twin City restaurants. However, he noted that Bethany strongly favored eating at Chino Latino.

I found the review of Chino Latino. The review stated that Chino Latino served guinea pig! I was in.

After deciding on the dining option for that evening we piled into the car and head to Five Guys for lunch. We had a little bit of difficulty finding it, but when we did finally locate it, it was worth it.

Five Guys is a burger joint. The menu is simple and the food is tasty. I will definitely be going back.

They serve fresh cut potato fries. They put them in a cup, but they also fill the bottom of your bag with more fries.

A “hot mess” but in a good way, not in the Edie Sedgwick way.

It is usually busy enough that they serve you free peanuts while you wait in line.

They also let you know where your potatoes came from.

Simple menu and you get to add whatever toppings that you want!

Bags of Potatoes

Even though we were stuffed, Nate suggested that we visit a White Castle. I’ve always heard that their food is nasty, but I’ve never eaten at a White Castle and I’ve always wanted to try it.

To give our stomach time to process the goodness of Five Guys we headed from Edina to Apple Valley so that Nate could pickup and deposit his paycheck.

Nate banks where Bethany works, so I got to speak with her briefly. When her co-worker wasn’t butting in to tell me about his brother-in-law that used to play football for Iowa State. Only he can’t remember his name, but he rushed for 438 yards in one game. Some people you just have to let speak.

Next stop White Castle!

White Castle

Our sojourn to White Castle wasn’t adventurous and nobody would make a movie about it. We each ordered two sliders.

The hype about White Castle was dead-on! The food is absolutely dreadful. I can’t believe this place stays in business.

We took the rest of the day to rest before Chino Latino.

Jesse called and gave me the fantastic news that it was official. Creighton had given our basketball program the gift of a fresh, new beginning!

Nate called Chino Latino and made a reservation, but found out the sad news that in order to get the guinea pig, Cuy, you had to order it 48 hours in advance.

DENIED!

Luckily Jill was sort of able to provide some recommendations to me. Sort of.

Later in the night Bethany came home and we went over to her significant other’s house to meet up before going to Uptown.

While we were waiting for some people to get ready, Bill called to ask if Creighton had really hired McDermott.

“Yes.”

“Do they know that he had 4 straight losing seasons at Iowa State despite having the greatest homecourt advantage in the nation?”

“They don’t make them very smart in Nebraska.”

“True that.”

7 of us met up at Chino Latino. Beth, John, Becca, Nate, John’s friend Ben and Bethany’s co-worker “V”.

Chino Latino serves equatorial food. That means that the food comes from countries that are on the equator.

Nate really wants to order Fidel’s Capitalist Pig Roast at some point. Which is a teenage pig, if you are the type of person that needs labels.

The food was excellent. Once I saw the $45 price tag, I didn’t feel so bad about the guinea pig denial.

I rode back to Eagan with Becca so that I could see her new car and the cowboy joint where she currently works.

Near Chino Latino

Becca’s Favorite Store

This is kind of how it feels to be riding around with Becca.

Day 3 of vacation was an excellent day by almost all tangible measurement.

Becca, Bethany, Blogging, Jesse, Jill, Jim, Julie, Mom, Nate, Teresa, WPC - Submissions, Writing

Amazing Weekend

February 9, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

Daily Reminder

Don’t forget to update your links, bookmarks and RSS Feeds to the new URL: http://www.photography139.com/notebook/

I did have a couple of late submissions for RWPE. Here are a couple of bonus FRAMING pictures.

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Julie Johnson

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Michael Vest

I had an amazing weekend. I would just like to share a few of the highlights. In no particular order, besides chronological:

I ate supper on Friday night at Jeff’s Pizza with Teresa and Jesse. I love their pepperoni rolls.
I got to watch Jesus Christ Superstar at Stephens with Mom, Jesse and Teresa. It was an awesome production, with the exception of the geriatric Ted Neeley, who has continued to suck it up into his 60s. I firmly believe that the only acceptable definition of Hell is “separation from God”. But if I were to believe in a personal punishment vision of Hell, it might be that I get up to what I think is Heaven because Jesus is there. But then he opens his mouth and sounds like Ted Neeley. I would have to pump my fist and scream, “You win this round vengeful God! You win this round!” Sorry Shannon, but that is the way it is.
I got to chauffeur Jim out of the Cyclone State for only the 2nd time since 1987. It was the first time he has left the state for an “extended” period of time since 1987 when he took Nate to see a St. Louis Cardinals game. I think he might have enjoyed it as he is considering leaving the state again this Summer to see the Twins play the Braves on June 12 & 13.
I got to see Bethany’s new house. It is pretty sweet. They have managed to put down a new wood floor, new tile in the kitchen and new carpet in the rest of the house. Her new fridge is the coolest fridge I’ve ever seen. They painted all the rooms and they got the paint for free because they bought it on Christmas Eve and the Sherwin Williams employee just gave it to them as a Christmas Present because they were the only customers he had that day.
I got to try my first (and won’t be the last) Jucy Lucy. Yes, there is no “i” in Jucy. There are two restaurants that lay claim to having invented the Twin City curiosity. We went to Matt’s Bar based on the recommendation of Becca’s boyfriend Gelli. He insisted that they have the superior Jucy Lucy. A Jucy Lucy is a cheeseburger that has the cheese inside the meat patty rather than on top. A piece of cheese is surrounded by raw meat and cooked until it melts. The end result is a hamburger with a molten core of cheese. The sandwich is both incredibly tasty and slightly dangerous. You have to be careful with the first bite because if you bite into it too aggressively you are rewarded with an explosion of boiling cheese. This cheese explosion is both tasty and painful. A rare combination. The two restaurants that claim to have invented the burger are only a few blocks apart. Matt’s Bar does not use the “i” in juicy. The 5-8 Club does use the “i”. They both have used this spelling in their marketing. Matt’s Bar boasts “if it’s spelled correctly, you’re at the wrong place.” The 5-8 club boasts “if it’s spelled right, it’s done right”. In a future trip to Minnesota, I will give the 5-8 Club a try. I might also venture into St. Paul to try the Cajun Lucy served at the Groveland Tap.
Stopped at a quaint little store called Tom’s Popcorn Shop. I picked up 4 types of popcorn. A chocolate popcorn that ended up being terrible. Jill compared it to Cocoa Puffs and that was a very accurate assessment. A double caramel and mixed nuts variety ended up being very tasty. A caramel and peanuts variety was tasty. The banana popcorn I am munching on right now isn’t too bad.
I got to see the bank where Bethany works and pick up two new pairs of shoes at a nearby Burlington Coat Factory. My injured foot is already starting to feel better since I switched shoes.
I made Sara’s dream come true by wandering around IKEA with Bethany and Jim. Okay, mostly with Bethany. I think Jim was ready to go 5 minutes after stepping in the door. I didn’t get to see all of IKEA, but I did get to see a group of girls acting out the scene from (500) Days of Summer (have I told you lately how much I love that movie!) that is set in IKEA. That warmed my heart a bit. I also fell in love with their collection of butcher block tables and I have decided to get rid of my kitchen table and replace it with a small butcher block table. To create both some space and so I have a food prep area if I ever decide to cook. Or the more likely scenario, for the next time somebody comes over and cooks for me.
I got to see Jill’s apartment. It was disgustingly clean. Meaning if I spent now until my birthday party cleaning my house it still wouldn’t be half as clean as Jill’s apartment. But it is a well-known fact that the Gorshes are cleaners. Anybody that ever worked a closing shift at the Boone outpost of the Evil Clown Empire with Derrick can tell you stories about the cleanliness of the grill area when he was done. They can also tell you other stories, but I’m concentrating on how much that guy liked to clean for now. I got to meet her cat. I don’t think it is a major surprise that her can’t didn’t like me, but the theory is that this was just laying the groundwork. The next time I visit, the cat will think I’m swell. It is similar to my theory that the next time Jupiter gets together with Jackson and Bailey they will get along swell because of the groundwork I did on Dog Playdate when I was borrowing Jupiter for Sara’s trip to Florida. I also got to ride in Indy for the first time since I got to drive her several months back. We ate at this sweet restaurant called Jade 88 Chinese Cuisine. We were the only people in the restaurant. Literally. My favorite aspects of this restaurant were that they called crab rangoons – cream cheese powder puffs, they had a chair sitting in the women’s bathroom stall (Jill reported this fact, I did not go into the women’s bathroom) and they had the largest collection of cleaning supplies I’ve ever seen sitting on top of the toilet in the men’s room. That isn’t to say the food wasn’t good, because it was great, but to know me is to know what type of weird things tickle my fancy. After the meal, Jill returned my copy of the 2 Disc Special Edition of A Clockwork Orange that she had borrowed a few weeks back. My Stanley Kubrick boxed set is complete once again! I was also able to loan her The Departed and give her the final piece of Halloween candy. A piece of candy that almost ended up in Willy’s stomach.
I had lunch with Jim, Becca and Nate at one of Becca’s favorite restaurants Quang. It is a Vietnamese restaurant that reminds me of one of Sara’s favorite restaurants, A Dong. (Yes, immature people, that is really the name of the restaurant. Stop giggling. I know who you are.) While we waited for a table, Becca and I checked out an Asian grocery store across the street. Now just going to a normal grocery store is kind of an adventure for me. (If you don’t believe me, ask Jay) But going to this grocery store was a special kind of adventure for me. I actually didn’t take my camera out of my backpack on the whole trip. Even though I thought about doing my FRAMING picture for RWPE up there, but in the end I admittedly just kind of phoned that project in. However, at the bottom of this list, you might just find a few low quality images I captured with my phone in this market. The food at Quang lived up to Becca’s hype. We had some kind of fried yam things called Banh Tom Chien. They called crab rangoons cream cheese wontons. Tasty, but not as cute as cream cheese powder puffs.
After Quang, I allowed Becca to drive my car (without a small amount of consternation on my part) to give us a tour of Uptown Minneapolis. I really liked Uptown. We got to drive by Gelli’s parents’ restaurant “It’s All Greek to Me…” (a place I will no doubt try in the future) and hear Becca’s sermonizing on how much she doesn’t like hipsters. Nate liked to point out that Becca is a borderline hipster, but she doesn’t see the similarities. Even though she does want to drive a Prius, she is not a hipster she insists. Mostly because she doesn’t ride a bike. But perhaps the most exciting part of the Uptown tour was driving by the Uptown Theater. Although I had missed it, they clearly proclaimed on their marquee that they had a midnight showing of A Clockwork Orange. Jill is going to look into this phenomenon and hopefully a midnight showing of A Clockwork Orange is in our future.
After the Uptown tour we stopped at a grocery store so Nate could buy the ingredients for gumbo. On the surface that doesn’t sound particularly exciting, but in fact it is like watching Van Gogh buy paintbrushes or Eric Clapton buy a guitar.
Becca made a Coastal Seafood Salad that included shrimp, squid and roughie. It was incredible. Nate made gumbo (no need to point out how phenomenal the gumbo was) and we settled down to watch the Super Bowl. I would have to say that my favorite Super Bowl commercial this year was the monster.com commercial with the beaver playing the violin. Like Jen, I’m partial to beavers. The team I was rooting for also won. That was a surprising bonus. Nate also tried to convince me that Metallica had redeemed themselves with their most recent album. I’ve never been much of a Metallica fan, but at some point I will be giving their new album a listen in order to make my own assessment.
I pulled into my driveway at 1:30 in the morning. It had been a successful weekend on many levels.

Here are a few low quality pictures from my phone:

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Mmmm… Pork brains. But you can’t prepare that without edible beef blood!

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Fresh clams!

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Lobster. I wanted a picture of the crabs, but the water in their tank wasn’t clear enough to get a good picture.

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Of course I also wanted to share today’s love letter from The Writer’s Almanac:

Franz Kafka wrote stories about human beings transformed into vermin; unsettling legal battles over unspecified crimes; and a father who sentences his son to death by drowning. Kafka is often thought of as neurotic, and rarely as romantic, but he wrote a great many love letters — many of the anguished, helpless variety — to a Berlin woman to whom he was engaged for five years. Their relationship was carried out almost entirely by letters.

In the autumn of 1912, he wrote to Felice Bauer about how much she had become inseparable from his composition process, and also how anticipation of her writing kept him awake at night. He wrote:

“Lately I have found to my amazement how intimately you have now become associated with my writing, although until recently I believe that the only time I did not think about you at all was while I was writing.

In one short paragraph I had written, there were, among others, the following references to you and your letters: someone was give a bar of chocolate. There was talk of small diversions someone had during working hours. Then there was a telephone call. And finally somebody urged someone to go to bed, and threatened to take him straight to his room if he did not obey, which was certainly prompted by the recollection of your mother’s annoyance when you stayed so late at the office. — Such passages are especially dear to me; in them I take hold of you, without your feeling it, and therefore without your having to resist.

… [It takes] every imaginable effort to get to sleep — i.e., to achieve the impossible, for one cannot sleep and at the same time be thinking about one’s work and trying to solve with certainty the one question that certainly is insoluble, namely, whether there will be a letter from you the next day, and at what time. The night consists of two parts: one wakeful, the other sleepless, and if I were to tell you about it at length and you were prepared to listen, I should never finish.

Eleven days later, Kafka wrote to her:
“Fraulein Felice!
I am now going to ask you a favour which sounds quite crazy, and which I should regard as such, were I the one to receive the letter. It is also the very greatest test that even the kindest person could be put to. Well this is it:
Write to me only once a week, so that your letter arrives on Sunday — for I cannot endure your daily letters, I am incapable of enduring them.
For instance, I answer one of your letters, then lie in bed in apparent calm, but my heart beats through my entire body and is conscious only of you.
I belong to you; there is really no other way of expressing it, and that is not strong enough. But for this very reason I don’t want to know what you are wearing; it confuses me so much that I cannot deal with life; and that’s why I don’t want to know that you are fond of me. If I did, how could I, fool that I am, go on sitting in my office, or here at home, instead of leaping onto a train with my eyes shut and opening them only when I am with you?”

And a week after that, he wrote to her:

“Dearest, what have I done that makes you torment me so? No letter again today, neither by the first mail nor the second. You do make me suffer! While one written word from you could make me happy! … If I am to go on living at all, I cannot go on vainly waiting for news of you, as I have done these last few interminable days …

I think the thing I’ve liked about these letters is their common theme of thinking constantly about the woman they love and how that gets in the way of their work.

Becca, Tim

Wednesday Surprise

November 18, 2009 Christopher D. Bennett

I usually spend Wednesday nights at open gym honing my basketball craft to a fine art. I had plans of continuing this honing on this Wednesday night, but it wasn’t to be.

As I was working away at the Computer Mine, my phone rang. The smiling face (not really smiling) that looked back at me when I picked up my phone was Becca. This was somewhat of a surprise because I haven’t talked to Becca in a few months, but not a complete surprise because this week was supposed to be Closing Day on Bethany’s new house. I thought the call would be related to that adventure, but it wasn’t.

Becca was in town and wanted to know if I had plans for the night.

I told her I didn’t have any plans that I couldn’t break for her.

She suggested we meet up for supper and as a bonus, I would get to meet her boyfriend Gelli.

I told her it was a deal.

I decided to shaft on basketball. Not only was Becca a higher priority, but after my performance on Sunday I know that the full arsenal of my basketball game is coming back. To practice my game even more would be the equivalent of a capital gains tax cut. The rich get richer.

Sure, some of that wealth would trickle down to the poorer players through my greatness. Assists, offensive rebounds, help defense, drawing double-triple-quadruple teams, zone stretching outside range and zone collapsing post moves are just some of the examples of ways that my teammates would feel the trickle of my wealth.

But, to improve too much more just seems greedy.

My game might have suffered slightly, but I had a great supper with Becca, Gelli, Tim and Barb.

After the dinner, I did take a picture of Becca and Gelli.

The classic Becca fake portrait smile. I prefer the Becca smirk.

But any time you can get her to have her picture taken is a victory. No matter the facial expression.

Art, Becca, Black & White, Formal Portrait, Jill, Johnathan, Linda, Macro, Monica, Teresa

Window Project #1

November 4, 2009 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

Last Monday I finally completed Window Project #1.

It has been several years since my mom got new windows for her house. I had her keep all of the old windows because I thought that there would be a point in the future where I would be able to use them.

I gave a few to Monica. I gave a few Rebecca. The rest have mostly sat around and collected dust.

The previous Monday (to last Monday) I came to a point of stasis with the Friend Wall. There is still room for more pictures and there are still a few people that aren’t represented on the Friend Wall, but I feel that the wall has adequate coverage for now. I can stop for now and move on to putting holes in the other (naked) walls in my house.

The windows will be a big part of what goes on my remaining walls. I finally got one of the window projects done.

I don’t really have a name for the completed window project, but for now it will be called Window Project #1.

Window Project #1 started with this picture of Jill’s hand.

The rough image.

After cleaning this image up, tweaking it and converting it to black and white, I came up with the final image.

The final image.

I measured a window and ordered a print.

I don’t really trust my own ability to cut straight lines, so I discussed the project with Teresa. She agreed to cut the picture down to size and actually came up with the idea to mount the picture to foam board.

Initially I was going to glue it to the back of the window. I was going to do that even though I had no clue whether or not that would ruin the picture or stain the picture or even hold the picture to the glass.

The foam board was definitely the wise way to go.

Before bowling (actually the greatest bowling night of my life) Teresa came over and cut the foam board and picture. I mounted the picture to the foam board, placed it in the window and put it on the wall.

Window Project #1

After looking at it, I think I might need another picture to go with it. Another body part.

I’ve thought about an eye…

But I think that might be a little bit uncomfortable for some people to look at. Plus, I think I am going to work on an eye project in the future that might be a little bit more ambitious than one photo.

I think the answer is rather obvious. The complimentary picture should be of a foot.

It seems I’m in need of a foot model. Monica has graciously offered up her foot in exchange for me paying for a pedicure for her. I think I can find somebody that will work cheaper than that. I am, just a poor, starving artist after all.

If you hear of anybody wanting to offer up their foot for art, let me know.

But there are also a couple of other window projects on the horizon. I have a set of garage door windows I got from my Aunt Linda that I’ve always thought about using as a frame for flower pictures, but instead I am going to use it to hold family pictures and sit it in the corner of some yet to be determined room.

I am also going down to Salon 908 to measure some wall space on Saturday morning. I am planning on hanging a window up there before their Grand Opening. I don’t have much turnaround on that project though.

I hope my designated cutter is available.

Baier, Becca, Derrick, Eric, Geri, House, Jay, Jeff Daniel, Jen, Jesse, Nader, Sara, Scottie D., Shannon, Steve, Teresa, Ungs, Willy, Yin

Housewarming Invites

May 22, 2009 Christopher D. Bennett

I had a housewarming/birthday shindig on May 23. I made individual invitations for those that were invited. I’d like to share some of them.

2009 Birthday/Housewarming Party Invitation

Willy

The Kahlers

Nader

Sara

Shannon

The Roberts Family

The Hiatts

The Howards

Jay

Jeff and Yin

The Gorshes

The Baiers

Bethany and Rebecca

Casy

The Degeneffes

Geri

Geri requested a new picture of us be taken because she wanted a picture where she wasn’t looking at me as if I was the smartest person in the world. I guess I never noticed her having an expression different than what I’m used to seeing by the majority of people in my life…