Anniversary Surprises Pt. 3: Working Blue

Our second subdomain brings us one Mr. Mark Lindquist, writer, rawker, and proprietor of Shaky Ray Records.

Check it out at http://workingblue.perfectduluthday.com

Our Babies all growns up.

One year ago today.

Oh. If PDD goes down for a day or two it is my fault. I only renewed our domain name yesterday not knowing it can take several days to process. I thought we lived in the digital age.

See you tonight at the Saiboat Park. I think we will be showing "The Big Lebowski" complete with Caucasians (White Russians for those who have not seen the movie.)

HAVE A PERFECT DULUTH DAY!

John Kerry is Coming to Minnesota

John Kerry is returning to Minnesota this Friday, July 2nd, for an exciting speech and announcement as part of his 3-day "Spirit of America" bus tour.

Please join Senator Mark Dayton and Congressman Jim Oberstar in welcoming John Kerry to Minnesota. Bring your friends and family, and celebrate the Fourth of July with the next president of the United States. The speech will take place in downtown Cloquet on Avenue C, just 20 minutes from Duluth and 2 hours from the Twin Cities.

This is a ticketed event. To get your complimentary tickets please click here:

http://www.johnkerry.com/minnesota

A large crowd is expected, so plan to arrive early. Don't forget to bring your ticket(s) to the event.

WHEN:
Friday, July 2nd
Gates open at 10:00 a.m.
WHERE:

Downtown Cloquet at Broadway and Avenue C
Just 20 minutes from Duluth and 2 hours from the Twin Cities.
DETAILS: 

Tickets are required for this event. To print your complimentary tickets, please visit:

http://www.johnkerry.com/minnesota

Due to security, no bags, umbrellas, or outside signs will be allowed. Please limit personal items. This event will take place RAIN OR SHINE.

Because it's the centennial anniversary weekend for Cloquet, there will be shuttle buses running throughout the city. Shuttles will go to each parking lot two times an hour. Handicapped buses will be available on an on-call basis. The pickup locations are as listed and the shuttle stop location for the event is #3 Fauley Park.

Places to park and pick up the shuttle:

* Cloquet High School, 1000 18th Street
* Our Savior/Grace Baptist Church, 12th & Doddridge
* City Lot (behind Nelson's Funeral Care), 10th & Cloquet Avenue
* Southgate Bowl, 203 Doddridge Avenue
* Pine Tree Plaza (behind Super One), 707 Highway 33 South
* CARC (Pine Valley Hockey Arena), 1102 Olympic Drive
* Black Bear Hotel, 1789 Highway 210
* Amoco Truck Stop (Royal Pines/Americinn Carlton)
* Zion Lutheran Church, 1000 Washington Avenue
* Gospel Tabernacle, 1400 Washington Avenue
* Churchill Elementary, 515 Granite Street

See you there and happy Independence Day!

Minnesota for Kerry

Where did that year go?

Perfect Duluth Day celebrates the anniversary of its first post tomorrow, and we simply must get together and celebrate, dahling.

Let's choose an intimate, out-of-the-way place this time. Shall we say, the Sailboat Park on the 700 block of W. Superior Street We will bring snacks and a cake, and when it gets dark, we'll show a movie on the big cement wall. Bring your skateboard, your Frisbee and a cushion.

PDD Party | Sailboat Park | 8:30pm | Wednesday

Scavenger hunt?

Does anyone have any details about the Scavenger Hunt that was this last Sunday? I really wanted to go, but instead saw Peter Himmelman at the zoo. So post some stories and make me regret my decision! :D

i have a purpose

could anyone make me a mix disc with these songs:

by the beatles:
good night, blue jay way, flying, if i fell

by radiohead:
creep

by maria mckee:
if love is a red dress

by jim croce:
time in a bottle, i'll have to say i love you in a song

by wham!:
careless whisper

seriously.

Anniversary Surprises Pt. 2: The Next Level

This is the first of hopefully several PDD "subdomains," which will be separate PDD pages for selected writers of merit.

Paul Lundgren has been writing "The Next Level" for around 7 years, I think, and the column has appeared in the Northland Reader and the Ripsaw; it currently appears in the Transistor Transmission.

Check back every other week for a new "Next Level" column, and to peruse the archives for that favorite column from the past.

And now, on to the subdomain: http://nextlevel.perfectduluthday.com

It's been a great week for geeks.

So far, at least.



Cassini-Huygens Mission Site.

The Circus is in town.

7 PM at Leif Erickson



I received a call yesterday from a woman named Jenka who is part of the Cycle Circus. They are currently travelling around the Great Lakes and performing random acts of Music, Puppetry and Art.

From their website:

Cycle Circus collective is a group of puppeteers, circus performers, bicycle builders and educators who have joined together to create colorful community events. We travel by bicycle as a festive parade to various communities uniting people through art and theater.

By collaborating with a diversity of groups our pedal-powered tours are aimed at creating social change through performances and skill shares. As cultural workers we are inspired to engage with the communities we visit to empower each other in creatively addressing our varied and common struggles.

Most of the group arrived in town last night and the rest of the crew will be here soon. They will be performing sometime this evening in Leif Erickson Park and later tonight at 16 N. 58th Ave. West (see 3 posts back.)

They will be contacting me later today with an exact performance time for Leif Erickson.

This sounds like a Perfect PDD Field Trip!

Web Poll Results

Which would you prefer?

Asparagus pee [32 votes, 45.07%]
Coffee pee [18 votes, 25.35%]
Beet pee [21 votes, 29.58%]

Some Friends of mine are having a little hellaballoo and I'd like to extend the invite. If anyone hates whitey, just kidding, if anyone wants to listen to some sweet Indiana anarchist folk punk and eat vegetarian food, come on by. Take Central Ave, go left off exit, First right (Nicolet) then left on 58th. The Address is 16N 58th Ave West.

For food come early, for the Indiana band, be there by 9pm. It's gonna be dope.

Mix CD

A two-cd mix I made for friends. A list of songs and downloads available here.

---

Also, is there a way to have the pdd blog displayed on other websites? like using the < insert > command? Or is that not allowed?

Anniversary Surprises Pt. 1: Bridget Riversmith

As many of you know, Wednesday, June 30 is the first anniversary of Perfect Duluth Day. And so, I thought I'd spend this week sprucing things up a bit, presenting some new toys and gadgets for the PDD community.

Please welcome our new featured artist, Bridget Riversmith. And as amazing as these images are, the Web doesn't even do them justice. Keep an eye on redrabbitriversmith.com for upcoming shows, so you can see 'em up close and in person.

Mercy post

As it is slow here this weekend here are some random images of mine from the past year to keep you occupied.

<



Makes you glad it is summer (even if it is a tad chilly)... Off to make baklava

freecycle

Don't know how many of you are familiar with freecycle.org, but there is a Twin Ports chapter now, and I don't recall ever seeing mention of it on PDD so I thought I'd give them a little shout-out. It's great fun and I highly recommend it. Here is the blurb from the main page to give you an idea what it is about:

Welcome to Duluth-Superior FreeCycle, where one person's unwanted/unneeded items is another's treasure! The Freecycle Network is made up of individuals, non-profits & businesses across the globe who are GIVING & GETTING stuff for FREE in their own towns. Our goal is to reduce waste by connecting people who have unwanted items with others seeking the same items and have a little fun in the process. No item is too big or too small; but ALL items must be 100% free.

The primary intent of Freecycle is to reduce what is put into landfills by having people, organizations and businesses give away unneeded items rather than throw them out. Perhaps the real beauty is that it also fosters a more giving and caring attitude in our communities. We all have things in our garages, closets, attics, storerooms, offices, etc that we don't need. Freecycle lets you find someone who does need it instead of throwing it out and you can feel good about helping someone in our community. Many freecyclers both give and receive items on a regular basis.

Just think of Duluth-Superior FreeCycle as a big community wide garage sale only far cooler. It's a perfect consumer/earth friendly circle: no overhead, no money, no waste and no catch. The only requirement is that everything be absolutely FREE.

Duluth-Superior FreeCycle serves the greater Duluth-Superior area. Folks in the surrounding areas are also welcome.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/twinportsfreecycle/

Now THAT's an artist.

classic

Price check, one two, one two. . .

I'm seriously considering raising my prices a ton. I think they'd actually sell if I charged more for them. (too cheap so they seem low quality is my reasoning)

 
 
 
 

Sincerest Form of Flattery

Or something like that. There's a low tribute compilation in the works...no not by any label or any music industry big wigs....just fans from the low fan listserv. Humble people getting riled up about getting the EXACT guitar chords for "John Prine" or getting really miffed when I joking did an expose' on Mim's gambling addiction...well they're nice people from all over the world and now they are paying tribute to their shoe gazing heros with a little tribute collection of low covers...I thought lil ol duluth shouldn't be left out so I said...I'll do starfire!! Well not actually DO starfire but ...er..well...then I thought..why not have starfire DO starfire...That's much better and probably fun to watch in a sick contortionist kinda way so...I booked the time at the church and with ericswan and aaronifthousands help, waaalaaa
Starfire.mp3 was born...enjoy

right click on the link and "save target as" ... or just open winamp and play location http://www.empirestatehuman.co.uk/lowtribute/starfire.mp3

show @ the "new" shor

fattypants
just plain wrong
bratwurst
10:30 $2

here's your chance to send tonya off with the bang she deserves

Hey, Guess What?!

Don't player hate. Player appreciate.

Get your pimp name. Read about the pimp of the month. Just plain learn important stuff, like how to be a Love Distributor. Visit playerappreciate.com.

All together now...

3' Owens (England);
83' Postiga (Portugal);
20' Ex. Rui Costa (Portugal);
25' Ex. Lampard (England): Portugal 2, England 2.

Penalty : Portugal 5, England 4.

PDD Field Trip

JED's Birthday Dinner



That's right, folks. The only blogger ever to be forcibly removed from PDD wants YOU to attend her birthday dinner. And when I say you, I mean you. You might be thinking, "Oh, surely not ME. I called her a skank."

Yes. YOU.

Hacienda del Sol
319 E Superior St | 7pm | Tonight

Feeding the Monkey...

So, for the past few weeks...actually closer to the past month, I've been swinging by Whole Foods on my way to roast the coffee to pick up a couple of Third Street cookies. Fellow Bloggareenos...I have a problem. I have a Third Street Monkey on my back. I am admittedly addicted to those soft chewy delicioso treats...can't get enough of them. It all started when I was lucky enough to score a few dollars from the couch and dryer...instead of putting it away for a new pair of glasses (the responsible thing to do...) I squandered it away on The Monkey. Now, I can't get enough. I've dropped my frequency to twice a week, but since I'm one of those people who doesn't carry 'real' money, I have to buy two at a time to justify using my card.

I take it all back

I posted earlier today about how it looked pretty nice out and that we should all go to the beach. I'm replacing that post with this one because the clouds are rolling in.

Meet me at the bar.

Time to start poking Barrett until he concedes to my demands!

/poke /poke /poke /poke. . .

Oh and a link to blogger.com on the pdd main page would rock the cashbar.

getting magnetic in 48 hours

i'm so excited that the magnetic fields are coming to minneapolis in less than 48 hours!!! i lucked out when i went to get tickets a few weeks back and got front row center!!! this will give stephin merritt a chance to get a better look at me, and if all goes well ask me to marry him and finish out the rest of the tour with him.

1001 baby

P.p.p.p.patti tonight

This is the 1000th post on PDD!

That equals 2.8 posts per day over the last 357 days. Good work my fellow Blogger's. Stay tuned for more info on the 1 year anniversary of Perfect Duluth Day.

Are There Any, Like, Musicians in This Town?

Misplaced Music Net Radio is an Internet radio station out of Minneapolis started by area musicians for area musicians. Rumor has it, they'd like more Duluth bands in their playlist, and are eager for submissions from up north. If you want to submit your CD, or you'd like to know more about the station and the co-op, or if you want to listen, check out misplacedmusic.org

Paging O'Malley

Hey Ann-Marie,
New Moon's editors want your contact info. I believe they want to hire you to write the pirate chic story....
Contact me: [email protected]

Unacceptable!!

End of the Bush regime?

Last night I watched Bringing Down a Dictator on PBS. Even though it dealt with issues that at one time seemed a world away (the Milosevic regime in Serbia), today it seems to have an unsettling parallel.
Fixing elections, violence and wars, goverment restrictions, massive unemployment - it's not hard to make the comparison to Bush.
On the positive side, what caused the downfall of Milosevic was Otpor - student activists who engaged the country with their non-violent tactics. Change can be made.

I think it's neat.

The latest:

11:15 a.m. ET: The vehicle has touched down.

11:02 a.m. ET: Mike Melvill and his SpaceShipOne have made it into space. Everything looks good, mission official said, and the craft is now gliding back toward a landing at the Mojave Airport, where it took off earlier this morning. "I got goose bumps when I saw contrails," Greg Klerkx, author of Lost in Space: The Fall of NASA and the Dream of a New Space Age. "I never thought I'd see this moment, but here it is."

10:51 a.m. ET: SpaceShipOne has been dropped from its mothership, the White Knight. Pilot Mike Melvill fired the rockets and SpaceShipOne is now rocketing toward space. Goal: 62 miles (100 kilometers) up, where Melvill will earn his astronaut wings.

10:40 a.m. ET: The White Knight Mothership is at 32,000 feet. In about 10 minutes it will be in position to drop SpaceShipOne. "Hopes are running high," said Jeff Greason of Xcor Aerospace. "Were' looking forward to this great event."

(Photos and updates from Space.com)

Also: Go England!!

Game: Croatia 2, England 4.

Summer's here!

Good morning Blogosphere and hello Mr. Summer!

Today is the day! Davey Rothbart of Found should be on his way from Winnipeg now to regale us with his Fresh Finds.

Here is the lowdown on tonight for the last time, I promise.

7pm Potluck at the MAC. The Mac is located at 22 N. 1rst Avenue West. Just up from Jitters Coffee shop. Bring something to pass and maybe a beverage. I will provide plates and utensils.

8pm Davey will start his talk. Maybe you heard him on This American Life this weekend. He is very entertaining and has a great laugh.

9pm Dog Pookah starts playing. Toxic Tuesday will debut at some point during a Dog Pookah break.

So tell your friends to come on down. Let's show Found a real great Duluth time.

*then we can go skinny-dipping.

sometimes you feel like a nut...

olla, back after the initial excursion into the wilderness. Kinda odd to be back in "civilization". With that I'll leave you with a image or two of the area (VOYAGERS NATIONAL PARK) I just spent 2 weks kayaking. (the photos are not mine, I was not brave enough to bring my cameria into that wet environ.)







So, see you guys around.

Poll Results

America...

1. Your head is too big. [76 votes, 61.79%]
2. Your belly is too big. [27 votes, 21.95%]
3. Your ass is too big. [20 votes, 16.26%]

The Rock Star: Adventures in Toddlerdom

Chase would make a great persnickity rock star. In the span of about three minutes the following exchanges occurred:

Chase, do you want apple juice or orange juice? "Apple Juice." (I get the apple juice). "I want orange juice." (I bring him the orange juice). "Da, you said you were bringing apple juice."

Then a piece of toast is dropped and I reach under the table to get it an he says "I want you to crawl under the table" about 5 times and starts crying when I don't.

After the phone book that he sometimes sits on falls about four times, I reposition it and he goes to sit down but notices that the dudes in suits are facing up and not the waterfall. "I don't want to sit on those guys. I want the waterfall." And then there is "I want upa" for the 24 inch jaunts from the couch to the DVD player.

So Chase's rider should he ever become a rock star might look like this:

1. Numerous fruit juices and a flexible bartender must be available at all times.
2. All personnel must be willing to stoop under tables for no apparent reason at a moments notice.
3. As appropriate and deliciously symbolic as it may seem for a man of his stature, Mr. C will not sit on any likenesses of guys in suits.
4. A computer with wireless access must be available for Mr. C at all times. Playhousedisney, pbskids, and nickjr must be bookmarked and clearly marked in the browser toolbar. His preferred OS is Macintosh.
6. Three episodes of Bob the Builder, JoJo, Stanley, and Arthur must be Tivoed and available at all times.
7. Mr. C likes his bananas to be cut and put in a "Chase bowl" with organic sprinkles on top.
8. Do NOT and I repeat do NOT leave the skin on a pear before serving it to Mr. C
9. When Mr. C commands "Back Yaaaaaaaaad" it means he must go outside immediately.
10. Under no circumstance should water be poured over Mr. C's head when he is bathing.
11. His washcloth's name is Chuck.
12. MR. C. likes stories and I mean "LOTS" of stories read to him at bedtime.
13. If Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album is ever played in Mr. C's presence, the songs Bennie and the Jets and Harmony must be put on "repeat."
14. Naps are for suckas and please don't ever intimate that Mr. C needs a nap.
15. Whenever food is cooked in the microwave, it is Mr. C's custom to count down from ten and say "beep, beep" before the microwave's alarm sounds.
16. All assistants, roadies, and other tour personnel must be able to sketch cartoon characters and Mr. C's relatives at a moments notice.
17. If Mr. C remarks "Don't you know the crime rate's going up," this is not social commmentary. You must put on the Rolling Stones's song "shattered" from the Some Girls album immediately.
18. The "Mozart effect" is a scam to keep googly-eyed mommy entrepreneurs in the cash. Mr. C likes his music loud and fast.
19. Do NOT disrespect The Princess Bride.
20. And above all if Mr. C says "upa" you must "upa" him immediately or heads will roll.

Wisconsin

I am completing an internship at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum and my immersion in small town Wisconsin this weekend and will be back in Duluth for a week. Someone really needs to anthropologically examine Nascar culture and then explain it to me because I simply do not get it.

I am an Idiot, pass it on.

Have you been Found?

June 21rst is coming up quick. The Duluth News Tribune wrote a nice piece on Davey Rothbart and Found. You can read it here.

Does anyone plan on coming for the PotLuck? I will be providing paper plates and utensils. Do you think I should arrange for a grill?

Blogger Criticized for Pulling Service

By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, AP Technology Writer
NEW YORK - Dave Winer, a pioneer of an online journal format known as Web logs, thought he was doing people a favor by hosting 3,000 of such blogs for free.

Missed Tech Tuesday?
So many acronyms, so little time. Take the pain out of managing your music, movies, and photos.

So he was taken aback this week when he endured a barrage of criticism for deciding to stop the free service — an episode that reveals deep passions about blogging.

Winer launched his first Web log in 1997 and began hosting other people's blogs in 2000, when he headed UserLand Software, a Web publishing company.

After UserLand dropped the service to focus on selling blogging-related tools, Winer bought some servers and offered free hosting on Weblogs.com, a site that also tracks blogs hosted elsewhere, making it an important blogging hub.

Eventually Winer, now a research fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, found that running the free service took too much time and energy, especially because he has health problems that he declined to discuss. He closed the free blogs Sunday.

"I can't have 3,000 people who depend on me for free stuff yelling and screaming at me, saying, `I need this now,'" he said Wednesday. "I gave and I gave, and I paid a great price."

Winer says bloggers who want their archived material can have it in a few weeks. He also hopes to connect them with other volunteers who will host blogs for free.

Still, bloggers who relied on Weblogs.com were furious, saying they should have been warned about the cutoff. Their anger spread to other bloggers, too, including Elisabeth Riba of Melrose, Mass., who called Winer "an egomaniacal blowhard with his head in the clouds. So much for his vision of blogtopia."

Such slams had Winer shaking his head.

"This thing has been blown so far out of proportion," he said. "It's just unbelievable to me."

Burn Baby Burn!

Tuba Frenzy has mashed-up the Enron tapes and Snap's 'The Power'... Excellent.

Per our discussion: Pipe Dreams

Morning... Bus stop... Weather: good...
- Man, do I look sharp in these new shades.
- Where's the lady in the aerobics outfit?
- I bet me and Maynard Keenan would be great friends.
- I wonder if the new Star Wars figures are in yet.
- Oh, here's the bus, gotta put my pipe out.

Morning... On the bus...
- Cub Foods? More like Chump Foods!! Chumps.
- Our carts are way better than Shopko's.
- It would be so cool if Petco sold scorpions.
- I bet Toys R Us has the action figures.
- Mmmm. Hardee's giant bowl of meat and eggs sounds good about now.
- We should all go to Perkins on Friday and plan for our next quest.
- I wonder if Gamestop has looked at my job application... I have a Mac, a PC, and X-Box... what else... a Nintendo 64...
- K-mart? More like Krap Mart!! They suck.
- If I got that job at Best Buy I could still catch the same bus and totally trick out my PC.

Afternoon... Lunch:
- Damn right I want to Biggie Size those fries.
- Hey, if anyone needs me I'll be outside. Smoking. Smoking my pipe. If anyone needs me.
- Aw, c'mon Mom, I told you not to call me at work.
- Totally asked Amanda if, y'know, if she wanted to hang out.
- Dammit Todd, if you don't get those #1 camel hair brushes back to me I'll never be able to finish painting Grinklor the Draven Mage in time for this weekend... ass.

Early evening... On the bus... going home:
- I wonder if Todd's older brother's still got that half bottle of whiskey.
- I wonder how much Mountain Dew I've got left. Dew.
- Krap Mart. Ha.
- I can't wait to get off the bus so I can light my pipe.

Instead of "endless summer"....cause gawd knows, it's gonna end (if it hasn't already).. I propose this is WIRELESS SUMMER!!! I'm posting from the brewhouse now (thanks tim and rod) and then I'll go down to the c-anal park and check my ebay accnt. oooo I cant wait to play city of heros from amazing grace....go go wireless!!! let's have a wired duluth party where we all post and stream from different parts of town....
BTW I used the terraserver to get the sat image of duluth...where were you on 17 May 1991?

This is hilarious.

Here is a funny story from our GBV concert experience.

The Tooth Fairy is Dead

Well, that's it. The end of my son's childhood has officially started.

Today while he was having an ice cream in the park cafe one of his teeth fell out, his eighth one. He gave it to me for safe keeping so he could leave it under his pillow for the tooth fairy tonight.

I was putting him to bed and put the tooth on his bedside table. He said he had to make an envelope for his tooth otherwise the tooth fairy wouldn't be able to find it. So we folded up some paper, put the tooth in it and he put it under his pillow. I said my 'goodnights' and 'I love yous' and 'Goodnight. See you in the mornings.'... then as I was closing the door he said, 'Mum...'
Me: 'Yes (slightly exasperated because he does the delaying thing *every* night)'
Him: 'Just admit it.'
Me: 'Admit what?'
Him: 'You put the money under my pillow, don't you?'
Me: 'When? (play dumb, always works with men)
Him: 'Just admit it! You put the money under my pillow.'
Me: 'Instead of the tooth fairy?'
Him: 'Yes. You do it, right?'
Me: (delaying) 'Who told you that?'
Him: 'No one. I just thought about it. Fairies aren't real, are they?'
Me: 'Well, no.'
Him: 'So it must be you. Admit it.'
Me: 'Uh...'
Him: 'Admit it. I won't be mad.'
Me: 'Well, OK. Yea. It was me.'
Him: 'Was it?!'
Me: 'Yea.'
Him: 'Every time?'
Me: 'Yea. Except the times when you were at dad's and granny and grandpa's.'
Him: 'Really??!! (smiling)'
Me: 'Yea...'
Him: 'That's so funny! (laughing)'
Me: 'But you can't tell anyone else. You're in the "Adult Club" now. You've got to keep the secret.'
Him: 'Well Conrad doesn't believe in fairies so I can tell him, right?'
Me: 'Well... you need to find out if he believes in the tooth fairy though first. You've got to keep the secret. You're in the Club now.'
Him: 'OK...'
Me: 'Let me show you something.'

I took a little box down from the top shelf of the bookshelves.

Me: 'Look. I saved all your teeth.'
Him: 'Really?! (laughing) You're mad.'
Me: 'I think they're lovely.'
Him: 'Why do you waste your money like that?'
Me: 'By giving it to you? Well, it's not a waste. I like it. And so do you, right?'
Him: 'Yea...'
Me: 'OK, darling, it's bedtime. I'll see you in the morning, new Club member.'
Him: 'OK. Nite.'

I go to close the door.

Him: 'Mum.'
Me: 'Yes?'
Him: 'Can you give me the money now then, please? I can't wait til morning.'

Got any ideas for this weekend?

In his capacity as grand instigator and supreme leader of the Los Angeles Cacophony Society, "Reverend Al" Ridenour was famed for his practical jokes. His presence at the Los Angeles Marathon, however, was not universally appreciated.

Having unfurled a "Just Quit" banner at the 22-mile mark of the 26.2 mile course, the merry pranksters proceeded to entice tired runners to join the dark side with offers of doughnuts, beer, cigarettes and beef jerky.

Ben's game

"Ben, nine years old, is in remission from Leukemia. He also had a unique wish. Bens wish was to create a video / computer game in which the hero kills cancer cells. The game would have several levels of battling the cells. Ben felt that this game would be helpful for kids like him who have cancer, a way to fight back and relieve some of the pain and stress involved with treatment. Ben is a big fan of video games and computers, so the Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation went out to local game companies to find a champion to make Bens wish come true. A hero stepped forward: Eric Johnston of LucasArts. Not only did Eric want to make Bens wish a reality, he wanted to involve Ben in every step of the process. For months, Ben and Eric have been meeting on a regular basis to make the game just as Ben has envisioned it. Now you will have a chance to see it too"

PDD B-DAY?

is pdd coming up on it's one year birthday sometime soon? the first archived entry is june 30, but i haven't been a member since the get go, so i couldn't remember if that was the very, very beginning.

anyways, bloggerati, poopers, nerds...whatever, will their be a big cyber birthday party? i plan to flood the site on the anniversary with naked pictures of myself jumping out of a big computer shaped cake-WATCH OUT!!

No ID required...

I wonder how long it will take before underage teenagers start snorting this...

'da Marathon

Soon Duluth will be flooded by millions of fanatic runners and tourists alike. Yes, like it or not, Grandma's Marathon is this weekend. I know some of you are planning to flee but I have another suggestion. The only year I actually enjoyed watching the marathon involved early morning coctails and a kitty pool on Superior St. Any other ideas?

My proudest fathering moment

This weekend my 6 year old had a friend over. They were eating their macaroni and cheese for lunch. As expected, their conversation turned to burps and farts. The Friend had an unbelievable burping skill, and my son and his 3-year old sister tried to do it too but couldn't produce the real burps, just guttural "ahhh"s and grunts.

Then The Friend told them that he could make farts with his armpit, which caused amazement and disbelief. He tried it, but nothing happened. He blamed the shirt he was wearing.
I had been listening quietly to all this, and couldn't resist. I walked into the kitchen with my right hand firmly in my left armpit, and my left arm flapping. Their eyes got huge and The Friend said "Wow, my brother can't even do it that good!"

All in a Day's Work

 
 
Prints are available in many sizes, for the most part whatever size you want. 12" x 18" cost $25.00. Email me if interested.

I heart Charter!

No not really!

I was paying 49.90 a month for my high speed. . . internet. It was 30 something for the internet, 4.95 for modem rental, and a 10 dollar fee for not having cable TV. I went to their website to find out how much web space I'm allowed for my package. (their server is super fast compared to what pepper-land.net is on right now) :/

On their main page I see an ad for their high speed internet package. The only one they offer is 39.95 a month. And it's 3mb. When I signed up with them they had the 'silver, gold, and platinum' packages, we had the silver. It was 384kbps.

So I called charter and asked about the package. I was able to reduce my monthly amount from 49.90 to 39.95 a month with a 2.95 modem charge, and no penalty for not having cable TV, for a total of 42.95 a month. For 8 dollars less my internet speed went from average 240kbps, to 1980kbps.

Thank you Charter. I'm thankful you informed me that your packages had changed, making sure I had the best possible deal, instead of keeping me in the dark paying more money for a fraction of the speed.

Just thought any Charter customers who are in the same boat would like a heads up. Long live Corporate America!

--- End Sarcasm ---

On a side note, what server(s) host perfectduluthday.com and barrettchase.com? Actually, anyone have a good (fairly cheap) hosting service they recommend?

Apartment Hunting?

Shameless self-serving promotion here...

There's a nice apartment for rent in the upper of a duplex, 1 or two bedrooms, depending on who moves in, corner lot looking East toward the Lake, off street parking (yeah, off street parking), lots of sun, front yard...stupidclose (read: Stumbling Distance) to the local watering holes and the Lake...full basement, laundry (washer and dryer, included in the rental...)...painting and decorations in the apartment are extremely agreeable, in which I don't really care what you do with it (with obvious exclusions such as demolition and the like...), private entrance, and a small sitting deck off the back, plus a front porch...

The kids who live there are moving out at the end of the month, and both current and future landlords would like to find tenants as soon as possible. The current landlord rocks the casbah, as he pretty much leaves us to ourselves, and I'm in the process of purchasing it from them, set to close here later on this summer...and I'd like to think I'm an alright guy...

I keep the yard up, and am going to be doing some major renovations in the coming years which will include new windows, a fence around the yard (picket, not chain link), french doors between the two larger rooms, landscaping, and some smaller cosmetic items along the way...

The current asking price on rent is either 600 or 650 a month, (I think at this point due to the impending sale, we could be a little flexible on the lease) which is awesome for what you get in the deal...we (the landlords) pay for the heating oil and garbage, keep the place mowed and such. The only other utilities for the upstairs would be a gas and electric bill. Ideally we'd look for younger couples, like the Missus and I, serious student types, and just all around nice people...

The most you'd have to contend with from your neighbors would be an occasional stereo going and a minor wait in the basement for the washer...other than that, there is the possibility for random cookie exchanges, grill outs (we happen to have three), and other neighborly behavior

If ya wanna check it out, call the current landlord (Gordon and Traci Ramsay @ 728.9322) to set up a showing. If ya wanna look at it, the addy is 901 E 4th St, corner lot, facing the lake...look for the tomato plants growing in 5 gallon buckets on the front stoop.

thanks fer listening...

Devendra Banhart tonight.

Barrett Chase dot com, V-Nick and I are headed down to the big city tonight to see Devendra Banhart at the Minneapolis Women's Club. This is the theatre that Tiny Tim died at while going up in an elevator.

Does anyone know of a good Thai place in Minneapolis?

The Rumors Are True

Long lost mysterious Gonzo Science brother Allen Richardson is moving to Duluth at the end of the summer. Watch for mad hijinks as the brothers move in together and raise hell. Allen is going to hit this town like a dirty bomb.

R.I.P. Ray

perfectly awful

for all the hype and the hoopla the stepford wives really sucked. i got to see a sneak peek on monday and was completely disgusted by the lack of anything that makes a movie good ie. plot, character developement, ect. sure there was the occasional laugh, but this one barely rates "rental only" status. to make matters worse, the manchurian canidate was remade. aren't people sick of seeing old movies and tv shows brought back to life and modernized yet?

i should have gone to see troy instead "pant-pant" brad pittttt....

Gmail

Being the perfect Duluth bloggers you all are, you qualify for Gmail.

Google's answer to uh... email. you can signup via blogger's homepage. I'm jumping on this bandwagon like Duluth on Meth.

Industrial Espionage

This print is available up to 56" x 17" give or take. . .

I've been _cough_ tresspassing _cough_, taking photos of duluth's industrial sections. Anyone have any spots they know of that would be a fun photo shoot?

    

Out of curiosity...

Green Man...

going? Anyone?

A little over a month away and things are starting to get done and in place...

Last year was pretty awesome, with the Aurora Borealis and all...

catch phrase.

lately i've been trying to come up with a personal slogan. something that shouts to the world, "my personality can be summed up in ten words or less." i have a couple contenders, such as, "don't touch my feminazi agenda," "sitting quietly and behaving since 1973," or "i'll blow your mind *and* your cock." (you might think those slogans are contradictory. you might want to shut your piehole.) so, my sweet, sweet blogging babies, what's YOUR personal slogan?

By George I think he's here!

Meet George Cyrus Sparhawk. He was born Saturday, June 5th at 7:30pm in Duluth, MN. He weighed in at a whopping 10lbs 8oz. and is 24 inches long, whew! Mom, Dad and sister are are all doing great. He is the 7th George in a long line of George's. He will be going by his middle name like his daddy and his daddies before him. Cy for short is good too.

Looks like this Nanny could stay busy for quite a few years now.

PDD Poll Results.

In honour of Spring, what is your favourite flower?

1. Tulips [16 votes, 9.41%]
2. Roses [9 votes, 5.29%]
3. Pansies [12 votes, 7.06%]
4. Sunflowers [22 votes, 12.94%]
5. Dandelions [13 votes, 7.65%]
6. Lilies [47 votes, 27.65%]
7. Lupines [36 votes, 21.18%]
8. Begonias [2 votes, 1.18%]
9. Mums [2 votes, 1.18%]
10. Daffodils [11 votes, 6.47%]

Ballooning Spiders

I was not aware of this phenomenon until I saw it firsthand on Park Point yesterday. Anyone else witness ballooning spiders over the weekend, other than the "ballooning spiders" at R. T. Quinlan's Saloon?

No rest for the wicked

Off to the Twinkies to see Cloud Cult and If Thousands tonight at 1st Ave... but the real reason to post this...

BBC NEWS | Americas | Reagan health rumours 'rejected'

You might be on to something there Starfire.

Like rats off a sinking Administration...uhh, I mean ship...

Sorry for the activity on my part...or overactivity...

Just read on Yahoo that Armitage is headed out the door...no definate dates, but there is apparently a lot of speculation as to how long he'll stick around. He'd be #2 behind Tenet and then Powell isn't taking another turn so he'd be...#3? Anybody notice a trend? Is there a trend to notice, or is this just typical of end of office/pre election changeups? If it's a trend, and people are starting to jump ship...the fact that Armitage is even talking about bailing barely 72 hours after Tenet called it quits is spurious enough for me to question...unless the press pushed him with that question, in which case it'd be a story out of context.

anyone? anyone?

thanks for listening...

R.I.P. B.C.

so after much consideration i'm thinking of putting to rest my old nickname, buttercup. this kind of leaves me hanging without anything but my really name christopher, which always gets shortened down to chris anyways. the kids at my new job in mpls at the uptown lunds caribou coffee have started to call me muffin, only because i mentioned it longingly once, but i meant i wanted a sweet BOY to call me that, not my co-workers. i really don't know where to go with this.

any suggestions for a new moniker pdd'ers?

Pac Man High Score

I recently recorded my highest score ever on my mini Pac Man arcade game.



Has anyone else scored lately?

They're taking the farm

Ok, I don't own a farm. But a few months ago I did throw down a little cash adding my name to a title. The title was for land underneath the proposed Arrowhead-Weston line, and I added my name sort of thinking that Minnesota Power (AKA "The Man") might not like it. As luck would have it, I guess I was right. A few days ago, I recieved notice from Duluth's own Charles Andreson of Andresen & Butterworth on behalf of "The Man", stating that on June 28th he will be in court to condemn my the land and then take it.

I don't really have more at stake than anyone else in this I guess. Increased risk of cancer, leukemia, and other horrid illnesses. Reduced potential for the development of renewables in Minnesota. Less options for where my energy comes from. Further damage to the boreal forests north of us. Forced contribution to the devestation of the Cree commercial fishing economy. Increased greenhouse gas emissions. And it all seems like quite a burdon for a little power line (150 feet wide and 250 miles long) and the few dams (12 more scheduled for construction) that will follow. But I guess money talks, and since I don't have any, there isn't much I can do...

-Josh Wiese, feeling small

The News

Ok, so I was half hoping for a nice lazy summer and then I went and blew it. Now, I will be co-leading 3 two week trips for 6 kids. 2 weeks kayaking, 2 weeks canoeing, and 2 weeks backpacking in WY. 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. Starting Monday! This may be the exact thing I need to lose that 30 lbs I need to ditch. And I'm just a little scared of the whole thing, best not to think of it.

UK Invasion

Announcing the arrival of the New Scottish Gentry:


And the New World Order:


Get out your kilts and unitards.

They're both coming to the Twin Cities this month. Prepare to be rocked. Hard.

i am a punk rocker

on june 22 i will be in the thick of it at 1st ave seeing queen of punk!



look out minneaplois ladies....moshing is the gateway to devient behaviors

The Art of Hurling

When it comes to good, clean, wholesome fun, you can't beat a catapult. The purpose of this Web site is to "facilitate the sharing of ideas, comments and questions relating to trebuchets, other catapults both ancient and modern, and related subjects."

Thank me very much.

Managing Editor of New Moon: The Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams

New Moon Publishing in Duluth, MN is looking for a full time Managing Editor for its flagship publication, New Moon Magazine. The qualified person will have demonstrated skills in editorial and budget management, staff supervision, editing, writing, research and working with girls. We're looking for someone to take charge in a creative, rapidly changing company, working collaboratively to set vision and meet goals. Please submit resume, writing samples, editing samples and 3 references by June 30, 2004 to Linda Estel, New Moon Publishing, 34 E. Superior St. #200, Duluth, MN 55802 or email to [email protected].

Mmmm Sweet, finally a game I can win

Here's something all you Duluther's should enjoy, finally some high quality democratic propaganda. Join with He-man, Mr. T, Hulk Hogan and so many other American Hero's to save the world from the Bush regime.

I never thought that learning about tax abuses and fighting hegemonic monsters could mesh so well.

-Josh Wiese

Slim on the Radio

Slim Goodbuzz is making weekly radio appearances. Our renowned hometown alcoholic is a regular guest on "The X106 Morning Show," offering his observations on the pros and cons of barhopping in the Twin Ports.

Hear the sultan of sot banter with "Zooch" every Thursday at 8 a.m. "Pure Rock X106" can be heard on 106.3 FM in the Duluth/Superior area and 104.3 FM in surrounding communities.