Cayla and I took a trip to Cancun, a trip that I had won from KS95. I figured February would be the time to go, so here's how it went. We stayed in an Oceanview Suite at the Great Parnassus, an all-inclusive resort. When we got to the hotel, it was gorgeous - completely open lobby (no doors!), water tricking down the back wall (a common theme we came to find out), 3 tiered infinity pool... it was great :)
Friday 2/20: Got to airport, went through security, got on plane. Pretty uneventful. Plane landed, and since Cayla has a broken leg, she got a wheelchair ride - the guy brought us to the front of the line at customs, and right through the ever famous timeshare room, and zipped us out of the building and to our ride in record time. Got to the hotel, checked in, then at the end of the check-in, we got a little walk-through of our benefits from "Guest Services." We both got into the discussion, even when she offered us breakfast at a new "sister hotel." We were both tired and cranky, had to use the bathroom, and just wanted to go relax in our room, so we got the breakfast scheduled, signed the form, and brought our copy to our room. Then, we notice on it something about 90 minutes "to fully understand the concept." Oh shit, we just agreed to a timeshare presentation. As a perk to booking through NWA WorldVacations, we had representatives right there in the hotel who looked out for us. And that's definitely the way to do it. Anyway, got to our room (complete with jacuzzi on the balcony overlooking the ocean, and an awesome shower), found a place to have dinner (Big Ben, a steakhouse, the food was ok, not so great...), explored a little bit, and called it a day.
Saturday 2/21 we actually got to meet the NWA local reps for our hotel. Friday we had thought about what activities we wanted to do for the week, we decided to do the Jungle Tour, and the NWA guys recommended Sunday, so we wouldn't get caught up with all the spring breakers that were expected to arrive Sunday... $66 each to drive a speedboat out to a reef, and snorkel for 45 minutes. The rest of the day, we explored the hotel and relaxed. Right away in the morning, the timeshare lady (who we now realized had a different nametag than everyone else...), called us to remind us of the breakfast, and we cancelled (Cayla told her I was sick), then when we went down to the lobby, she came up to us and was upset about us cancelling, and tried to reschedule. We said "not interested" and walked away. We spent some time relaxing on the beach as well, stood in the ocean/caribbean sea/whatever it is :P Took advantage of free alcohol :)
Sunday 2/22 we took our jungle tour. They actually let us snorkel for an hour instead of just 45 minutes. When we returned the flippers and life jacket, they actually put a shell on the desk that said "TIPS" on it, and said "Here is tip jar, you give tip for my good service." Funny, back in the States, tips are OPTIONAL..... This was also our first experience with the bus - those drivers are CRAZY! But cheap, 6.5 pesos for a ride (65 cents US). Spent more time relaxing today as well. Crazy timeshare lady accosted us again, trying to sweeten the deal to get us to the timeshare, and I went off on her, and didn't hear from her again all week. As part of our package, we got to have a gourmet dinner in our room one night, so we chose this night. When they said "gourmet dinner", I expected them to just bring some random nice food up to us. They called ahead to see what kind of wine we wanted, and when the scheduled time came, a guy came up to our room with a table on wheels, all dressed up with white tablecloth, complete with candle and everything. They brought up menus from Big Ben for us to order from, and offered to switch to the french restaurant menu if we wanted. We took that option (since we weren't so impressed with Big Ben...), and he brought up the menus along with the salads. We opted to not have the appetizers, just had the main course and dessert - and it was wonderful! He kept coming back every 10-20 minutes or so to bring food, take orders, whatever a normal waiter would do if you were in their restaurant. It was awesome!
Monday 2/23, as part of the room we got, we got to go on a Lagoon Cruise. Took a spin around the lagoon, one of the activities people from the Parnassus resorts was there and had some contests going, and we had a "Light Lunch", which consisted of 3 courses - salad, chicken and vegetables, and a brownie dessert. Open bar the whole time too. For supper, we went over to the Golden Parnassus resort (full exchange privileges are nice) and ate at the Old Barn, on the recommendation of people on the cruise. And it was the best restaurant I was at all week. The Filet Mignon I had there was the best steak I've ever had from a restaurant. Brought to the table on a sizzling skillet. AMAZING. The wild rice..... was rice with a few black specks. But the steak was awesome. The place looked like an old west saloon, had a lot of character to it. Explored the hotel a bit, was happy about having chosen the Great Parnassus instead of the Golden Parnassus (the Great was so much nicer, but the beach at the Golden was better). By the way, don't throw your cigarette butts in the lagoon, the crocodiles are getting cancer :P
Tuesday 2/24 We went to the market and went to Sr. Frogs. Sr. Frog totally didn't impress me, but I'll bet it would've been more fun if we would've gone after 9pm when it turns into a party bar with $45 cover charge for open bar... and if I was a guy who goes to those party bars :P Went back to the hotel and chilled for a bit, then went to another market to try and see a sunset. It worked somewhat, but it was kinda cloudy so it wasn't too successful.
Wednesday 2/25 We relaxed in the pool, and went back to the Golden Parnassus for dinner with some friends we made at the pool. Yes, we went back to the Old Barn again. It was still awesome :)
Thursday 2/26 time to go back home :( The flight was at 3:40, boarding time was 3:00, so our ride to the airport (which we didn't get to schedule) picked us up at 12:10. Lovely. Anyway, got on our ride, which stopped at 2 other hotels, and proceeded to the airport. When we got to the airport, the porter grabbed our luggage and, noticing Cayla's broken leg, put us in the first class line to checkin. Craptons of people waiting around, but only like 7 in the first class line :P They called for a wheelchair, but didn't have anyone to push one, and never could even find one for her, so we just went up without... got priority service at security though. The easiest security line I've ever been through. First sign: "Please keep your shoes on." Threw the stuff through the scanner, walked through, no problemo. After security, the path actually takes you through the duty free store - no way to go around it, have to go through it. Hit up the food court before the flight, and heard they changed the gate, creating a far shorter walk for us. Even got some better seats (row 19 instead of row 41...) Once we were on the plane, a 10-15 minute delay was announced. Awesome. Pushed back from the gate to wait out the delay. Then they said it would be a 2 hour delay, and they were calling the company to see if they wanted us to wait it out on the tarmac or go back to the gate. 10-15 minutes later, they heard back and said we were going to just go and deal with any delay once we got to Minneapolis. Slowed down a bit in the air for a 10 minute delay due to the snowstorm, then we had a 10 minute holding pattern, then right when we were ready to start landing, they changed the runway on us. So it was really an up and down ending to the flight, but we made it in one piece, and that's whats important. Had a delay in getting to the gate once we were on the ground, I think officially we were only 40 minutes late, which isn't too bad. Cayla turned her phone on once we could (on the plane), and found out our ride didn't want to drive in the bad weather, so we started calling around for plan B, and finally found one (thanks Josh!!)
By the way, if you get a chance, you have to try a Riviera Maya. Green melon liquor (Midori I think), orange juice with a spritz of grenadine and a spritz of something clear (7up maybe? Not entirely necessary I'm sure), and frozen strawberry daquiri on top. Looks like a stoplight. It was awesome :D
That's enough for now - ask if you want more details.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Monday, November 3, 2008
Shit... Well, there went that idea :P
Alright, so the idea was I was going to say something about each race I'm gonna vote in, one per day, but that didn't happen. So here's a shot at putting my spin on what's happening.
I don't get to vote in this one, but Bachmann is an idiot. Rule of thumb: Never say "I didn't say that!" when it was live on national tv.
Anyway, Al Franken, Norm Coleman and Dean Barkley. I listened to the debate last night, and I think Barkley was the big winner. Seriously, not being involved in the huge Franken/Coleman media fight is the smartest thing he can do.
I'm tired of both Al and Norm. They've been at each other's throats the whole time. According to the MPR tool that tells you which candidate is most compatible with you.... Norm only matches my views on 2 issues (out of like 12 i think). So he's out. Al... well, he keeps engaging Norm in attacks. Norm (of course after doing all of his attacks), wanted to kick out the RNCC and the DNCC and only let each candidate do their own ads, not let anyone else speak for them. Al refused. He had a chance to turn this into a more positive campaign, and ran away from it.
Not to mention, Al has a face for radio :P
Regardless, they're both idiots, as proven in last night's debate. They bitched back and forth for about 10 minutes about each other about the latest campaign issues... and then they kicked it over to Barkley for his opinion, and he said "Well, now you see one of the reasons I'm running".
Barkley gets my vote. And I think he's got a real chance to win this thing.
I don't get to vote in this one, but Bachmann is an idiot. Rule of thumb: Never say "I didn't say that!" when it was live on national tv.
Anyway, Al Franken, Norm Coleman and Dean Barkley. I listened to the debate last night, and I think Barkley was the big winner. Seriously, not being involved in the huge Franken/Coleman media fight is the smartest thing he can do.
I'm tired of both Al and Norm. They've been at each other's throats the whole time. According to the MPR tool that tells you which candidate is most compatible with you.... Norm only matches my views on 2 issues (out of like 12 i think). So he's out. Al... well, he keeps engaging Norm in attacks. Norm (of course after doing all of his attacks), wanted to kick out the RNCC and the DNCC and only let each candidate do their own ads, not let anyone else speak for them. Al refused. He had a chance to turn this into a more positive campaign, and ran away from it.
Not to mention, Al has a face for radio :P
Regardless, they're both idiots, as proven in last night's debate. They bitched back and forth for about 10 minutes about each other about the latest campaign issues... and then they kicked it over to Barkley for his opinion, and he said "Well, now you see one of the reasons I'm running".
Barkley gets my vote. And I think he's got a real chance to win this thing.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Alright... Time for some politics...
Yes, politics causes sparks to fly, but that's fun sometimes :)
Over the next few days before the election, I'm hoping to throw a quick blurb up about how I feel about the races I have to vote for, and perhaps some other ones (Bachmann comes to mind...)
Let's start with the big one. The President. Then again, this changes every freakin day. Sorta.
McCain/Palin: McCain is too old. He'll prolly have some sort of heart failure or something within the first year, and Palin, the hick from Alaska would have to take over. Fuck. Palin has international experience because she can see Russia and borders Canada? They're not even a real country anyway! :P Srsly?! I swear, 50% of the people voting McCain are doing so because they're scared of Obama cuz they think he's a terrorist or cuz he's black, and 30% more just because Palin's female. The other 20%... Who knows :P
Obama/Biden: From the get-go, Obama has given the feel that he's in touch with the youth of America, who ultimately decides every election (see the Ventura election...), which is important to me because, well, I'm young (or so I think... at least I did til the last concert I went to...). The only thing I'm not liking about Obama... well, I signed up for e-mail updates from his campaign. Yeah, I was really thinking that day :P Anyway, for a couple weeks there, I felt kinda abused - they e-mailed me like 3 times a day some days... Slightly rediculous :P Also, part of the reason people like Obama is that he's not republican :P We don't need more of the same old same old in Washington. now, McCain thinks he's an agent of change as well. I think McCain is on crack.
In years past, I've been able to name 3rd party candidates. This year, well, nobody comes to mind. I still think that's half the problem with the political system - if you're red, you vote red. If you're blue, you vote blue. Very few vote based solely on the issues. Let's get rid of the political parties and make every candidate fend for themselves, and circulate an excel spreadsheet listing how every candidate feels about each hot topic :P
Let's oversimplify some stands on topics, based on http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/06/03/obama_mccain_on_the_issues/
Abortion Rights. McCain opposes them, Obama favors them. Point to Obama.
Campaign Finance: McCain wrote the book (well, the law actually) about campaign finance - and he took the public financing with spending limits. Obama said he would, then decided "Nah, I can raise more on my own" after McCain locked in his decision. Point to McCain.
Cuba: If Cuba makes steps toward democracy, both candidates are willing to ease restrictions.
Death Penalty: They both support it, when the circumstances are right. Obama has helped author laws to make sure innocent people don't get killed. For that, I'll give a point to Obama.
Education. McCain: Parental choice, vouchers for private schools, and more money for community colleges. Obama: Encourage preschool, get better teachers, and fix No Child Left Behind. Don't get me started. Hard to give a point here, both are good plans.
Gay Marriage: Both candidates oppose a constitutional amendment to ban it. You'd lose too many votes if you said otherwise :P McCain says same-sex couples should be allowed to enter into legal agreements for insurance and similar benefits. Obama supports civil unions, says states should decide about marriage. Personally, I believe... if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, IT'S A GODDAMN DUCK! Call it marriage and be done with it! No points.
Global Warming: Both realize something needs to be done. Blah blah blah.
Gun control: McCain loves the second amendment (as all gun-loving republicans do), hell Palin loves moose hunting. Obama supported a ban on all semiautomatic weapons in Illinois. Personally, the only people who should have semi-automatic weapons are the freakin military - you don't need anything that strong for hunting. Point Obama.
Health Care: Both candidates have good ideas, helping people get insurance coverage. McCain offers a tax credit, Obama offers a way to get the same health insurance the government has, and pays for it by taxing the wealthy. Since I'm not wealthy, I'm all about that. Then again, McCain is throwing real numbers out there. Then again, if there was a $2500 credit for health insurance, rates will just keep going up. Time for a REAL SOLUTION people. No points.
Immigration: Build a fence, learn English, pay your back taxes and fines - follow the program, Welcome to America. Sounds good to me. Wait, both candidates agree :P Points for everyone!
Iran: McCain "We don't negotiate with terrorists", while Obama thinks along the lines of if we start talking to them, perhaps we can find some sort of agreement. You know, so they don't terrorize us.
Iraq: McCain opposes a timetable for withdrawl, and wants a permanent "peacekeeping force" in Iraq, which means we ain't goin anywhere. Obama previously said a timetable for withdrawl would be irresponsible, but now he caved to political pressure and says end of 2009 for COMPLETE withdrawl. Personally, I agree it's irresponsible... but a permanent peacekeeping force isn't right either. No points.
Stem Cells: Let's do it. Both candidates. w00t.
Social Security: Both candidates realize something needs to be done, but neither have ideas on what to do, besides "minor adjustments", meaning it'll be long gone by the time I retire.
Taxes: McCain "NO NEW TAXES!", and we see how well this worked for Pawlenty (see falling bridges and underfunded schools, causing property tax increases). He talks about a LOT of tax cuts too. And balance the budget. Meaning he's gonna slash everything. Meaning more falling bridges, and still no money for education. Idiot. Obama wants to be Robin Hood. Tax the rich, cut taxes for the poor. Wait a second.... the poor have lower taxes... because they have low income...
'Course it doesn't really matter who wins... This is all the political talk we hear every year, then when push comes to shove, it doesn't happen (see Bush's State of the Union when he came to Fargo afterwards... and wanted to privatize Social Security... and a week later he had been laughed at so hard he gave up.)
Sure, I had to handle the big one the first night I decided to do this. Regardless, fairly obvious, Obama gets my vote. Your vote may vary.
But regardless of how you choose to vote.... GO VOTE! And for the love of God, please don't use this entirely one-sided view of the candidates as your only source of information - Google them! :)
Over the next few days before the election, I'm hoping to throw a quick blurb up about how I feel about the races I have to vote for, and perhaps some other ones (Bachmann comes to mind...)
Let's start with the big one. The President. Then again, this changes every freakin day. Sorta.
McCain/Palin: McCain is too old. He'll prolly have some sort of heart failure or something within the first year, and Palin, the hick from Alaska would have to take over. Fuck. Palin has international experience because she can see Russia and borders Canada? They're not even a real country anyway! :P Srsly?! I swear, 50% of the people voting McCain are doing so because they're scared of Obama cuz they think he's a terrorist or cuz he's black, and 30% more just because Palin's female. The other 20%... Who knows :P
Obama/Biden: From the get-go, Obama has given the feel that he's in touch with the youth of America, who ultimately decides every election (see the Ventura election...), which is important to me because, well, I'm young (or so I think... at least I did til the last concert I went to...). The only thing I'm not liking about Obama... well, I signed up for e-mail updates from his campaign. Yeah, I was really thinking that day :P Anyway, for a couple weeks there, I felt kinda abused - they e-mailed me like 3 times a day some days... Slightly rediculous :P Also, part of the reason people like Obama is that he's not republican :P We don't need more of the same old same old in Washington. now, McCain thinks he's an agent of change as well. I think McCain is on crack.
In years past, I've been able to name 3rd party candidates. This year, well, nobody comes to mind. I still think that's half the problem with the political system - if you're red, you vote red. If you're blue, you vote blue. Very few vote based solely on the issues. Let's get rid of the political parties and make every candidate fend for themselves, and circulate an excel spreadsheet listing how every candidate feels about each hot topic :P
Let's oversimplify some stands on topics, based on http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/06/03/obama_mccain_on_the_issues/
Abortion Rights. McCain opposes them, Obama favors them. Point to Obama.
Campaign Finance: McCain wrote the book (well, the law actually) about campaign finance - and he took the public financing with spending limits. Obama said he would, then decided "Nah, I can raise more on my own" after McCain locked in his decision. Point to McCain.
Cuba: If Cuba makes steps toward democracy, both candidates are willing to ease restrictions.
Death Penalty: They both support it, when the circumstances are right. Obama has helped author laws to make sure innocent people don't get killed. For that, I'll give a point to Obama.
Education. McCain: Parental choice, vouchers for private schools, and more money for community colleges. Obama: Encourage preschool, get better teachers, and fix No Child Left Behind. Don't get me started. Hard to give a point here, both are good plans.
Gay Marriage: Both candidates oppose a constitutional amendment to ban it. You'd lose too many votes if you said otherwise :P McCain says same-sex couples should be allowed to enter into legal agreements for insurance and similar benefits. Obama supports civil unions, says states should decide about marriage. Personally, I believe... if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, IT'S A GODDAMN DUCK! Call it marriage and be done with it! No points.
Global Warming: Both realize something needs to be done. Blah blah blah.
Gun control: McCain loves the second amendment (as all gun-loving republicans do), hell Palin loves moose hunting. Obama supported a ban on all semiautomatic weapons in Illinois. Personally, the only people who should have semi-automatic weapons are the freakin military - you don't need anything that strong for hunting. Point Obama.
Health Care: Both candidates have good ideas, helping people get insurance coverage. McCain offers a tax credit, Obama offers a way to get the same health insurance the government has, and pays for it by taxing the wealthy. Since I'm not wealthy, I'm all about that. Then again, McCain is throwing real numbers out there. Then again, if there was a $2500 credit for health insurance, rates will just keep going up. Time for a REAL SOLUTION people. No points.
Immigration: Build a fence, learn English, pay your back taxes and fines - follow the program, Welcome to America. Sounds good to me. Wait, both candidates agree :P Points for everyone!
Iran: McCain "We don't negotiate with terrorists", while Obama thinks along the lines of if we start talking to them, perhaps we can find some sort of agreement. You know, so they don't terrorize us.
Iraq: McCain opposes a timetable for withdrawl, and wants a permanent "peacekeeping force" in Iraq, which means we ain't goin anywhere. Obama previously said a timetable for withdrawl would be irresponsible, but now he caved to political pressure and says end of 2009 for COMPLETE withdrawl. Personally, I agree it's irresponsible... but a permanent peacekeeping force isn't right either. No points.
Stem Cells: Let's do it. Both candidates. w00t.
Social Security: Both candidates realize something needs to be done, but neither have ideas on what to do, besides "minor adjustments", meaning it'll be long gone by the time I retire.
Taxes: McCain "NO NEW TAXES!", and we see how well this worked for Pawlenty (see falling bridges and underfunded schools, causing property tax increases). He talks about a LOT of tax cuts too. And balance the budget. Meaning he's gonna slash everything. Meaning more falling bridges, and still no money for education. Idiot. Obama wants to be Robin Hood. Tax the rich, cut taxes for the poor. Wait a second.... the poor have lower taxes... because they have low income...
'Course it doesn't really matter who wins... This is all the political talk we hear every year, then when push comes to shove, it doesn't happen (see Bush's State of the Union when he came to Fargo afterwards... and wanted to privatize Social Security... and a week later he had been laughed at so hard he gave up.)
Sure, I had to handle the big one the first night I decided to do this. Regardless, fairly obvious, Obama gets my vote. Your vote may vary.
But regardless of how you choose to vote.... GO VOTE! And for the love of God, please don't use this entirely one-sided view of the candidates as your only source of information - Google them! :)
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Rock Band Live!
Alright, so I'm told I have to blog about this concert, which is actually a good excuse since I haven't posted in a freakin month :P (been busy moving) :P
Before I get too far into this, the average age of the crowd was probably about 15. Totally guessing, but I haven't seen so many kids with braces on their teeth since middle school :P No chance to pick up a chick, since they're all jailbait :P
After obligatory pat-down (since the guy's metal detector was broken), the ticket guy sent us upstairs. Which really made me wonder, cuz we had FLOOR tickets. So I checked with the people at the bottom of the escalator - Indeed, floor tickets are upstairs. Whateva. Go upstairs. Find the upper level seats. Talk to a security dude who was totally confused about life in general I think, and eventually back down the stairs to the floor entrance (which defeated the entire purpose of being early.) When the show started, we were like 3rd back from the rail. By the time it was over, it was more like 5th back. Fucking assholes keep pushing their way in.
The Cab opened the show. No, not Death Cab for Cutie. A band literally called "The Cab." Lead singer looked like he belonged in high school at best. Like 5 songs was all he played, which was enough for me :P Not for Amber, but for me it was :) Ended with the lead singer taking a swig of water and spitting it in my general direction :P 'Course I wasn't paying attention and thought it was just some water... til Amber was totally pissed about it
Then, some 35+ year old came out to "run" the show (i think he called himself ReNickUlous, which I thought was uberlame). Being Rock Band Live, people were competing up on the concourse for a chance to be on stage between sets. Anyway, it was a slight distraction between sets while they swapped out everything on stage. He just introduced himself this first time - don't think they actually got the game going that time...
Then Plain White T's took the stage. And it seemed each member of the band was going for his own theme for clothing. One guy looked like a 70's high school male cheerleader (lead singer), one of the guys looked like he belonged on the Dukes of Hazzard, and none of them looked old enough to know what I'm talking about :P Another guy had a suit and tie on.... like he was in the mafia. And the last guy..... kinda looked like he belonged in a rock band :P Anyway, they did the obligatory "Hey There Delilah", where they didn't even really have to sing... Not a big fan of their other songs... except "Hate" :) Great song :) The basis of the song is "Hate is a strong word, but I really really really don't like you!" :)
Then they brought a couple of groups of people who think they can play Rock Band on stage to play between sets... and it was alright - passed the time... Seems the drummer sucked :P And an equipment malfunction stopped at least one of these 2 groups :P
Third: Dashboard Confessional. Great job :) The guy stopped singing during one of his songs, ran back to his bottle of water (while the crowd kept singing), jumped off the stage and gave it to someone in the front row who was apparently having some trouble... and when he handed the bottle of water to this person, security FINALLY woke up and realized something was up :P I always like it when the band does something like that - to make sure everyone's ok. Like at Blue October when he stopped the song to have someone kicked out :P
Again, more people playing Rock Band between sets. They got the crowd to jam out to the last song, then gave us our "prize" - the fact that we had just opened for Panic at the Disco. Lame :P
P at the D :) I heard what I wanted to hear :) They did a great job too :) I heard my god-damn door song and my harlequin girls song :P The rest was good too :) And they closed the show......... with a really really old song.... Shout. Yes, that one. "You know it makes me wanna SHOUT!". Yup. Really really.
Anyway it was a great song, well worth the $37.95 face value of the tickets. Plus $2 facility charge. Plus fucking $9.65 convenience charge. Plus $.72 convenience charge tax (I can't even make this shit up), plus $2.74 order processing fee. Yeah, yeah, I know, I shoulda bought the tickets at the Target Center Boxoffice instead of through Ticketmaster... Oh well.
Before I get too far into this, the average age of the crowd was probably about 15. Totally guessing, but I haven't seen so many kids with braces on their teeth since middle school :P No chance to pick up a chick, since they're all jailbait :P
After obligatory pat-down (since the guy's metal detector was broken), the ticket guy sent us upstairs. Which really made me wonder, cuz we had FLOOR tickets. So I checked with the people at the bottom of the escalator - Indeed, floor tickets are upstairs. Whateva. Go upstairs. Find the upper level seats. Talk to a security dude who was totally confused about life in general I think, and eventually back down the stairs to the floor entrance (which defeated the entire purpose of being early.) When the show started, we were like 3rd back from the rail. By the time it was over, it was more like 5th back. Fucking assholes keep pushing their way in.
The Cab opened the show. No, not Death Cab for Cutie. A band literally called "The Cab." Lead singer looked like he belonged in high school at best. Like 5 songs was all he played, which was enough for me :P Not for Amber, but for me it was :) Ended with the lead singer taking a swig of water and spitting it in my general direction :P 'Course I wasn't paying attention and thought it was just some water... til Amber was totally pissed about it
Then, some 35+ year old came out to "run" the show (i think he called himself ReNickUlous, which I thought was uberlame). Being Rock Band Live, people were competing up on the concourse for a chance to be on stage between sets. Anyway, it was a slight distraction between sets while they swapped out everything on stage. He just introduced himself this first time - don't think they actually got the game going that time...
Then Plain White T's took the stage. And it seemed each member of the band was going for his own theme for clothing. One guy looked like a 70's high school male cheerleader (lead singer), one of the guys looked like he belonged on the Dukes of Hazzard, and none of them looked old enough to know what I'm talking about :P Another guy had a suit and tie on.... like he was in the mafia. And the last guy..... kinda looked like he belonged in a rock band :P Anyway, they did the obligatory "Hey There Delilah", where they didn't even really have to sing... Not a big fan of their other songs... except "Hate" :) Great song :) The basis of the song is "Hate is a strong word, but I really really really don't like you!" :)
Then they brought a couple of groups of people who think they can play Rock Band on stage to play between sets... and it was alright - passed the time... Seems the drummer sucked :P And an equipment malfunction stopped at least one of these 2 groups :P
Third: Dashboard Confessional. Great job :) The guy stopped singing during one of his songs, ran back to his bottle of water (while the crowd kept singing), jumped off the stage and gave it to someone in the front row who was apparently having some trouble... and when he handed the bottle of water to this person, security FINALLY woke up and realized something was up :P I always like it when the band does something like that - to make sure everyone's ok. Like at Blue October when he stopped the song to have someone kicked out :P
Again, more people playing Rock Band between sets. They got the crowd to jam out to the last song, then gave us our "prize" - the fact that we had just opened for Panic at the Disco. Lame :P
P at the D :) I heard what I wanted to hear :) They did a great job too :) I heard my god-damn door song and my harlequin girls song :P The rest was good too :) And they closed the show......... with a really really old song.... Shout. Yes, that one. "You know it makes me wanna SHOUT!". Yup. Really really.
Anyway it was a great song, well worth the $37.95 face value of the tickets. Plus $2 facility charge. Plus fucking $9.65 convenience charge. Plus $.72 convenience charge tax (I can't even make this shit up), plus $2.74 order processing fee. Yeah, yeah, I know, I shoulda bought the tickets at the Target Center Boxoffice instead of through Ticketmaster... Oh well.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
When did shit get so expensive?!
Went to the buffet at Treasure Island today with a friend. I thought the buy-one-get-one coupon I had would make the buffet relatively cheap. Instead, it made it reasonable.
$16.99 per person?!?!?! I'd expect it to be half that price. Then again perhaps I've simply become accustomed to the buffets I typically hit for lunch. For lunch, if the price gets too close to $10, we don't go back.
The Blenders, an Acappella group, are going to be in town in December for a holiday show. Sounds like a great time, if I can find someone to come along! Then I look at the ticket prices... - $32.50?!?! An acappella group can pull in $32.50 per seat for a show?! Tickets for Rock Band Live started at $35, and that's for FOUR AWESOME bands! (well I can vouch for 3 of them, but Amber assures me The Cab is great too)
Nice to see that gas jumped 20 cents too, in the name of Hurricane Ike. It's funny... gas prices didn't fall so quickly because of the impending hurricanes. So now that one's actually hitting, let's raise prices too. Comparing the price of a barrel of oil to the price of gas... it's way out of whack. Could someone please whack it back into whack? Let's get gas prices back into the $2 range! C'mon! It's realistic!
Then again, look at Europe. $2.75/liter (or litre, depending on your country), which is way freakin expensive (how does $8/gallon sound?!)
I want a Prius. I can only imagine how awesome the gas mileage would be for me living here in the city :) In the country, the Prius wouldn't get gas mileage worth a hoot, cuz it's all cruising... but in the city, where I use the brakes all the freakin time during my commute... it would be worth it :)
$16.99 per person?!?!?! I'd expect it to be half that price. Then again perhaps I've simply become accustomed to the buffets I typically hit for lunch. For lunch, if the price gets too close to $10, we don't go back.
The Blenders, an Acappella group, are going to be in town in December for a holiday show. Sounds like a great time, if I can find someone to come along! Then I look at the ticket prices... - $32.50?!?! An acappella group can pull in $32.50 per seat for a show?! Tickets for Rock Band Live started at $35, and that's for FOUR AWESOME bands! (well I can vouch for 3 of them, but Amber assures me The Cab is great too)
Nice to see that gas jumped 20 cents too, in the name of Hurricane Ike. It's funny... gas prices didn't fall so quickly because of the impending hurricanes. So now that one's actually hitting, let's raise prices too. Comparing the price of a barrel of oil to the price of gas... it's way out of whack. Could someone please whack it back into whack? Let's get gas prices back into the $2 range! C'mon! It's realistic!
Then again, look at Europe. $2.75/liter (or litre, depending on your country), which is way freakin expensive (how does $8/gallon sound?!)
I want a Prius. I can only imagine how awesome the gas mileage would be for me living here in the city :) In the country, the Prius wouldn't get gas mileage worth a hoot, cuz it's all cruising... but in the city, where I use the brakes all the freakin time during my commute... it would be worth it :)
Friday, August 29, 2008
TRUTH!
"borrowed" from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/29/obama.dream/index.html?eref=rss_latest
""King is the son of the segregated South; Obama is the son of integrated Hawaii," Hansen said. "King is a preacher and Obama is a law professor. No one would think of comparing the two if they weren't both black."
So very very true...
""King is the son of the segregated South; Obama is the son of integrated Hawaii," Hansen said. "King is a preacher and Obama is a law professor. No one would think of comparing the two if they weren't both black."
So very very true...
Politics
So, every so often I get back into the mood to follow politics, which seems to be every 2-4 years... And the mood has struck again. So I watched Obama's "I Have a Dream" speech last night, and it was a good speech, but I made fun of it the entire time. Why? Because I've lost faith in politics :P - You know... the rhetoric that sounds good, but when it comes time to do it, it becomes too costly or too difficult. Bush was going to save Social Security a couple years ago on his trip to Fargo. We see how well that went. Obama promises to save it too. Will he be able to? He also promised affordable health care. Good luck with that.
I did like that McCain reportedly took out some ads, congratulating Obama on his nomination to be aired before, during, and after his speech. That's a nice touch.
But I'm tired of politicians promising things they can't deliver on. Instead of promising, at least be honest with us. You won't know how things turn out until you get to the big chair. You can't say you'll pull the troops out of Iraq until you actually see the information and see if it's feasible.
Of course on the topic of Iraq, if they want and can afford to build a huge ferris wheel, perhaps we can leave, or at least not throw more money at them... Seriously. Recreation is not something you add in a time of war.
And McCain, why the hell did you pick the governor of Alaska to be your VP?! Afraid you can't carry Alaska without her? Want a woman in your office? Or just want someone with no experience to take over if you die in office? I mean c'mon, you're no spring chicken there McCain...
I did like that McCain reportedly took out some ads, congratulating Obama on his nomination to be aired before, during, and after his speech. That's a nice touch.
But I'm tired of politicians promising things they can't deliver on. Instead of promising, at least be honest with us. You won't know how things turn out until you get to the big chair. You can't say you'll pull the troops out of Iraq until you actually see the information and see if it's feasible.
Of course on the topic of Iraq, if they want and can afford to build a huge ferris wheel, perhaps we can leave, or at least not throw more money at them... Seriously. Recreation is not something you add in a time of war.
And McCain, why the hell did you pick the governor of Alaska to be your VP?! Afraid you can't carry Alaska without her? Want a woman in your office? Or just want someone with no experience to take over if you die in office? I mean c'mon, you're no spring chicken there McCain...
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Greetings from Denver!
My job sent me to sunny Denver, Colorado this week to learn a new piece of software we're going to start selling. Can't complain about a free trip to Denver, even if it includes 8 hours per day of learning :P
Anyway, Denver is a great city - plus I've gotten the chance to hang out with people from our other offices, which has been a far more enjoyable way to spend the evenings than sitting at home playing WoW :P - Normal working hours for me are 8-5, leaving home at 7:20 and getting back home at about 5:50... This week, I've been leaving for the office at 7:30 and back to the hotel by 5, which is nice :) It surprised me... a bunch of us were at a bar last night, we stayed what seemed like a reasonable amount of time, and we left at 8! I'm not used to actually doing stuff after work - it's been fun! I really need to do more of that :P
And you'd think after almost a week my body would become accustomed to the time change... but it's 9:00, and my body's getting ready for bed... unfortunately getting up at 6 isn't any easier than it is at home :P Not entirely sure how that one works...
I've had the chance to see the mountains a couple times now too... from quite a distance, but still a cool site to see... not something you see in Minnesota :P - I arrived on Sunday, and the flight back is tomorrow (Friday) at like 7:50... but now the trainer is telling us he's planning on leaving early, so I guess I'll go to the airport early and standby for an earlier flight... see if that idea works at all... Otherwise I guess I'm gonna be hanging out at Denver airport for a while :P
Regardless I've enjoyed being in Denver, I'd love to come back sometime, and I don't really want to go back home, but alas, I must... if I was smart I would've booked the flight back for Sunday and had a couple extra nights to explore the area. But I didn't. Didn't really have the money for it anyway :P
Anyway, Denver is a great city - plus I've gotten the chance to hang out with people from our other offices, which has been a far more enjoyable way to spend the evenings than sitting at home playing WoW :P - Normal working hours for me are 8-5, leaving home at 7:20 and getting back home at about 5:50... This week, I've been leaving for the office at 7:30 and back to the hotel by 5, which is nice :) It surprised me... a bunch of us were at a bar last night, we stayed what seemed like a reasonable amount of time, and we left at 8! I'm not used to actually doing stuff after work - it's been fun! I really need to do more of that :P
And you'd think after almost a week my body would become accustomed to the time change... but it's 9:00, and my body's getting ready for bed... unfortunately getting up at 6 isn't any easier than it is at home :P Not entirely sure how that one works...
I've had the chance to see the mountains a couple times now too... from quite a distance, but still a cool site to see... not something you see in Minnesota :P - I arrived on Sunday, and the flight back is tomorrow (Friday) at like 7:50... but now the trainer is telling us he's planning on leaving early, so I guess I'll go to the airport early and standby for an earlier flight... see if that idea works at all... Otherwise I guess I'm gonna be hanging out at Denver airport for a while :P
Regardless I've enjoyed being in Denver, I'd love to come back sometime, and I don't really want to go back home, but alas, I must... if I was smart I would've booked the flight back for Sunday and had a couple extra nights to explore the area. But I didn't. Didn't really have the money for it anyway :P
Sunday, July 20, 2008
GOOOO SEEEE IIIITTTTT!!!!
The Dark Knight was awesome :) Go see it. Now.
It made me laugh, and not in a bad way... they actually did a very good job with the dynamic between the characters... and big booms :)
Got me thinking.... how many Batman movies are out now?
1. Batman (1989)
2. Batman Returns
3. Batman Forever
4. Batman & Robin
5. Batman Begins
6. The Dark Knight (aka Batman Begins 2 as a working title... Interesting...)
Not to mention the animated ones... or the ORIGINAL live-action one.... with the cloth outfits... no armor whatsoever...... Wham! Bam! Ooof! Classic....
Not a whole lot of franchises can go past the 3 movie mark without starting to suck. This one has. Wow.... And I could totally see another one being made, if we can come up with some more villans :P
It made me laugh, and not in a bad way... they actually did a very good job with the dynamic between the characters... and big booms :)
Got me thinking.... how many Batman movies are out now?
1. Batman (1989)
2. Batman Returns
3. Batman Forever
4. Batman & Robin
5. Batman Begins
6. The Dark Knight (aka Batman Begins 2 as a working title... Interesting...)
Not to mention the animated ones... or the ORIGINAL live-action one.... with the cloth outfits... no armor whatsoever...... Wham! Bam! Ooof! Classic....
Not a whole lot of franchises can go past the 3 movie mark without starting to suck. This one has. Wow.... And I could totally see another one being made, if we can come up with some more villans :P
Saturday, July 19, 2008
nuhnuh nuhnuh nuhnuh nuhnuh nuhnuh nuhnuh nuhnuh nuhnuh nuhnuh nuhnuh nuhnuh nuhnuh nuhnuh nuhnuh nuhnuh nuhnuh
BATMAN!!!!!!!!
Yeah, so I'm a lil excited to go see The Dark Knight. It seems to be hyped up a bit... but at the same time I sure didn't see many promos for it before like last week... I've been a Batman fan FOREVER.... Summer afternoons watching the OLD series on my black and white TV in my room (when I was like 7)... Never really got into the animated series... I have the OLD OLD movie on DVD now... I have all the other ones on VHS (I really need to get them on DVD...)
And of course, The Dark Knight is making news!
JUST from the midnight showings.... $18.5 MILLION. New record, passing up Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith.
Opening Day... $66.4 MILLION. New record, passing up Spiderman 3.
Some dude proposed to his girlfriend... right before the movie at the IMAX at the MN Zoo. Dressed up like Joker, no less... Hmmm.... Seeing as she didn't completely kill him, she must be as big of a fan as he is...
Yeah....
Anyway, heading to Denver the week after next for work :) - Should be a great time :) I probably won't have a whole lot of time to do too much fun stuff... and won't have a car unless I decide to rent one (which I might, you never know...) Any suggestions on things to do?
Oh wait, I forgot, nobody reads this :P
Yeah, so I'm a lil excited to go see The Dark Knight. It seems to be hyped up a bit... but at the same time I sure didn't see many promos for it before like last week... I've been a Batman fan FOREVER.... Summer afternoons watching the OLD series on my black and white TV in my room (when I was like 7)... Never really got into the animated series... I have the OLD OLD movie on DVD now... I have all the other ones on VHS (I really need to get them on DVD...)
And of course, The Dark Knight is making news!
JUST from the midnight showings.... $18.5 MILLION. New record, passing up Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith.
Opening Day... $66.4 MILLION. New record, passing up Spiderman 3.
Some dude proposed to his girlfriend... right before the movie at the IMAX at the MN Zoo. Dressed up like Joker, no less... Hmmm.... Seeing as she didn't completely kill him, she must be as big of a fan as he is...
Yeah....
Anyway, heading to Denver the week after next for work :) - Should be a great time :) I probably won't have a whole lot of time to do too much fun stuff... and won't have a car unless I decide to rent one (which I might, you never know...) Any suggestions on things to do?
Oh wait, I forgot, nobody reads this :P
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