Conner's Blog

A month or so ago, I was trying to do laundry using my apartment’s facilities. I had washed the majority of my pants and when I went to put them in the dryer, I found that the dryer’s coin slot wasn’t working. So I was sitting at home with eight pairs of wet pants, no clean pants, and a decision to make.

1. I could go to the laundromat and dry my pants.
2. I could sit at home bitching about my situation on Twitter.
3. I could sit at home angry about my situation, drinking and watching Netflix movies.
4. I could put on the only clean pants I had, which were sweatpants, and head down to the local watering hole.

I ended up choosing option 4, and it wasn’t too long before the #sweatpantscrawl hashtag was born. I ended up just watching a hockey game and going home, but it there was some interest from the twittersphere to join me on my crawl. In fact @kshoop has been trying to get me to organize a crawl for a while so I’m finally doing it.

The crawl will be taking place on Saturday March 6th. I’ve decide to hold it in Northeast. I considered heading downtown or to uptown, thinking it would be fun to stop in a few of the bars there with a collection of sweatpants clad people, but decided that the atmosphere in NE would be more fun for this outing. I haven’t quite nailed down a starting location, but am working on that. So mark your calendars and sign up here(twitvite) or here(facebook). Can’t wait to see you all.

I’m certain 95% of my readers are planning on watching the Vikings game this Sunday. It starts at 5, and since the winner of the game goes to the Superbowl, it’s kind of a big deal. I don’t know if I’ll watch the whole thing, but I plan on keeping my eye on the score regardless of what I’m doing.

I can’t say I’ve watched much of the Saints this year, but I know they have a killer offense, and what some call a good defense. I expect all the experts are predicting a Saints win, especially since it’s in the Superdome. I disagree, I think the Vikings will pull off a victory, and not a small one either. I think the final score will be somewhere in the 14-31 point range in favor of the Vikings. Why? Well first off the Vikings defense is playing well again, especially their front four. And no matter now good Drew Brees may be, he can’t do anything when he’s lying on his back. Also Brett Favre won a Superbowl in that dome, and regardless of what I said about him in the past, he’s playing at an unseemly level for a 40 year-old and somehow I think he’ll repeat history this weekend. I still don’t like him, but I begrudging have to say I was wrong about how he would impact the Vikings.

But that’s not the only Minnesota related competition happening Sunday. It turns out that the chefs at Saffron were picked to compete on the Food Network’s the Iron Chef. Guess when the show airs? Sunday! It starts at 8 so there might be some overlap with the game, but since the Vikings are going to crush the Saints there will not be much.

So here is the deal, Azia is generously hosting a viewing party for us. The party kicks off at 7 and the show will be on at 8. Along with that, Azia is purchasing a case of Rogue Brewery’s signature Morimoto Soba Ale. So not only do you get to watch some creative cooking you get to drink some creative beer.

So how about it, can you handle cheering for two Minnesota teams in one day? If you can, make your way to Azia and enjoy some good beer, good food, and have a chance to see Minnesota pull off two victories in one day.

RSVP here.

I try to keep this blog updated regularly, but it seems like I fall behind more frequently then I keep up any more.  Still I’m happy to report that other than a small spat of writer’s block on Friday, I actually have just been too busy to write.

Friday, I went costume shopping, then had a couple drinks at the Independent, watched the Twins break my heart at Sauce and then was home fairly early, though not totally sober.

Saturday, I went to Mill City Market where I stole the mayorship from Kate.  With only one week to go, hopefully I can retain it next weekend and hold onto it until spring.  I picked up a few apples, some cranberries, and some garlic.  Nicky and her mother gave me a few leeks as well.  Looking forward to doing a some cooking next week.

After the market I hit up Unsummit and had a great time.  Met a few people who I hadn’t  met in real life before and definitely learned quite a bit.  I’m really looking forward to the next one.  Hopefully I’ll be a little better prepared and will get a bit more out of it.  I also will have business cards by that time.  You have to enjoy events where you get to network with great people and listen to people smarter than you throw ideas around a room.

After leaving Unsummit, me and Art got together and put the finishing touches on our zombie costumes and we headed downtown to the zombie pub crawl.  I had a great time but they needed 30 more bars or so to participate.  It was wall to wall zombies at every bar.  On the plus side, wall to wall zombies is a lot of fun if you don’t actually want to purchase a drink.  We ended the night by rolling over to Northeast and doing a little karaoke at the Otter.  Overall a successful zombie pub crawl debut.

Today, I have to go retrieve my car, do a bit of laundry, then it’s off to Stillwater to listen to Beethoven while following the Twins game via whatever source I can find.  Then we have another stop in the Reuben tour. Tomorrow, I have nothing scheduled.  Hopefully I can lay low and recover a bit, and maybe finish and launch a couple new sites I have rattling around on the server.

Happy Sunday readers.

What happens when you throw together a group of people from the Internet, some booze, an awesome team name, avocados, onions, peppers, limes, salt, garlic, tomato, and pineapple? Shockingly enough, you get the most authentic guacamole at the second annual MetroMag Guacoff.

Last night was the long anticipate guacamole competition.  After hitting up the Herkimer with fellow teammate Doniree, we walked over to Blue and found Kaeti and Emily both ready to go.  The event started at six with the teams beginning to prep their guacamole at 6:30.  We had 45 minutes to prep and at first I really didn’t know if we would be able to complete our dip in time.  Fortunately, Kaeti and Emily managed to cut up 40 avocados in record time, and between Doniree, Doug, and I, we had the rest of the ingredients prepped with plenty of time to perfect our recipe.

Once time was called, the tasting began.  It was evident from the start that we were on to something.  Every person who tried our guacamole walked away nodding their heads in appreciation. It was about an hour and half later when the winners were announced.  We were very excited to hear our name called as the Most Authentic Guac even if it was a bit confusing as how a guacamole with pineapple is authentic, but none of us complained.

Even though I’m going to call Guacoff a success I do have to make a few comments about the event.  First, the space was much to small for the number of tickets sold.  People were packed together like sardines and it was much to warm.  I can’t imagine how bad things may have gotten if it wouldn’t have been a cool evening.  Second, things didn’t seem overly organized.  Our names were not listed at the door so they just had to take our word that we were part of a team, and the organizers at the event didn’t know that salt and pepper were on the list of provided ingredients.   Thankfully, neither of these became an issue.  The only other comment I have is that the chip situation wasn’t planned well.  Considering we were at a guacamole contest the first order of business after time was called should have been distribution of a large amount of chips to each table.  Instead, we had to hunt chips from other locations around the event.  This wasn’t a big deal but didn’t exactly leave a good impression.

Even with my “complaints” I had a wonderful time and would definitely participate as an entrant again.  Thanks to MetroMag and all the sponsors for putting this together.  Michelle Bachman says our Guacamole has a secret plan to annex part of Iraq already has plans for next year.  Granted those plans only include bringing gloves so Doniree and Doug don’t suffer for two days after cutting up peppers, but still plans are plans.

Don't my teammates rock?

The Finished Product

Look at those smiles

The Competition

You can find all the photos here.  Thanks to Andrew for taking some photos while I was prepping.

This week has been a disappointment.  First I was sick on Monday and Tuesday and missed the two warmest days of the week, second I didn’t win Blitzen Trapper tickets from Vita.mn on Twitter.  Not that I was expecting to, but honestly would it have killed Lady Luck to throw me a bone.  I mean winning something is a stated goal of mine this year and Blitzen Trapper tickets would have kept me content for  10 years.  Wednesday, I spent the day running reports and creating Excel spreadsheets for my boss.  It was nice to have something productive to do, but data entry and me are kind of like sodium chloride and water, I just get the urge to jump out and cause havoc after about 3 minutes.

That evening my friend Jason, whose wife is out of town this weekend, calls me and says “Let’s do something this weekend”  Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to be married, but since 93.88% of my friends are either married or on the verge of marriage, it’s nice when I can just hang out with one of the guys without their better half.  Of course I said “hell yes” and then promptly realized I have no f’ing clue what is going on this weekend.

I’ll admit I’m not one of those people who can tell you that Steve Filek is playing at the Pale Grey Jazz club on Thursday evening starting at 8:33, but I usually have a vague idea o fthings to do on the weekend.  I don’t always attent them but at least I know about them.  It was a little disheartening to realize that just two days of not blogging or Twittering had left me out of the loop.  I keep hoping to stumble across something in the blogs this week, but so far nothing has come about.  Honestly, how did people function before the whole information revolution?  Don’t tell me they looked at dead trees to plan their weekends?

I’m not trying to ignore you.  I know it feels like I am lately, but I really think about you all the time.  The problem is that I just don’t feel like anything interesting has happened to me lately.  Now don’t take that to mean I’m sitting at home watching TV and not leaving the house.  It’s actually the exact opposite.  I’ve been having a blast.  Last weekend I went tubing at Afton Alps, spent the evening at PF Changs and Southdale.  In fact I almost ran into a fellow Twitterer at the Apple Store.  That had been preceded by a Tweetup at Grumpy’s where I met a group of people I knew from the Internet only and who I now know in what some call real life (like it’s better than Twitter, ha).

Speaking of Grumpy’s, apparently I put that on my MN todo list so that has been crossed off.  It was definitely a cool place. Of course since they serve Surley that could have been part of it’s charm.  Anytime you have a Furious or a Bender in hand your going to be apt to consider your location downright awesome.  I wasn’t as happy with the mini-tacos as I thought I would be.  I guess my tastes have changed since high school.

I also went back to the Herk on Tuesday this week.  I didn’t eat again as I has just spent the weekend eating out, but the beer was good again.  I hung out with Drew and a few of his friends who were playing shuffleboard.  I was only in uptown because I was looking at a new apartment.  Which brings me to the next thing I have going on, I’m trying to find a new place to live.  Though my current living situation is good, it’s time to move on.  I’m looking for a one bedroom or a large studio, somewhere near uptown or downtown.  I’ve only looked at one place, and I’m going to take my time.

Last night was another great night, I started out at the ACME comedy club, meeting with a new young professionals group that I had developed a website for.  I will admit to not being overwhelmed by the presentation that was being given, but as I ended up walking in late due to work and traffic I can’t judge it too harshly.  I met a few people, but I had the Twestival to get to and I was excited to meet some more of the people I communicate with daily in person.  So, after having a beer and chatting for a bit I headed up the road to Moto-i.  I had a blast hanging out with fellow Tweeple.  It’s nice to finally have a face to put to the tweets you read, and it’s fun adding people to your list after having a conversation instead of adding them based on their last two 140 character thoughts.

So yeah, I’ve been busy, but it isn’t an excuse to neglect you.  I remember chatting with Emily and Bill a bit regarding changing how you write due to getting more readers.  At the time I didn’t think I would fall into that trap, but as my reader count increased I started to try and be more interesting or funny.  But what I need to remember is the reason I started this site wasn’t to entertain everyone else, but to give me a place to write whatever I want.  I even put it in my About page.  So I’m going to try harder to attend to you more frequently that on Wednesdays.

Thanks for putting up with me.

Sincerely

Conner McCall

I know it’s Super Bowl Sunday this weekend, but don’t let that stop you from introducing your kids to new music.  Come join the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra at the first of two family concerts.  The concert is being held at St. Mathew’s Catholic Church in St. Paul.  There will be eight works performed, including Leonard Bernstein’s Fanfare for the Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and John William’s The Raiders March.  This Orchestra is joined by the Neighborhood House drummers and dancers who should keep the little ones entertained.    The show starts at 3:00 and runs for about an hour.  Come join the fun.

This is a free concert, though donations are welcome.  I’m on the board of the Orchestra so please either email me or leave me a comment and I would be happy to answer any questions.  There is a second family concert on the 15th of Febuary so if this Sunday doesn’t work you are welcome to join us then.

Additional Information

This is my second holiday season in Minneapolis.  Last year I did a poor job of experiencing what the Twin Cities has to offer in the holiday spirit department.  I’m hoping to remedy that somewhat this year.  Some things I want to do.

• Attend Hollidazzle.  I’m not that into parades, but I think I need to attend an event that has been a part of Minnesota for so long.
• Attend at least one holiday themed stage production.  I’m not sure which one at this point.  A Christmas Carol seems to be popular.
• See the lights around Lake Phalen.  This is a new event, but looks fun and it’s for charity so I want to check it out. Via Metblogs
• The Grand Meander – I hadn’t heard about it until this year, but it looks fun.
• Holiday Traditions at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts – Looks like a relaxing and fun exhibit.
• Macy’s Santaland – I may not be a kid anymore, but who isn’t a kid at heart during Christmas.
• Drive around looking at lights – This isn’t an event, but my family used to to this every Christmas.  I’m guessing some of the homes in the Lowry Hill and the chain of lakes area would be amazing.

Any other suggestions?

I wrote about this on Twitter but thought I would share it here.  Sunday night the Metropolitan Symphony Orchastra will be performing at St. Olaf’s Catholic Church.  The concert starts at 7:30.  Here is a link for more information.  The concert itself is free and no ticket is required though the orchastra does ask for donations.  There is also free parking at the energy center building on the second floor or above.  I’ve talked to a few of the players and they all say it will be a really good show.