Conner's Blog

I was inspired today when I came across this site by The Opie which lists the 1,000 beers he drank in 2009. If you know me at all you know I’m a big beer drinker. I love drinking beer, trying new beers, and bathing in beer. Okay that last one is a little creepy and wrong, but still the point is I like a good cold beer after a long days work, or after a lazy morning of watching Youtube videos. So I’m starting my own project and have setup Daytum to keep track of my beer consumption this year. So far I’ve had seven beers this year. If you are interested, you can monitor the decline of my liver here*.

I’m tracking what beers I drink as well so it should be fun to see how many different types of beer I can try this year. I’m kind of excited about this.

*Someday Daytum will allow me to easily embed a panel showing my beer count on my site and not force me to send you elsewhere to see my consumption.

2009 was an great year, between my online life and my social life, I’ve expanded my circles in so many ways it’s almost unbelievable.  I’ve posted on this blog 92 times and received 497 comments . I’ve taken 696 photos that I felt were good enough to be posted on Flickr. I’ve made jam, curry, gnocchi, and more than a few pizzas. I’ve met so many new people it’s not even funny, and have made a bunch of new friends.

That being said I didn’t accomplish a lot of the goals I set for myself at the start of the year.  I’ve hardly put a dent in my MN to do list and I only accomplished three of my seven goals for the year. But I’m fine with that. If I had known how my year was going to go, I wouldn’t have set those goals like I did. Instead I would have made the following list.

• Meet close a 100 new people in real life by using the Internet
• Break out of my comfort zone and do some crazy public speaking
• Shop locally as much as possible
• Eat out at many new restaurants
• See more live musical performances than I had in all previous years combined
• Get a photo on Minnpics
• Fall in love with street food
• Discover a ton of new music, including lots of local artists

Yet that’s the beauty of life. You set goals for yourself and even if you don’t accomplish those goals, you usually end up better for it. I’m going to maintain a few of the goals from 2009 going into 2010. I will bike a century and I will look up my relatives. My MN to do list is going to undergo a major renovation and I will try to do more of it.

My major goals for 2009 are to move my career to a place I’m happier with, keep meeting new and interesting people using whatever resources I find, and keep doing what I’m doing. I’m not going to say my life is anywhere near perfect, but it is great. I can’t wait to see what 2010 brings.

If you’re wondering how my day started out, here is a quick snippet.  At work we have a pot-luck on Halloween every year(obviously I live in Minnesota).  Yesterday I baked an apple crisp for the pot luck.  I woke up this morning and started thinking about lunch, and almost packed myself one.  Then decided to say screw it and to get Chipotle.  I carried the apple crisp all the way into the office before realizing that the item in my hand was for a pot luck I will attend for lunch.  My brain isn’t exactly firing on all cylinders yet.

One last tidbit, I signed up to present at PowerPoint Karaoke next Thursday.  I’m already a little bit freaked out. I have no idea what I’m going to do to prepare, but next week should be interesting.

Ok, on with the five, today’s theme is sun, because I’m 95% certain they moved me to Seattle three weeks ago and just haven’t told me. (Obviously Mother Nature wants to mock me because as I was writing this post the sun came out)

• Flowers
• Why does the sun shine?
• Something soft
• A reminder the fall may return
• Gorgeous

Happy Friday readers!  Hope you have a fun filled weekend and a fabulous Halloween.

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.

I have 3 drafts I want to publish, but all are below even my quality assurance guidelines.  So I engaged the services of Frank Allen to interview me.

Frank Allen:  What is one thing your readers have to know about you?

Conner:  I have no idea what I’m doing.  Day in and day out I’m just making things up.  Of course that’s not just on this blog, but pretty much everything I do.

FA:  What is your favorite music?

C:  It’s impossible to say, it changes weekly, daily, sometimes even minutely.  Of course if it’s on the Current I’m usually ok with it.

FA:  Minutely? Is that even a word?

C:  If it wasn’t a second ago, it is now.

FA:  What scares you?

C:  I’m only afraid of a few things.  Heights and scorpions are two big ones. Also trapper keepers are a bit nerve racking.  All that organization in a small package, creepy.

FA:  If you were stranded on a deserted island, what five things would you most want with you?

C:  Assuming this is somewhere tropical where food isn’t too difficult to come by, I would say one good pot, and one good frying pan.  The all three books from the Lord of the Rings in one book, The Worst Case Scenario Guidebook, and a pack of Charmin from Costco

FA:  Whole Wheat or White?

C:  White Pasta and Whole Wheat Bread

FA:  What influenced you the most growing up?

C:  My parents had a big impact and growing up in a town of 200 people and graduating with six other kids in my class had a big impact on how I see the world.

FA:  Do you have a favorite color?

C:  Currently it’s #6bb8ee

FA:  Favorite food?

C:  Lasagna, though tacos come in a close second.

FA:  Favorite author?

C:  Again, this isn’t really possible for me to answer.  Right now it wavers between David Weber and Neal Stephenson.

FA:  Favorite Drink?

C:  Ooh this is a tough one, and totally depends on my mood.  Lemonade is my favorite non-alcoholic beverage.  For alcoholic it’s has to be a Surly Bender, and it only loses to Surly Furious because my stomach hates Furious.

FA:  What’s your favorite thing to cook?

C:  Pizza!  Ever since I started making my own crust I love trying to create new things.  Of course going back to sausage and pepperoni occasionally is fun to.

FA:  If you could choose one type of weather what would it be like?

C:  78 degrees, sunny, with a light cool breeze, and cooling off to at least 55 at night.

• If you happen to live in Minnesota and have a chance to try Brau Brothers Brewing Co’s Whirly Bird Oatmeal Stout do so immediatly.
• I also have to recommend Flying Dog Brewery’s Dogtoberfest
• If you missed it, NBA 2k9 shipped without as product key.  This left many gamers(including me) unable to descend into unproductive gaming binges as soon as they would like.
• Chapstick is an odd but very necessary invention
• If you use Twitter, try out twinfluence.  I’m currently ranked #47 out of 50 in social capital.
• Join the movement, Chipotle needs to begin serving breakfast.
• If you run Windows, please update now.  A major bug has been found.
• I’m endorsing working out on Friday afternoons, it is painful to enter the gym, but you leave knowing the weekend will be good.
• I have to add another MN blog to my list of those I read.  NPR’s Newscut is a daily visit.  I also recommend following @bcollinsmn.
• Only ten days left until election day, I’m moving into the no main-stream media bunker until 5:00 pm on 11/4.
• The right has gone completely mad, first they mail out a scare tactic piece basically calling Obama a terrorist and linking him to 9/11, and then Ashley Todd fakes an attack by an Obama supporter.
• Bring some fun to your office next week. You’ve been Booed.

Everyone have a great weekend, and remember to look both ways when jaywalking.

Paradise Unpaved | Franke James

Lovely illustrated story about changing a hot, dry, bland, and environmentally unfriendly driveway into a lush paradise.

Okay I’m going overboard but check it out.