06.29.06
Coming soon
I just got a pr email from Smart saying that they are finally going to launch the Smart brand in the US in 2007 with actual vehicles being available in early 2008.
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Infrequent posts about stuff.
I just got a pr email from Smart saying that they are finally going to launch the Smart brand in the US in 2007 with actual vehicles being available in early 2008.
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The Patriot Act has suffered a nice blow from some good people in Connecticut.
For some bizarre reason my installed version of WP Audioscrobbler stopped working some time in the last few days and after poking at it for a bit and doing some more looking, I ran across something better: Scrobbler
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Yesterday in a fit of total idiocy I managed to fry my skin pretty badly, though there is actually quite a bit of success to this little story. I always _used_ to fry my head really badly in the sun on weekends like this. But now I’ve finally gotten into the habit of reliably wearing a good hat so my head, face, and even my neck are just fine. Slightly overexposed, but really just very slightly.
Unfortunately in my new found confidence I completely flaked on using sunscreen on any of the rest of my exposed skin and so now my knees are throbbing, or at least they are when the aloe gel stuff dries out and I haven’t put any more on just yet. And in a bid to look like a total idiot, I’ve decided to try something interesting: Last night I was having horrible trouble with the gel drying out on my skin so I kept on having to re-apply gel something like every 20-45min. This morning I took a nicely temperature controlled shower to get the sticky remains from last night off and then applied gel afterwards and wrapped it in food grade plastic wrap. I have absolutely no idea if this is a really good idea or not, but I’ve gone nearly a hour without having to re-apply and things are still nicely cooled underneath the wrappings.
Of course, I look like a total… well, headcase I suppose. With forearms and knees encased in clear plastic wrap with somewhat vivid green goo underneath I’m thinking I’m going to skip out on much in the way of public appearances today.
BTW – Just in case any of you were wondering, I was in fact macho enough to try to get pants on and attempt to go to work. It was merely excrusiatingly painful until I tried to walk some stairs and then it became somewhat of a whimper and scream sort of experience. I think calling in sick to work, even if explaining to your boss that it’s because of a sunburn of all things, was probably a very wise decision.
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I finally got to see some of the Hot Summer Jazz Festival last night. I arrived at Peavey Plaza just after Frank Morgan and David Young took the stage. What a totally excellent start to the evening for me. He and David, along with the rest of the combo played a great set while I wandered around looking for a place to sit. I even finally managed to find one by his second to last number and was able to finish my cheese curds in relative comfort, for sitting on a slab of cement 20 feet away from any smokers.
I did wander down between sets and got a good seat in an actual chair for Barbara Morrison and was totally blown away by her. Jon Weber stayed up from Frank Morgan’s set to play the piano, Gordon Johnson took over the bass and except for the light rain during her encore (“They call me Sundown”) she showed us all why she’s been a respected singer for as long as she has.
I then went over to the Millenium where I caught the last few songs from the Twin Cities Hot Club set, and managed to get their CD after remembering to finally stop for cash on the way over. Then caught the first half of the next set with Dennis Spears and company. At that point I hadn’t been able to find a seat in the Millenium and after a full day of work decided it was best to head for the train and call it a night.
There is still two days left though, and I plan to be there for a good chunk of it. I have some other plans for this evening but this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon have some great acts featured and I can’t wait to hear them. Anyway, off to catch the train and buy an new umbrella at Target.
I know of at least two people who will be interested in this site: AmigoFish
In their own words:
a way of finding podcasts and videoblogs of interest to you.
I haven’t created an account for myself yet, or really done much more that just give it a cursory look, but I ran across a reference to it via an entry on a geographic BlogNeighbor’s site while doing research for something at work. It was sort of weird realizing that I recognized some things in his flickr stream just a bit too well.
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There’s a reason why I was pretty excited when my ex-wife brought home one of the “Happy to pay for a better Minnesota” lawn signs a couple of years ago. It’s still in my front porch window and will probably move with me.
Today’s full page ad in the Star Tribune from 203 of the wealthiest taxpayers of Minnesota shows that I’m in fairly decent company. It’s good to see this sort of activism.
This week’s issue of The Escapist is all about women and gaming. Some interesting reading in there. Anyone with more of a feminist bent want to do any commentary? I thought the article about the possible myth of male focus in gaming to be especially interesting.
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Joystiq is reporting that Kings Quest III has been updated and re-released. I came to the King’s Quest games remarkably late in the series so I’m looking forward to playing through this.
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The Twin Cities Hot Summer Jazz Festival starts with a bang this weekend in St Paul at Mears Park. I’ll be in the northern woods of Wisconsin, but you can bet that I won’t be missing out on next weekend’s performances in downtown Minneapolis, and possible some of the other events during the week.
This really is the best event for people local to the Twin Cities to get exposed to incredibly good jazz. Jazz, like the modern pop music “Rock” that has replaced it turned into a huge and essentially unwieldly polyglot of different musical styles over the almost century since it first started appearing. I know that some people think of the more esoteric noise experiments and long seemingly unfocused and wandering riffs and are quite turned off by that. While there is certainly that, with both excellent and horrendous, examples I think people will be pleasently surprised to hear lots of music that is melodic and accessible within that huge range of styles over the next week or so.
Give it a try, you’ll be glad you did.
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