Twins Fest - You won't believe this

Yesterday, I joined Mark at Twins Fest. The annual event to celebrate the greatest baseball team in the world. Well, you might argue that with me, but trust me when I say, you won't convince me otherwise...I'm a pathetically die-hard fan. Heck, I asked B to marry at a game. Seriously. The Jumbotron and the whole shebang!

Anyways, the reason for this post. I'm a softie for good charity, especially the Twins Community Fund. I wasn't having much success finding anything to spend my money on at the vendor show on the floor of the Dome. I noticed that there was a booth selling grab bags. The contained the usually storeroom clearing stuff. Promotional items that the promotion has long since ended, but they promise that 1:2 bags contained an autographed item. There were also so really big prizes that you might find. One bag for each girl ought to work. I grabbed two bags that felt like they had hats in them. Hats are good.

I brought the bags home without looking in them. I really didn't want to know how much junk I was bringing home.

I gave the bags to B and told her she could open up and see if I found anything worth while. I tend to like anything with the Twins logo on it. She's a bit more discerning.

She got pretty excited when she found the Culver's Twin's logo visor. That was cool. We also got a bronze statue of Kirby Puckett. Both bags had 2007 Twins Yearbook, very cool and when B grabbed the last book out of the second bag, an envelop fell out. The envelop looked like an official Minnesota Twins letterhead and in cursive script written in ballpoint pen were the words "Grand Prize!" Huh?

B open it up to find a letter, again, written on the Twins official stationary.

Congratulations!

This certificate is redeemable for

Cheap Seats Special

for the 2008 season!

You will receive two upper level general admission tickets

for ALL 81 regular season home games.

Its safe to say, I might get to quite a few games this year. In case you aren't a huge baseball fan - I won season tickets. Granted, they aren't behind home plate, but who cares, I WON SEASON TICKETS TO THE TWINS! K, KT, S - call me...I can hook you up!

Restaurant Review - Granity City, Fargo ND

Last weekend, while we were in Fargo, ND, we arranged to have breakfast with my cousin Lisa. Since she lived in Fargo, it was her job to find the spot.

Her recommendation was Granite City Food & Brewery. Having never heard of it before (remember, we are parents with young kids - we don't get out much). I have since figured out that this is a chain with some 21 locations. Of course, none of these are in Rochester, we would have at least known that!

From their website

Granite City Food & Brewery® is a casual dining restaurant with an on-site brewery. We offer a broad menu of items that are prepared fresh daily & are served in generous portions at reasonable prices. Our handcrafted beers are moderately priced & offer unique styles & flavors not typically produced by major breweries.

We were there during brunch. According to Lisa, they only server this meal on Sundays. This was to our advantage. The food was fantastic!

They served traditional buffet style breakfast. Scramble eggs, biscuits and gravy, sausage links, bacon, two types of potatoes and various baked goods. Many of the items were recipes I'd never tried before. They tasted delicious but not traditional.

The service in the place was great! It felt like all the waitstaff were taking care of everyone. Our drinks never ran dry and all of our questions and needs were fulfilled promptly and with a smile.

Too top everything off, every table is delivered a plate full of Carmel rolls. These were fresh, hot and delicious. Nummy!

If you find yourself in Fargo, on Sunday morning, definitely check this place out! We were not disappointed.

Twins Fest 2008

From the press

Twins Caravan #3

Joe Nathan!!!!!

Twins Caravan #2

Scott Baker

Twins Caravan #1

John Gordon

Ladies and Moms, can I get a little help here?

When the Mrs and I were driving back home from Fargo this weekend, we chatted for a while before she fell asleep. We talked about one of my greatest fears as a father. What would I do if our daughter gets her first monthly visit when Mom isn't home?

I grew up in a family of all boys. We never got a monthly visit.

I watched about one episode of Beverly Hills 90210. The one episode I watched, Dylan McCabe was watching his tweener sister for the day. At one point, she comes up to him to tell him that shes got the problem and wants him to help. At first, he tries really hard to help, but this subject is just so foreign to him. He takes her to the store and walks her to the aisle where they sell the supplies you girls need. He tells her to go pick out what she needs and he'll pay for it. She's just looking at him like "I have no idea what I need."

He does what any man would do, he punts. He takes the girl to Mrs. Walsh, his friends' Mom.

I have no idea what I'm going to do if this happens. Is there a kit you can get? Instructions for Dad on what to do and say? I'd really appreciate some help with this!

Thankfully, I should have a few years, but then again Mom tells me its happening earlier and earlier. Let's hope this is one area my kids are slow in.

Thanks for the effort!

I really appreciate everyone stopping by or sending my emails! I busted from the tournament. I'm pretty bummed. I wrote about it on my poker blog pretty extensively. I'll probably write more later.

I had a ton of fun and am pretty happy with how I played. I survide to around 70th in a field of 351 participants. Not too shabby.

Have a good night everyone. Time for a little relaxing and Mr. Deeds.

We've arrived in Fargo

We are here in Fargo. This is my cousin Lisa and her fiancé. This is
the Venue were my tournament will be tomorrow.

Oh how I love...

When I finally get to have a lunch with my wife, just the two of us, and my cell phone rings. Normally I just check and dismiss it, but today, it was our daycare provider.

CRAP!

So much for a romantic relaxing lunch. Just the two of us, ordering Chinese take-out at our favorite place for chinese food in town.

Oh well.

Hopefully we try and do this again. I was so excited to get to eat lunch with her.

We leave for Fargo this weekend. I will be playing in the State Poker Championship. Check the poker blog for details. I'll be updating it all weekend! Maybe even do some live blogging from the tournament. We can only hope!

Is there anything to see and do in Fargo? My camera is coming with...let's see what happens!

Yeah!!! I still own an iPhone - iBrick not found

All went well, the upgrade is done. My iPhone still works and can make calls. Now, it'll be like Christmas for a while while I get through all the changes in the latest update!

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!

iPhone Update 1.1.3 Is Now Available!

I'm downloading the latest update right now...hopefully I won't be the proud owner of an iBrick!

More details soon!

Download size: 162.1 MB

Yeah! Here's my blog + Make over!

Thank you very much Nap Warden! What an awesome job! Kick around in my new crib and let us know what you think.

Hors d'oeuvres and drinks are being served in the bar. Help yourself!

Again, thanks Nap Warden for a job well done. I love it!

Stay tuned!

The Nap Warden and I (mostly the NW) have been busy with my blog makeover! If all goes well, you should be seeing changes real soon!

Don't touch that dial!

The world lost one of the best

On December 28, 2007, the world lost a truly lovely person. My wife's Grandma past away.

We've been married for just over 11 years. Grandma was one of the first people I met in her family. She was the cornerstone of family. My wife had the greatest of admiration for her and I quickly learned why.

Grandma was the type of person that was always giving and hated to receive anything. The first thing I learned about being around Grandma was don't ever expect to leave her house hungry. I gotta to know the woman she was by eating with her and Grandpa. She never liked to see me leave without eating something.

When we were first married, my wife was a nurse in a hospital. She worked lots of crazy shifts. We didn't live all that far from Grandma and Grandpa. Somehow Grandma always knew when my wife worked evenings...because my phone would ring and there was Grandma...she'd just made a fresh pot of chili and wanted to know if I could come over. Yep, an invitation from my Grandmother-in-law. If only you had tried the chili you'd understand why I never turned it down.

It didn't take us long to have our first child. Grandma and Grandpa couldn't have been more excited. Our first daycare provider was none other than Grandma. We had one stipulation though. Grandma had been a life long smoker and we just didn't want our daughter growing up around cigarettes. Not a problem for Grandma, to have the opportunity to spend that much time around her great-grandchild, she just quit smoking. She'd been smoking for 40 years and just quit so she could do our daycare.

Having her do daycare helped create a bond to one more generation of her family. Our oldest daughter got to know her great-grandmom. How many daycare providers do you know that would stop you from leaving because your little one had a messy diaper. Yep, that was Grandma. I couldn't leave as long as the diaper was messy and as a new Dad, I couldn't have been more grateful.

Those people that grew up as her descendants are blessed people. I'm grateful that I got to know and love this woman. She was truly one of the greats. I miss her deeply.

This week with all of its sadness provided an opportunity. Like I said, Grandma was the cornerstone of the family. Family from all over the nation converged in our hometown to pay tribute to her life. 16 of the 21 grandchildren came home. I'm not sure this much family has been in town together since our wedding and most of us just picked up where we left off.

Last night, we joined KT (my wife,s cousin), S (her husband) and Bobby (my wife's cousin) and his new fiancee out for an evening of laughter, beer, food, beer, bowling and a little more beer.

I got some pictures with my phone to share with everyone.

As far as the bowling went, Scott showed why he bowls in a league and the rest of us bowl once per decade. But I don't think that was the point. The point was we were all together and the laughs just kept coming.


All the family has gone home now. Back to the corners of the country. Life is starting to return to some kind of normalcy. But I still miss Grandma.

On the brighter side, there is a wedding in the future. Let's hope we can get there.

I took a bunch of pictures the day of the funeral. I'm hoping to share them with everyone soon. I had a problem with some of them and am having a good friend whose a genius with Photoshop...he's fixing them. I'll have them soon!

RIAA and the dead cat bounce or the death rattle...

As the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) continues to wage war against consumer in the hopes that it can save its dying business model, our courts and our legistlature continue to feel bad for them. Let's make it clear right here, right now. These greedy pigs have only one thing on their mind and that's money. The ultimate goal of this cartel is to get you, the consumer, to pay every time you hear a song. Their goal is to eliminate any concept of "Fair Use."

The latest example was written about by Marc Fisher of the Washington Post. The RIAA believes that it is illegal for you to make a digital copy of legally purchased CD. Huh? You say. Of course that is what they believe. The idea that you should be able to buy a song once is a ridiculous idea to them. They would much prefer you buy song in each format you need. Cha-ching! Like the CD in your car, buy the CD. Want the song on your iPod or other mp3 player...but the song again...cha-ching!

The always counter with the fact that CD sales are down and that there is only one cause for this...people are getting their music illegally. This is B as in B, S as in S. Is it possible that music sales are down because the new music sucks? The industry has lost sight of what it does. They have attempted to take art and fit it into slots. The slots are the music people like. Well, I'm not a slot and neither is my taste in music. It all just sounds the same. Can anyone tell me the last time music didn't just suck? Country music today sounds like bad 70s rock. Rock music today all sounds like Nickelback. I just haven't been all that excited to go buy a CD in a very long time.

As soon as the record companies figure out that their product sucks and is way over priced. The industry will start to rebound. Not when they've sued everyone in to oblivion. Giving guranteed contracts to Brittney and her ilk, is just wasting money. Throwing lavish parties for celebrity musiciains does what exactly? I know, it burns millions of dollars and keeps the cost of music high. Get a grip on your business model. Learn to function like normal humans and businesses and ADAPT or the consequences is death. You will be the next buggy whips.