Cops Live!

goobermaster — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:59:09 -0500

The Ghetto-chopper hovers
over my back yard.

Well this is fun (not). I’m sitting here with Sid watching Family Guy when 4 or 5 cop sirens blast past on Chicago Ave at Mach 2. What the hell is going on?! I peek out the front window and witness another dozen cop cars fly by. I notice they’re all congregating at the corner. 42nd and Chicago.

What the hell?!

So I lock Sid in the kitchen and walk out the back door into the alley. Upon reaching 42nd, I say hello to the rest of the neighbors gathering to see what’s going on and get stopped by two separate squad cars on the way. (Guess I look suspicious in the alley with my wife-beater on.)

Apparently someone in a ripped off vehicle ripped down 42nd and then Chicago at over 100 mph then quickly ditched the car and ran into my neighborhood. So over 50 police (no exaggeration) are currently canvassing my block.

I’ve been warned that a canine unit will sniff my back yard and I should stay inside with the doors locked. Uh — yeah. No problem, sirs. Want me to send Sid after ‘em?

And now I hear the ghetto-chopper overhead and see the spotlight lighting up our back yards. Watch the news tomorrow!

Facebook Fail

goobermaster — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 12:43:17 -0500

Alright — I still think facebook is superior to myspace in every way, but it seems I get this damn message at least once a day. Anyone else have as many issues as me? So friggin’ annoying!

Lawn trolls blast biker and kill phone.

goobermaster — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 16:26:53 -0500

Or something like that… Here’s my adventure from last night:

I get to Nyes and immediately the damn phone battery dies. OK, I was on the phone for a half hour, but still, the battery should last longer than that. Oh well — nothing a martini can’t solve.

So after another fun night at Nyes, I’m ready to bike home. After crossing the Hennepin bridge, I’m waiting at a light near Washington Ave and “SHPPPPSHHHHHHH” — now I’m soaking wet! A fucking automatic sprinkler head decided that a good time to poke it’s head out would be while I’m right next to it waiting at the light. And to make things even more awesome, this one is broken, so it sprays one large jet of water RIGHT ON ME.

Oh that’s great, I think as I pedal along dripping wet. My lower half looks like I fell in a lake. I get a block away and “phphhhhhhht” — flat tire. [insert long string of expletives here] I’m still 4 miles from home! So I had to walk the whole way, pushing my broken bike, dripping with water. :( read more »

Naked Rollerblading Rodeo

goobermaster — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:39:39 -0500

Who wants to go rollerblading this weekend?
I’ll bring the hat and rope. ;)

I do think knee and elbow pads might help a bit, though, don’t you think?

Ha — I love it, who comes up with these things. :)

CONvergence 2008 wrap-up

goobermaster — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:27:58 -0500

Connie is the official
CONvergence mascot.

Okay - the influx of today’s traffic peeking at the goober-pics from this last weekend need no introduction. But the rest of you might. A “Con” is the term attached to various conventions or gatherings where likeminded people “converge” in one area and geek out to their particular fetish. Dragoncon and Comic-con are a couple of popular examples.

I’ve somehow remained blissfully ignorant of all this and since high-school have more or less abandoned my nerdlike demeanor, (although that might be hard to argue). Regardless, having no other plans for Independence Day, I followed my friend, Geoff’s, advice and attended CONvergence. This year was special because it was the 10 year anniversary of said Con and an extra day was added. So four days of geeking out and swilling alcohol — sounded like a fine time to me! :)

A few friends joined me and our posse hung out for most of the time. I was dually impressed with the level of effort that went behind the various party suites and costumes. It was like a four day Halloween party with the “trick-or-treats” being colorful shots of god knows what. :) :) Here are a few highlights that I enjoyed: read more »

Amish Friendship Bread

goobermaster — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:02:08 -0500

Someone gave me a bag of goop the other day with a set of instructions. “Um, thanks?” I thought at the time. But I was willing to give it a shot.

Amish Friendship Bread straight from the oven.

The bag was the starter mixture for a fermented bread called Amish Friendship Bread, something akin to sourdough.

The instructions indicated mushing up the bag each day for 10 days and then adding the rest of the ingredients before baking. Alrighty then — I’ll give it a go. I faithfully mushed my bag each day and added ingredients to quadruple the mixture half way through as indicated. Later research confirmed that you can skip this step if you don’t want to end up with three more bags of starter at the end of the process. read more »

My phone is better than your phone

goobermaster — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:08:27 -0500

The ol’ Razr finally died. A death that might have looked something like this. :) Anyway, on going to my online Cingular account to cash in on my insurance, I see I qualify for an upgrade. I just have to sell my soul to Cingular for another year.

After much deliberation and web hunting, I decided that the coolest of cool phones is the new AT&T Tilt 8925, otherwise known as the HTC Kaiser.
read more »

Clone Party!

goobermaster — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:50:13 -0600

As you can see, I’ve got the genetic duplicating machine in the basement laboratory in working order. Now I’ll never have enough beer!

Sid's top 11 most favorite dog toys

goobermaster — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:52:10 -0600

Well — actually this is a list of all of Sid’s toys. Nicely cataloged here in case an insurance claim is needed or burglers thieve away what Sid considers valuable in the middle of the night. (Every noise heard outside is presumed to be these burglers and Sid barks loudly to scare them away.)

The important qualities Sid looks for in his toys are durability and chew-ability. And bonus points if it has a squeaker! They must taste good after multiple chewings and hold up to constant tug of wars without loosing parts. So far the following have stood the test of time.

1.Purple Lizard
Sid won this at Pug-O-Ween with his Yoda costume.

2.Tennis Ball
Fun to chase and squeaks when bitten. It gets hidden often though, due to incessant squeaking whilst chomping.

3.Mr. Hopkins Greenfrog
Definitely one of Sid’s favorites. Mr. Greenfrog is the victim of many attempts to rip is limbs off in tug of war.

4.Purple Chomper
A favorite for fetch. Like a football, it bounces in random directions when it lands and is easy to grab on the run.
read more »

SMDC New Year's Eve Party at the DECC in Duluth

goobermaster — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:05:53 -0600

DECC Employee Pat (left) of Hermantown
and Event Lab employee Ryan of Minneapolis
load balloons Saturday for the midnight drop
during the SMDC New Year’s Eve party
Monday night.

photo by Clint Austin
excerpt from Duluth News Tribune, Dec 30, 2007

Each year, the Saint Mary’s Duluth Clinic (SMDC) sponsors a large New Year’s Eve Party at the Duluth Entertainment & Convention Center (DECC). This year, Event Labs decorated the space for 4 separate parties. My friend Toni works for Event Labs and so many of us often get recruited to help. The Rabbit and I jumped at our chance for free hotel, included meals, and some quick cash. Not to mention free attendance to one of the biggest New Year’s Eve parties around.

We arrived in Duluth bright and early Friday morning after a 2 1/2 hour drive. After breakfast we headed to the DECC to start setting things up. Much of the work was in the hockey arena where the ice had been melted and the stage for Boogie Wonderland was being set up. 54 feet above the arena floor, some of us tiptoed around the catwalk hanging 6 foot diameter lanterns from the ceiling and tying up about 150 red balloons. No one left work that day without Nena’s “99 Red Balloons” in their head. That is if their ears had stopped ringing from the cannon boom that resulted from random balloons popping.

Saturday, we spent 4 hours blowing up 1500 little red balloons for the midnight drop. The local paper was there to snap a few photos and take notes (see inserts). There were many tired and raw fingers after that. read more »