Happy MMC Anniversary

I'm gonna keep this short since Jean already wrote a rather detailed blog about last Thursday.

But, I just wanted to say that last week was awesome! It was the first time in quite a while that all 4 of us (Matt, Rae, Jean, and I) were all there. Once we got there, we realized that it's been a full year of ladies nights at the MMC. Some people may think it s pretty dorky, but i'm really glad we have this...ya know? It's been a great way for Jean and I to keep seeing each other, and Matt, Rae, and I (the only two peopleI still talkto from the class of 99) to keep hanging out. Plus that people watching is priceless.

So Matt and I walk in to find out that Chris isn't our server...we have a new girl...and we wait 40 minutes for drinks. We also noticed that Dave shaved. Dave...I thought we've discussed this. Ok...you're trying something...see Jean's ideas. But we had some Kamis, danced a bit (despite a bad knee), and made a great deal of fun of The Rave and Wonka Boobs. (I think I actually saw some nipple from Wonka Boobs...I can't even say that about Slutzilla!) Dave sang the "old school acoustic set". That's right...I used the term old school regarding something that's been going on for less than a year. The set included Yesterday (we all know my fondness for that song). Perhaps it was in apology for shaving???

Ultimately, it was a great night. We also have recently found out that TSB wil be playing at the Half Time Rec. For those of you unfamiliar, read up about the time when Rae and I went...it should be fun with TSB!

And Mr. Senechal...I'm glad we can put a smile on your face...we're there for your amusement. Mr. Smokey, I like the haircut, but I'm sorry....you are a man about a hat.

Just in Time For Halloween: Build Your Own Coffin!

I'm not making this shit up! I saw it on the news...

The North House Folk School in Grand Marais, MN teaches a variety of hippie/woodsy/crafty things. You can learn about herbal medicines, how to make a brick oven, how to make moose-hide mukluks, and how to drive fjord horses. There's also a class for Jean and I (and possibly David) called "Pie: the Lost Art". However, perhaps the most practical class of them all is "Build Your Own Coffin".

That's right! For the low price of $425 with a $250 tuition you can learn how to make your own pine box. To quote the North House Folk School; "None of us are getting out of this alive, so you might as well bury yourself in your work". They will measure you and teach you how to make the box yourself. If you have advanced woodworking skills there will be opportunity to put your skills to use...if you're a beginner, there are people there to help.

Does this seem weird??? The news story said it could be theraputic. I'm not so sure. I am sure this is weird: Until you're ready to put your piece to its intended use, you can use it as "as bookshelves, coffee tables, storage containers and entertainment centers". Ummm, do I really want to store my books or DVDs in something I will be spending eternity in??? I don't think so. But hey, who am I to judge? Just look at this lady! She's ready to store all of her hot dish cookbooks and crochet instruction booklets in this finely crafted bookshelf. It just so happens to be measured to exactly fit her body! How convenient!

Thanks North House Folk School for making my final resting accommodations affordable, multi-functional, and home-made!

Where Are the Chips?

So Matt, Rachel and I decided to go out for drinks last night. We wanted Margaritas and Matt wanted fajitas. So of course we went to La Cucaracha. Who doesn't want to eat at a place called the Cockroach??? Actually its good food, I just always thought that it was a pretty poor name choice.

Anyway, we get our table and look at the menu and Rachel leans over and says, "Yeah I heard about this place, the make you pay for chips!" It was as if there was this hushed rumor going around about the Mexican restaurant that made you pay for chips. "$1.25!" Rachel says. "For chips!" You could tell this chip thing was a pretty big deal. But we enjoyed our drinks, Matt's fajitas were good, my tacos were decent, and Rae had spicy soup. On the way out Rae reignited her chip argument. "Seriouisly, who charges for chips? They should be standing there with a basket when you walk in the door."

Sh has a point. Chips and salsa are part of the Mexican restaurant experience. Most places to give em away. I'm not sure if a man with a basket at the door is necessary, I be ok with a fresh basket at my table, but Rachel expects more of her Mexican restaraunts. But really, when you get right down to it, if you're gonna eat at The Cockroach, the least they could do is give you free chips.

New Template

So something happened to my old template. It randomly decided to be an ass and move my entire sidebar to the end of the page. After much fighting and frustration I chose a new one (which i don't like much) and make some changes to it. The color os a bit nauseating, but it'll have to do til i find something better. Boo blogger....Boo.

The Heart of the Matter is...Denny (Mark)

C-Lover, I know you don't give a "rat's pituitary" (did you mean patootie?) about the MMC, but last night's events require an entry.

Matt and I were going to call it an early night until we saw Denny. Yes, I know his name is Mark and I'm not sure how we got Denny out of that, but he will always be Denny to us. Well, after Matt and I saw that Denny was there, we knew we couldn't leave til after Heart of the Matter. And it was definitely worth waiting out the 1/2 hour long set break. (This is after Tony was on stage looking for the rest of the band...I'm sure there was "band stuff" going on). So yes, Denny is back in all his glory. His mic was on and he was in rare form, including the scream/yell at the end of the song. Jean, you missed a fine performance. This performance was only enhanced by Smokey and Ryan's reactions to Denny. It's obvious they missed his musical stylings as much as we did.

Just a couple of quick things: The woman who will now be know as "the Rave" was there. Jean you might remember her from the Rush as the woman who was pressing her ear up to the amps. She's a freak. She had on more glow necklaces, bracelets, and sticks than you could...shake a glow stick at. There was also some weird guy sketching Tony and Dave in charcoals while reading the City Pages. I'm convinced he's a court artist and is perhaps just practicing for future trials. Still a bit strange.

See you next week!

Welcome to the World Cute Shoes!

Since I know Ryan doesn't care about the MMC, here's a subject he'll care about. Some of you may know about my search for cute brown shoes. A few years ago (during forensics) I found the cutest brown shoes ever born. Now, I still think they're cute, but I've sort of gotten over them. Besides I need practical brown shoes for work. Well in my search for prectical shoes (which I found and now own) I also found the new cutest brown shoes ever born. The best thing is that the heel is small enough to still be good for work!

So, I'd like to say welcome to my closet shoes! Ryan, they are Kenneth Cole "Mr. Boss" in chocolate brown. And here they are!

Marshall Fields storm watch 2005 & Hey Billy Larson!

So we had a pretty big storm last night!!! Actually it was huge! Tornadoes in Roseville, Arden Hills, Rogers...Warnings and watches all night, flash floods...and all this happened while i was at work.

At about 7:15pm the tornado sirens started going off in Ramsey county. I was the person on radio in my department, so the manager told that she was going to make an announcement to move to the first floor, then I had to make sure all guests started going down. The we head downstairs at about 7:25. One woman I work with also works for Homeland security so she was on her phone getting updates from work about the storm. We knew we were gonna be stuck down by the escalators fro at least half an hour. We couldn't leave til the sirens/warning expired at 8:00pm. So were all sitting there...bored and knowing that there isn't any real danger since the most serious part of the storm was north of us. So I'm sitting there and who should walk up to me but Billy Larson of the MMC. Jean- He was wearing the fabled dolphin shirt. I didn't believe you, but it actually does exist. I'm so glad I was able to see it. So yeah- Billy needed to buy a birthday gift card. And he did. I sold it to him. Happy Birthday to whomever. Then off he went..back out into the storm like the enigma he is.

Anyway....the warning expired at 8, which is when we're supposed to close. People were pissed. They wanted to keep shopping. I just wanted to close and go home...So I did.

Bingo Brawl

Well, Matt and I spend yesterday together since we both had the day off. After shopping for a few hours (and I didn't buy anything!!!) Matt and I sat down and tried to figure what to do for the evening. I didn't want to sit at home, there weren't any movies we wanted to see, no bands we wanted to hear, and it was too early to start drinking. (well, not really too early...its never too early but we wanted to wait til it was dark out). We thought about the casino, but then Matt mentioned BINGO. Well alright sir, but I'm not sure you're gonna enjoy the white trash as much as Jean and I...I mean didn't you spend the day shopping at Express and Banana Republic? Not exactly BINGO style.

Well we get there are find out its "birthday night". Birthday night???Jean did you know about this? Apparently if you have a birthday in that month you get a free bingo card, a dauber, a balloon, and a CUPCAKE!!!! Yes, that's right a free cupcake. Well, rest assured the freaks came out for birthday night.

When we were in line to buy our cards, some crazy woman was talking to Matt about this garbage bag of stuffed animals that she got for her birthday and how much she "just loves them". Well about 1/2 hour later this woman was heard screaming from the smoking room "fuck that I gave you my money!!!" as she was dragged from the room by security guards. Wow! Excitement at Hillcrest BINGO!

But, the near brawl happened during the end of the evening. Let me give you a bit of a background first: There was a group of 4 young women sitting behind Matt and I. There were pretty trashy. One girl was wearing a pink addidas tracksuit with a pink Nike hat. BREATHE RYAN...it'll be ok. Another girl was pretty fat...and I know fat. But she was wearing a tight cami without a bra and couldn't really fit between the chairs when she was walking. Please put more clothes on Ma'am. Anyway, matt and I overheard them talking at one point and this is how it went. (please imagine a thick Fargo-esque accent)
"Oh yah? That must be a pretty big town."
"Yah. Ya know they got that big Super Wal-Mart out there now"
"Yah. That is a pretty big town out there"

If only Matt and I knew which town they were talking about, we could check out the super wal-mart. (What's up with that wal-mart anyway Jean?) So one of these women nearly started a brawl during the last game of the night: the all important $1000 coverall game (which Matt was only 2 numbers away from winning). Near the beginning of the game, one of these women's cellphone/walkie-talkie things goes beebeep. and then some guy and talking. beebeep then she starts talking beebeep more of the guy. At this point the old folks start getting restless. Coughing, grumbling. Beebeep. "Hey turn that thing off!" more talking beebeep. Now the old man near me turns around and yells, "turn that damn thing off! don't you know you're not supposed to use that here?" beebeep "I don't fucking care! I'm talking to my husband!" Beebeep
This goes on for about 3-5 minutes, which in BINGO time is a long time. Finally the white trash conversation is over, but the old people are pissed. They're tattling. "She was using her phone!"

Matt and I decided to leave before the canes and walkers were thrown over our heads at the white trash girls. It was gonna get ugly.

The Return of Slutzilla

Well Jean, you missed a good night at the MMC. I haven’t been able to write until now thanks to two 14+ hour days at work, but I’m sure I’ll get to that later.

First of all, the O’Brien/Petrie mother/daughter night didn’t work out so well. Stupid Rachel getting cast as Helena in the U of M’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. Congrats Rae!!! But the O’Brien portion showed up strong and was soon joined by Matt. We had prime seats on the rail, sitting next to….guess who??? None other than Slutzilla! Yay!!!! Slutzilla returns! Apparently Slutzilla (aka Amazon) is a big fat crying liar when she said she wasn’t coming anymore. She was there in trashy suede stilettos and a mini skirt slutting it up with a set of twins and bopping around in her chair, whacking Matt in the face with her nasty hair. Sorry Matt and thanks for taking one for the team.  So yes…Slutzilla is back and slutier than ever. But she has a friend…

The Clap (formerly known as George’s girlfriend) was in rare form. Now keep in mind that we used to like her. She was kinda cute, a pretty good dancer, and then says “right on” when Jean wears her Elvis shirt. We even give her credit for being able to follow some of the most ridiculous dancers. However, she has slowly been working up the slut ladder with her clothes and her dancing. I should mention that initially, she earned her name because she of often claps her hands above her head to just about any song. However, as you may guess, the Clap’s name can certainly have a double meaning. Especially after how much I saw of her on Thursday night.  The Clap was wearing some of the shortest skorts I’ve ever seen. Yes…I said skort. Daisy Dukes in the back, skirt in the front. (Is this the mullet of skirts/shorts??? I’m not sure) Anyway, the Clap had on the shortest skort ever made. To make it worse, she kept doing these high kicks while she was dancing. Pretty sure I saw more of the Clap’s crotch than I ever wanted to see. Wait…let me check….yep I’m sure. PLUS…she’s trying to seduce Mr. Shoeless. Now Jean…you know how we feel about Shoeless…how dare the Clap mess with her!!!! The Clap was dancing with Mr. Shoeless and at one point I saw him rubbing her back. AND…the Clap intentionally bent over like a big ole stripper in front of him to pick something up off the floor and Mr. Shoeless’ eyes were glued to her ass! How dare he! So needless to say I’m a little mad at the Clap and a little grossed out that I had to see so much of her crotch (Matt even threw up in his mouth a little bit).

Let’s see….what else did Jean miss. Tony dropped his mic, but kept right on singing. Smokey (in his Smokey the bear shirt) was singing along to just about everything and caught me laughing at him Sorry Smokey…I didn’t mean it. Tony was not only jazzing up everything with shoo be doos but he was pretty dirty: Why don’t you slip it in the back door…if you love me…you’ll let me slide right into you. DIRTY!!! They all looked pretty hott. (Fuck it…I’m still saying that even if they’re reading…it’s true). And Ryan did speak again….though I had to talk to him first. He asked me if he really did call Dave fat that many times last week. I was sad to inform him that yes he had said it all (Jean even asked if she could quote him). He said that he’d have to stay more sober next time he talked to us. I disagree…I think we get better stuff when they’re drunk! SO, anyway, sorry if we got you in trouble Ryan!

Well, being that this all happened four days ago, that’s all I can remember. I’m sure I’m forgetting things. I can’t remember all of the crazy dancers…though I know there were a bunch. So…see you next week!

Let the Christmas Season commence!

That's right ladies and gentleman! I spent 8.5 hours unpackaging Christmas crap that sells from $10-$150 yesterday for Marshall Fields. Once my shift was over, another crew of Christmas elves was going to spend 6 hours actually putting it out and decorating the department (which i believe happens to be on my floor). This means that I will walk into work tomorrow afternoon and be confronted with a Winter Wonderland....in September!!! Cuz it isn't bad enough that at one of my other jobs I will have to start production work on Christmas of Swing! Now I'm gonna get beat over the head at 2 out of 3 places of employment...gee I can't wait till i start bartending the Christmas concerts as the Fitzgerald too! God bless us everyone!!!