I apparently know the skyway system so well, I can get where I’m going without paying attention. I had to walk to the Gov’t Center today from my building to drop off my questionnaire for jury duty, and because it’s several blocks, I brought something to read along the way. Yes, I know, I’m one of those people walking a reading at the same time, reading material held at the right height so I can see if I’m going to run into anyone. I have gotten whacked on the head on occasion by low-hanging branches, because of this, but still I do it.

The skyway route winds through several buildings, and there are a couple of turns that people get lost in, but with my head buried in my magazine, I still made it to the gov’t center without problem. Once in the gov’t center, I did have to go back to reception twice to make sure I was going to the right place, but I can navigate the habitrail with ease. Maybe I should hire myself out as a Skyway Sherpa. Some of the ends of the skyway system host dragons, I’m sure, waiting to ensnare the hapless traveler.

I will always maintain that Minnesotans are some crazy drivers. As the weather turns more and more towards winter every day, I grit my teeth thinking of how these loons will drive once the snow flies. Yesterday was a prime example.

I work in an office building right next to 394. Every day as I sit at my desk, I can hear the hum of traffic, and more often than I should, the squeal and crunch of accidents. Yesterday a woman in a small late model sedan rear-ended an SUV. I’ve become an expert at knowing just by the sound of the squealing tires if it will end badly.

I was trailgated by a delivery truck last night (in the right lane, even) all the way through the Lowry tunnel. If ever there was a bad spot to tailgate, that would be it. I managed to scrape him off with some quick avoidance moves, but when I’m looking at brakelights as far as the eye can see, why hurry?

In a way, I’m looking forward to the first snowfall. I like to find a vacant parking lot (there’s some prime ones in NE Minneapolis) and skid around for awhile to get my winter driving skills back.

I went to this restaurant in St Louis Park on Monday, with Steve, for a friend’s birthday. It’s good, and not too big, and not too expensive. Owned by the same guy who owns Azia, it’s kind of like Azia’s less trendy little sister. The waitstaff was great, so friendly, and had no problem separating out our ten-person tab. The food is both vegetarian and vegan friendly, and many of the dishes can be prepared for all three dietary customs.

I had the pad thai that night, and while their version of mild was pretty spicy, I made it through without too much whimpering. Steve had the egg foo yung, which I tried and was awesome. The spring rolls were also a big hit with many of the people at the table.

The restaurant is kind of tucked away at Utah Avenue and Minnetonka Blvd, and you have to watch for the sign or you’ll miss the entrance. Steve and I drove through parts of St Louis Park we had never seen before on our way there, even passing the SLP City Hall. I sometimes forget that these suburbs without a well-defined downtown actually have such buildings. Sometime, I’ll have to drive around there in daylight and see what it looks like then.

In another one of those absolutely meaningless rankings that will come out, Minnesota was ranked the 3rd best place to work. No one can actually say what that means, but hey, let’s pat ourselves on the back.
Who’s better you ask? New Hampshire and of course Delaware. Ok, I’m pro New Hampshire, but Delaware? The worst state, though, is Louisiana… Awesome, guys, way to kick them while they’re down.

Last night I caught a pretty great cover band at the French Press Cafe in St. Paul - Invisible Citizen.

Made up of all McNally-Smith Music College students, these guys are super talented and were playing dead-on covers of Foo Fighters, Radiohead, Weezer, Pink Floyd, Smashing Pumpkins, Led Zeppelin, Audioslave and more. Next gig is at the Hat Trick Lounge, off the corner of 5th and Jackson (downtown St. Paul), on Friday for a Halloween costume bash with free food. Cover is $5 (free w/college ID). If it’s anything like last night, it’ll be great.

I was at the Dinkytowner for ladies night last night (2 free drinks, and they do not skimp on the alcohol). According to the card on the table, the DJs were from the DoggLounge.

I love house music. It’s hard to know where to find house music. Especially because a lot of people don’t exactly know what it is and it’s a little hard to describe it short of playing an example.

Even better than the fact that they were playing house music at at any bar in town is the fact that the DoggLounge has an internet radio station from which you can stream this delicious house music at your leisure. I would expect this sort of thing coming out of Detroit or Chicago or New York, but not so much coming from here. Good to know that someone in the TC is into house.

They post their upcoming shows in the forum at their website. Looks like they’re pretty regular at the Dinkytowner and there are about one or two a month at various other places around town.

So if you like that sort of thing (or have no idea what I’m talking about), visit DoggLounge.com and give it a listen.

Since we’re on the topic of movies today, I ended up seeing two this past weekend.

On Friday I saw Doom. Let me preface this by saying that I’ve played every incarnation of the video game and have enjoyed them all. I did not enjoy the movie. It had alot to offer fans of the game, the sets were great, the effects were good, but the movie was crap.

On Sunday, I saw North Country. I would be surprised if Charlize Theron didn’t win another Oscar after her performance in this film. As sad and heartbreaking as this film can be, it is also unbelievably heartwarming. This is definitely a must-see.

So, last weekend I watched two films. The first was Mirrormask at the Lagoon (The sweet spot of showtimes seems to be the 12:10 matinee on Saturdays at the Lagoon. There were barely a dozen people in the audience. Apparently all the Neil Gaiman fans like to sleep in.), the second was Pi: Faith in Chaos that I had on hand from Netflix. I can’t imagine two more different films to consume in a short span of time.

Mirrormask is a colorful and fanciful story, while Pi (shot in black and white) is consumed with mathematics, computing, number theory. Yet, both are stories of discovery, with a bit of faith mixed in for good measure.

As much as I like the filmgoing experience at a theater, I really enjoy being able to watch a film, then rewatch key scenes to enjoy and examine them all over again. I think I’ll need to see Mirrormask again for this reason.

I’ve decided to put my allegiance up for sale. I realize that being a true fan, loving your team is about being there when the team is down and something deeper than whether or not you like all the players. But seriously, the Vikings are horrid. Mike Tice was on television last night trying to say that the Vikings looked great yesterday. The problem is that they squeaked a victory away from a team that had lost its running back and had basically one good wide receiver. That and on the news they had on the street interviews with fans where people were saying “boys will be boys.” Sorry, it takes a little more than a barely won game to make me forget sexually harassment and drug abuse.
Therefore, I’m putting it all up for sale. I don’t know how exactly, whether I’ll use eBay or what… but the highest bidder can tell me what team to route for.
I put myself up for sale on EBay.

I went to my first genderBLUR on Saturday night at Patrick’s Cabaret.

There was some singing, some dancing, drag queens and kings, announcements and shout outs, and stand up comedy by curator/host Rob Yaeger (who was fantastic and I want him to be my new best friend). Patrick’s is a somewhat cozy space and it looked to be pretty full. (And the pumpkin bars at the concession stand were to die for. *licks fingers*)

By the way, I have to say that I love driving in that area and seeing the huge rainbow flag flying on top of Patrick’s. It’s almost like being in San Francisco for a second.

I only had a vague idea of what to expect. I mean, I get the idea of a cabaret. I knew and knew of a few of the performers. But I don’t hang out much in the trans community. Those of us with our alternative sexual identities usually mix a little preaching politics with our pleasure, so I was curious to see what kind of things would come up. It was mostly a few legislation alerts and get out the vote pleas. So not really anything much different from what I’ve seen at more gay/lesbian-focused events.

So everyone should go to genderBLUR once. I brought some straight friends along, whom I’m pretty sure wouldn’t go otherwise, and they enjoyed themselves. Plus, events like this always spark discussion, and discussion is good. That’s how we learn things (and also learn who the total jackasses are).