Getting a random email not intended for you is almost like getting a mis-mailed postcard. I got an interesting one this morning from Julia.

Hi Everyone!
Sorry for the mass email, but I just wanted to let ya’ll know that I
have officially arrived safe, sound and in tact (Tulia included!) in
Buenos Aires. I don’t want to rub it in, but it is a lovely spring
day, the flowers are in bloom, and I find myself uncharacteristically
in a McDonald’s cafe (sorry Johanna!) because it is the only place I
can find where I can get free wireless internet and an espresso at
the same time.

BA is a beautiful city, but so cosmopolitan and European that it
doesn’t really feel like I’m in South America yet. A couple of days
here and we will begin making our way towards the country.
I will keep you updated and, thanks to Sebastian, you can look
forward to some photos coming your way very soon.

Hola from German and tons of kisses from me!!

Love you and miss you already!

Julia

I hope Julia enjoys her stay in Buenos Aires. Anyone have stories like mine of misdirected mail?

First Blood 11.16.05

So, it has begun. Winter in Minnesota. Last night when I returned home, I took a moment to catch the little wet snowflakes on my tongue.

This morning, I’m not quite so chipper. My snow brush/scraper was in my trunk, my car doors frozen shut and my windshield wipers in need of replacement. Thank goodness for rear window defrosters.

The roads were a bit slick here and there, but there didn’t seem to be any major wipeouts on my morning commute. It’s horribly windy, however, with a wind chill of -4^o. Couldn’t we had more than a day to get used to the bitter cold?

My office has classical music pumped into the hallways, elevators and restrooms - very classy, of course. But this morning, out of the blue, the holiday music started! Damn this snow and the idea that SNOW=XMAS MUSIC. I’m sure the malls have been switched over for weeks now.

Perhaps if every third song was holiday-themed it would be more tolerable. My heart goes out to anyone who works in a place where they can’t get away from the canned holiday tuneage. Guess winter is here for sure now.

I had seen and bookmarked a thread on one of the Twin Cities LiveJournal communities asking where you can go in town to get beer and and free wi-fi (so, no coffee shops).

As it happens, on Sunday evening my girlfriend and I were looking for somewhere to go where I could have internet access, she could get some work done, and we both could have something to eat. That part about having dinner nixed most coffee shops I could think of. So I checked the beer and wifi thread and picked Acadia Cafe to try out.

And it was perfect! Wifi access was good. Not lightning fast, but I’d expect that when you have five or six people using it. It wasn’t all dark and coffee-house-y. Like, seriously, I was very pleased that the place was well lit. The guys behind the counter were friendly.

We both enjoyed our food. I had the black bean burger and my girlfriend had the “GLBT” sandwich (that’s Guacamole, Lettuce, Bacon, and Tomato). And I had a Hardcore just because I could.

We went about 6:00. I don’t know how busy this place typically is, but at that time on Sunday, it was just full enough to not feel empty, but it wasn’t crowded and we had no problem getting a table.

So I highly recommend it. (And I recognize that this is probably one of those things that everyone already knows about and I’m just slow….)

I’m so stoked to find out that Antoine’s Creole Maison Restaurant is opening up at 2819 Hennepin. I was disappointed when Taj of India closed, but this is even better! I was disappointed when Copeland’s downtown closed, too. I know it’s a chain and all, but I really liked it.

From the Southwest Journal:

A new restaurant is in the works at 2819 Hennepin Ave. S., formerly home to Taj of India. A sign on the door states Antoine’s Creole Maison Restaurant will serve “home-style Louisiana French Creole cuisine.”

Antoine’s owner Diane Ruona said she expects to open this fall; Taj’s owner sold her the business in mid-September. She described the Creole cuisine as including gumbos, shrimp and crawfish, Po’ Boy sandwiches and jambalayas.

Ruona, a Lafayette, La. native and current Bloomington resident, said she’s longed to open a restaurant in Uptown. “This was the first location on my list,” she said. Ruona said she likes the trendy neighborhoods and the different array of people. “This is my life-long dream,” she added.

At her restaurant, she’ll serve lunch and dinner, in addition to offering take-out and catering. To emphasize the Southern theme, Ruona is also creating a bayou replica - complete with a stuffed gator - to go in the restaurant’s center. (She added that Antoine’s would not serve gator.)

Hours will be Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5-9 p.m. (open till 10 p.m. on Friday); Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; and Sunday, noon-9 p.m. For more information, call 871-2262.

I wonder if Antoine’s will have Hurricanes.

WOO HOO!!! IT’S TOTALLY SNOWING!!!!!

Ok, so it’s kind of raining with some snow mixed in. Still, the snow has begun. Yaya winter!!

Let the Nate bashing begin. I’m a fan of winter, deal with it :)

I am planning on going to see the midnight show of Harry Potter this Thursday night. I was planning on going to the IMAX, but don’t know if it is sold out already or not. If so, I guess I’ll just have to settle for a normal size screen.

I am very excited about this movie. It definately had the most action to it and was a very enjoyable book. They are gonna have to cut out a lot, but I think it will be ok. We’ll see on Thursday night…

Last night the Blimp 9 News continued their non-newsworthy assault on the MN Gopher Hockey Team. I was glad to see the coach pushing back, even it the story had a decidedly Fox News spin:

Fox 9 News has taken a week’s worth of criticism over our investigation into underage drinking by some University of Minnesota hockey players. If you listened to radio talk shows, read the papers or saw our own inbox fill up, NOTE: THEY FORGOT BLOGS!, you’d hear over and over that underage hockey players drink, that our investigators made too much of it, and it’s no big deal. Now, for the first time, head coach Don Lucia goes on-camera with the Fox 9 Investigators to address the story…

Lucia gave some great quotes like, “If anybody wants to go undercover and follow college kids around, you can find anything you want. You could do it tomorrow. You could do it in two months. You could do it in two years. They’re college kids. I have to be honest, I thought they were violated in that report.

EFF has released a list of CDs known to have Sony’s deadly rootkit DRM technology - including The Bad Plus, Neil Diamond, Our Lady Peace, etc. Basically, in order to play or copy the disc, Sony installs spyware on your machine that opens a back door for hackers.

If you have one of these CDs, and you have a Windows PC, you’re probably already screwed just like me (oh, and it’s undeletable - THANK SONY!). I’ll be reformatting my hard drive this weekend thanks to Trey Anastasio’s Shine, which I could’ve downloaded (illegally) for free but wanted to support the artist. I’ll think twice next time.

List of albums with spyware HERE, and please note how ironic some of these album titles are considering their content (Healthy in Paranoid Times, The Invisible Invasion, Suspicious Activity).

Wondering if there’s enough of us in MN that have been affected. I know Mpls attorney Jim Vander Linden filed one suit today. Class action lawsuits have already been filed in NY and LA, but I’m not really up for shelling out any money on top of the effort to get my computer reformatted.

Updated link HERE

Update:
Some local heroes at Dragonfly Networks are circling the wagons for those Minnesotans affected by Sony’s spyware CDs. You can contact them at SettleUpSony.com.

I was disappointed that both times I tried to see Dance in the Dark at Fringe it was sold out well in advance. Fortunately for me it’s playing at the Southern now.

Now, given the hype it had before, and having waited three months to see it, I had huge expectations for this show. And it was fantastic! There were all sorts of folks involved in putting it on. Sossy Mechanics, Zenon, Jawaahir, and a number of people I’ve seen in other local hip-hop and breakdance shows.

As Sossy Mechanics describes the show:

What would happen if we mashed up a bunch of diverse dance styles not often seen on the stage together (hip hop, flamenco, ballroom, break dance, thrash jazz, tap…) in a non-stop, live-streaming, one-hour flow of movement?

Their answer is: “The audience ends up jamming in their seats and clamoring for more.” And they’re totally right. The music was awesome. The staging was great. I was tapping my toes the whole time. Totally makes you want to go take a dance class.

At the end, the company invites the audience to participate in the dance party. You can probably get your favorite bboi, bboy, or bgirl to show you a move or two.

Also playing is a show called Bright Lights, which seems to be along the same lines as Dance in the Dark. It’s performed by some of the same people and also by kids studying at local dance studios. Each show is $16, or you can see both for $25. They run through next weekend. I highly recommend you call ahead and reserve tickets. You can reserve them without paying for them in advance, if you like, but you gotta be at the box office 45 minutes before show time to pick them up or you’ll lose them. I know Dance in the Dark sold out both Friday and Saturday nights this weekend.