The last two Sundays my better half and I have had the urge for brunch. Mainly, we’re lazy and know it’s probably going to be the only thing to get us out of the house on a Sunday morning/afternoon. Last Sunday, we decided to head to Longfellow Grill to use up a gift certificate I’d gotten on one of the various half price deals websites that are floating around out there.

I hadn’t been to Longfellow for a couple of years and I don’t remember a lot about that morning. I don’t even remember what I ate; I just remember I had a spider web tattoo drawn on my elbow in Sharpie from a trip to the bar the night before that scared our server. I didn’t remember that tattoo session either. Thankfully, it was temporary.

Last week, we both took the advice of our server and wound up ordering Chilaquiles (for me) and Fresh Strawberry French Toast (for her, which she’s still talking about). I’m a giant talker when we’re out somewhere eating, but I didn’t have much to say during brunch. It was seriously fantastic. Savory and spicy for me; sweet and syrupy for her — so, we were both happy. So happy that we decided to go back again this Sunday.

We only had to wait about 10 minutes, as opposed to the 20 we waited last week. Regardless of the wait time, I would have hung around. There’s a Dunn Brothers and a Corazon there to keep you busy if your wait is too long. This morning, they passed around samples of French toast to those of waiting in the foyer and outside. Once we got to our table, we knew right away what we wanted — the same thing we were going to try last week before our servers’ recommendation. I went with Breakfast Tostadas and the better half sampled the Killer Banana Waffles. The waffles came with a banana sliced down the middle and roasted. Roasted banana is genius.

Next time, I’m ordering three roasted bananas and a side of bacon. I don’t think I’ll be disappointed.

And, of course, they’re on Facebook, too.

photo by twodolla

I almost ran into this (literally) sometime last week when the city banned street parking during their street cleaning phase. Who throws a condom in a tree? I mean, c’mon.

*Attempts at rubber tree jokes will be ignored.

I’m always on the lookout for something for he and I to do. We get along like gangbusters, which is awesome, but I’m always trying to find something new pique his interest. He’s a video game, reading and computer kind of guy, where I’m a pass the vodka shots and let’s head to a baseball game kind of girl. I’m looking for compromise here.

But you know what I haven’t been able to find? Compromise between the two. Minneapolis Community Ed classes offer martial arts for his age group and that’s about it. If he were five the options would be endless; if he were 16, it’d be the same way. Since he’s stuck in between the whole child to man phase, I’m at a loss and would love some suggestions from anyone else that has a kid that’s just about to start growing hair in awkward places.

I was curious after reading this much earlier today on the most credible news website known to man, Perez Hilton. (Nope, not linking that one.) What exactly is a nerdy macaw and why’s it gotta be from Minnesota? Google images says this is a nerdy macaw:

That’s just a creepy guy with no shirt on getting ready to make out with a bird. I don’t know if I’d call that nerdy or not. When I added “Minnesota” to my search, I wound up on this link. I’ll save you the trouble – it’s a “quality gay dating site”. Google Images has failed me.

The movie is also rumored to star Anne Hathaway (the hottie from The Devil Wears Prada or the beard that was married to Jake Gyllenhal’s character in Brokeback Mountain) and Rodrigo Santoro (who plays one of the dudes that get buried alive in “Lost” and has apparently been called the Brazilian Tom Cruise…). Fox hasn’t confirmed the aforementioned casting, but Fox doesn’t do a lot of things right anyway.

I gotta tell ya, though. I stopped reading this site for a long time because it got to the point where everyone hated everything and finding original content was about as likely as Michelle Bachmann marching in the Pride parade next year. It’s improved immensely since those authors parted ways. And don’t worry – I couldn’t tell you who those authors were if I wanted to. I just know I haven’t wanted to slit my wrists when reading the posts here over the past several months.

But you know what I have wanted to do? Comment on some posts. Seems I can’t do that from work, though, as my IT Guy and the firewall he uses seem to think it’s Pornography. Other cities aren’t nearly as dirty as Minneapolis, at least according to SonicWall. Denver and Pittsburgh seem to talk about far less pornographic things.

David made me sign a blood oath and commit to writing 1-3 posts per week. Here’s one. I can guarantee the other ones won’t happen during business hours, but that’s about all the guarantees I’m going to make.

*I totally looked that up in my kid’s Spanish-English dictionary.

The fair this week began accepting applications for positions such as ticket takers, ticket sellers, parking attendants, cashiers, game attendants, costumed characters, retail sales and food service workers. [link]

While I’ve never had the privilege of being an employee of the Minnesota State Fair, I spent the summers of my youth working 14 hour days at the Missouri State Fair, getting paid cash and being instructed to tell anyone that asked that I was at least 16 years old. Man, those were the days.

Is the Minnesota State Fair a prime place for kids to put in some hours before school starts so they can pay for their own school clothes, or was that just a thing that went on Southern part of the Midwest?

And furthermore, why isn’t there a restaurant (or a CHAIN of restaurants) where I can order some fair food on a regular basis? There are days where I’d give my first born for a bucket of Sweet Martha’s cookies and any other thing I want on a splintered stick.

From August 21-25, the area in downtown Minneapolis surrounding the Convention Center will be full of approximately 400 drivers from around the country vying for the national title in their respective classes. Their schedule is a full one, and concludes the evening of the 25th with the Championship Awards Banquet.

American Trucking Association’s 2007 National Truck Driving Championships is a competition that gives our outstanding drivers a chance to showcase their skills and professionalism while competing against drivers from other companies across the country. Just the opportunity of attending is one of the highest honors a driver can receive – a career all-time high. [link]

Who do you root for? Well, that’s easy. It’s Dan Chaves, of course. He hails from Lino Lakes, making him the only Twin Cities driver that’s advanced to Nationals. Chaves is no slouch behind the gears either, as this year marks the 2nd time he’s won the state title in his division. Be sure and look for him in the 4-Axle competition.

Join The Onion for its fourth Brewing For A Cause Tonight at 7pm at O’Gara’s in St. Paul. It’s a 3-hour sampling of 13 great beers for only a $15 donation. All proceeds will be donated to We Can Ride, whose “mission is serving children and adults living with physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral disabilities. Our goal is to enhance our client’s skills and well being through challenging programs of therapeutic horseback riding and carriage driving.”

From their The Onion’s MySpace bulletin:

This event includes a silent auction with tons of incredible gifts from local Twin Cities businesses, live music from The Dad In Common, and other surprises–all wrapped up by our host Ian Rans from television’s Drinking With Ian. All money generated from the door and auction goes to We Can Ride.

I’d never heard of We Can Ride before this, but the five locations they have throughout the cities look amazing.

Drink some beer and help people.

A three-ring circus of film crewmembers wrestled with floodlights outside the Chambers Hotel in Minneapolis Monday morning as shooting began on “Dead of Night,” an independent feature starring Minneapolis native Kelly Carlson and N’Sync’s J.C. Chasez.

With a tag line like “Survival is a killer“, it’s probably not on the same family-friendly page as other Minneapolis-filmed movie favorite “Grumpy Old Men” and “Jingle All the Way”. But then again, it’s starring a former boyband member and some guy with the last name Fischer-Price, so maybe I’m wrong.

Anybody seen any movie-filming type things going on yet? I’m hoping I can wait outside The Saloon and bump into one of the guys from N’Sync.

Team Boobylicious, a Minneapolis-based team participating in the 2007 Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk, is invading the Block E Hooters at 7 pm tonight to present Boob Trivia II. It’s just like any other bar trivia, except there’s a $5 registration fee and the first place team wins a $100 grand prize. You can register your team here or at the door.

The team is also holding a raffle, where the prizes will be awarded immediately following trivia (raffle prizes listed here).

For more information about future fundraisers, to be a part of Team Boobylicious, or to read about their quest to not only walk 60 miles in 3 days this August, but also raise $30,000 as a team in the process, please visit teamboobylicious.com.