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.

Considering more than three million Americans suffer from some sort of peanut allergy, ranging from just a small rash to the potential of death, the tradition of peanuts and Cracker Jacks can take a backseat for a few Minnesota Twins games this season.

The Twins today announced the Skybox will be peanut-free and available exclusively for individuals with peanut allergies and their families for four games during the 2007 season.

The peanut-free skybox dates are:
Wednesday, June 27 vs. Toronto Blue Jays - 7:10 p.m. CT
Tuesday, July 31 vs. Kansas City Royals - 7:10 p.m. CT
Monday, August 20 vs. Seattle Mariners - 7:10 p.m. CT
Monday, September 17 vs. Texas Rangers - 7:10 p.m. CT

Those with peanut allergies can reserve their seats in a peanut-free zone right here.

“I do take cans to the place (to recycle).”

Well, I’ll be damned. That person needs to run the EPA.

In more interesting news, Forbes also published a list of the 25 Most Expensive Cities for a First Date. Minneapolis did not make that list. It goes to prove my theory that nothing says Perfect First Date in the Twin Cities like a bottle of Boone’s Farm and a $5 cover charge at the Gay 90’s.

This year, over 130 participating restaurants have agreed to donate a portion of their proceeds to The Aliveness Project, a local nonprofit organization that provides on-site meals, food shelf & other supportive services for HIV-infected individuals and their families.

Out of 130 different places to choose from, surely you can find something that suits your needs and help The Aliveness Project reach their $118,000 goal.

MLB.com reports that the 34s will be removed from the Twins’ jerseys and this season won’t officially be dedicated to Kirby, despite Torii Hunter and Ron Gardenhire continuing to pay their respect in their own individual ways.

I didn’t live in Minnesota when Kirby played, and I certainly wasn’t a Twins fan at the time, but I thought the Twins did a great job in the 2006 season of keeping his baseball memory alive, even if the public took his image down a darker path.

Will “What a Wonderful World” still be played after “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the 7th inning? Will we still get to see the pictures of Kirby rounding the bases or laughing with his teammates? Or now that it’s been a year, will Kirby just be another retired Hall of Famer like the rest?

“Little Piranhas” features Nick Punto and Jason Bartlett, two of the “little piranhas” as nicknamed by White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen for their ferocious play. Look for Punto and Bartlett to appear in a most unusual spot in full uniform.

“Carpool” features Twins All-Star reliever Joe Nathan in the passenger seat and taking issue with Cy Young award winner Johan Santana’s driving style.

And of course the team’s commercials wouldn’t be complete without one called “Sideburns”, featuring Minnesota’s pretty boy, Joe Mauer. As usual, the commercials are overly nerdy, but, well, cute.