Dandy Warhols: Post-Review

Kick-ass!

Dandy Warhols

For those of you who like to live vicariously through me, I'm about to go to a Dandy Warhols concert at the 1st Ave club in downtown Minneapolis. So get ready!

I'm going to get home late tonight, and I'll probably be distracted by my adventures, so you probably won't get a post about it until tomorrow night or even later. So right now, I'm going to give you a pre-review of the show (where I guess what the show was like and give you a review of it before I even go there):

The Dandy Warhols show was super-great! I got backstage tickets because I'm so hot and I met the whole band and they even let me play onstage with them during the concert. I was so freaking awesome that they decided to pay me to join up with them on their tour. They said it was because I'm musically talented but I think it was because I'm hot, so I felt a little under-appreciated so turned them down. I don't want to be valued for my good looks, I want to be valued for my extremely impressive musical talents. My Studly Hubby was enraged however that he didn't get invited backstage so he started a big fight in the mosh pit and ended up getting hauled out by security. That's when I left the stage, went out to find him, and we left to go hunt vampires with Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Oh wait, that last part can't be true because Buffy is a fictional character.

Bring the Pain

My friend, mwz, starting up an intense swimming regimen recently and writes,

>I haven't been using goggles. By the end of my drive home, I was fighting to keep my >eyes open. I couldn't work because I couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to read >anything. After about an hour of laying around with my eyes closed, my wife went and >got some eye drops.

I know it's tough, my friend, but it'll pay off. Next time, as you're driving off the road with bloodshot eyes and your legs are too sore from hard training to brake properly, just start screaming BRING THE PAIN and maybe it'll get better. Or at least, more interesting. Then give us a full report.

Neon Green Frosting and Cotton Snow

My Studly Hubby made Christmas cookies last night and frosted them with neon green frosting with red sprinkles. He made all sorts of shapes with his 100-cutter set, including stars, circles, diamonds, little people, a 'J' (for J-Funk!), a volkswagen beetle, an ambulance, snowmen, hearts and more. I'm having a heart right now in fact. Neon green frosting is so much better than white.

It has become freeze-your-nose-hairs cold up here in the wild north country. The high today was 9 degrees, our windows are covered with thick frost, the car must be warmed before driven, and the snow is light and fluffy and stays on the ground for days (not good for snowmen-building). Meanwhile the Minnesota natives are still running and biking outside as usual. A friend of mine that's training for a marathon ran for 2 1/2 hrs yesterday until she thought her fingers were frostbitten, then stopped only because it was getting dark (it starts getting dark at about 4:15 by the way).

Me, I run at the gym, I get a ride to school from my Studly Hubby, and at night I put on several layers, drink hot tea, snuggle under a down comforter, and read a book about the tropics until my brain becomes convinced it's still summer.

But I do have some cross-country skiis in the closet, and oh boy, that's one thing that'll draw me out into the cold... but not until it gets back up to 20... at least...

Minnesota Winter and Killer Squirrels

I'll start with the killer squirrels. According to BBC news, a pack of black squirrels in Russia attacked and killed a dog as reported by three witnesses. Apparently they all swooped down out of a tree at once like an army of organized soldiers, and within a matter of seconds had killed the dog and scattered away with pieces of it. Did long-term starvation help these squirrels evolve into being capable of organized crime? Or is the media just getting bored? Or were the three witnesses all smoking crack? I'm voting for some combination of the three. (PS - the pic is of a viscious Brooklyn squirrel, a regular visitor of William Chubsucker Levin, who may be capable of such behavior herself, although he blames it on the squirrel supposedly being pregnant).

Speaking of doubtful journalism, I just want to make note of a recent article about Hurricane Katrina, They Shoot Helicopters, Don't They? How journalists spread rumors during Katrina by Matt Welch. The article cites many false claims during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, including the body count (10,000 originally reported, 900 actually died), the violence in the metrodome (only one slain victim was found in the two buildings, only 10 bodies total), and the supposed helicopter shootings (never verified). Don't get me wrong, it was a tragedy beyond comprehension, and the information vacuum and outcry for help during the aftermath of Katrina makes these false reports somewhat understandable. My point is, the media doesn't always know what's going on, and when they are wrong they don't always make a huge effort to correct themselves. I've become increasingly careful about forming opinions based on reports from the media. I'm starting to feel like if I'm not there to witness it myself, there's no way to really know the truth.

With that, I'll change to my second topic: IT'S WINTER HERE!! It's been below freezing for at least a week, we've had some good clean white stuff on the ground and falling from the sky, and today it's very sunny and beautiful out. Finally, my last year here, we have an honest-to-goodness Minnesota winter. Time to pull out the skiis and the ice skates!

Journal Club

I'm supposed to be working on a Journal Club presentation for work that I'm giving Monday, so naturally I spent the afternoon writing emails, catching up on my hollywood gossip, and updating my current events knowledge. In doing so, I found this super neat-o picture of a lava waterfall on CNN.com that I thought I'd share. Waterfall-ey!

Cold Yoga

A week after my Bikram (hot) yoga experience I had finally recovered enough to go back to my regular yoga class. A light snow precipitation made me very nervous about driving to the Y (a recurrent trauma since the car-drowning event) but I made it without incident. The studio where my yoga class was held was freezing, however, and when we checked out the thermostat to see what the deal was we found it dangling from the wall with some pencil thing sticking out of it. Clearly the deal was bad so we had to continue with our yoga class without heat, an unfortunate thing to do I say. I eventually warmed up enough to take off my coat, but I never did break a sweat. Ah well. Definitely the opposite from that hot yoga class I went to a week ago.

This is not like me, but I've been thinking about skipping all my holiday parties this year. Normally I get invited to about four (at least one for the Y, three for all the different departments I am part of at work). When I skipped the first one last week it felt pretty good, and I'm darned tempted to skip the next one. Being a little delinquent once in a while is fun! I have a twinge of guilt, however, - these are going to be my last holiday parties at these places and they usually are pretty fun. Maybe I'll go to one or two of them. For my lab, we often demand to be taken to a very expensive fancy downtown restaraunt for our holiday party, and then give thanks by refusing to drive or be on time. Our boss is always genial and still gives the impression of enjoying himself around all us ungratefuls, but this year the most demanding among us (my naked co-worker) has left so he managed to persuade the rest to do a cheaper catered lunch/movie event in our conference room. At least we do something... my Studly Hubby's company doesn't host any kind of a yearly party and doesn't even give out candy canes or anything. Bummer!

And now time for some holiday decorations...! We still have yet to replace our (halloween) pumpkin lights with the (declared thanksgiving/christmas) eyeball lights, but it'll happen soon I promise.