I guess I am a Dad now.

Well, I actually have been for about a year now, her birthday is the 27. But last night, Kelly was at her book club so I put Delia to bed. She usually sits in her crib for like a half hour to an hour just chillin, so I was in the living room watching some Star Trek when I hear "Dad!". Not a cry or a scream just the sound of Delia calling my name. So I went up there, saw her sitting there looking through the sheets trying to find her nuk, I helped, found it, gave it to her and she looked up at me, smiled and then toppled over and proceeded to fall asleep. Too cool.

Scavenger Hunt and Fresh Hop

Last weekend I volunteered at the Scavenger Hunt Bike race for the Bicycle Film Festival that was held last week. I was an operative. Basically my job was to hand out at St. Anthony Falls. Prior to meeting me the teams of bikers would get a clue from another operative that would say to go to St. Anthony Falls (or actually it was clue but I can't remember what it was) and they were supposed to find the operative whose sleeves are on fire, meaning my tattoos and then they had to ask me ""The bikes are tall and fruitful this season" which I would reply "And yet the Alamo has no basement." And then give them he next clue that was a jumbled sentence that spelled out Gold Medal Flour and they had to take their picture in front of it. It was fun but really hot and there is little shade at St. Anthony Falls. And I have no fire tattoos so I decided to wear my Surly bike cap, which still had some people looking. Sad thing though is I missed the after party race. I thought it was at Varsity bikes but instead it was at the Theater Jeune Lune, which I was right next to. So I bike all the way back to Dinkytown only to find that out, but by then I was already so much closer to my house and still had some shopping to do and get home to the dogs. And I forgot my camera, again. I still am meaning to take it on my commute to let you all know what I do now.


Also this weekend I was lucky enough to get the last bottle of Sierra Nevada's Fresh Hop ale. Last time I was at the Cellar's in Roseville the clerk was raving about it, bun to his surprise it was not there. But being that I am such a great customer he saved one for me, the very last one. It was good. A fresh hop beer none the less. Nothing to outrageous but the hops they use are very good. I guess these ones were flown in from New Zealand in brewed within a week. If you can find it out there go for it. It is not as hoppy as some may like ti but it is very easy on the pallet.

Delia, Commuting and Arizona

Well well well, lookie who is writing again. Got some stuff to update you all on and work here at the print shop has slowed down due to summer being in session here at the U. Just want you all to know that baby Delia is fantastic. Her personality is showing more and more everyday. I get a big burst of joy when I come home from work and she sees me and starts jumping for joy, well, maybe not jumping but kicking her legs and waving her arms with a great big smile on her face.
Here she is being happy that I came home:


Well folks. I have finally done it. I am now commuting to work directly to home, and vice a versa. Though I still take the bus when needed, like last night when it was down pouring but other than that I bike most of this week. It all started when I did the Tour de Cure for diabetes last weekend. I joined up with a bunch of guys from the Minneapolis Bike Love message board and they all planned on doing the whole 45 while I only thought I could do 25, well, after the 25 I felt fine so I did the rest with them and it was not bad at all, a bit sore here and there but I thought I would be toast, but nope. So then I figured if I could do that then the 12 mile it is from my house to work should be no problem, and it wasn't. Yeah, my wrist and butt/waist was still a bit sore from the 50 mile trek but all in all it was really no big deal. I had to alter my routes slightly but now I think I found the perfect route. Plus there is not as much traffic as I thought there would be, though there is a stretch between 694 and Country Rd H where I bike on the sidewalk, there are a lot of big trucks on that stretch and it seems people use it as a detour and drivers that commute to work in their cars are impatient assholes, sorry if you are one of them but seriously, there are two lanes, is it really necessary to fly by me within inches? Oh, and the best part of the commute is that it takes me right by Barley Johns Brew Pub where I had a delicious IRA which stands for India Red Ale, so it is basically a India Pale Ale and a Red Ale combined. Now I have the best of both worlds, if I bus it I go right by Town Hall Brewery and if I bike it is Barley Johns, too sweet. Plus, I have only filled my gas tank in my truck once in the past two months, and it is full as we speak. Gas prices? Meh, who needs the worry. Though the cost of other things are rising because if that but hey, we wanted our big gas guzzelers when we didn't need them and now the demand is up and supply is down, we get what we deserve. Should have thought about the repercussions but nope, we were having too much fun buying big toys and monstrosities to lug around those big toys with. We get what we deserve.

Just got back from Arizona a couple of weeks ago. Had a great time, didn't really do much. Got to see a good friend and we chilled out, more accurately sweltered it out, it was an average of 110 the whole week we were there. Which wasn't so bad, it is a dry heat, but still very hot, but if you were in the shade then it wasn't so bad. Here is Delia in the shade with her sun hat.

Went to a few brew pubs while I was there. First one was Oggies where Eric and I watched the STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS DETROIT RED WINGS beat the Dallas Stars to go on to the finals, which they won, boo yaa. Most of the beers there were OK, they had a Scottish Ale which was pretty good and a wheat beer that I enjoyed. But they also had a awesome beer called Hop Juice which was hoppy and strong. But it was kinda weird because I didn't get it on tap but I got a couple bottles of it and the label said Left Coast Brewery, not Oggies and they had a bunch of locations in California. Which made sense because I saw the tanks, or more likely tank, and it occured to me that they probably don't brew it there. But a few days later I did go to Four Peaks Brewery which do brew their own beer there and had a Peach Ale which was very tasty, light but I love peaches so this was good. Though I got a feeling that 3 or more would loose it's uniques fast. I wanted their Barley Wine but they just ran out, damn. Other than that we spent most of the time by the pool, Delia is still very young so we couldn't really go too far without her having to sleep and being that temp was astronomical is was best to stay close to our hotel though we did take a walk in the desert early one morning. You can see pics of that in my wife's blog (link is to your right). I survived the plane yet again. I really don't like those things, here is me venting my frustration.


That is it for now. Congratulations to the Red Wings, the last time a team I wanted to win won was the Devils in 2003. Now all we need is the Wild to do it and my life will be complete. And get yourself some Pranqster beer from North Coast Brewery. Good stuff.

Spring is here

Thought I'd check in to say what lovely day. Just got back from a bike ride to the dentist and it is very nice out. No problems at the dentist except for the usual torture. Why they have to stab my gums over and over is beyond me. Curling has been shelved for this year, I enjoy playing hockey too much and it was either one sport or the other so I chose hockey.

New Tattoo

Which as you can tell is a cover up. The old tattoo I got when I was fairly young, in fact I was 18. It was my second and it was one of those that young kids get by wanting a tat, but not knowing what they want so they look through a book and find one and jump on it. It took me about 2 years before I realized it was something that really didn't represent me. I am not an evil guy but I was a fan of heavy metal (still am to a point I guess) and I thought this would look bad ass but alas, I am not bad ass. So after years of procrastinating and deciding to get other tattoos instead of fixing this one we are getting that "stimulus" check from the government and after having a beautiful baby daughter I figured now is the time to take of this once and for all. The biggest reason that I decided to jump on this now was because of this picture.

My cute little girl and right next to her a scary demon head. That was it, I had to fix it ASAP. And now I have. True, the tree tat is not all fuzzy and warm but it more represent myself than the evil skull. I decided to pick a tree because of my love for the environment and mother earth. I took pictures of the old tat and cut out my arm in photoshop and made some prints of it so the artist could draw over it and get a good idea of how to maneuver the branches and bark around the skull so it would fit properly. I decided to go to B-Cool Tattoo which was recommended by the great Kattie Flitter (there's your shout out) and the artist there was Sarah, fun gal, really made me feel comfortable and did an awesome job. She traced over the tat and found a good design to fit and then went to town. To be honest I was a bit nervous that it was not going to work out too well and it wasn't until the very end when it all just came together. I love it, we even added some fall leaves and colors to it because fall is my favorite time of year. So now I am at home nursing it as best I can. I am trying not to bend my arm too often so the top branches don't get whited out but if I keep it moist it should be fine being that it is not too much and should heal faster that the base of the tree. Any ways that is it. And I promise I will write more in this blog, I just ran out of things to say during the dead of winter. I played a hockey game in Marriucci, that was awesome. And I drank more fancy beer, go figure! Go get Hop Slam by Bells Brewing Co.

Hitting the Rink and Storm King

Played an actual game of hockey last Saturday, pads and all. Well, let me tell you I was very shakey out there. I fell twice, pulled a muscle on my lower thigh by my knee and bruised my elbow. I did score two goals however. The first was a screen shot and the second was an awesome pass by some 16 year old, that one was all him, I just took the credit. I wont be playing this week due to my in-laws coming over and I got a bit of a cold happening (again) but I will be back out next weekend and hopefully most saturday nights after that.




Got a new beer this week, an imperial stout called Storm King from Victory Brewery. Black as night and strong. It is pretty much a typical imperial stout. A bit of coffee and malt aroma. Kinda hoppy and molasses taste to it. Not bad, not great though. 12 bucks for a 6 pack but it lasted me all week so I guess in the long run it was worth the price.

Also Town Hall Brewery in Minneapolis has a Belgian Triple on tap which is very good. I will be getting a growler of this for the game on Sunday, you know, they one where the Giants beat the Packers and New England proceeds to take over the NFL once and for all.

I leave you with yet another article about our good friend Huckabee.

Second Thoughts On Huckabee

If you read this blog you probably get the impression I am not a big Huckabee fan. And while I am still not I am starting not fear his presidency lie I used to. Still I think his "quarantine" comments and his religious views are rather strict but that is just the thing, they are strict, as in he actually follows what he preaches. For example, when he was governor of Arkansas he signed legislation that extended coverage of health care to children called ARKids First which cut the number of uninsured kids in his state. While hje was governor he signed a lot of legislation that actually praticed what he preached. I guess I was so used to religious politicians being fakes that when one actually came up I was skeptical. I would have to say this guy has more religious honest in his little pinkey than George Bush could ever wish for.

Now, that being said I am still very much against his election. While he has created decent legislation in Arkansas he also injected his religion into alot of aspects of those bills. While he did signed the Child Welfare Agency Licensing Act in 1997 which included provisions that made sure that the religious organizations preach their faith to the people they are helping. Is this a bad thing? Well, no it is not, but it is also not right, religiously. As the saying goes "Preach the gospel frequently and if necessary, use words." One of the main reasons religion turned me off as a child is because I had a few family members that kept shoving it in my direction. I would come home at times and find a mini bile on my pillow. I would get religious material sent in my name to my house, heck, I am still getting it. My parents were not religious, my late grandma was an atheist so I had to sides in my life that were vastly different. One side preached to me, while the other let me be. As a child there was no question which one I would gravitate my beliefs or non beliefs to. But that is not say I am against religion or even religious people running my country. Now when they inject their faith into their bills to not only do some good but to pad their numbers of people in their faith I find that very uncomfortable. Because if you ever listen to the words of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and others that have a very prominent influence in many members of our government, and they say things like "Homosexuality cause 9/11" and "We should assassinate Hugo Chavez and take his counties oil" and these are supposedly godly people, it tells me that they are not the game for the betterment of the world but to change money in the temple. Is Huckabee of these guys or politicians? I dont know quite yet. But one look at last night Republican debate and how every candidate went after Huckabee and called him a democrat and not a Reagan republican and Huckabee took it in stride and stuck with his message I started to think a bit differently about him. He is NOT what the GOP wants, he is an outsider and someone like him as the republican candidate for the presidency would get good natured people who are spellbound by the false family values that the current party preaches to think about what their faith is and what this country is doing to the world. We sit back and claim to be a very spiritual land but one look at what out trade agreements and war and we are quite hypocritical.