Spinal Tap Reunite

Check out this movie Rob Reiner put together and was just shown at the Tribeca Film Fest. It's in anticipation of the Spinal Tap reunion show they are playing as part of the Live Earth concert at Webley Stadium in London on 7/7/07. If you haven't seen the 1984 movie This Is Spinal Tap, you should.

Arbor Day

Kristen and Christina joined me for the 3rd year in a row to plant trees and shrubs along the Minneapolis Greenway for Arbor Day. I volunteer through my work so we get a shirt and they have breakfast treats and water on hand. The Tree Trust runs the event and many other companies and neighborhood groups pitched in. The weather was wonderful this year and we planted on Phase III of the Greenway which is much closer to my home than in past years.

The event was organized better than past years. It was great to see so many people out helping. Our pictures show a few characters worth mentioning. The lady with the hat on (behind me back 20 feet to the right) in top picture is the owner of one of our favorite restaurants The Birchwood Cafe. They have an amazing jucy lucy black bean burger that tastes wonderful. In the above photo I snapped Tina, the smallest/nicest master gardener that was supervising, and the guy on the wheelbarrow is the County Commissioner. (Kristen on right).

On its way
so i have cut almost all the pieces, but am still playing around with the colors of the squares. Phase 1 almost complete-- many more phases to go however. little hard to tell the texture and exact color of the different glass (glasses?) in this photo (click pic for more detail), you get the idea though. i guess more incentive to come over and see it in person when everything is finished. can't type much more... shards of glass embedded in my fingers (no, i am not just trying to be dramatic!). hurting....

The Design
so this is what the window is going to look like. I took an existing design and modified it a bit. we (or maybe it was just me) decided that instead of buying one off eBay it would be more fun, cheaper and would fit better in the space, if i just made it myself. kristen has a lot of the tools that i'll need and is kind of overseeing the project. i really have never done this before, except for something tiny about 4 years ago. definately starting to think that it is not going to be any cheaper (seeing as how i just bought a pair of special pattern cutting scissors for $25 and then barely had to use it). also i broke a bunch of glass, which is to be expected i guess, its fragile. i will put some pictures up of my progress in the next few days.

More progress

The door is hung and one wall is up.

View from inside (door not actually crooked, just picture is).

View from the dining room.

You know it's spring time when...
the bulbs are coming up, buds are on the trees, birds are chirping.... and the homeless (i prefer to call them urban campers) are again living across the street from my work. I work in a Bermuda triangle of homeless shelters, but a lot of the people just set up 'camp' across the street in the lawn of the Minneapolis trash incinerating building (i know, i'm really selling this part of the city). this area is about to get a facelift however, because the new (future) home of the Twins is a half block away. a word of advice to future attendees of the open air twins games... ummm some days it 'rains' tiny particles of garbage from the incinerator and it has been suggested to me that i not eat at the picnic bench outside our building because then particles will fall on my food and i will ingest it. pretty sweet. enjoy those ballpark franks everyone!

Bathroom update

Feast your eyes on these photos of the bathroom. I just got the track for the pocket door hung after I framed a level opening. We put some hardware and towel holders in as well. Once we stain and paint the door I ordered from Menards I can hang it, put in the molding, then close up the wall. Thank goodness, since it was finally half decent outside this weekend.


Christina and I are thinking about putting in a stained glass or leaded glass window above the bathroom door. We plan to visit some shops that carry that sort of thing and of course I'm all over Ebay. We're also on the hunt for the perfect bathroom mirror and floor mat.

I showered + the April LINK OF THE MONTH

That's right I showered last night for the first time at my house in almost an entire month. It was glorious. I remembered that I hadn't posted a LINK OF THE MONTH FOR APRIL yet. SoundtrackNet is the perfect place to go anytime you see a movie trailer or movie spot on TV and like the music.

ALSO CLICK HERE FOR A SNEAK PEAK AT SOME RADIOHEAD MATERIAL.

Somewhere near Milwaukee, WI
This was taken outside a local fast food place. can anyone guess where? pretty sure this is an easy one for people from the area. i had the saltiest fries i have ever had IN MY LIFE at this place and they were disgusting. i love french fries, thus it was disappointing. sigh.

bathroom update: we did the plumbing last night on the bath tub/shower. no easy task, let me tell you.

Back in town

Christina and I drove down to Milwaukee Saturday. It was really great to meet up with a few friends and get away from the bathroom renovations. The main reason for the visit was to participate in a seder on the first night of Passover. Passover celebrates Moses leading the Jews away from Egypt and out of Pharaoh’s control and slavery (think Heston and the 10 Commandments). It also means I now try to understand what it was like to roam the desert for years and years and be forced to do so with out bread, by not eating any for a week.
I love making pizza on matzoh, I love hopple-papple (like French toast with matzoh), and I'm perfectly fine with matzoh ball soup for a few meals. After that it's slim pickings. And by next Monday I'll be craving a cheeseburger. This is a good list of what is kosher for Passover Back in town.