Things I have learned

The main thing I’ve learned is that any blog title that is a reference to or names the band Weezer drives up traffic.  So, I’ll get it out of the way now.

Weezer Weezer Weezer Weezer Weezer Weezer Weezer Weezer Weezer Weezer Weezer Weezer Weezer

Okay, I’m good.

I wasn’t in a chatty mood on Sunday, so I gave the usual South Dakota news outlets a break for a few days.  Since a lack of stories from the Yankton P&D (a mighty fine paper IMHO) was pointed out by Ace (a damn fine writer in my and a lot of people’s minds) I went there first.  I didn’t see much to comment on, other than a medium speed chase.  I’ve heard of high and low speed chases, but I’m not sure what a medium speed chase is.  75 MPH maybe?

Here, in their native habitat, are some South Dakota environmentalists.  From the reputation South Dakota has as a very red state, I’m sure some thought this species extinct.

If this headline had been at KDLT, I would have guessed it was a less popular version of another NBC show.

This story makes me want to go to Wessington Springs.  What a neat success story.

My home county is throwing a wrench into a Canadian pipeline project.

This story tells me that my old English teacher isn’t being included in the survey.  Either that or we should clone her and make sure every school has one.

The Brookings Register has an interesting new series starting about economical one day drive vacations, and the first story takes us to Lake Norden.

Finally, I happened upon this story about a rather interesting idea by ol’ Bill Janklow back in 1986.  I’d read about this on the Dakota Today blog earlier, and then forgotten.  It’s an…interesting concept, but as the article suggests, it isn’t very practical and it is on shaky legal ground

Musically, I’ve been working my way through Death Cab for Cutie’s discography.  I enjoyed their new album but I’d read that some of their older fans weren’t sure what to make of it.  This phenomenon piqued my interest with Rilo Kiley last year, and returning to their old albums was enjoyable.  I’ve been listening to almost nothing but DC4C the last few days, and I doubt I’ll keep most of it on my iPod.  It just isn’t holding me in and distracting me.  One way I can tell if music is connecting with me is if I try to use it as background noise, and it demands I pay attention.  Most of the old DC4C stuff I’ve heard hasn’t really made a strong case to my ears.  It’s more of a “hey, listen to us…or not…whatever” kind of listening.  It could be that I’ve been listening to way too much of it at once.  I’ll try and shuffle it in gradually rather than listening to it all at once in almost a row.  On my last trip to Last Stop I picked up Flight of the Conchords, and after a great EP I had high hopes for a full album.  It didn’t quite live up to the EP, or at least it didn’t on Sunday morning.  I was a bit out of it that day.  I need to start getting in a better mood before I listen to new music.

Either that, or I need some music that puts me in a better mood.

Weezer’s new album cover

Brilliant or bat-$#!* crazy?

Trick question. The answer is yes.

Pork and Beans, odds and ends

Seriously, this new Weezer song is a full order of awesome, but I don’t know why.

The weekend in Marshall-town was a good one.  I participated in National Record Store Day by doing some remotes and then I bought a few things.  First up was the new album of covers by Everclear.  Everclear has done a few covers in the past, and if they’ve been on an album they’re also on this album.  Their new covers were pretty good, but I wish their version of “867-5309″ was a studio cut and not a live one.  I also took advantage of the buy two get one free deal, but on actual records.  I found Bruce Hornsby and the Range’s first album, and I think it is still in the cellophane.  Next up was Van Halen’s 5150.  During one of my remotes I remarked that “you haven’t heard ‘Why Can’t This Be Love’ until you hear it on vinyl.”  When it was exposed that I didn’t have it on vinyl (my previous vinyl Van Halen experience was at a friend’s and the college radio station) I thought I should pick it up for myself.  I looked quite a while for a free album, but nothing else jumped out at me until I found the Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan soundtrack.  It didn’t list Scotty’s bagpipe version of “Amazing Grace” but I can find that on practically any collection of bagpipe music.

After letting it grow since Kate and I got married, I finally got a hair cut.  I don’t know why I put it off so long anymore.  I always freak out about it and I have to get in this “mood” to finally get it done.  Then when I do I realize how much better I look at this point in my life with short hair.  Another thing I don’t like about it is that it makes me realize how vain I am, regardless of how much I tell myself I’m not.

And now, in South Dakota news…

WHISKEY…TANGO…FOXTROT?

First off, John Thune is a bit of a tool.  At least that’s how he comes across to me.  I’m being polite because I’ve never met the man.  We have a state Representative who I used to knock on every occasion, but actually meeting him soothed my anger to a degree.  Still, I don’t like his policies, and I’m no fan of Thune’s either.  If this actually happened (which the story and I heavily doubt, Chris Matthews be damned) we’d have a South Dakotan one heartbeat away from the presidency, and that heartbeat would belong to one of the oldest serving presidents, should McCain win (I don’t like his chances, but that’s another story). 

Meanwhile in the Badlands, a situation is developing that is long overdue.  Hopefully, things will work out on all sides.

Ah, the problems they have in Tea.  It would be so rough to live there.

Rapid City gets the “wait, this wasn’t a law before” award.

My snarky South Dakota news had some other stories, but this one snapped me back to a serious tone, as I hadn’t realized the 15 year anniversary of George Mickelson’s death came and went over the weekend.  I remember where I was when I heard the news.  I was in my dorm room with a few other South Dakotans and we were all shocked at the news that Governor Mickelson’s plane had crashed.  A friend of mine from Massachusetts was amazed at how much we actually cared about the story, compared to how he thought Massachusetts folk would be reacting.  I never met George Mickelson, but I was about a yard from him at Boys State in 1991.  I wasn’t as into politics when he was governor, but my few memories of him tell me he was a very well liked governor, and the statue in Pierre dedicated to the his (and the other South Dakota officials who died that day) memory his section simply includes the phrase ”George Mickelson made a difference”.  Even seeing it seven years after his death, it moved more than I’d care to admit. 

I hate to make the blog so scattered, but I’ll close with some plugs.  My ongoing project Cliffhanger Theater is about to end part two, and part three will be rolling down the rails very soon.  I have a new visitor guide for Farmington, New Mexico, so I should be getting back to my blog “One Month in 1984” in the next week or so.  Finally, I had some inspiration for another new short story that I should have on fanwitch by the end of the week.  It centers on a lake near my hometown that has always fascinated me.  If nothing else, a new music blog will pop up on my more work centered MySpace blog.

Now get out there and stimulate the economy.  I’d recommend some stirring conversation.  That’s all I can afford right now.

A quick note about the Veblen election

So, Veblen had a mayoral election recently.

48-33 is not a percentage.  That was the result. 

If Veblen has 156 eligible voters and no school, I think that sign at city limits needs a bump down from 321.

The pants dance

This weekend I did something I never thought I’d do.  I bought pants a size bigger.  Call it middle age spread, call it giving up, call it too much pizza, or call it whatever you like.  I call it a day that was both sad and happy.  My weight has been mostly steady for the past ten years, but in the last five years or so it has been creeping up, and now I can no longer hold the line.  I held the line longer than I thought I would.  I’ve bought nothing bigger than my old size since junior high.  I felt overweight in junior high, but since keeping one’s weight the same as “high school” seemed difficult as I got older, I thought I was doing a good job at holding on.  The last time I lost total control of my weight was college.  I was on the verge of getting a size up then, but I drew a line.  I spent the summer of 1996 at a new job in a town where I didn’t know anyone, so I spend a lot of nights walking all over Fargo.  I also bought some 99 cent workout videos and even had Slim Fast shakes twice a day.  In four months I did something I’d never done.  I went down a size.  Gradually, the smaller size pants were put aside, and now I cling to the few pairs of jeans in my old size that don’t have blown out knees and the cargo pants that have grown with me.

I have some friends who don’t care so much about their weight.  I’m trying to temporarily get into that mindset.  For most of my life I’ve been a bit on the overweight side, and I got plenty of grief in my younger days from other kids, and occasionally from my mom.  I understand why she did it though.  My dad’s side has some weight history and my father died of heart failure.  I wish I could say my motives are that, but it is really all about that magic pants size number, and the vanity and pride I try to convince myself I don’t have.

I’m keeping my tightest pants out for a while.  Like the smaller size in the store, they will be my goal.  I want to get in a walking habit again soon, and hopefully the weather will cooperate so I can start up,  I still have my old exercise videos, and they might get some play again.  I need to get things under control again soon, because once Kate and I become parents in September, my time will be a bit limited.  In the meantime, I’ve declared this “new pants week” and there’s nothing more fun than a new pants week. 

Finally, a special note about my wife Kate.  She’s been nothing more than amazing dealing with my many weird neuroses, moods and obsession with a number on a pair of pants (among my weird hang ups about a great many things).  It takes a special lady to put up with me, and she’s demostrated time and time again she’s up to the task.  The fact that we love each other more every day helps too.

That’s a brief look into my brain, and to a lesser extent, my pants.

You know what I mean.

Perv.

Slow news day

My high school English teacher was right.  The growth of spellcheck will make everyone lazy.  WordPress still hasn’t fixed their spellcheck (and, for that matter, the word count feature) so I hate to write on a computer where I can’t make sure I didn’t mix up my i before e rule. 

Anyway, not much in my South Dakota news sources caught my eye.  One of the things that did involved a twine robber.  Who needs the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota, when South Dakota might have the biggest twine snatcher from Minnesota?

Also, my old hometown of Veblen is having an election.  If you want a window into press coverage of an election in a town of about 300, it’s worth reading the questionnaires the candidates filled out.

My blog focus is getting a bit single minded.  I wanted this to be a blog I’d update more often, but it’s becoming almost like my MySpace blog.  I’m only updating it once a week.  I’m still waiting for my Farmington visitor’s guide to follow up on my Farmington blog, and I’ve been so into my cliffhanger theater project.  Also, I’ve been making decent progress on another project, and while I don’t have a shortage of words to input, I seem to be mismanaging my time. 

I will work to correct this. 

Otherwise, things in my neck of the woods are wood-like.  Kate is feeling a bit better, but the one-two punch of the flu and morning sickness is really making being Kate miserable (on top of being married to me no less).  This weekend we did sneak out to Caboodle Cafe in Lynd.  They’re closing after next week for the summer, so if you don’t make it out before then, pencil them in for the fall.  I’m not sure what it is about the place, but I really enjoy going.  It probably has to do with the great food and friendly atmosphere, but those sound so cliched, even if accurate.

I’ve been hankerin’ to watch The Empire Strikes Back for some weird reason.  I have no idea why.  I think that tonight I might make it a late night and fire up the DVD player.  First off, I need to get a week’s worth of X-Play off the DVR.  That will be quick, as I only watch the reviews and the news segments.  I can usually get a half hour episode watched in about six minutes.

I came close to actually putting a picture of myself as my default image.  How close?  You’ll never know.

I think I captured the water tower’s good side in the one I ended up using.