apple juice

Where does this term come from, ‘White Elephant’? This is my first experience with a party of this type. It should be an interesting experience.

It is being organized and sponsored by the managers and supervisors at my place of employment. My boss is unable to attend, but he gave me a few tips in picking out the gift. Inexpensive is one quality I went for, also the weirdness factor. Something that will get a laugh. I’m pretty sure I’m considered to be a little quirky, so we’ll see if anyone has the same sort of sense of humor that I have.

With that, the present.

Well, what do you think?

A sad day for Stereolab fans everywhere.

They are one of my favorite bands. My buddy Doug introduced them to me in High School, and they have powered many a drive to the mountains during college. I never knew much about them, I didn’t know any of the bandmembers’ names (until today), but I always enjoyed their music.

In High Fidelity, one of my favorite lines of the movie, for whatever reason, is when the journalist from the Daily Reader is in the store, and she looks up, out of nowhere, and asks, “Is this Stereolab?”

Favorite Stereolab Song: Le Boob Oscillator

The Dumbest Movie Ever.

Okay, that’s a little harsh. Goldmember wasn’t a terrible movie, but I do think it was the worst of the three. I admit I laughed pretty hard when Dr. Evil got hit with the “meteor”. Other parts were very funny as well. However, when a movie becomes aware that it is a movie, (Austin reading the subtitles on the screen) you know there is a problem.

I hope that it is the last of the series. The first one was excellent, and they’ve been downhill from there.

This weekend was our one-year wedding anniversary! Can you believe it? We had ski clinics on Saturday and Sunday, so we had just planned to go out to dinner to celebrate. However, Sonja was secretly planning something else. After skiing on Saturday, she nonchalantly said, “Let’s go to Red Wing”. Since we had planned to go through there anyways, I didn’t really think anything of it.

When we arrived in Red Wing, she navigated us to a little bed and breakfast where she had made reservations! I was totally surprised. We had a nice dinner in Red Wing (not at the place we had originally planned), and had a wonderful evening resting and relaxing.

Unfortunately the weekend had to end, and I’m back at work. I wish we could go on a vacation for a week to celebrate, but we’ll have to save that for another time…

My 4 word movie review:

Wait for the DVD.

This movie was missing much of the ‘magic’ (sorry) that the first one brought to the screen. About 30 minutes till the end you will be looking at your watching, hoping it’s over soon. The running time between the two is like a 10 minute difference. This one seems to be 30 minutes too long.

Biggest annoyance: At times, pretending like the first movie (book) didn’t exist. They were inconsistent on this, but connect the dots! We know that Hogwarts is the “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry”. We know who Professor Dumbledore is. At least we didn’t get a full explanation of what Quidditch was like in the book.

The way I’d like sequels to work will be displayed in The Two Towers. Didn’t like how The Fellowship of the Ring just ended? That’s because it’s a trilogy! The next one picks right up. I can’t wait for the 10 hours of Lord of the Rings madness that will be the DVD set. (whenever that is released)

Amazon.com bought CDNow today…

I’ll take a shot in the dark, but I’d have to say that they just snapped up their largest competitor in the online music sales area.

Is Amazon turning into an online megastore or what? Besides the main Amazon stuff, they are offering Target, Marshall Fields, Gap, Toys ‘R’ Us, Babies ‘R’ Us, J and R Computer World, and others I’m sure, all under the Amazon.com brand. Pretty amazing…

Not to mention, they’re also selling the Segway exclusively.

I’m going to miss one of my goals for the holiday shopping season. But just barely. And with good reason.

I was hoping to not step foot inside of a mall, major retail store, etc. in search of Christmas presents this year. All the people, clamoring for the latest and greatest, storming Wal-Mart when the doors open, knocking pregnant women over with shopping carts. It’s too much for me.

Granted, these incidents did happen at Wal-Mart. The armpit of America. Regardless, is that what shopping for your loved ones is coming to? Knocking people over to get in the door at 6am? Taking TVs from another shopper’s cart while waiting to check out?

One Wal-Mart shopper described the mob (and subsequently himself) as a “herd of cows”. I don’t really want to be a cow, personally.

That’s why I’m doing (just about) all my shopping online this year. Basically through amazon.com, but you could do it anywhere. J.Crew, The Gap, Apple, CompUSA, Target, Dayton’s (sorry, Marshall Fields)

Hey, you can even shop online at Wal-Mart.

So save yourself the hassle, the lines, the craziness, the possibility of bodily harm, and just stay away from the malls!