Bargaining

I keep thinking "I'll only smoke while ..." pretty often. Today it was "reading the Epic of Gilgamesh."

Phil's Day Out

I'm in Minneapolis for work, and I finally took a day to explore. After googling 'hipster neighborhoods in Minneapolis', I found a book I'd only heard of and a brewpub to read it in. I may even go next door for Ramen later.

Spicy Cajun Crawtators

There's a store here that sells off all the weird stuff that nobody wanted for reeeeeal cheap. I may never shop anywhere else.

Right place, right time

Look at that! Just for living with somebody having a birthday, I get a present! From Simon, who wants me to get in the spirit of his wedding by sending me one of its feature performers.

Priorities

"Ah, I know," I thought, "I'll put the phone across the gap in the table. That way if it spills, the phone won't be damaged!" Then, three days later, I realized my mistake.

That would not be ok, no.

"undoubtedly"? Like, you don't doubt that you are currently enjoying my blog, but you can't remember why exactly?
Also no.

PROTIP

If you're going to borrow someone else's bike to ride up Portland's hills, make sure you adjust the seat to the right height.

Staples

Went to Voodoo doughnuts. In particular, went to see the permanent line up around the block at Voodoo doughnuts:

Then went to Powell's, obviously. The lineups there were much shorter.

Catching Up

Went to Roast (hat tip: AMT) to catch up with Chris + Olivia now that they're back in town. The cafe is palatial and just about as fancy as the braising on this green-tea latte.

Unreasonable

Naomi (bartender at Garneau): What's your last name?
Me:
Naomi: You're Philip ?
Me: Yes?
Naomi: You used to live at

.

Me: Yee..eees???
Naomi: I have a letter for you. Wait here.
[5 minutes pass]
Naomi: Here it is. I found you on Facebook and tried to get it back to you!
Me: Wait! You're Naomi ? When I went to the house to get it, nobody knew what I was talking about!
Naomi: Yeah, sorry, that was my roommate.  The letter looked so intense, I... we opened it. It had a wax seal! We waited so long to open it! We read it many times. We read it in different accents. When people came to the house, we said "you want to see something cool?" and we read it to them. I have read this letter so many times. Pippa will be excited to meet you.
Me:.... ..... ..... ................ I'll be here again.

YYC/AMT

Went to the Laurier Lounge for brunch, which was Wilfrid Laurier themed in that the menus came covered with contemporary newspaper articles critical of his policies. Then AMT and I went to pick up travel legend Elizabeth at the YYC. AMT is shown here disapproving of how they represent our infrastructure.

Fuck Yeah, Math.

Wait, this is right, isn't it? It isn't "an undefined amount more chicken"? Did the Chicken Sabji Wrap divide by 0?

Institutions

First The Commodore, and now my first taste of Burger Baron. What's next, I finally ride the waterslides at WEM? That is not a rhetorical question. Because the answer to it is yes.

Curiosity and Excitement

Stu and K* had the best Curiosity-landing-watching setup possible: TV coverage on the right, real-time simulation of the descent on the left, and beer in the hand. Or around the neck, as the case may be.

The Commodore

As a fan of greasy spoons and cheap-ass breakfasts, I am very embarrassed to tell you that it took me seven full years before I made it to The Commodore.

Olivia-Chris

So, I was in Warman for a wedding! An Olivia-Chris wedding! But I brought a camera I'm not used to, so I only have blurry pictures of the beautiful ceremony:

But there was Heidi! While the wedding party was getting pictures done, she showed me how to do Saskatoon right:

Then it was back to the reception, with lovely speeches and wicked-fun square dancing, and smiles and (new) family and love and stuff.

Oh, and this cake that is a cake. THIS IS A CAKE! I almost picked up one of the controllers before I realized.

And after the unable-to-resist-being-helpful Cox family took down the beautiful garden-party-themed reception hall, we sent the couple off to their secret honeymoon with ample banging on the trunk.

Sanctuary

I don't want my hard drive to get fried, or my bones to get rained on, so when a sudden thunderstorm hits Edmonton I head to the Garneau with some things to read.

Machine Parties

Any party involving a new drink-making machine will obviously turn out to be quite a party.

I miss science

I wanted to buy this and mix it with OJ right in the cafe. But instead of this, I would probably just get non-acidic OJ. Provided I remembered how to do molar... weight.... something... calculations. Where did my science knowledge go?

the hardest day to have no camera

Pud asked me if I wanted to go see the Beach Boys in Calgary TODAY! I knew Brian Wilson was going to be there, so how could I say no?