My old lady's obsessed with curling

In the ten or so years I've known her, I've never seen her get so obsessed with a sport that she neglects her everyday tasks. It's both humorous and sad but I'm impressed by her new devotion to the U.S. Olympic Curling Team. In a mere three days of watching the U.S. Olympic curling team on CNBC for three (or so) hours per day she has picked much of the terminology of the sport. She knows who the team captains are and she is very much a U.S team backer.

Last night, after I arrived home far too late for my own tastes, I found my old lady sitting on the edge of the couch nearly screaming at the TV while the toddler sat in her high chair throwing her supper on the floor. "You suck! How could you miss that? You HAVE to stick it on the button! You can't give up another point to DENMARK!" I thought I had walked in to a very unpopular sports bar but upon further inspection it was most definitely my house and the yelling was that of a rabid curling fan.

But for every rabid fan there's a detractor who just doesn't get the sport of curling. I listen to KFAN for 2 or 3 hours each day and Dan Cole has called curling boring plenty of times but has also admitted to watching men's figure skating because it's on during the primetime Olympic broadcast on NBC. Maybe my household is more of a niche household. Maybe if the networks paid more attention to supposed niche households like mine, curling wouldn't be viewed as boring. It would be a widely understood sport. Curling clubs would outnumber bowling alleys here in the great frozen north known as Minnesota. Maybe instead of viewing my old lady as an obsessed curling fan I'd see her as a normal American because she'd fit right in.

Nothing's more American than photos so check out the spectacular photos of Minnesota at MinnPics!

Odd Minnesota State phenomenon #1

I'm veering away from my recent in-depth coverage of nipples and camel toe at the 2008 summer olympics in Beijing, China because I can only take some things so far. If you're disappointed, too damn bad. If you're happy, please let me know because I can get right back to beating that horse a bit more.

Today, though, I have something important to say about the Minnesota State Fair. First off, I am not going this year. Instead, I am pissing away my hard-earned money at the Renaissance Festival and I'll let you know when I plan on attending so everyone in the Twin Cities can stalk me and wonder to themselves whether or not I dress up in renaissance costume (I don't).

Alright, the Minnesota State Fair. I have two complaints about it tonight. The first, which I covered last year, is about those damned fried candy bars. Candy bars should not be soft enough to be gummed to death. They should exist in a state of solid, chocolatey goodness. If I wanted a candy bar that I could suck through a straw, I'd leave a Snickers bar on my dash while I worked a full day. Instead, spend your money on something that sounds truly disgusting, a fried carmelized 1/3 lb. strip of bacon on a stick.

Now for the second, far more important fair gripe. People that will wait to watch a newscast. Now I'm not talking about WCCO which does their entire newscast live from their outdoor studio at the fair but instead I am singling out FOX 9. Tonight, I happened to catch (on TV) their presence at the fair. It consisted only of pompous ass, meteorologist Ian Leonard and bleachers full of obnoxious, screaming kids in desperate need of both parents and a swift beating. Of course, later he showed the adults who stuck around on metal bleachers to see a three-minute weather segment.

I am not sure which group was more ridiculous but I'm not claiming to be any better. I always sit through the better part of Dan Cole the Common Man's KFAN radio show when I go to the fair. He's at least somewhat funny, has some audience participation and it's a decent place to eat lunch. Oh yeah, and it lasts longer than three minutes.

Are people so enamored by the chance to be on TV that they'll fritter away precious fair time hoping that the camera (for all 65 seconds it's on) pans across their mug as they sit all doe eyed staring at some smug jackass meteorologist that doesn't even relate well to actual humans? I can be alone, either, in soaking up some media personalities at the fair, who's your pick?

Be sure to check out MinnPics, it obviously contains photos from around Minnesota and just may be a treasure trove of State Fair photos.

The BEST of the Best of the Twin Cities

It happens every year and each year it seems to have less impact; this year being no exception. City Pages, after essentially cleaning house and installing a staff of yes-men and corporate shills, published its 2008 Best of the Twin Cities issue and amazingly they got some things right (even if the readers missed the mark entirely). And by my estimations, City Pages missed the boat on publishing this beast online by about 4 hours and still managed to have a TON of missing images but onward with my best-of the best of.

Here are some staff picks I agree with in my very own 2008 Best of the Best of the Twin Cities...
Best AM Radio Personality - Dan Cole

Best Radio Station - The Current 89.3 FM

Best Non-TV Weatherperson - Jimmy "Dutch" Gaines

Best Local Website - MNSpeak

and for the sake of humor and irony...

Best Place to Get Arrested For Soliciting Sex in Public - Crosby Farm Regional Park

That last one was a mouthful (or so said the 80 year old guy arrested there).

Fried food isn't all there is at the Minnesota State Fair

I had a three day weekend, how's about you?

No, I am not bragging. I am just saying that in an effort of full disclosure.

Today (Monday) was day three of my three day weekend and we spent it at the Minnesota State Fair. Even though it was cloudy and did sprinkle for a few minutes, it was a decent day. No encounters with traffic snarls or parking hassles.

Our fair experience could have been better planned. Such as having a camera. I had planned on borrowing a small pocket-size point and shoot digital camera rather than lug around my larger "work" model which I actually use for, well, work. It didn't dawn on me to unload the camera from my incredibly heavy camera bag and pack it in my backpack. That little revelation came after I saw a few people who had transported their good in just that manner.

I also decided to leave the house wearing sandals. I also talked the wife into sporting sandals. After nine hours spent, for the most part, walking it dawned on us, as our feet felt certain to explode into blister-covered appendages at any moment, that shoes with actual arch support and more padding than something akin to a meat tampon would have been a good idea.

We spent about 40 minutes eating and relaxing as we watched Dan Cole of KFAN fame do his daily schtick on a stick which was the day's only run in with rain showers. The drops were rather large but spotty. I also skipped over buying anything in the way of merchandise outside of food.

Early in the day, the fine arts building (which convinced me that I need to enter some of my photography next year) and the Eco Experience were great spots to spend time as we digested our late breakfast from a place which I can only describe as having the slowest girl ever running the grill. Scrambling eggs is anything but rocket science.

This year's fair also brought my, wait for it, first purchase of fried foods on a stick. The 'Candy bar on a Stick' booth caught our attention and we bit. The battered and fried Snickers wasn't terrible but wasn't impressive. I guess I prefer my void of nutrition snacks in their solid state and, as you can imagine, when you fry an Snickers (even with it encased in batter) it becomes less solid.

From there, we wandered towards the WCCO TV area (no Jason DeRusha sightings) and caught a portion of a Q & A on wind power. I think that the audience had some excellent questions and that the two gentlemen from RES had some great answers that weren't so much about promoting their employer as they were about informing the public.

Towards the end of the day we ventured into the pits of merchandise hell as we explored the cavernous exhibition areas beneathe the seats of the grandstand. That is here were nearly spent $250 on a pot (no, go back a re-read it, I said on A pot).

I am sure that we probably missed stuff too but what? What should we have seen, what are some great attractions at other state and county fairs where you live?