That was a hell of a weekend, guys.
Friday night, we made our usual trip to Lyle’s for the purposes of watching hockey. It took them nervewrackingly long to do so, but the Gophers won the WCHA and probably did shots out of the McNaughton cup, so we had to celebrate, of course. Once hockey was over and the end of happy hour drew nigh, we headed off on a very important venture, but got sidetracked by a Dodgeball from The Loop as we were driving very near it. We decided to check it out, since I guess that area is now A Thing. The best thing I can say about The Loop is that the men’s room stall wasn’t as horrifically dirty as the dude in there tried to tell me it was. There was no way in hell I was waiting in line with a bunch of chicks in halter tops from Coon Rapids. After regrouping and working up our nerve for a return trip across The Great Sea of Douchebags, we made a brief stop; Matt went to the bar while Wendy, Cindi, and I huddled against the wall. In the three minutes it took to get shots, we were approached by three different dudes, none of whom we hope to ever encounter again. We escaped, Cindi tried to climb into the wrong car, and finally we were off to our planned destination: Stand-Up Frank’s. We were excited to take Matt there for the first time, and perhaps a little overwhelmed to find it absolutely packed-full this time. Here is Matt’s review:fortunately, we were able to restore balance to the universe by going to Stand Up Frank’s, so named because of its traditional lack of seating. that’s been sort of remedied, but, trust me, this bar has lost none of its … um … unique charm. like the bouncer that pats you down, or the dude who was panhandling me for money and smokes and Wendy for her number. at the same time. or the guy who gave me, quietly, props for coming in there with three ladies, and, um, being a white guy. (actual quote: “man, i’m from mississippi and these motherfuckers scare the hell out of me.”) or the bartender who (a) refused to let me get just one Hennessy, since i had a lady with me, and (b) distributed Hennessy in a size i can only describe as “vat-like.” also, they can get away with a complete flouting of the smoking ban, as it’s the sort of bar the cops tend to avoid entirely unless there’s violence afoot.
in short: Stand Up Frank’s is fucking awesome.
We had our one drink (which, granted, counts as six anywhere else but the 90s), and got ourselves to the Otter. We shoved bills into the naked lady game for what felt like maybe two entire hours, and it spit them back out at us for two hours. Finally, someone had the bright idea of asking the bartender for change, and that person deserves a Nobel Prize for Smart, except I’m not sure which of us it was. The bartender had plenty of time, since their BOOZE WAS BROKEN. Not exactly all of it, but they had no pressure, so all the tap beer and mixers were unavailable. The creative alternatives he suggested for us were reflected in the quality of our Naked Lady Photo-Hunting. It was poor at best.
We stopped at Santana’s afterward, where everyone else got hamburgerlike things and the spiciest fries on earth, and I got a banana, which I ate most of while trying to comprehend why their ‘no eating in the store’ sign was also declaring COCAINE!!! in large letters. Apparently it was an ad. I did some lap-sleeping on the couch for a couple hours, and we finally got to bed around 5am.
Saturday, we woke to the best day ever, so we put on the dorkiest combination of warm and semi-water-resistant clothes we could round up, and headed over to Wirth park for snow-tubing. I knew it would be awesome, but I guess I didn’t realize just how awesome. Holy crap. The only thing that stopped us eventually was the climb up the hill, because it was exhausting walking through that much snow. We finally took a break and all laid in our tubes in the sun, and it was the first time this winter I’ve been outdoors and truly warm. I loved it.
We headed back towards the chalet with our tubes, having snowball fights and races along the way (we’re really 8 years old, not 12), and met Willis and Katie coming from the parking lot with their oldschool toboggan. Of COURSE we had to try that, so we headed back up the hill. I rode down with them, and we went a hell of a lot faster than on the tubes. So much fun. I had intended to go snowshoeing, too, but ran out of time due to…
HOCKEY!!!!
We met up with Wendy and Stephanie at Grumpy’s for some quick food, then went over to Mariucci. The game was exciting despite the fact it was Tech and the Gophers lost, but, you know, they’re just saving it up for the tournaments. Right? Right. We met another of Wendy’s awesome coworkers, had ourselves some pretzels, and then went back to Grumpy’s for our usual postgame. Once Stephanie and Wendy left, we decided to make it a date, and went over to King & I for a bit. I always forget how much I like that place.
Sunday, six of us met up at Town Talk for brunchin’, and then Cindi and Jumi and I went to the Roller Garden. We were originally going to ice skate, but Minneapolis has stopped clearing the rinks already. This worked out well, as I had been trying to arrange another 8-year-old outing forever.
Dudes, the roller rink has not changed since we were kids. Half of the music is the same (they’ve introduced some current pop songs, but not many), and there were people there dressed the same as they did 20 years ago. We saw a guy skating in an acid-washed jeans jacket, bandana, and tight-rolled jeans. There was a woman roller-discoing. We did THE CHICKEN DANCE. It was fantastic.
The place closed at 4, and I went over to Matt’s to find bean-and-hominy soup in the crock pot, and some new movies from the video store. This is one of the million reasons why he is so awesome. We spent the rest of the evening chillaxing, and it was a struggle to come back to work this morning. But I did, because apparently one needs cash to finance further awesome. Stupid economics.
And now, some notes of great importance!
- Our cruise tickets and paperwork arrived on Friday. In exactly three weeks, we’ll be in Puerto Rico!
- Here is a picture of my picture on display in a museum in Switzerland. You can submit photos too!
- I have now checked into Town Talk 50 times, according to Dodgeball.
- 404lab has been on the popular page on Digg.com since yesterday. Hella visitors, dudes. I’m proud of that site for not breaking under heavy traffic, ever.
- REGISTER FOR TRIVIA NOW! Grand prize is $100 cash!