A new blogging adventure

The time has come for me to phase myself out of WHMFASS.  Join me at a new blog:

That's how we do it in the T.C.

Here's the blog's introduction.  I'm doing this for a few reasons.  I don't want to compartmentalize my ideas into different blogs anymore.  Parenthood changes the timing for blogging as well as the things I observe worth blogging.  I've been considering it for a few months, and I think it's time.

A lot of what you'll find there is similar to what you've found at WHMFASS.  I hope the posting there will be much more frequent, and the mixture with content from my other blogs (I'm be cross-posting from Pacifist Viking, and the attempts at discussion of literature and ideas at Costanza Book Club will be moved to the new blog) should make it generally more interesting.

It's been fun, and it will stay fun at a new URL.

I for one welcome our new meteorological overlords

After seeing Sven Sundgaard on the cover of Mpls St. Paul Magazine, (unless it was a different magazine--I glanced at it in a bookstore), I believe the man will spend the ensuing decades becoming the biggest local celebrity there is (meaning more people will Google him, find this site, and be disappointed about how little it is about him and how poor the overall quality is).

Perhaps in 30 years, when the Twin Cities area is renamed Target City (or Twin Cities Presented By Target?), Sven will be our figurehead mayor, telling us weather and presenting in a palatable fashion Target's new policies set forth for its city.

Commercial Life

By far the creepiest part of my day is when that person in a pig costume starts dancing as if a stripper, and the men are watching, and then the person in the pig costume drops barbecue sauce on itself, and it splatters on the enraptured men.

Walmart in Sauk Centre

The managers at the Walmart in Sauk Centre, MN need to do a better job training their employees to know that receipt checks are VOLUNTARY.  The employee has a right to ASK to see a customer's receipt; the customer, however, is under no obligation to comply and may decline.

Months ago, a Walmart employee demanded I show a receipt for my purchases.  Today, a Walmart employee demanded to see my brother's receipt.  The employee was rude, surly, and demanding.

The employee at Walmart is a random person; sure, he can ask to see what's in my pocket, but that doesn't mean I just have to empty my pockets for this person because he says so.

Apparently Walmart in Sauk Centre assumes its customers are thieves, and rudely, impolitely demands that customers prove they are not.

Dear voters in Michele Bachmann's district:

Seriously?

Sven

Sven Sundgaard is back on the cover of Lavender, promoting Dining Out For Life for The Aliveness Project.

The Modern World is Alive With Magic

There's such a thing as Diet Sunkist, and it has caffeine in it.

Commodification

If you walk around a mall, you'll find many, many, many different products featuring the Peace Symbol. Many brands and many stores feature the Peace Symbol.* I'm extremely doubtful any of these stores are actually interested in the political (potentially subversive) intent the Peace Symbol may imply. They are capitalizing on a general mood (passive opposition to war) that contributes to a fashion trend.

So the Peace Symbol has become a fashionable symbol in a consumeristic culture. And in some ways, this makes the fashionability of the Peace Sign representative for the American mood toward war. There are few "supporters" of the current wars--most are weary and skeptical about these wars. But most people are either not so opposed to these wars they're taking any action, or feel incapable of taking any positive action (it does often feel like a helpless situation, that opponents of war can't really do anything to stop it). Thus people are willing to passively express these (general, vague) negative feelings toward war with the passive means we're most familiar and comfortable with: consumerism.**

*In my experience, the overwhelming majority of Peace Sign products are for women, which calls for further--if obvious--comment. Just as "real men" are supposed to love eating meat (just ask Taco Bell--men shouldn't just want steak but they should want "triple steak," and the only way men can eat a salad is if it is "fully loaded" and the lettuce is buried beneath meat), men are not expected to embrace the cuddly, mushy, huggy Peace Sign (usually around pink, purple, and pastels)--that's for sensitive, softer women.

**I own a hat, a bracelet, a key chain, a pair of pants, and three shirts with the Peace Symbol, and two more shirts featuring the word "pacifist." I'm rarely not wearing clothing expressing a peace message, and I love getting new clothes with the Peace Symbol. I'm not exempting myself from this critique.

Why I like "Parks and Recreation"

Yes, the tone and humor is exactly, precisely that of The Office. But you know what? The Office is funny. Having another half hour a week of this style of humor is a good thing, not a bad thing.

Furthermore, The Office has gotten a little stale--I don't find it as funny as I used to. To take that style of humor, and apply it to entirely different characters, in an entirely new context, gives me uncontrollable, full-experience pleasure laughs again (when Amy Poehler called the town "lousy with hippies," I lost it).

Getting Birthday Gifts From Restaurants

If your inbox can handle a few extra emails a week, go ahead and get on the email list of restaurants you like. So far for my birthday I'm getting a free giant piece of cake for dessert at Romano's Macaroni Grill, a free beverage from Caribou Coffee, and a free sundae from Culver's.