I've been pretty busy lately working on the MN-Jeep.com Summer Run website and cordinating the event. So it's time for a little vacation once again. BooYah!! We are heading up to Pelican Lake on Saturday for the week. Time to invade the little town of Orr, MN with some more city slicker tourists. We are staying at Island View Resort on the east side of the lake. We basically fish, hang out, fish, take a cruise up Crane Lake to Kettle Falls, fish, enjoy a few beers and fish. BTW if you have never been to Kettle Falls you have to check out the Kettle Falls Hotel and experience the sloping bar floor.
-MikeyB
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Monday, June 19, 2006
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Brits Pub
Petey wanted to get a few people together to head downtown with him last night to watch some bike races in the heart of Minneapolis. We took the LRT from MOA last night and on the way down a typhoon decided to crap all over the metro area. We got off the train and headed to Old Chicago for some eats. Let me just say I was disappointed that they didn't have Shiner Bock. It's Old Chicago, every other OC I've been too has had Shiner Bock along with an other trillion beers on tap & in the bottle and this OC didn't even have Shine Bock in either flavor. Kris met up with Petey, Dozer and I as the typhoon was letting up.
To sum up the night Dozer wanted me to remember the following highlights.
1. We were playing human frogger running in the rain across traffic from one overhang shelter to the next.
2. You can get into the Wells Fargo bat cave with an AMC theater gift card, or anything with a magnetic strip.
3. Dozer got drunk for the 2nd time and he hates Bass (He'll learn to like it). But we're were proud of the little fella because he drank whatever we put in front of his face, Half & Half, New Castle, Bass, Woodpecker Hard Cider.
4. Petey got shined by the Minneapolis's finest while he was finishing up taking a leak on a skyscraper. Not sure why he couldn't have gone 3 minutes earlier when we were at Dozers work. Maybe it was his natural drunken' instincts that caused this urination place of choice.
5. White Castle. What else can I say about this? White Castle is a must after drinking. Plus if you go at night you know that the sliders are nice and fresh oozing with goodness.
-MikeyB
To sum up the night Dozer wanted me to remember the following highlights.
1. We were playing human frogger running in the rain across traffic from one overhang shelter to the next.
2. You can get into the Wells Fargo bat cave with an AMC theater gift card, or anything with a magnetic strip.
3. Dozer got drunk for the 2nd time and he hates Bass (He'll learn to like it). But we're were proud of the little fella because he drank whatever we put in front of his face, Half & Half, New Castle, Bass, Woodpecker Hard Cider.
4. Petey got shined by the Minneapolis's finest while he was finishing up taking a leak on a skyscraper. Not sure why he couldn't have gone 3 minutes earlier when we were at Dozers work. Maybe it was his natural drunken' instincts that caused this urination place of choice.
5. White Castle. What else can I say about this? White Castle is a must after drinking. Plus if you go at night you know that the sliders are nice and fresh oozing with goodness.
-MikeyB
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
All-Star Vote
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
New Computer
I finally bought a new computer last night. I went to the A.V. Best Buy and damn, I hate BBY retail employees. When I use to work at a BBY retail location I remember all the steps they would teach you to convince people to buy service plans and accessories so when I went in I totally screwed the pimple faced 17 year old that was selling me this computer.
First off I went in knowing what I wanted and I was messing around with the computers on the display. When the employee came up to me I just said, "I'll take this computer package and the 19" LCD upgrade.". The employee just had a blank stare on his face like a deer in headlights and you know he was thinking, "ahhh shit". What the employee is suppose to do is contact the customer A.S.A.P. (which he didn't) and start to build up a rapport (kissing ass) with the customer. Once you build up that rapport you have a better chance (in hell) of selling more services. So after I tell him I want this package he quickly scrambles and starts to rattle off the pitch for the service plan, 3 minutes late I said, "Nay". Then is was time to rattle of some crappy Geek Squad services (Geek Squad "agents" are the same techs that were in the store before. No extra training) and I said, "Nay". He brings me up to the service counter so I can talk to the Geek Squad agents about the store set-up process as he grabs all the products. The GS agent asks me what computer I'm getting and I said, "Oh I'm getting the GT5058 gateway.". He then turns to the other GS agent who we will call "Dork" and says, " Hey Dork does the 5058 come with a reboot disc?, Dork Says, "No only the ...blah blah blah models...comes with the restore discs. Most manufactures do not come with restore discs anymore...". Basically they were trying to get me to buy the $29.00 restore disc. I said, "Nay".
now it's time to ring everything up. I tell Mr. Big Ugly Casher Guy that he needs to ring up the packages as a regular sale because my employee discount will not work with packages. He doesn't believe even though I just looked that day in the pricing system to see if an employee transaction will work so he rings it up and I'm on my way home. I get home (which is only a block away) and look at the receipt, it's off by $100 bucks. Time to head back to the store. I bring in the receipt and the Service Supervisor fixes the transaction for me. Finally after 2 hrs of fucking around I finally have my computer. I got a Gateway GT5058 with a 19" LCD monitor. I got everything going last night, installed some antivirus software and she's rockin' the interweb now.
First off I went in knowing what I wanted and I was messing around with the computers on the display. When the employee came up to me I just said, "I'll take this computer package and the 19" LCD upgrade.". The employee just had a blank stare on his face like a deer in headlights and you know he was thinking, "ahhh shit". What the employee is suppose to do is contact the customer A.S.A.P. (which he didn't) and start to build up a rapport (kissing ass) with the customer. Once you build up that rapport you have a better chance (in hell) of selling more services. So after I tell him I want this package he quickly scrambles and starts to rattle off the pitch for the service plan, 3 minutes late I said, "Nay". Then is was time to rattle of some crappy Geek Squad services (Geek Squad "agents" are the same techs that were in the store before. No extra training) and I said, "Nay". He brings me up to the service counter so I can talk to the Geek Squad agents about the store set-up process as he grabs all the products. The GS agent asks me what computer I'm getting and I said, "Oh I'm getting the GT5058 gateway.". He then turns to the other GS agent who we will call "Dork" and says, " Hey Dork does the 5058 come with a reboot disc?, Dork Says, "No only the ...blah blah blah models...comes with the restore discs. Most manufactures do not come with restore discs anymore...". Basically they were trying to get me to buy the $29.00 restore disc. I said, "Nay".
now it's time to ring everything up. I tell Mr. Big Ugly Casher Guy that he needs to ring up the packages as a regular sale because my employee discount will not work with packages. He doesn't believe even though I just looked that day in the pricing system to see if an employee transaction will work so he rings it up and I'm on my way home. I get home (which is only a block away) and look at the receipt, it's off by $100 bucks. Time to head back to the store. I bring in the receipt and the Service Supervisor fixes the transaction for me. Finally after 2 hrs of fucking around I finally have my computer. I got a Gateway GT5058 with a 19" LCD monitor. I got everything going last night, installed some antivirus software and she's rockin' the interweb now.
Monday, June 12, 2006
Brush With Death!
Ok, not really a brush with death, just a brush of a baseball denting my face. Yesterday Aimee and I along with Jason & Suzie went to the Twins game. We had some sweet tickets, section 131, row 13 which was just behind the Twinkies bench. Bad part is you have to pay close attention when you have a lefty at the plate. Lucky for me I was because I almost got beamed by a baseball that foul tipped off of a Baltimore players bat. I was sitting on the isle seat and I could see the ball jetting up the stands at me and at the last second I leaned to the left into Aimee. The ball hit the left arm of the guy behind me which would have been my face! The ball went flying up another 4 rows. The guy behind me had a nice raspberry on his arm and I would bet, you could find some of his skin on the baseball. Note to self: Next time I go to a baseball game make sure to bring a glove. As I think back on my brush of a baseball denting my face it would have been bad ass to catch the ball in mid air. With my ninja like reflexes I bet I could have caught it.
Urban Dictionary Word'O'Day
1. d20
1: A 20 sided die. 2: A gaming system devloped to play Dungeons and Dragons and other table-top RPGs.
We could play Star Wars d20 or Modern d20.
-MikeyB
Urban Dictionary Word'O'Day
1. d20
1: A 20 sided die. 2: A gaming system devloped to play Dungeons and Dragons and other table-top RPGs.
We could play Star Wars d20 or Modern d20.
-MikeyB
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Park Jeep Days
Saturday was Jeep Days at Park Jeep in Burnsville. Each year they have a show'n'shine contest. Last year I came in 2nd place and this year I came in 1st! I won a $600 Warn M8000 winch! There were not that many Jeeps registered (8) into the show'n'shine this year so my chances were pretty good. 2 of the 8 Jeeps there were disqualified as they were going in the tent and voting for each other over and over again. I first saw one of the guys through the tent picking his first, second and third place picks and something was fishy because he was taking a few minutes to do this when it should only take 20 seconds. I told James to watch the guy and sure enough 30 minutes later he's back over at the voting table. James checks it out and sees the guy put 4 votes in for himself. We said fuck that and told Dan of Burnsville Off-Road who donated the winch, about the guy. Dan grabs one of the Park Jeep employees and they watch the guy and see him put in 6 more votes later in the day. Then the guy disappears for a while and then I see him again by the voting table and he's filling out more votes! Bob and I walk into the tent and see him put more votes into the box! Dan came back and told me that this guy and the other guy have been disqualified. They basically took out all of their votes when they were counting them but they did not tell them that they were disqualified. So when it came to the announcements of who won they looked perplexed. As one of the guys was leaving he bitched out one of the Park Jeep employees saying how the guy in the black Jeep was putting in multiple votes and he told her how he would never come back to the dealership. I was only in the tent 2 times that day, once to vote and once to buy some t-shirts. What a dick! Either way I was pretty stoked to win 1st place and the winch. I don't think I will enter next years event because I really want James to get a chance to win. Hopefully they will keep a better eye on the voting table.
Me & James posing for a picture. James came in 3rd.
Vahn, James's boxer, was a hit with the kids & ladies.
Me, my plaque & winch
Vahn taking a nap
On the right are all the Jeeps competing.
Burnsville Off-Road Jeep
Sweet looking CJ Renegade
This old Jeep Willys came in 2nd
Here is a view of the Jeeps.
On the right is the tent were you vote.
Crawl 4 Cure booth
Me & James posing for a picture. James came in 3rd.
Vahn, James's boxer, was a hit with the kids & ladies.
Me, my plaque & winch
Vahn taking a nap
On the right are all the Jeeps competing.
Burnsville Off-Road Jeep
Sweet looking CJ Renegade
This old Jeep Willys came in 2nd
Here is a view of the Jeeps.
On the right is the tent were you vote.
Crawl 4 Cure booth
Friday, June 09, 2006
CD Less
I am offically 100% musically digital. I sold all of my CDs last night to Discland in Bloomington. Ever since I got the iPod the CDs have been collecting dust and taking up space at home. It was hard to see them go, I had been collecting them since I was 13 years old. I had over 1,000 CDs in my collection.
Before
Before
After
-MikeyB
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
The Jeep
Now that Blogger is letting me upload some pictures I thought I would share my Jeep with everyone. These are some pictures from last weekend. You can check her out at Park Jeep Days on Saturday. I have her entered into the show'n'shine contest (vote for me!!). I came in 2nd place last year.
2001 Jeep Cherokee XJ Sport
Rubicon Express 5.5" Lift
Rubicon Express HD Trackbar
Rubicon Express Control Arm Drop Brackets
Old Man Emu Shocks
Old Man Emu Steering Stabilizer
Stainless Steal Brakelines
JKS Discos
Bushwacker Flares
35x12.5x15 BFG A/T's on AR 767'sAdvanced Adaptors HD SYE
Tom Woods Shaft
Warn Front Diff Skid
PSC Rear Diff Skid
HD Tie-rod and Tie-rod Ends
Skid Row T-Case Skid
SSPOR Rock RailsMopar Gas Tank Skid
Front Reese Hitch
Rear Hidden Hitch
Hella FF100's
Rubicon Express 5.5" Lift
Rubicon Express HD Trackbar
Rubicon Express Control Arm Drop Brackets
Old Man Emu Shocks
Old Man Emu Steering Stabilizer
Stainless Steal Brakelines
JKS Discos
Bushwacker Flares
35x12.5x15 BFG A/T's on AR 767'sAdvanced Adaptors HD SYE
Tom Woods Shaft
Warn Front Diff Skid
PSC Rear Diff Skid
HD Tie-rod and Tie-rod Ends
Skid Row T-Case Skid
SSPOR Rock RailsMopar Gas Tank Skid
Front Reese Hitch
Rear Hidden Hitch
Hella FF100's
GTP Hood Vents
Rustys Air Tube
Rustys Tranny Cooler
DEI Sidewinder 6000 Alarm with Perimeter Sensor
Rustys Air Tube
Rustys Tranny Cooler
DEI Sidewinder 6000 Alarm with Perimeter Sensor
Alloy USA D30 Outer Axle Seals
Dana 30 - ARB - 4:56 Gears - Caddy Air
Dana 44 - Detroit - 4:56 Gears - ZJ Rear Disc Brakes
Dana 30 - ARB - 4:56 Gears - Caddy Air
Dana 44 - Detroit - 4:56 Gears - ZJ Rear Disc Brakes
-MikeyB
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Trails Day Weekend
I'm back from up north. I headed up on Friday to Gilbert, MN because this weekend was National Trails Day. 7 Twin City Off-Road members, myself included, and some MN-Jeep.com members helped out the create 2 new off-road trails and clean up 1 trail.
I left home around 8am Friday morning. It takes exactly 3 hours to get up to Gilbert. It was such a beautiful day out that when I arrived at Sherwood Campground and just unpacked and cracked open a delicious Shiner Bock. If you have never had a Shiner Bock then you have not had a good beer. I just sat in my fold out chair for 6 hours drinking some beer and listening to some White Stripes. I fell asleep for a couple hours after that. It was some great R&R!
Saturday morning we went over the Memory Lane Cafe' for some breakfast. Some french toast made my belly dance with glee. Best part is it only cost $5. You have to love those small town Cafes. We headed over the park and within 30 minutes of the park opening some ATV moron flipped his ATV while going down a hill. Lucky the guy was OK because the ATV flipped over him but he had some nice rock burns across his back. If you have never been to Gilbert OHVRA park it is basically a left over ore mine. So I'm sure those sharp red rocks didn't feel to good in this dudes back. After that fiasco we split up into two groups. One group was going to create a new trail in the forest and another was going to open up a new portion of the Rock Gorge. I was with the second group that went to the gorge. The rock gorge is discarded piles of large rock that the mining company had stacked hundreds of feet high. We were working at the base of this massive pile where the rocks level out. Even though it was 80* degrees outside you can look down deep into these rocks and see some snow and feel the cool air being released within. After we took down a few trees and brush Dan thought he would give it a shot. He did well until his rig was stuck in a ten foot hole and then broke a drive shaft U-joint.
After finally getting Dan out of the gorge we went to check out the new trail. It was pretty damn sweet. It moves through the woods in a 'S' shape pattern and there were many off camber spots. I walked through it first and I thought no way is my Jeep going to get through here with out causing some body damage. But then the curiosity killed the cat and I had to give it a shot. My rig is very well built with front and rear locker but a Cherokee is much longer than a Wrangler and I didn't want to hit any trees. Dan spotted me through the trail perfectly. No damage and it was one of the funnest times I have ever had wheelin'! I don't know what they are going to name the trail but I recommend "Around The Bend" to Phil, one of the park workers.
Around 7pm everyone was just starving. All I had for lunch was a sandwich from a gas station & lots of water. We all got cleaned up and headed over to the Saw Mill in Virginia. Cool place if you ask me and the food was good too. For some reason the whole place closes at 11:00pm which is kind of odd since this place had a large bar. Got back to camp and fell asleep in 1 minute.
I headed out pretty early Sunday so I could get back around 11ish. I almost hit 3 deer on the way home which really kept me awake! Then just after the 35 split on 35E a car looked like it had just flipped in the ditch and people were running across the HWY and almost got hit. I hope everyone was OK in that car.
Blogger is being a bitch and will not let me upload some picture so you can view all the pictures from the weekend here. Enjoy!
I left home around 8am Friday morning. It takes exactly 3 hours to get up to Gilbert. It was such a beautiful day out that when I arrived at Sherwood Campground and just unpacked and cracked open a delicious Shiner Bock. If you have never had a Shiner Bock then you have not had a good beer. I just sat in my fold out chair for 6 hours drinking some beer and listening to some White Stripes. I fell asleep for a couple hours after that. It was some great R&R!
Saturday morning we went over the Memory Lane Cafe' for some breakfast. Some french toast made my belly dance with glee. Best part is it only cost $5. You have to love those small town Cafes. We headed over the park and within 30 minutes of the park opening some ATV moron flipped his ATV while going down a hill. Lucky the guy was OK because the ATV flipped over him but he had some nice rock burns across his back. If you have never been to Gilbert OHVRA park it is basically a left over ore mine. So I'm sure those sharp red rocks didn't feel to good in this dudes back. After that fiasco we split up into two groups. One group was going to create a new trail in the forest and another was going to open up a new portion of the Rock Gorge. I was with the second group that went to the gorge. The rock gorge is discarded piles of large rock that the mining company had stacked hundreds of feet high. We were working at the base of this massive pile where the rocks level out. Even though it was 80* degrees outside you can look down deep into these rocks and see some snow and feel the cool air being released within. After we took down a few trees and brush Dan thought he would give it a shot. He did well until his rig was stuck in a ten foot hole and then broke a drive shaft U-joint.
After finally getting Dan out of the gorge we went to check out the new trail. It was pretty damn sweet. It moves through the woods in a 'S' shape pattern and there were many off camber spots. I walked through it first and I thought no way is my Jeep going to get through here with out causing some body damage. But then the curiosity killed the cat and I had to give it a shot. My rig is very well built with front and rear locker but a Cherokee is much longer than a Wrangler and I didn't want to hit any trees. Dan spotted me through the trail perfectly. No damage and it was one of the funnest times I have ever had wheelin'! I don't know what they are going to name the trail but I recommend "Around The Bend" to Phil, one of the park workers.
Around 7pm everyone was just starving. All I had for lunch was a sandwich from a gas station & lots of water. We all got cleaned up and headed over to the Saw Mill in Virginia. Cool place if you ask me and the food was good too. For some reason the whole place closes at 11:00pm which is kind of odd since this place had a large bar. Got back to camp and fell asleep in 1 minute.
I headed out pretty early Sunday so I could get back around 11ish. I almost hit 3 deer on the way home which really kept me awake! Then just after the 35 split on 35E a car looked like it had just flipped in the ditch and people were running across the HWY and almost got hit. I hope everyone was OK in that car.
Blogger is being a bitch and will not let me upload some picture so you can view all the pictures from the weekend here. Enjoy!
-MikeyB
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Give Blood
Memorial Blood Center is at Best Buy Corp today & tomorrow looking for blood, BLOOD I SAY!! I was about to give a normal blood donation until they looked at the chart and said I was a perfect candidate for apheresis donation. The apheresis donation process allows just platelets to be collected from your blood. Blood is drawn into the blood cell separator where the platelets are removed. The rest of your blood is then returned to you through the same arm. It was pretty funky seeing your plasma in a separate bag and then being pumped back into your arm. They repeat the process about 4 times and it takes roughly 30 minutes. If you are squeamish around blood or needles this is not for you. This was just my second time making a donation. It's was one of those things that I would see and be like, oh that looks like a good idea, I should sign up but I never did. I did find out that my blood type is O- which is the universal blood type that only 7% of the nation has, so I got that going for me.
I'll be heading up to Gilbert tomorrow for some off-roading action. Saturday is national trails day and we will be doing some trail maintance. I'll be going up solo because everyone bailed on me (You know who you are! *cough*James, Kris, Corey*cough*) but I'll be meeting up with some members of my off-road club Twin City Off-Road. Depending on the weather I might come back Saturday but who knows. I'll post some pictures when I get back.
Urban Dictionary Word'O'Day
1.v-string
similar to a g-string, victorias secret named there g-strings this. Also the fabric portion which covers up the front and rear is shaped as a V, while there are still strings on each side, joining the front to back.
Victoria's Secret's V-String are my favorite because they are comfortable and look sexy.
-MikeyB
I'll be heading up to Gilbert tomorrow for some off-roading action. Saturday is national trails day and we will be doing some trail maintance. I'll be going up solo because everyone bailed on me (You know who you are! *cough*James, Kris, Corey*cough*) but I'll be meeting up with some members of my off-road club Twin City Off-Road. Depending on the weather I might come back Saturday but who knows. I'll post some pictures when I get back.
Urban Dictionary Word'O'Day
1.v-string
similar to a g-string, victorias secret named there g-strings this. Also the fabric portion which covers up the front and rear is shaped as a V, while there are still strings on each side, joining the front to back.
Victoria's Secret's V-String are my favorite because they are comfortable and look sexy.
-MikeyB