Pearl Jam-Live!

Megan and I were lucky enough to see Pearl Jam at the Xcel a few weekends back. They played for over three hours, giving Minnesota a 32-song set for their first appearance here in eight years. I got to see them at the X when they were here in 2003. Megan and I had just started dating and she was out of town for that show. I went alone, and was amazed at the show they put on back then.

Now it's not an Alice Cooper-type of show with theatrics and everything. Pearl Jam are professional musicians who play their asses off for the night. A lot of bands will give you an hour, maybe 90 minutes if you're lucky. They played for over two hours in 2003. This was Megan's first time seeing them live, and she actually shed tears of joy when the concert started 45 mins past the start time.

As we sat in our seats waiting for the show to start we checked Facebook, not only to brag that we were there, but also to see who else was there. We knew quite a few people also in attendance. A couple  were my cousin and her husband. They fundraise for the U of M Children's Hospital, and I knew that Eddie Vedder was there the day before. As we looked at Facebook in the bleachers we saw why the show hadn't started yet. Vedder was posing for pictures backstage. With them.

Husband, Vedder, cousin

That was pretty cool to see, but I was ready for the show to start. The whole time after 7:30 we were thirsty, but didn't want to get beverages and have the show start while one of us was away. Finally at 8:05 I risked it and went to the concessions stand. I was about 10 people deep in one of four lines. There were two people working behind the counter, and only one beer tap was working. I stood in the same spot for 10 minutes as my face grew more red as my temper rose. At 8:15 I heard the ROAR of the arena. I said screw it and ran back to my seat empty handed.

I was excited as Pearl Jam played the entire No Code album start to finish at the show before ours. Our show was on the anniversary of the release of the album Vs. so I thought naturally they'd play it. They didn't play it, but of course the show was awesome. It really kicked in for me on the 10th song, Even Flow. Megan had left to get our drinks during the song before it, and when Even Flow started I had room to move, and I rocked out. 

Waiting for the start "selfie"

View from our seat

At one point during the concert Vedder introduced the members of the band. He introduced the drummer, Matt Cameron, as the greatest drummer in the world. When he did, the man sitting next to Megan felt the need to pipe up to her "greatest in the world, huh? I think Neil Peart might have something to say about that."

First of all, we don't know you. 

Second of all, even if we did, right now isn't the time to debate who is the greatest drummer in the world. 

Third, it's Janice Weiss of Sleater-Kinney, so let's just enjoy the show.

Three hours is a long time for anything, even excellent rock and roll. I was glad that we had seats to rest in during the slow songs. They ended the set with the house lights up for the last three songs. The lights signifying that it really is the end of the night and PJ isn't going to do the stupid encore ritual for a third time. 

Winding down

I was excited to be with Megan for her first PJ concert. It was a great night, but I gotta say that I enjoyed the show in 2003 more. I know it's partly because that was my first live experience with them, but also now we have satellite radio. Pearl Jam has their own channel on it that plays their concerts. We both listen to it in our cars, and it made the live experience a little less special for me.

I've been seeing a lot of live music lately (Spoon, Pixies). This was the last concert I thought I'd see for a while. I had to work early the next morning. When my alarm went off at 5:30, my ears were still ringing, I'd only slept about four hours, and my throat was sore. I had a music hangover. The difference between it and a real hangover is a music hangover feels kinda good. It's a reminder of how I (soberly) cut loose for a few hours the night before.

At work the morning after I saw some music news online that I'll detail in my next blog, but I know that I'll be seeing another concert in February. BIG (for me) news.

The Pixies-Live!

“I was trying to write the ultimate pop song. I was basically trying to rip off The Pixies.”

-Kurt Cobain on Smells Like Teen Spirit

Someone at work asked me the other day who my favorite band is. I couldn't think of one on the spot like that. After reflecting on that question, I can say that my favorite band is The Pixies. They played at my favorite place to see music, The State Theater, on 10/11. I remember when the show was announced. I wasn't crazy to get tickets because Megan and I saw them the last time they were here playing the Doolittle album at Roy Wilkins in 2011. 

Then I learned that she would be out of the house with Ozzie on the night of the show. I started looking at tickets by owner on Craigslist. I didn't know how lucky I'd be finding just one ticket for sale, but there was one for $75. I emailed the guy saying that if it comes down to the day of the show and there's no interest, I'd offer him $40 so he won't have to eat the ticket. 

I got some money for my birthday (10/1) that's been burning a hole in my pocket, and this was a great opportunity to spend it. The guy emailed me 10/10 saying that he can't go lower than $50. I took him up on it. It was worth the extra $10 to know that I'd have a main floor seat for the show. I texted him as I was walking to the theater from the parking ramp, and he met me in the lobby. He told me that he was wearing glasses and a black shirt. I found him, but he should have said "I'm the guy who looks exactly like a 25-year-old Vince Gilligan. Exactly." 

Vince junior's girlfriend couldn't come to the show, so that's why he sold his ticket. That also meant that we sat next to each other. He was a really nice guy. He liked the same music as me, and was even at the last show I went to at The State: Spoon. We chatted about music between the opener, Royal Blood, and the start of the real show. The Pixies took the stage at 8:40. 

Frank Black, Joey Santiago, David Lovering, and Kim De… Wait. Kim's not with them on this tour. In her place was a woman named Paz Lenchantin. Let's call her what she really is. Not Kim Deal. Deal's absence was another reason I didn't jump on tickets right away when they went on sale. Kim Deal is The Pixies bassist, and anyone else has enormous shoes to fill. 

The show opened with Ed Is Dead. I wished everything was a little louder during the 1st song. It was plenty loud, but it was at about 9 and could have been turned up to 11. The 2nd song was Nimrod's Son with a reggae style second half of the song. As the show went on, the music got louder, and was at 11 about halfway through the 95 minute set. It was so loud, in fact, that the instruments sounded distorted. 

This tour is in support of the Pixies latest album, Indie Cindy. They mixed in newer material with classics. The new album as okay, but I'm probably biased knowing the older catalogue  so well. Anything new is going to take some getting used to. I craved some stage banter from Black, but there was none. He never addressed the crowd. 

Left to right: Santiago, Black, Lovering, Not Kim

The Pixies wrapped up their set with Hey, and came back for a 2-song encore of Debaser and Planet of Sound. (See the full 32-song setlist here) The encore. When can we do away with this stupid ritual? They were off-stage for about 60 seconds before coming back for their encore. Fiona Apple did a great thing when I saw her in 2012. She reached the end of her set and said something like she thinks "encores" are silly "so pretend that I left, and came back, and this is the rest of the show." That was classy.

As for Not Kim's performance; I wanted to not like her. Like if your parents get divorced, and your dad starts seeing a new woman. But what if you can't find a reason to hate her? That's how I felt about Not Kim. Her hair covered her face most of the time, but The Pixies aren't known for the "show" they put on. (I even heard that the last "Not Kim," who was actually named Kim, did a stage dive at a gig and that's what got her bounced from the band.) The Not Kim I saw tonight was efficient and sounded good on her backing vocals. 

Driving home I felt happy about the expenditure of my birthday money. If Vince Gilligan Jr. hadn't come through, there were scalpers out front who told me that they were taking $20 for tickets. I'll pretend that they were all in the back row of the balcony. This was a great seat in a great venue watching rock and roll legends. 

P.S. Do you like my reviews? This is a crazy idea, but if some kid can get over $55,000 to make potato salad, I thought it couldn't hurt to throw this out there. 

Can't make it to a show you want to see? Any show. Music, movie, play, etc. Buy my ticket and I'll go and write a review of it.  If you're interested you can PM me, or leave a comment below. 

Impractical Jokers-Live

Mommy and Ozzie are out of town this weekend visiting Grandma, leaving me home alone for the weekend. My plan was to start a franchise on my new Madden game, catch up on TV shows on the DVR, and maybe catch a movie. I'd also have to forge for food somewhere in there too. Megan is a great cook, and I can make frozen pizza. Luckily we had 2 in the freezer. 

Friday night, after some TV and video game time, it was about 8:45 and I said to myself "Andy--" actually I don't call myself Andy when I talk to myself. I said to myself, "Big Daddy Cool, you can do anything you want all weekend." 

A few friends were going out for karaoke, and I considered that for a while. Then I thought about the great rock and roll show I saw last weekend downtown, and looked at what shows were in town this weekend. I looked at the Orpheum website and saw that the Impractical Jokers had a 10:00 show, and they had student rush tickets available for $20 cash. I hardly ever have cash, but I happened to have a twenty in my wallet. I found my old student ID from Metro State and headed downtown around 9:00. I had seen some pics of my Facebook friends outside the Orpheum theater who saw the early show. 

I thought the worst case scenario would be the show is sold out and I'd wander around the corner and see Lizzo and Caroline Smith at First Avenue. So I pulled up to the Orpheum, and there was an underground parking lot right across the street for $5. I parked and took a stroll to the venue. I waltzed up to the box office and asked if they had any rush tickets left. They did, and I didn't have to show my student ID. He gave me a ticket on the main floor; Row G. I quickly counted up to that letter in the alphabet and realized that it's the 7th row! 

Regular priced tickets were $50. I'd already made out like a bandit. I followed the line inside to my seat. I said last week that The State is my favorite place to see shows; The Orpheum is a close 2nd. Last time I was there I saw Wicked with Megan in seats 3 rows from the back wall in the balcony. This seat was quite the improvement for a fraction of the cost. 

My vantage point

As the clock passed 10:00 and the show wasn't starting I looked behind me and the theater was only half-full, at best. They must've held the door to see if anymore people would arrive late. The show finally started at 10:15 with an opening stand up comic. I don't remember his name, and I didn't recognize him. I chuckled once during his ten minute set. Finally around 10:30 The Tenderloins, or Impractical Jokers, took the stage. 

I expected imvov and/or sketch comedy, but they each just stood at a microphone and told stories and made fun of each other. I'm not belittling the show, it was just different than my expectations. The guys are such fun, and know each other so well that it felt like we were just hanging out with them at Embers, or something, after a show. They told road stories, and stories of filming the Tru TV show, and gave examples of stunts that the network kiboshed. The only one I remember was one called "Get in the Van," where they would have driven up to a corner of children in a big, white, unmarked van and flung the door open and said "hey, kid. Get in the van." 

They made it seem like they were coming up with the stories right there on they spot, but I could tell that each show is the same stories. They still laugh at the self-effacing anecdotes, so it was fun to watch, but the show could be a lot stronger with some direction. Murr had his laptop on a little table behind them and worked it to bring up pictures while the other guys talked. That was a little distracting, and would benefit from a person running the laptop backstage. The guys also talked over each other a lot and some of the jokes were missed because of it. 

They mentioned that they've been together for 25 years; since meeting in high school in 1990. They talked about some of the first shows they did in New York City where they had to rent the stage for $50, and only brought in $15, so performing the show cost them $35. Their chemistry and friendship reminds me of an improv troupe I'm honored to have been a part of, The Drunk Baby Collective. These guys are my best friends to this day, and the show was a lot like us when we get together now at Perkins for pie. We tell old stories and laugh like hyenas. 

DBC reunion in 2011

I'm glad that I had the opportunity to see The Impractical Jokers live. The price was right. I might feel slighted if I had paid the full ticket price, but all things considered it was a great way to spend Friday night. Now back to Madden 15. I'm 0-2 after a couple of close games. I need to turn things around if I want  to make the playoffs this year. 

Spoon Concert

If it's too loud, you're too old. 

(It was kinda loud)

If I'm listening to local radio, I'm listening to 89.3 The Current. They don't play commercials, and I've found a lot of bands that I wouldn't otherwise know on there. Lately I noticed that every time I liked the song that was on, and I checked my radio or the site where I stream it, the band was Spoon. I did a little research on them and found out that they've been around since 1994 and are from Austin, TX. 

I got their latest album, They Want My Soul, last week and it's been on heavy rotation on my iPod. I already liked three songs on the ten-song album from hearing them on the radio, but when track 5, Knock Knock Knock, played the first time I was like "whoa, baby." Lead singer Britt Daniel, 43, sounds nothing like Roger Waters, but the song is Pink Floyd-esque, and I loved it, too, right away. 

During my research I saw that Spoon was coming to town September 19th at The State Theater and tickets were only $35. That's actually a pretty cheap ticket these days. Ticketmaster had a single ticket in the 12th row. I thought about going to The State to buy my ticket at the box office to avoid the extra fees, but they were only going to add an extra $15. I figured that for the convenience of ordering the ticket at midnight in my basement, that was a fair price. Right before checkout, though, they added one more fee making the total almost $60. I almost gave up on principal, but I had made up my mind by that point and I just pulled the trigger. 

I love live music, and have since the first concert I attended, which was the Foo Fighters at First Avenue when they were brand new; right after Kurt died. Since then I have seen many big name/big ticket shows. The State is my favorite venue to see concerts. 

*Digression-Once at The State for a Lou Reed show, there were two older (60+) couples behind my dad and me. They had spent whatever they did on four tickets, and before the show one lady asked the other what show it was they were about to see. The woman replied "Lou Rawls," and went on to explain who Lou Rawls is to her. 

I got there around 7:45 and opening band EMA was playing. I watched a video of theirs on YouTube to see if they're any good, but I couldn't even finish the video. They weren't any better live. Their boring shoegazing music was made worse by the fact that there was no spotlight on any of them. There were some lights behind them, but their faces were never illuminated. A clock radio would have made a better opener. 

Spoon took the stage at 8:45 and energized the crowd starting with the title track from the new album. They went right into Rent I Pay after it, and the crowd stood for the whole show. Daniel's voice was right on all night, sounding like John Lennon on Revolution or Twist and Shout. A voice like a bee sting. He would emphasize notes with the neck of his guitar, and kept the crowd banter light. He mentioned he loves this town. As the show progressed I realized there were even more songs that I already liked that I didn't even know were by them. The most rocking number of the night was Don't Make Me a Target. It was like a grand finale of fireworks, exploding sound for 5 minutes. The light production was impressive throughout the show too.

They started their first encore with Knock Knock Knock. They finished the last song at 10:30 sharp. Nearly two hours of rock and roll by a band who has been around long enough to be engaging for the duration. The theater was mostly full on the main floor. I couldn't see the people in the balcony, but I think it was almost full too. 

When I left the theater there were four guys playing buckets on the curb right outside the theater. They weren't just dicking around either. They were tight and good, and even had some choreography. They would all play together for a bit, and then each would solo down the line. Their solos were faster than a machine gun. Their arms would flail so fast that I couldn't see them. It was a pretty cool surprise to walk out to. I threw a dollar in their bucket that was half-full of cash. 

My ears are still ringing in that good way that reminds me that I saw an excellent show. I'm glad I realized who Spoon is in enough time to attend the show tonight. I think even someone expecting a show by the late Lou Rawls would have been pleasantly surprised. 

State Fair (Feedbag '14)

Another MN State Fair is in the books. You know what that means? Summer is over. Pack away your flip flops and swim trunks, and pull out the flannels and boots. I hope you got everything in that you wanted to. A lot of kids start school tomorrow, and some already have. Over the summer I went from fish-belly-white to a little off-white. I know that I didn't get everything in that I wanted to, but it's hard to squeeze everything into 2.5 months.

Anyhow, we had our annual trip to the fair to eat, and we ate plenty. I was really looking forward to it this year to try a new food called a Breakfast Juicy LuLu. It's a Jucy Lucy of breakfast food, with sausage stuffed with cheese. They only served it until 11:00. Megan wanted to try another new food of breakfast nachos, served only until 10:30.

We got in the gates around 9:30, and went right to the first information booth we saw. The people working those booths know where everything is without Google. They're quite remarkable. We asked where the nachos and the LuLu's were. We were close to the nachos, and the LuLus were on the other end of the fair, so we swung by the nachos place first. Megan got them, and the egg on top was the best part. I give the dish a solid C.

Then it was off to the west end market where my LuLu's were. I passed many food stands along the way. I didn't want to spoil my appetite for what was sure to be a new highlight of the fair. 

We arrived to the area around 10:15 and found the place selling them. I got in line about 15 people deep. The lady who got in line behind me was telling her adult son that she was going to order three of them. Megan found a table where we could sit and enjoy the bounty with which I'd return. 

As I inched toward the counter for my Breakfast Juicy LuLu, I saw that they also sold something called Gorilla Bread. I had time in line to Google "Gorilla Bread," and it said it's a special cinnamon-type pastry bread. I thought it would compliment the no doubt savory Juicy LuLu, and I decided I'd get it too; as a surprise. 

                           

I was just next in line, one guy in front of me ordering, when someone from the kitchen yelled "we're out of Breakfast LuLu's!" 

Out of Breakfast LuLu's? How could this be? It was only 10:30. They sold them until 11:00. My heart broke in two. Thinking about it again now makes me sad. How do you run out of an item at the State Fair? It wasn't the last day of the fair. 

I had to step up and order. I confirmed with the guy what I just heard, and he confirmed they had just run out. I ordered the Gorilla Bread and slunk to the table where Megan was playing with Ozzie in his stroller. 

I was too forlorn to think to take a picture of the Gorilla bread, but it was just okay. I kept thinking of what I did wrong to miss out on the item that brought me to the fair this year. 

If the GPS on my phone didn't take us through construction, we would have arrived sooner and I would have gotten a LuLu. 

If we had walked faster to the stand I would have gotten a LuLu. 

If we had left the house earlier I would have gotten… 

You get the idea. I was seriously crestfallen. I needed to sulk for a bit, but then it was onward to find other foods. I thought at least I could still get my fair favorite; a deep fried slider. They were sold at Axel's on the outside corner of the food building. We had passed where I thought Axel's was, but there was a different vendor there. I thought Axel's must've moved. I asked another information booth where they moved to, and was told that they are gone. The person said the Axel's people now run the LuLu's booth. 

Seriously? 

We walked around the fairgrounds all day. We spent 7.5-8 hours there. Ozzie was good as can be. He tried all of the food we got, and we even got him his own milk for $1.00 outside the cattle barn. He fell asleep for about 20 minutes in his stroller too. We don't know how he did that in the heat, with all of the people and noise, but you'll see him below catching some Zzz's. 

I know I've had Sweet Martha's Cookies before. I wanted to try them again for the purpose of this blog, but the lines were always insanely long. Since I know I've had them before, and they're not on my must-have list, let me tell you that they're just chocolate chip cookies, people. Do you like that they're warm? Bake some at home. They're always warm right out of the oven. You don't even need to make the dough. Get the refrigerated dough that pulls apart. Do you like that you can get a bucket of them? Bake some at home and put them in a bucket before you eat them. They're. Just. Cookies. 

With the disappearance of my State Fair staple food, I had to find a new reason to go to the fair. I found it at a booth near the all you can drink milk stand. The booth is painted with a Canadian flag, and the food is Poutine. French fries covered in gravy and cheese curds. I've had it there before and liked it, but it has now stepped into a starring role. It was Colin Quinn on Saturday Night live, but now Poutine is Colin Quinn when he anchored Weekend Update. 

Another new food this year caught my attention. Deep fried Buckeyes. They're at the Deep Fried Twinkies stand. Buckeyes are peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate, batter, and deep fried. They're dusted with powered sugar before handed to you. They're sugary, sweet and delicious. I think I got to cavities just eating them. 

Luigi Fries

Poutine

Deep fried Buckeyes with strawberry "dip"

 When we got home I asked Megan to take a picture of me:

Rutabaga 2014

Once a year in the small town of Cumberland, WI they have the Rutabaga festival. It's just a carnival with a parade on Sunday and a beer garden with live music every night for the weekend. Last weekend was Rutabaga weekend, and my family has been going for as long as I can remember. My mom's grandma lived in Cumberland, and she's been going since she was a kid. My mom is a McCoy. She's 50/50 Irish/Italian. Her grandma Ficocello lived there, and a few Ficocellos still do.

Rutabaga weekend is bitter sweet. It used to be the last full weekend before school started, and I went through that period. Now it means that summer is over and it's time to get ready for fall. Sweet because football season is right around the corner, but bitter because where has summer gone?! We camp at the campground in town on Beaver Dam Lake. My uncle Rich calls every New Year's Day and reserves spots for August. This year he couldn't get as many spots, so there were fewer McCoys in attendance.

I knew that I wanted to stay Friday night, but the camp sites were sold out. There are two hotels a few blocks from camp, and I reserved a room at The Ambrose. It looks like it has a lot of character, and there are stories of my parents staying there before I was born. I've never heard the full story, but I know my dad was singing Jesus Christ Superstar in his room so loud that management had to tell him to knock it off.

The Ambrose

I was able to get Friday off work, so I went up alone Friday morning. About 5 miles from Cumberland is a small town with a cheese shop where I've been getting snack packs of cheese cubes and meat since I was old enough to have my own money. I got one as I passed through. On the way to the campground I stopped for lunch at the fair. A KC Special, which is a hamburger with hot peppers, and cheese curds. I ate faster than I wanted to, but I wanted to get to camp to see who was already there. 

At camp I got to see my cousins, my Godparents, and Rich, who is camp director. I hung out there until I thought I could check into my room. When I got to The Ambrose there was a sign posted on the door saying that people need to check in at the nicer hotel across the street. When I got there the guy offered me a cancellation he just got in the nicer place for $12 more, so I took it. The nicer place hadz an ice machine for my cooler, and a continental breakfast. (It also had FXX and I could watch The Simpsons marathon for the short time I was in the room)

Campground

I went back to camp and the cousins were ready to go to the bar. Cumberland is only about four blocks long, but there are six bars. I've spent many hours inside each of them in my day, and I've had my fair share of rides into and from town. I was happy to give back to the younger generation. We went to the first bar on the strip, Skiddies. 

After staying there for a few, it was back to camp to play bags as a few more people arrived. We had a dinner at camp of walking tacos. Griffin pulled out his guitar by the fire at night and we rocked out. I noticed an older hippie-looking couple standing on the outskirts of our site watching Griffin play. They said they were enjoying the music. I invited then over; all are welcome. The guy had white hair to his shoulders, and introduced himself as Skunk-the-man without irony. They only stayed for a few minutes. 

I went back to the fair alone to see if there were any prizes I could try to win for Ozzie. The fair was really dead for Friday night. The weather was overcast, but not raining. The prizes to win were all junky, so I just did a quick pass through the carnival. I remember as a kid, all I wanted was one of those little square mirrors with Hulk Hogan, or Aerosmith on them. I didn't realize until I was older that they were cocaine mirrors. 

I took the cousins back to Skiddies later that night, and it was dead as a doornail. They had one drink and we went back to the fire where we spent the rest of the evening. I introduced the game Two Truths and a Lie that we played around the fire. People slowly went to bed, and I stayed up with John, Griffin and Jared until 3:15. Back at my hotel I fell asleep to The Simpsons. 

The next day Megan and Ozzie came up. Shalane and Billy also came up for the day with Vinnie. We had our family lunch of rigatoni. Saturday is the day of the bags tournament. As it was under way, Megan sat with Ozzie at the other spot away from the noise and fire. It was hot and muggy. After I watched the championship game I went to check on them and Megan was packing up her car. Ozzie fell asleep in his stroller and he was all sweaty. Wading in the lake earlier was only a temporary solution to overheating. 

As the egg toss was happening, I went and tossed my shoes over the electric wire. It's a tradition I tried to start 4-5 years ago. I've been doing it every year, and I'm the only one. I don't care. I think a pair of shoes hanging from a wire looks cool, and I always have an old pair that I can get rid of. My brother (who came up just for the day too) drove me around with the AC blasted to help my fatigue. He showed my the cemetery that I never knew about where a lot of Ficocellos are. 

It was about 7:00 and Megan had already made it home. She texted asking if I wanted pizza, and I did, so I said my goodbyes and headed home. Rutabagas past have seen trips to the hospital, near-arrests, and minor consumption tickets. This year was comparatively quiet. That's a good thing for the offenders, but no real juicy stories to tell. Just a good time spent with friends, family, and Skunk-the-man.

Where the rubber meets the road

Through this last year Nerd Dad tried going to the gym, and making it a routine. It was a colossal failure. Every time I'd get on a good roll, going three times a week, or what have you, something would spring up. This winter was especially cold and hard to get out of the house. It was nice to have a warm place to go to work off the Christmas cookies, but I couldn't drag myself out into the -20 degree weather (forget about wind chill) to work up a sweat, and then go back outside to drive home.

We cancelled our membership finally this month due to not utilizing it. I still have the Christmas cookies in me that need to be burned off, plus seven months of non-Christmas junk food. I started thinking about biking. I haven't ridden a bike in years, but I look forward to riding around with Ozzie one day, and I don't want to have years of Christmas cookies built up in my frame when we go.

How am I going to get out of the house to ride  a bike when I couldn't get out to go to the gym? I don't know, but I don't have to pay monthly dues on a bike. I don't have to see a monthly money reminder of what a lazy (small) pig I am and feel bad about myself. A bike is a one time purchase, and once I bought one, then I'd have it, and could figure it out from there.

So I started my search for a bike on Target.com. I know that Schwinn is the name in bikes (or at least it was when I was a kid), so I looked at them. I found one I liked for $200. I thought I could save for it little-by-little with the money that would no longer go to the gym "donation." Then last night I Googled "free bikes," and was reminded of the Minneapolis bike auctions they hold. Megan and I used to live up the block from where they hold them. We even went to a few to see what kind of deals there are, and it's excellent people-watching; but the next auction isn't for a month. (If you're looking for a bike though, I'd suggest you go to an auction. They're fun, and you can get a really nice bike for a fraction of the cost.)

I was also reminded of Craigslist. I have avoided Craigslist for a few years since a punk-kid sold me a bum iMac keyboard for $30. I figured with a bike that I can test it out right on the spot (unlike the keyboard where I had to take the liar's word for it). I searched for Schwinn Fridley and saw some nice bikes, but they were hundreds of dollars. I thought if it's going to be used for near the same price of the new one at Target I wanted, I might as well go with new. Then I searched in Blaine and found a nice one for only $70.

I emailed the seller around 11:00 last night and they actually emailed me right back. We set up a meeting this morning. I told Megan about it when we woke up and she said that she drove by a garage sale yesterday that had 30 bikes outside. I was meeting my Craigslist contact at noon, so we packed up Ozzie and went garage-sale-ing. We went to the 30-bike sale first, and there was no sale what-so-ever. It was quiet this Sunday morning, and there was no sign of life at the house. We drove around a little and stopped at a couple of other sales, but there weren't any bikes at them. 

I remembered after about a minute at the first sale we hit that garage sales are just people trying to get 25 cents for things instead of, or before they throw them away. What I mean by that is that garage sales are tables and racks of other people's garbage. Instead of picking through their trash cans, they lay the garbage out for you to easily view. You could pull the items from the dumpster on trash day for free, but they charge you pocket change to carry their rubbish home with you. 

Anyway, I came up empty looking at garage sales, but I still had my meeting at noon for the Schwinn in Blaine. My GPS took me right to the house near the Subway sandwich shop where I worked in 1997. There were some kids playing in the yard, and the bike was right there in the middle of the driveway. Grandma was going through some stuff in the garage, and she said I had been emailing with her daughter, but I could take the bike for a spin. 

Now remember, it had been years since I last rode a bike. It felt a little awkward swinging my leg over the bar and getting going, but after just a few seconds it was just like riding a bike. That must be where they get the term. I drove it up and down their block, and it was fun. The bike fit me well, and was in decent condition. I went back and offered grandma $60 for it, and she gladly took it. I got a good deal. A one-time payment of half of one month of the gym membership (for two people). 

Finally tonight after dinner I was able to take it out for a real ride. I went up East River Road and found a park near the Mississippi with walking/biking trails. I rode the trails and wound up  at this Center for the Arts that I pass every day with Ozzie coming home from day care. Sometimes I notice it and think "I should Google that place sometime," and then forget about it as soon as it's out of sight. 

I had a lot of fun on my bike ride. It was nice to get out of the house for a bit and do something different. I don't know what kind of workout I got, and I don't care. It's not about that. Maybe I'll start riding it to burn calories one day, but for now it's something fun to do. Next I can look for a bad-ass helmet. Do you think I'll find one at a garage sale? If I do it should probably be thrown away instead of hawked for even one penny.