12.21.2006

A Starbucks Merry Christmas!

We were very bored at work the other day, and we decided to tag-team a sweet Christmas poem. Shannon, Katie and I all loosened our screws and came up with a wonderful tale of cheer and merriment, just in time for the holidays!

A Starbucks Merry Christmas
"Twas Christmas at Starbucks
and all through the place,
Instead of festive music
they were blasting Ace of Base!
Their Swedish strains ran rampant
through our heads,
With all the excitement
our faces were red!
They banged on their pitchers
and banged on their cups,
But Ian was a cheater
so he got no thumb-ups.
All inside the shiny new building
customers gather 'round in disgrace,
With judo chops flying
and punches in the face.
"Stop, you naughty ninjas!"
yelled Santy Clause with a frown
But the ninjas told Santa
to get outta town!
So in came the Army
and then the Marines,
And bombs exploded all around
in merry reds and greens.
Then Baby Jesus came down
in His swaddling blanket,
At first He wouldn't cry
so the wise men hollered "Spank it!"
But the Christ child kicked ass
and for mercy they did beg,
But then the child was all like
"Just kidding, guys. My name's really Craig!"
So they talked out their problems
over a hot cup of cheer,
And rode off with Santa
and his eight tiny reindeer!

12.16.2006

Seventeen Months

Soo... mixed feelings about this whole moving thing.

For those of you who don't know, I moved out of my apartment with my brother in Eden Prairie and into a new one in St. Louis Park, where Joanna and I will reside once we get hitched in, oh, what? 21 days? Three weeks? Yeah. So whatever, it's not like I'm "moving away"... it's only like 10 miles from where I was living, I still work at the same place, same church (for the moment), same friends... so what gives?

The truth, friends, is that I lived in Eden Prairie for almost a year and a half, twice as long as I've lived any place since leaving the house after high school. It's weird to me to have not moved in that time. The story goes: I moved to North Central in Minneapolis in August '02, lived and went to school there until May '03, when I moved back home to Mount Horeb, only to move to south Minneapolis the following September, where I lived until July '04, when I moved in with my friend Dustyn and his parents in Milwaukee until I found an apartment in September, where I lived until I moved back to Minnesota, again for the third time, in June '05 to Eden Prairie. And that's not mention moving from Iowa to Wisconsin when I was three weeks old, only to move back to Iowa 5 years later in '88, and then back once again to Wisconsin in 1993. So it could be argued that life has stabilized of late, though I hardly regret any of the moves I've made and envy not the person who's stayed put their whole life.

But let's be real. The thrill of the move is gone after about the third or fourth time. The sentimental stroll through your earthly belongings, the musty excitement of climbing into the cigarette-stained interior of a Uhaul truck, the charm of a new place to call home... these are all lost against the din of address change forms and new drivers' licenses, pay-in-advances on utilities and oh yeah, your whole body feels like those shapely Jell-o molds on an old Bill Cosby commercial, from all the heave-ho'ing of said earthly belongings. You're too tired to do anything useful, yet your brain knows you're not in your usual element, and continues the unrelenting release of adrenaline into your bloodstream.

I know it sounds incredibly overdramatic, but I feel like this is quite an accomplishment, seventeen months staying in one place after pinballing around the upper Midwest for 3 years. And now on to Christmas, New Years, a matrimonial ceremony, a week on the North Shore, and maybe just maybe, a moment to breathe, probably one similar to this one, at 1:30am.

We'll see how it all pans out, but after I pass out on an unsheeted mattress and wake up in a few hours to a living room full of boxes and scattered furniture, I'm going straight for my keys and driving for a hot cup of good coffee to start my day. So as you sip yours today, take a moment and raise your mug to Ian, Minnesota's own human game of ping pong, a game that has officially come to an end.

12.06.2006

Facebook

Last June, two years after it was cool, I finally got a MySpace. And there was much rejoicing. So it's only a matter of time before I get on Facebook, right?

Right. I'm on Facebook now, too. So all of you who are my friends on MySpace can now find me on Facebook. Search "Ian Campbell", and yeah, you'll probably find me somewhere around there.

In other news, there were a few snowflakes today, it's cold outside, and I'm quite content.

And a month from today, I'll be a married man. Yikes!

11.09.2006

A Musical Journey, Or, Why Ian Should Not Be Considered A Music Buff

Do you ever sit down and wonder back over the years how it is you got to the point that you're at, popping your new favorite album into your stereo? Or how that guy in Rolling Stone got to where he's at? Or that self-described music snob who seems to listen to the best bands right before they become popular? Everyone's got a story, everyone's guilty of listening to completely awful music and LOVING it. The things that I will divulge here will most likely knock me off anyone's short list as a musical go-to guy, but I can't escape it, so here goes...

Michael W Smith / Go West Young Man - Every music collection has to start someplace; mine just happened to start in a really obnoxiously cheesy corner of the music world. Songs such as Place In This World are instant cheesy classics, and there is hardly anything worse than hearing Smitty rap on Love Crusade. Except for Carman. But I digress. And he croons so smoothly in the title song that it almost sounds as though he is singing about a hero named Question Man. This album was such a hit, it inspired an entire episode of Adventures in Odyssey. Impressive.

Ace of Base / The Sign - My parents never found out I owned this album. I wish they had. Due to my Living In Danger, I'm now stuck living life with a constant Ace of Base soundtrack in my head. I may live in a Happy Nation, but All That She Wants is to get this song out of My Mind. I'm Young and Proud, but I can't stop being a Dancer In A Daydream. Don't Turn Around, but the Wheel of Fortune has landed on "Bankrupt" and The Sign is stuck in my head for all eternity.

dcTalk / Jesus Freak - Oh, frick. Anyone who claimed to a be a Bible-believing Christian in the mid-90's had this album, and they played it LOUD. Yes, while the rest of the world had Nirvana, Bush, The Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam playing in their headphones, I was gittin' down with the dcTalk. That's all I have to say about this album.

Plankeye / Commonwealth - When bands like dcTalk, Audio Adrenaline and the Newsboys got too candy-sweet and mainstream for us youth-groupers, we fell back on cutting-edge Tooth & Nail bands like Plankeye to save our rock 'n roll. They, too, got sweet and glitzy, and then they broke up. Woops.

MxPx / Life In General - The post-grunge alternative era gave way to the punk rock era, and bands like Green Day, The Offspring and Blink-182 made it big. While I liked those bands at the time, I always did (and still do) think MxPx is a better band, and Life In General is their best album. Every song on this album is insanely catchy, and there's nothing like shouting about girls with your best Left Coast punk accent. The amount of energy these guys played with was untouched, until...

Five Iron Frenzy / Upbeats and Beatdowns - The year was 1997. The Third Wave of ska was dominating the alternative music scene. In the period from late 1995 to early 1997, bands like No Doubt, Reel Big Fish, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Goldfinger and Save Ferris released their first major-label albums, and it seemed that musicians from A to Z tried to incorporate ska-flavored stuff into their music. The driving power chords. The let's-get-fired-up pep band horns. The tight guitar on the upbeat. The crazy, nonsensical, who-the-hell-cares humor. Five Iron Frenzy combined some of the best attributes of the ska movement and put on one heck of a fun live show. The movement was dead by the turn of the millennium, but no one told these guys, 'cuz they kept right on making sweet ska albums through 2003.

Creed / Human Clay - You can string me up by my musical tastebuds. Please, I might just deserve it. I loved this album. And for those of us who grew up in hardcore Christian households, this was the first "secular" album that most of us were allowed to own and not hide under the mattress. Sure, Scott Stapp was (and probably still is) a jerk, and they ripped off everyone from Pearl Jam to Led Zeppelin, but almost every person I knew was a fan of these guys. Emo-punks, hip-hoppers, pop divas, preps, jocks, geeks, nerds, nobodies, somebodies, everybody loved this album. Creed was one of those rare bands that only the most adamant musical critics and anti-pop-culturists couldn't handle.

Incubus / Make Yourself - I still had that itch for energetic music. These guys could funk and rock and croon and scream in a period of about three or four measures. Brandon Boyd is still my favorite male vocalist. Incubus' earliest albums, Fungus Amongous, S.C.I.E.N.C.E., and Make Yourself were some of the most tightly and creatively composed rock albums in the past 10 or 15 years. Then they dropped the funk, did a lot less screaming, and made up for the loss of both with a large dose of for-the-ladies crooning and all-around suckery. Beside the good ol' days, they're dead to me.

Jimmy Eat World / Bleed American - Also known as their self-titled album, post-9/11. This is one of the very few albums in my collection that has trouble staying out of my stereo for more than a month or two. I can't really describe it much outside of pure pop-rock at its glorious best. It's produced well enough so that it sounds clean and seamless, but there's enough edge left so as not to make it sound too candy-sweet. Great album, start to finish.

Dashboard Confessional / The Swiss Army Romance - (n) def. Guilty Pleasure Music. Every emo kid's best-kept secret. The best first date/great relationship/breakup/get-sad-then-heal music I've ever heard. The Swiss Army Romance was Chris Carrabba's me-and-my-guitar masterpiece, when it was still his side project from Further Seems Forever. He started writing full-band arrangements, got on the same label as The Get-Up Kids, got some airtime on the radio, and then it was all over.

311 / Soundsystem - My good friend Dustyn told me that every party he ever went to at Madison had a 311 soundtrack, which sounds about right. Once upon a time, these guys were probably the most popular band in Madison. I figured out that about the same time 311 had a big following in Madison, Reel Big Fish had a big following in Milwaukee. That sums up the difference between Madison and Milwaukee: Reel Big Fish is get-drunk-and-go-party music and 311 is get-high-and-go-party music.

Electric Six / Fire - This album defines my year at North Central, as well as the year following. Rock? Disco? Disco? Rock? I say we fuse the two together. Danger! High Voltage, Dance Commander, Gay Bar, Electric Demons In Love, Nuclear War (On The Dance Floor). These guys sell sizzle, and the immeasurable amount of sizzle that has poured forth from the mouth of Dick Valentine cannot be controlled. He even wrote a song about that - I Lost Control Of My Rock 'n Roll.

A Perfect Circle / Thirteenth Step - Ethereal, dark and catchy. This band is pop expressions from Maynard Keenan's "other band", a gateway drug to...

Tool / Lateralus - This album puts you in an absolute trance. You're amazed by what these guys can do, the things they do with music. On the surface, they rock hard, period. But you dig in to what they do, some of the time signatures they use, the guitar work and effects, the way Maynard Keenan can make his voice just blend in with the rest of the music and he becomes an instrument himself... I heard rumor that at a recent concert, they were playing the title track from this album when Keenan told the crowd to "Get out your calculators" as they progressed into the movement in the 10-minute song where they play time signatures that reflect the mathematical equation of a downward spiral. Wow. Most people write Tool off as another trashy metal band on par with Korn or Nine Inch Nails. That thought makes me cringe. I once read a great article defending Tool, as if they need the defense. Check it out.

The Mars Volta / De-Loused In The Comatorium - Before they completely ripped off Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, they did it only a little bit with Deloused. An orgasmically explosive trip-out album, it keeps you fast-forwarding and rewinding through each song to catch that guitar riff again, or figure out that crazy drum part they just played. Or figure out what the heck they're singing about, the way Cedric Bixler will take a measure or three to warble his way through some magnificent sci-fi word. This is music that really just makes you go "Wow."

The Appleseed Cast / Low Level Owl - About once in your lifetime, a band comes along that seems to put the sounds that your brain makes into song. It's hard to describe these guys without using the words "emo" or "post-punk" or "indie rock" or "psychedelic", but that's not at all what they are. They're just The Appleseed Cast. And they put on a show that almost always turns into an hour-long out-of-body experience. Their music becomes a soundscape, every album with a meandering theme. To try and describe it will do it no justice. This is my band.

The Decemberists / Picaresque - These guys revived in me a small seed that was planted back in the days when I was 12 or so and my parents, every Sunday evening, would turn on the program "Simply Folk" on NPR. But there's enough rock in here so that you don't get too tired of listening to them. Or embarrassed. Or maybe it's Anglo-Saxon in me that finds supreme enjoyment in the way they sing about sad old folk tales and seafaring romps. They can also do a mean Pink Floyd impression mixed in with their folksiness. You can't quite put your finger on these guys.

The Arcade Fire / Funeral - The first time I heard of these guys, I for some reason thought they were another emo-rock deal, like The Alkaline Trio or something. Then I listened to the first song on this album, and honestly, at first, I didn't like them. They were hard to listen to. The production was raw and edgy, almost like it was recorded with a My First Sony in a high school gym. The guy didn't sing, he wailed. My fiancée says they sound like the Edward Scissorhands soundtrack. And who uses an accordion and a marimba with a thumping discoish beat? As these thoughts are going through your head, it all of a sudden comes together into a tight, fist-pumping beat with some of the most amazing falsetto "woo-ooo"s you've ever heard. Then you go back and listen to it again, and it all makes sense. This is a musically diverse group of people simply making music, not worrying about defining their sound. And that in and of itself defines their sound. Then they start singing in French, you find out they're Canadian, and also that you're in love with them.

Sufjan Stevens / Illinois - This Michigander writes music like most of us eat and sleep and drink Coke and go to the bathroom- in fact, he made an entire album full of what is basically random electronic excrement and it still manages to be perfectly listenable. The album was called Enjoy Your Rabbit, and he was so sick of making music that he decided to write an album dedicated to musically making fun of making music. Frick! Sufjan Stevens is a modern-day composer, his music symphonic in complexity, yet simple and straightforward. He writes albums for states, albums about Jesus, movie soundtracks (he was a major contributor to the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack), and now he's even coming out with a Christmas album of all Christmas albums, 5 CDs full of Christmas recordings backlogged from 5 years worth of Christmases past. Anyone who appreciates the process of making large musical arrangements- band nerds, orchestra geeks, jazz junkies, folk fans- can appreciate Sufjan Stevens.

Well, that's it from my first album to the one that's currently in my stereo. If you still trust my judgment, tune in at the end of the year for my 10Best Albums of 2006. Feel free to comment, argue, scorn or ridicule.

10.22.2006

Starbucks

I just returned from a trip to Marquette, Michigan. Marquette is in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Go look at a map. Find Marquette. Do you notice how all major highways end before they get to the U.P.? The nearest interstate is like four hours away. We set foot outside this sleepy city and got lost in the woods. I'm not kidding. You're in the middle of two seas- the freshwater sea that is Lake Superior to the north, and the sea of trees that is, well, pretty much everywhere else. Pines and birches and poplars and maples whizz by, for hours, and you'll want to fall asleep at the wheel, just to put yourself out of your misery. You need a cup of coffee. But you're in the middle of nowhere, where can you turn? A man can only subject himself to so many Creamy French Vanilla Cappucinos from the Holiday station.

Luckily, there is a Starbucks in Marquette. The civilized world just got a whole lot closer with the sight of that wondrous green logo. You exhale a sigh of relief, grab your travel mug and walk in to order a triple grande soy no whip mocha, requesting that they rinse the inferior Holiday residue from your mug so as not to taint what is good and holy.

I used to hate Starbucks. They're too big, I said. Their coffee is burnt. Their stuff tastes like crap. They feast on third-world countries, I said. And they're EVERYWHERE. Yes, I used to hate Starbucks.

Then I matured into their coffee. I realized they don't feast on third-world countries... rather, they cultivate them. Their drinks taste great, and that funky, Euro-modern feel? Cool. And then I realized for the first time- these guys are EVERYWHERE. When you need a good cup of coffee, when you need to meet someone somewhere, when you need a place to chill for awhile, a place to have down-to-earth human contact, there's a Starbucks for you. Find me a more consistent cup of coffee that you can find practically anywhere you are. It's an amazing thing.

Starbucks can be overdone, absolutely. Too many four-dollar mochas will rack up the pounds, as well as leave a large hole in your wallet. But with everything in life, moderation is key. You can eat too much health food. You can spend too much time at church. You can watch too much football. Yeah, I know.

Let's go back to church for a moment, shall we? God is everywhere. He can be really divinely annoying sometimes, too, because of His omnipresence. But you know that He's there, right? When you need Him more than the air you breathe, He's on every street corner, in every strip mall, even as close as your kitchen cupboard, right? And so it is, to a significantly lesser extent, with Starbucks.

So in a quite literal, worldly way, Starbucks is indeed the God of coffee.

Spoken like a true Starbucks partner, right?

10.14.2006

48 - 12


I keep it real, Badger-style.

10.11.2006

Snow & Cold

It's October again. The trees are slowing dying, their last words communicated via hues of orange and red and yellow. It's getting cooler, too, down into the 50's and 60's for highs. And who pulled the shades on the sun? It looks like a mid-summer evening at noon everyday. This is the stuff of which fond memories are made, the days of autumns past, the perfect October photo op.

And if you live in Minnesota, it means the first snow is most assuredly on its way.

Last year, we received our first inch of snow on October 6. Though there is no such snow in the forecast today, Old Man Winter has been trying his darnedest to blast us with turbocharged flurries today. It was beautiful outside, more like December than October. It was mildly cold; I use "mildly" as a relative term, since it was only in the mid-30s, with a windchill of about 20. Good Minnesotans know that 35 is not cold, and a windchill of 20 is simply an invigorating breeze.

I like cold. Those of you who have been reading my musings since the summer know that a significant part of me dies every time the thermometer rises above 80. Cold wakes you up in the morning and gets you into a hot shower and off to work more quickly. Cold causes the static metamorphosis of liquids, allowing our ponds to become hockey rinks. Cold also causes our women to be more conducive to cuddling and becoming more smoochy. What palm-shaded sandy beach causes female reactions like that?

But most of all, cold sets you apart. You are automatically different when your loyalties lie below the freezing mark. You laugh because, when the rest of society bundles up in their North Face parkas, you are sitting pretty in your hooded sweatshirt. And heck, if you're being active outside, that's even too warm... jeans and a tee will do. You snicker at the shmuck who just coughed up 50 g's for a four-wheel-drive Escalade and put it in a ditch, as your Escort effortlessly plows through the drifts and safely delivers you to your next destination. And there is nothing like a shirtless toboggan run to get your blood flowing.

Cold is not a problem. And if one insists upon that premise, it's nothing wool socks and a hot cocoa can't fix.

But alas, this premature bout of snow is all but a passing fancy. It will warm up again, to 50 by Saturday, they say. There is still much of a wonderful, crisp, cool autumn left to enjoy.

As Garrison Keillor says, "October is a month for intellectual clarity. Try to keep that in mind. Cold is a stimulant, heat a depressant."

9.21.2006

Can't We All Just Get Along?

Alright folks, it's time to fire up the patriotic music, pose with the nearest small child, and dance in a shower of hanging chads!

It's election season! Yay!

And in no other state is the voting populous treated to more entertainment than in the lovely state of my residence, Minnesota. Among the stage acts this year is the race for the Senate seat being vacated by Democratic Senator Mark Dayton, a seat that Republicans would love to nab, with Minnesota being a blue state and all, and so the mudslinging has begun. Upon the first polls being released, Republican U.S. Representative Mark Kennedy has found himself down by as many as 24 percentage points to Democratic Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar, and in order to make up ground has begun to release ads smearing his opponent. Point to Klobuchar for staying on the political straight-and-narrow.

Now, we've learned that some random Democratic blogger sent one of Ms. Klobuchar's top aides an email containing an unreleased campaign ad from the marketing agency in charge of producing ads on behalf of Rep. Kennedy. This aide allegedly viewed the not-yet-released campaign ad, and it was brought to the attention of Ms. Klobuchar that this had occurred. Instead of ignoring or making excuses for the aide's behavior (which we've seen PLENTY of in the politics of the past few years), the person was promptly fired by Klobuchar, an FBI investigation into the incident was requested by Klobuchar, and a public apology was issued.

Long story short, Klobuchar is now under attack from Kennedy for everything but high treason, and now Republicans will have us believe that Ms. Klobuchar sent political operatives out onto the internet to dig up dirt (or as much dirt as you can dig up in a self-promoting campaign ad) on Mark Kennedy. And they believe we're all going to cry foul, flock to an honest Republican like Mark Kennedy, and sweep him into office on a wave of votes and kisses.

I, personally, am impressed that Amy Klobuchar stood up and said "This is not what my campaign is about" and dropped the person from her campaign, no excuses offered and no questions asked. Let everyone spin the story how they'd like... the fact is, the candidate who is massively losing will always be the first to sling mud and the first to cry foul. And you can't convince me that a desperate man who has made it his first and foremost campaign plan to smear his opponent can be trusted to provide us with any truth about this situation, much less so lead our lawmakers in Washington.

Ah, election season. I agree, politics is dirty... and politicians maybe more so. Let's all be opinionated, but let's all do something about it. Vote. Please. I don't care if you're Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Veterinarian, Green, Blue, Red, Purple, Pink... just don't be Grey when it comes to voting, this is a basic American privilege, and if we are indeed a nation who will bomb and occupy other nations so that they can have this right, shouldn't we be the first to excercise it?

9.18.2006

ch-ch-ch-changes

No, not life changes, haha. That's not 'til January. I just decided to try something a little different with my page. I figured that since there are a lot of people who change their layouts, you know, once a week, that probably makes me a little outdated. Relatively speaking.

So I have been on jury duty for a week now. Besides being in downtown Minneapolis during my favorite time of year, the 2-hour lunch breaks, finding the best coffee in the Skyway (the Dunn Bros in 6 Quebec will fill your personal mug for a buck with free refills!), meeting a few new people and feeling like you're fulfilling your civic duty, it kind of sucks. When you get selected to be on a jury, YOU are the first person who goes on trial. Yup, witness stand and all. You get asked personal questions about your life by the judge, the defense AND the prosecution. And after waiting around for hours in a little white room, they decide that they don't want you, the confident, caffeinated, khaki-wearing rube that you are, to be on their case. "Thank you for your patience," they smile and tell you, "You may report back to the basement so that we may or may not randomly select you for another trial." So you shoot down 19 floors to the basement of the Hennepin County Governement Center, the room that shakes because it's directly beneath 6th St, and has a little computer lab full of vintage '95 Compaq Presarios, the kind that are great for playing Solitaire and 3D Pinball, and no internet. But at least I had my coffee and my CityPages.

So here I sit, waiting to be called downtown again, not quite sure when I'll be able to go back to work, yet not allowed to go anywhere. I actually miss work, I wonder if everyone still remembers who I am? I promise I'll be back, guys! Confident, caffeinated, khaki-wearing... just please don't put me on trial.

On second thought, go for it. I'd much prefer it to little white rooms and musty basements that shake with the passing of democracy in action...

9.17.2006

Vote For Bucky!

This is the most serious blog I will ever post... Bucky needs our help!

http://www.capitalonebowl.com/Default.aspx


Log in to this page and vote! You must vote in every matchup, but every mascot is cute and furry, so it's not too hard. And especially vote for Bucky!

I'm going to go watch the Vikings game now...

9.05.2006

A Blog About A Blog

So indeed, I need to be up in the morning, but doggonit, when you work at a coffee shop that doesn't close til 11pm, you're jacked for quite awhile! And when the happy couple in the apartment below you is hard at work being a happy couple, well...

So I post in anticipation of posting a somewhat useful and mildly introspective muse on the state of life and other observations, for all interested parties, coming soon... sometime... eventually... maybe... aren't you glad I've warned you in advance?

Stay tuned, folks. It's coming. Let the hype begin...

7.25.2006

Hell, As Hot

So it's got to be about 98 degrees outside today. If 666 is the most evil number in existence, 98 must be the second-most evil. Think about it... it's a terrible temperature for the weather. The temperature of the human body is approximately 98 degrees, and we can be really mean to each other. And who can forget (but would really like to!) the boy band 98 Degrees?! Goodness...Which leads me to thinking. Today, I heard someone use the term "hot as hell" to describe our current weather pattern. And this led to the thought, you know, the current translations of the Bible must have been written by northerners. "Hot as hell" is a very appropriate descriptor, for to us, heat is a stifling and unbearable proposition, a climate reserved for reptiles... reptiles not unlike the snake in the Garden of Eden. We northerners have a very clear idea of the torment afforded us by hot weather, and therefore have a healthy fear of hell. In contrast, such references to the flames of hell, lakes of fire, and other ideas of hell being a hot place are simply lost on residents of warmer, more southerly climes. To them, it sounds like home. So how does one reach the souls of folks who are simply unaffected by the thought of being thrown into a lake of fire?I propose the creation of climate-specific translations of the Bible. Imagine being a resident of, say, the southern United States, a region where the temperature rarely dips below 80 degrees. You're handed a Bible, the New Southern Standard Version, and you begin reading that the wages of sin is death, and death is being thrown into an eternal lake of ice water? Or the story about how Eve was tempted in the Garden by a cunning and evil polar bear? Or the story of Shadrach, Mishech and Abednego, the triumvirate of martyrs whose horrific punishment was to be placed in the kingdom's largest deep-freezer? It's enough to bring even the hardest-core Floridian to his or her knees! ...which is the general idea, saving all of humanity in the most climatologically-correct manner possible.I am SO going to freeze in an ocean of icebergs for this one...

7.15.2006

Website Woops

Apparently the link I gave for our website on The Knot is a no-go. Let's try this:

Joanna & Ian's Wedding Webpage!

If this doesn't work, I quit.

7.14.2006

Thoughts On The First Week, Or, How To Feel Good About Yourself Using MySpace

So ends the first week of this MySpace experiment. As my social point total stands at 31, I'd like to take this time to thank everyone for not rejecting my friend requests and for actually taking the time to read my info, my pics, and for leaving responses and comments. I feel welcomed into the world of MySpace. Now, in Week 2 of the experiment, I will try to leave more comments on all of your pages, and maybe even actually trying to talk to some of you, instead of just adding you as my friend and then bragging about the circumfrence of my online social circle...

As for happenings in the southwest corner of the known world, it's HOT. I suppose this is what all those people up here who complain about winter dream of on a regular basis. Blazing sunshine and a humidity factor that makes a Swedish sauna feel like the Gobi Desert. It's the perfect day to sit out in the sunshine and sip a Mocha Frappuccino. Or, in my case, stay in my almost-perfect 73 degree apartment and muse on MySpace, dreaming of October crisp and January white.

If you folks are bored this summer, you can hop on over to me and Joanna's wedding webpage and sign our guestbook, so we at least get the idea that people are reading it...

http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/IanCampbell&JoannaMcSpadden


That's it for now...

7.07.2006

A Sign Of The Times

Alright, so I was paid to do this. Yes, the price of 1 pent was enough to get Ian to make a MySpace, as he never would have done it of his own accord. If these are indeed end times, this is surely a sign...

Anyway, this is my first blog. I don't think I'll do this very often, but we'll see... I've come to understand that MySpace is as addictive as any narcotic, and as hard to quit as Diet Coke.

So what have I been up to? I've been back living in Minnesota for a year now, after a yearlong exodus to Milwaukee. I'm living in Eden Prairie with my brother Geoff. After two and a half years, two states, and 17 stores I recently jumped ship from Caribou Coffee and am now working for Starbucks in Hopkins. I am also engaged to be married to an old friend from my Youth Alive days in high school, Joanna McSpadden. The date is set at January 6, 2007.

So that's what's in the proverbial nutshell, what's up with everyone else?