Todays post brought to you by the color GREEN

Alright so it's time for an update to yesterday's post.

I couldn't just sit idly by and make blind passing judgement so I visited the restaurant formerly known as the Gold Nugget in Glen Lake, MN.

The decor is bland, its the same yuppie american bar and grille that you will find all across America. Large dominating bar, lots of woodwork, tall ceilings and "craftsman" style touches throughout. If your from around Minnesota you'll recognize hints of Champs, Redstone, Napa Grille, and if you play in and around the southwest twin cities, you'll definitely feel nuances of Jakes in E.P. or Jake O'Connors and Hazellewood Grille in Excelsior.

First off this is definitely not a burger joint anymore, the only thing remotely bovine about the place is that it will most certainly become a "meat market" for AARP card carrying divorcees. But I digress, on to the food.

Here's why I think the new Gold Nugget Tavern and Grille in Glen Lake, MN sucks balls and is a pale impostor:

1. Specialty Cocktails- WTF, I got a specialty cocktail its a god damn shell dark...maybe a shiraz if yer lucky.

2. Grill"e" - This isn't a fancy smchmancy chain is it?...maybe it is?

3. Kobe Beef Sliders - The nugget I remember didn't really even acknowledge japan...surely not as a beef producing country.

4. Calamari - the only fish should be cod, whitefish or walleye.

5. Brunch - Nuggeteers don't get up before noon?

6. Logo - Is this a restaurant or an iphone app?

7. Where the Fuck are the Onion Rings?

There are thousands of other reasons but these alone are more than enough to keep me away. If I wanted to go to Champs, I'd just drive my ass over to E.P. or Ridgedale.

So the inevitable day that anyone involved in social media eventually crosses came today...my dad is now following me on Twitter.

You can follow him if you want he's @architectomunde for anyone interested in following him. I figured it was coming sooner than later for the last three months or so I have been getting relative requests, save-a-whale messages and all around whackiness from my aunt on Facebook.

Having your folks on twitter adds some interesting questions...Is that tweet a simple reminder...was that one guilt. Does the tweet "I am making Beef Stew" just mean I am cooking stew or is it really"How come you never come over for dinner since you got a puppy?"

Opening up all these streams of communications make navigating familial relationships tricky. It's not all new to me though.

Seriously? I'm happy there are folks out there that pride themselves on abstaining from one of the more joyful things in life, but is it really necessary to wear a ring stating how morally superior you are over what comes naturally to all of us? I'd like to see a ratio of ring wearers who actually make it through til marriage and those who last less then 6 months. My guess is the numbers would be staggeringly in favor of failure. I guess we have today's dbags to thank for the phenomenon we call purity. However, with 3 of em one would figure our odds are quite strong getting to see at least two of them falter by way side as a victim to drugs, sex and rock and roll. Who will it be first? Kevin? Joe? Nick? My bet's on the ugly one wearing the femmy ring...

- Cholovista on assignment in the windy city.

Honestly, what era do we live in? Is this the 20's, is Al Capone still running the city? No, we live in the information age. An age where phone conversations, photos, emails, texts, IM's and even face to face conversations can come back to haunt you. I'm paranoid enough, and nobody really cares enough about me to look into my daily affairs. Yet the state of Illinois seems to be blessed with one arrogant prick after another. Governor, senator, representative...you name it. I'm surprised the state's superintendent of education hasn't been found taking money to pass flunking children. But what really gets me is the shear stupidity and audacity of it all. Did Burris really think that accepting the nomination of a Governor in the process of being impeached was a good idea? Did he think people wouldn't look into his past donations and conversations with the Governor?

Star Tribune Graphic:

My Sarcastic Response:

Take a look at this screenshot for the Google search results for "Festivus"....notic anything out of the ordinary?

Thats right folks the festivus pole makes an appearance....good to see that Google recognizes the holiday for "the rest of us"

Yesterday was Black Friday...the day when Americans stomp security guards to death and shoot each other in Toysrus across the country to get dibs on the latest tickle me Elmos and cheap flatscreen TVS.

Time and time again it amuses me to see just how freakin stupid the american consumer is....fresh off 4 dollar gas on coming right on the heals of cold weather and the ensuing heating bills....they line up in the frigid dark of early morn....for what? To get door busters....door-freakin-busters....what the f*ck? I always thought that was a hell of a term...do the retailers actually want a frothing public worked up with visions of cheap electronics and pumped full of starbucks knocking down their doors? Apparently they do...even if that means some poor security guard in Long Island gets killed.

I hope the family of that poor fella sues the marketing folks behind these stupid sales gimmicks.

Being that it is near the holidays I am going to share with you some of my hopes and dreams:

Ladies and gentlemen, I have seen hell on earth...and it was wearing a Coldwater Creek sweater.

I had the day off today and I thought what the hey...might as well hang out with the folks, it will be cheap and god knows with the holidays coming up I could stand to save some money. They swung by the pad and picked me up. What I hadn't counted on was the diversion that they had planned.

www.hpifestivals.com

Now that christmas is round the corner the stupid ads for Kay jewelers have ramped up. The only ad that I hate more than "Heeee went to Jared" is "Every kiss begins with Kay". These have to be two of the most annoying jingles of modern advertising.

That's why I was not suprised to find out that both stores are retail arms of the largest volume retail jewelry seller in the world; www.Signetjewelers.com. From their website it looks as if they command roughly 10% of sales.

The next time your looking for a shiny rock do all of us a favor and skip these guys, if for nothing else my sanity.

Ladies and gentlemen I give you www.notafathersday.com

I love the Conan Obrien effect of www.hornymanatee.com now whenever a website is muttered on a website, I grab my phone and type in the URL.