My employer’s annual holiday party was held on Friday night, and it was a blast as usual. They rented out The Fine Line and hired Boogie Wonderland to entertain us. They spare no expense to show us we’re appreciated!

The costume theme this year was 70s Disco. I’m proud to report that yours truly “Big Daddy” Nico won best costume! Amy and I certainly had a blast, and it made up for my shut-out at last year’s party.

I’ve also posted a couple of pictures from Halloween. We didn’t put quite as much thought in to the outfits, but I think they’re funny. Caution, they might offend some.

Congratulations to my sweet fiancée for completing her first half marathon!

We enjoyed a beautiful drive up to Ashland and back and a mostly pleasant stay at the Hotel Chequamegon, which has a beatiful location on Lake Superior and a gorgeous old lobby and hotel bar but lacked some serious attention to detail as far as the rooms were concerned.

Since J is so callously ditching on our annual tradition of hitting the Vikings’ home opener, we had to find a replacement. Many thanks to Tim’s cousin-in-law Jeremy for stepping in.

Spent the weekend before last in ultimate splendor at Jim & Laura’s Shell Lake Oasis, which is also the site of our annual guys’ weekend. It’s always a great time at Shell Lake. And I finally got to hang my hammock, my favorite souvenir from my trip to Colombia two years ago. Best of all, I didn’t burn a single pancake.

Lessons I learned this weekend:

1. If you’ve been drinking… especially gravity-fed, upside-down margaritas in a barber chair right before a fast spin in said barber chair… driving around on a gas-powered scooter, AKA Zooma, is not a good idea. If you’re lucky, you’ll only get some road rash.
2. No matter how sincerely she promises to not get angry or upset if things don’t go exactly how she imagined them, never cut your girlfriend’s hair. I knew it was a bad idea before I cut, and that was confirmed before the last hair hit the floor. On the other hand, it was fun, and her hair has already been complimented today!

Bored and hot on a steamy Sunday afternoon, Amy and I took a walk to William’s Pub in uptown yesterday afternoon to partake of their fantastic $1 burger special. Somewhere along the way, we must’ve been spotted by The Association’s esteemed and inebriated treasurer and caretaker. They kindly saw to berating their humble president’s attire, but what am I supposed to wear? It’s summer! And I’ll be damned if anyone disses the visor.

It was a gift, and of highly sentimental and utilitarian value. Oh yeah, and it’s snowboarding, not skiing. Not to mention that I don’t know the first thing about knitting.

Lastly: Eddie, if you’re going to get Joe drunk, make sure he gets home safe. He’s a scary sight pounding shirtless on the front door and yelling at midnight on Sunday.

Photos from our annual guys’ weekend are up. More to come.

I had a very strange, vivid dream early this morning. In hopes of finding a tennis match (something I had been looking for yesterday afternoon), I called the local tennis center.

They said I was in luck, because it just so happened that Andre Agassi was around and looking for a game. Of course, I immediately found myself there ready to start the match, but I realized I hadn’t brought any tennis balls. I apologized to Andre, and went to the pro shop to get some. We started hitting the ball around. I was feeling anxious because I was so obviously not in his league. Then I broke a string on my racquet. Again, I apologized and headed to the pro shop. Repaired racquet in hand, I headed back to the court.

There I was perplexed to find a big family-style banquet setting up on the baseline. I managed to talk the woman in charge in to moving the party to somewhere more appropriate. Just as Andre and I were about to get back on the court, I noticed that really tall grass and sunflowers had grown, again along the baseline.

We then decided to look for courts elsewhere, but the conversation on the way to my car turned to what he was going to town, where to have dinner. I remember apologizing for the uneven match up, being a 3.0 player to his 7.0 (8.0?). Then I said, “No one’s going to believe that I was playing tennis with Andre Agassi!” He pulled a little digital camera out of his pocket and took our picture. In the picture, the only time I can really remember seeing his face, he looked just like Amy’s brother Todd. And I could see us moving in the still picture. So weird.

Anyway, we decided to go get steaks somewhere, and that’s when I woke up. What does it all mean?!

My building is kitty-corner to Stevens Square Park just outside of downtown Minneapolis. I’m fortunate enough to have a corner unit that overlooks the park, even more so today thanks to Red Hot Art, a tiny but not-half-bad art and music festival. I’ve been milling about my condo for a while listening to the bands playing, and I was just drawn out to the grass by Dot Communists, a really fun, rockin’ local pop band I had never heard of (and for whom I can’t even find a website). How cool to have this going on just outside my window.

Especially after the sharp contrast of last weekend, when there was an actual gunfight in the alley across the street. In the middle of the afternoon! Geez! Anyway, that’s “old” Stevens neighborhood - a version that’s gradually disappearing. I hope that this “new” Stevens catches on a little quicker, though.

Question that’s been going through my head a lot lately: can two people live comfortably in 609 sq. ft.?

Update: Now there’s a really frickin’ terrible, super-hardcore thrash band on. Actually for what I know, they might be a phenomenal hardcore thrash band, but I’d still rather hear those gunshots!