...and it was all right

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:38:26 GMT

.....aaaaaand £1452.45 later, I have 7 tickets and a 7-person suite for ATP NY!!!!

11:30am update: I just got a fraud warning call from my credit card company. What, didn't they get the message about the festival???

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 18:53:46 GMT

The ATP NY announcement mitigates two severely disappointing blows that I've been dealt this week. I'll be missing:

two Jarvis Cocker performances in July, because I'll be on the west coast.
a free Wire performance at South Street Seaport on May 30 (featuring Margaret Fiedler from Laika on guitar!), because my mom will be in town.

I better land tickets to ATP UK. Grumble, grumble.

ATP NY

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:23:12 GMT

How has NO ONE on my friends list written about this yet?!?!

All Tomorrow's Parties - New York

September 19 - 21, at Kutshers Country Club, in Monticello, New York.

Lineup:

My Bloody Valentine
Built to Spill performing Perfect From Now On
Meat Puppets performing Meat Puppets II
Thurston Moore performing Psychic Hearts
Tortoise performing Millions Now Living Will Never Die
Shellac
Mogwai
Polvo
Fuck Buttons
Autolux
The Drones
Low
Wooden Shjips
Edan with Dagha
Thee Silver Mount Zion Orchestra

I am a complete mess right now. I wish there was a physical ticket outlet so I could go line up in front of it right now. I'm not going to be able to sleep at all until Friday.

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:38:12 GMT

I don't know if it was your influence, fisticuffs, but Amazon sure got back to me quickly!

I'm sorry for the problem with the DVD. It appears as if the DVD arrived defective. Please note that we do not want our customers to get into any kind of trouble. We want everyone to have a pleasant experience with us. Hence, to correct the situation, I've placed a new order for the item "The Wire - The Complete Second Season" at no charge.

He doesn't want me to get into any kind of trouble. What a sweet man.

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:27:33 GMT

A letter I just sent to Amazon customer service. It also goes a long way toward explaining what the hell I'd been doing all winter.

Dear Customer Service Representative,

I am humbly writing you this letter, because I'm hoping to appeal to your sense of pity. I would like to exchange a dvd box set, even though the window for exchanges has closed. It's a long shot, I know, but I'm hoping my story will inspire a tiny sliver of sympathy.

I ordered the Season 1 & 2 dvd box sets of "The Wire" for my girlfriend, for her birthday, in early February. It was one of the best gifts I've ever given her, and we've been having a wonderful time surviving a bitterly cold winter curled up together on the couch. We LOVE "The Wire," and have even avoided social obligations to stay home and watch episodes (not that either of us are particularly proud of that or would admit it in public). We've been diligently pacing ourselves, though, and refusing to gorge ourselves with day-long marathons. Instead we've been good viewers, doling out the episodes on a one-by-one basis. We even took a two-week break after Season 1, to pretend we were suffering through a summer of re-runs (but also mostly so as not to exhaust the discs too quickly).

Right now we're almost at the end of Season 2. Last night, after dinner, we cued up the second-to-last disc of Season two (episodes 8, 9, and 10). We both had a long and stressful weekend (her sister was visiting from out-of-town, and she started a new job today), and all we wanted was what we had been looking forward to all day: a relaxing evening with Bal'more's finest. But halfway through episode 9, the disc froze. We were stunned (well, she was bemoaning her luck, I was gritting my teeth). I tried the disc on a different dvd player and on my computer, but it didn't work on any of them. I tried gently wiping the disc with a towel, to no luck. No Wire for us. Hopeless.

As a desperate last measure, I logged into my Amazon account to see about inquiring for a refund. Alas, it was well past the 30-day window of opportunity. Unfortunately it would seem, our patience in viewing the discs proved detrimental.

So I plead my case to you, and appeal to your most beneficent and kindly motivations. Please do not make us suffer punishment for our well-intentioned behavior. Were we to have glutted ourselves on a 3-day Wire bender in early March we would have caught this defect earlier, and sent it on its merry way back for a refund. Instead, too late to the discovery due to our careful regimen, we are out of hope. Please take pity and allow us to exchange this box set for a new one. Your actions will go a long way toward making two small Brooklyn residents a very happy couple (and satisfied Amazon customers), with a sense of justice renewed and restored.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Warmest regards,
Benjamin Haas

I'll post back when I get a response. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:15:45 GMT

So the big news is that Marci's moving in with me at the end of this month. The lesser news is that she's looking for a subletter for her apartment in Manhattan. I've re-posted her ad below — check it out if you or someone you know is looking for a place, and drop me a line if you want more info.

One bedroom and personal bathroom available for 6-month-to-1-year sublease in cozy 2 bed/2 bath 4th floor walk-up Chinatown apartment. The room is 8'x12' with 3 windows, a heater, AC unit and closet. Current tenant is moving out May 1, and will leave a full/queen size bed if you'd like. The apartment is a three minute walk from the Grand Street stop on the B/D line, an eight minute walk each from the E. Broadway and Delancey Street stops on the F line. Minutes from exciting dining/nightlife spots of the Lower East Side, fresh produce/fish/meat markets of Chinatown, Soho shopping and the charms of Little Italy. Share the living room and kitchen space with a busy 30-ish female Ph.D student. Rent is $1200 per month plus utilities & internet (approximately $75 per month total), and the sub-lease is for 6 months with the option of a longer stay. First and last month's rent are due on move-in date. A responsible and fun female is preferred. No pets or drugs are allowed (drinking is ok).

Pictures here!

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 21:03:02 GMT

Our trip to Defiant Brewery now has an official writeup. Though I'm not referenced by name, I'm responsible for the custard quote.

Cherry Blossoms

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:45:01 GMT

Cherry Blossoms, originally uploaded by Benjamin Haas.

Marci and I drove down to Washington, DC, this past weekend to hang out with old favorites Donny and Katie, and check out the cherry blossoms. And get unexpectedly loaded on Belgian beer.

Full photo set here.

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:48:46 GMT

After taking care of some business in Astoria, I just rode the R train into work a few minutes ago, and sat across from the Dapper Mr. Thom Browne for a solid seven stops. He was dressed exactly as you would expect - tight grey flannel suit, short pants, skinny tie, pocket square - and his acolyte/gentleman-friend matched him precisely. I refrained from saying anything to him, not even a smile and nod, mostly out of the shame borne from my holey, faded super-unstylish jeans and covered-in-city-grime sneakers. At least I was wearing pretty socks.

Number 20 is a lucky man

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:09:33 GMT

Number 20 is a lucky man, originally uploaded by Benjamin Haas.

The boys and I took the train up to Pearl River, NY on Saturday and spent a few hours at the Defiant Brewery.

haricots verts and poached eggs

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:09:44 GMT

the final assemblage!, originally uploaded by Benjamin Haas.

A small lunch that we cobbled together out of stuff from the fridge. I'm still hungry though, even though I've already eaten an entire truffle pig.

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 20:15:47 GMT

So Marci and I took advantage of our pain-in-the-ass-to-get reservation, and ate at Momofuku Ko last night. There's no disputing that the food is definitely, without a doubt, really, really damn awesome. And it's sort of thrilling to eat there, because the space has room for no tables — just a 14-seat bar that opens onto food prep space. Not exactly a bustling, hot kitchen, but a swift-moving efficient operation with the minimal set of tools necessary. The food prep staff is as close to you as bartenders would be at a regular bar, and every oyster shucking, pan sear, and deep frying is immediately visible to you. In other words, the entire place is one big chef's table. And true to form, David Chang was there, overseeing the entire operation, occasionally stepping in to do some slicing and stirring, but mostly just watching and tasting.

There's no food choices here; Instead, a Moleskin notebook is placed in front of you, and the first austere page shows you the cost for the food and the cost for wine pairing. That's it. You have to love a place that has a disclaimer "we apologize but the current menu at momofuku ko does not accommodate guests who do not eat meat, fish or dairy."

But in spite of all that, I can't really say that it's worth the effort or expense.

We were served eleven courses in all:

Chicharron dusted with togarashi
Mini-english muffins with whipped pork fat infused with bay leaf
Fluke sashimi in spicy buttermilk with poppy seeds and chive
Seared pork belly with a single half-shell oyster, over wilted cabbage in a kim chi broth
Soft-boiled hen egg with hackelback caviar over onions soubise, with fingerling potato chips and chervil
Pan-seared scallops, manila clams, and sea beans, with dashi and and mushroom puree
Shaved foie gras over lychees, lychee gelee and pine nut brittle
Deep fried short ribs with daikon and pickled mustard seeds, with carrot and grilled scallion
Grilled rice roll with pickled vegetables, served with a miso broth
Pineapple gelato with caramelized pineapple wedges
Fried apple pie with sour ice cream and miso syrup

$85/each for the food, $50/each for the wine & sake pairing. Total bill, pre-tip, was just under $300. And the food was unilaterally outstanding.

I've come to realize that when I'm dropping this much bank and working this hard for a reservation, I expect a lot more than just excellent food.

The geometry of the space demands that the visual barrier between kitchen staff and diner is completely obliterated. But curiously, in spite of this, I felt like social wall between staff and guest was larger than most restaurants. Definitely larger than at restaurants that offer comparable dining at similar prices. Usually when a meal crosses the three-figures-per-person barrier, you can expect that the staff will be working hard to make your experience an enjoyable, comfortable one. Not necessarily leisurely or overly friendly, but at least concerned with your level of enjoyment. At Ko, the staff's emphasis on efficiency and minimal intrusion seemed to be at odds with a layout. The whole approach seems to intend to rethink the traditional dining experience and collapse constructions of formality, but ultimately it came out on the opposite end of the spectrum. I got a strong "look but don't touch (or talk)" vibe from everyone involved, and actually felt less comfortable there than at other high-end joints. It's also hard to justify the high cost when the restaurant takes a stripped-down approach to staffing, where the hostesses triple as the wine stewards and busers. I'm sure a good portion of it goes toward high quality ingredients (and NYC rent), but it's hard to make sense of it. And yes, I'll even complain that the wine pours were tiny.

Still, I'd want to go back. Not for a while, though, when the menu has undergone a complete overhaul.

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:21:25 GMT

I'm reposting this for my friend Lena. She has an apartment in London that she wants to swap for a NYC apartment in May. If you're traveling (or want to travel) to the UK in May, I can't recommend this opportunity highly enough.

P. and I are going to be in NYC for a wedding at the beginning of May. We don't really have a budget for a hotel, so I was wondering if any of you would be interested in doing an apartment swap? Or have friends that might be interested? We will need a place in New York for about a week, but will be in the US for a total of 2 weeks and would happily let you stay in our flat in South London for as much of that time as you'd like. We are not luxury nuts, we really just need a place where the two of us can crash and not impose on friends for such a long time. I'm open to any other suggestions/ideas you might have.

Here are the relevant details:

Dates of our NYC visit:
Thursday, May 1 - Tuesday, May 6; then again for 2 nights: May 13 & 14

Our flat:
Sweet little garden flat on a street full of buildings that I like to refer to as "Victorian tract housing". Cute, but they're all exactly the same. 1 BR, full bath, separate entrace from the rest of the building, huge private garden that you might actually be able to use by May. We live in Streatham Hill which is just south of Brixton and served by tons of busses at the end of our street that take you to the tube and most parts of London you'd likely want to go to. The Victoria line undergound station in Brixton is about a 5-10 min bus ride depending on traffic and takes you into central London in about 15 minutes. Brixton itself is bustling and has a great street market daily, loads of bars, and nightclubs that I don't know much about (how times change!) Will happily give you a list of amenities and favorite places of ours if you are unfamiliar with the area.

I'm sure I've left alot out, so please let me know if you have any questions.

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:19:16 GMT

I'm going to Momofuku Ko!

It only took two hours of page reloads this morning to get it to work. Hell, this was harder than getting baseball playoff tickets through Ticketmaster.

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:22:38 GMT

My first attempt at baking any kind of dessert-y type thing turned out pretty ok, I think. In exchange for services offered (a car ride to Fairway Market), I baked a traditional (don't call it trashy) 'Nilla Wafer Banana Pudding. I MacGyvered a double boiler out of a pot, a stainless steel bowl, and some tin foil for the custard (note to self: use whole milk next time), and discovered how easy it is to make meringue (which I'll probably put on everything in the near future).

Pretty, huh?

That was my only real accomplishment of the weekend. I tried to see "Edge of Heaven" at Lincoln Center on Saturday afternoon, but I took the train all the way uptown just to find out it was sold out. So I came home and watched a "Henry Fool" dvd instead. Also on the movie front, I just ordered the 3-dvd box set of "Leningrad Cowboys Go America", and am VERY much hoping it's not a waste of fifty bucks.

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:13:31 GMT

Being the last person in the country to get one, I finally acquired a region-free dvd player. This means I can finally watch my 4-and-a-half-hour director's cut German import of Until The End of the World. I figure it needs to be watched once every five years or so, right billetdoux?

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:03:36 GMT

That eclipse was pretty awesome, wasn't it? (Sorry Bostonians, the skies were crystal-clear here in New York.) I'm pretty sure that's the first eclipse I've ever witnessed. I've seen meteor showers with my dad, the northern lights in central Massachussets on a first date, but never an eclipse. I watched it alone, on my apartment stoop, because Marci's far away in Reykjavik, at the Iceland Food & Fun Festival, where surely she's in a sitting in a hot tub in the middle of a glacier, being serenaded by Björk this very second. Or if she's truly lucky, eating Hákarl (aka, putrefied shark, Iceland's national national food, or "the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing"). If you don't know what Hákarl is, I highly suggest you follow that link.

I shouldn't be too jealous, I've been eating pretty decadently myself the past two weeks, even factoring in two brief, miserable, weather-impaired jaunts to Chicago for work.

Saturday, 2/9 - Foie gras & rabbit terrine, and Lamb Chop Persillade at Allen & Delancey, for Marci's birthday.

Sunday, 2/10 - Homemade green chile enchiladas from El Quinto Pino & deviled eggs from Tia Pol, downed with belgian beer at Marci's birthday gathering at Against the Grain.

Monday, 2/11 - Duck terrine and Chandon Brut at Le Bar at the Sofitel Hotel in Chicago.

Tuesday, 2/12 - McDonald's egg & cheese biscuit at O'Hare Airport in the morning. A crappy pesto chicken sandwich later on at Wolfgang Puck's Express, again at O'Hare Airport.

Wednesday 2/13 - Foie gras tacos, huitlacoche & nopales tacos, short ribs braised in pomegranate with ancho chile glaze, and a kumquat margarita at Toloache. Later, panna cotta and prosecco at Bacaro.

Thursday, 2/14 - Made veal saltimbocca and porcini risotto for Valentine's Day. Had it with a bottle of Sofia Coppolla Blanc de Blanc.

Friday, 2/15 - A rare healthy day of eating?

Saturday, 2/16 - Half a loaf of lard bread from Mazzola Bakery, alongside homemade egg, gruyere, and canadian bacon breakfast sandwiches. Later on, Gyu Don and tempura at Kayaba, at Mitsuwa Japanse Market in Edgewater, NJ.

Sunday, 2/17 - The other half-loaf of lard bread, and knishes from Yonah Schimmel, sweet potato and pizza flavors.

Monday, 2/18 - the Blackjack, a black pepper-crusted hamburger with bourbon mustard at Ram Restaurant in Wheeling, Illinois.

Even though I didn't participate in January's Health Month like the rest of you, February is definitely my Anti-Health Month. Or, more accurately, Disgusting, Slovenly Pig Month. I can only imagine what my blood pressure and cholesterol levels must be. I don't want to know. Time to cut down on the foie gras.

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 19:56:09 GMT

Around 4pm yesterday I got an email from Marci saying we've got free tickets and we're going to Fuerzabruta at 8pm. Free? Fine by me. I'd been curious about seeing it, but never really seemed motivated to buy tickets on my own. I remember seeing De La Guarda about ten years ago, back when New York was still completely foreign and scary to me, and being if not exactly majorly impressed, at least pleasingly confused.

I'm older and more jaded, and there's absolutely nothing thrilling about a theater in Union Sq., but Fuerzabruta accomplished the same thing. A solid half of the show reminding me of nothing so much as a Brazilian bar mitzvah party with techno, fog machines, confetti, and a fire hose. We were surrounded by backpacks and trilling R's, clueing us into the fact that we were in the midst of vacationing Euros, who must've thought they mistakenly stumbled into Little Ibiza. One guy who seemed to be enjoying himself was Orlando Bloom, who was standing directly across from us and throwing his hands in the air like he realy just didn't care (of course I didn't recognize him - I though surely he's have long blond hair and pointed ears). The other half of the show involved watching half-naked mermaid wanna-bes cavorting on an overhead Slip'n'Slide, which honestly couldn't possibly be disappointing. And maybe it isn't exactly great theater, but it was a great spectacle, seeing the different forms they created with shallow pools of water.

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:50:21 GMT

I used to think the idea of business travel was fun. You get to see a new city, and you get paid while you're there. If you're lucky, you get to explore as a tourist for a bit. That lingering notion was dispelled yesterday when I was picked up at 5:45AM and flew to St. Paul, Minnesota in the dead of winter, and returned back home close to midnight. Seventeen hours of travel just for a four-hour meeting. At least I got a great lunch out of it - I couldn't recommend W.A Frost & Company more. Now I just need a reason to return to St. Paul to have a proper meal there.

Best news of today so far: The Breeders have a new album out on April 8, and I just read that they're playing Webster Hall on June 10! I'm still ashamed to admit I was too lazy to see them when they played at TT's in 2003, the last time they toured. Won't happen again, I promise.

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:18:21 GMT

One more request for help, Philly-style. We're driving down next weekend for the "Art of Lee Miller" exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Are there any cool, boutique-y hotels in the area? That aren't outrageously priced? Other ideas of stuff to do on a Saturday night?

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:36:11 GMT

I really want to go to this nerdy lecture/reading on Wednesday, but I'll be traveling to Minneapolis/St. Paul for work instead. It's appropriately named Dorkbot - I copied the full description

Dorkbot - 7pm on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 at Location One in SoHo.

Eric Redlinger / Mrmr - dynamic user interfaces for mobile devices
Mrmr, an open protocol for creating and pushing user interfaces to mobile devices will be demoed. In this demo, a user interface will be constructed from scratch and sent to an iPod, which in turn will be used to control an interactive performance (via its newly created UI). Eric, currently a research fellow at Brooklyn Polytech, has a long history working in multiuser, interactive performance environments. Beginning in the 90s with the keyworx project (http://www.keyworx.org), he has contributed to a number of open-source initiatives and is active as a core member in the NYC node of the global Share (http://share.dj) community.
http://poly.share.dj/wiki/index.php/mrmr

Andrew Senior: artificial life
In this talk I'll describe three recent art projects that explore artificial life ideas: "Couch Potato Farm" imagines an ecosystem that lives in TV signals; "Earthwords" explores the secret lives of texts; and my current project "Pomona" which proposes robotic plant prostheses.
http://andrewsenior.com

Jason Van Anden: Bubble Beats
The musician Beck said in a recent interview that it would be cool if people could take his songs and "play them like a videogame." Jason Van Anden's newest project, BubbleBeats.com makes his dream a reality, and then some. Based on technology he originally invented to enable robots to interact improvisationally, anyone can visit and combine colorful bubbles filled with music (or other sounds) to create new living compositions. Jason and musician Nat Hawks will be presenting the beta version of BubbleBeats to the early adopters at dorkbot-nyc.
http://www.bubblebeats.com

So I'll be in the Twin Cities for one day only - flying out at 8am and returning late at night. Anyone have a restaurant recommendation for me and my co-workers? Bonus points if it's open for lunch and is located near here. edit: I've done a little poking around...anyone familiar with WA Frost & Company? Forepaugh's? La Grolla? Lexington?

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:11:53 GMT

I'm trying to be a bit more regular in writing in here, so please forgive me if this is boring for a while. It'll take some time to clear off the rust.

Tuesday night Marci and I joined my male husband, Eoin (no really, I'd marry him if he'd let me), and saw The Tren Brothers (Mick Turner & Jim White of The Dirty Three) and Six Organs of Admittance (joined by Elisa Ambroglio of Magik Markers) at the Mercury Lounge. I was a bit of a Dirty Three fan back in the day, and I'd been reading about Jim White for a while now that his star is in its ascendancy, but this was my first time actually paying him any mind. I didn't expect much going in, but holy hell, he was amazing. He was just so...effortless, and yet he made such a rich, elaborate show. He had this look on his face like he'd done this a million times before, and he was only using about 5% of his abilities. He had on a schlubby outfit (his shirt was accidentally unbuttoned at the bottom so his hairy belly was visible), and just had this nonchalant glazed expression the whole time, but he blew everyone away.

Wednesday night was a respite - we stayed in and made stuffed pork chops, and then fell asleep watching Nick Cave's The Proposition. It wasn't that the movie was boring - on the contrary - it's just that lately, around 11pm, in the comfort of my warm couch in my warm apartment, my eyelids automatically shutter.

(By the way, I just found out Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds are headlining the Plug Awards here in NYC next month - no idea what to expect there, though I'll definitely try to attend.)

Last night we met up at Borders at Columbus Circle - a train ride uptown for me, a flight of stairs down for her - and we watched Ira Glass field questions for a half hour, in conjunction with the release of his "This American Life" dvd. Now I'm not a regular listener or watcher so I'm in no position to comment or judge, but the questions proffered up by the attendees were every bit as dull and unimaginative as you might imagine. How many times can you paraphrase "what's the difference between working in radio and tv? Is it hard to come up with story ideas?" We stood in the back and rolled our eyes at each other, and then took a cab to the Bemelman Bar at the Carlyle Hotel. We were supposed to be greeted by her friend who's the beverage director there, but he was curiously absent, so we just had one twenty dollar cocktail each and headed home.

And now tonight I'm either doing karaoke at Sing Sing for a friend's birthday, or going to the Spank Rock/Rapture dj dance party up in Greenpoint.

Tomorrow night we're going over to the frenchies' apartment to make crepes in celebration of La Chandeleur, and then off to the Grayz holiday party (only six weeks late!).

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:45:20 GMT

Sunday ended up being a day of more injury and desperately needed recovery. After I turned butterfingers once again and sliced my thumb open cutting an apple (I swear, I do something like this once every six months - cannot forget the "cured meat" incident, or the "mandoline incident"), Marci and I headed to Chinatown for some full-body pummeling at the Broom Sky Health Center, also known as the "curiously lax about privacy and nudity" basement massage center.

Afterward we went to Uniqlo, which surprisingly no longer looks like a warehouse of J Crew castoffs, and actually found some decent looking jeans.

And then we met friends and ate at Bacaro, where I had my best celebrity spotting yet. Shortly after being seated in one of the underground chambers, we witnessed a tall, handsome vaguely-Euro-looking man walk in, followed by an Asian woman, and then some of their friends. They sat at a table about three feet from us, and proceeded to pull out a small toy Casio keyboard and discuss playing music with it. Marci recognized her voice first, and pulled me in for a conspiratorial whisper. I stole a glance over and realized, yes, we were seated next to Amadeo and Kazu from Blonde Redhead.

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:17:37 GMT

Today I think I finally feel recovered from Saturday, though my bruises might suggest otherwise. Another racing of the Idiotarod down, this year outfitted as the Hair Cult for Men:

I seriously cannot believe how much team effort went into this year's theme. Now you know why I was inquiring about hair cannons in my last post. So I can't really explain how this theme came to pass - I'm pretty it was a strong attempt to bridge the conceptual and the pop cultural, without resorting to the usual food tossing. Instead of sabotaging other teams by greasing their cart's wheels with Crisco, we aimed to sabotage by greasing their cart's handles with human hair and vaseline, a.k.a. "Rogue Gain."

Our team got our notification to meet at noon in Fort Greene Park, and from there we got the notice to proceed to the official starting point at the York St. stop in Dumbo. We then wended our way through Downtown Brooklyn, Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, and upper Red Hook.

Here's the route map (the numbered markers don't represent checkpoints):

Five miles in total, and we ran for most of it. Not bad, since I haven't run farther than two miles at any one time since...probably last year's race. The only down side is that our sabotage team got separated from us mushers 'cause they couldn't keep up with us speed demons.

Supplies:

"Rogue Gain":

More "Rogue Gain":

Even more "Rogue Gain":

Sabotage in action:

Jenene's full set is here, with new pictures being added daily.

We even have an official team song.

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:00:12 GMT

Let's say you had some hair. A whole LOT of hair. Bags and bags of hair clippings. How would you make a hair cannon?

(Yes, the Idiotarod is coming up.)