the apple juice diet

Winter has finally reached out and placed a wet, sloppy kiss on Dubuque...the snow is falling hard and soggy, making for perfect snowballs. And with it comes the flu. I woke up at 4 am Sunday morning feeling nauseous...I spent the next twelve hours alternately vomiting and cradling myself against chills and sweats. I'm lucky...it's been several years since I've had the stomach flu (or "gastro-intestinal virus") but I haven't forgotten just how quickly it can lay me flat and helpless. Very humbling. Luckily, I have both family and friends to look after me when I am down for the count. I don't know what I would have done without them, except possibly be even more pathetic (which I'm not sure is possible!) Since I wasn't able to eat, my entire diet for the next twenty four hours was apple juice, the recommendation of the nice nurse on the other end of the phone. After throwing up all morning, it was the most delicious thing I could imagine.

My friend Kathy, her sister Liz, and Nicky have also contracted this virus within the last two days. Do yourself a favor. Stay home and read a book!

Which is exactly what I did. On Sunday afternoon, when I was feeling strong enough to get out of bed, I hobbled two blocks to the public library (I must've made quite the sight with my extreme bedhead and shaky gait) and picked up a copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which is being released in theaters this weekend. I'm halfway through the book and enjoying it immensely.

So Sunday was pretty much a wash. On Friday Nicky and I drove to Cedar Rapids, did a little window shopping at Photo Pro, and then met LeAnn and her daughter Maddie for pizza at Zoey's. Zoey's, for those of you who don't know, is a fantastic, unassuming little pizzeria on the corner of downtown Marion, just east of Cedar Rapids. The pizza comes in two varieties: Chicago and New York. I've never had the big apple version (thin crust, of course), but the Chicago style - wow. I know what you're thinking...every Tom, Dick, and Papa John does "Chicago style". Not like this, they don't. I'm not talking about an an overinflated pizza with extra crust. It reminds me of a piece of pie - crust and all ("Pizza pie" takes on a whole new meaning now). Of course, the fact that my stomach and large intestine were trying to forcefully deliver themselves out of my mouth a day later has soured me a bit on the idea of pizza for now.

On Saturday I drove back to Cedar Rapids to spend the day with LeAnn (yes, we're still pretty much a weekend couple - kinda frustrating, but there you have it). The weather was spectacular - in the low to mid-sixties, at least. At Maddie's request, we grilled hot dogs and made macaroni and cheese for lunch, with s'mores for desert. I impressed the ladies with my fire-making skills (sarcasm, people!).

After lunch we headed to the Cedar Rapids Art Museum, where we took in a Grant Wood exhibit (who else?) which focused on his residency in Cedar Rapids. Even though it's easy to grow weary of the Grant Wood-mania I have to admit that he is still one of my favorites, and I relish the opportunity to see his paintings up close and in person. I saw one this time around that I had not had the opportunity to see in person before - Parson Weem's Fable. What's creepy and fascinating about the painting is that Wood decided to paint the young George Washington with the old face of the Gilbert Stuart portrait we all know and love - powdery wig and all.

That evening LeAnn and I went and saw Jarhead, which we both enjoyed. I think I was slightly less taken with the movie simply because I've read the book and couldn't help but draw comparisons. Probably not very fair, because the movie is solid. But it's also a little toothless compared to the book, in my opinion - Anthony Swofford made some very strong anti-war statements that don't manage to find their way into the movie. And even though Jake Gyllenhaal does a good job, he doesn't elicit the sympathy that Swofford manages to capture in the book - the movie doesn't have that autobiographical feel to it. By all means, see the movie - but don't miss the book. Peter Sarsgaard, by the way, is fantastic in the role of Anthony's closest, well, "friend" doesn't really describe it. And talk about cognitive dissonance - seeing Dennis Haysbert, the friendly guy from the Allstate commercials playing a hardass Marine commander was just STRANGE. "Are YOU in good hands"?

articles and links

There's several interesting articles online lately. One of my favorites is a New York Times travel piece highlighting Portland. I was pleased to see that the article mentions Doug Fir, the restaurant/club that Ann took me to when I was there last month (I told you she was hip!).

Other good things include a Slate tribute to Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson, and another NYT article that features interviews with several families who have moved from the coasts to the midwest (news flash: people actually live in Missouri! *gasp*)

roadtrip to St. Paul

Back in the saddle after a short weekend in St. Paul. LeAnn's good friend Shawn was celebrating his thirtieth birthday, so we went up Saturday for the party. Before we hit the party, however, we went out to dinner with Joanna and Michael. After considerable reflection, we decided on La Cucaracha, one of J and M's favorite Mexican restauants in the cities. I had an enchilada with pork and green tomatillo sauce that seared my taste buds in about the time it takes to say "tomatillo"...I must've drank at least five glasses of water!

After dinner LeAnn and I headed to the party proper. I met several of her friends, many of whom were, or are, from Dubuque (Shawn grew up in Dubuque, and his parents still live here). LeAnn's friend Randy lightly grilled me about my background and intentions, which I thought was touching (LeAnn described Randy as "the bigger brother I never had"). I was also impressed by Shawn's music and movie collection. He had a Sonic Youth poster signed by everyone in the band - pretty sweet. As soon as I saw that, I knew this guy was alright! *laugh*

On Sunday, LeAnn and I had breakfast at Joanna and Michael's. Joanna made a fantastic "egg bake" inspired by a recipe from Martha Stewart's Living magazine (I had to laugh at that!). And the bacon was SO good...Michael said it was smoked with applewood. I couldn't get enough!

Overall, I was rather happy with how the weekend went. This was the first roadtrip for us, and I believe that trips can test a relationship and reveal sides to (of?) your significant other that you may not see from day to day. Of course, we made the trip without LeAnn's daughter Maddie so things certainly would have been different had she been with us. And it was a short trip - just a couple days - so it wasn't a big test - not like a weeklong vacation. But it's a good start, I think.

A few cool things I re-disovered this weekend:

1. "I Ran" by A Flock of Seagulls. This was playing on the stereo at Shawn's party. One of the first music videos I remember seeing on MTV back in the day. In my mind, one of the finest slices of eighties new wave. Incredibly catchy.

2. E=MC2 by Big Audio Dynamite. Something - I'm not sure what - reminded me of this song this weekend, which I promptly downloaded from iTunes when I got home. Big Audio Dynamite is perhaps best known as Mick Jones's band after The Clash disbanded. This particular song reminds me of my sophmore year in college (1988-89). It's very clubby, which you wouldn't expect from a former member of the Clash. I probably haven't heard it for a good fifteen years. A great, forgotten song.

3. Ritter Sport Milk Chocolate Bar with Whole Hazelnuts. This is, quite possibly, my favorite candy bar ever. Even better than Skor! It's a German import, so you won't find it at the local Gulp 'n' Blow. I first discovered it when I was in Toronto this summer with Nicky. While in St. Paul this weekend I found it at the REI store, of all places! If you like chocolate, this is the good stuff.

glue guns and gourmet burgers

Tonight I spent the better part of the evening working on a photo album. Yes, it's true...the same photo album I've been slaving over for weeks. It's just one glue gun short of an out and out scrapbook. To paraphrase my friend Maureen, I'm running the risk of morphing into a soccer mom! Of course, the photos are from my trip to Glacier National Park this summer, so perhaps the fact that the pictures show me scaling mountains will negate the suburban-housewife stigma! And you will not see THIS guy get anywhere near buttons or bows or beads. So let's get one thing straight...this is a PHOTO album, not a scrapbook!

Truth be told, I think I'll be really happy I did this several years down the road. It's a great record of the trip, and I like the fact that I can also include ephemera such as trail maps, business cards, and the like...stuff that usually sits in the bottom of my overfull filing cabinet. It's a hell of a lot of work - I won't lie. I probably spent at least 12 hours putting this mutha together. And it wasn't cheap either. But it's tangible. I like that.

Even though all the pics started out digital, this is the first time I've made an effort to actually print them out and collect them. It's gratifying in a way that sharing pictures online isn't. A different way. It's kind of a shame, really...I have a ton of digital pictures that I really like, but most of them haven't been printed. I need to make some oversized prints and frame some around the apartment. Maybe I'd be more committed to printing the pictures if I was involved in the printing process. But with digital, that's not really a part of the creative equation (unlike film). You either send it to your printer or you send them to someone else, like Kodak or Shutterfly, to print them for you. Not quite as romantic as playing around with developer in a darkroom, to be sure. You don't get that magic moment of seeing your picture emerge from nothingness, like some kind of mystery.

Speaking of mystery, tonight Nicky and I went to Red Robin - Dubuque's newest entry in the "gourmet burger" line - for dinner (see also: Hudson's). I like the place - I went once several years ago in Appleton. The burgers are good, and the atmosphere is bright and exuberant, if a bit on the loud side. But damn - how can anyone justify spending upwards of $25 for a couple of bacon cheeseburgers and a Coke? It's not about the food, clearly. My theory is that it's about the atmosphere and, to a lesser degree, the service. And, I will say that our waitress was very good, which counters the larger Dubuque trend of lousy customer service (a potential rant for another day). Perhaps the Red Robin execs think we're stupid enough to fall for the "bottomless fries" gimmick (bleah!) But whoever's stupid, it's not the owners and managers. The place was packed. Can you imagine the profit margin on an eight dollar burger and four dollar lemonade? Just a little shy of their seven and eight dollar margaritas!

Oh, and by the way, I predict Red Robin will trounce Hudson's when it comes down to the West Side Battle of the Burger. They're definitely more savvy when it comes to marketing. Hudson's web site looks like it was designed in 1994 (their menu accent icons are cheeseburgers, for crying out loud!)

On another note, last night I watched One Day in September, a 1999 documentary about the terrorist attack at the 1972 summer Olympics in Munich. I had read somewhere that Spielberg was making a movie about this, and since I was woefully ignorant of the actual story (I was three at the time), the documentary seemed like a good place to start. I enjoyed it, too, if "enjoy" is the right word. The filmmakers scored a huge coup by interviewing the last surviving Palestinian terrorist who participated in the attack on the Israeli athletes. He comes across as proud and unrepentant. What is more surprising is how incredibly ill-prepared the event organizers and German authorities were for handling the Palestinian terrorists and their demands. Definitely worth seeing.