“I’m Unfamiliar with Your Musical Tastes” by G-Lanz featuring the Profile Staff July 12, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in dj.Tags: britney spears, dj, flo rida, hip-hop, kanye west, keri hilson, lady gaga, music, ne-yo, rap, t-pain, TI
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I suppose I should come clean. Despite me being a professional wedding DJ, I sometimes am the least qualified of anyone in the room to be doing my job.
That was the case last night when the couple asked me to play only rap and hip-hop during their dance for their guest list of over 300. Except for the head-scratching exceptions of “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred, “Your Song” by Elton John, and “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton interspersed among the thumping bass, the rest of the music I played I was very unfamiliar with.
Artists like T-Pain, Keri Hilson, Lil Wayne, TI, Flo Rida, Lady GaGa, Britney Spears, and Ace Hood filled the playlist. True, the couple provided me with a list of songs they wanted played, but it is my job to keep the flow going and not play a fast song, two slow songs, two fast songs, a slow one… All I could do to study for my night of work was to listen to a snippet of each song beforehand and comment as to its tempo. Turns out, all the songs sort of fall somewhere between upbeat and slow. The differences are very slight.
I also learned that I could tell if a song was going to be a hit or not within the first two seconds because the crowd informed me within the first “note” or two of the song with an emphatic “whooooooooooo!” if they approved or not.
I find it odd that almost every rap or hip-hop song is by [artist] featuring [another artist]. About 70% of the songs were by a combination of two or more artists. It’s almost as if to say “I’m not sure if this song is going to be a hit or not, so I don’t want just my name tied to it if it is indeed a massive failure and laughingstock!” How come all the rappers are such good friends and are so willing to collaborate? I figured it would be just the opposite.
Despite my skepticism, I did find a few gems in the playlist, including a collaboration between Keri Hilson, Ne-Yo, and Kanye West called “Knock You Down,” and there was something oddly intriguing about Lady GaGa’s “Poker Face.” I also like the 3oh3! song “Don’t Trust Me,” but that I guess is considered to fall under the genre electronica.
Not to diss these genres, but for now I think I’ll stick with my Montgomery Gentry and Jason Aldean. “Big Green Tractor” is a very catchy tune on the country airwaves… I wonder how that would have gone over last night?
Random Thursday Thoughts July 9, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in Uncategorized.1 comment so far
Twins vs. Yankees
The Twins make me sick when they play the Yankees. Coming into today’s game the Yankees have beaten the Twins all six times this year. Most of the games have been pretty competitive, but the Yankees always find a way to win. And watching all of these games, it’s evident to me that the Twins players, coaches, and announcers are in awe of the Yankees and play a very defensive game, almost as if to just minimize the amount they lose by rather than playing to win. The pitchers are the most intimidated of all. Baker and Swarzak looked like they were about to freak out whenever they fell behind in the count or put a man on base. They might come close today, but they won’t win.
How I Met Your Mother
Since we finished The Wire, Lauren and I have moved on to something a little more fun and lighthearted with How I Met Your Mother. I’ve heard a lot of good reviews of the show over the years, especially from Cooney and Jason. We watched a few episodes from the most recent season and were intrigued enough to start from the beginning on Netflix. Now we’re hooked and can’t wait for the other seasons to arrive! Lauren seems to have a little thing for Jason Segel, which is fine by me since he’s from Freaks & Geeks and maybe it will entice Lauren to agree to watch that whole show with me sometime. And I must admit that Cobie Smulders is fun to watch as well. Now I wish I would have made a point to talk to Neil Patrick Harris when he wandered Valleyfair aimlessly several times back in 2004 or 2005.
Weekend
The weekend is almost here, and Saturday is a big day as Lauren and I return to James Hunt in Stillwater to order our wedding rings. I still need to figure out what I want mine to look like, but as I told Lauren, I like making important decisions about things I have to live with for the rest of my life on the fly (see Chargers tattoo on right arm). It sounds like we’ll meet up with the Berglund-Husebys for lunch in Stillwater before I return home to DJ at the Profile Event Center. This will be my second gig there, but the schedule is fast filling up with more, including one in August, two in September, one in November, and one in May 2010. Sunday there was some talk of a Green Mill happy hour.
Trivial Trivia
On Monday night, I went to the Plymouth Buffalo Wild Wings with Jason, Jeff, and Cooney to take part in the weekly trivia game. Jason has been going to lots of bar trivia nights and winning often, putting his vast amounts of pop culture knowledge to good use. There were probably 12 teams, and we finished second, winning 50 free wings, which we ordered and ate that night. Jason obviously answered most of the questions, but the rest of us chipped in from time to time. The categories included dreams, actors with "Mc" in their names, movies that rock, and guessing the artists of songs. I think of the 48 questions, we missed 8. First place was $100. Next time!
Work
I’ve been keeping plenty busy with work as we continue towards the Afinia launch. While the website is live and you can go there and buy something, the mass public doesn’t know it exists yet. So as soon as we send out the first round of e-mail blasts, we should start to see some business… hopefully. In the mean time, I continue to work on the website and write more and more product copy.
I guess that’s all for today. Let’s see how much the Twins lose by! I will guess 9-3 Yankees.
Getting to Carpenter Half the Fun over Weekend July 6, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in trip, vacation.Tags: 4th of july, baseball hall of fame, camping, carpenter, granite falls, lake norden, south dakota
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America celebrated another birthday as Lauren and I ventured back to the farm for the three-day weekend, but this time we decided to make the drive there more of an adventure.
Thursday after work, we drove to the Granite Falls area where we set up camp for the night at the Upper Sioux Agency State Park. I made sure to make a reservation online to ensure we’d get a spot for the busy 4th of July weekend, but it turned out we were damn near the only ones there. We had a “rustic” walk-in site, where we pitched a tent and Lauren started a roaring fire. We cooked up dinner over the fire and listened to the sounds of nature on a picture perfect night for camping.
Our rustic camp site at Upper Sioux Agency State Park.
In the morning, we packed up and headed west to Toronto, SD for the novelty of visiting a town by the same name of Lauren’s alma mater. Lauren proudly got pictures of the city sign while wearing her U of Toronto sweatshirt. While in town, we stopped in at the local cafe for lunch.
As the rains came down, we made our way over to Lake Norden to the South Dakota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum, a site I’d long been interested in visiting but never had the chance. Surprisingly it was a very nice museum, full of uniforms, photos, and memorabilia from South Dakota baseball.
We finally arrived in Carpenter early Friday afternoon, where we were quickly greeted by the Krogmans, minus Calvin. The family is busy moving this week to another house in Vermillion, and Jordan came home to leave the kids with Grandma and Grandpa for a few days so she could get some work done. As usual, spending a couple days of quality time with Peyton, Emerson, and Hudson made Lauren and I think long and hard about any plans to give the Krogman kids some new cousins anytime soon. They are very nice to see, of course, but there’s always massive commotion.
Saturday, I had the bright idea to go fishing. I haven’t gone fishing in at least ten years and thought it would be a good way to spend the afternoon. Lauren, Alex, and I first tried our luck at Dry Lake and failed. It was mostly due to fishing pole malfuctions and lack of patience, but we packed up after about 20 minutes and went to Staum’s Dam near Carpenter, where again we cast out just a couple times before giving up. We then moved on to Lake Byron, where at one point Lauren felt like she had a bite. Beyond that, our afternoon outing was a lost cause! Lauren and I got sunburned too.
The highlight of our fishing trip was probably riding through Carpenter’s muddy roads that were in terrible condition. This is what Mom has to drive through every day on the mail route!
That night the Bells were out and fireworks were set off for the Krogman kids. On Sunday morning Dad replaced my washer fluid pump before we had lunch and took off for Minneapolis. The ride home was uneventful, but we did stop at Knit Nook in Watertown for Lauren as usual!
New Photos July 1, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in Uncategorized.Tags: dj, photos, the hangover
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Just thought I’d pass on this link to my latest Facebook photo gallery for those of you not among my 706 Facebook friends. Let’s see, that includes Dad, Jason, Steve Poulter, Tim Rosok… um… that might be about it.
Not a whole lot else to report. We saw The Hangover Sunday night, which I thought was actually a great movie. It was extremely funny and had a pretty good storyline. I would describe it as a rare edge-of-your-seat comedy. Monday Lauren had her pilates class and I took a jog around the lake, but I got such a violent side ache I keeled over on my knees and had to sit there for a few minutes before I could continue. Yesterday on break I had a dr. appt. in Edina so I had a quick lunch with Liz at Subway. As always, very nice to catch up! And last night I went to the Profile to meet with another potential wedding DJ client.
Busy Start to Weekend, Trip to Stillwater June 28, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in trip, wedding.Tags: ice cream, jason laplant, stillwater, wedding, weekend, wine
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Friday after work, the plan was to meet up with Jason and perhaps go to a bar. Jason got off work at 1, though, and set out to kill five hours until we got home. Well, you can see where this is going. Jason went to the Green Mill down the street from our apartment, and struck gold when the power went out and stayed out for four hours, allowing him all the free food and drink he could handle! Jason showed up at our place shortly after 6 and was out cold on the couch by 9, but we were very happy for him and his good fortune.
Saturday morning, Lauren and I drove 40 miles east to Stillwater, where we met with local jeweler James Hunt, who was recommended to us by Lauren’s sister. This guy has his own studio where he makes rings, and we’re at the point where we better find some wedding rings. He makes rings out of recycled gold and will make anything we want, whether it’s a plain ring or has lots of carvings or designs. His prices were also shockingly low, so we were sold! We’ve got a couple weeks to think of what exactly we want him to make.
For lunch, we found a place called Smalley’s Caribbean Grill. We each ordered basically the same meal of spicy jerk chicken and brisket with some sides. I was pretty impressed, but expected a little more heat, especially with this special firey atomic pepper they gave me for free as a novelty. We were supposed to meet Walsh and Sarah for lunch, but we kinda jumped the gun and ate without them, and then they arrived and we sat and watched them eat at a different restaurant.
We spent an hour or two wandering the streets of town, looking in unique shops. If you haven’t been to Stillwater, its downtown area is reminiscent of a place like Deadwood. It sits next to the St. Croix River and has an unusual draw-bridge that raises to let boats through. Kinda a charming little touristy area, but its roads are more reminiscent of San Francisco with steep hills.
Sarah told us of an ice cream store that we needed to try called Nelson’s. We walked about a mile uphill to get to this ice cream store, where I ran into former Valleyfair co-worker Sean Devereaux. The ice cream here was nothing special, as far as taste goes, so it must be the serving size that makes it famous. Words can’t really describe how much ice cream they give you. I ordered a waffle cone, single size. I am pretty sure they packed a a half-gallon of ice cream onto that cone. Walsh saw mine and ordered a child-sized cup of ice cream, and he too was blown away. No , I didn’t finish, but could have.
I ordered the single scoop. Walsh ordered the child size.
Next, we went to the St. Croix Vineyards for a wine tasting. For just $5, we got to try all ten wines they produce. It was a very cool experience and of course reminded me of the movie Sideways. It was just a little sip of each kind of wine, so we certainly weren’t drunk afterwards.
Sarah and Lauren try some delicious wine.
We got home around 6:40 and were supposed to be at the airport by 7:50 to pick up Tim and Kate, who were returning from a week-long trip to Colorado. But we were so tuckered out from our long day that we both fell fast asleep. Just by chance I woke up at 8pm and we sped down to the airport, a good 40 minutes late, to take Tim and Kate home.
Wedding Stuff, 4th of July, NBA Draft June 24, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in Best Picture Winners, wedding, weight loss.Tags: aaron rush, dsu, gym, hasheem thabeet, honeymoon, minnesota timberwolves, nba draft, ricky rubio, uruguay, wedding
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Lauren and I are beginning to think about where we should go on our honeymoon. We’re thinking we’ll hold off until December when it’s cold and we’ll be more excited to get away. And we’re also thinking it will be some sort of tropical destination, hopefully something all-inclusive. Beyond that, we haven’t narrowed it down much more. My initial suggestion of Uruguay has basically been stricken from consideration, and Lauren’s step-brother very frankly said to me: “Trust me, you don’t want to go to Uruguay.” Probably would have been way too expensive anyway. If anyone has any great suggestions or personal experiences, feel free to leave a comment!
I also had the chance yesterday to talk to the wedding officiant, Aaron Rush, who I knew well from my DSU days. Rush was a fellow fourth floor resident, and we had hoped to find someone we knew to do the wedding. Other names that were floated around included Dick Poppen and Greg Van Heukelom. Sounds like Rush will be up in August and we’ll take in a Twins game and discuss plans further.
I am planning on going to the gym once again tonight, which will be my fifth straight day. I weighed in at 244 Monday night, my new low. My initial goal of 235 by the wedding seems very attainable as I’m already 75% of the way there. 235 is what I weighed when I graduated college before I spent 96% of my day sitting in front of a computer.
Plans are starting to come together for the 4th of July weekend. Lauren and I will head back to South Dakota for a few days and hang out. I tossed around the idea of camping one of the nights, maybe even on the way there, and going fishing for something to do. I can’t remember having gone fishing since the late 90s. We may also take in the Willow Lake city festivities on the 4th, something I haven’t done in about nine years. Looks like we’ll miss out on seeing the Krogman family again, though.
In some very unrelated news, I am really happy with our local NBA team, who has disappointed badly ever since Kevin Garnett left town. When the Timberwolves hired David Kahn as the new GM a couple weeks back, there were a lot of groans and a lot of unenthusiasm. He didn’t seem like he was their top choice; he was just the one guy who didn’t take his name off the list of candidates. But I gotta hand it to Kahn, because he’s already succeeded in one thing—people are paying attention to the team again. With the draft coming up tomorrow and the Wolves holding on to four first-round picks, it will be very interesting to see what happens. Kahn yesterday made a big trade with Washington that sent Mike Miller and Randy Foye to the Wizards for three players I’ve never heard of and the #5 pick. I bet the Wolves trade their 5 and 6 picks to move up even further so they can take Ricky Rubio or Hasheem Thabeet.
I also found out today that the Oscars will now have ten Best Picture nominees each year. I am not sure if I’m thrilled with that or not, but that’s the format used up until 1943.
I posted this by e-mail for the first time, so I hope it displays correctly!
Happy Father’s Day!; Lose-Lose @ Dome June 21, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in baseball, car problems, wedding.Tags: cowboy hat, dad, father's day, houston astros, minnesota twins, wedding, workout
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Happy Father’s Day! Dad, I am sorry but you will not be getting anything in the mail from me this year. I actually did buy a card at Target but it was meant for a little kid to give to his dad and after further review, I thought it was too stupid for even me to send. This past year, Dad paid two visits to me in Minneapolis, fixed my car again, as usual, and even engaged in a wild family drinking game over Easter weekend.
In other news, Saturday evening, Lauren and I headed to the Metrodome for the Twins/Astros game. I was anxious to go for two reasons. A) It was free Twins/WeFest cowboy hat night, and B) the Astros were one of two teams I had yet to see play in person. We bought some upper club tickets from a scalper and made our way inside.
Sadly, we were too late to the game and missed out on the free hats. Both of us were very jealous when we saw thousands of fans wearing their relatively high-quality hats, at least high quality for a giveaway. The Twins managed to hit 4 home runs, but the bullpen imploded in the 7th and the Astros won 6-5. On the year, the Twins are now 2-4 when I attend, and 0-4 when Lauren attends, which is fairly amazing considering they have a very good home record. Traditionally the Twins go on huge winning streaks vs. the NL, but they will need to win today to finish with a winning homestand vs. the lowly Pirates and Astros.
In my attempt to continue losing weight before the wedding, I am still hitting up the gym as often as I can, but my weight hasn’t gone down very much. It has fluctuated from 245-250 over the last month, which is still down a ways from the starting point of 268, but I can’t get it to go down much further. Maybe I need to mix up the workout routine? Lauren has enrolled in a pilates class, so maybe I should consider something like that!
Not a whole lot new with wedding plans. Sounds like the wheels are in motion for both the bachelor/bachelorette parties in late August! The girls are getting their dresses ordered. The next thing we will have to look into is wedding rings and order invitations. You can keep up with the latest at our new website, ryanandlaurengetmarried.com!
Productive Vacation Day June 17, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in baseball, vacation, work.Tags: laundry, mlb, vacation
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My random middle-of-the-week vacation day was highlighted by productivity around the apartment. After waking up at 8:30, I cleaned the apartment and did two loads of laundry before running out of quarters. I then went to the gym for 45 minutes, came home and rode my bike to the bank where I got a new roll of quarters. On my bike ride home, I went down an alley off Lake Street and Colfax and rode directly through a drug deal going down. One of the young chaps said “What you lookin at?! Keep ridin’ yo!” Oh, I kept on riding, all right.
I came home and did four more loads of laundry, ate lunch, and then called Xcel Energy to finally get our electricity hooked up. Turned out they never knew about us and we could have gotten away with free electricity… damn! But I think they think we just moved in, so maybe we’ll get March, April, and May free. I don’t mind lying to the local electric conglomerates if it means saving a few bucks.
At 3:00, I finally finished up my chores and spent the last two official “vacation hours” relaxing, watching a few Simpsons episodes from Season 3 and tipping back a few Summits. Now I wait for Lauren and Walsh to arrive so we can go to the Twins/Pirates game tonight.
It wasn’t a particularly relaxing vacation day, but the fact that I got my mind off Afinia and Microboards for one day probably will do wonders once I get back there tomorrow. I didn’t end up seeing my relatives who were visiting town, but I’m sure they’ll get over it.
Since I am so cool, here is my list of when I’ve seen each MLB team for the first time, to the best of my knowledge.
- Royals, 1994
- Mariners, 1994
- Twins, 1996
- Athletics, 1996
- Cardinals, 1998
- Blue Jays, 1999
- Reds, 2001
- Rangers, 2002
- Angels, 2002
- White Sox, 2002
- Indians, 2002
- Braves, 2002
- Athletics, 2002
- Tigers, 2003
- Mets, 2003
- Phillies, 2003
- Rays, 2003
- Rockies, 2003
- Padres, 2003
- Diamondbacks, 2003
- Giants, 2003
- Brewers, 2004
- Yankees, 2004
- Red Sox, 2004
- Orioles, 2005
- Cubs, 2006
- Nationals, 2007
- Pirates, 2009
That just leave the Astros, who I plan to see Saturday, and the Florida Marlins, who I missed in their lone visit to the Metrodome in 2002.
Where Does “The Wire” Rank? June 16, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in dexter, tv.Tags: bunny colvin, clay davis, dexter, hbo, jimmy mcnulty, lester freamon, seinfeld, the wire, top 10, tv shows
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Lauren and I last night finished watching HBO’s The Wire on DVD, which Jason LaPlant graciously lent us. I went in a little skeptical, figuring a cop drama wasn’t really for me. But then again I gave in and tried Dexter and became a huge fan, so I gave it a try. After five riveting seasons, I had a tear in my eye as the final episode came to an end. Jason, Walsh, Sarah, and President Obama were among those singing the praises of The Wire, and they were right, it was one of the very best shows I’ve ever seen.
Where does The Wire rank all-time on my favorite TV show list? Is it better than Dexter? Does it have as good of rewatchable value as Seinfeld? Is it more difficult to follow than a newcomer to Arrested Development? Are the characters more dislikable than Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm?
Great as it was, I think I have to place it third on my all-time list. Seinfeld is still #1 because I just watched two more episodes tonight that I’ve seen at least 25 times before, and still found them extremely entertaining. I think I’ve still gotta give Dexter the nod at #2, thanks mostly to the second season, the best single season of a TV show I’ve ever seen. And then The Wire at #3. Here would be my full top ten.
- Seinfeld
- Dexter
- The Wire
- Freaks and Geeks
- Scrubs
- Arrested Development
- The Office (BBC)
- Curb Your Enthusiasm
- The Office (NBC)
- Frasier
The Wire also provided some of my favorite characters. There are way too many to name, but here are my favorites.
- Bunny Colvin
- Lester Freamon
- Jimmy McNulty
- Clay Davis, only because of his amazing signature line.
- Dennis “Cutty” Wise
- Stringer Bell
- Cedric Daniels
- Omar Little
- Bubbles
- Roland Pryzbylewski
So, to sum this wonderful series up, it was wildly violent and profane, featured corrupt characters, rarely had any uplifting stories (Cutty and Namond the exceptions), and employed virtually no known actors. Yet, I would recommend it to all!
Afinia.com Now Live! June 15, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in work.Tags: afinia, website, work
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Be the first to visit (or make a purchase from) the all-new Afinia website! I’ve been busy writing product copy and creating graphics for the website, which launched this morning. We are still putting lots of work into it, so this isn’t the final product, but it is fully functional.
Here’s the official “About Us” description of Afinia.
Our Mission
Afinia was founded on the belief that hard-working people deserve to enjoy their lives to the fullest. You’ve earned the right to choose the finest products—products that fit your style and way of life. Our goal is to offer you items that can further enhance your home and outdoor living area—products that cater to eclectic tastes and unique passions. Whether you’re taking the time to remodel your house, planting a garden, putting a pool in the backyard, planning for retirement, or looking to entertain guests, our inventory offers one-of-a-kind finds that you won’t see together anywhere else. That’s Afinia.
Our Products
The products we choose to sell at Afinia are hand-picked from around the globe, and chosen based on our own unique criteria. The products must be constructed at the highest quality. We don’t sell anything that isn’t intended to last a lifetime. Our products are unique or unusual—or both. These aren’t things you can walk into any store in town and purchase. We strive to carry products that have some sort of meaning, whether they are historically important, display an artistic flare, cater to an avocation, or evoke a memory of a life experience. Our selection of products is constantly growing. A team of explorers is ever on the lookout for first-rate creations, from our home in Minnesota to the far reaches of the globe.
Whether it is art, decor, hobbies, nostalgia, leisure, relaxation, or play, we’re continually at work expanding our product line to bring to you the choices you have earned. We trust your visit to Afinia will be worthwhile, and perhaps a treasure we have uncovered in our journeys will find a place in your home.
Don’t be afraid to call Customer Service if you need any assistance. (That’s Josh’s cell!)
