Minneapolis weekend

Well, Mindy and I made it home from Minneapolis this past weekend. As I had written earlier, we went up for the weekend to see the Redskins take on the Vikings on Sunday night football.

The original plan was to leave early Saturday morning, to avoid the winter storm that was moving into the area. We woke up around 5:30 in the morning Saturday and checked the weather radar for our trip. All conditions were normal at the time in Iowa, but the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area appeared to be getting hammered with snow and ice. Mindy and I talked it over, and decided to head back to bed. We would check things out after a few more hours of sleep and see if it was feasible to leave, or if we should look to leave Sunday morning instead.

We woke up again around 9:30 and made a check of the radar. The front appeared to have moved out of the Metro area, so we decided to give it a shot. We were on the road around 10 am, and really had good driving conditions all the way to Minneapolis. In fact, it took us just 4 1/2 hours to get there.

We spent the rest of the day visiting with family, and around 7:30 met up with Mindy's cousin Doreen. We had made reservations at Osaka, a Japanese steakhouse, in Apple Valley. After being seated, we waited a good 45 minutes before our chef came to the table to start cooking dinner. I guess I should mention that Osaka's is a teppanyaki style restaurant. They cook all your food at your table. The meal was very good, and the show the chef put on was good too. They do a few unique things during dinner. At one point, he took an onion and formed it into a little volcano, and lit it on fire. It was pretty neat to see. There was another time where they take a squeeze bottle filled with Saki, and the squirt it in your mouth from a distance. That was interesting too. We followed Osaka's up with a couple drinks at Rascals before returning to where we were staying.

We slept late the next day, knowing that we would be up for quite a while. We planned to drive home directly after the game Sunday night. Unfortunately, we woke up to a nice snow storm. We were to meet up with Doreen and her husband Steve at 2 pm, but the snow delayed us a bit. by the time we got around and met with them and headed down town, it was 4:30, and by that time there was easily 6 inches of snow on the ground. We took a train downtown, and went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner before the game.

We headed to the Metrodome around 6:30 and made our way to our seats. We didn't realize it when we bought the tickets, but our seats were on the very top row, right in front of the Scoreboard. Actually, they were good seats, and we saw a heck of a game as Washington dominated in winning 32-21. The final score made the game seem much closer than it really was. We were out of the dome, and back to Fort Snelling, where we parked, by 11:15. The snow had stopped sometime after the game started, and the roads were not too awful at that point. We drove straight through, and made it home around 4:30 Monday morning.

It was a fun trip, regardless of the weather. Caertainly a trip I am glad I was able to take.

NFL Debut

Well folks, this weekend will mark my first regular season NFL football game. I have seen many, many college football games in my life, and I have even been able to take in a Preseason NFL game a few years ago.

This weekend I will be going to the Metrodome to watch as the Minnesota Vikings play host to my beloved Washington Redskins. The primetime affair will feature 2 teams that have playoff aspirations. The Vikings go in to the game with an 8-6 record, and are the winners of 5 straight, while the Redskins come in with a 7-7 record, and fresh off a road victory against division rival New York.

Minnesota is lead by RB Adrian Peterson from the University of Oklahoma. Peterson has already amassed 1278 yards, while appearing in just 12 games thus far.

Washington will be lead by veteran QB Todd Collins. Collins has filled in admirably for Jason Campbell who was lost for the season 2 weeks ago with a knee injury. Washington will also be without the services of rookie LB Rocky McIntosh who tore both his ACL and MCL in his left knee in the win over the Giants.

It will be a long drive home Sunday night, so heres hoping for a great win for the Skins, and a pleasant weekend, weather wise.

Music Review - Lizzy Borden

Most may not know this, but Lizzy Borden has recently released another new album, Appointment with Death (AWD). Like all Lizzy albums before it, AWD features some great vocal licks from one of the truly under appreciated singers of my day. I remember hearing my first Lizzy song while sitting in my car listening to an obscure metal station. Each Friday night there was a 2 hour metal block that was over the top metal from a majority of bands that were relative unknowns. American Metal was the song that got me started on Lizzy Borden, and I have followed them from that one summer night in my car.

Throughout my High School years, it was common to hear Lizzy pumped through my stereo. Hardly a day went by that I didn't listen to at least one Lizzy song. I bought each tape as they came out. Eventually, cassette tapes started to go the way of the Do Do, and the Compact Disc became popular. I made it my mission to get each and every Lizzy Album on CD. It took a lot of looking through bargain bins at second hand stores, but I eventually found each album on CD. The last coming when I visited my brother in Mason City, and found Menace to Society at a CD trader store.

A few years ago, I was able to fulfill a dream of mine when several friends and I went to Clinton Iowa and saw Lizzy live. This was not a typical show. At this point in time, Lizzy's style of music had been gone for several years, and frankly, people just weren't interested. This played to our advantage. On that evening, Lizzy played for a crowd of about 15 people at the Pig Pen in Clinton. Interestingly, half the crowd consisted of my friends and myself. Can you imagine, finally getting to see one of the bands that you idolized growing up, basically playing a private show just for you! I don't think I will ever forget the fun that I had that night, and I know that getting the opportunity to meet and talk with Lizzy, Joey Scott, and Alex after the show will always stick with me. Sadly, Alex Nelson was killed in and automobile accident a month later.

If you get the chance, I suggest finding a copy of Appointment with Death, and giving it a listen. You won't be disappointed.

I'm not what you would call an experienced Blogger. As a matter of fact, I have never really blogged before in my life. The closest I have ever come to a blog was back in Junior High School. Blogging did not exist at that time, at least not in it's current capacity.

So as you read through the various little musings of mine, keep in mind that I am not a writer. That should make things much easier to understand.