Vakkotaur

[Poll #1330478]

ADDENDUM: Oops. I managed to omit Australia. That was not intentional.

I was not asked the title question, but I might as well have been. On the first of October a law regulating indoor smoking went into effect in Minnesota. Last night I experienced one of its effects.

Before the radio club meeting, I went to the nearby Mexican restaurant and was seated in what had been the smoking section. Surprisingly, it didn't have the lingering smell of a place that had been a smoking area. It did have booths with tall backs and, unlike the part of the restaurant that had been the non-smoking area, it was mostly empty.

The crowd in the room I usually sat included a couple family gatherings. At least one included a screaming tot. The screams of which I noticed, but they were so attenuated that my reaction was a passing thought of "I'm glad I'm not in there." as I ate.

This morning jmaynard and I went up to Mankato with my looking at LCD monitors the primary reason. I planned on looking, but wasn't expecting to buy. After looking at a few places, the best bet seemed to be a 19 inch Samsung SyncMaster 930B which I eventually bought and am now using.

Another part of the trip was lunch someplace that wasn't one the usual places. Looking at the choices on Yahoo Yellow Pages, the Great Wall restaurant looked to be the best choice. I was just hoping it was not yet another buffet. It wasn't. Not only that, but the menu had a (small) Thai section. Jay and I both ordered from that section and we were both satisfied. Great Wall will get repeat business. And I now know where to get decent Chinese and decent, if limited, Thai food. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing that it's an hour's drive away.

After lunch we did a bit of geocaching, then went back to the store that had the monitor so I could buy it (I was thinking things over during lunch) and Jay got a couple things as well, which he can post about if he sees fit. One more quick stop to take advantage of a bit of a discount and get a plumbing fixture and we headed home.

I think the cold wind of the geocaching, the loudness of the store(s), and that I wasn't drinking nearly as much water as usual combined to give me a headache. After a while of warming up and rehydrating I felt good enough to set up the monitor. I'm still getting used to the 1280x1024 resolution. It's almost painfully sharp.

Last night jmaynard and I went to a restaurant in Sherburn, MN for supper. This was partly to enjoy the good food there, and partly to satisfy our curiosity about what will become of the place. We did enjoy the food, but not the news. The place has been sold and will remain officially open until 15 November, which is a Tuesday. It'll likely still be open after that, but on a "What do you have left?" basis until the end of the week. Eventually a Kum & Go will be there instead of the restaurant. It's a good spot for such a thing, but we'll miss the restaurant. I expect we'll be visiting the restaurant a bit more than usual as its days dwindle.

After supper we looked for a place to go walking, as we both need the exercise. Unfortunately the park in Sherburn is as tiny, like the town. That delayed our walk until we got back to Fairmont, around sunset. By the time we'd finished it was a nice twilight and beginning to get dark. I think I enjoyed that walk, even if it was in town, more than many others. There's just something about being out after sunset that feels good to me. I'd prefer more starlight and less streetlight, but it was still pretty good.

Saturday morning I set out for Albert Lea, MN (about an hour's drive) and went to the Big Island Rendezvous. I wandered about a bit not far from the gate, looking for rillaspins. Eventually I spotted her, or she spotted me. We went to see the oxen and after the demo, introduced us. I was invited inside the rope to get pictures up close. The hardest shot to get was one of the back of the head. The combination of a strange person and a thing that makes click sounds generated curiosity. The camera hog of an ox got some scritching.

The demo did not involve the actual oxen, but the fellow would pick out a couple teenage boys and have them play the part of oxen. The reactions worked well, keeping the audience entertained as he explained things. Sometime after the boys were yoked, he'd make mention of using a stick, and his words were calculated to make them nervous and the reactions were as expected. To the their relief he then pointed out that doing anything mentioned would be very counterproductive. A full grown ox can weigh 3000 pounds, and will neither forget nor forgive mistreatment. The stick (goad), he explained was use to tap gently to suggest which way to go when training and to reward with rubbing.

After we saw the oxen, Rilla took me around some of the site. Evidently she had misunderstood that this would be the first time I'd see Tanglefoot, not my first time at Big Island Rendezvous. We wound up at the stage where Tanglefoot would be performing and sat through at least part of the preceding act. Tanglefoot is that popular, you need to show up early to get a good seat. Or, judging by those in front of the front row, any seat at all. They're good performers though I'm not sure care for what they do. I can best describe the music as perhaps Modern Folk and Decidedly Canadian.

Once Tanglefoot's first performance was over I had lunch and wondered around a while. Since I'd met Rilla, seen the oxen, and seen Tanglefoot, the next thing was to find long leather boot laces. Fewer places seemed to have them than I'd recalled, and only one had sufficiently long laces in a good brown or tan. I rather doubt white would be a good match for the boots I wear.

During all this time, including during Tanglefoot's performance, there was a plane flying over, hauling a banner which read: SCREW THE OUT OF TOWNERS VOTE 4 THE SALES TAX NOV 8. I found it rather ironic, the out of towners by definition won't be paying that local tax most of the time, but the locals will. Also, the means of advertising didn't win any friends as it was a repeated unwanted noise.

There was enough noise as it was. The sound system in use wasn't too loud, but I wore my earplug when I was in the front row. But there was a crowd and that included loud kids, it was unusually hot (One of the members of Tanglefoot said it was strange to see the site above 35 degrees. It was in the 80s this time.) I talked with the fellow with the oxen a bit more, and then sat with Rilla and company for a while before leaving. Somewhere I got a nasty headache. I had planned on looking around Albert Lea a bit more, but it was bad enough I just wanted to go home, so I did.

Sunday was rather uneventful, which suited me just fine. About the only thing of note was that when I went to Subway for lunch I found out that a waitress that had been working at a restaurant in Sherburn was now working at Subway.

According to her, the restaurant in Sherburn is sold or will be sold soon. When the restaurant closes later this year, it will be for closed for the last time. It will be torn down and a gas station/convenience store put in. The site is near I-90, so that makes some sense. I've seen the restaurant as "Ma Faber's" (which was good) and then as "The Lighthouse" (which was not good) and then as "Our House" (which was good) and now as "Ma Faber's Lighthouse" (also good). Faber has been trying to sell the place for years now and if what I heard is correct, she finally found a buyer that might have a chance. Of course, the town, and the area, loses a decent restaurant in the process.

Sunday I called melissasutton to make sure we'd agree on a time and place to meet for lunch. She suggested the HuHot Mongolian Grill. A couple hours later I was there, not too long after the agreed upon time (it took me longer than expected to get on the road).

The food was good and there was plenty of it, with a very good selection. I've been to a Mongolian place before, but that was in the Twin Cities and I'm not sure I could find it. This place is easy to get to since Sioux Falls is easily navigable.

I enjoyed the food and the good company of Duane and Melissa. It sounds like the Siouxland Renaissance Association is doing pretty good, considering things didn't go so well with the rainy, muddy festival earlier this year. I think we were all amazed that the Sioux City, IA folks are seriously considering putting on a second festival again this year. That's not "they did it last year and they're doing it again" but "they did it this Spring and will do it again this Fall."

Dessert was... big. I think if I go for any dessert there again I'll see about splitting the "cheesecake rangoon" a few ways. After that we all had things to do and so they went to deal with what they needed to do and I went and picked up my comics. The comics were unfortunately rather disappointing all around this month, and that was the only low of the trip.

On a whim I stopped at a supermarket in Brandon (town east of Sioux Falls) and looked around. Bought some Sioux City cream soda and such that I've not had for a while, some coconut juice to try, and a can of black-eyed peas (stinky beans!) for Jay. I still have quite a supply of licorice Altoids thanks to irpooh so I didn't get any more, but to my surprise I could have. Alas, they did not have any ginger Altoids or I'd have bought some.

Unlike last time today's trip to Sioux Falls didn't have any lengthy setbacks. Thus I was able to dine at Taste of India. I opted not to do the buffet thing though it was early enough and would have been cheaper. Instead I ordered off the menu and got exactly what I wanted rather than the luck of the buffet. I had a glass of mango juice along with the standard ice water, roti (flat bread), mint chutney, and chicken vindaloo. The waitress asked if the vindaloo was spicy enough and giving it some thought, it was perhaps a bit less spicy than I might have liked, but it was quite respectable and not worth complaining about. Dessert was gulab jamun.

I will go back again. The meal was quite good. To my surprise, they didn't charge me for the mint chutney as it was on the buffet. I wasn't about to argue. I think I will try the buffet next time since it'll be less expensive and will let me sample a few things I might not otherwise order.

At the cash register there is a bowl of seeds available as a "mouth freshener." I think it was all or mostly fennel seed, which was interesting, but I doubt jmaynard would like them as they have a very anise-like flavor which surprised me. I'd never had fennel before as far as I know and hadn't been expecting that flavor from it.

Oddity: LJ's spellchecker flags vindaloo yet the first thing it suggests instead is vindaloos.

( Details. )

Saturday was spent at MNRF. This time I arrived a bit before opening gate and saw that the pre-gate show was about like last years, though I didn't see (or hear) much of it being well back from things. Once inside, I met Mistress Bawd and gave her prints of some photos I'd taken at Siouxland. All but one were pretty good, and one really turned out well. I had been snapping away, trying to take the picture when she wasn't singing. I was concentrating on her mouth, really. She leaned over (at about a 30 degree angle to me, not facing me head on) and *FLASH*. She paused to playfully scold me a bit about that - but later felt the need to tell me she was just playing the part. The resulting photo (no, I don't have it scanned - but she might get it scanned) turned out well. It's actually fairly tasteful compared to what it could so easily have been.

I watched and listened to Bawd again later when she performed at the Queen's Pub. All around, a good performance. She seems to have a knack, though, for catching me unprepared. I didn't have a verse ready for "Roll Your Leg Over" when she figured I did. Every time I think of one, someone uses it, and I haven't come up with one of my own. Perhaps I should give it a bit of thought. Chances are if I'm actually ready, I'll never be asked again. (This is not a solicitation for helpful suggestions - if I were to do that, this post be friends-locks and behind an LJ-cut with a warning before it.)

More time was spent chatting with rillaspins, though not so much in the morning. I stopped by mainly to let her know my folks would be at there and would stopping by. I went off to see if I could find the Zilch the Tory Steller or the Molly Hares, as I had a few more photos. I did catch up with Zilch (and I have yet to any of his acts at MNRF this year. That will be rectified, even if just on Signed Saturday)

When I got back to Rilla's grove, my folks were there chatting with here. Now Rilla has an idea of how I got this way... The folks and I wondered about a bit, and I did manage to drop off the remaining photos in the Molly Hares' wagon. Let's see. We saw Tuey's juggling act, some Morris dancing mainly since that's the best way to get a good seat for Vilification Tennis, which my mother hadn't really seen before. (She knew better than to admit it when they asked who hadn't seen it before.) There must have been more, I don't recall it.

Well, there was Bawd's act, but they decided they go do something else or maybe just leave to get home at a reasonable hour. As mentioned above, I stayed for her act. Afterward, I took a few pictures (no bending over this time) of her, standing in front of the flowers and water behind the Queen's Pub. It's a really nice background.

Sometime during the day I caught up with the part of Vagabond (normally a two man musical act, but one isn't available this season) and bought a CD to replace a stretched tape. Also found where a different soap vendor was located, but they didn't have the thing I was looking for. When I asked about it, they said they didn't carry with them as it wasn't a big seller, but if I called and reminded them Friday they'd pack up some for me to pick on Saturday.

Back at Rilla's grove I sat and chatted a bit more. Tom, who I'd seen (and had seen me) at Rosenthorne last year talked a bit. I jokingly mentioned Free Bird and got quite a scowl about that. I don't know what the attraction is with Free Bird that some people seem to have.

The only downsides to the day happened after I left the festival. I stopped for supper at a Hardee's in St. Peter. That wasn't bad, but I got a Sprite. When I was on the road again I noticed a sore throat starting, and the Sprite seemed to make it worse. What gives? Is this a reaction to carbonation? To sugar water? Or did the day's dust finally catch up with me? Or a long delayed reaction to that Guinness? The other downside was the bad news about Jay's father and United losing his luggage. I was under the impression that the gate-checked bag with the costume had been lost, but it was the normally checked bag. I should have known. Had it been the costume that was lost, there would likely have been enough heat for helium fusion.

Sunday was slow, overall, but ended with a trip to Minneapolis to pick up Jay's suitcase, the handling of which had been bungled yet more. To make the trip a bit more useful, we stopped at my sister's place and I retrieved the windbreaker I'd left behind a while ago. The three of us went out to Khan's Mongolian Barbecue and ate. And ate. I'm still feeling rather full. I overspiced my first bowl, and I was trying to follow the "mildly spicy" guide, too. I goofed, but in a good way. I think the spiciness just overwhelmed my sore throat and I'm feeling rather better, though still not as well as I'd like. Jay and I took my sister back to her house and then headed for home ourselves. Today might feel long - we got back just after midnight.

Last night we went out for Chinese. It was nice and sparse in the restaurant, at first. Then a family showed up. One with a young kid who wound up in a special kid chair at their table. This table, however, was next to ours. I wondered how long before I'd need to get out my earplugs. Much to their credit, the parents actually were parents. Yes, the kid fussed a bit and made some noise. But this was corrected, usually quite quickly. We made it most of the way through the meal without significant trouble, though a later (short!) outburst or two did have me use an earplug in the ear facing the kid.

That was not bad. Not as good as them being more distant, but tolerable. Alas, things had to get worse. For a young couple (I don't think family describes them) showed up. Yes, with their even younger kid. Unlike the parents, these jokers did not correct anything. What was really irksome was when the alleged mother told the kid how cute he was during/after a particularly loud outburst. Yeeeg, don't encourage that! Fortunately we were able to leave not much after that.

From what I could see, the family is actually bringing up their kid. The second couple is merely growing a kidiot.