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It's hard not to chuckle at blog posts like my previous one, "I'm back, yo", then see that I haven't blogged in three months. The hubris of posting "I'm going to blog more!" must be a creative death sentence.

Ah well. 

Let's give you a good old Brian Update. Here are some of the major bullet points over the last few months.

I finished my weight loss goal - I'm now down to a BMI of 21.5, which is dead center of the "Normal Weight" category. I'm 22.5lbs lighter than I was in September, and 45lbs lower than I was in March when I set a "lose weight for the vacation" goal. No real secret to it, just diet and exercise. I ate very tiny breakfasts and lunches throughout the week, and started running pretty regularly.

Really proud of my Halloween costume - Every year prior, I've regretted procrastinating on my costume up until the week prior to Halloween. This year, I began planning it in September. I wanted to recreate the cover of the American Horror Story: Asylum DVD: 

It took two weeks to get the full-black-eye contacts and three cranky nights trying different ways of whiting out my face (I recommend Snazaroo over every other face paint available around Halloween costumes - they were all terrible). 

No major Halloween plans, just a party and a bar afterwards. But it certainly feels good getting compliments like John Becker's tweet.

Alicia's got a horror movie blog - Starting in September, Alicia started watching classical horror movies in chronological order as recommended by "Studies In Terror". As she goes, she's blogging her review of the movies and adding other tid-bits along the way. 

Frankly, I've been dripping with jealousy. Horror movies have always been an interest of hers and she's found a way to actively contribute to the world and ... well ... create something. She's got a great discipline (about 3 posts a week, consistently for 3 months) and pretty darn good design. 

If you're interested checking it out, let me recommend starting with some of her best posts: 

• Alicia's Top 25 Horror Movies
• Freaks vs. American Horror Story
• How to Survive as a Zombie
• Review: Island of Lost Souls (1932)
• How to Host a Horror Movie Marathon

Fantasy football sucks - I'm 2-10 and 3-9 in both of my leagues. On the 2-10 league, I'm deep within a 10 game losing streak. Oy.

All systems go -  Life is generally good all-around. I picked up golfing over the summer, now picking up racquetball to tide me over for the winter. Entire family is healthy, cats are good, job is great.

Thanks for checking in!

I'm back, yo

Why not blog more?

You're right! Why not?

I've caught up a little recap from the summer. Back on the wagon posting tomorrow.

Awesome Front Door While Running

I've been getting a ton of flack for my glib tweet after running nearly 6 miles on Sunday.

Just completed a 5.83 mi run - Just a short Sunday run. http://rnkpr.com/a7124wh  #RunKeeper

 Pfft, they're just jealous.

Yes, I did it. There was a three minute walk at the 37 minute mark, but I hit my second wind and pushed through to the full hour. It's amazing what you can do with practice. I attempted to run to the river back in July and couldn't make it back without walking the whole way, which was only a 3 mile round trip.

Even better, I spotted this house along the way:

Check out that door

It's been over a year, but still in love with the grey and yellow look. 

State Fair II

What? You'd be a fool to only go to the State Fair once. Alicia and I ain't no fools. 

Here's Alicia eating Frozen Key Lime Pie on a Stick

Here's Har Mar Superstar shirtless

Here's Brian's first hip-hop show in real life (it's Doomtree)

Alright - we mostly went again to see the Minnesota Music on a Stick festival. But we stayed for the food. Cheese Curds, Hawaiian Shaved Ice, Beef Kabobs, Texas Steak Dinner on a Stick. Yum!

Deviled Eggs

Alicia and I visited Tiny Diner on Thursday. Whenever we see deviled eggs on the menu, we order. We were pleasantly surprised: 

That's some food art if I've ever seen it.

State Fair Time

Gotta visit the State Fair, yo. Why?

... check out squirrel taxidermy!

...see pigs drinking water like it's going out of style! 

...awesome, award winning chair art!

...tons of food pictures, even a few meta food pictures!

As for food consumed, I took it easy. Pork Chop, Big Fat Bacon, Cheese Curds, French Fries, Beer, Big Fat Bacon again. Oh man, I think that's it! 

My Office Floor!

Thursday, my team at Target headed out to catch a Twin's game for a team-offsite. Kind of an end-of-the-summer thing.

We've all debated whether you could see our office from Target Field and I decided to put it to the test. I enlisted a colleague on my floor and provided them my strobe light. Via email, they turned it on at sharply 2pm. Behold:

What, you don't see it?!?

Circled in red, that's my strobe light!!!

Finally, proof you can see a light from City Center. 

Vegas Inspiration

It's my blog, I can do what I want. Here are some of the things I liked, for no other reason than the color or design.

Fancy Scarf

It's a Starbucks, I think

Whoa!! 24 hour watch!!

Candied Apples were as pretty in real life as this picture suggests

The desert, with an artsy tree in the center of the path. Cuz why not?

That's some fancy wood design-in' on the ceiling... and everywhere

Vegas Highlights

For our fifth Wedding Anniversary, Alicia and I revisited the spot of our nuptials - Las Vegas, NV. Here are some photo highlights. 

Our view from the Encore Hotel 

I had a Whopper with Bleu Cheese at the Rio

Alicia and I revisited the Wynn Buffet, where our Wedding dinner was held

The Aria had multiple portraits of Christopher Walken - definitely gotta stay there now

I scrambled up rocks in the desert before Alicia could see the "People get killed scrambling up rocks" sign

The Neon Museum was amazing

Oh yeah! Got to spend a ton of time with my wife!

Vikings Pre-Season

August equals cheap Vikings tickets. And an excuse to finally ride the Green Line! 

 Check out this math-y art at one U of M stop!

A gorgeous view of that one building... you know the one. 

Oh yeah! First Vikings game at TCF Stadium! (that was regularly scheduled - I'm looking at you, dome-collapse-game)

Just a beautiful sunset, too 

Even better? Vikings won! Huzzah!

National Night Out

Tuesday was National Night Out - an excuse to have a block party and get to know your neighbors. My neighbor three hours down organized again this year and it drew a great crowd. Alicia and I met some neighbors and relearned a ton of names.

Even two great stories came out of the night.

1) There's a house on our block that hasn't been lived in since 1978. It's a tiny... TINY House.

I'm embarrassed to say I hadn't even noticed it - it's pretty covered by shrubs. The neighbors claim it's owner moved away for family reasons and just sits on it because it's so cheap. They have an agreement with him to mow the lawn in exchange for using the yard space. Crazy.

2) There's another house on our block that looks like the Amityville Horror house. I don't see it, but I do see that they embraced the look. Here's the house at night:

Spooky Scary!

Target Express

What can I say? I'm a fan-boy for companies I work for. Today, Alicia and I went out to DinkyTown to check out the brand new Target Express:

It's a small format Target that looks like a Wallgreen's. The Star Tribune says it's a sixth of the size of a normal Target at only 20,000-square-feet. What was cool, however, is it seemed to have every department a regular Target would. Electronics, home, clothing, etc. Whomever chose what belonged in the Target did it really well - it would have been amazing to have one back in Brooklyn.

Also, very pretty:

We followed up the Target stop with a drive down University, which of course included a trip to Ax-Man. Yay! 

All-Star Game

If you follow my twitter feed, you saw my All-Star Game shenanigans. For one night only, Minneapolis bars and restaurants were open until 4am. I may not have attended the All-Star Game, but I was all for napping and hitting the town at midnight to take advantage.

Me just passed midnight enjoying a beer at Lyon's

I managed to talk one co-worker into joining me, and we headed over to Kieran's to enjoy their patio. Unfortunately, the patio closed at 2am, so we had to head inside. 

Then, it was just a short 1 1/2 hours until the house lights came on.

House lights up for last call at Kieran's at 3:35am

Can you believe that? Not even serving through 4am. Boo!!

Lest you don't believe me, I snapped a shot of the light rail monitor on my way home. 

It was pretty quiet, frankly. But lots of fun things to mention: 

• A random guy on the street called me cute
• Kathy Wurzer of Minnesota Public Radio tweeted at me
• I got to see Budweiser man
• I finished the day in a hammock watching the sun-rise

Definitely worth the terribly groggy day after.

Livia = Fat?

Comfortable? Fat? Cute? Discuss.

Friday Evening in Summer

Sorry for the double post on Twitter, but it was a fantastic Friday evening.

Hammock, fire, cats, cool weather....

Yup, it's been just great weather this summer. Though I'll be watching to see if MPR's Updraft blog is right about Monday's polar vortex.

Bonus Friday Post - Lifetime Triathon Prep

Was biking Friday night and stumbled upon the setup of tomorrow's Lifetime Tri at Lake Nokomis:

The finish line!

Bike parking for one leg of the race

I'm certainly not attending nor participating - quite the opposite - I'm going to avoid driving in the area. Yuk.

Also exciting, it looks like Sandcastle has opened on Lake Nokomis. Look for a post with food pictures soon.

Cat Sitting

Poor Loki doesn't know how close to danger he is, does he?

Talk about tempting fate...

All-Star Game is Coming

It'd be hard to walk around downtown and not know the All-Star game is coming next week. Here's some sidewalk markings that have popped up on Nicollet Ave.

I'm personally excited that local bars can apply to stay open until 4am the night of the game. I'm debating a nap during the game (it's Tuesday, 7/15), then going out just to say I did it. After all, the last time it happened was in 2008 for the RNC. It may just be a once-a-decade kind of thing.

Baby Falcons

My building in downtown Minneapolis (City Center) has a web cam on the 33rd floor of a peregrine falcon nest. The building has a live feed displayed in the lobby and there's been a couple babies lately! Here's the mother feeding them:

Turns out, you can read about the project and watch them live on the web, too! They're still there right now (Saturday, 7/12). Enjoy!

US Bank Building Skyway

I dunno, I thought this looked cool.

Fourth of July Afternoon

Spent the fourth in the backyard enjoying the weather. Steak on the grill, scratch-off lotto tickets, and... 

The SWORD FROM HELL

MARVEL AT ITS MIGHT!