Category: Detroit (Page 2 of 4)

The old English D

The Mundane

07/30/2008 / Matt / 3 Comments

In the past week I/we did these things (in no particular order):

1. Went golfing with Steve before he left town. Discovered we all suck pretty badly at golf.

2. Went to a Tigers game a few rows back from the dugout.

3. Acted like we knew what we were doing after watching our 100^th episode of The Dog Whisperer.

4. Drank a beer as big as our head.

5. Learned badminton is a sport. No, really. A sport you can hold a beer and cigarette in one hand and still KICK ABSOLUTE ASS with the other. My kind of sport.

6. Went to a theater to see a movie that for once didn’t suck (Batman – go see it).

7. Managed to eat at Toast a) without being hungover, and b) without waiting 2 hours for a table to be open.

8. Stood inside a skyscraper and waved at Windsor.

9. Made it through another week of life.

Documentary

07/29/2008 / Matt / 0 Comments

Detroit:
Speramus Meliora || We hope for better things
Resurget Cineribus || It will rise from the ashes

On Our New Lucrative Gambling Career

07/04/2008 / Matt / 0 Comments

We rolled out to the Racetrack Friday night for some July 4th fireworks and booze + betting. While I bet and didn’t win a thing, Christa doubled our money with her new bet strategy: PORN STAR NAMES.
It provided some serious giggles finding names like Pleasing Artist, Hunter’s Big Guy, Stand Tall McGraw, Big Boy Blue, Smoking Gun, and First Pleasurelane in the race program. Also proves I don’t have an inside line on the winners, so you can stop asking…

Camera Phone FTW

06/12/2008 / Matt / 1 Comment

Some of you may remember a few months ago when I wished I had a camera phone to document some of the oddities that life throws at me (so you don’t think I’m kidding – cause it’s all true!).

Well kids, I finally have one.

What I’d like to know is, how do they know a stripper versus a non-stripper when they see one? What are the chances I could stroll in and drink 1/2 off? (don’t answer that)

Movement 2008

05/30/2008 / Matt / 0 Comments

What a wonderful holiday weekend – best DEMF since 2000. Not only did we have amazing weather, but we had the privilege of hosting Steve & Amy up from Hotlanta, as well as Jamie in from Oregon. I’ve posted some of the photos I took from my cellphone in the gallery, with more from a real camera ~~coming soon~~ uploaded as of 6/15/08.

Here’s a taste…

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I Hate Red Tape

05/08/2008 / Matt / 0 Comments

I could have taken the easy way out on my porch project, but I didn’t. I could have put ugly green Astroturf to hide the crumbling steps, jammed a bunch of concrete into the part on the side crumbling and painted it, or just fucking stuck a huge flower pot in front of it to hide it. Nope, we chose to take it out and rebuild it to improve the aesthetic of the front approach to our house. Seemed like a good idea at the time…

So I went down today for the second time to apply for a building permit to rebuild my porch. The first time I went I got a brief overview of what I needed to submit, so I went back this morning to submit it hoping I could get started working this weekend. Apparently that won’t be happening. After speaking with the building inspector, he apparently has taken an interest in my project because now he is requiring:

A site visit to verify construction materials & the dimensions of the old porch
Verification that my new porch will not encroach farther than the average porch of every house within 650 feet of either direction of my house on my side of the street
Pictures of the old porch
A property survey
12-14 days for plan verification before approval

That’s all super fantastic except that:

I don’t have a fucking property survey, so lets add another fee to my list of costs I wasn’t planning
I have a huge fucking hole right outside my front door which I can’t do anything with for 12-14 days while he verifies my plans, construction materials, and old dimensions

I would like to give the city the benefit of the doubt and think that they (Ferndale) appreciate my youthful enthusiasm and willingness to learn about home-owner processes, but if there is one thing I can’t stand is all this bureaucratic bullshit.

Red Wings and Tigers and Blackberrys – OH MY

04/28/2008 / Matt / 2 Comments

Some of you have wondered what’s been going on in Detroit with the lack of posts lately.
Well, we went to see a Tigers game and a Red Wings play off game last week, we’ve both been busier than crap with work, and we started a LITTLE home improvement project.

Jackhammer porch destruction

We opened pandora’s box with that last one…
Also news of note: both C and I got new phones. I got a blackberry so I am constantly connected to everything and everyone.
Information overload – just the way I like it…

Playing catch-up

01/09/2008 / Matt / 0 Comments

I am back to blogging today after a break, so consider me online.
Here’s some randomness about what’s been going on with us…

We upgraded our bed and got a queen. That makes 6 more inches for C and the dog to hog. Swell.

Seriously now, I have been waiting for Lost to start back up again for the past 9 months. The writers better get back to work soon because I refuse to suffer any longer without this damn show. Our new show of interest, Dirty Sexy Money has already been effected, so something better give soon or I will lose my sanity.

After 2 years of talking about it, we finally did something about it. We hired Alvin to add some power receptacles in the basement. I now have a plug right by my desk for my music & geek-out equipment. We also have plugs at the workbench, one outside, and one for the humidifier & pump at the furnace. Next up, cleaning up the old wiring to start finishing the basement. Thanks Alvin!

Still working on a new design for the site between marathon studying (finally finishing my MCSE after 3 years of being a few tests away) and entertaining ~~the monster~~ Monty after work. Stay tuned.

Random quote from New Years spent in Detroit:

Detroit is like a 3-legged dog: you want to shoot it and put it out of its misery but it’s just too damn cute.

How Michael Bay ruined my childhood

12/28/2007 / Matt / 4 Comments

As a kid, I loved watching the old Transformers cartoon, I had Transformers toys, and thought Transformers were better than GI Joe (blasphemy, I know).

I got C an up-converting DVD player for Christmas, and we thought what better movie to test out 1080i on our TV than with the Michael Bay directed 2007 live action/CG remake of Transformers.

Transformers

Now up until last night, I thought the worst movie I’ve watched in a while was Live Free or Die Hard. Seriously, someone needs to let Bruce Willis know he shouldn’t reprise the role unless they get some real writers to somehow make the explosions and car chases make sense and have some flow.

My observations about Transformers:

I had heard a lot about seeing Detroit streets filmed in some of the climactic scenes, and I must say it was very distracting to have the cameras pan down the street and see places I knew. I spent more time trying to recognize Detroit buildings than watch the climactic fight between Optimus Prime & Megatron.
Sorry GM, but I saw right through your giant car commercial. Why was I not surprised to see H2/H3’s everywhere, including one of the Transformer characters.
This movie had some of the worst dialog I’ve ever been forced to sit through. Maybe I spoiled myself by watching Pulp Fiction earlier this week and was again dazzled at Tarantino’s ability to write dialog, or maybe it was the cheesy one liners and bad delivery on the part of the Transformers actors themselves. Regardless, it stunk.
What the hell was going on with the cheese factor?! I couldn’t figure out if I was being forced to watch a tedious teen after-school-special-eqsue drama or some unrealistic military shoot-em-up. It was like there were 2 movies edited together that didn’t have much else to do with each other than some giant GC fucking robots.

I can say one GOOD thing about this movie, and thats the computer generated Transformers took on a truly real look and feel. I was amazed at how fluidly they integrated with the live action, and just how good they looked in general.

Some people (C) might say I’m too hard on the movie for what it is: an action film with explosions. Fine, maybe I’m a bit harsh, but I really had some high expectations going in that weren’t met. The good (or bad) news is that there is going to be a sequel in 2009, so they have another chance to woo me over…

Turkey Weekend and Lewis Black

11/26/2007 / Matt / 0 Comments

Last weekend was the highly anticipated 4 day holiday weekend. I can’t tell you enough how happy I was to have a few extra days off work… Anyway, a quick rundown of the weekend’s activities:

Wednesday night Steve was in town from HOTlanta before his brother’s wedding, so we managed to get 1 evening of drunkeness in over at Gracie’s Underground in Ferndale. Who would have thought closing the bar and coming back to the house for more was such a bad idea, ohhhhhhh around 8am Thursday when we had to get up…
Thursday was spent traveling to the G Rap, eating turkey & visiting family, and traveling back.
Friday we met-up with Lauren & Jay who were in town visiting from Brantford, said hello to Cooper (Lauren’s Mom’s new Leonbeger puppy), and again tested out the liver’s ability to filter toxins from the bloodstream at Danny’s Irish Pub in Ferndale. Until close. Again. Rockstars.
Saturday we saw Lewis Black at the Fox Theater downtown. If you’ve seen the Daily Show you would probably recognize him as the host of “Back in Black”. The dude seriously looked like he’d ingested enough caffeine to kill an elephant, and provided some serious hilarity for the evening. As a sidenote, I had never been in the Fox before, and it’s amazing.
Here’s some shots:

More photos in the gallery…
Sunday, it was time for round 2 of turkey.

And that brings us back to the present. As much as I enjoyed having 4 days off, IT WAS A LOT OF WORK!