Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Good times

I took last Friday off from work, which was kind of a treat. I say “kind of” because I had to spend part of the morning driving to Ann Arbor in a shitty, snowy mess en route to a brainstorming session/meeting with the fine folks at Beyond Interactive. These people are contracted through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to publish MiLife MiTimes, a smart-looking and keen Web site promoting the goings-on around the state, in a specific capacity. I write for them, too.
In an unprecedented move, at least for me, they invite the writers to meet with the higher-ups to brainstorm for upcoming issues heading into the next year. Normally, I get an assignment, complete it, wait to get paid and that’s the end of that, unless it’s an ongoing thing. These folks are quite an anomaly. They get you involved and seem to really care about your input. It’s refreshing and strange at the same time.

I was out of there by just after 11 a.m., and with the rest of the day to myself in Ann Arbor, I did what I always do, head to my two favorite places on Earth — Pinball Pete’s and
Zingerman’s Deli


Naturally, Pete’s was empty,


petespool


so I got up on some pinball and a couple of games of Tron before finding the Frogger machine


frogger

and then playing some serious Joust action


joust

I love Pete’s, but it has not been the same since they took out my favorite game, Tempest. And while I’m used to going by myself, it’s always fun with another, that way you can blow out some serious air and/or bubble hockey. We had stayed up late the previous night, so I knew a nap was in order but not before I loaded up at my favorite house of food. I love this place. < p>
zingcheese


zingermanmustard


zingbread

I settled in for a no. 29, small, with a side of au gratins and a Boylans orange. Goddamn it was good. Looked just like this actually.


zinglunch

You can rest comfortably knowing that I destroyed every morsel on that table.


Kerry and I would later go to Greenfield Village for their Holiday Nights event. It was so-so. I was covering it for another client and had to take some pictures. The glass in the window was kind of pretty.


greenfieldglass

We headed to Eastern Market after that to see Slaw’s art opening at the
Joseph something or other gallery. It was fun, but kind of dead. The place was interesting, though. I have a thing for wide open spaces, especially warehouses. I’ve always wanted to live in one. I like a lot of room. They had some rather nice work in there, including free Motor City Brewers beer — gotta love the Ghettoblaster.


redcoach < p>
tiki

This is how they were heating the joint, with a couple of these hooked up to tanks


heater


greendoor


Saturday was even better. Despite both of us having to work a little bit, we headed to Casey and Mary’s house for dinner and a surprise. Mary drew Kerry for Christmas and told us months ago to keep Dec. 10 open. They suggested they make dinner and we bring an overnight bag. We get out there for drinks and some dinner with those two, and Brent and Laura, who, by the way, are two very fine, fun and friendly folks. This was only our second time seeing each other (the first was a gazillion-course meal Casey and Mary made last year for a bunch of us; the evening that spawned Suites Brisas. Thank God.), but those two are definitely solid, fucking totally real people. Casey and Mary were just finishing up dinner. Here they are crushing yet again.


caseymary

The paella was unbelievably good. The surprise gift for Kerry was two tickets to the sold-out Ira Glass show at the Michigan Theater. It was actually a lot of fun. I don’t listen to a lot of public radio, very little actually, but this was a very engaging and entertaining evening. We headed to Babs after that for some drinks before going back home to crash a lot later than we normally do. We woke up the next day to breakfast from the Dexter Bakery.


breakfast

After sleeping in the spare room, Kerry pointed out to me this very cute and kind of wonderful little ornament on the bookshelf, a paper clip holder Casey made when he was a kid. Their dad kept it on his desk all of the years he worked, until he retired many moons later. Thanks to Casey and Mary for a great evening and some mind-blowing food.


clippy

1 Comments:

Blogger Big Daddy said...

Damnit, man. If I read one more blog entry that includes "head to Ann Arbor" but not "my old friend Rich" I'm going to piss myself.

10:01 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home