Steve Krause’s Unofficial Blog

You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here….

February 1, 2008 11:58 am

Okay folks, I’m closing up Steve Krause’s Unofficial Blog. The time has come. So now, join me at my new “mega blog,” stevendkrause.com Update your links, etc.

Categories: Uncategorized
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Well, at least a bird didn’t poop in your mouth– oh, wait…

January 27, 2008 2:57 pm

Categories: Movies, Fun
1 Comment »

Why is Hello Kitty flipping me off?

January 22, 2008 11:15 pm

Take a look at this Hello Kitty stress test; seriously, doesn’t it kind of stress you out that the kitty is giving me the bird? Jeesh. Via Hello Kitty Hell.

Categories: Fun
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Now, why didn’t I think of that?

10:39 pm

I was in the Food (W)hole today, picking up a few things after a satisfying (well, for me) workout at the rec center, when I spotted what seemed to me to be a just brilliant shopping idea. I saw a woman with a laptop open and sitting in that seat where the baby would ride. She was online (the Food [W]hole has free wifi) and in the midst of a chat session, but it just seems obvious to me that this would be a fantastic way to shop for groceries/plan a menu. Log in, check out some recipes, and plan your shopping accordingly. Potentially pretty cool, huh?

Categories: Shopping
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Restaurant Review: The Sidetrack

12:07 am

What and Where:

The Sidetrack Bar and Grill | 56 E Cross St | Ypsilanti, MI| | 734- 213-6762

Ratings (1=terrible, 5=mind-blowingly great)

Tastiness: 3.5

Service: 3.5

Price (1=super cheap, 5=super expensive):2.5

Value: 4

General vibe: 4

Comments

I can’t believe that after 15 or so of these reviews, I have yet to do the Sidetrack. I guess I’m just too familiar….
The Sidetrack is the quintessential “bar and grill.” What I mean is this: if you were a producer from the classic Hollywood film era and you were to call down to “central casting” and ask for a “bar,” they’d send you the Sidetrack. A beautiful main bar (dark wood, ornate carving, mirror behind it, etc.). Fireplaces and darkness all around. Animal heads and kind of sketchy prints hanging about. And yet, it’s also a place where you can take a family (well, at least before about 10 pm), which very much reminds me of the bars/roadhouses I visited as a kid with my parents and grandparents in northeast Wisconsin
There’s a fine selection of beers on tap here, along with all the rest of the usual bar things.
If you can only visit this place once, be sure to get the burger deluxe with sweet potato fries. The regular fries are so-so, but the sweet potato version (with their sauce) are excellent. And their burgers– well, I don’t know if it really is one of the 20 burgers you have to have before you die,but it is dang good and what I almost always get when I go.
Really, just about all the food here is good. I’ve had good luck with most of the fish dishes, particularly the Lake Perch basket. I think the Turkey Reuben is great, though maybe not that much different than a lot of other places that offer that version if the sandwich.
As far as other bar food goes: Personally, I think the onion rings are over-breaded, but I have many friends who enjoy them. Some folks I know swear by the fried pickles they serve here, but frankly, I think that a fried pickle pretty much tastes like a fried pickle. But I’m a big fan of the humus, the other fried veggies (zukes, mushrooms, etc.).
On the whole, a must-stop in Ypsilanti. Go check it out if you are in the area and haven’t yet.

Categories: Dining and Coffee Reviews, Ypsi-Arbor
2 Comments »

Talking Points Memo Hilarious Romney Ad

January 15, 2008 6:20 pm

Makes some pretty good points, but in the end, I couldn’t justify the effort it would take to participate in the daily KOS’ campaign. Besides the fact that I have a hard time getting fired up to go through the whole primary voting rig-a-ma-roll for what amounts to a practical joke, I am a little worried that this little joke (ha-ha– let’s vote for Romney) will lead to nominee Romney and then president Romney. As Jack “who?” Lessenberry said/wrote, the last time Michganders did that, they voted for Reagan. And that turned out freakin’ hilarious, didn’t it?

Categories: Movies, Politics
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Finally, I discover the purpose of the Internet

January 14, 2008 10:22 pm

The SpongeBob Squarepants Wiki, which I stumbled across while trying to write up an assignment on wikis for a grad class. Perhaps I’ll include this one….

Categories: Fun
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I might very well vote for a Republican– sort of

January 13, 2008 11:46 am

The Michigan primaries are coming up on Tuesday, but it’s going to be meaningless for the Democrats because of squabbling within the party. As I understand it, when the state party moved up its primary date with permission from the national party, the national organizers said that Michigan’s delegates won’t count. Clinton, Obama, and Edwards aren’t campaigning at all (Dennis “rhymes with spinach” Kucinich is making some stops though). Obama and Edwards aren’t going to be on the ballot and there are no write-ins allowed. So basically, if you don’t want to vote for Clinton or Kucinich, you’re only choice is to vote for uncommitted, as this Ann Arbor News article about a group pushing for “uncommitted” explains.

First off, this is just bullshit. People can complain about the system in Iowa or New Hampshire all they want, and maybe they have a point, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg of stupidness that is the way we pick candidates for president. The idea that I can’t even write in the name of the candidate I want (Obama) is ridiculous, and voting for uncommitted is the same as not voting at all. I don’t know what the right way to do these things, but what’s going on this year– especially in Michigan (Florida too, I think)– is definitely the wrong way.

Democrats for Mitt Anyway, this is the climate that just might make me vote for Mitt Romney. This is part of a campaign/joke over at the Daily KOS, which is explained here and here. Basically, the idea is to vote for Mitt and thus prolong division in the Republican party and Romney’s campaign. As the Daily KOS puts it, “We want more of that money spent trashing his fellow Republicans. We want an unsettled field with Republicans fragmented and fighting. We want the theocons (Huckabee), the neocons (McCain), and the corportate cons (Romney) to maintain viable top-tier candidates in the race for as long as possible, since it fuels their civil war. Heck, if we truly hit the jackpot, we might even get a brokered GOP convention.”