2 Man Frat

bygones = bygones

2008-07-02T15:39:00.003-07:00

Time for some out-of-town dispatches. I want original songs!

In other late-breaking News with a capital "N"ot Important

2008-07-02T14:40:00.000-07:00

Schmerberg is totally turning into a crazy bike lady.

Get it? It's like a crazy cat lady but... with...

screw it...

HUG

Breaking up the band

2008-07-02T07:41:00.000-07:00

So Walline has shuffled off this Washtenaw coil and headed Up North for the 4th. This will be a recurring theme over the next few weeks - Walline goes Up North, Walline goes to Los Angeles, Walline runs a booth at the Shadow Art Fair, Schmerberg sits on his lazy ass back in Ann Arbor. Not all is doom and gloom and feeling half-complete though. I just bought another bike, putting the total of bikes I now own (in various states of assemebly) at the half-dozen mark. This one is a gorgeous old tank of a Univega, and taking it for a spin around town, still in my work shirt and tie a couple nights ago, was a wonderful little quasi-Dutch moment (as close to a quasi-Dutch moment as I could get in Middle America on a Japanese bike).

There is also the amazing set of things planned for the holidy weekend, even in the absence of a Walline. Last night was sloppy joes at Britni's in Clinton, tonight is Adrienne's birthday in Ann Arbor, tomorrow is fireworks in Manchester, Friday is Seun Kuti/Broken Social Scene free concert in Detroit, and Saturday is Fifth of July potluck back in Ann Arbor at Vitae. All these are shaping up to be Fun, and I'm looking foward to schlepping people around to all of them - I put the seats back in my minivan, and can carry seven revelers at a time now. Contact me if interested in anything. The potluck sees the debut of Great Society Chili, based on the recipie used at the LBJ Whitehouse, but with more bacon. Nothing says freedom like Bacon

Mixtapz Vol. 1

2008-06-14T15:24:00.000-07:00

So we decided that it would be a good idea to go play ultimate frisbee this morning. We generally try to play ultimate with the bunch of old and current cross country folk that come out on summer weekends, and have been doing so whenever we're in town for the past decade or so. This game was made more interesting by the fact that we walked home from Backroom Pizza in the rain barefoot around 3am-ish. And that we had been pounded mercilessly by the mojito, sangria, and margartia pitchers at the surprisingly awesome BTB Cantina. And Ochs was there, which was great, because we needed yet more reminders of how horribly slow, fat, and hungover we were. Oh well, Ochs broke some kid's collarbone (not really his fault, but seriously, the first broken bone in the long and storied history of CC ultimate), so perhaps being too slow and fat to move fast has its advantages.

Below is a link to the first of the mixtapz that will be coming out of The Cabbage Patch this summer. It was initially made a few weeks ago, but has been refined since then. Some of the stuff is new, some is not, some has credibility, some does not. It's not meant to be any sort of "what new stuff I think is cool so you can think I'm cool too" project, like most blog mixtapz are, but merely a collection of things that I like, and have been greatly enjoying so far this summer. It's a zShare, as a *.zip file. Just download it at the link below, extract/uncompress it, and enjoy! Comments are encouraged, and if it is well recieved, more will follow.

Cabbage Patch Mixtapz Vol. 1

Rain Delay

2008-06-08T19:22:00.000-07:00

So the Garden Party was quite a stunning success. Lots of tasty brats, lots of tasty burgers, lots of tasty beers, and lots of tasty juleps. There were frisbees, lasers, and hats.

The only thing that didn't go so so hot was the weather, as we got two separate rainstorms in our way. We were able to salvage the party by grilling on the Foreman, packing into the living room/Walline's room, and generally not worrying about the muggy, smelly mess that the apartment had become. Oh, I also jumped on the hood of a moving car, but it was Walline's and he was pretty cool about it.

We got to welcome lots of cool folks into the place, and packing issues aside, it worked out well. Fixing the xbox is now on the top of the list of priorities, however, as it crapped out midway through a rousing game of Jet Set Radio Future, which sucked as I was grinding on everything in sight. Time to clean up too, but the hangover bug bit hard yesterday evening, and sent me running back to air-conditioned Saline. A kitchen table is on the way as well, improving the habitability greatly. It was great to see everyone there, and hope that the weather for the next garden party is a tiny bit more cooperative.

A tribe called Cabbage.

2008-06-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

Walline here. How's it hangin?

It's no secret. I'm about the onliest person any of us knows that lives at home. At this late stage in my quarter-life I have, out of both pragmatism and comfort, abused the goodwill and accommodating nature of my parents to an unprecedented degree by doggedly refusing to vanish from Sauk Trail.

Truly, a proper impetus to vacate has been lacking. Under similar circumstances, many among us would rely on pride or some similarly self-conscious spur to drive them on. As for me, well, I apparently am not resonating at the appropriate frequencies of shame in this instance. Maybe I'm just too cheap. Or maybe I just lack the sense that the Good Lord gave goldfish.

In any case, things are obviously changing, as I've begun moving some of my belongings out of Warner Creek at into the west end of Hoover, into a garden apartment called The Cabbage Patch. Within the cozy confines of The Patch will reside the doings and goings on of the Two Man Frat, a coalition fated for dissolution in a scant three months. Hopefully, however, I will be able to use the Cabbage Patch as a springboard out of the WC and into my own habitations, as I understand is the general way of things for us middle-aged youths living outside the Republic of Italy.

I think I just sensed The Captain light a celebratory cigar.

Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. There should be lots of fun things to look out for from 2manfrat in the future, including the results of our ill-conceived and ill-fated projects, like learning how to wire up custom electronics, as well as The Cabbage Patch Garden Party blogged just below this post and slated for tomorrow afternoon.

Cheers!

Garden Party Tomorrow (Friday, 6/6)

2008-06-05T07:28:00.000-07:00

The first garden party of the season at The Cabbage Patch will be held tomorrow afternoon/evening. Mint Juleps will be available. Appropriate dress is encouraged - think Derby Day.

Garden Party 1.0 will also see the debut of DIY All-Terrain Croquet (bring your own mallet and balls). There may be some spare croquet tools, but again, we at The Cabbage Patch encourage you to bring your own mallet, and your own balls.

We may have leftover Hockey Juice (Labatt Blue) to drink, and, providing that we can secure a grill by tomorrow, there will be garlic burgers as well. Anything that you would like grilled, please bring, and we will be sure to take care of you as only The Cabbage Patch can.

So the floor above us isn't the most soundproof.

2008-06-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

But this has only resulted in overheard dinner parties and the occasional squeaky floorboard as the people in apartment 4 walk around. Other than that, the overall state of the Hoover St. Annex is quite well. It's nice and cool, in a very solid neighborhood with several parks in walking distance, and possesses a fridge that makes some pretty impressive noises. I really want to get these sounds recorded or something, because they are new and alien in the best kind of way. There is the standard, low fridge hum - nothing to be excited about there.

However, there are two higher pitched sounds that are novel to my ears. The first is a mid-level sound that comes at random intervals, sometimes a few seconds apart, sometimes right one on top of the other, a kind of ray-gun ppheeew that falls just slightly in pitch. Then, there's a quieter, higher sound that happens every ten seconds or so. It sounds like the standard issue cartoon bhoooeewww bomb-dropping noise, beginning high and dropping in pitch for about three or four seconds before fading out. Stellar, imaginative, and much more expressive than any other fridge I can remember.

From the What The Fuck Did You Expect? newsdesk, the internet and cable have been hooked up for all of 10 hours, and are not working quite as they should. Wireless is a long-forgotten memory, as our router and Comcast's modem have Hatfield/McCoy-esque relations, and as far as cable goes, since I've been without TV for a little while, I guess I don't miss it, but staring at a black screen with a little infobox on the bottom telling me I should be seeing "'Megadisasters - Asteroid Apocalypse', (2006)" isn't that amusing.

Also obvious is the fact that we're entertaining this weekend. A Garden Party, with the debut of DIY All-Terrain Croquet (bring your own Balls and Mallet) will be part of the festivities, so dress appropriately. Watch this space, your email, or voicemail for more details, or just call one of us. Friday/Saturday, time, and menu are all TBD.

This is what happens when you start a blog hungover on Memorial Day afternoon.

2008-05-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

After much deliberation* Walline and I have decided that the W. Hoover Annex needs a blog. Expect daily doses** of whatever amuses the summer inhabitants of the West Hoover Annex, from images and musics to polls and eventually, we hope, the completed Ballad Of The Time Luke's Water Pump Blew Up In Indiana. Right now enjoy our poll below, and stick around as we look forward to earning our adult content warning.

* Transcript of said deliberation:
walline: I expected to see some whole new blog about the Thailand thing, man.
burgler: Yeah, that would have been one way to do it, but that would have been . . . hard. I actually gave some thought to shutting down crawlspace,
walline: No . . .
burgler: but decided that this summer will need some documentation. I stuck something up today so I could have a post in the "May 2008" archives,
walline: Good move.
burgler: one more month, assholes!
walline: [laughter] Perhaps . . .
burgler: No.
walline: Do we need a Two Man Frat blog?
burgler: No. [pause] I'm at my computer; 'twomanfrat.blogspot.com' is not taken.
walline: This is approaching the level of A Sign.
burgler: but it kinda looks like "t woman frat,"
walline: not an option.
burgler: but 2manfrat, with the number 2 is available, and it won't make it look like we're blogging about life as a transvestite that identifies with females.
walline: REGISTER!

** by "daily doses," we mean not entirely that.