Google knows.

I think it knows too much actually.

Here I sit, laptop in the couch nook listening to So You Think You Can Dance on the TV. I hear the TV cut to commercial and the voice of Michael Strahan and I perk up--part NFL pre-season hopes part crush. He's doing a commercial for Dr. Pepper and how he loves the delicious mix of the 23 flavors.

I think, "hmmm... 23?" So I tickety tickety tap tap tap it into the googler. I get as far as 2-3-_-f-l- and Google fills in the rest and with one click, here's the list.

The 23 flavors/ingredients of the famous Dr. Pepper soda secret...

1. Amaretto
2. Almond
3. Blackberry
4. Black Licorice
5. Carrot
6. Clove
7. Cherry
8. Caramel
9. Cola
10. Ginger
11. Juniper
12. Lemon
13. Molasses
14. Nutmeg
15. Orange
16. Prune
17. Plum
18. Pepper
19. Root Beer
20. Rum
21. Raspberry
22. Tomato
23. Vanilla
    

Did Google know what I was watching? I'll have to plug that into the googler next.

Pizza Paradise

Warmer days and crops in the ground mean there are many summer pleasures on the horizon. Today's musings were brought about by my buddy Kirk putting a stake in the ground and scheduling our summer pilgrimage to The Pizza Farm.

The Pizza Farm (formally known as A to Z Produce Farm) is the front yard of a working farm in Stockholm WI, about an hour southeast of Minneapolis and one of the coolest secret/insider things I know about. During the summer months on Tuesday nights only from 4:30PM to 8:00 this family turns their farm into a wood fire pizza kitchen.

Each of the ingredients is either grown on the premises or from neighboring farms (happy pig sausage) and the outcome and the ambiance can best be described as casual summer awesomeness. I am certain this pizza ranks as some of the best pizza I will ever have. Top five for easily--and that includes empty placeholders for Italy.

Now, all you get is pizza in a box so the rest of the experience is up to your own design. Some families have tables with place settings and even a little centerpiece, others come with simply a six pack and picnic blanket. Good times with great friends and phenomenal pizza.

Stay tuned for pictures and the 2010 rundown after we make the trek in late July.

Dear Ticketmaster

I would have more respect for you if instead of an $8.75/ticket "convenience" fee you just called it profit, overhead, jets, genital waxing.... whatever it is you do with the money.

Because frankly I cannont fathom just who exactly you're conveniencing with this crap.

Bravo Post-its

I live in a townhome and in August 2009 the association did some painting and made some repairs to the siding. This meant we needed to remove our house numbers for a few days. To ensure my pizza and UPS deliveries still arrived on my doorstep I wrote my house numbers on Post-it note and stuck it on the vinyl siding. The work was completed by the end of September but I was not ready to reattach house numbers that I never really cared for. I took this opportunity to find some that I really liked.

After shopping around, on foot and on-line I found some house numbers I really liked but then the busy holidays were bearing down on me, and then the Christmas super-storm, and then that long and brutal cold snap. I was in the thick of winter and there was not enough daylight much less warmth to undertake this exterior project. Heck, there were days it was so cold I’m pretty sure the juice in my level would have froze. Never fear, my address Post-it held strong.

The snow stopped in February and March brought a slow steady thaw and longer days with warm sunshine. Just before Easter, when I resolved to take down my Christmas lights, I installed my new address numbers.


That little square of paper with the removable sticky held up through a Minnesota fall AND winter facing rain, sleet, snow and wind. However, a note to my friends at Sharpie… I did have to rewrite my house numbers three times.