I’m prepping to move next week and part of the process is getting rid of a bunch of stuff I no longer use or need. I’ve been selling a lot of stuff through Craigslist and MySpace, but want to bring the last part of the sale to here in hopes I can avoid having to ship this stuff out of town.

Continue reading Nerd Garage Sale: Books & Xbox 360 Games for Sale…

Thursday, July 3rd, I found a black dog in the soccer fields off Vann Avenue on the East Side of Evansville. When I got to her, it was just as I thought: worn out, a little hurt, dehydrated, and hungry. My sister and I took her to Parkdale Animal Hospital, who was great and did everything and supplied everything for free. Right now, we are giving her medicine for her bandaged paws, and trying to get her enough food and water so she fills back out.

This dog is black, female, and appears to be young. She had short-hair and is medium to large, very sweet. We think, as did the vet, that she is pure American Pit Bull Terrier, aka. Pit Bull. We looked her breed up, and despite the stigma, pit bulls are known as being great companions and good around around adults, children, and other pets alike.

From her paw pads and how thin she has gotten, she looks to have been out for a week or so, but her health otherwise and her nice coat suggest she does have a home. We have put up ads and flyers looking for her home.

If you know anything about her, or even if she could be someone’s you know, please double check and let us know. Right now we are looking for her home, but just in case we can’t find it :( if you are interested in adopting her, have a good home for her to be indoors and out with a big yard and can take good care of her, also let me know. Hopefully we will find he parents though.

As you know, our editor, Justin, has headed out to San Francisco to take part in WWDC. Before heading to the Indianapolis airport on Sunday, we decided to visit my old college town for the weekend. I went to IU, and I’m sure plenty of you have also gone there or visited Bloomington. Since we are so sure of this, we thought we’d bring you a travel food review of some of our favorite places in B-Town.

Some of the places we went to are staples, while some are new or a little less known. Naturally, there are so many places I didn’t get to enjoy, and hopefully I’ll be able to go back and try those, towards the end, if I remember, I’ll mention some of those great places! Some of the “staples” included La Charreada, Scotty’s Brewhouse, and Buffa Louie’s, while Japonee was is a relatively new restaurant, and Rockit’s is possibly less known for some people but still great.

At La Charreada we couldn’t help but get our favorite burritos: Burrito La Charreada is a large beef or chicken burrito covered in lettuce, tomato, and sour cream served with a generous portion of rice and beans; and the Burritos Deluxe which is essentially the same, but double the burrito and without the sides. Two other very delicious favorites are the Fajitas Quesadilla Rellena (a chicken, beef, shrimp, or mix fajitas with beans and cheese in the tortilla with rice) and the Fajitas Jalisco (a huge, hot skillet of chicken, beef, and shrimp fajitas).

Scotty’s Brewhouse is a popular place in Bloomington for good American fare. While we both choose burgers, other favorites of mine include wraps and they have great sides, potato skins, and soups. Justin ordered the Monty’s Frisco; it is a burger with saut’eed red onions and swiss cheese on sourdough toast and a side of thousand island dressing. I ordered the Midwest Burger, which is a burger with swiss, bacon, the standard veggies, and a side of ranch. We both got loaded waffle fries that have cheese, bacon, and sour cream on them.

As a snack, we ventured to Buffa Louie’s which is known for their wings, and for me, the best wings I’ve ever found and I always miss them a lot when I’m gone. I got a snack order of mild wings, Justin got a 6-piece boneless sweet bbq wings, and of course we had a side of celery and blue cheese. A late night snack on Friday was pizza at Rockit’s. Rockit’s is a super tiny place in the middle of all the bars on Walnut, and while it has regular hours, its known for its great little late night pizza stand outside its door where pizza is $1 a slice. The newest place we went to was Japonee (aka Japonais-no one is sure!). We ordered sushi and actually found it to be pretty good; however, there were some things we probably would’ve changed, such as how they did the crab on the Volcano Roll. One roll we loved was the Indiana roll that had Mango on it! My favorite there is the bento box with the teriyaki chicken, tempura, sushi, etc. The atmosphere is very nice and sleek, but totally casual to going-out attire.

Now for a little mish mash. Friday night we headed out to the Vid, which is a little bar on College filled with pool tables and dartboards. After we crossed the street to the Bluebird to hear Chicago’s 17th Floor, which is a live group that raps cover. They have become quite popular in B-Town and have quite a bit of talent. Saturday night we stopped by Yogis for a bit, but it really was pretty loud and there were some middle-aged women who were 3-sheets to the wind way too early. Places I truly wish I had had time to eat at are Dats (a Cajun-creole place), Maidi’s Cafe & Crepes (coffe, tea, & crepes-their mocha and egg & cheese crepe or strawberry banana crepe), Village Deli (epic breakfast, especially pancakes), Bombay House (great butter chicken, naan, and mango lassi’s), and Casablanca Caf’e (oh holy fish kabobs and couscous!).

If you’ve been to Indiana University and Bloomington before, head back up, if not, you are missing out on a great little place! Sure, I talked about a lot of great food to be found (check out 4th St.), but the university is beautiful, there is a lot of culture (see the 2 Buddhist monasteries), the sports are great (we may not win but its fun to watch!), Oliver Winery is just up the highway (great tasting, food, tours), and lots more if you look. Check out the Visitor’s Bureau and plan a little weekend up to Bloomington.

On January 23 at 6:30PM at Deaconess Women’s Hospital, five leading Evansville health, fitness and wellness experts will deliver the seminar, How to Make 2008 Your Best Year Ever, as a community awareness and fundraising event for the Evansville Boys and Girls Club.

“The purpose of this event is to kick-off 2008 by teaching Evansville residents a proven strategy for achieving their New Year’s Resolutions of health and fitness and raising money for a great charity that I feel strongly about,” explains Custom Fit Personal Training owner, Tony Maslan, a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist with 14 years experience serving hundreds of tri-state residents.

“Most people set health and fitness goals for the New Year, and start off with full momentum, but burn out quickly and never reach their goals. At this seminar, we will reveal how anyone with the desire can make 2008 the year their weight loss and fitness goals are finally achieved,” says Maslan.

“The line-up of health, fitness and personal care experts I’ve assembled is formidable. We’re all very confident we can have a real impact on the health of our community - and raise money for a worthy cause at the same time. We intentionally chose the name of the event because of its big promise. Evansville residents have supported our businesses over the years, and now we want to give back by showing them how to really make 2008 their best year yet,” explains Maslan.

Dr. Cindy Basinski, Darlene Nicholson of lifechanginghealthysolutions.com, Gary Morris owner of Morris Dynamics Martial Arts, and Nathan Holmes of Vertical Excape will also be in attendance to share tips and information on their programs for making 2008 the best year ever for all in attendance.

The ‘How to Make 2008 Your Best Year Ever’ seminar and fundraising event for the Evansville Boys and Girls Club will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Deaconess Women’s Hospital. All Evansville residents over 15 years of age are invited. There is no cost to attend other than a small $10 donation to the Boys and Girls Club at the door. Additional information about the event is available at evansvillechallenge2008.com

We know it’s an easy target to complain about. We’ve all heard about how it’s ironic the Lloyd Expressway is named as such since it takes so long to get anywhere in town from it. We get it. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but those jokes will be around for another 28 years because the Indiana DOT has suspended it’s plans add an interchange to the Burkhardt road area (think Wal-Mart and Target).

The Indiana DOT was planning to add an interchange to the area to help alleviate the traffic nightmare that has built up there in the past ten years. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, try to drive on Burkhardt road during lunch hour or at any time on a Saturday. As part of the plan, all but one entrance point to the Lloyd would have been shut down while construction was underway. The new interchange would have added three 12-foot lanes in each direction for cars to get onto Burkhardt. An overpass would have taken Lloyd traffic over Burkhardt. Sadly, those plans have been tabled until 2035 as funding was moved to other projects that didn’t receive such a negative uproar.

While this project has been tabled, it looks like work is still on schedule for the new Lloyd interchange at Fulton Avenue is still on schedule. This new interchange will hopefully alleviate all the traffic that is being driven downtown. At least we’re getting some relief on the Lloyd.

photo courtesy of Illinois & Indiana Highway Ends