Aaron Landry

Up at my mother’s old house the phone stopped working on 9th July. Randy normally uses his mobile phone so it hasn’t been an issue for him. He’s had a lot of other things to deal with anyway. I went up to the house today to work on it.

From the demarcation point everything is fine, so it is likely not Qwest’s fault. When the house is plugged in from the demarcation point it is as if someone has a phone off the hook somewhere. It also seems the voltage is lower as if some line is crossed; there is usually not enough power on the line for my test phone to generate DTMF tones. The DSL works fine though, so that’s strange. I’ve unplugged everything, including the DSL router, taken apart a few questionable jacks to check them and I cannot find the problem. Quite frustrating. Not sure where to look next.

For good news, I was able to visit with Simon and Porter and do some software updates on Randy’s iMac.

At the home of Brian Melendez, DFL State Party Chair. Guest of honor was US Senator Mark Dayton. Many other elected officials and candidates for US Senate were there. A huge house: even though there were over a hundred people there, it was easy to find privacy. I was impressed with the large selection of periodicals in one of the five or six bathrooms.

The Bobo Club is what the south end of the first floor of the Renaissance Box is now called. Service here was shit. Asked for a Pinot Noir that was on the menu and they only had enough for a half glass. I asked for a different wine and they couldn’t find it. Then I was offered a La Terre Pinot that wasn’t on the menu, and it was shit. I ordered food and eventually was served without anything to eat it with. Good thing they gave me 3 napkins. Also, some dork charged me $3 cover 10 minutes after I was inside the venue.

Anyway, the music was fun. A funky jazz fivesome I’ve never heard of. Rob Dewey was subbing in on keyboards and he told me to come down and check it out. They call themselves the Jazz Bastards. Pretty loose, but not too loose. Good solos to break it up.

Bonus intro photo of Rob Dewey’s Katamari Damacy wallpaper.

At RiverCentre, Saint Paul, MN. A surprisingly good and complete presentation. I wasn’t looking forward to the subject matter assuming I was versed enough on the subject. I was wrong and I left imprssed. He is also a lot taller than I am.

First meeting of an unannounced campaign.