I purchased a t-shirt with a Songwhale logo on it (Songwhale is Jon’s company). But the t-shirt wasn’t for me…
It was funnier when Moneybags actually lived in the Songwhale office.
If innovation’s got you down and you don’t care to figure out what Twitter is, head to the MN State Fair, where the only thing that changes is which new food item has been engineered to be supplied on a stick. Barns full of animals, award-winning giant pumpkins, mini-donuts, all-you-can-drink milk, seed art- 1.7 million visitors can’t be wrong.
Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind. -Seneca
Here’s my video of my few days in Bali with friends in June 2010. It was amazing.
Bali from Adrienne Peirce on Vimeo.
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. -Hunter S. Thompson
Today I was shopping in Macy’s downtown with my sister and noticed a 6 (or was it a 9?) on the ground. A few minutes later there was a green R stuck to a rug near a Starbucks. I got home and found an O and an R on the floor. I haven’t made any sense of it yet.
Progress always involves risks. You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first. -Frederick B. Wilcox
I’ve been back in the Us for over 3 weeks now and Minnesota for 2, so I feel lucky that I got a chance to see the Twins play (and win!) on June 30. Checking out the new stadium with old friends in town from Denver, plus unbelievably good weather, made it an amazing day. One of my favorite parts of the Twins new home is that they went with Kramarczuk’s, the legendary local sausage maker, as a featured vendor.
Objects we ardently pursue bring little happiness when gained; most of our pleasures come from unexpected sources. -Herbert Spencer
Here are some things we squeezed into our final days in Beijing (in no particular order):
I will also miss that insane-looking cat on my dishwashing soap.
Back in early May I spent a weekend in Mutianyu to see the Great Wall. Everything was amazing, including our accommodations at The Schoolhouse at Mutianyu, which includes great food and even glassblowing.
Great Wall from Adrienne Peirce on Vimeo.
One great thing I’ve seen a lot this spring in Beijing is people selling pets on the sidewalk. First, I saw tiny rabbits being sold outside of McDonalds. Then I saw more tiny rabbits being sold on a bar street in Sanlitun on a Friday night. Then one day I’m heading into the subway after class and a lady is selling 3 adorable little kittens in a bowl in the subway entrance. That same day I saw someone selling puppies out of a cart on the sidewalk. In TianJin last weekend, I saw this pile of pets on the sidewalk, followed by a large bowel of turtles. 
I’m sure one could find some problems with this style of pet-selling, but it sure makes my day when I get to see it.
I spent a weekend in Qingdao recently with some great friends. Here’s a video of the non-brewery part of the vacation, which still involved drinking a lot of Tsingtao. Stray cats, amazing seafood, fresh beer, great city views, cool European-inspired architecture, hilly streets with hidden staircases- I highly recommend the city if you ever get a chance.
Qingdao from Adrienne Peirce on Vimeo.
He was a wise man who invented beer. -Plato
I couldn’t find the Laverne and Shirley theme song for my brewery tour video, so I went in a totally different direction (Minneapolis hip-hop, WARNING: some explicit lyrics). The Tsingtao Brewery in Qingdao, China, was started by the Germans, run for a while by the Japanese, and now is a state-owned enterprise. While in the town we had access to beers I’ve never seen in Beijing, including a green beer that was apparently fermented with seaweed. All over town the beer was served in tiny glasses, so even though we started drinking every day around noon, we never really got past tipsy.
Tsingtao Brewery Tour from Adrienne Peirce on Vimeo.
