Chopstork

DC vs SF UI—Overall, I say SF wins. It’s the original. But I can appreciate the fact that 600 people drinking on the street with shopping carts in tow is not acceptable to the DC police. SF cops are way cool about that stuff. I like that all 600 people stay together in the SF version too.

It was still fun—it’s the Urban Iditarod, how could it not be. I was pretty impressed with some of the costumes. The teams do go all out. I think our collective favorites were PacMan, the Pope and Pope’s secret service, and Double Dare. Except that the themes weren’t dog-related. Hello, Urban Iditarod? Here’s our sorry-ass cart:

The Animal Control idea didn’t pan out so well since no other teams were animals. Except one—there was a Zoo team. We stole their animals. They slimed our cart.

Here’s something cool: sabotage is encouraged. I didn’t like the idea at first, but it adds an interesting element of danger to the whole thing. Water balloons and eggs flying through the sky, people sneaking around with duct tape and cable ties, waterguns, vaseline slime. Fun. Apparently there were things hidden around each bar for bonus points too. We were busy figuring out how to enjoy our own beers between running, so no bonus points for us.

Anyway, here are pictures. Wow, there was a lot of squirt bottling going on after the race.

hint: “Waldo” = Luke
click on the picture if you give up

Remember Upside Down Cubicle, where people (e.g. Wolfson, Courtney, and Luke) turn everything in another person’s (e.g. my) cubicle upside down? Monitors, desks, books, cups full of pens, posters, calendars, etc. Well, DP was visiting D.C. last weekend and stayed at Jay’s place where Laura and I picked him up to go sightseeing. Jay had to meet someone for lunch. We were alone in his house (except for his two roomates who joined in our shenanigans). We played Upside Down Jay’s Room. We had a good laugh. We took some pictures.

Jay’s only response come Monday: “My revenge will be swift and furious.”

I am scared.

In related news, I am pretty excited for the day when DP becomes the first Jewish president and we get to play Upside Down White House (and also change all the switch plates*).

* We used to bring a new switch plate (the kind that go in kids’ rooms) and install it each time we went to his house.

It’s been a while since I’ve been inspired to elect a Picture of the Week. I just couldn’t let this one go by. This was taken during the Urban Iditarod and is pure timeless classic humor. Anyway, Hurray for Jay (left), Eli (right), and Old Man (peaking from the rear)! I really hope you guys were not sober for this one.

The home of Tom and Jerry, in Noe Valley on 21st Street. I think I heard someone saying they’ve done this for 20 years. People come from all over the City to check it out. If you go on Christmas, rumor is Santa will be there too.

If I may say so myself, I think our costume this year was my personal best. I say “our” because LauraDan, StephanieTim, Old ManDamian, and IAndy formed Ok Go. Yes, we learned the dance. No, not the treadmill one, the other one. I’ve never prepped for halloween two months in advance, but it was worth it. I think most people “got it,” and I hear a few were all about it (we all zone out during the dance so we can’t really see the crowd’s reaction). Here’s our tour schedule…aaaah, I love how stupid we are:

Friday (happy birthday, Keri)

• Sidewalk in front of Medjool’s
• Medjool’s rooftop (Derek asked the DJ to put the song on inside too but he wouldn’t)
• Sidewalk in front of 12 Galaxies, with an encore performance (they still wouldn’t let us and our friends into the private party)

Saturday

• In front of Bar None (after some flippy cup action inside)
• In front of Mauna Loa (Press photographer took some pictures)
• In bus stop in front of City Tavern (Reno 911 cop danced with us instead of keeping us from getting run over)
• In the back yard(!) at a house party in Cole Valley
• Encore performances with anywhere from one to three band members present, and with a flamingo on my head, in the back yard. I got to wear Matt’s (he lives there) N-Judah costume, which was awesome, but I didn’t think to dance in it—what a lost opportunity.
• Almost forgot—our encore on our way out with Eli filling in for Stephanie, the rest of us barking out the moves to him in real time. He did a swell job for his first performance ever.

Tuesday (actual Halloween), tentative

• Some block party for kids near Buena Vista
• Castro Street

I’m kind of sad it’s over now. No more Ok Go dancing. Thanks to our fans who cheered us on out there. Touring is tough, but we do it for the fans.

Us at Bar None in the Marina:

And as is usually the case, I collected bits of other people’s costumes throughout the night:

More pictures from Emily, Courtney, and Luke

Update: No, we didn’t go out Tuesday, and we didn’t get shot in the Castro.
Update: Here’s a video.

Congratulations to Mark and Jess, who got married this past weekend.

And to Ernie for being a good meeter and greeter.

Nah-ah! Once again, Flickr is so cooooooool! Drag and drop pix onto a map in the organizr and voila, they’re geotagged.

You can link photos up to Upcoming.org events too…maybe we should start using Upcoming instead of evite.

Update: I geotagged the BYOBW pix. Now we can keep track of our gallavanting through the city. To quote Mr. Galewekitch (after he’s in the car and playing with the electric windows): This is so cool!

I went on my first backpacking trip a few weekends ago with a bunch of veterans to show me the ropes—Luke, DP, Eli, Hattie, and DeLaura. Good times. Of course one of my pre-camping fears was, “I hope pooing in the woods isn’t too hard.” I’ve had difficulties trying to squat in public restrooms in Japan before—burning quads, trying not to fall, etc. This time I quickly discovered how easy it is if you just squat all the way down. How did I learn this beautiful technique? From the elevating porta potty video, previously posted here. See, you can learn things from TV…and Chopstork.

I got back and expressed the joy of my discovery to the others. Which surprisingly led to a discussion of different techniques. You mean it’s not standard-issue?

Today’s lesson: Methods for pooing in the woods.*

The Full Squat. Surprisingly easy. Discovered by girls (and Asians) long ago; shunned by the white man. No stamina required in the legs because you’re already all the way down. Actually leaves plenty of clearance between droppings and dropped pants. May require (minimal) practice to maintain balance.

The Half Squat. A futile farce to keep far from feces. Makes the quads burn. Takes a strong man to maintain. Maybe degrades gracefully into the Full Squat.

The Overbite. Mental comfort of being in a familiar physical position. Must invest time searching for that perfect log or rock (preferably with a view). Risk of tumbling backward if improperly sized object used.

The Middleman. Similar to the Overbite. Eliminates risk of falling over backward, but must find two objects adequately spaced. A well balanced option, though butt-cheek contact with foriegn surfaces appears necessary.

Lean Cuisine. A nice compromise between the Overbite and Middleman. Uses the cheek-lean technique on a single object, eliminating both tumble risk and two-object requirement. May be slightly more difficult to maintain over long periods than the parent methods.

The Whomping Willow. Similar to the Half Squat, but offloads the legs with some additional support. Must find a a tree with appropriately low and flexible branches. Risk of falling into the pile if the branch lacks adequate strength. If you’ve found the right tree, there should already be a hole for you.

*I haven’t tried most of these. The experts can comment on their personal favorites.

Update: Vote for your favorite method over in the sidebar! (Thanks to The Prophet for the suggestion)