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It's picture day here on Tappity Tappity. Aren't you glad you tuned in? Hey, I am.

Tasty Friday - In my craziness of last week, I neglected to tell you how well 'FREE CHIPOTLE FOR 20 PEOPLE AT WORK ON MY LAST DAY OF WORK' went.

It went well. People ate. People rejoiced. People gained about 800 calories each. I had to hug some people as they realized they were never going to see me again...you know, besides in the funny papers, and much deliciousness was had last week.

The dude from Chipotle (the guy who brought the thunder) wanted to get a shot of Neal and I.

Done and done.

It's almost high noon and people are eating like it's their last meal. Boo-ya!

The Iowa/Minnesota Summit of 2008 - Any regular reader of my blog will know Dan from This Man's World. If you were here for Nerdery Week back in February, you'll know what kind of pioneers Dan and I are on the blogger scene. Actually, I don't know what we pioneered, but it's really making this meeting of the minds sound all that more exciting, isn't it?

So, yes. I was honored to have both Dan (her husband) and Heidi (his bride) join me for a delicious meal at Matt's Bar on Cedar. The place is well-known in these here parts for having probably the tastiest burger this side of Hackensack. How does a fat burger with molten cheese in the middle sound? How about a basket of fries that are as addicting and as tasty as crack?

You know, if crack truly is tasty. I have no idea. I'm more of a heroin guy, myself.*

Anyway, nothing could stop D & H from finding their way to Matt's door. Not construction. Not the Mall of America. Certainly not the disgusting price of gasoline. ($3.65? I'm driving my truck into a river)

We met. We talked like a handful of people who like...already know each other and we ate like pigs. I thought it would be weird, you know? It's one thing to read people's blogs and quite another to shake hands and say: Hi, I'm Thomas of Tappity Tappity fame. Welcome to my state."

I didn't say that. But I should've.

Next time. Next time.

Anyway, it was good to see these crazy kids live and in person. Right about now, they're probably seeing Dolly Parton live and in person. I hope she dedicates 9 to 5 to Dan. That'd make his year, methinks.

Thomas. This is garbage. I don't believe you met THE Dan and Heidi.

Believe it, sucka.

Here I'm showing Dan some of the finer parts of SE Minneapolis.
Behind us, a guy smokes a cigarette into a window.

What they're thinking: Okay, as soon as he takes the picture...RUN!

You know what would be the coolest? And also the thing that would be near impossible? To have like a big ol' meet up with some of the all-stars that frequent this blog and some others. It could be like an earth-shattering event. Too much awesome for the state of Minnesota to contain.

We couldn't handle it.

* Just kidding, Mom!

Oh, there's so much crap happening, I can't even begin to keep up anymore. How is it possible that another week has rolled by and the best I could come up with was an old Milli Vanilli picture that was Photoshopped. Well, let's start at the start, shall we?

Video Guy Again - I know I shouldn't complain, but the people at my soon-to-be-old-job aren't going to let me coast through my last week. Oh, heck no. Instead, my boss's boss, who we'll call 'Bill' thought I should try and do another episode of that goofy 'Office' send-up I did back in March. This idea, not only larger in scope (with a larger cast, now) needs to be written, shot and sort of assembled before my last day on Friday. Tall order? Comin' up.

So I got the thing written and it's a nasty, evil little video project. People are snarky in the show, they do awful things to each other, they say the worst things possible, and somehow, someway it's actually kind of funny. I think it's got a lot more (dare I say it) style than the last script. It'll be interesting to see if I can pull off filming all the stuff I need in the next few days. It's ambitious, y'all. Updates as time allows.

Delicious Dividends - Okay, remember that video my friend and I made? The one with the two horribly uncoordinated white guys rapping about Chipotle? This one? Well, I thought it'd be kind of funny to send the link to the big shots at Chipotle HQ and see what they thought of our vocal stylings and what not. I sort of didn't think we'd get a response.

We did.

The dude wrote back and said:

Thomas,

I watched it, and I must say you guys put some effort into that for sure. And although I wouldn’t necessarily suggest that you guys quit your day jobs and become hip-hop artists, we thought it was a funny video (and yes, I’ve seen Lazy Sunday as well). Please send me your respective mailing addresses, since I’d like to send you guys some free burritos for your efforts.

Sincerely,

Joe Stupp
Chipotle

So...yeah. I wrote back and said thanks for watching and all that jazz and today I hit the proverbial jackpot! A card came in the mail from Chipotle stuffed with what looked like playing cards.

These are no ordinary playing cards, friends. If you click on the picture, you can see that these are actually cards that'll net you ONE FREE BURRITO (or in my case, bol). And the best part? There were 10 of 'em. Yeah...were 10. I already burned through 2 for dinner tonight. Sue me.

As if that weren't enough, I got an e-mail from a LOCAL Chipotle guy. He wanted to swing by the hospital where I work and bring a bunch of free burritos for the peeps I work with. So...as luck would have it, my last day (this Friday) is going to be free burrito day for me and mine. Seriously. This is going to be so much better than a Goodbye, Good luck Potluck or something.

I've Been Married For 4 Years! - So, in a true act of horrible-ness, I neglected to let the rest of the world know of my wedding anniversary last Thursday. The important part? I didn't forget to wish Laura (my wife! pay attention!) happy anniversary, so I suspect I'm all set for another year. Here's a random shot from the reception:

That's my friend MKD, Dumb Ol' Nick, Laura & the Luckiest Dude in the World hamming it up in Mankato. I'm singing 'You Give Love A Bad Name' and hip-checking Laura for some odd reason. Oh, I see there are questions. Yes, you behind the keyboard...

TKT, why is DON wearing what appears to be a superman t-shirt?

Funny story. During our reception, there was an event happening at the place where some people from an organization called the Strength Ministries were doing some sort of show. I think they use the power of Jesus to lift Nissans or something. I'm not sure. Anyway, my friend Nick and Big J went and purchased a t-shirt and proceeded the wear them during the rest of the reception. We're nothing if we're not informal. Yes? You staring at the monitor?

Thomas, you look like you weigh as much as Dan Aykroyd in "Driving Miss Daisy." What up with that?

It's true. I had a bit of a weight problem back in the day. I couldn't wait to eat. (rim shot) I look at some of my wedding pictures and I shudder a bit. Not that I'm now super svelte and rippling with muscle and what have you, but I've gotten myself whipped into better shape than I was. You wanna see scary? I should break out the pictures of me whilst Laura was preggers with lil' TKT. Yikes. At 5'9", I really shouldn't have weighed 236 pounds. But I did.

Anyway, we had a nice, mellow anniversary. We ordered pizza, played with our kid and just relaxed. 4 years. BAM! Just like that. It's been a great trip so far. I could wax nostalgic about it, but it doesn't need to be said. We're happy people and happy together, yo.

Friends of the internet blog pages,

I apologize for my absence. It was like I showed up with promises of treats and other delights and left you hanging when I didn't show up with the box of goodies on Thursday thru today. It makes me feel like I'm an awful person and not a man of my word.

Well, it's like this...

Okay, so that's not going to really convey what's happening over here in the icy tundra I like to call home. Not even close. So, I'll just say this/these:

• I'm crazy busy. Work is kicking me in the stomach and hitting me over the head with a shovel for good measure.
  
  
• I'm spending nearly every moment of free time (except now) getting GOODHALO tip-top. Quality takes time, yo.
  
  
• I did get a whole box o' books last week. Aw, yeah.
  
  
• I'm trying to cook up a REALLY cool way of giving away a copy of my lil' kids book PATRICK'S SUPER SOCKS. I want it to be fantastic, I want it to be like the coolest contest ever. I don't want it to be a 'Caller 8' type of thing.
  

So, a bit of patience, okay? I'm only one man. A man with feelings. A man who gets hurt. And when you yell at me, I feel it...and I hurt.

Anyway. More later. Just don't do anything foolish like keep checking while there are cookies in the oven. For one thing, I wouldn't want you to burn those cookies.

Also, cookies are delicious.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is this: I like cookies.

Libby Gruner, from the online magazine Literary Mama says in “Time to Eat,” one of her many great articles: “I’ve heard it said that food is the sex of children’s books – in fact, the medium through which we feel comfortable exploring desire and its fulfillment.” I had never heard that analogy before and, because I am fascinated by the theme of food in children’s literature, found it quite thought-provoking. In keeping with the theme, today I am taking the liberty to borrow the late Carol Hurst’s zestful idea of a literary soup to put together my own recipe, using ingredients I found on my bookshelves. Adapting her original recipe to incorporate multicultural titles, this mix should make for a hearty…hmm… stew? sancocho? bee-bim bop? kimchi?… I’m not sure yet, but you probably get the gist of the mix, now.

So we need a pot… How about we borrow the one used in Grandma’s Saturday Soup? As for tomatoes and corn, there’s plenty in Laughing Tomatoes and Other Spring Poems and The Fiesta of the Tortitllas. With a few more vegetables from The Ugly Vegetables story (have no fear, they are very tasty!), some fresh fish and clams from Lakas and the Manilatown Fish and Singing Shijimi Clams; a pinch of garam masala from Masala: Poems from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and a poetic onion from If I Had a Million Onions, we have ourselves a worldly flavor fusion. Whatever the result of this particular combo, it smells like gourmet kidlit to me… Wouldn’t you agree?

Now will you add your own ingredients and share a recipe with us?