The Royce Files

My former roommates and oft time colaboraters came back to town. We decided to lunch at an Indian restaurant in the south of go called Saffron since one of them in particular had a craving for the delictable dishes of the Sub-Continent. This place had opened a while back before we parted ways from our old HQ. It is one of two Indian restaurants in town. However, Saffron has a classy traditional look and seems to be more frequented by both non-Indians and Indians. I think I saw more Indians in that restaurant than I had at the other place 10 times 7. The food of course was delicious and the service excellent. We had the buffet which included a few curries, tandoori chicken, and other things my mouth enjoys with rice and the nan. It's not to everyone's liking but hey a good portion of the world eat this kind of menu. More on Indian food here .

After almost a month of researching and ardent bidding on MP3 players at America's garage sale ( ebay ), I finally eluded the snippers and got a Rio Chiba . A flash player, the Chiba, is upgradable with SD memory. It also is small and ergonomic. Additionally it is pretty tough. It took a few drops but worked flawlessly. I enjoy it. Well, I show this item to my friend and he is hooked on it. So hooked he seeks one out on Ebay. And then he wins one the next day! It took me nearly a month and he snags one in about 24 hours. I guess I am setting a trend. A few days later he won another. He had done some mass bidding in order to secure a Chiba for himself. He might win more for all I know. Price comparison: Chiba in store new is $119. I got mine on Ebay (used) for about $58.

In the last few weeks I have actually watched some movies: Super Size Me (great web site) and Transformers . I sort of got pulled into watching them. It was not my first desire. Super Size Me re-enforced my firm belief that Big Macs and Fries may taste good but they sure can cause some damage. I have continued to avoid the golden arches because they may be the plague. Of course I must confess I ate there the night before I saw it. So I must add that although the guy gained quite bit of girth he still looked good in bikini underwear!!! Tonight I took in Tranformers the movie (on DVD) in rememberance of that child-maddening toy craze of the late 80s. The movie brought me back to the imaginary time when robots fought each other while listening to techno synth and glam. Yes, all they did was fight and die. Oh poor Optimus Prime. I guess there is quite a following amongst fans of the soundtrack in addition to the whole movie. It was totally glam tech 80s. They even had a Weird Al song for ...

As of late I have become somewhat a U2 fan and it is all because of a cheap 75 cent CD I purchased at the local thrift shop. The CD entitled Seven has 7 tracks of re-mixes and b-sides from the All You Can't Leave Behind days. Almost every cut is incredible including a re-mix of "Beautiful Day." Although my buddy DJ Seque is a huge fan I never took it seriously enough to listen closely. Now I am convince there is no band like U2. Everyone else is only trying to sound like them or reach the same peaks without the raw materials. I am not a junkie yet but let's say I'll be seeking more U2 in the days to come. And perhaps I may get to hang with The Edge in Malahad or elsewhere.

Weeks, months, days, I have been hoping to acquire passage to the Republic of Ireland. However, the deals have disappeared. Airlines have booking up to the middle of March and then wham! Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I better start swimming if I want to make it there by April. So why Ireland you may ask? Well, I'll tell you. For one, it's the homeland of my ancestors (a few of them at least). Of course I'll be very dismayed if I am told- you're not Irish you sissy boy. That I pray will not happen. I have been enchanted with this land since my youth although I am not sure how I happened to know the traditional name of Ireland was Eire when I was a wee lad. I'd like to think that it's the Celt in me calling. So second is a bit of a self-discovery adventure of my soul's yearning. Thirdly, I know someone there. Well I think I know someone. We went to ministry school together and were in a band of sorts. Anyways I going to encourage this individual who happens to ...

I have broken the bike out earlier this year. Probably because of my inner self feeling the need to be out. The weather has been below average to fair for biking. Either it warms up and stuff melts causing the build up of resevoirs where there should not be any or it gets cold enough to create jagged iceways on the sidewalks that double as channels when the snow melts. I perfer the colder because I don't like getting wetter than I need too. Plus the water is plenty dirty.

The Super Bowl has become utmost of commercialization and the 60 second spot is its minion. This year attempted to forget the hullabaloo of last year- with sexualization pressing the envelope a bit too far for decency's sake. So things were cooled down a bit. My favorite were the MasterCard spots. Cute and clean. Then there was the Mac's Hardware commercial emphasizing their pallet shelving. Now how in the world does this get put on during the Super Bowl? It was dull. No quirky hooks or celebrities. Just plain. And all those pallet shelf shots.

With heightened expectation most Fargoans looked skyward this morning and afternoon to catch a glimpse of Air Force One. It was as if Fantasy Island was pushed to the northward fringes of existance with many pointing to the heavens and exclaiming as Tattoo did- "The plane, the plane." I was not one of them. My workplace is a mile removed from the airport and is constantly flown over by commecial and military aircraft. Unfortunately Air Force One decided to take another route. I did, however, catch a glimpse of the aircraft leaving for Montana. It was distant but odd. I wonder if George were looking out and pondering the growth of Fargo and my bicycle. For those fortunate enough to get into the marquee event...well I am not sure what happened. I contend he spoke about social security, did a few "that's why this country is great" lines, received a few courteous boos, and shook hands with every important person in North Dakota (that probably took about 30 second...