Kanye West iPhone Cover

Posted on December 30, 2015 by bizzle

It’s been two years, but it’s time to retire the Kanye West Exclusive Art iPhone Case.

Exclusive art by Kanye West for my iPhone

I snagged this guy for $0.54 at the Office Depot that closed in downtown Minneapolis. It was grey, tacky, and suitably prevented scratches on the back of my iPhone.

Should you have doubted the AUTHENTICITY of this iPhone case…

You know it’s good when it’s signed by the artist himself. Lesser art certainly doesn’t have a CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY.

I normally go sans-case, as I don’t mind scratches and hate adding precious millimeters to my designed-to-be-thin devices. But I broke my screen last February and decided I was no longer worthy of a sexy case-less phone. Luckily, this bad boy was amazingly tacky and my favorite color. Plus, it claims I donated to charity by purchasing this for less than a dollar. Win-win!

Interestingly enough, the case started causing my phone to crash starting in November. I don’t know if it was holding a button down, or simply not dissipating heat. As the phone is now over two years old, I’m just going to risk it and go sans-case again. Bare-back is better, anyway.

Backyard Fire Pit

Posted on December 29, 2015 by bizzle

Close up of some winter flames

One of my new year resolutions is to spend more time outside, even in the winter. As a result, this sexy propane fire pit (a Christmas gift two years ago from my folks) is getting a lot more use. It’s peaceful outside, it’s great getting fresh air, and it makes the winter suck less.

Copeland backyard in the dead of Winter

Updated Theme

Aside

The really observant of you will notice I’ve switched themes (from Cols to Manifeset). I really liked Cols’ simplicity and dynamic two columns for posts. But after looking at it for a month, it really isn’t straight forward to read. Thus, for 2016, I’m trying a new look.

Song of the Moment 2015.12.29

Posted on December 29, 2015 by bizzle

I can’t stop listening to this jazzy rendition of ‘Clair de Lune’ from Kamasi Washington. Thanks, /r/listentothis!

Holidays Update

Posted on December 28, 2015 by bizzle

Christmas has come, let’s get you debriefed on the Brian scenario for the holidays.

Brian and Alicia in front of a cold Lake Superior

Alicia and I agreed to forgo gifts to each other and instead travel. Up north we went to Duluth for some nostalgia, drinking, and relaxation. We got all of those things! Cookies from Positively 3rd Street Bakery, burritos from Burrito Union, a fish bowl pitcher from Grandma’s Sports Garden, and even cheese fondue at the New Scenic Cafe. The hotel room was the the highlight of the trip – it had a fireplace and a direct view of the lake. Yay!

Lake Superior waves crashing on a cold December day

After requesting fancy food and treats as gifts for Christmas, my parents outdid themselves with Copeland’s best

The Copelands Best gift pack from my parents. Classy with a capital C.

Other miscellany:

Glaser Gift Dice Game (an annual tradition where everyone contributes a $25 gift, then we roll for doubles to pick a gift or swap with someone else) resulted in a Leatherman Micra for me and a luchador mask for Alicia.
Family is good all around! Alicia’s mom made it to Christmas Dinner, my Grandfather is doing well in St. Paul! Yay!
I woke up early enough to love the New Standards Holiday Show on the Current at 8am on Christmas Morning. If you haven’t heard Snow Days yet, you’re missing out on the Copeland Christmas tradition:City of Music: The New Standards perform “Snow Days” (at The New Standards Holiday Show presented by 89.3 The Current) from MPLS.TV on Vimeo.
Alicia and I also toasted a scotch on Christmas Morning with Nick Offerman, whose Yule Log video is amazing.

I hope 2015 treated you well and that 2016 is filled with actualized pipedreams!

~Brian

Animated images are even better in reverse

Image

Update 2015.12.08

Posted on December 8, 2015 by bizzle

You want more Brian? You got it.

Alicia and I had a blast at the Sarah Berns Christmas party. We drank wine (which was new-ish for me, I’m starting to enjoy it more) and went with festive hats. I think we’re going to make that a tradition – silly hats for the holidays.
I’ve squeaked into sixth place in the Lil’ Lebowski Suburban Achievers Fantasy Football league, which gets me the last spot in the playoffs! Yay! Last year I managed to finish dead last in a league of 12, a pain I’ve felt every day of the year. I’d like to thank Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski for their tremendous season.
I pulled my muscle last week running, so I’ve been out of commission running for a week. It’s been lame. I think I’m back to 100% and will be hitting the gym tonight!
I’m super happy with Dropbox, which now houses all of our music, photos and documents. For you non-tech-people, it’s cloud-based storage, which means I can just load files to the internet and they hold ’em for me. It’s $99 for 1Tb for 1 year and there is no house fire or theft that will make us lose our data. Seriously, we’ve got over a decade of photos at this point, plus all our music. Not only that, but we can access all of our files from our phone, too. I’m not usually a sentimental person, but the peace of mind of never losing all that data is really nice.

it's a blog, yo

Brian Copeland, Data Scientist and Drag Queen of Minneapolis and New Orleans

Monthly Archives: December 2015