It's no secret that I fell in love with public transit while I spent those 15 months in Chicago. So last night, when Iowa Senator Janet Petersen scheduled a meeting with me in downtown Des Moines, I decided to leave my truck in the garage and finally try out our public transit system.

Here's how it went.

Step 1, get directions

I looked up transit directions to my meeting via google maps (like ya do) and was instantly shut down. "Public transit coverage may not be available in this area."

Step 1, get directions (take 2)

I visited ridedart.com hoping for a place to put in some addresses or plan a route map, but I couldn't find one. This is either because it doesn't exist or due to my inability or impatience while using their …

I meant to blog about this year's 80/35 festival a lot sooner but never got around to it.

For those that don't know - Des Moines started a music festival last year called 80/35. It showcases both big names and local groups in an effort to listen to awesome music, party, and promote music culture in the Des Moines area.

Last year I was super impressed with the festival - We had the Flaming Lips, The Roots, and an amazing effort put on by the organizers. I don't want to discount the organizers this year, because it is obvious that they worked crazy hard again... but the festival seemed to progress far less than I expected.

The things I was disappointed in...

• The Weather - obviously out of everyone's hands, but rain definitely puts a …

Des Moines has come a crazy long way in the past 5 years. But there are still 2 very important things that I think it's missing.

1. Basic Shopping Downtown (groceries, hardware)

I live in Ankeny. My house is 1 mile from Target, Menards, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, a whole slew of restaurants, and soon - a Best Buy. Within 3 miles I've got a Dahl's, a Hy-Vee, 2 Fareways, and you can pretty much double the bars and restaurants.

Basic shopping and dining just doesn't get much more convenient.

I mean, don't get me wrong, Ankeny is definitely lacking in locally owned establishments - as it's mostly chains. We also don't have a place to get a martini, and we definitely don't have a venue for shows. BUT picking up groceries or some other …

This event is ridiculous - and not necessarily in a good way. I remember the first year I went - in 03 I was pretty excited about such an "urban" music festival. But at that point, I was a bedroom DJ myself, fresh out of college, and had never been to a real music event like lollapalooza - or even 80/35. I know, bad comparison, but still. I'm comparing success to - not success.

How do you expect an event to be successful if you can't pay any of your acts? You scrape up enough cash to cover the cost of the event and fly in a headliner... but everyone else... how do you expect reputable, good DJs to come out and perform when you can't even throw them $100?

Everything at 515alive this year was unorganized. Did you see a map …

Are you kidding me? This name RULES. It's hilarious, true to Iowa, and... well it's the IOWA CHOPS, haha. How can you seriously not like that?

I'm already tired of all the groaners. How many times since they announced the name 18 hours ago have I heard "no wonder Iowa has a bad name" and "this doesn't represent Des Moines" or "why not the Iowa Hicks?"

They are called the Iowa Chops, not the Des Moines chops. What does Iowa do well? Farm and educate. We could've been the Iowa Schoolers I guess...

"it's a good name in the tradition of the brewers, packers, pistons, etc," said my friend MH. Great point.

So anyway, I'm obviously stoked.

Ticket prices are cheaper, The logo rules, the name is hilarious, and we're an …

The question is not about where I want to live, because the answer would obviously be Chicago. However, that can't happen right now, so...

I want to make this piece of art that is basically a skyline sitting on a chunk of earth. The actual skyline would be black painted metal sitting on a piece of "earth" to give a sort of glacial effect. The earth would be made of plywood. It's a pretty simple piece representing 2 things I love, the city, and the underground. Plus it would be nice to put some sort of urbanization in my extremely suburban home, haha.

My Dilemma is that I don't know what skyline to use. I really like Chicago's skyline from the southeast side, over by the Aquarium and what not. I also really like the Des Moines …

My shelves are (mostly) done (again)!!! Haha.

So yeah... Thursday, Rico and I finished spraying the shelves in my office - well, Rico did anyway. I just built the big ol tent and let the pro finish the work. Then I took half of Friday off to finsh sanding, assembling, and stocking them. I'm super happy with how they turned out. ...Now, I just need to make doors for the cabinets. Here are pics of all the construction so far.

Later Friday, Zach and I installed a new intake in his focus then Soaped a bit with Nathan. At Midnight, Nathan and I headed downtown to meet the Heelys guys and go out for a couple drinks, which ended up being a mini-party at my house, playing ping pong and soaping til 4:30am.

Saturday was also really …