Today I received an unsigned letter via email, addressed to a hidden group identified only as ‘Homie09’.  It instructed the reader, as if it were a ransom note, to reapply the attached Homie Fall Fest flier to whatever blog it is he or she writes for, and to pay special attention to the revision which changed the specified meet-up location from Grumpy’s to Whitey's in NE MPLS.  I made note of the fact the odd meet-up time (10:49) had not been altered.  Curious, I called up the only number I knew to be possibly affiliated with any of the people…

From pal Shawn: Grumpy Girl Ride WINTER, 2009 Come rain, come shine, come snow or sleet! Alls you need to know is meet us at Grumpy’s Nord East 1:30pm November 7th.   From Nobody in Minneapolis: That is all.

My good friend and longtime Surly-and-before coworker Nick has left town and left Surly.  He's moving to Portland, Oregon, on the northleft coast of America, Inc.  I have known him for almost 16 years, worked side by side with him to help make Surly into whatever it is for the last 8 or so.  Nick and I were among the people who started meeting for night rides wednesdays at Lake Harriet way back in the day.  The other night being Wednesday a bunch of people came out to howl at the moon and send Nick off in local high style. …

First off, I hope you like the new website.  Andy and his minions spent a lot of time tweaking it into submission.  We're real proud of them, in a grouchy kind of way.  It's not perfect, but we are continuing to fix those things that need fixin'.  One thing we are still getting the hang of is this blog thing.  The process has changed from the way it was, and the learning curve is steep for the digitally challenged folks who make up Surly.  Be patient with us and keep those expectations low.  You'll feel better and so will we. My submission for…