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Fargo is a hopping town. I went out last night instead of staying stuck in a hotel room out by the mall and ended up at the HoDo Hotel and Lounge. I went, based upon the recommendation of  new Twitter friends, especially someone who  goes by the handle @FargoMoorehead and is part of the local CVB. I love how this works. I roll into town, announce I am here and all of a sudden I have good recommendations for places to go.This, by the way, is a great example of how a CVB can be extremely responsive to the the needs of a visitor. Using social media they responded immediately by giving me information I needed. Way to go Fargo-Moorhead CVB!

The Hodo was a really cool place. Warehouse, lofty feel with big windows to the outside, a lot of original art, and a hip music background, part hip-hop, part Johnny Cash. Has anyone taken a Cash track and done a hip-hop/country mashup? Hmmm, interesting. Next time I am in Fargo I am staying at the HoDo.

Downtown Fargo as a destination looked pretty good . It was a good mix of nice restaurants, sports bars, pubs and  dives. I think they like their neon signs in Fargo, for each interesting place has a good looking neon sign that borders on kitsch art.

I met Dave the attorney and Bill the Banker at the HoDo lounge after I had eaten a really yummy Asian stir fry, and consumed a couple IPAs’. By the way I was a little disappointing that Fargo, according to the bartender, didn’t have a local micro-brew. I hope Amber was  wrong and under informed ( like the hotel clerk who scrunched her face when  I mentioned downtown). Having said that,  the IPA from some micro-brew in Minneapolis was quite tasty. Dave and Bill were two guys close to or  around my age. We had a great time talking about the differences and  similarities between Bloomington-Normal and Fargo. They were obviously well-informed and understood their community very well. They had pride in their area and it wasn’t blustery or boisterous, which was good.

By the way, no one I met talked like they do in the movie. Ok, the hotel clerk came close, but truthfully, Fargo people are full of the Midwestern charm and helpfulness one would expect. One more thing: According to those I spoke to last night and the local Arts paper Fargo apparently has a thriving art and culture scene.

I head for Omaha today. Looking a the interstate, it looks pretty long, straight and boring. I hope the worlds largest ball of string is on this leg of the journey. I will need something to break up the day.  I will travel through and hit parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska. Follow me on Twitter @bnedguy, I will tweet along the way.

Unfortunately someone got into the surplus vodka in the old town garrison in the ol’ mother country. Reports today indicate that the folks in Lettland got a little out of hand in the capital city Riga. Rioting took place after what was an apparent peaceful rally protesting the current government’s handling of the recession that is impacting Latvia hard these days. an official said he was surprised, that they didn’t know who the instigators were.

Here is some video. Originally I was going to use another one,but I like the anchor. Ron Burgundy he his not, but a pretty snappy haircut. I believe the coverage is from an Estonian station. I didn’t recognize it as Latvian. Also 3/4 of the way through they interview a Latvian official and he answers in near perfect English, which I find a bit odd.

The video and others I found seem to have a lot of people out in the street protesting something in earnest, followed by liquor induced shenanigan’s. The demeanor and hooting and howling one hears reminds me of some post World Series or Super Bowl celebration, or since it is Europe, a soccer party about to ensue. Riot, I am not so sure.

A good analysis of their economic situation can be found in the RGE Monitor by Nouriel Roubini.

OK, I understand that most of you don’t care about Latvia, but the point is that I do and I am writing this blog. Seriously, it shows how deep and far this recession has had impact.