October 2005 Archives

So I saw a few clever people were playing with this "yourname needs" meme. Simply plug in "yourname needs" into your search engine of choice and find out what you need.

Here is what google thinks "Tim needs".

1. theme music
2. your help
3. a shirt
4. to know that his actions are going to land him in the gutter...
5. to succeed
6. an elevated stage with a minimum size of 8 feet & a patch into the main or house system ...
7. to enable javascript
8. approving by Sheralee
9. to remain as Majority Leader
10. to climb out of his VW bus and build a house in Honduras... or Pakistan

I can't wait to find out what yahoo and msn think I need.

Here is a link to a great little essay on distractions both wide and narrow. I totally agree with the writer, Paul Ford. Sitting with my moleskine, the antithesis of technology, is often much more productive than the fully featured desktop where items are constantly popping out of the corner threatening to distract me. (BTW, I have to say I love the design of his website even if the navigation is a little odd.)

My last remaining great-aunt died last week. You can see her obituary online at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Feast of Soups

by Jacqueline Heriteau

I've been cooking more than usual lately. I've had a few successes and one failure.

The success came while making home made beef-stock and cabbage soup. Both recipes came from "Feast of Soups" by Jacqueline Heriteau. Both recipes were easy to follow and tasted great. Making stock from scratch really seems to be worth the effort.

The failure today was spectacular. I was making "Sweet Potato Pie". It's a recipe I've made before. The failure was one of technique. I was blending the pie filling while scraping the mixture from the sides of the blender. My hand slipped and the spatula got stuck in the blades. The last half inch of the spatula was shredded. Then for reasons I can't quite determine, smoke and black bits started coming out of the blender. Since I couldn't seem to get the spatula bits out of the filling I eventually gave up and tossed the whole mess. I hate making such a dumb mistake.

I've thrown a lot of clothes out in the last year. I was sad to see these boxers go. I got these for Christmas a few years ago from the kids. Everyone laughed while watching me open up the package. I blushed profusely, since my in-laws were at my house for Christmas that year. They were comfy, so much to my wife's chagrin I wore them. Between being the wrong size and the rips they had to be retired. I'm sad to see them go. Tossing these reminded me how my son aged 14-15 months or so found the idea that an animal was named "Pooh" to be hilarious. He hung his head and laughed with a "you have got to be kidding me" look on his face.

File this under, "Things I would buy if I had a place to put it." I love this chair that bends the notion of a claw foot chair significantly. There is more crazy wood furniture to check out on the artists gallery.

[Link Courtesy of boing^2]

The weather was too nice and the leaves too inviting not to take a roll in a leaf pile.

I just finished watching "The Devil's Playground" a documentary about how Amish kids get the chance to experiment with living in the modern world before the are baptized as an adult. This period of time called "rumspringa" and is supposed to allow the teenager to come to their faith as an adult.

The movie was an interesting snapshot of Amish culture. The movie made me think a lot about the way I grew up. I was raised in a fairly conservative insular church; seeing these kids growing up in a culture that made my own upbringing seem libertine by comparision was eye opening. I was shocked that the film reported that some 90% of kids end up joining the amish church after they had spent gone through their wild period. I suppose that having your entire family shun you if you decide to walk away from church is a pretty strong incentive to stay amish.

I like the rumspringa concept a little. It might be wise to apply it sparingly to avoid lifelong consequences, but it is an interesting concept.

I liked the movie. It was thought provoking. I give it three and a half stars out of a possible five.

It's time for the annual Fall Trip with the kids. This year since Matthew is in school we went on MEA weekend. That meant whole trip was a little later than usual and we missed the peak of the fall colors.

We spent the first night on Lake Vermillion. Fall is my favorite time on the lake. It's quiet. You might see a boater every few hours. The weather is chilly at night but comfortable for a tramp through the woods during the day.

The children and I picked the remaining wild rose hips along the shoreline. Some animal, maybe a deer had beaten us to most of them, but walking along the shoreline I was able to find quite a few. I am planning on drying them and using them in tea.

Then we drove to Ely for lunch at The Northern Grounds which is right next door to Piragis. Piragis was having a pretty good sale in their outlet area and we managed to get an old aluminium canoe for a great price.

We drove down a few old forest service roads and didn't see another car for hours. We finally caught Highway 1 and zoomed up the north shore to our destination at Lutsen. We stayed at a lodge at Lutsen that Jeannie found last year. Unfortunately, they remodeled all the rooms with kitchenettes removing the kitchenettes in the process. To make matters worse, they gave us a room with only one bed. This wasn't what we had reserved so we were a little dissapointed. They did manage to find us a room with a futon which converted into a bed. Given the popularity of the weekend I thought that was pretty good.

During our first and only night at Lutsen the lodge next door had a fire. Based on the lousy weather and the less than ideal lodgings we decided to leave a day early. The management was glad to have the extra room to accomodate the people who had to flee their smoke and water filled rooms.

The alpine slide is the big reason we go to Lutsen, but we were rained out this year. While the kids were splashing in the pool I took the tram across the valley and hiked on the Superior Hiking trail for a mile or so. I can't wait to get back on the trail in the spring.

You might think the response to the headline would be something like, "Yes Tim, we've all known you have been overweight for some time, we just didn't think it was polite to bring it to your attention." Instead for me, being overweight is a cause celebre because I'm no longer obese.

According to the BMI calculator on the CDC's web site I've just crossed the threshold from obese to overweight today. You can kvetch about how much a person should weigh, the definition of obesity and whether the BMI is a good measure of fitness, but the simple truth for me is that I am much healthier now by any measurement system.

I would like to especially thank everyone who helped me get to where I am right now, most of you know who you are. Special thanks to the phenomenal cooks at my office who make great soups and salads for me and the co-workers who walk with me at lunch.

The leaves are falling, the colors have all changed, the boats are taken in; every time I mow I imagine it's the last time.

Fall is my favorite time of year. The morning and late afternoon light reminds of the colors of old movies. It's cool at night and every warm afternoon is savored like the kiss you gave your lover before she embarked on some far off adventure ... without you.

I spent my formative years in Milwaukee so I drank from bubblers. When I wasn't drinking from a bubbler I often got a nice cold "soda" out of the refridgerator. No I didn't get a "pop" I got a "soda".

Check out this map showing regional difference in the usage of "soda", "pop" and "coke". Generic Names for Soft Drinks

The best part of this survey is that they list all the "other" names people claimed to use for soda. Check out the list for Minnesota. I feel a little bad for poor folks whose personal lives were dragged into this scientific survey.

I moved to Minnesota to date and eventually marry a woman. I like to occasionally point out all the sacrifices I made for her when I moved this state. Now I have one more item to add to the list, I had to change from "soda" to "pop".

A clever design company, noting that one almost never sits and cooks at the same time built a combination stovetop/chair. Check it out.

I haven't been playing much scrabble this year. A few years ago Jennie turned me on to this web site where you can play scrabble on-line. She has schooled me more than once, injuring my ego and improving my vocabulary in one fell swoop. It's very cool because you can play at your own pace. When your opponent makes a play you are notified in email, then you have seven days to make your play. It usually goes pretty fast but it is possible to play a game against someone far away or someone who doesn't have scads of time to sit and play games.

Anyone reading this ready to play a game? Come on, are you chicken?

I'm off for a nice bike ride today. I'm doing the Grand Rounds, or at least parts of it. Hope you are enjoying fall as much as I am.

Check out this scanned in collection of correspondence between President Bush and Harriet Miers. My personal favorite is this handwritten note from Bush. Yes, I think you read that right it says, "P.S. No more public scatalogy."

What could that possibly mean?

I think I'll tack that on the end of the annual Christmas letter.

I can't wait to see a collection of my correspondence and cards posted for everyone to gawk at.

Recently, I bought the book "Cider House Rules" written by John Irving at Half Price books. John Irving is the author of one of my all time favorite books, "A Prayer for Owen Meany." The "Cider House Rules" came with this charming inscription in the front of the book.

For those of you who find the hand writing difficult to decipher, it says "Started reading - Not a Christian Book don't read".

Why is it that I want to read the book more now?

Perhaps this blog should have the same warning ...

Congratulations go out to Joel and family! It's a boy.

My favorite local cover band, ColdFront played a gig at the Firehouse Lounge in Circle Pines this last Saturday. They rocked the house as usual. This was the first gig I've seen where they added a slow tune to mix it up a little. My only disappointment was that I arrived right at the end of the first set and missed "Basket Case" by Green Day. (BTW, isn't that song the theme song for bloggers everywhere?) Where did I put that CD anyway?

It's been a long time since I closed a bar ...

In May I was at the airport in San Francisco. I was hungry and I knew they weren't serving any food on my flight so I stopped by the sandwich shop at the end of the gate. The line was pretty long and it moved really slow.

There was a women ahead of me in line. She was pretty, likely in her late twenties or early thirties. She was not terribly different in any regard than any of the people in the airport gate. She got to the head of the line and was ready to pay for her sandwich when the cashier looked at the credit card she was holding and said "Do you have cash? Our credit card machine is broken." The woman reluctantly handed back her food and said she didn't have any cash and that she would have leave her food and catch her flight. (If crestfallen weren't such an ostentatious word to use, I would use it to describe her.) The employee offered to try her credit card. I think the cashier did it more in an effort to humour her. I don't think anyone in line thought her credit card would work.

While the woman waited, hoping for the best, worried about her soon to depart flight, I offered to buy her lunch.

The conversation went something like this.

The best part of this story was seeing her entire outlook changed in front of my eyes. She knew quickly that I wasn't trying to get something from her. She knew there was no way to pay me back. She went from hungry, frustrated and a little overwhelmed to extremely happy. She looked so thoroughly happy. I thought for a second she might even cry or hug me or do something awkward.

All it cost me was eight bucks. I felt like a million, and I'm guessing she felt pretty happy too. I know I was happy for a week just thinking about it.

I love the fact that she can't repay me. She might pass on the good deed, but that's her business. I required nothing from her, not even a conversation. The truth is that I don't ever want to be paid back it would diminish the pleasure I got from giving.

Getting to give a gift like this, though very small, was unforgettable.

P.S. In case you are wondering if I expensed it, the answer is no.

Not every day has a moment of intense beauty. Today had several.

My commute takes me past Lake Johanna in the morning. Today the mist was rising off the water. It wasn't 18 inches off the water it was hanging 10 - 15 feet off the water. The sun was streaming down, the mist nuzzling and caressing the water and the big fluffy clouds were floating overheard; it was stunning. I didn't want to continue the commute, I wanted to sit and stay until the moment was gone.

Then while taking my usual walk around Langton Lake a co-worker pointed out a Pileated woodpecker. The bird looked huge as they all do. I've seen them before but I don't think I've seen them in the metro area. It was a pleasure to see something so wild and beautiful on my walk in a city park.

BTW, I was amused that MS Word would like to change "pileated" to pleated. A "pleated woodpecker" now that would be something to see.

Combine those sightings with my favorite kind of crisp fall weather and perhaps it wasn't such a bad day after all.

Kris is remodeling an older home and documenting it in a blog. Should be interesting to watch the progress.

Check out Top to Bottom.

I'm becoming a independent film snob thanks to netflix, IFC, and the Sundance Channel.

I recently saw "Book of Love" on the Sundance channel. It is a pretty good example of the movies I seem to like now. It has great music, shows the complexity of relationships, relational sadness, connection & disconnection, longing and distance. The relationships displayed are so much more interesting and complicated than the ones often displayed in block-buster Hollywood films.

At the end of "The Daily Show" there is always the "moment of zen". It's usually something very bizarre from the day's news.

"The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara" was an hour and a half of these very odd moments. In this movie Mr. McNamara intelligently & thoughtfully discusses his experiences in public life. The movie contains everything from almost gleeful remarks about fire-bombing to a touching scene where he breaks down talking about JFK's burial plot at Arlington. It was fascinating and more than a little chilling. It really has to be seen.

There was a moment in the film where McNamara said something along the lines of "Don't ever answer a reporter's question, you answer the question they should have asked." It was so much like Mr. Rumsfeld, I wondered if McNamara had been Rummy's mentor. I can't wait to see Donald Rumsfeld interviewed in 20-30 years giving straight answers about how we ended up where we are today.

I picked up "Because of Winn-Dixie" recently and read it to my kids. Matthew had really liked "The Tale of Despereaux" by the local author, Kate DiCamillo. Personally I never cared for Despereaux. Maybe I didn't like it because I kept coming into the middle of the story; maybe I just didn't like the narrator's tone. When I picked up Winn-Dixie I had very low expectations. I figured the kids would like it and I would just endure it.

I pleasantly surprised. I really liked this book.

It is a great kid's book. The story moves along nicely, the narrator doesn't talk down to the reader, the characters are nicely drawn, and the story is really compelling.

I attended a lovely wedding over the weekend. The bride and groom were so cute they looked like the couple from the top of the wedding cake brought to life.

My favorite part of the wedding was one of those "small world" moments. The bride had invited a friend of hers who happened to be a friend of mine from the past. It's always fun to discover that friends from different era's and different places know each other.

There was much dancing at the reception. The last time I went dancing was May and I had forgotten how much fun it can be. I really wish I had a better sense of rhythm. I'm starting to feel like dancing again.