Here is a recent piece of schoolwork Matthew did. The idea is pretty simple. Color the fruit correctly in the cornucopia, then graph the results, in the corrrect colors, on the table to the right.
I don't think I was doing anything as complicated as this in kindergarten. What do I remember from kindergarten? I remember unrolling the mats for nap time and lots of toys that involved pounding square pegs into round holes.
[Elise is thankful for volcanos and her whole family.]
I traveled to Wisconsin Rapids to celebrate Thanksgiving with my grandpa. He's quite a grand old fellow. He is 88 years old and still preaches at his local church. After our Thanksgiving feast I had to find a vacuum cleaner to pick up after my kids. It was the same vacuum clean I remember from when I was a kid and my parents lived with my grandparents. It still works great after all these years. I'm sure it is quite a bit older than I am.
Jeannie and I had a nice quiet date at the 128 Cafe recently. It's a small, chef-owned restaurant in St. Paul near St. Thomas. The restaurant is located in the bottom floor of an older apartment building. The space itself is kind of odd. The tablecloths and flickering candles were an odd contrast to the shiny cafe counter stools and wide knotty pine.
The menu was relatively small, but almost every item looked really interesting. I had grilled vegetables with shrimp served with saffron cous cous. The cous cous included a variety of raisin I had never had before called golden raisins. They gave the dish a really nice sweet note..
The only thing I have against this restaurant was that it was cold. I wondered if the temperature problem was just because the season had just changed. The heater on the wall made me think the drafty cool atmosphere might be the normal state of things in the winter.
I couldn't find any parking in the area so had to use their five dollar valet parking. Apparently all the side streets in the area are reserved for St. Thomas students. When I go back I'll have to figure out where I can find a parking spot in the area since I would rather spend the money on an appetizer instead of valet parking.
The restaurant was intimate. The food was very good. I wanted to order almost everything on the menu, far more than I could possibly eat. I'll be back again. Next time I'll wear a sweater or wait until spring.
"I've tried to get through to let you know
how much of who I am I owe to you.
But you won't let me and you turn
and twist my words and make cracks for them to fall through.
And I waste my time trying to be honest.
Looking for words to bridge the gap between us.
But you don't hear them, and I'm still talking.
They're somewhere in between us.
I was sleeping, I don't know if we're in Iowa or Missouri.
But it doesn't matter,
it all looks the same between the corn fields and snow flurries.
And I'm just passing through on the way to somewhere.
The destination's distant, but I don't care.
I haven't yet arrived, but I'm I'm not just starting.
I'm somewhere in between."
John Hermanson, Somewhere In Between
Every once in a while I cough up a list of links for your browsing pleasure. Enjoy.
I love this amazing paper model of a V-8 engine. I admire the discipline, exactitude and obsessive-compulsiveness that goes into a work of art like this. I'm quite sure there is medicine for this, but I'm glad it wasn't used.
I've seen a few cool t-shirts lately. I especially like this one for bird watchers.
If you were thinking God had it in for New Orleans, you were wrong, it was Japanese Yakuza.
If you thought you had every known accessory for your iPod, think again. It's the music that is making me smile, honest.
This smiley jewelery would make a nice Christmas gift for your favorite IM'er.
I like Cringley's speculations about Google, seems plausible to me.
The Religious Policeman takes on racism in the Magic Kingdom.
Seems like these water toys might be fun in the summer and help me avoid the flu in the winter if I could just wedge it through the hallway at work.
I saw "Walk the Line" the Johnny Cash bio a few nights ago. I haven't seen the last few musician biopics so I don't have a lot to compare this movie to, but I liked the movie quite a bit.
Reese Witherspoon tore up the stage as June Carter. I mean she could have a career in country music in the time it takes for you to shed a tear in your beer. Based on her portrayal of June Carter it was easy for me to see why Mr. Cash fell in love with her -- I think the whole audience was in love with her by the end of the movie. I loved how the movie showed them dancing around each other for so many years. I loved the way she walked around his addiction then plunged right in to help him when it seemed he needed it most. I loved her smile.
Joaquin Phoenix was ok as Johnny Cash. He had the mannerisms but something was missing in the way he covered the music. Personally, I would have preferred that more of the music was gleamed from the original recordings.
I'm predisposed to like any movie with a tragically flawed hero, so take my recommendation with a grain of salt. I give it four stars out of five. The worst thing about the movie is that it ends to soon. I wanted to see him as an old man with June Carter still at his side.
After seeing the movie, I had to get out my "American IV: The Man Comes Around" album. I love that album. Cash's cover of Trent Reznor's "Hurt" is haunting. The original Nine Inch Nails version is good, but Cash's treatment, with it's spare melody and emotional voice, is fantastic. Once you see Cash's personal struggles with addiction on the big screen the song takes on even more life and meaning. The whole album is really good although I'm not fond of the duet on "Bridge Over Troubled Waters". It's not that I dislike Fiona Apple; it's just that she doesn't add much to the song and their voices don't seem to compliment each other at all.
I think I need to add a few more Johnny Cash albums to my Christmas wish list. I don't think I'm alone in this. I went to Target to pick up some grocery tems on Saturday; the Cash section was all sold out.
The snow melted and it warmed up enough on Saturday to mow the lawn one last time. You know you've waited too long when you need mitts like these to mow the grass. (BTW, if you aren't from the Iron Range in Minnesota you might not know these are what one properly calls "choppers". I don't know why they are called choppers, I just know that is what they call them. Mine are hand-made from Moose hide by a guy in Ely.)
We had the first real snowfall of the year on the 15th. I think I should have mowed my grass one last time this year, but it looks like I missed my window of oppourtunity. I wish I could say I cared and make it sound believable. We'll see if I have to pay for this laziness in the spring.
I can always fool myself that winter isn't quite here yet, right up until the snow and sleet starting coming down. Now the truth is inescapable.
The usual walk around Langton Lake today was rather chilly. Most of my friends wimped out since it was too blustery. It's time for me to get my act together and get a real winter coat.
It was so cold last night the pond out back was covered in ice this morning. I hope this current cold snap is not a hint at how cold the rest of winter will be.
Dave pointed me towards the WikiTravel site for Minneapolis. I think it's missing a lot of information. Time to create an account and add your favorite Minneapolis haunts.
... and btw Dave thanks for pointing me to the salmon flavored soda. I do appreciate the occasional disgusting link.
So how bad is your crime when you are posthumously executed?
[Link Courtesy of Primate Brow Flash]
I've finally reached "The Civil War" in my Netflix queue.
I love this documentary. I love the soft music and the shots panning the photographs. I love listening to the letters home -- eloquent, poignant and full of emotion. I love the rich voices of the narrators. I even love the slow pacing of the movie.
The photographs haunt me. (As an aside, it's Orwellian that the current administration seeks to control the phtographic images the public sees. This policy dishonors the dead and debases their sacrifice. You can learn more at Camera/Iraq or see photos at The Memory Hole.)
Taste of Scandanavia located in North Oaks.
I've lived in the area for years and never been into this restaurant until September. I thought it was a bakery and so just walked right on past several times, eating at the Panino restaurant a few doors down.
I happened to be in the area and my kids were hungry and I didn't want to make dinner. I was intending to go to the Panino's. I walked past the restaurant and realized, hey it's more than a bakery. I walked in and was instantly at home.It is my new favorite place near my house. They have very reasonable prices and great soup and salad combo. The raspberry vinagrette is amazing. I've had several tasty soups including Carrot Ginger, Borscht, and Squash. All of the soups were amazing.
I made peanut soup on Friday night. It was super easy to make and cheap to boot. I pretty much consists of milk, peanut butter and some spices. It was pretty good but not amazing. The home-made croutons really made the dish. After making croutons from scratch I can't figure out why anyone would ever buy croutons at the store. They are so easy to make at home.
My favorite local heavy metal cover band, ColdFront is playing tonight at The Firehouse in Circle Pines. I plan to be there, you should too. Unfortunately, I can't stay until closing time tonight.
(Note: The bar is in Anoka County so smoking is allowed; you might want to burn your clothes after the show. You might also want to bring some earplugs along since the boys are a little loud.)
This is why I support the EFF.
If you haven't been following the story, basically Sony has embedded executable computer code on some of their music cd's. The software is malicious, installs without the users knowledge, and is difficult to detect and remove. Worse than that, this malware they install has already been used by a computer virus writer, making your system just that much more open to compromise.
[Update] Check out this fabulous screed directed at the programmers who created the Sony malware.
I took some guys from work to the cabin this last weekend. Here we are at the sign for the Chainsaw Sisters Saloon.
"...Though darkness gathers, praise our crazy fallen world; it's all we have, and it's never enough." -- "Praise Song" by Barbara Crooker [Courtesy of The Writers Almanac, November 5, 2005]
The clouds looked so cool this morning I had to go back in and grab the camera. It was a gorgeous day; wish I could have gone on my usual constitutional.
In a rare mood, Elise asked me to take her picture. The instant I did so she whirled away. I like the result.
It looks a lot like life with a pre-schooler, they are always moving and nothing seems to be in focus -- still it has a kind of beauty.
The kids dressed up as the Beast from "Beauty and the Beast and a Caterpillar. The did an excellent job extorting candy from the neighbors. Jeannie let them have freedom to eat any candy from the time they got out of their costumes until bedtime. They made a pretty sizeable dent in their candy stashes. Matthew gave himself a stomach ache. Elise tried a lot of candy but didn't finish much. At the end of the appointed time she had a plateful of candy with licks and tiny bits that she wanted to save. Hmmm, thats not going to work out.
A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread - and Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness - Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!--Omar Khayyam (translated by Edward FitzGerald) While I was searching for the author of that verse I came upon a listing in Amazon for Khayyam's verse newly translated by one Peter Avery. One of the reviews contained the poem in question. The newly translated version, said to be more faithful to the original text reads as follows. Here is the new version.
If chance supplied a loaf of white bread, Two casks of wine and a leg of mutton, In the corner of a garden with a tulip-cheeked girl There'd be enjoyment no Sultan could outdo.After reading the first translation and the second, it's quite apparent the translators must have had different ideas about what the word translation might mean. To finish my little riff on what I need. It seems like the older I get, the more I have. At the same time I find that I want the stuff I have less and less. When I am out tramping in the woods with only what fits in my pack I find I am at my best. The answer to what Tim needs is family, friends, and just enough stuff to carry in his pack.
