Naples, Florida

Nice weather this year for the x-mas visit to Pelican Bay! Here are some photos. Larger slideshow versions are available here and here.

Where's Ouagadougou?

Fun and semi-educational time waster: Click on world cities to test your geography knowledge. Although at times I felt like it was my mouse-clicking abilities that were being tested.

Word of the Year: Locavore

The New Oxford American Dictionary has selected its Word of the Year for 2007. How is the word selected? According to one of the dictionary's editors, "we are always looking for a word that is both reflective of the events and concerns of the past year and also forward-looking: a word that we think will only become more used and more useful as time goes on." Previous winners: Carbon Neutral (2006), Podcast (2005).

In other news, Michael Lewis has written a great piece about NFL kickers.

Arizona Trip

My dad and I took a trip to Phoenix to see the Detroit Lions play the Arizona Cardinals. If it's true what they say, that Lions fans love to suffer, then this was a dream vacation! Actually, only the Lions' performance was bad. The rest of the trip was fun.

Here are a few photos from our day trip through Jerome, Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon (click here to see larger versions of the photos in a new window):




And here are some from the really fantastic game where the Lions continued to build for the playoffs by beating ... oh, wait, it didn't really work out quite as planned (click here for larger versions):

"9/11 is over"

The NY Times ran a great Op-Ed piece by Thomas Friedman on Sunday about why it's high time we stop re-living 9/11. In lieu of hunting down the criminals, the Bush administration's response has been to wall us off from rest of the world with regulations that are destroying our economy (not to mention our civil liberties). It appears that Giuliani, the presumptive Republican candidate in 2008, has decided to run on a similar fear-based platform.

Friedman writes that earlier this year, "Microsoft, fed up with American restrictions on importing brain talent, opened its newest software development center in Vancouver." If we continue to respond to the world in fear we can look forward to a day when Chinese and Indian companies come over here to hire cheap labor.

Top Goals 06-07

Yeah, ESPN has lousy hockey coverage these days. But they put together an awfully nice collection of some of the more interesting goals last season:

More NHL Preseason Photos

The Globe and Mail is rockin' with the pre-season shots. The put up another gallery today.

New NHL Unis; Pre-Season Game One

The Globe and Mail put up a collection of images from the early pre-season action.

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Ron and I went to the first Minnesota Wild pre-season game yesterday at the Xcel Energy Center. It also happened to be the first pre-season game for the Wings, which was a good deal for me.

The Wings brought a few more vets than last year: Datsyuk, Chelios, Holmstrom, Drake & Maltby. Some kid named Jimmy Howard tended the nets until about half-way into the 2nd period, when Osgood took over. Howard looked good, although he didn't face many shots because the Wings dominated early. Datsyuk and Holmstrom look ready!

Below is a short video clip I shot on my digital still camera during the warmups. The Wings unis look pretty much the same except for the bibs at the bottom and the move to the left side of the jersey for the Captain and Alternate letters. But you really notice how much tighter they are when you get a look at highlight reels from last year on the jumbotron. Last year's unis look huge!

More Fair...

Went to the fair again yesterday, this time with my writer's group. Here's a first-person view of the Big Slide:

State Fair Excursion

With apologies to Brian, here are a few photos from our trip to the Minnesota State Fair yesterday. The stage shot is from the Fountains of Wayne show. The others are, well, just some of the things you might see at the Fair while you aren't gorging yourself on bad food. In the Fair's defense, the Walleye on a Stick was dang tasty.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Farewell old friend

It's a sad day in our backyard. A few weeks ago Ann noticed a large gap at the base of a tall old apple tree. We called a tree guy and he told us it needed to come down. They scheduled us for eight weeks out but said they'd stop by sooner if possible.

Today turned out to be the "sooner if possible." About four guys showed up and took her down in about twenty minutes. She provided all of the wonderful things that every tree has to offer, plus a whole lot of apples!

Cool Commercial

I first saw the link to this commercial on my friend Brian's blog. See if you can guess what it's about before it's over.



There is a cat who lives at a Rhode Island nursing home who apparently can sense when someone is near death.

Al Franken's new HQ

In case you haven't heard, Al Franken is running for the U.S. Senate. Ann and I attended the grand opening of his new-and-improved headquarters on University Avenue yesterday. He said he's been busy: "I've attended over a hundred bean feeds across Minnesota so far and it's been a gas." He also apologized for his wife Franni's absence, saying that during the two hours Cheney was in charge he had Franni arrested. Those were a few of the jokes. But you can tell he's sincere about trying to make a difference.

I miss Al's radio show but I'm glad he's running for Paul Wellstone's senate seat.

Lela

My sister Karen, who lives in Santa Monica, just got a new kitten named Lela. I told Karen I'd put Lela on my blog if she sent me a picture.


Congrats Karen!

A Smattering of New York Photos

Here are a few that I like from our recent trip to New York for Andy and Barb Novitske's wedding. You'll find more shots of the wedding here.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Walking Tour of Wall St. and Ground Zero area

I made a NYC Downtown Walking Tour Map in Google Maps. The walk starts at the Bowling Green subway station, which is a straight ride on the 4 or 5 subway train from Grand Central, and hits the highlights in the Downtown area: NY Stock Exchange, Trinity Church, Ground Zero, Century 21 (for some excellent discount shopping), etc. Click on the blue placemarks in my map for more info about the various locations along the way. My guess is that it would take 3 hours or so to complete the entire route.

You might be able to print out the map but I haven't tried that feature yet so I don't know if the printout will include my placemark notes.

Huck and Dublin's not so big Adventure

We have a guest this weekend: Dublin, a Soft Coated Wheaton Terrier who ordinarily resides with Palmer and Nancy Dawn Van Beest. He's with us for a couple of days while they're out of town. He and Huck are getting along quite well. Here are some pics from our short walk this afternoon:

Mother's Day & Birthday Dinner/Softball Extravaganza

Just havin' some more fun with the new camera. Try clicking on a photo to enlarge it in your browser.

Jane's Confirmation

Here are some pics from our meal after Jane's confirmation on Sunday. Took these at The Happy Gnome, which has a nice deck if you happen to be looking for a bite or some drinks and you're near the Cathedral in St. Paul. Good fries and bar food (although the pizzas weren't great).



















And here's a bonus photo of Huckleberry ...