Featherstone Farm

Ann and I visited Featherstone Farm in Rushford, MN this weekend. Featherstone is our CSA ("community supported agriculture") farm. We get a nice box of organic, pesticide-free food in exchange for our investment (actually, we're sharing our box with a friend this year).

Here are some pictures. The fish is from a Friday fish fry near La Crosse and the train depot shots were taken on Saturday evening when the Amtrak train passed through town on its way west.

Wrigley Field

Some photos from yesterday's Cubs-Astros game at Wrigley.

Photos were taken from the upper deck but look closely and you might recognize the lanky, tall dude in the suit in front of the Cubs dugout. That's Conan O'Brien. He was doing a bit before the game started where he ran across the field while being (fake) chased by security. I'm guessing the footage will be used on the Tonight Show opener on June 1st.

Ann turns 40

Celebrated Ann's 40th today at one of her favorite places: the Leaning Tower of Pizza in Uptown.

Here are a few photos. Nice to see everyone who was there!

Photo geek note: I like our point-and-shoot for convenience but results are pretty grainy in low-light situations. I'd like to get something with a faster lens that doesn't feel like a brick when you're carrying it around.

The perils of fandom

Video explaining why hockey fans should be careful who they date.

The Future of Baseball

Wacky predictions about the future of baseball. I'm guessing this was made in the 70s. Yet more evidence reminding us to always question the predictions of futurists.

San Diego visit

Just got back from a long weekend in San Diego. Here are some pictures from the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park. The picture quality isn't ideal because I left the point-and-shoot camera at the hotel and was stuck with the cell phone camera.

Here are some more photos (a little over 50) from the rest of the trip. Most of them are from the Carlsbad Flower Fields, the Self-Realization Fellowship gardens and the USS Midway museum.

The Self-Realization Fellowship gardens along the shoreline in Encinitas were a real find. They were not extensive (maybe one mile of walking paths?) but they are spectacularly beautiful and very peaceful. And no, Ann and I aren't converting -- we just went to check out the gardens. Although I did read "Autobiography of a Yogi" years ago, which is about the founder of the institution, and I remember it being a pretty good book.

Naples Pier - Sunset

A few snaps from the Naples Pier at sunset yesterday.

Spring Training

I'm down in Naples, Florida visiting my folks. My dad and I saw the Twins play the Reds at Hammond Stadium in Fort Meyers today.

Twins won 3-0. Glen Perkins got the start and looked good in 4 innings of work.

Hennepin Overland Model Railroad Museum

Visited the Hennepin Overland Model Railroad Museum today with Ann and her father Dave. Dave has been to the place many times and knew most of the guys there. This was the first visit for me and Ann, even though it's only a few blocks from our house.

What a great experience! The amount of time and effort that has gone into the scenery is very impressive. Check out the degree of detail and craftsmanship. I highly recommend a visit. They're open Saturdays and Sundays from 1-4 p.m. (nominal admission fee).

2008 Dachshund Races

Finally got around to exporting the news story on the September, 2008 James J. Hill Days Dachshund Races.

Our dog Huckleberry appears at the tail end of the clip. That's Ann screaming as Huck races for the finish line.

Chasing the Light

Huckleberry really enjoys the laser pointer he got from Karen Cooke (my sister). Here's a video to prove it.

Here is a YouTube version of the same video.

Paris

After sorting through our September trip photos again, I noticed I never posted any of the pics from our handful of days in Paris. We made the requisite stop at the incredible L'As du Fallafel. L'As du Fallafel has some competition now: there are a couple of copycat falafel joints on the same corner. We spent solid chunks of our remaining time seeing the lights by night and checking out the flagship Le Bon Marche, one of Paris's oldest department stores. Bon Marche's market annex -- where many of the photos were taken -- went on and on.

We saw the distinctive Velib rent-a-bikes everywhere. What a cool idea. Too bad you need a "smart" credit card with a microchip in it in order to use the program. Most American credit cards don't have this.

Here are the Paris photos.

At the Dome

Saw Keynon Phillips (#80) play at the Metrodome today! His team -- the Eastview Lightning -- played really well but lost against a tough and fast Pearl Park team that got some breaks in the 2nd half. Here are some photos (the blurry one is of Keynon just after he made a catch in the first quarter).

Here is a video of a very nice fourth down catch for a first down.

Packers vs. Colts

Here are some photos from our trip to Green Bay for yesterday's Colts-Packers game.

There is a reason Ann is smiling in front of the sign that says "Ticket Problems." As Ann is passing out the tickets to me, Dave and Kyle one of us notices that the tickets say "Green Bay vs. Detroit Lions" and are for the last game of the season on December 28th. Yes, Ann stuffed the wrong tickets in her purse when we left from Minneapolis Sunday morning. Luckily, the ticket office was able to re-issue tickets for us to get into the game, which is why Ann is smiling.

Here is a video clip of a fourth-quarter play that won't be part of Peyton Manning's Hall of Fame highlight reel.

Dalmatian Coast

The next-to-last leg of our September trip was along the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia with stops in Split and Dubrovnik. Here are a whole lot of pictures.

Dubrovnik has a little of the flavor of Venice, without the canals: compact, stunningly beautiful, and deluged with tourists. Cruise ship shuttle boats started storming the docks at around 9 or 10 am and the walled part of the city was almost insufferably packed by noon. But in the evening things quieted down again. If you visit Dubrovnik, spend the night.

We all got drunk

Gerald F. Davis's short article "Who's to blame?" is one of the best things I've read about the causes of our current economic problems. The bottom line is that not balancing your budget has consequences.

On a less serious note: if you need to find a half-way point to meet with someone, check out MeetWays. It even finds coffee shops or restaurants near the half-way spot. Pretty neat!

Zagreb and Plitvice Lakes National Park

The trip continues from Slovenia to Croatia. After a brief stop in Zagreb for lunch, we spent a day at Croatia's Plitvice Lakes National Park. Here are some pictures.

The park-run hotel we stayed at had an early 70s throwback decor because the place hadn't been remodeled at all since the early 70s. Still, it was clean and pleasant enough. And the decor was kind of fun -- if you keep anything long enough it comes back into fashion.

Our hikes through the park itself were spectacular, despite the rain. Actually, the rain may have kept the crowds away, which supposedly can get pretty big, and it kept the water flowing over all of the beautiful waterfalls.

Slovenia

Slovenia. Tiny. Photogenic. Fun!

Lots of pictures here from the charmingly small and tidy capital, Ljubljana, and from the tourist town of Bled. They like to ride bikes in Ljubljana. Note the dude making a cell phone call while riding his bike (we saw this more than once)! And they really like to hang out in cafes. Great food in Bled, and we got to see our shadows while strolling around the lake.

Budapest

Great city. Kind of like Paris but with better public swimming facilities. Here are some photos.

I don't do captions at SmugMug so here are a few details:

• The Gerloczy Hotel and Cafe is where we stayed and is where the spiral staircase photo was taken (along with some others);
• The museum shots are from the amazing House of Terror museum, which remembers and memorializes Nazi and Soviet oppression of Hungary and Eastern Europe in the 20th century;
• Being named Attila is a-ok in Hungary;
• They seem to like frogs.
  

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Whatever your feelings about the bailout bill, it's useful to understand what caused the economic downturn that led to its passage so we can learn from our past mistakes.

The story of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac explain a big part of it, as historically neither company has been subject to really any scrutiny or oversight in their government-guaranteed lending practices. Check out this succinct history of the companies. Here's a noteworthy excerpt: "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the only two Fortune 500 companies that are not required to inform the public about any financial difficulties that they may be having." These private companies get to play with our money in the mortgage markets -- a LOT of our money -- without any direct oversight or control. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in other words, are like the Blackwater of the U.S. mortgage markets. The lack of transparency in these companies is a big reason for the economic issues we are facing today.

Let's hope our government can exert some financial restraint now that it is able to buy shares in two frighteningly large and unregulated companies. We should be paying very close attention to whomever Obama or McCain select as the next Treasury Secretary and we (i.e., Congress) should be demanding greater transparency from the Treasury Department so those guys don't "run wild" the way the mortgage lenders have.