Guthrie

One of my favorite things in Minneapolis is the Guthrie Theater which opened a few years ago and has won rave reviews from all over the world. I have gone to several plays there but they also hold concerts periodically and it is an excellent venue for that. Nanci Griffith was playing the other day so I convinced a friend to go (even though she hadn't even heard of Griffith). My friend lives in Minneapolis but had yet to go to the Guthrie, a sin in my book, but she loved it. There is a walkway which overlooks the Mississippi so we went out there for a few minutes and I took these pics. The first one is looking towards the 10th Street bridge which is right next to where the 35W bridge once stood and will again in a year or so. The other is looking the other direction towards the Stone Arch Bridge which is an old one that is now open just to pedestrians. We had a fun evening and Nanci Griffith was fantastic.

I'm off to New York this weekend. Some friends and I are going to hang out and we're going to see a show or two. One being the new revival of South Pacific. I'll let you know how it is. Have a great weekend!

Happy Easter!

Hey everybody-

Random story day. I've been following some basketball like everybody else has with March Madness going on. One story that isn't NCAA but is very cool is how good the New Orleans Hornets have been this year. They had to relocate the season after the storm and NOLA isn't really a basketball town so they have been just barely making it. Until this year that is when they caught on fire. A lot of it is due to Chris Paul. He's an awesome player who's only 6'0", pretty short for the NBA. I did a little bit of research and realized that he played two years for Wake Forest before going pro. Wake Forest has always been one of my favorite schools just because you have to give credit to a place that picks "Demon Deacons" for a mascot. Another really cool story about him comes from his high school years. During his senior year, his grandfather was murdered at the age of 61. The day of the funeral Paul has a game and scores 61 points! He intentionally missed a free throw and then left the game. Pretty amazing story. So all of you "Cinderella" team lovers, here's one to root for. The New Orleans Hornets have the city buzzing and are making a strong run for it all.

On another note, it's Easter! Time to eat chocolate after giving it up for Lent. Yippee!

And finally, something to make you laugh. This is why even if I "kind of" know another language, I hesitate to use it for fear of butchering it. It's a Bulgarian version of American Idol where a contestant doesn't really know the words of a Mariah Carey song but still tries to do it in English. The final result is pretty entertaining.

I'm Dreaming of a White Easter

Only in Minnesota. Well, actually all over the Midwest but Minnesota usually gets singled out. Spring arrived and with it snow. It's actually really pretty. I know some people, or rather most people, get sick of snow but I never do. I love 60-70 degree weather but thinking about 80-90 degrees definitely leaves me wishing for December.

One good thing about this time of year though is Twins baseball. Only nine days until the opener. I was able to get tickets although they are the cheap upper deck seats. Should still be fun. Last year my least favorite Twin was Boof Bonser but it appears that he worked hard over the winter so he should be better. He still has a stupid name though and yes, it is his fault. It was John until he legally had it changed to Boof. He's no Pat Neshek (who happens to be my favorite player). I'm not going to make any predictions except to say that it's likely they won't win the division but they shouldn't be in last place either.

Happy Easter and Happy Spring!

Spring Break!!!

It's Spring Break and now it's.... gone... Or at least close to gone, this week has flown. I spent a few days in Bemidji and then have been mostly working out and seeing movies since I got back home. Here's the reviews so far:
Juno-Excellent. Funny movie but also poignant.
August Rush-Good. You have to suspend reality to accept all the "miracles" in the movie but still good wholesome entertainment.
Dan in Real Life-Good. Steve Carrell in probably one of his more serious roles although the movie overall is pretty funny. This movie has something for everyone.
The Jane Austen Book Club-Cute. Great cast. Definitely a chick flick.
I still have a few more movies to see in the next few days. Kind of an eclectic bunch. I'll let you know how they are.
It kind of feels like spring has sprung here but the reports are that it will be short lived with snow possibly tomorrow. We'll have have to see if that pans out.

Spring Break!

Today I finished my last papers before spring break thank goodness. Now I'm off for a week but I feel like I have plenty to do during that time. Oh well.

It's definitely spring here and today I took advantage of it again with a walk at Minnehaha Falls and along the river. The picture is of the falls obviously. There is still a lot of ice but the water is rushing too. They have a new photo displayed there from the 60's when President Lyndon Johnson visited along with Vice President Humphrey and Governor Rolvaag. It states that there was actually a drought and they had to unleash the water from fire hydrants further up the creek so that the water would flow. Kind of interesting. I don't know that they would do that today. There would be a lot of bad press for wasting resources to create the photo op.

The Twins won again today after a few losses. They are doing pretty well during spring training so far. Hopefully they can put together a winning record this season. There's been some interesting press lately about Pat Neshek's diet. He's been almost a vegetarian for a long time and now he's made the leap to vegan. His wife has been vegan for a long time. He has a little bit about it on his blog (www.patneshek.com) but basically says it's no big deal and the media are blowing it out of proportion. It would be interesting to find out how many professional athletes are vegetarian or vegan.

I have the local news on and this now answers the question of whether anything can be worse than the national news.... The reporter literally just put words in the interviewee's mouth. When she wasn't talking fast enough, she interrupted her to finish her sentence! That's not reporting!!! Painful... Oh well, have a great day!

Hey everybody

So, let's try this blog again... I don't know if I'll have much to say... For those of you that know me, that is totally a joke as I always have more than enough to say. What it will be about though is the question. I figure this blog will be for venting about politics, chatting about Twins, sharing some activities and even showing some photos here and there. If you're going to stop by this site anyway you must not have a whole lot to do and want to read my ramblings. Actually, you can just as easy wander over to somewhere more interesting whenever you want... As far as the name of this blog, you can probably guess that I hope to blog close to daily but don't expect that.

Today was the first 50 degree day in Minneapolis since last November and I took full advantage. A friend, her dog and I went for a walk around Lake Calhoun this afternoon. It's not my favorite lake but pretty cool this time of year during the middle of the day. Not a lot of folks on the trail and very sunny. The best part was watching the paraskiiers. This is a photo of one in front of the downtown skyline which I thought was pretty cool. Although it might not stay this warm consistently, I think we're done with the really cold days of the 2007-2008 winter. Bring on the Spring!