Cosmic Wagon Train

I had two conversations today that threw me back just a tiny bit, only for the reflection it had on me on how I want to treat people. This is the best part of the evening for me sometimes when I take the time to reflect on how the day was and what became fun or not. IS Fun is a silly goal? I am not talking about skipping across the tops of office cubicles to have fun. No, just enjoying the moment of what ever you find yourself knee deep. Probably a white guys problem.

The first conversation was in a meeting with a client. We were reviewing some business expansion plans and what it would take to make it happen. He made a comment about expanding into a community of poorer people. (We provide a basic service and it would be beneficial to all parties.) His under the breath bigoted comments about the expansions was unchallenged by everyone in the room. We knew what he was trying to say even if he did not fully say it. Does it have to be so outrageous before we act upon it? Or is this something he mumbles about all the time that we have grown used to it? The conversation was quickly moved away from the service to the numbers and it never came up again. As I sit back and reflect on the day, I know I need to mention something tomorrow and am I struggling with the conversation already. It is sad I - or any of us - waited, silence is our approval to his caveman thoughts.

The second conversation was online with an old high school classmate I have not talked to since graduation time 20 plus years ago. We recently connected on Facebook and he started a chat with me this evening. It was a quick but nice catch up conversation. It made me wonder about how we lose touch and how we choose what keep up with and what let fall behind. It all takes effort, but how much can we keep connected. It is hard enough to keep in touch with family or even your significant other during a busy work week, much less somebody you shared two semesters of Art History during your undergraduate days. Sure they become your family during that time, much like the friends I made during my time in the military. These are people that I wish I could still see everyone once in awhile.

Before all that reflection, we both came home this evening and made a nice dinner on the grill again. We have some wonderful ground beef from the Grass Fed Cattle Co that I added some salt, pepper, a tiny bit of ground mustard and dash of hickory spices. I had a nice high heat going on the Big Green Egg and they were done in about 9 minutes or so. Grass fed beef has less fat, so it cooks quicker. I grilled some onions in a bit foil first and they were yummy. It was a nice dinner after all that.

Well tomorrow is a big day, but I have to wait to share more on that.

Music for the writing was provided by random play on the Zune; including the songs of the B-52, The Replacements, Bob Dylan, Vetiver, and the Police.

Setting your hair on fire

Surviving an excellent weekend, by combing some wonderful simple time with some fun with friends and getting a chance to bake and cook is simple as good as it gets sometimes.

Friday night I was able to get the sourdough mixed and after it rested in the fridge overnight, I added the remaining dough and let it rise for about five hours and then shaped the dough into two loaves, letting rise for about three hours and a quick hot bake 30 minutes later I took it out of the oven, just in time so I could get ready for hanging out with friends that night. Who knew one had to plan several days around making bread? People that like extra sour sourdough bread do! Darn it anyway it was good.

So, we went out to Saint Paul to meet friends for dinner and to take in the Minnesota Wild hockey. This happens to be the weekend of the Saint Paul Winter Carnival, an excuse for people to party and enjoy winter in Minnesota. Actually, for me the Winter Carnival hits a soft spot for me. The story of the battle for winter between King Boreas and the Vulcan crews is cute and sort of fun. The traditional activities still take place, though they have had to tone down some of the fun as we mature as a society, to the pain of some the locals that love the tradition of the grease paint kisses and the like.

This of course has everything to do with us not being able to get into the Bulldog for dinner, not that we thought we would need reservations. We were told it would be a two hour wait or not. I left my cell phone number and they never called us, but ended up going to Fabulous Ferns for a mediocre dinner. The men of the bunch were all intrigued by the Cajun Meatloaf Sandwich, which had a peculiar taste with a sort of sweet sauce, yet very dry and mealy. Oh well, score one for disappointment.

We headed out to the game where we were lucky enough to have a friend that was entertaining clients and had extra tickets to a suite. Not being much of a hockey fan, I was happy to meet some new people and chat a little. I did try and watch some of the game and saw most of the last period. What amazes me about watching professional sports is the A.D.D noise added to every second that the game stops. It was strange that if the whistle blew and they had to drop the puck, the nine seconds in between was filled with a short blast of music. Every second was completely filled. It just seems over the top for me. Are we that in need of being bombarded with some sort of entertainment? What do I know, the place is always packed so they must be doing something right.

Sunday came and I invited some school buddies over for some grilled food. I started the grill around 10 in the morning to smoke the wings that I had been marinating from the day before. I used a dry rub of cayenne, oregano, salt, pepper and a little garlic. I took the wings off at about noon and they were wonderful. I had some pork shoulder leftover from the New Year's feat (kept in the freezer until the day before) and some sausages that I had made for the fest. We enjoy the meats and beers and watched a little of the AFC championship game and then they all huddled off to watch the NFC Championship away from me the non-Viking fan. Being of mixed emotions of sort of wanting Favre to fail and wanting the Viking fans to finally get some good news for once. I really got neither. Favre did a decent job and Vikings choked away a game in classic Viking fashion.

Today I frustratedly tried to find a doctor that was in network and not having a six month waiting list. I expect tomorrow to be better. I did have a nice work out on the elliptical again for 30 minutes though, I am not really losing any weight. I am going to try and get another workout again tomorrow, so there!

Tonight the music is fueling the ramblings is Echo and the Bunnymen.

Verify you belong

Socially, it's been fun, really. I have had the opportunity this week to see and be a part of some fun events, though I had only been able to be at a couple. Tonight there is a party for a friend that is moving to Denver. I would liked to go, but after being out a little too much last night, the body is not ready for another night, especially knowing tomorrow night I have some more entertaining to do.

Last night was fund raiser for the United Way and Kathy I went to the wine tasting event with some friends. Last year we went and enjoyed ourselves, you pay a fee to get into the door and they hand you a glass and you go to various stations to try the wines. This year they featured French Wines and built a theme around this with a Can-Can theme. They handed out top-hats and feather boas for you to wear. They also did a nice job trying to pair the light appetizers. Anyway after a few hours of trying wine we smartly drove home after we remembered it was a 'school night'.

At work there was some discussion today around a verification process that is underway to make sure the people we are claiming on our health care and other benefits are legitimate. I can certainly understand what they are trying to do, to eliminate extra costs that they should not be carrying. They even had a three week amnesty where people that knew or found out that some was not eligible could be removed from their benefits without any repercussions. This eliminated 200 people. So, the talk today was around the problems with the guidelines. Basically if you are married you send a copy of the marriage certificate and a bill showing you are still living together. The problem for some people is they just don't people each others name on their bills. In other cases such as the domestic partner provisions (we have a policy allowing people unmarried but living together in long-term relationship, but don't want to or are not allowed to get married, to have benefits) becomes difficult. They don't have a certificate for their relationship and for whatever reason were trying to figure a way to show the verification company that they should be on the plan. It was causing some worries around for some people. We did get notice that Kathy and I are legit, so we have that going for us.

I have fed the monster again, the sourdough starter, and I have pulled out a chunk and I am resting the dough overnight to start the process of making a couple of loaves of bread tomorrow, so that should be fun.

Music for these writings brought to me by Coconut Records last album Davy.

The easy questions.

Developing a sense of routine seems out of bounds for me. It should be easy, every day I get up and am greeted by an inquiry of whether I would like a latte made for me. Yeah, I know - just knowing that you think I already have it made and you are right. Besides who among us is going to turn this down, expect the lactose intolerant and the jittery. I had a surgery about 10 years ago and I woke up in the recovery room by the nurse shaking me and asking me if I wanted morphine. I did not even know what planet I was on, much less whether I was in pain yet, but I knew the answer. Yes seems like a great answer when someone is offering you something to start out your waking period. I wonder if the nurse would of offered me coffee if I would of been as comfortable. It is unlikely.

It is the next step in the day that is difficult. As I prepare for the workday I am trying to figure out what my day is like and whether I need to drive to another city for a meeting and what events I might have the evening. I never remember, so as I prepare my breakfast I figure it all out. At some point in middle of my latte I have slowly waken and am able to communicate to Kathy what my plans will be for the day. I cram all my stuff in my work bag and if I remember to take my workout clothes before I leave the house it is a miracle. Today was no exception, but I was still able to get back and get to my bus on time.

I stayed up too late last night playing a nonsense game on kongregate.com. Really nothing like wasting time trying to figure out a tower defense game. All that time could of spent more productively on leveling on Call of Duty! (Oh the pity). No, it took me a bit to wake up, but thank goodness I had meetings with vendors that got me relied up.

The beauty of all these routines is how much momentum they build and how difficult it can be to change. With my encouragement group helping me reach my weight loss goals I have had to really look at my eating and exercise habits. The new routine is nice, I actually like the foods and the healthy snacks. No really. Pretty much. The exercise is the tough part, just adjusting the schedule to leave work and head to the workout room instead of being at home and relaxing. I had an internal battle as I sat at my desk on whether to skip the workout or go home. I choose 28 minutes on the elliptical and I am glad I did.

Tonight, perhaps my new routine will be to be in bed and get all revved up for tomorrow.

This rambling is powered by the music of Iron & Wine

Tending my fruit

As nice as it is to have more freedom in a schedule with driving to work, I do enjoy the bus ride. I had to drive today to meet with people around town, which made me appreciate the bus. The best part is relaxing on the way to work and getting ready for the day. The worse part is being a slave to the schedule, which I would guess farmers or bakers helped develop the schedule.

Apparently the rush hour buses need to get the bakers and the farmers to their jobs early to start their day. I don't who all those other people are on the bus, but my guess is they are not all bakers and farmers. So, why do we have a rush hour bus that only runs from 6:05 am to 7:30 am. Is there no one else up at night writing a blog about things they like to eat and other common complaints and need to get sleep hours by sleeping past 6:30. I can not be alone, my friends. Rise up (or sleep in as it were)! Well, they have got us. Who is the going to be the last person in the office besides the guys that drive? No one. The bus riding zombies march to their bus stops and take it to their non-farming and non-baking jobs and just suck it up. I am not asking for special favors really, I just have a hard time believing this is a schedule that we all wanted. However, this is the the land of 10,000 lowered expectations, where we just except the fact "I don't want to make a scene".

Or should I propose the conspiracy theory is that this schedule was really started by bakers after all. Think about it. You are groggy in the morning. You barely get ready in time to catch your bus, with no real time to get breakfast. So when you land on your bus and get to work before the sunrises, you finally wake up and want something to eat. What do you do - you stop by your local bakery to get something to it. See, they have lulled you into buying their products through a vast wheat promoting conspiracy to keep the long fallen flour milling industry alive through early morning bus routes. The only hole in this theory is that it makes no sense and is not realistic. Besides those details, it is a great theory.

Since I was driving today, I need to support the baking industry and made some toast and enjoy some the leftover smoked salmon. I packed a yummy lunch consisting of frozen Amy's veggie lasagna, some veggies and dried fruit. Sexy, huh? I have to say, my friends, it was good. I am trying very unsuccessfully to lose weight. I have 35 pounds to go to my goal date of July 22nd.

To help in that matter I went to dinner with Kathy and a dear friend that was in town for business. We ended up at Crave. They have a new location in St Louis Park, MN at the new development called West End. We made reservation through OpenTable.com and we were able to get a seat right away. The place was jumping as happy hour was ending, but the dining room was pretty full as well. We sat down and the server was immediate available to help us with our order. We tried a couple appetizers, the first was the calamari served with a spicy mayo. It was cooked nearly perfect. The other appetizer was a baked crab and artichoke dip, served with focaccia bread. We did not leave any of these behind by the time the main dishes arrived. We struggled with the many choices, but our friend was determined to order the Sea scallop & shrimp fettucini dish. It was served with a lobster sauce. She enjoyed the dish, though it looked like the pasta was bit overcooked, but I can't say for sure as she was not sharing! I tried the grilled ahi tuna. The veggies and the rice were excellent, the tuna was very good, it had a excellent sesame crust. I tasted a bit of some sort of cooking fuel or something on the tuna, very subtle, but I thought I would mention it. My bride enjoyed the starter salad, though I think we agreed the have some great selections we would try again when we come back. We skipped the dessert as the meals were quite filling enough.

Time to plow through the email I guess.

Music provided for the writings by XTC.

Weekend overtime

Trying to get the right mix of fun and accomplish will always be a challenge, especially when you are trying to get things done that are never on your list. Ah, so much is life.

On Sunday I was able to get the Big Green Egg fired up right away right after church. My goal was to create a very intense smoke flavor for the salmon. Not too much, but I think the last two times I under smoked them a bit, not that I minded much, but it nice to play around with the flavors. I soaked four big chunks of alder wood and two smaller pieces. I was able to get the temperature locked at around 180 degrees pretty quickly. I lobbed two big chunks of alder on the charcoals and put the salmon on a pizza tray on the grill. About every hour or so, I threw a couple of more chunks until the end about 4 hours later it was nicely done. Great taste and I happy with the results.

I went over to my sister in laws house to watch some football as the Brett Favre lead Vikings destroyed the Cowboys pretty handsomely and the family took the time to make fire starters. The process they have developed is to melt down candles they find at rummage sales, then take cupcake liners and have them filled with potpourri and sawdust, which the wax is then poured over them. Repeat several hundred times and you have fire starters. Kathy's sister uses them to start fires in her fireplace, they work quite well for that purpose.

After this was completed we played some games and had dinner. All fun and excitement. But it was late and we had to get back home. On the way out Kathy slipped on some ice and tumbled down the steps and landed hard on her bum and elbow. She will survive but was in some pain. Being the wonderful husband I took the day off to help her today with some errands.

Today was nice as we did our errands and ended up at the Mall of America to get some exercise in while walking around. We did a little shopping around after and headed home. For dinner I cranked up the grill again to grill some bacon and make some bread on the grill. It turned out so nice, we had a salad with the bread.

Music provided by Visqueen for the writing of this material and is not responsible for my lack of editing.

Feeding the monster

Stuck under the pressure cooker of the week it ended with more fun. I stopped for a quick drink at the 508. I quite enjoyed the selection of brews and they have a fantastic happy hour, and am going to explore the place again next week. Meanwhile as I was wrapping up I notice I had missed four calls, mostly because I had the volume down on my phone after being silenced from being meetings all day. Never a good sign. Apparently the credit card company was searching for us to let us know about fraud on our card.

Well, after I called back they were concerned about a couple of charges from Amazon and Dunn Brothers and I wonder what the hell would be causing their concern? These are are regular charges, anyway, why piss on the guy that is just trying to help you, right. Anyway, that was a buzz kill and got to ride the local bus all the way home, which just takes so long in evening because everyone it seems has been new on the routes so they are unfamiliar as to where they are going, so they stand half on the bus and half off asking questions about if it goes by "You know, those apartments with the brown roof? Does it go that way?" Really , these are the questions that are being asked while the bus sits with its door open and missing the lights.

Got home and neither of us wanted to make dinner. We talked ourselves into going out for dinner at Woody's Grill. We split an appertizer of steak bits with green beans and entree sized pizza. Woody's grill has taken a step back recently and the pizza there is a good example. They are using cheaper ingredients it seems on the pizza. We were disappointed at how average their food has become.


Saturday, Kathy went to St Paul farmers market to pick some eggs and meat for the house. Bar Five is still out of the zesty sausage. We gathered our wits and met with friends for a surprise party at the Chatterbox in Linden Hills. They have a decent bar menu. We skipped eating there, but friends did try their food and it appeared to a mix amount of enthusiasm for the choices. Yes we celebrated Ne Ne moving around the sun another year. It was nice, but we could not stay long. We had to head to St Paul for a family event.

We went to house of my sister in law, where we hung out the rest of the day. We watch a little football, made some shrimp on the grill and played a few games. It was a nice time. More of this it appears tomorrow.

We had to head home to feed the sourdough monster. We got a starter for sourdough bread. You need to feed it weekly, so we did this for the first time with very little confidence. I think we will try to bake this on Monday. Meanwhile, I have a big chunk of salmon in a brine overnight. I plan on smoking the fish tomorrow. It should be a good time. The brine I used was a mixture of kosher salt, brown sugar, white wine, Worcestershire and a little garlic mixed in filtered water. I plan on taking this out of the brine after about 12 hours and getting the grill going. Need to rest up.


Music driven writing provided by the Fleet Foxes.

Notable exceptions only

I was lucky enough to finally have a meeting with a group we are looking at sponsoring over breakfast. Lucky because it starts the day with eggs and toast. It is nice to have every once in a while. I got to Key's a bit early and they set me up some nice diner coffee and the waitress took notice that I was staring into space and gave me a paper. That's someone looking out for you.

My meeting was to go over plans for upcoming year, which we discussed, but really we talked about diner food for awhile. Good diner food is hard to replicate. The problem with average diner food - aka Perkins is that it has no character. I like Key's because if you want eggs and toast - it is called eggs and toast. It's not the 'Craftsman Starter!' or some bull crap like "Lumberjack Stacks' for three pancakes. They have interesting name for three pancakes. It's called three pancakes. I can give them crap about a loon omelet, which contains no actual loon meat, in fact it contains turkey. Check out their menu, they did not want to spend the 30 minutes typing the menu into a webpage so they just scanned the damn thing in to a pdf format. Actually it looks like someone used their digital camera.

After the meeting I got back to the office and started my day of meetings, all good and fairly productive meetings, with a wide range of topics, but still a long day which makes it hard to get a days worth of work complete.

I had to chow down quickly on lunches but had time to read a little of SuperFreakonmics. I am reading about their thoughts on global warming, which I guess was a little surprising. The book is talking about how if we wanted to cool down the planet, there is a group that has come up with a fairly simple and "low cost" method to (which I am making very simplified and slightly inaccurate) spew a volcanic ash substance in upper atmosphere to defuse sunlight with a big long house and pool pumps.

After my last meeting I made my way home to get the grill going for dinner. This evening I made salmon cakes for dinner on the grill. Really simple actually if you have salmon available. I started with getting the grill going with a neutral natural charcoal, Wicked Good Charcoal, as to not mask the alder wood I was soaking. I removed the grill grate and sprayed the grill with some cooking spray.

The salmon cakes consisted of boneless salmon chunks (about a pound or so), 1/4 cup of chopped onion and a tablespoon of Dijon mustard in a food processor. Then I added about a tablespoon of olive oil, red pepper flakes, a couple tablespoons of fresh parsley, some salt and pepper and mixed that a bit more in the processor. Finally I added an egg and bread crumbs. Mixed all that fairly well and made about five patties for grilling and put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes. When I took it out of the freezer I sprinkled some dry rosemary on the patties and got it out to the grill.

I had the grill about medium to high direct heat, really about 400 degrees and threw four small chunks of the alder wood and put the grate back on the grill. Threw the patties on and turned them at about four minutes each side, may be longer on the first side. Not bad, had a little bite to them and all is well.

Feeling good about making it the weekend at this point.

Tonight the writings are powered by the music of Arcade Fire.

Welcome the jester

I really don't want to do another post on the on-going fight against the water heater. I think the thing is f'ed. We will see, my guess we should have people stopping by daily to get this thing running.

My guess in the big picture it is also easier to see the suffering played out on the television in Haiti that you would think I could be more grateful. Hell, if you put anything against that tragedy what really do you have complain about. 'Doc says you have scurvy, at least your house did not collapse on you.' Everything is easier in that comparison.

The sad part is seeing the Pat Robertson declare Haiti deserved this because of a some sort of pack with the devil. I don't get the pact with the devil, what is the upside that Haiti got out of this pact. The rampant poverty? The constant political turmoil? I would think they would of had some upside to pact - I mean beside the beautiful beaches, which I am guess where there before they worked some sort of deal the devil. My guess the reason for the deadly horrific earthquake is tectonic plates, but that is just science, not voodoo.

It was another good day of eating right and avoiding the temptation. I had a meeting with potential vendor and they bought me a latte, which is not part of the plan, but I noted to Kathy I went another day without any meat. We had a nice simple dinner of homemade chips and guacamole and then headed to work out at her work so we could angle a hot shower. I find it funny how easily TV can distract you from working out, though it might slow down me a little. A good half hour on the elliptical my new personal record.

Here is too hoping we all have the luxury of worry about the little things!

Music brought for this writing motivation by Kate Nash, Just Jack and Echo and the Bunnymen.

Will travel for good cheese

Some days I would lose my head if it wasn't attached. I couldn't think of a better cliche. I knew I had a meeting I had to be at this morning, so I made all the right moves to get to the bus on time, but then halfway to my stop I realized I forgot my workout bag and god knows I need to workout, so I hustled back but as I return to the main street I saw my bus pass before me.

The last thing I wanted to do was drive to work today and the doom crept over me, thinking something was bound to happen to me since I missed the bus and that would somehow throw the jinx upon me. To ruin the story everything turned out fine I guess, but the point is that why would I not think that I some how averted being on the bus that crashed (sorry neighbors - you lose). Should be thinking positive - huh? I made the meeting so all was well and it went very splendidly.

The plus side was I had a yummy salad that my bride made for me to take for lunch. So that was most excellent. I have been trying to avoid the extra crap so I can meet my weight loss goal. So today was good, but that only helped the fantastic meal we had at Cru in Blaine, Minnesota this evening. This was supposed to be a belated birthday dinner, but I kept thinking I had already had this dinner celebrated, but who am to deny anyone from taking me out for dinner.

I enjoyed the food and drinks, but really the staff was great about our need to have a conversation about all the dishes and wines. They appeared to really know their stuff (They could of be making all of it up, but I got the vibe they loved their work).

We started with the cheese Widmer 8 year Cheddar, La Caseria Blue, Cana de Cabra, Roth Kase Knights Vail and Carr Valley Marisa served with a fig chutney (I think I am remembering this correctly), honey and crackers. What a treat! The Cana de Cabra was freakin' awesome, but not to sell the other cheese short, but that really hit the spot. We also tried their wine flight. That night was the Syrah tasting. I was not familiar with the region of wines, but it was a great selection, actually. La Tour Penedesses , Emmanuel Darnaud Crozes-Hermitage and Patrick LeSec Cotes du Rhone I think were the choices. Interesting term I learned was Biodyanmic, which we were told describes a winery that uses all its fertilizers and mulch and crap as being sourced from the winery grounds, so it is super self-sufficient.

I was hungry from the diet I guess so I ordered the lobster bisque. I was so happy I did. It was quite good and we both commented on the depth of the taste.



The entrees were splendid. Our waiter recommended several dishes and I went the lamb chops on his recommendation. It is served flagelot beans, chunks of bacon and some tomato preserves. Delightful! My bride went off on her own to get the vegetarian lasagna, which with the oyster mushrooms and its spicy sauce was excellent (she shared a bite).

The restaurant is trying to be as local sourced as they can. They rotated the menu based on the seasons and availability, but apparently have a standard list they keep.

Our goal to workout after the dinner went down the tubes as we drove home. Alas, another day to workout is planned.

Soundtrack for today's writing is Regina Spektor.

Tale of the tape

The weekend like it began, with no hot water. By Sunday, we had enough of smelling the house up and skated off to Kathy's work to clean up. That felt nice.

Packer game recap: We will get 'em next year.

Sunday's can be fun days or days of panic it seems, meaning you are trying to enjoy it or trying to get things that must be completed before the circus begins again. It was the former for us, though we did get things done. I tried a new dough for grilling pizza. It used a touch of cornmeal, which gave it a certain texture and was much easier to roll out thin, but the taste was just a bit off. I would like to play with that some again. I have trouble getting the temp up on the grill with the pizza stone, not sure if I need to force more air into the grill. It was a nice crisp and enjoyable, no worries.

The weekend started out nice, we went and visited friends. They had a a system that made soda for you, which is I know what you are thinking, finally - that going to the store to get that pre made soda is difficult, with the opening of the can and pouring into a glass and all... It was kind of fun and yummy to be fair. We did play a game of 80's trivia, which was totally tubular.

Saturday we jumped on the train to downtown to a home show. It was almost exciting but it was nice to see Kathy's sister and it was nice to get out of the house.

Back to the water heater issue, I called a friend that works in the repair place we are working with and he said he would take care of it. I am guessing they already had the part on order, but it was nice that they came today, though I had to leave work to let them in the house. It did not take them long, but I got worried when he started taking the furnace apart until he realized this was a water heater repair. He must be taking quite a few calls for furnace repairs right now. After he left, I noticed the furnace was not coming on at all. So, I figured he messed something up when he took the furnace apart. He left the furnace switch off. Luckily (not sure if this is lucky or not) this happened before when we remodeled our upstairs and I found out where the switch was one late evening coming home from vacation with out heat.

So, I have working with a couple of friend on weight loss support. I am hoping to get to 215 pounds by my trip this summer. The problem is I moving the wrong direction. I have had sporadic workouts, but the snacking is the issues I am guessing. (it's not like I am tracking any of this) I know the importance of doing this for long-term health and the ability to enjoy live a bit. Next week has to be better.

Tonights writing fueled by the music of the Fiery Furnaces.

Being Neighborly

I find it is incredibly easy to be withdrawn during the winter. We have a built in excuse to avoid meeting people, which can be comforting. That could be a bit lonely, but the joy of getting out in the cities is finding something to do until it becomes bearable and you can see someone walking around in your neighborhood.

We spent some time out at a friend's house tonight and we discussed how no matter what we live right next door to someone does not mean we needed to be best friends. It would certainly be convenient but they made a good point, proximity is not a necessary to be a cause to enjoy ones company. That goes for everyone living next to me; meaning they don't have to like me because I happen to live next door.

I have been lucky to work on a project with a great team at work we were awarded for our successes over the last year with a lunch at McCormick and Schick's. I took the advice and tried the Steelhead Trout. Quite yummy, actually.

This team is a great example of people wanting to break down some walls and encouraging each other in trying to accomplish something that has not been done before, working on community project with high level of involvement through non-traditional channels. It's early but it could really be a systematic approach that changes the social marketing dynamic. Can we attempt to make changes in our communities without the help of the people that live there? Probably not, but what if they are not involved. In many cases we are presenting choices that make their lives better, but traditional communication is so tough to reach people. If you are not connected to them somewhere they are more interested the traditional ways of communication will not work.

So many of the traditional neighborhoods are not connected. It is more likely many families are more connected to people that share the same school or church than who is living in the house next to them. Your choice of communicating to those trusted connections are probably more effective.

Friday is finally here and I will enjoy the rest of it by trying to read my eyelids a bit.

Soundtrack for this rambling writing is the Avett Brothers.

Mr. Luke Warm

What a nice way to wake up!

Kathy tried a nice attempt at using the "fixed" water heater hot water this morning. The temperature was not very warm, which I am guessing is about what lukewarm is, not too happy was she. So she shared the joy with me urgently. I was able to confirm that the water was not in fact hot.

I took a shower anyway. Just made it quick, so no lingering. My guess is the leaking valve, leaked on the control and it seemed fine when the repair guy left. Part of me hoped it needed more time to work itself out. I cycled the water heater and it fired up. I hoped for the best.

Took on the snow commute to meet with a potential place to sponsor for breakfast. We exchanged calls as we tried to meet in St Paul for breakfast to discuss the years plans. Hopefully we can find time next week to connect. Every time we have met the last couple of years to do this planning we have been hit with snow. That makes it even funny that the last five years we have had rain at the events we have planned during those snowstorms. Good karma for rescheduling the meeting? Let's hope.

It was nice to spend most of the day thinking and writing again. I have another day of that coming up intermixed with some celebration for last years work on a energy saving initiative we kicked off last year. The possibilities are exciting, but really no one really cares about energy no matter what they say. They care even less about conserving energy. That is the barrier to change behaviors. Then more meetings with more sponsoring opportunities. This time of the year you get the feeling of the belle of the ball. I met with another group this afternoon, they are interested in my joining their board, which I think would be helpful for both of us. So many great non-profits wanting to do good work, man if we could figure out a way to get them the tools they need. Step by step we can make that change they need.

I left for home early hoping to beat the rush hour, but I guess many others had the same idea. It was a bit quicker, but not much. I did check the water temp and it was not any warmer. I measured it at 93 degrees Fahrenheit, so much warmer than outside but much less than desired. I called back and they are coming tomorrow. Lucky for us Kathy is able to be flexible in working from home when she can. It helps she works her ass off and people respect her. If I tried that crap they would know better that I would be distracted by wanting to grill a seven course meal for lunch.

I saw some previews of the CES show coming up, with some announcements from XBOX Live. I have to admit I am pretty excited about the game room feature. Seems worth it for some of the games I miss playing. For a guy like me with the single platform it is great news. The Natal feature seems like it will be the perfect concept for an party game. Lots of fun without the controllers. I just can't get my brain around how the hell this will work with most games, but maybe that's the point - it the blend for the people that like games and those that like party games like the Wii.

By the way I keep seeing all the new tablets that being debuted including the videos of the leaks for the Apple iSlate tablet. Not sure it's something most people are really going to see a need. It's the mix of laptop and the smart phone. But really, $1,000 for some of these, they have to be amazing, don't they? Or is the ease of not popping up a laptop to get something done, worth it. It really is intriguing. Look at me already thinking about this....

Where did the day go, I was starting this 50 minutes ago and got lost in the fun..

Tonight's writing soundtrack to Visqueen.

Eyes Noes Notheeen

Waking up to a routine is certainly the best thing for me. Not having hot water to take a shower in the middle of winter will shake up the morning routine. I am not a morning person, nor should I be. I like the evenings and nights to work and write. I liked the headphone solution while writing as it allows me to keep the music at an unreasonable level without being a bother to morning people that have made their way towards their nightly slumber.

No, we had no hot water this morning as the safety relief valve was leaking yesterday. The HomeSmart guy came over this afternoon and fixed right away, or so I am told. Kathy worked from home on Wednesday and the valve picked a great time to fail so she could be here to have the guy set us up with hot water.

Today and next few days are times when I get to get out and meet and greet as part of my job. Tomorrow is more the same with several groups that need to meet to plan out the 2010 year including nailing down details for events in August already.

By the time I got back to my office I was ready for my workout but I had to finish up some nagging details, which put me smack dab in the middle of the workout room rush we have in the basement of our building. Not too bad as I was able to find a treadmill and a tv to watch. Two things happened that I did not like. First was the blasting (Not really blasting, but 1 decibel too loud) of the tv a few feet away in front of the elliptical machine. They were watching Hogan's Heroes. Seriously. We have 250 channels and that's what they are watching... Hogan's freaking Heros? Now, to be fair that show ended in 1971 and they may of never had time to see all 150 or so episodes, like the one where they trick the colonel and hide some secret plan to foil the Germans, or the other one where they try and trick the sergeant Schultz to hide some secret plan to foil the Germans.

As I was working up a decent sweat, the second thing happened is the treadmill stopped suddenly. I restarted it and five minutes later the same thing. So, to keep up the torture I moved to the elliptical machine next to the Hogan's Heroes fan and started the work. This guy was chatting (boo) and nice (yeah) and already at 45 minutes of a hard level workout (jealous). I only had 14 minutes in me on that machine, which is an increase. I am thinking about trying to sneak another workout again on Friday to see if I can increase the time. Then I can outlast people and change the channel.

I am enjoying the Amy's lunch things again. With the cold weather it is so nice to have the encouragement to bring my lunch to work. Kathy whipped up a nice veggie influenced baked ziti meal for dinner. Late night snacking is the big hurdle, yet there is still hope. Right? Sure......

Tonight's rambling written under influence of the music of Gospel Gossip

Uncommon agreements

Not that this has been a New Years resolution to update the blog, but I have been thinking of ways to pretend I that I like to write. I doubt it is from missing writing papers after my graduate programs finishing this spring. More likely that I need the creative release from all the nonsense. Who knows.

I learned something new today about coffee. Well not really about coffee, but rather a type of coffee. I guess my familiarity with learning about wines has never translated to other fruits and stuff. I have learned about (well just the concept, I don't really know crap about wine 'cept that somethings I like better than others.) the different regions or climates play a role in the development of wines. It gets down to the micro climates where the plants are growing and how that develops the flavors, which no longer sounds like bullshit to me.

The same concept happens to other growings such as I learned this fall with apples. I was lucky enough to enjoy a tour of birthplace of Honeycrisp apples (see pic) and learned that the development for them in Minnesota was ideal and other regions that will be growing them will not get the full benefit of the genetic make-up of the apple. Eh. That's what the guy from the MN Arboretum told me anyway, but it makes perfect sense.

This exptrapluates to my discussion with some coffee dude at the Dunn Brothers in Minneapolis today. He was telling about the different micro climates and it made sense. I had assumed it was more broad by country and altitude, but apparently individual farms have certain types of micro climates as well. My guess as micro as they are they can easily get messed up by variations. It was my turn to buy coffee at work for the little group of us that are sharing coffee duties at work. I picked up a pound of Valle Apurimuc Peru. Turned out to be a hit.

I had a rough time with the lunch making today. I am trying to avoid making the trip to the fast food places to save my pants from busting. Made a couple of turkey wraps, but all the veggies I had in the house were past their carbon dating dates. Fairly plain, but I made up for the missing vegetables with a couple of beers after work with Noel. A quick visit to Rock Bottom Brewery. Yum Yum. Enjoying the newer IPA's they prepared for us. Then I got the call from my wonderful bride telling me I needed to rush home because the basement was filling with water. She did not panic and I talked through shutting the water off, so the chaos could end. I was on the bus and was lucky enough to catch a bus as soon as I left the pub.

It seems the water heater safety valve is no longer wanting to keep water in. I guess for what ever reason it is leaking. Did a couple looks on the internet and seems like they go bad. The water heater is only a couple years old. Anyway we called HomeSmart and they will be out in the morning. Careful, coworkers, no smelling me tomorrow.


To celebrate we had some yummy pancakes and sausage! Yum. Watched the show Biggest Loser. Man, they have to have some rugged chairs. The dudes keep getting bigger and bigger. Sigh. Gotta watch something until Lost starts....

Today's writing music from PJ Harvey and Nicole Atkins

End of the lethargy.

The lack of activity the last few weeks being off from work has taken its toll. Surely, the intense cold did not help in encouraging me to leave the house much, but really why do I need to beyond interacting with people beyond my wife. Sure, she needs a break with discussions, but stopping the random stranger has it's pitfalls - they might be nice.

So, it was off back to the grind in downtown Minneapolis. I braved the cold new world again taking the bus to work. I was lucky enough to grab the Express Bus to work today and ran into my neighbor who is still awaiting the birth of first kid. Any day now, but it was nice to catch up. It gets so tough to see anyone in the neighborhood during the winter. No one is really hanging out. He is always good for the update on what is going on. He gets out a bit with his dog and sees the haps. I was not so lucky on the way home. Packed on the local - took an hour to get home.

The lethargy is what I am blaming for the post holiday pounds. I started the day with a good plan of eating and working out and did pretty good sticking to the plan. The freakin' elliptical is going to kill me. Man, that thing is a torture device, but it really works me out. I have a goal of July 15th to get to my goal weight. The plan is not working too well the last few weeks. I am actually now above where I started, which is not supposed to be the plan - right.

Surprising it was good to get back in the groove. You see enough of these folks at work that you get used to being around them. I had been avoiding the web cam for a long time for some unknown reason. But I just started using it and really think this could be a great way to use it at work. How nice would the conversations be when you can see someone. I need to get everyone in the fam on Skype. Are there better options, I just know Skype works?

The grilling season is really on hold. The weather is not really holding me back, it is that I have been so enjoying the grilling that we have too much food at the house and I should enjoy the fruits of my labor that are already in the house. Though, I was just chatting with my friend Tony and he reminded how I promised him a nice brisket from the grill. Tony is in a tough spot, being married to a wonderful vegetarian. I think he is just looking for the occasional meat feast. Smart actually. I love grilling veggies, but how can I disappoint him. Maybe next weekend when he watches his beloved Vikings tempt fate.

Alas, Let's get some wonder going everyone! It's the new year. New decade. Pfft. It's still winter. Nite.

Today's writing soundtrack was Diane Birch

It rains in Seattle

Last night I had this funny thought that went through my head as I was pulling out the parka to head up to a dinner party at a friends house. I was considering what to bring along in case something happens and we are stranded outside for some reason. The reason for the concern is that the outside temperature was -13 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, wind chills much lower (but who really cares about windchill) and I thunk to myself this thought - "Really, really? What are we doing?"

People have an affinity to where they live. Yes, we have exceptions to the lonely person that was sent to another town for a job and they can't stand it. Minnesota has lots of upside, granted, but having to consider the impacts of traveling to a friends house is taking your life in your hands seems to have it limits for me. I get picky that way. My wonderful bride have had this continued thought recently, mostly around why don't we move to a warmer more progressive area. We have visited Seattle a few times and enjoyed the area and we when we mention it to friend here, they always say - "You know how much rain they get in Seattle?"

That's what made me laugh last night as I bundled up. It's flippin Jan 3rd and we have a long way to go before this nightly frozen piece of hell is done.

Anyway, we went to dinner and they had takeout from Q-fanatic. Neat little place and I had been hearing quite a few good things about it. We order a combo with a few sides added and they did not disappoint. The pulled pork and chicken was moist and full of flavor, the ribs melt off the bone tender, the brisket was excellent. It was great sign that I did not need to put on any sauces for taste, the meats were excellent by themselves. I liked the sauces too.

Enjoyed the leftovers for lunch today!

Completed

New Year's Eve, we went out with friends for dinner. Went to Coon Rapids, a newer place called Paddy Wagon. Not bad, one of the huge portion type of places with little to offer actually - you know - you get the protein that is uncomplicated and a starch. Mostly a pick your choices places. Good value. Not going to go out of my way to get there again. But it was nice to be with friends.

Anyway, fourteen plus hours later the pork shoulders came off the grill. They turned out quick nicely and moist. I used a fork to pull apart the meat and saved a bunch in the freezer I can use later. I was able to keep the grill between 230-280, but locked in the last five hours right at 240 degrees.

Late night, gotta get me some sleep.