Longest bike ride so far this season

Today I got up and decided that it was a nice day and I was not going to waste it. I put on my bike clothes and went for a ride. I went around the south side of White Bear Lake and out to Mahtomedi. From there I picked up the Gateway Trail back in toward St. Paul. Once I got to North St. Paul, I stopped up at church and completed one of the finishing touches on the Fireside Room. The fireplace insert is now officially fully installed. The next stop was at Ace Hardware to pick up the final pieces for the Fireside Room. A couple of door stops. Back to church to install them and declare the Fireside Room completed. Then back home via McKnight Road. All told it was 23.7 miles. It felt good, especially when I did not have a time line or fixed agenda. It is also nice to be able to call home on the way back and have a pizza waiting for lunch!

Finally a great weather Memorial Day weekend!

We used to camp every Memorial Day weekend and put up with the cold and rain. This year we are not camping and the weather is gorgeous! The high today is to be in the low 90's. There is a slight breeze keeping things cool and not a cloud in the sky. Wish I was camping - of course, it would then be 50 and raining.

Day By Day Cafe

Went to a place on West Seventh called the Day By Day Cafe for breakfast today. There was supposed to be paintings by one of Lynn's cousins but we must have missed them. We did eat out on the large patio and had a really good breakfast. We got there at the right time too as there was a long line to get in as we left and a lot of tables both inside and out when we arrived. I recommend the number 10 with bacon. The short stack of pancakes is huge as well. The cakes cover the entire dinner sized plate. We found out later that it is not on the menu but you can order one.

Speeding by the park

At the end of my road is a park with a ballfield and playground equipment. There has been concern that the speeds on the road along that park have been too high. The County did a speed study and found that 86% of the cars are going 25 mph or slower. It is posted at 20 mph. They are going to look at it further to determine if there is a pattern to the other 14%. One was clocked at 44 mph during the study. This is a park that often has children crossing the road to get to it and holding the speed down on the traffic is important.

Yes, it did rain by the end of the meeting in the park.

Cleaning Day

It was supposed to rain today. Of course, it has not yet. The plan was to take advantage of the rain and spend the day cleaning the house. We did clean but it is a better activity for a rain day. There I go listening to those weather forecasters again. I do have one outdoor activity planned for this evening. The Town Board is having a special meeting regarding speed control on the street at the end of my block. They are having it in the park right by that street. It will probably rain then since it looks and feels like it now.

Job Search has gotten boring

The search for a new job has become a chore and the weather has become nice. In combo, the search is harder. We discussed this in my job team a couple of weeks ago and the benefit is that those that keep at it reap the rewards. The pool of candidates drops off in the summer as people do more to enjoy the weather and that means less competition. I can see it myself. It is much harder to concentrate on looking now. I still have a couple of interviews scheduled and a few positions backfilling the pipeline from there but it is difficult to keep backfilling the pipeline. I had a good opportunity fall out of the pipeline on Friday. Again, it went to ‘internal candidates’. What is with that? Those people have a job! I think I will go for a bike ride and take my mind off that. Oops! That is what I was talking about.

"LIght Their World" gala

Last night we attended the Roseville Rotary Club's "Light Their World" gala. The dinner was very well attended and included a silent and live auction, featured guest speaker Don Shelby of WCCO TV, and some fun things like a game called "Top Hats and Trousers". You had to make a donation to get into the game. This gave you a string of beads. The more beads you bought the more you would be able to keep playing. Then they had all the participants stand up. You were told to put your hand on your head (Top Hat) or on your tail (Trousers). They flipped a coin. If you matched the coin, you were still in the game. If not, you lost a string of beads. If you were out of beads, you were out of the game. It looked like a woman won by being the only one with her hand on her head but there was a couple that still had about 3 strings of beads each. They kept going and got down to the two women with one string each. The one that almost won earlier, ended up losing in the final round. It was an interesting twist on things and I think it raised a lot of money for the "Light Their World" program. The program is a reading literacy program being kicked off by the Roseville Schools, the Ramsey County Libraries, and funded by the Roseville Rotary.

Ride of Silence completed

The Ride of Silence was completed on Wednesday evening without a sound. Here I am at the end of the ride with my black ribbon. It was scary at times with the amount of traffic whizzing by in the downtown areas and around the UofM. It was a good statement to show that we are able to share the road and a reminder to drivers that they should share the road as well.

Ride of Silence

Speaking of nice weather, there is a bike ride this evening in Minneapolis. It is a memorial ride for all people killed or injured in bicycle - vehicle collisions. I will be riding along with many family members in memory of my sister. The ride is to be completed in silence and expected to be about an hour long. The organizers requested riders to wear black armbands and two of my sister’s best friends have made up some for us. Thank you both!

Nice weather - FINALLY!

It is finally a nice day to sit out in the gazebo and relax. In fact, I am posting from the gazebo. Sorry about the picture quality, it is from my phone because it was handy.

Itzhak Perlman concert

If you ever want to be impressed by a violin concert, do whatever you need to go and see Itzhak Perlman in concert. The setting on Monday night was a synagogue so it was not a massive hall. We had seats almost straight back with the wall behind us and at most the equivalent of 20 rows in front. With that crowd it was especially poignant when he played a piece that he helped write, the theme from Schindler's List.

Mother's Day

Went to church and saw my daughter using a puppet up in front of the church. Then off to a grocery store for brunch - Byerly's has an awesome resturant with a 'Minnesota Omelet' that is delicious. Then on to my mom's for more food.

Ok, this is a boring blog entry - but at least I am starting to update it again.

Sushi and cat versus human

Who will get the sushi? It is great to have my son home from college. We had a chance to have a slow paced day together.