New cell phone

I was having phone calls drop on my end - the person on the other end could still hear me. This is not good when you are talking to prospective employers. I bought the new LG phone that Cingular is offering. I even found a program that allowed me to update the address book in the phone via Bluetooth so I already have my contacts updated for the most part. It wasn't totally clean but close.

Only 3 left!

I have made progress on the logogame. I found 2 more. Now I still have the ones left that I mentioned in my last post. The walk through 2 liquor stores only resulted in increasing my beer inventory at home.

I also have made a lot of progress on my job search this week. I had 2 face-to-face interviews and a phone interview. That is about the most real activity I have since in the last few months. Maybe there is an end in sight.

My latest time waster

Those that know me, know that I like trivia. Trying to determine the brand name of a product by a picture of a small portion of their label seems innocent enough, right? Well, trying to determine 26 different American Beers or breweries is next to impossible. I would have included a couple of examples from the game, except that the creators may get upset. The game is on a website called Logogame. I looked at the Hall of Fame for this and only 3 people have completed all 26. I tried a couple of others like fast food and technology. Those have extensive lists of people that have completed them. I was able to complete them in fairly short order.

Currently I am at 21 of the 26 so I only have 5 left to find out. I think a stroll through the aisles at a liquor store or two may help. I still need the first "B" and the "HO" among others.

Using an iMac!?

Yes, this post is being written on an iMac. I was able to rejunvenate an old iMac G3 with a hard drive replacement. What a way to jump into learning the differences between Wintel and Apple! So far there are only the apps that come with the iMac OS X installed on the machine with the exception of Firefox. I had to have that.

There are some differences that I noted right away - first the maximize, minimize, and close icons are on the left instead of the right. They also do not work the same as Windows - but who would expect them to.

This machine will probably not have a primary role in my office. In fact, it will most likely move to the family room and become the quick Internet lookup and iChat machine.

A fine wine from the area famous for wine ...

Missouri. The Friendship School Red from the St. James Winery has a unique taste that I found even my mother-in-law that prefers Reisling enjoyed. It was a very good compliment to the lasagna that was served. Since my mother-in-law likes Reisling, we started the evening with a Torres San Valentin Parellada Catalunya from Spain. The wine is easy to spot as a small white cupid is attached to the neck of the bottle.

She returns again

The last post talked about seeing my daughter. Since then she has been home and we saw her for a few hours in her college town. Right now she is at the train station ready to board the train and come home again. At least this time without laundry (I think). We will now get to see her every weekend this month.

The return of the daughter!

Today we get to see our daughter again for the first time in more than a month. She has gone off to college and it is about a 2 1/2 hour drive. My sister volunteered to pick her up so she can see the campus. It will be too short of a weekend. On the bright side we will see her again next weekend as we pass through Winona.

St. Paul Classic Bike Tour 2006

I just got home from the wet St. Paul Classic Bike Tour. It was a 15 mile ride in a light drizzle. It never really got to raining so it was not too bad unless you wanted to see through your glasses. I did get up Ramsey Hill with my feet near my pedals. I found people to take my picture at each of the stops. First at the Mississippi River Overlook on Shepard Road. The coffee tasted great there but holding the warm cup was actually the best part. The second photo (with the Bike Route sign) was at the top of Ramsey Hill. I had gotten my breath back by the time this photo was taken. The last picture is at the end of the ride at the University of St. Thomas.

Wow! Has it been over a month?

I guess it has been a while since I have updated this blog. The job search continues but there have been some positive steps toward a job. I have had a big concentration of interviews lately including a second interview at one location.

Tomorrow is a day I am both looking forward to and also hoping it won't come. My baby goes off to college. I wish her the best in school and know that she is totally ready for this step in her life. However, part of me wishes I could keep her here close to me. Good luck DB!

Laughlin is a blast!

Blast furnace that is! We spent the last couple of days in Laughlin, Nevada. Yesterday we were walking around in 118 degree heat. However, the gambling was good (at least for us). We never seem to come back from Vegas ahead and we are small time gamblers but we are about $60 ahead right now. We will probably not be that far ahead soon since we are now in Vegas. The first machine we played after arriving in Vegas took all the money we put in to it. It was exactly the kind of machine that was paying off for us in Laughlin. I had always heard that you had better chances in Laughlin and now I believe it.

We also took a side trip to Lake Havasu City yesterday. BORING!!! Most of the British shops that they built to go with London Bridge are closed. The only bright spot was a brew pub where we had lunch. The brews were all a tad on the sweet side though.

Northwest Airlines does good!

Since we had a free ride to the airport that saved us those huge parking fees (Thanks Alex), we were a few hours early for our flight. We checked our bags and then meandered over to the gate where the next Las Vegas flight was departing. We got on the standby list and they told us there was a good chance we would make it but we would have to return to the airport to pick up our luggage 4 hours later.

Yes, we made it and with the kind help of a passenger, we were able to sit together. The flight was good, avoiding a storm in western Minnesota, and we arrived on time. After getting to the baggage claim area, we checked with an employee at the desk that confirmed that since we checked in so soon, our bags had indeed traveled with us!

We were able to dine at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville on the strip without needing to return to the airport afterwards. We ended up with front row splash seats for the volcano blow where a girl in a bikini slides down the volcano into a huge margarita. Too bad I forgot the camera (and the fact that my phone has one).

Thanks Northwest! (Did I say that?)

Hot enough for you?

Global warming seems to be affecting even chilly Minnesota. We are not going to be able to keep up our image of a cold zone when the temperatures are in the 90's. I guess it could be worse, Las Vegas is expecting 113 most of the weekend. Of course, that is a dry heat! So where do I go and leave the kids at home to work, etc. - Vegas.

Two Harbors still a working port

We were 'Up North' this weekend in Duluth with a side trip up to Split Rock lighthouse, Gooseberry Falls, and Two Harbors on Saturday. We arrived in Two Harbors in time to watch an ore boat arrive in the harbor. These huge ships are amazing in how they can come into the harbor and turn in a relatively small area. The St. Clair is 770 feet long and considered a mid-size boat. The boom is 250 feet long and is used to self-unload the boat. The boat was built in 1976.

My baby has graduated from high school!

My daughter walked proudly through her graduation ceremony last night. Of course trying to get a picture at the distances involved is a difficult task. Congratulations Bug!


Actually, her brother helped to hold her still in his classic neck hug. We have pictures of the two of them in about that same pose going back to pre-school.

The Rain did go away

The rain cleared and I was able to use the electricity in the gazebo on Thursday and Friday. Doing things like a job search are more enjoyable when you are able to sit out in the fresh air.

Electricity is good!

We have had a gazebo attached to our deck for many years. This week I finally put electricity in the gazebo. It is only one outlet but it is a major change. It is now much easier to plug in and use the gazebo for an outside office. When I first thought about this many years ago, I was going to have to also run a phone line out there. Now with cordless phones and WiFi networking the only piece is electricity. That is not even necessary if you have a better laptop than mine. Or at least a better laptop battery. Mine is pretty much non-functional.

Now I just need a non-rainy day so that it is enjoyable to be out there.

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.