This past weekend, I had the privilege to meet up with a couple of friends (PhT and BOV) to ride our bikes over to Mel-O-Glaze for a donut and coffee. I just love donuts and wish there were more donut shops in the Twin Cities. I mean, I grew up eating Dunkin' Donuts on a weekly basis (at church on Sundays and probably once or twice during the rest of the week), so imagine my surprise to discover that Minnesota has no DD store! Argh! I've slowly been searching out the places with good donuts and hoped M-O-G was OMG but it was just good. I actually had much better donuts up in Grand Marais (post-BWCA camping) at the World's Best Donuts shop. That all said, if you want to read up on donuts, visit this blog devoted exclusively to the donut -- The Blognut.

p.s., What is the right spelling for donuts/doughnuts?

It's as All-American as a hot dog - The Coleman Stove. My family had one when I was a kid and I recall using it on my first "on my own/without family" camping trip as a college student to Martha's Vineyard and the rugged coast of Maine. Then, somewhere along the way, it disappeared. I am not sure if another sibling absconded with it or if it just got lost/tossed in subsequent moves to other homes. Regardless, I never fully appreciated it back then.

As I have started to become Minnesota, I moved on to purchasing a smaller, lightweight portable single-burner stove. The kind that can be carried in a backpack. But every now and then, there is a need for a larger, more durable stove that can safely carry the weight of a big pot of water or handle two pots at one time. Our recent camping trip to Afton State Park confirmed the utility of the two-burner Coleman stove on car camping trips.

Fast forward to this weekend on a trip to Williston, North Dakota to visit HW's extended family. This town now has the catchy phrase - Rockin' the Bakken - to entice folks to move there to work in the oil industry. Despite such marketing, it will always be a small town in a remote corner of North Dakota.

And such small towns means (or equals) great deals at yard sales. Driving around the downtown area, we stopped at a yard sale. My eye had caught a Coleman stove for sale. I immediately walked up to it, assessed its condition (like brand-new!), and paid for it with a crisp $10 bill. Ten dollars! What a steal. Perhaps only in Williston.

Can't wait to use it on our next car camping trip....

UPDATE: A helpful YouTube video on how to use the 425E version. By the way, the purchased stove was made 30 years ago in October of 1978. Sweet.

As I previously wrote, a group of seven of us made our way up north to the BWCA last Tuesday and returned on Sunday evening. I am not going to post many photographs but this one picture may say it all.

The photograph was taken on Winchell Lake which was our second campsite during the trip. Here is a full description of the Horseshoe-Hensen Loop. We followed it pretty closely with the exception of staying two nights on Winchell and then our last night on Meeds Lake.

Prior to the trip, we were aware of the high chance of rain and wind during the entire trip and it was indeed the case. But the wind and rain usually came at night and was not a problem. In some ways, it was great because it kept the bug count fairly low. Fortunately, we brought plenty of tarps and rope to create ample shelter and did not have to retreat to our tents. So we were able to enjoy the campfire during most of the stormy weather. Otherwise, we explored the landscape, fished on shore and in canoes, and ate plenty of gourmet camp food.

We saw a momma and baby moose about 100 yards from our campsite, across the water, as well as plenty of eagles. We fished every day but fishing was not great. We caught a grand total of three fish over 5 days (two bass and one walleye). I was fortunate to have caught the largest bass and then learned how to gut and fillet a fish. At first, I was a bit hesitant but then quickly caught on. I'm looking forward to another attempt.

This trip was my first time to take my canoe on a major expedition. I was a bit nervous because the water can get pretty rough, choppy, and difficult to navigate. Plus, I was expected to read the map to find portages and not get us lost. I wisely bought a second map to put in another canoe so others could help out (which they ably did - often). To my relief and happiness, no canoe was tipped and we never got lost...um...really lost.

Otherwise, it was a great relief from the day to day grind of work and busy city life. I was able to enjoy the moment and get to spend time with good friends. Perhaps I will write more about the experience another time.

We will make camp on Tuesday near the BWCA and will enter on Wednesday morning at Lizz Lake (entry point 47) near the Gunflint Trail via Poplar Lake. We hope to return on Sunday evening, fittingly Father's Day.

HW and I took the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) plunge this spring and the above photograph is our first box of vegetables from Harmony Valley Farm in Wisconsin. We were unsure of whether we could eat all the veggies ourselves, week after week, given that we are just a 2-person household, so we enlisted our friends Ken and Chamindika to join us. A few days after, we all were chatting with other friends, Wing and Tara, and they joined too. So we are sharing one box with three households! Then, when we picked up the first box, we realized that it would be difficult to split things up into three's. We decided to alternate weeks starting with K/C and then W/T. This week was finally our turn - yay! Here is what came in the box for this week (read newsletter for more info).

* Arugula or Spinach or Saute Mix
* Rhubarb
* Asparagus
* Radishes
* Green Garlic
* Hon Tsai Tai
* Green Bok Choi
* Pea Vine
* Salad Mix
* Broccoli

In addition, there was a "choice" veggie that is offered in addition to the regular load. This week, it was Burdock. I have no idea what is burdock except that it is a root. Here is the recommended way to prepare it, but it seems you also can just eat it - popular in Japan too!

Burdock — Cut into pieces and put them on a cookie sheet in an oven set at low heat, about 100-150°F. Let it dry until there is no moisture left. Remove from oven and store pieces in a glass jar with a lid at room temperature. Drop a piece into your morning tea for help with indigestion, cleansing the liver, clearing acne and toning the stomach!

Average Vertical Leap of NCAA Div. 1 Football player: 29-31 inches.
Average Vertical Leap of NCAA Div. 1 Basketball player: 27-30 inches.

So, I closed my office door, emptied my pockets of wallet and keys, marked the highest spot on the wall that I could touch with my hands in a standing position, and then jumped from a stationary position. I jumped four times for an average vertical leap of 20-21 inches. Just slightly above the average for folks younger than me but much less than elite Division 1 athletes. And about half of Spudd Webb's 42" vertical leap!

But recently, I have come across a persistent problem. I have not been able to get a wireless connection at home or elsewhere. The first couple of times that this problem occurred, I called Dell, Qwest (DSL provider), and Belkins (wireless router). After lengthy phone calls and all sorts of clicking on this and that, it would eventually work again and then eventually not work again. Hm....

Working on papers at CRC coffee shop nearby my home the other day, I again had trouble connecting to the wifi. Argh. So what do I do? I consult B'Rose who was working the counter at CRC. B'Rose is a bike mechanic and all around nice guy. He assessed the situation and said, "Have you tried Fn-F2?" WHAT?!!! I had never heard of this function command sequence (those blue colored keys). Well, apparently, this command will enable (or disenable) the wireless receiver on the laptop. Amazing. A simple action led to an easy fix. Something that took the Dell, Qwest, and Belkins folks hours to do through more indirect means.

And what of the cats? Well, I have surmised that this recurring problem is due to our two cats! They love to sit on my laptop because it is (a) in a prime spot by a window and (b) warm for their furry bodies. I suspect they are somehow pawing the Fn-F2 command as they settle their plump bodies over the laptop.

Thus, the moral of this story is that there is none except to keep my laptop closed when not in use. Thank you.

Well, that all said, MSP residents (and notably their suburban commuters) still love the car. In today's NYTimes online, there is a post about the top ranked cities for "commuter pain." I am not sure why IBM of all organizations completed this survey but so be it. The full press release is available here.

My friend Tom who lives in Los Angeles and used to work for CalTrans (CA DOT) once visited MSP and noted how horrible our highway infrastructure was designed. Of course, much can be said about California's freeways but I think their problems have more to do with the sheer number of drivers than the poor routing/planning of highways (granted, the two are interrelated). In MSP, the highways are a tangled mess and were just not built for the heavy flow of commuters, especially people who have no idea how to use the zipper method of merging. MnDOT is just now starting to address these deficiencies, leading to more construction and traffic, and thus adding to our commuter pain.

Of course, in the end, the best way to ease such pain is to reduce outward migration to the 'burbs, encourage city living, and to promote more sustainable methods of transportation, such as walking, bicycling, and buses and light-rail. Oh, and less cold weather would help too (ha!).

An index of commuter pain:

1. Los Angeles
2. Atlanta
3. Miami/Fort Lauderdale
4. Dallas/Fort Worth
5. Chicago and San Francisco (tied)
6. New York
7. Washington, D.C.
8. Boston
9. Minneapolis/St. Paul

The above quote is from an AP story (published in the Star Tribune) about twins in Spain who were mistakenly separated and switched with another baby girl and raised in separate families. One of the twins was reared apart from her biological family, while the other switched girl was raised by the twins' family. Then, a chance encounter at a store eventually led to the reunion of the two women as adults.

In the context of adoption, the ruling on this case may have international reverberations as it could be used as additional supporting evidence to pave the way for adopted individuals to have access to their birth records. Such access to birth records is already occurring in numerous states in the U.S. and elsewhere. In Minnesota, here is the current laws/rules on birth records.

1. The mullet is making a comeback. A Red Wing boy won a contest for the best mullet. Apparently, the mullet is popular among hockey players, so their manes can be seen from beneath a helmet. Hm...will this become a new trend among cyclists? I have taken up this charge to the chagrin of HW.

2. Three local kids get suspended for not standing up during the pledge of allegiance. Read Strib article. "The school's handbook says all students are required to stand but are not obligated to recite the pledge." Funny to read because I got in trouble for the same thing back in the day. I was enough of a rabble rouser to take the same stance and, in the end, had to stand even if I chose to not recite the pledge.

3. The extracurricular activity for this summer is biking, camping, canoing, and my continued quest to become Minnesota without becoming Minnesotan. Enough said.

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It's supposedly Spring in Minnesota and the weather IS warmer than earlier in the month but it's so dreary outside right now. Blah! So I am sitting in my office looking out at grey skies. Then I check out Hapa9's blog on his trip to Hawaii where he's showcasing the Norae Shanty. Oh man, I miss Hawaii, karaoke, and Hapa9! Read more about his fame on the local island here.