Minnesota Public Radio has posted an interesting story about Prospect Park's relationship with various historical transportation initiatives and reactions to the proposed Central Corridor light rail transit system.
Today is a big day for Minneapolis' Prospect Park neighboorhood: the annual Pratt Ice Cream Social will take place from 5:30-8:30. For the second year in a row, though, it looks like it will rain. Hopefully the rain will hold off....
Today, for some reason, I started thinking about the old web site adcritic.com, from which one could download current TV commercials (and search for old spots too). Unfortunately the site was shut down at the end of 2001, and eventually re-surfaced as the subscription-only web arm of Creativity magazine. Damn Capitalists!
When I woke up this morning it was 44 degrees outside, and 64 degrees inside, so I had to turn the heat back on. Frak! It should start to warm back up tomorrow, so let's hope that summer really arrives then....
Three years ago I wrote an entry about the unofficial start of summer. That 2005 post was on May 26. Summer 2008 also starts on a May 26 (today!), as I turned off the heat in the attic. It came on a few times last week; hopefully the weather will stay in the 70s and above from here on out through September so fans vs. heat are needed....
This afternoon I watched workers add the first piece to the river span section of the new I-35 bridge. I got there at 2:45 and it appeared that the section was about to be lifted, but I ended up waiting until 3:30 for the actual start, and left at 4:00, as workers started the final aligning process. Wow, 30 minutes+ to lift 120 pieces into place...that's gonna take a while!
Last week I took a class at the Center for Digital Storytelling, and produced my first digital story. This story &mdash "Letter to My Mother" &mdash is embedded below. (You can also click the title to access the story if the embedded movie does not display in your browser.)
I usually don't listen to non-music radio programs. The one exception: The Engines of Our Ingenuity. Today while in the car I heard an interesting segment about the invention of the flexible straw, and hoped that I could remember the epsiode # to do this blog post! Luckily, it was 2047, so I just had to remember to add 1 to the movie 2046.
In my last entry I noted that I would play basketball for the last time on my 40th birthday...today! I played one game. My team lost, but I did OK individually: 2 for 2 shooting, a few rebounds, and held my opponent scoreless.
When I got home there was a big package left on the front door. "Maybe somebody sent me something for the b-day!" I thought. Nope, it's something for V. Oh well, I do have some stuff to open later today....
On Wednesday (May 14) I turn 40, and will play basketball one more time and then retire. I played at least once a week from age 23 until a couple of months before age 38, when a ruptured achilles tendon sidelined me for a year. I played twice in May 2007 (when I turned 39), but then over the last year I only shot occassionally. Given that I'm no longer having back problems (not to mention other nagging aches and pains) I think it's time to end an era....
Today I returned to action for the first time in a year, and played a game that included a graduating U of M women's basketball player. After the game we chatted for a few minutes. I told her that I never had a women's bball player in any of my classes, a shame since that is my second favorite sport to watch on TV, and favorite to attend live!
This time last week we were in the thick of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Home Tour. The website currently says "Check back here soon for statistics from the Minneapolis & Saint Paul Home Tour April 26-27, ’08." We had 379 visitors, which is on the low end for a house, I think. Hopefully the overall Home Tour numbers were high.