Planet Walt

The 40

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....

end of an era

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!

Home Tour...one week later

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.

Home Tour day 2

174 people came through our house on the second day of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Home Tour. Total number of visitors: 379. Now it's time to pass out until the morning....

Home Tour Day 1

205 people came through our house on the first day of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Home Tour. I went to bed this morning at 1:30 AM (after cleaning until 1:00 AM), then got up at 7:30 AM to prepare for the 10:00 AM opening. Now at 7:30 PM the adrenaline is gone.

Minneapolis-St. Paul Home Tour

If in the Twin Cities tomorrow (April 26) or Sunday (April 27) check out the Minneapolis-St. Paul Home Tour!

NBA playoffs

Today while scanning TV channels I stumbled upon Cleveland vs. Washington in the first game of the NBA playoffs, which I had no clue had started! I was also shocked to find that my hometown team (the Atlanta Hawks) had made the playoffs for the first time since 1999. I guess that's fitting, since somewhere in late '90s was the last time I really paid a lot of attention to men's pro basketball.

music on Roswell DVDs

Recently I bought seasons 2 and 3 of Roswell, since they were 50% off at amazon.com. I did not buy them when first released because I was disappointed with the DVD of season 1, as some of the music was replaced due to prohibitive licensing costs (damn those frakking Capitalists!). The same problem bedevils seasons 2 and 3, though, as I discovered while watching "Heart of Mine" and "Graduation." Luckily, however, they did not mess with the Liz/Max theme song!

new fall 2008 course

In the fall of 2008 I will be co-teaching a course for the first time: Digital Storytelling in and With Communities of Color. Should be fun!

MSP Home Tour

In three weeks V and I will be on the Minneapolis-St. Paul Home Tour. We are also on Home Tour TV (segment 3). The Tour itself should be a piece of cake after doing all the photo/video shoots....

street observation III

Sometimes I see the driver of a car pull up to a stop, get out, and the passenger replaces him behind the wheel and drives off. Until now the driver has always been male, but today in downtown Minneapolis a woman (a Sista) got out to go to work and was replaced by man, a Brotha. Go 'head on, y'all!

street observation II

Today a Brotha passed me on a bike. He answered my "What up?" with "God is Great! Pimpin' ain't easy but someone's got to do it!" Um, I don't think that particular juxtaposition would have ever occurred to me, but I'll give my man props for creativity!

street observation I

Thursday on campus I watched a guy put up flyers that advertised student jobs. Each flyer had multiple tear-off contact info slips at the bottom, and the guy tore off the left-hand slip on each flyer. I suppose he did this to create the impression that at least one student was interested in the opportunity, but he should have torn off slips randomly, don't you think? A left-hand missing slip here, a middle slip missing there, a right-hand missing slip way over there.... This (non)pattern is much less suspect than slips missing in the same place on each flyer, I think.

new blog/changed blog

Check out my newly created blog: AA&AS 40th Anniversary. That "revolutionary type" style is not too radical, is it?

Also, I changed the style on my AA&AS Chair's Blog to "parchment." Coolio, no?

toward a more perfect union

On March 18, 2008, Barack Obama delivered a speech about race in the United States. The blog "Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast" offers an abridged and highlighted version of key points in the speech.