Henry & Ann

I picked up Henry and Ann from the Airport on Wednesday night. It was wonderful to have them on this side of the ocean. After stopping at the house to drop off their bags - we scooted off to Minneapolis for a meal. Chino Latino was packed, so we went to Filigios for a very nice meal. Sitting at Dixie's on Grand Avenue afterwards felt surreal - Henry and Ann were actually sitting in our neighborhood and seeing where we live.

Thursday morning, we had breakfast at the Neighborhood Cafe. It is Tim and my favorite breakfast place. I am so sad that he's STILL in Scotland!!! Gu. He'll be home soon. The waitress spotted it right away too - "So, you all must be going to the State Fair." I think our overly touristy attire (well, theirs more than mine, perhaps) gave us away. We did go to the Fair and walked around the farm equipment, amusement park rides, animal barns, craft sales, radio stations and 'everything' on stick food stands. It began to rain, so we made our way back to the house.

They checked out the Mall of America on Friday. They enjoyed it and marvelled at its size and offerings. They were able to do some xmas shopping but tired of it quickly - don't we all?

What can I say? They were with me for 2 days in the Twin Cities - I had to give them the quintessential culture and largest attraction.

I brought them to Pepin, WI where we met John and Mary for a meal at the Harbor View Cafe. I hope they enjoy their trip - their visit will be a fond memory of mine.

Irony

My coworker Debbie called me up and asked if I wanted to help out the tennis team and be the 2nd assistant coach. Since I played in high school and actually watch the sport on TV with some enthusiasm (the only one) and and I thought it would be a great way to stay active and even possibly lose some weight, I said yes. Practice started on August 13th and I have been having a great time with the team. The girls who go out for tennis are wonderful, polite young women. I will say, however, that I don't know WHEN I'll prep for classes. Because I had so much free time, I said yes? I mean, really, I spend evenings and far too many weekends at school the way it is! What was I thinking. On the other hand, I see this forcing me to excercise, number one, and second, organize my time better. Perhaps I won't stay until the wee hours working and re-working lessons that were perfectly fine in the first place. Most of all, it will give me some much needed perspective on what it is like and takes to be a coach AND teach. I really am terribly hard on them (at least in my head!) and what happens - or doesn't happen - in their classrooms.

"A Third Thought Thing"

So - from the moment I woke up I was wondering why the KS95 morning crew was sounding so different - even though I don't listen to the station very much, I had to google it. Well, Cheryl Kaye has left apparently, not much news on why, and the KS95 link brought me to this histerical video of Alanis Morisette doing Fergie's "My Humps" which you can find on YouTube. ... which brought me to this other video, "Thank U", which put me in a reflective mood this Monday morning.

ALANIS MORISSETTE
"Thank U"

how bout getting off these antibiotics
how bout stopping eating when I'm full up
how bout them transparent dangling carrots
how bout that ever elusive kudo

thank you india
thank you terror
thank you disillusionment
thank you frailty
thank you consequence
thank you thank you silence

how bout me not blaming you for everything
how bout me enjoying the moment for once
how bout how good it feels to finally forgive you
how bout grieving it all one at a time

thank you india
thank you terror
thank you disillusionment
thank you frailty
thank you consequence
thank you thank you silence

the moment I let go of it was the moment
I got more than I could handle
the moment I jumped off of it
was the moment I touched down

how bout no longer being masochistic
how bout remembering your divinity
how bout unabashedly bawling your eyes out
how bout not equating death with stopping

thank you india
thank you providence
thank you disillusionment
thank you nothingness
thank you clarity
thank you thank you silence

Visible Vote 08

What a unique and refreshing forum! Not a debate, per se, but a chance for questions to be asked and answered fully. The panel was interesting, however. Perhaps the people asking questions should have been a little less subjective in their questioning. It gave off an appearance that was slighty unprofessional, though arguably, more personable.

I believe Hillary did the best job. Strong, articulate and capable. No matter how much I try to look to one of the other candidates for leadership and to give my vote, she keeps coming out on top.

Check out all the candidates in nice succint clips!

How Cute are We?

This was Molly and I (last summer) at Ann's cabin. Tomorrow we leave for Ann's once again - I'm looking forward to fun and games!

Autobots vs. Decepticons

Yeah - I saw it - Transformers! It was a childhood dream come true to see Optimus Prime and the rest of the Autobots do battle against Megatron and the Decepticons. Best part about the film - although the special effects and action were phenomenal - was the use of the real voice of Optimus Prime from the cartoon series!

Visit the Website for all the cool pics and sound effects!

Bridge Tragedy

It is still very early in the aftermath of the collapse of the I-35 bridge, but the number of deaths and injuries is lower than many had expected. Let's hope for the best that that number stays low as they search the river today for cars.

New York Times SLIDESHOW.