For the family in Florida to see. Enjoy.

And with that, the time of snow and ice is officially here. I for one welcome our new snowy overlord and look forward to trying to make the best of it this year. However, I am getting a little bummed at the realization that it will be a long while before I can ride my bike comfortable again. I mean, I can ride right now but it’s more of a battle than simply enjoying the freedom of the bike. This week should be interesting re-acclimating myself to snow and getting my penguin walk back.

Been slacking again on the posting, meh…so sue me. I have been re-igniting a nerdy side project of mine and getting out and about to enjoy the last throes of warm weather. The snow will be here soon enough, however I vow to do more wintry activities this year. That means sliding down a hill on something, try ice skating, cross-country skiing and/or build a snowman.

Some other things:

• Went to Sandstone with some good people on Sunday for what we thought was an OktoberFest. It was more of an October Fest–in September. However it was fun to see some small-town Minnesota-style fun.
• Looking forward to going to Florida for both Thanksgiving and a good friend’s wedding. I got lucky on the ticket and it isn’t costing me an arm nor a leg.
• Another area of slacking has been the cooking. Not that I haven’t been cooking mind you, but I haven’t been adventurous and made anything new or risky. However I am excited about what will be my winter experiment (*drumroll*)……BEER! Considering Northern Brewer is right up the street from my house, it only makes sense. I’ve been saving bottles for a while so I have enough to fill, though if someone were to see it in my apartment it would look like I’m a wicked drunk. I assure you, it’s almost a year of bottles.
• In a month I’ll be 30 years old. It doesn’t have the impact on me that it does some people, but it does feel a little weird to think about. I’ll reflect on that fence when I tumble over it though.

That is all, carry on.

Been really slacking here, but man what a busy week it’s been.

Work
Friday at the Minnesota State Fair we did MPR’s first ever Photo Scavenger Hunt (the results of which are here). Considering that there were some technical issues, I would say it was pretty successful. The best part about it is that it was an idea my colleague Than and I conceived, executed and saw through to the end. I think it was probably a decent personal success for both of us.

I also had my review, I think I gets to keep my job. The upcoming year will be a year to learn more multimedia skills, possibly even doing some workshops and/or a community college class. We’ll see.

Cooking
Kind of been slacking on cooking new stuff, though this Saturday I tried my hand at my mom’s vegetable curry recipe.

Ingredients:

• Coconut milk
• Red curry paste
• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Fake chicken
• Soy sauce

Cooked it all together, served over rice. Slap it in the “win” column, it was delicious and super easy. No food pictures, as it wasn’t very photogenic.

Biking
Did a long ride on Labor Day, in fact I think I overdid it. Went from St. Paul out past St. Louis Park, milled about some trails and then made my way back. I was so out of gas on the last leg home on thought I’d have to push the damn bike home. Next week I think I’ll head east and try and find my way to Stillwater, I hear it’s nice. I really want to upgrade the bike or trade up and get a road bike. It just makes sense for the type of riding I’m doing. If anything, I’m going to switch out the handlebars, the straight bar is simply not comfortable on long rides.

That is all.

Yeah, the above photo pretty much sums up our State Fair here in Minnesota. It’s actually a lot of fun, despite some of the more nausea-inducing food choices that exist. And, full disclosure, I ate some things there that I said I would never eat and aren’t a part of my normal diet. However, as one of our producers found out, it’s not all that bad.

Kind of been slacking on the writing, and the cooking, oh and the picture taking. Work has just been busy with vacations, etc. This Friday is our big MPR Day out at the fair and my colleague and I are the overseers of the Photo Scavenger Hunt. Hopefully it goes well and we get some kudos for it. I have confidence that it will be successful enough to do next year.

I know it is the “hot topic” these days, but I’m really sick of hearing/reading/discussing health care. That’s all I really have to say about that.

More later, breakfast now.

Slowly I am porting my book collection from Florida, and by slowly I mean I’m at about 20/300+. This might take a while.

First week back at work was very busy: organizing special projects, MN State Fair stuff, breaking news, Bret Favre, tornadoes, oh my. The good thing is I’ve been feeling much more confident in my work, especially this week. I’m still finding it hard to dedicate time to some side projects, but that will iron out soon enough.

The weather has not been cooperative with my desire to ride my bike. This makes me angry. A co-worker says the whole El Nino business should keep the snow off the ground until later than usual. I aim to ride, even if cold, until I can’t ride anymore. This weekend I’m going to shop for some cooler weather riding clothes.

Vacation tapped me out a little, so it’s back to being frugal for a bit. I still need to save for the new camera, pocket video camera and some other vanity items. Plus, I plan on trying to make it back down to Florida for a wedding in November. The timing will make the flight rather expensive.

Enough random, carry on.

I came, I saw, I wore myself out.

The trip to Florida was a lot of fun. I hung out with as many people as I could, partied with friends, spent quality time with the family and even got a little sun. Florida still seems to be located a half-mile from the sun, which was fun to be reminded of.

It will be nice to get back to work, however it is going to be very busy over the next couple of weeks.

Next vacation though, I’m using the passport and going adventuring.

This is how I’m rolling today. Too windy to go for a ride. Hopefully tomorrow is better.

Also, cooked up some potatoes, onions and mushrooms topped with some razor-sharp cheddar. Phenomenal, excellent lunch fare. I’m trying to minimize any grocery buying due to the impending weeklong+ vacation coming up.

Can’t wait for the trip. Friends, family, sun, golf (hopefully even though I will stink) and relaxing.

Looks like a drab, gray day outside today. Funny, last Tuesday was the same, meaning I have to ride the bus. Oh well, could be worse.

Thinking about buying a netbook in order to have an ultra-portable computer. It’s not an ultra-necessity, but would be a fun vanity purchase. However I’d rather have the new camera body first however.

The health care debate is dominating the news this week. It’s both funny and annoying to watch the two opposing forces feint and spar, though some just really don’t have the ammunition they think they do. “Bingo!” Really Michael Steele, that’s your answer?

/Facepalm

Have a good day.

And just like that, another weekend is peeking over the horizon. The weather has been kind of dreary this week, so hopefully the weekend shapes up a little nicer. Definitely want to ride somewhere new this weekend. Sun, you’d better cooperate (or what?).

Weekend mission(s):
• Ride
• Experiment taking some HDR pictures
• Ride to and buy some produce from the Farmer’s Market
• Get a haircut
• Buy shoes and some cheap shirts for work
• Cook something new and with a slightly higher difficulty level and pair it up with some wine
• Get started on a new book

Go!

OK, not really. Mondays are just Mondays. Weekend was successful for the most part, the only thing I didn’t do was buy new shoes. No big deal.

Rode out to a Bastille Day celebration yesterday. Interesting to say the least. Kind of like St. Patrick’s Day but everyone was suddenly French and drinking wine instead of Irish and drinking beer, and with better music. Oh, and the people are better looking too. My camera battery died suddenly so I didn’t get as many pictures as I wanted. Kinda sucked.

Sotomayor hearings and related stuff all week. I love the theater!

Here’s to hoping your Monday is going better than this:

Great Sunday. Some potatoes, a little early-morning Leonard Cohen and some Costa Rican coffee.

Thinking of postponing my ride a bit so I can catch this and take some pictures. However, it looks like rain later.

If that happens, plan B is movies and finishing a book.