Stuff from July, 2011
This is the archive of tumbledry happenings that occurred on July, 2011.
Mykala’s Ready for Our Anniversary
This is the archive of tumbledry happenings that occurred on July, 2011.
We biked the Midtown Greenway today: headed over to Lake Calhoun and enjoyed the shops and biking. On the southwest side of the lake, there was a group of college kids that had set up a giant slip ‘n slide. We stopped and joined the spectators. One lady: “I couldn’t figure out why that girl was covered in soap!”
“I’m not doing so well.”
My 84-year-old patient was nearing the end of another denture fitting appointment, and he had just accidentally spilled all of his water on the operatory floor. “No no,” I said, “you’re doing just fine.” Trying to reassure him, I couldn’t think of anything better to say.
I’ve been thinking about the movie Tree of Life, and I haven’t really gotten anywhere. A nice, attempted partial explication of the themes was written by Matt Zoller Seitz, but take a look at this quote:
That’s a Farm Girl Saison from Lift Bridge Breweries in the foreground.
The little stone in the foreground was a silverware rest. I hadn’t seen anything like that before.
This is us during our 2-day-prior to our 2-year-anniversary celebratory dinner out. It was an absolute blast. We savored and shared our way through a delicious 4 course vegetarian flavor fest at a tremendous Minneapolis restaurant called Restaurant Alma.
I am exhausted. Hot, too. Thankfully today is much cooler, but a few days back it was the hottest day ever recorded in Minnesota. Of course, there are certain factors regarding the weather station calling the official numbers into question, but here’s what we’ve got:
To my future children: I used to own this. Not this exact Trapper Keeper, but this exact design. The title of this Trapper Keeper is “Designer Space”. This is ironic, because this is supremely ugly. Yes, your father used to have amazing taste.
John Cassidy’s “What Good is Wall Street? from The New Yorker is full of great parts. Here’s one:
During the credit boom of 2005 to 2007, profits and pay reached unprecedented highs. It is now evident that the bankers were being rewarded largely for taking on unacknowledged risks: after the subprime market collapsed, bank shareholders and taxpayers were left to pick up the losses. From an economy-wide perspective, this experience suggests that at least some of the profits that Wall Street bankers claim to generate, and that they use to justify their big pay packages, are illusory.
Exciting things happening today, mainly involving redoing stuff that we didn’t get to do on their actual holiday dates:
How to Make a Clock Run for 10,000 Years | Wired.com quotes Jeff Bezos, the sponsor of this $40+ million dollar 10,000 year clock project:
“My opinion is that human attention spans haven’t changed much over time. We’ve always been a fairly short-sighted species,” Bezos says, and laughs. “But while our attention spans are staying roughly constant, our problems are becoming much bigger, because of our past successes as a species. Our tools, our technologies, now require us to step it up, and have a longer attention span.”
I work shoulder-to-shoulder with people whose future occupation Minnesota is calling “Dental Therapist” — essentially what a nurse practitioner is to a physician. Unlike nurse practitioners, however, Minnesota’s Dental Therapists do not enjoy nationwide support. I hadn’t realized how little support the entire occupation has until recently. Take a look at the American Dental Association’s Comment on American Association of Public Health Dentistry Dental Therapist Curriculum Development:
Home is a five minute bike ride from school. I’ve increased my efficiency in clinic, freeing up time after my morning appointment. These two facts mean I get to come home and see my wife for lunch. I love that a lot.
Though Mykala is away right now, I can sit here at home, on a warm summer afternoon, and enjoy the view onto our tree-lined patio.
Zen at Home: Working Out in a Small Space; here’s a gem from the comments:
My company offers every employee a free Stair Master for personal use, 24/7. It’s double wide and you can do an “up” or “down” workout. The best part about it is that it serves the added function of access to all six floors in our building.
This log had a hole in it — makes for an amazing fire experience.
This leaf looked like a giraffe. The only thing more amazing than the leaf is that we were able to get a picture of it.
The rock faces at Banning State Park still bear the scars from the black powder blasting that workers did in the 1890s to harvest stone from the living rock. We went on a 1.8 mile (self) guided hiking tour to learn about the quarry. The town of Banning sprang up and then died with the quarry.
Mykala found this great REI tent, and this was our first trip out with it. Very cozy for 2 people. When we left for breakfast in the morning, we didn’t quite get the rainfly properly closed, and then it began raining. Things dried out easily in the low humidity and bright sun later in the day. We learned our rainfly lesson.
Yoga in foreground. Ancient sandstone in background.
This is me, not doing yoga. I’m less coordinated than my lovely wife.
Mykala does Warrior II pose along the trail to the rapids on the Kettle River.