Day one of Alaska was a lot of time inside a windowless room, which wasn’t half as bad as it sounds since the people were so friendly. I’m hear with John and Bill as part of a team to talk about broadband. So today we worked a conference and talked to people about their own technology use and set up. Then about 3:00 we finally got to see the sun. We arrived the night before around 9:00 – in the dark. And the conference started at 8:00 this morning, which is a little earlier than sunrise in Anchorage in February.
The weather is actually not very cold – probably about the same as home, hovering around freezing. (Academic freezing, not really cold freezing.) But Alaska got all of the world’s snow this year. There are piles of it everywhere and folks have said that much of it has melted in the warm up they’ve been having. But it made for a very pleasant walk. We walked towards the water and then towards the mountains. It’s very beautiful – although with all of the buildings, the pictures don’t really do justice.
The town itself is not very big.
We also visited the museum, which was kind of cool. It was nice to see the history, which we didn’t get much time to prep for the trip. The art was beautiful. There was an exhibit of faces who had climbed Mt McKinley. We thought they were going to be before and after faces – but they were just afters. But they were cool anyways. Amazing to see the difference between the skin that was covered by goggles and the weathered faces that clearly did not have enough protection.
Also in anticipation of comments – I will try to get a picture of me outside to prove I was here. But I’m a much better as photographer than photographed!
Filed under: St Paul
It’s been a funny winter. It’s February 1 with predicted temperatures in the 40’s! I think we’ve had 8 genuinely cold days all winter. So we were glad to get out and enjoy the Winter Carnival Ice Sculptures before they melted.
For readers outside of our area… St Paul has celebrated a winter carnival since 1886. It’s happens over the last week of January and first week of February. It is kind of a fun gage of weather. Like trick or treating, I can always remember the weather for Winter Carnival events. Last year it was cold and snowy. And while this winter has been warm, it was kind of chilly when we were looking at the sculpture – but I think that kept the crowds down – or rather moving. I suspect lots of people came to see the art – but hustled right through and didn’t linger.
We saw a few of the sculptures being made, which is always fun. The range of sawing tools, and melting tools and detailed tools and axes is kind of amazing. The sculptors generally appear to be dressed for the weather – in fact I’d like to know where the get some of that fleece – but it seems that inevitably there’s a time when you have to take off the gloves and use your hands. It’s cold work. But as the pictures demonstrate – it’s worth it. The hard thing is that the sculptures are particularly beautiful in the sun – but harder for me to capture on film.
Oh added extra bonus (for us) this year’s Winter Carnival was the Beer Dabbler – think outdoor wine tasting with great bands – except swap out the wine for beer.
Filed under: St Paul
Last year we went to the Red Bull Flutag – and I will give it to those guys – they know how to do it big! This year they have brought the Ice Crash Course to St Paul. The Ice Crash Course is 1300 feet of a downhill ice skating race track. It is hardcore. Aine and I went to check out the course this afternoon. I don’t’ know what I was expecting, but I completely forgot that Red Bull does things big.
The course starts at the Cathedral and winds down across Summit and down towards downtown. It is sheer ice. And it’s very steep in places (both going up and down) and there are a lot of intended bumps. In a million years I can’t understand why anyone would want to skate down it – but I’m now seriously tempted to go back to watch it!
Filed under: Minneapolis
I’ve been very negligent with updates but I did two fun things I wanted to post about today – first the Art Shanties. The Art Shanty Project is a collection of arty ice fishing houses. I don’t know the rules but it seem like you just have to have something that will last out on the lake. Some include ice fishing holes; many don’t. Some include heaters.
For folks outside Minnesota (or other cold parts), some people around here like to fish in the winter by drilling a hole in the ice of a frozen lake. They like it so much they have houses they can put around the hole. Some folks have huge mansion type ice fishing houses and they usually include heaters – because the ice is generally so thick around here by this time of year, it’s safe. This year has been unseasonably warm. It was 50 degrees earlier this week. So we were worried about the Art Shanties – but they got permission from the County to move forward. And on Wednesday it got cold. Today it was about 10 degrees when we were out there.
Due to the earlier warm weather, the shanties are much closer to shore than in the past, but that’s OK. There were a couple dozen I think. They are very cool (no pun intended)and the artists who create the shanties are generally pretty friendly and are happy to tell you about their project and they might even have an interactive component to the shanty. Here are a few brief descriptions of some of the shanties:
- Basketball Shanty – has a baseball hoop set up with bleachers and a score board outside the shanty. Inside the shanty is a locker room with the smallest lockers I’ve ever seen. The artists bought them on eBay and apparently they were in a school. The only graffiti we saw said “ACE ‘79”. The artists thought that it was probably a kid named Ace. I pointed out it could be an Ace Frehley fan.
- Robot Reprise – giant robot – think transformer in looks – shoots rocket-like fireworks. Need I say more?
- Reflection Shanty – include a glass wall (well not glass, but transparent and very clear/clean wall) and a few mirrored walls. Very calm – beautiful view of the frozen lake.
- Fort Shanty – don’t think army. Think card table and all of the blankets in your house – plus a few cubbies.
- ICE-Cycles Shanty – ride a bike around the like! Include at least one bike with an ice skate for a wheel.
- Nordic Village Bridge – bill goat clothing for you, a bridge, a troll – be sure to have a fast answer to get by is all I can say.
- Camera Head: Invert Your World – very cool idea where they have head-mounted camera obscura. Look through and see everything upside down. (Cemented lessons we learned about camera obscura in Scotland.)
- Monsters Under The Bed Shanty – very cute inside and out, inhabitants are monsters. They asked Aine to give a monster description to their sketch artist.
- SitandSpinShanty – This has to be a crowd favorite. It looks like an ornate egg. You go into it and it’s like the tilt-a-whirl. You turn the wheel, it spins. The artists mentioned that it took a lot longer than they expected, but it’s cool. I took a quick video from inside, which I actually wish was longer – and I rarely wish that.
- Letterpress Shanty – another cool one. They have a working letterpress and will be creating a newsletter/newspaper each day based on Tweets they receive online and pen and paper Tweet on site. Aine and I each made a postcard. It’s very cool to see how the presses work – and amazing to think what was involved in spreading the news back when they used them.
Filed under: Minneapolis
On Saturday December 17, Aine and I attended a Posada – or at least a modified version of the Mexican Posada hosted by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church (St. Paul’s Lutheran 2742 15th Ave S, Minneapolis). Spanish for lodging, Posada is a traditional festival celebrated in Mexico for nine days leading up to Christmas where community members walk door to door with actors portraying Mary and Joseph as they seek shelter.
The Minneapolis version lasted for one night, starting at the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church where community members were invited to prepare for the parade by making lanterns to hold candles and viewing a bilingual performance of bible stories leading to Mary and Joseph seeking a safe haven. From the church, the procession went door to door seeking shelter and was turned away by church neighbors (or at least the minister enacting the parts of the neighbors) until returning once again to the Church, where they were invited to stay. Once in the Church there was a brief, musical ceremony that ended with the addition of a well-behaved Baby Jesus. Following the ceremony were games, food and a great party. It is an interesting firsthand glimpse at what it must have been like to go from inn to inn before settling in a stable for the night.
Virginia Salgada, originally from a small town in Mexico, now residing in Minneapolis, explains that in her town the festival would involve 17 home each night; 16 homes would turn away the procession and the final home would invite them in to celebrate. This happened for nine days; on the final day Jesus would be presented. Everyone in the town would join the celebration. It was one big family. The Minneapolis tradition is different. It’s too cold (even this year) to want to walk so far and the attendees do not necessarily know each other but the sense of community is strong and the celebration is still based in music.
The Posada has been celebrated in the area for several years. Originally the production was done in tandem with the Heart of the Beast Theater; this is the second year it has been performed solely by the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church community. Reverend Patrick Cabello Hansel has been reaching out to the Latino population around St. Paul’s Lutheran Church since 2005. The Posada is one example of the emerging Latino community bringing a new look and new perspective to a Church that has been serving the community since 1872.
Filed under: Chicago
It seems like our time in Chicago was particularly quick this year. We headed out in our convoy on Wednesday. We stayed in Madison with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Billy Wednesday night. Then Thursday we headed to Chicago. We ate at our usual place – which we seem to find by looking for the place we think is our usual place but is not as easy to find. Then we had a great dinner with all of the fixings – including two turkeys (one baked, one deep fried) and a ham. Really I could give up everything except stuffing, ham and pumpkin pie. Luckily everybody seems to like different things.
The day after we went to a gym full of trampolines. It was very fun – but two days later I can still feel it. We were there for two hours and I’d say most of the grownups jumped for at least an hour. That’s a lot of bounce. That night the grownups headed to a really nice dinner at Al Dente. It’s a chef owned restaurant with a Mexican/Lain flair. Then the less mature of the grownups headed out. It was very fun but I totally lost my voice. To be fair, I has been skating around a cold all week. A day of being so unkind to my body just brought the cold into full force.
Saturday some of us went to the Children’s Museum. Aine and Bridie seemed to enjoy it. They rarely get to call the shots so that was fun. Then we just hung out. Played cards and ate Chinese Saturday night. Then we got up at the crack of dawn to drive home, which didn’t seem like such a good idea at the crack of dawn – but now that it’s 12:30 and we’re back in St Paul it seems like a great idea.
Filed under: St Paul
I love TEDx talks. Last week I dragged Lily to her first TEDx talk event at the Minnesota Science Museum. It was actually a Youth TEDx – the speakers seemed to focus their talks to reach younger attendees – although not too much and not too young. Here are my quick notes from the session
AnnMarie Thomas – How are Makers Made?
Thomas spoke about the importance of letting kids disassemble and build things to learn how to design. So much of the focus of education these days seems to be on theory or even moving hands on experience online – when really some kids (future makers) would benefit from a screwdriver and a little benign neglect. I wish Aine had Thomas as a teacher.
Greg Tehven – The Unleanring Curve
Tehven took a year off a successful career at age 25 to find himself. The idea was to take time to focus on today and yourself not just what you do – and that sometimes you learn (or unlearn) the most when you open yourself up to help from others. Kind of a funny presentation since I’d say lots of people in the room were parents – and so by definition we have to work towards the future of our kids. And the kids in the room, almost by definition are working on the future too. Maybe I just wasn’t ripe to hearing about chucking it all in to live for today – although I certainly was up for it when I was 25.
Solome Tibebu – How Anxiety Saved Me
It was very interesting to hear about how Tibebu and her issues with anxiety. I think it was a powerful example for some youth in the room because I think certain ages are more susceptible to being anxious about everyday life. It was interesting to hear how the message in your head (my hands don’t need to get washed again) can be overridden by the message in your body that wants to wash your hands continually. It sounds as if learning the physiological effects of anxiety was beneficial was helpful for the speaker – again a reminder for mentors and kids that just understanding how and why things happen can help take the edge off.
John Turnipseed – Fix the Damn Roof
Turnipseed was the most powerful speaker of the day. He spoke about just how a roof is an essential infrastructure for a house (or building) a father is an essential infrastructure for a family or kids. When your father is absent or as he put it, your father is the boogie man, the kid falls apart. He said he has 30 family members in jail for some degree or murder. He himself has been arrested for 10 adult felonies – but he had been turned around by strangers who showed faith in him. It started when he was young and in jail. Someone in jail was a bodybuilder. Turnipseed asked if he could teach him how to lift weights and the guys said he didn’t work with dummies. Come back when you have your GED. A month later Turnipseed had the GED. There were other mentors along the way – but eventually the right mentor helped Turnipseed turn his life around. His focus was on the power of a trusting stranger and getting the right message. He didn’t remark at the character of someone who grows up without a roof and yet is ever open to receiving a helping hand – but I think that’s important too.
Filed under: St Paul
Did you read A Wrinkle in Time as a kid? It’s the best book ever. And it’s really a lot more scifi than I normally like – or have ever liked. I don’t want to blow it for you if you haven’t read it – but the idea is that you can travel through time by folding time as you might fold a table cloth. So if you think of an ant crawling from one end of a table to another – you can picture creating an easy shortcut by folding the tablecloth so that the two ends meet.
Anyways, A Wrinkle in Time was showing at the Children’s Theatre and I saw that tickets were on sale so I got them. Aine and I liked the show – the others are all theater snobs. I was surprised they didn’t like it more. To start, it was all a lot more Dr Who than I remembered. (I am not a Dr Who fan; everyone else in the house is.) The special effects were a little seizure inducing – but I think you have to do something to signify moving through time.
The main character is pretty whiny. I think maybe that cut just a little too close to the bone for our middle schoolers.
Filed under: St Paul
So it seems as if we trick or treated about a dozen times this ear. We trick or treated in Highland Village on Saturday, on Grand Ave on Sunday (both involved trick or treating to shops) and then the girls struck out on their own on Halloween.
Filed under: Minnesota
Some of us *love* to go to corn mazes. Some of us don’t. Some of us rock with maps. Some of us don’t. All of us love a good corn pit.
So we headed to a corn maze despite the iffy weather. The good news is that we got to spent some time jumping in the corn pit. If you haven’t ever gone corn pit diving, you should. It’s super fun. It’s like a tiny massage for your feet – so long as you don’t run in your socks. Word to the wise – running in a corn pit will hurt later. Also an unexpected bonus of a corn pit is that you will find corn everywhere for days following your trip.
Sadly it started to drizzle when we headed to the corn maze. Some of us (Patrick, Lily, Kate to name names) wimped out almost immediately. The tough (me and Aine) held on – but eventually our map started to disintegrate in our hands so we had to give up. In case you haven’t been to a corn maze – the idea is to get answers from various marked posts in the maze. In this maze the answers were actually only questions related to baseball. So we weren’t really getting many of the answers anyways. And I think Grandpa was not sad that I quit calling to ask random questions about the Twins.
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