Global Warming

It's 75 degrees in Minneapolis today. Last year it was 39 degrees.

And it's all downhill from here. I just spent the day at the Mall of America gathering supplies for the 6 months of snow, ice, and wind chill which will soon be here.

Sad, sad day

It's a story of heroes and tragedy, and when I heard the news this morning that he died, my heart sunk.

17 year-old Casey Schlusser died late last night due to injuries sustained as he tried to do a good deed. While fixing the flat of a stranded motorist on I-94 Sunday afternoon, the vehicle was struck from behind by a Honda under which he was pinned. Other motorists stopped and hauled the car off of him.

Read the whole story here:"Good Samaritan dies in hospital after crash" via StarTribune

Snow be damned

Despite the forecast for a slushy but not outright cold weekend, I thought I'd celebrate the mild weather of the past week with a few notes on the good points of living in the Sin Cities.

A board game manufacturer declared Minneapolis to be the most fun city in the nation!

The Twin Cities are the cleanest cities in the nation.

The Twin Cities are also the 2nd best running cities.

Minneapolis ranks 7th as a vegetarian friendly city.

In terms of overall health of the citizenry, Minneapolis-St. Paul ranks 2nd.

In terms of stress, the Twin Cities ranked 5th on a list of least stressful cities.

For the folks popping out the youngens, the Twin Cities is the 3rd best for raising a family.

So, I guess it ain't so bad here after all. I'm very content right now. The snow is gone and mosquito season isn't for at least a month!

Minnesota Rawks!

Don't Legislate Hate in Minnesota, is what Senate Judiciary Committee members actions implied this afternoon when they stalled an attempt to amend the Minnesota Constitution defining marriage of a union of one man and one woman. The vote was 4 for and 5 against left conservatives only one option to get this bill to move - - through a super-majority vote, which is unlikely in the DFL-heavy Senate.

Take that Minnesota Family Council. And might I add a hearty "Haa-Haa." (pronounced in the voice of the Simpsons' Nelson character)

Mailbag!

Timothy, who holds a Master of Divinity from an undisclosed institution of higher learning writes:

Andy. Minnesota is the worst place with the worst people on earth. I think that you are the only people who don't know it. If only with the wave of a wand we could have you colonized by Norway. You are MEANIE-SOTANS.

As a recent Minnesota convert, (I finally received my MN driver's license!) I am fully aware how nasty and temperamental Minnesotans can be. I also welcome being colonized by Norway, it sounds hot.

Why I love Minnesotans

People are sending flowers to queer couples tying the knot in San Francisco. Here's where it started apparently: "Today a coworker of mine had a thought to send flowers to a random couple waiting in line at SF city hall.

He called a florist and they agreed to do it. He told them to deliver to any couple -- it didn't matter who -- standing in line to get married, with his blessing. The card will read simply "With love, from Minneapolis, Minnesota."
Once they understood, they were very touched and thought it was a great idea. He told another co-worker who did the same thing. And now we want to start a movement. Wouldn't that be cool if people from all over the country, gay, straight and otherwise, started sending flowers to the people waiting in line to get married.
Call it The Big Gay Bouquet call it Flowers from the Heartland. Call it whatever you want, but help us get this off the ground.
Call Flowers on the Bay at 888-217-9119 and order a bouquet to be delivered tomorrow at noon. And Tell all of your friends to do it.

Because straight or gay, we believe and we know many people who believe, support and celebrate the right to marriage. And we'd like to show it. We'd like to see all of the people standing in line with flowers of support from all over the country.
PS. Flowers on the Bay seems like a small shop and might get overwhelmed if this really did catch on. I have a feeling that any Bay-Area flower shop, perhaps even doing FTD through your local florist, could work."

Wow, this is so awesome.

Update: This site is collecting money to send flowers to gay couples getting married in San Francisco. So far $12,444 has been raised.

Is this feasible?

Citywide wireless plan gaining momentum

Story by Craig Cox via the Pulse:

The Park Board has entered discussions with several telecommunications firms to offer wireless Internet access citywide. Users would be required to pay a monthly fee for the wireless access. “We are going into this with the hope that it would be significantly less than any DSL service that is out there,” [Park Board Commissioner John] Erwin said. “It would be another option on the phone bill.” The wireless network could be operational by late spring.

This sounds pretty good. Internet access anywhere you go in the city, and apparently at a reasonable price. I should get a laptop.

But if the service would be anything comparable to cellular, it would be a waste of money. I still don't have service in my house, and parts of the U of MN are completely devoid of a signal; the two places I spend the majority of my time.

Why I love the Phillips Neighborhood

Phillips is a crazy place. Poverty and crime are persisitent problems. The neighborhood is extremely diverse, I mean hell, we'll all be in the backyard blasting things like Madonna, Prince, and Brit Pop while the neighbors across the alley are bustin' out the norteño. It is the largest neighborhood in Minneapolis.

One of the things I really love about this neighborhood is the Green Institute. This building stands on the site where Minneapolis intended a solid waste transfer station to be built. Instead the folks of Phillips resisted and a built something completely the opposite: an ecologically sustainable building that houses initiatives for sustainable development, eco-friendly industry, and creates jobs with livable wages. They even gave our household some nice flourescent light-bulbs. My plants will be so happy.

Fun fun

Minneapolis has been declared the most fun city in the United States. Whoohoo! Let's party.

I don't know how accurate the survey is though. Las Vegas only got 25th.

This weekend was the peak of fall color in Minneapolis. I took my date to see Minnehaha Falls and then drive up the Parkway along the river. He's from San Fran, and has never experienced fall as a 'season' like we do in the Midwest. His amazement over the leaves was so cute, from the kids playin in the piles of leaves to the view of the Mississippi River from Lake Street; things I guess I always take for granted.

Here are some pop-up photos taken today:

Minnehaha Falls

Leaves along Minnehaha Creek

St. Paul trees across the Mississippi from Minneapolis

Hiking Trail

Downtown Minneapolis from U of MN campus

Minneapolis

I've spent enough of this week obsessing over Las Vegas, so I've decided to mix things up with a tour of my current home -- Minneapolis, Minnesota. I've lived in Minneapolis for about 3 years now. Well, I've lived NEAR Minneapolis for about 3 years. Those who know me will never forget my year-long stint in "Friendly Fridley", home of exploding meth labs and teenagers with guns.

Anyway, Minneapolis is a good place to be. For us vegetarians, Minneapolis ranks 7th. It's ranked 10th in creative capital. It's said that Minneapolis has more theatre seats per capita than any other city except New York. I can find no data to support that claim, but we do have an awful lot of theatre seats.

The parks and lakes are fun, even for the gays. Lake Calhoun has some seriously hot men running around the jogging and biking paths. It's a part of the Chain of Lakes. It's one of the few cities that protected lakeshore property from development, and gave it to the public.

Prince is from Minneapolis, as is Josh Hartnett. The Andrews Sisters were from Minneapolis. Mary Tyler Moore was set in Minneapolis. They all seem like good people to me. Jesse Ventura is from Minneapolis, but that might be filed under "Why I Hate Minneapolis."