New Use for a Bank

Included some of my favorite indoor spaces on my Downtown walk. This was originally the banking hall for the Farmers and Mechanics Bank, my first bank when I arrived in Minneapolis. The original space is quite recognizable, although it’s now the lobby of a Westin.

Annual Thumb Drive Ritual

Backed up all our files to an encrypted thumb drive which we’ll keep for ever. Files are backed up continuously, but I like to create a full snapshot of the data every now and then.

Categorized as IT

Adding Smarts to a Ceiling Fan

Added smarts to the ceiling fan over our bed. We can now control it from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection, solving a problem we didn’t have. More likely use cases include: control it by voice from bed, and turn it off automatically when when we leave our home.

Categorized as IT

The Ministry

((Archive picture, 33 things you only know if you’ve worked at ‘the Ministry’ for HMRC in Longbenton, ChronicleLive.)) The campus in this photograph became the main offices for a British government ministry in 1948. You could be forgiven for wondering if it was a prisoner-of-war camp, repurposed as The Ministry of Truth, The Ministry of…… Continue reading The Ministry

School of Bartending

Walked as far as the Minnesota School of Bartending. Learned that in this time of Covid, it’s holding one-on-one classes. Rode the rails back.

30,000 Miles

Winter was receding as we walked around Lake of the Isles. When we lived in this neighborhood, I, along with other regulars, jogged or walked this lake almost every day. Over the decades that added up to something like 30,000 miles.

Categorized as Jog

No Vowels Here

On a grey, drippy day, in a sleek place with no vowels in its name (FRGMNT), we chatted with a friend over coffee and the best donuts.

Categorized as Friends

Yikes

Avoided another trip… …to the emergency room. (There were no cones.)

Categorized as Walk

Rice

Tonight I’m making one-pot comfort food: chicken and brown rice. I rarely stray from these three types of rice when cooking: sushi, Arborio, and short-grain brown.

Categorized as Cook