Category: Living

An Irresistible Upgrade

Ordered the current Google Pixel tablets to replace these 2018 6th generation iPads. The Pixel tablets are $399 each, but Google is offering a $399 trade-in for each iPad, with free shipping. The only cost is sales tax (6.875% Minnesota, 0.65% Hennepin County, and 0.5% Minneapolis), which comes out to $36.01 per tablet. We already… Continue reading An Irresistible Upgrade

Categorized as IT

Once More Unto the Breach

Kicked off my clinical trial participation with a hefty dose of testosterone. The tumor feeds on it, so the counterintuitive idea is to overload the tumor and cause it to shrink. That was the easy part of my day. Now I’m diving into the historical and political motivations of Shakespeare’s Henry V as preparation for… Continue reading Once More Unto the Breach

Pit Stop at Cossetta’s

It had been raining overnight, but it stopped just in time to hop on a train to Fort Snelling and meet up with a friend. We then cycled a loop via downtown St. Paul, taking in each side of the Mississippi. In St. Paul, we refueled at the legendary Cossetta’s, with its extensive selection of… Continue reading Pit Stop at Cossetta’s

Real Enough

Dentist did a great job preparing a tooth for a crown. On the way home, stopped at Moto-i for comfort food: bibimbap. I felt grateful for modern dentistry and temporarily forgot I had a temporary crown. For my parents’ generation in Scotland in the 1930’s, a pair of “falsies” (dentures) was a 21st birthday rite of… Continue reading Real Enough

Minimizing Paper Mail

Picked up a week’s worth of mail from the mailroom downstairs. We’ve minimized snail mail to the point we don’t stop mail delivery when we travel. We’ve used DMAchoice, PaperKarma, CatalogChoice, and OptOutPreScreen. We’ve contacted senders directly to cancel mail and we give anonymously. The online USPS Informed Delivery service let’s us preview mail and… Continue reading Minimizing Paper Mail

Planespotting

Woke up to a view of wet tarmac and San Francisco SFO’s International Terminal A. After a week of blue skies, rain was pelting down. Soon, the EVA Air (green tail on the left) flight will depart for Taipei, the China Eastern flight (on the right) for Shanghai, and we’ll be en route to Minneapolis/St.… Continue reading Planespotting

Rude or Rooty?

On Thursdays we compare notes about our day at our local, Maxwell’s. This photo from Dwight’s day at the university greenhouse caught my eye with its unusual bulbous tuberous stem that looks like it should be covered in polite company. Apparently it’s Sinningia helleri (gloxinia) from South America, which leaves me none the wiser.

Shogun Night

We’re slowly making our way through Shogun (2024). Tonight we watched episode 7 (of 10) with Dwight fast-forwarding through the commercials. I appreciate the show’s high production values, how it sheds light on events leading to Japan’s Edo period (in fictionalized form), and how it resists the white savior trope.

The Space Between

After a cuppa at Wise Owl Cafe in the University’s Walter Science and Engineering Library, discovered The Toaster, a room filled with freely available maker gear, including 3D printers, Cricuts and LEGO. Resisted the temptation then walked to the School of Architecture where students were presenting their portfolios displayed on large panels. It was then… Continue reading The Space Between

Categorized as Ma