Had a great bike ride through Spring Lake Park Reserve with a friend. We’ve cycled this stretch that includes bluffs above the Mississippi, downriver from St. Paul, plenty of times, but today was different. It was the first time I actually got to see the bison up close on the restored prairie.
Category: Living
Outriding the Reaper
Spent much of today at the U, hopefully delaying a visit from the Grim Reaper. On my bike ride home, I spotted this freight car graffiti: the man himself, flipping classical Christian iconography right on its head.
Look, don’t sit!
On our Sunday morning walk, we spotted furniture set up on the substructure of the 10th Avenue Bridge: unexpected, possibly art, and an expense for the city to remove. This afternoon, we relocated a watercolor from another room and adjusted the placement of these Craftsman pieces. Much like the morning’s installation, our arrangement is essentially decorative.
Saturday food run
First port of call today: stocked up on veggies and bread at our local farmers market, tucked between the Mill City Museum and the Guthrie Theater. I then cycled over to Coastal Seafoods for a nice fatty piece of Atlantic salmon, then on to the Seward Co-op for our favorite almond milk ice cream, which conveniently kept the salmon cold on the ride home.
Summoning my inner Karen
The street was deserted: no electrician, no work truck, no one in sight. So, I summoned my inner Karen (or is it Kevin?) and immediately filed a report through the Minneapolis 311 app. The meter was live, meaning the bare bus bars exposed at the back of the box were actively carrying current, which is more than enough energy to kill a curious child. It looks like the abandoned attempt of a wire thief, which has become a rampant issue across the city.
Annual airport ride
It was time for my annual cycle ride to the airport. Sadly, planes were landing on other runways as I passed by these approach lights. At Terminal 1, I “discovered” the car rental building, a place I would normally never visit, of course. Escalators go directly to different companies’ rental counters and cars. I took the Blue Line home, which was the main reason for visiting the airport today; until today, the LRT had been closed for a few weeks for upgrades.
Framing the space between
Riding across Northern Pacific Bridge No. 9 felt like cycling through a cage this morning. I’m heading to the first of 28 appointments over the next 30 days at the U for my second round of study treatment. The tumor marker that had been climbing consistently has finally dropped slightly, a good sign. Now, my priority is to focus on the space between appointments: the time that belongs to me, not the study.
Not quite alive (yet): LEGO Technic finger v1.0
Worked on the design of a minimal LEGO Technic finger, version 1.0, using a flexor tendon to bend the finger and an extensor tendon to straighten it. Along the way, I learned I had to prevent hyperextension to keep the joints stable. Designs I’ve found online seem over-engineered and contain too many parts: after all, it’s a model. Now I need to build a refined version with an eye toward eventual automation.
Testing the limits of AI in the Global Foods aisle
I wandered the aisles of Whole Foods seeking a jar of preserved lemons for a cod recipe Dwight found in Cook’s Illustrated. “A bit posh,” I thought, but played along. When I suggested he make them himself, it was clearly a bridge too far. A Google AI search identified the Global Foods aisle as a possibility, but the shelf was empty. Fortunately, a nearby stocker reached into the dark recesses of the shelf and pulled out the final jar.
Lunch in a former tractor factory
Walked over to Chloe, a French-style bistro, for lunch with friends. The building was once a tractor factory, now repurposed as a hotel with two restaurants. The face sculpture is fashioned entirely from welded bicycle chains. Toward the back of the photo, an atrium cuts up through five floors, letting in natural light.