Microblog

Daily Microblog

“Shop and swap wishing well of free sh*t”

May 26, 2025

My goals on two wheels today were to 1) photograph an eagle (FAILED) and 2) find new potatoes (FAILED). However, my ride in Nordeast Minneapolis did lead to an interesting discovery: a wishing well outside a home containing a “Chrono Decoder” (a 60-minute countdown timer for a board game), books, a ball of string, and (drum roll, please) a package of fresh bratwurst.

A wiggling rear end gives hope for hatchlings

May 25, 2025

Across the river from our home, there’s this eagles’ nest. Some years a pair raises chicks; other years, nothing. This morning’s walk surprised us with the sight of an eagle’s wiggling rear end (just visible in this pixelated photo), apparently while tearing apart something lower down the food chain. We’re hoping to see chicks soon. Sometimes one of the eagles swoops past our windows, riding the thermals.

Where do I put my eyes?

May 24, 2025

Clearly, I tried to fit a lot into this photo today: the modern Pierre Bottineau Library in the foreground, with the former Grain Belt Brewery (now offices) behind it. I do like the ghost staircase. Next is my old hoss taking a breather, and across the road, the former brewery office, now apartments.

Parts for a new machine

May 23, 2025

These LEGO parts arrived today, while I wait for other parts to be shipped from LEGO in Europe. I feel a new model coming on, or at least a series of prototypes as I figure out the engineering.

A link to the past

May 22, 2025

After our respective Thursday volunteer gigs, we’re usually unwilling or unable (exit row airline-speak) to summon the energy to make dinner. This evening we walked the two blocks to Maxwell’s Pub. When I first moved to Minneapolis over 45 years ago, this was a rough industrial area with abandoned rail yards where our home now stands. I’d be sad to see remnants of that time, including the Maxwell’s building, disappear.

Debutantes and the civil rights movement

May 21, 2025

Walked past the Guthrie, where we’re seeing The Nacirema Society tonight. It’s a comedy set in 1964 Montgomery, Alabama, in the home of a wealthy Black family focused on an upcoming debutante ball. A comedy set during the Freedom Struggle should be interesting. My only experience of Montgomery was on business in 1977, where I witnessed blatant racism and de facto segregation.

Rainy day comfort food

May 20, 2025

Rained all day, inducing a mild case of cabin fever. Made a mushroom sauce for leftover polenta, heavy on the mushrooms: finally, a task with a beginning, middle, and end that I accomplished today. Finished the sauce with heavy cream, shoyu, and Dijon. An immersion blender and some water revived the polenta.

Walk, lunch, art

May 19, 2025

Walk along Minnehaha Creek, lunch at Wise Acre Eatery, then the Museum of Russian Art with a visiting friend from the UK. The museum offered a powerful contrast: downstairs, Socialist Realism depicting happy workers; upstairs, nonconformist abstract art suppressed by Soviet authorities.

Exploring AI-driven LEGO design

May 18, 2025

Installed software from Carnegie Mellon and linked it to their AI Large Language Model for designing LEGO models. It takes text (I requested “Matterhorn”) then designs a LEGO model that’s physically stable and can be built. It lists bricks and their placement in a 3D grid, and produces a CAD drawing that can be digitally disassembled and reassembled, mirroring real-world construction. Currently, it doesn’t support LEGO Technic construction, my primary focus.

Annual data snapshot

May 17, 2025

Today was the day to complete our annual data snapshot (around 500GB compressed) onto encrypted thumb drives. I keep these drives indefinitely, so if we ever need to recover an old file that we accidentally deleted at some time in the past, we can hopefully recover it from a snapshot.

From flour to art

May 16, 2025

Artists were setting up displays for a weekend art show in the former Pillsbury A Mill. The front door was unlocked, so I wandered in and headed down into subterranean levels. Eventually I was caught, but they were pleasant about it. The building has been thoughtfully repurposed to a high standard as affordable artist lofts. Here, a mural and a control panel for the former mill face off.

Decompressing over ramen

May 15, 2025

Compared notes about our day over tonkotsu ramen at the bar counter at Zen Box Izakaya. They do serve Asahi Super Dry and Sapporo on draft, but I prefer a local Minneapolis brew, Surly Furious. In Japan, interesting local craft brews are starting to appear, displacing national brands.

Riding the Orange Line BRT

May 14, 2025

Tried something new as I went about my day today: rode the Orange Line bus rapid transit, mainly along HOV lanes on Interstate 35W. You can just make out the Downtown skyline in the distance. Getting from there to here was, indeed, rapid.

Our annual petal pedal

May 13, 2025

I swore up and down we were still early for our annual tree blossom cycle ride today. It was slim pickings: if there were petals, they were usually on the ground. Over lunch at Longfellow Grill, a quick photo search for last year’s blossom cycle ride showed us to be about five days too late.

Not your grandmother’s park

May 12, 2025

Cycled through the newest park in Minneapolis, Graco Park. This building, The River Hub, is net-zero with rooftop solar panels and geothermal heating and cooling. It houses high-tech equipment for a variety of activities including media arts and makers. I wanted to poke around, but it’s not open on Mondays. The area in front is for storm water runoff.

Temple plumbing 2025: the tradition continues

May 11, 2025

I’ve often posted about the Shikoku 88 pilgrimage, a 700-mile circular route around Shikoku, one of Japan’s main islands. Over the years, I’ve hiked to 31 of its 88 temples, some multiple times. Today I continued my tradition of posting one photo of a purification station from each temple I visited this year. Click through for the post.