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Walked over to the Guthrie to see Into the Woods, which explores what happens after “happily ever afters.”

A man in a car shouted, “Good job!” as he drove by the construction workers on Lake Street. “Thank you,” one of the workers replied without pausing his work. I didn’t mind having to push my bike past the construction. Lake Street has been through some tough times, now it’s coming back.

Paused for cooked-to-order breakfast sandwiches beside Lake Harriet. Nearby, mothers relaxed with their young kids, and a four-person book club sometimes discussed the book.

Tethered the shelving I set up last week to a wall bracket screwed into a stud. The tether is designed to prevent furniture tipping over in an earthquake. We don’t have earthquakes, but if someone falls and grabs on, they won’t end up with the shelves on top of them.

On my bike ride, picked up the missing ingredients for Sausage Saturday: Ukrainian sausage from Kramarczuk’s, crusty bread from Surdyk’s, and over-packaged baby kale from Lunds and Byerlys.

My bike ride came to an abrupt halt when the rear derailleur locked up. A link in the chain had failed. Pushed my bike two miles to Freewheel Bike, near our home, where bike technician Martin replaced the chain on the spot in five minutes flat.

On a walk with a friend, cooled off in a large Asian supermarket. Noted the nonreturnable durian. “Its odor is best described as pig-excrement, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock.” (Wikipedia.) Left with a bag of matcha Japanese Kit Kats.

Started setting up a 55-bin system to organize parts for our hobbies and home maintenance, replacing dozens of plastic shoeboxes. About a quarter of the bins will hold bulk and bulky LEGO Technic parts. The bins are easily subdivided, making parts more available.

In the Somali language there’s no P (puh) sound, so we reviewed the difference between puh and buh (B) sounds. (With puh, you can feel your breath.) The definite article (the) is another challenge for Somali learners: in Somali it’s a suffix to the noun, so it’s too easy to forget to use it in… Continue reading Minding Our Ps and Bs

Rode trails from Stillwater back to Minneapolis. This leafy section, the Brown’s Creek State Trail, is a former rail trail that rises slowly from Stillwater to connect with the Gateway State Trail, another leafy rail trail, that took us towards St. Paul.

After dinner at Dock Cafe, looking out at the St. Croix River in Stillwater, we walked across the now pedestrianized lift bridge towards Wisconsin. Earlier, we checked in to Water Street Inn for the night, having cycled from our home along lovely trails.

Me: “OK Google, add toothpaste to the shopping list.” We’d like to change the wakeup words to “OK Janet”—a kind and wise Scottish housekeeper for two doctors in a 1960’s BBC TV series. Unlike with Google Assistant, Janet would offer to pour a “wee dram” and toothpaste would never run out.

Finished a working prototype of the y axis of a gantry crane (the part that carries the hoist). I aimed for smooth motion, minimum parts, and maximum symmetry. Next I’ll prototype the x axis. Eventually I plan to give the completed crane enough smarts to operate autonomously.

Reminisced with a friend while we explored the Northwest Airlines History Center. Resisted bashing the gong while improvising the “Northwest Orient (insert the sound of a gong) Airlines” jingle. Got the inside scoop from a retired pilot who flew one of my favorites, the 747-200. Click through to hear the jingle.

After a fasting blood draw, made up for lost time with corned beef hash and a fried egg at diminutive Al’s Breakfast in Dinkytown. The transfer from the griddle to a plate in front of me was performed with a minimum of movement.

On my way to Coastal Seafoods for my 20% senior discount, paused to admire the lovely car-free Milwaukee Avenue Historical District. In the 1970s, the federal government planned to replace this neighborhood with apartment buildings, but clever local resistance forced the feds to back down.