Microblog

Towards the end of a walk in the rain, decided to pop into Trader’s to treat myself to a bunch of daffodils. Bought two pots of yogurt instead.

Chatted with nurse Danielle about her upcoming trip to Portugal while she set up an infusion line. I’ve now had two (of four) Lutetium-177 PSMA I&T (!) infusions and early results are promising. Danielle is excited about her first trip to Europe on Friday.

Worked throught TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) exercises with an adult learner. It’s always a joy to work with people who want to learn.

On my walk, Old Man River was frisky. It crests this week, but flooding won’t be an issue in our immediate neighborhood because it flows through a gorge.

After reviewing an upcoming trip to Japan with a nephew and his dad, the rest of the family joined us for a trip to a Japanese restaurant. With two teenagers in tow, this photo represents a fraction of what was eaten.

Started assembling materials for a show-and-tell tomorrow with our 15-year-old nephew and his dad. We’ll be backpacking in Japan for three weeks, traveling by train using national rail passes, and staying in mostly budget hotels.

Lined up the ingredients for Spam musubi, a Hawaiian take on Japanese onigiri. I’ll pretend it’s healthy: the Spam has 25% less sodium, and the brown sugar is organic. The nonstick musubi mold is convenient, but a Spam can lined with plastic wrap also does the job.

On my cycle ride, spotted changes that had occurred over the winter. Apartment buildings were popping up, a traffic circle eliminated the need for traffic lights. Here, a crew is dropping off clips that will fasten rails to railroad ties for the Green Line LRT extension.

Today’s high was a record 88°, so we cycled downriver to Longfellow Grill for dinner. Snow is forecast for Sunday, such is our continental climate.

Cycled to an Asian supermarket. The produce section has a large selection of vegetables familiar and exotic to me. Chinese eggplant was an easy choice for dinner tonight.

Looked for changes that have been made to Minneapolis over the winter. Here, the downtown Hennepin Avenue protected bikeway is now complete. The street that runs past our building will get a similar upgrade.

The LEGO Chinese New Year rabbit I assembled a few days ago doubled as the Easter Bunny today. Here, it’s a little too close to a tray of micro-green shoots. As I was born in the Year of the Rabbit, it may reappear as itself on my birthday.

Pumped up the tires, lubed the chain, and reacquainted myself with a favorite urban route. Avoided puddles and potholes and piles of snow. With temperatures climbing towards 60° it felt good to be out.

Recently I managed to destroy a video cable, so today I replaced it. This was easier said than done, as I had to remove wall plates and thread it down a conduit inside the wall. The computer is 13 years old, but with some simple hardware upgrades Windows 10 performs well.

At the end of my walk, grade school kids had arrived on a yellow bus to play in the park, a sight we were denied during the height of the pandemic. Teachers were calling to them to collect their brown bag lunches. Later, I expect they were going to a classroom at the nearby Guthrie.

Walked through a university campus on my way to medical appointments, noting the earnest students. Where was the rebelliousness of youth? Then, a student shouted “thank you for your service” towards an ROTC cadet dressed in fatigues. I decided this was disingenuous.