Microblog

The Dyson has been stopping after 3 or 4 minutes. Today I took it apart and gave it a good clean. It didn’t fix the problem, but it did need the cleaning. Next I’ll replace the battery with an overpriced OEM rather than an aftermarket battery to minimize the risk of fire.

School’s out for the Holidays! Walked home from my Friday gig past a melting snowman with a face mask.

On my Minneapolis Skyway walk: an example of designing out antisocial behavior. Target recently redesigned this lobby to eliminate disruptive loitering. It seems to be working. The mural in my Monday post is another example: it’s discouraging graffiti.

Congratulations to my nemesis, Ch*ga, on being permanently banned from Truth Social for posting a Vanity Fair cartoon implying the former president’s winery produces subpar products. Click through, the plot thickens.

I love walking into buildings to satisfy my curiosity and to take a break from the cold. Today, on the University of Minnesota East Bank campus, I walked past these students studying medical history. Later I was offered a free donut.

Today was the day for my quarterly labs. The tumor marker is slowly rising, so I’ll be discussing this with my oncologist this week. The longer I can keep this somewhat at bay with medications, the more new treatment options will become available to me.

Booked hotels for a 5-day hike with friends next September. We’ll walk part of The Reivers Way in Northumberland, England, in the footsteps of Border Reivers who terrorized communities from the 13th to the 17th century. We trust the sight of four old geezers won’t terrorize today’s populace.

On my walk, stopped to take in this $49 million development. Two crumbling buildings I’d thought were beyond hope were being incorporated into new construction. Last summer I noticed the white building had been temporarily moved to the road to make way for construction of underground parking.

Tonight at Orchestra Hall: A “bilingual Spanish-English cross-cultural combination” of Handel’s Messiah and Navidad Nuestra, a cantata by Argentinian composer Ariel Ramírez. We’re reminded the Holy Family were refugees. “Pretty child don’t cry my love / we will arrive at a better land.”

Mailed Christmas cards: a good reason to walk through the lovely Art Deco lobby of the downtown Post Office.

Explored featureless tunnels under downtown Minneapolis connecting buildings across several blocks. Eventually I was glad to return to the frozen world above.

It did my heart good to see school buses lined up outside the Guthrie Theater this morning. For a year and a half, during the early days of the pandemic, the building was lifeless. Tonight we’ll walk over to see Leo Kottke performing on the Thrust.

Every week or two we feel lazy, so we head over to our local for dinner. Rachael and Summit for him, Reuben and Surly Furious for me, both with cole-slaw. Then back home for the semifreddo I made for his birthday. It goes well on top of beer… I hope.

Started into a new biography of J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI and its precursor through six presidents from 1924 up to his death in 1972. I expect the book will help me to better understand divisions in today’s America and reinforce my belief we mustn’t regress to the 1950’s.

Popped into Lunds & Byerly’s to pick up Oreos for a dessert I’ll assemble for Dwight’s upcoming birthday. (Our co-op doesn’t stock such questionable fare.) The number of variations was overwhelming: decided regular-flavor Oreo Thins would best present a veneer of elegance.

On my walk home from my Friday gig, spotted a mural I’d never seen before in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood. It depicts many stories of the neighborhood, ranging from the first Americans to the journeys of the newest Americans. I’ll be back to take a closer look.