Microblog

Even my phone overheated while cycling through Nordeast Minneapolis. Finding relief, I took a quick break in Surdyk’s walk-in beer cooler. A six-pack of Bauhaus Lounge Wizard in my backpack kept my back cool on the journey home.

On my cycle ride, waved to and thanked needle exchange workers. The service costs about $20 per user per year. One syringe-infected AIDS patient requires over $120,000 per year in public health services. Six states ignore this reality and do not permit needle exchange programs.

This week I’ve been prototyping systems for maintaining water levels while rooting plant cuttings. This morning I built a “production” system that includes a float valve connected to a water supply to top up the tank automatically.

Spotted an octopus’s garden on my cycle ride. My earworm for the rest of the ride was inevitable: I’d like to be\…\In an octopus’s garden\In the shade. (*Cognitive itch: the cause of an earworm.)

Today I had to teach about sentences starting with “That.” In preparation for the class I plugged a convoluted sentence into ChatGPT: although correct, it suggested not starting sentences with “That.” After all that I needed ice cream as a reward, but the store was closed.

The problem: maintaining water levels for rooting cuttings while we’re away, traveling. The solution: siphonic action. The blue container represents a reservoir that will be topped up via a float valve. Prototype 1, here, has too many points of failure. Next up: straight runs from the reservoir.

Arranged drip irrigation tubes in large planters on a roof deck of our building. Once the plants establish themselves, they hide the tubes.

While cycling in Nordeast Minneapolis, I was stopped in my tracks by a moving art installation that evoked the Mad Max movies. Nordeast Minneapolis is home to hundreds of artists.

Looked down as I walked out of Five Watt Coffee after sipping an Americano.

Met a friend over coffee in St. Paul. The heavens opened as I started to cycle home, so I made a beeline for the nearest light rail station. Conveniently, each train car has two upright bike racks.

Cycled to Repowered with a load of old electronics. The nonprofit employs people facing barriers to employment to refurbish and sell as much as possible. Recycling is performed in the USA.

A good conversation with an old friend at our local hostelry who was visiting from out West. We both love travel and playing the airlines at their games.

Cycled a loop via the 28th Street Greenway, Chain of Lakes, Minnehaha Creek, then up the Mississippi. Stopped to view the blossom on this section just before Lake Nokomis. In the final stretch, we were ready for a late lunch at Longfellow Grill.

Went through a large plastic tub of stuff I’ve been saving to sell on eBay. Listed a set of vintage (1980’s) Cannondale cycle bags hoping to make $80 for Doctors Without Borders. I’ll recycle the remaining items shown here: they’re worth so little, it’s just not worth the effort selling them.

Today’s cycle ride took me through the workspace of Nordeast Minneapolis sculptor Zoran Mojsilov. This piece looks finished, but maybe I’ll be surprised the next time I pass by.

Spotted on my cycle ride through the University of Minnesota where wild turkeys wander freely around the campus. Here, they’ve apparently torn up protective straw fabric to get at grass seeds.