Microblog

Today I received my monthly stipend for participating in the clinical trial. I feel uncomfortable being paid for receiving great healthcare, so the payments will go to a University of Minnesota Medical School scholarship fund.

Today, I realized I’d probably left my Amex card in a restaurant that’s closed today. A couple taps in the Amex app delivered an immediate digital replacement to Google Wallet. A physical card will arrive tomorrow morning. Pretty neat, I thought.

We’d been doing this wrong for 35 years! While making coffee this morning, used a tip we recently learned: add one drop of water before grinding. This reduces static which causes coffee grounds to clump and stick to the grinder. The grinder only needs a quick wipe with a sponge.

Met with two members of our building’s garden club to plan improvements we’d like to the irrigation on a roof deck. Updated a document that will be part of a request for quote. We were treated to delicious home-made scones, and I left with three more for later.

Today was chilly, windy, and damp, a good day to go through a heap of papers, scanning what I want to retain, then shredding every last sheet.

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.