Monthly Archives: June 2006

Check this out. A couple weeks ago I dropped my indestructible old-school brick of a cell phone on my concrete driveway and, while it didn’t technically break, it would only stay powered on until it rang. Not exactly optimal phone behavior, so long story short, I got a new phone. I also switched providers. Not because I had anything against my old provider [Cingular], it’s just that Verizon had a better free phone offer that week, and I wasn’t really interested in paying for a phone.
Then today I got a *full monthly bill* from Cingular. I was all “huh”, so I called them and waited on hold to ask the customer service lady why they were sending me a full bill when I had only been a Cingular customer for like 3 days of the billing cycle before I switched to Verizon. “I figured you’d prorate it or something,” I say. That’s when she politely explained that if you’re a customer for even a single day, you pay for the entire month. I just laughed and said “that’s so stupid and mean spirited” and she said “that’s our policy” and I said, “ok, well have a nice night” and I hung up the phone.
That one surprised me. Now you won’t be surprised. You’re welcome.

Hey look, it’s Libby sailing again for the first time in a couple of years. Woohoo!
We’ve finally found a suitable home for the boat, up north at Libby’s parent’s cabin. Before that it spent a lonely season parked in my parent’s backyard, unused and far from water, but still loved when we remembered to think about it. Before *that* it spent a couple of lonely seasons moored to [frickin' expensive] buoys in lakes around the Twin Cities. Nice locations, sure, but none of them were really that convenient, so again it wasn’t used as much as it should have been. (The buoys on Harriet, for example, are given out based on a tiered seniority system, meaning first-timer renters from outside the city of Minneapolis are given buoys like 4 miles from the dock. Brutal.)
The new home will be ideal. Libby can use the boat, her dad can use the boat, it’s right next to shore, it’s a perfect sized lake, and the list goes on.
Still to do:
- find the keys to the lock on the cutty
- if unable to find key, buy a bolt cutter
- figure out how to cover the boat
- figure out how to auto-bilge when we’re not there
- winter storage

It’s been a great spring for strawberries, or at least that’s what they told me when I called the berry farm to ask how the season was progressing. It was so good, in fact, that the girl on the phone told me that the peak had come a week or so early this year, and that the end of the season was maybe only two weeks out. That was all I needed to hear. I had a date with a berry patch, stat.
Like every other year, we way, way, way overpicked. I’ve made a double batch of jam and vacuum sealed a few pounds worth and Libby made a pie and we’ve eaten them with most every meal and also managed to squeeze in a couple of killer late night world-cup halftime ice cream sundaes and we still have a TON left to eat. I’m going to knock out a few more batches of jam and try and freeze a bunch more and then call it a season. The crazy part is we picked them all in like 45 minutes. And that includes like 38 minutes of sitting in the patch stuffing my face with “free” berries. I must pick fast or something.
For those of you who haven’t jammed yet, I had great luck with the liquid pectin this year. Both batches were set before morning. I’m never going back to powder. I’d post the recipe, but I just follow the one in the box, so just look for it there.
Berry on.
Bauer Berry Farm [bauerberry] – this is where we go
Pick Your Own [pickyourown] – more local places; lemme know if you find a good one

Over the last few years the Nature Valley Grand Prix bike race has easily become one of my most looked forward to events of the summer. In fairness, I’ve only ever been to the downtown Minneapolis stage, so maybe the other stages are lame, but the downtown race is a blast to watch. The riders go hard, the people cheer loud, and it’s held in a neat downtowny type of environment. What’s not to love?
Libby and junior came down to meet me after work. We hung out and walked around for a while. Then the skies grew dark. And darker. And darker. Then we felt a drop. Good time to go get some dinner, we figure. We run down to Chipotle, which I can eat at now that McDonald’s spun them off. Maybe 4 minutes later the weather went gonzo. Huge thunder and lightening, tons of hail, sideways rain, display tents flying through the air, your basic everyday storm of the century.
Fifteen or so minutes later it was over, at which point dozens of race volunteers scampered around setting everything back up and pretending that nothing had happened. It was kind of hard not to, though, seeing as streets were soaked and full of slippery leaves and branches and all sorts of other debris that you’d expect to see if a small hail-spitting tornado roared through downtown. “No way they can race,” I say.
But wouldn’t you know it, the ladies race only started 15 minutes late. And around and around they went. A little more cautiously than in other years, and I’m certain there were at least a few wipe outs, but they raced just the same. Proved me wrong.
As the men were warming up the skies got dark again. They started the race anyway. The rain was already falling during the first lap. By the second lap I was heading for my car. I’m guessing they raced for maybe 3 minutes after I left, because the sideways rain from a few hours before had returned for an encore by the time I walked through my first skyway. Ouch.
Here’s hoping for better weather next year.
Nature Valley Grand Prix [minnbikefestival]