Fitness Together

Had my first session with trainer at Fitness Together tonight. I feel like a got hit by a truck. It was a leg and ab session. I have not been working out consistently since the beginning of the year when I went to London and boy am I feeling it.

I think I'd be wiped anyway. I've never had a trainer or someone pushing me. And push Jesse did. I go back tomorrow for upper body and a different trainer.

Hopefully I'll be able to walk the block and a half to get there. I almost didn't make it back home tonight! :-)

Toyota Prius

A short week in Chicago. A delayed flight on Monday so an upgrade at Hertz.

I have never had a Prius before and have only been for a short ride in one. Where to begin? Let me try starting from the very first.

Another keyless starter. With the Prius, the keyless fob has to be in a slot next to the steering column before you can press the 'Start' button. And when you start it, the gasoline engine doesn't actually start. It starts in electric mode. My Escape Hybrid always starts with the gasoline engine running. So there's a bit of wondering whether your started or not.

The other problem about not knowing if the car is started or not is that there aren't any dials or instrument panel like a normal car. There are some digital indicators and a digital speedometer way forward under the windshield.

Then to figure out how to get in reverse. There isn't a shifter between the front seats. There isn't a shifter on the steering column. There is a knobby thing to the right of the key slot with R - N - B and a button labeled "P."

The driver's seat is quite high and the windshield is long and low. I like to sit up high but I don't like having the roof line and visors right in my line of sight. The side mirrors are big and adjust like I like them. The rear of the car is low sloping and has glass down to the bumper. It is kind of an odd look through the rear view mirror.

Getting used to the controls and instrument panel takes a bit of getting used to. The Prius has good pickup though there is a delay when pressing on the gas pedal and the car's reaction. You really feel like you're driving by wire in this vehicle. I did get the wheels to squeal pulling out into traffic at one point.

The Prius is definitely an impressive vehicle. It is like driving a concept car with all the high tech knobs and indicators. The Info panel controls the audio, ventilation and vehicle data. It certainly helped being kind of techno-junkie.

Chicago

Heading to Chicago today. Or supposed to. Got a phone call from American Airlines at 4:45am to let me me know my 7:50am flight was postponed to 10:00am. The voicemail said to call. I did but there is only one other flight this morning. It is a 9:25 and already sold out. The reservation's person said my plane was being repaired and they needed a part. That is always a bad sign. Wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing gets canceled.

We had some big lightening and thunder storms roll through between 2:00 and 3:00am. Looks like it the storms are heading toward Chicago -- something else that might delay or cancel the whole thing.

Minneapolis construction/deconstruction tour

A couple of weeks ago I hopped on my bike to take a construction/deconstruction tour.

First I went to the former site of the Guthrie Theater. A building I worked in for seven years and was the reason I came to Minnesota in the first place back in 1987. Here is what it looks like now.


As you can see. It is gone. For those of you that have been here. This picture was taken from across the street on the sculpture garden side. What you would have seen was a wall of glass that was the lobby.
Here is a picture with the remaining part of the Walker Art Museum. There is actually an underground parking lot in there.



I then went down to see the site of the new Twins baseball stadium. It is going to be right downtown next to the Target Center. I know the site and couldn't figure out in my head how it was going to fit in such a small space.

You can make out the baseball diamond they have draw on the existing parking lot. Home plate is just above the trailer on the left.
You can see there is a road bridge in left outfield. I'm standing on another road bridge taking this picture and talking to a hobo about how he doesn't think it is going to fit either. Center and right outfield is bordered by another street.
I think it is going to be awfully small.

I then rode my bike to the Mississippi River to see the collapsed I-35W bridge. I couldn't get very close. There were a lot of people down at the river looking. I think it was good that you couldn't get close. They were still looking for victims then and that should be done without people taking pictures.

The new Guthrie is down by the river and close to the bridge collapse. I took a picture but it was too bright and didn't come out.

I rode down the Mississippi River bike path where there are great views of the city and the river. The new Greenway Bike Path is completed to the river and goes practically right by my house. It is a beautifully constructed bike way. Safe, wide and comfortable. Midtown Greenway map

Mercury Mariner

The Mercury Mariner is the Lincoln/Mercury version of the Ford Escape that I own. My rental vehicle wasn't a hybrid like mine but was a six cylinder. It was also the 2008 model which is slight redesign.

The Mariner definitely feels more like a car than a truck. The interior is nice and the seats are cushier than mine. The controls are pretty much the same as the one in my vehicle. I really like the big windows and the big side rearview mirrors. The hood seems a lot longer than mine. That may be part of the redesign.

There is so much room in the interior that one of my passengers thought it was an Explorer! I might have to consider the Mariner hybrid version if I ever trade mine. Definitely worth a look if you are looking for a nice SUV. The gas mileage indicator showed an average 21 mpg.

Dallas - freezing

Back in Dallas again this week. And it is freezing...in the office. The combination of keeping the building very cold and all the air-conditioning dumping into our conference room combines to an absolutely freezing environment.

If there were enough moisture in the air, I think it would be snowing!

Toyota Corolla

This week's vehicle was a very basic model of the Toyota Corolla. It didn't even have power locks.

Not much to say about it. Drives okay. Looks okay. Not that I need bells and whistles but simply nothing extraordinary good or bad.

What a difference in Lattitude

Dallas was in the low 100's Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. A 'cool' front came through on Thursday bringing high 90's instead!

Flew home last night and arrived to a beautiful mid-70's. If you look at a map, Dallas and Minneapolis are almost in a line north and south. You only have to take one Interstate between the two cities - I35.

It is supposed to stay in the mid-70's the rest of the week.

Pat and Judy Kelly

My friend, John Arnone, introduced me to Pat and Judy Kelly of Dallas, Texas a few months ago. Pat and Judy are a professors at the University of Dalls and head of the theatre department.

They invited me over to dinner last night and we had such an enjoyable time. They are the nicest people and have wonderful theatre stories from all over and especially the Guthrie when Sir Tyrone Guthrie was there.

Many thanks to John for hooking us up and many many thanks to Pat and Judy for entertaining a lone traveller away from home.

Dallas. Ah, real heat.

Heading to Dallas this week. Checked out the weather and it looks like its going to be a scorcher.

A Coke commercial

You may see my nephew, Raymond Reed, in a Coke commercial one of these days. He won the Coke Race at his recent Horse Barrel Race competition. Someone gave his name to a commercial agent and there was a video shoot this past week.

Here he is running the race...

The photo source is here
And another photo is here

Subaru Impreza review

Haven't reviewed my vehicle from last week in Chicago. I had a Subaru Impreza. It is a sporty sedan. I had a Subaru Legacy a few weeks back in North Carolina and really enjoyed that in the hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I didn't get to do much actual driving while in the south Chicago suburbs. Traffic construction and congestion doesn't allow for much in the way of enjoyable driving.

Nonetheless, these Subarus are fun to drive. The all-wheel drive is definitely a plus and they have very nice power. The seats aren't the most comfortable is one drawback.

The ventilation system is easy and convenient to control. I especially liked the vent controls with knobs that you twist to open and close the vents and also move to direct the air flow.

The dashboard was easy to read and not cluttered. I would recommend this vehicle.

Home this week

Sorry for no updates lately. Not much going on. I'm home this week. Yeah!

The plan for working from home was so we could get more of our tasks done without the interference of meetings. Well, that didn't really work today. Had one meeting that went from 11am to 12:30. Then another meeting from 1pm to 3pm. Chewed up a big chunk of the day. Tomorrow looks about the same.

Water, water every where

After all the stuff about the bridge last night and it was still so muggy, I decided to take a shower to cool off. There wasn't any water pressure in my shower and I was cursing the new faucet. Then I realized it was just the hot water and thought, "Oh boy, I hope the water heater hasn't finally blown." I went downstairs and there was water all over the place. It wasn't the water heater but the washing machine hose. The hot water hose and burst and was spewing water all over the basement.

The water heater was running like gangbusters. The dehumidifer was cranking away. The washing machine itself was full of water. The sink was full of water. It was a mess.

I shut the water off. Called my neighbor Mather at 10:30pm to borrow his wet vac and started cleaning up. Fortunately I had gotten rid of tons of stuff in the garage sale and had completely straightened up the basement taking almost everything off the floor and putting it on shelves. I had been fearing my almost 15 year old water heater was going to go. The water had stayed pretty much on one side of the basement.

It is all dry and very clean now.

I had been wanting to clean the floors. So, now they're clean!

I am home and safe

If you haven't heard, the bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed today. It occurred while I was in the air traveling from Chicago.

I do not travel over that section of the highway as it is north of me and the airport is south.

It looks like a terrible tragedy. Still no word of deaths. Prayers and thoughts to the victims, rescuers and all their families.

AOL Story and Pictures

Jogging and Nature

I went jogging last night. Okay, don't laugh. I actually did go jogging even though someone walking would probably have easily passed me. All this travel has lead to some bad eating habits and I haven't been going to the gym on a regular basis (read - not at all when I'm home).

There is a state forest next to the hotel that has a trail. I was hoping to see some nature. Ya'll know how much I likes me nature.

First there was a bunny in the middle of the trail. Then I saw a red-tailed squirrel off to the side. I'm thinking this is prime deer country and BAM! There's a whole herd of them. Probably ten or so. Some on the trail. Others just off in the woods. There is a stream and some are there. A doe with a fawn and four or more bucks with antlers. The antlers still have their fur on them.

The deer pretty much just watched me like I watched them. I was easily within 15 or 20 feet of one or two. It was so cool. They are really beautiful.

As I continued jogging down the path I ran into several other smaller groups of deer. The trail ends up next to the Des Plaines river. At one point it opens onto a field of Queen Anne's Lace. Mostly the trail is in the woods which have these incredible oak trees.

I was so glad I went.