St. Paul Winter Carnival

This year's Winter Carnival is going on at the same time as the U.S. Figure Skating Championships (see previous post). Christine and I walked over to Rice Park from the Excel Center to see the ice sculptures.

The artists were still working on them. I'm not sure when the judging is but most were well along. All the trees in Rice Park is covered in white lights and with the lights for the artists working, it was very, very bright. The ice sculptures are so neat.

There aren't very many entrants this year. It is incredible to see the sculptures and especially interesting to watch them working on them. Everyone has an electric chain saw to do the big parts. Saw one person using a hair dryer to make the ice crystal clear. Another guy was using an iron to melt the surfaces of two pieces and then stick them together.

It was in the teens last night which they say is perfect weather. It is supposed to get above freezing tomorrow for a few hours. That isn't supposed to bother the ice too much.

And, no, there is not an ice castle this year again. I guess it is very expensive to build one plus they would have to find a convenient spot which is hard to come by these days.

U.S. Figure Skating Championships

The 2008 U.S. Figure Skating Championships are being held in St. Paul, Minnesota this week. Christine and I went last night to the mens' short program.

There were three groups of six. The two leading contenders were in the first group. Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek. Johnny Weir's program looked flawless to me. His skating is so quiet. You hardly hear his skates at all. His costume was very sparkly and looked extremely difficult to get on and off.

Evan Lysacek is a more athletic looking skater. He had some trouble with a couple of jumps. Their scores were very close though and they ended 1 and 2 respectively.

The skater I think you'll be hearing about in the future is Steven Cairriere. He skating wonderfully and combined athleticism and artistry. He is in third.

I think there is definite bias towards the skaters with known names and histories.

The Excel Center in St. Paul was not full even though there weren't many tickets to purchase. We had great seats and enjoyed the evening competition. We also ate arena food like there was no tomorrow.

Cadillac SRX

Yes, I got a Cadillac this past week while in Dallas. It was the SRX, a SUV style model. I think it is based on the CTS which is the model I leased for 3 years before I got my Ford Escape Hybrid.

Let me list some of the features:
heated drivers seat
heated steering wheel!
motorized lift gate
satellite radio
auto-head lamps
auto-dimming rear mirror
back-up proximity detectors
third-row seating

The interior is very similar to my CTS a few years ago. All the seats are leather. Large steering wheel and large dash display analog gauges.

You expect power from a Caddy and it delivered. It is pretty effortless to drive. I have no idea how much something like this costs but it was definitely very nice.

Check this out

Click the link below and try to tell me the guy in the middle of the banner picture doesn't look just like me....may be a few years younger.

My duplicate?

On the road again...again

Back in Dallas this week. Was hoping for some warmer weather. Pretty much anything is warmer than -13 but it is barely in the 40's here and damp.

Gosh but I whine a lot.

Martha's Christmas tree

I heard of Martha's tree for this past Christmas which didn't sound anything like Martha. Yes, it is an upside-down white tree.

U.S. Pond Hockey Championships

Kay Winter (how's that for an appropriate last name) organized a field trip to the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships taking place on Lake Nakomis in South Minneapolis.

It also happens to be the coldest weekend of the season. The high on Saturday was -3 degrees!

It just so happened that my sister, Betty, sent me this great "Hot Waves" head/face/neck covering for my birthday. That thing worked great. I also had three layers on my legs and torso.

I had two pairs of socks including an all-wool pair. But my left foot got really cold near the end.

Watching the games was a lot of fun. There were nearly 30 rinks. The games are four-on-four with no goalies and no goal tending, checking or fighting. All the games were going on at once and consisted of 2 15 minute periods.

There was also a giant warming house and as Kay remarked "you could feel the testosterone in there." While there were some women players and several women spectators, it was true that the number of men and the sweaty, wintery, masculine feel in the warming house was palpable.

Celebration

There's part of the gang that celebrated my birthday yesterday. I had fun and think everyone else did, too. It was so nice to see so many people and to spend the time sharing stories.

A big "THANK YOU" to everyone who showed up, those who called, those who emailed, those who snail-mailed, and those who thought about it.

Sparrows in a bush

I was walking to one of the many coffee shops in my neighborhood this afternoon. I like to get out of the house to work occasionally and see that there actually are people and sunshine and traffic and noise.

I'm walking down the sidewalk and hear birds. Lots of birds. I look around but don't see them. They sound like maybe they're in the attic of the house on the corner. Or in the tree behind the house. Then the sound stops. Not a peep.

Then they start up again. All at once and all of them. That's when I notice it is a flock of sparrows in a bush. The bush looks alive! They are all puffed up trying to stay warm! It is kind of a magical moment.

Super Supper

Had a wonderful dinner last night (Monday) with my dear friend John Arnone and mutual friends Pat and Judy Kelly and Raye and Candace Birk.

John's birthday is on January 12 and mine is 17th so we celebrated our birthdays together. Dinner was at the Monte Carlo...a restaurant in the Minneapolis warehouse district that has been around since 1906 and was a favorite of Garland Wright's.

John, Pat, Judy, Raye and Candace are all theatre people. And I mean BIG TIME theatre people. I've mentioned Pat and Judy before on this blog. They live in Dallas and they have invited me over to their home for a fantastic dinner and stories, stories, stories.

Last night was such a treat. A wonderful birthday event.

Just not much going on

There is an IRS rule about traveling and working in a location away from your normal tax for more than a year. Something about your travel expense becomes taxable and maybe some other rules that have an adverse affect on your taxes.

The team that has been traveling to Dallas is trying to take January off from traveling to Dallas so that we don't run into the IRS problem. I wouldn't run into it until July but just as well to reset now if possible. For about a day and half this past week it looked like I was going to have to be in Dallas for a few days next week but then it didn't hold.

So just working from home and trying to stave off cabin fever. Been gray and gloomy most of the week. We finally got a little dusting of snow last night. Really helps to put a clean layer on our snow.

Godfather

I was honored this past weekend with attending the christening of my great-nephew Alexander Best and acting as one of Alex's god parents.

Alex's mom is my niece Gracie Kay Best. The christening was in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, home of Alex's dad's (Nate) parents. I drove like a crazy person from Minneapolis to Eau Claire on Sunday morning. It was dangerously foggy and the drive was further than I had planned. Fortunately nothing bad happened and I made it to the church on time.

Alex is 13 months old and is as cute as can be.

Mercury Milan

I almost forgot to review the car I rented during my trip in Virginia. I got a new Mercury Milan. A mid-sized vehicle with lots of features. It was a really nice car.

Easy to drive. Powerful. Comfortable.

One of the first things I do when I get in the car is adjust the side rear view mirrors. I like large mirrors and most importantly mirrors that adjust out using a technique from State Farm. Here is a link to the National Motorist Association web site on how to adjust your side mirrors. click here On some cars you cannot get the mirrors to adjust out far enough. Mazdas seem to be one model that has this problem. The Mercury Milan with its wide mirrors and adjustments is like I like them.

The gauges are easy to read. The leather seats are way comfy. The trunk is huge. I highly recommend this vehicle.

A warm up?

Supposed to have our January warm up this weekend. Should be in the 30's and may be 40 by Sunday. Only in Minnesota can you call the high 30's a warm up.

We'll lose some of our snow but we've had 18 inches already (about 8 still on the ground) so there is enough to melt a bit.

To contrast...the week of my birthday is usually the coldest week of the year.

A Wisconsin New Year

Spent New Year's Eve at a cabin near Webster, Wisconsin. Friends Peter and Duane have a lake side cabin in a community that includes several other gay and lesbian couples from Minneapolis.

Peter and Duane hosted the New Year's Eve dinner and celebration. Peter is an amazing cook so we had wonderful food. Duane and I made a luge kind of snow slide with inner tubes. Duane and a friend got some really big fireworks. Peter built a great outdoor fire.

There were eighteen people all together. Lots of food and drink. Sliding at midnight lit by smudge pots. And fireworks shot off on the lake. It was so nice.

The evergreen trees are covered with snow like frosting. It was beautiful just driving up there.

Happy 2008!