Its Open

All last summer and fall, I watched the construction of the Mozaic project in Uptown which includes the first pedestrian only bridge across the Minneapolis Greenway.

Today the bridge opened to no fanfare.  I plan on using it as a short cut to Isles Bun & Coffee and to Old Chicago.

On the Mozaic side there are several sculptures in the plaza in front of the new building.

The building and multi-level parking ramp has not opened yet.

Weird

Weird walking to Isles this Monday morning for coffee.  I am working from home today and tomorrow before flying to Hawaii for a little vacation.

Even weirder was lunch at Old Chicago yesterday with Amy, Bunny, Rose and Loretta.  Amy was about to make some cutting remark about my beard not being very gray for an "ol...." -- this is where it got weird.  Amy actually edited herself in mid-sentence and didn't finish.  Boy did that make us all laugh.

Neighborhood Falcon

This photo doesn't really do it justice.

I was walking back from coffee and saw the perfect silhouette of a bird on the side of a house.  I realised that the bird must be very very close because the shadow was large and defined.

That's when I saw the falcon perched in a tree.  It was may 15 feet away from me.  By the time I got my cell phone camera out, she had hopped up the same tree so was still close but not like at first.

I heard birds still chirping and singing which I thought was odd with this major predator bird so close.  That's when I noticed the bush next to the sidewalk had about half dozen sparrows in it.  They were not about to fly out even though I was standing right next to them.

I love my neighborhood.

A first

I must have been in worse condition than I thought yesterday.  Because this morning I cannot find my rental car keys!

I only left my room three times yesterday and only once did I leave the hotel.  Once to go to lunch around the corner so I didn't drive.  Then once so the maid could clean and again in the evening for dinner.  But the last two times I never even left the hotel.

I did not drive after coming back to the hotel yesterday morning to rest and sleep off this cold.  I am feeling much better today but now have to deal with rental car.  This is going to be expensive.

Under the weather

It is a beautiful day in Charlotte.  Normally I wouldn't really know that because I am stuck inside all day for work.  But today I left the office at 9:30am to return to the hotel to rest and try to get over a cold I caught over the weekend.

I cannot remember the last time I left a client site or didn't go in because of not feeling well.  Hopefully some rest will help.

A snowy departure

An early morning freezing mist made the drive from home to the airport a nervous 20 minutes.  The airport was not crowded and by the time I walked to the gate, the weather had switched to snow and was coming down fairly heavy.

The plane had to be de-iced but not at the gate. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I saw was the de-icing machine and we were very far from the terminal. When we started to head to the runway, I noticed the snow plows.

The snow plows were performing a well-choreographed dance to clear the runway of snow and ice. It was fascinating.  The pilot informed us the airport had closed for a short time while the runways were cleared.

Our takeoff was an hour late but I had missed most of it apparently. Charlotte was very foggy and misty not unlike Minneapolis except there wasn't any freezing.

Winter has finally arrived

It was 1 degree when we landed on Thursday and it snowed on Friday.  It didn't snow much but at least there is white covering the ground finally.

The week of my birthday is statistically the coldest and this year proved it.

What?

The flight attendant announces that "there are lavatories throughout the plane."  Then follows with, "please be sure to use the lavatory in your section of the plane."

First of all there are three lavatories.  One in the front and two in the rear.  That is hardly "throughout". Its not like there's a bathroom at the wings.  

And why tell us about all the facilities, when they really want those of us us in steerage to walk all the way to the rear and those in first class to take a couple of steps to the front lav??  Tgis wasn't the first flight attendant to make the anouncement this way. 

Birthday dessert

Many thanks to my friends, family, and co-workers for all the birthday wishes.

It was a very nice day.

A Monday-day

A rare Monday day working from home.  Delta did not schedule an early morning flight to Charlotte today.  I am assuming that is because it is Martin Luther King Day.  Rather than fly in the middle of the day and lose a day of work, I'm flying tonight.

It sounds like I'm getting out of Minneapolis just in time.  A cold blast is forecasted to start tonight.

And now the bathroom

The bathroom countertop was also tiled. The problem here wasn't the grout lines. It was just ugly.

When I had the bathroom re-done in 2006/07, I couldn't come up with a good but cheap surface and settled on the same tiles that are on the floor.  It looked cheesy.

Now it looks finished.

The kitchen and bathroom cabinets are of the same Shaker style.  The kitchen cabinets are light hickory.  The bathroom are a dark finish. The crushed walnut shell countertop compliments and co-ordinates the two.

New Kitchen Counter Top

 It has already been ten years since I remodeled my kitchen.  That was a big job and I have loved my kitchen.

 I was warned about a tiled counter top.  The grout lines can be difficult to keep clean and stuff gets caught.

And it has been true.  It isn't really too bad but the grout was getting a bit grungy looking.

 So I decided last year I would replace the counter top.  I searched around for an eco-friendly surface.  I was really thinking of the crushed glass tops I've seen on HGTV but they are really expensive.

I found this surface at Natural Built Home in Minneapolis.  The counter top is made of crushed walnut shells in an epoxy.  There are many shades of browns.  The surface is polished and waxed.

I order the counter top before Christmas.  After taking detailed measurements, the counter top was fabricated and now delivered today.

 This is an interesting closeup shot which shows the pieces of the shells.

This closeup shows the different shades of brown.

The little things

I got my aisle seat on the plane.  Kind of in the back which I'm used to.  But somehow on a very crowded flight I'm in the row without anyone in the middle seat.

And we arrived 40 minutes ahead of scheduled time.  Worked out great because I had more time to take the bathroom countertop apart.

A team dinner

Not much to talk about today.  Finally, we had a little work team outing.  Wasn't organized by the company or anything.  Just a few of us out to a restaurant. It was real nice to have social time with co-workers.

Cell phone free zone, please

Standing in line to order food.

When you are in line at a cafeteria or lunch line, hang up the phone.  Talking or texting on the cell before or after ordering you food is not making the line move very quickly.  It is rude to the rest of us, not to mention the food workers.

Hang up and pay attention, people!

Spectacular moon

The only good thing about getting up at 4am to get to the airport in time for a 7 am flight was seeing a super bright moon shining in a slightly cloudy sky. It was a beautiful site.

My kitchen is torn up for the new counter top install on Friday. So there was no fixing breakfast at home.  I was expecting long lines at airport security now that the holidays are over.  But the lines were shorter than they've been in a long time.  I grabbed a coffee at my mid terminal Carabou - the one with the super hot coffee. Igot some yogurt and two hardboiled eggs at one of the new CIBO merchants on concourse G.

This week I've rented a Ford Fusion with Sync.  I'm going to test the portability of MySync

First Saturday Coffee

A new coffee place for the new year.  We tried out Rye on Hennepin Ave.  Nice and bright.  We had the big rustic table in front.

Lots of laughs and stories.  Great fun.

Bunny, Amy, Jackie, me, James, Linda and Sid

Smoking in flight

I caught an earlier flight home. The evening flight is usually on an Airbus 319. This mid-afternoon flight was on an Embraer 170.  I noticed in the bathroom that there is an ashtray.  The plane appeared to be a newer model so having an ashtray seemed wrong. I figured there weren't any airlines that allowed smoking.

Both flight attendants were sitting on the backrow so I mentioned the oddness.  One of the flight attendants said she thought there were airlines in the East that still allowed smoking.

The same flight attendant recounted an episode just last Spring where someone locked himself in the bathroom and was smoking. He was forcefully removed by two passengers - one a pilot and one a flight controller.

Growth

Another day of meeting after meeting and today the meetings started at 7:30am.  But in one of the meetings someone made a comment about how well the team is getting along.  We said we had all grown and learned.

This got me to thinking about changing one's opinion or perspective because you've learned things and had experiences. Politicians get ragged on for "flip-flopping" but that implies they cannot gain knowledge. They aren't allowed to use life and education to grow.

I'm just saying.

And by the way I'm staying over in Charlotte until Friday.

Hmmm nothing to report

After a 12 1/2 hour work day and don't really have anything to blog about.

Woke up super early so went down to the hotel gym and did half hour of cardio.  Got to the restaurant before it even opened for breakfast.  Then to the office before 7:30am.

Another day of back to back to back meetings.  And now watching some stupid sitcom on tv.

I can report that I am glad that Michele Bachman has dropped out of the GOP presidential race.

Not enough blogging

So my blogging output, or input depending on how you look at it, has been very low.  So I'm going to try something different and do some stream of consciousness blogging.  That means you might get some of my opinion and attitude.

I'm back in Charlotte for work.  A local news story concerns woman who is suing the police for her injuries while in custody.  Based on the in-cruiser video camera, the woman banged her own head against the plastic divider then wrapped the seat belt three times around her own neck.

The officer had left her alone to get assistance.  The woman's lawyer says the police should have done more to protect her from herself.

Really?!  Step up people and take responsibility for your own actions.

The newest member of the clan

Three month old Austin with his bald(ing) great uncle Jeff.

Happy New Year

Had a wonderful New Year's weekend.  Thanks to the many friends that shared and celebrated with me.

New Year's Eve game night at my place was super fun.  Ten of us playing Pictionary, Taboo, and another categories game.  I didn't have to go out in the rain and snow so appreciate those that did.

New Year's Day went to JT and Linda's for their annual gathering.  A big crowd of folks enjoying all the food and Amy's drink concoctions.  The lake was too sketchy to venture out on so everyone stayed indoors.

Tonight was our regular league bowling but we played no-tap where nine on your first ball counted as a strike.  I bowled a 231 and 246!  The scores don't count really but everyone had a lot of fun.

One more day off (Monday) then back to work and traveling.

Happy New Year to all!