Sad sight

The giant elm tree at Lake and Emerson, a block from my house, is marked for removal. I suppose some people will blame it on the new hotel's construction. It might be, but it also might be that it has simply run out of room here in the city.

It is weird to say you've enjoyed a tree but this one has been impressive and graces the neighborhood. It will be missed.

My first day at the hardware store

I have started part-time employment at my neighborhood hardware store. It is a national chain with several franchises here in the Twin Cities.

I spent a few hours last week doing on-line training. Today was my first day in the actual store. I was assigned as a cashier and shadowed a very friendly associate for a few minutes before turning the roles and he shadowed me.

The store is definitely a neighborhood kind of place where most people walk to the store and purchase smaller items. My largest sale in my 5 hour shift was for $95. And that was for a single item.

There were several house account customers. Mostly local apartment building types looking to purchase small repair project items.

The store is very busy with these small sale transactions but most interesting (and confusing) to me were the number of returns. Nearly every other transaction involved a return. I'm still not sure I got the process down completely because there a variety of steps ... or it may be it just seemed that way to me.

Before my shift was over I was on my own. Thankfully there is always someone to help just a headset call away.

Also, my first day I interacted with 3 people I knew including the owner of Isles Bun and Coffee, my old ophthalmologist and a customer from Juiced Nutrition. There was a fourth customer that I know from my store but he didn't see me.

I guess I did okay because I got my schedule for the rest of the week. Now I just need to learn where everything is in the store!

Now we're talking low temps

Even -5 at my house in Uptown.

Juiced Nutrition update and an ugly incident

This blog is where I post my thoughts, my story, my travels, etc. I have shied away from writing about my business because I didn't want this place to be about promotion.

But my business has become my life and my life is impacted by my business.

So the honestly the business is doing really, really poorly.

People say it is the weather...time of year...holidays...etc. While those may be partially true, it seems that the business itself is not catching on. There are nearly 1,000 tenants in the three buildings that the business is located in yet rarely does a resident drop in. Emails and promotions to the residents have fallen like an overnight snow.

Hours go by between customers. So far there has not been a day without at least one customer but I am anticipating the day when there are zero customers.

I have done social media - Facebook and Instagram - including running ads on both platforms. Also running ad on Yelp which I wasn't aware that I had done. Ironically, I believe the Yelp ad has brought in a few customers but they have mostly been out-of-towners so not likely to return.

One Yelp customer did come in several times before leaving town. And another Yelp customer who was visiting town did bring her parents who live in the neighborhood back to the store. These customers give the illusion that the idea of the store is not crazy but to say they are few and far between is even an exaggeration.

The simple fact that friends I have known for a long time and who have been supportive in words but have not been supportive in deeds seems to indicate that the idea of the store was misguided.

The initial idea of the store was to provide protein shakes for pre- and post-workout nutrition. The majority of customers are not coming from nor going to a workout or class. So the initial idea was wrong. The marketing has shifted to providing a healthy and nutritional whole food ingredient meal source.

The location is potentially a problem because there are no other retail stores nearby or within eye-shot. The location along the Midtown Greenway could be an advantage in the spring and summer but that is just speculation (though the choice of location was based on this).

Another problem I face is that my mother's passing right before the store opened has greatly impacted my enthusiasm. My mom was always my champion even when she questioned what I was doing. I always knew she had my back and could be supportive in her way. That support is gone and there really isn't anything or anyone to replace that.

It sometimes help me to write out my thoughts so I may continue to do this here.

Today's post was prompted by an incident that just happened as I was walking home from the coffee shop. The incident was  unrelated to the business.

First all, I patronize a local coffee shop-bakery and am honestly pissed off that the owners have not come to my store but I still support their business. As I was walking home in my now usual funk, I coughed and a man 50 yards ahead of me turned around and yelled at me, "What the fuck, you fucking gay homo!" -- or something like that.

I was dumbstruck. What on earth was that!? Was he crazy? Did he mistake me for someone else? He kept rambling on about my probably wanting to break the law and I deserved it and that he was crazy and that I was crazy and that he was a musician and that he apologized and that I deserved it and that I looked liked someone he knew and that I deserved it.

I am not a violent person and I had no desire to do anything other than leave and crawl away.

Uptown hotel project

There has been a need for a hotel in my neighborhood, Uptown, for a long time. Previous attempts have failed due to cost, location or recession. The latest attempt is actually underway....at the top of my street!

Graves Hospitality got approval from the City Planning Commission for a six-story tall building that will contain a Marriott Moxy branded hotel. Their first proposal was for nine stories! That did not sit well with the neighborhood. They seemed to have the six-story version ready in their back pocket.

There was only one small property one of the two lots. The hotel building will take up the entire two lots and will not have parking. The existing building went down in a matter of a couple hours.

Click Here for a picture of the proposed hotel.

Juiced Nutrition announcement

Click on the following link to see the announcement on Facebook.
Juiced Nutrition retail address announcement

Juiced Nutrition

Logo graphic with text in graphic.

Logo graphic with text below.

Those of you following this blog may not be on Facebook where I maintain updates to my new business adventure. I had planned on keeping this blog separate from my business but have now decided to do updates on a very sporadic basis.

You can follow on Facebook, too, as the page is public. Juiced Nutrition Facebook page

After several months of negotiating a space lease and business relationship, two of weeks ago I decided to walk away from those relationships. My analysis indicated that it would not be financially advantageous for me. I felt I was being asked to assume a larger financial burden than the others involved.

At the same time I may have found a new location which I am now pursuing. As with so much in this journey, it has not been a smooth road with the new space. There are obstacles to overcome that I have little or no influence over. I am hoping for another Friday good day tomorrow.

I also wrote about my business start up lessons learned on LinkedIn. My first such article.
LinkedIn Article

Random photos

Saw these two Teslas parked together on my walk back from coffee this morning. Some people have a lot of money.

A friend is in Vail, Colorado for work. He was on his way up the mountain and took this photo out the gondola window. Really makes me want to go.

Line 'em up

New apartment construction project on Girard Avenue, between my house and Isles coffee shop, is having a big concrete pour today. There are five trucks lined up in the photo below and another two were at the pumping station around the corner at the site.

Gracie and Alex visit

My niece Gracie brought her son Alex to spend a year with his father on Wisconsin. They spent a couple of days with me before Alex's dad picked him up on Saturday.

Gracie and Alex flew in to MSP on Wednesday while I was still in Denver for work. They went to a Twins baseball game and stayed the night at the downtown Hilton. My fantastic neighbor Roxi lent them keys to my house so they could check out and move Alex's huge suitcases. I got home a little after 9pm. It was still light out.

I worked a couple of hours Friday morning. They are still on Hawaii time so sleeping in was pretty much assured. We went to Isles Bun and Coffee before going over to St. Paul to the Como Zoo. There was hardly anywhere to park but the zoo and Como Town were not crowded.

We had a wonderful time at the zoo. Got to see the baby gorilla and the baby orangutan. Alex also got to see two gray wolves (wolfes as he calls them). One of the wolves is all white.

Turns out Alex loves carnival rides so an unlimited ride pass at Como Town was perfect. He rode all he could twice.

We drove back to Minneapolis and walked to the Stone Arch Bridge to see the Mississippi River. Alex was starting to run out of steam. Walked over to Izzy's for ice-cream. The goal now was to try to keep Alex up to switch him to Midwest time. By the tome we got back home, all three of us were out of steam. Everyone laid down for a nap.

The Uptown leg of the Northstar bike races was Friday night. We got dinner at Salsa a la Salsa before going to Hennepin Ave to watch the professional bikers race around. Alex's nap hadn't really helped. His biological clock was totally off.

These pro-racers are incredibly fast and fun to watch. We stayed to the end though Alex was done half way through.

Alex's dad Nate drove from Wisconsin on Saturday to pick up Alex. Because Gracie has to finish her tour of duty on Hawaii then go to training in Florida the move to Washington state for her next two year tour, she decided to have Alex spent a full year with his dad and go tone school for third grade. It was an emotional going away.

I took Gracie to the airport after stopping at Chipolte one last time. There are no Chipolte restaurants in Oahu.

My new shortcut

As posted earlier, the Gerard Avenue pedestrian bridge is open and is a fantastic shortcut from my place to Old Chicago and Isles Bun & Coffee.

The plaza on the Uptown side is filled with sculptures and what looks like a water feature once the weather allows.

view of pedestrian bridge and new "flux" apartments

the giant head - he isn't allowed to smoke either :-)

the giant arrow is a drinking fountain!

I think this is from an old amusement ride

Important Community News

For everyone living or driving through Uptown...the block between Lake and Lagoon is now a two-way street.  This block has been one-way for years. 

I am assuming that now because of the new parking ramp on Girard which exits onto Fremont, this block of Fremont has been made two-way to allow traffice to get onto Lake Street to proceed east.  For those of us who are accustomed to driving on the left side of Fremont to turn left onto Lagoon, take heed.  You cannot do that anymore.

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.

City Of Lakes Loppet

The quintessential Minneapolis event...the City Of Lakes Loppet.
1) outdoors
2) athletics and arts
3) winter -- snow and ice
4) Uptown location

Christine and I made it to one of the biking events this year. I thought the bike races were speed ovals but turns out they are agility races on a complicated course with turns.  The bike races are on the lagoon between Lake of the Isles and Lake Calhoun.  Was kind of interesting to watch but not so much.

The loppet gets people out and on the frozen lakes.  It is such a neat thing to have thousands of people out and about on the snow covered lakes.

The highlight for me is the luminary loppet on Saturday night.  There are thousands of candle luminaries made from frozen water.  The luminaries light the course for the cross-country skiers and those of us who just walk it.

There were fire artists.

There was a mystical forest lit with ice sculptures illuminated with candles.  There were candles in the trees. It was so beautiful and not really photographical unfortunately.

There was free hot chocolate...real hot chocolate not the instant stuff.  There were warming fires along the way.  There were snow sculptures.

Talking Walk Sign

The cross-walk to get across Hennepin Avenue at the Uptown Transit Station now talks to you. It lets you know when to start and has a beeper that goes until you should not attempt to cross.

Speaking of Uptown, lots of work going on at Calhoun Square. The south side of parking ramp is being stuccoed. The footings and one wall of new Kitchen Window space on south end are being worked on.

A new I-beam construction of the northeast corner is up. And today there is a big crane on Lake Street moving new HVAC equipment up on the roof.

Uptown Update

I started this entry quite a while ago and never finished.

Floyd's Barber Shop at Fremont and Lake is about ready to open. Looks like a chain of kind of upscale barbershop concept. About time something went in that prime corner of that building.

Cowboy Slim's Saloon is replacing the former Campiello location at Girard and Lake. They've taken the existing building from it's Italian villa style and made it into a Texas saloon by using added timbers and a wood deck in the back parking area. They've done a good job on the outside.

Delights of India has opened in the previous Marta's Caribbean and Indian restaurant at Emerson and Lake.

Heard someone at Fitness Together say they thought a lease was being drawn up for the former Indio restaurant in Uptown Row (Lake between Fremont and Emerson). No changes seen yet.

Kelly Williams Real Estate and a mortgage company have taken over the former The Doctors building at Fremont and Lagoon. Looks like they have the entire second floor and even the first floor where the dress store was. Bar Abilene is still on the corner.

After several weeks of no activity at Calhoun Square, the workers are back. Scaffolding has been re-erected on the south side of the parking structure. The footings have been poured for the new Kitchen Window space where Borders used to be.

The north side next to Figlios which was torn down now has new cinder block construction but I'm not sure what it is for. Also on the north side they've opened up the second floor by removing the outer brick...expansion for LA Fitness perhaps??

The new apartment building under construction on Holmes behind The Uptown Bar just looms over everything. It is kind of strange seeing a building taller than the ones on Hennepin. And with the tear down of the Borders section of Calhoun Square, Lotus and Oor Books buildings, you can see this new apartment building from Fremont and 31st.

Mt. Fuji restaurant has opened on Hennepin between Old Chicago and 28th St. Was a long time under construction but it looks nice. It is Asian and sushi with what looks like two bars...may be one is just sushi bar. That location has seen its share of restaurants.

When I was walking around the 'hood, I saw an albino squirrel. Kind of creepy looking.

Uptown and severe weather

I was walking around my neighborhood doing errands and such and was thinking how much a enjoy living in Uptown.

On my way to my favorite coffee shop I ran into Rose sitting outside another coffee shop and we chatted for a bit about the beer festival that was being setup in the street.


The folks at my coffee shop all know me and were shocked when I ordered a different coffee from my usual.


From the coffee shop I headed to my bank. And then to the grocery store. Looking at the various yard gardens people have been working on.

About an hour later I walked up to my training gym and had a great workout. Got home took a shower and Rose stopped by after her baking class at Kitchen Window in Calhoun Square (in Uptown, of course).

Later in the day we had some incredible weather. The weather sirens went off in Uptown but the sun was shining. Turned on the tv and this bad storm was headed my way.

All the sudden it started hailing. A little bigger than pea size hail but lots and lots of it. There wasn't any lightening or thunder. Then it started to rain pretty heavy. It stopped and the sun came out again. Then the hail started again and the sun was still shining bright.

Rose and I were supposed to meet Amy and Bunny at Amy's house. We postponed until the storm was over. Driving to Amy's in St. Louis Park there was so much hail piled up that it looked like a snowstorm had come through.

And there were lots of trees down. A couple of blocks from Amy's, a tree had fallen on a house and there was more hail than I had ever seen.