Walking in Silence

Today I walked through a solemn space filled with sounds of flowing water, wishing for an alternate history that does not lead to this place.

Snapshots: Circling and Framing a Volcano

Sakurajima dominates the view across the bay from Kagoshima, southern Japan. It's one of the world's most active volcanoes, regularly raining ash on the city. Surfaces can feel gritty, accumulations of dust are a hazard to cyclists.

Hotel rooms with a view of Sakurajima fetch a premium. Directions are expressed relative to the volcano; e.g., "walk towards Sakurajima." It's a common element in public art.

Yesterday, I cycled around the volcano.

Using Social Media to Resolve an Issue with United Airlines

We're off to New Zealand in December. There are no nonstop flights from hometown Minneapolis (MSP) to New Zealand, but I found one-stop itineraries through Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco, and Houston. These are good cities to connect through in the winter: they don't get shut down by snow.

Everything was fine until United changed our optimal one-stop itinerary to two stops. This added several hours to the journey, and introduced opportunities for misconnects.

Snapshots: Superior Hiking Trail 2017

Each October we drive up to the North Shore of Lake Superior to hike sections of the Superior Hiking Trail.

Travel Gear: Packing Hiking Boots

The first frost of the season nipped Minneapolis this week, signaling less cycling and more hiking. My boots are squeaky clean and ready.

Boots are bulky, which is an issue when flying with a small carry-on backpack. It's amazing how much you can stuff into boots, then further reduce the bulk by tying the laces tightly.

I took the pictures at the top of this post a few years ago to show the contents of my boots. I no longer stuff anything metal or electrical into them since my collision with London Heathrow Security. I was grateful when the kind official put my suspicious-looking boots back through the X-ray scanner, rather than have me empty them.

A Manual for New Homeowners

This week we hand off our house to new owners. In recent days I have been putting together an online manual for the buyers to make it easier for them to settle in.

Poms Don't Tub

Cab service improved in Minneapolis in the 1990's. Cabs started to be well-maintained, drivers were clean and respectful, Minnesota Public Radio, rather than loud rock, was playing quietly. The driver may have worked as a physician or a teacher or an engineer in Somalia, but now he was working his way back up.

In the past year I've spent many days pacing the corridors of Methodist Hospital in a Minneapolis suburb. As with any well-run medical facility, surfaces were being cleaned non-stop. I was cheerfully acknowledged by housekeeping staff from far-away places like Somalia, Myanmar, Tibet, and the former Soviet Union.

Minneapolis Bronze Statues

Yesterday, I went cycling with my friend, Dave, as we do every week in the warmer months. Sometimes we cycle a loop, sometimes we pick a theme, sometimes we meander. On Dave's suggestion we went in search of Minneapolis bronze statues.

We met next to the baseball park at Target Field light rail station. Dave loves baseball, so our first task was to search among the statues surrounding the stadium for local hero, Harmon Killebrew. 

The Consequences of Being Too Paperless

A few years ago we decided we would eliminate as much paper as possible.

Eliminating paper has been a satisfying but imperfect journey.

Our records are available to us when we travel, we no longer have a filing cabinet. 100% of our tax records, including receipts, are electronic and meet Internal Revenue Service standards.

However, along the way, we inadvertently tossed out the titles to our cars. We have scans, but a scan is not sufficient to complete a transfer of ownership.

In 2003 we purchased a BMW 3 Series car. It's the most (so-called) "refined" car we've ever owned, but ownership has been absurdly expensive.

Now, the engine won't turn over: it's time to donate it to Newgate School, a nonprofit that trains auto mechanics. If our experience is typical, the trainees, will make a good living repairing BMW cars.