Memories of Mom #34
Mom wore glasses or contacts for my entire life: pictures of her as a teen or young mother show her in groovy, hip, fashionable glasses. I do not know when…
Windows IRL #4
Everyone know I am not a fan of the Windows operating system - or more truthfully anything Microsoft - so it's always exciting to find their mistakes out in the…
Pazzaluna
Pazzaluna, the beloved Italian restaurant in downtown St. Paul, has reappeared after four years ... at least temporarily. After twenty-two years, Pazzaluna closed in May 2020 just months into the…
Death of a Tree
Our neighbor's tree has not had a good summer. The left-most branch cracked during a storm, dropping its canopy on their porch roof and slightly breaking a window, loud enough…
Return to Office Insanity Part II
A follow-up to my previous post. Previously my employer emphatically declared a no enforced return-to-office policy, in whatever form, at least as long as the current VP ran engineering. Wednesdays…
Random Learnings #17
I occasionally go to the University of Minnesota's Wilson Library to view microfilms of old newspapers. Today, I was reading about Queen Victoria's death in January 1901 and stumbled across…
Windows IRL #1
As a technologist, I'm always interested in learning about the underlying technologies. Once, I intently watched an airplane's entertainment system go through a Linux reboot. I recently added new use…
Where The Mississippi River Starts
I first met the Mississippi River in 1972 when my mom moved - with me and my two siblings from Brooklyn, NY to rural Iowa. We first arrived in Clinton,…
The Bonsais of Omiya
If your visions or memories of Japan lead to thoughts of bonsai trees, you should visit Omiya, Japan, a town specifically founded for bonsai growers. Omiya Though mentioned as if…
Tollbooth Nostalgia
My first memories of highway driving are of my parents throwing us three kids into our (their) VW Bug and driving from NYC to Connecticut to visit the grandparents: take…