We got to Children's Hospital in Minneapolis early that day, my wife's labor started for our first child. Always makes it easy for me to remember how many years ago it happened. It was really weird being in that setting while trying to follow the news.
My oldest was born exactly 1 month prior to the bridge going down. I had to cross that bridge to get to the hospital and remember being pissed because I was screaming in labor, and the trip was slowed down by 20 minutes because of construction on the bridge. My youngest was born on this day exactly 7 years ago. I'm old.
I spent most of that night flooded in a Taco Bell while coming home from my first trip to Valleyfair. There were people scuba diving in the Taco Bell parking lot while we were inside the"fishbowl" looking out.
I was also at Valleyfair that day. Crazy!
I knew one of the victims through a business association, but didn't know him well or long. I had heard he survived the initial collapse but drowned while trying to pull others from the river.
Sounds like he was true to his ideals right to the end. May his memory be eternal.
So awesome. Reminds me of this story about Lew and one of my law school classmates.
That is awesome!
Also, small world. I don't recall knowing him at the alma mater, but your law school classmate and I were in the Humphrey Policy Fellows program together last year.
I still remember him driving out of the players' parking lot at spring training and stopping right at the entrance/exit to talk to some people who knew him. I was eavesdropping (autograph seeking) and it seemed like maybe his parents' friends or something. Anyway, Mauer was sitting in his Chrysler 300, waiting a bit impatiently for Lewwwwww to get a move on. This means the autograph seekers were able to spy Mauer and start pooling up around his car. It only got more hilarious as the minutes ticked by and Lewwwwww continued to block the exit. He sat there a good 5 minutes, keeping Mauer prisoner.
Oh, and he was driving a Ford Explorer with the driver's side mirror dangling in the wind. Must have rushed backing out of a garage at some point or something.
Lewwwwww!
Heading to the Outer Banks (Emerald Isle, NC) on Friday for a week. Anyone have recommendations while we're out there? Birding tips? Good restaurants? Etc.
Philosofette and I have one evening set up to be away from the kiddos, otherwise... driving across the country with 4 kids, cramming into a couple houses with my whole family (all 13 of us kids (well 12, now), all the grandkids, and the folks), trying to properly sunscreen and supervise children of different ages and interests... wee!
Good. Luck.
But if it's a good destination, let us know. We're always looking for nice vacation spots we won't get around to executing.
So much this ... though it's getting easier now that we don't need to haul the pack & play and 16 boxes of diapers.
I had a bunch of birding advice but I got logged out as I tried to post. Trying to remember.
eBird Hotspots tells me Bogue Inlet is your best bet.
Books fit well in vehicles (less so when flying) so bring yours.
Take a lot of photos and worry about identification afterwards. I can help with that when you get home. I recommend fb albums for photos (such as), you can restrict it just to me and Zee if you don't want to be so outward in your fondness for birds.
Shorebirds: get lots of close photos. ID can hinge on subtle bill shape or plumage variation.
Gulls: get open wing shots if you can, as well as beak, eye, and feet.
Don't throw any photos away until you're satisfied with all of the IDs. (Some secondary shots that are off-center can hold good clues.)
I'm preparing and will email you a spreadsheet with eBird Frequency data from Carteret Co, NC, for late July into August.
The same thing I put together for myself before trips. Should let you know what's found around there this time of year.
Wow. Thanks!
Also, my dad and brother, while not particularly active in their birding, are quite interested too. Hopefully between the three of us we can get some good shots and such.
We went to the Outer Banks four years ago, but were up further north at Nags Head. If there are any lighthouses or shipwrecks in your area (likely), make a point of visiting. We did some kayaking on the Alligator River, and also visited Kitty Hawk while on the Banks. Visiting the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk was another mainland highlight.
Looks like you'll be near Croatan National Forest – be careful you don't get lost.
Does she know you call her Philosofette? It just makes me imagine her as a blue smurf with a beret smoking clove cigarettes and quoting Nietzsche. Either that, or as a 5 year old frolocking in a field of utilitarian poppies.
She knows.
Also, she's more the "beret-wearing, (ironically) Nietzsche-quoting while frolicking in a field of poppies" type.
"To live is to suffer! Whee!!!!"
I've got a solo Austin trip to hang out with a buddy and a few days in Vegas afterwards thrown in, cause why not? I have absolutely no idea what to do and have nothing planned.
Anyone have suggestions (that aren't stupid expensive)?
Yes.
I'll e-mail you with some Vegas suggestions when I hear back from a friend who's living there. When you going to be there?
Vegas is 15-18th.
And just in case, my Austin plans are currently "drink too much in whatever shitty hole in the wall bar my buddy works at". Further suggestions are also welcome.
I've not had the time to do so yet, but I plan to check this out next time I'm in Vegas and it's only $12.95 and it's a BOGO.
Do you know what hole in the wall your buddy works at?
If you can get to Dry Creek it's the best bar in town. Just take cash, no CC accepted.
Bring a respirator for McCarran. That place is an enormous ash tray.
We went a couple of times with my wife's family a few of years back, and stayed in Avon and Hateras. We mostly stayed in with the family and played at the beach and the pool, so I don't have much for recommendations.
Driving through the dunes to see the wild horses was pretty cool. My wife, her sisters, and their mom went skydiving near Kitty Hawk each time, too, though I passed on that one.
We will be in Blaine for the girl's hockey tourney this weekend. Then we head up to the Apostle Islands for a 4 day mini-vacation. May do some kayaking, boating, a bit of golf and a lot of r&r. I have not had more than 3 consecutive days off since we started our little venture. This Thursday will mark 19 days in a row at work. # burnt out (to a crisp).
There's a Raising Cane's near the sports center if you're looking for fast eats, brother.
Buxton activated and Dillon Gee called up to take Jaime Garcia's spot in the rotation. So it looks like Zack Granite will be sticking around, so that's good. I'm wondering if Robbie Grossman will be an August trade.
So I write a blog about parenting my child with mental illness. Every couple of blog posts, someone comments that my son is just sick with PANDAS or maybe just has gluten intolerance. They say he's not mentally ill, I just feed him wrong and haven't provided non-stop antibiotics. I want to punch those people in the face every time, but they're so far away.
/random coffee comment of the day
You should offer them a free greyhound ticket to MSP so that you can punch them in the face.
In a more productive tone, I don't have kids, but I can imagine that someone telling me that I'm doing everything wrong when the stakes are so high would make me crazy. I'll contribute to your gofundme page to raise bus fare.
As someone with (as Batgirl might have said) a "close personal relationship with someone who works in the mental health field," (albeit on the policy side, not the service delivery side) you have my sympathies. I don't condone violence against those face-punchable people, buuuuuuuut.
Mrs. Hayes has exhaustively documented, diagnosed Crohn's. She loves it when people suggest she needs to avoid Teh Glutenz, try a "cleanse," or use essential oils because the immunosuppressants she takes are a Big Pharma scam. I likewise feel validated when someone tells me about "their friend" with my mental disorder who is "messed up," or that I seem "functional/normal" by comparison to said friend.
It'd be easy to say, "Don't listen to those people."; doesn't help, though. I like meat's suggestion. Alternatively, hug/kiss your kid couple extra times, give him a nice gluten-y cookie, ban those tools from your blog. Neither option's going to feel quite satisfactory enough, but at least the frustration is a side effect of how much you love your kid, and that's what's most important.
Elder Daughter has had some real serious GI issues for several years that at one time I suspected could be Crohn's. She recently saw a doctor in Washington who diagnosed her with small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), probably related to a real bad reaction she had to an oral antibiotic several years ago. Anyway, she's been following his treatment and is feeling much, much better these days -- so much better that she's planning a trip to Thailand and Bali in November before she moves home. A year ago she never would have considered a trip like that.
That's fantastic news. With Crohn's-like symptoms the last few years must've been miserable. Glad they figured out what was going on and hope her trip is extra sweet.
That's one of the things I hate about the gluten suggestion. There are people out there with an actual disorder that took them years to get diagnosed who truly can't eat gluten. That's not related to my child's mental illness.
I also get the essential oils suggestions, by the way. Because modern science hasn'et yet found a way to completely abate symptoms of some mental health disorders, but a mixture of ylang ylang and lemon diffused into the air sure will.
Dude, you're forgetting lavender. No wonder it isn't working...
Our big summer adventure just ended; we pulled into the driveway about an hour ago from our cross-country odyssey. We left home on July 5, drove to Minnesota, and spent 3 weeks with my family there. Then, we ended up taking an unexpected side trip to Virginia, and stayed at my wife's parents house for 4-5 days, and have spent the last 4 days driving back. It was a good trip, and I love that our kids get to spend so much time with their extended family, but it's definitely good to be home.
Our only big plan for the rest of he month is to head to Idaho for the eclipse. My wife starts teaching her summer class tomorrow, the 6-year-old starts first grade in Monday, and I get a few more weeks before fall semester starts.
Anyone have any fun plans for it as we hit the home stretch of the summer?
total. eclipse.
We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks.
Turn around
Tomorrow's "Minor Details" will be delayed until at least late afternoon, if not evening or the next day.
Ten years.
Wow. Already? How is this possible?
Surreal that it's been a decade.
We got to Children's Hospital in Minneapolis early that day, my wife's labor started for our first child. Always makes it easy for me to remember how many years ago it happened. It was really weird being in that setting while trying to follow the news.
My oldest was born exactly 1 month prior to the bridge going down. I had to cross that bridge to get to the hospital and remember being pissed because I was screaming in labor, and the trip was slowed down by 20 minutes because of construction on the bridge. My youngest was born on this day exactly 7 years ago. I'm old.
Forgot to mention last week that it had been 30 years since the Minnesota Super Storm.
Let's not also forget that it's been 24 years since the crest of the Great Flood in 1993
And twenty since Soul Asylum played the post-flood Grand Forks prom.
I spent most of that night flooded in a Taco Bell while coming home from my first trip to Valleyfair. There were people scuba diving in the Taco Bell parking lot while we were inside the"fishbowl" looking out.
I was also at Valleyfair that day. Crazy!
I knew one of the victims through a business association, but didn't know him well or long. I had heard he survived the initial collapse but drowned while trying to pull others from the river.
Sounds like he was true to his ideals right to the end. May his memory be eternal.
Let it Sano.
Summer is pretty much over for us except for the heat. Both boys have their orientation for school tonight and start school next week.
Leeeeeewwwww!
Awesome.
So awesome. Reminds me of this story about Lew and one of my law school classmates.
That is awesome!
Also, small world. I don't recall knowing him at the alma mater, but your law school classmate and I were in the Humphrey Policy Fellows program together last year.
I still remember him driving out of the players' parking lot at spring training and stopping right at the entrance/exit to talk to some people who knew him. I was eavesdropping (autograph seeking) and it seemed like maybe his parents' friends or something. Anyway, Mauer was sitting in his Chrysler 300, waiting a bit impatiently for Lewwwwww to get a move on. This means the autograph seekers were able to spy Mauer and start pooling up around his car. It only got more hilarious as the minutes ticked by and Lewwwwww continued to block the exit. He sat there a good 5 minutes, keeping Mauer prisoner.
Oh, and he was driving a Ford Explorer with the driver's side mirror dangling in the wind. Must have rushed backing out of a garage at some point or something.
Lewwwwww!
Heading to the Outer Banks (Emerald Isle, NC) on Friday for a week. Anyone have recommendations while we're out there? Birding tips? Good restaurants? Etc.
Philosofette and I have one evening set up to be away from the kiddos, otherwise... driving across the country with 4 kids, cramming into a couple houses with my whole family (all 13 of us kids (well 12, now), all the grandkids, and the folks), trying to properly sunscreen and supervise children of different ages and interests... wee!
Good. Luck.
But if it's a good destination, let us know. We're always looking for nice vacation spots we won't get around to executing.
So much this ... though it's getting easier now that we don't need to haul the pack & play and 16 boxes of diapers.
I had a bunch of birding advice but I got logged out as I tried to post. Trying to remember.
eBird Hotspots tells me Bogue Inlet is your best bet.
Books fit well in vehicles (less so when flying) so bring yours.
Take a lot of photos and worry about identification afterwards. I can help with that when you get home. I recommend fb albums for photos (such as), you can restrict it just to me and Zee if you don't want to be so outward in your fondness for birds.
Shorebirds: get lots of close photos. ID can hinge on subtle bill shape or plumage variation.
Gulls: get open wing shots if you can, as well as beak, eye, and feet.
Don't throw any photos away until you're satisfied with all of the IDs. (Some secondary shots that are off-center can hold good clues.)
I'm preparing and will email you a spreadsheet with eBird Frequency data from Carteret Co, NC, for late July into August.
The same thing I put together for myself before trips. Should let you know what's found around there this time of year.
Wow. Thanks!
Also, my dad and brother, while not particularly active in their birding, are quite interested too. Hopefully between the three of us we can get some good shots and such.
We went to the Outer Banks four years ago, but were up further north at Nags Head. If there are any lighthouses or shipwrecks in your area (likely), make a point of visiting. We did some kayaking on the Alligator River, and also visited Kitty Hawk while on the Banks. Visiting the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk was another mainland highlight.
Looks like you'll be near Croatan National Forest – be careful you don't get lost.
Does she know you call her Philosofette? It just makes me imagine her as a blue smurf with a beret smoking clove cigarettes and quoting Nietzsche. Either that, or as a 5 year old frolocking in a field of utilitarian poppies.
She knows.
Also, she's more the "beret-wearing, (ironically) Nietzsche-quoting while frolicking in a field of poppies" type.
"To live is to suffer! Whee!!!!"
I've got a solo Austin trip to hang out with a buddy and a few days in Vegas afterwards thrown in, cause why not? I have absolutely no idea what to do and have nothing planned.
Anyone have suggestions (that aren't stupid expensive)?
Yes.
I'll e-mail you with some Vegas suggestions when I hear back from a friend who's living there. When you going to be there?
Vegas is 15-18th.
And just in case, my Austin plans are currently "drink too much in whatever shitty hole in the wall bar my buddy works at". Further suggestions are also welcome.
I've not had the time to do so yet, but I plan to check this out next time I'm in Vegas and it's only $12.95 and it's a BOGO.
Do you know what hole in the wall your buddy works at?
If you can get to Dry Creek it's the best bar in town. Just take cash, no CC accepted.
Bring a respirator for McCarran. That place is an enormous ash tray.
yeah, i have some experience with that.
Heh, sounds about right. I loathed the place back when I was still a smoker.
Can you imagine when everywhere used to smell like that? Some of my classrooms at MCTC still had desks with spots for ashtrays.
Good thing you aren't going further north....
We went a couple of times with my wife's family a few of years back, and stayed in Avon and Hateras. We mostly stayed in with the family and played at the beach and the pool, so I don't have much for recommendations.
Driving through the dunes to see the wild horses was pretty cool. My wife, her sisters, and their mom went skydiving near Kitty Hawk each time, too, though I passed on that one.
We will be in Blaine for the girl's hockey tourney this weekend. Then we head up to the Apostle Islands for a 4 day mini-vacation. May do some kayaking, boating, a bit of golf and a lot of r&r. I have not had more than 3 consecutive days off since we started our little venture. This Thursday will mark 19 days in a row at work. # burnt out (to a crisp).
There's a Raising Cane's near the sports center if you're looking for fast eats, brother.
We will have to check that out. Thanks!
If anyone wants to try rugby, my club is having a Rugby 101 beginner's session tonight.
If anyone wants to hang out and support a good cause, we have a fundraiser for our charitable fund setup in honor of our recently deceased teammate this Saturday
Buxton activated and Dillon Gee called up to take Jaime Garcia's spot in the rotation. So it looks like Zack Granite will be sticking around, so that's good. I'm wondering if Robbie Grossman will be an August trade.
So I write a blog about parenting my child with mental illness. Every couple of blog posts, someone comments that my son is just sick with PANDAS or maybe just has gluten intolerance. They say he's not mentally ill, I just feed him wrong and haven't provided non-stop antibiotics. I want to punch those people in the face every time, but they're so far away.
/random coffee comment of the day
You should offer them a free greyhound ticket to MSP so that you can punch them in the face.
In a more productive tone, I don't have kids, but I can imagine that someone telling me that I'm doing everything wrong when the stakes are so high would make me crazy. I'll contribute to your gofundme page to raise bus fare.
As someone with (as Batgirl might have said) a "close personal relationship with someone who works in the mental health field," (albeit on the policy side, not the service delivery side) you have my sympathies. I don't condone violence against those face-punchable people, buuuuuuuut.
Mrs. Hayes has exhaustively documented, diagnosed Crohn's. She loves it when people suggest she needs to avoid Teh Glutenz, try a "cleanse," or use essential oils because the immunosuppressants she takes are a Big Pharma scam. I likewise feel validated when someone tells me about "their friend" with my mental disorder who is "messed up," or that I seem "functional/normal" by comparison to said friend.
It'd be easy to say, "Don't listen to those people."; doesn't help, though. I like meat's suggestion. Alternatively, hug/kiss your kid couple extra times, give him a nice gluten-y cookie, ban those tools from your blog. Neither option's going to feel quite satisfactory enough, but at least the frustration is a side effect of how much you love your kid, and that's what's most important.
Elder Daughter has had some real serious GI issues for several years that at one time I suspected could be Crohn's. She recently saw a doctor in Washington who diagnosed her with small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), probably related to a real bad reaction she had to an oral antibiotic several years ago. Anyway, she's been following his treatment and is feeling much, much better these days -- so much better that she's planning a trip to Thailand and Bali in November before she moves home. A year ago she never would have considered a trip like that.
That's fantastic news. With Crohn's-like symptoms the last few years must've been miserable. Glad they figured out what was going on and hope her trip is extra sweet.
That's one of the things I hate about the gluten suggestion. There are people out there with an actual disorder that took them years to get diagnosed who truly can't eat gluten. That's not related to my child's mental illness.
I also get the essential oils suggestions, by the way. Because modern science hasn'et yet found a way to completely abate symptoms of some mental health disorders, but a mixture of ylang ylang and lemon diffused into the air sure will.
Dude, you're forgetting lavender. No wonder it isn't working...
Our big summer adventure just ended; we pulled into the driveway about an hour ago from our cross-country odyssey. We left home on July 5, drove to Minnesota, and spent 3 weeks with my family there. Then, we ended up taking an unexpected side trip to Virginia, and stayed at my wife's parents house for 4-5 days, and have spent the last 4 days driving back. It was a good trip, and I love that our kids get to spend so much time with their extended family, but it's definitely good to be home.
Our only big plan for the rest of he month is to head to Idaho for the eclipse. My wife starts teaching her summer class tomorrow, the 6-year-old starts first grade in Monday, and I get a few more weeks before fall semester starts.