Creatures rise in search of blood, to terrorize yours neighborhood.

Halloween again, my most favorite of holidays. I haven't been able to host my annual Halloween Party that I enjoyed for three years in a row, but this year we are resurrecting the tradition for the younger set. Lucy and her two cousins (ages 2 and 4) will be attending, along with the rest of Sharon's family. We are planning a backyard fire (not sure if the two boys have ever really got to enjoy one of those before), a "haunted house" (that will basically feature a pretty non-scary ghost placed at the end of a twisty tunnel, some interior trick or treating, and some other general Halloween-related festivities.

I originally wanted to go as Luke Skywalker, ala his Degobah scenes, with Lucy as Yoda in a backpack. Sharon didn't think that was necessarily the best way for Lucy to explore her own options, so we ended up going with a lion costume (complete with mane hood and tail). She loves animal sounds and loves to make a roar that, while not very lion-like, is amazingly bobcat-like.

In my own local phenology, the leaves on my sugar maple have just started to turn. It's nuts; we have the latest turning tree in all of Minnesota. The first few leaves are generally starting to drift down right as the City of Minneapolis does their last leaf pick-up of the year. The last couple of years we have borrowed Sharon's Dad's mulching mower and just used the resulting leaf mulch to winterize Sharon's garden, so it's not been an issue. But STILL...

In my own local phrenology, the bumps on my head portend a kick-ass year for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Some Day Our Paths May Lead Us Home

But until that day, I want to bring up the subject of friend visits. In early summer, Cory came to visit and there was this idea that the only way he was able to swing it was to be coming to help out with my attic insulation. I resisted at the time-both the sort of deception (though he really did help a great deal, it was not a situation in which I was in any particular need of help), and the waste of time in which we could have been hanging out and raising hell.

Now it appears Gibbs is heading to CF with a chainsaw for some backyard Forestry.

Is this what we've come to?

Consider this my official notice that I am pulling out of these "work contingent" friend visits. If someday (as the title states) our paths lead us home, and we reside in the same metro (and are able to get together whenever we please), that may change. But until then, life is too short. My current official/unofficial plan for friend visits would allow me an opportunity to visit Pat M, Pat G, and Cory L, each, every other year, with the option receiving them as visitors on the other years. There will be instances in which I incidentally get together with each of you as a result of your other visits to the Twin Cities, or my visits to Waterloo. Or times like, with Ingawanis last year or Escalante, when we all get together. But you can do the math--how many times will I see any one of you guys at that rate before I turn 50? 25 times, tops? Twice I have gone out to the East Coast and I feel Mixdorf has done it right--he graciously sets aside a few days and we have non-stop excitement the way it's meant to be. I would love to return the favor (having not ever hosted Mixdorf solo for more than an evening). Indeed, I would love to open my home and the wonders of Minnesota to each of you guys, and leave the home repairs for another weekend. I have no doubt that Gibbs & Cory will have a load of laughs and much good times during this upcoming visit, and I don't mean to be a total downer. In fact, you could almost say this visit is a little different, since there's this whole Forestry aspect that allows them to share a common interest from their past. But man, if they're going to spend more than just a few hours laboring back there, shame on them. A world of Illuminator, beer, hiking, and much much more awaits.

The Reviews are Here on "Mossyback"

Chicken Salad.

Well, That Does It. I'm Not a Baseball Fan

As I realized yesterday morning, if I couldn't be motivated to watch an historic game 7 between the Sox and the Yankees for the AL Pennant, I couldn't be motivated for much of anything. Come to think of it, I didn't watch any of the Twins games in the playoffs this year. I sort of told myself I was too busy with studying & family time & so on, but the reality is that if I really cared I would have found a way to watch the games.

This is really pretty monumentous for me. Baseball is DEEPLY entrenched in the history of the males in my family, with my granddad being a lifetime manager (& bookie--a Pete Rose ahead of his time, you might say), and my dad playing all those years. A couple memories of my baseball fanataciscm as a kid:

1) While other kids were choosing "Albert Einstein," "Crazy Horse," and "George Washington" in the Hoover Intermediate "Images of Greatness" event, I chose Pedro Gurrerro.
2) With the picture tube dying in the old 27" console, desparately watching a meaningless mid-season game between the Braves and the Dodgers on (then) WTBS through the remaining 2" strip of viewable screen late at night. I was probably about 11 at the time.

What has caught up to me is that major league baseball is the absolute most crappy sport in terms of a screwed up salary system that ruins the chance for any true parity amongst the teams. There's a lot of other things wrong with all professional sports, but ridiculous lack of salary cap makes baseball stand alone. Second, I have discovered that baseball is just boring to watch. Weird, since I actually have such a history with the game and I actually know a lot about it--nuances, strategies, tradition, etc. In fact, the kind of wild thing is that I actually still don't mind checking out results/standings/etc. in the paper. As bad as baseball is in those earlier respects, the intricacies of baseball statistics are amazing.

So where does that leave me? Baseball is screwed up and unwatchable, but box scores still rule.

Getting Tested, Like they Recommend

I spent the evening last night studying for my test today. Kind of unusual, this notion of getting a test in grad. school. Kind of funny, too, if you think about filing into a big room, having to put everything under your desk, and busting out the engineering pencils to answer multiple-choice questions. Nothing funny about studying, though. That is, except for Lucy's take on it. We kind of forsaw the notion of "Daddy is studying" becoming this mysterious and kind of hated thing, so we wanted to defuse it as much as possible. At this time, studying means she can come over, sit in my lap, grab my pencil, and scribble all over whatever notes or book I have. "Lucy, are you studying?" "Daaaa!" (yes)

Faire d'etudie

I took the day off to study yesterday. My class this semester is much more aligned to my GIS interests, as well as being a lot more relavent to my plans, post-graduation. We're still kicking around Capstone ideas (the major project you present for a review board prior to getting out). I've actually ditched my old idea, which had to do with neighborhood redevelopment in Minneapolis, kind of getting the idea that it would get too big & overwhelming, once I dug into it. A couple new ideas I am considering: 1) "'Full-Cycl':e A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Returning North Mississippi Regional Park to a Native State." Pretty self-explanatory, but the idea is that this riverfront part near my house had old activity; anything from old brick factories to an old shantytown in the early 1900s. I'd like to study the various transformations of the land, the relative stresses various units of the land have taken, and how that has influenced how they are working to now return it to a pre-White settlement state. OR 2) "Brain Drain: Creating an Iowa College Graduate 'Trade Area' ". I got the idea from the occasionally mailing I get from the state of Iowa, trying to entice me to move to Des Moines. I don't know who sends that out--the Departmentt of Economic Development? Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to obtain the zip codes from their mailing list and any other information regarding graduates (year of graduation, etc.) and study to where this exodus has occurred. Is the pattern to be expected, or are there surprises? Perhaps there are factors influencing this "rural flight" that might be used to influence the State of Iowa's planning, if indeed they are serious about retaining young adults.

Any thoughts?

Fall? Camping at Lake Maria

We camped this last weekend at Lake Maria. What should have been a crisp, lovely experience in Minnesota big woods at the peak of fall color was a freezing, blustery affair as we battled temperatures in the mid-to-low 30s, and wind speeds that must have been constant around 30 miles per hour. Very c-c-c-cold! Factor in the various extra efforts and attention that bringing an 18-month old along requires, and it was definitely not the most relaxing camping experience I've ever had. That said, we woke up to a peaceful (the wind had died down) sunny (if chilly) Sunday morning and the colors were fantastic. And we are building priceless memories for little Lucy. She is apparently hardier than me, most of the time asking for us to take off her mittens (pronounced "mid-ney") so she can use her busy fingers to explore the world around her. She can be endlessly entertained with hide-and-seek in the woods and around the tent. Of course, if you consider our history at Ingawanis, there's no mystery as to who's side of the family THAT comes from...