Today was the 2006 Eagan Fun Run. I was signed up for the 5-mile run, but I got my schedule mixed up and ran the earlier 2-mile run so I could still make my tee time. I’ve never ran a 2-mile race before, so it was a nice change of pace. Finished in 16:02, my new 2-mile PR.

This year’s shirt pictured above…DK

I’ve added two quick links in the sidebar under the Random Photo section. One goes directly to my golf scores database and the other links to the new first day cover database I’m building. I have a huge backlog of first day covers to photograph and catalog, so that project will take a while. There is also a new fetish page for those, in case you are wondering what the heck first day covers are…DK

Last night we went to see the new Cirque du Soleil musical travelling show, Delirium, at the Xcel Energy Center in downtown Saint Paul. As my Cirque fetish page implies, we are big fans of their other shows. This one was a little different, though, so we didn’t know what to expect.

It started right on time at 7:30 with something unusual–an opening act. Nitza, described by Variety as “Eva Longoria channeling Enya,” has performed with other Cirque shows (K?Ä in Las Vegas) and sang during the main show as well. My three-word review of Nitza: better than clowns.

As for the main show, it wasn’t what I thought it would be. I was expecting remixes of previous songs with a focus on the musicians and lots of multimedia effects. The show did have this, but it also had acrobatic performances like their other shows (albeit in smaller bits). Considering the price of the tickets, I didn’t feel it was as good a value, but it was still entertaining.

Several parts reminded me of various Vegas shows (both Cirque and others), with great lighting and vibrant choreography. The sound at the X has always been good and the unusual stage layout for this show didn’t change that. The visual effects on the multiple screens and sheer curtains created some really surreal images, but I wish we were a little further back (we were in the fifth row on the side–people on the floor missed it totally).

Favorite performers:

• Wife - the energenic, sculpted dancer
• Me - the hula hoop woman

Next up: LOVE - Cirque + The Beatles at The Mirage, previews start June 2…DK

This site uses Gallery2 for the photos section and I recently set up something similar for a client. They had an additional request to include EPS, PDF, Photoshop and Illustrator files in the gallery, which I was sure it could handle. Unfortunately, the experience wasn’t so smooth. (more…)

The premise sounds so simple: get someone’s email address and you can send them a note. Just like traditional mail, there’s never been an absolute guarantee your email will get to its destination, but lately it’s felt like email is being lost more and more. Everybody hates junk mail, but the anti-spam methods being utilized today are impacting the delivery of legitimate email.

Case in point: about two weeks ago I tried sending a note from my personal Comcast account to my wife’s work account. I was on my work network at HSRA, so according to Comcast’s rules for sending mail on non-Comcast networks, I need to use different, secure port numbers to connect to them (SSL using port 465 for outgoing SMTP mail and port 995 for receiving mail via POP). (more…)

2006 U.S. Open, Winged Foot Golf Club, Mamaroneck, New York, June 12-18, 2006.

The planning begins…DK

This weekend I drove down Highway 169 to North Mankato to play North Links Golf Course. Built in 1992 by Wyss Associates of Rapid City for the City of North Mankato, North Links is a 6,110 yard, par 72 course. I’m not sure of the history of the course since it opened, but it’s now owned by the Wilson Golf Group (who also own Oak Glen in Stillwater, among others).

The course rating and slope from the tips are only 69.4 and 117, respectively, but there are quite a few challenging holes on the course. The tee box complexes were very nice and the man-made wetlands around holes 1, 2, 10, 11, 17 and 18 added a lot of visual appeal to an otherwise wide-open layout. The greens didn’t look fast, but they putted that way and most had a lot of conturing (especially 18). The suspension bridge over the ravine between the third and fourth holes was impressive, but also loud when carts went across. Too bad the ravine couldn’t come into play more on some of the holes.

With such a low slope, I was hoping to shoot better than 89. I did have two birdies, though: hit a SW to 4 feet on the par 3 eighth and my third shot on the 497-yard par 5 fifteenth hit the stick and dropped down for a ten-inch birdie putt. The pace of play was a little slow, but for $26, it was a good value…DK