Last night I took my mom to see the live stage production of It’s A Wonderful Life at the Saint Paul Hotel. My friend Phil Callen plays George Bailey in a cast that also includes Wild and Twins regular Jim Cunningham, Adena Brumer, Jennifer Edward-Hughes, Christopher Whiting and Ross Young. This is the fourth year of this production, but my first time seeing it.

The performances are held in the Promenade Ballroom on the main level of the hotel, with tables of eight people set up around the room. For the dinner performances, Executive Chef Lance Kapps created the following menu this year:

• First Course: Sliced Roasted Beets with Feta Cheese and Haricot Verts with Baby Greens served with Horseradish Vinaigrette
• Second Course: Chicken Breast filled with Spinach Mousse with Roasted Shallot Demi-Glace, Parmesan Risotto Cranberry Glazed Baby Carrots
• Third Course: Chocolate Dipped Ginger, Snap Mini Cranberry Trifle Martini, Candy Cane Chocolate-Raspberry Roulade

The food was excellent and the servers were swift and unobtrusive during the performance. An open bar was available in the foyer for drinks before the show and during the two short intermissions.

The performance itself was split into two parts: Christmas carols at the beginning, followed by the entire It’s A Wonderful Life play. The fictional radio station WBFR serves as the backdrop to the entire night and was reminiscent of watching A Prairie Home Companion – right down to the live sound effects performed by the very talented and funny Mr. Whiting and the radio notes from the audience read on stage after the second intermission.

The cast mingled with the audience during breaks and after the show, which was refreshing. Phil’s wife was there with her mother and I got to talk to Mr. Cunningham about the show I saw him in at Dudley Riggs a long, long time ago. He even remembered the name of the show, once I mentioned it had a lot of songs by Bread. Sex, Lies and Videogames was one funny show and was his first with that theater group.

It’s A Wonderful Life, A Live Radio Play runs through December 23. There are only a few tickets left for selected performances, so check out the schedule and call 651-228-3860 if you want to see the 2009 edition of this new St. Paul tradition. The afternoon tea performances are $55 and the dinner shows are $70.

7MM It’s A Wonderful Life Photo Gallery

Last night I took my friend Phil (above) to his second ever hockey game at the Xcel Energy Center to watch the worst team in the west play the second worst team. Now one of them is only the third worst team, and unfortunately it isn’t the Wild.

I don’t really know what to say about how the Wild have started the season. On paper, I like our team and the changes that were made in the off-season. The reality, though, has been total suckage:

• Complete lack of ability to clear the zone
• Out-hustled to the puck all the time
• Way too much standing around and waiting for the play to come to them
• No chemistry from any of the lines yet
• Burns at -13, Koivu at -12 and Havlat at -10? How is that even possible?
• Our leading goal scorer is Andrew Brunette with 7, then it drops down to 3 (Koivu)

The three goals in 1:47 was amazing, but only one shot in the remaining 17:42 of that period? And I agree with Russo – how do you scratch Sykora and play both Scott and Boogaard? On defense, I wanted Skoula gone as much as anyone, but Zidlicky and Hnidy seem to be battling for the new crown of Wild defensive goat. Zids and his turnovers make me cringe and Sheriff Shane can’t seem to hit an outlet pass to save his life – it’s either a turnover or icing almost every time.

As Mr. Fletcher said during an interview in Chicago, “we’re still trying to get on the same page.” I was hoping that would have happened during training camp and the pre-season, but here we are 12 games into the season and the Wild sit in the western conference cellar with none of our “stars” hurt. Maybe that’s it – Johnnson and Butch are the secret sauce we need to turn it around.

If only it were that easy…

Today was the big day – the 28th running of the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. This was my sixth TCM (fourteenth total) and today I was running with my friend and neighbor Gina in her first ever marathon.

The weather was perfect (low 40s at the start, overcast skies and light wind) and the race went really well. Gina’s goal was 4:30 and we were on that pace until the last few miles, finishing in 4:36:19 (10:33 pace). I’m very proud of her – she went from her first 8K race last summer to a half marathon this spring to a full marathon today. Impressive!

There were 8,428 finishers today (3,539 women and 4,889 men), with an average time of 4:20:39. Jason Hartmann of Grand Rapids, Michigan, won the men’s title in 2:12:09 (5:03 pace), while Ilsa Paulson of New York won the women’s title in 2:31:49 (5:48 pace).

I’ll be back next year too – my brother will be visiting from Florida to run with me…

7MM 2009 Twin Cities Marathon Photo Gallery

UPDATE:
Link to KARE 11 finish line video (we cross around 30:50)

My last two rounds of golf have been all about the social aspect of the game. Last weekend I was invited to play Southview Country Club with Tapemark Charity Pro-Am president Phil Callen, while Monday was guest day at Mendakota Country Club, hosted by my friend and former Northwest Airlines colleague Phil Keeney.

Saturday afternoon at Southview was a perfect day for fall golf – sunny skies, cool temperatures and a very light breeze. I was surprised to find the course so empty – we played 18 holes in about 3 hours. I played the front nine well, shooting 43 with two doubles and four pars. I also hit the purest five-iron I’ve ever hit on the ninth hole. Too bad it flew the green, bounced across the putting green and almost hit the parking lot fence…

The back nine was much tougher for me, but also included a few bad breaks. Phil played well, especially considering he just opened a new play the night before (Bill W. & Dr. Bob at the Illusion Theater in Minneapolis). I ended up with a 92 from the whites (6,121 yards, 71.0/136), while Phil had a 97.

The weather Monday at Mendakota was straight out of the British Isles – winds gusting to 45mph, temps in the low 50s and a spot of rain here and there. There were a lot of cancellations, but I was ready to play in multiple layers of clothing. We were joined by two other former Northwest revenue people – Gary Zehnder (refunds) and Mark Bodurtha (agency sales).

This was the first time I’ve played Mendakota since the changes on the back nine. The par five thirteenth hole had major changes that I really liked (removed trees, new target fairway bunker, green-side updates), as did the par four sixteenth hole (lengthened, green pushed back towards pond). Changes were also made to the par three fourteenth (new back tee) and the par four eighteenth (tees moved). I didn’t take my camera with due to the weather, but I’ll get shots of these changes soon.

My former pro-am partner (and Mendakota head professional) Dale Jones wasn’t in the shop Monday, but the rest of the Mendakota staff was very friendly and the food service before and after our round was superb. Despite the weather (and getting my butt kicked in the two-man scramble), it was really fun visiting and recollecting old NWA days in building B.

Thanks again to Phil and Phil for the invitations.

7MM Southview Photo Gallery | 7MM Mendakota Photo Gallery

Colleen and I attended an open house for our friend and attorney Kevin Johnson last week at the ASI Jet Center in Eden Prairie. His firm, Fafinski Mark & Johnson, is celebrating ten years in business this year.

I first met Kevin while working as a credit manager at Northwest Airlines. He worked in the law department there, before heading to a firm in downtown Minneapolis. Shortly after that, he joined Bob Fafinski and Donald Mark to create their own firm in Eden Prairie. Kevin served as my corporate attorney for Golden Links Publishing and 7 Minute Miles, Inc. and also helped me when I left NWA.

Kevin writes some of the best lawyerly letters I’ve ever read and continues to focus his practice on the aviation field (although I think he’d be great on anything). His firm has prospered during these past ten years and it looks like FMJ is now up to 28 attorneys. If you are looking for a good lawyer, I highly recommend contacting them.

The party was great: five or six planes in the hanger (including a Citation CJ1 business jet that you could walk through), cool lighting that changed colors every few minutes, an open bar, delicious catering by David Fhima’s Zahtar, an awesome ice sculpture in the shape of their logo, wonderful conversation and nice customer appreciation gifts (wine bottles and USB key drives).

Congrats Kevin – you deserve it!

Last night we visited Canterbury Park in Shakopee to celebrate our friend Gina’s birthday. Our group had two reserved tables on the upper level just off the finish line. I’ve never been up there before and I thought it was really nice – table service and bet runners meant you never had to leave for anything all night, if you didn’t want to.

I used to bet on the horses a lot during my high school and college days – handicapping has a lot of appeal to people who like math and numbers. Never was really very good at it, but I have a lot of theories to use to help me place bets.

Before leaving home, I printed out the jockey and trainer stats for the current meet, along with the Daily Racing Form’s listings for the night. My biggest strategy to making picks is to look at which horses have the best jockeys and trainers. I placed about $45 in bets and left with about $110, so it was a good night for gambling.

It was also fun spending time with our group of friends. We love our kids, but you really need to get away every once and a while. Happy birthday to Gina and thanks for the invitation. Oh, and where are we runnin’?