The 2009-2010 Minnesota winter hit me harder than usual – I’ve definitely felt the “winter blues” this year. The warm weather this week has helped (especially by melting most of the snow), but the forecast calls for more below-freezing temps and I’m sure we have at least one more snow storm before summer.

It’s also easy to get down when thinking about all the issues in the world – the economy, the collapse of housing values, rising health care costs, unemployment, earthquakes, etc.

As a sort of coping mechanism, I’ve been compiling a list of things that make me happy. For the three or four of you who read this site on a regular basis, most of these won’t be too shocking:

• Social bonds – family and friends
• Fitness – running, golf, skiing, mountain biking, racquetball
• Eating out
• Travel (and Motoring)
• Nice weather
• Trees, mountains and water
• Pop culture – TV, movies and concerts
• Cities and their associated cultural amenities
• Attending hockey games
• Casino gaming
• Learning new things and staying informed

As I look over this list, I realize how lucky I’ve been in this life and really shouldn’t get too down. Geez, I’m starting to sound like a Ben Folds song…

You can also track daily progress on their live web cam.

In hindsight, it probably would have been quicker to drive, but we flew Air Tran to Omaha (via Milwaukee) and drove about three and a half hours from there. Lodging for this trip was the Super 8 in O’Neill and our Mazda 3 came from Enterprise. Not a perfect travel experience, but nothing too awful either. Side note: Budget at OMA rents all three current MINI models.

You know you are in a remote area of the country when the nearest Walmart is almost two hours away. AT&T’s cell coverage was surprising good, though, and it seemed like every restaurant had free wi-fi. We ate at all the local spots in O’Neill and Atkinston and I sampled the Nebraska beef more than once.

With Nebraska off the list, I’m down to 11 states left to visit. A drive from Minnesota to the Gulf Coast (via Kansas City) would cross off half of them, but I’m not sure when (or if) I’ll try that. Might be fun, though…

318 calls itself a “boutique technology solutions company delivering comprehensive technical support services and software solutions to SMB and Enterprise businesses.” The headquarters is located in Santa Monica, with offices in San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. I will be working with noted tech author and 318 partner Charles Edge to establish a new Minneapolis office.

318 has a platform agnostic philosophy, but is also one of the largest Mac consultancies in the country. Founded by Kevin Klein in 1995, they have a mission statement I really like:

“Helping business grow profitably through the smart use of technology.”

I’m very excited to work with Charles, who moved here from California about two years ago. He’s brilliant (not trying to kiss up here) and I feel this will be an excellent learning opportunity for me. I’m currently studying for both Apple and Microsoft certification tests and gain new client experience every day.

318 has internal expertise in many areas, but especially shines in Xsan, Final Cut Server, Podcast Producer, OS X Server, imaging/mass deployments, Filemaker development and Kerio mail servers. If you need technology help, check out the web site or give the service desk a call at 877-318-1318.

The first two games, Phoenix and Atlanta, were frustrating losses. I felt the Wild played OK in both of them, though, and deserved at least a point both nights.

Sunday’s game versus Vancouver more than made up for it, with the Wild earning a 6-2 win in front of the third largest regular season home crowd ever. Kid two and her best friend were “bench buddies” before the game and got to sit on the Wild bench during pre-game warm-ups (pictures in the private section of the photo gallery).

The addition of Cam Barker was a surprise to me (Kimmy and our first round pick?), but I’ll give our new GM the benefit of the doubt. I don’t know what I’d do if I were him now – the playoffs seem like a long-shot, but I don’t think I’d go into sell-off mode either.

The Olympics stuff at the beginning of the game was nice. I was especially impressed that people applauded loudly for all of the Canuck Olympians, despite the intense rivalry (and general hatred) of that franchise. Minnesota fans know (and appreciate) good hockey players when we see them, even if they do play for the Canucks.

Driving to Anaheim from the LAX side of town always seemed like too much work to me – today I took the 90 to the 405 to the 105 to the 605 to the 91 to the 5 to Disneyland Drive. Parking in the main resort parking area now costs $14, but I did get a close surface lot spot right next to the tram stop.

I arrived about 15 minutes before the 9:00AM official opening time, so I stopped at the La Brea Bakery in Downtown Disney for a chocolate croissant and some cranberry juice ($7.74) before going through the main gate on the Disneyland side.

The first part of the day was spent hitting some of my favorites: Space Mountain, Matterhorn, It’s A Small World, Alice in Wonderland, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Jungle Cruise. Not much new to report: they are prepping for the return of Captain EO, Haunted Mansion was back to the original, non-Nightmare version, the Rivers of America were drained and the Jungle Cruise had a new (for me) piranha feature towards the end.

I had lunch at the Hungry Bear Restaurant in Critter Country (chicken sandwich, fries and a coke, $11.94) and did some shopping for a shirt Colleen wanted me to look for that she saw last June. The stores on Main Street were fun to go through, although I’ve decided you need to buy what you want when you see it, as every store seems to have unique things and size selections on more common items can vary wildly between locations. And even though it wasn’t terribly busy for a Sunday, this place moves some serious merchandise.

In the afternoon, I did a “park hop” over to the California Adventure side and got a Fast Pass for Soarin’ Over California. That must be one of the bigger successes in DCA, since the return time was about five hours later in the day. I set off from there to the Tower of Terror, which was incredible (as usual).

Much of DCA is under (re)construction, which created some tight confines in parts of the park. Walt Disney Imagineering had a great center set up, though, called the Blue Sky Cellar, which contained lots of information about their plans for the next few years (World of Color, Little Mermaid, Cars Land, etc.).

I walked around Paradise Pier and hit some rides I had never tried (Golden Zephyr, Maliboomer) and one I had (California Screamin’). The roller coaster was super-smooth this time and didn’t give me a headache (thankfully). DCA now has their own Toy Story Mania (like the one at Hollywood Studios in Florida) and the line was ridiculously long here as well, so I skipped it.

I took a break from the parks and walked over to Downtown Disney and the Disneyland Hotel. The World of Disney store didn’t really have anything different from what I saw in the parks and seems to pale in comparison to the one in Florida. The new D Street store was really awesome, though, and I almost walked out with two nerd-tastic retro shirts (Space Mountain era 1977 and a sweet Tron design).

I caught the monorail back to Tomorrowland, walked through a few stores in the castle and Frontierland, then went back to a store in New Orleans Square to buy this awesome Shag Haunted Mansion limited edition shirt:

How cool is that? I also stopped back at a store on Main Street for a different shirt for Colleen (the original one she wanted was nowhere to be found). Thankfully, they still had the size she wanted – I think it was the last one in the whole joint.

The fast pass was burning a hole in my pocket, so I decided to go back to DCA before heading out for the day. The information desk had no suggestions for an indoor, sit-down restaurant, so I went over to the Grand Californian Hotel and ate at the buffet served in the Storytellers Cafe. It wasn’t super great food, but it was comfortable, warm, quiet and away from the hustle and bustle of the parks.

After dinner, I used the fast pass, jumped on the tram back to the parking area and hit all of the freeways again in reverse order to get back to Venice. Fun times!

“I can wash your shirt on my abs right now.”

We were one of the first 6,000 at the X who received the towel pictured above. I don’t really remember anyone waving them, but the start of the game was a little hard to watch. Harding was playing really well before he got hurt and it was extra painful to watch Bertuzzi with the breakaway goal.

As we’ve learned this year, never leave early. I usually would be happy with the loser point in this situation, but the Wild had so many good chances to win in the OT and shootout, that it really felt like a letdown.

Not much else to report – parking was a little harder to find for some reason and the pretzel I ordered was a little stale and way too salty. Oh yeah, I still long for free wi-fi in the building – will that ever happen?

I figured my last visit to Wild was likely 20+ years ago and the ski area is basically the same – four chairlifts and a nice variety of runs, including Ego Alley, North and South Wild, Bear, Competition and the infamous Wall. The inside of the chalet was like a time warp back to high school ski trips, although now I can go in the Eagle’s Nest. They cooked me a mean French Dip sandwich with fries for lunch and had free wi-fi, which was very useful in an area of poor cell coverage.

There is now a tubing park just south of the main skiing area and they still have the alpine slide tracks. I think the water slides and small water park near the chalet are new since I was there last. I sort of forgot they are seven miles north of Taylor’s Falls along the river, so it takes about 90 minutes to get there from the south metro.

We found street parking directly across from their building at 800 North Washington Avenue. They also had valet parking available for $3, but with the meters not enforced on a Sunday, we just took an open spot.

The restaurant didn’t open until five and a fairly large crowd was waiting outside the locked doors. We were seated almost right away, though, and had a great table near the wine rack. The room has a lot of atmosphere, including a giant picture of Johnny Cash. How can you go wrong with that?

Our server was very friendly and informative. He helped us pick almost everything we ordered:

• Antipasti – Apple and Prosciutto with Gorgonzola Parmesan Dressing ($6)
• Bruschetta – Olivada and Goat Cheese ($7)
• Fresh Pasta – Fettucine Alfredo ($6) & Gnocchi with Cauliflower and Orange ($8)
• Secondi – Chicken ($18)
• Dessert – Butter Salted Caramel Crespelle ($6), Carrot Cake ($8)
• Cocktail – Poway Sunset ($9.50)

Being a picky eater, I wasn’t too sure about the antipasti or the bruschetta, but both were incredible. I’ve never seen apples sliced so thin and I’m a huge fan of prosciutto, so that is a dish I could eat every day. The fettucine was the best I’ve had outside of the original Alfredo’s, which is saying a lot. The Star Tribune story said the desserts were a weakness, but the caramel crespelle was a perfect end to a great meal.

The room was packed the entire time we were there, but the noise was never too bad. They do occasionally play music, but it was very much in the background. Bar La Grassa is a fun place to people watch, too, with a lot of diversity in the clientele.

Highly Recommended

Welch is still one of my local favorites – there are a number of relatively steep, medium-length runs (at least by Midwest standards) that are fun to ski over and over. Chicken, Bakkelyka, Dan’s Dive and Pete’s Pike are now joined by the new back bowl runs Carter’s Cliff, Lauren’s Ledge and several others. That new chair is really nice – too bad all the runs are so short (with a long traverse back).

We got in a lot of skiing before lunch, which consisted of the usual fried junk. Kowalski’s is selling advance lift ticket vouchers for $40, which I picked up before I left in the morning. Regular adult tickets are $47, but they can be turned in for a $10 gift card if you ski for less than four hours. Unfortunately, the Kowalski tickets don’t qualify, so I skied until 2:30 before heading home.