Thanks to everyone who made this Tom Petty stream possible – it’s been amazing
2020 Top 7 Online Reads
Back in 2017, I posted my top 7 online publications. The list today has changed a little:
- Star Tribune*
- Washington Post*
- New York Times*
- The Atlantic*
- The Economist*
- Daring Fireball (RSS)
- 9to5Mac (RSS)
* paid subscriber
Uptown was always the best – lots of good memories in that store
Jerks.
Thank you, Zen Box
Today’s life hacks: turned off all iMac notifications and new mail sounds, used iPad as a second monitor via Sidecar
Pandemic drivers + first snowfall of the season = just about what you’d expect
A very different kind of Patch Tuesday
Mondays are for pizza
Mr. Clean in the hood
We would have to have 6 oz. Coca-Cola in the studio. When they were working on the Traveling Wilburys’ first album, Roy told Tom that the sugar and the syrup put just a little smooth on your voice…
- Jim Scott
RIP to the legend whose namesake press box I sit in every game
End of the line?
Danger lurks in these wild woods
Craziest golf weather ever
I don’t need no arms around me. And I don’t need no drugs to calm me. I have seen the writing on the wall. Don’t think I need anything at all…
- Another Brick In The Wall (Part III)
Not a bad day’s work
Not that I mind, but everyone else at Rayette seems to have forgotten that we have an exercise room
The internet has all the answers
Tonight’s rabbit hole: Lost Spur golf sign > Osman Shriners > Freemasonry > 1917 Code of Canon Law > OBE
Last of the fall bike rides?
The barges are active
First golf outing with Jeff
Per the @kilbo tip, had Bezos send me one of these babies
Almost done with the JNUC 2020 sessions – thanks to all who shared their knowledge (for free)
Freddy’s Freaky Flip
Leaf days are numbered
Strongly endorse the apple and hard cider tasting kits @sweetlandorchrd – perfect day for a visit
Good fortune has arrived
This soup, though
Solid Weekend Update and Jack White made a strong case for the best SNL performance ever crown
Every time I hear someone say “offices are dead and aren’t coming back,” I wonder how many companies they have actually worked for
Fall (re)construction
Pizza in the park
Top 7 Minnesota Courses
Patrick’s list of his top 10 Minnesota golf courses got me thinking. People often ask me my favorite courses in the state, but I’ve never really wanted to rank them. I’ve also never joined a club, so there are a number of great private courses that I’ve only played a handful of times (and some key ones I’ve still yet to play). Throw in the recent Minnesota public and private rankings from Golfweek and I guess it’s time to finally come up with my list. But since this is 7 Minute Miles, we only do “Top 7” lists around here, OK?
Before we start, a few general comments. Golf has been insanely popular in Minnesota during COVID, which has made it harder to get tee times all over this season. This is a complete reversal of the downward slide the industry took since the “Tiger Boom,” which lead to the closing of so many courses in the state (Joe Bissen documents this history extremely well in his two books on the topic). It’s been a really long time since Minnesota had any courses listed in national “best new course” rankings, but we definitely punch above our weight class nationally, with a wide range of great courses that are typically much less expensive to play than other parts of the country.
Full disclosure: I’m a big fan of Donald Ross and local architects Paul Miller and Garrett Gill are friends of mine. Minnesota has many great Ross courses that don’t make my list, but are truly great courses. Northland and White Bear Yacht Club, in particular, would likely make the list if I got to play them more often (and I’ve never played Woodhill or Minikahda). I’m curious to play Minneapolis again after the big redo, but the layout wasn’t one of my favorites before that work was done. Gill and/or Miller worked on many of my favorite public courses around here, including two that aren’t in my top seven, but are very close to the cut: Legends Club and Meadows at Mystic Lake.
I should also talk briefly about the Brainerd lakes area. There are a concentration of spectacular courses there, but most of them get canceled out for me by the Jeffrey Brauer trio of courses farther north. So I while I think courses like The Classic and The Preserve are wonderful, I’d still rather play at Fortune Bay and Giants Ridge. Deacon’s Lodge is the only course on the Golfweek public list that I haven’t played, so I may have to revisit my thinking about this at some point (I also haven’t played Golden Eagle in Fifty Lakes).
Lists like this are always subjective (and ultimately political), but this is my take for 2020. With all of that out of the way, let’s get started.
The flowers from @sushirocks are thriving
The new sign at Gross 👌🏻
Celebration dinner @ Pittsburgh Blue
Metro colors are popping
Two Years of Bonus Time
Today is the two year anniversary of what kid one has called my “big brain blowout” that I experienced on the train platform in downtown Minneapolis on October 8, 2018. Looking back on the post I wrote a year ago, it’s amazing how much has changed in the world since then. The pandemic has dramatically altered my industry and most of my hobbies, but there’s still nothing like three weeks in the ICU to change your outlook on life.
Health-wise, almost everything is back to normal. It appears that my previous 20/20 vision won’t return fully, but I now have permanent prism glasses that mostly do the trick. I don’t really like to wear them, though, so it’s nice I don’t need them to read screens. My brain can trick my eyes for longer distances if I tilt my head a certain way, but overall it’s safer to just wear the glasses for driving and biking. They are also technically bifocals, as my neuro optometrist says I’m just getting too old to read the small print now. Dammit, she’s right.
In other miscellaneous health notes, I successfully completed my colonoscopy back in February and started a move streak in April that still continues (yesterday was day 175). As a result, my weight is trending in the right direction (switching to the no sugar versions of Cherry Coke and Mountain Dew is probably helping too). I’ve played more golf this year than any other, walking almost every round. Bike miles this year are down compared to the last two years, but I should still hit 600 miles by the end of the year. My run log is trending in the right direction, but most of those miles were spent walking hills. Will 2021 mark the return of full-blown running? Time will tell, but I’m not quite ready to throw in the towel on that just yet.
The last year has truly been a roller-coaster of emotion. We got in all of the milestone birthday trips before everything shut down – Las Vegas for SK, Maui for CK and Banff for MK. We lost the last of the parents months apart: Jean in December and Mike in February. I still feel like we didn’t get to properly mourn them once COVID hit. The pandemic continues to hammer away at other parts of our lives that will unfortunately never come back again.
I can’t allow this doom and gloom to overshadow my gratitude to be here today, though. I continue to be inspired by people like Dr. Uzma Samadani, who helped me leave the ICU at Hennepin Healthcare two years ago. Reading about her research on Twitter gives me hope about my continued health and that science will find a way out of this mess. The free lectures I’ve been watching from MIT about the pandemic are also fascinating and inspiring. We need more leaders like this to guide us through these challenging times…
🇺🇸 VOTE 🇺🇸
SK and the rent-a-doge
Messy desk still life
Iconoclast. Lover of women, adventure and mystery. Founder of McAfee Anti-virus
- @officialmcafee
Kicked off bonus week on the patio @spoonandstable – thanks to @gavinkaysen and @pastrydiane for another fabulous experience
Rollin’ on the River
Best slippers ever
Ronnie, gentle reminder, the line has been changed to I want to KISS you like an animal…
- Moira Rose
Seven Tips for Better Living
It’s the start of bonus week, so let’s kick off things with a new Top 7 list:
- Let those you love know
- Never read the comments
- Always keep learning
- Move every day
- Travel as much as possible
- Eat the good stuff
- Less talking, more thinking
More reflections coming soon…
Hearing creaky noises?
Food Parade II highlights: both daughters, real Pronto Pups, my own cup of fries and a Vikings win
Molt season?
Miracle pizza
Judge Magney’s park is 🔥
Nerd alert: the AWS Lightsail Let’s Encrypt instructions don’t let you use “certbot renew” and now I’m locked out for an hour
It’s the SHT
$40 on a 30-cent bet
Happy Tastes Good
Too bad fall in Minnesota is only a week long
Hello, Foxy
Hungry Hippy
Pre-ordering rules
Big Two Dots Milestone
It me
Road trip to the Bulldoge
New games at Mel’s old place
