Today we played what may be the last round of the year at Dahlgreen in Chaska. Golfing in Minnesota will re-launch again in the spring with new features and content. See you soon!
We’ve been using a SonicWall SOHO3 hardware firewall at HSRA for several years to filter Internet content and comply with federal law regarding student access. A few weeks ago, it started to go bad and needed to be replaced. I didn’t like some of the support policies of SonicWall, so I asked around and was referred to company called Astaro and their ASG120 product.
This week my Catholic Aid Association (CAA) sales representative, Sam Welter, brought over my new life insurance policy. I’m not Catholic, but wife is and she used to work there. They have good products and have been around for a long, long time. When I left NWA, I rolled over all of my pension to an annuity at CAA and purchased a new term life policy to make up for the one I used to have from work. Sam told me about a new term life product they were rolling out that required a much more stringent health qualification process. If I could qualify for the new plan, I would pay the same premium, but get about $150,000 more in coverage.
This week is National Freedom of Speech Week. Guess how the school my kids go to decided to honor this event? By banning student access to newspapers in the library.
While working on my election research, there were a few question marks. In the Eagan city council race, candidate Buzz Anderson did not have any website or email information listed in his filing. I did a Google search and found his business email at the Minnesota Retailers Association. He replied with the following contact info:
In the second district congressional race, the Independence Party candidate is listed as Douglas Williams, but he is not listed on the Minnesota Independence Party website. I thought that was really odd and contacted Marian Brown, the IP chair for CD2. She said Mr. Williams does not have the endorsement of the Independence Party and they don’t really know much about him. He appears to be a fringe candidate based on the limited information available online, but I’m still not sure how he got on the ballot as an IP candidate.
Our new Mac Pro arrived this week. It’s part of our office video editing workstation (pictured above):
The specs on the machine are incredible:
It’s been a long time since I’ve had a new machine that seemed significantly faster than what I was using, but this box truly screams…DK
Our local IKEA store had the perfect bookshelf for our new office (see above). I generally like most things about IKEA, but this purchase was one of the most frustrating shopping experiences I’ve had in a long time.
On my first trip there, I bought a bunch of other things and decided to wait to get the bookshelf until I had more room in the car. When I went back the next day, there was no more stock on the floor. I saw two pallets loaded with units directly above the empty spot, though, so I went to ask a clerk to have one pulled down. That’s when the fun started.
On Tuesday, my daughter and I attended our first Wild game of the season. Despite trading arch-villian Todd Bertuzzi, Vancouver still has a strong team with a lot of great players. Roberto Luongo in goal was a wonderful addition and ex-Wild players Willie Mitchell and Marc Chouinard were familiar faces. Plus they still have the Sedin brothers, Markus Naslund, Mattias Ohlund and Matt Cooke.
When I was growing up, there were two taboo topics: politics and religion. Both were considered private, personal decisions and talking about them in public was just not done. In some ways, I wish more people still felt this way, but then again, some issues are too important to keep quiet about.
My aunt and uncle have been in the Wild Warming House for about three years and purchased lower level tickets this year. They sold me tickets for six games and have the following games left for sale:
It’s been two days since the run and this has been one of the easiest and pain-free recoveries yet. I feel great–the one blister I had on my heal is already calloused and my legs and knees are feeling good enough to play golf tomorrow at Hastings Country Club.
Our house was pelted with pea-sized hail tonight for a few minutes. Mother Nature sure has some amazing things up her sleeve…DK
The picture from my dad’s surprise arrived last week.
What a finish to the season too! Hope they can sweep Oakland and beat up on New York too…DK
Wow, did that feel like a long race this year. I went out fast (for me), hit the midway point at 2:14 and really thought I had a chance at another sub-five-hour time. As the sun came out in force and the temperature continued to rise, though, leg cramps hit me all over my legs (some in spots I didn’t think could cramp). My blisters felt OK for most of the race and turned out to be much better than I expected when I got home. I had put moleskin patches on both arches before the race and that seemed to do the trick.
