It was a year ago today when a blood vessel in my head decided it had enough, resulting in a ruptured aneurysm and subarachnoid hemorrhaging on the train platform outside U.S. Bank Stadium. It was a humbling experience to see the outpouring of love and support from my family and friends throughout my recovery and I will be forever thankful to the good Samaritan in the pickup truck, the first responders that treated me on the platform and the entire staff at Hennepin Healthcare for extending my time on this little planet we call home.

Health-wise, things are almost back to normal. I’m still wearing glasses with a 3M Prism lens on the left side to correct the remaining double vision. The strength of the lens has dropped from +30 to +8 during the past 11 months and the hope is still that I eventually won’t need them at all. I can read most screens without glasses, but the “bilateral 6th nerve palsy” and resulting diplopia at further distances is really the only major remaining issue from October 8, 2018. I’ve been off all of the additional medications from my time in the ICU for a while now and have returned to most physical activities with no issues. In fact, my bike mileage in 2019 sits at 1,058 miles and I’ve played 21 rounds of golf (both of which are a little more challenging with glasses).

I won’t lie, walking past that spot nearly every day is unsettling. It can feel frustrating to not be 100% yet with my vision. And all that weight I lost in the hospital came back with a vengeance. But I am so thankful for having access to high-quality healthcare that didn’t bankrupt our family. This full year of bonus time had some amazing memories: an extra special Thanksgiving with family, the NCAA Final Four, MK’s graduation, Las Vegas with SK, lake visits to Vermilion and Superior, Rib Fest, Summer X Games, another epic State Fair, a quick day trip to Los Angeles, the Saints championship season, more Vikings football and lots of concerts and restaurants. Life at fifty has been good.

So where to from here? I’ll be seeing my eye doctor again soon and I need to get back to my “regular” doctor to start all of the normal old guy things that need to be tested and monitored. Colleen and I head to Maui later this month to check off the second milestone birthday trip that was postponed due to the incident. Hopefully we’ll get the third and final trip scheduled for January. This week I’ll find out about the 2020 London Marathon ballot, which would immediately kick-start a return to running. Quick trip next week to Milwaukee to visit the Buck’s new arena. After the Vikings-Eagles game this weekend, the football season will already be half over. And you know what Steve Miller said about flying eagles…

P.S. Steak with the fam

Drowned rat

Thanks, MK

SK with Chrysanthemum in Mears Park

Felicity came home from the fair in a cocoon

Go, MK, go! Proud of you…

Nice to see Lynn and Dad

Come on, Hootie

Mississippi National with the boys

Surprise visit from the SK (and my closet needs a cleaning)

Go Squad (XGMN19)

Well, not really a Lyft driver

Swapped out uncles…

Lunes likes her waffles

MK + Gordy = true love ❤️

It’s been a while since I’ve written a full concert post here, but the Lonely Island show at the Armory last night definitely merits a longer report. We really didn’t know what to expect, as many of the original SNL video shorts that made their songs famous have big name guest stars and elaborate staging. When opener Neal Brennan (co-creator of Chappelle’s Show) did a straight stand-up routine on basically an empty stage, we were even more confused as to what the rest of the night would hold in store. After a short wait between sets, surprise guest number one, Seth Meyers, introduced the main act and off we went…

Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone tore through all of their hits, singing in front of a giant video screen that was brilliantly programmed all evening. The night included many costume changes, but only one other major surprise guest star – the real Jose Canseco during Jose and Mark (from the 2019 Netflix special The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience). We were taking side bets on who else might show up: Justin Timberlake has family ties to Minnesota, while Maya Rudolph clearly loves Prince and Minneapolis. No go on anybody else – JT was portrayed as a marionette, while they just played the whole IHOP parking lot video on the big screen. I didn’t want any spoilers by looking up reviews of previous stops on this tour (Minneapolis was the last stop), but apparently T-Pain showed up at Summerfest in Milwaukee for I’m On A Boat and Chris Parnell performed Lazy Sunday at two of the New York shows.

Groups like Lonely Island and Tenacious D are tickets that I’m surprised are so popular, as I’d hazard that 75% of the general population has no idea who they are. Not sure that the Armory show was officially sold out, but the place was packed and we had a long line for the GA floor when we arrived half an hour before doors opened. The four of us ended up with a decent spot far stage left and (most) people were well behaved all night. I personally didn’t get to look at the merch table all that much, but I heard they had a wide variety of creative, fairly priced items for purchase. Setlist and a few pics after the jump.

Setlist:

• We’re on Stage
• Ground Rules
• Jizz In My Pants
• Yolo
• Diaper Money
• Semicolon
• Boombox
• The Creep
• FREE T SHIRTS
• Ras Trent
• Like a Boss
• Threw It on the Ground
• We Like Sportz
• Shy Ronnie
• I’m So Humble
• Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song)
• Jorma’s Diary
• Jose and Mark (with Jose Canseco)
• Uniform On
• Joe Montana Rap
• IHOP Parking Lot
• Lazy Sunday
• Laser Cats Through Cinema History
• Dick in a Box / Motherlover / 3-Way (The Golden Rule)
• We Fell Off a Horse
• I Just Had Sex
• —
• Encore
• —
• Incredible Thoughts
• Donkey Roll
• Jack Sparrow
• I’m on a Boat

That hit the spot (as usual)

…before I returned to the Delta Club, anyways 😉

One purple and one red – thanks, SK

Hadn’t seen a lot of these

Spokane visit or Stranger Things audition?

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/twincities/obituary.aspx?n=gregory-alan-smith&pid=192923075

Still haven’t figured out this whole grieving thing

Beatles Cirque – probably last saw this a dozen years ago

In the “new” location @ Bellagio

Caesar’s Palace and the Palms

That would be an easy conversion

It’s so cold here

Trying WN again with SK

Twins season ticket holder trip was successful

Field study to the BWCA for MK

Presentation completed with flying colors – on to graduation!

Mom at Disneyland

Lunes has been a bad boi lately

MK @ Saint Paul College intro program

…but not working

Quick trip over to Keg and Case

Luna was none too happy about that visit, either

Growing up, there were two things we never talked about: politics and religion. I’ll leave the latter for another day, but the former is something that I’ve really come to dislike as I’ve grown older. I mean, politics are everywhere, of course, whether it be at work, in the news or at a family gathering. But as far as traditional Republicans versus Democrats, right versus left and conservative versus liberal, I’ve had just about all I can take. I’ve never been a fan of political parties – why can’t all elections be like those for mayor, school board or judge? I don’t need to see an “R” or “D” behind your name – tell me your qualifications, what your positions are and how you came to those conclusions. Party platforms are an intellectual cop-out, in my opinion.

We all form our key values as we mature and I find it interesting how these can change over time (and how they are shaped by our individual experiences and environments). I’ve always held the Golden Rule in high esteem and try to follow the “Thumper Rule” online (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all”). Some of my other favorites?

• Love and kindness
• Knowledge, expertise and dedication
• Fairness and equality
• Civility and respect

Closely related to these values are other things important to me: family and friends, culture, education, science, history, nature, fitness, sportsmanship, fine food, live music, good writing, silence. I used to think that I hated rules (especially those seemingly arbitrary ones created by “the man”), but really I just hate dumb rules (i.e. – this).

Not our favorite place in Europe, but still tragic news from a historic city

Calm amongst the chaos

Really needed that burger today

Squeezing in a few more…

Timberwolves vs. Golden State @ Target Center

Parking really is free

Nine ball is still my fave

We lived there a long, long time ago

Zantigo Woodbury (with MK)

That would’ve been a true Grand Casino Story, no?

…and Sir Elton

Now that Monster Jam is over, it’s full on Final Four

SK on her way to NYC

• My mom (and her dad and brother)
• 20/20 vision
• Prince, Petty and Bowie
• Running (and My People)
• Marathon-level fitness
• Mountain skiing
• Warm weather
• Disneyland (and World)
• Happy Hour (with no happy)

Keeping a positive outlook and all, but this is still truth…

He was an original Kilimanjaro Safari guide at DAK

I’ve never seen such a small clown serving

MK at her first ticket draft

Thanks, Jim and Darla!

Last year, we had a big blowout birthday party in the Sinatra Lounge (the invite we did still makes me smile). This year, I was planning to go on a ski trip in Banff to celebrate landmark birthdays for MK and I. Then I had my little medical incident and we postponed the big stuff and scaled back 2019 birthday plans. I still wanted to do something a little out of the norm, so we booked a dinner reservation at the new Minneapolis hot spot, P.S. Steak.

I will forever call Chef Mike DeCamp “YoungChef2,” as that is his Twitter handle. Young Chef is a busy guy for Jester Concepts, listed as Executive Chef at Monello and Constantine and Borough and Parlour. He is also behind the weekly Sunday old-school Italian pop-up at Monello, Mama DeCampo’s (which is great, BTW). Somehow Mercado slipped by him, but P.S. Steak is the latest DeCamp project for the group.

We never made it to La Belle Vie before it closed in the 510 Groveland location, but there is so much history there (Dara called it “heavier with history than any restaurant in the state” in her first bite review). Not only was Chef DeCamp in that kitchen, but so was Tim McKee, Matt Anderson and a host of Twin Cities cocktail pioneers (make sure and read this Strib article to find out the backstory on the “Obi Pip Kenobi”). Man, I miss seeing and talking with Pip at Marvel Bar…

Joy Summers has some great pictures of the remodeled 510 spaces in her Eater story, including one of our exact table in the steakhouse dining room side (to the left as you enter – the lounge is to the right). There is complimentary valet parking and I don’t think I really knew how easy it is to get there from Lowertown via I-94 and Dell Place (and back again). In Dara’s story, she described the newly renovated dining room as “Ravenclaw-meets-Eyes-Wide-Shut-for-a-drink” and personally, I couldn’t stop humming the Haunted Mansion music (which actually made the whole night extra fun for me).

So how was it? You never know what service will be like at a place that just opened, but everything went swimmingly. Our server was wonderful, all of our questions were answered, the flow of food out of the kitchen was consistent and everything tasted great. The room is not overly loud and really looks spectacular (was that Norm Green at the table next to us?). Dara asks, “Is P.S. Steak suddenly among the most expensive restaurants in town?” Yup, for sure. It’s also an instant classic that will be busy with special event and corporate expense account business that will give Manny’s a run for their money.

SK and I are the steak people in the family, so one of us tried the 8oz beef tenderloin and the other had the Denver steak. Both were wonderful – I added Stilton blue cheese to mine, while SK had a side of curry béarnaise. We all shared some Aligot (mashed potatoes with cheese), roasted baby carrots and Parker House rolls. Colleen went with one of our Chef Ramsey faves, sautéed sea scallops, while MK had the sautéed chicken breast with smoked chicken thigh, mushrooms and kale. I also shared the P.S. chopped salad with Colleen, while SK had a bowl of the caramelized onion soup (which came with tasty rye gnocchi and cave aged Gruyere).

We saw Young Chef do the cool baked Alaska thing at the table next to us, but we passed on that one. They did bring out a birthday candle in my really good hot fudge and salted peanut sundae, though. The girls shared the Andoa chocolate brownie and added a scoop of the excellent vanilla ice cream (which we think is from Izzy’s). It was a great way to end my birthday and I would definitely go back again. Sorry for the highly filtered photos – it’s not an easy room to take pictures in at night. Oh, and a shout-out to my colleague Keri, who started a new food blog called Keri Tyler Moore that made me realize I need to write about food more often (and not just post pictures to Instagram).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Parent of the Year material right there

Thanks for sticker #1, SK

The fries still rock (walleye too)

Thank you, MK, for the present

You were short, but wonderful

We are the music makers…

Nicely done, MK – proud of you!

I’ve never been big on year-end lists or goal summaries here, but I’ve always done a fair amount of goal-setting privately. This past year has put a different spin on my perspective, so I thought it might be useful to share a few things as 2019 gets started. In hindsight, a lot of my previous health goals seem rather vain compared to plain old recovery. And how fortunate was I in the past to just want to run faster, bike farther or finish another marathon? Now, regaining my normal vision (without prism lenses) is goal #1, followed closely by getting cleared to resume driving and riding a bike. I’m very thankful that the outlook for all of these things is good – much of this might happen by the middle of March.

Since Dr. Tummala gave me the OK to resume treadmill running, I’ve felt good the past week, with three slowish runs totaling 7.1 miles. I also did one nine mile ride on a stationary bike and resumed doing light dumbbell repeats. Not really sure what workout goals to set for 2019 – the only race I’m registered for is the Get in Gear 10K in April and I’d really like to participate in the Bike to Work challenge again in May. Beyond that, I just want to stay consistent all year and not have any big gaps in my charts (which happened twice in 2018). It would be nice to return to regular weekly runs with WeRunMpls once the ice melts and I’d love to reschedule a ski trip for next season (Banff, Colorado or Schweitzer). Lots of golf outings to schedule with people too.

The doctors cleared a return to air travel already, but money and time will be limited. The original plan was to give each person in our family a trip for their respective milestone birthday in 2019, but all of those plans are on hold for the time being. Most likely options? A quick Las Vegas trip after the Final Four and maybe a work trip to the annual Cisco conference, which is in San Diego this year (June 9-13). And of course Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opens in both Florida and California this year, but that will likely fall in the Tokyo/Lanai/Switzerland dream trip category for the time being.

With the Vikings season over, my job shifts focus to the Final Four on April 6th and 8th. We have four large events before then (two trade shows and two dirt shows), but there is a lot to do before “the road ends” in Minneapolis. Then we get to break down that setup for Garth Brooks and his sold-out stadium tour before prepping for Summer X Games (version 3.0). Since X Games moves to early August, there won’t be a lot of time between that and football pre-season. With all that work to do, maybe I should start daydreaming again about building a tiny cabin on the North Shore to escape to with the family…

Wow, how lucky am I to be writing this post? Happy New Year to all of you – may 2019 be full of love, health and prosperity!

It’s been at every house I’ve lived in

Decembers have not been kind to the Smith side of the family. Eleven years ago, I lost my grandmother Helen Smith on the day after Christmas. In 2013, my grandfather Donald Smith passed away on December 30th. Last year, my mom died on December 22nd. This year, we learned that my mom’s brother Greg passed away early Christmas morning in Spokane, Washington.

Uncle Greg was kind, generous, funny and progressive. He grew up in Minnesota and went to law school here before heading west. He briefly led my dream life as a ski bum, running chair lifts at Schweitzer and living in the slope-side Tamarack condo that I would visit every spring break from age nine through college. Later, I would bring both daughters to visit several times (one time via Amtrak’s Empire Builder and one time in the Mini Cooper). He was hired by the city of Spokane as an attorney and eventually became a hearing examiner before retiring. I vaguely remember his old house in the valley and vividly remember the blue house up the hill from downtown on 8th. He had a fondness for old station wagons (VW and Volvo) and I’m not sure if he ever bought a new car from a dealer.

Greg was very active and definitely helped shape my love of skiing and running. The spring break trips were great, as my mom worked for the airlines and I could fly to Spokane for free (I also loved that the Spokane airport code was GEG). Schweitzer didn’t always have the best snow cover in the spring, but there was always plenty of sunshine and I usually returned to school red as a lobster. As I recently posted, frequent stops at The Station House restaurant were a given and I’m pretty sure I wore out the Lee Oskar cassette tape Before the Rain.

Greg’s birthday was two days after Christmas (he would’ve been 72 tomorrow), which was just close enough to usually get the shaft as far as dual celebrations go. He was always so generous with my brother and sister, though, opening Spokane bank accounts that he always deposited money in every Christmas and birthday. When each of us turned 18, he would present a large check that we could use for college, new skis or whatever we wanted. Later, he did the same thing for my girls (he was also MK’s godfather).

I didn’t make it out to Spokane much outside of winter, but do remember running the Bloomsday 12K race with him in 1996 (he ran almost every year with a big group of friends). Speaking of friends, Greg had a million of them. It was impossible to walk around the lodge at Schweitzer without a ton of people stopping to say hi. Greg never married, but had several girlfriends I met over the years and his long friendship with the Barbieri family was special. I also seem to remember playing golf at Indian Canyon one year and having dinner downtown at Clinkerdagger, Bickerstaff and Petts (which apparently goes by just Clinkerdagger these days).

Thanks, Greg – you will be dearly missed…❤️

Legacy.com Obituary:

Passed away early on Christmas Day, 2018 after a stroke. He was preceded in death by his parents, Donald and Helen Smith and older sister Karen Kingsbury. Survived by bother Jeff (Joyce Riestenberg-Smith) and sisters Stacey Kohner (Richard) and Linda Arcand (David) and brother-in-law Michael Kingsbury. Nieces and nephews: David Kingsbury (Colleen), Brian Kingsbury (Patty), Lynn Kingsbury, Thomas Smith (Jean), Peter Smith, Laura (Aaron) Moser; great grandnieces and nephews Sasha, Marisa, Arianna, Galen, Wyatt and Ethan. Greg was born and grew up in St. Paul, went to Central High School (’64) and then to the University of Minnesota. He loved sports and the outdoors and spent 7 summers on the staff at YMCA Camp St. Croix. At the U, Greg was very active in The Kappa Sigma Fraternity, playing IM sports, acting in Campus Carnival shows, and singing in a University Chorus. He went on to the U’s Law School, graduating in 1972. After spending 2 years, working for a judge in Winona, Greg and a group of friends headed west, looking for new professional and recreational challenges. The group found Sandpoint Idaho and Spokane Washington, and after passing the bar in both states, Greg went to work for the city of Spokane. He was an Administrative Law Judge when he retired in 2013. Greg said he never regretted moving west. Spokane seemed a perfect size to him, and he enjoyed the cultural and sporting opportunities available. He loved the Blooms Day runs in the spring and Skiing at Schweitzer in the winter and in between there were rivers, lakes and trails to explore by foot, canoe or bike. Greg was a very social person. When he was younger, he volunteered regularly with Big Brothers. He met people easily and developed a large base of friends for book clubs, traveling or just general good times. He was also very active in supporting social causes. Those supported ranges from Doctors Without Borders to the Humane Society. Greg’s last years were hard. He battled depression and health issues and in the end he couldn’t defeat them. As a memorial to Greg please make a donation to a cause you feel needs support. He’d be proud of you. A private family memorial has been held.

Published in Pioneer Press on May 19, 2019

Kids these days don’t let their elders win nothing