7 Minute Miles Header

Wanted this one, but my size NO MOR

Pic posted March 18, 2024

We will see what Boston has tomorrow, but the Twins team store is running very low on 2024 stuff. Guess we will need to come earlier next time (or I need a smaller head)


flourish icon

We found a throwback Target 🎯

Pic posted March 18, 2024

Fort Myers has a Super Target near our hotel that is…not really following the latest Target design standards


flourish icon

Game 1: Boston @ Twins ⚾️

Pic posted March 18, 2024

John’s breezy shade seat recommendation saved the day
Twins Win! 5-2


flourish icon

MSP is Johnny on the spot 🏀 ✈️

Pic posted March 18, 2024

Nice work, Eduardo, on having that up to date bracket on the F concourse the day after


flourish icon

🫡 Delta Airbus A321

Posted March 18, 2024

So far this plane has stayed in one piece (and has free WiFi for all)


flourish icon

See you soon, spring baseball ⚾️

Pic posted March 15, 2024

The countdown clock is ticking…


flourish icon

Stipe at the British Museum

Pic posted March 9, 2024

Colleen snapped this on a London trip and had it published in Q Magazine (RIP in 2020)


flourish icon

Late night snack from Duluth

Pic posted March 4, 2024

Thanks for the special treat, MK


flourish icon

Yet another social media update 🤔

Posted March 3, 2024

Thanks to the social media manager in my office, I’m now back on the Gram. She has a goal to increase Instagram followers, so I registered @7minutemiles as a private account, followed @targetcentermn and started looking at the current state of that platform. As some of you may recall, I used to be @kingsbury for years and Colleen had her account stolen by a hacker (Meta support was not helpful).

It’s really amazing to me how much content is generated exclusively for Instagram, especially in the food world. Sports and entertainment is also still going strong and I’m slowly re-discovering golf, skiing and regional travel accounts (Meta appears to limit new accounts to 100 follows a day now). A few people have discovered my new account and sent follow requests, but I’m not sure how much I will publish there.

As Cory Doctorow wrote, now is the moment for POSSE – Post Own Site, Share Everywhere. IndieWeb has also written a lot about POSSE, which I had already started to try recently on both Bluesky and Mastodon. Need to think through this a little more, as I never liked when people would just post the same stuff everywhere.

Still really love the idea of people publishing their own sites and content – whether that is a small business website, a personal blog or something else. What I do here is neither free nor easy, but there are options out there for people if you look. The vast majority of people, however, will likely continue to use services like Instagram and TikTok as their only home to the content they create and publish.

As someone who basically dropped off all social media for a time to focus on my personal site, getting eyeballs on your content is infinitely harder, FOMO is strong and with comments disabled on my site, two-way communication is definitely hindered. And as Zeldman says, “go where the people are.

Still, people like Jason Kottke remain great examples of self-publishing ideas and implementation. I love reading his posts like this one on the latest kottke.org site redesign. My RSS reader follow list hasn’t changed much over the years, but there is still some great stuff that pops up in there from people like Teri Kanefield, Brian Krebs, Charles Edge, Tom Bricker, Mistletunes and Phil Roberts.

Back on the platforms, I got to explore Threads with the new Instagram account and didn’t see a lot of personal value there. The “For You” view was awful and the “Following” option showed that most activity on accounts I care about is remaining on the Instagram side.

I still enjoy reading content on Mastodon via Ivory, which remains the closest experience to what I had with Twitter and Tweetbot. Recently learned I can follow tags there and have been enjoying the “SKIING” tag a lot. Also like Bluesky, but wish I could use a Tapbots app for that service instead of the website.

Instagram on the web is much better than before, but I’ll probably get back to using the iOS app again once I have the full follow list in place. Still happy I hibernated my LinkedIn – it will be there if I need it in the future, but don’t miss it day to day…


flourish icon

Kelly’s Bar in Red Wing, Minnesota

Pic posted February 25, 2024

One of the better burgers I’ve had in a while 👍


flourish icon

Happy birthday to Kid One 💜

Pic posted February 17, 2024

A little bad Delta luck at the start, but she’s off 🎂 🎁 🎉


flourish icon

Link: Disney People and State Fair People 👍

Linked February 16, 2024


flourish icon

Dark Matter World Tour 2024

Pic posted February 13, 2024

Our names are in the hat for Fenway and Madison Square Garden 🫰


flourish icon

Madeira @ Split Rock Trading Post

Pic posted February 11, 2024

We need to keep sharing all this North Shore history – the Madeira display at the old trading post was a frequent stop when I was growing up. I think the anchor is now at the lighthouse?


flourish icon

Lutsen Fit 💪

Pic posted February 9, 2024

This is probably the best physical shape I’ve ever been – need to use this as motivation for 2024 plans


flourish icon

Too many fires up north 😢

Pic posted February 7, 2024

Lutsen and Grand Marais have both had too many heartbreaking losses the last few years


flourish icon

Matt Wilson and His Orchestra

Pic posted February 4, 2024

First time for us at the Sheldon Theatre – really nice spot


flourish icon

Link: Phil Roberts on Bleu Duck Kitchen

Linked January 25, 2024


flourish icon

Geezer Rules Birthday Schedule

Pic posted January 19, 2024

It’s pretty much required that I spend a least a part of all remaining birthdays in a casino – drove to Grand Casino Hinckley and visited my orchid friends (400x progressive!), got all the usuals at Tobies and filled up at Love’s for $2.49/gallon


flourish icon

Nashville Anniversary Trip

Posted December 24, 2023

Realized recently that I need to do a better job of writing up vacation summaries so I have something to go back to in the future when people ask about places we’ve visited. I get so caught up in posting individual things when we are on the road that I know things have been lost. From now on, I’ll still do those posts while traveling, but make sure to write a longform story with a full photo gallery when we get back. Don’t have these for our last two Hawaii trips, but here’s one for our recent quick trip to Nashville…

As I mentioned in my Oak Ridge Boys @ Ryman post, I needed to find a small window in my work schedule to celebrate our 32nd wedding anniversary. With a work concert scheduled on our actual anniversary (12/14), I decided to plan a two-day midweek trip just before that. I asked Colleen if she’d be OK with me surprising her on the destination and somehow we all managed to keep it a secret until she got to the gate.

We flew Delta early Tuesday morning, leaving MSP at 7:15am and arriving in Nashville at 9:35am (I kinda forgot both cities are in the same time zone). Picked up a Chevy something from the National Emerald Aisle and rolled into the Melrose location of Hattie B’s for some Nashville Hot chicken for lunch. Got there a little quicker than I expected, so we wandered the Publix grocery store across the street until the restaurant opened. It’s always fun to see what local items grocery stores carry in different parts of the country.

SK and I had tried the Hattie B’s at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas and I’m glad I picked this one to try in Nashville (Nashville Eater had a bunch of other options for Nashville Hot – Prince’s Hot Chicken and Bishop’s Meat & Three were also in my notes as possible stops). Colleen had the Southern “no heat” option, while I wimped out and tried the mild (which was Minnesota perfect). For sides, we shared the crinkle-cut fries, baked beans, creamy cole slaw and the Belgian waffles with honey butter. Would go back again in a heartbeat and based on the Tuesday lunch crowd, I’d say that’s a common opinion with the locals.

After Hattie’s, Colleen asked to go to Third Man Records, which I had totally blanked out as having a Nashville location (the other two are in Detroit and London). Turns out it was less than ten minutes away and we were browsing the small, but awesome store in no time.

In addition to the 1947 Voice-o-Graph recording booth made famous by the Neil Young album A Letter Home, this location also had a Mold-A-Rama machine “CURRENTLY OUTFITTED TO SCULPT A FIRE-ENGINE-RED MINIATURE MODEL OF JACK WHITE’S CLASSIC WHITE STRIPES-ERA AIRLINE GUITAR” and a performance space called the Blue Room Bar.

There wasn’t a ton of merchandise for sale, but there was a very high percentage of things I wanted to buy. Colleen made a record in the Voice-o-Graph, which pushed out a single side 45rpm platter, just as advertised. I restrained myself and only purchased a few stickers, but some of the clothes were very tempting. If Jack hadn’t made me so upset about his phone policy, I probably would’ve spent way more money there.

Next up, Colleen had a recommendation from a friend about the Johnny Cash Museum. It was also within 10 minutes of Third Man, so we parked in a lot nearby and were browsing the insightful displays early in the afternoon. Before this trip, I wasn’t super familiar with the layout of the popular downtown Broadway area, but this museum was just a block away from all of that (and also across the street from the main Goo Goo Cluster store, which we also visited).

The museum was well worth the $26 admission price for fans of the Man in Black and we both learned quite a few new things about him. It’s not a huge museum, but I think we spent about 90 minutes looking around (lots of pictures in the gallery below). The gift shop was a bit of a let down – don’t think either of us ended up buying anything.

We packed up and drove to our hotel to check-in and get ready for dinner. I had originally planned to book us at the Four Seasons Nashville, which was in development at the same time as the Four Seasons Minneapolis that I helped open. Instead, I got a reservation at the “Saint Paul Hotel of Nashville,” the Hermitage Hotel. Opened in 1910, this 5-star beauty is one block from the Tennessee state capitol and was home to the War of the Roses women’s suffrage movement.

We valeted the lovely white Chevy and went up to our very nice, historic room on the fourth floor (yes, we had room 420). Not much of a view, but the king-sized bed was very comfortable and there was an awesome chaise lounge at the foot of the bed that I loved. The fancy bathroom had a shower and large soaking tub, along with a TV built-in to the mirror (which was honestly kind of weird). We received turn down service, then headed to our dinner reservations at the hotel restaurant, Drusie & Darr by Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten (who also had a restaurant in Minneapolis at the Chambers Hotel from 2006-2009).

With our early 5:00pm reservation, we were the second table to be seated in the large, beautiful space. The host and our server were friendly and knowledgable. We ordered the burrata with cranberry compote as a starter, then had the simple prep salmon and cod with a side of mashed potatoes. The soy miso sauce served with my salmon was amazing. The little anniversary chocolate insert that they served with our dessert was a nice touch. The room had filled up by the time we left for the show (the bar was busy the entire time).

The Ryman was about a four block walk from the Hermitage, an easy ten minute hike in the relatively warm December evening. I already talked about the show itself in the other post, so I’ll just mention that the line to get in stretched all the way down the hill to Broadway, but moved quickly. After the show, we walked around the outside of building, but areas were blocked off by the tour busses. I had planned to have after-show drinks at the Nashville outpost of Attaboy, but we were tired and just walked back to the hotel and went to sleep.

My original plan was to sleep in on Wednesday, then hit Shotgun Willie’s BBQ for lunch before heading to the airport. Instead, I woke up early and took a solo walk around downtown, starting at the state capitol, then heading down to the Cumberland River and back up Broadway. Got pictures of city hall, the Cathedral of Seven Sorrows, Nissan Stadium (home of the Titans), the Hard Rock Cafe and the Nashville Apple Store, which is literally right next to the Ryman.

On my way back to the hotel, I stopped in at Rise Biscuits Donuts and picked up some breakfast sandwiches. Since we were still full at checkout, we decided to hit Shotgun Willie’s at the end of their hours (Wednesday through Sunday, 11am until 3pm or sold out) and go to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere first.

Located about 20 minutes south of downtown, this zoo had some of the best interactive exhibits we’ve ever seen. Colleen got to feed and interact with a flamboyance of flamingos and we LOVED the Lorikeet Landing exhibit, where we made many new nectar-loving friends (including one guy who wanted to nest in my coat pocket). Other highlights included white rhinos, very active meerkats, a gibbon island and some cool saddle-billed storks.

Shotgun Willie’s was about 30 minutes away from the zoo in East Nashville (near Attaboy), but it also allowed us to drive by the Grand Ole Opry complex. Willie wasn’t kidding about the “or sold out” part of their hours, as we had a limited selection of what was left at 2pm. Colleen got the last of the chicken, while I tried the brisket. For sides, we had dill pickle potato salad, baked beans, cole slaw and Texas sheet cake. The staff here was amazing and they had a steady flow of people wanting to get the last bit of BBQ for the day.

It was a quick drive back to the airport and everything went smoothly from there (thanks, Delta!). Our plane back was an Airbus A220, which I don’t think I’d ever flown before. It was super nice and still had that new plane smell. Loved having the 2+3 configuration in the main cabin – Colleen and I had the A and B seats in our row and didn’t have to share with anyone else. A nice end to a nice trip…


flourish icon

The Oak Ridge Boys @ Ryman ✅

Posted December 18, 2023

“See a show at the Ryman” has been on my bucket list for a long, long time. I’ve been subscribed to their marketing email list for a while and always marveled at the lineup of shows they get each year. Didn’t really know all of the Grand Ole Opry history in the building, as our family didn’t grow up watching Minnie Pearl and the gang, but a lot of my favorite current acts stop there regularly.

When I started planning a surprise anniversary trip for Colleen, I had a very small window due to my current work schedule. Took a quick look at the Ryman calendar and saw there was a two day window that included the Christmas show by The Oak Ridge Boys, a family favorite for Colleen growing up. Thanks to some very kind connections, I was able to buy two tickets on the main floor in the “golden circle,” up close and personal.

I’ll write more about the rest of the trip soon, but the concert experience was extraordinary. You could just feel the history ooze out of every corner of the venue. The sign listing artists that have played there is like the First Avenue stars on steroids. The acoustics were great and the guest service staff were friendly and knowledgeable. Very nice gift shop near the entrance, which used the latest Evolv screening gear to move people along quickly.

We’ve seen The Oak Ridge Boys a few times at Mystic Lake, but had never seen the Christmas show before. This story from The Tennessean (via MSN) says it’s the first time they have ever headlined the Ryman, which I find somewhat amazing. If you look closely at the crowd shot in that story, you can see both of us. Oddly enough, Setlist.fm didn’t even have a plug page for this show, so I created one (but don’t know what songs were played beyond Elvira, American Made and Blue Christmas).

They are billing this the “American Made Farewell Tour” celebrating 50+ years of touring. Joe Bonsall is the youngster at 75, but he needed to be assisted on and off stage and stayed seated on a stool for the whole show. Found out he had a pulmonary embolism in June 2022 that impacted his legs. Duane Allen and Richard Sterban (Mr. Baritone) are both 80 and the man with the amazing beard, William Lee Golden (pictured above), is 84. He actually shares a birthday with kid two, so he will be 85 next month.

Very fun show in a must-see venue for anyone who loves the history of live music…


flourish icon

The Airbus A220-100 is nice

Pic posted December 14, 2023

This was the first time flying on one of these (and to be honest, the first I had heard of them). Love the 2+3 seating in coach – just a nice, modern replacement for the DC-9/MD-80s…


flourish icon

🫡 AirPods Pro (2nd generation)

Posted December 13, 2023

This was my first trip with these new ones and it was truly magical – completely blocked out the screaming baby, the talkative couple behind me and the engine noise. It literally sounded like being in a recording booth. Amazing…


flourish icon

Lunch @ Shotgun Willie’s BBQ ✅

Pic posted December 13, 2023

They aren’t kidding about selling out before 3pm at Shotgun Willie’s in East Nashville – all that was left today was (tasty) brisket and chicken


flourish icon

Nashville Zoo at Grassmere ✅

Pic posted December 13, 2023

Some of our favorite zoo experiences ever: Lorikeet Landing, feed the flamingos and the return of meerkats were all very fun


flourish icon