365 Pix in 365 Days for 2015: Images 012 through 018

I didn't start Week 3 of pictures with the intention of having a theme, but one seemed to have grown organically as I perused my photos. Not only has there been a lot of change over the nearly two decades I have lived in the The Twin Cities, but there has been a surge of new construction in the last few years. The fact that nothing stays the same is hardly an epiphany, but I'm starting to look at places and remembering what used to be there. So, Week 3 is a series of pictures of the old and the new.

Upcoming weeks will have a different mix of pictures as I start my traveling season for work. I'll be making another trip to Chicago followed by one to San Francisco. I'm excited for the latter as I haven't been there for about five years. My wife is jealous because her dad and his wife live there and I will be spending the weekend with them. Cost and timing were not on our side, so she wasn't able to meet me there. I plan to make it up to her later this year.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures and commentary.

Image 012:  01-12-2015

The swankiest corner in the Grand Avenue area of St. Paul.
There used to be a Ciatti's in this corner building.  Now there's
an Axel's and a Cafe Latte.

Image 013:  01-13-2015

Preparations for the Red Bull Crashed Ice Competition.
There used to be a path of sloping green grass here, and before
that, a light rail tunnel from back at the turn of the century.

Image 014: 01-14-2015

This is a new housing development called The Paxon.
There used to be an abandoned concrete parking garage just
a year ago last summer

Image 015:  01-15-2015

I was sad to hear that Pracna on Main was closing. This was one of
the bars on Minneapolis' Main Street, one of the first streets in the
city, that had 'patio' seating during the summer. My Wife and I
once stopped here after dropping off our tax returns. We were
going to get some money back and felt like celebrating.

Image 016:  01-16-2015

My Wife and I were invited by some friends from work to attend
a benefit at Cooper's for a young woman who was battling cancer.
There were tacos, bingo, a raffle, and silent auction. Oh yes, and
dancing.  Lots of awkward dancing.  I'll just say there was a dolphin
impression and leave it at that.  I had never been to Cooper's before,
so it was new to me.

Image 017:  01-17-2015

Just one of several add-ons and new buildings being erected in
Minneapolis.

Image 018:  01-18-2015

G-Bug had her first tournament with her new team, the
17-2 squad. There used to be a young lady who didn't get
much competition time on the 16-1 team, but not this year.

365 Pix in 365 Days for 2015: Images 005 through 011

The coldest weather of the winter descended on Minnesota, coming from the most likely of sources - Canada. The mornings started below zero with wind chills making the air feel somewhere between -25 and -30 degrees.  The upper Midwest wasn't the only area of the country affected, as I read Facebook posts from friends on the East Coast lamenting similar wind chills in New England and two inches of snow falling in Washington, DC, which put the entire area in lock down something fierce.

Having gone toe to toe with the Polar Vortex previously, I have a few survival tips for those who aren't used to such bitter cold.  1.) Invest in a couple pairs of thick, cotton socks; 2.) Under Armor makes for a great first layer when getting dressed; 3.) Keep you head and ears covered; and 4.) The first 20 degree day after the cold snap will feel like a hug. Enjoy it!

Here are the pictures for this week.

Image 005:  01-05-2015

In spite of the bitter cold, you can still see some remarkable sun
rises.  This one is over Beaver Lake near the house.

Image 006:  01-06-2015

I think this is binary code for "weather sucks!"

Image 007:  01-07-2015

About 18 years ago, after I first moved to Minnesota, I attended
a christening at this church for the son of the friend of the woman
who would eventually become my ex-wife.

Image 008:  01-08-2015

One of the new Green Line Light Rail stops in downtown St.Paul.

Image 009:  01-09-2015

Scene of downtown Minneapolis taken from the I-35W on ramp
off of Highway 55.

Image 010:  01-10-2015

Another successfully completed shoveling effort. I think this
is the sixth time since November.

Image 011:  01-11-2015

My "man corner" where I plan to do much of my
blogging.  We don't have enough space for a "man cave."

365 Pix in 365 Days 2015: A New Hope, Images 001 through 004

I intentionally put myself on hiatus from my blog posting and picture taking during the last quarter of the year. I was getting too far behind with my picture posts and I wasn't feeling all that inspired to write anything else. I had looked at the photos I had taken and thought if these aren't interesting to me, they certainly won't be interesting to anyone else. So, like any business with a product in the waning stages of its life cycle, I decided to close shop and retool.

I didn't lose my interest in blogging and from time to time would read some of my posts. The writing was rough in some cases, but I could still elicit a laugh every now and again, and I knew the punchline was coming. Even the picture posts were interesting. I tried to make these more compelling for the reader with my tweet-like, one liner style captions, and some worked and some didn't. For me, the pictures were a reminder of things I had seen and places I had been during the year. Reviewing some of the pictures on my camera I didn't post brought me right back to the day I took them.

I think the chronicling aspect of the photos should be my reason for taking the pictures and making the posts. I was too focused on trying to find something interesting to capture when rarely is there a year when something interesting happens EVERY SINGLE DAY. There are going to be days I spend just doing laundry or other chores and maybe a rainbow stack of folded towels is how I will remember it. Finding something clever to say about it will be the hard part.

So, with a new attitude, a New Year, and maybe eventually a new camera, I'm going to start a new 365 Pictures in 365 Days project.  Third times a charm, right?

Image 001:  01-01-2015

Last year, the shot of choice to ring in the New Year were
"baby Guinness." This year was Fireball whiskey and Manhattans
made from Anejo Patron and Dashfire bitters. The result was a
snow angel made while in my underwear. Batman underwear.

Image 002:  01-02-2015

You heard of crop circles? Minnesota has "lake circles."

Image 003:  01-03-2015

The frozen Mississippi River below downtown St. Paul. This past
June these steps and the park above them were underwater when
the river flooded its banks.

Image 004:  01-04-2015

St. Paul from the east side and the river is still frozen. I was, too,
after taking this picture as the weather dropped to single digits.
I don't think those barges are moving anytime soon.

Polar Vortex II: Vortexalypse Now

Last month was the opener of the firearms deer hunting season. No surprise, I did not participate, as I've found myself lacking when measured against the more rustic of Minnesota citizens. Instead, I took advantage of the relatively warm days of the weekend to prep the yard for winter - i.e. mowing and raking.

Historically, I've loathed raking, even in the postage stamp sized yard we have. We have a large maple tree the dominates the backyard and drops almost a literal shit ton of leaves. Last year, I left piles of leaves around the periphery of the garage with a couple bags worth inside the garage and called it done. The leaves were still frozen to the ground at the end of May when I finally pulled them loose.

I'll have the best manicured dirt patch in all of St. Paul

This year I was determined to do better. The weather was warm, hovering near 40 degrees, and I got an early start to the day. We only had two large brown paper bags from Ace Hardware to fill, so I used an old wicker laundry basket and Ikea bag as extras. When all four totes were full, I loaded the car and took a trip to the local compostery. The first trip was a breeze, but each subsequent one had more and more people dumping their leaves. During my trips, I would listen to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" on MPR. I felt like I was having a typical Minnesotan Fall day.

That was the most remarkable thing that weekend. There was such a buzz of nervous energy across the neighborhood. As I raked, I could hear several leaf blowers running in various back yards. The weather forecast warned of a cold front moving in and bringing bitter cold and as much as a foot of snow in some areas. After the last winter, I think people were suffering from a certain PTSD about the Polar Vortex (maybe a new syndrome called PVSD). By my fourth trip to the compost site, I had to wait 15 minutes to get in and dump my leaves. Plus, the piles of leaves grew exponentially, leaving limited room for vehicles to negotiate around each other. I thought it best to call it a day and make one or two final trips on Sunday, after the workers had a chance to re-pile the leaves with the front loader.

I shudder to think how much dog poop is in there
Always wear gloves, kids!

Alas, it was not meant to be. The next day, I brought a load and found there was a line of cars the stretched down the road from the entrance and around the corner. I was half tempted to run onto the curb, put on my blinkers, and dump my leaves over the fence surrounding the compost site; but that would lead to anarchy. So, once again, I have a stack of bags in the garage and one pile next to the fence that will have to wait until Spring to be dumped. Still better than last year.

The last hurrah for our patio until Spring

As for the snow, the Twin Cities area was not hit as bad as others, just a few inches. I did what I could to clear the walkways, but the cold had packed the snow into ice. I was just about to start on my driveway when my shovel broke. The next day I went to buy two more at Menard's, but not only were they almost cleared out of shovels, nearly all of their snowblowers were sold out, too. As I said, people have taken this Polar Vortex a lot more seriously. Since getting my new shovels, we've gotten three more snowfalls and its only the first week of December, not even true Winter. Looks like its going to be a tough year.

"I've seen more marks in my shorts!"

I think I may have used up my allotment of strikes for the month last week as I didn't have much success this week. I did, however, swear profusely and conspicuously flipped off the remaining pins when I missed a spare, which happened a lot. I have to remember its not a sprint, but a marathon and I will probably do much better next week. I couldn't do much worse.

I did have some inter-team competitive fun in the second game. A teammate and I had lead into the tenth frame with two strikes and had the same score. I jokingly said "it's on" and he agreed. I started the tenth with a strike, then rolled a six. The remaining pins were clustered together and I picked up the spare - I would have said 'easily' but nothing came easy that night! My teammate left the tenth open, so I had THAT going for me.

And a clean game still remains elusive as I ruined any chance of getting one by the second frame of each game.

September 18, 2014
Game 1
9/, 9-, X, 63, 8-, 8/, S81, S81, 7/, 81 = 127

Game 2
6/, 9-, 81, 8-, 08, 0/, S81, X, X, X6/ = 156

Game 3
9-, S81, X, 6/, 8-, 8-, 0/, 8-, 9/, 9/8 = 135

Series Total:  418
Series Avg.:  139
Season Avg.: 152
Season Hdcp.: 45

365 in 365 for 2014: Images 104 through 110

Not much to say about this series of mid-April pictures. The weather was cold and dreary, and I felt weak and weary - of ideas for photos. Minnesota did get some more snowfall during that week, so it was pretty much like all of the other previous weeks. I've decided I should take more business trips during these months, just to have new locales to visit for picture posts. Following is what life was like for a week in April in Minnesota.

No. 104:  04-14-2014

Interesting layer effect of the buildings in downtown Minneapolis.

No. 105:  04-15-2014

If this stairwell was in any other major metropolis, there is no
doubt people would be injured in the bottleneck.  For Minnesota,
it works just fine.

No. 106:  04-16-2014

There was some more snowfall on this day.
Rather than take a picture of the snow, I directed
my ire at this chubby bastard.

No. 107:  04-17-2014

I can see my breath form clouds just by looking at this picture!

No. 108:  04-18-2014

A big hole was left in the Minneapolis skyline when the Metrodome
was deflated.  TCF Stadium will be a perfect temporary home for the
Vikings since no one is used to seeing quality football played there.

No. 109:  04-19-2014

The sister city for Minneapolis is Ibaraki, Japan and
this sculpture of a Dotaku bell was commissioned
by the Japanese city.

No. 120:  04-20-2014

I know the significance of this date, and I used it to get high . . .
by standing at the top of this four story escalator at the
Guthrie Theater.  I was tripping my balls off.

Just Dropping Pins And Getting Wins

"They're going down, I'm yelling timber.

They better fall, so I can dance.

It was a night I will remember,

The final score I won't forget."

This past Thursday was the earliest in the season that I bowled a 200 game. The night didn't start well as I threw a first ball into the gutter following a spare and didn't fare much better with my second attempt. I marked pretty well to finish the game above 100 pins, notching 99 at the end of the ninth frame.

After using my first game as a warm-up, I was in the zone. I marked in my first four frames of the second game, three of them strikes. I missed a spare, struck again, then followed that with knocking down one pin on a first ball. I redeemed myself by sparing the frame, then closed the game by sandwiching my fifth strike between two 7-2 frames to finish at 169.

The third game was when the magic happened. I got strikes in three of the first five frames, the other two being left open (a clean game still elusive to me). I then bowled four straight strikes to have seven in the first nine frames. I started the tenth frame with another strike (a badger), then got a split. I knocked down one of the two remaining pins to finish with a 218. I had a 505 series and 168 series average. My season average now sits at 158. My handicap should be about 35.

September 11, 2014
Game 1
8-, 9/, 03, 7/,6/,6/, 9-, 9-, 72, 8/9 = 118

Game 2
X, 5/, X, X, 72, X, 1/, 72, X, 72 = 169

Game 3
X, X, 72, X, 44, X, X, X, X, SX81 = 218

The Dirty Dozen: SitRep 09-05-2014 "But there is no FUN in Mudville"

Back in mid-July when Mattel (MAT) had its second straight quarter of disappointing results, the stock had dropped by $2.57 per share (6.5%). I remained hopeful the company would bounce back, but the price continued to slide and the reports I read didn't have a lot of positive things to say about Mattel's chances. When the price dropped almost another $2.00 over the course of a month, I knew it was time to sell.

In the meantime, I did some research and thought I found the perfect stock to replace MAT.  Cedar Fair Entertainment Company (FUN - see what I did there in the post title??) was a company that owned and operated a variety of amusement parks, including Valley Fair in Minnesota. The stock price was a little higher than MAT, but the dividend was $.70 per share. I could easily purchase enough shares to get more than one reinvested share per quarter and increase my annual dividend payments. 

I logged onto the former Sharebuilder site (now owned by Capital One) and sold my stake in Mattel. When I tried to execute my trade for FUN, I received a message that Sharebuilder does not allowed trades for Limited Partnerships, which Cedar Fair is. I was forced to go with my second choice, Connecticut Water Service (CTWS). The stock price was about equal to MAT, but the dividend was about a third less. I had more confidence in utilities with the success I've been experiencing with Xcel Energy (XEL) and I liked the tie-in to my childhood home. Since I waited until after the ex-dividend date to sell, I will get the MAT payout along with the CTWS payout in September.

In other news with my portfolio, Waste Management (WM) continues to become more profitable, so much so that the price has outgrown my dividend rate to get a full reinvested share per quarter. In the past, I have sold my stakes in stocks that didn't give me a full share, but I want to take a different approach now. The total value of my Kraft Foods Group (KRFT) stock would allow me to get back into Paychex (PAYX) at a level in line with my growth strategy as well as invest in shares of RR Donnelley (RRD) and increase my stake in Waste Management. This will accomplish three things for me: 1.) Get the full reinvested share with WM every quarter; 2.) increase my annual dividend payments; and 3.) bring to eleven the total number of stocks in my portfolio. I just need to wait until after the ex-dividend date of 10/9/2014 for KRFT before selling and I get its dividend payment.

Here are the results of my current stocks as of 09/05/2014:

First Month of Quarter Payers
B&G Foods (BGS)
Profit/Loss Per Share:                +$4.90
Annual Reinvested Shares Pace:  5.75

Kraft (KRFT)
Profit/Loss Per Share:                +$2.60
Annual Reinvested Shares Pace:  4.50

Xcel Energy (XEL)
Profit/Loss Per Share:               +$6.31
Annual Reinvested Shares Pace:  5.25

• Reached new 52 week high price and profit level

Crown Crafts (CRWS)
Profit/Loss Per Share:               -$0.06
Annual Reinvested Share Pace:  7.00


Second Month of Quarter Payers
PetMed Express (PETS)
Profit/Loss Per Share:                +$0.89
Annual Reinvested Shares Pace:  18.75

• Reached new profit level

NutriSystem (NTRI)
Profit/Loss Per Share:                +$4.05
Annual Reinvested Shares Pace:  10.00

AT&T (T)
Profit/Loss Per Share:                -$0.14
Annual Reinvested Shares Pace:  5.00


Third Month of Quarter Payers
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (RMCF)
Profit/Loss Per Share:                +$1.34
Annual Reinvested Shares Pace:  4.25

Connecticut Water Service (CTWS)
Profit/Loss Per Share:                +$0.23
Annual Reinvested Shares Pace:  4.25

Waste Management (WM)
Profit/Loss Per Share:                +$14.01
Annual Reinvested Shares Pace:  3.75

365 in 365 for 2014: Images 097 through 103

If I'm not careful, the weather might just lap me. We've finished the first week of September and already the forecasts are calling for highs in the 50's later this week and overnight temperatures in the 30's. Still warmer than April. September 22nd may be the autumnal equinox, but let's face it, Summer's over.

Not that I'm totally depressed that Fall is almost here. In fact, September and October are my favorite months of the year. I've always had more of a sense of "rebirth" when a new school year started. The weather may be cooler, but pleasant, and you start the month in a new class with a fresh haircut, an updated wardrobe, and a bright eyed hope to the great things you'll accomplish during the year. Then in November, the bottom falls out and you're ready for the holiday break. Once you return, you count the days to Summer like a soldier whose "short" on his tour of duty.

Lucky for me, I've been employed full-time for many years (some of them gainfully) and I mark time differently. It's all about fiscal quarters and fiscal years and September is the end of the next quarter. It also marks my 5th anniversary at my current job. Yeah, September will be a good month; so, here's some pictures from April.

No. 097: 04-07-2014

Once the ice is off the river, boats are ready for cruises.

No. 098:  04-08-2014

An old trolley line converted to a biking and walking path.

No. 099:  04-09-2014

I just liked the way the fire escape went in a diagonal across
the side of the building.

No. 100:  04-10-2014

Anyone else pick up the late 80's remake of 'The Blob' vibe?

No. 101:  04-11-2014

When the ice melts, the river begins to swell.

No. 102:  04-12-2014

The U of M had a couple big fires near campus. This one took out
some student housing.  Fortunately, no one died.

No. 103:  04-13-2014

A blurry evening shot of the Lowry Street bridge.