Bitter wind from the west

It's finally cold. Today the temp was 35 degres, with a howling wind that apparently topped 30 MPH. Certainly not hurricane force, but strong enough to blow the leaves around.
Minnesota Harvest Photo
At my place of employment, we sit under the SE approach to MSP airport. When the planes pass overhead, they are about two miles off the runway, and today those NWA birds with the red tails were bouncing in the gale. I thought of the pilots quickly needing to adjust to winter flying conditions--they've had it easy for so many months.

Medical miracle

There was an op-ed piece in the Strib the other day about the writer's encounter with the Chinese medical system. He marvelled at its primitive (to our eyes) nature, its ready availability and its cheapness. All true, no doubt, but I can top that.

In 2006, I fell and busted my nose on the High Street in Dalkeith, Scotland. I didn't think it was broken, but it wouldn't stop bleeding, and being vain, I was worried about scarring. It was a Bank Holiday, and the local clinic was closed. So, off I went in a taxi to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh casualty ward. The taxi was by far the most expensive part of the experience.

I presented myself at the desk, where the admissions clerk asked me my name and my age. That was it. Than I waited for about 45 minutes -- it was a holiday, after all -- and was then seen by a nurse, who asked me my name, my age, and whether I was allergic to anything. I then waited about 10 minutes more and was called back to a cube where I saw the great man himself, the head of the famous internship program. Apparently the most senior staff pull shifts on holidays. He was busy, trying to secure a place at some hospital in England for one of his students and kept darting in and out. But he was clearly tickled to have a Yank on his couch. "You're not from around here," was his little Scottish joke.

But here's the thing: he patched me up, lectured me about why stitches wouldn't work on a nose, and sent me on my way. It cost nothing except the cab ride. Think about the hours of paperwork saved. Why is it so difficult for us to even think about a system along these lines? The only people who benefit now are the insurance claim processing companies and their parent corporations. Do we care so much about them?

And the blood spots stayed on the High Street pavement for many weeks, despite the daily drizzle.

Scandal at MNDOT

Apparently even Republican appointees are capable of questionable behavior. Sonia Pitt, a career employee of the Minnesota Department of Transportation, was elevated to a senior position in 2003 by republican governor Pawlenty. In charge of emergency management for the department, Ms. Pitt declined to return to the state after the 1-35 W bridge collapse in August 2007 because she was hanging out with her boyfried in DC. The boyfriend, a federal transportation department guy, was the recipient of hundreds of emails, cell phone calls and visits, all paid for by the tax payers of Minnesota. And Ms. Pitt apparently was so blinded by luv that she didn't have the grace to show the flag after the bridge collapse. "I can work from here just fine" was her response to questions about her whereabouts.

Here's another example of how the insertion of politics into what should be merit-based positions hurts the rest of us. Ms. Pitt was a marketer when she was promoted to head the emergency prepardeness section at a cost of $84,000+ and very nice state benefits. In the Northstar state, that's a good salary. And, as a marketer myself, I know that such jobs are good preparation only for other such jobs.

That's why we are supposed to have a civil service. The so-called experts are protected from political retaliation, in return for which we are supposed to believe that they are working hard for us. In Sonia's case, she was clearly using the state dime to get her own needs met.

And apparently that's only the tip of the iceberg.

Ghost cats

Even though they've been gone for several months, I keep seeing black cats. A pouring rainstorm brings the fleeting thought: I've got to get them inside. A pair of jeans tossed on the white bedspread in a dark room brings irritation: She's sleeping on the bed again. A marauding tom cat in the middle of the night makes me worry about the big tom: Hope he's close to the house. An old coupon for cat food reminds me: Gotta stock up.

Their elusive presence is surprising. But, even in their elderly, sick, last days, they were out of sight as much as front and center. They were not ever-present. In short, they were independent cats. These nano-second reminders are the way it was when they were alive. They would suddenly appear after an absence spent under the bed or across the street. They would pretend that we were the center of their world for those few moments it took them to convince us to feed them. Then they would disappear again.

So even though they don't personally appear any more, our minds are conditioned to have them pop up unexpectedly. That's the cat way.

Barak story

During his sojourn at the University of Chicago, Joe College Grad lived in an apartment in Hyde Park, across the street from Barak Obama's place. How close it was I don't know, but close enough to make this a story.

Anyway, Joe, as college students often do, had a party to which he invited several hundred of his close, personal friends. That part is clear. The next bit gets a tad murky.

Bottom line: some of Joe's friends got a bit excited and began throwing stuff, or in some versions of the tale, shooting a BB gun at Barak's building. Who knows...

Bottom line: Chicago Police department officers or secret service guys--I suspect Joe doesn't know--arrived at the scene of the party, asking to be invited in. And maybe this has nothing to do with guns, rock throwing, or other juvenile attacks on the senator from Illinois. Maybe the neighbors were sick of the noise emanating from Joe's place. However, whatever the cause of their arrival, the cops were denied admission to the student apartment. Joe wouldn't let them in because they didn't have a warrant. Every penny spent at the U of C was worth it....

And Joe is a solid Barak fan. It turns out Barak doesn't live in the neighborhood anymore. Probably those students got to him.

Hillary story

Back in the age of dinosaurs, in the early spring of 1992, Hillary Rodham Clinton came to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on behalf of candidate Bill. The rally was held in one of the general aviation hangars at the Eau Claire County airport. There weren't too many of us -- maybe 200 or so. We went because OLGS briefly went to the same high school as Hillary Rodham, although not at the same time. That he is now a fervid supporter of the Hillary for Prexy movement has absolutely nothing to do with this, or so he tells me.

Anyway, we paced around in the back because at the time Joe High School was in his stroller -- pre verbal but quite active. As we stood around listening to her tell us why Bill would be a great president, he began shaking his wooden rattle, which made a lovely clacking noise. He was quite insistent on listening to this lovely sound. Soon, a secret service guy in expensive shoes came over to inform us that Joe was making far too much noise and we should quiet him down. Of course, taking the rattle away only set him off more, and he started to howl and cry. We then gave him back the rattle, which he shook and beat on the edge of the stroller. The SS guy scowled at us.

When she was finished spelling out the virtues of Bill, Hillary worked her way around the hangar, shaking hands and smilling, the good politician's wife. When she got to us, she apologized for the officiousness of the SS guy, cootchy-cooed Joe, and exchanged reminiscences about Downer's Grove North, in suburban Chicago.

It's all about the personal connection, you know. OLGS has been a fan ever since.

Next up: Barak story.

Sick kids, sick government

I can't stand it. Current Occupant can say with a straight face that we cannot afford to pay the paltry $12 billion to cover poor children because they aren't really poor (yup, he did say that) and besides, we just can't afford it.

But it's fine to spend untold zillions on a war that is achieving absolutely nothing. The only people that are gaining from the adventure in Iraq are the non-bid contractors and private security firms. Otherwise, it's a total waste. But that is OK with George. And he has the gall to have his minions in the defense department ask for even more, 'cause we all know that throwing money at a problem is the way to solve it, right?

Am I missing something here?

Fall

This is my favorite season. This, rather than January 1st, seems to herald the start of the New Year for me. Maybe it's the school thing. Maybe it's the lovely weather. A lone goose flew overhead this evening, very low, trying to find its way back to the flock moving down the Mississippi flyway. It was honking furiously as it sought its fellow travellers.

Catless after all these years

Judy the cat died on Thursday evening. She had been off-feed for two days, but continued to drink water. Her head congestion was worse. Then she apparently had a stroke, as her back legs didn't work for a half day before her death. While we were watching TV in the evening, she came down, or fell down, the stairs, cried a few times, and died within ten minutes. OLGS (and I must admit, I, too) was touched by the thought that she wanted to be with us in her last moments.

It's amazing how still a dead body is. The notion that people are not dead, but only sleeping until the last judgment, must have been developed by someone who hadn't seen many or any dead bodies.

We are now catless for the first time in more than 30 years. It will be a while before we can replace them. Judy was a mighty huntress, even in her later years, although her victims got smaller and smaller. She seemed to specialize in baby rabbits. It was awful.

She was also amazingly sociable. At her last event, the neighborhood cookout on Labor Day, she sat in front of the grill, oblivious to the 25 people milling around. She was clearly waiting for something meaty to fall to the ground; she was very patient. We finally had to move her out of the line of traffic. She loved parties and being the center of attention.

She was a smart, smart cat. She had us eating out of the palm of her paw. We fed her shrimp, sour cream, and other tidbits. The boys loved her, especially Joe College Grad. He spent several hours patting and grooming her the day before she died. She went to the great catfood factory in the sky with an excellent fur coat.

Minneapolis Bridge Disaster

They opened up the 10th Avenue Bridge, which runs parallel to the 35W Bridge that collapsed in August. This has the best vantage point of the collapsed bridge, and today there were hundreds of people walking on it, staring at the mangled rebar, chunks of concrete, and the long span that runs at a 75 degree angle from University Avenue down to the Mississippi. It looks like a massive skateboard park for really good skaters.

The 10th Avenue Bridge sidewalk was full of families, either on their way back from the Gophers football game (they won) or visiting the kids on the first weekend after the start of the semester. An odd destination for a family outing, but it is a compelling view. From one angle, the bridge just stops. But from the 10th Avenue side, you are about 200 feet from the structure. You can see very clearly that the bridge does not stop, but continues down into the muddy waters of the Mississippi. It's rather chilling.

And now that the 10th Avenue Bridge is open, I can get to my gig at the University libraries much more quickly.

Back to School

Here it is again. This calendar has governed my whole life, spent on the periphery of academe as it has been. OLGS started today, although he had no classes. But he did have 45 freshmen advisees. Joe High School and Joe College also started today. Joe High School has a schedule that includes two classes he's already taken before. They don't have the teachers and sections at Minneapolis South High to give him what he requested, but I will not allow him to take classes he's already taken. I can't begin to spell out how stupid that is. Joe College seems on track, although the AFSCME staff at the U of M are planning to strike on Wednesday. I've urged him to buy his books, but he hasn't. So unless they settle tonight, he (and 49,999 other students) is out of luck.

And so it goes, Academe is not a bad life, as such things go. But OLGS does not recommend it to either his students or his sons. Especially in public institutions, the urge to justify the educational activities of the place to the yahoos who provide the funding has lead to some truly nutso stuff. And the mossback legislators, all of whom benefitted from atending schools like the University of Wisconsin or the University of Minnesota, seem to feel that now that they and their children are out of college, it's OK to turn off the spiggot. Not surprising, but sad for the community, the state, and the country.

Minneapolis Airport

Steve Sack, Minneapolis Star Tribune

It's hard to contain myself. Senator Slimy, aka Larry Craig, was caught trolling for sex in a men's room in the Minneapolis airport. Seems ol' Larry comes through the Twin Cities regularly on his way back to Idaho to service (ahem) his constituents. He knew exactly where to go. What the Star Tribune and other fine journalistic organs did not tell you is that the location of this men's room is really not on the way to any gate. It's in the main concourse right outside security. If you just landed from Washington and you need to transfer to Boise or Pocatello, it's a good bet that you don't need to walk through the main concourse.

So, Star Tribune, get on the stick. Find out what Larry's flight numbers and gates were. And, while you're at it, tell us why you didn't break this story in June or July. Have the cuts made in the Strib reporting staff been so severe that you aren't able to have someone review the court cases for newsworthy and titillating stuff? You were scooped by a Washington insider paper.

That the airport uses its security resources to have an officer spending his shift in the men's room, sitting on the toilet and reading the paper, is a sad commentary on so many things that I don't know where to begin. But having a moralistic, gay bashing, conservative being caught with his pants down, so to speak, is too good to be true.

And Alberto Gonzales is no doubt thanking his lucky stars, if he has any, that Americans don't really care about substantive matters. Sex scandals trump violating the Constitution every time.

Minneapolis arts scene

There's a reason I won't live in Washington County, Maine, full time. It's certainly beautiful. But I'm a culture junky. And Minneapolis is a great place to indulge that particular weakness. It's affordable, accessible, and middle of the road enough to appeal to bourgeois types like myself.

Exhibit A: I spent 15 minutes figuring out our obligtions this fall and into the spring. We have a performance of some sort every other week. And that's with three sets of season tickets. And there is a little break in January. We have two sets of theater company tickets and one set of chamber orchestra tickets--the Park Square Theater, the Guthrie Theater, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. It's a bargain that we can share with our kids--if we can't go, they can. And this doesn't take into account the free tickets that Joe High School receives as a result of his attendance at an inner city high school.

For less than $900 per year, OLGS and I can see world class performances of musicians and actors. And if you're not as snobbish as I am, you can see far more for far less. That is one of the primary reasons that I would prefer to live in Minnesota during the opera season, although I've been to the Minnesota Opera twice. But it's the thought that counts and the realty that matters.

You can't get there from here, or Minneapolis cleans up

Three miles of Interstate 94 are closed in downtown Minneapolis for the weekend. This stretch connects I-35W, where the bridge collapsed, with County Highway 280, which is now one of the official detours. The highway gnomes are widening it (i.e., eliminating the breakdown and bus lanes) so that it can handle all the extra traffic caused by the need to manoeuver around the missing 35-W bridge.

It is amazing how fast highway construction crews can move when they really have to. Even though it's been raining all day, they are at work. Last night, we were in one of the last cars onto I-94 before it closed until Monday at 5 AM. The westbound side, already closed, was ablaze with huge floodlights and busy with activity as workers knocked down fences, uprooted metal barriers, and painted new lines.

In normal circumstances, this project would take a whole summer. But because there is no alternative, and traffic has been a total mess for three weeks, it will be done by Monday. Makes one think, yes?

When children return

Joe College Grad and girlfriend moved to Minneapolis. It was a saga getting them out of NYC--Joe College drove to New York, helped them pack, and drove them back to the Little Apple. They are looking for jobs and an apartment while they live upstairs with Joe High School, who had been looking forward to spreading out into the empty rooms and having the bathroom all to himself. My deadline for them is September 1, and it is fast approaching, with little movement on either the job or the apartment front.

They seem depressed, adrift, and without a well-thought-out plan. The skills required to get through the University of Chicago or teach first grade in the Bronx do not seem to translate to the real world. Joe's girl has never been outside New York. So this move represents many challenges for her. Let's hope the whole enterprise works.