Entirely Accurate: The World Map of Condiments

Check it: Here.

Interesting.

So once in a while, when I think Google is taking over the world, I can always confirm? deny? with this: here. Try it.

It is finished.

Internet,

I have no idea what day of the week it is, or what the date is even, but I can tell you that as of four o'clock this morning, we are done. I'm happy with my bill (for the most part - it's a pretty good bill, and everything's relative), and I'm even more ecstatic that special session went well (only 12.5 hours!), the governor signed all of the bills this morning (many of which included great reform! and no new taxes!), the shutdown is over, and now, at 3:30 in the afternoon, I am finally at home and have the next two days off! And the weekend! What on earth am I going to do with four whole days? Imagine. Four whole days to myself (with the exception of checking email...can't really get away from that right now).

During this time I plan to basically sleep, eat and do nothing (not necessarily in that order, depending on how badly my body has been thrown out of whack from not sleeping or eating properly for so many days - well, months, really - in a row). And maybe get my back into better shape after tweaking it last week at rowing practice. (Apparently sitting in a chair for marathon meetings did not do it any good, either...between midnight and four a.m. today, the only quasi-comfortable position I could get in was either standing up against a wall or lying flat on my office floor.) And maybe see some family and friends. Or watch the final stages of the Tour de France.

I can do pretty much anything I want! Oh, the joy. And not be on call 24 hours a day. *sigh of relief*

xoxo,

Minny LinnEy

Early bird gets the worm.

This picture is from my balcony at sunrise on July 3rd. It is pretty much what I see every morning when I wake up. And by every morning, I mean all the sunny ones (of which there haven't been as many as usual this year, it seems).

And now that I'm rowing all the time, I wake up at the crack of dawn every day - like last Sunday when I took this picture (and then went back to bed for a few more hours because I didn't have to row and it's not like I have anyplace else to be at 5 o'clock in the morning.)

Rock the Garden: 2011

Dear Internet,

So I'm a little behind in telling you about my "summer vacation." For example, back in June, I went to Rock the Garden with friend K. It was a little rainy. (OK, a lot rainy.) But we still had fun.

Tapes 'n Tapes (aka, "Local band played well")

Walker Sculpture Garden (aka, "Yes, that is downtown Minneapolis back there...behind the rain clouds")

K & Minny LinnEy (aka, "a li'l bedraggled from all the rain, although we stayed pretty dry with appropriate rain gear and a little bit of planning")

Booker T. Jones (aka, "Coulda used a better sound technician")

I couldn't figure out if this guy was just Neko Case's biggest fan, or if he thought the rain would turn into a flood at any moment and wanted to be prepared.

Neko Case (aka, "Although I sound good on the radio, I'm actually pretty horrible at live concerts like this outdoor show I barely showed up for")

Sorry, Internet. I have no pictures of the final set, My Morning Jacket (aka, "K & I shoulda stuck it out, 'cause they sounded awesome on the radio on my way home and probably were the band of the day"). All in all, it was a fun experience, but I was completely disappointed in Neko Case. Completely.