Finally: Poll Results & New Poll

OK, so the 'Lympics have been over for a month and a half, so it's about time I changed the poll.

Plans to Watch Olympics Coverage:
The clear winner, with 46% of the votes, was to watch between 26 and 75 hours of coverage.
33% opted for 1-25 hours of coverage, 13% voted for watching 0 hours of coverage (you unpatriotic, anti-sports people!), and a mere 6% (which in reality was just one person) decided to spend 76-150 hours as a couch potato watching the athletic competition on NBC. No one decided to spend all their waking hours glued to the tv watching skiiers, sledders and skaters do their things (151-418 hours).

New Poll: Easter Candy

You all should know by now how addicted I am to candy. Therefore, Easter is a favorite of mine....mmmmm. Think of all the jelly beans, Cadbury eggs, malted milk ball concoctions and Peeps there are to be had. Starburst jelly beans are such a great innovation in jelly bean technology. And am I the only on who used to think Cadbury eggs were just huge when I was a kid? Have they gotten smaller, or have I only gotten bigger? maybe it's a combo of the two... Finally, on the proper way to eat Peeps: one must age them properly by slitting the package and letting them breathe for a day or two so that they're all soft on the inside and a little crunchy with all that beautiful sugar on the outside.

Hmmmm. Probably not making many friends with this little rave of sugar I've got going, so on to the poll question:

What is your favorite Easter candy? I added "none" to the answer list, but for the reason that it must be due to allergies. Please indulge me. I'd like to think everyone enjoys Easter candy, so even if you don't, please vote, but let me at least think it's because you can't eat it rather than won't eat it.

Holidays should be taken off...

Hello, and Happy Easter.

I had Good Friday off yesterday, and it was the first day in a month or two I've been allowed a day off (alas, no vacay during session). I started out my mini-holiday right by going to Maundy Thursday service at church on Thursday evening, and then slept in 'til nearly 10 yesterday. It was wonderful, that's all i can say. A quick run by the river - my first in downtown St. Paul - and my morning was complete in our sunny, 70-something-degree weather.

Went into "the studio" to record last night. A guy from our church was doing a recording of a string quartet, and he asked me to participate. I've never done any recording like that before, so it was all new to me (and a lot of fun).

And I've decided my next adventure will be the co-ed work softball team - we of the St. Paul Senators are bound to rule the league, I'm sure. (Maybe.)

Happy Easter! He is Risen: He is risen, indeed.

March and the Madness Thereof

Well, I figured this evening I would have to post, just so you all know that I was alive and kicking during the month of March.

This month has flown by, mainly because of my job. Long hours, crazy bills, debates on how best to spend taxpayer $$$, marriage rallying, all of it. Oh, and an ethical scandal thrown in for good measure. It's been a lot of fun the past month (though because of those long hours, it really feels like four or five months since the MN Senate began session).

I participated in a couple of pools for NCAA March Madness. I went down in flames. However, I really can't say that I care, quite simply because Duke and Connecticut lost, and therefore, it's all good.

My Bible study is over as of this week, and now I won't know what to do with myself on Thursday evenings until fall. I loved every moment of the first Precept class on John, and then the one I just finished was on Joseph. It's amazing how God reveals new things to you each and every time you read through a book, chapter, verse. I'm really looking forward to the second Precept class on John in September....

Also finished the belly dancing class. I have to admit: getting, oh, 25 or so white women of Scandanavian descent (with one nice African American lady who just laughed at us) into the same room trying to actually move in some fashion other than walking tended to be quite hilarious. Laughing was almost as much of a workout as the actual attempts to dance. To be sure, I don't think this will become my next career, but Emily and I had a great time doing it.

There's only a couple more weeks until Easter, and I'm looking forward to it - I love playing the Maundy Thursday service at church. And, too, I'll probably get a day off in Good Friday (crossing my fingers no floor session or committee meetings get called, but so far,so good.)

Thursday's Pics Picks

Here I am, taking the WI oath in the MN Supreme Court chamber...














When in Rome...pick up the new MN Supreme Court Chief Justice's gavel.

Moving

Hi, all. I'm not really sure if you've wondered where I've been or what I'm doing, but I'll tell you anyway.

I'm moving today! Packin' up the stuff, signing a lease this afternoon, and moving on down the road a bit so I'll be closer to work in St. Paul. Exciting stuff, huh?

I got sworn in this week for my WI license (finally got around to it). I have pics from my experience of getting sworn in at the MN Supreme Court chamber, and I'll try to get them up shortly. I must say, it was rather handy to get sworn in at the Supreme Court - it's across the street from where I work, and I didn't even have to go outside to get there, thanks to the tunnel system. I had a little entourage, including my own State Senator - he was bored in between appointments and came along with some other people from the office.

I'm playing a lot this weekend - church services and an orchestra concert. Have to admit, I love playing Carnival of the Animals by Saint Saens and Borodine's First Symphony. Fun stuff. The only thing I cannot fathom is how/why the church and orchestra dates always overlap. There are plenty of other dates from which they can choose, but no. They always coincide.

Anyway, that's about it for now. Session starts on Wednesday, so don't expect to hear a lot from me the next few months...

To which party do you belong?

OK, I'll admit it. I work in politics. And I get a lot of political jokes sent my direction. Prior to working for the legislature, I never used to pass them along that often, and even occasionally wondered if there was some exxageration to them. I will tell you now that, scarily, these things are not always blown out of proportion: sometimes they just so accurately display the mindset of many a politician. Like the following, for instance:

A Republican in a wheelchair entered a restaurant one afternoon and asked the waitress for a cup of coffee. The Republican looked across the restaurant and asked, "Is that Jesus sitting over there?" The waitress nodded "yes," so the Republican requested that she give Jesus a cup of coffee, on him. The next patron to come in was a Libertarian with a hunched back. He shuffled over to a booth, painfully sat down, and asked the waitress for a cup of hot tea. He also glanced across the restaurant and asked, "Is that Jesus over there?" The waitress nodded, so the Libertarian asked her to give Jesus a cup of hot tea, "My treat." The third patron to come into the restaurant was a Democrat on crutches. He hobbled over to a booth, sat down and hollered, "Hey there, honey! How's about gettin' me a cold glass of Miller Light!" He, too, looked across the restaurant and asked, "Is that God's boy over there?" The waitress once more nodded, so the Democrat directed her to give Jesus a cold glass of beer. "On my bill," he said. As Jesus got up to leave, he passed by the Republican, touched him and said, "For your kindness, you are healed." The Republican felt the strength come back into his legs, got up, and danced a jig out the door. Jesus also passed by the Libertarian, touched him and said, "For your kindness, you are healed." The Libertarian felt his back straightening up, and he raised his hands, praised the Lord and did a series of back flips out the door. Then Jesus walked towards the Democrat. The Democrat jumped up and yelled, "Don't touch me! I'm collecting disability."

These'll make you think twice about driving a motorcycle 250kph

Ok, so it's official my Dad works in the insr biz when i get pics like these. But they do cause one to pause before driving recklessly. The following accompanied the photographs I received:

A picture is worth a thousand words.
The Honda rider was traveling at such a "very high speed", his reaction time was not sufficient enough to avoid this accident. Swedish Police estimate a speed of ~250 KM/h (155mph) before the bike hit the slow moving car side-on at an intersection. At that speed, they predicted that the rider's reaction time (once the vehicle came into view) wasn't sufficient enough for him to even apply the brakes. The car had two passengers and the bike rider was found INSIDE the car with them. The Volkswagen actually flipped over from the force of impact and landed 10 feet from where the collision took place.
All three involved (two in car and rider) were killed instantly. This graphic demonstration was placed at the Stockholm Motorcycle Fair by the Swedish Police and Road Safety Department. The sign above the display also noted that the rider had only recently obtained his license.
At 250 KM (155 mph) the operator is traveling at 227 feet per second. With normal reaction time to SEE-DECIDE-REACT of 1.6 seconds the above operator would have traveled over 363 feet (21 yards more than the length of a football field) while making a decision on what actions to take. In this incident the Swedish police indicate that no actions were taken.

On Churches, second stab at 'em

Remember that post I had a while back about churches and their trends? And churches changing their names, catering to the masses (*cough*cough* pandering *cough*)? Well, let's add mega churches to the list of things that confound me because this is a kind of confirmation...

Soap: something scary?

There is something at work that is cause for concern. Basically, there is a very nicely appointed, public women's restroom in my office building. What concerns me is that there is a very nice old sink and countertop, and under the soap dispenser, there is a small divot. Now, it does make me wonder: what do they have in this soap that is causing a hole to form in the countertop? Maybe I shouldn't be using it...Or maybe the countertop is made of soapstone, and the erosion is more, uh, natural.

Munich

I saw the movie Munich on Friday night, and I can see why it was nominated for an Academy Award. I liked it for the most part, and it now makes me curious to know how much liberty the screenwriters took with the actual events...It was definitely thought-provoking, and messages were definitely there, but subtle. (And I was tired enough on Friday after a long day to probably not have picked up on all of them.) To me, because I'd never thought that hard about the Munich Olympics, it definitely put a different perspective on the accounts of the Old Testament and the warring between Israelis and Arabs.

Wally and the trade

It was with a great sigh of sadness last week that the women of Minnesota learned that the best-looking white man in the NBA was going to Boston. We will miss Wally Szczerbiak very much. Good luck to his wife fending off female fans in Boston.

But the question remains, was it worth it? I understand that a team can have a bad season, but c'mon! The Timberpuppies are still that - acting like they'll forever be the new kids on the block, even though the franchise has been around since '89 and KG is in his, what, 10th season? They should be putting up results, and not squandering draft picks, players and coaches in bad trades and bad business decisions. I even don't mind trading Wally if it would gain something in return, but will Ricky actually get us better results? Will KG get along with these guys better than Wally; will team chemistry click this time 'round? The Timberwolves have gotten rid of a good coach that pretty much everyone liked (Flip - and Chauncey Billups - seem to be doing okay in Detroit; they're 39-6, after all), and Glen Taylor is still touting his VP in Kevin McHale, but I'll believe the goods when I see 'em. And, oh, do I hope I see them! I love KG, and I'm a diehard Minnesota fan. I'll remain so. But I'd like to see the T'Wolves (not to even mention the Vikes) do well in my lifetime.

Liberty, or something akin to it

This week I was greeted by the Statue of Liberty. This was somewhat surprising since i am nowhere near New York. It really takes someone special, marching to his own beat (though he was drumless), to dress up in full green Statue regalia and greet people in below-freezing weather. There he was, in all the glory of Liberty's crown and gown, meeting and greeting people on the side of the road as we drove past [him?] in rush hour traffic. I assume his message was one of liberty, but it was kind of hard to tell exactly what the symbolic nature of his waving meant: he had no sign, nor was he speaking out loud. But it definitely put a smile on my face at the end of a long day to put my own message on it (which might have been the point), that someone would care enough about our liberty to remind us of it on a cold day in an unusual way.