Chaos

Dear Internet,

Not only was I homeless for part of the day yesterday, I also had to shower in fire hydrant water this morning.

Yesterday was the big move at work. What was supposed to happen in the morning took all day. At one point yesterday, I was the only person in our new office suite, sitting on an end table because there were no chairs available anywhere. Then I wandered around the hallways of the capitol building, and managed to find my office chair, and dragged that into my new space. As I sat there with my laptop on my lap (ha! that rarely happens, even though "lap" is in the name) on a solitary chair in a furniture-less office (let alone furniture-less office suite), another staffer said it was the most forlorn sight he'd ever seen here. Eventually, I got a desk and skeletal bookcase (minus the shelves) around the time I left for the day.

This morning I still have no phone, and my laptop docking station has yet to be set up, but at least I now have a desk, a chair and I found a cord to power up the ol' (persnickety) computer. Oh! And I even found a spoon in one of my boxes so I could eat my breakfast. But I have yet to find any pens. Why, oh why! did I pack ALL pens? That was silly of me.

Then, last night the water main to my building broke, leaving everyone who lives there water-less. Stupid cold, November weather. And then I received a phone call this morning that the floors at the boat club had been re-done, leaving me no access to the locker room there, either. BUT, I am thankful that by this morning, the nice city workers had hooked up a hose from the fire hydrant outside to our building, so I got to shower in (hot) fire hydrant water this morning. (I have one other option here at work...but I'd REALLY rather not use the locker rooms in the SOB...that is just too, too much, for many reasons.)

I am so ready for a bit of peace and quiet, but first, I have to scrub out the new office and start the organization thereof...

It's not even session...

...and I'm leaving work after 8 o'clock in the evening. This is fun and these are good "problems" to have, yet it foretells an extremely long session ahead starting January 4th.

Oddly Compelling

I am probably the last person on earth to see this video, but, oh well. I think it's crazy and a little bit cool and a lot odd. It takes away from the artistry of the ballet, I think, but it's pretty interesting, nonetheless. Take a look-see.

Snowy Saturday

This was my Saturday:

2010 Head of the Hyndman

(complete with an actual Hyndman!)

(Shoveling snow with his sculling blades!)

Giving the boat a "snow bath" before putting her away for the winter

Taking out the dock for the year in, well,

let's call them "less than ideal" conditions

People I know.

This is not a regular segment of Minny LinnEy's Musings, mainly 'cause I don't really know any famous people.

BUT!

I do know one "famous" guy in the business/entrepreneurial world here in the Twin Cities. He was profiled this month by a local business mag here. Read all about it. He's a great guy (married to my former roomie!), long-time friend (since we were kids!) and is really good at what he does.

Update: Apparently I know more "famous" people than I thought...but they're not so famous that the writer didn't misspell one of their names...

The Ben Bernank.

Excuse a couple PG-13 words. But the moral of the story is absolutely correct.

You know your public library system's patrons are liberal when...

...only 40 people have reserved George W. Bush's memoirs (as of last night).

(To give you some perspective on the Hennepin County library system and what that number really means, there are currently almost 1400 people waiting to read Vince Flynn's latest novel, which has been out for a month.)

(Although now that I think about it, I don't know what this says...Vince Flynn's writing is usually thought by many to be on the conservative side. So maybe this just means that the people of Hennepin County like fiction better than nonfiction.)

(And what does that mean about me? I will be reading both.)

Bribery: Flu Shot & New Boots

Today, to make up for this:

I bought these (online! on clearance!):

That's justifiable, yes? Yes!

(I probably would've been satisfied with a lollipop. Or even nothing, really. But I'd rather have the boots.)

Grammarians Unite!

And tell me which of the following forms is correct:

"The working group has jurisdiction over all things relating to clowns."

OR

"The working group has jurisdiction over all things related to clowns."

Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments or email me directly.

Update: I guess my question is the following: Is this an active voice versus passive voice issue? Do "things" relate to clowns in an active way? Or are they related to something, but the thing is not actively performing the verb "relate"?

It is 3:19am on November 3rd.

I just got home five minutes ago from the war rooms and meeting rooms of the state's Republican Party party. I'm too wide awake to go to bed.

For the first time since the Minnesota Legislature went to partisan caucuses (oh, let's just call it about forty years), the Senate Republican Caucus has just taken control of the Minnesota Senate. You read that right: the FIRST TIME. The Republicans have never before held control of the state senate. Goodbye, DFL super majority. Amen and Hallelujah.

I think my job just got a lot easier...AND a lot harder, simultaneously.

I'm excited.

And add to that, we picked up the state's House of Representatives again (though that was only recently lost a few years back). But the bad news is there is rumor of a recount for our governor's race. Please, dear God: no more recounts.

There is a lot of work to be done, and it starts on November 3rd.

It is almost over.

Both T-Paw's reign as Gov:

(At the Emmer rally this morning.)

...and this campaign season:

(I didn't know there was a "Dogs for Emmer" group!)

Don't forget to vote tomorrow!

(If you say that the 2012 campaigns start on Wednesday, I might hurt you - no matter how true that statement may be.)

Playing Dress Up: 2010

My costume for 2010:

Saturday night:

Best costumes of 2010 = Bad Eggs...

...and Mayhem (complete with the free weights)

(and his wife the Banana came with their baby the Monkey - too cute!)

Sunday afternoon:

Spooktacular Children's Concert at the Arboretum

This little ducky? Adorable (as was his sister). He kept trying to join our violin section during the concert. (And don't worry. I took the gloves off to play my violin.)

And it's over for another year!

(Maybe next year I should just go as my own job...what could be scarier than a lawyer working in politics?!)