Le Velo

Choose your response wisely:

a. Rowers need to come up with our own dance move - we would totally win this

b. I, too, sometimes wish to eat a baguette in the middle of a race

c. This song will get stuck in your head

d. This is hilarious! And awful! And hilarious!

e. All of the above

Pasta: the food of champions

In Italy, pasta is consumed by 99 percent of households at an average annual household rate of 72.6 pounds, while in America it is consumed by 84 percent of households at an annual household rate of 12 pounds, according to Nielsen data provided by Barilla.

More here.

I'm pretty sure that in the last five or six years, I have - by myself - eaten 72 pounds of pasta a year. I believe in carbs. I believe in them strongly.

Mmmm. Delicious carbs.

Warning: You might break, sprain or strain something just by watching this video.

And I just worry about not running into walls and such.

Some Really Old Stuff, aka "Antiquities"

Internet,

I finally used my ticket and went to the King Tut exhibit at the Science Museum last night. I have a few observations from that experience.

1. My favorite piece in the exhibition was the toilet seat. (You think I jest? Oh, contraire: there really is a toilet seat in the collection.) I was somewhat disappointed, though, that the toilet seat had no hieroglyphs on it.

2. My second favorite piece was the cat's casket. No, you won't see any kleenex boxes or random cardboard concoctions picked up at a grocery store for these beloved pets! They used only the best for Fluffy. Comes complete with hieroglyphs.

3. Maybe it's just me, but I'm pretty sure I figured out where the 1950s & 60s got half their ideas for Christmas tree ornament and decoration designs. I can imagine the thought process: "Oh, that looks good as an ancient Egyptian coronet! Let's turn it into a string of Christmas tree lights...or glass ball ornaments...or SOMETHING!" [Internet, you've failed me: I couldn't find a good example of the kind of gold coronet in the exhibit to show what I'm talking about. But if anyone is ever there and checks out the jewelry, think about it: mid-20th century Christmas. See if I'm right.]

4. I probably should have thought about what time it was to be watching an Omni movie on mummies. Those are some freaky images to take in right before bed.

5. Also a little disturbing: "Let's just take out a few or four of our internal organs, embalm them, and shove them into some jars for a few millenia." Now, you know me and my love for food well, Internet, but "protecting" one's stomach in such a fashion is going a bit too far.

Anyway, those were my initial impressions. I had several others thoughts throughout the experience, ending with "Well, this was a nice and interesting evening...and I'm pretty glad I didn't live then. Also, I'm glad I don't have the same beliefs that they did. And also, I hope I don't dream about mummies or internal organs or toilet seats or embalming. 'Cause it's those toilet seats that'll ruin a dream every time."

Au-gust or Bust

Internet,

August is halfway over. I feel like my summer just began. I mean, I just caught my summer cold! And I finally have some mosquito bites! Surely it can't be the end of summer already!

Anyway. Here are some random thoughts from yours truly to start out the week:

1. I saw a family of raccoons crossing the freeway at 5:17 this morning. At the time I thought, "Good thing it's so early! There isn't much traffic to kill all of them!" but now that it's later in the morning and I'm actually awake, I realized that a) they're raccoons, we could probably use fewer of the little beasts, and b) if it were later in the morning, the nocturnal-infernal things wouldn't have been out anyway.

2. youtube is a wonderful thing, Internet. You can learn and hear about all kinds of things (how to change a bicycle tire, how to complete a new knitting stitch or technique, what "quantitative easing" means, how to pit a cherry with a mere paperclip, and other similarly fascinating feats). What on earth did we do before the internet, Internet? Who told us how to do things?!

3. Last week a co-worker put the phrase "where we go from here" in an email. For the last week, I have not been able to get the Evita song out of my head. (Though really? The rest of the song has absolutely nothing to do with the work email. Just the first line.)

[See, Internet? That came from youtube, too.]

4. Watched the end of the PGA Championship yesterday with my dad - and saw a bunch of guys whose names I'd never heard of playing for the win.

5. As I said previously, I am in the midst of a summer cold. There is just something about having a pesky little ailment that feels so "winter" in the middle of summer that makes a person more miserable. The days are beautiful and sunny outside, but I don't have the energy to leave the house. Also, I'm pretty sure I'd have scared the birds and other small animals with my sneezing fits on Friday and Saturday.

That is all for now.

xoxo,

Minny LinnEy

Workin' hard...or something.

Dear Internet,

I've been woefully behind in updating you on my really, super exciting lifestyle of the not-so-rich-or-famous moi. Since I must start somewhere, here's a recap of my day so far:

-Basically got told off by someone at the boathouse before 6am

-Got to return home to bed for an extra hour of sleep before work thanks to a lightning display

-At one point wondered, "Do you think it's raining too much in this landlocked state if there's a seagull flying around outside of my office window?"

-Fell out of my chair...thankfully no one was around to see this amazing feat happen (not even the seagull)

-Was treated to doughnuts by my boss to extend the birthday celebration

-Went to the great Tar-jay & picked out a baby card for someone at work, and then spent way too much time with a co-worker reading a bunch of the funny birthday cards there

-Booked tix to soon go see a really old skeleton

And now I'm on my way to eat tots at the Bulldog. Or maybe cheese curds. All in all, it's been a swell day. (Literally - I think I bruised my leg when I fell out of the office chair, and now there's a big red mark that's kind of swollen. Also, it's really hot & humid, so pretty much everything is swelling now.)

xoxo,

Minny LinnEy

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.

Five Minutes of Your Life You'll Never Get Back

Internet,

I started rowing on real water again last week. I have had very bad blisters. Day one: two blood blisters. Day two: those went away (the blood, not the blisters; I'll leave that to your imagination, although if you really wanted, I do have a picture I could provide as proof). Day three: took Wednesday off of practice to let my hands heal, only to go back on Day four: and end up worse than ever. Thank goodness for New Skin and bandages, 'cause otherwise it could've been really awkward shaking those people's hands at work the last two weeks. They're all fine now, and good to go.

Speaking of work...for three weeks in a row, I have thought that it was Wednesday on a Thursday, which was really my Friday (because, Yay! Fridays off with flex schedule during the summer...except today, when I got called back in to the office, so yeah, not so much the "Yay! Friday!" today). And in other work-related news, I may get to go on "vacation" in July. No one's really sure yet, so I just keep working and going about my normal business and shaking people's hands with my awkwardly bandaged phalanges.

In other awkward news, you know what's really good for dinner? Doritos and cottage cheese. I ate it three nights in a row last week. It would've been four nights in a row, but I polished off all the Doritos and cottage cheese in the first three nights.

As for other news, I went to Rock the Garden last weekend. More on that (including pictures!) later.

And finally, I am visiting my tween years. In some ways I kind of feel like I skipped straight from being a grubby youth to a miniature adult who wore suits. Although let's face it: I was never really "miniature." Anyway, to rectify those potential lost years, I've discovered this. And now I feel like the tween I probably never was (and never really will be - now I'm just an old person experimenting with those young people's fads).

And now that I have wasted five minutes of your life you'll never get back...

Have a great weekend, Internet.

xoxo,

Minny LinnEy

p.s. Happy 3rd Birthday to the cutest niece ever.