Oh, June: where have you GONE?!

Internet,

On today, the 39th of June (my calendar tells me so: apparently it's a leap day or something)...

... I realize that the month has flown by.  Summer ends on the 4th of July (practically), so I have felt the need to jam as many things as possible into my days.

Here's a run on some June numbers:
0: sunburns (yay, remembering to use sun block!)

1: pair of sunglasses I lost to the Mississippi River (darn that ol' man river)

1: ceremonial bill signing (I'm not really sure what to do with the sharpie that I received - one of the ones the Gov used to do the signing...so I just put it in my office desk drawer to use along with all of the others I've got at work)

1: medal ceremony at 5:30am (Coach Peter finally found and gave me a medal - the first I'd ever won - oh, 5 1/2 years after the actual race took place)

1: board meeting

1: number of hair cuts I've given (I cut my roommate's hair...and not in that creepy while-she-slept kind of way, either.  She actually asked me to do it!)

1: men's cycling crit in downtown St. Paul...and one bike crash during the race

Nature Valley Grand Prix

1, soon to be 2 (tomorrow): plays at the Guthrie (Amen Corner and Roman Holiday)

The guy on the right was in the Guthrie's production of Amen Corner: in case you wonder what the actors do in between the matinee and evening shows, they teach musical instrument lessons in parks.

2: bike rides (not nearly enough, since I'll be biking from Prague to Vienna in September)

3 total (1 of each): bridal shower, birthday party, and going-away party (none of them mine, of course)

3: number of times I've played either/or my violin and piano

4: days I taught a session of Learn to Row

Awesome group of LTR (with one missing)!

5: total number of days I've seen extended family, thanks to a family reunion over Father's Day weekend

My dad (far right) with his brothers and sisters

6: dinners with friends

Who doesn't love hibiscus trees?

8: gardening pots on my balcony with still-living plants in them!

9: bands I heard at River's Edge Music Festival (technically I really only paid attention to 7 or 8)

View of Downtown from Harriet Island

It's always entertaining to see a lead singer get in a plastic bubble to crowd surf

12: approximate number of sunrises I've been awake to see

View of Downtown St. Paul from my balcony at 5:04am on June 22, 2012

15: total number of days I went to work

19, soon to be 20 (tomorrow): rowing practices

Most of the rowing practices were here, with a few lake practices for the flood of it...oops, I mean fun of it.   Yeah.  Fun of it.

Too many to count: games of Words with Friends and mosquito bites

Plus there's church, time with my parents, lunches, doughnuts, BBQs, and so many other things to fit in there.  It's been busy, but I do so love summer!  

xoxo,

Minny LinnEy

Weekend in a Snap(shot...or two)

Friday: Mount travel-size air pump on bike (finally!)

Friday: Go for awesome bike ride along the swollen Mississippi River

Friday: Make homemade ice cream sandwiches (which really turns into homemade ginger snaps with a large bowl of ice cream that won't really fit between the, um...four...cookies you eat), all while watching Greg LeMond in all his TDF glory (coupled with some really gnarly 1980s music)

Saturday: After 1x practice on Lake Phalen, teach a Learn to Row class

 Saturday: Impart great wisdom (ha!)

Followed by chattin' with friends, naps on both Saturday and Sunday (!), church, more Greg LeMond, grocery shopping, and library bookin'.  'Twas a good weekend.

(Special thank-you shout out to J & S for teaching LTR with me, and S for taking pictures)

The Olympics Are Coming!

In honor of the fact that the Olympics are 63 days away (milestone, right?), I give you this:



Agree?  Disagree?  I'm thinkin' maybe cricket and polo don't belong on the list, but...equestrian high jump?  Equestrian long jump?  Motor boating?!  PETA would have a cow over the live pigeon thing.  But they should *totally* bring back tug-of-war.  Brilliant!

Ponder the Vikes Vote (and closer to opening game day this fall, the QB)

Very interesting (and pretty accurate) take on the Vikings stadium vote (pardon the language): here.  (And there are plenty of other stories, including this one and this one, and about a 975 million dollars, er...others.)

How to Write: Really, please don't leave me guessing

Dear Internet,

Have you ever noticed how people are so frequently signing their valedictions with "best"?  "Best" what?  This really annoys me.  Best regards?  Best hatred?  Best love?  Best sincerity? Best in show?  Out with it already!  It's completely passive-agressive because it shows an inherent laziness, disrespect, or lack of mental decisiveness on the part of the author, and it can then be interpreted by the reader any way the reader so desires, which may or may not be what the author intended.

Well, from here on out, I am declaring that I will be reading a closing comment of the milquetoast "Best" to mean "Best of luck figuring out the tone of what I've just written to you, but you may feel free to read into my words an incompetent malaise or a sneeringly obscene gesture or somesuch nonsense."

With utmost sincerity,
Minny LinnEy

I may need to rethink my during-Session entertainment: too much of a good thing? Nah.

Dear Vince Flynn,

I love your writing - I always have.  For example, I just finished reading Kill Shot and enjoyed it a great deal.  You have great characters, gripping (and believable) story lines, and a most excellent sense of pacing.

But, really?  What do you have against rowers?  Also, I would've believed it more had you said an "eight-man crew" or a "four-man crew" instead of a "six-man crew" in chapter 27.  All the parts about single sculls were believable, though it still begs the question of why you don't like rowers to so woefully characterize one in a way such as you did.

Don't worry, though: I will still read every book you write, and will continue to enjoy all of the non-rowing parts of them (which thankfully, is more than 99 percent of the writing).

xoxo,

A Minnesota Rower

_____

Dear Howard E. Wasdin,

Now that I have finished reading Vince Flynn's latest work today, I am moving on to your memoirs, Seal Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy Seal Sniper.  I have been looking forward to reading it for a while, and finally have some free time this afternoon.  However, I will be the first to admit that reading both Vince Flynn and your books in the same day may be akin to last year's watch-the-entire-Band of Brothers-series-in-one-day-in-the-middle-of-a-Legislative-session idea, or reading Russian literature in the middle of January snow storms: I might regret it.   But I doubt it.  (Obviously.  I keep doing it.)  

With great expectation and anticipation of your penned words,

Minny LinnEy

Highbrow Tailgating

Dear Internet, 

I saw an unusual sight last weekend.  Not unusually, I went to see a play* at the Guthrie.  But I did see something new and unusual: tailgating.  

Yes, that's right.  There was a group of women standing around the opened trunk of their SUV, drinking their coffee or tea or whatever and noshing on hors d'oeuvre, all in the parking ramp across from the theater.  

Who knew?  Maybe it will become a trend.  

xoxo,

Minny LinnEy

*Sorry to say I can't really recommend it.  Also, I really, really, really do not like this actress.  Having seen her in a couple of productions now, she is really irritating in a most annoying way.

Meeting Mr. Colson

"If Mr. Colson can repent of his sins, there just has to be hope for everyone."  

-Boston Globe, 1973

Last fall I had the privilege of meeting Chuck Colson.  

You see, one of our prisons has something called InnerChange Freedom Initiative (part of Prison Fellowship Ministries) as one of its treatment programs.  It receives no state money; it's run by volunteers.  And for the prisoners, it's their choice to join.  You might be surprised to know there are a couple hundred guys - inmates, really - who voluntarily want to get up at 6 o'clock every morning (when they could choose other treatment programs with better hours); they have pledged to spend time in their Bibles, in worship, in prayer; they want to stay accountable.  And I've heard there's a waiting list!  The recidivism rates are low, and guys who've made it give back and encourage those still working through the faith-based program.  Ex-offenders are given hope and help to make a valuable contribution to society upon reentry, to reconnect with their families, to support their children, to continue in their faith.  

So when the 10th anniversary of the program's introduction to Minnesota came 'round last fall, I jumped at the chance to attend.  It was held, naturally, in prison.  Let me tell you something: it's actually kind of hard to get into prison.  But one of the "perks" of my job is getting that opportunity.  I finagled an invitation to go to the anniversary celebration, meet Mr. Colson and go to lunch with him and several other Prison Fellowship Ministries people.  

But the biggest part of that opportunity to me?  Was watching Mr. Colson interact with the inmates.  He knew so many of them by name.  He took the time to speak with every one, even just a word and a handshake (if not more).  His attitude spoke volumes in that he genuinely cared for these men.  He was invested in their lives - who they were, who they are, and who they will become.  He was one of them, and had lived through the same struggles, and the inmates knew it.  

A worship service was part of the celebration (and it apparently is part of the program every day), and let me tell you: that was an experience.  It was the biggest surprise to me.  Here you are, listening to musicians (all offenders - this prison houses all sorts of offenders from murderers to rapists to drug dealers to thieves, and everything else you could probably think of), singing songs (the hymns and songs you hear in church every week), worshiping together, and hearing the same kind of devotional you'd expect to hear in college chapel.  It was probably one of the strangest feelings I've ever had.  If I was ever to come close to having a Paul in Prison moment, that was it.  Just because I have not committed a crime that has landed me in prison doesn't mean I'm any less of a sinner in God's eyes.  Sin is sin, and it parts us from God.  All of us need spiritual redemption; all of us can repent and receive forgiveness, whether we're behind bars or not.  And all of us can worship together.  And we did.  It was eye-opening (though I will admit it was not quite earth shaking in the Paul in Prison way; I eventually left, the offenders stayed).  

As I learned tonight that Chuck Colson has passed away, I'm grateful that we all have a second chance, that opportunity to turn our lives around.  We can all have hope.  

Tax Day

Tax his land,

Tax his bed,

Tax the table,

At which he's fed.

Tax his tractor,

Tax his mule,

Teach him taxes

Are the rule.

Tax his work,

Tax his pay,

He works for

Peanuts anyway!

Tax his cow,

Tax his goat,

Tax his pants,

Tax his coat.

Tax his ties,

Tax his shirt,

Tax his work,

Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco,

Tax his drink,

Tax him if he

Tries to think.

Tax his cigars,

Tax his beers,

If he cries

Tax his tears.

Tax his car,

Tax his gas,

Find other ways

To tax his @$$.

Tax all he has

Then let him know

It won't be done

Till he has no dough.

When he screams and hollers;

Tax him more:

Tax him till He's

Good and sore.

Then tax his coffin,

Tax his grave,

Tax the sod in

Which he's laid...

Put these words

Upon his tomb,

"Taxes drove me

To my doom."

When he's gone,

Do not relax,

It's time to apply

Inheritance tax.

Don't worry: I'm not superstitious.

Internet,

Today is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

Today is also the day that my boat club decided to hold its annual meeting.

Now, usually I would be all in favor of forgetting tax day to think about something pleasant like rowing, but this year tax day isn't until the 17th. And instead, it's a significant anniversary of a large boat sinking.

Coincidence? Probably. A sign of things to come this year at the boathouse? I sincerely hope not.

(Although seriously: we've been on the water for almost a month now.  It's so warm, it would take a miracle to have a literal iceberg in the water.  And since the chances of work/session interfering this summer - like last summer - are slim, I don't foresee too many figurative icebergs interfering with my season this year, either.  Except laziness.  That figurative iceberg is always out there.)  

Happy rowing!

~Minny LinnEy

Silly Goose

Internet, 

This morning I saw a most hilarious vision:

Two guys were chasing a goose across the front lawn of the Capitol mall with a butterfly net.

One guy was an officer from animal control, and I was so distracted by the butterfly net, I really couldn't tell you who the other guy was (possibly a cop, possibly a plant management guy).  Anyway, I'm not exactly sure what their objection to the goose was, but obviously something was up because the two of them were literally running after it, trying to catch it.  I cannot tell you how much that makes me smile, even now, hours later.  

Eventually I learned from another co-worker (who was just as taken with this sight as I was - probably more so, since he waited to enter the building and continued to watch until the situation was resolved) that the goose flew about 30 feet away, and the two guys gave up and left.  Those young people today!  They lack perseverance.  Character qualities are especially important in people's lives, especially when it involves the capture of a silly goose for my entertainment.  

~Minny LinnEy

Happy Easter!

He is risen indeed!