And not in the “I had an extra day off” meaning. Friday was some work (maybe all the bugs are fixed now, but I fear not — I’m kind of afraid to check), followed by a ballgame. Saturday was a trip to mom’s, followed by a ballgame. Yesterday, ballgame, followed by a gathering at a local watering hole with some friends for dinner. A fun weekend, but there was little time for other necessary activities, like laying about on the couch while trying to decide between watching the tube and taking a nap (or perhaps being greedy and doing both). Ah well, it was fun, even if the Saints lost to the normally-hapless Explorers yesterday. It seems they’re playing down to the level of the competition again, and the baseball wasn’t especially good all weekend.
To top it off, yesterday was a good day for adding to the cranky-factor. It started with the fun-run the Saints sponsored that had Energy Park Drive shut down until almost noon. We were stranded waiting with a bunch of other cars on the exit from Snelling until the last of the runners finished up, rather than being able to get into the lot to start cooking breakfast. And it was hot and humid. I had a good day, but I’ve still got a few grumpy emails I need to send off yet this morning.
- Phyllis Kahn faces misdemeanor theft charge for taking the campaign literature of a Republican when she was up in New Hope hanging fliers for the Democratic candidate. [strib]
- In Minneapolis and St. Paul, Smoking bans, stadium clash. Bar owners are threatening to pull their support for any stadium plan financed by additional taxes on them if smoking bans take effect in the cities. They’re tired of liquor sales being a handy source of revenue for the local governments whenever something new needs to be paid for. [press-patch]
- AnalPhilosopher talks about Liberal Entitlement and how liberals are not only wrong about being
better
than conservatives, they’re often more childlike (in that they don’t see the consequences of trying tohelp
people and end up doing more harm than good). Amen, brother. One of my biggest complaints about government programs is that the people who dream them up don't think about the unintended consequences of their programs. [kim] - If you vote, please try Kerry:
It may well be true that, as a number of pundits have claimed, Kerry gave the best goddamned speech of his career last night. But that’s a little like saying Yoko Ono’s latest CD is her best-ever….
Brutal. I like it. [instapundit] - Here’s some Social Science at 190 MPH on NASCAR’s Biggest Superspeedways. The paper describes a lot of the things I like about NASCAR racing. The fact that drafting plays a role, which means that drivers have to cooperate to win, unlike open-wheel racing, and social capitol plays a big part in who’s going to cooperate with you. There’s also the tit-for-tat of racing, whether you bump someone out of your way or not. Again, it’s something the open-wheel world just doesn’t have. The paper’s from 2000, but most of it still applies today. [101-280]
- Tomorrow is National Night Out, and here’s an Events List for Minneapolis. [press-patch]