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Mom’s trip to the doctor completely whacked me yesterday. Between having to get up at 2:30AM and spending the next ten hours either driving or in a waiting room, I was wiped out and slept away most of the afternoon. But Mom’s surgery (removing a growth from her lower eyelid) went well, and the only real problem is that they didn’t have a black eye-patch for her, so she couldn’t pretend to be a pirate after the surgery, which disappointed her. I guess I should have done some shopping first. Today, I’m trying to catch up on all the things I was hoping to get done either Monday or yesterday afternoon. Urk. It looks like I’ve got a busy day in front of me, and much of it involves reading and writing email to clients. Some of it will be productive work, but there’s a lot of non-billable work to be done today, too.
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Pictures: I’m nearing the end of both the cruise and the pictures. Two of Alcatraz today. The cruises that just circle the island still give you views that you can’t get from anywhere on-land, but I’m thinking that I need to actually get onto the island one of these years. It’s an imposing place from a distance, and I think that would be an even stronger feeling if I were to set foot inside. If you’re interested in more about the island, Alcatraz History seems pretty decent and has a lot more pictures for you to look at.
- Minneapolis parks chief, Jon Gurban, reverses flier ban after candidate Jason Stone challenged it by campaigning in a park for the district 5 park board seat. This caused a big flap on the local mailing list for a while, for good reason, and points out another reason why I’d like to see some turnover on the Park Board. Remember, the period to file as a candidate for Minneapolis City Elections is July 5 through July 19. [strib]
- HourCar is A new twist on getting around the Twin Cities, and they started running in May, and now have four hubs and six cars, with more to come soon. Sounds like almost enough to be useful. More at Hourcar’s website. [strib]
- The Minneapolis “Stop on Red” Program is up and running, and a stoplight near my house has been added. Beginning soon, the $142 tickets will start to go out instead of just warnings. The cameras don’t take a picture of the driver, so if it’s not you driving your car, you have to rat out the driver to avoid the ticket (and the more important bump in your insurance rates). [press-patch]
- They’ve calculated the Shutdown tab for the Minnesota state government, and it’s $4.68 million per day. But there’s an upside:
The effects of a government shutdown would likely linger far into the future, affecting citizens’ confidence in state government.
Sounds pretty good to me! Oh, and you knew that a state shutdown would hobble business, but the state won’t stop collecting taxes, right? [strib and press-patch] - A company calling itself Freestar Media, LLC is looking to use the power of eminent domain to take Supreme Court Justice David Souter’s house in order to build a hotel there. But as Bill points out, New Hampshire doesn’t allow that sort of thing, so it looks like a non-starter. [fark!]
- Warren says that Maybe Raich Lets Congress Fix Kelo, but whether it does or not, he points to S.1313 which looks interesting. I’m thinking it’s time to call the reps and ask them to get behind this one. [coyote blog]