Enron jury reaches verdict

Its about blessed time these asses get found guilty. Sentencing in September can't come soon enough.

Twinsville Ballpark

What an interesting turn of events this last state congressional session brought us. Seems like just a year ago the state had to cut and cut just to pass a budget in the black, and now we suddenly can afford to build not one, but two parks - and a third wasn't all that far away. WTF?!

But I'm torn. I really like the looks of the new Twins ballpark in the Warehouse District of downtown Minneapolis. What a great view, and a seriously great location!! Especially since I live on that side of downtown, and if you've ever been you know its certainly not the prettiest side. Though I do live just beyond the crud - I'm really looking forward to the area seeing some real development and improvement. Condos, transit stations, restaurants, retail, etc - this stadium might actually have a great impact on the city and people than the Metrodome ever did.

But seriously, our legislators better not complain next session about not having any money to educate our kids, police our streets, etc.

Trader Joe's is now in Minneapolis, and Minneapolis is at Trader Joe's.  The check out lines pretty much filled up the whole space - we were able to walk through the produce section and that was about it.

Who steals a plant?

This is totally a serious question. Sometime Friday night or early Saturday morning, someone took our rather large elephant year (two bulbls actually) from our front step. WTF?!



Our best guess is someone thought it'd make for a nice Mother's Day gift. I just hope it dies now - those fuckers.

FYI: Minneapolis Police require that two (2) plants be stolen in order for an incident report to be filed. WTF!

AIM Pages

I felt compelled by the release of AIM Pages today and had to fill out a profile. Why oh why?! I feel compelled to fill them out - especially if it has some buzz associated with it, and from the reviews I had read AIMpages is supposedly going to give MySpace a run for its money. Which is probably a good thing.

Second Life

Anyone playing or played?  I read about it in BusinessWeek, and it sounded like it might be fun.  But so far its been totally lame - maybe I'm missing something.

Dandelions

I can see it now - I'll be the old crazy guy on the block meticulously analyzing his lawn for dandelions and all manner of weeds.  I fear I may become obsessed.

Exxon CEO says screw off

At least that is how I read his comments. There is a mention that Exxon is spending $20 billion over the next five years to develop new sources of energy. You can be certain all of that money is being spent to preserve their dominance based on oil - not a revolutionary change in energy sources. But all in all this country's energy usage is appalling - fuel efficiency requirements are entirely inadequate and so low that several states are suing the government to raise the bar. Vehicles that get less than 20 mpg should be flat out illegal - and that bar should be raised to 30 mpg by the end of the decade. And don't try to tell me it can't be done - I simply don't buy that sh!t. Make it happen - chop! chop!!

Speaking on energy conservation - electricity use is just out of control. Recently Ontario reduced (or eliminated) their energy subsidies that has allowed residents to purchase electricity at reduced rates. As I was listening to the news and they were talking about ways residents can reduce their hydro (electric) bill by shutting off appliances and using energy efficient light bulbs, I couldn't help to think that its not the residents who are energy hogs. Though certainly most of us can make a few changes - its office buildings and factories, etc. Look around your downtown at night - can you honestly say all those office towers are full of people. Hell no! - but yet lights are on all over those buildings. How many lights need to be on in Wal-mart - where are the windows?! Lighting stores - do they need all of their displays on 24 hours a day? Couldn't they be shut off late at night?

Saying residents need to reduce their electricity usage is like saying children should eat less so their fat elders can have more to eat. Bull shit!