Caveat: Minneapolitan Abroad

I am still, in a legal sense, a Minneapolis resident. My congressman is Keith Ellison, and it's a Minnesota absentee ballot that I vote on when I vote. After Arcata (Humboldt County), California, Minneapolis-St Paul is really my second hometown, and if I return to the US, it's at the top of the list of places I would choose to live.

Minneapolis is having a mayoral election, which is "wide open" this year because the fairly popular incumbent, Rybak, isn't seeking reelection. It's also wide open because they've implemented a new ranked voting system that changes the dynamics quite a bit. Basically anyone can run and there's no primary. So a lot of weird candidates are coming out of the woodwork. Apparently they're coming out of the lakes, too.

I wasn't planning to go through the rigamarole of voting in the election, as it wasn't that interesting or compelling to me, but the race is getting quite strange. Here's one possible candidate's ad.

So, how could I not vote, with such brilliant options as a foul-mouthed aquaman such as Jeff Wagner? Plus, he swims and drinks coffee at the same time. "The Legend of the Loch-Ness Mayor" begins…

Caveat: Friday the 13, September 2013

Really, it could be the title of a sci-fi-horror movie. But it’s just the date.

Walking home from the hospital, it began raining so hard. I was splashed by a bus that zoomed past. Utterly soaked. Then I stepped in a giant river formed in one section of sidewalk. Less than halfway home, it was as if I had walked, clothed, into a shower. At first I thought, I should find a taxi. Taxis in rainstorms in Ilsan are a rare commodity, though. I reached a state of mind where I simply didn’t care. I couldn’t get any wetter, could I? I came home and put my clothes in the laundry and took a shower and dried out. I took a nap.

Later, I felt pretty lousy, but I ended up walking to work, only to chat with Helen and Curt for a short while each, and then basically walked home. So it was a long walk with a conversation in the middle. It wasn’t raining anymore, but the sky was full of grayness and clouds. I tried to take a picture to capture it, but not sure it really came out very well.

picture

After visiting work, seeing a few of my students in the halls, being told that several asked when I was coming back… I miss my students but I’m grateful at this point to have made the decision not to have tried to take on even an abbreviated teaching schedule – I wouldn’t be able to handle it at this point. Two classes each Saturday is just about right.


When I was a very nerdy teenager, I liked Monty Python. And the best Monty Python was The Holy Grail. I ran across this satirical (or rather serious, since the movie is satirical – if you take satire seriously, is that meta-satirical or just dumb?) movie trailer. It’s awesome.

Picture – a view from my window at sunset.

picture

[daily log: walking, 9 km]

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