inaugural

"As the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself."

For the first time in my life, we have a president that is an orator. There is no news, good or bad, that I would not choose to have handed down to me in the resonant words of our 44th president. A voice of reason and wisdom. I have great hope for our president and our country. This is not to say that the problems of our nation will be solved, only that they will fare better at his hands.

being poor

these are true stories of being poor.

The burger. Since a recent inadvertent downgrade in pay scale, I have been stopping in at McDonald's often. It is true what they say about poor people eating at McDonald's. I am living proof. Corollary, type 2 diabetes just became part of my future.

I found $5 near Medicine Lake on Saturday. Two hours later, I walked past a '$4.99 and less' sale sign outside Urban Outfitters. I felt too poor to step inside. I would later step inside McDonald's but that is beside the point.

My shopping is limited to sales at Savers. If I showed you snapshots of the company I keep there, you would think they were mug shots. Mine wouldn't be. I am the only person shopping on 99 cent Mondays without a heaping cart full of one man's trash. I am the person carrying 3 or 4 pieces of one man's trash.
i.e. treasure

My new year's resolution was to buy all my bread from local bakeries. It should be easy. The nearest is an amazing place two blocks from my apartment. That's 3 blocks closer than the nearest grocery store. And the bakery is, without exception, open before I wake up. But this week I made bread. This was actually more about laziness and it being 20 below zero than poverty. But it's still a true story. Beer quick bread.

Desperation is spreading. I found a secondhand fortune on the closet floor. It must have fallen out of Jon's jeans. Higher truth? Finders keepers.

it's cold

Minneapolis has just embarked on a journey into sub-zero temperatures. It is always an adventure. The kind where you pretty much know what to expect. Extreme awareness of anything that happens to be in your nose because it is now frozen. Extreme awareness of your fingers and toes because they, too, are frozen. Extreme awareness of any exposed patch of skin because it is not only frozen, but probably frostbitten. Nobody loves this weather. People who claim to are just trying to be different.

For a few months, I've been working with some very cool people on a special project that has involved much more outdoor time than I would ever have chosen to spend on my own. Here are some pics of our work thus far. The project is for the art shanty festival on Medicine Lake. A truly crazy affair. Please stop by and witness it for yourself. It is going to be so much fun. Check out the official line-up here.

kelly's birthday

my friend kelly has exquisite taste. It was her birthday on Sunday and I wanted to make a cake that she would appreciate. I ended up making her a James Jean cake. I did a piss poor job of recreating a beautiful work of art. But all was not lost. kelly did appreciate it. Wishing her the most wonderful year of her life thus far.