Countdown begins

I've added a new element to my blog (see to the right)...This is from a website called Bush's Last Day where they have this clock counting down the time left in Bush's presidency! You can even buy a real one. I love it!

I also thought I'd use this post to mention this bumper sticker I saw awhile back. It says "1/20/2009 The end of an error". You can buy it here.

Merry Christmas!

Last night, we went to my family's in Stillwater for dinner, presents, a birthday celebration for my cousin Tom and a visit from Santa. We had a great time. Check out the pics...

My big surprise

I (sort of) got my Christmas present today. My husband told me earlier this week that it was going to be a Sirirus satellite radio for my car. So he asked if he could take my car today for a few hours and I said yes. When he came home, he handed me a package and said I should open it now. It was one of those dealership promotion books for the Toyota Prius!

He had been planning to actually get the car today and have me come out to the garage on the pretense of seeing my new "radio", but the dealer screwed up and didn't have the right model and it's going to be about a month before we can get the right one. So Jamey was disappointed that he couldn't shock me, however, I was plenty shocked. I've really, really wanted a Prius for quite a long time, but didn't push it cause we need a bigger car more.

To make it even better, the car is my favorite color -- red -- and it DOES have Sirirus satellite radio, too!

Update on the house

We've made a lot of progress on the house this fall and it really shows on the main floor. Below is a slideshow of some of the main rooms. The front door and entry way, the half bathroom vanity and light fixtures throughout are among the newest items. You can also see that we decorated for Christmas -- the first time in two years!

Still left: upstairs bathroom, the two guest rooms, kitchen and a few things in Jamey's "man room" (the first floor bedroom).

Rice and vocabulary

I heard a story on NPR this week about a website where you can hone your vocabulary and help feed the hungry. It's called FreeRice.com.

It was created by an average guy who wanted to make a little game to help his son boost his SAT score. He was also an advocate for poverty issues, so he recruited advertisers for his site. The way it works is that for every right answer you get in the vocabulary game, they will donate 20 grains of rice through the United Nations. It's paid for by the advertisers.

As you play the game, the level of difficulty goes up to challenge you. It even tells you want level (1 to 50) that you're on. I quickly jumped up to level 40 and was getting words I had never heard of! They give you 5 possible answers and you pick the one that matches, so it's more of a multiple choice thing.

Something fun

Today we launched a new searchable database that I built showing the popularity of baby names in Minnesota. This one isn't related to any news story and has more curiosity factor than anything else. But we're hoping it will attract a lot of readers (which brings us ad money to pay my salary!).

Congress actually does something right

Today Congress finally passed legislation patching the tax code so that middle-income Americans (like me!) don't get hit with the Alternative Minimum Tax on their 2007 taxes. Bush says he's going to sign it. That's the good news. The bad news is that the fix is only for one year. We desperately need them to fix this permanently.

Christmas cookies

For those of you rushing to make Christmas cookies in the next week, you might want to check out this little database that I built for the Pioneer Press. It contains cookie recipes that readers submitted to us last month. This page allows you to search by type of cookie, name or even on any given ingredient. When we were building this application, the food editor, who oversees this recipe thing every year, was thrilled to work with someone who actually knew her way around a recipe! It was kind of fun, too - although a big departure from what I usually work on. This is an example of where my skills are needed for far more than just "news" and I find myself helping simply because there isn't anybody else to do it.

Highway 14

The Star Tribune has a story today about Highway 14, the main highway that runs across southern Minnesota and skirts the edge of my hometown, Kasson. I've driven that highways thousands upon thousands of times going back and forth to Rochester or between Kasson and New Ulm, when I worked there earlier in my career. The story says the two-lane portions of the highway make it the most deadly roadway in the state of Minnesota. They've been talking about widening that road for as long as I can remember. Scary that the state can't seem to get it done.

The first storm is on its way

Everyone's hunkering down in anticipation of the first big snowstorm of the year. We're expected to get anywhere from 3 to 10 inches of snow tomorrow. I'm going to run my errands in the morning, then turn on the Christmas tunes and start doing my decorating (including putting up our fake tree).

Other news in our world: Jamey sold his Honda Accord this week. He had several bidders trying to out-bid each other within a few hours after listing it on Craigslist. He did the right thing by selling it to the first guy who showed up to test drive it. But that guy also did the right thing by giving Jamey whatever cash he had in his pocket to bolster the listed price.

The half-bathroom vanity is almost complete! Should be finished tomorrow. And my husband is working on his man-room, where I can shut the door and not have to look at the disaster of junk that he leaves everywhere. It's also going to be his video game parlor, so I can have the living room TV back! Can't wait.

Winter is here

We stopped off at the cabin on our way to and from Bayfield for Thanksgiving at my in-laws this week. When we left Thursday morning the lake was still open, with a little ice around the edges. By Saturday morning, it was frozen over and covered with a half-inch or so of snow. I was going to take a picture before we left, but forgot. It was beautiful, but also a bit depressing.

Cranberry-Walnut Cake with Caramel Sauce

This was one of my contributions to Thanksgiving dinner this year at my in-laws. It was a hit! I'd highly recommend making this just a couple hours before serving, if possible, and make the sauce at the very last minute.

Ingredients for the cake:
2 1/2 c. flour, divided
2 tsp. baking powder
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground allspice
Pinch of salt
3 Tblspoons butter, softened
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 c milk
2 c fresh, whole cranberries
1/2 c walnut pieces

For the sauce:
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/2 packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 c. heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To prepare the cake, place 2 cups of flour, the baking powder, cinnamon, allspice and salt in a mixing bowl and set aside. In separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar (can use electric mixer). Add the eggs one at a time and beat in. Alternately add the milk and the flour mixture in increments, while the mixer runs.

Place the cranberries and walnuts in a bowl and toss with remaining 1/2 cup flour and fold into the batter (do not add the excess flour). I sifted the extra flour off before adding it to the batter.

Butter or grease a 9-inch cake pan or baking dish and pour the batter in.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

To prepare the sauce, place all ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir well. (This only takes a few minutes, so it could be done just prior to serving)

Place slices of the warm cake on serving plates and pour the sauce over. Any extra sauce can be stored in the refrigerator and warmed in the microwave.

Hashbrown Turkey

Here's a recipe that even my husband liked....

Ingredients:
One 16-oz bag frozen hashbrowns, THAWED (the thin kind like you get at restaurants)
1/2 cup, plus 1 tablespoon flour
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
4 scallions, finely chopped (optional)
3 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 turkey cutlets, pounded thin (about 1 1/2 pounds total)

Directions:
1. In a wide, shallow bowl, toss the potatoes with 1 tablespoon flour, then with the parmesan cheese and scallions; season with salt.
2. Place the eggs in another wide, shallow bowl and beat lightly.
3. Place the remaining 1/2 cup flour in another shallow bowl and season with salt.
4. In a large, heavy nonstick skillet, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat.
5. Working with one piece at a time, coat the turkey cutlet with flour, shaking off the excess, then dip in the eggs and transfer to the potato mixture, pressing potato onto each side.
6. Cook the cutlets in the skillet with more oil as needed, turning once, until the potato coating is golden and crisp. About 5 minutes per side. Transfer to parchment paper or paper towels to drain.

Seattle Times investigation

There's a stunning investigative story this week from the Seattle Times about "energy medicine devices" that are big-time scams. Patients are told they can cure cancer, AIDS and other terrible diseases, but they don't do anything. The FDA has tried to crack down, but the companies making these machines have simply moved overseas.

The Part I story is compelling from start to finish. I was just agape at how people could fall for such trickery. I'm guessing this investigation will lead to some major changes in oversight of these devices and possibly a Pulitzer Prize for the Times. On a sidenote...the two reporters on this story each have a long track record of really great investigative stories.

Facebook

I'm afraid I have to admit I've gone to the other side! I decided to try Facebook to see what all the hype was about. My husband put up a profile a few months back and I started to wonder how many of my friends were out there.

So I put up a profile a little over a week ago and I already found 10 friends, including an old college friend I hadn't seen or heard from in almost 15 years! Kind of fun. :-)

In addition to putting up your profile, you can do all kinds of fun things on Facebook. Today I added a "widget" to my profile that displays a map of the world and I have highlighted all the places I've been, places I've lived and places I want to go (well..I just put the places highest on my list of places to see, otherwise I would've highlighted pretty much the entire world!). It's really cool.

They also have games you can add and discussion groups you can join (they have one in Mpls-St. Paul called "I'm moving to Canada if Hillary gets elected"...ha! ha!)

As for other things...you might notice I added a new widget to this blog page. There's now a slideshow in the lower left corner. Right now it's displaying pictures from my wedding. I'll probably change it up every so often.

UPDATE: Jamey got the leaves done at the cabin yesterday. The snow melted and he just happened to be up there with a couple of his buddies. He worked his tail off all afternoon to get them done!

Last weekend we went to Ikea (and spent 3 hours there!). We found a vanity and matching mirror for our half bathroom, which I've been desperately wanting to finish for quite awhile now. So Jamey just needs to put it all together and install it.

Thursday we're going to Jamey's grandparents' house in Bayfield, Wis. for Thanksgiving. It'll be a fairly small group -- eight of us, I think.

Waited a little too long

We came up to the cabin this weekend, intending to finally rid the lawn of the pile of leaves that accumulate there every fall. We were all set -- even with the new lawn vaccum/chipper machine that we bought. But as we got closer to Spooner last night, we started to see snow on the ground. By the time we got to the cabin, it was clear we wouldn't be doing any raking this weekend. There are about 2 or 3 inches of snow! So I guess the leaves are going to have to wait until next spring. Of course, that means it's going to be an ugly job. In the spring the leaves are always wet and heavy and a lot more work. Next year we have to remember to get up here before the end of October to get this done. UGH.

Latest addition to the house

This past week we installed a new front door on our house. We found this beautiful glass door with a tree design in it that we think is fitting since we live on the site of an old tree nursery. Here's interior and exterior pictures. It still needs to be trimmed on the interior.

 

 

Celebrating a year

The thing I didn't mention in the last post is that the reason we're on this vacation is to celebrate our one-year wedding anniversary. How is it possible that a whole year has gone by? The actual anniversary is next weekend, but my husband is on call for work then so we decided to go early.

Here's our anniversary pic to commemorate the anniversary. This is us standing along the Lake Superior shoreline, looking up to the Split Rock Lighthouse.

 

Today we also went to Goosberry Falls State Park to see the waterfalls there.
Here's a picture of the lower falls. The water was gushing at an amazing rate because of all the rain that we've had the past month. We ran into an old military colleague of Jamey's who said he visits the Falls up to 5 times a year and he had never seen it this violent. Amazing.

 

You can see more pictures from our trip in my web album.

On vacation!

My husband and I are on the North Shore of Lake Superior, vacationing at a resort called Larsmont Cottages. It's a relatively new place just south of Two Harbors. Our room is about 50 feet from the shoreline and we've been listening to the waves crashing into the shore (it's been really windy the last couple days).

Our room is a standard hotel sized room, but it has a kitchenette, gas fireplace, whirlpool tub, satellite TV and a DVD player so it's a little nicer than your average room.

Yesterday morning I had a massage at the "massage cottage" that also sits right on the shoreline. It was a heavenly way to start my vacation.

Last night we sat in the outdoor whirlpool tub. It's a little protected from the wind, but wide open to the sky.

Yesterday the weather was really crappy so we spent the first half of the day in bed watching movies. Then we drove to Duluth where we walked around Canal Park, did a bit of shopping and then saw the movie "Michael Clayton." We ate dinner at Hell's Kitchen. I had this amazing sandwich called "Ham and Pear Crisp." It's basically a ham panini but with pears inside and a bread that was a little sweet.

Today we're going to tour the Split Rock Lighthouse and go to Gooseberry Falls State Park. Thankfully the bad weather cleared and the sun was out when we woke up this morning!

Gore's Nobel Peace Prize

I was very pleased this morning to hear that Al Gore had jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize. His work on global warming has been stellar and much-needed. I stumbled across this blog entry that completely sums up my thoughts about the other reason he deserves it. Below is a snippet and here's the full link to the entry by John Marshall.

There are several layers of irony and poetic justice wrapped into this honor. The first is that the greatest step for world peace would simply have been for Gore not to have had the presidency stolen from him in November 2000.

My first attempt at canning

 

Above is the result of my first attempt at making applesauce and canning! I helped my mom can all kinds of things (tomatoes, pickles, etc) when I was a kid but I couldn't remember much. Thank god for directions!

I found a web site with step-by-step directions (including pictures) on how to make applesauce. They recommended getting the attachments for the Kitchen Aid stand mixer that I have (the big heavy duty one). The attachment is a food grinder/sieve type of thing that is awesome at grinding down soft cooked apples into perfect sauce. I was stunned at how easy it was.

The attachment came as part of a set that also includes a food grinder and pasta maker. I'm anxious to try the other accessories!

The canning part was a bit harder. I was scared to death that they wouldn't seal properly. I'm still a bit worried cause the second batch I made has some air gaps in the sides. I didn't push down the sauce enough to make sure there weren't any gaps.

I ended up making two batches. The first one used one peck of honeycrisp, one peck of Courtland and a partial peck of MacIntosh. That made just over 7 pints.

So I went to a nearby orchard (just a small one) and got one peck of "red" Haralson and one peck of "red" Courtland. The woman at the orchard said the red varieties were sweeter than the regular Haralson and Courtlands. In the end, I think that batch tastes way better than the first batch!

Next year I'm going to try mixing four varieties of apples. I've read that the more varieties you put in the better tasting the applesauce. Since the canner takes 7 jars at a time, four pecks of apples would be about right for making 14 pints.

For the canning part, I bought a Ball Home Canning Basics Kit

It had everything you need, including a great book with directions and tons of recipes. Maybe next year I'll stretch my skills a bit further and make some kind of jam or even pickles. Jamey would probably love the pickles.

My 'CCO interview

I got a copy of my interview from WCCO radio. This should launch your Windows Media Player. Be sure your speakers are turned on

Saving journalism

There's a great post at a blog called howardowens.com about the 12 things journalists can do to save journalism.

The bottom line is that journalists have to become more techie. They need to know how to build web pages -- including dynamic web pages, how to use blogs, RSS feeds, wi-fi connections, etc.

These are all things that I've learned just in the last 5 years. One of the things they didn't mention is using databases and spreadsheets, which I would certainly add to the list.

Newsrooms have been notorious for being slow to change. The management doesn't force it and very few individuals take the initiative to make the changes themselves. There are always two or three in every newsroom who drive forward no matter what. Unfortunately, that's not enough to save us.

The list above also doesn't talk about what CONTENT we're going to publish with all these newfangled tools. We need to rise above the din and the boring stuff and come up with intriguing, useful, in-depth content.

Travel tips

I was telling one of my friends today about this great website I use whenever I travel and he suggested I put a note about it here. So here it is...

The website is called TripAdvisor.com and it's a place where travelers can post reviews of hotels, locales and other things. Then the website rates the places based on the reviews. The reviews are often wide-ranging even for places that are ranked very high. But what I like best is that within a review you can often find nuggets that you wouldn't otherwise learn until you got to the hotel.

For example, we used this site extensively when researching where we would stay when we went to St. Lucia. Within the reviews, several commented about avoiding getting rooms in certain buildings in the complex (at the resort where we stayed) because some were located along the main road and were really loud. That was really helpful and we made use of it when we requested our room.

I'm using the site right now to find good beach places to go next January or February. Our only requirements are that it be on a beach, with warm weather (80+ degrees), that it has scuba diving, that it's all-inclusive and that it's not a terribly long flight. If you've got any ideas, send them my way!

Crock-Pot Taco Chicken

I think I've found a new favorite "easy" recipe. This one was in the Pioneer Press awhile back and I finally tried it this week.

Ingredients:
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cans tomatoes with green chilies (15 oz cans)
1 package taco seasoning mix (I used the lower sodium version)

In a crock-pot, add all ingredients and cook on low 7 to 9 hours (mine took only 7) or until chicken is tender and easily shreddable. Remove from crock-pot and allow to cool slightly; then shred using forks. I kept the tomatoes, but drained the remaining liquid.

This reheats extremely well, so it's a great one to make on the weekend and have available for a quick dinner (or two) during the week.

To serve, I put a tortilla in a fry pan (on medium-high heat) and put cheese and the chicken mixture (warmed up) on one side of the tortilla. Then closed the tortilla and cooked it on each side until just starts to brown. This makes the tortilla slightly stiff and more like a quesadilla. Could also add salsa or sour cream, but you don't really need it. These have great flavor.

My 15 minutes of fame, sort of

My appearance on WCCO Radio last night went well, at least in my opinion. I haven't heard the opinion of anyone who actually listened to the show, however. Even my husband missed it. And my boss was too busy with company at his house. I'm starting to wonder if anyone listened cause the host, Jearlyn Steele, opened the discussion up to callers about halfway through my 15-minute segment and nobody called! I was sort of grateful since I was worried about what kind of hare-brained questions I might get from the average caller. Jearlyn's questions, though, were thoughtful and interesting and I thought I did a good job of explaining why posting something as sensitive and seemingly personal as jail bookings on the Internet was a good thing. My main answer: it allows everybody to keep tabs on what the police and sheriff agencies are doing -- particularly who they are arresting. That gives everybody some watchdog power so that the police are not operating in the dark and arresting just anybody.

The boxes are gone!

Many of you spent the summer listening to me complain about the pile of boxes that has occupied half of the living room since May. I'm very happy -- excessively thrilled -- to report that they are gone! I kind of feel like the munchkins from Wizard of Oz, proclaiming, "the witch is dead!"



As you can see the living is back to being big and somewhat empty, which I'd gladly take over a pile of boxes. The reason the boxes are gone is that my lovely husband, last week, installed a pair of "gorilla" shelves in our basement. One is to house the boxes of Christmas ornaments and other perennial storage items that had been in the living room, and the other is for his assorted tools. Here's a pic...



The rest of the house is slowly moving along. We also purchased last week an upright freezer for in the basement. So I promptly started filling it yesterday with two different kinds of soups, all divied up and ready to take to work for lunches.

We are also soon going to have a contractor back in to try to finish the trim and some other odd-ball things like electrical outlets and lighting fixtures. Another goal is to complete the first-floor bedroom and turn it into a "man" room for Jamey. Since he's more of a slob than me, I figured the best thing would be to give him a room -- with a door -- where he can have a computer, desk and TV and he can do whatever he wants. Then I just have to close the door and not look inside!

On the air - update

My appearance on WCCO has been moved to 7:10 p.m. Sunday, Sept 23rd.

On the air

If you feel like staying up late Sunday night (Sept 16), you can hear my voice on WCCO Radio at about 10:10 p.m. I've been asked to be on the Jearlyn Steele show to talk about some of the work I'm doing here, specifically the Ramsey County Jail Bookings database that we recently put on our web site. Wish me luck!

Here's a link to the jail bookings database

Flood insurance

I've got a story in today's Pioneer Press about the fact that a lot of people are able to get flood insurance but they don't know it -- often because insurance agents have lied to them (or been very misinformed themselves). So we clear that up in this story that explains how you can get flood insurance if your community participates in the National Flood Program -- even if your house isn't situated in a flood plain.

Labor Day weekend

This weekend I transplanted a few more of the hostas from my home yard to the new garden at the cabin. It's starting to look a bit better. We still need wood chips and rocks for the walkway, but that's going to have to wait til next spring.



We also power-washed the wood decking around the cabin, which hadn't been cleaned in many years. It went from being a grayish-brown to looking brand-new! We're going to finish and seal it either today or next weekend.






The stairs and rock wall (where we take all our family pictures) also got a cleaning and look really impressive.

Busy me

My name has appeared in the Pioneer Press more this past month than any other since I started here more than 2 1/2 years ago. Whew, what a month! I've previously posted links to several of the stories. Here are a few more...

School progres reports story and searchable database

Report on household income and I got a contributing line on another story the same day on health insurance rates

Story on payments pharmaceutical companies make to doctors, including a searchable database

Keep your eyes on Monday's paper. I'm expecting to have another story (Just a contributing line at the end) that includes a searchable database that I built. I'll post more on that Monday.

Memory Garden phase 2

I got a little farther in the creation of a memory garden at my cabin this weekend. Here's the latest picture. I added some black dirt and manure, then transplanted some of the lillies that had been crammed into a small garden in the same area previously. Next weekend I'm going to bring more hostas from my home garden and we're going to layer it with mulch. Then it'll probably have to sit the winter and we'll finish it in the spring.

Richistan

I just finished reading a new book called "Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich" by Robert Frank. It took me just four days to read (about 1-3 hours per day) and I loved every minute of it!


I am fascinated by the growing problem of income inequality in the US and this book drives home just how out of whack it's become. The author, a Wall Street Journal reporter, covers all facets of the lives of the ultra-wealthy (those with $10 million or more in assets) and shows how they live such different and removed lives from the rest of us that they've essentially created their own country, which he calls "Richistan." The author almost makes fun of this group, with his tone of voice, but it's also a very serious book in that he has laid out with exquisite detail just how far removed the ultra wealthy have become.

You can read more about it on the author's blog and hear a clip from an NPR report on
NPR's web site

Exercise and diet

I joined two web sites that help you track your exercise and diet goals. The first is called The Daily Plate. This one seems to be more complete. It allows you to track all your food and calculates the calories for you; plus you can add in your exercise for the day so it helps you determine if you're staying within your goals for calories in and calories out. Just what I need!

The second one is called Traineo and this seems more geared toward tracking your exercise. I bet it would be especially good for someone training for a marathon or something like that. Both sites have forums for partipants to discuss things and I think that might be helpful too.

Out to the ballgame

Last night I went to the Twins baseball game with my husband and his friend, Erick. We got free tickets at the last minute through my husband's company, so we decided to jump at the chance. We tried to get a fourth, but couldn't.

Unfortunately, the game was less than stellar. The Seattle Mariners pounded the Twins 9-4. Lots of home runs (by the other team, of course) and bad pitches (by our team). But it was still fun. The best part is just people-watching. And it seems like there's always something going on -- besides the game!

Memory garden delayed

On Saturday we finished the tilling and pulling out rocks just in time for the rain to start. We also need a lot more top soil than I had bought -- the ground is all sand. So we're looking for a place in the area where we can get black dirt in bulk. As a result, the project isn't finished and won't be for awhile. Ugh.

Otherwise the weekend has been dreary and cold. We haven't even taken the covers off the boats. Friday was the only partly nice day of the weekend -- it was sunny but cool. Saturday and Sunday were dark, dreary and rainy (not a lot of rain, though). We even turned the heat on!

Hopefully next weekend will be nice since we have a house full of friends coming.

Memory Garden construction Day 1

That's what it looked like at the end of Day 1 of Memory Garden construction at my cabin.
I dug up all the grass in that area and my husband helped me use a tiller to break up the soil. We found quite a few rocks and even chunks of an old asphalt driveway that used to be there before we remodeled the cabin back in 1984!
The staked out area is where I'm going to put a stone walkway, including the memory stepping stones that I made last week (see earlier post). The post is where we'll put a flagpole -- there used to be one there.
I was originally thinking about making the garden area bigger, but after digging out grass for hours on end, I decided to scale back. Wow, what an exhausting job!
Tomorrow we're going to add in manure and top soil, till it up some more and then start planting. I won't get all the plants in this weekend -- still have to get some. So it will be a gradual process over the next few weeks and possibly into next spring.

Beautiful sunset

Last night we had one of the most beautiful sunsets on Cyclone Lake that I've ever seen. We were out on the lake waterskiing at that time. The water was perfectly still -- just the way I like it -- until another ski boat came out too. Then it was all waves. oh well. The sunset was worth it. Look at the strange bubble clouds!

Stepping stones

Today I made stepping stones to go into a memory garden that my friend, Dani, and I are going to make at my cabin. Each stone is inscribed with a name -- my mother, my father, my grandmother and grandfather. All the people who have made this cabin what it is today. All of them have died, most of them prematurely, and it will be one of the many ways I try to carry on their memory.

My recent work

I've had several stories in the Pioneer Press this past week. Here are links (although they might not work after a week or two):

Suburbs the new melting pot

As bridge aged, its rating improved inexplicably

Over 100 state bridges rated worse than 35W

I also created a searchable database of Ramsey County jail bookings that went live on our web site last Monday. Here's the link.

A quiet week

My husband has been in Las Vegas all week with a buddy of his. We had airline tickets left over from our cancelled honeymoon that had to be used by Aug. 23. Unfortunately I couldn't get time off during the week and all of our weekends are booked with cabin-time with friends. So he and his friend, who is a teacher and has the summer off, headed to Sin City for a man-cation. They were especially thrilled to learn that a Star Trek convention started mid-way through their week (of course, they went). And they did the usual things like Hoover Dam, gambling and people-watching and the surprising (for guys, anyway) like Cirque du Soleil.

For me, it's been kind of nice to have the house (and the remote, and the bed) to myself for a little while. My own little vacation. My husband asked when he called last night if I missed him. Of course I missed him! But it was also nice to be without him. He said he wanted someone who "needed" him. And I replied: "It's better to have someone who wants you than someone who needs you." He thought for a minute and agreed that it would be better that way.

As for our cancelled honeymoon, you're probably wondering how we're going to make up for that? We've got it planned. An anniversay trip to Ludlow's Island Lodge (in Cook, Minn.) in mid-October and a beach vacation in January (don't know where yet). At Ludlow's, we're going to have our own 2-bedroom cabin and boat, plus massages and dinner served to us one night. The other nights we'll either make do in our kitchen or go out to eat. It should be peaceful and relaxing. And the beach vacation will be my treat for surviving the second half of 2007 with next-to-nothing for vacation. Can't wait.

In the meantime, we're off to the cabin tonight after I pick my husband up from the airport. These cabin weekends are almost like vacations too.

Bridge collapse

I left work about 6 p.m. yesterday and drove home as usual. I didn't think anything of the police car that went flying by me on I-694, heading toward Minneapolis. It was just a typical night for me. Then a short time later a fellow editor at the Pioneer Press called and said I needed to come back. A major bridge had collapsed.

The first thing I thought of was my husband. He had just left for a softball game and I sighed in relief as I realized he had gone in the opposite direction and wouldn't be anywhere near that bridge. He would be okay. Then my mind went into journalist mode. This is exactly the kind of situation where good journalists are at their best. Despite unrelenting stress, long hours and pressing deadlines, they somehow pull out some of their best work ever.

Nearly the entire newsroom staff of the Pioneer Press has contributed to our coverage of the bridge collapse and it's amazing to see teamwork in action. Everybody just pitches in and somehow it all comes together. Usually there's one or two good editors helping to steer and pull everything together, but mostly it's just everybody doing what they do best. And somehow it works.

Interesting that the Pioneer Press is being tested like on our first week after the most recent buyout. Our staff is about one-third what it was two years ago, so a large story like this is more of a challenge. But we seem to be pulling through.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Every once in awhile I'll post one of my favorite recipes. Since it's zucchini season, I thought this one would be appropriate. It sounds strange, but the zukes make this cake unbelieavably moist and delicious.


Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup oil
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
4 tblspoons cocoa
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup walnuts, chopped
2 cups zucchini, chopped fine (unpeeled)
Chocolate chips (or white chocolate chips) and more walnuts

Directions:
Chop zucchini
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Grease and flour 9x13 inch pan and set aside.
Cream butter, oil and sugar. Beat in eggs, cocoa, buttermilk and vanilla. In separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to other ingredients and mix well. Stir in 1 cup of chopped walnuts and all of the zucchini. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and walnuts.
Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Goodreads

I've just learned about a social networking site for book lovers! It's called Goodreads. There you keep a list of books you've read or books you want to read and you can get recommendations from other people or give recommendations. So you can find people who read something you liked and see what else they have read to get new ideas! I love it! I've added myself and I'd love to see you there too.

In today's Pioneer Press

...you can find a couple packages of stories with my handiwork. The first is about parking tickets in St. Paul. It's a story I've been working on, off and on, since last summer. (we had a lot of delays for various reasons). It includes an interactive map that I built using software called ArcIMS.

The second is the annual school test scores. We decided to publish this in kind of a "pieces-and-parts" fashion so there isn't a big long story. Here's the intro story. And the main piece is a searchable database that I built with test scores and all kinds of other data about Minnesota schools.

The best of both worlds

I'm sitting at my cabin on a Saturday morning, looking out over the perfectly-still lake. It looks like a mirror with the trees from the other side of the lake reflected in the water. Just heavenly! Of course, you're probably wondering how I'm connected to the Internet. Well, we got high-speed Internet at our cabin about a month ago. Wild, huh?! A new company came into town offering service. They beam a wireless signal out of Spooner and then mount a device on your house to pick up the signal. It is faster than our DSL at home.

My husband, of course, loves it since he hates to be disconnected. It's nice for me on a day like today when I need to check in on some work stuff. It makes it possible to work and be here at the same time...something we couldn't do before.

On the one hand, I'd like to be like my grandfather who wanted this cabin to be completely disconnected to the world (my grandparents refused to put a telephone in here and we didn't get one until my grandmother died in 1983). But it's also nice to have the Internet.

A couple weeks ago we needed a recipe. Internet to the rescue! We're talking about trying to work from up here more often next summer. Perhaps drive up on a Thursday night to avoid the traffic and work from here on Friday. Sounds pretty good to me.

Buyouts

The Pioneer Press accepted buyouts from employees today. 10 people signed up from the newsroom, plus two part-timers are leaving and several vacant jobs will remain unfilled. I haven't heard yet how many buyouts are coming from other departments. The newsroom has dropped by almost one-third compared to where it was at when I started just 2 1/2 years ago. The place is definitely not the same. It's very sad to watch.

The plant department

I'm not doing so hot at keeping plants alive this summer. I just said goodbye to my favorite English ivy because it got attacked by spider mites (I did take some cuttings that hadn't been affected and hope I can re-grow). This ivy was part of a set of plants my sorority sisters gave to my mother just before she died, so it's got sentimental value more than anything. But it was also the most beautiful plant I have.

And then I looked out a side window of our house, to the side of the house where we never go (it's kind of a dead end) and saw that all of the Lily of the Valley were brown. I haven't watered them all summer and it's been dreadfully dry. I hope I didn't kill them, too.

Then I decided I better water, and as I was watering a bed of hostas I noticed that something seemed wrong. I realized that two of the variegated hostas - which are my favorite - had been eaten all the way down by the damn rabbits that live in our yard! A couple other hostas are looking like they are the latest buffet for these pesky creatures. UGH.

Our grass is almost completely brown. We've barely had to mow this year. We've decided it's not worth the cost of water (not to mention the waste of water) to put out sprinklers like all our neighbors. We'd rather have brown grass. It does look a little sad, though.

What's wrong with newspapers

City Pages published a story recently, "Trials and Stribulations" about the problems plaguing the Pioneer Press and Star Tribune. It's the best overall picture of the trauma in my profession that I've read lately. It pretty much reads like a soap opera and it's all true. And the scary part is that the end of the story predicts this will be a one newspaper town very soon.

Family party

A little over a week ago, we had my mother's family to our cabin for our annual summer birthday party. When I was a kid, we did this every summer. These weekends are firmly etched as some of the best childhood memories for not only me, but also my cousins. Now, most of my cousins have children of their own and we're trying to re-create that for them.

This picture shows the oldest of the kids. There are two babies who were born last February (they were napping when we snapped this pic).

We spent hours pulling the oldest two girls around the lake on tubes or trying to teach them to waterski (haven't quite got it yet!).

The day went by way too quickly! Can't wait for next year.

The Neighbors

Our neighbors held a little "welcome to the neighborhood" gathering on Sunday night. It was just the five other couples who live in a square around us. Three across the street and one on either side. All but one of the families are middle-age with grown children and even some grandchildren. The other family has a 12-year-old and has been in their house since she was born. So we are definitely bringing down the average age on the block.

But we were really impressed by our neighbors. They are so friendly and obviously very succesful in their lives and careers. Lots of very smart people.

It'll probably be a few years before the neighborhood turns over and young families move in. Even then, we doubt it will truly be "young" families like ours. The houses are far too expensive for the typical starter family. We got the cheapest house on the block.

The neighbors said they were grateful we were helping to "bring up the property values" in the neighborhood by our remodeling project. They were also grateful the previous owners were gone. Apparently the outdoor cats attacking birds and general craziness of the previous family had been a bit of a blight on the neighborhood.

It's starting to look like a house!

The last couple of days I've finally gotten around to hanging pictures in our newly-remodeled house! After more than 9 months with bare walls, it's almost foreign to walk into a room and see something on the wall. And even better...my pictures seem almost brand new since I haven't seen them in so long! Opening the boxes and unwrapping the pictures was almost like Christmas. My husband can't quite understand my glee, but he garnered up some enthusiasm to help me hang some along the stairs -- making sure they lined up just perfectly and were evenly spaced. His attention to detail paid off, and they look fabulous. Even he admits that it does add some "personality" to the house. I told him that was exactly the right word for it. It's something I hadn't realized before.

As for the rest of the remodeling....we're down to a bunch of little stuff like: light fixtures in the dining room, mudroom and two bedrooms. Trim along some of the closets and in one bedroom. Handles on closet doors. Vanity, mirror, sink and window treatments for the half bathroom. Covers for the heating vents. Light switches and outlets to be replaced. And shelves in the basement for long-term storage.

Right now our living room is half filled with boxes of Christmas stuff and other items that belong in long-term storage. The basement is a disaster and doesn't have the shelving we really need. So we put them in the basement to free up space for installing the shelves, but that was two+ months ago and still no shelves. UGH. The scary part is that I'm sure once we do move them, I'll feel like the living room is suddenly empty without them! (Or an even scarier thought: it will be Christmas and we'll just have to unpack them instead)