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Three cheers to these companies for doing something positive, raising thousands of dollars for the American Cancer Society during the annual Daffodil Days event...3M, Medtronic, Cargill, UnitedHealth, etc. Their volunteers do make a difference.

While Daffodil Days' skyway tables are now my first reminder that Spring is about to arrive, the nearly 60-degree mark on the thermometer last week didn't hurt either. Spring landed at about 6:45 this morning, while David was still slumbering soundly. But it's here to stay, and I for one am SO GLAD there is no turning back time.

So even though it may be a cloudy, gloomy day in the skies near Lake David, we're excited too that the warm weather season is upon us. Open the windows to smell the rainstorms, let's bump up the May flowers and June vegetable gardens and July concerts on warm, sunny, buggy evenings at Lake Harriet Bandshell, walks around Grass Lake, neighborhood jaunts to Liberty Frozen Custard, and, what the heck, maybe even movies in the park.

Here's a little sunshine for your weekend. Cheers!

The Ides of March have now come and gone, with merriment and a special dinner outing to celebrate a Birthday. The first weekend of March, before time rolled forward by 60 minutes, we visited the annual Bluegrass Festival. We are pleased to share with you three notable bluegrass announcements:

1. May is Officially Bluegrass month. Isn't every month bluegrass month?

2. You can now join a MBOTMA Fan page on Facebook.

3. Mark Kreitzer is no longer with the Middle Spunk Creek Boys. We had a brief scare that MSCB had been disbanded, but alas it is still intact and performing. They will be at the April annual or semi-annual MBOTMA fundraiser at Dulonos. Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18 2009. Click here for further details on the Spring Fling and send our pal P. Nussbaum your signup!

Mark Kreitzer and the Mark Kreitzer show can be found online via their new website, everything you ever wanted to know about the greatest and funniest bluegrass musician on earth.

February Bunkers outing to see Billy Johnson's Roadshow. David with two terrific ladies.

March 11-13, David and Christine visited Lake City, MN, Kellogg, MN, Wabasha, MN, Winona, MN, Stockholm, WI, Pepin, WI, Nelson, WI, and Alma, WI. During the getaway they stopped for their first visit to the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, MN (whose other large claim to fame is/was the filming of "Grumpy Old Men"). They had a highly educational and exciting time watching the 1 hour + informational session on bald eagles, with live demonstration of how to eat a pale of fish, bones and all. Scary!

And we leave you with a shot of Mr. Fit, now once again equipped with Summer wheels and tires, excited for the rapid snow melt which is currently underway in the Land of Lakedavid.


This brings us to our Reader Poll of the Week (RPW). If Mr. Fit and Eagle got in a tangle, who comes out on top? Mr. Fit has the weight advantage at 2500lbs vs 11 lbs, but Eagle can see for miles with perfect vision, and unleash 1600 pounds of force per square inch through its dangerous talons. Would these pierce Mr Fit's body armor like a mouse through swiss cheese, or would Eagle be caught off guard by the sport grille and quick agility of Mr Fit?

"Also in the works from Hamblin's company: touchscreen menus for restaurants, Android-based medical devices, and a 15-in. kitchen computer where family members can leave messages for one another." Source: Business Week

I love it! Ordering food from an android menu. Can I also push a button to blog what I'm eating or send it to a diary that will track my caloric and nutritional intake? I'm picturing the scene in Back to the Future where MJF orders a Pepsi Lite from a hovering robo-waiter.

This is precisely why open-source rules. Collaboration. Teamwork. Creativity. All things stifled by the Microsoft and Apple approach. Do they make boatloads of money? Sure. But just for themselves. The open platform makes money for a disperse group of people, and offers consumers a better product. Things we never even thought of, but will definitely enjoy.

Starting today, Google is rolling out the 3rd round of software updates to the G1. This is rumored to include the just-announced Latitude GPS tracking module, integrated into Google Maps (already one of the very best apps on the G1 phone), a voice command Google web search, and auto-checking for updates to market apps you've already installed.

Expect 40 G1 phones to hit the stores this year. Sound crazy? Phandroid reports 6-8 phones in Germany on the O2 system alone. By July, they claim Android might top the iPhone in number of users. While I personally am skeptical about that forecast, I do think it will happen by next year. Motorola has been in the news for diving headfirst into The Sea of Android, to save itself in the land of all things mobile. Here's a prediction for you: Moto will come out with something as fantastico as the StarTAC. And it will happen by Summer, 2009. Secondary call: it will be sold by Verizon. Sprint strategic leadership is moronic, so they'll probably be the last U.S. player to buy into Android, after they get spanked again and later come to terms with the fact that their junk phones and junk service won't compete without it.

Since the October release, you've been dying to buy this phone for your Grandma. But, Grandma only uses gadgets that come with a user guide. Yes, you argued with the Senior T-Mobile authorized customer sales associate representative for 97 minutes, asking how in the world they could sell a phone with no instruction manual. After the STMACSA explained that HTC would have never done such a thing, but Google owns the world, and they don't like instructions, you opted to wait. Good news! Your wait is now over. Enter Chris Zeigler of Engadget with this brilliant text: T-Mobile G1 For Dummies [Amazon]

Since Android is going to take over the Earth, I feel they ought to embrace a new slogan. Here's my entry for the slogan contest:

Android. More Vital To Life Than Your Adenoids.

I followed a twitter link to this interview with Good Question man Jason DeRusha. The discussion on how the nightly news is slowly becoming obsolete intrigued me. Here's why...

I really think I might be among only a sparse few 31-year-olds in the state of Minnesota (or possibly even the country) who watches the 10 o'clock news most weeknights, and has a bona fide newsprint newspaper delivered to my doorstep every morning (WSJ). But why would I do this? I am on a computer all day, so like two thirds of the Gen-X and virtually all of the Gen-Y clans, I've gotten my overdose of stories from iGoogle, RSS feeds, twitter, facebook, startribune.com, cnn.com, (wcco.com? yea sure) well before I watch the news at night. I could be the broadcaster. I've already seen the stories five times, earlier in the day. The exceptions are:

1. the weather report, because they correct their forecast again every 15 minutes, so the later the better
2. special interest stories like Jason DeRusha's Good Question
3. op/ed segments like 'In The Know'

The internet is all op-ed, but then we have to get concrete facts somewhere. I often marvel that every network covers the major stories each day, and that they are all identical, and they are all exactly what was published on news websites all day long. Who decides behind the scenes what today's stories are going to be? Is there a secret bulletin that gets sent out at 5AM to all of the media outlets in the world telling them, here are your 6 stories for today?

It's winter. In Minnesota. Endless cold. The holidays have come and gone. We have a new President and you find yourself asking, "Now what?" 2 more months of winter seems bleak.

Just in time... Lake David presents 5 reasons to love living near Lake David. . . even in the frosty season!

1. The St. Paul Winter Carnival

http://www.stpaulwintercarnival.com/

The website has the dates wrong. January 23 - February 1

January 24: Downtown St. Paul, the 3M Parade. 2PM.

January 31. Vulcan Victory Torchlight Parade. 6PM.

2. Battle of the Jug Bands, 27th Annual

Sunday, February 8, 1 - 8 PM.

http://www.jugbandbattle.net

20 Bands, each with 15 minutes of fame. Original, homemade instruments. Raw creative composition. What's not to love?

3. US Pond Hockey Championships

http://www.uspondhockey.com

January 23 - 25. Lake Nokomis, Minneapolis.

4. The 2nd Annual Art Sled Rally

http://www.artsledrally.com/

Saturday, February 7th. Powderhorn Park.

See website for official definition of an 'Art Sled.' (Something like an Art Car minus the wheels)

5. HEAT IT UP

A benefit for renters who need heat.

Heat It Up

The Hexagon Bar. Saturday, February 14. Valentine's Day! 9:00PM.

Jenny Dalton. Solid Gold. Cryns #3. + Guests

Our thank you to guest contributors Toby and Heather for making this notice possible.