Lake David Fanclub Blog - Personal

Recalling tragedy

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:33:00 -0400

In the spirit of the 7th anniversary of 9/11/2001, and in light of the expected re-opening Tuesday, September 16, 2008, of the I-35W bridge over the great Mississippi River in Minneapolis, I find myself recalling my personal story from last year. I share it with you to remember, and to renew the sense of hope that I described in the days following the tragedy.

It is a phenomenon that I vaguely recall learning about in College Psychology courses... that major events imprint on our long term memory like a photograph's negative. The negative deteriorates and crumbles over time, but we fill in the holes with what we think we remember, so that our memory...or the picture...is still complete. I can remember almost rehearsing relevant facts as the disbelief set in following the bridge collapse comprised a host of variables, the end result of which was me not being at that place at that time on that day. I would normally drive to work east on Hwy 62/Crosstown to west 7th street, then take 35E north to Little Canada. On the way home, I would go the same way if I left on the early end (anywhere up to 5:15). However, it was a greater distance. If I left at 5:30, which was common, I drove the shorter route home as traffic from rush hour would be tailing off by the time I reached Minneapolis' downtown area. I depart Little Canada heading west on Hwy 36, which turns into 35W, and follow it all the way south to Lake David.

During the weekend of the incident, we had traveled to Philadelphia for Chris and Laura's wedding, on July 29, 2008. We returned on the 31st (also, coincidentally, a significant Birthday for David). I had decided to take August 1st off and enjoy myself since we'd traveled on my Birthday. Besides, one always returns from weekend trips more tired than before they left...and when you head straight back to work it is the equivalent of negative vacation (losing a weekend to 8 hours of air travel and 300 miles on a rental car). My friends had planned for us to all celebrate my B'Day, which I share with my friend Faith, by mini-golfing at Centennial Lakes in Edina. We met at the course at dinner time..right around 6 PM. As we arrived we heard people talking about something big happening. The guy in the kiosk had a radio and told us a bridge collapsed. We knew little so we got our clubs and started playing the round. Cell phone calls were attempted and failed. Towers were jammed. Nothing to do but keep playing.

Murmurs quickly spread via text message. The initial report received by hole 3 was that the fallen bridge was adjacent, on the West bank of the University campus -- a much smaller road used to cross the school, not a highway. By hole 4 I got through at my parents house and let them know we were unharmed. My father confirmed TV was reporting the university bridge had fallen. It was only a matter of minutes before we learned it was I35. Though I traveled it nearly every day, and had I worked that day, might very well have been involved, I couldn't exactly picture it in my mind. After all, traveling on an overpass at 60mph is not like studying it from the profile. The bridge normally is traversed in a couple seconds. Not on this day. Cars were bumper to bumper. In the aftermath we all were glued to the TV. Watching pictures and video, hearing the stories of the victims. It was a long time before the nearby area was open for public viewing. But even without seeing it, the graphic photos and video were plenty to make your stomach turn south. I would recall the armies of construction workers who had been a fixture on the bridge BEFORE the tragedy... and have a hard time separating the obviousness of the stress and additional weight from the equation.

I share the links below so those far away can get a little insight into this local and American disaster: the failure of our local, state and national governments to keep us safe. The most difficult part about this is that it wasn't caused by terrorists. There's no mysterious group on the other end of the world that we can point a finger at and blame. This was caused by apathy. It was caused by badly out of order priorities among those who spend our tax dollars. The actions that have been taken in the last 13 months prove that if government recognizes the critical importance of something, they can do better. They've surveyed, repaired and closed many bridges that were unsafe in Minnesota. The news crews have even raised red flags on bad parking ramps. It all makes me ponder the obvious: what's more important than our safety? Not fighting militant armies around the world who had nothing at all to do with this. Inasmuch as a terrorist's goal is to disrupt a country, a way of life, by infringing on basic rights of safety, you might say they won. Our economy is halfway down the toilet, nothing's improved in the accessibility or affordability of education, our healthcare and transportation infrastructure have been questioned but only as a scratch on the surface. Clearly the last 8 years distracted the country from addressing failing infrastructure needs. But I don't believe they won, because we have resilience. We are terrific at rebuilding, at remembering, and we are stronger because of it. I am excited that the new bridge opens next week, and in due time the same closure will come to New York City.

Related reading:

http://minneapolis.metblogs.com/2007/08/02/live-footage-of-bridge-collapse/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-35W_Mississippi_River_bridge

http://www.35wbridgecollapse.net

http://projects.dot.state.mn.us/35wbridge/

http://www.startribune.com/projects/11608881.html

The Fit With a Two-Wheeler

Mon, 19 May 2008 17:45:00 -0400

As follow-up to my November announcement I can now definitively proclaim that a full size bike fits into the fit. No more turning it sideways, disconnecting fenders, wheels, brakes, handlebars?, etc. ;-) My Bergamo just barely fits with the magic seats flat and the wheel cranked fiercely sideways, but it does. I took two bikes for a spin in the Fit (not at the same time) to the gas station where I refilled the tires for the season. Granted if I wanted to get TWO bikes in there it looks like the front wheels will have to come off. That will be tight but if it works, it'd be ncie to not have to deal with the rack. We may do this before a trip to The Luce Line or Lanesboro's Root River Trail.

Happy 0 8!

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:22:00 -0400

The snow has stopped for now and it is just bitter cold. There are always a few days like this in January, but Paul the weather guy who's statistical predictions are wrong 69% of the time, said our temperature might go from 2 degrees (currently) with negatory wind chills to +40 degrees by the middle of next week. Wacky! Revisit my weather pixie for the current weather.

We enjoyed a couple nights in a Kah-Nee-Tah cottage on the north shore of Lake Superior over New Years, and went snow shoeing for the first time. We drove 30 miles up the Gunflint Trail from Grand Marais and found a 5k cross-country ski path, part of Superior National Park, that we followed. At one point we weren't certain we were going to come out! There was of course an obligatory visit to Sven and Ole's. NY Eve was Papa Charlie's at Lutsen, where the ski patrol put on a torchlight parade (with flares) down one of the mountains, and a 20 minute fireworks display-- all right out the dining room windows. I conquered the wood fireplace at our cottage and that was quite relaxing and nice, although kindling would have been nice (grr).

Complimentary pics follow:

Fall Harvest Jamboree

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:00:00 -0400

This weekend is the 2nd annual Fall Harvest Jamboree! Only in Minnesota will you find an event titled "Jamboree" that is not a reference to kids, and that you won't want to miss. It doesn't seem to have the diversity and top line-up of the Winter affair in Plymouth, but it is still a new event. The free public jamming with no curfew is a big attraction for me. Now, if they have an awful snack bar with questionable greasy food like the Radisson always does, I'm sold.

http://www.minnesotabluegrass.org/calendar/harvest/harvest.html

Other Music You Won't Want to Miss
It's only one week until the fall HCA concert! Line-up includes The Hopkins Westwind Overture, selections from The Sound of Music, Dmitri Shostakovich's Folk Dances and more fun stuff. This performance was my second endeavor into the world of print layout and design, as I helped throw together a professional 32-page program chock full of sponsors, advertisers, fascinating program notes, and important info. Contact me for a PDF.

Sweet & Salty Crunch

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 10:34:00 -0400

I enjoyed my day off this week in October by visiting Lifetime, which Christine and I (re)joined last week. It is fun getting back into the indoor exercise routine after a Summer of band concerts, picnics, music, biking and walking Kenny's Grass Lake and Minnehaha Creek/ Parkway. I also had a nice lunch with my sister, who visited from San Francisco this weekend, and Mom. Other favorite stops included the Ikea maze, Bachmans' Halloween shoppe, and of course my friend at Bloomington Honda. Yes, the hooptie Jetta has run its course with this owner. Replacement before winter is expected. Check back around Thanksgiving to see what I chose. All comments or emails boasting your vehicle of choice will be considered.

Here's a link to some folks with a different take on Columbus Day. Though apparently the extreme view, this disagreement with the principle of Col-Day is gaining in popularity: http://www.transformcolumbusday.org

Week in Review

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 11:21:00 -0400

I've realized that it's much more fun reading blogs with pictures. So in continuing my effort to show you all of the wonderful goings-on in Lake David, here are highlights from the past week.

Tuesday night: Twin vs. Braves at the Metrodome (big thank you to Dan and Becka and Luggage World for the nice seats!)

The grand celebration after the bottom of the 9th comeback and victory!

Saturday

Roofing project at Cory's phatty bachelor pad

Party on the roof!!

Wow, there were a lot of ladders!

Don't jump!

Christine with the Staple flogging machine:

Finish the night off with some Liberty frozen custard!

COP 2007

Wed, 30 May 2007 15:32:00 -0400

Over a 4-day Memorial Day holiday weekend, we went to Cathedral of the Pines on Caribou Lake in Lutsen, MN. It is Mt Olivet's camp property on the Superior North Shore which they've owned since the late 1940s.

The annual opening weekend activities included gratuitous eating, deep cleaning the cabins, getting a dozen lawn mowers and whip wackers working, repairing broken screens and screen doors, replacing dead light bulbs and more. This place houses 200 campers per week all Summer long, so the chore list was very long but it was fun team work, and nice being outside of life's daily amenities for a few days.

Enjoyable activities included 2 visits to Grand Marais, a camp fire with s'mores, a softball game, trivial pursuit and a 500 pc candybar jigsaw puzzle.

View my Cathedral of the Pines photo journal!

Art-A-Whirl

Mon, 21 May 2007 14:07:00 -0400

This year was my first adventure to visit Art-A-Whirl and it was memorable! Art-A-Whirl is an open-studio and gallery tour of Northeast Minneapolis. It is a sprawled out festival open to the public to enjoy a taste of art being produced in NE Mpls. More than 400 artists participated, including potters, tile makers, painters, sculptors, musicians, photographers, glass blowers, printmakers, and textile designers. They showcased their art in warehouses, homes, storefronts and cafes. (from nemaa.org). An old school trolley circled the neighborhood to bring art-goers from one stop to another. For event details, visit the NEMAA Art-A-Whirl homepage! or the about.com abbreviated description. or check out this massive list of Mpls art galleries! or visit Citypages' lively write-up. Also enclosed is the event map (just click Download). Of these locations, Christine and I visited the Grain Belt Bottling House, the Keg House Arts Building, 6 floors of the California Building, and one other gallery on the route. Special finds and highlights: ~ Top Ten ways to relieve stress and anxiety ~ Video of 100 foot steamroller "stamping" or ink-pressing a hand-carved design ~ Tile/mosaic shop with a gorgeous lamp table and coffee table ~ Complimentary chocolates, fruits, cheese & crackers, bottled water and red vines ~ first visit to the Mill City Cafe ~ decorate your own baton? ~ 30 new cards for David's business card collection ~ Susan's art in the basement, lovely reds, oranges, yellows ~ The photographer's 6th floor suite looking out at downtown Minneapolis ~ Flippy ancient windows ~ lots of iMacs ~ a trumpet (and trap set and guitar) in an artist's studio; same artist had sever thousand original records in what was presumed a valuable collection ~ "the bathroom gallery"

Trenching

Wed, 16 May 2007 13:39:00 -0400

Last Friday I enjoyed watching all my money vaporize as experts from Southside Electric brought the electrical capacity of our garage and yard to the 21st century. We tore out all the electrical in the garage, including the hazardous service lines, installed a new circuit, buried a new rigid conduit under our yard, added 4 new outlets, 2 lights in the garage, a double flood on the back corner of the house with a 3-way switch to the garage, and an outdoor GFI receptacle. Boy was this fun to watch.

All new switches inside the service entry

"Where did the steps go?"

"Oh, there they are in the yard. Good time to do some repair work on them!"

"WOW!"

David & Christine's Komen Race Page

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 15:59:00 -0400

http://www.active.com/donate/komentc07/DYussen

myVisualDNA

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 17:02:00 -0400

Thanks to Grady for the link. Pretty cool.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

My First 'Tube!

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 09:03:00 -0400

Enjoy this fun clip I took with my camera. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB5T4IKHqy0

Mexico pictures

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:57:00 -0400

New Mexico vacation pictures have been added to yah-cd.com (David and Christine's gallery). Enjoy!

Lake David Goes to Mexico

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 23:56:00 -0400

17 hours until we leave for sunny, warm, Mexico! Paradise Village awaits. Make sure to check yah-cd.com for vacation photos in a few weeks! Will think of you as I bury my feet in hot sand, putt about in the water, and soak up some rays.

Lehigh Club of the Twin Cities

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 15:07:00 -0400

http://www.lehighalumni.com/lehighlights/email_TWINmarHH07.html