apple juice

Before I started running, I would always point and laugh at people from my car, asking the occupants, “Don’t they just look like they are in pain? Why do they always look like they are in pain?” We would laugh, safe with the thoughts that people who run are nuts.

I was out for a run yesterday with Yeti. It was about 5 degrees and the windchill was about 10 below. I’m not really what you would call a serious runner, but at one point this summer, we were going out about every other day, and I’ll admit it… I was enjoying the exercise. Once or twice I think there was even a feeling of “runners-high” where I kinda felt like I could just run all day, Forrest Gump style. Besides, I was constantly amazed at how far I could actually run without dying.

So we start out yesterday, and I’m instantly thinking that it’s way colder than I thought, my knees and hips feel as though at any moment, they’ll freeze up and I’ll tip over to the ground like an action figure you’ve carefully arranged on the table. My jaw feels slow, and I’m uttering primal grunts at Yeti to slow down. She’s looking up at me like I’m crazy, and she’s running as fast as she can. I’m sure she was thinking, “Let’s get this over with as soon as possible.”

I take the normal route to begin, hop on the creek trail, head east towards the lake. I arrive at Bloomington Ave. and make the snap decision that there is no way I’m going to run around Lake Nokomis today, so I take a quick right, and then a right again down onto the dirt path on the south side of the creek. I had never been on this dirt path before. Maybe I thought all the leave-less trees would provide some cover from the wind. I was thinking a lot of crazy things at this point.. the cold is not a friend of your brain’s.

Now I’m weaving down the dirt path, dodging roots and branches, I think my ankle just rolled over a bit, not a problem since I can’t feel it anyway. I nearly fall off the embankment at one point where it had eroded, Yeti is weaving around like crazy, making it hard to stay on the path.

I finally see the end of the trail, where it heads up about 30 feet to the road again. I moan something to the dog and kick it up a notch. I emerge from the trail and onto the sidewalk. A car passes, our eyes meet. Instantly I know.

I’m one of those people who look like they’re in pain.

This is some of the best news I’ve heard in a while. The station MPR purchased a few months ago is going to turn into a music station that, if the article in the Startribune is true, will be rather eclectic.

Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) told its staff Thursday that the new KCMP will present a diverse musical mix that targets “listeners who have grown up in the digital generation” — read: younger ears — with an emphasis on local artists.

Among local and national performers offered as examples: Mason Jennings, the Replacements, Olympic Hopefuls, the Jayhawks, Lucinda Williams, Joni Mitchell and U2. The station also will dip periodically into vintage material from the likes of Chet Baker, Johnny Cash and Ella Fitzgerald

Sounds good to me! Looks like I might be able to listen to the radio again!

It’s a sad day for Twins fans. Corey Koskie signed a 3-year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Normally I wouldn’t get all wispy-eyed about multi-millionaire baseball players changing teams, and given the Twins finances, it’s basically a fact of life that your favorite players, if they are good, will eventually leave for greener pastures.

But losing Koskie really sucks. Baseball euphemisms can be tossed about, how he was a clubhouse leader, ‘backbone’ of the team, etc. Maybe I’m naive about baseball players being a part of the community, but when Koskie does things like raise money for the homeless by sleeping outside in the winter, he adds to our unique Minnesota feeling.

Maybe people who have never lived here just won’t get it… but Koskie seemed Minnesotan to everyone.

Well, Corey, the baseball fans of Minnesota will miss you…

Never a dull moment around here!

A Minneapolis man wandered naked through residential streets on the city’s south side and fought with police before being bitten by a police dog and subdued with a Taser gun, officials said Wednesday.

The city’s south side… aka 3 blocks from my house!

I just missed this all going down yesterday when I came home from lunch. I swung right at the stop light to avoid the wait, and turned up 54th. As I came up the hill I noticed two cop cars, and one guy getting out of his car. Everything seemed under control so I just cruised down to my house.

I should’ve stopped to check it out… that would’ve been the photograph of the century!

Check out the rest of the article at the Star Tribune: Nude man bitten by Minneapolis K9

Riddle me this, Batman. In this supposed “Hydrogen Economy” Bush keeps talking about, where do we get all the Hydrogen?

By electrolyzing water using electricity from “clean coal” technologies.

Right..

I’m telling you, The Answer is Biodiesel

Diesel-electric hybrids… you think that Prius is sweet? A Diesel-Electric Dodge Intrepid that Chrysler is working on gets 76 mpg on average. Not a small car by any means. Just wait for 2006….