Lileks-Land for a Day
George Savage ·
Aug 30, 2010 at 8:38am
I'm on my way to Minneapolis for a day trip from San Francisco. I know, I know. But with fewer fellow taxpayers spinning the federal Wheel of Taxation in the old economic hamster cage, the rest of us have to run that much faster.
Minnesota is different. I can already tell in the SFO gate area. Amidst the iPhone tapping, Blackberry scanning and movie watching, two strawberry blond women are knitting. Yup, you betcha. Old fashioned, carbon-neutral, socially productive recreation.
Of course, it could be some sort of elaborate plot or TSA security test -- those knitting implements are awfully pointy. I hope I make it.
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Jun '10
Re: Lileks-Land for a Day
You happened to choose the week when Minnesota is the State Fair, and the State Fair is Minnesota. (located in St. Paul)
One of the better homemade Minnesota State Fair videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YJc4nJCCf8
May '10
Re: Lileks-Land for a Day
At least no one has a bottle of good wine (see Denise Moss's earlier post). That could make the flight pretty hairy.
May '10
Re: Lileks-Land for a Day
A day trip? Must be meeting with Medtronic or Boston Scientific.....
Re: Lileks-Land for a Day
Hey, welcome! Hope someone spins you around our lakes or downtown; this is the perfect time of the year to see our glories. Translation: glad you didn't come when it's 20 below, and the pilot has to warn you about losing toes or fingers on the way from the airport to your rental car. But there's a reason God gave us two sets of ten. We call the pinky toes "spares," and people with all their digits "newcomers."
Re: Lileks-Land for a Day
Posting via iPad and WiFi from 37,000 feet; a first for me. One of my favorite Minnesota climate stories is the blustery February morn many years ago when I had to walk from my hotel to the Minneapolis Club for breakfast. I decided the enclosed skyways were for wimps -- much more direct to head outside. I was well bundled against the below zero air, but realized the error of my ways the moment my shoes hit the asphalt. The eighth of an inch or so of leather sole in a dress shoe ain't nearly enough when the ground is sucking heat the way it can in Minneapolis. My other Minnesota climate story involves spilling aviation fuel on my cotton gloves on a windy Duluth runway in January. That one hurt. Looking forward to a warm reception today.
Re: Lileks-Land for a Day
Hmm. Note to system admin: no paragraphs from mobile window. I love it just the same.
Jun '10
Re: Lileks-Land for a Day
George: I'm shocked at your lack of environmental awareness. If those knitters are using wool yarn, they are supporting sheep-raising and thus the vast amount of sheep-created methane gas that is a major source of the CO2 that will soon make Minneapolis a winter warm-weather vacation spot. Shame!
May '10
Re: Lileks-Land for a Day
Year round knitting is sometimes what it takes to help keep a few "newcomers" around.
May '10
Re: Lileks-Land for a Day
Uh oh, I knit. But my potato canon is bigger than yours. So there.
May '10
Re: Lileks-Land for a Day
You can't use the quote feature with the iPad, either. However, I'm quite grateful for the ability to post with it, so I'm not complaining.
May '10
Re: Lileks-Land for a Day
I knit too. Since they're allowed on planes I always make sure to take my extra pointy sock needles on with me 'in case'.
Re: Lileks-Land for a Day
Made it onto the return leg. A less sane, but more familiar all-electronic Bay Area crowd on this end-of-the-day flight. My kinda people. Nobody is going to attack you with a lithium ion battery, but knitting needles? Better safe than sorry. ***** Everything in Minneapolis looks so lush and green this time of year, quite a contrast to my brown, ahem, golden state. Like life itself, the Minneapolis summer feels like it could go on forever, but I know that falling leaves are only weeks away, and in a couple of months it will be snowing. I guess that' part of what makes it so special.
May '10
Re: Lileks-Land for a Day
George Savage: My other Minnesota climate story involves spilling aviation fuel on my cotton gloves on a windy Duluth runway in January. That one hurt. Looking forward to a warm reception today. · Aug 30 at 10:25am
Someone visiting Cirrus?
Re: Lileks-Land for a Day
Duane Oyen
George Savage:
Someone visiting Cirrus? · Aug 30 at 8:32pm
Duane, if you worked as an analyst for the CIA I would never worry about national security!
I used to own a Cirrus SR-22 -- took delivery just after 9/11/2001, which is a tale of its own. The winter fuel sumping excitement occurred after a factory upgrade one Christmas. It's also how I came to spend one night in Ogallala, Nebraska. But I'll save the American small town flying stories for later.
May '10
Re: Lileks-Land for a Day
I cannot tell a lie, George- you mentioned the Cirrus a few months back, and I simply remembered it and guessed that you had owned one. In a previous life, a small infantry-handled UAV system we were developing had Cirrus building the airframe (that's the event that put NASA'a Chris Kraft in my debt- he invited me to Houston for an Astros game).
Unfortunately, I never remember anything I am supposed to.