Lake Harriet is an interesting lake. To those of you who aren’t familiar with Lake Harriet, it’s in south Minneapolis and is frequented by boaters, fishers, coots, ducks, latte-sipping yuppies, runners, dogs (not wild), and many gnats. Case in point: Theresa and I were heading to the Lake Harriet bandshell to get ice cream cones. On the way I made a very loud and disgruntled cry, “Where are these bugs COMING FROM?!?!” I made a very exaggerated swat in the air as I said this. As soon as I finished a lady came right up to me and answered my question. Instantly I thought, “What have I done,? Did I strike a nerve? Was this a scientist?” Not exactly. She told me, waving her hands like a magician, that “From a magical bug universe!” She had quite the pitch going with her voice too! I think I erupted in laughter and shock as I was actually hoping to get a response from my question. If I was fishing, I caught a huge bass, bigger than my mother-in-law’s she caught a month ago.

Along with my revelation that bugs come from a magical bug universe, Theresa and I also learned that “Violence is never the answer!”. Last evening on my 2nd run of the day, Theresa and I were run/biking around Lake Harriet. On my second loop near the Minnehaha Parkway a non-descript SUV drove by. A kid (probably 4-5 years old) yelled to everyone that, “V…V…Violence is n…n…ever the answer!!!” I immediately understood what he said, but some people near us didn’t. They thought the boy was provoking them, but he was just sharing his sagely advice, advice learned only through years of experience. Thank you, wise child, for making me laugh very hard and learning a wise lesson at the same time. Now I know that I don’t have to be violent to get an answer.

I’ve been working with stars lately. No, not the stars in space. They seem distant and don’t speak. I mean stars like Brad Childress, Jim Thome, and Kevin Rogers. They’re sports stars you could say. Brad Childress is the Vikings head coach, Jim Thome is the DH for the Twins, and Kevin Rogers is the quarterback coach for the Vikings. And, they’re all TC Running shoppers and fans and I’ve helped them! I’ve helped Mr. Childress purchase a heart rate monitor and tried to help him set it up. While I failed at exacting his HR zones, he did leave with a sense that I tried my best! Mr. Thome was great and inconspicuous. I didn’t even know who it was until someone told me. Nice guy. Mr. Rogers was great as well. We had a great chat and I learned that the Vikings coaches like to rib each other some. He thought it was great that Mr. Childress bought a HR monitor. I hope he takes it easy on Brad. Anyway, stop by TC Running sometime, you may see a Twin Cities sports star.

In other news, I’ve decided that I just don’t like Oreo cookies. The black cookie part sticks to you teeth and is hard to brush off. The extra work it takes to clean your teeth after eating them makes them not worth the investment. Plus, they’re way overpriced.

Another thought I had recently is why cargo is called cargo when on a ship. It makes no sense. It should be called a shipment. Conversely, it’s called a shipment when it comes by car. Why can’t they be changed?

Lastly, when you take the famous number 3.14 and mirror it backwards is spells P1.E Try it for yourself!