It's Official

Received the following e-mail just now:

Dear Reid,

Congratulations! You have completed all requirements for your Ph D degree in Computer Science. Your degree award will be awarded 8/31/2010.

Your official transcript will be updated, to show the award of the degree, 2-3 weeks following the award date. Official transcripts may be obtained from the One Stop office. Your diploma will be mailed to you 4-6 weeks following the award date by the One Stop office. [...]

Congratulations on your accomplishments at the University of Minnesota. We wish you all the best with your new endeavors.

Regards,

Stacia Madsen
Coordinator, Doctoral Degree Services

Beautiful South Minneapolis Home for Sale; Will It Be Yours?

We are selling our wonderful South Minneapolis home. It's in a truly great location:

• Just 4 blocks to the 38th Street light rail station; you can be downtown in under 20 minutes with no worries about parking.
• Roosevelt Library is a 3 minute walk.
• A family-owned hardware store is 4 blocks away.
• Lake Hiawatha is 4 blocks away.
  
• Neighborhood is filled with mature trees.
  
• A variety of restaurants, coffee shops, auto repair, a bakery, and other locally owned businesses are within a 10 minute walk.

It is a two-bedroom home with a third nonconforming bedroom which could be used as an office, playroom, etc. There is also a semi-finished space in the basement that we use as a TV room. Other perks include:

• Hardwood floors
  
• Two-car garage with automatic opener, newly painted
  
• Organic gardens
• Updated appliances, including high-efficiency front-loading washer
• New water heater
  
• New insulation blown into walls
• Central A/C
• Tons of storage in the basement, including built-in shelves
  

The neighbors are friendly and quiet.

Updated: The list price is $129,900.

Living room has two beautiful picture windows, one east-facing to catch the morning light. Front entry has a closet for your winter clothes and room behind the door for a snow shovel.

Dining and living rooms have a spacious and flexible open-plan layout with south-facing windows for lots of light.

The dining room is the hub of the house. It's an efficient layout and easy to get from one room to another quickly.

The carpet was just professionally cleaned and looks nearly new, and underneath is hardwood if that's what you prefer.

Kitchen has updated appliances and new sink. Plenty of cupboard space and right by the back door for easy unloading.

Master bedroom has hardwood floors. West window gives beautiful, soft light in the evenings.

Second bedroom also has hardwood floors and an east-facing window for morning light.

Bathroom is very well lit whether it's light or dark outside. Bathtub/shower surround has just been redone. Low-flow toilet is new.

Upstairs non-conforming bedroom is extremely spacious and has two very large closets for storage. It runs the length of the house and catches both morning and evening light.

Two-car garage with automatic door and storage in the rafters is freshly painted.

See also the MLS listing.

If you're interested, you'll be dealing with Charlie Leimer, our realtor. He's a friendly guy and will treat you and your agent fairly, with respect, and promptly. Relationships matter in this complicated business and Charlie is a good person to work with. He was Erin's agent when she bought the home in 2004, and we sought him out deliberately when it was time to move on. Let me know and we'll put you in touch, or you can contact him directly at charlie@mnrealestateteam.com or 612-310-3975.

Also please do not hesitate to e-mail me if you have any questions about the home (reid@reidster.net). We have been very happy in it, and I'm sure you would be too.

Aquamira Enhancement Kit

Two-part chlorine dioxide (Aquamira) is much smaller and lighter than water filters and works better than other chemical water treatment systems. However, the kit as sold has two major usability flaws: it requires lots of extremely tedious drop-counting, and treating multiple water bottles is difficult as the mixture needs to sit for 5 minutes before use and you only get one little container for sitting.

I have solved these problems with my Aquamira Enhancement Kit, pictured above. Click through for details.

Health Care Reform Headline Wordle

The above is a Wordle of the text of health care reform-related headlines from Monday, March 22, as kindly collected at http://benwikler.com/healthvictory.html and typed in by me. I included all headlines and subheadlines that were large enough for me to read from the thumbnails presented on that page.

I typed in both "OKd" and "OK'd" as "ok'd". I also changed one poor newspaper's "capital" to the correct "capitol".

E-mail me if you want the text to make your own Wordle or do whatever you feel like.

DON'T PANIC, the Fabulous New Android App

My friend Alex, founder and CEO of RTNP Heavy Industries, has created the world's best Android app, Don't Panic. Here's a screenshot:

It's so you have a little reminder at your fingertips, whenever you need it. I have no idea how to install it, not having an Android myself (though that might change given this app), but that shouldn't stop you.

It's only $0.99, less than 1/6 of a sandwich. Cheap! There's a free version, but it's not nearly as good. Shell out. You won't regret it.

Project 100, #43. (doh!)