A Dreary Morning

This is all that's left of the Hulk Hogan's Pastamania building and its neighbor to the north. The lots have been seeded with grass, so I suppose there's no plans to build anything in the near future.

Hiawatha Avenue bridge

Last week when we were cramming to get the CSCW paper done, I had several late-night commutes home. The excessively expensive Sabo Bridge over Hiawatha Avenue is indeed well lit.

Bus to St. Paul Campus

There's a dedicated busway from the Minneapolis campus to the St. Paul campus. It was opened to bicyclists too a few years ago. Here's one.

Commuting Sunset

Couple of pics of downtown Minneapolis from this evening's commute.

Traffic Fail

This is I-94 evening rush hour on a fairly light day. Suckers!

Project 100, #74.

You Can Help Police!

This billboard is visible from the busway running between the St. Paul and Minneapolis campuses and targets drivers northbound on Highway 280.

It freaks me out a little. The last people I want doing any criminal investigating are those who worry about children's safety and have a lot of time on their hands.

Reminds me of the woman in Seward who had a smelly telephone pole -- she couldn't get ahold of a person through Xcel Energy's (presumably awful) automated phone system, so she reported a gas leak.

Project 100, #68.

First Bike Commute of the Season

First bicycle commute of the season was yesterday. It wasn't too horribly cold (over 40 F when I left the house). If I'd had my act in gear, I could have started Monday, but I didn't. Second commute of the season was today. My bum has gone soft over the winter, apparently.

I'm really glad to be back on the bike. I find it very satisfying to be getting in a reasonable level of daily exercise. Over the winter, my daily commute is a walk of similar duration, but it's not as rigorous, and the scale reflects this. One of my goals for next winter is to stay more active and avoid my seasonal weight gain.

Project 100, #64.

Dead Bird on Sidewalk

I was walking home this afternoon and came across the remains of a small bird on the sidewalk. It seemed forlorn and rather poignant, just laying there dead while the rest of the world bustled by, not noticing.

After I was done taking these photos, I put the bird in a snowbank and covered it with snow. It seemed wrong to just leave it in the middle of the sidewalk to be trodden on. I came across a dead bird on campus a few months ago in the middle of the sidewalk, and regretted not taking the time to push it to the side.

Project 100, #56, #57.

Campus Connector

I ride the free Campus Connector to get to my statistics course on the St. Paul campus. Here's one of the slinky buses that are articulated in the middle.

It's a rather wild ride standing up in the back of one of these things, as the back half has only one axle and gets pretty wiggly.

I have also determined that I don't like riding in the rear-facing seats. They mess with my head (and tummy).

Project 100, #30.

Arriving Train

The train arriving at the light rail station. This is a typical scene from my morning commute in the winter.

(The lighted signs are normally very crisp; some interaction with the shutter speed must be making them look garbled.)

Project 100, #9.