The Steamiest thing I saw today!

It is super snowy outside! Whee!

I just took a half outside/half inside route to run an errand, and upon reaching my office building, this is a peek of what I saw:


A heated sidewalk getting things done- sizzling up those snowflakes!

Everything else was newly white and powdery. I felt a little sad for that slab of concrete, though I enjoyed the contrast.

The Forearm-iest things I saw today.

I was wondering if this post does not really fit into my own blog premise, or if it is something that will only entertain me, but I keep thinking about it, so here goes....

Walking out of a building the other day, I thought I saw a young woman who was an amputee. It looked like she did not have the lower half of her right arm

My mind started whirring, "Huh, it is rare to see a young woman missing her arm. I wonder what happened. She is so young. I hope she was not in the war or in a terrible farm accident. Maybe it was a genetic thing. Wow Genetics are amazing, it is a miracle all the things they can do these days to work with genetics.... "

But my quick train (trains?) of thought were stopped when I realized at second glance that she did have two full length arms.


Oh, never mind, mind.

Then I was thinking, "What an interesting optical illusion, I totally did not see evidence of her full arm. Good thing she was not in an accident. Speaking of accidents, I have been meaning to draw a bike on bike accident I saw....."

My thoughts stopped because within 10 feet of the 2 armed woman, I passed by:

This time I made several glance to confirm that this young woman was missing her right forearm and hand.

My mind was blown, so it took another 10 feet before I started speculating about her story.

Did the Universe send the first woman as foreshadowing for the second woman?? Should I be learning some lesson here? Is it just coincidence? Should I try to reach Art Bell?

The Team workiest thing I saw today

Today is the one year anniversary of the I-35W Bridge Collapsing here in Minneapolis.

I live and work near the bridge, so I have been watching how hard all the bridge builders have been working ever since that day one year ago.

There are people working on the bridge 24 hours a day. They worked through bitter cold in the winter and hot humid days in the summer. There are all kinds of cool trucks and cranes and barges getting things done.

You may not know this if you don't live here, but they have already made the bridge connect across the river:

It is scheduled to open in September.

I am very impressed at how fast all the legislators and what not worked to get organized and get the project going, I mean, if they had just decided to replace the bridge it probably would have taken a year just to narrow down a design and decide who would pay for the bridge. am I right?

Then of course the people working on the bridge are amazing. I have seriously driven by around 1am on cold winter night and seen people out working on the bridge. BRRR!


Oh and the people who survived the collapse! They are out of this world. For example, the kids that were on the school bus made this mural together:

The mural is right by my house, so I can go by and think of how brave they are all the time!

Lastly I am proud of the community-at-large for supporting the victims and for dealing with the lost bridge very patiently. If you do not live here, then you probably do not know that this bridge is a major freeway artery and also that a long stretch of freeway just south of the bridge had already been under major construction before the collapse (and still is today- FYI 35W will be closed this weekend between 494 and 94). I have not heard people complain about having to detour around the bridge...but they do complain about the "normal" construction!

Way to be a little patient, community-at-large!

The Politest Things I Saw Today

Driving home across Wisconsin from visiting Green Bay we came upon some road construction.

We saw the usual signs and a little Wisconsin charm:

Thanks for the grin, Wisconsin Department of Transportation!

The Plain Stupidest Thing I saw today.

This incident occurred whilst I was transferring buses downtown on a lighty snowy day last week.

It was a gorgeous morning, cold, light glittery snow falling with the sun peaking out around the skyline.

Ah.

It was also hella slippery because there is ice everywhere hiding under that glittery snowfall.

I stopped at the lightrail tracks over to my waiting bus because the lightrail train was already dinging away at the station, calling out "Look out, I am a big train and I am moving now."

A young man who apparently does not speak lightrail train came rushing up behind me:



I literally screamed! He ran out right in front of that train to get to a bus that was waiting at a stoplight for the train to pass. I am sorry, but what a self-centered idiot!

In his leap to beat the train, he could have slipped and fell and really been clobbered by that train...or the train might not have been able to stop..wait...one should just ALWAYS assume that the train will not be able to stop!

PLUS, the guy got on a bus to the University, and at that time of day those buses come about once every 3 minutes.

After the train passed, I crossed the tracks and got on the same bus the guy got on. I stood in front of him in the aisle fuming. I could not decide what to say to him. I could have just said, "Good thing you risked your life and the mental health of that train driver to get on this bus that is still stuck at the friggin' stoplight!" or "You are a f-in idiot for running in front of a MOVING TRAIN!".

Of course, being a Minnesotan (see #6 at this link), I did not drudge up the courage to directly confront him before he hopped off on the West Bank campus. I really need to shake off that part of my Minnesotan-ness.

The Cattiest thing our GUEST ARTIST saw today!

Yes, we have a guest artist today! My chic friend the Pariah has tried her hand at drawing something that caught her eye. I was so thrilled to receive this from her and I hope you welcome her and her art.

The Pariah says:
When we were driving back from the purcell-cutts tour, we passed custom cat purrniture, the holy land for cat ladies, located on university avenue.

there was a happy couple walking out of the store, with a happy kitty perched on the shoulder of the gentleman. he had sturdy shoulders and the kitty seemed quite pleased with her perch, but being a concerned cat-man, he was securely holding kitty's leash in his other hand.

perhaps his shoulder was getting sore from all of the perching, and they were looking to invest in a custom cat furniture perch to substitute?

I think the Pariah is on to something there. I'll bet his co-workers are tired of the cat coming along to work everyday.

My cat is pretty jealous that she does not get to go shopping; but when I remind her that shopping involves getting in the car she pipes down.

Hooray and thanks Pariah!! I love that the sky is a hazy shade of winter!

If anyone thinks they can handle the pressure, I would be happy to have your contribution to this collection!

The fashion over sense-siest thing I saw today

I have to give my excuses for the delay. I just ended my job and started a new one! It has been a crazy January, but now it is February and I already have a stockpile of things to share!

This week has been a prime week for Minnesota winter weather. It was 43 degrees above zero on Monday and 42 below on with the wind chill on Wednesday. Everything melted and then turned to ice, ice, ice.....

This was me during this time(I was half indoors, so I did not need my scarf):

(Good advice, by the by.)

Of course some people refuse to give up their sense of style for the weather:



Some of us are better at sacrificing than others.

And yes, that is what color ones skin might turn when exposed to the -43 wind chill!

PS: Thanks for asking me back! So nice of you.

The Speediest thing I saw today.

I was in lovely Denver, Colorado last week for work. Our hotel was on 16th Street, a pedestrian mall with electric buses that go up and down the street for people who would rather not walk.

Cars and bikes are not allowed on the mall. The buses are the only wheeled vehicles allowed on the mall. Or so I thought:




(I actually drew this by hand quickly on the plane and added the color online.)

This is one of several wheel chairs that I saw cruising down the mall where the buses roam.

Well played wheel chair users, well played.

The Earthiest thing I quickly drew today.

I drew this abstract and inaccurate picture of Earth because today people are uniting to blog about the environment.



Seemed like a great idea to me, though I am not environmental expert.

So this is a friendly reminder that we live on Earth and we should be nice to Earth.

I encourage you to check out other blogs and things out there to learn something new.

Now I am off to do some recycling and try to reduce my environmental footprint.

The Twistiest thing I saw today.

It has been well over a month since a major freeway bridge over the Mississippi River collapsed here in Minneapolis.

Families affected by the collapse are grieving, healing, and maintain hope for a better tomorrow. People still go an gawk at the site. The city has found ways to keep traffic flowing and to keep us all progressing.

There are benefits going on around town and the University of Minnesota has already launched a class about the disaster and urban life.

And some very strong people are working hard to clean up the concrete and steel and rebar.

The bridge remains are being shipped a bit down river on big barges, lifted up onto the river bank where they are to be pieced together by some people who will try to figure out what happened. My bus drives over the river in view of this "crime lab" each day.

The steel supports lie on the ground in piles- some piles are broken but straight pieces, some look like steel spaghetti piled up. It is hard to fathom that so much life and weight ever depended on that mess.





My thoughts are with those investigators and workers. I am stymied by how they can take a look at all that twisted and broken steel, focus, and make any sensible thought beyond "Whoa." or "Sh_t."

The safest thing I saw today.

In Minnesota, convertibles are only really useful roughly half of the year, weather permitting. Even so, people still own them and put the top down when they can.

Ah convertibles, symbolic of letting the wind whip through your hair and your inhibitions fly away on the breeze.

I saw a woman riding in a convertible recently who let that symbolism slip by her:

She was sporting a bicycle helmet as she enjoyed her ride.

I am not sure if she understands that bicycle helmets are not meant to protect her were the convertible to flip, but I suppose it gave the her a sense of security and tameness she was seeking.

The clingy-est thing I saw today.

This couple was crusing down the open freeway at top speeds. The hefty gentleman was wearing his helmet and the spritely lady (note that despite my poor drawing, it was an adult woman) was not.

Without getting deep into to the helmet law debate, I have to say I think she should have had a helmet or a bungee cord or something on....


because she could not even reach around her man's waist. She was merely clinging to his back!

I feared what inertia might do to her if they took a turn to sharply or had to stop quickly.

I hoped she had strong hands and that his shirt was made of a high quality cotton.