Lunds!

The Southeast Angle reports that Lunds has recently purchased Rick's Market.

I for one, am very excited. I've often remarked that the one thing this neighborhood really needs (besides a really good general interest bookstore) is a decent grocery. Ricks is there for the "one step above Holiday Gas Station" items in both selecction and quality.

They're several steps below your local hole in the wall on attitude. I've watched one manager in particular shove shopping carts around an old lady that was just trying to understand her bill and ball out a sales clerk for selling quarters to a customer ("We're not a bank!" -- I couldn't help but state that Snyders down the way was happy to change money and that folks should go there.)

When I lived near the Walker, one of my favorite weekend morning excursions was to walk to Brueggers for a bagel and then to Lunds for fresh squeezed orange juice and whatever else struck my fancy. Plus, if there's a Lunds that close, I might just be able to give up Simon Delivers forever.

The image and caption at left was the top story at StarTribune.com this morning. Now, based on this image, I anticipate that Bush will arrive sometime around 2015. It's a long walk...

Also from the Star Tribune is Pizza chain owner dies at 77 -- Eddie Peck, longtime owner of Broadway Pizza died on Thursday.

I so need real cable

This sounds so cool! Discovery Channel's Monster House

Ooooh Nooooooooo!

Ice cream prices heating up, thanks to 'perfect storm'
Associated Press

ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. -- Gasoline isn't the only thing that's costing more as summer approaches. The National Ice Cream Retailers Association says ice cream prices are going up, too.

Executive director Linda Udderback blames the rise on what she calls a "perfect storm." Prices for ice cream's essential ingredients - butter, milk, vanilla and chocolate - are on the rise.

Udderback predicts the average cost for the frozen treat will go up between 20 and 30 percent.

Industry experts say ice cream is a $20 billion-a-year market, with more than half the sales coming from out-of-home sales at ice cream shops.

Spring has Sprung

We had our first day of big storms yesterday. I don't know if there actually were any tornados, but the morning was that hot windy kind of day that gets dark and green by 7 that is at a minimum, severe thunder storms.

The whole week was nice leading up to Sunday -- 70s and sunny. I spent a lot of time working on the yard moving rocks. I've got the "before" pictures, but I've got a lot of work to do before I get to anything that even remotely looks like "after." And it looks like this week is going to be mostly rainy, so it probably won't happen any time real soon.

Time to start reading up...

Generally speaking, I don't do a lot of reading about political candidates until it gets closer to the actual election. Then I take note of how they use advertising and try to decide what kind of person they are by the types of ads they run (I am, after all working in the evil marketing sector.)

Anyway, found this interesting quote while reading BusinessWeek:

"The only problem Bush solved was the traffic in Silicon Valley," says Wade Randlett, CEO of San Francisco-based Web consulting firm Dashboard Technology

The article, Here comes Broadband John appeals because it talks about specific things that John Kerry says he'll do to stimulate the economy. Since I haven't personally felt a whole lot of positive economic impact from Bush's "tax cuts" I'm interested to see what the other side says will help me and my homeys -- a.k.a. nerds.

Crackerjacks!

Tim and I went to the season opener last night and it was all you could ask for in a ballgame and more. The first seven innings fairly sucked for the Twins. The Indians' pitcher (Sabathia) pretty much dominated us, and when it was their turn to bat, the took full advantage of the huge gaping hole that was second base.

However, in the 8th inning, we rallied and tied the game at 4. A couple of potential heartbreaks and near misses later, Shannon Stewart won the game with a three run homer in the 11th inning. Thank you very much.

Mauer showed a whole lot of promise for a 21 year old pup. Rivas, hopefully was cursed or something and will find a way to fix himself. Radke did not have a typical night (I hope.) But all in all, the team seemed to play well together.