Photo September 22, 2010 at 23:52

this is a little overdue, but the lotw trip was a great time. after making it to the first gas station over the border with just enough time to buy our ontario fishing licenses before the place closed, i got the feeling things were going to go well. while technically staying on minnesota soil in the northwest angle (the part that makes mn the northern-most state in the lower 48), we fished the upper portion of the lake in ontario water. without a guide we would have quickly become lost amongst the hundreds of islands, let alone had any clue where to fish; it was worth the extra cost. the fishing was incredible. i know i’ve never seen that many walleye before, and certainly not as many big ones as we caught. and the best part was that it required about 2 cents worth of tackle: a lead head jig tipped with a frozen minnow. our proficiency at setting the hook on the bigger fish improved as time went on, but i’d guess we hooked maybe 1 in 10 strikes. but that still meant we spent a lot of time reeling in fish, it was a lot of fun. the guide even caught a muskie (the first one i’ve ever seen in the wild), and i landed a pretty decent northern, easily the biggest fish i’ve ever caught. we managed to bring home our limit of walleye (4 apiece), as well as some monster perch and crappie. definitely looking forward to trying out some new ways to cook fish.

this is a little overdue, but the lotw trip was a great time. after making it to the first gas station over the border with just enough time to buy our ontario fishing licenses before the place closed, i got the feeling things were going to go well. while technically staying on minnesota soil in the northwest angle (the part that makes mn the northern-most state in the lower 48), we fished the upper portion of the lake in ontario water. without a guide we would have quickly become lost amongst the hundreds of islands, let alone had any clue where to fish; it was worth the extra cost.

the fishing was incredible. i know i’ve never seen that many walleye before, and certainly not as many big ones as we caught. and the best part was that it required about 2 cents worth of tackle: a lead head jig tipped with a frozen minnow. our proficiency at setting the hook on the bigger fish improved as time went on, but i’d guess we hooked maybe 1 in 10 strikes. but that still meant we spent a lot of time reeling in fish, it was a lot of fun. the guide even caught a muskie (the first one i’ve ever seen in the wild), and i landed a pretty decent northern, easily the biggest fish i’ve ever caught. we managed to bring home our limit of walleye (4 apiece), as well as some monster perch and crappie. definitely looking forward to trying out some new ways to cook fish.

Photo August 27, 2010 at 23:59

next destination for the amazing scuttling crustacean: canada. i leave in 7 hours for a fishing trip to the canadian side of lake of the woods with all the males from my dad’s side of the family (all 5 of us). looking forward to a short break as i just finished the rough draft on my final thesis chapter. wish us luck!

next destination for the amazing scuttling crustacean: canada. i leave in 7 hours for a fishing trip to the canadian side of lake of the woods with all the males from my dad’s side of the family (all 5 of us). looking forward to a short break as i just finished the rough draft on my final thesis chapter. wish us luck!

Photo August 08, 2010 at 22:50

i made a return trip to the UP this weekend, this time to copper harbor for my first-ever triathalon — and managed to survive! not only that, i think i did pretty well, finishing 25th out of 100 or so. also not too bad considering i’m a poor swimmer (78th ‘fastest’ time, lol) but made up for it on the run with the 5th fastest run time. more importantly it was actually a lot of fun, even the swim. the course was beautiful, and the biking portion was especially kick-ass; it’s a lot of fun to ride with the wind to your back along curves and (mostly) gentle hills right next to lake superior. and naturally the weather was perfect, unlike in mpls. the UP, as always, supplied plenty of scenery and very few people to spoil it. we spent the afternoon following the race on a quiet beach in bete grise bay, drinking beer and catching a few z’s. (doesn’t get much better than that, right?) on the trip home we drove through porcupine mountains state park and visited the presque isle river and a lookout area somewhere (can’t remember the name). the keweenaw is definitely a pretty area, and i’d look forward to an excuse to go back up sometime.

i made a return trip to the UP this weekend, this time to copper harbor for my first-ever triathalon — and managed to survive! not only that, i think i did pretty well, finishing 25th out of 100 or so. also not too bad considering i’m a poor swimmer (78th ‘fastest’ time, lol) but made up for it on the run with the 5th fastest run time. more importantly it was actually a lot of fun, even the swim. the course was beautiful, and the biking portion was especially kick-ass; it’s a lot of fun to ride with the wind to your back along curves and (mostly) gentle hills right next to lake superior. and naturally the weather was perfect, unlike in mpls.

the UP, as always, supplied plenty of scenery and very few people to spoil it. we spent the afternoon following the race on a quiet beach in bete grise bay, drinking beer and catching a few z’s. (doesn’t get much better than that, right?) on the trip home we drove through porcupine mountains state park and visited the presque isle river and a lookout area somewhere (can’t remember the name). the keweenaw is definitely a pretty area, and i’d look forward to an excuse to go back up sometime.

Photo July 25, 2010 at 22:49

i’ve finally discovered a place to buy all sorts of awesome beers: wisconsin. a mere 20-mile drive puts an unbelievable selection at my disposal, including stone, dogfish head, three floyds, and of course new glarus and south shore, among others. oh, and i can purchase on sunday if i like (which i did today after a soccer game just over the river). too bad it took me six years to figure this out…

i’ve finally discovered a place to buy all sorts of awesome beers: wisconsin. a mere 20-mile drive puts an unbelievable selection at my disposal, including stone, dogfish head, three floyds, and of course new glarus and south shore, among others. oh, and i can purchase on sunday if i like (which i did today after a soccer game just over the river). too bad it took me six years to figure this out…

Quote July 09, 2010 at 1:37

“summer days of joy
watching the jabulani
dissertation waits”

— enlai, 2010

Text June 29, 2010 at 0:09

scuttle scuttle

the month of june is almost gone, and apparently i haven’t updated since the beginning of may. i guess it’s no secret where the previous two weeks or so have gone, but before that i had quite a bit going on (relatively speaking). 

on memorial day weekend i made my first trip to the UP for a weekend of wedding-related festivities, and had a blast. while the wedding was a lot of fun, we made a long weekend out of it and managed to do some hiking and sight-seeing. it’s pretty country up there for sure, and marquette was as pleasant as i hoped it would be; plenty of food options and even a local coffee roastery and a brewery or two. also seemed like all the locals i came across were super fit, especially for the midwest, but i think you’d have to enjoy an active, outdoorsy lifestyle to reside in the UP because there isn’t a whole lot else going on (and apparently they get a lot of snow!)

we did some car-camping on the return trip and i finally got to break in the new tent that i bought last year. naturally it got a trial by fire as the campground was hit with a series of storms pretty much right as we had finished dinner and were settling around the campfire with beers in hand. didn’t have much choice but to retreat to the tents and ride it out. it rained all night, but as you can see i stayed perfectly dry, and got a little reading in. oh, and i saw a bear on the drive home, but sadly, wasn’t quick enough with the camera.

the following weekend was the annual dam-to-dam 20k back in iowa. i think this made the 4th year in a row i’ve run it, and while we’ve had perfect weather every year, this was the first time i’ve experienced rain. i love running in the rain, but it apparently wasn’t enough to push me past last year’s personal best, not that i’m disappointed. i finished just inside the top 170 overall (out of almost 7000), with a ~1:26:00, good for a 6:55 mile pace. not too shabby.

from that point forward it’s been a bit of a blur, involving a lot of world cup - watching and feeble attempts to write proposals and thesis chapters. and while it was a tad painful to watch the US crumble in that last game, i could take comfort in the fact that they made it out of group play, while italy’s lawn-diving team went home early. now i can watch the rest as an unencumbered fan of the game, who is, at least for now, on a more normal sleeping schedule than before =) 

Text May 07, 2010 at 1:19

beerweek

maybe it was just a coincidence that carlos miller was born this week, but i’ve been doing more than my casual beer-drinking this week. it began with a beer-tasting on tuesday (the first one i’ve ever been to, i think); i’ve also got an elusive surly brewery tour lined up for tomorrow, to be followed by a large graduation celebration (not mine, of course) on saturday. but i thought i should at least write down the beers i sampled on tuesday along with anything i can remember about them, lest i forget. without further ado:

brau brothers

  • rainwater vsod (imp stout)
  • elisha’s olde ale

boulevard

  • imperial pils
  • dark truth stout

great lakes brew co:

  • ed fitzgerald porter (?) 
  • eliot ness lager

pauwel

  • kwak (strong pale ale)

urthel

  • samaranth (quad)

goose island

  • sofie (saison)

grand teton

  • bitch creek (esb)

lagunitas

  • WTF (strong ale)

southern tier

  • 422 ale (pale wheat)
  • phin and matts (apa)
  • unearthly (imp ipa)

odell

  • 90 shilling (amber)
  • IPA

sam adams

  • old ben ale (old ale)
  • barleywine

tyranena

  • chipotle smoked imp porter

victory

  • yakima (strong ale)

there were also a couple others in there i know i’m forgetting. however, seeing it all laid out like this makes it readily apparent why the bike ride home was such a wobbly adventure =)

i thought that perhaps i would regret not writing down my thoughts as i consumed the beers, but then i realized that i lack the connoisseur vocabulary necessary to really differentiate between the various brews. it’s pretty obvious i gravitate towards certain types, so this becomes more important. instead, i’ve just tried to remember the ones that stood out (or didn’t).

in general i avoided brewers that i’d not been impressed by before, or on the opposite side of the spectrum, couldn’t offer anything i hadn’t enjoyed already (bells, lagunitas, and victory fell into this category). southern tier was probably the biggest clunker, though their imperial ipa is still one of my favorite beers, period. i think the biggest surprises were the brau brothers and great lakes offerings; i’d never had great lakes before and was pleasantly surprised. brau has some really tasty seasonals to complement their rather average normal brews, but these specialty beers were pretty top notch (and packed a punch). might have to grab a few of these before they’re gone.

i had also shunned the sam adams table (even though it’s one of my favorite cheap beers) until i noticed a couple bottles with hand-written labels. these happened to be the barleywine and the old ben, which were both excellent. naturally i had to sample the old ben (an old ale, of course) a couple times. very slowly. 

Text May 04, 2010 at 23:36

=)

congrats erin and samm! happy birth-day charles miller! <3 <3 <3

Photo April 12, 2010 at 16:55

it was a beautiful weekend, and i celebrated on saturday in fine mpls fashion with some friends (new + old) by doing a 50-miler &#8212; the first real ride of the year. we started in seward and meandered through theo wirth, headed out around minnetonka and stopped in excelsior for beers (taking a drink for every ducati or lexus suv that drove by), then went home via hopkins and the greenway. the evening was topped off with a delicious bbq, which was also done in typical mpls fashion: kramarczuk&#8217;s sausage, an attempt at doc wong chicken, a monster pork loin, two kinds of homemade potato salad, cowboy caviar, and plenty of beer. between the biking, beer, and vast quantities of food, i can&#8217;t say i&#8217;ve been that tired in a long time.

it was a beautiful weekend, and i celebrated on saturday in fine mpls fashion with some friends (new + old) by doing a 50-miler — the first real ride of the year. we started in seward and meandered through theo wirth, headed out around minnetonka and stopped in excelsior for beers (taking a drink for every ducati or lexus suv that drove by), then went home via hopkins and the greenway. the evening was topped off with a delicious bbq, which was also done in typical mpls fashion: kramarczuk’s sausage, an attempt at doc wong chicken, a monster pork loin, two kinds of homemade potato salad, cowboy caviar, and plenty of beer. between the biking, beer, and vast quantities of food, i can’t say i’ve been that tired in a long time.

Photo March 30, 2010 at 23:46

oscar says: &#8216;this weather is AWESOME. thanks sam.&#8217; high of 76 tomorrow &#8212; perfect for our first outdoor pick-up soccer game, but perfectly abnormal for end-of-march mpls. and this on the heels of our first snowless march since the 1870&#8217;s (you know, over 130 years ago). just waiting for the catch&#8230; although i suppose i can thank the east coast for enduring yet another &#8216;worst &lt;insert weather event&gt; in over 100 years,&#8217; for what seems like the umpteenth time since december. but don&#8217;t worry, nothing&#8217;s f*cked =|

oscar says: ‘this weather is AWESOME. thanks sam.’

high of 76 tomorrow — perfect for our first outdoor pick-up soccer game, but perfectly abnormal for end-of-march mpls. and this on the heels of our first snowless march since the 1870’s (you know, over 130 years ago). just waiting for the catch… although i suppose i can thank the east coast for enduring yet another ‘worst <insert weather event> in over 100 years,’ for what seems like the umpteenth time since december. but don’t worry, nothing’s f*cked =|

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