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Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

10 Interesting Minneapolis Facts

Fact 1: Minneapolis's name was derived from a combination of Sioux and Greek words meaning "city of waters." No name could suit the area better — 22 lakes exist within the city limits and afford Minneapolis the nickname "City of Lakes."

Fact 2: In national magazines as diverse as Time, USA Today, Forbes, Travel + Leisure, Child and Runner's World, Minneapolis is regularly lauded as a great place to live and vacation. It's also notable for its appreciation of the arts, which is perhaps best evidenced by the fact that, after NYC, it has more theater seats per capita than any other city in the US. An amazingly varied (and full!) schedule of concerts, plays, exhibits, and festivals is further proof.

Fact 3: You're going to make it after all! Minneapolis served as the home of Mary Richards, the all-American, career-oriented girl of the '70s. The opening credits of the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" placed Moore in many different locations around the Minneapolis area.

Fact 4: Invention Convention? Many Twin City creations have achieved marketplace fame all over the world. The list includes 3M's Post It Notes and cellophane tape, Cream of Wheat, Totino's Frozen Pizza, Green Giant Vegetables, Tonka Toys and Rollerblades.

Fact 5: Many famous people are natives of the Twin Cities: John Paul Getty, Walter Mondale, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Loni Anderson, Prince, Cheryl Tiegs, Charles Schultz and Betty Crocker, just to name a few!

Fact 6: The most significant collection of Chinese jade in the United States is housed at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The Pillsbury and Walker families left the collection to the museum. The collection includes the largest piece of historic jade in the Western hemisphere, Jade Mountain, a 16th century sculpture carved from a 640-pound piece of jade.

Fact 7: The Minneapolis Convention Center is connected to numerous downtown locations via seven miles of elevated, enclosed walkways. You can attend a convention, go shopping, and have a business meeting without ever stepping foot outside!

Fact 8: The Mall of America is billed as "the nation's largest fully enclosed retail and entertainment complex," and is located in Bloomington, half way between Minneapolis and St. Paul. The mall covers 4.2 million square feet of space, houses more than 500 stores, 50 eateries, several nightclubs, 14 movie screens, a theme park, a 1.2 million gallon aquarium, and more. To make things even better, clothes and grocery purchases in Minnesota carry no sales tax!

Fact 9: "Now, o'er all the dreary North-land . . .." New England poet William Wadsworth Longfellow based his epic poem, "The Song of Hiawatha," on Minnehaha Falls, a beautiful 25-foot cascade at Minnehaha Park. Ironically enough, Wadsworth never visited the waterfall.

Fact 10: Minneapolis's Old City Hall and Courthouse, located on South Fifth Street, took over 16 years to build. The clock tower reaches a height of more than 340 feet and boasts four clock-faces that are larger than those of London's Big Ben. The building was constructed of pink and purple granite mined in Minnesota, and nearly bankrupted the city before it saw completion in 1905.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Today's Thoughts

It's still snowing. How can the weatherman be off by FOUR DAYS? It was supposed to snow Thursday night and be done. It's now Easter Sunday and it continues.

Big shout outs to both the WVU mens and women's basketball teams as they both continue their journeys in the NCAA basketball tournaments. The men beat DUKE while the women took care of New Mexico in an escape.

I'm really anxious to go on my vacation next month. My "no planning" mantra has fallen by the wayside as my anticipation has led me to do more planning for this than I have done for most of my other vacations combined.

There are plans in the works to go to LA in August for an attempt to get to see a taping of The Price is Right and possibly Jay Leno or Craig Ferguson or something along those lines.

Alisha can't go to Colorado with this fall for the WVU game vs. the Buffaloes so I'm looking for a fourth!

I'll be in West Virginia in April to visit Dad and collect more of my belongings....details to follow.

That's it for today!

Friday, March 21, 2008

Clearing Out A Cluttered Mind

It's been far too long since I've stopped in and updated everyone so here I am.

Some things that are rattling through my mind while I'm enjoying the NCAA College Basketball Tournament.

This is still absolutely one of the funniest things I've ever seen- http://www.thisisjuststupid.com/stupid-companies/wal-mart-cake/

My 20th anniversary class reunion is taking place this summer. We are having it in the middle of July at the Best Western in Ripley. How is it that I've been high school graduate longer than I haven't been one? HOLY SCHMOLY.

I'm actually excited about the whole thing. I'm looking forward to seeing some people I haven't seen in a while and kudos to Missy Knopp and Lori Hamric and all the others involved in getting it all put together

The other thought is it is kinda sad that we have to go out of county to have the reunion.

It's the 2nd day of spring and we got nine inches of snow today. There really isn't anything snippy to say about that.

Was out and about looking for a new pair of waterproof walking shoes for my upcoming trip to South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana and walked into a "The Walking Store" store today and was completely and utterly ignored. I was the only person in there and the two people behind the cash register never lifted their heads or said "hello" to me the entire ten minutes I was thinking about buying a pair of their shoes. I still don't own the shoes.

Oh, so I'm going to take one of my dream trips next month. I'm meeting Alisha in Bozeman for a week of exploration. We're going to drive down to Rapid City to see Mt. Rushmore, Devils Tower, Crazy Horse, The Badlands, The Black Hills and all the other sights around there that we can get to. We are then driving over to Cody, WY and will spend two days at that end of Yellowstone and then drive back up to Bozeman for a day. I'm really excited about it!

BEST OF LUCK TO RITA AND KEVIN IN THEIR MOVE TO NEW ORLEANS

I'll be in West Virginia in April as well. Looking forward to seeing Dad, I've been away far too long.

That is all for now! Good Night!