Flugtag!

This year, St. Paul was one of the four locations for Red Bull's annual Flugtag event, in which contestants compete in teams to launch the farthest-flying, most creative, human-powered flying machine, with the greatest amount of showmanship. Several months ago when David found out it was coming to our neighborhood, we thought it would be pretty great to go watch it.

At brunch with my running buddy and her partner after our 13.1 mile run Saturday morning, the four of us debated whether or not to go. David and I had thought until a few days beforehand that it would be held at Lake Harriet, an easy bike ride from home, before discovering that it was actually at Harriet Island--a doable, but much longer, bike ride. Oops.

However, our friends had information that a mutual friend, house-sitting his mom's condo for the weekend, was having a little Flugtag party, from a deck in direct view of the Flugtag action. We decided to drag our tired selves over there to join the fun for a couple of hours.

I'm glad we went! Traffic on the way over was horrifying (the Twin Cities have been shutting down stretches of both freeways many weekends this summer for construction, packing already overcrowded surface streets), and parking was even worse, but our friend's location really was great, with a view of the ramp from which the crafts launched over (and into!) the Mississippi and the crowds on the island behind them.

We missed the first few flights, and most of us were, tragically, in the condo kitchen when a huge roar went up from the crowd for the tenth team in line. When we piled onto the deck to see what had happened, we saw a fantastic-looking WWII bomber-style glider in the Mississippi, with its pilot triumphantly paddling his arms out the side. It turned out to be the world record setting craft, trouncing the previous record (set in Austria in 1995) of 195 feet (and the U.S. record, set in Nashville, with a flying banjo, of only 155 feet), with a 207 foot flight!

This three-minute video of the highlights is great if you have the time; otherwise, you must check out the video below of the record-setter, with volume if at all possible: the announcer's unabashed and delighted hooting is my favorite part. Just before the video cuts to the crowd at about 15', you can see, at the left edge of the frame, the condos from which we were watching.

Mississippi

David shot all the video and images in the little video below with his phone, and then he edited them and set them to music* because he is awesome like that (shhhh, you'll embarrass him):

I sound a little crazy even to myself saying it, because I do know that it will be literally 100 degrees cooler in a few months (and because even today, one of the nicer ones recently, the heat and humidity in the apartment will be vitality-sapping), but I love this place. I love living here, and it bears celebrating.

*Ratatat!

Mumsie & Dad's Visit

Guys, I am ridiculously behind. My parents were out here nearly a month ago and I still haven't posted about our adventures.

Here are a few highlights of the long weekend:

• The superfantastic salads Mom and I ate at the French Meadow after I picked her up from the airport on Friday and our subsequent drive around the Chain of Lakes
  
• The unbelievable storm Friday night that sent torrents of thigh-deep water rushing through the street along the south side of my block--which, naturally, David and I decided to go run through. There was totally an impromptu neighborhood block party, with people taking pictures, helping push out stalled cars, and dodging trashcans swept up by the current.
• Dad joining my running buddy and me on the first four miles of our nine-mile run (he did two more and met us back at home)
• Visiting Minnehaha Falls and exploring new hiking trails (some of them unfortunately a bit soggy from the previous day's storm)
  
• Watching the USA-Ghana game at Pancho Villa (where Dad insisted on cheering for Ghana! I was disappointed with the outcome, but admit that it was quite the entertaining match)
  
• Dinner at Loring Pasta Bar to celebrate Mom's birthday--with a balcony table that afforded fantastic views of the restaurant and kitchen
• Five-course Sunday brunch at the historic Nicollet Island Inn to celebrate Mom and Dad's birthdays
• Explorations of old Saint Anthony Main, the Stone Arch Bridge, Mill Ruins Park, and the Guthrie Theater
• Downtown St. Paul, their side of the river, and milkshakes and fries at Mickey's Diner
  
• Riding brand new Nice Ride bikes around the lakes and to the Walker Sculpture Garden
  
• Walking around Loring Park and downtown in absolutely stunning weather (and the urchin who befriended Mom as she walked around the gardens)
  
• Touring the Minneapolis Institute of Arts
  

Thankfully David snapped quite a few shots with his camera phone, as I only remembered to take the proper camera a few times. You can view the entire gallery, with captions, here.

Friday

So here's a question: if it's Friday afternoon and I'm sitting in my office, unsuccessfully trying to write (and have been doing so [unsuccessfully trying to write] for the past... oh... seven hours, aside from nap and lunch breaks and maybe the Thursday LA Times Crossword), waiting for a ride home that may not come for one, two, or three hours,* is writing words on my blog preferable to not writing words on my dissertation?

Clearly I have decided it is--and hope it prompts some inspiration on the latter.

In any case, I am looking forward to the weekend. Tonight David and I are attending an "On A Boat"-themed birthday party, and though, sadly, no actual boats will be involved, I think it will be fun.

Tomorrow night we're seeing Band of Horses at the State Theater downtown. (Last weekend we were watching this video, which features the band's song "The Funeral." David mentioned that he'd like to see them live sometime, and I wondered out loud if they were coming to town soon. We googled it, and not only were they on tour, they were coming to Mpls in seven days, tickets were still available, and the box office [thank goodness there are still occasionally ways around Ticketmaster's extortion] opened in 15 minutes. Win!)

I'm also supposed to do a long run with a friend tomorrow morning--12 miles. I'm slightly less enthused about this, mostly as it's supposed to hit 90° tomorrow. We'll head out early to avoid as much heat as possible, but that will also mean leaving the (non-) boating party early to head to bed (and throwing off my usual pre-run blueberry pancakes ritual).

Then Sunday we're heading to Inception with friends. I'll also probably do hot yoga, which I'm realizing I haven't mentioned here, but have found sufficiently wonderful to pull me out of bed and into the studio before 8 a.m. most Sunday mornings, and will describe at some point.

I remember an item on a personality inventory I saw years ago having to do with whether one preferred to have one's weekend scheduled or open. I like flexibility, but I also like looking forward to a string of fun things.

My office window overlooks a sort of quadrangle on campus, flanked by ivy-covered buildings and intersected by sidewalks. This week I have seen it overrun by elementary school kids from the natural history museum's summer camp program; filled with maintenance vehicles from all over campus (apparently for some facilities meeting?); and at the moment, a first, hosting a swimsuit-clad couple tanning on beach towels. They seem either unaware or unconcerned about their very public display, but then, who would be working on a Friday afternoon this gorgeous, anyway?

Who indeed.

*I'm not a good wait-er in general, but indefinite waits slay me.

Summer Movies

As far as I'm concerned, it's been summer here since May, when we had our first day in the 90s. Since summer movies are starting earlier and earlier, too, I don't think it's too early to at least get started on a summer movie round-up. I've hit quite a lot of them already, a fact not unrelated to our muggy summer.

Iron Man 2
I liked the first Iron Man,* and I liked this one too, if not quite as much. I find Robert Downey, Jr. quite charming, which is probably most of the reason. The sequel kept the same tone as the first one, and was basically more of the same fun.

Robin Hood
I had really low expectations of this one, after its less-than-stellar reviews, which is probably the main reason I didn't hate it. I did roll my eyes a few times, but unlike my friends with unnaturally elevated expectations, I found it satisfactorily entertaining, if too long and with the ordinarily celestial Cate Blanchett in quite the horrifying wig.

Clash of the Titans
Again, my expectations of this one were low. Really low. So I didn't hate it. Brainless entertainment.

Micmacs
This film I actually had been looking forward to, after seeing in the preview that it was by the director of Amélie (probably my favorite movie of all time) and shared several of the same cast members. It too was a tiny bit too long, and the plot a bit too tortuous for subtitle-reading, but it was visually delightful, very clever, and, predictably, uberquirky. Bonus: when an arms-dealing bad guy gloats to his small son that he had given a speech in which he compared himself to Rimbaud, the little guy pauses dubiously and tells him he needs to work out. The somewhat-chagrined father replies, "Rimbaud, not Rambo!"

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Apparently I hadn't set my expectations quite low enough for this one, liking Jake Gyllenhaal and having read a positive Time review. I would have walked out early--especially since, despite my hooded fleece and long jeans, I was chatteringly cold in a theater approximately 30 degrees colder than the evening's heat--but David wanted to stick it out. Alfred Molina was a small consolation in a dreadfully long, loud, and clicheed abomination that not even Jake's pretty eyes could save.

Date Night
I love Tina Fey and Steve Carrell, and they were mostly funny and charming in a movie that was nonetheless too long and ridiculously implausible. A shirtless Mark Wahlberg was also a pleasant diversion, as was a (scruffy) James Franco. There were a few clever bits, but it's probably telling that my favorite parts were the outtakes during and after the credits. And, uh, actually, I just re-watched them on YouTube... and, yeah, not that funny. Although, the different accents they do starting at about 1:11 are pretty awesome.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Again, low expectations paid off! If you wonder why I have anything to do with these films, you can read my review of the books here. Also: Robert Pattinson. I thought they did a good job with what appears to be an ever-increasing budget, and appreciated the relative reduction in both Bella's sulky poutiness and scenes so cheesy they unintentionally make the entire audience laugh out loud (remember how in New Moon, when Bella crashes the bike, the first thing Jacob does is take his shirt off?). Apparently Breaking Dawn (book 4) is in production; I have no idea what they're going to do with that one.

Knight and Day
Oh boy. For all his totally whacked-out craziness, I still like Tom Cruise, and wanted to like this movie. But I didn't. It was too long, too loud, too cheesy, and way too unbelievable, with too many changes in location, clothing, and personality--in sum, too ridiculous for even a summer Action Comedy Adventure. It was nice to see Cruise back in action-hero form, but mostly it just made me want to re-watch the Mission(s):Impossible.

*When I went looking for that link, I discovered that I posted that summer movie review exactly two years ago today. Also, I thought that four was a lot of summer movies to have seen by that point in the summer.

Flat

Tonight I made a nice pasta salad for dinner--brown rice rotini, red bell pepper, sweet onion, English cucumber, baby carrots, broccoli florets, ripe green olives, feta, and a homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

Then I thought it would be a good idea to bake strawberry shortcakes, even though, after boiling the pasta, it was already about 95° in my kitchen.

This is what somehow happened.

We ate them anyway.

Fireworks

Here is a camera phone video of last night's fireworks:*


I didn't get to bed all that late last night, but this afternoon, limp with the continuing humidity, I passed out on my couch and slept for two hours straight, awakening damp and disoriented. I'm still feeling uninspired. Thus, a fireworks video is what you get.

*Assuming it eventually uploads; at the moment it's still not up.

Edit: The video is up, but the sound is terrible. I suggest muting it.

Summer!

OHHH, Internets, it's been a long time. Sorry about that. I've kept meaning to blog--about the World Cup, my parents' visit, books, summer movies, aged gouda (ohmygoodness, aged gouda!), marathon training, David's birthday, summer biking, and more--but have been a bit too distracted by the aforementioned (or, you know, lazy) to actually write about them.

At the moment I am sequestered in the bedroom, where my little window unit is valiantly wheezing out artificially cooled air, and in which I have been sealing myself at intervals today, following short bursts of activity in the more sauna-like parts of the house. It only cooled down to about 79° overnight last night, and although this morning did dip briefly into the 75° range after the oppressive humidity melted into rain showers, my heat-retaining second floor apartment has remained rather steamy all day.

However, I think it is beginning to cool outside, and should be fairly comfortable for the fireworks tonight. A friend and I will be biking to Gold Medal Park to watch those; I'm excited, because I haven't properly viewed a city's fireworks display since I was last here for the summer, three years ago. David's flight back from visiting his family gets in at 11:25, which should give me plenty of time to get home, switch my bike out for his car, and retrieve him.

The sun is setting, so I'm off!