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.

Blazing

Tonight, David and I are going to see the Blazers* play the Timberwolves at the Target Center downtown! The tickets were his IQD present, but they're as much for me as for him. The Blazers are the sports team with whom I've felt the most affinity; although I'm told that as a three year old, I used to cheer, along with my 49ers fan father, "Go nine-ohs!", some of my fondest televised sports memories involve floor picnics in front of the TV with my family in the early 90s, watching the Blazers.

Yesterday, NPR had a story about "the Michael Jordan of curling," and it brought back memories of that basketball giant. The Bulls were the Blazers' greatest nemeses when I was a fan, and yet none of us could truly hate Michael Jordan, even when he was single-handedly beating us. When I heard the line in yesterday's story, "The dunks, the championships, the awe-inspiring shots with the tongue hanging out," I remembered my dad doing his "Michael Jordan impression," which made us kids giggle uncontrollably even before we knew who the Chicago star was. Dad used to stick his tongue way out and then leap to dunk the ball in my brother's miniature plastic backboard stand (which would occasionally topple over at the assault), and we would fall about the place.

Needless to say, Michael Jordan won't be playing tonight, nor will any of the Blazers that I grew up watching (though I could still probably tell you most of the 1992 starting line-up). Still, it's exciting to see the "home" team (admittedly more of David's than mine, since he was an Oregonian until much more recently than me) and to be in the Target Center again (the last time I was there was to see candidate Obama almost exactly two years ago).

Go Blazers!

*That'd be the Portland Trailblazers for those of you who aren't golfers; at least one local friend had no idea what I was talking about when I said we were going to see them play.

Bowling

Tonight, I bowled. I was first on the list, and threw a strike, causing the group to mock me for having told them I was terrible. I was vindicated in my prior assessment, however, throughout the next two games, in which I bowled an 87 and 75, respectively. I did throw three more strikes, though. Isn't that weird?

Also today, Becca and I made awesome Christmas ornaments, which hopefully I'll post about soon.