A "MINNY" GOOD TIME: Just a little over 48 hours remaining in my visit to the Twin Cities; in the past few days I've seen a few high school friends, met a a couple of longtime readers, and downloaded approximately 500 mp3s (thankfully, I'll be getting out of town before Orrin Hatch blows up my parents' computer).
The Twins may have only won once -though I strongly considered trying to drive to Milwaukee for at least one game of this weekend's series- but it's been sunny outside for seven straight days and counting, and I seem to have missed some pretty nasty weather in New York.
I've been told that three big things in Minnesota have changed in the opening months of the post-Ventura era: rampant gentrification in my home suburb of St. Louis Park (including the first-ever Starbucks), much greater traffic due to ever-expanding sprawl, and the new law that allows for the carrying of concealed weapons. Those last two, combined, sound like a recipe for disaster, and while I don't often complain about the former (Hoboken is, after all, the gentrification capital of the East Coast), some of the excessive new developments are making me sympathize with the sentiments of the new Counting Crows Joni Mitchell cover/anti-gentrification anthem "Big Yellow Taxi": They paved paradise/and put up a parking lot. It's pretty sad that the Dairy Queen I used to go to for ice cream after Little League games (which burned down in '99) has been replaced by an upscale furniture store.
Yet despite the guns and the traffic and the multitudes of Chipotles and Caribou Coffees, Minnesota Nice is one thing that has not faded into the past, for which I feel we can all be thankful. As long as that's there (and the lakes, and the skyways, and the Twins, etc.) Minnesota's all right.
And don't forget about the Mall of America- I drove down there this afternoon and picked up a #16 Doug Mientkiewicz Twins jersey. Let's just hope he's wearing it as long as I am...