three seven

Meandered to the colorful harbor containing what appears to be...

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 04:05:35 -0600

Meandered to the colorful harbor containing what appears to be sculptural and design experiments, admiring boats and people and even managed to learn a new word: superyacht. Yes there is such thing - The Mayan Queen is owned by a mexican billionaire and it was sitting there front and center standing five stories high.

ettelephonemaison

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:49:11 -0600

ettelephonemaison:

As you may have noticed, I haven’t been posting for a while… well, it’s been a busy few months and its all culminating with an extended “honeymoon” trip through New Zealand. It you’re at all interested in checking in to see what Erin & I are up to down there, please check out our blog www.ettelephonemaison.tumblr.com

Internet is surprisinly spotty in NZ and everyone still pays based on data usage, so we’re already a bit behind, but we promise to catch up soon.

Enjoy your holidays!

Gotta love USPS these days...

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:39:00 -0600

Imagine you’re taking a trip. Somewhere nice, somewhere warm, somewhere you can sit on a beach and drink out of a coconut with a big frilly straw and a plastic monkey hanging off the side that stares back at you with every sip. Now imagine that when you land in said destination, the airplane refuels and heads right back to Minneapolis, only to land at MSP refuel, head back to your beach destination, and once again return to Minneapolis. While the journey isn’t as far and the destination isn’t as exciting, this is essentially the unfortunate trip my mail has been on for the last week. See, it was intended to take a quick trip from our old place in St Paul to a permanent address in Minneapolis, but a mixup at headquarters resulted in my mail getting stuck in an endless shuffle from one Minneapolis sorting facility, to another in St Paul and back again - over and over and over. Normally my mail isn’t especially important and I wouldn’t mind the short reprieve from solicitations and coupons for the local duct cleaners, but in this last week, two especially important items have been caught up unknowingly in this mess - my new drivers license (which I could really use since I’m leaving the country in a week and need it to drive when we get there) and my wedding ring which was being sent back after a slight sizing adjustment by the artist.

Hopefully my mail is enjoying its excursion, but I’d be happy for it to return home any time time now. I really don’t feel like going to the DMV and reordering my ID for a fourth time (since a license will get sent back to the state rather than get forwarded) and I really don’t want to get a new ring - I rather like it and haven’t even had it for 2 months.

The good news is that somehow my new social security card made it through the second time - though there is still one copy floating around out there. If you see it, tell it to come home. Please.

What iPad apps are completely essential must haves? In general, but more specifically for travel as well.

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:10:35 -0600

Incredible. Time lapse video from the ISS.

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 00:38:14 -0600

Incredible. Time lapse video from the ISS.

Thoughts?

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:53:03 -0600

It’s been a busy, busy couple months and it’s all coming to a head when Erin & I hop on a plane and head to New Zealand in just over 2 weeks. We’ve got a one way ticket and are likely going to be there until May. This is the second extended excursion we’ll be taking and one thing we absolutely loved the first time was hearing from YOU and checking out the places you’d been, and connecting with the folks that you knew. So… if you’ve been to New Zealand or places near (how’s that for vague?), or know people who live there who we could connect with, we’d love to hear about it/them.

Nothing is too small or too big and it’s all greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!

The Living Bridges of Cherrapunji, India (photos). One of the...

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:23:00 -0500

The Living Bridges of Cherrapunji, India (photos). One of the most incredible things I’ve never seen - and reason enough to make a trip to India.

These bridges, which live up to around 500 years old and span over 100 feet, are the result of generations and generations of planning, foresight, and action by the people who live in the area and depend on them to cross streams that become deadly rivers during their torrential rainy season. It is after all the wettest place on earth, getting nearly 1000 inches of rain a year.

Bridge creation still continues, even though a new bridge won’t be functional for 15 or more years. If only we all had the patience and dedication to think about providing for the generations to come instead of focusing on ourselves.

cabinporn: Tree tents Yes, please.

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:59:38 -0500

cabinporn:

Tree tents

Yes, please.

minusmanhattan: “Even in the future nothing works!” Auto...

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:31:19 -0500

minusmanhattan:

“Even in the future nothing works!”

Auto re-blog

Generally, this is how I feel about this years Minnesota Twins....

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 09:00:05 -0500

Generally, this is how I feel about this years Minnesota Twins. Let’s just hope they can flop over that cliff before next season begins.

So, I had all four wisdom teeth out on Monday, and while...

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:54:00 -0500

So, I had all four wisdom teeth out on Monday, and while I’ve avoided the Vidocin after the fact, there were a few fun moments while the anesthesia wore off. Other than the first one, I vaguely remember all of these. From what I recall, I intended all of them to be jokes, but honestly, who knows.

1) When asked if I wanted to keep the teeth, I sad yes because “I wanted to make earrings and a necklace for Erin (my fiance).”

2) For whatever reason, I’m fascinated by knifes, so it was natural that I inquire about them. Apparently the MN State Fair was on my mind when I asked if they got their knives from the 80 year old man who makes outdated and inappropriate comments while selling the latest cutlery in the Merchandise Mart.

3) While lightly flicking my right earlobe, I asked if they gave me monkey ears while I was under.

4) When talking about possible reasons I would need to come back in, I said “Can you give me gills if I have to come back in, because ‘I’m not that strong a swimmer’.” I am particularly impressed by this one seeing as I was referencing the above semi obscure SNL bit and still tried doing his “accent.”

uniformitarianism: Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska Alaska’s...

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 19:06:18 -0500

uniformitarianism:

Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska

Alaska’s smallest national park, Kenai Fjords contains one of the country’s largest ice fields. Harding Ice Field feeds 38 glaciers including Bear Glacier (above), which is the park’s largest, and Exit Glacier, the only one accessible by road. The area’s fjords are carved by the glaciers as they move downhill away from the ice field. (Click through for more).

Have I mentioned I love glaciers?

Bon Iver - Holocene This is either how I feel, or how I want to...

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 01:14:26 -0500

Bon Iver - Holocene

This is either how I feel, or how I want to feel. I’m not quite sure.

Artist’s rendering of newly discovered planet TrES-2b, a...

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 01:05:00 -0500

Artist’s rendering of newly discovered planet TrES-2b, a gas giant about 750 light years away that reflects less than 1% of the light it receives (compared to Earths 37%). That makes this planet blacker than coal. Scientists don’t know why, or even how, it reflects so little light, and have gone so far as to say “There’s a good chance it’s (due to) a chemical we haven’t even thought of yet.”

Taking horse pills is not my favorite thing to do.

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:57:37 -0500

cabinporn: Hotel Kakslauttanen’s Igloo Village near Saariselkä,...

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:11:08 -0500

cabinporn:

Hotel Kakslauttanen’s Igloo Village near Saariselkä, Finland

Via Chris Shiflett

Not only do they have these beauties, but you can stay in a snow igloo as well.

"How can American democracy work if whichever party is most prepared to be ruthless… gets to..."

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:01:36 -0500

““How can American democracy work if whichever party is most prepared to be ruthless… gets to dictate policy?””

- Paul Krugman from his op-ed piece “The President Surrenders“

chriseats: There’s some great stuff on the internet if you...

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:36:28 -0500

chriseats:

There’s some great stuff on the internet if you google hot dogs.

How could I not re-blog this?

weworkhere: A year and a half of Give & Take in 90...

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 23:19:14 -0500

weworkhere:

A year and a half of Give & Take in 90 seconds.

Big thanks to Andy Dayton for doing all the videography and production on this!

sarahmn: From The Atlantic: The Chart That Should Accompany...

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 11:51:37 -0500

sarahmn:

From The Atlantic: The Chart That Should Accompany All Discussions of the Debt Ceiling

It’s based on data from the Congressional Budget Office and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Its significance is not partisan (who’s “to blame” for the deficit) but intellectual. It demonstrates the utter incoherence of being very concerned about a structural federal deficit but ruling out of consideration the policy that was largest single contributor to that deficit, namely the Bush-era tax cuts.