Moving is fun, really it is?

Have you ever moved? I mean the place you live. Moving it from one place to another. How many times have you moved? I sat down the other day and figured out how many times we have moved.
Since Margaret and I have been married we have moved 16 times in 33 years, but who’s counting.
The blow by blow details:

We started out at 706 south 8th Street in St James after we married.
(1)


From there we moved to 521 Webster Ave in North Mankato and my first real job, where we spent several years.

(2)
 











We sold the house and moved to an apartment on
Lee Blvd on the hill in North Mankato while we built an earth shelter home.
 
(3)


Even before it was complete we moved into 916 Belvista Drive on the hill side in North Mankato where we spent a few years.

(4)



We then sold and moved to an apartment on Teton Blvd in Mankato for a few months (this didn’t work so well)


(5)


So we then moved back to the same apartment on Lee Blvd for another stay of a year.

 (6)



From the apartment we bought a house on Ivanhoe Court. We remodeled this house totally.

 (7)


 (8)

While we lived at Ivanhoe we undertook the building of a Lake House on Lake Jefferson which we
moved part of our life to.





Then we sold Ivanhoe, and moved our city life to the same apartments again on Lee Blvd in North Mankato for the third time.

(9)



Then our city life moved to a beautiful townhouse we purchased on Pleasantview Drive.


(10)



Then just to make a mess of everything we sold it all and moved internationally to Weegbree 11 Best, Netherlands for a 3 year overseas stay in Holland.

(11)



Returning to the USA we moved to an apartment called the Ridge on Rockrimmin Blvd in Colorado Springs for a few months.

(12)


Then we bought a beautiful patio home on Twinberry Point with a view of Pikes Peak for 13 months. we should have stayed there!)

(13)



We then moved back to Minneapolis and the Durham Apartments in Edina on the 13th floor for 8 months or so.

(14)
)
Until we bought a condo on 7400 Edinborough Way where we lived for almost 7 years (unbelievable! what happened).

(15)


With the Great real-estate crash of 2007 we sold our beautiful condo just in time to avoid the big losses and moved to a rented condo near 50th and France in Edina for a year and a half.

(16)



Then on to the most recent move of 3121 West 69th street just north of the Durham and not far from our old condo and our current home today. Much better than the last place!

(17)


But moving rates right up there
with taxes and death!

But eventually it gets downs to a few things:

Then it’s all done and you lock up for the last time and head out.

Many trips with the jeep and a U-haul rental trailer for a day eventually gets us a view from the fourth floor, and a brand new never lived in 1 bedroom apartment with an outside deck.

Of course then you have to assemble everything back the way it was.

Then its all back together and you can relax……..

All decorated and ready to celebrate!













Ready to live our life again...


Until the next move!

There really is a Fairy God Mother!

Haven’t you wished when you had a nasty project to do that you could go to bed at night and when you woke up in the morning your Fairy God Mother had  magically appeared in the night while you slept and finished the nasty project?  Come on now we have all wished that!

Well guess what. There really is a Fairy God Mothers and I have proof! There was this nasty project that had to be completed featuring the re-plastering, painting, and trimming the shed door. (see photo)

I heard this loud noise late in the evening and I snuck down to the shed and managed to catch the Fairy God Mother in action with my camera! The Fairy God Mother is not much to look at and she sure looks surprised, but look at that magic at work!

After the God Mother disappeared in a puff of smoke and a string of profanities there was nothing left of the nasty project!

OH! The Fairy God Mother did leave a note:

Business in New York

Recently I find myself working with a group of companies that I spent loads of time with 20 years ago. The focus of this new endeavor is about the future of technology, such as mobile devices and communications platforms that people are so swiftly adopting.

This group of companies does business primarily with the Fortune 500 set of companies. Many of the Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in New York city and so I find myself back in the “Big Apple” again.

We (my new Boss and I) flew into the Newark airport late one evening, and after only a few wrong turns arrived at a suburban motel near the east coast factory just south of the big city.

(OH.. before I forget: these photos are all taken with a new mobile device I recently picked up as part of a research project for this new job. It actually takes reasonable photos for a phone)

The next morning I dressed up with a tie. (I haven't worn a tie in years!) and headed out to the train station to catch the morning commuter train to the heart of the city. We were going to visit HBO, and McGraw Hill to present some new technology ideas.

The train ride was an hour and we  arrived at Penn Station and walked out onto the city streets.

 

It was a beautiful day in the city almost 60 degrees with the sun shining brightly. Well… as much as the sun can shine in the concrete canyons between the huge buildings.

We walked about a mile or so in the city between the two stops, passing through Times Square along the way.

 

While the business purpose of our visit was presenting new ideas to folks that only marginally understood them the day was interesting, and as my new boss says:

“You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince!”

Noisy Neighbors!

Tuesday afternoon just down the block from our apartment around 2:00 pm a crew pushing pipe under the street struck a natural gas line on the corner of 50th and Arden. They quickly notified the police and the surrounding area was evacuated just in time, as around 4:00 pm the house on the corner of the street exploded in a ball of flames leaving nothing but a gapping hole in the ground.

Margaret was at work in Arden Hills and I was in Mankato. So we weren’t immediately aware of the disaster.

Apparently the punctured gas line had leaked into the sewer line and backed up in the house.

these first photos courtesy of FOX 9 News linked story here:

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/minnesota/edina-house-explosion-feb-23-2010

We walked down a day or so later and looked closely at the mess. There is virtually nothing left standing and the house next door was severely damaged as well. We took a few pictures of the devastation.

The Gas company trucks are still monkeying around in the sewers trying to flush the remaining gas out.

The house next door

Miraculously no one was hurt. Even the little dog that was home in the house at the time of the explosion escaped without injury somehow.

One day you have a million dollar home in Edina the next day:

Life is like that!

Time for new Specs

Its been about three years since I’ve had the prescription in my glasses changed. Its about time to venture into the eye doctors again to see how time has affected my vision.

Since I have vision coverage in our health insurance plan I have to go to a provider that accepts our type of insurance. Now it just so happens that the closest provider of our plan is located in the Galleria Mall in Edina.

If you not familiar with the Galleria it an upscale trendy place that people with too much money usually frequent. That means that this place is fairly expensive, but because the coverage I have provides a substantial discount the final out of pocket to me will be reasonable.

An appointment was scheduled for one night after work and we cruised on down to the Galleria. After all the poking and prodding, air puffs in the eyes, and the back and forth of “ Is image A clearer or image B” the verdict was rendered.

No problems with the eyes, but the reading glasses need to be stronger and the distance vision is not what it used to be. A new set of progressive lens bifocals are in order. The prescription was rendered and we ventured out into the frame gallery to find a new set of frames to house the new lenses.

They say that fashion repeats itself every 20 or 30 years or so, and eye glass frames are no exception to that rule. The most popular frames today and also the most expensive ones, I remember my grandfather wearing 40 years ago.

While I’m getting old and I’m as nostalgic as the next guy I can’t see myself wearing glasses that make me look like my grandfather. I guess if your young enough that you don’t remember people wearing these 40 years ago it works.

So not the nostalgia route. I don’t want round again. I do like the frameless ones. Wait! here is a cool pair of frames that the marketing advertises that they will make me, Better Looking,” “Cooler,” Taller,”a Better Lover,” and that “Women will not be able to keep there hands off me” as well as “Guarantee me a Raise.”

How can I not go with these frames!

Well women…. can you keep you hands off me?

Another brush with the Law!

I don’t know why, but we still check our mail box. There is never anything good in there. All of our business is now done online and the only thing we ever find in the mailbox is junk mail or bad news. 

Day after day we perform this ritual of checking the mailbox on the way in from work. Occasionally its empty (that’s a good thing). More often than not it full of total garbage that needs to be dumped into the trash as soon as we get to the apartment. Once in a while its bad news! Remember: I’ve been pardoned.

Well it seems that everyone gets their “Brush with the Law”, because the bad news in the mail box this time was a Jury Summons for my “Favorite Deaf Irish Woman”

I can just see this now!  Can you imagine what would happen with Margaret on a jury!!!!!

 

Reading a little further there appears to be hope yet. One of the questions on the summons is: Do you have any disabilities that would keep you from serving on a jury? Check this box “ X”  and include a letter stating what your disability is.

Ok write the letter and fill out the questionnaire and send the summons back to the bureaucracy to be processed, and wait……………………………………………

Eventually a few weeks later as the wheels of justice grind slowly……….

She has been released!  But just in case the deafness is only a temporary situation the District Court reserves the right to call her to serve again!

Lesson learned!

Don’t check your mailbox!