My wife and I are in the process of buying our first house(!). We've been married for about 2.5 years, and have been (mostly) diligently planning and saving up for this big event. Buying has been a fun process, and we've definitely learned a lot so far about both people and processes. We haven't closed yet, but have a signed purchase agreement and are planning to move by the end of the month. We've been working with some great people and organizations locally that have made the process go as smooth as possible and have answered all of our many, many questions. If you're at this stage of life or will be soon and you're looking for some recommendations on who and how, drop me a note and I'd be happy to talk about our experience.
As I said, it's been a fun process. We're very excited to be in our first "permanent" housing arrangement since our wedding and check a big item off our dream/bucket list. We have lived in the same place since we got married. We've really loved our apartment and will miss it a lot, but we are excited to own a place that we can truly make our own. It's a chocolate brown, modest 1,300 square foot house in southwest Rochester with white trim. We're excited to be a bit closer to a lot of the places and people that we love most. We both went to college and more or less fell in love in this same area of town, so we're excited to once again be within close walking distance of the same stretches of trails, the same restaurants, the same parks, the same grocery store (shoutout to HyVee!) and many other "sames" that are dear, and will now again be near to us.
But personally, I'm excited not just for the "sames" but also for the "news" that will come with relocating to this area. Getting to know our new neighbors. Connecting with a new city council representative, state legislator and state senator than we currently have. Celebrating present and future new economic investments in the neighborhood. Understanding in a real, direct way the burden and balance of property taxes. Observing and experiencing on a daily basis the transportation successes and challenges of the neighborhood. In short: increasing my commitment as an actively engaged citizen of Rochester, Minnesota. These will all be "news" for me, and I'm excited for all of these and more.
With the closing and moving process, posts might be few(er) and far(ther) between over the next month or so, but once we're settled in I hope to begin writing and sharing more earnestly about the issues and places I care most about. Thanks for reading!
Showing posts with label minnesota. Show all posts
Showing posts with label minnesota. Show all posts
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Friday, January 30, 2015
More Currents
Last week I shared the books that I'm currently reading. Since I'm still feeling out what direction to go in the blog, I though I'd share this week what other media I'm regularly taking in, and a few thoughts on each item. In no particular order:
Wrong About Everything. WAE is a podcast hosted by four Minnesotans- two republicans and two democrats. It's a weekly show that publishes episodes (I listen through a combination of iTunes and Android radio app Stitcher) on Sundays. They discuss national and Minnesota state politics with an excellent and equal blend of liberal and conservative views that manages to stay civil and friendly for about 90% of topics discussed. I've found it to be a great way to take in two sides of a public policy issue or national event and stay plugged in to what's going on at the capitol in St. Paul.
The Daily Show. Most of you who know me offline know that I have followed the Daily Show and the now-defunct Colbert Report for several years. Stewart's contract with Comedy Central ends late this year, but he's been hosting the show since 1999 (Or, when I was eleven). One of the things I"ve come to enjoy most about The Daily Show is the diversity of the people Stewart brings to the show for "Daily Show Correspondents." This was highlighted recently with this clip after the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris. I don't endorse or philosophically align with everything that's on the show, but it is consistently a very watchable and funny show, and Stewart's interview skills are very, very good.
The Nightly Show. Former Daily Show "Senior Black Correspondent" Larry Wilmore got a promotion this month after the 11:30-12:00EST time slot opened up with Colbert's departure. The Nightly Show is still working to establish it's identity, which makes it interesting in itself. The third segment of each show is called "Keep it 100," in which Larry asks his panelists a (often absurd, impossible) question, and the guests have to be 100% truthful in their answer. Larry is a likable host, but I question the decision for a guest panel that takes up 2/3 of each episode. Perhaps as he and his staff get better at producing and writing more of their own content, this will go away. Maybe they have a tight leash from Comedy Central since they're a new show, and so they don't have the budget for more research/writing/traveling report expenses. Maybe I'm too used to Stewart and Colbert's one-segment interview format. Either way, it feels a bit like they are using their guests to fill up time that they don't know what to do with. "Keep it 100" is consistently funny, but probably doesn't need it's own segment.
Fracas and Hi Octane. After stumbling across this link a month ago, I've been on a bit of an old computer game kick. I downloaded Boxer, an MS-DOS emulator for Mac, and have been playing these games a couple times a week. In Fracas, basically you're a little wizard and you run around blowing up rocks to get gems and potions to kill the little blue and green monsters that try and run over you. Hi Octane is a game originally for Playstation. It's pretty much just a fast paced shoot-'em'up racing game. I'm not much of a video game player now, and never really have been, so when I do play something, I like simple stuff.
That's it for this week. Thanks for reading!
Wrong About Everything. WAE is a podcast hosted by four Minnesotans- two republicans and two democrats. It's a weekly show that publishes episodes (I listen through a combination of iTunes and Android radio app Stitcher) on Sundays. They discuss national and Minnesota state politics with an excellent and equal blend of liberal and conservative views that manages to stay civil and friendly for about 90% of topics discussed. I've found it to be a great way to take in two sides of a public policy issue or national event and stay plugged in to what's going on at the capitol in St. Paul.
The Daily Show. Most of you who know me offline know that I have followed the Daily Show and the now-defunct Colbert Report for several years. Stewart's contract with Comedy Central ends late this year, but he's been hosting the show since 1999 (Or, when I was eleven). One of the things I"ve come to enjoy most about The Daily Show is the diversity of the people Stewart brings to the show for "Daily Show Correspondents." This was highlighted recently with this clip after the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris. I don't endorse or philosophically align with everything that's on the show, but it is consistently a very watchable and funny show, and Stewart's interview skills are very, very good.
The Nightly Show. Former Daily Show "Senior Black Correspondent" Larry Wilmore got a promotion this month after the 11:30-12:00EST time slot opened up with Colbert's departure. The Nightly Show is still working to establish it's identity, which makes it interesting in itself. The third segment of each show is called "Keep it 100," in which Larry asks his panelists a (often absurd, impossible) question, and the guests have to be 100% truthful in their answer. Larry is a likable host, but I question the decision for a guest panel that takes up 2/3 of each episode. Perhaps as he and his staff get better at producing and writing more of their own content, this will go away. Maybe they have a tight leash from Comedy Central since they're a new show, and so they don't have the budget for more research/writing/traveling report expenses. Maybe I'm too used to Stewart and Colbert's one-segment interview format. Either way, it feels a bit like they are using their guests to fill up time that they don't know what to do with. "Keep it 100" is consistently funny, but probably doesn't need it's own segment.
Fracas and Hi Octane. After stumbling across this link a month ago, I've been on a bit of an old computer game kick. I downloaded Boxer, an MS-DOS emulator for Mac, and have been playing these games a couple times a week. In Fracas, basically you're a little wizard and you run around blowing up rocks to get gems and potions to kill the little blue and green monsters that try and run over you. Hi Octane is a game originally for Playstation. It's pretty much just a fast paced shoot-'em'up racing game. I'm not much of a video game player now, and never really have been, so when I do play something, I like simple stuff.
That's it for this week. Thanks for reading!
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