"at last... great performance in a foldable boat"

Porta-bote was just brought to my attention by Mike's dad (blog link coming soon!). Porta-bote is shown here with the porta-dolly transporter.

I am intrigued for many reasons. Being a native of the Land of 10,000 Lakes, boats have been a significant part of my life. Growing up, I went sailing, canoeing, and even water-skiing. Actually, one of the most significant things about boats is that I freak out when I am on one - after all these years, I never got my sealegs. I am also interested in the Porta-bote because I have been interested in portable things for several years. In fact, I have my own portable invention, Port-a-Pocket. Port-a-Pocket is a portable pocket for young women who find that stylish pants and skirts often don't come with pockets.

The inspiration for Port-a-Pocket came to me when I was at a conference in 1996. I was wearing a skirt that had faux pockets, they were just for show and you couldn't actually put things in them. Of course, I wanted to go out to the bars with my co-workers at the end of the day, but I had no where to put my ID, room key, and cash. Naturally, I had my travel sewing kit with me and out of necessity - and a small square of fabric from the blanket on my bed - Port-a-Pocket was born! Port-a-Pocket is a small flat pocket that fastens to the inside of your waistband with a snap or piece of velcro (Port-a-Pocket attachment kit sold separately).

Port-a-Pocket underwent a field test when I made several of them in different sizes and fabrics and handed them out at a friends bachelorette party. Unfortunately, the next morning none of us could remember if Port-a-Pocket was effective or not. I spent a few years trying to perfect Port-a-Pocket but then sadly, Port-a-Pocket fell by the wayside when I started making purses. Now that I have a cell phone and palm pilot, not to mention lipgloss and kleenex, a purse just makes more sense. In fact, I think that it won't be long before men start carrying purses.

big carrot revolution

Ever since we went to Gabe and Rachel's and Mike saw Gabe eating an adult carrot, Mike has been all about big carrots. When was the last time you ate a carrot that was not baby? Haven't you always wondered where all those baby carrots come from? A friend of mine used to think that they were actually reconstituted big carrots.

So, now we have big carrots in our lunches. An anonymous Canadian friend of mine is opposed to the big carrot revolution because if having your carrots peeled and babied gets you to eat more vegetables then she says more power to baby carrots! However, I still argue that the big carrots are more nutritious and more flavorful.

By the way, Big Carrot Day is still up for grabs if you need your own personal holiday.

holiday

My friend Maureen's personal holiday is Groundhog Day. There are many Groundhog Day rituals that we observe. We order pizzas and watch the movie and share Groundhog Day trivia - some of it is the same every year. Apparently, there are other people who take this holiday as seriously as we do. Hopefully, one day we can make the trip to see Punxsutawney Phil!

Everyone should have their own personal holiday. If you like overalls, you should have Overalls Day be YOUR day! We will all wear overalls and you could celebrate it on your blog! I am thinking about starting a personal holiday for Mike called That's Mike Day! It would be a day devoted to slowing down.

celebrity sighting!

A few months ago, I was having some fish and chips with friends at Tavern on Grand and we spotted Ian Zeiring!

There is a 90210 reunion show this Sunday! In college I was a devoted fan. We usually watched in my dorm lounge every week. That is, until the Star Trek fans from the corner table literally moved in to Langan Lounge. Seriously, they had sleeping bags! Senior year, we even called our house the beach house because that is where Donna and Kelly lived. Nevermind that we went to college in the middle of Iowa and the nearest beach was Rock Creek. Naturally, I am honoring the occassion with a party for true fans.

morning edition.....

Today there was a show on NPR about blogging. How cool. I want to figure out how to put the reuben sandwich theme song on my blog. Any ideas?

club meeting

Mike has a blog! Actually, his is a group blog for the World Affairs Group.

mini reubens

Wedding planning was going smoothly until the catering company went out of business. The museum arranged for a new "exclusive" caterer that also happens to be more expensive. I have been trying to navigate the switch without spending more money. Some aspects of wedding planning are challenging. From the outset, I knew that the planning process would be a very expensive life lesson for me to learn to be a more flexible person. A few weeks ago I felt like the decision to have my wedding at Mill City Museum was a giant reuben! Then, today I was looking at the menu from D'amico and I noticed that they only have mini reubens. What a relief!

peace rules

This weekend I went to the puppet parade with Gabe and Rachel. The puppet parade is always so inspiring - be more creative, make the world a better place, walk down the street celebrating your fattest part because it is a parade!

This year, we were going to bring up the rear in the "free speech" section. We made Howard Dean signs but it wasn't obvious where to jump in so we just stood on the sidelines with our signs.

the deck

It doesn't get much better than sitting out on the deck and eating some crackers and cheese.

six degrees of separation

It's the end of the semester and I've been filling out course evaluations. I have been making lots of comments but not as interesting as those on my blog. The comments from my friends are great but it made my day the when I got a comment from Heather. I don't know her from Adam and now we are part of the same web ecosystem! She even wrote about regrets, the hallmark of a reuben sandwich, in her blog today.

Last month I saw a production of Six Degrees of Separation at the Guthrie Theater. Have you seen it? It was excellent. Especially if you think about it in the context of blogs. Seriously, I don't know Heather but now she has a link on my blog!

By the way, if you would like to remove a few more degrees of separation, Rachel has taken it upon herself, and her blog, to resolve the grey duck versus goose debate once and for all. Naturally, I was raised grey duck and think that grey duck is totally superior to goose!

zzzzzz.......

My inspiration for blogging was to share the story of reuben sandwiches with my public. I thought I would write about my mistake of the day once in a while but it turns out most of them are really boring. For example, today I gave a presentation and there was a typo in it that I am sure nobody noticed.

now i am one of them!

Ha! Last week I was looking for an old document that I wrote about barriers to physical activity for an internship at Be Active Minnesota. I was going through all these old computer disks and instead I found this essay I wrote a long time ago. There used to be a "Single Life" column in the newspaper (I don't even know if it is still exists since I wouldn't be reading it) and I thought I would send in a slice of my life. At the time, many of my friends were getting married and I was happily single. The way people talked about their all-encompassing wedding plans inspired this:

wedding immersion program
W.I.P.

.........................

Recently a good friend of mine, found herself single. At which I time I did my best to be a supportive friend. During one of our post-break-up girl talk sessions, where she says she is doomed to be single forever and I tell her it’s not true, she said that anyone who is still single at our age must have something wrong with them –- otherwise why would they be single? Her comment was intended to be a generalization but I took a little personal offense. Why is being single considered a character flaw? Why is being single something that my married and engaged friends feel they need to remedy? As if being single is an illness!

There is a wide spread assumption that everyone’s goal is to seek a mate, get married, and have children. Indeed, life may be easier for the coupled – cheaper car insurance, easier approval for a loan, someone with whom to sit on rides at the State Fair. For all the girls who subscribe to this assumption there is the Wedding Immersion Program (W.I.P.). A widely accepted program entered upon by young women who have always dreamed of getting married. The Wedding Immersion Program involves non-stop talk of everything weddings with optional breaks to talk about babies. Unfortunately, once enrolled in W.I.P. she appears to lose herself completely in it, often relinquishing all power to make decisions without first consulting her fiancee on her cell phone; in fact, she may even cancel plans with you because, well, she is in a committed relationship now and you just don’t understand. Since girlhood, she has always known the details of her gown, her bouquet, the cake, as well as the gown, hair-do, and jewelry of each and every bridesmaid, and the kind of tuxedo her father will wear when he escorts her down the isle for the most important day of her life.

Well, I am not one of those little girls. By no means am I opposed to couples, I am merely anti-couple-centric. In full, I believe that sharing your self with another enhances your life, challenges you, and brings you an unparalleled joy. However, I will not date someone just to fit in. I have to be true to myself and I can’t pursue a man just for the sake of being in a relationship. I will only give up being single when someone worthwhile comes along. I feel that being single is not a flaw – on the contrary it is a celebration of my spirit. It would take one extraordinary guy to convince me to settle down and conform to society’s mold. If being coupled is the goal then why must my married friends attempt to live through me vicariously by constantly trying to set me up with some dork from the office?

A few months later Mike (my extraordinary guy) and I started dating and the rest is history. I inadvertantly signed up for the W.I.P. along the way - but I draw the line at setting up my friends with dorks from the office! (No offense to my friends at WBOB).

where it all started

We just celebrated the 6th annual Reuben Sandwich Day last week. Keep on reading if you would like to hear about the story of Reuben Sandwich Day.

When I was in kindergarten, I had my first homework assignment. It was a simple worksheet with nine pictures on it. Our assignment was to color in all the drawings that started with the letter "G." I colored in some grass, a goat, a glass. No problem. There were these big lips in the middle and I started to color them red. They looked so pretty. Then, when I realized that I made a mistake I completely freaked out. I was hysterical. I actually ran down the street crying to get my mom.

My mom could not understand what was wrong because I was so upset I could hardly speak. When she realized that it was over a goof on my homework she imagined what my life was going to be like if I had a meltdown over something so small and it was not good. She said to herself, "we have to nip this in the bud!" And she took me back to school and my teacher, Mrs. Brown, was still there. Mrs. Brown gave me a new worksheet and told me that everything would be ok, but for the rest of my life I had to make at least one mistake everyday.

Well, I have been following through with that assignment for about 25 years now. I have really gotten a lot of mileage out of that story - it was my college essay. And now, it is the foundation for my own personal holiday, Reuben Sandwich Day.

One day I went out to eat with some friends and I ordered a reuben sandwich. My friends thought that was weird because I don't eat a lot of meat. The sandwich came and I REALLY regretted it. I hate corned beef. I love the kraut but corned beef is so gross that I couldn't eat any of the sandwich. I was really mad at myself. The reuben was my mistake of the day. It just happend to be Good Friday so it's an easy day to remember and now each year on Good Friday my friends and family and I celebrate Reuben Sandwich day. We go to Manning's, the site of the original Reuben Sandwich Day, but you only have to order a reuben if you like them.

There's more to the story but I will save that for later.

my first blog

I just learned about blogging from my friend Rachel . We are taking a teaching practicum class and our final project is to teach the class about whatever we want. Rachel gave us an introduction to blogging.

I am so excited to have my own blog! I finally found a medium for my story.