“The Puck Stops Here” Tom Emmer billboard is ridiculous. Here’s why:

In the picture on the billboard, Emmer is wearing the typical old-man softball uniform: 100% polyester white baseball umpire shorts and an old school, 3-button softball jersey. He is leaning forward with one arm extended, as though to shake someone’s hand. The other hand is resting on his thigh, but yet has A CARTOON HOCKEY STICK photoshopped into it…?

Adding a hockey stick to a picture of a man in a softball uniform makes no sense. That’s the best they could do? The billboard is by far the worst billboard I’ve ever seen for any product or political candidate.

I don’t have a picture yet, but I need one. You can find this billboard on Highway 10 in Blaine, Minnesota and 35E in Saint Paul.

I’m not a political person, but please don’t vote for Tom Emmer. This billboard is ridiculous.

Zumba with a Purpose to benefit Chilean Earthquake Relief with a $10 donation on Sunday, May 2, 2010 from 1:30-3:15pm at Shoreview YMCA in Shoreview, Minnesota.

The 2010 Chilean earthquake happened on February 27, 2010. Approximately 500 people died and 500,000 homes were destroyed. Many Zumba instructors have family and friends in Chile. All money raised at the Zumba with a Purpose event will be given to the Chilean Club in Minnesota (Chilenos en Minnesota) to be delivered to Chilean institutions to benefit earthquake and tsunami victims.

Click here for more information and enjoy!

Zumba with a Purpose to benefit Toys for Tots with a $10 donation on December 12, 2009 from 1-3pm at Gold’s Gym in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. This Toys for Tots benefit will feature a group of local Zumba instructors and, keeping in the spirit of Toys for Tots, Marines.

Click here for more information and enjoy!

You can contribute to the map team boundaries by entering your MLB team alliance and zip code at www.unitedcountriesofbaseball.com. You can also download desktop wallpaper and even buy a United Countries of Baseball at t-shirt.

Go Brewers!

Farmers in the rural Indianhead of Wisconsin always say that it’s not officially Spring until “it has snowed on the Robins’ tail three times.” It usually holds pretty true for this part of the country and I’m going to test it again this year.

Last weekend, I saw my first Robin, the sure sign of spring, in the Twin Cities during a walk with my boyfriend through Northeast Minneapolis.

Today, my friends in my home state of Wisconsin reported enough snow to cover the streets.

One “snow on the Robin’s tail” down, two snows to go.

Centuries ago many Norwegians went to Ireland to escape the bitterness of the Norwegian winter. Ireland was having a famine at the time, and food was quite scarce. The Norwegians were eating almost all the fish caught in the area, leaving the Irish with nothing but potatoes.

St. Patrick, taking matters into his own hands like most Irishmen do, decided the Norwegians had to go. Secretly, he organized the IRATIONAL (Irish Republican Army To Rid Ireland Of Norwegians At Last).

Irish members of IRATIONAL sabotaged all power plants in hopes the fish in Norwegian refrigerators would spoil, forcing the Norwegians to a colder climate where their fish would keep. The fish spoiled all right, but the Norwegians, as everybody knows to this day, thrive on spoiled fish.

Faced with failure, the IRATIONAL sneaked into the Norwegian’s fish storage caves in the dead of night and sprinkled the rotten fish with lye, hoping to poison the Norwegian intruders. But, as everyone knows, this is how lutefisk was introduced to the Norwegians and they thrived on this lye-soaked smelly fish.

Matters became even worse for the Irishmen when the Norwegians started taking over the Irish potato crop for lefsa to go with their lutefisk.

Poor St. Pat was at his wits’ end and finally, on March 17th, he blew his top and told all Norwegians to go to Hell, and it worked…

All the Norwegians left Ireland and went to Minnesota.

I first saw Matty O’Reilly (acoustic guitar and vocals) and John Schjolberg (pedal steel guitar) perform Speed of the Sound of Loneliness by John Prine at one of Matty’s restaurants, the 318 Cafe in Excelsior, Minnesota. I loved it so much I told my friends it was like, “Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one.”

You can download a free live version of John Prine performing Speed of the Sound of Loneliness from Glide Magazine here: http://www.glidemagazine.com/free-music-downloads/1012/john-prine-speed-of-the-sound-of-loneliness-mp3.html

Speed of the Sound of Loneliness
by John Prine

You come home late and you come home early
You come on big when you’re feeling small
You come home straight and you come home curly
Sometimes you don’t come home at all

So what in the world’s come over you
And what in heaven’s name have you done
You’ve broken the speed of the sound of loneliness
You’re out there running just to be on the run

Well I got a heart that burns with a fever
And I got a worried and a jealous mind
How can a love that’ll last forever
Get left so far behind

So what in the world’s come over you
And what in heaven’s name have you done
You’ve broken the speed of the sound of loneliness
You’re out there running just to be on the run

It’s a mighty mean and a dreadful sorrow
It’s crossed the evil line today
Well, how can you ask about tomorrow
When we ain’t got one word to say

So what in the world’s come over you
And what in heaven’s name have you done
You’ve broken the speed of the sound of loneliness
You’re out there running just to be on the run

You’re out there running just to be on the run
You’re out there running just to be on the run
You’re out there running just to be on the run

Minnesota Nice has also been called Minnesota Ice. I have lived around the world, even in a country where I did not speak the native language, but I’ve never felt less welcome than I do in Minneapolis-St.Paul. Over the past four years, it has been a constant struggle to meet quality people who I would like to get to know better. I have met some nice people through work, and most of them were transplants to Minnesota like me. Since getting laid off in December, I often wonder what I am still doing in this cold (literally and figuratively) state.

My favorite version of the song is performed by Johnny Cash. Download Just The Other Side Of Nowhere at Amazon.

Just the Other Side of Nowhere
by Kris Kristofferson

I come from just the other side of nowhere
To this big time lonesome town
They got a lot of ice and snow here
Ain’t half as cold as all the people I’ve found
Every where I try to go here
Somebody’s always tryin’ to bring me down
I’ve seen about enough to know where I’ll be bound

I’ve got a mind to see the headlights shining
On that old white line between my heart and home
Sick of spendin’ Sundays wishing they were Mondays
Sittin’ in a park alone
Give my best to anyone who’s left who ever done me
Any lovin’ way but wrong
Tell ‘em that the pride of just the other side of nowhere’s
Goin’ home

Takin’ nothin’ back to show there
For these dues I’ve paid
But the soul I almost sold here
And the body I’ve been givin’ away
Fadin’ from the neon nighttime glow here
Headin’ for the light of day
Just the other side of nowhere
Goin’ home

I’ve got a mind to see the headlights shinin’
On that old white line between my heart and home
Sick of spendin’ Sundays wishin’ they were Mondays
Sittin’ in a park alone
So give my best to anyone who’s left who ever done me
Any lovin’ way but wrong
Tell them that the pride of just the other side of nowhere’s
Goin’ home

I’ve got a mind to see the headlights shinin’
On that old white line between my heart and home
Sick of spendin’ Sundays wishin’ they were Mondays
Sittin’ in a park alone
Give my best to anyone who’s left who ever done me
Any lovin’ way but wrong
And tell them that the pride of just the other side of nowhere’s
Goin’ home

Girl from the North Country
by Bob Dylan

If you’re traveling in the north country fair
Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline
Remember me to one who lives there
For she was once a true love of mine.

Please see from me that her hair’s hanging down
That it curls and falls all down her breast
Please see for me that her hair’s hanging down
That’s the way I remember her best.

Well, if you go when the snowflakes falls
When the rivers freeze and summer ends
Please see for me if she’s wearing a coat so warm
To keep her from the howlin’ winds.

If you’re travelin’ in the north country fair
Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine.

Well, if you’re traveling in the north country fair
Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline
Please say hello to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine.