I like to Ride my Bicycle

and so does the rest of Minneapolis!

Well, not quite the rest, but a growing minority! I have to say, I have been quite impressed with the number of people who have been out riding their bikes this winter. Biking in Minneapolis in the winter is not easy, between irate drivers, wind that'll take your face off, and unplowed bike lanes it can be down right dangerous. I've had my fair share of frustrations this winter and I'm quite excited to see people out and about on their bikes.

I'm studying today at the Purple Onion and I've secured myself a space looking out a window toward University Avenue. Just a block and half down from the busiest intersection for bicycles in the Minneapolis area (15th Ave and University). After seeing so many delightful people out on their bikes I decided to make a count to determine how many people are actually out biking.

The first three half hour intervals ranged from 9-10 people each 1/2 hour sighted riding bikes. I was excited. Especially since I was studying too and not really paying attention. Then the 1:00 half hour say 27 cyclists! They were everywhere! Some looked determined to be out riding their bikes, some looked like it was the hardest thing they ever had to do, and others looked like they were riding on a sunny summer afternoon.

Alright, so what do we do with this information? With so many people out and about on bikes, we should support them, and encourage others to get out and start pedaling. This means more bike lanes. And not those lame signs that display a bike route, they are meaningless because nobody pays attention to them and they honestly make no sense. To ensure the safety of bike riders there needs to be logically laid out and enforced lanes for bike traffic. And they need to be plowed in the winter. Minneapolis touts its "bike friendly" nature; however, the city is mostly words and no action. Not having plowed bike lanes mean bikers have to ride in the streets, endangering themselves and other motorists. It honestly scares the hell out of me to bike sometimes and I blame the city of Minneapolis for absolutely not caring about the safety of cyclists. Lets not wait until more Minneapolis bikers die from car accidents before we improve this situation.

Breaking News!

Thanks BBC for giving me an excuse to drink!

Guinness good for you - official

The long-running ad campaign is well-known

The old advertising slogan "Guinness is Good for You" may be true after all, according to researchers.

A pint of the black stuff a day may work as well as an aspirin to prevent heart clots that raise the risk of heart attacks.

Drinking lager does not yield the same benefits, experts from University of Wisconsin told a conference in the US.

Guinness were told to stop using the slogan decades ago - and the firm still makes no health claims for the drink.

The Wisconsin team tested the health-giving properties of stout against lager by giving it to dogs who had narrowed arteries similar to those in heart disease.

They found that those given the Guinness had reduced clotting activity in their blood, but not those given lager.

Heart trigger

Clotting is important for patients who are at risk of a heart attack because they have hardened arteries.

A heart attack is triggered when a clot lodges in one of these arteries supplying the heart.

Many patients are prescribed low-dose aspirin as this cuts the ability of the blood to form these dangerous clots.

The researchers told a meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Florida, that the most benefit they saw was from 24 fluid ounces of Guinness - just over a pint - taken at mealtimes.

We already know that most of the clotting effects are due to the alcohol itself, rather than any other ingredients Spokesman, Brewing Research International

They believe that "antioxidant compounds" in the Guinness, similar to those found in certain fruits and vegetables, are responsible for the health benefits because they slow down the deposit of harmful cholesterol on the artery walls.

However, Diageo, the company that now manufactures Guinness, said: "We never make any medical claims for our drinks."

The company now runs advertisements that call for "responsible drinking".

A spokesman for Brewing Research International, which conducts research for the industry, said she would be "wary" of placing the health benefits of any alcohol brand above another.

She said: "We already know that most of the clotting effects are due to the alcohol itself, rather than any other ingredients.

"It is possible that there is an extra effect due to the antioxidants in Guinness - but I would like to see this research repeated."

She said that reviving the old adverts for Guinness might be problematic - at least in the EU.

Draft legislation could outlaw any health claims in adverts for alcohol in Europe, she said.

Feelgood factor

The original campaign in the 1920s stemmed from market research - when people told the company that they felt good after their pint, the slogan was born.

In England, post-operative patients used to be given Guinness, as were blood donors, because of its high iron content.

Pregnant women and nursing mothers were at one stage advised to drink Guinness - the present advice is against this.

The UK is still the largest market in the world for Guinness, although the drink does not feature in the UK's top ten beer brands according to the latest research.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3266819.stm

Ah!

I had my last lecture today. My last lecture of the semester. My last lecture of my undergraduate career. Possibly the last lecture I will ever have to sit through again. I'm still in the process of realizing what this means. There is still work to do in the next week, but after that... there isn't any work to do.

Well, there is the work of finding work. But I'm done with school, and for the first time in about 16 years I wont have homework to do.

At any rate, I was thinking about this whole transition process and how it's actually quite scary when I got some interesting mail. I received a Carlson School Alumni magazine! I'm not even done with finals yet! I feel old. But, getting the Alumni magazine made me laugh. In reality, this whole "leaving what I'm comfortable" thing isn't that bad.

And I'm glad to know that I'll be able to keep up with what's going on at Carlson.

I'm managing to make my messages known

I have a site meter. This is because I'm interested in who's looking at my blog. Mostly I can see that people from Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, Madison, Dublin, and Indianapolis check this site out regularly. The site meter gets relatively uninteresting after awhile.

Until I saw this...

If you look at the search words category, you find that a certain Pennsylvanian searched for "horrid farts" and encountered me! How lovely! I'm glad to know that I can contribute to one man or woman's search for more information regarding horrid farts. My blog life is complete.

What is important in life.

I like a news service that delivers weather information that is useful to me. The Star Tribune offers a fine example:

"Bardou said he expects today's snow to be more of the fine powdery variety versus the big flakes, as colder drier air pushes warmer moist air out of the area.

"It won't be good for making snowballs," Bardou said. "We are not expecting heavy-weight snow.""

From: http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1590513.html

I went to New York

Last weekend I went to New York city to visit my friend Max and go to a reunion for the Quinn School of Business. Since I'd never been to NY before this was going to be quite the new experience. Andy and I looked at maps of Manhattan so that I would have an idea of where I was supposed to go. I got in on Friday and made my way from JFK to Manhattan. My first experience with the subway made me feel like I wasn't going to be able to handle the subway. But this was just a first time impression and I managed fine the rest of the trip.

Since Max wasn't done with school until 5 and I got in around noon, I spent a lot of time wandering around. Mostly around Central Park because I couldn't figure out how to get out.

This is one of many roads that goes through Central Park. Interestingly, joggers run in the bike lanes and bikes ride on the wrong side of the road.

I went to a tiny grocery store and purchased these items for lunch. I spent my lunchtime people watching in the park.

I then went to the Guggenheim Museum, which was really fun. There were a lot of Picasso's paintings there and I learned that he did some cool stuff before he became all cubist and odd. After the museum Max and I met up and enjoyed dinner with some of his friends from Teach for America.

The entrance of the Guggenheim.

Cool looking apartments in Harlem.

Cool roots of a tree on 5th Ave. I took a lot of pictures of my feet.

Saturday I wandered around downtown by myself and saw the sites. I'm not very familiar with what is in New York, so I spent a lot of time discovering where things where and learning about different places. I went to the World Trade Center site by accident, but that was pretty interesting. Then I made my way to Wall Street to see what it was like. Then on down Broadway to Battery Park at the end of Manhattan. After all that I was pretty tired of walking and made my way back to Max's.

Wall Street is very narrow.

The Statue of Liberty is not very big from where I was, and also not very interesting.

Max and I then went to Colombia College and wandered around. They have a pretty campus that is reminiscent of the U's mall area. Then I went to my reunion, which was relatively awkward but enjoyable. I didn't think I would know anyone there but I saw three other girls from my year (there were people there since the program began in 2000 or so). After a delicious dinner, I met up with Max and some of his friends at a bar and had a grand time.

Colombia College. There was a blood drive going on while were there.

I passed through Times Square on my way to the subway. It was pretty crazy. This was the busiest area of the city that I saw.

Max and I enjoying a brew at a local establishment.

Overall, New York was alright. All those lights and flash that normally come with ideas of New York are not representative of the city. Everyone I met was very nice and answered my questions if I asked. So it was a good experience and I wouldn't mind going back.

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