Manitou Station

It's been a few weeks already but M and I went to the highly anticipated new restaurant,Manitou Station in White Bear Lake. My friend is a managing partner of the restaurant so I wanted to check it out. We went on a Friday night with no reservations and was able to get in right away as there was an open table, but later found from my friend that they have had a waiting list for weeks. I ordered the filet mignon with salad, baked potato and broccoli. I order the filet with bearnaise sauce and it was fabulous. Everything else was pretty good except for the broccoli, which was just ok. At the end of the meal they gave us mint chocolate truffles, which I thought was a creative and delicious way to end the dinner. The service wasn't the best I've had as the time in between the server coming back and forth to our table was long, but I would go back again.

Volunteer Time

The week before Thanksgiving, the department I work in volunteered to work with the organization, Feed My Starving Children. The organization feeds children in more than 60 countries around the world. We went to the Chanhassen location to spend a few hours of our time helping to making the packs of food and then packaging them. We all chose what position what we wanted to have whether it was scooping and pouring the ingredients into the bag, weighing the bag, sealing the bag, labeling the bag or packaging the finished product. My job was to take each bag and put it under a funnel which the food goes through into the bag. I then weighed each bag to make sure it was a certain weight. If over, I would take food out and if under would add food. All the while, we got to rock some pretty awesome hair nets. During the time we spent doing these tasks, we packaged 32 boxes of food. Each box contains 36 packages of food. With this amount of food, it will feed 19 children for a whole year. It was very rewarding to me to have participated in this.

Click on the map to see all the countries marked where they have shipped food.

I'm the one fitting the bag onto the funnel

We're all pretty hot with the nets, huh?

My department

Our finished results

Friday's Fun Facts

Have a nice weekend.

• Through measurements of brainwaves, scientists have determined that cats think about sex twice as much as humans.
• In October 1994, Jeff Bezos wanted to name his new Web venture "Cadabra" -- as in "abracadabra." But his attorney convinced him that this magical moniker sounder a bit too much like "cadaver." Reluctantly, Bezos went with his second choice: Amazon.com.
• Guinea Pigs have no natural predators.
• In 2006, 8432 men were asked what their their three wishes would be if they came upon a magic genie. The top answers were: something to do with health/longevity (87.2 percent); wealth (50.5 percent) and world peace (48.3 percent). 12.8 percent said they would wish for better "endowment".

Random Schmandom

As always, I'm behind on my blog. I have a running list and multiple pictures to post but I haven't had much of a desire to. I've had no desire to get on to the computer and blog after a long day at work, but look for a lot of posts coming in the next few days to catch up. I've been much happier spending my time relaxing on the couch and reading a cooking/recipe magazine. I am planning to make some Christmas cookies this year. I just hope that I actually have the time to do it.

How was your drive today? If you live in Minnesota, today is the first day we had any measurable amount of snow since October. The real snow hasn't really even started yet with most of the snow coming overnight and finishing tomorrow morning. I live almost 24 miles from my work so when it snows, I dread the drive home. I came in earlier than I usually do to possibly avoid the traffic. I ended up getting out of work a little late and left at 4:06 pm. I pulled in the garage at 6:10 pm. At first, I thought I would get home before the 2 hour mark and that bummed me out a little. If I am going to be in the car for that long I might as well hit the 2 hour mark, right? 2 hours and 4 minutes is way more impressive that 1 hour and 58 minutes. I had my camera in my purse so while I waited in traffic, I took a picture of the traffic sign that says how much time you have until you reach a certain point. Mine showed over 45 minutes, when on a good day will show 13 minutes. This was already 50 minutes into my drive time. Don't worry, I didn't get in an accident while taking pictures and being in the car. You usually don't get in accidents when you are going zero MPH. Notice the difference in daylight in my pictures.

There is a commercial on the radio for Arby's that drives me nuts every time I hear it. Have you heard the commercials for the $5.01 combo? Different people tell you what they get for the extra penny. I can't remember exactly what the penny is for but some on the commercials will say, "My penny is for the crisp curly fries". "My penny is for the rich roast beef on my bun", etc. etc. There is one that bothers me so badly. It goes something like this.... "My penny is for the thousand island dressing that creates a flavor vacation in my mouth." Are you serious? Is this the dumbest statement ever? No one really talks like that. And even if they did, they would not be talking about Arby's. Ok, yeah, you're right. Arby's is pretty good.

M and I have been going to Buffalo Wild Wings lately on Monday nights to watch Monday Night Football and play Buzztime Trivia. We don't have cable so we can't watch it in the comfort of our own home so we go watch with strangers. We order the naked chicken tenders and share our sauces and play trivia against others in the bar/restaurant and around the country. M kicked my butt last night, winning 3 rounds of trivia against me and the rest of the players.

I changed my layout about a week and a half ago to be Vikings themed. I'm not very good at changing the formats of the blog and creating new backgrounds. I custom did the theme and it took me hours before I finally got it right and what I wanted. Then I find out that if you are using Internet Explorer (IE) as your browser that the text is showing over the Vikings logo and it's hard to read. When I look at it on my computer, it looks fine and the Vikings logo is on the left hand side column as it should be. For your computer geeks out there, is there a way to have your blog layout "static" where it doesn't change depending on the browser? Besides, it's time to change if you're still using IE! I know that I have to at work so I have no choice there but I have used Google Chrome for quite some time and I can't imagine using anything else at this point. So much faster. Firefox is good too and I do use it for the times that a website does not work with Chrome, which is very rare. So for now, you are stuck looking at a plain, black background until I get the time (and energy) to find something new that I want to do with my layout.

Ok, I think I better go to bed now. Thanks for letting me write about anything and nothing at the same time. Please come back for posts and pictures soon! Drive safe on Wednesday! I take that back. Drive safe every day!

RIP, Rick

M and I found out yesterday morning that one of our acquaintances and friend of M's family, Rick, passed away accidentally Saturday night at his Wisconsin farm. We were with him two months ago tailgating for the Vikings/Packers game. He is a Packer's fan and it was his first time tailgating. I've only met him a few times but he was fun and amusing to be around. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and his wife, Dolly. Rest in Peace, Rick.

Richard "Rick" Walton Jr., age 50 of Baldwin, died accidentally on his farm on Saturday, December 5, 2009.

Funeral Services for Richard "Rick" Walton will be held at 10:00 AM on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at Peace Lutheran Church, Hwy 63 at County Road N, Baldwin WI. Vistation for Richard "Rick" Walton will be held one hour prior to services at church, and also from 4:00-8:00 PM on Wednesday evening, December 9th, 2009 at the O'Connell Family Funeral Home in Baldwin WI. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the discretion of the family, or to the donor's choice. Services have been entrusted to the O'Connell Family Funeral Home of Baldwin WI. 715-684-3434

Friday's Fun Facts

Have a great (cold if you're in MN) weekend!

• The Vatican has a 5,000 square foot library that was sealed in 1215, with specific instructions that it was not to be opened until February 19, 2010. (Has anyone heard more about this?!?!?)
• Spider silk is an extremely strong material and its on-weight basis has been proven to be stronger than steel. Experts suggest that a pencil-thick strand of silk could stop a Boeing 747 in flight.
• Lou Gehrig was one of thousands of people who contracted what became known as Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). New York doctors named the disease after the Yankee slugger posthumously to draw attention to its deadliness.
• Republicans are more likely to be involved in extramarital affairs than Democrats. (I wonder if Tiger is a Republican?)

Photo Hunt #5

It's time again for another Photo Hunt from Photo Hunt Challenges. I signed up again this month, hoping I'll have time to take some photos in between all the craziness December already brings. Take a look at the list and see if you'd like to sign up too! Go to the website for more details.






Here is the list:

1. 1. Holiday Lights
2. 2. Holiday Spirit
3. 3. A Holiday Treat
4. 4. An Ornament
5. 5. A Gift-Wrapped Package
6. 6. A Window Display
7. 7. A Winter/Holiday Icon
8. 8. A Tree
9. 9. A Tradition
10. 10.Something that says Noel
11. 11. Something Precious
12. 12. Something Peaceful
13. 13. Something Hot
14. 14. Something Cold
15. 15. Something Red
16. 16. Something Green
17. 17. Motion blur
18. 18. Black & White Photo (with selective coloring)
19. 19. Any photo using an Infrared Photography Technique (in-camera OR post-process)
20. 20. A Macro Shot

Friday's Fun Facts

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

• As of 2009 Pahrump, Nevada has the most world record holders per capita of any city in the world, with 38 such records held among the total of its roughly 40,000 residents.
• One in three cars has a dent or scratch longer than two inches.
• There are 984 towns or cities in the United States that do not have at least one Main Street.
• A 2008 study by the Association of American Fence and Netting Manufacturers found that fully one third of fences purporting to be electrified are in fact non-electrified. (Of that third, 90 percent of non-electrification was due to power or maintenance issues, and ten percent due to the sign placer's intent to deceive.)

It's only Tuesday

I know a lot of us only have to work through tomorrow for the week but man, it's been a really long week already. I thought I would share some of these photos to brighten your day. Have a great Thanksgiving if I don't talk to you sooner. Gobble Gobble.

Photo Hunt Voting

The Photo Hunt Challenges website has now posted all the favorite photos for each category in one post with links to each category for voting. Of the 20 photos, 18 of my photos were selected as favorites. Go take a look at the link below and vote for your favorite photos.

Vote here!

Friday's Fun Facts

Happy Friday!

• Composing a 10,000 word document on a non-electric typewriter burns 135 more calories than producing that same document on a computer due to the differences in pressure required for each keystroke.
  
• The adhesion of Post-it brand sticky notes has increased 55 percent since 1990.
• Each year spam email costs nine times more in lost bandwidth capability than the value of postage paid for all unsolicited "junk" mail worldwide.
• When the first pencil with an eraser was introduced in 1858, the New York Times decried it as "yet another hallmark of the steady decline of our once noble age."

Cherrie Jones Tailgate Party

The 2nd annual Cherrie Jones Tailgate Party had been in the works for months and last Sunday, the day had finally arrived. Cherrie's last Vikings game she attended was against Detroit in December 2007 and from that day, we will celebrate Cherrie for the Vikings/Lions game each year. Our house in Little Canada was the headquarters and anyone who wanted to meet at our house had to be there by 7:20 am. We had about 7 cars carrying 20+ people come to our house, which was low compared to what we anticipated. Some people had called us that morning saying they were running late and they would meet us down there. A couple of minutes past 7:20 am and we were on our way. We arrived at the tailgating lot on 3rd and Chicago around 7:45 am and had many others from our group coming in around the same time. We set up our area that we'd be in the for the next four hours.

People had given M money to purchase their Vikings tickets for them for the last two months and I got to pass them out. Along with the ticket, each person received a set of purple and gold beads and most of the girls received a purple lei. M purchased over 87 tickets for people and with the others that bought tickets on their own, our best count of how many people came to tailgate was 113, all for Cherrie!

There were tons of food. We had two great donations of burgers and buns totaling 90 burgers. We also had a 5 gallon pot of chili in addition to the long table of food. The Vikings Skol Drum line showed up and did 4 songs for our group and the cheerleaders made an appearance too. The weather could not have been more perfect for November 15th. Bright and sunny and an afternoon high of around 50 degrees!

There was a raffle that took place to raise money for the maintenance of Cherrie's website and to benefit liver cancer. A Percy Harvin jersey was donated and given away. We also had a donation container for anyone to donate to the cause. We ended up raising $255.

When M purchased tickets, he bought as many as he can in strips so people could sit together. Mostly everyone got to sit in big groups with their friends and family once inside the dome. We all got to see another Vikings win, making them 8-1 on the season as well as the following records: 1) Brett Favre's 300th consecutive career start (including playoffs) 2) Sidney Rice catching 7 passes for 201 yards (and later being announced as Offensive Player of the Week) and 3) Adrian Peterson becoming the 4th fastest person in NFL history to reach 4,000 rushing yards.

Lots of pictures ahead. If you look at the pictures, our group went all the way down to where the billboard starts (side view). We went from one end of the parking lot almost the other end. I wasn't able to take pictures of every group but I tried my best!