Minnesota Headhunter

Minnesota Morning

So much on the mind and trying to figure what if anything someone might want to know about but my mind is a bit warped from yesterday’s weather so lets start with that, the weather.

Why? When one adds the air temperature of 93 and mid 70’s dew point one gets a heat index or “feels like” 108 degrees. That is tropical like conditions.

I picked up some food to go (I will fire up the grill at -5 but not +108) and bumped into an old friend. We moved to the shade but after just a 20 minute chat found myself sweating.

But there was some relief last night after the storms went through the area. I was on a phone call, looked out the window and saw we were having an amazing sunset. Not able to get out a I sent out a Tweet, “Please someone in Minneapolis get a pic of this amazing sky/sunset -- late night conference calls SUCK”

My request was answered by two followers with these photos:

Minnesota Morning

Thoughts today...

Titles: Recruiter, Blogger, Speaker, etc. BEST title is "Uncle Paul"

Yesterday I put out that Tweet with a photo below.

I spent some time with my buddy and his two daughters. While not family we really are and to be “Uncle Paul” is one of the coolest things. I am very fortunate that so many of my friends have allowed me to play this role even if we do not see each as frequently as we would like.

Then again, that does sound like a family:

Minnesota Morning

I started my morning off with what has become a regular Saturday morning activity, a nice long walk along the Mississippi River in Downtown Minneapolis. Every walk brings something new to see.

Part of it is the change of seasons and I think part of it is me just wanting to watch and observe versus looking and seeking. Something I have been working on the past couple of months.

March Madness

Other than hoping my Minnesota Golden Gophers would win the title (I know, I know) I am loyal to no team, including those from the Big Ten. Sorry Buckeyes and Boilermakers you are learning what the Badgers already know.

Minnesota Morning

Starting with a useless fact but it means a lot to those of us in Minnesota... It looks like what is usually the snowiest (or second most) month of the year will end with no snow for the first time since records starting being tallied. I have 100 years and 116 years. Whatever, that’s a mighty long time.

Yes, this is a big deal. While enjoyable I do wonder how this will impact the drought we are carrying over from last year.

But the “I want to get outside” guy in me is thrilled.

Sometimes, it’s the simple things....

Healthcare Reform

Why does everyone call this healthcare reform? It is health insurance reform and I still wonder why they did not go after the healthcare stuff first. There is so much money to be saved. And why is it that some of this does not kick in for four years?

Minnesota Morning

On this Sunday morning I found myself wanting to do some cleaning of ideas in my mind. It’s been this way for about a month now and while at moments a painful process I think I am coming to the end of it.

Clarity is an awesome thing and I think maybe I did not know for some time I was without. Kind of like when you clean your windows, you realize how dirty they had been.

Darcy Pohland

I had a really emotional blog post about her but decided against it, I do not think she would have wanted me to remember her that way. Check out Darcy Pohland to see the stories and blog posts that her colleagues have put together.

Darcy and I had one of those friendships where a month might go by without seeing each other but when we bumped into each other an hour or more would go by as we shared what was going on in our lives. That would be the first 30% of the conversation and then the rest about Gopher sports particularly football. We both had tickets and she was one person I knew who could talk more about it than I.

Minnesota Morning

Aww heck, I went quite a few days in a row and then poof, almost three weeks go by. A new month maybe I can get on a roll again with these “daily” posts.

There are a few really random topics that are on my mind from the past weeks and I am going to get them out of my head now to free up some bandwidth.

Valentine’s Day

Even though single I enjoy the day but something struck me while I was making my morning delivery of flowers to some folks to brighten up their day... why do most people only express their feelings to this extent one day a year? More than that, why is there is much pressure leading up to it? Dinner, flowers and gifts, etc. Seems to me if we told those we love more often that we do there would be a lot less stress. And lot more really wonderful days.

Minnesota Morning

I should not say this but three days in a row of Minnesota Morning, I am on a roll. What’s the number it takes to make something a habit, 21 days? Baby steps Paul, baby steps. Stay focused, you know you can do it.

Yes, I am talking to myself. Yes, it happens often. It’s when the voices start having conversations and I am just a spectator. OK, the last two I was joking. I swear.

For better and worse Minnesota has been on cable news the past two days. No, not because of the snow storm (we have been trumped by our East Coast friends) but because of this billboard on I 35 north of Minneapolis:

Minnesota Morning

I am so excited today as we have sun two days in a row!!! And no complaints from me regarding our 6”-10” snowfall as I watch the East Coast get dumped on again.

Here is a really cool time lapse video taken in Washington, D.C. every five minutes February 5-6, 2010:

 

Minnesota Morning

I am having one of those moments where I am sitting at my desk and wondering where to start and instead of doing something productive I have looked at a bunch of web sites, watched Morning Joe and looked through my TweetDeck stream. Busy is not productive.

And I still have no idea where to start so I am doing this blog post in hopes that I can get my mind “jump started”.

So since all I have done so far is to look at blogs and news sites here is a list of links for you to check out from the past two mornings…

Minnesota Morning

After putting up these two posts today What Price Would You Pay For Your Dream Job? and Theme for 2010: Don’t Look Back I think I have said enough for one day :)

Instead I will leave you with some highlights from my Twitter stream going back the past 10 days or so. Most of them are not from me and if you are using Twitter I would recommend giving these folks a follow.

Oh, there is no rhyme or reason to these. Some are work, sports, life related or funny, thoughtful things (I have added some links to names and articles) and are in reverse chronological order (in other words start at the bottom):