Yes, we have added Jinsu to our family. He is a 2 yr old Cockapoo (cocker spaniel/poodle cross). Black with tight curls and a ball of energy. He has fit in very quickly and is happy to be loved. We adopted him through the Homeward Bound Rescue. What a great way to give a dog a home!

Also! I (Ruth) have a job lined up for next fall! I’m very excited. I will be a title 1/ESL teacher at an elementary charter school in MPLS. Sounds like a good fit. I am looking forward to it. Now… student teaching and one more class this summer to get through.

Have a great week.

Hi everyone! So the long awaited house pictures are up. For you facebook users, it’s always www.nateandruth.com). I know… It’s taken us a month, but we have been busy!

We have been gardening, hanging pictures, and unpacking books. We have learned a lot so far about the house and our own tastes. Why is it so hard to find inexpensive drapes that we like? We really like the paint colors that we have chosen and love the yard. It will be great to use it all summer long.

Enjoy the pictures, and have a great holiday weekend! Maybe I will see some of you on Monday.

For Facebook users…Nate posting here! I’ll have to figure out a better way to translate who is writing via RSS.

OK. So my weekly posting of cool, mostly design-centered, links is not so weekly, but here’s some fun links to waste some time this Friday (I mean…inspire your creative mind).

__Cool Photos__

• The lightning from the clouds a volcano that is erupting in Chile
• Washing the Space Needle (scroll down):
• People and their cars (original photo, same car, new photo many years later

__New Ideas__

• FontStruct - Build a font online (I haven’t had time to mess with this, but it looks easier and still as powerful as any font building software)
• MSNBC’s new RSS reader. Built in Flash. I like the idea, but it doesn’t let you put non-NBC stuff in and that just won’t do.
• Fold-Ins, Past and Present. Not really a new idea, just a cool way to show these online.

__Silliness__

• Anteater Coolness (watch the video clip toward the end of this post). via my bro Paul at pyktech.

After about 4 ½ hours of non-stop dancing at Connie and Dave’s wedding Friday (congrats!) we headed south to Whalan, MN, pop. 64, for a bit of silliness and Norwegian small-town fun at the 2008 Whalan Stand Still Parade. Yes, every year on Syttende Mai (Norway’s 4th of July, pronounced Setten de my), a festival grows in this small town only big enough to have a parade stand still and the attendees walk around it. No lawn chairs needed.

The event hadn’t changed much, but the day was beautiful and I think the population grew about 10 times or more, at least for a few hours during and after the parade. Wow! What a turnout. The brats and lefse were cooking, the Rommegrot sweet soup was already gone (probably ok for my health to do without that cream) and the rhubarb desserts were disappearing quickly.

All the food sold out quickly, but they had great help and entertainment. The local radio show broadcast live, an Irish band played several times, some international dancers came in from Winona, local people sang and the usual static events went on including the cow milking contest, petting zoo, pony rides, art fair, bed races, and Shadow rode his bike like a daredevil through town (awesome).

Anyway, we had fun at the parade, with the locals during take down and the evening after when the roar dims to the laughter of neighbors over a campfire and eventually to the peace of a highway in the distance until 2009. Here are some of the pics from our gallery.

I can’t believe that its been 2 weeks since we moved in. It feels like so much longer, but at the same time like it was just yesterday. We are really enjoying making the house ours and getting to know the yard as well.

The colors we put on the walls looks great (thanks for all the help), and we are unpacked and decorated. It looks like our house, not the one we bought from another couple. Now we just need to go get the rest of our things from mom’s and a bit more from Rochester.

We mowed yesterday and were surprised at how quickly it went and easy it was on the almost new riding lawnmower that came with the house. We have some garden ideas to get started on next week and are interested to see what the plants that are here already look like.

We will get some new pictures up soon. Sorry it’s taken so long.

Have a great week.

Wow!

It has been quite a week so far.  It’s only Thursday and we have gotten a lot done.  But our list keeps growing. lol.

Thanks to everyone who helped us move on Monday!  With 9 vehicles and 15 people it went fast and smoothly.  We couldn’t have done it without you.  Since then we have unpacked the kitchen, organized boxes a bit, gotten things ready to paint, changed the locks on the doors and spent some money at home depot.

We are looking forward to getting some rooms painted this weekend so that we can move our stuff into them. 

Hope to see you soon.

Hi everyone!

Time is moving quickly, and we are down to 4 days till closing. Our apartment is a mess, boxes, both filled and unfilled, scattered everywhere. But the craziness is all a part of moving.  And I suppose I can deal with it for a few more days. lol.

Our address will soon be changing, and along with that so will our neighborhood.  We are sad to leave the fun, exciting, busy corner here in South Minneapolis, but we are excited to meet our neighbors and explore our new area.

I’ve talked to everyone that has contacted me about helping us move, if you are free on Monday the 28th and are around to help let us know. We will also be painting the first weekend of May. I’m thankful for friends that are willing to help.

We will be busy these next 4 days, but hope to get out to a gathering Saturday night and a concert Sunday evening! Hopefully we will see some of you this weekend!

Nate here (for you Facebook viewers). I’ve seen a few videos recently that I think are really worth your time.

Take the time you might dedicate to a DVD and check out one of these documentaries. Some of the facts in these about our future is mind blowing. And, it’s not political or too preachy (well, sort of).

First, two stories of our future on this planet.

First, Journey to Planet Earth with Matt Damon.
Yeah, yeah, cutie Matt Damon is a fun host, but the message is what is important. Essentially this series is warning of our possible upcoming extinction (it’s more real than you think) as well as positive things that are being done around the planet to offset and maintain our current habitats and ecosystems. Essentially the conundrum is how to balance economic sustainability and expansion with our planet.

I learned a lot of things, namely about where our resources come from. Lumber for our furniture still being cut in the Amazon rain forest, wood being grown for our paper in South Africa’s former prairies, and the wild birds captured in Singapore as our future pets. This and the consumption of China, which now has become the world’s largest consumer. Essentially it comes down to the largest powers, including the U.S. and its citizens, taking a stand to ask where their consumables comes from, how they are produced and finding solutions to help in a small way. That’s the small version. Politics wasn’t really brought into the episodes I’ve watched.

Politics is brought into the picture in Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard. I originally found this site because I heard it had some cool Flash video presentation. Being a Flash designer, I had some interest! However, the story is so understandable and I think it’s a great way to start understanding where you can fit in the equation of saving our earth.

My final recommendation for good, information in video form is from my favorite program, Frontline. The episode called, Bush’s War is viewable online. Essentially, this is a great review if you know the history of how the Iraq War came about or even if you thought you knew how it came about. This is just great journalism with all of the resources brought together in an understandable two-part, two-hour series. It’s riveting mostly in just how mad it makes me! I encourage you to at least become informed and this is not a boring program by any means. A quick preview: It’s all about Cheney!

That’s my two cents for a lazy day viewing. I’d love to hear your thoughts afterwards.

So, we do a link share in my design department every week called Free Thinking Friday where we share any cool things we found that week.

Since I know far too many blogs for my own good and use RSS to read them, I usually find quite a few design-based links. I’m going to start sharing them every Friday for your enjoyment as well because it’s about a 5-minute blog post. Let me know what you think.

The time is coming quickly.  We can’t wait.

It is time to leave Minneapolis and join the community in St. Anthony.  We are currently picturing our home with its new paint colors, and our stuff in it.  A large backyard with lots of people surrounding a fire pit.  A Christmas tree in the front window with family around it.

We are full of dreams that include this home and can’t wait to make it ours.