recreading.com

And so it begins. We set out from home just south of Philly for Boston at 1pm today, Independance Day. It’s the first leg on a coast to coast trip across America.

I left my job today at 5:40 PM. Never to return. Free to hit the road!

The Minnesota Timberwolves drafted this 18-year old Spanish point guard with their first pick in the recent NBA draft.  He’s been described by some as a “one in a generation talent” and compared to Peter Maravich because of the excitement and style he brings to the game … particularly with his passing.  Known for no-look passes, behind the back and behind the neck passes, etc., some basketball experts think Rubio may be the greatest passer drafted in the last decade.  Check out the video below for some Rubio amazing passing goodness.

Ricky Rubio: Remember the Name

MA, CT, NJ, OH, IL, IA, MO, TX, NM, AZ, CA, UT, CO

- will add more info with cities and dates and possibly more stops as soon as I can.

Today, in an unanimous ruling, the Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed the lower court’s ruling that Al Franken won the election for Senate in November over Norm Coleman.  A few hours later, Coleman finally conceded the election to Franken.  Gov. Pawlenty has stated that he will abide by whatever the MN Supreme Court’s ruling is .. so hello Senator Al Franken!  This is a momentous day.  There are now only 40 Republicans in the Senate, so as long as Reid can keep the 58 Democrats plus Sanders and Lieberman in line, there is a filibuster-proof Democratic majority.   Hopefully this means that meaningful healthcare reform and other promised legislation is on the horizon.  And it also means that Paul Wellstone can now rest in peace .. his seat no longer held by that two-faced, chameleon carpetbagging Bush suckup, Norm Coleman.

Part of the reason that I totally redid my blog and started working on it again is that I intend to use it to chronicle a road trip that David and I will be embarking upon.  This will be a coast-to-coast road trip, starting in the New England and then going west all the way to Los Angeles and San Francisco and then back.  We will be on the road for the better part of two months – and no I did not have two months of vacation to burn.  (More on that later.)

Ostensibly, this trip is for training sessions in many cities for David’s clients to learn the latest iteration of the Replink software/website.  But there are larger purposes and reasons for this trip:  1) To see America and 2)To start living a life full of travel and being able to be anywhere we want to be without being tied down to one place by my job constraints.  So let me take you through my thoughts on these two Big Reasons for this road trip.  More »

I tried this on my iPhone 3G last night, and it works beautifully.  It did not break my Visual Voicemail either.

Gizmodo – Enable Tethering On Your iPhone 3G and 3GS With Only Safari (MMS, VV Fix) – Iphone tethering.

tethering without jailbreaking on iPhone

For Minnesota sports fans, who have not had a real winner in some years, there is at least the pleasure of being able to follow hometown sports deities (even after the departures of Randy Moss and Kevin Garnett).  Not just deities – Jesuses (Jesusi?  not sure what the plural of Jesus is).  We’ve got Purple Jesus:  Adrian Peterson.  And we’ve got Baby Jesus:  Joe Mauer.

Mauer is Baby Jesus not only because he is really good at baseball, but because he’s also a true hometown boy.  He grew up in St. Paul and attended Cretin Derham Hall before being drafted first overall and signing with the Minnesota Twins.  And since his debut with the Twins 5 years ago, he’s been arguably the best catcher in baseball – playing gold glove defense, handling pitchers extremely well, hitting .328, and winning two AL batting titles.  But there hasn’t been alot of national attention and hype for Mauer amongst casual baseball fans outside of Minnesota – mainly because Mauer has never hit for power, has not had outstanding run-producing numbers, and has not hit above .350 even in his batting title years.  He’s also been injury prone (a debatable point since he’s a catcher, but that’s his reputation anyways).

This year, Mauer missed the all of spring training and the entire month of April with lower back pain and the recovery from that.  When he returned to the team in May, he proceeded to make like Babe Ruth.  On his very first swing, he homered, and then hit 11 home runs in the month of May (his career high for a season was 13 homers) while hitting over .400 with an OPS of around 1.300.  He won AL Player of the Month honors and caught the attention of hardcore fans and sports pundits across the nation.  Now, his otherworldy home run pace has slowed, but he’s still hitting about .400, and it’s nearly the end of June.  Until/unless Mauer falls a good distance below .400, the question is going to be whether he can keep up the pace and whether he can become the first player to hit .400 since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941.  The speculation is starting to build in the sports media and blogosphere.  Here’s a sampling of what’s being said out there about Mauer’s run at .400:

Joe Mauer Will Serenely, Politely Crush You

It Takes More Than Just Skill

Can Joe Mauer Bat .400?

Can Joe Mauer Hit .400?

The Count:  Joe Mauer’s Pursuit of Ted Williams

Can Joe Mauer hit .400?

If you’ve been following the situation in Iran closely, you probably already know that Andrew Sullivan’s blog has been perhaps the go-to place for updates and opinion.

If you haven’t been following the situation closely, then start with these two postings by Andrew – on why the Iran situation matters so much to some of us, and on Obama’s response to it.

Andrew Sullivan:

Why Iran Matters

Obama’s Reponse