The Witches Tower

A quick shot from my car window as I wait for the red light to turn green. This odd looking tower, also called the 'Witches Hat' located in Prospect Park is actually a water tower. What you might not know is, this water tower was also designed as a bandstand. Constructed back in 1913, the bandstand, incidentally, only held one concert. Carrying musical instruments to the top of the sixty foot climb proved to be quite difficult for the musicians. I must admit, this is one really cool way to hide a water tower.

City Pages Street Team

A couple of weekends ago, my wife and I went out with a few other couples for the evening. After our dinner stop in downtown Minneapolis, we made a stop at a tavern nearby called Glueck's. While we were there enjoying our favorite beverages of choice, someone from the City Pages Street Team asked if they could take our photo. Everyone in our party agreed with the teams of signing a photo waiver of some sort to release the photo for the weekly local newspaper. [The City Pages is a very popular weekly newspaper with a somewhat different take on Twin Cities news and events] While I did agree to sign the waiver, I also asked if I could take their photo to include on the Twin Cities Daily Photo. I took the verbal agreement and the 'thumbs up' in the photo as a green light. I must give credit for this photo to my wife as I posed with the City Pages Street Team member.

Prepare For Digital Television

February 17, 2009....That is the last day to receive over the air, analog television signals in the United States. The morning of February 18, you should receive 'snow' on your screen without a convert box. While some television providers will continue to broadcast analog signals, the majority are no longer allowed too to make way for future innovative services. If you have cable, satellite or have digital television, a converter box is not necessary. As of now, you have less than 9 months, or 269 days before the switch....

For more information:

DTV Answers
Digital TV Facts
Digital TV Transition

35W Bridge Freeway Ends

In yesterday's photo I was traveling on 35W, as you may recall last summer on August 2, 2007, the 35W bridge crossing the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed. As I rounded the bend in yesterday's photo, I saw the signs for the freeway ending just ahead. Nearly a year later, progress on a new replacement bridge is underway. From what I hear, they are several months ahead of schedule from the expected completion date. Though there are 20? million dollars extra if they finish ahead of schedule. Oh what an incentive will do to people.

The Other Side Of The Twin Cities

Seams like I have posted quite a few St Paul photos as of late. There is good reason, it's rare these days that I get over to Minneapolis like I was in the past. Plus, I do know St Paul much better than Minneapolis as I grew up on the St Paul side of the Twin Cities. It just so happened last week I made a very brief trip through Minneapolis via the heavily construction zone called Interstate 35W. WOW! I have never seen so much construction happening on 35W in my life. If your heading north, it starts at 494 and continues all the way up to the 35W bridge collapse. There was perhaps, maybe five miles of that stretch of highway that was not under some sort of construction.

As for the photo, in all honestly, what I like about the photo is the yellow buses parked on the bridge. It gives the steel and glass downtown some color.

I am thankful for: Not having to drive on 35W on a daily basis.

Electrocardiogram

This odd looking contraption, also from the Bakken Museum, is an early 1900s, historic EKG machine used to track the electrical energy from a heart. Today's EKG machine uses disposable patches attached to wires to read the electrical pulses, the EKG machine in the photo, the hands and feet were placed in sodium chloride baths as a means of conduction. We've come a long way in medicine.

Minnesota Wild vs Colorado Avalanche Update
Series: Wild lead in the series 2-1
Game 4: Tuesday, April 15 @ 9:00 [CT]
Game 5: Thursday, April 17 @ 8:00 [CT]

My Daily Photo Favorites: New York, New York | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Uptown, Minnesota | Duluth, Minnesota

Bakken Museum

One of the more interesting places to visit in the Twin Cities is the Bakken Museum, located on just off of Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis. Earl Bakken is credited for creating the first wearable, batter powered, cardiac pacemaker and is a co-founder of Medtronics. The pacemaker is one of several medical devices and other important electronic equipment that is housed in the museum. If you visit the Twin Cities some day in the future, schedule the museum on your list of places to see.

My Daily Photo Favorites: San Francisco, California | San Antonio, Texas | Brookville, Ohio | Chicago, Illinois | Naples, Florida

Gophers Tubby Smith

The regular season for the Minnesota Gophers has come to a close. New head coach Tubby Smith in his first year brought the basketball team from a seven win team to a twenty win team. It was a very welcome improvement as the majority of the players were leftovers from the previous coach. Tubby was able to get them to play very well together, something the previous coach was lacking.

It's my shameless annual plug for my other website I run this time of the year. It is a free, online office pool that correlates with the NCAA Men's Final Four Tournament. Hope to see you in my final four pool this year. I also have blank brackets and printable brackets if you're in need of one.

My Website: OfficePool64.com

 

My Daily Photo Favorites: returning soon....

Interesting Links Of the Day: Final Four | Blank Bracket | Printable Bracket

Hats Off To The Gophers

This isn't a photo from this weekends games during the Big Ten Conference Tournament, it was from this past December when the Gophers faced off against Santa Clara. I took this photo from my seats and they easily won this game. The Gophers has mixed emotions this weekend with a memorable highlight ending shot by Blake Hoffarber versus Indiana Hoosiers. Threw across the length of the court to Hoffarber and sank the winning shot. It was a thing of beauty. Those of you that have never heard of Hoffarber before, you must watch his game tieing shot from the Minnesota State High School Tournament. This is the most amazing shot you'll ever see in your life, trust me on this. It also won the ESPN award for Play Of The Year. Two Miracle shots in ones lifetime! Have you ever seen such a thing before?

The Gophers were not so luck in Saturday's contest, losing to Illinois and should be out of the NCAA Final Four tournament. We shall see, there is a chance, a very slim chance they'll make it in, but honestly I can't see them going very deep into the tournament.

My Daily Photo Favorites: returning soon....

Interesting Links Of the Day: Hoffarber Game tieing Shot | Hoffarber Game winning shot

My Lens Is Bigger Than Yours

During the last Minnesota Gopher Basketball game with new head coach Tubby Smith, the photographer for the athletic department spent about five minutes in the empty seat in front of me. He had two cameras with him for taking photos. One with a shorter lens that he used when the play was on the near side of the court. A much larger camera and lens was used, the one shown in the photo, when the action was in play on the far end of the court. It was really interesting to watch, every time the the ball was on one side of the court or the other, he would seamlessly switch cameras. Though it's not quite visible in this photo, there was a remote trigger attached to the camera, when he snapped a photo, there was a quick flash of lights that was barely detectable to the fans in the crowd. But there it was, the guy who made the lights flash was sitting right in front of me taking photos for various UofM magazines.

Office Or Apartments

What's your guess on the use of this building: Is it used for office space or has it been converted to apartments? The building location is downtown Minneapolis, but I don't know the function of the building. I really liked the front entrance and the brick pattern on the top of the building. Plus I just noticed that I've captured the reflection of a school bus in some of the windows.

My Daily Photo Favorites:

Broken Glass, Every Where

Okay, glass isn't everywhere, but there is a pile of it there in the parking lot. $7.00 dollars for all day parking. Why does this seam very low priced for downtown parking in Minneapolis?

Minneapolis Squares

I'm not exactly sure which building this is in downtown Minneapolis, but I really liked all of the squares in the building. I didn't realize it at the time, but the antennas you can see in the bottom left corner belong to a local television station.

My Daily Photo Favorites: Minneapolis, Minnesota | Montego Bay, Jamaica | New York, New York

Interesting Links Of the Day: What Happens Behind The Scenes | Eye Trickery | Flat 360 degree panoramic photos

On Top Of The IDS Tower

This is the top half of the IDS Tower in downtown Minneapolis. One thing I've always personally liked about the building is the two small antenna that sit atop the roof. I call the small, because they look small from the ground. I'm curious how tall they really are.

You're thinking to yourself, this guy likes antennas? I have taken a course or two in electronics, my most enjoyable quarter was the course on television, radio, shortwave and anything to do with that subject matter. To sum it up, the course talked about how radio waves travel through the air, antennas pick up the signals and then how they are converted into items that we use on a daily basis. Ever since I finished that course in electronics, I've had a fondness for antennas because of their importance in our lives.

My 3 Daily Photo Favorites:
New York, New York
Portland, Oregon
Sofia, Bulgaria

That's Me In The Spot Light

Drove over to Minneapolis a couple of weekends ago with my family. The sun was low on the horizon, the blinding light reflecting off of the building was very tough to deal with as we rounded the 11th Street Exit. Thankfully for this photo, I was NOT driving but was shooting.

Election 2008: Take this US presidential election quiz to find out what politician represents your beliefs the most.

My 3 Daily Photo Favorites:
Mexico City, Mexico
Chandler, Arizona
Cape Town, South Africa

35W Bridge In Minneapolis Collapses

DONATE: Twin Cities Red Cross

I know many of you have been seeing this tragedy on the news tonight. My heart goes out to those caught in the bridge collapse and their families. My fellow local bloggers are all safe, their families. I have a few photos of the aftermath from a few local photographers that were close to the bridge and have given me permission to post their photos. Thank you again.

This Interstate 35W bridge crosses the Mississippi River to the north of downtown Minneapolis. This is a major road for travel into and out of downtown and will greatly effect the city and surroundings for many years to come. My heart goes out to the commuters and their families.

Very detailed photos by Noah Kunin who lives closest to the bridge.
Photo set from ebrant78, lots of incredible shots

Photographer: steve.schmeiser

Photographer: neon.mamacita

Nothing But Net

From a Minnesota Gopher basketball game earlier in 2007. Kinda of different looking at all the people with their heads turned towards the action, but you can only see the crowd.

My 3 Daily Photos Favorites
Ampang, Malaysia
Torquay, UK
Novara, Italy

COUNTDOWN: Only 1 Day Until The End....

I took the family to the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis last weekend to see the Minnesota Twins play some baseball versus Toronto Blue Jays and took this photo on my way into the stadium. The Twins lost in the 13 inning, but the game was rather exciting at the end of it. They were losing 7-2 in the 7th inning and came back to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th. They were down by 1 run in the 11th, came back to tie yet again in the bottom of the 9th. Ultimately they lost in the 13th inning by not coming back a third time to tie or take the lead.

My Top 3 Daily Photo Favorites
Montreal, Canada
Manila, Philippines
Ithaca, New York

Daily Photo Breakfast Club

Of all of my years I've spent communicating on the internet, Saturday, May 12 2007 was a first for me. It was the first time I've ever met someone in real life, where I developed a friendship over the internet. Thank goodness it was with people who all share the same hobby as I, photography. Kate of Visual St Paul was the initiator in the gathering. We were joined by fellow photographer, Carol of St Paul Daily Photo and Chris, Deb, Sophie and Kitty of Minneapolis Daily Photo. From right to left, Chris is holding three year old daughter Sophie, who is holding kitty. Carol in blue, Kate with the hat, and myself in black. The photographer for the photos was Deb.

We discussed many of the other daily photo blogs that we all enjoyed, there were quite a few of you who were mentioned during our conversations. When we first starting setting up for this shot, I half expected Chris to poor water on the ground to get the reflective lighting that he is famous for. Was just an obscure thought that crossed my mind and had to share that with you all.

If down the road, and I imagine there will be another gathering of the daily photo people from the Twin Cities area, I do have to remember to check the calendar to make sure it's not during my peak allergy season and agree to meet at a place that will not set my allergies over the edge. I have a month of allergies per calendar year, when the lilacs are in full bloom is the time I stock up on allergy medicine. I am looking forward to the next gathering.

Chris, Deb, Sophie, Kitty

My Top 3 Daily Photo Favorites
Minneapolis, Minnesota
St Paul, Minnesota
St Paul, Minnesota

Best Venue In The Twin Cities

Hands down, First Avenue is the best place to see a concert if you're ever in the Twin Cities. The price is always low, typically $10-20 dollars [US] and there are no extra fees if you purchase from a local record store. I've seen quite a few bands here when they were no so well known. The place only holds about 300-400 people I would guess and you're so close to the band you can see them sweat.

If you've ever seen the Prince movie "Purple Rain" the concert footage was all filmed at First Avenue.

The stars on the building exterior are all of the bands who have performed there in the past. Some notable appearances: Metallica, Queen Latifa, Joe Cocker, Billy Idol, Beastie Boys, Motorhead [seen once], Anthrax [seen twice], White Zombie [seen once before they broke up], Big Head Todd & The Monsters [seen once] and many many many more. I'd like to take a photo of all of the stars some day, but that will be down the road someday.

If you ever get the chance, I urge you to see a concert here. Check their concert listings at first-avenue.com and be sure to check out their history page as the building was once a Grey Hound Bus Depot.