A Reputable Journal

2023-02-05: Making ribs for our friends tonight. Two more hours until they are done. But what else are you going …

2023-02-05: Today’s NYT Sunday crossword theme was so fun. Favorite clue: “You there, holding the …

2023-02-01: I think ChatGPT is my new goto search engine… Me: “explain the difference between …

2023-02-01: I do try to have empathy for all of you all southerners, but as a northerner, a little freezing …

2023-01-30: Also, the mountains were just stunningly beautiful with new snow added overnight. Nothing beats …

2023-01-30: I think this is as close as I’ve ever come to a hole in one! The ball is on the opposite side …

2023-01-29: I just realized how inconsistent I am… During the board of regents meeting I strongly …

2023-01-24: Lets say you are a teacher, and you know that when you are teaching there are 1000 other classes …

2023-01-24: Today’s rabbit hole was about monorepos and polyliths. I really think this is the way to go …

2023-01-21: Finally got to play with a Christmas gift today. My new Ruixin knife sharper, it definitely takes …

2023-01-18: All of this rain has left our San Jancinto mountains with more snow than usual, and a beautiful …

2023-01-17: What to do when your open source community lets someone down? Promises were made, now classes are …

2023-01-16: I finally got time to post a retrospective of 2022 for Runestone Academy. Give it a read and feel …

2023-01-12: Shoutout to Susan Rodger and all of her students at Duke University! The stream of Paypal donations …

2023-01-08: Bowling Bowling for the first time in well over a decade. I’ve never bowled at a place where the score …

2023-01-06: apropos of nothing I think it is funny that all modern apps and editors have the command palette …

2023-01-05: Count me among the Americans who would love to see a coalition of moderate Dems and Reps in the …

2023-01-05: Has anyone in the GOP heard of this Einstein guy? He said: The definition of insanity is doing the …

2023-01-05: The Joys of Winter Flying This morning I got Wordle in 2! Here is Proof: Wordle 564 2/6* ⬜🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Since I won’t post …

2023-01-04: I don’t get it in two very often. Wordle 564 2/6* ⬜🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Tomorrow I will explain why this …

2023-01-04: I just thought it would be fun to say hello from 30,000 feet. After a lot of waiting for de-icing …

2023-01-03: Back home after six hours… The first time I’ve ever seen them close the Minneapolis …

2023-01-02: The bookshelf feature has spawned all kinds of fun. Extracting all the books on my kindle, …

2022-12-30: New Instructor Dashboard I’ve been working on a new instructor dashboard the last week using Plotly + Dash. Its taken a …

2022-12-29: Shoutout to @canion, @burk, and @martinfeld for a fun podcast - Tight Thirty on Hemispheric Views. …

2022-12-29: Favorite photos of 2022 Inspired by the latest episode of Hemispheric Views, I decided to choose some of my favorite photos …

2022-12-26: I watched Spirited and Elf in a 24 hour period. I loved them both. I only know Ryan Reynolds from …

2022-12-24: A regular heat wave, with a high of 3 degrees today. It will soon be time to get to work on the …

2022-12-22: The kids all got on the road early this morning to beat the winds – One set just arrived and …

2022-12-21: I’m ready to declare the winner of the snowman building contest! ☃️

2022-12-18: Post World Cup Walk. I don’t know when the wind is going to come up and destroy all of this …

2022-12-18: Who else is thrilled that we get 30 more minutes of ⚽️? Lets go 🇦🇷

2022-12-17: A Snowy Morning Walk We arrived at our own private winter wonderland about 5:00 last night. The lane to our cabin greeted …

2022-12-17: I love the change of seasons! I took this last fall when the light was beautiful. I took this an …

2022-12-16: Arriving at the cabin for Christmas is like pulling into a winter wonderland !

2022-12-16: After three days of snow it was great to see the sun for a few minutes! Everything looks so clean …

2022-12-15: Trying out the Warp terminal app today. I love it so far. I’m starting to think there is …

2022-12-15: A snowy december night in Minneapolis. Dinner at home then a two block walk to the Guthrie Theater …

2022-12-14: OK, I’m officially on break until the end of the France Morocco match. ⚽️🇲🇦

2022-12-13: Just let me talk to a human! I have a simple question - can I go to an apple store and get a battery …

2022-12-13: Nothing but zoom all day today! Thankfully I could still stream ⚽️⚽️🇦🇷on my iPad.

2022-12-11: I love having a grandson that is just old enough to play hot wheels. Bought this giant pile of track …

2022-12-11: The stockings are hung by the chimney with care… And leaning against the chimney is the …

2022-12-10: Really looking forward to today’s ⚽️ matches! Hoping for Morocco and England to advance!!

2022-12-08: Beautiful sunny winter day in Minneapolis, time to head out and see what the PT has to say about my …

2022-12-07: I guess my Feb 2009 purchase of Mars Edit 2.0 does not qualify for an upgrade to 5.0 🤪 But happy to …

2022-12-07: Last night, Leo Kottke at the Guthrie Theater! Even nicer that we could just walk there from our …

2022-12-06: Morocco… through to the quarter finals ⚽️ 🇲🇦 With the USA eliminated I’m definitely …

2022-12-05: It’s the return of the condo Christmas pole!! Flurries just outside the window!

2022-12-04: Back in Minneapolis for the Holidays. Got a new little tree for the condo! Lights are already …

2022-12-03: Crazy surprise in the mail today! I wasn’t even aware that this was in the works.

2022-12-02: Last night’s project. I think this is a candidate for the sweet setup.

2022-12-01: In March 2015 we had the great joy of visiting Morocco for a week. It is great to see them doing so …

2022-11-30: Sharing the wealth... This topic has always been tough for us, as parents. But I love our financial adivisors, and I think …

2022-11-30: Anyone have experience with plotly + dash? I’m working on a new dashboard for teachers that …

2022-11-30: PSA: You cannot score a safety in ⚽️ ! Looking forward to watching team USA in the knockouts! I …

2022-11-30: Just a shout out to @manton – I’ve been looking for an inexpensive site monitoring …

2022-11-29: I’ve been working on importing posts from my old blog the last couple of days. Its been fun to …

2022-11-29: Wow!!! What an ending ⚽️ way to go team USA! I can breathe again.

2022-11-29: Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a day… There are so many interesting and bizarre …

2022-11-28: I just got off the course, and I’m happy to report that my golf score is trending downward.

2022-11-27: This micro.blogvember experience is great motivation for returning to other open web systems …

2022-11-26: I have made a commitment to be committed to my commitments, whatever they may be. Especially if one …

2022-11-25: Our family has developed a nice ritual for Black Friday. Inspired by #OptOutside we don’t do …

2022-11-24: Happy Thanksgiving! What is your favored turkey cooking method? I spatchcock it and put it on my …

2022-11-23: All the Things I am Thankful for I thought it would be fun to share a text and picture blog post of …

2022-11-23: an update on microblogvember progress, I have made 23/23 days now! This has been fun and has …

2022-11-22: just for fun, I made today’s microblogvember word “graze” my first guess on …

2022-11-21: This morning we have a frost delay. My tee time is now 9:30 instead of 8:30. A frost delay… …

2022-11-20: Well, game one of world cup 2022 is in the books. I’m looking forward to some conversation …

2022-11-20: I was saddened to read that elon restored the account of the former guy. I sincerely hope we are not …

2022-11-19: Watching the celebration of life for Rick Torgerson, who led Luther College and is someone I truly …

2022-11-19: I really wanted to take a novel approach to today’s microblogvember, but I couldn’t …

2022-11-18: Last fall I rode my bike the length of the Mississippi I only had to change a flat tire five times …

2022-11-17: Just curious, who here remembers playing the game “Barrel of Monkeys” when they were a …

2022-11-16: I sent in my absentee ballot after checking it twice. But myvote.wi.gov has no record of me voting …

2022-11-15: Todays microblogvember word brought back fun memories of choir warmups. “Aluminum Linoleum …

2022-11-14: Not my words, but these James Taylor lyrics work: There’s something in the way she moves Or …

2022-11-13: Went to the Margaritaville pickleball tournament this afternoon (Nationals)! I have to adjust my …

2022-11-12: Just checked the News - I like the Time headline: “Good Job America. You Didn’t Destroy …

2022-11-12: I have a suspicion that supper will be a little late since I forgot to take the pork out of the …

2022-11-11: Continuity camera inspired the purchase of a stand for what looks like another mini-display next to …

2022-11-10: I am going to recommend that my minister checks out this place in Temecula…

2022-11-09: This post has a little bit of everything: sunshine in the foreground, ominous clouds over Joshua …

2022-11-09: This pic has a little bit for everyone. Sunshine, ominous clouds, and even a rainbow.

2022-11-09: I was certain that the fix I pushed out midweek yesterday to my servers was safe. But I was wrong. …

2022-11-08: I can never remember how to spell consensus… my brain is convinced that there is a second c …

2022-11-08: I Just finished reading Ken Follett’s Never. I would love to hear what others thought of the …

2022-11-07: I am afraid that my recent knee / MCL injury is giving me too much insight into what its like to get …

2022-11-06: I have enjoyed my first few days trying to use micro.blog regularly. It feels good to be out of the …

2022-11-05: I used to be exempt from this kind of injury and silliness but darn, my first day back at pickleball …

2022-11-04: Today’s Microblogvember word admiration made me stop and recall some of the people I admire …

2022-11-03: For today’s Microblogvember challenge I will engage in a little shameless self promotion. …

2022-11-02: feast your eyes upon the beautiful fall colors of Northern Minnesota. Day 2 of Microblogvember

2022-11-01: I’m very happy to announce that Runestone and PreTeXt have received an NSF grant for …

2022-11-01: I must say that I cut quite a dashing figure at last night’s black light party! I think …

2022-10-30: Westward Ho! Instead of camping our way to California this Fall we decided to make it a four day drive. We stayed …

2022-10-27: Superior Fall Colors Timing the fall colors is a tough game to play. It’s hard to predict when they will peak because …

2022-10-15: Fall Walks on Bone Lake After a couple of years of taking long camping trips during the month of October it has been …

2022-07-28: Devils Tower The road home runs through Devils Tower National Monument. A monument who got its name from a …

2022-07-25: Yellowstone Scenery Although there was a huge flood in Yellowstone just over a month ago there was very little of the …

2022-07-24: Mud Pots, Hot Springs and Geysers Educational Post Alert (EPA)! Did you know there are four kinds of geothermal features in …

2022-07-23: Grand Teton - Cascade Canyon The first ferry across Jenny lake leaves at 7am she said. We decided to shoot for the 7:30 crossing, …

2022-07-23: Grand Teton Icons What do Oxbow bend, Schwabacher landing, the Moulton barn and the snake river overlook all have in …

2022-07-20: Exploring Custer - Day 3 The morning dawned crisp and clear, it was great to sleep with the windows open taking in the cool …

2022-07-19: Mexican food so good… Today (Day 2) was a day of driving across South Dakota. What do you see when driving across South …

2022-07-18: The Adventures Begin Every five-ish years we have a special trip with our good friends Brian and Holly. We were all …

2022-05-09: Hiking the Wire Pass Canyon Unfortunately our lottery attempts were a bust and neither of us got selected. So we did the next …

2022-05-08: Cruising Lake Powell Houseboat by sheer cliffs private beach with no neighbors billions of bright stars After piloting a …

2022-05-06: Driving to Page Today was mostly just getting from Zion over to Page Arizona. We had to take the camper through the …

2022-05-03: Long wait in the middle of nowhere today. On the highway with no cell service. When we finally got …

2022-05-02: Zion Narrows - I Know how to Save a Life Suddenly floating Down the river goes my wife Someone grab her hat! It was a beautiful morning in …

2022-04-30: The journey home starts today! One night in Vegas Baby! Specifically the Las Vegas RV Resort. …

2021-11-29: Seminole Canyon State Park After some city time we were excited to get back to nature. Its hard to believe that we only have …

2021-11-03: Winter Wonderland at White Sands I was looking down at my phone or something inside the car when we made the transition. I looked up …

2021-10-30: Big Bend National Park After a beautiful night at Seminole Canyon, we were on our way to Big Bend National Park. This is a …

2021-10-28: San Antonio - Welcome to Texas We pulled out of the campground in the dark. The first time I can remember us breaking camp in the …

2021-10-26: Food Fun in NOLA We arrived in New Orleans on Sunday, not the best day to visit restaurants, but we were able to make …

2021-10-25: End of the Line - Riding the Delta Yesterday was the official end of my Mississippi River ride. I rode way out on the delta to Venice, …

2021-10-22: Natchez Trace After days of really flat, really boring, riding / non-riding today was a welcome breath of fresh …

2021-10-21: Google Maps — You. are. Fired. Due to my back pain I rode with Jane today from the Mississippi River state park to Lake Chicot …

2021-10-18: Zooming to Tennessee My back felt better this morning, and with 52 miles on the schedule it felt very doable. Especially …

2021-10-17: Saint Louis to Fort Kaskaskia Today was another 50 mile day, but thankfully the weather was 180 degrees from yesterday. Cool, …

2021-10-17: West Memphis to Mississippi River State Park This is one of the most beautiful state parks with really nice campsites. After riding nearly 60 …

2021-10-16: A Dogged Ride to Fort Pillow Today I saw fields of cotton ready for harvest for the first time in my life. What a sight! Acres of …

2021-10-14: Trail of Tears State Park From Fort Kaskaskia we drove to the Trail of Tears State Park. This park marks the spot where …

2021-10-11: Halfway there? Or am I finished? A battle of will! Today started out promising. Like any morning in the camper I made myself some coffee. Unlike most …

2021-10-10: Hannibal / Hamberg to Pere Marquette I awoke with heavy legs this morning! The plan was for Jane to drive me back across the river, …

2021-10-10: Not that kind of biker Although today was a “day of rest” we still made a short ride into Grafton for lunch. I’ll ride this …

2021-10-08: Nauvoo to Hannibal Today was a total washout. I woke up and looked at the forecast and radar only to see a huge patch …

2021-10-07: Mississippi Palisades to Muscatine Today I did 86 miles but it was a very relaxing day of riding. The majority of the day was on trails …

2021-10-05: Pike’s Peak to Dubuque After a wonderful weekend in Decorah for our 35 year class reunion, we arrived at Pike’s Peak state …

2021-08-17: 02 Bemidji to Brainerd — My First Century 02 Bemidji to Brainerd - My First Century Yesterday the ride from Itasca to Bemidji turned out to be …

2021-08-14: Prelude (Day 0) Mississippi Headwaters We had a lovely 20 mile ride around Lake Itasca planned for today with a stop at the headwaters of …

2021-06-04: Three Days in Chelan Well, I think it is time to head East. When we started making our egg scramble for breakfast this …

2021-05-31: Snowy Adventure The North Cascades (America’s Alps) is a beautiful stop on our journey. Not to mention the warmest …

2021-05-29: Deception Pass State Park Yesterday was laundry day and hang around the park day. Jane headed into Oak Harbor to wash a load …

2021-05-28: Jane Can not Control the Weather This morning we woke up to a bit of broken sunshine at our campground. The water was as smooth as …

2021-05-27: More Photos from today and 1986 This morning we went through all the weather in about 30 minutes! We started out at our Salt Creek …

2021-05-23: Crater Lake The plan had been to bike around crater lake. Then we learned that the road was not open yet. …

2021-05-22: The Avenue of the Giants 8:00 This morning we are getting an early start and I’ve decided to record this in real time, or at …

2021-05-13: El Capitan State Beach - The Adventure Begins This morning began with Coffee and a quick, but promising, Zoom meeting with the folks from …

2021-04-17: Katie Kukulka, an information officer with the California Energy Commission, takes photos during a …

2021-04-13: Glad to see the official announcement of Apple’s “Spring Loaded” event next week. I’ve been living …

2021-04-10: A really nice round this afternoon at Heritage Palms! And yes, I can still put it in the water from …

2021-04-10: A Winter in Indio I never thought of myself as a Snowbird, but even with COVID-19, our second Winter in Indio is …

2021-01-06: Dubuque to Mississippi Palisades Today was a rough day. The hills were steep, the good people of Galena seem to hate bikers, and I …

2019-03-14: AI in the Dominican Republic This all started a year ago when the government posted a travel warning for the Playa area of Mexico …

2019-02-03: Welcome Back to Minneapolis Well it was bound to happen, and as we like to say, it could have been worse. Landed at MSP just …

2019-02-01: Darwin Research Center We started our day today with a visit to the Darwin Research Center. One of the main projects at …

2019-01-31: I 💙 Boobies By this time of the trip the routine was well established. Breakfast in the morning, then off to the …

2019-01-30: Galápagos Day 4 — Santa Cruz The activity of the morning was a “long” walk around Dragon hill on Santa Cruz. The main objective …

2019-01-29: Galápagos Day 3 — Pinnacle Rock If you google Galápagos Islands you will almost certainly see this picture: You will likely see even …

2019-01-28: Galápagos Day 2 Looking out the window in the morning we couldn’t see anything. Had our luck changed? Were we going …

2019-01-26: Galápagos Islands!! Iguanas fighting over territory, thousands of crabs, two species of sea lions, lizards galore, birds …

2019-01-24: At the Equator It turns out that Ecuador is a great place to study the equator. It’s not in the middle of a jungle, …

2019-01-23: Cusco Cooking! After a morning with Chef Jose you will definitely believe that Peru is the center of the culinary …

2019-01-22: Machu Picchu It rained hard all night long, and it was still very cloudy when we got up for breakfast. But, by …

2019-01-21: You never know who you will meet on the Inca Trail I woke up around 3:30AM when I heard a few splatters of rain against the roof of our Casita. The …

2019-01-19: Into the Sacred Valley The flight from Puerto Moldenado was blissfully short. It was almost comical how many first time …

2019-01-17: Amazon Observations When is a vacation not a vacation? When you are on your third day in a row getting up between 4 and …

2019-01-15: Into the Amazon We walked to the light rail station which took us to MSP, from there we flew to Atlanta and onward …

2018-12-30: Ladder Canyon Turn left at the arrow. Hmmm? Would you turn left and head into the rocks here? Despite the giant …

2018-11-26: Post Bike Tour Quiz Post Bike Tour Quiz What country would you be in if I told you the following facts? 90% of the …

2018-11-22: Bond, James Bond... Island Bond, James Bond... Island Wrong side of the island, wrong end of the beach! That would be the …

2018-11-21: Cooking with Pearly Cooking with Pearly Stand under the clock tower facing the roundabout at 9:00 and my husband will …

2018-11-21: Progressive Trivia Champions! Progressive Trivia Champions! On our first day at sea we looked at the schedule of activities on …

2018-11-20: Sunrise to Sunset in Bagan, Myanmar Sunrise to Sunset in Bagan, Myanmar One of the cool things about this Azamara journey is that the …

2018-11-14: Yala Safari Yala Safari Today we got caught up in a traffic jam in the middle of the Yala National Park in Sri …

2018-11-13: Driving a Tuk Tuk in Colombo Driving a Tuk Tuk in Colombo This morning we had a morning at sea and we arrived in Colombo Sri …

2018-11-12: Kochin: Houseboats and Driving Kochin: Houseboats and Driving I think that no blogging about India would be complete without some …

2018-11-11: First World Problems First World Problems “First world problems eh?” We all use that phrase to acknowledge …

2018-11-08: A Wadi Wadi tour of the Hajar Mountains A Wadi Wadi tour of the Hajar Mountains Our guide’s name was Oscar, He is a Masai from kenya, …

2018-11-07: Dubai: City of Contrasts Dubai: City of Contrasts I once listened to an interesting 99% Invisible podcast that said that Las …

2018-10-27: City Life City Life Its a misty late October morning, the farmers market isn’t open yet, and the …

2018-09-09: Yosemite Yosemite The plan was to go to Napa. But we have been to Napa in fact we had been to Napa already …

2018-08-26: T-minus 29 days !! Today’s visit really got me excited. Downtown Minneapolis here we come.

2018-08-12: Sunday evening at the lake. Weekend-ers are heading home and things are peaceful and quiet.

2018-05-06: Chapel Talk - May 7 2018 The following is the transcript of my chapel talk. You may be able to view it here. Luke 24: Now …

2018-04-24: Lifelong Luther As this will be my final Ideas and Creations contribution I hope you will indulge me in a little …

2018-03-10: Remembering John Carlis Everyone wants to belong, and for a young man from a small town in southwest Minnesota who went to a …

2018-03-02: A Detour on our Cording Cutting Journey I wonder how much data we have used this period? I asked my wife as we were streaming Premier League …

2018-01-30: Understanding Entrepreneurship -- Part II -- New Beginnings Whenever I teach this JTerm course on entrepreneurship, friends and colleagues often ask me …

2018-01-29: Understanding Entrepreneurship -- Lessons Learned (part I) The students are on the plane home, and I am now in Napa taking a few days of R&R and thinking …

2018-01-17: My Life in the Computer History Museum My Life in the Computer History Museum Its been six or eight years since I’ve taken a group of …

2017-12-08: Who Are We? I’ve been thinking about this question a lot lately and I know others have been repeating this …

2017-05-25: Fending Off “Day 2” at Luther College I’m a fan of Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, whether its because he “got it” and was the first customer …

2017-03-19: Spring Break 2017 Spring Break! Boy did I need one! With everything going on at the college, I really needed a few …

2017-01-24: Bula from Likuliku Lagoon With a view like that you would think I could write something really inspirational for this final …

2017-01-21: Is this Hobbiton or Nerdvana? For as little as I wanted to go to the stinky spa yesterday, Jane wanted to go to Hobbiton today …

2017-01-20: A Day at the Spa... or 45 minutes of Smelling Bad Gas I woke up several times during the night, and each time I did I could hear the rain battering the …

2017-01-19: No Mount Doom for You The goal for today had been to bike the Timber Trail. But since the forecast was for lots of rain we …

2017-01-17: Kayak Sailing When Jane told me that if the weather was right we might be able to sail our kayaks I was perplexed. …

2017-01-15: Only Mid Thigh Estuary: the tidal mouth of a river where the river meets the tide. The final leg of our hike today …

2017-01-13: Driving the West Coast After two weeks of organized tours and bus rides we struck out on our own today in a rental car. New …

2017-01-12: Milford Sound As we walked back from Ultimate Hikes to the Lovely St. Moritz hotel we stopped at the Real Journeys …

2017-01-12: Three Days on the Routeburn Track Day Zero We arrived in Queenstown just in time to appreciate the change in temperature. We left the …

2017-01-06: The Great Ocean Road Arrival and Trolly Tour We arrived in Melbourne and took a little dinner tour of the city on a …

2017-01-05: Great Barrier Reef (batman) WOW! we haveve just finished a day on a live aboard dive boat where we did 4 dives and 2 snorkels on …

2017-01-05: Hiking the Valley of the Winds Today we flew three hours and 1.5 timezones out of our way to see a big red rock! I’m not sure …

2016-12-31: Happy New year! Happy New Year! Celebrating the new year in Australia is definitely something special. Everywhere we …

2016-12-31: Eucalyptus in the Air One great way to get over jet lag is to just get up in the morning and get going again. Although we …

2016-12-30: Hello Nemo! I’m sitting by the window of our flat in Pott’s Point with the view you see in the …

2016-12-18: All the Christmas Presents are Early We leave the house tomorrow morning and we won’t be back until January 26th. (Note to would be …

2016-06-30: Wrapping up the RV Adventure We are on I-94 heading across North Dakota today, the amount of road construction almost makes us …

2016-06-29: The Hike to Iceberg Lake We were just passed Ptarmigan Falls on our way back down when from behind me I heard, “Oh …

2016-06-27: Slow Down You're Movin too Fast “Slow Down!” Ok, this was not delivered in the sing-songy spirit of the Simon and …

2016-06-25: Tie Your RV Down As we got in the car to head over to the hot tub at the KOA in St. Mary’s Montana, I pointed …

2016-06-23: Taking a Break on a Rainy Afternoon “A clean underwear!” came the shout from the bedroom of the RV. “Thanks Holly, you …

2016-06-21: Wardrobe Malfunction at the Hot Springs Happy Anniversary! Jane and I have been married 30 years today. People will say that is quite an …

2016-06-20: We are older than we think Sitting in our campsite in Banff, my feet are up, I have a Gin & Tonic next to me, the campfire …

2016-06-19: Arrival in Banff It was difficult to get out of bed this morning. The rain was making rainy sounds on the roof and …

2016-06-17: The Worlds Largest Buffalo This morning we left the Pratt’s at 8:00, right on schedule. I took my first shift in the …

2016-06-16: Packing up and Heading Out Mobile blogging! Her is my view as I write this post. Where to start? We awoke this morning and …

2016-06-15: Prelude to a Recreational Vehicle In preparation for our big RV adventure Brian, Holly, Jane and I all attended the Minnesota United …

2016-06-12: Biking with Blaise Blaise Schaeffer, my former student for all of 3 weeks, is on a cross country bike journey. He was …

2016-03-19: The Bucket Dive The Bucket Dive According to our dive logs it’s been 13 years since we did our last dive. So, …

2016-01-23: No Easy Solutions No Easy Solutions If you were king how would you end poverty? Not an easy question to answer, even …

2015-07-01: Rome Arrival Rome Arrival We began our outing to Rome with a walkabout starting at our hotel. The hotel, …

2015-06-26: Day 178 Day 178 We have been away from the USA for 178 days. With the rulings of the supreme court back home …

2015-06-22: Summary of Azamara Cruise Summary of Azamara Cruise For future reference I like to record the itinerary and favorite stops …

2015-06-21: Cooking in Istanbul Cooking in Istanbul Since we had done all the usual tourist things during our previous visit to …

2015-06-19: Evening Concert in Ephesus Evening Concert in Ephesus The cat, of all things, stole the show. Earlier in the day we had learned …

2015-06-18: Biking in Patmos Biking in Patmos We may have missed 2 or 3 km of paved road, but other than that we pretty much …

2015-06-16: Death March from Fira to Oia Death March from Fira to Oia There were six ships in the harbor at Santorini Celebrity, MSC, …

2015-06-12: Walking the Walls of Dubrovnik Walking the Walls of Dubrovnik After a beautiful sailaway in venice we traveled to Croatia where our …

2015-06-09: Lake Como by Lake Lake Como by Lake The conversation started like this: Incoming: Robert, I am not available now, and …

2015-06-08: rest and relaxation on lake como After cleaning up the flats and saying our goodbyes to all of the students Jane and I are now …

2015-06-01: saying goodbye to malta These are my shoes. I bought them for the great adventure of 2015, I started to wear them on January …

2015-05-28: cooking in malta The first thing I should say about cooking in Malta is that there are around 600 reasons not to cook …

2015-05-23: adventures with flask-cors I want people to be able to write and host the static parts of any book on any server. You can think …

2015-05-17: unexpected adventures Morning Climb to Castelmola Since the students were planning on sleeping in this morning, Jane and I …

2015-05-16: climbing mount etna The van arrived right on schedule, 4:45 AM, and we were all in the courtyard in front of the flat on …

2015-05-10: enjoying island life on a warm may day Every day is a good day when you are on a boat, in the beautiful blue Mediterranean. After a bit of …

2015-05-05: writing a runestone lab the easy way As part of the grand reorganization of the various tools and software associated with the Runestone …

2015-05-02: A Tale of two Scams Gastronomic Negotiation “Sir, you walk past me every night. Please give me a chance! I will …

2015-05-01: Istanbul “You want a fish!?” Said the night watchman with confusion. “No,” I said, …

2015-04-20: biking in london Think you have done it all in London? The museums, the London Eye, the changing of the guard, the …

2015-04-19: fa cup semifinal The first words I read as my phone synced up email in the passport control line at Luton were …

2015-04-11: homeward bound in 77 days Somehow the midpoint of this journey escaped my notice. Its not surprising as it has been a busy and …

2015-04-09: andalusia biking summary I’m just going to put all of the images into a big slideshow for this post. Malaga to …

2015-04-05: biking in andalusia After a week in Morocco, Jane and I are now biking in the Andalusia region of Spain. Whereas Morocco …

2015-04-04: Lost in the Souks Lost in the Souks As I dropped Jane and Tricia off at the spa for their pedicure the young man at …

2015-04-01: A visit to the Kasbah A visit to the Kasbah Sometimes when you are travelling it is the unplanned things that can surprise …

2015-03-31: A Night in the Desert A Night in the Desert “Camel noses!” came the answer from the back of our mini-bus. The …

2015-03-27: Morocco -- Sensory and Cultural Overload Morocco -- Sensory and Cultural Overload As I sit here on the rooftop terrace of our Riad in the …

2015-03-16: We're driving in our Car We’re driving in our Car One thing we never thought we would do in Malta was drive a car. From …

2015-02-28: Go Go Gozo Go Go Gozo The first thing you notice when you get to the Cirkewwa ferry terminal is how close you …

2015-02-22: I Want to be an Archeologist I Want to be an Archeologist I think I might want to be an archeologist when I grow up. In the last …

2015-02-18: Adventures of an Expat Cord Cutter Adventures of an Expat Cord Cutter Even thought I’m living abroad and traveling for an …

2015-02-11: Butchers, Bakers, and Sandwiches Butchers, Bakers, and Sandwiches After a cold morning of touring the colliseum and other ancient …

2015-02-08: Ostia Antica Ostia Antica Ostia Antica Ostia is about a half hour train ride away from the center of Rome, back …

2015-02-07: Vatican Day Vatican Day The Vatican Hiding behind the ancient dirty exteriors of the buildings of the old city …

2015-01-29: Acclimating Acclimating A confession: I like my creature comforts. I like my nice modern home with in-floor …

2015-01-21: One Night in Bangkok One Night in Bangkok After a short morning flight from Siem Reap, we arrived in Bangkok, for what …

2015-01-19: Sixty Minutes of Inspiration Sixty Minutes of Inspiration Today was another one of those days that was thought-provoking, …

2015-01-18: Siem Reap Cycling Siem Reap Cycling “Those stairs are too steep,” said our guid Sina. Those stairs must be …

2015-01-17: Early Morning Temple Early Morning Temple Wake up call, 4:30 a.m. Oh-dark-thirty as some would say. After a full day of …

2015-01-17: Lifestyle Reflections Lifestyle Reflections Note: I wrote the first part of this post as a draft, while in Cambodia, and …

2015-01-17: Halong Bay Halong Bay We’ve just finished our morning stair workout. Four hundred thirty seven stairs to …

2015-01-14: Biking and Cooking in Hanoi Biking and Cooking in Hanoi This will be my last post for a few days. Tomorrow we board a Junk on …

2015-01-11: Out of my Comfort Zone Out of my Comfort Zone The following post appears on the Luther College Ideas and Creations Blog …

2015-01-11: The DMZ Bar The DMZ Bar Dear British Lady in the pink denim shirt: Thanks for an entertaining evening of dining. …

2015-01-10: Hang Me Hang Me The name of our lunchtime restaurant today was Hang Me. “Do you know what that means …

2015-01-09: The Red Bridge Cooking School The Red Bridge Cooking School One of the things I have been anticipating the most on this trip is to …

2015-01-08: The Flood Gates of Hoi An The Flood Gates of Hoi An Throughout all our time so far we have refrained from buying anything, at …

2015-01-07: To Market to Market To Market to Market It all started with motorbike parts. Our first day on the motorbikes, we went …

2015-01-07: Hoi An Nighttime Hoi An Nighttime After four days of non-stop activity, we took a short flight North to Hoi An. Hoi …

2015-01-06: The Meekong Delta The Meekong Delta The Meekong Delta The picture pretty much sums up our experience here the last two …

2015-01-04: My Life as a Tunnel Rat My Life as a Tunnel Rat For Sale: Spacious multi-bedroom dwelling, Over 150,000 square kilometers. …

2015-01-03: Ten Thousand Things you can Haul on a Motorbike Ten Thousand Things you can Haul on a Motorbike To say that there is a motorbike culture here in …

2015-01-01: The Gang's all here The Gang’s all here All of our students arrived safely by 11:00 last night. We got them up …

2014-12-15: Advent, Anticipation, Adventure Advent, Anticipation, Adventure In the Christian church, Advent is a season of waiting, a season of …

2014-10-05: The Sous Vide Adventure Begins When we were in Las Vegas last fall, I had the most delicious steak I’ve ever eaten. It was at …

2014-08-05: iowa startup accelerator It has been an exciting day! I just got back from Cedar Rapids where I attended a mixer of mentors …

2014-03-26: Winter Skiing in the Spring Winter Skiing in the Spring Two days of skiing at Tahoe are in the bag, but what a difference …

2014-03-25: Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe A Rare Day Lake Tahoe is beautiful. We arrived last night from Napa and got to our VRBO …

2014-03-23: the word of the day is malolactic Brought to You by the Letter ‘C’ I must confess, after all of the Chardonnay I’ve …

2014-03-05: easy publishing with runestone interactive During my January travels, I also converted this blog from tubmlr, which had been frustrating me for …

2014-02-01: reflections on january 2014 I left home on December 27 2013. When I left I had 3 bags packed. One for our trip to Mazatlan to …

2014-01-30: on 14 inches of powder The weather report said we had 6 inches of snow overnight. From the moment we walked out the door it …

2014-01-25: final visits My daughter Kaia is getting married next summer. This is not new news, the proposal was made an …

2014-01-22: applied math and physics You know those yellow lines on the football field? They are harder to draw than they look. Think for …

2014-01-20: transportation cogitation This is a post I’ve been thinking about for a few days. Its a serious post, but especially …

2014-01-18: the social implications of a self-driving car Today we moved south, from Fisherman’s wharf down to Menlo Park. But most of the day was spent …

2014-01-17: a lesson in venture capital “Ann is on a roll, we are going to be late.” I texted to Phillip. Indeed she was. Ann …

2014-01-14: changing the world, jterm 2014 The following is a republication of a post I wrote for Luther College’s “Ideas and …

2014-01-14: there is no cure for curiosity Curiosity is the cure for boredom. There is no cure for curiosity. We began our day with a visit to …

2014-01-13: student blogs A few people have asked for the links to the students blogs. Here they are: Isaac: Jackie: Erik: …

2014-01-12: a golden bike ride What a great day for a bike ride! We rented some bikes at Blazing Saddles, right next to the hotel. …

2014-01-10: the starlight coastal A 23 hour train trip? At some point that seemed like a really charming idea. Eight hours in, …

2014-01-09: how many trees in the state of washington? What? There is no real way to know the answer to this question, but it is one that was posed to the …

2014-01-08: jterm 2014 - day 1 at amazon Jeff Bezos likes to talk about technology and civilization and where we are at in terms of the …

2014-01-08: envisioning the future Today was a big day. The Microsoft mother ship. We began our visit with an hour in the Envisioning …

2013-11-04: chapel talk - 11/4 nehemiah 13 1-3, 23-31 This is the text from my chapel talk yesterday. The video (mostly of the top of my head) can be …

2013-09-01: john riedl tribute This is the short tribute speech I gave last Friday at the University of Minnesota. Actually, I had …

2013-08-13: runestone interactive announces new editions of interactive textbooks Today I'm really pleased to announce that have launched version 2.0 of our interactive computer …

2013-04-14: making python3 my default I'm finally there. After a long time of writing books using Python 3, and teaching in Python 3 on a …

2013-02-16: to infinity and beyond We passed 3 million entries in our log data for InteractivePython.org which got me to wondering …

2013-01-30: and now it can be told Loyal readers will remember that last summer we cruised to Alaska, and some very secretive things …

2013-01-24: the debary institute Its been a great J-Term. A trip to Vail for some Skiing, and a trip to Florida to solve the worlds …

2013-01-12: everyday python - new blog I've decided that it will be best to keep my personal blog separate from the new Everyday Python …

2013-01-10: vail 2013 I just got back from four awesome days of skiing in Vail and Beaver Creek. The Colorado resorts …

2013-01-02: generating a password - part 1 OK, here is the first installment of the new Everyday Python series. Today I'm just providing a …

2013-01-01: introducing everyday python Everyday Python¶ It is always risky to make your New Years resolutions public, but this is one …

2012-08-08: here's the headcam video of the zipline at icy strait. video/mp4mp44803601910

2012-08-04: euchre etiquette How do you know you have an enduring friendship? When after more than 27 years as friends, and seven …

2012-08-01: icy strait / hoonah I mentioned type 3 fun in a previous posting, and although there was plenty of type 1 fun to be had …

2012-07-31: type 2 fun Our guide for the Mendenhall glacier trek told us that there are 3 kinds of fun. Type 1 fun, is just …

2012-07-28: ketchikan Its a lazy, rainy afternoon here in Ketchikan Alaska. We are back from fishing and have warmed up …

2012-07-27: secrets onboard the millenium Good morning from stateroom 7199. I’m looking out the back of the ship at a lot of very low …

2012-07-24: how to think like a computer scientist interactive edition After hosting the interactive edition of How to Think like a Computer Scientist on the Google app …

2012-07-05: saying goodbye to namibia Sitting in the lobby of the Hotel Safari this morning. We've checked out and are just hanging here …

2012-07-01: almost back to windhoek Well, here we are on the B2 not 55km from Windhoek and the Safari Hotel. Suddenly our coach makes a …

2012-06-29: photo highlights from namibia Well, its really hard to pick out the photo highlights from this trip, but I decided to take a quick …

2012-06-27: lions and rhinos and springbok, oh my! etosha! If someone had told me six months ago that in the span of 24 hours I would see nine Lions, two …

2012-06-22: rev. p. hanock kindergarden. Our second stop of the day yesterday was at the Rev. P. Hanock Kindergarden. This 'school' was a …

2012-06-21: okahandja woodcarvers market Here we are back on the bus after a stop at the woodcarvers market all of us laughing our heads off. …

2012-06-19: windhoek After a quick stop at the Parliament, and an unsuccessful attempt to visit the Christkirche we …

2012-06-17: you must really like to fly "You must really like to fly" was the comment of the flight attendant from Scotland on our British …

2012-06-05: runestone interactive What a week its been! So much has happened in the last week that I just have to take some time out …

2012-01-25: hosting a web2py app in the cloud I consider myself pretty up to speed on web development. I’ve spent the last two days trying …

2011-10-07: new commuting strategy I can see the campus from my house, its about a 20 minute walk, all downhill for the first half of …

2011-09-19: pizza oven I love it when a good plan comes together. Last summer we decided to finally take the plunge …

2011-03-23: joshua tree national park I think I said that the plan for today was to head to the Palm Springs tram, and do a little hiking …

2011-03-18: adding a module to skulpt Now that I’m back from traveling in South America I’ve started on a project to add a …

2011-03-14: cruise wrapup part i Its the last day aboard ship, and it has been a day of mixed emotions. We are excited to get back to …

2011-03-14: cruise wrapup part ii I’ve been back in Decorah for less than 24 hours, its been a little more than 48 hours since …

2011-03-10: tsunami warning! This is weird, but I woke up this morning wondering about the question: ”what are the ships …

2011-03-09: on the high seas We are sitting here having our morning coffee and hot chocolate watching the waves crash and roll. …

2011-03-07: ushuaia Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world. It is in the Patagonia region, and the Tierra Del …

2011-03-04: my name is ferdinand and i'll be your waiter We have great table mates this cruise! Kim and Rico from Houston, Shyla and Yogi from Ohio, …

2011-03-02: biking punta del este The city of Punta Del Este has about 10,000 regular inhabitants, even though when you look at the …

2011-03-01: montevideo, uruguay I’m sitting here watching the sun come up over the city of Punta del Este. The water is …

2011-02-28: buenos aires It was a beautiful two days in Buenos Aires. Lets start with moving in to our room on the ship. …

2011-02-26: hiking in the iguazu national park Have you ever had an experience where afterwards you said, “it took my breath away!”? …

2011-02-25: south american beginnings And so it begins. Another travel adventure. This one just Jane and I. The itinerary is a South …

2011-02-13: python in your browser... in javascript! I’ve recently been looking for ways to run Python in a browser. There are lots of reasons why …

2011-01-27: second edition of data structures book is out! Now that I’m back from my JTerm travels, I’m happy to let you know that the second …

2011-01-25: the long road home 4:00 PM Laguardia Airport I have never wanted to be home so badly in all my life. The group of 16 is …

2011-01-24: 30 rock So today Craig and I had an afternoon to do some site seeing. Despite the cold cold temperatures …

2011-01-23: jet lag recovery mode I’m sitting in Starbucks off Union Square, its 6:30 here in Manhattan and I’m wide …

2011-01-21: premier league I can’t think of a better way to end a trip to London that with a Premier League Football …

2011-01-19: we will rock you Yesterday was another great day in London. We started out at 8:00 with our daily discussion of the …

2011-01-18: wimbledon After the rain and dreary weather of the past many days it was delightful to get up this morning and …

2011-01-17: training for the olympics The first stop on our tour of London was a walking tour around the Olympic venues. To get there was …

2011-01-16: day 1 in torino A few years ago, I finished a round of Golf at Oneota Country Club and came up to the patio area. A …

2011-01-14: my name is brad, i'll be your sommelier this evening Sometimes a Swiss Army Knife can make you the most popular guy in your hotel corridor! Some of the …

2011-01-11: craig's death march to the invisible tower Its that depressing, cloudy, cool kind of weather here in Lausanne. Low clouds and mist that block …

2011-01-09: how lindsey vonn spoiled my day in interlaken The morning started out like any other morning, up at 7:00, a light breakfast, then hop on the bus …

2011-01-06: day 2, or is it 3? I can’t believe that I actually slept until 8:00AM. After waking up at 3 AM I was afraid I was …

2010-11-05: in praise of the two fat ladies via The Amateur Gourmet Mr. Game Show was a Hanukkah gift that my parents bought me one year in the …

2010-09-16: dear apple Dear Apple, You lost a sale today. I know its just one less iPhone you are going to sell, and in the …

2010-08-18: ebook man is cleaning out the library So today I sat in my office and looked over at my library of books, probably about 700 books all …

2010-08-15: google app engine service login So I’m working on an app during my sabbatical that has an iPad component and an online Google …

2010-07-20: polk county biking Here’s a quiz for you… What do deer, old cars, a saw mill, and black bears all have in …

2010-06-30: a beautiful last day Well, today is our last official day of vacation. Tomorrow is a day of travel back to Dublin and …

2010-06-28: connemara and castles We are staying in a castle! Ashford castle to be precise. It’s about an hour outside of Galway …

2010-06-26: world cup disappointment in galway The other night on our pub crawl, Eugene told us a story about the Irish people and how they would …

2010-06-25: a day in dublin This morning we are on the train from Dublin to Galway. We woke up to a bright blue sky in Dublin, …

2010-06-24: the roller derby queen in dublin Well last night a bit of Dublin had a taste of some Jim Croce music. I’m not sure where it …

2010-06-22: ship building lessons in stockholm Today we heard the name Gustavus Adophus quite a lot. With apologies to my friends in St. Peter I …

2010-06-20: read all about it, biking with mike is great After days and days of using our feet to get around european cities it was time for a change, and …

2010-06-17: the nœrøyfjorden This morning we got to sleep in, have a relaxing breakfast, catch up on some email and reading, and …

2010-06-16: beautiful balestrand After the late night heavy metal concert in Bergen, we were all very ready for some peace and quiet. …

2010-06-14: heavy metal in bergen Last night after we ate our dinner at the Ship Inn we came out to this sight. The tide had gone out …

2010-06-13: st. andrews hole in one! Can you possibly imagine a better way to top off a trip to St. Andrews than with a hole in one? Well …

2010-06-12: a draw in edinburg One week after watching our Decorah Vikings take third in the state soccer tournament we were back …

2010-06-11: random rants on a train I am writing this on the train from London to Edinburgh where they have just announced the breakfast …

2010-06-10: adventure in the white tower Today’s travel adventure involved the Tower of London. No, we were not arrested and tortured …

2010-06-09: bath to oxford Do you remember Sir John Gielgud from the movie Arthur? Jeeves maybe? Imagine the most proper …

2010-06-07: a clean sweep of bath Yesterday we flew from Chicago to London. We tried a day flight instead of an overnight flight and …

2010-05-19: testing In preparation for the big upcoming trip to Europe I wanted to try out a couple of blogging apps for …

2010-02-28: silicon valley 2010 - summary Here is a great summary put together by the students after we returned. I think it does a wonderful …

2010-01-12: a new year in silicon valley The second ‘Understanding Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley’ started this week. …

2009-12-31: dinner at the chefs table After spending a ton of money in town, what could be better than a great meal on the ship. One of …

2009-12-26: airboat ride in the everglades This morning started out like any other morning. The alarm went off at 6:15 so that we could get up …

2009-07-22: beautifulsoup, bonktown and growl Here’s a little script that combines two of my favorite pass times. Python programming and …

2009-07-02: aquamacs 2.0 elisp fun While waiting for the white smoke to emerge on Textmate 2.0, I decidedto revisit an old friend. It …

2009-06-05: 3 days of r&r in sedona After all of our hiking and rafting adventure we are ending the trip with 3 days of rest and …

2009-06-03: grand canyon - river to rim The call for “Hooaaahhht Coffeeeeee” went out at 4:30AM. It was already twilight in the …

2009-06-01: down the colorado into the canyon For three days we had a great raft trip with Wilderness River Adventures. The trip was amazing! For …

2009-05-28: bryce canyon sunrise -- antelope canyon It was an early morning today. The alarm went off at 5:30 and we were out of the hotel by 5:43. We …

2009-05-26: angel's landing Our first day of hiking in Zion National Park was great! Here is our goal for the day: From the bus …

2009-05-25: phoenix to springdale Long day of traveling today. Left Minneapolis at 9:05 this morning and just got into our room in …

2009-05-10: mit uses python instead of scheme for intro cs I’ve seen several interesting blog posts related to MIT switching from Scheme to Python for …

2009-04-17: vpython version 5 The other day I discovered that the folks working on VPython have been very busy over the last …

2009-01-31: book plug Here’s a little plug for our book from our Colleague Mark Guzdial at Georgia Tech. This was written …

2009-01-29: remember the milk In the past year, I’ve been a passionate supporter of three task management apps. OmniFocus, …

2009-01-26: python + growl + remember the milk = launchbar task management Intro Once I could add tasks to my RTM account through LaunchBar I wanted a way to quickly pull up a …

2009-01-20: a mid-winter cycling treat Although the weather back home may have been below zero, in Northern california he sun was out and …

2009-01-09: creating a group twitter repository For the trip to Silicon Valley I wanted to have everyone be able to twitter about the experience …

2007-06-13: A Long Long Day A Long Long Day Not much to report today. We got up and rode the shuttle to the airport, we checked …

2007-06-12: A Day in Brussels A Day in Brussels We got up early this morning so we could have our breakfast and catch a cab to the …

2007-06-11: Ancient Rome Ancient Rome We could subtitle today Information Overload. We spent today with our guide Tony and …

2007-06-10: Touring the Vatican Touring the Vatican The day started out on a bad note when Tony called to tell us that our guide for …

2007-06-09: Mamma Mia We are in Pompei Mamma Mia We are in Pompei This morning dawned bright and sunny. Once again the view of the Bay of …

2007-06-08: Road Trip to Sorrento or Happy Birthday to Dad Road Trip to Sorrento or Happy Birthday to Dad Today we had a very long drive. We left Tuscany and …

2007-06-07: A Day of Rest A Day of Rest Today the sun was out and it looked like it was going to be our first beautiful dry …

2007-06-06: Cinque Terre Cinque Terre The word for today is ‘Schiapito,’ which in english means strike. The …

2007-06-05: Lunch in Sienna Lunch in Sienna Today we planned to be a light day. We did not get up too early and our only goal …

2007-06-04: Climbing Around Firenze Climbing Around Firenze Since cars are not allowed in or around the central part of Firenzi the best …

2007-06-03: The Leaning Tower of Pizza The Leaning Tower of Pizza This morning we got up early to head in to Pisa. We had tickets to climb …

2007-06-02: The Hill Towns of Tuscany The Hill Towns of Tuscany For our first full day in Tuscany we decided to check out some of the hill …

2007-06-01: On to Tuscany On to Tuscany Our goal was to leave Venice about 1:00pm. So, we got up, had our breakfast and headed …

2007-05-31: A Random Walk through Venice A Random Walk through Venice In Venice you can get lost very easily, but not for long. There are …

2007-05-30: Road Trip to Venice Road Trip to Venice This was a long day of driving. First we went back down the mountain, and then …

2007-05-29: Klein Matterhorn Klein Matterhorn This morning we were greeted by a perfectly blue sky, without a single cloud. We …

2007-05-28: Driving to Zermat Driving to Zermat Breakfast this morning was continental style in the chateaux. Cereal, cheese, …

2007-05-27: Castles Castles This morning we left Paris for the Loire Valley. Our agenda includes two castles to visit …

2007-05-26: Rain, Rain, go Away! Rain, Rain, go Away! The goals for today were... See Rodin’s thinker in the Rodin gardin, …

2007-05-25: Walking, Walking, Walking Walking, Walking, Walking Yesterday morning we got up and walked down to the marketplace for …

2007-05-24: The Long Road to Paris The Long Road to Paris A long day! We drove through some rain and thunder to get to the airport in …