Minneapolis, MN

One wonders what’s happening here.  CenterPoint Energy is reporting a significant increase in unpaid gas bills.  Some 20,000 customers have had their gas service discontinued, though about 40% have agreed to a payment arrangement where the service is then reconnected.

It’s a big enough issue that CenterPoint now has commercials on broadcast radio urging customers in arrears to call and make a payment arrangement rather than have their service disrupted.  Mike Meyers (no not the SNL funnyman) at the Star Tribune has a full article on the matter.

Via: StarTribune.com - Unpaid bills for natural gas are up sharply

CenterPoint Energy, Unpaid Bills, Natural Gas

That storm early this morning?  Was it pretty nasty around your place?  Not surprising, since the heavy rain, hail, and winds took out power for about 56,000 Xcel Energy customers.

With approximately 32,000 customers on the west metro and another 24,000 estimated in the east metro, the storm had a pretty big affect on the entire metro area.  Outside the cities, there was baseball sized hail to the north in Aitkin County and flash flooding in the southeast portion of the state.

Via: Fox Twin Cities - 56,000 Without Power in Metro

A week after sever flooding in S.E. Minnesota washed out a bridge, Amtrak has resumed service between La Crosse and Minneapolis.  The flooding washed out a bridge near Minnesota City which was used by the Amtrak passenger service.  Traffic was rerouted over BNSF rails that run through La Crosse.  Normal traffic was resumed on Sunday on it’s normal route, track that is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway.

Via: TwinCities.com - Amtrak resumes service between Twin Cities and La Crosse, Wis.

Amtrak, BNSF

So have you been out to the fair yet?  Well thousands have and it’s, as always, a grand time at the great Minnesota get-together.  Here’s a recap of some of the action.

TwinCities.com has a daily blog focus solely on the fair.  Check out John Brewer’s daily commentary here.

Kare11 has an article, by John Croman, strictly about the scents of the fair.  Mainly the fair food - mostly the deep-fried delights that we expect - brings the most nostalgic memories (and odors) of the fair home with us!

WCCO talks about our continuing fascination with foods on a stick.  In their article Good Question: What’s Not Fit For A Stick? Ben Tracy explores the world of State Fair food on a stick.

Resources:

• Minnesota State Fair Web Site
• TwinCities.com State Fair Blog
• KARE11
• WCCO

[tags]Minnesota State Fair, State Fair Foods[/rags]

Hey, I hadn’t heard about this previously - Coca-Cola and Caribou Coffee have partnered on a new “ready-to-drink” beverage.  Of course, Minneapolis and Atlanta are among the first markets to get the beverage as they roll the product out nationwide.

Packaged in a unique aluminum bottle, the new drink will come in regular, espresso and vanilla flavors.  Hmm, it’ll be interesting to try this new beverage out.  One wonders if it will be similar to other national refrigerated coffee drinks.

Via: Atlanta Business Chronicle - Coke/Caribou coffee drink out soon

Coca-Cola, Coke, Caribou Coffee

According to an article at NewsInferno.com, the NTSB indicated that investigators are researching a de-icing chemical used on the I35W bridge.  Since sever icing has been common on the bridge, an automated de-icing system was installed to spray the chemical on the bridge to reduce the icing affects.

This, however, is just one of many questions raised by the NTSB during it’s investigation and may not have anything to do with the collapse.  The chemical, called “C7″ is known to react with Zinc and galvanized steel, and in 2005 the manufacturer, Cryotech, issued a warning about the Zinc reaction.

There are other suggestions as to the collapse as well.  One includes the pigeon waste that accumulates on the bridge.  It will be interesting to find out the cause(s) for the collapse.  Yes, I personally believe it will be a combination of many things that ended up causing the collapse.  Whether it was preventable or not will be indicated by the final NTSB report when it comes out.

Photo credit: Ilumenari

Via: NewsInferno.com - Minneapolis Bridge Collapse Investigators Eye De-Icing Chemical

I35W Bridge Collapse, Minneapolis Bridge Collapse, NTSB, Bridge Investigation

It’s been awhile since I was able to spend a few hours reading and sipping coffee.  I’m doing that today over at the Starbucks in Plymouth for another hour or so.

While I’m a coffee nut and really enjoy the independents with their better quality and specialty roasts, I also just like the predictability of McCoffee (Starbucks) and their WiFi.  I can actually get work done there!

I should have posted earlier and invited anyone to join me there - something I’ll think about in the future.  Later!

Coffee Shop, Mobile Web Worker, Starbucks

Today divers retrieved the body of 45 year old Greg Jolstad, a road construction worker, and the 13th victim of the August 1st I35W bridge collapse (read more here).  This concludes the recovery operation of this tragedy and opens the full investigation portion.  From this point on, it’s all about identifying the exact problems and causes of this bridge’s failure.

In another article, President Bush has approved an emergency declaration that will release more federal assistance to complete the bridge recovery and investigation.  Since Minneapolis is hot on replacing the bridge by the end of 2008, officials, investigators and workers will have to hustle to get it all done.

News sources:

• Inquirer.net : Last body recovered from Minneapolis bridge collapse
• News10 (ABC): Bush OKs More Funds for Minneapolis Bridge Relief

Minneapolis Bridge Collapse, I35W Bridge Collapse

Are you ready!  The great Minnesota get-together starts tomorrow, with all the fun and food that everyone loves.

There are a great lineup of shows at the Grandstand (click here to for more detail):

• Brad Paisly - Thursday, August 23rd
• The Goo Goo Dolls - Friday, August 24th
• Fergie - Saturday, August 25th
• “Weird Al” Yankovic - Monday, August 27th
• The Allman Brothers Band - Tuesday, August 28th
• Vince Gill - Wednesday, August 29th
• B.B. King Blues Festival - Thursday, August 30th
• A Prarie Home Companion - Friday, August 31st
• MercyMe - Saturday, September 1st
• Minnesota State Fair Amateur Talent Contest Finals - Sunday, September 2nd
• Def Leppard - Monday, September 3rd

Click here to find the daily schedules for the fair.

Click here for a complete list of all the fair foods (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader found here).

Minnesota State Fair - Twelve Days of Fun Ending Labor Day! Running from Aug. 23 through Labor Day, Sept. 3, 2007

A three-person panel assembled to asses the proposed site and associated costs published it’s findings on Monday.  At $23.8 million, that is slightly more than $10 million that the county (Hennepin) had approved for land acquisition.  The panel found that the property was worth $22.4 million and an additional $1.4 million was due the current owners for temporary easements and other fees.

Scheduled to open in time for the 2010 baseball season, the project timetable probably won’t be interrupted.  While both the county and the current property owners have the right to appeal the decision, previous news releases indicated that there is up to $90 million available for land acquisition and infrastructure construction.

Here’s one taxpayer that is hoping that the costs stay in line with projections.  I won’t be holding my breath.

Minnesota Twins Homepage

Via: MLB.com - Panel says ballpark land worth $23.8M

MLB, Twins Ballpark, Minneapolis Ballpark, Minnesota Twins, Baseball

 A recent Federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation was awarded to Dakota County.  This money is to be used to build a rapid-transit bus corridor on Cedar Avenue.

Stretching 16 miles from the Mall of America in Bloomington, running south to Highway 70 in Lakeville, the 77/Cedar corridor will be dedicated to bus traffic.  The $11.1 million Federal money will help ease the traffic in one of the fastest growing areas in Minnesota.

The grant specifies that the monies must be committed by September 30th, 2009.  While that makes for an aggressive schedule, county officials believe sticking to a bus corridor keeps the plan on track, where light rail would take much longer to plan for.

Via: TwinCities.com - Dakota County Cedar Avenue / Cedar transit plan gets grant

Dakota County, Cedar Avenue Transit Plan, Traffic Gridlock

Just in case you missed it elsewhere, the stretch of I94 from highway 280 to I35W is closed this weekend.  MnDOT is adding an additional lane in both directions to help ease some of the I35W re-route traffic.

Both directions will be open by 5am on Monday 8/20/2007 before traffic begins to build for rush hour.

Suggested alternates for I94 traffic are either I694 around the north side of the metro, or I494 to the south.

Via: KSTP.com - I-94 through Mpls. closed this weekend

Traffic Re-Route, I94, MnDOT 

If you know a truck driver, they probably are aware that the 2007 National Truck Driving Championships are being held in Minneapolis this summer.  From August 21st through the 25th, truck drivers from across the nation will be descending on the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Dubbed the “Super Bowl of Safety” within the American Trucking Association, the championship allows competitors to demonstrate their skills, knowledge of the industry, safety and vehicles.  The nationals begin with the top state champion drivers, who’ve already competed with peers in their states.

This year is the 70th anniversary of the national event, so if you’re into trucks, in the industry, check out the championships.

Truck Driving Championships, American Trucking Association

Ah, the wonders of modern technology.  You can now by tickets for the St. Paul Saints with your cell mobile phone.  Not only can you buy them from your phone, but also use your phone as a ticket itself.  Sure there is a lot of wiz-bang gadgetry behind it all, but it can really make for a more convenient experience.

You can still purchase tickets at the door, you can still buy tickets off the web (with the option to send the ticket to your mobile phone).  However, now you can purchase tickets whenever you think about it, even when on the road.  How cool is that.

The whole system is run for the Saints by Veritec using their TicketCode system.  The ticket itself is a “2D” barcode that is scanned at the door, validated by the TicketCode system.

It also just so happens that our Saints are the first organization to allow fans to purchase and use tickets via mobile phone.  One more interesting feature of this technology, the Saints talk about being able to forward the ticket to another mobile phone if you were not able to make it, or to give the ticket as a gift to another person.  Neat stuff.

Via: Our Sports Central - Saints Go High Tech with Cell Phone Tickets

St. Paul Saints, Mobile Phone Tickets

A new music event called “McNally Smith Minnesota Music Festival” will be held in St. Paul on Sept. 21st & 22nd.  An offshoot of the Summit Big Brew, the event is sponsored by Summit Brewery, City Pages, and McNally Smith (a St. Paul music school).

Among those performing at the festival will be Soul Asylum, Golden Smog, Quietdrive, Brother Ali, Romantica, The Hopefuls, The Honeydogs, Martin Zellar, and more.

Tickets for the event are $20/day, $30 for 2 days.

Via: Star Tribune - A new St. Paul music fest Soul Asylum, Brother Ali among local talent booked for the Harriet Island event

Photo credit: McNally Smith (via flickr)

Minnesota Music Festival, McNally Smith