Gallery
Sabino Canyon
We visited the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area today on our day trip to Tucson. We took the shuttle to the top of the trail and then made our way down stopping at several locations. It was a very pretty walk and fun to see the spring creek with running water down the canyon. We had to cross it barefoot and the water was very cold!
Kayaking Pokegama and the Mississippi
We spent the morning kayaking down the Mississippi. We put in at Tioga Beach on Pokegama Lake, then Big Jay Goulde Lake, then Little Jay Goulde Lake into the Mississippi River. Portage around the Corps of Engineers Pokegama Dam and out at Paddle Hoppers. 2h 35m paddle time. We saw nice Lily Pads and huge swaths of Wild Rice along with gorgeous scenery.
Distribution Center Simulation
I was able to participate in one of the first run-throughs of our new Distribution Center Simulation! It was a fabulous experience that will help #TeamSPS contextualize the benefit our services have for our customers. Hats off to the team that made this vision a reality. I love how they made it all real by using real products and staging everything just like it would happen in a distribution center. They even had speakers with truck and forklift sounds! 🚚
Also, extremely impressive how they modified the process to allow us to do this in-person experience during the pandemic. 😷
Our newest floor opened up in SPS Tower today! Great setup to enable #TeamSPS to continue winning. I love the conference room names from Women Who Code. The text on the quiet room desks? EDI. The team moves in soon! 🤩🙌
A ton of activity happening at our #TeamSPS Think Tank booths with product specialists working with the field sales team. 👏 Love this! 💙
Minnesota Kubb 2019 Winter Tournament
The Kubbchucks played our 8th annual Minnesota Kubb Winter Tournament this weekend. After a week of record cold temperatures we were treated to a fabulous day in the mid-30’s, nice sunshine and no wind. Perfect for winter Kubb!
Round Robin
We opened the round robin versus Team Dondante. This was their first tournament and we helped them with tournament rules. They were good players, but needed to work on their drilling technique. We took the match 2-0 and it went on way too long because we were able to close it out. We went very cold on our 8m and that makes for a long game, if you don’t lose.
We played the Free Agents next, serious Kubb talent here. We had an epic fail in our first game and left a field Kubb on our very first turn, throwing 4 batons at 2 Kubbs. The Free Agents then kindly put us out of our misery. We drug out the 2nd game for a good long time. We got to 8 Kubbs in play and went back and forth for about 20 minutes. Sadly we broke first and left a line, which resulted in the expected immediate loss. 0-2 on that match.
We finished the round robin versus The Four Old Guys, however there were only three of them. They had a good game, just lacked some consistency. We were never really at risk in these games, and closed out the match 0-2.
Bracket
With a 2-1 record out of the round robin we went into the difficult end of the Round of 16.
We had to play Skol in the round of 16. Three monster Kubb players including Evan Fitzgerald. We didn’t stand a chance. On top of that, we played horribly. I don’t mind to lose, but our play was really sub-par. It took about 10 mins for them to put us away.
Free Agents, the team that we lost to in the round robin ended up winning the whole tournament.
We had a great day of Winter Kubb! 👍🏻
SPS Tower 16th Floor
We opened up the 16th floor in SPS Tower this week! What an amazing space for our growing team! 👍 The Library space, bright colors and fun references in the space are great!
Franconia Sculpture Park
We had a great morning exploring the Franconia Sculpture Park! We are lucky to have great public art in the Twin Cities!
Jack-o-Lantern Spectacular
We had a great time at the Minnesota Zoo Jack-o-Lantern Spectacular last night. I was blown away by the artistry and overall experience. It is created by Passion for Pumpkins with 5,000 pumpkins! The big, photo style pumpkins are very cool. 🎃👍🤩
2014 Olson Family Weekend
This years Annual Olson Family Weekend was planned by Don & Kaye and the extended family had a great time at Grand View Lodge!
Congratulations Alona & Dylan!
On September 27th my sister Alona tied the knot with her fiancé Dylan! They had a very nice ceremony followed by a reception at the Maple Grove Community Center. The ceremony was family and close friends standing in the gardens off of the reception area. Alona and Dylan had a Bahá’í marriage ceremony which does not have an officiant. They asked me to start things off with a few words.
Good evening and welcome to the marriage ceremony of Alona Thingelstad and Dylan Maas-Morgan. Alona, my sister, and Dylan have asked me to greet you all today and welcome you to this wonderful ceremony of love and dedication.
I am sure that you have all been to a many weddings, however this may be your first Bahá’í wedding. You will notice that no clergy is present, we are not in a church and everybody is enjoying a wonderful Minnesota fall evening. A Baha’i wedding is a simple exchange of a single statement. Once both the groom and bride make this pledge in the presence of two witnesses, Dylan and Alona will be married.
Today, Alona’s mother Rosalin and I have agreed to serve as these witnesses. While a Bahá’í marriage is a decidedly simple affair, Bahá’í’s take the institution of marriage with the utmost seriousness.
From the Kitáb-i-Aqdas: “And when He desired to manifest grace and beneficence to men, and to set the world in order, He revealed observances and created laws; among them He established the law of marriage, made it as a fortress for well-being and salvation, and enjoined it upon us in that which was sent down out of the heaven of sanctity in His Most Holy Book.” That fortress is filled with that most important thing, love. From `Abdu’l-Bahá: “…[I]n the world of humanity the greatest king and sovereign is love. If love were extinguished, the power of attraction dispelled, the affinity of human hearts destroyed, the phenomena of human life would disappear.”
In a moment Dylan and Alona will exchange those blessed words. This will be followed with a Bahá’í prayer. Please listen closely. As with many great things in life, it all goes by much too quickly.
And now a reading from Dylan’s mother, Cynthia…
Here are the photos I took. I also put them on Facebook for all the people that like that kind of thing, but I’m also putting them here so they are still around after Facebook (A.F.).
It was a great evening filled with family and fun. Congrats to my sister and her new husband and I wish them years of wedded bliss!
See also: Wedding day, Tammy and I, and Party Hat.
Pictures from 2013 US Nationals Kubb Championship
I didn’t get much time to take photos at the 2013 US Nationals Kubb Championship. Saturday was a day focused my team the Kubbchucks progressing through the bracket, and hoping that our club, Minnesota Kubb, did really well. Sunday I was mostly focused on scoring games for Planet Kubb and running the final parts of the Planet Kubb Club Championship. I did get my camera out for about an hour and get some shots in, but only from Sunday.
10th Annual Olson Family Weekend
This weekend we got together with Tammy’s side of the family for the 10th Annual Olson Family Weekend. We returned to Lanesboro this year. The late season snow put a halt on the plans to bring bikes and do a lot of riding. But everyone enjoyed watching the snow melt through Saturday with a lot of fun and then spent the day playing Kubb and having fun outside on Sunday. We also got to celebrate Tammy’s birthday with everyone on Saturday night and have our own Cinco de Mayo celebration on Sunday with lethal margaritas courtesy of the Daily’s!
2013 Minnesota Kubb Tournament Photos
Spent 12 hours outside on Lake Calhoun yesterday. Dressed right, but still gets cold. Great day of Kubb!
2012 Dallas Oktoberfest Kubb Tournament
The Kubbchucks played at the 2012 Dallas Oktoberfest Kubb Tournament on Saturday. In between games I took out the camera.
Northern Atlantic Waves
Waves crashing onto the shore in Iceland. Play the audio while you look at the pictures. The tinkling sound in the audio is all of the pebbles on the beach being thrown in the waves.
Remodel Update Week 18
There are still a number of things on our punch list, but, the remodel is done! When we started the project it was expected to take 16 to 20 weeks, and we ended it right at 18. This week the flooring was installed, the electrical was finished, the network and other low voltage infrastructure got punched in and the security system was turned back up. The carpet was an amazing transformation. In one day the space went from a construction zone to a place you walk around in bare feet and goof around with the kids in.
We love everything about the new spaces we created. We wouldn’t change a thing. We’ve moved a bunch of our stuff back in and the rest of it will come together in the next couple of weeks. This will be the last set of weekly photos I post. I will do another final wrap up post when all the furniture is in place to show what it looks like when completely done.
I’m posting more photos than normal for the final recap. You can see there is still another day of painting to be done this coming week, and the AV guy will be out to install the in-wall speakers and put TV’s in place.
Remodel Update Week 17
This was a big week for the project! The painting is mostly done now. The final colors are on all the walls, the tape is off, the trim is all painted. The railing is finished above the mudroom and I’m really excited about the space up there. I’m completely sold on putting a door in next year. The utility and electric rooms are complete enough that we were able to move a bunch of stuff back in. I was super excited to get the network and low voltage systems coming back together. Both built-ins were completed as well. The fence was installed around the egress window wells. One of the carpenters even came on Sunday and finished the railing on the front door and the new surround around the front door.
The coming week should be the last big week. The final electrical work is starting on Monday. The cork flooring is installed in the exercise room on Wednesday, and carpet is the next day. The theatre and network wiring should be all done as well. We’ve now taken down the plastic barrier in the kitchen so we can now get into the new space without going outside. Just a bit more now!
Remodel Update Week 16
This week was the 16th week of the remodel. In the very first project plan we would be done now. Remodeling, like any other complex project has changes. We have about two more weeks in front of us and then I’m sure there will be small things after that.
This week the built-in cabinetry for the mudroom was installed. The earlier empty space is now as it will be going forward. The painters have been busy painting trim with some serious paint that seems stronger than typical latex paint, and smells it as well. Outside the carpenter got the deck built on top of the mudroom and the railing is ready to be put in this week. I got to go up there this weekend (through the window) and put a set of outdoor speakers up. I really like the space and if I weren’t done with project stuff for now I’d want to have the door put in up there.
Outside we also got our landscaping done this week. The rutted tracks from the excavation equipment are gone, and so is our entire lawn. I decided to have the entire yard re-graded and seeded with shade specific grass. All of our hardscaping is back now as well, so things are feeling really close and it’s nice to get fall in our backyard again.
This week the family room built-in is coming and the walls are getting painted. Electrical work will get back underway and the network will come back to life with a new telco rack and everything getting punched back down. We’ll actually move some stuff back into the utility room next weekend.
