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Instanbul Gambit at Enigma Adventure

Tyler, Tammy, and I had a lot of fun solving our way through The Istanbul Gambit at Enigma Adventures in Bloomington today. We finished the room with just 1m 39s remaining on the clock. This was our 64th escape room!

The room was very well done and we always felt like we were moving forward. There were multiple “a ha” moments and towards the end a super cool solve involving lasers. Also unique with this room was that you actually had three separate tasks to complete, with the final being to get out of the room. It even had an add-on mission to identify some additional information that you could tackle if you had time. We did that one as well!

Recommended room! Room 64!

Three people smiling in an escape room, a timer on the wall reads 01:39 and displays You have saved Washington and made your escape.
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The Avocado Toast at Lynette is the best I’ve ever had. Wow! 🥑

Open-faced avocado toast on dark bread topped with charred brussels sprouts, red peppers, arugula, and cilantro, served on a white plate at a restaurant
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Would you like some help with the snow?

A young teenager offered to shovel snow twice, and after initially declining, the author decided to support his entrepreneurial spirit by hiring him.

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Ritual. ☕️

Pour-over coffee brewing on a Hario scale with a V60 dripper on a Yeti tumbler beside a white gooseneck kettle on a marble countertop.
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New Standards Valentine's Concert

Tammy and I enjoyed The New Standards Valentine’s Concert at The Woman’s Club of Minneapolis tonight. The emcee introduced this as a hopeful first show to become a tradition for Valentine’s day. We’ve seen The New Standards so many times and we’ve even seen them at the Woman’s Club, however it was in the theater and this was a more intimate setting in the dining room. The performance was good but the sound was a bit lacking. I felt the speakers and amplification was too small for the room, and I didn’t see a sound person working the dials. It also seemed like Chan was “off” in some way, he wasn’t his typical witty self.

Jazz trio performing in an ornate dining room bathed in purple light, with a double bass player standing center stage and seated guests at candlelit tables.Table 31 reserved for Thingelstad at a candlelit dinner event with two platters of crackers nuts and chocolate-dipped treats and a red rose vase

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We had a fun evening of laser tag at Tactical Urban Combat as part of Tyler’s birthday.

Four people holding laser tag guns and smiling in a laser tag gear room with a colorful mural of jets behind them. Four people in laser tag headbands pose with blasters in an equipment room with a dramatic painted mural behind them.
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Excited for TeamSPS SKO 2025!

Large white 3D letters spelling SKO 2025 on a hotel lobby floor with people gathered in the background near floor-to-ceiling windows. Large conference room filled with attendees seated before a stage displaying a blue screen reading Forward Together Sales Kickoff 2025.
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Super Bowl LIX Ads

Ads that hit home with me from the Super Bowl.

So Win — Nike

To me this one was the best by a mile. Led Zeppelin as the soundtrack was top notch. Gruber agrees with me.

Take Me Home — Rocket

Has there ever been ad that directly tied back to the stadium experience? This had us singing along in the ad and then cut to the stadium full of people also singing along with all of the in-stadium advertising connected up. Impressive.

Whatever Comes Your Way — WeatherTech

I’ve bought WeatherTech floor mats for every car I’ve had for years. In the winter they are a must.

Big Game — Jeep

Freedom. Jeep. Harrison Ford. Of course.

The Intelligence Age — ChatGPT

ChatGPT with a “typical” technology company spot.

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Tyler and I have been having fun with Collector Crypt. I decided to join their Card Club and grabbed an NFT in the market place.

Graded trading card in a slab labeled Collector, featuring a Card Club logo with orange and blue geometric shapes on an orange background.
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Venusaur Holo

I had never heard of a Gacha before but I was intrigued when Collector Crypt sent an announcement about the Elite Pokémon Gacha Machine. I forwarded it to Tyler to investigate.

Collector Crypt Gacha Machine website showing six graded Pokemon cards available as prizes, with an Elite Pokemon Gacha Pack priced at 50 tokens on the right.

The gist is you pay a fixed amount and get a random card with a minimum value. Collector Crypt does this all on the Solana blockchain. We decided to give it a whirl and pulled a Venusaur Holo (1996) with a near-mint 8 PSA rating.

A PSA-graded Japanese Venusaur holographic Pokémon card with a rating of NM-MT 8 from 1996.

Tyler digs Collector Crypt because they have good Pokémon cards. I dig it for that and that it is a great use of NFT’s and smart contracts. The transaction for this Gacha machine is a complicated one with seventeen different steps.

We will likely “burn” the NFT and have Collector Crypt ship us the nearly 30 year old card.