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Minnesota Technology Council

I had my first official meeting of the Technology Advisory Council a week ago. I was honored to be accepted into this group with an official appointment from Governor Walz. The role of the council is to advise Minnesota IT Services (MNIT). The group is preparing for transition with a new CIO for the State of Minnesota, and a Governor transition as well. This meeting was my first chance to see the breadth of the portfolio MNIT manages.

I’m looking forward to helping in established areas like cloud and data transformation, as well as new areas with AI deployment. I think there could also be some good opportunities to connect the State of Minnesota with the Minnesota Technology Association (MnTech) where I’m currently chair.

Official State of Minnesota Notice of Appointment naming Jamie Thingelstad as Private Business Representative, signed by Governor Tim Walz
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It took all four of us about an hour to get the canopy in the boat cover. The wind was borderline and three different times we got it on just to have it blown off. After finally getting it on we gave the boat the best cleaning ever and it is looking really good!

Pontoon boat with gray Porta-Dock canopy cover docked at a floating dock on a calm lake under partly cloudy skies.Two people cleaning a large double-decker pontoon boat with gray leather seating and a canopy top on calm water.

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Fabulous show by The New Standards at The Dakota tonight. 🎶

Live band performing at Dakota jazz club with audience seated at tables in dim blue and red stage lighting.
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Time for s’mores.

Hand holding a s'more over a campfire in a metal fire pit, with blue metal chairs and trees in the background.
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Evening bike ride to Dairy Queen for ice cream!

Four people smiling and holding Dairy Queen Blizzard cups in front of a DQ sign on a sunny day.
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First visit to Pleasant Grove Pizza Farm for 2026! Delicious pizza. 🍕

Exterior of Pleasant Grove Pizza Farm building with red sign, a wooden bench, and a covered bar area with stools.Four people smiling outdoors at a picnic table holding plates over three open pizza boxes on a sunny grassy field.

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Mazie and I taking the boat out for the season. Beautiful day!

Man and teenage girl smiling together on a Premier pontoon boat on a calm river, trees in background on a sunny day.
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From a chat with Claude today…

“everything else is scope creep dressed as ambition”

Statistical word model or not, that was an insightful comment.

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Suburbs @ The Parkway

Somewhat even to our surprise Tammy and I hadn’t been to a Suburbs show. Neither of us connected with the band when they were first on the scene. We see Chan play all the time with The New Standards. So we decided it was time to fix that and saw them play at the Parkway. Good show and clearly we were in the midst of a ton of super fans. Seemed like half the audience had the black Suburbs shirts on.

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So I’m wondering “Is there a way to store hats on a hanger like thing in the closet?” After a quick search on Maker World I printed a Hat Hanger.