Snow Day

 Today I woke up at about 7:00am, checked my email. An email stated that class has been cancelled. So I went back to bed. Hours later I awoke to find an apocalyptic scene of extreme snow and 60mph winds outside of my window. Here's MSNBC's report on it: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46580040/#46580040

So I made breakfast; not any breakfast, but a snow day breakfast. It included eggs, pancakes, toast, oatmeal, and chaga tea. Everything I made from scratch with organic ingredients. At least the eggs, syrup, and tea were local. 

I wanted to watch cartoons all day, but I don't have a TV. Now I plan to spend my day pirating movies and TV shows online. 

My New Favorite Bookmark

Now you can explore Duluth's music scene without ever leaving your dorm, cabin, or jail cell. How? 

Click> HERE! 

Really Really Free Market

Want a new economic system? Try sharing. Every last saturday of the month there is going to be a Really Really Free Market in Duluth. What is it? It's where people can come and drop off stuff they don't want or take something they want for free. It is a place of sharing things, food, and ideas. It is a place of community.

Of course there is a potluck with much food to share. 

It is in the Paul Robeson Ballroom (current base of Occupy Duluth) which is attached to the old Kozy complex. 

After you get the stuff you want you can hang out around a campfire in the courtyard and engage in some conversation. 

Up Tha Punx

This guy I know had a punk show for his birthday. It was sweet. It made me nostalgic for the good ol' days of The Cube.

The show was in a basement of a building downtown. 

There was old broken player pianos in the back. 

My friend Justin counted ten plus pianos here; most of which are in better condition than the one pictured. We know the owner of the building, so we are going to try to get our hands on one of them. 

I should mention that there is a half-pipe and a motorcycle. However I don't think anybody has tried to use both at the same time...yet. 

There was a critical mass beforehand, but I was busy and couldn't make it. 

Sad hipster-punk with sleeping dog who I assume recently had a relationship end. He was moshing by himself and burning pictures of some chick. 

No punk show is complete without blowing a fuse. 

After stumbling in the dark for over 15 minutes we got the electric working. In the fuse box, the fuse we needed was labeled "Do Not Touch."

The post-darkness music wasn't actually punk music, so there was a nice variety. This guy just played the guitar and sang. He had a sound similar to The National.

And the final act was this chick whose style was sort of a rap/jazz hybrid. It was actually a sweet combination. After her a dubstep band was going to play, but it was late and most people left. The End. 

I Like Sundays

I'm starting to really like Sundays. It's the only day of the week that I never have anything planned and can sleep in until whenever. Also it always seems to be the warmest day of the week, which means I get to go outside.

I like to start out my Sundays slow with homemade pancakes, fresh chaga tea, and some folk music. 

My friend Gwen has a band called Two Lions, and she had a gig that evening. So earlier in the day she did a live studio set on KUMD-Duluth Public Radio. But since her other bandmate lives in the cities, she did it herself. Since I don't have a radio, I had to live stream it. Over all it was pretty awkward, but awesome at the same time. There will be a recording on the KUMD website sometime soon. 

After the radio shindig Gwen and I went to Hartley Park to hike around to enjoy the warm weather. 

Gwen had her gig at Amazing Grace Cafe. Since she is "Two Lions" and there is only one of her, she made me join her band for the time being. I grabbed my accordion and got on stage. 

However I am not a professional, and we haven't even been able to do a solid practice session in weeks, so it wasn't the best. In fact there was only one song which I really felt the accordion accompaniment was working well. After awhile I just wasn't feeling it, so I quitted and took a few pics instead. Nonetheless I got a free sandwich out of the deal. 

My First Photography Assignment

My first assignment in my photography class is kinda lame. The class itself is actually sort of lame because I am a too advance photographer for this class. So these are the photos I took for my class. No editing was allowed. 

WRONG WHITE BALANCE/GOOD WHITE BALANCE:

DAY/NIGHT

SHALLOW/DEEP DEPTH OF FIELD:

PANNING:

STOPPING/SHOWING MOTION:

This is the point where you turn your head because I don't know how to turn the image. 

Duluth's Steepest Street

There is a section of 5th Ave. W that is rumored to be Duluth's steepest street. I had to check it out myself.

"Excuse me ma'am, but your house seems to be crooked."

If your brake gives out you would crash into the county courthouse. 

I wish I had a dump truck full of bouncy balls or something. 

  

Goat Hill and Ore Dock Adventure.

Due to global warming it was 40+ degrees out, so I decided to take a break from hibernation. I went on a cool adventure. First I explored Goat Hill.

"Der"

Self portrait of me being AWESOME. The camera I was using (Nikon D60) only had a two second option for self timer, so this photo was actually really difficult to take. 

I found a weird concrete path and followed it a bit. I then found a tree with tons of shoes on it. 

Wood pecker doing its thing. 

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I had to go to Superior, WI to do something for a class. Then I was about to go back to Duluth when I remembered that I always wanted to explore this ore dock, but needed to wait for winter so I walk on the ice. 

It was well marked with "No Trespassing" signs, but I of course ignored the warning.

I would have climbed on top, but there were people watching me. Also that dangerous decision to do so is something for peer pressure to decide: too bad I was by myself. 

Pretty much inside is used as storage for broken yachts and random junk. 

This is a picture of a nearby ore dock that may or may not be still in use.

The St. Louis Bay is a city of ice shanties around this time of the year. If you look across the bay you can see a white building. You may remember that building from this post.

I ended my day at the shores of the Sea of Superior.