Tutu's home grooming

Easter Sunday pics. Pesky squirrel of the variety that drive Fin and Tutu nuts. Before and After Tutu's home haircut. Before of Fin's haircut ... looking v suave.

Went to church at The Church of the Good Shepherd (United Methodist) where a friend (Jane) from work goes. Both Jane and her husband Chux were there and it made a big difference to how I felt about it ... the minister preached a great sermon on how to let the resurrection affect us from the inside out and it was very encouraging. Went to lunch afterwards at the Birchwood Cafe which is not far from where I live. Home to handwash all the winter scarves, hats and gloves for packing away (yay!) and to take the dogs for a walk along the river.

Warm Beer, Cold Women

Went to a fantastic Tom Waits tribute last Monday night, 'Warm Beer, Cold Women' at the Music Box Theatre in Minneapolis (small theatre, kind of like Belvoir St). It was kind of a theatrical presentation of his music from the 70s onwards with three vocalists and a small band (piano, guitar, sax, drums, accordian, double-bass) and interspersed with snippets of interviews that he's done over the years.

Chicago

Visited Chicago in March to do a second round of usability testing for one of our online products. Testing proved to be a nightmare due to all sorts of 'out of my control' system issues, but got through it - managed to write a cohesive report and do a presentation using it as a case study. The first picture is of the 'usability lab' showing the observation room and looking through the 'one-way' glass into the testing room. This is where I sat with each of the participants who then went through different scenarios using the website, while I took notes and tried to remain calm when the system kept failing!

The second shot is of the Chicago river - just to the left out of frame is a huge building site where Donald Trump is constructing a new high rise. I think that the guy who won the first Apprentice was working as the project manager on this. The third picture looks out towards Lake Michigan past the Hyatt (where we stayed). Chicago has a really nice feel about it - and reminds me of Sydney. Lots of parks along the waterfront and lots happening. We went to a fantastic Vietnamese restaurant (Vong's Thai Kitchen) the night we arrived.

Minneapolis sunset

View of the city to the West from the park at the top of Orlin Ave SE. It's about 2 miles away. Don't generally go to either St Paul or Minneapolis, but mainly hang out around the neighbourhood.

Last snow - March

Hard to believe that this was just over a month ago when it's a balmy 26 degrees today! There was a thaw before this snowfall and I remember feeling very disconsolate to think that Spring was here only to wake up to about 10 inches of snow! The last week has been extremely warm. No sign of snow. The street cleaners have been (to clean all the leaves and gunk from the gutters), so hopefully that's a good sign, though I'm told that you shouldn't take the snow shovel out of the car until May!

Pic on the left is the morning dog-walking route. Middle is the nextdoor neighbour's front yard and the one on the right is just around the corner.