Instant Karma

I like to tease people in a non-malicious, lighthearted way. That's what we Westby's do. It's how we show love. We like to joke and tease, and on occasion, we openly laugh at people and their ridiculousness. We're not haters, we're just really good at finding the humor in things. And with our family, there are just so many things. You should hear us around the dinner table - but be careful if you do decide to join us. The moment you slip up, we're gonna be all over it.

One of my favorite people in the whole world is my friend Carol Klimek. She grew up on a farm north of the Twin Cities and, although she was just minutes from downtown, went to the same college as me and is now working towards becoming a physicians assistant at Augsburg in Minneapolis, I still love to tease her for being a country bumpkin, farm girl. Truth is, I love her family and their farm and I think they are the coolest people ever, but that doesn't stop me from poking fun. (Maybe I'm just jealous.) I was lucky enough to spend last weekend at her brother's farm celebrating his wedding and it was one of the best weddings I have ever been to. The pictures were so cute that I even decided to make one my profile picture. Me and Carol on a bright red tractor. Awwww!

So, randomly today, Carol calls to tell me that my brother was on the COVER of one of the family's farming magazines. At first I thought it was a clever joke. My brother's name is Kale... like the vegetable. I was immediately fantasizing about how I would frame the featured article of green leafy Kale and hang it in out parents house for him to notice on his next visit home. Gold! Then I got another message from her telling me that it was actually the flesh and bone version of Kale that I was on the cover for some tractor design competition. Ohhh... so much for the lettuce jokes...

My brother is not only special because he shares his name with a garnish. He is also brilliant when it comes to math and science. He is a top student at the University of Minnesota's Institute of Technology and he is majoring in Mechanical Engineering. Yeah. The competition it intense. I am constantly on my toes trying to stay on top as the favorite child, but he really makes it tough with all his winning and acing tests and being honored with lame academic blah blah blah...

So, anyway I couldn't let this go without getting a good jab in before Mom and Dad heard the news and started glowing with pride over their golden boy's glorious cover spread. I decided to go with the ever familiar farm jokes that I was so used to delivering to Carol. Yeah. That was gonna be my angle. I quickly crafted my clever message and posted it to his wall for all to see.

Muwahahaha...ha...ha...huh!?!

Then I realized quickly that this time the joke was on me...

Click to enlarge

It's hard to effectively tease someone about being on the cover of a tractor magazine when your message is flanked by a photograph of yourself sitting ON A TRACTOR!!!

I'm guessing that this might come up at the next Westby family dinner.

Me gloating again about the Mpls bike paths...

Yesterday our office closed for the afternoon and we all headed to the new twins stadium for a matinée game against the Cleveland Indians. It was my first visit to the new Target Field and I was very impressed. It was really beautiful. Even the big video screen thing looked awesome. I also loved how it felt to be nestled right in the middle of things with an amazing view of the city. You could look right down 6th Street! Our seats were in the shade, which made it even better. Despite my SPF 75, don't know how long I would have lasted in yesterday's sweltering heat if I had been sitting in the sun. The Twins redeemed themselves with a 6-0 win. They opened with a military tribute and four dudes parachuted with flags hanging from their feet. There were also fireworks and and an air force jet did a very close flyover, which was all the more exciting when you considered the proximity of the nearby Minneapolis skyline. It was quite a show. My very favorite part of the whole experience was how easy it was for me to get there. Once again, the bike paths led me right to where I wanted to go and I never even had to cross the street. From the moment I locked my apartment door, to the moment that they scanned my ticket at the gate, it took all of twenty minutes. I parked my bike right outside the gate free of charge and got home faster than it took some of my coworkers to get out of the parking ramps.

Minneapolis bikeways for the win!

Oh yeah, and the Twins too :)

 Check out our great seats!

What is that awful buzzing sound!?!

So, the 2010 World Cup is over. Spain has been crowned champions. South Africa has bid the crowds farewell. The vuvuzelas have been silenced... or have they?

What do you do with a vuvuzela after the World Cup?


Go pay BP a visit :)

Vac from the Sea

Three cheers for the "Vac from the Sea!"  

Electrolux is going to create a vacuum cleaner that is made from plastic scooped out of the ocean! Thank you Electrolux for bringing attention to the issue of plastic pollution in the oceans. I only wish I could own my very own recycled plastic vacuum cleaner!

Nascar

Thanks to the relatively new phenomenon known as LivingSocial Deals and Groupon, Jake and I had the pleasure of attending a real-life Nascar race at Elko Speedway on Saturday night. For only ten dollars we scored two tickets, two beers, a tub of popcorn, permanently damaged hearing, some intense rural-midwestern culture, lots of really bad hair and several thrilling moments where we were almost struck by lightning. IT WAS AWESOME!

Ironically it was also Lighting Safety Awareness Week

Despite the fact that we were sitting in giant metal stands in the middle of a field, nobody seemed too concerned. After watching the bolts of lightning very clearly strike ground three separate times in the distance, we decided to move to a lower seating area made of less-conductive wood. After all, these were the same people who had shaved racing stripes into their children's mullets and were seated with their infants next to cars flying by at an ear-splitting 100+ MPH. I was not real keen on following their example. Finally when a few raindrops started to fall the announcer let us know that there was "a little weather coming in from the north and the west... and, well... yeeeahhhh..." No mention of possible electrocution. No suggestion to GET OFF THE GIANT METAL LIGHTING ROD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIELD. All they told us was that they would keep going until the track was too wet for safe driving. Um... hello!?!? I was unaware that car racing was ever safe... AND I would have much rather been sitting on rubber tires with a helmet on.

Here is the radar image of the "weather" that engulfed the track moments later. We were in the red zone. Red=bad.

We left just as it started to pour. Lucky we brought an umbrella. Unluckily, Nascar fans think umbrellas are lame and they are not afraid to let you know.

On a related note, Brett Michaels is coming to Elko Speedway on August 20th for his Roses and Thorns tour. You know... just in case the Nascar isn't enough for ya.

The Albatross and the Pacific Island Trash Vortex

Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer you guys, but there are just some things that have been really ruffling my feathers lately (pun intended). Luckily, I am not a bird living in the Gulf or near the Pacific Island Trash Vortex because the ruffling of feathers has become the very least of their problems. Have you heard of this massive amount of garbage floating around in the ocean? 

"It might sound like something out of an apocalyptic science fiction film, but I assure you—the Pacific Island Trash Vortex is very real indeed. It's essentially a huge carpet of garbage big enough to fill two Texases that's floating around due north of Hawaii. Still skeptical? Here's videographic proof of the Trash Vortex on the G Word. And here's a Greenpeace animation detailing the trash's path.

Okay, so there's a massive continent made of refuse floating around in the ocean. So what do we do about it? Let's not contribute to it, for starters."
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/travel-outdoors/reduce-pacific-trash-vortex.html

So if this does not strike you has a HUGELY AWFUL SITUATION. Let me also share with you the story of the Albatross. The Albatross is an endangered species and in the Northern Pacific and albatross chicks are fed plastic garbage by their parents. The adult birds are confusing the plastic trash in the water for food and feeding it to the chicks. In September of 2009, photographer Chris Jordan went to document what was happening to these birds.


"On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.

To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world's most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent."
www.chrisjordan.com

Just think of that every time time you put your groceries a plastic bag or take a swig from your bottled water. And be careful with that cap... it's a choking hazard.

Facing reality

I just saw this photo online and my stomach dropped. OH MY GOODNESS!!! This is a loon in case you can't tell from all the gobs of oil. He apparently drowned shortly after this photo was taken.

This is awful and the worst part is that nobody seems to be able to do anything about it. We're just pointing fingers and playing the blame game. What is wrong with us? How could we have created something so horrendous? It's just sick. It seems to me like people used to talk about the potential hazards of our non-sustainable way of life and warn that "someday we're going to start seeing enormous environmental disasters if we continue to live like we do." Well, things have been going downhill for a while now. Giant pieces of the ice caps have been crumbling away and melting into the ocean. Polar bears are drowning. AND NOW THIS! We screwed up big time. We screwed ourselves.

I'm not about to blame anyone else either. I am just another person who is living in their happy little oblivious bubble, totally detached from the reality of it all. It's so easy to ignore. We have made it so easy. I really feel like I need to try and make a change though. I'm starting by avoiding that all-to-convenient BP on my drive home from work every night. NO MORE BP.

I can already hear you saying, "That's totally lame Kate, you think this is all BP's fault?!? I know, I hear you -  so I am also going to try to start riding my bike to work. I'm hoping that everything works out. I used to ride to work in high school and I went over my handle bars twice and once ran into the side of a minivan. I'm going to pick out a new helmet today or tomorrow :) No more excuses though - It's really not that big of a deal! This tiny little sacrifice is NOTHING compared to the loss and destruction on the Gulf Coasts. There are so many reasons to bike instead of drive, and I'm not going to ignore them anymore.

I can totally do this...well, at least until November...