November 9, 2011

My morning commute is uneventful. Fifteen miles of high pressure sodium vapor lit highway lined by auto dealers and restaurants. I’m on the road early and aside from the occasional tailgating jerk, or the dunderhead who doesn’t realize he’s driving with his bright lights on, it’s a pretty boring drive and I’m happy with that.

The highlight of the drive becomes visible about two miles outside of downtown. It’s not Target Field and the daily countdown to Spring Training*. It’s the Target Plaza South building. Standing 34-stories tall, the TPS building is interesting because the building’s top floors are a bank of colored lights that are programmed for various displays throughout the year. This morning, and for about the last two weeks, with a break for chasing pumpkins on Halloween, the lights have been a surreal blue kaleidoscopic swirl that alternates between looking like blowing confetti and underwater ripples. The building’s light display is a nice start to the work day, so thank you Target. Even though I’m not crazy about your retail stores anymore, that light display every morning is top-notch.

Today is November 9th, the 313th day of the year. Some famous birthdays on this day include:
Pulitzer prize-winning poet Anne Sexton
Actress Hedy Lamarr (“That’s Hedley!)”
Singer Mary Travers
Grey’s Anatomy’s McSteamy
Baseball manager Whitey Herzog
Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown (Brown for president in 2016!)
and last but not least…

Me!

Happy Birthing Day, Mom, and once again, thank you for borning me!

* The Twins haven’t announced a Spring Training date yet, but I figure pitchers and catchers will report around February 19. First game is set for March 9th against the champion St. Louis Cardinals in Fort Myers.