I have updated the Spec the Halls website with the weekly email that I just sent out. You should go take a look at my favorite picks from this week's submissions!

Also, holy crap! lifehacker has linked to "DIY site Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories figured out how to turn an ordinary, inexpensive radio-controlled car into an electrostatic dust mop. Think of it as a Swiffer on wheels--or a poor man's Roomba." Since I know I'm not getting a cleaning robot for Christmas (*sniff*), this might tide me over....

( That silly seduction quiz. And I have no idea how I got the results I did. I'm not that.... )

Yup. That there's one of my goals for the next year, and why wait 'til then? I live in a city, and I like living in a city, but it's about time I learned to take advantage of it properly. As is, I feel rather backwards. Oh, I take advantage of a lot of the wonderful things about the Twin Cities--ethnic foods, the Mississippi River, citywide events, free or next-to-nothing lectures and classes--but usually it's by default rather than because I'm seeking out the wonder. My photograph safaris (when it's warm enough out) have helped me to find the unique, the random, the irreplaceable in my neighborhood, and I want to extend that to all of the Twin Cities.

Change starts now. To begin with, I'm going to seek out Christmassy celebrations in the Twin Cities--the Ice Palace, the Macy's display, the biggest gingerbread house ever in the MoA, Holidazzle.... This may be a horrible thing for the Mad Scientist, who's quite a Grinch; every year I have to fight him tooth and nail just to get a Christmas tree in the door. I haven't quite won the battle yet this year, as we will probably have to take the tree down before Christmas unless we can find someone to housesit the beginning of our Christmas break or to swing by and water the damn thing 2-3 times a day, reliably. Heaven help me when he figures out that I plan on actually decorating the entire house for Christmas. Anybody else got any tips about Christmassy-type celebrations that I should seek out in the Twin Cities?

More generally, though--I'm quite seriously contemplating getting a tourist guide to the Twin Cities so that I can fully appreciate it. In the meantime, however, I'm planning on taking exploring (at a leisurely pace of perhaps one or two a month) the museums and centers and zoos and interesting restaurants and whatnot. Many of these places have free days (irksomely, many on Thursdays, when I have Tae Soo Do classes), I can go to a limited number of restaurants for free as part of the mystery shop program I'm in, and the public library system has a great new system, the Museum Adventure Pass (duration unknown, funded by Macy's) allowing people to "check out" free passes for four to a certain number of events. Today we got to go to the Science Museum, which was a lot of fun, though we didn't go to the BodyWorlds exhibit, because Holy Exorbitant Pricing, Batman! I think next I'll be going to the Minnesota Zoo.

I'm entirely willing to share the free tickets obtained from the library, or to have company on my "free day" adventures.

( The List of Library-Sponsored Free Locations )