The ski hill at Chester Bowl is scheduled to stay open through this weekend, but it looks like Mother Nature may not be patient and cooperative. Already this weekend, the creek started flooding the bottom of the hill. So if you’re interested in taking or watching a waterskiing run at the Bowl, today might be your day. The lift is open from 4:30 – 8:30 tonight (Monday 3/8). The next scheduled day the lift is open will be Thursday, but that’s a long way away. Lift tickets are $5 at the concession stand. While you’re there, pick up a nifty Chester Bowl Hoodie or long-sleeve T-shirt at the concession stand.
You know you’ve always wanted to see somebody go off those jumps at Chester Bowl, now you can.
Just in time for the Olympics, learn about Duluth’s world-class ski jumping history, and support both Chester Bowl and WDSE public television at the same time. Come take in a movie and hear some stories from Chester’s ski jumping legends. Kid-friendly early and late showings, conveniently overlapping the Paul Lundgren Happy Hour right upstairs.
The Ski Flyers: a Jumping Tradition, including additional archival footage of ski jumpers
Wed Feb 10, 5:30 and 7:00 pm Zinema2
Tickets: $3 for 5:30 show, $5 for 7:00 show. Seating is limited; advance tickets and more info are available at this link. Remaining tickets will be available at the door.
Here’s a really cool video showing one R&D company’s view of the future of e-readers. Having been in the publication design biz for years, I loved seeing somebody take the idea of an electronic magazine beyond the blog or web site format. Some of the stuff they do in here is really cool, and features the photography and art beautifully.
Somewhat related, I saw a few posts today speculating about the fabled Apple Tablet, what it will actually be, and whether it will be a disappointment or not. I was saving up for an iPod touch, but I think I’ll wait to see what shakes out from Steve Job’s announcement in a few weeks.
I was just wasting time following a twitter link to the Walker Art Center site, and saw this. Holy poop, my seagull is right there on the Walker site IN FRONT OF Joel and Ethan Cohen.
Take that you famous Hollywood / Minnesota guys.
The time to spend money we don’t really have is upon us. So why not give that money from the future to our friends and neighbors?
With that sentiment in mind, the folks at Perfect Duluth Day have compiled a selection of locally produced goods and services to add to your shopping list. Click on the pics below for details about each item.
This fabulous showcase is by no means comprehensive, of course. We at PDD would like you to contribute to it through the comments. If you know of a local something special for that special someone, let it be known.
The ski lottery was held a few weeks ago at Chester Bowl, but there are still some ski rental packages available. The Chester Bowl Improvement Club provides inexpensive season ski packages, including skis, poles, boots, helmets, and season ski passes, for those that want to take part in skiing, lessons or other activities at Chester Bowl. You also get a day pass to Spirit Mt. and Mont du Lac. Many parents call the Chester Bowl Ski Program the best deal in town, but for those unable to afford the already low prices, scholarships are available. Check out the Chester Bowl website for more info.
Jason Wussow and Dan Dresser, the guys who made the movie Cooking on the Car, are taking their mobile kitchen on the road again soon. They’re hoping to challenge Jay Leno to a cook off – putting their Toyota Camry up against one of Leno’s fancy schmancy cars. Or maybe Conan is still driving his Taurus.
2nd Annual Chester Bowl Wine & Beer Tasting and Silent Auction
Saturday, October 17th, 6:30pm-9:30pm
Baja Billy’s Restaurant – Fitger’s – 600 E. Superior St.
$25 Per Person in Advance
$35 Per Person at the Door
This is the major fundraiser of the year for the ski program and other kids activities at Chester Bowl. See more info and buy tickets online at chesterbowl.org
It’s October 1st, and that means the best holiday in the world is only 30 days away. We’re looking for Halloween banners for PDD. There have been a few showing up in the rotation, but if you have more, send ‘em in. We want to display Halloween-only banners on Halloween. Remember, here are the rules. Images must be 960 pixels wide by 167 pixels high. Don’t stretch the image to make it fit those dimensions, that always looks poopy. Believe it or not, we have standards here. The Perfect Duluth Day logo will be added by PDD’s art department. If you’d like to add the logo yourself, here’s a layered Photoshop template.
The lower portion of banner photos serve as background to the navigation bar, so crop your image with that in mind. Make sure essential elements are not in the area that will be obscured.
E-mail the masterpieces to banners @ perfectduluthday.com
To view the banners on PDD, click here.
To view the huge pile of PDD banners on Flickr, click here. Feel free to add tags or fun facts about your photos in the Flickr comments.
Today is one of four days of reckoning for the self-employed among us. I thought it was funny that these were the only stamps I had left on the sheet to put on my federal and state estimated payments.
Today I turned 44. Which is probably the reason I was left out of the 20-under-40-movers-and-shakers-around-town list today.
That, and the fact that I don’t move or shake so good no more.
Anyway, I sent both kids off to school this morning then loaded up the kayak to treat myself to a quick paddle on the lake. (more…)
If you’ve got kids and need something for them to do this summer, there’s still open spots in the Chester Bowl summer program. They’re doing things like kayaking, hiking, field trips (Twins game, Valleyfair, park point sailing and swimming, and other places around town.) Scholarships are available. Details, fees, schedules and more can be found on the Chester Bowl Site.
The screening for the Homegrown Video fest was last night. If you didn’t make it (like me) you can check them out on this page.
There will be more coming as they get Youtubed or Vimeoed or whatever, so check back.
Hey kids, we know you’ve got ‘em, and we want to see ‘em. Turn your best Homegrown photos into PDD banners. We’ll try to rotate Homegrown-specific banners during the Homegrown Festival. Same rules apply, the image must be 960 pixels wide by 167 pixels high. Don’t stretch or squish the image to make it fit, that always looks bad. The Perfect Duluth Day logo will be added by PDD’s art department. Or, if you’d like, you can add it.
UWS has an annual Science Night, and tonight is the night. We’ve gone the last couple years, and it’s a good time – for kids especially, but for adults too. Glowing goo, bugs, explosions, liquid nitrogen … yeah.
I shot this on Sunday, the last day at Chester Bowl for skiing / snowboarding. I’m still trying to dry out my kid’s snowboard boots.
This is mostly the crashing and burning, and to be fair, most of the skiers made it across just fine. But really, who wants to watch that? Success is boring.
Ahhh spring. The time dog-owners dread. The snow melts, revealing the bounty of gifts Barfy has left for you in the backyard all winter long.
I found something that might be helpful for other dog people.
If you have one of these clamshell-type post hole diggers, it works quite well for extracting the poo from the snow and ice. And it’s better to get it now while it’s semi-frozen than in a few weeks when it’s almost liquid.
At that point, I recommend a pair of industrial-strength, chemical grade rubber gloves. Then you can just dig right in there and get ‘er done.
I think it’s safe to say the Cramps were the most influential band of my life. I learned to play guitar listening and playing along with Songs the Lord Taught Us and Psychedelic Jungle. Which probably explains why I’m really not a very good guitar player.
