Eric the Blue

Mostly politics, sports, literature, arts reviews

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Nerdy Minnesotan

Category: biographical

  • A night at the pops

    My daughters both sing in the school choir, and one night last week was the last concert of the year. It was billed a “pop concert,” as opposed to earlier ones that tend to be on seasonal themes, such as Christmas or, this year, a concert heavy on slightly veiled protest songs aimed at Operation…

  • Life hack

    When I got home from school yesterday I compiled a to-do list for the weekend. Then this morning I got up at 6 and drove my daughters across town to their sportzing tournament in Blaine. Then I watched them play three games. Then we drove home, arriving circa 3 p.m. Then I played on my…

  • Seeing red

    My high school senior with her besties on the day they were encouraged to wear to school a sweatshirt from the college they’ll be going to next fall. Here was our conversation around a week ago, when she told me what she’d decided to do: Me: Who will you be pulling for when we play…

  • Math with Mr J, edited by Mr J

    There’s a YouTube channel, “Math with Mr. J,” in which Mr. J presents lessons on common school topics in math. Here’s one I watched the other day, on dividing fractions, a topic that I’ve been working on with my fifth grade friends: These videos are sometimes used in classroom instruction, and I guess they’re ok:…

  • The doctor is in

    If the earth is taken to be 4.5 billion years old (it’s probably a little older than that), and if you plot out a 1-mile long timeline of its history, then the dinosaurs went extinct about 25 yards back from the current time, and the history of human civilization fits in the last one-tenth of…

  • A little o’ this, a little o’ that

    It occurred to me yesterday, while watching the NCAA women’s tournament game between the Gophers and UCLA, that in basketball it’s helpful to be tall. Don’t look now but, for the first time since before last year’s all-star game, the Twins do not have a losing record. I saw that if you want to bet…

  • Up late on a school night

    Last night, Timberwolves on the west coast, 10 pm local start on a school night, and I, apparently mesmerized by my faves’ poor play, did not rise from the couch and shut it off till around half way through the fourth quarter, or roughly 12:15 am, long past when the outcome was plausibly in doubt.…

  • Maybe only have to say no to the sealant one more time

    I bought a car today. Gazing into the foreshortened future–maybe have to do it one more time, according to the actuarial charts. That’s fine. It was at a dealership, so you will understand that I was reminded of this: I too passed on the sealant. It was around half way down the list of extras,…