In The Know - The Onion News Network

Minnesota

A few of my favorite things About Minnesota... AND some other fun facts...

1.Fearless of weather conditions. - Even at 40 below, people are still excited to ice fish, ski and snowboard, or cross country ski. At 110 degrees they say take a hike around Minnehaha Falls!

2. Modesty with money. - You never know if your sitting next to a billionaire or a bum.

3.It's the land of 10,000 lakes. Minnesota has 90,000 miles of shoreline, more than California, Florida and Hawaii combined. Who needs the coast when you can walk two blocks from your house to find the nearest lake or head up north for a weekend get-away to a cabin on a lake with a weekend full of waterskiing, sailing, wakeboarding, tubing, and fresh-water fishing?




Other fun facts...

Minnesota has been ranked one of the most livable states nationwide in the last nine years, ranking first between 1997 and 2003 and second in 2004 and 2005, according to Morgan Quitno Press.

Minnesota ranked as one of the five healthiest states in the country over the last 10 years (1996-2005), according to Morgan Quitno Press, based on a variety of economic, social and health-related factors.

Minnesotans are politically active. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, 79.2 percent of Minnesotans voted in November 2004, giving Minnesota the top spot over runner-up Wisconsin.

In 2005, Minnesota ranked No. 3 among states in the well-being of its children, according to the annual Kids Count report.

Minnesota has more miles of paved bike trails than any other state, offering easygoing biking through scenic corridors.

Minneapolis-St. Paul is the 13th best place for singles, according to Forbes in 2005.

Minnesota has one recreational boat per every six people, more than any other state.

Minneapolis has more golfers per capita than any other city in the country.

The first open heart surgery and the first bone marrow transplant in the United States were done at the University of Minnesota.

The first Intercollegiate Basketball game was played in Minnesota on February 9,1895.

Rollerblades were the first commercially successful in-line Roller Skates. Minnesota students Scott and Brennan Olson invented them in 1980, when they were looking for a way to practice Hockey during the off-season. Their design was an ice hockey boot with 3 inline wheels instead of a blade.

Polaris Industries of Roseau, Minnesota invented the snowmobile.

Twin Cities-based Northwest Airlines was the first major airline to ban smoking on international flights.

Nobody celebrates St. Patrick's Day like us Irish-Americans

This could have quite possibly been the best St. Patrick's day I have yet to celebrate. I had absolutely no idea people went so crazy over it right in my own backyard. Every year on March 17th St. Paul drowns in green beer.

This year The Onion Minneapolis went on a mission to visit as many of our Irish Pub clients as possible. To pull it off we had to break up in to two teams to cover both Minneapolis and St. Paul and reconvene at the parade. We rented an escalade as our get-away vehicle and hired an intern as our designated driver for the day.

My team started off with an traditional Irish breakfast and Irish coffee at O'Donovan's and crawled on to Grumpy's NE for some soda bread compliments of the bar owner's mom who airmailed 30 hand-made fresh loafs to the bar in Minneapolis from her home in Chicago. Then we made our way over to O'Gara's in St. Paul where everyone went crazy over our Onion "Kiss me, I'm too drunk to care" buttons. From there we did the Irish Jig through the following bars in no particular order: Sweeny's, The Happy Gnome, McGovern's, The Dubliner, and Shamrocks. All along the way I kept running in to new and old friends from periods of my life. I even had a chance to hang out with my bro and his friends for a bit at the McGovern's Beer tent.

Here are some pics of the event...

My 25th Birthday Bash

I had an absolutely wonderful birthday weekend. I think it was one of the best ever. Last year I had just gotten back from Istanbul and felt like I had no friends at home. I just went to dinner and got a free pizza with my family to celebrate my 24th. I remember Martina,my Italian friend, had always said that the odd numbers are always better.



So last Friday Sefer sent yellow tulips to me at work which was soooooooooo super sweet, kicking off a wonderful weekend!



Then that evening after work I had a few close friends of mine over for some Middle Eastern/Medetarrainian meze (hummus and pita, greek olives, and Iranian dates) and wine.



After a quick chat we headed out to a Middle Eastern/Mediterranean restaurant called Jerusalem for food, drinks, and belly dancers. It was absolutely delightful! It was so much fun to be able to expose many new and long-time friends to a new culture with food, atmosphere, and entertainment. Many new and long time friends participated in the event out for that and it was so much fun to introduce them to each other and have them experience that type of cultural atmosphere and food.
























After dinner we headed over to U Otter Stop Inn, a total dive in Northeast Minneapolis, where I was to crown the King/Queen of Karaoke. That was a blast! The best part about it was that so many friends from such different social circles were all there and I finally got the chance to introduce them to each other. I had so much fun and from the feedback from others it seems like everyone else did too. I finally felt like I have some real friends here in Minneapolis (*warm fuzzy*). Even a group of people and their significant others from my office showed up for the competition. I crowned my a quite deserving colleague, Rob Shellman, the king that night.

















































































Saturday my best friend had a bridal party slumberparty which was even more fun! I got to talk to her sister forever and we all shared our stories about love, marriage, children, friendship, romance, etc. We had quesadillas and margaritas. Yummy!

Sunday my Dad took my family out to dinner for my birthday at this awesome Mexican restaurant, Salsa A La Salsa. There was great live music from some dude playing guitar and singing songs in spanish. My dad ordered a Carona and my bro and I got Margaritas. The food was excellent! It was the most fun I have had with my family in a long time.


Then to top it off, the king of Karaoke gave me two free lift, rental, and lessons to Welch Village for my birthday. So Monday I took one of my closest friends to the slopes to teach him how to snowboard. After a few too many runs down the bunny hill we got sick of it and he switched to skiis and we skied/snowboarded until the sun went down. Plus it was like 50 degrees so we got to ski/snowboard in t-shirts and sun glasses!

I had an absolutely wonderful time. I feel so lucky and loved. This is what makes leaving Minneapolis to follow my dreams more and more difficult. I have never felt like I have had so many friends that really love me. The whole weekend was probably the best birthday weekend I have ever had. Love you guys!