I bet he secretly funded this study.

a bonus gem as i was walking to work this morning (as if walking to work in the morning wasn't excellent enough). D'Allesantros Italian Market & Deli closed last winter/spring just down the block from my place, and this morning, in its place, new signs were going up for the next big thing to come to the North Loop. I only snapped a pic of one of the two signs, the workers turned the larger one over while I was taking a pic of this one...


The name of this 'coal-fired' pizza joint will be Black Sheep Pizza. No information on when they are opening, but I have noticed activity inside the shop for the last month or so. Hopefully they'll be opening soon at 6th Ave N & Washington Ave N.

I'll post a pic of the other one in the next day or two since they should be up by the end of the afternoon.

posted a new widget over on the side, enjoy enjoy!

The Good

• Cyclist runs into bear (literally), and lives to tell the tale.
  
• Bicyclists strength in numbers. Researchers demonstrate that as cycling increases, the rates of cycling/motor vehicle accidents decreases. Bonus - it's true for pedestrians as well!

The Bad

• Cyclist struck and killed on Excelsior Blvd by a hit and run driver in the wee hours of the morning in Minneapolis.
  
• Another cyclist struck by a hit and run vehicle, thankfully looks like he'll pull through. That's two this month, and at least four in the last year - three of whom were killed.
  

It's sad that folks don't have the guts to stick around and own up to their mistakes. What really worries me is that there could be some d-bag out there who is intentionally running down cyclists.

It runs so counter-intuitive that having more bicycles on the streets makes cycling safer, but as motorists get more accustomed to not only seeing bicycles, but being on the lookout for them, the number of incidents do go down. In the Twin Cities, this is a tougher challenge - since the number of bicycles drops dramatically in the winter, every spring feels like a re-education for both the motorist and the cyclist. This is why I don't feel bad about Critical Mass angering motorists. I've ridden CM once, and aside from a few idiots, most of the cyclists are there to raise cycling awareness and to make the roads safer for all.

finally found a new template that i liked, so i decided to update the blog this evening. wasn't without issues though - i had to manually edit and remove each widget from the old template to get blogger's template import to work. as with most things i do, a project that i start well after 10pm goes past midnight.

i've added a couple of new things and I'm not sure if i'll keep them all. but... I did add my twitter feed, which i've been using a lot more of recently than making blog updates. i'll try to balance out the two, but if you think it's been awhile since i've blogged - maybe you should subscribe to the twitter feed, too!

Forbes Magazine rates Minneapolis #3 (tied with Dallas) in a list of the Best Cities for Singles. Atlanta & San Francisco just edged us out. Washington D.C. rounds out the top 5, with an odd story about Ronald Reagan missing Nancy when she was out of town for a few days.

Also, apparently when you live alone in a rented apartment - you have an entry-level salary and are compelled to go to a movie alone and drink a six-pack of Heineken. This is Forbes proprietary "cost of living alone index".

This would be my "cost of living alone index": the average cost of a pair of XXL sweat-pants, a McDonald's Big Mac value meal (Super-sized, of course), and 10 minutes of service on the local "get a date" telephone chat line. What would be your "cost of living alone index"?