The primary reason for visiting Minnesota last week was for Susan to attend a business meeting for her new company. The location of her meeting was about 10 miles away from the Mall of America, so we decided to stay at the Marriott hotel that connects to the mall. We spent several hours at the mall Tuesday afternoon, and while Susan was at her meeting on Wednesday I walked back over the mall and spent several more hours exploring the biggest mall in America. This was my third time to visit the mall. My first visit took place back in… (read more)

While I wouldn’t call myself a rabid Prince fan, everyone who grew up in the 1980s was, on some level or another, a fan of Prince’s music. In 1984, songs from Prince’s album Purple Rain took over radio airwaves, with many of those same songs remaining in rotation on 80s radio stations today. And while Purple Rain itself was enough to cement Prince’s place in music history, it only represents a blip in Prince’s discography and doesn’t include many of his biggest hits like “Little Red Corvette,” “Kiss,” “Raspberry Beret,” and “1999.” After the success of Purple Rain, Prince began… (read more)

One of the first stops of our vacation was the Evel Knievel Museum in Topeka, Kansas. Evel was not from Topeka, but the big red Mack truck he toured in was restored in Topeka, which is how the museum ended up there, attached to a Harley-Davidson dealership. I was too young to remember most of Evel Knievel’s career and only remember seeing one of his jumps live on television, but everyone knows Evel Knievel’s name, which when I was a kid was synonymous with any daredevil act. He certainly inspired a generation of kids to build shoddy bicycle ramps with… (read more)

Susan and I have stayed in AirBnB rentals all over the country. We’ve stayed in some pretty normal ones and some pretty weird ones, but never one like the home at 5519 in Minneapolis. Something’s afoot inside (or underneath) this home. Something mysterious. Something nefarious. Something… stinky. The offending smell doesn’t hit you right away, the same way ghosts don’t jump out and shout “Boo!” the moment one enters a haunted house. We first noticed the odor after retiring in the living room out first evening. The smell there was so strong that we immediately and bravely began sniffing all… (read more)