Interview
The other Renee sent this interview to me a long time ago and I've been so busy the last couple of weeks that I haven't posted my questions. Sorry, Renee! It's been fun answering them.
1) Pretend I'm coming to Minneapolis and you have been designated my tour guide. What are 5 things I'd need to see? Where would we go for lunch?
Well, if it's YOU, I guess we'd have to start with a yarn store crawl. We're lucky enough to have bunches and bunches of yarn stores here, so we'd have to check a few of those out. I'm assuming we have more than one day for this trip, so perhaps we'd spend one day just doing yarn stores, with perhaps a few stops at bead stores or scrapbooking stores or such. I think we'd end up in St. Paul and have lunch at Punch, my favorite Pizzeria.
You'd definitely want to check out the natural beauty of this place, which for me is best represented by the chain of lakes right in Minneapolis - Lake Calhoun, Lake Harriet and Lake of the Isles. Then we'd take a trip out to Lake Minnetonka, particularly if it's summertime and we have access to a boat. In Minnetonka, we could have a nice sushi lunch at Origami.
On Day 3 we'd devote ourselves to man-made beauty and check out the recently reopened Walker Art Center and the Sculpture Garden right outside. Everyone's gotta see the Spoon Bridge and Cherry when they're in the Twin Cities. We could then check out a play at the attached Guthrie Theater or head over to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for more fine arts. They have excellent exhibits there, including a Kaffe Fassett exhibit a few years ago. I think lunch would be somewhere Uptown - my favorite is probably Campiello. Or, if you're not as addicted to Italian food as I am, perhaps Cafe Barbette.
I think Day 4 would concentrate on Downtown Minneapolis. A walk along the Mississippi River is a must as the River is as much a part of the Twin Cities as the Lakes. There's nothing more satisfying to me than when I'm driving back home from a road trip and the Minneapolis skyline appears - a calm, peaceful, at home feeling always washes over me. While in downtown, we could indulge in whatever you're passionate about - a basketball, football or baseball game? Perhaps a broadway musical or some other musical act touring through the Twin Cities? A facial and pedicure? How about bowling and videogames at Gameworks? A little non-knitting retail therapy? If it's summer, the farmer's market is wonderful and you can often find some sort of live music. There's so much to do in downtown and we'd definitely take the light rail train and forget about parking! While we're downtown, I'd propose either a hipster, delicious lunch at Zelo or a nice juicy steak at one of the downtown steakhouses.
And #5 would have to be our most popular attraction, the Mall of America. I'll admit I was completely wrong about the MoA. When it was proposed I thought it was the worst idea in the world. Who's going to take a vacation just to go shopping? Turns out, a lot of people. I'll admit it, I even go there frequently myself. There are major department stores (Macy's, Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom). There's all manner of specialty stores. There's a multi-screen movie theater. For the kids, there's Camp Snoopy, Legoland, Underwater World and Jillian's. And there's a lot of bars and restaurants for the adults to have fun, too. My favorite there is California Cafe.
However, my all time favorite thing in Minneapolis/St. Paul is the people. So I'd definitely introduce you to as many people as I could. I know you'd love them as much as I do.
2) Do you have any pet peeves? If so, what are they?
I have a ton of pet peeves - too many to list. In fact, I think I'm a little intolerant. As everyone has seen just lately, one of my pet peeves is people who think feminists hate men. I have all sorts of driving pet peeves - people who drive below the posted speed limit, people who don't follow proper merging etiquette. Another big one is people who espouse opinions about something they have no first hand knowledge about - like "Reality TV is stupid" when they've never seen a reality show. Or "movies with subtitles are boring" when they've never seen one. It's one thing to say, "I'm not going to watch Fear Factor because it doesn't look like the kind of thing I'd like" and another to say "Fear Factor is leading to the downfall of America" when you've never seen Fear Factor (which by the way I haven't. I've seen bits and pieces, but not the whole thing. See, I'm just a cranky old lady.
3) Name a knitting technique you don't know but would love to learn.
I can't really think of anything. I've been knitting for a while and taken A LOT of knitting classes. So I think anything I've wanted to learn, I have done so. Now, there are a lot of things I wish I was better at and like to have maybe one on one instruction to help improve my techniques. Like with the Lucky sweater I'm knitting now - one of the three holes in the clover lace is substantially smaller than the other two. I don't know why. I wish it was more even. And the hearts sweater - I wish my intarsia was more even and neat. I wish I worked in my ends better. I wish I could pick up stitches more evenly. That list goes on and on and on.
4) What is the best thing about being a lawyer? How 'bout the worst thing?
I think the best thing is probably feeling like you have the tools to help solve people's problems. You've (hopefully) learned how to articulate yourself and be persuasive so that you can advocate for yourself or for others - whether that's in court or in a store or restaurant or just among other people. You learn a certain way of reading and thinking so that you can approach a problem, understand many different aspects of it and find a solution.
The worst thing is definitely dealing with other lawyers. Sorry, but there's a lot of jackasses out there. And they don't necessarily want to find the best solution for everyone or solve problems, they just want to win at all costs. Related to that is the public perception other people have of you when they find out you're a lawyer. I understand where it comes from (see the first part of this answer), but it sucks to have it applied so broadly when there are a lot of really good, hard working lawyers who are trying to be a positive force in the world.
5) I'm have to know what your dream TV lineup would be. Let's try an hour of sitcoms, two hours of drama and a talk show.
Here's my lineup:
Seinfeld
Arrested Development
Twin Peaks
The X Files
and my chat show would definitely be David Letterman - Late Night or Late Show, either one.
Thanks again to everyone who's commented on the feminism thread - it's been so interesting. If you haven't seen it, check out Share's great comment giving a real world voice.
1) Pretend I'm coming to Minneapolis and you have been designated my tour guide. What are 5 things I'd need to see? Where would we go for lunch?
Well, if it's YOU, I guess we'd have to start with a yarn store crawl. We're lucky enough to have bunches and bunches of yarn stores here, so we'd have to check a few of those out. I'm assuming we have more than one day for this trip, so perhaps we'd spend one day just doing yarn stores, with perhaps a few stops at bead stores or scrapbooking stores or such. I think we'd end up in St. Paul and have lunch at Punch, my favorite Pizzeria.
You'd definitely want to check out the natural beauty of this place, which for me is best represented by the chain of lakes right in Minneapolis - Lake Calhoun, Lake Harriet and Lake of the Isles. Then we'd take a trip out to Lake Minnetonka, particularly if it's summertime and we have access to a boat. In Minnetonka, we could have a nice sushi lunch at Origami.
On Day 3 we'd devote ourselves to man-made beauty and check out the recently reopened Walker Art Center and the Sculpture Garden right outside. Everyone's gotta see the Spoon Bridge and Cherry when they're in the Twin Cities. We could then check out a play at the attached Guthrie Theater or head over to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for more fine arts. They have excellent exhibits there, including a Kaffe Fassett exhibit a few years ago. I think lunch would be somewhere Uptown - my favorite is probably Campiello. Or, if you're not as addicted to Italian food as I am, perhaps Cafe Barbette.
I think Day 4 would concentrate on Downtown Minneapolis. A walk along the Mississippi River is a must as the River is as much a part of the Twin Cities as the Lakes. There's nothing more satisfying to me than when I'm driving back home from a road trip and the Minneapolis skyline appears - a calm, peaceful, at home feeling always washes over me. While in downtown, we could indulge in whatever you're passionate about - a basketball, football or baseball game? Perhaps a broadway musical or some other musical act touring through the Twin Cities? A facial and pedicure? How about bowling and videogames at Gameworks? A little non-knitting retail therapy? If it's summer, the farmer's market is wonderful and you can often find some sort of live music. There's so much to do in downtown and we'd definitely take the light rail train and forget about parking! While we're downtown, I'd propose either a hipster, delicious lunch at Zelo or a nice juicy steak at one of the downtown steakhouses.
And #5 would have to be our most popular attraction, the Mall of America. I'll admit I was completely wrong about the MoA. When it was proposed I thought it was the worst idea in the world. Who's going to take a vacation just to go shopping? Turns out, a lot of people. I'll admit it, I even go there frequently myself. There are major department stores (Macy's, Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom). There's all manner of specialty stores. There's a multi-screen movie theater. For the kids, there's Camp Snoopy, Legoland, Underwater World and Jillian's. And there's a lot of bars and restaurants for the adults to have fun, too. My favorite there is California Cafe.
However, my all time favorite thing in Minneapolis/St. Paul is the people. So I'd definitely introduce you to as many people as I could. I know you'd love them as much as I do.
2) Do you have any pet peeves? If so, what are they?
I have a ton of pet peeves - too many to list. In fact, I think I'm a little intolerant. As everyone has seen just lately, one of my pet peeves is people who think feminists hate men. I have all sorts of driving pet peeves - people who drive below the posted speed limit, people who don't follow proper merging etiquette. Another big one is people who espouse opinions about something they have no first hand knowledge about - like "Reality TV is stupid" when they've never seen a reality show. Or "movies with subtitles are boring" when they've never seen one. It's one thing to say, "I'm not going to watch Fear Factor because it doesn't look like the kind of thing I'd like" and another to say "Fear Factor is leading to the downfall of America" when you've never seen Fear Factor (which by the way I haven't. I've seen bits and pieces, but not the whole thing. See, I'm just a cranky old lady.
3) Name a knitting technique you don't know but would love to learn.
I can't really think of anything. I've been knitting for a while and taken A LOT of knitting classes. So I think anything I've wanted to learn, I have done so. Now, there are a lot of things I wish I was better at and like to have maybe one on one instruction to help improve my techniques. Like with the Lucky sweater I'm knitting now - one of the three holes in the clover lace is substantially smaller than the other two. I don't know why. I wish it was more even. And the hearts sweater - I wish my intarsia was more even and neat. I wish I worked in my ends better. I wish I could pick up stitches more evenly. That list goes on and on and on.
4) What is the best thing about being a lawyer? How 'bout the worst thing?
I think the best thing is probably feeling like you have the tools to help solve people's problems. You've (hopefully) learned how to articulate yourself and be persuasive so that you can advocate for yourself or for others - whether that's in court or in a store or restaurant or just among other people. You learn a certain way of reading and thinking so that you can approach a problem, understand many different aspects of it and find a solution.
The worst thing is definitely dealing with other lawyers. Sorry, but there's a lot of jackasses out there. And they don't necessarily want to find the best solution for everyone or solve problems, they just want to win at all costs. Related to that is the public perception other people have of you when they find out you're a lawyer. I understand where it comes from (see the first part of this answer), but it sucks to have it applied so broadly when there are a lot of really good, hard working lawyers who are trying to be a positive force in the world.
5) I'm have to know what your dream TV lineup would be. Let's try an hour of sitcoms, two hours of drama and a talk show.
Here's my lineup:
Seinfeld
Arrested Development
Twin Peaks
The X Files
and my chat show would definitely be David Letterman - Late Night or Late Show, either one.
Thanks again to everyone who's commented on the feminism thread - it's been so interesting. If you haven't seen it, check out Share's great comment giving a real world voice.
rdladd@arnan.com
