Last week I got a job offer, and a few days later, after discussing things with my wife and family, I accepted it! It is a good position as a test developer for a non-profit organization in Philadelphia that makes board certification tests for medical doctors. The tests are written [...]
I was recently reading an excellent book, Physical Activity and Obesity (2000), edited by Claude Bouchard of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisians State University, and wanted to include some excerpts here. The book is a collection of essays by experts in exercise science and sports medicine. From it [...]
Here, finally, are photos from Northfield’s Walk to School Day, October 8, 2009. The first features Austen Chytracek, who was the first walker I encountered at Woodley and Division Street [...]
I’m the lead organizer for Walk to School Day here in Northfield, Minnesota, again. It promises to be a fun event, as usual!
Here is our press release for this year:
Students at Northfield Middle School and the three public elementary schools will celebrate Walk to School Day again [...]
Next step in my job search: speaking more effectively about my talents and skills. My friend Dean Sorenmann has urged me to write up and practice a “30-second elevator speech” – a concise statement about myself. He says that the more I practice it and internalize it, the more effective [...]
I’ve been putting a considerable amount of energy into my job search lately, and at the recommendation of my friend Griff Wigley I’ve used the book What Color Is Your Parachute 2009 by Richard N. Bolles as my guide.
After a few months of unsuccessful job searching, I took some [...]
Historian Joseph J. Ellis recently wrote an excellent opinion piece for the L.A. Times stating the need for government to address some of our most significant problems. In doing so, he captured thoughts I’ve had over the last several years.
Ellis traces anti-government rhetoric back to Thomas Jefferson and pro-government [...]
I wrote the article below for the recent “Progress” section of the Northfield News. I can’t find the article online, so I’m posting it in its entirety here. It summarizes progress we have made on nonmotorized transportation issues here in Northfield, Minnesota:
Over four years ago several of us Northfielders [...]
My friend and fellow church member Dean Sorenmann and I are organizing a job search group at Northfield United Methodist Church, 1401 South Maple Street, Northfield. It starts tonight, and anyone is welcome to attend. I know Dean is planning to share some useful information, and I will share [...]
I recently answered questions for Northfield News reporters working on a couple of different articles. In “Where the rules meet the road,” (July 17), reporter David Henke examined rules for cyclists on the road and included photos of me on my bike in different situations. This was featured on [...]
Our Northfield Area Task Force on Nonmotorized Transportation is preparing to make some recommendations regarding on-street bikeways, including signage. The photo on the left is from Portland, Oregon (credit: BikePortland.org) and includes distance and time information as well as destination. I took [...]
I took this photo of a double rainbow yesterday evening . Can you see the second rainbow above the more visible one?
It was a great sight, following quickly on the heels of a storm that had passed overhead from west to east.
I’m teaching my class, “The Practical Cyclist,” again this Saturday, July 18, 11 am, in Welch, Minnesota (see Google map). The location is the Welch trailhead facility on the Cannon Valley Trail. The class will be approximately an hour, then we’ll take a ride on the trail. [...]
Minnesotans are heaving a sigh of relief that the election is finally over and we now have two U.S. senators. Thank goodness Coleman did not push his case further.
Who would have thought that the wild-haired young comedian on Saturday Night Live would one day become a senator? Only as Al [...]
On Friday I eagerly waited to hear news on whether the U.S. House of Representatives had passed the climate change bill, called the American Clean Energy and Security Act. When I finally heard the news that it had done so, I gave my wife a high-five.
The legislation is far from [...]
Two recent actions by Republicans have made me think that I should write an opinion piece on why conservatives and libertarians should support nonmotorized transportation. Here are those two Republican actions:
1. Yesterday in his news conference presenting the cuts he is making to the state budget, Minnesota governor Tim [...]
As our son approaches 18 months of age, I’ve begun to look for a permanent full-time job. For nearly five years now, ever since moving to Northfield, Minnesota, I’ve cared for our children and done freelance work in test development.
I hope to find work here in Northfield, the Twin Cities, [...]
It was about four years ago that I began working as a volunteer bike and pedestrian advocate here in Northfield, Minnesota. There aren’t too many changes that I can point to and say, I helped that to happen. I can only say that some important changes in local planning have [...]
I thought I should say a little bit about the lack of posts on this blog. I’ve not kept up with my recent rate of posting once a week. It would seem to be easy to micro-blog with brief comments on what I’m doing or thinking, but I don’t want [...]
[Note: The following appears also as a post at Locally Grown Northfield. Comments can be made there; I've turned them off here. Be sure to note their rules for comment.]
Last August the Rice County Board of Commissioners made a change in their transportation policy that' [...]
I’m overdue to provide an update on what is happening with the Rice County Highway Cost Participation Policy and its funding of sidewalks and paths. At the April 7 County Board meeting, the commissioners decided that their transportation committee, consisting of Commissioners Plaisance and Docken and county highway engineer Dennis [...]
A correction about the April 7 Rice County Board of Commissioners’ meeting and the highway cost participation policy: this is a work session and the public can speak at 8:30 am for two minues/person. The Board will decide whether to put this item on the agenda of a regular work [...]
I wrote the following action alert and fact sheet for an important issue here in my county:
Fact Sheet: Rice County Highway Cost Participation Policy
Summary: Rice County no longer pays a share of the costs for replacement sidewalks and new and replacement shared-use paths (sometimes called bike paths) on county roads [...]
My wife and I attended the 21st Annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum at St. Olaf College last Friday and Saturday, March 13 and 14. In an arrangement with the Norwegian body that grants the prize, the forums are held at a group of Minnesota and Iowa [...]
Today is the Capitol Climate Action, a rally that will feature mass civil disobedience and protest at the Capitol Power Plant, the coal-fired power plant that provides electricity to the U.S. Capitol. One thousand college students are expected to participate. Among those who will risk being arrested are Bill [...]
I recommend Thomas L. Friedman’s recent book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - And How It Can Renew America. Friedman has done his homework for this book, talking with dozens of scientists, business leaders, policy analysts, and environmentalists. He argues that we face five major [...]
We have a new bicycle advocacy organization in Minnesota, the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota (BAM). Thanks to the hard work of many volunteers and generous donations from the Minnesota-based bike businesses Quality Bicyle Products, Erik’s Bike Shop, Penn Cycle, Park Tool, and [...]
In my interactions with people who live in different parts of the United States, including people from my wife’s side of the family who live in warmer climates, I’m often struck by their visceral reaction at the mention of parts of our world that experience cold temperatures. They shiver when [...]
Sometimes all there is to do is say what is: I am tired from a week of caring for our sick 1-year-old son. He is doing better, but after five days of diarrhea (with vomiting on the first three of those days), I want him to be well NOW!
Two visits [...]
As Barack Obama walked out of halls of the U.S. Capitol and into the cheers of the crowd at his inauguration as president on Tuesday, I felt pride and relief about this significant change for our county, about the trust we have placed in a man of African descent. The [...]
We’ve gotten even lower than yesterday morning: minus 29 degrees (F). This time it’s confirmed by the same temp at Stanton Airfield.
Stayed inside yesterday, but must go out today. This is one of those times I appreciate my car.
[...]Our thermometer read minus 28F this morning. I looked at it for a while to make sure I was reading it right. Nearby Stanton Airfield reports that it was 24 below. Northfield Public Schools are closed today.
These are the coldest temperatures I’ve experienced since moving back to Minnesota in 2004. [...]
It’s minus 23 F right now according to my thermometer and the Stanton Airfield weather station. Their three-day summary shows that the temp has been dropping steadily and may fall even lower. Wind chill is minus 37 F!
[...]I recently finished reading Dante’s Inferno for the first time. Normally I read the Bible for my brief devotional time in the morning, but this time I decided a change was in order. I resolved to read Dante’s classic epic poem.
I don’t have time to comment fully on the poem [...]
I took the photo above during a recent cross-country ski outing that took me around the periphery of St. Olaf College on New Year’s Day. As I was taking photos of Regents Hall, St. Olaf’s impressive new science center, I realized that the sky was fabulous [...]
My poem “Green and Falling” now accompanies a beautiful photo of a green leaf posted by “*Lynne” on flickr.
[...]
Last August my family and I attended the Midwest Recumbent Rally, which is held annually near Stevens Point, Wisconsin. The rally is organized by a highly successful recumbent bike dealer, the Hostel Shoppe, which is located in Stevens Point.
One of [...]
The city where we live - Northfield, Minnesota - has as its motto, “Cows, Colleges, and Contentment.” I took this photo of our two contented cows last August. Our son is about 8 months here, our daughter 4 and a half years.
I was recently tempted to use the word “father” to describe the process of caring for children as a father, but then an obvious conclusion dawned on me: the word more typically means begetting children, not caring for them. The dictionary has both meanings of the word in its definition, [...]
I continue to be encouraged by the rapid pace at which bike sharing is spreading across the world. Now the City of Minneapolis hopes to develop the largest bike-sharing program to date in the United States: 1,000 bikes at 75 kiosk locations starting this spring.
Users would pay an annual fee [...]
Something that I did not expect to see in my lifetime has occurred: the citizens of the United States of America have elected an African American to be their next president. In choosing Barack Obama over John McCain, Americans have taken a historic step away from our country’s horrendous treatment [...]
I was eating my lunch today when the phone rang. It was a live person calling on behalf of John McCain. She was reading from a script and said that Barack Obama had “worked closely” with “domestic terrorist” William Ayers.
I interrupted her and said, “That’s a lie.” To my surprise, [...]
Above are pictures from Walk to School Day in Northfield, Minnesota, October 8, 2008. We had four schools participate this year: the three elementary schools [...]
I stumbled across this info at Whitepages.com. Not surprisingly, it shows that the highest concentrations of people with my last name - Ostrem - are in states where many Norwegian immigrants settled, mostly in the Upper Midwest:
Top States for last Name Ostrem:
1. Wisconsin: 70 listings
2. Iowa: 57 listings
[...]
My wife went back to work full time in September, and I only managed three blog entries last month and none so far this month, which is almost half over. My main excuse is that I’m caring for our 4-year-old daughter and our 9-month-old son. We have less child care [...]
The current financial crisis here in the U.S. has brought to my mind some of W.H. Auden’s lines on the Great Depression. They come from his 1933 poem, “Here on the cropped grass…”:
Europe grew anxious about her health,
Combines tottered, credits froze,
And business shivered in a banker’s winter…
Very few poets can [...]
