The Deets

The Dayton’s Bluff Neighborhood is hosting a vacant home tour this weekend for people interested in investing in the neighborhood.

Real Estate Snippets: Vacant Home Tour

If you’ve ever considered doing rehab on an old St. Paul home, this might be a way to check out your options. The tour starts at 798 East 7th Street in St. Paul with FREE trolley rides to the homes! The trolley ride alone is an attraction for me! More info can be obtained at the Dayton’s Bluff website.

A neighborhood that’s organized enough to hold vacant home tours is a neighborhood worth checking out.

Go find an affordable home to fix up within walking distance of The Strip Club Steakhouse.

MPR has more.

A new site from KARE-11 is launching tomorrow called Metromix (link not yet active). Probably the shortest description I can come up with is that it’s KARE’s answer to the StarTribune’s Vita.mn site. KARE-11 uses the following description on their job board:

“A new local entertainment site aimed at 18-to-34-year-olds.”

They also offer $5 for each business description you write for them, which is 1/2 of what Google pays for the same type of work.

The site is built on a platform already in use in other cities, so to see working examples today, check out Metromix.com.

The site seems to have three personalities: local, syndicated, and social.

Local

Locally produced content will include a local bar and restaurant directory with maps and ratings.

The mapping looks pretty good so you can see other neighboring restaurants on the maps. The local music scene will be covered by Rob Van Alstyne, who’s pre-populated the site with at least one piece:

A local events calendar (music and other) is also being maintained.

Syndicated

Some of the site’s content - generally the stuff under the tabs to the right - is syndicated from national sources. Things like movie times and reviews from nationally syndicated reviewers, TV show updates and schedules, etc. Nothing that people can’t already easily find online today.

Social

The local angle could be valuable if they get some traction there, but the social side is where the bigger value and stickiness could come from. People can sign up with the site and create “playlists” which are a stupid name for what are simply “lists.” Lists of things you’d like to do, recommendations, etc. For example, you could create a list of places you’d like to hit on a pub crawl, or plan a weekend of events, restaurants, and a concert using this feature, then share it with friends.

Additionally, users can upload photos from events and venues they’ve attended or visited, which is a great way to share experiences with friends and strangers. Here’s an example from a Solutions Twin Cities happy hour at Herkimer:

However, the social side only works if the local Metromix team can convince locals to join and contribute to the site.

Metromix has a few important things going for it: first, it’s on a stable, proven platform that has already been used in other cities, so the site will work. Second, they will get a lot of cross promotion from KARE-11. Promoting great photos uploaded to Metromix on KARE-11 could help sell the value of contributing to people who like seeing themselves (and their friends) on the TeeVee.

The opposite of a drive by:

6th/Cedar Av: Approx 9:15 pm, man shot while driving near intersection; he drove short distance after being shot, crashed into unoccupied parked car; another man was seated in car with victim when shooting occurred; victim died at scene according to attending paramedics
CID investigating

Another sniper:

1400 blk E Franklin Av: During midday shift change officers received report of shooting on roof; caller said he’d been shot by someone who was still on roof; officers called on several squads to assist in closing street to traffic, setting up patrol rifle perimeter; officers observed man hanging from edge of roof on NW corner of building then make his way down side of building; officers took him into custody; suspect appeared to have been under influence of narcotics, frothing from mouth; suspect transported to HCMC: Crisis Intervention

I can understand noticing a car driving without lights, but did they really notice two different plates before pulling the car over?

12th St/ Currie Av: Officers observed car with 2 different license plates, driving at night without headlights; officers conducted traffic stop, recovered semi-automatic handgun, crossbow with scope, large amount crack cocaine, other narcotics (some of which packaged for sale) $57K cash in plastic bag; follow-up search warrant of vehicle yielded $100, jewelry, quantity of oxycodone, codeine: Arrested/ NARCOTICS
CID investigating

Kenwood Parkway: where neighbors really do watch:

1000 blk Kenwood Pkwy: 2 suspects seen entering, leaving residence; officers tracked 5 suspects to 500 blk Queen Av N; 2 have been charged :5 Arrested/ BURGLARY
CID investigating

According to local tech blogger and surfer Graeme Thickins, former WCCO weatherman Paul Douglas is working on a startup called, WeatherNation that will provide weather reporting to mid-size markets.

Very interesting concept. Douglas offers some more details on his LinkedIn profile:

This summer we launch WeatherNation, syndicating, “central-casting” weather reports for web sites, cable channels and broadcasters from a new studio in the western suburbs of the Twin Cities.

If mid-size stations don’t have to staff locally for weather, they could certainly save a ton of money. But what happens to the farm team of weather personalities who work through the mid-sized markets on their way to the majors?

The Freakonomics blog had a recent column about the accuracy of weather forecasts by TV stations in the Kansas City market. The stations admit to hiring as much for presentation as accuracy, and none of them track the accuracy of their weather presenters. Could a centralized teams to top-notch meteorologists do a better job for mid-sized market TV stations than someone with a local knowledge? And how does this effect the presentation vs. accuracy balance?

The Other Mike was right when he said that I may be in need of an intervention when it comes to my tissue habit.

Problem solved:

Paper towel folding: it’s the future. You’ll only find this in finer kitchenette enabled hotel rooms. This comes from a Denver TownePlace hotel.

Luckily, I haven’t spilled anything so I haven’t had to destroy this original origami.

Last week I blogged about Marriott’s premium TP display where they use TP stickers:

Katie suggested that this is wasteful, while Gabe explained that someone is supporting their family making these stickers (not to mention that someone is likely getting paid hourly to stick those stickers on the rolls). Jeremy’s only concern is that they may be scratch-n-sniff, which I suppose is a legitimate concern.

So this week, I’ve found myself in a Residence Inn by Marriott over in Traverse City, Michigan, which is nice, but not quite regular Marriott nice. Check out the difference:

It still has that hotel feel, but there is a definite difference that helps justify the added expense of the regular Marriott locations.

Excessive Exclamations!!!!, originally uploaded by edkohler.

This seems a like a little much for concrete block sales. Menards exclaimer, this is something that should be saved for your great deal on salted Nut Rolls.

I’m pro-healthy dogs, but I have some serious doubts about whether this is how to achieve it:

Yep, that’s right: Bottled vitamin water for dogs.

It comes in peanut butter, spearmint, lemmongrass, and parsley. For some strange reason, each flavor has a different mix of vitamins, so if your dog doesn’t like the taste of parsley it can kiss healthy skin goodbye.

I’m not a dog owner, but it seems to me that dogs will eat or drink just about anything, so I don’t understand the benefits of flavoring the water. And do we really need our dogs contributing even more bottled waters to our landfills?

In Michael Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food, he suggests that we should be wary of eating foods our grandmas wouldn’t recognize. I have a feeling that the same rule should apply to dog’s and their grandmas.

focus2infinity has the proof.

According to ColdwellBanker.com’s Home Price Comparison Index, a $200,000 home in Minneapolis would be worth $210,000 if it was in Edina, but only $193,000 if it was in St. Paul or Lake Minnetonka.

Programs like this seem interesting when you compare, say, Minneapolis to Cleveland or Seattle. However, the data starts to seem a bit less reliable when you get closer to home.