He's back!

So you're probably thinking to yourself, "Why would Droogs just stop blogging for nearly three months? I love his witty, insightful comments and my life just isn't the same without access to all of Tim's thoughts."


Okay, you probably didn't think that second part, but the first part is a valid question, and so here's the explanation: As some of you know, I was involved with the State Senate campaign of Red Wing's Mayor, John Howe. We had a great time on the campaign, resulting in a 55%-45% victory. Frankly, the margin probably should have been more, given the goofball we ran against (more about him later), but a win's a win, and tomorrow John will be sworn in as part of the first-ever Republican majority in the Minnesota Senate.


As you know, I can be somewhat opinionated in this blog. I often write things that offend people, or are a little controversial. (Like repeatedly calling Obama a "diversity hire." Which he is.) Sometimes I feel bad about that later, but not often, and even if I do feel bad, I rarely - if ever - apologize.


Given the current political atmosphere, and the way every bed-wetting liberal runs around looking for ways to be "offended," I thought it was probably best to stop writing during the final weeks of the campaign. For all I knew, I could make some harmless little innocent comment like, say, pointing out the similarities between Nancy Pelosi and the beast described in Revelations, and some nutjob would come out of the woodwork and accuse Mayor Howe of being "insensitive" because of something I wrote.


Not wanting anything I might write to interfere with the campaign, I decided I had better just shut it down until Mayor Howe was sworn in as Senator Howe. That happens tomorrow, so I feel free to start writing again.


So, just to get you caught up.....


The campaign was fun. As you'll recall from this previous post, we were running against a kid named Joe "Joey" Fricke. Little Joey got out of law school this past spring - it only took him 10 years to get through college and law school - and when the local DFLers couldn't find anyone to run against Mayor Howe, Joey decided he'd try to fast-track his career by starting out as a state Senator.


The only flaw in the plan was that he had no discernible experience that would qualify him to be a lawmaker. Between various stints at college, he used to spend summers working for the City of Red Wing because, as he said, he had "a heart for public service." One of the great moments of the campaign came in a debate at Winona, when John had finally heard Joey say "public service" enough times. John opened his closing statement by turning to Joe and saying "Getting paid to mow lawns ISN'T public service." Watching Joe kind of crumble was almost enough to make me feel sorry for him. Almost.


Come election night, he couldn't even make the customary concession call to John, and did some whining in the paper about John's "leadership style," proving once again that no matter how many years you spend at St. Thomas, there's no guarantee that you'll develop any class.


Shortly after the election came another birthday. I turned 54, and the highlight of the day was having the grandkids come over in their special "Opa's Girl" and "Opa's Guy" t-shirts, custom-made by daughter Corrie.

Annie turned 3 in October, and Sambo had his first birthday in August. If you ask him "Who's the man?" he'll thump himself in the chest to show you. He's got hockey player written all over him.


Last night was a bit of a landmark as I worked my 400th Minnesota Wild game. It was a crazy night that ended with a 6-5 overtime win, and it turned out that it was also Mikko Koivu's 400th game. Of course, all I get are home games, so he's going to race past me.

It's been an inconsistent season for the Wild, and while they are just four points out of the last playoff spot, I don't see them making the playoffs. I hope I'm wrong, but the club just doesn't seem to show up on a night-to-night basis often enough to run off the six- or eight-game winning streak they're going to need to make the playoffs. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think so.


A couple weeks ago marked the 75th anniversary of the arrival of my former boss, Rudy Boschwitz, in the United States. He came here as a 5-year-old, fleeing Nazi Germany with his parents and siblings; Much of their family was lost in the Holocaust. A Jewish newspaper recently took note of Rudy's story here, and it's a great read.


I've written before about what a remarkable life story Rudy has, and I'm extremely proud of my association with him. On a shelf in my office is a picture of the two of us at the Berlin Wall in January, 1990, just as communism was nearing its collapse. The picture is encased in a shadow box, along with a piece of the Wall itself. It's among my most cherished possessions.


So, we're about all caught up, and my New Year's resolution is to get something up on the blog at least every other day. Hold me to it!