Blast From the Past I’m old enough to remember not just when gas stations had actual, live attendants — but when gas was truly cheap, and competition for customers was such that gas stations on opposite corners would engage in price wars. Yes, price wars. At the extreme, you’d even see the stations’ signs attempt to lure...Read More
Poor — and Well-Timed — Sales Either someone at the local Whole Foods has a sick sense of humor (it’s in the 30’s and snowing — again — in the Twin Cities at the moment). Or more likely, someone in corporate — literally 1,000 miles away in Austin, Texas — decided to put suntan lotion...Read More
From Receding Glacier to . . . Pile of Dirty Snow With local temp’s finally breaking into the 70’s, winter is beating a quick retreat from the Twin Cities. What’s left — at least temporarily — is akin to the world’s largest bathtub ring: residual mountains of snow and crud in the corner of any...Read More
One more day or two of rain and temps in the high 30’s/low 40’s, and that’s exactly the rather odd prospect confronting the Twin Cities. The mild temp’s (and sparse snow cover) are a bummer for cross-cross skiers, but good news for lots of other folks (I’m squarely in the latter camp).Read More
THERE It Is! (Almost) no one was complaining about the unseasonal 40’s (and 50’s!) lingering well past Thanksgiving, mind you. Still, to die-hard Minnesotans, it’s slightly discombobulating to see December on the calendar, and not be hunkered down — at least a little bit — contending with snow, ice, and subfreezing temp’s. Thanks to yesterday’s (mild)...Read More
Twin Cities Up 10% Since May The just-released Case-Shiller index of housing prices in the 20 leading U.S. markets shows continuing improvement in August. Prices climbed in 19 markets, led by Detroit, up 2.27%; Seattle was the worst-performing market, essentially flat (off .06%). The Twin Cities ranked sixth, with an increase of 1.19%. Where the...Read More
