Opinion

Last week, I was invited to attend a dinner in honor of the Ambassador of Uruguay’s trip to Montevideo. Everyone in attendance was encouraged to sit at tables with people they didn’t know, and so I ended up sitting with a family from Uruguay that now lives in St. Paul and a gentleman from Uruguay who now lives in Minnetonka.

Railroad Crossing Emergency Question: What am I supposed to do if I am at a railroad crossing and need to report an emergency? Answer: Call 911 and provide the needed information. Every highway- rail crossing has an Emergency Notification System (ENS) sign that provides a 24/7/365 telephone number to report problems or emergencies at the railroad location.

Driving with earphones and earplugs Question: Is it legal to wear earplugs or headphones while driving a vehicle in Minnesota? Answer: State statue says that no person, while operating a motor vehicle, shall wear headphones or earphones that are used in both ears simultaneously for purposes of receiving or listening to broadcasts or reproductions from radios or other sound-producing or transmitting devices. A hands free device, like a Bluetooth earpiece, is legal because it is only worn in one ear.

I talked to a friend last week whose Lutheran church in Minneapolis is trying to attract people of color. Lutherans have been white for centuries, coming as they did from Scandinavia and Germany, countries that were never great colonial powers and didn’t grab big chunks of Africa and Lutheranize the indigenous people.

You know how sometimes you think you’re going to do just a quick, little project and then it turns into something that consumes your entire day? That happens to me a lot in my house. So on Sunday morning, when I realized I had no photo sessions scheduled for the first Sunday in many months, and no events to cover for the newspaper or last minute interviews scheduled for the weekend, I decided I could get a couple of small projects done around the house that were desperately needed.

In case you’re wondering why I was not in church Sunday morning, I was in the Omaha airport at 6:30 a.m. waiting for a flight back to New York, listening to an announcement that unattended bag- gage would be confiscated, eating a breakfast croissant and blueberry yogurt, drinking couee, which came to $19.74, which happens to be the year I started doing my old radio show.

I think most of us have come to the point in winter where we don’t maybe pay as much attention to the forecast, kind of expecting winter to be done with its wrath by now. At least, I know that’s how I’ve been functioning.