Twin Cities IndieWeb - BlogFlock

Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-12T02:26:48.000Z

I know it’s weeks away but…

I’m ready for flannel shirts and broken-in jeans. I’m ready for Bean Boots and shirt jackets. I’m ready for chunky wool sweaters and corduroy. I’m ready for more pockets and layers. I’m ready for fall.

Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-11T15:09:44.000Z

Our daughter, who turned 18 this year, voted for the first time today. The world will begin slowly changing in the right direction now.

Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-11T14:58:40.000Z

I’ve really been enjoying this new YouTube show, One Question with TK. I don’t know many of the guests but the premise is so interesting and the conversation so fascinating it doesn’t matter. Highly recommended.

Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-11T04:45:55.000Z

Dense Discovery #401: Your call is important to us

Technology has stopped being the thing that connects us to people and became the thing standing in for them.

Nailed it.

Black Hat USA 2026: The ‘Breaking’ News: The OpenAI–Hugging Face Incident - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-10T15:02:40.000Z

I’m not scared of AI. I’m scared of the humans behind it.

Very dangerous things are often very cool.

“What we didn’t realize…” is the warning phrase that should cause one to notice the danger. Instead, these people seem to only notice the cool.

Finishing Our Routine - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-10T02:40:05.000Z

One of the running conceits in the most recent summer show at Circus Juventas, Whimsy! involves Lady Licorice, played by Beatrix, becoming more and more annoyed that she and The Candy Sisters never get to finish their routine. Whenever someone enters Candyland, they have a welcome routine and it always seems to get cut off, interrupted, or the visitor doesn’t stay long enough to see it. It’s one of my favorite elements in the show.

For sixteen years now, our family has had a routine around Beatrix’s circus schedule. Weeks were largely structured around when she had circus classes after school. When we ate dinner together as a whole family and how we’re built around it. If I had to plan dinner for just Bethany and I and something else for Beatrix to eat between classes. When both Beatrix and I were at Circus in rehearsal for a show so Bethany was on her own. Pretty much everything in our lives was a complex scheduling Tetris around Beatrix needing to be at Circus. It was a routine that we never fully thought would ever be finished.

In the show, towards the end, Lady Licorice and The Candy Sisters do get to finish their routine and it’s beautiful.

This afternoon, Beatrix took her final bow at Circus Juventas. She got to finish her routine for the last time and it was even more beautiful than the first.

And, with that, we as a family have finished ours.

Parking for a Concert at Gillette Stadium - Barry Hess

2026-08-09T20:05:14.000Z

Parking a vehicle for a concert at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, is quite a challenge. Before heading to the BTS concerts this past week I did some research, even asking Chat GPT about how to handle parking. To its credit, with my hints about what I wanted, it ended up putting us at a pretty good spot in someone’s yard. The spot was a 25-minute walk from the stadium.

We were staying at a hotel about four miles south of the stadium. Our tickets provided us free parking in the general parking lot across US-1, but I was skeptical. A bit of reading said you could end up waiting in that lot for quite a while after a concert. After day one, we talked to some folks who parked there and discovered they had literally not moved their car in the lot for about two hours. Not waiting in line, but literally just sitting in their car unable to move into a line.

US-1 does not allow any left turns heading north toward the stadium starting anywhere from 2-4pm, and I assume something similar happens north side of the stadium. Earlier in that time slot you can sometimes sneak a left turn into a gas station when heading north, but as the day goes on you will probably get a ticket (or in an accident) if you try to do that.

If you also need to head south after a show, parking where we did is a pretty good option. You can text the number on that page to reserve a spot. In our case, reserving was $40, but if you drove up to the lot it would have been $60. I’m sure prices vary per event. If you don’t park there, finding one of the few side streets to park on like this one on Pine Street is a good bet since you have easy right-turn access onto US-1. (I think that Lafayette House was also doing parking on Pine.) There are many businesses directly on US-1 south of the stadium that offer parking, but most don’t offer traffic control to get you out of the lot past the walking concert leavers and into the bumper-to-bumper traffic on US-1.

If you’re heading north, I’ve read good things about parking at South Walpole UMC. I assume you could take some side streets from there to a less congested version of the busy road that you need to get to. Parking on Pine Street might even work for heading north if you can head west from your spot to 115 and on to 1A. The city does block off some residential roads in the area to protect neighborhoods from all the traffic, so your mileage may vary (heh). I did see some people leave lots on Pine and head west, though.

If you need to take ride share, good luck! I read of people waiting at the ride share lot on site until 2 or 3 in the morning. At a certain point I think that drivers just stop being willing to drive there. I believe your best bet would be to start walking toward a side street like Pine and scheduling a car for a time about 30 minutes after you start walking. (Of course, cars cannot turn right from US-1 to Pine and I don’t think they’re allowed to enter Pine from the west, so YMMV on this as well. Probably you can’t do what I’m recommending!)

If you need to take the event train back toward the city, good luck! For these concert there was only a single train and tickets sold out in five minutes. I assume there’s always only a single train. Some booked the commuter train that was scheduled between 10:30 and 11 pm. You will need to leave the show early to make that train.

There are two hotels on site. If you want to book them for a show, you’ll need to book them well before the show tickets actually go on sale, so good luck! For these shows I checked every week to see if some rooms were cancelled and later became available. About a month before the show a few rooms became available, probably because they released accessible rooms that they have to hold back. Those rooms were…over $1,000 a night. I’m not sure if that’s the original price if you booked pre-sellout or if that’s just the “we’re sold out” price.

A final option is to check if some of the restaurants to the west of the stadium are open for a couple of hours after the event. In that case, I may suggest parking in the general lot and hanging out for a meal after the game.

Reply by email

Porto 2026 — Day 2 - Jamie Thingelstad

2026-08-08T22:00:00.000Z

<ul> <li>9:00 a.m. Coffee for Jamie at C’alma Coffee Room</li> <li>10:30 a.m. Brunch at CA Downtown</li> <li>11:30 a.m. Alice Escape Room at Cubus Escape. We escape in 48:31 with no clues whatsoever! Go us.</li> <li>12:30 p.m. Walk around Porto and do a little shopping, including visiting Mazie’s favorite store from the last time she was here :)</li> <li>Jamie tries on some shorts from Lacoste.</li> <li>2:15 p.m. Get a Coke and a pastel de nata to share.</li> <li>2:30 p.m. Join Porto free walking tour.</li> <li>5:00 p.m. Visit Porto Cathedral.</li> <li>6:00 p.m. Dinner at Federica Ribeira. Had some trouble locating the restaurant as it was on the second story, but that made our riverfront dining experience all the better and so peaceful! Absolutely delicious pizza and drinks (Jamie and Tammy discovered port tonics…).</li> <li>7:30 p.m. Meander for a bit. Mazie tries on carrot shirt in a store.</li> <li>8:30 p.m. Continente grocery store stop to pick up breakfast/lunch for hike tomorrow. We might’ve gone a little wild with all the options in there.</li> <li>9:15 p.m. Back to Airbnb.</li> </ul>

Porto 2026 — Day 1 - Jamie Thingelstad

2026-08-07T21:00:00.000Z

<ul> <li>Land in AMS at 11:30 a.m. Brunch and explore the airport.</li> <li>Fly AMS to OPO on DL 9338. Sleeping is the main event on this flight.</li> <li>Land about 3:30 p.m.</li> <li>Metro to Airbnb</li> <li>Taste our first pastel de nata at Manteigaria!</li> <li>Settle into Airbnb</li> <li>Stop by Lost Inn Porto (Mazie’s hostel when she was here with Natalie on study abroad) and commemorate the visit with pictures.</li> <li>Walk to dinner at Pregar Baixa for prego sandwiches.</li> <li>Walk down to the riverfront after dinner. Walk across the famous bridge and explore the waterfront on the other side.</li> <li>Return to Airbnb</li> </ul>

Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstad

2026-08-07T20:19:24.000Z

Porto at night. View from our Airbnb. <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/ed62348022.jpg" width="600" height="337" alt="">

Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-07T18:07:33.000Z

A perfect late summer salad: Small cubes of watermelon. Small cubes of cucumber. Crumbled feta. Chopped mint. Toss together in a bowl. Enjoy.

Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstad

2026-08-07T16:01:32.000Z

Pasteis de Nata. <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/dcfc837cb9.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="">

Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstad

2026-08-07T15:58:25.000Z

Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstad

2026-08-07T15:13:44.000Z

Arrived in Porto, Portugal! 🇵🇹 <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/19e383de2c.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="">

Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstad

2026-08-07T09:59:56.000Z

On layover in AMS on way to Porto! <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/d666813d58.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="">

Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstad

2026-08-07T00:52:58.000Z

On our way to Porto, Portugal 🇵🇹 by way of Amsterdam. ✈️ <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/e1d990ee5a.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="">

Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-06T13:04:51.000Z

Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys

On Sunday, Beatrix will walk out of the arena at Circus Juventas for the last time, and that thought has me up early this morning. It’s not like I did not know it before, but it’s hitting especially hard.

Same.

Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-06T11:48:17.000Z

Performing circus can teach kids about hard work, dedication, teamwork, performance, etc. Most importantly, it teaches kids how to fail in front of a crowd, get back up, and try it again. “Smile and Style” as they say. The crowd, for their part, will cheer even louder when you get it the next time.

Post on Jamie Thingelstad - Jamie Thingelstad

2026-08-06T00:19:22.000Z

Excited for Noah Kahan at Target Field tonight! <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/890/2026/6f953dda77.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="">

Post on Patrick Rhone - Patrick Rhone

2026-08-05T03:13:58.000Z

Give me an Irish funeral and an even more Irish wake. I have but nary a drop of Irish in me but I hope those that mourn can make it up in whiskey. I want singing and dancing and music and drinking — drinking enough to remember but not so much as to forget.