Earlier today I drove to campus and stopped in at the film society. Al is in Canada attending the Montréal and Toronto film festivals and Kyle was out today helping his brother move so the only one in the office was Adam. I turned in my office keys and time card to him, but I couldn't get a pay check because there was noone there to sign it. I then went to TCF and closed my checking account. There was all of $14 left in the account - good thing I'm moving. Then I stopped by Espresso 22 to see Daryoush. He and his sister gave me an ice coffee float and a cold pasta salad. I ate and drank those and then walked back to my car with Adam, who had come down to Espresso 22 for lunch. I've since been packing up the last of my stuff and jockeying the position of my car to get it as close to the entrance of my building as possible. I'm actually saving the spot for Mom and Dad so they can park the van there.

So anyway, I guess the next time you hear from me I'll be in Appleton. At this point I'm planning on coming back to Minneapolis next weekend for the GVSB concert and the Twins-A's game. See you all later!

Molly and I went to the Twins-Mariners game yesterday. I didn't get a chance to make my sign, but the above ie what it would have said had I gotten my chance. We went to the game yesterday not only because I'm moving tomorrow but also because I wanted to see one last game before the potential strike. It was so disappointing to see Rick Reed pick up the loss. He pitched a great game, but Desi Relaford (of all people!) seemed to have Reed's number yesterday, so when Relaford's solo homerun lined over the baggy in right in the top of the 8th in a previously scoreless game we felt as disappointed for Rick as we did to see the team fall behind.

I don't really feel like talking baseball right now, but I have to say that whether the strike takes place or not (and at this point, thankfully, it seems it won't) will make a difference on what I do next weekend. I want to see Girls Against Boys at the Entry, but I don't think it's worth driving 300 miles just for that. Oakland would be in town next weekend to take on the Twins, so I would deem seeing GVSB and the Twins-A's game more worth the drive. I'm still waiting.

My first introduction to Metro Transit came on my first weekend here. I needed to find a way to the St. Paul campus for a Whole show and the Connector wasn't running yet. I ended up hopping on the 6, which didn't even take me all the way to the St. Paul campus, but it got me close enough that I could walk the rest of the way. Most of my riding after that amounted to taking the 16 downtown or to Midway until I moved out of the dorms. That was when the real fun started.

Without a car, I had to ride the bus every day of my junior year between campus and my apartment. During that year I met so many interesting people and got so many stories. Everyone from Calvin and Blackman to the guy who wanted me to write my thesis on life on the street and the minister who warned me about the dangers of carpal tunnel syndrome inspired me in one way or another. I also learned that busses can be pulled over for speeding. I'm sure that public transportation in any large city could give me this same sort of enjoyment and entertainment, but Metro Transit just happens to be ours.

Speaking of that, I rode Valley Transit in Appleton this last January to get downtown. I was one of about 4 people on the bus. The others were kids or elderly - the only one's who ride busses in Appleton. It'll just never be the same.

So that's the end of my list. If you've actually read along then you've followed me basically through the story of my 4 years here. Tomorrow I move back to Appleton and the chapter is closed. Thanks.

My first encounter with Premium came at a birthday party I attended spring quarter of my freshman year. As my then nineteenness wouldn't allow me to purchase beer myself, I was forced to drink whatever others had brought. I drank a few other beers and rhen saw the clear bottle with the "Premium" label. What the hell kind of beer is that? I drank one and I was hooked - sort of. Of course, I was still 2 years away from being legal and really being able to indulge. I don't drink every day, but when I do, I now reach for a Grain Belt Premium. While Flanagan's Stop-N-Shop in Appleton carries Premium, who knows how long they'll continue to do that, so I need to make the most of it now.

• I don't think Marc Klaas holds a regular job any longer. I'm sure he'd much rather have his daughter back than be the de facto child abduction expert, but does his insight change from abduction to abduction? I flipped past Fox News Channel and they were reporting on yet another child abduction in Cali this morning, which of course meant they had to be interviewing Marc Klaas.
• Oxygen kicks ass. Although the element kicks ass too, I'm refering here to the cable station. I don't know how many times I've flipped past this channel and found them showing another kick ass movie - both features and documentaries. Today's kick ass movie du jour is the Canadian indie New Waterford Girl, which showed at the 2001 MSPIFF. I love that movie!

That's all the farther I made it through the channels.

Growing up in northeast Wisconsin, I never realized there was this entire world of independent and foreign films. I should have made some sort of realization at some point, but I never did. Then I came here. It started early. I had heard that my RA (Charles) was a film studies major, so I wanted to ask him about it. He talked me into volunteering at Bijou. I went to go see a few films at U Film and Oak Street. Then it was Lagoon, Uptown, the Heights, and deciding to major in film studies. This entire world which doesn't exist back in Appleton was opened up to me. Now when I move back there the door will be slammed back shut again. Well, not completely - the door is certain to hit me in the ass on my way out. Although I won't have any opportunities to see real new films in Appleton, I guess I could take a roadtrip out here, but it had better be a damn good film to make the trip worth it.

I soaked my blinds in the tub today to get them clean. I have two of them rehung and tbe other two drying in the bathroom. I have to get to bed at a decent time tonight because the plan is to get everything loaded up and be on the road as soon as possible in the morning. For me that typically means leaving by 10, but even leaving then would be good enough for me. I have to pick and choose what will fit in my car and get it loaded in the car before I can leave in the morning. Let's hope it all goes off without a hitch.

Starting with fall semester 2000, I should have a GPA for the final 2 years of 2.987, but there's a mistake. When you re-take a course, your grade (and its part of your cumulative GPA) are thrown out in favor of the new grade. That little problem forced a B+ of mine to be thrown out. The thing is, I wasn't really repeating the same course, but rather a different course which coincidentally carried the same course number. The computer read this as a standard repeat and threw out the B+. While the B+ was replaced by an A, both grades should be included in the GPA. Without the B+ (which was also in a German film course - potentially very important to my application process), my cumulative GPA for the last two years drops to a 2.966 - further off the minimum yet.

Hopefully they look closer at the last two years than the last 60 credits, as that moves me all the way back to spring 2000, at the including of which would drop my cumulative GPA over the last 60 credits to 2.938. Of course, this would all be moot if I had just gotten off my ass and taken my work seriously. The worst part is that upon further examination, I see that unlike my first 60 credits, I had only 3 courses over the final 60 credits with grades below a B-, and those were Marty Roth's (D), Larry May's (C), and Tom Pope's (C). (I will decline to comment further, but those of you who had them - such as Annemarie - know what those courses were all about.) If it wasn't for those 3 courses, my GPA over the final 60 credits would total 3.164 - problem solved. Uff-da.

Before the 2001 season, if I'm not mistaken, the Twins had experienced 8 straight losing seasons. Of course, a combination of this and the fallout of the '94 strike had dropped attendance at the Metrodome to dismal lows. We wanted to go to Twins games to join the 8,000 people in attendance, get drunk, and heckle the players. What we found became quite a pleasant surprise: not only did they not suck, but people were actuallt coming to the games. Hmmm... maybe it'd actually be worth coming to the games for the... uhhh... baseball?

Last summer I went to 1 game per month and listened to the occassional game on the radio. The team did well in the first half, fell apart in the second half, and had to fight off contraction in the offseason. By the 2002 season we were all ready for our Twins to have a great season... and they haven't disappointed. In addition to all the games I've been to this year, I've watched most of the others on tv or listened to them on the radio. I read their news and collect their mini-bobbleheads. Without steady full-time employment, the Twins have been my babysitter this summer.

I never really was a big baseball fan until these Twins came along. I really don't care much for teams who require homeruns to win games (which, unfortunately, is the case with nearly every AL team except Minnesota, Anaheim, and Oakland). I love good pitching and great defense. I find base stealing, the hit-and-run, and doubles in the gap exciting. I find solo homeruns, except in the right situation, extremely boring. Don't get me wrong - a well-timed homerun (such as a lead-off or walk-off homerun) can be very exciting, but winning a game 7-1 by hitting 5 solo homers and a 2-run shot is about as boring as it gets. Blah. Good thing the Twins aren't that way. Good thing I've had them to keep me occupied.

With my choices for an education severely limited by my meager finances, I had narrowed my possible schools down to UW-Milwaukee and the "U," and looking back I'm quite happy with my choice. I wasn't always happy with the required courses I had to take or the red tape I had to cut through, and the film studies program, despite the efforts of the professors, wasn't anything too spectacular, but the opportunities the U opened up for me and the quality of the German department made it all worth it and then some. Without the U I never would have experienced any of the other 14 items and people on this list. It is the backbone of my time here, and because I want to keep taking courses even after I've graduated, it's difficult to leave the U behind.

Once again, the U wasn't all glitz and glimmer, and putting up with all the construction and not having Coffman for the majority of my time here really soured on me on the U. In fact, I have to say that at this point I have no intention of ever freely giving money back to the U as an alumnus, as they already squeezed more than enough money out of me to build buildings which I will never get to use. Screw those behind me - I built it and they get to use it - to hell with them. There are also other bits to the Twin Cities which I will miss more, and so that's why, despite being the catalyst, the U sits back here at number 5.

For anyone who grew up here and lived here their whole life it may be easy to take all of this for granted. For me it's not so easy. Back home there is no local music scene, so once a venue like Concert Cafe went out of business, that pretty much killed off anything resembling music in the area, as we had no real local bands to fill in the space vacated by national acts passing through. Here I have my choice between multiple concerts each night, whereas back home I'll be entitled to see one show every three weeks (if I'm lucky), and if I don't like the bands, well them I'm pretty much out of luck.

Of course, the local scene isn't perfect, and it's difficult for the young 'uns to see their favorite bands until they're 21 since almost every local venue is now 21+. The great experiment in all-ages, the Foxfire, came and went in my time here and the Whole Music Club, despite the greatest effort of its coordinators, is quickly being destroyed and dismantled by the University. Even though the opportunities for minors are not that great, it's nice to know that eventually they'll get a chance to be part of the scene.

"First of all, be glad that Sean is only an agnostic and not yet an atheist. Also be glad that his hair is not purple and that he does not have bolts sticking out of various places on his body."

- and -

"We think that God is real, because if there was no God there would be nothing to start the world. If there is no God, there would be no reason to do good. If there is no God, there would be no difference between people and animals. If there is no God, there would be no souls and no chance that souls could live on after death. Mostly, if there is no God, there is just no reason to get out of bed in the morning and no reason to believe that life has an edge over death, hope an edge over despair and love an edge over hate."

Hmmm... I never realized that purple hair is so bad. I also never realized that atheists are no-good animals with no reason to get out of bed or love. I don't consider myself an atheist, but even so, I see plenty of reason to get out of bed in the morning, to do good, and to love without believe in God. Ignorant religious morons....

Annemarie called me this afternoon. She's in town for the weekend, but as I understand it she already has plans for tonight, so I'll have to call her tomorrow afternoon. I have to work 4-8 tomorrow, so I don't have that time, but we'll figure something out.

Of course, we have college radio back home, but nothing that even remotely compares with Radio K. Radio K not only plays several of the bands that I was into before moving here, but they also have introduced me to several different local, national, and international acts which I never would have heard of or gotten into with them. I also have to credit them with introducing me to several really cool people also who have helped me make it through my four years in the area.

I don't remember anymore what my knowledge was of the Al Malmberg show prior to mid-July 2001, but that's when I first became a listener. Unable to sleep in my steamy apartment, I spent many a late night sitting up listening to Al and his rag-tag cast of regular callers. The show first hit it off with me on the night that Jonathan and I ended up driving to the ball of twine. Driving across the state, we listened in as callers called in about everything from the death penalty to the Twins - and I was hooked. My listening dropped off considerably during the school year when I tried to return to a semi-normal bedtime, but I've begun listening more again this summer.

The reason I say I should hate Al Malmberg and his show is the conservative nature of it all. Listening to the oft-uninformed opinions of Al and his callers would drive a hardline liberal off the deep end. Luckily, I'm not quite liberal enough to not find humor in the stupidity of everyone involved. Back home there's nothing even close to this sort of nonsense.

In an only marginally related topic, I find myself cheering against this Little League team from Harlem. Don't get me wrong - these boys are extremely talented; probably the most talented team in the Series - but I just can't stand the showboating. Every time they get a big hit, hit a home run, or get a big out, the first thing they have to do is rub it in the faces of the other teams. I see the job their manager is doing and have nothing but the utmost respect for the man, but as for the players themselves, I'll never be able to respect them until they learn how to respect others. For this reason, I'm also starting to lose a lot of respect for Harold Reynolds, who daily makes excuses for these players by saying that's just the way they were raised. Let me tell you something Mr. Reynolds: if that's the way they were raised - and I don't care if they're from Harlem or the Hamptons - then I think it reveals some major issues with the way parents are raising their children these days. I've never been to New York, but I have absolutely no ambition to ever visit New York either. Why? Because from everything I've ever read, seen, or heard about New York and New Yorkers, this is just the way they treat and act toward everyone, and why should I ever give a damn about anyone who so completely doesn't give a damn about me. Screw New York.

The best part about KFAI is that anyone can get a show playing anything or talking about anything. Unlike big corporate radio stations, which would technically be in violation of FCC rules regarding radio stations if it weren't for the fact that they make so much money (and we all know that anyone with money in this country is above the law), KFAI actually does a service for the people by being the voice of the people as they want it. At one moment you might be able to tune in and hear a jazz show. Tuning in an hour later you might hear the on-air personalities speaking in a foreign tongue. And an hour after that you might be able to hear some hard core punk. Such is it on KFAI.

My personal favorite show - and the only one I make a point of listening to every week - is The Root of All Evil, which is on from 1-6 am on Sunday mornings. There's something about 5 hours of death metal in the middle of a weekend night that I find entirely appealing. Whether I've come home from a night of drinking and need to sober up or if I've spent the night in watching tv, The Root of All Evil is always there for me, just as they have been for over 15 years now. Ahhhh....

Here in the state dubbed "The Land of 10,000 Lakes" we are experiencing one of the wettest summers in recorded weather history. Storms passing through again this evening have the potential to move some parts of the state past all-time seasonal records. To put it most simply, it's wet outside.

My favorite part about it all is that most of these storms have passed through as the temperature drops when the sun sets. In other words, even though it's been raining buckets outside, I've been able to enjoy it from the comfort of my apartment. I've hardly even had to carry my umbrella with me, as most of the rain has fallen after I've returned home from a night on the town.

The rain that we have received this summer wouldn't even seem abnormal if it weren't for the fact that I keep seeing footage on tv of dry riverbeds and brown fields of grass from coast to coast, yet it seems Minnesota gets featured nightly on The Weather Channel as they discuss the super cells developing in South Dakota and dropping precipitation here. It's nearly guaranteed that on any given night following an even mildly humid day (such as Tuesday) we're going to get more rain.

I guess I also bring this up as I'm disappointed with myself for not being more excited about the rain. If I were the type to enjoy singing in the rain, this summer would be like a dream. I could go sloshing around in puddles and stomping pools of rain to my heart's desire. This is hardly what I expected this summer - especially since my memories of last summer recall little rain but lots of heat and humidity - but I guess I've come to expect it and take in stride. Even so, if anyone from elsewhere in the country wants some water, feel free to take it, because I've certainly had enough.

After returning home, I turned on The History Channel, and they were showing a repeat broadcast of "Punishment." I wish I'd have been taping it, because it was the best show ever! It was even better than "The Wonderful World of Dung." There were so many pictures and descriptions of torture and this really great guy telling about it so raw and dry that you'd swear the guy spends his freetime working as the straightman in a comedy pairing. It was just awesome.

I love the way the man says what he thinks and doesn't give a damn what may be politically correct. If he's getting the job done, I really don't give a damn how many movies he wants to make cameo appearances in or if he wants to go be a football commentator or wrestling judge. I didn't vote for the man, but now I almost wish I had.

The only gripe I have with him is his stance on education and the arts. In addition to K-12 and higher education funding cuts, he also vetoed principal state funding for projects such as the new Guthrie, the planetarium in the new Minneapolis central library, and renovation of aging buildings at the U and MnSCU campuses.

Although the man leaves office not long after I leave town, no governor anywhere I live after this will be able to compare with Ventura.

For one, student athletes are paid - it's called scholarships. I wish someone would have given me a full ride to be an underachiever majoring in communications and then drop out in two years to join the NFL, but that didn't happen. I have to pay my own way through. These athletes don't - that's payment enough.

For two, sports are supposed to be for the love of the game. If the athlete's only ambition is to move on to the pros, why waste the university's money? Why not go straight to the professional leagues out of high school?

For three, the game he's complaining about in the article is being played to support the athletics program. The players aren't playing an extra game to pay a professor's salary or to build new academic facilities, they're playing a game to pay for their own program. Why should other students have to foot the bill for athletes who are intending to show off their skills to become professional athletes?

And finally, this extra game is a nationally televised broadcast. In other words, these players aren't playing for free; they're playing for an extra game's worth of exposure in front of pro scouts.

I don't know what kind of moonshine the guy was drinking when his garage logic told him that this game was bad for the players, and I especially would like to know what he was smoking when he suggested that "suspend[ing] athletes for getting a discount on some shoes is beyond belief", but I definitely have to get myself some of that, because it must be some good shit.

I also spent the day waiting around for my mom to call, but she never did. Finally I just called her about 9:30 tonight, but she wasn't there. She and my dad were at a wedding reception for her boss's son. I ended up just talking to my brother for over an hour. By 11 I figured I should go, so I told him to have Mom call me Sunday. He said he thinks they're coming up here next weekend, but hopefully she'll call tomorrow so I can get actual details on that.

I'm sure that at this point most of you are rather confused. Okay, I'll explain better. You see, by only having class about 2 days a week, and even then having them not start often until 3-4, I needed something to do with my days. Not having cable, I was forced to watch anything that was on tv. Since TPT-17 was one of the few stations I could get reception from, and since channel 17 showed the Minnesota Legislature during the day, I became acquainted with several of the more vocal members. While there are several members of the legislature - especially the senate - whom I find amusing, Jim Vickerman is the one whom, if they made Senate trading cards, I'd most want his rookie card. I am really pathetic.

There's something about mediocre players making $10M a year. There's something about Alex Rodriguez going to the hapless Rangers for $250M instead of going to a contender for considerably less. There's something about the bravado of the players because the players union has never lost. There's just something about Donald Fehr. Go ahead and let them strike. If I'm the owners, I don't give in on this one. In fact, I lock out the players until they give in. If the owners give in again, these skyrocketing payrolls will continue to explode exponentially and we might as well eliminate all but about 4 teams.

You see, if the players go on strike, I, like millions of other Americans, won't give a damn. Football starts the first week in September and I'll be more than content to spend my Sunday afternoons watching the Packers. Yes, the NFL - that league that knows how to handle money. The league where a team from a city of 100,000 (Green Bay) can compete right along side teams from a city of over 7 million. That league where players are well compensated without it becoming too ridiculous. That league where teams are forced to spread their money around to all their players (which only makes sense, since it is a team sport). Yes baseball players, go ahead and strike, because I already have plans.

It's almost difficult to completely place where the problem with the Twins is. Obviously, they're not scoring runs. Defensively, they're still playing amazing baseball and making great plays (case in point: despite losing last night, they still were credited with two Web Gems - Dustan Mohr's sliding foul pop catch and Christian Guzman's throw after the ball ricochéd off Koskie's glove - by Baseball Tonight). Despite a little early shakiness and giving up the two home runs, Lohse had one of his best outings of the season last night. They knocked a few balls around the yard. Hell, Sleepy Pete even won the fishing tournament last night! It's been frustrating as of late because all the pieces are there, they're just not coming together properly.

This season the Twins are a combined 2-13 against Boston, Baltimore, and the Yankees coming into the home series with Boston this weekend. Why does the AL East own the Twins? Remember last season when the Devil Rays swept the Twins?! It's insane. Actually, one of the hardest statistics for me to take in is that in Minnesota's last 54 games against Baltimore, the Twins have lost 42 and only won 12! Forget Carl Pohlad - Now that, my friends, is ownership.

Selection #15 is Nicollet Mall. Okay, it's not something I'll miss that much, which is why it got 15th on the list. I came up with a list of 14 legit things, sat around for an hour watching Conan, and then finally threw this on. It was either Nicollet Mall or the Polish bars, but really, the best Polish bar was the Polish Palace (even though I still love Nye's and Mayslack's and the others), and since the Polish Palace is no more, I went back to the Mall. Although Nicollet Mall has recently been invaded by big corporate skyscrapers and has pushed some of the beloved small businesses elsewhere, I still love this pedestrian thoroughfare. I never frequent any of them, but I still love the ambiance of all the sidewalk cafes and restaurants. I don't care much for all the panhandlers, but what can you do?

In other news, Molly and I drove out to Interstate State Park on the Minnesota-Wisconsin state line at Taylors Falls this afternoon. We hung out near the Bottomless Pit (which was about as bottomless as the bottomless drinks at Perkins) and picnicked on gas station sandwiches.

What a great headline! Gnak gnak gnak!

The Minnesota Twins announced that they have formulated a postseason ticket plan for potential home playoff games. Fans may place a nonrefundable deposit on any 2003 season ticket plan or enter into a random drawing for the opportunity to purchase tickets for all American League Division Series, American League Championship Series and World Series games by sending a post card or online form between Monday, August 12 and Wednesday, August 28. Apply today!

http://lists.mlb.com/u/15494/8734919

Before going to the movie, I went to a McDonald's in Columbia Heights and got an Extra Value Meal so I could get the Corey Koskie mini-bobblehead doll. Now Koskie is residing on top of my television right next to Joe Mays.

And since we're on the topic of the Twins, while it's unfortunate that they lost again tonight, at least the White Sox, Mariners, and Yankees all lost also, so the Twins still maintain a 16 game lead and lose no more ground on a chance at home field advantage. If I'm not mistaken, the White Sox loss should now make the magic number for the Twins 33 - just like Romero.

In personal news, I visited the temp agency up on the 45th floor of the IDS Center this morning. They had me fill out tax forms and an application. Then they tested me on such things as math skills, spelling, filing, and proofreading. Needless to say, I scored well. Then they had me take a typing test (something I hadn't done in quite some time). I was surprised to see I scored a 49 (50 wpm - 1 typo = 49). I didn't think it was too bad. She offered to let me take that one again, but I knew it's not as if on my next turn I'd score an 80 or anything, so I just let it be. That was that. She said she'd call me when they have a job for me. In the mean time, I have nothing to do again, so I guess I'll just have to sit here and chill. Ra! Ra! Ski-u-ma!

The good news is that the temp agency finally called me back. They called while I was at the game today, so I called them back once I got home. I talked to the girl working there, and we set up an appointment for tomorrow morning to go over paperwork and have them test my proficiency with various software and office tasks. Even if I don't hear anything back from any of the more permanent jobs I applied for, hopefully this will lead to something.

Let me tell you the reason I find this judge's decision troubling.... You see, there's nothing wrong with these people reading the Bible, and that's the problem. The way they claim it, homosexuality is simply a religious issue, which it most definitely is not. Perhaps Christianity is against homosexuality, but that does not make it a religious issue. Homosexuality (just like heterosexuality) is a psychological issue. While one can argue that their free-speech rights were infringed upon (for not being allowed to silently demonstrate), they were also infringing upon the rights of homosexuals, as it has been determined that one can not be discriminated against for sexual preference. While I don't know all the facts on this case, it would seem that the state of Minnesota was not "forc-[ing] these employees to change their beliefs about homosexuality" (as claimed by Francis Manion, senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice), but rather was simply training them to deal with gays and lesbians, which is something also protected by the Constitution. If these bigoted Christians want to think homosexuality is wrong, then let them, but it doesn't change the fact that there are gays and lesbians all around them and they need to learn to deal with it. These people were not reprimanded for thinking that homosexuality is wrong, but rather for refusing to take part in training mandated by their employer. They in turn turned the blame around and changed the issue to fit their needs.

How 'bout 'dem Twins? Nuff said.

I was dead chuffed to find that TV Land is airing reruns of "Welcome Back Kotter." All of a sudden everything is right with the world and who cares if I never get a job again. I'll just kick back with my episodes of Gabe and the Sweathogs.

"'The Master of Disguise' opens the floodgates of suck, unleashing a torrent of rock-bottom idiocy on poor innocents who just want to live in peace: the moviegoing public."

Perhaps needless to say, he gave the film 0 stars out of 4.

Sid also makes mention in the same article that the Twins will release information next week on the sale of postseason tickets. It says the cheap seats will be $10 for Division Series, $25 for the ALCS, and $60 for the World Series. Since I'm not planning on splashing the cash for season tickets, I guess I'll have to take my chances with the ticket lottery....

Also speaking of the Twins, did anyone else hear about the Corey Koskie mini-bobblehead dolls? Apparently you can buy them for $2.99 with the purchase of an Extra Value Meal at McDonald's starting August 6th (while supplies last, of course).

UPDATE: After doing some snooping around news archives on the Twins website, I discovered that Reed is, in fact, a little shaken up. He was experiencing some pain after his last start, which was on Monday, July 22 in Toronto, and was scheduled to start last Sunday, but was replaced to rest his hand. I know nothing about when he'll return