I am CuTRis

My wife and I decided to try this countertop paint from Rust-Oleum . She heard about it from watching the Nate Berkus show . The idea is great. You can refinish the countertop without replacing it. Let me warn you, this stuff is smelly and hard to work with. Part of it went well, and the imperfections of application set almost immediately and are very unforgiving. Trying to fix these problem areas made things worse. After sanding and redoing one problem area four times, we finally got it to work pretty well. Though this stuff sets immediately, it takes three days to cure/dry completely. So get set for a smelly kitchen that you can't use for at least several days! I must admit, I like it now though...

I've got to hand it to the Minnesota Vikings . To come out way ahead of their opponents the first half of the first three games--and then completley collapse and lose in the second half is shear brilliance. No one (including me) will have any idea how good they are if they keep this up! Despite changing owners and coaches, the team has followed the same strategy of hiring ready to retire quarterbacks instead of developing their new talent-- and still , for some reason they continue to lose!

Cutris had finally gotten the chance to rest. He had assembled and secured large pallets of WiMAX, broadband radio equipment for shipping that day and he was tired. Of course, there was work to do once he got home too—including making dinner. Now, as he finally got the chance to sit down on the couch, he began to daydream about imaginary things. Soon he imagined that zombie chickens began to emerge from the kitchen garbage can. They must have assembled themselves from the leftover chicken bones that he should have brought out to the outside garbage, but was too tired to do. The imaginary chicken zombies staggered forward as zombies do. They wanted to eat his brains for some reason! Why do zombies like to eat brains so much? Cutris asked himself. There was no time to imagine why. The imaginary chicken zombies had crawled out of the imaginary garbage can and Cutris was imagining them coming for him in an imaginary, and menacing way. Just then, Cutris imagined that he had a large sli...

Downtown St. Paul had a glow this morning as I drove in...

Today I will mail four Cottonwood books to four U.S. soldiers serving overseas. If I hear back from any of these people, I will link it to The Cottonwood Branch Out Project page (the link is to the right of main my page).

If your wedding is held in a trash can, you might not have spent enough...

I've come up with the idea to send four copies of Cottonwood to four members of the U.S. armed forces serving overseas. I found four candidates on Any Soldier.com . These four soldiers mentioned books in the list of things they wanted during their deployments. Inside of each book I will include this note, The Cottonwood Branch Out Project This book was donated by the author for your reading enjoyment. The one thing I ask, is that if you enjoy it—please sign your name & location on one of the blank pages and then pass it on. You may also want to leave your comment on my blog, http://cutris.blogspot.com (Note the unique spelling of my name in URL) I hope that eventually, someone will contact me (thru the blog) and send the book back to me after it has traveled significantly. Thanks & Enjoy! Kevin J. Curtis St. Paul, Minnesota Traveling Book #1 I have a link to the right that will serve as a way to keep track of any information that comes from this. Project Links: The Books D...

I remember ten years ago when I was working at the Hennepin County, Chemical Health Division in Minneapolis. I received a call, then more calls while working in my office. Airplanes were crashing into the World Trade Center; Twin Towers. In disbelief I verified this on the Internet. Later I watched video on one of the few TV's we had at the office. It was a strange feeling of dread that overwhelmed me. As the day went on, it was announced that anyone who felt they needed to leave work could go. A group of my coworkers let out an excited yell and left work happily. I stared in disbelief as these disenfranchised people rejoiced in their half-day off--at the expense of thousands of victims in new York City. I stayed at work. I didn't know what else to do. Later, alone in my house near the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport, I listened to the erie silence. I was used to hearing airplanes and for once there were none. Later, as I lie in bed, I could hear the feint sound of a lone F-16 Fig...

To save time, ambulance chasing lawyers could team up with the ambulances!

It was "touch and go" there for a few moments, but the school board finally agreed to let me leave. I was worried that they would reject my resignation and I would have to keep working there!

Now he did it! Cutris had sent the package to the wrong address! Somehow he had missed the notation and instead of going to Liberia, it was heading to Tokyo! Blast it, thought Cutris , I don’t have time for this! Then he pulled the shade down and it fell off the bracket, hitting and scratching the toilet seat. Cutris had no time to waste, so he left the shade and ran to get his swim suit. First he ran, then he swam across the ocean, and finally he flapped his arms so fast that he actually gained the power of flight! After an hour of flying, he grew tired, landed and then called the Tokyo office on his cell phone. It turned out that they had already shipped the errant package from Tokyo—and now it was headed to Liberia. Cutris could only shake his head and smile. He started walking back home so he could fix the shade. Boy did he ever learn his lesson! Always read the entire order, notes or email—to make sure you send the package to the right place!

I like this time of year when a quick trip to our little vegetable garden gets me this.

Where did the summer go? That June vacation seems so long ago, Yet the summer left so quickly I can only shake my head and sigh. -KJC

My new beer book is out in paperback! Click HERE to find it!

Here is a clip from the Burnsville Art & All That Jazz event Saturday night. This is Mick Sterling & the Irresistibles .

My wife and I have gone to Sauk Centre for a quick fishing trip last year and the year before that . So when we decided to go this year, not much changed as far as where we went or what we did. The Bear Trap has a new addition (first photo)! We found a better motel, in that it was cheaper and there was no noisy bar below. We stayed at The Gopher Prairie Motel this year. Aside from fishing at the pier and the dam, we also shopped and explored. I've included a few photos below, including one inside the Palmer House and one of the writing desk of Sauk Centre's own, Sinclair Lewis . At the time Lewis penned his novel Main Street , the townspeople weren't too happy about how they were portrayed. Now, however, he is celebrated in his home town. In the last photo, Cutris tells others that "this is an interpretive center, where you can interpret things."

Here are some photos I took while hiking the proposed state trail in the Long Meadow Lake unit of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge .

After six years working for the school district and the last four working in technology at the alternative high school in Eagan, I set the school's computer equipment up as best as I could for the new school year--and then I turned in my keys and left. I am leaving for a new job that I was able to tryout this summer--working for a company that creates wireless networks for under-served (rural) areas. The school district is low on money, and the result for the employees is that we are losing pay, benefits and facing lay-offs. I decided to walk away from that. In spite of what some Republicans would tell you, the problem in my opinion is not that public employees are paid too much. At least not those working on the "front lines." I did, however, see abuses of power even at the school I worked at. It seems that at least some of those at the top are costing the tax payers lots of money. Just as an example, the principal of the school I was working at has for her ...

My wife and I went to the Dakota County Fair yesterday evening. I met Gordon W. Frederickson there. We talked a bit about the difficulties of becoming a published author. Click on his name above to visit his website.