Hell's Kitchen, Meetings, and a Holidazzle Parade

This morning, I woke up early to meet with Will and Jeff for breakfast. They were both part of the crew who did all the filming in San Francisco. It was very nice to catch up! They met me in my hotel lobby, and together we walked to breakfast. On our six-block stroll, we came across this statue of Mary Tyler Moore. Not gonna lie...I knew her name, but I didn't know anything about her. Cool statue though.

We went to a place called Hell's Kitchen, which I had seen online as one of the best places to eat in Minneapolis. It reminded me of Auersbach Keller in Leipzig, Germany, which I had visited last November. I had a Bison Benedict, which was deeeeeeeelicious. I wish I could have another right now...

After we had breakfast and chatted about schools, politics, and life in general, we walked back to the hotel, where my mom was already waiting downstairs. Our limo driver had also arrived already, and today we got an actual limo (a mini one). Picture's for you, Natalie! :)

Mom got a nice picture of me, Will, and Jeff too. So thankful to know such great people.

Our limo took us to one of Medtronic's campuses/facilities, and on our way, we passed Target Field, which is a great looking ballpark. I will have to return some day to catch a game.

At the facility, we got a tour of where they manufacture many of the parts for their medical technology products. I was extremely surprised to learn that many of the parts had to be made by hand. Crazy!

After our tour, we were driven over to another facility, where the neuromodulation offices are. We met with various groups and teams, including folks from government affairs, DBS, and introthecal baclofen therapy. It was all very fascinating, and we had a great time. Then with our bit of free time in the afternoon, Mom and I went to visit the Mall of America briefly. The limo we had this time was a lot bigger than the others—basically, it was a regularly-sized limo. Crazy!

I had visited the Mall of America when I came to Minnesota the first time. So I'm glad my mom could see it too. It's huge!

Back then, the amusement park in the middle of the mall was Camp Snoopy, but now it's Nickelodeon-themed.

Ever seen a mall with roller coasters in it?

It seemed emptier than I remembered though...

I did find the log chute that my dad and I had gone on when I was in 4th grade. Still cool. :)

I don't remember if this was there then. I didn't like baseball then, but this is pretty cool.

If you couldn't read the sign in the picture above, it basically said Harmon Killebrew once hit a 520-foot home run. It shattered two seats, and those seats were never sold again. They hang up on the wall now.

I tried to capture right when some people were on their way down.

We walked around a bit more and came across this group singing Christmas songs. They were also singing church songs, so it was interesting to have this feeling of being in church while at the home. They were singing really slowly...haha.

We headed back to the hotel then, and I spent my afternoon catching up on work. The sunset was nice too.

The Target Center really isn't very good looking.

At six, we met with a group of Medtronic folks for a nice stroll to dinner. We got to watch the Holidazzle Parade, which was pretty neat. Lots of lights.

Dinner was incredible. Nice setting and atmosphere with live music. The food was excellent, and the company even better.

Tomorrow morning, we'll head back to the Neuromodulation facility where I'll be sharing my story with about 300 people in an auditorium. Should be fun. After that, we'll have a short tour of the Customer Experience Center and then have lunch there. Then it'll be back to the hotel for our bags and off to the airport.

It's been a great trip, and I am so glad I could come with my mom. Pretty neat.

Until next time,
Sam

Hello again, Minnesota!

Nearly 14 years ago, my dad and I flew to Minnesota for the first time, visiting the Mayo Clinic in Rochester where I was first officially diagnosed with dystonia. A lot has changed since then, but my second trip to Minnesota is also tied to my medical condition.

Medtronic, the medical technology company based in Minneapolis that has made both of my medical implants, asked me to come speak about some of my experiences after my treatment. In fact, they already flew me to San Francisco in September to film an educational video. I will get to see part of it tomorrow, so if I can share it, I will.

So I suppose this trip could probably be officially considered a medical business trip? In any case, I am happy my mother could come along with me, and in preparation for the three-day trip, I asked my fellow Fulbrighter, Natalie, what we should do in Minneapolis. She gave her expert advice, and so our first stop after arriving at the airport was Minnehaha Falls. 

As Natalie had told me, Minnehaha Falls half-frozen is beautiful. Yup, it is.

My mom's picture turned out better than mine.

But I did get a picture in front of the Science Museum of Minnesota, which we visited after checking in at the hotel and grabbing a bite to eat at the Irish pub next door.

Natalie had also suggested checking out the museum, so it seemed like a great idea to go visit. Plus, it turns out my mentor, Stan, and his wife, Julie, both used to work there in grad school. Julie actually helped put together some of the exhibits then too.

This fish seemed cool as all the pieces are basically scrap metal. Awesome.

Despite the rain, you can see the Mississippi River. Cool, huh?

This little guy was actually a giant beaver that would've weighed about 250 lbs!

This section was sponsored by Medtronic. The whole place reminded me of visiting OMSI in Portland as a kid.

There was one exhibit where you could measure how many pints of blood you have based on your weight and gender. I apparently have a little over 11 pints of blood. Yup.

This giant triceratops skeleton is the most complete one known. Cool, huh?

I didn't exactly read what this was, but it's like spider webs.

This thing seemed cool too. Like a little tornado of steam.

This sounded like a giant xylophone and would ring for every seismic reading in the world. Pretty neat.

After the museum, our driver (yes, Medtronic got us another limo/sedan/towncar) took us on a little tour around St. Paul. Despite the darkness outside, I got a pretty good shot of the Cathedral of St. Paul. Reminded me of the Frauenkirche in Dresden.

After chatting with Stan for a bit this afternoon, he told me that he and Julie had gotten married fairly close to the museum. So I told our driver, and he drove us by it. Check it out! It's dark, but that's where Stan and Julie got married!

We drove further down Summit Avenue, which is lined with all kinds of cool houses. We saw the governor's mansion and lots of historic-looking houses with festive Christmas lights and all. Further along, we saw Macalaster College, which a few of my fellow HIA Fellows attended.

Then we drove through the University of Minnesota campus, and here's their new football stadium.

We headed to dinner after this, and per Natalie's suggestion (thanks again, Natalie!), we went to a place along the water near St. Anthony Main. We ended up going to Vic's, which was quite good.

I had breaded Walleye, and it was quite good.

My friend, Josh, who is also another HIA Fellow whom I had met in Berlin this summer and is from Minnesota, came along to join us for dinner. It was great to catch up, Josh!

After dinner, we headed home, and I've been catching up on all my emails and work. This blog took a while too. But here are a few pictures from my room. It's pretty nuts...

There is a TV in the bathroom!

All in all, today was a successful day, despite crying babies on the plane, sleeping two hours last night, and forgetting my scarf and gloves at home. The rain we had today reminded me of Seattle, and it was a lot of fun exploring with my mom. Oh, and the Target Center (where the Timberwolves play) is right across the street from us. That's literally all I see from my window. Just beyond it is Target Field (where the Twins play). Awesome.

Ok, time for bed. Tomorrow's another busy day. I'll post another blog tomorrow night.

Sam

One Day as a (Fake) Movie Star

This morning, we met up with the filming crew around 7:45 am in the hotel lobby and headed to the suite where we'd be filming the interviews with me and my dad. We had our breakfast in the room as we discussed the plan for the day.

After a quick breakfast, we drove a short ways away to a small park that the film crew had already scouted out the day before for our outdoor shots of me doing stuff (or "b-roll" if you want to use filmmaking speak). Since they had already asked about my interests and hobbies, they had ideas in mind already. So up first was shooting hoops.

I shot hoops by myself for maybe 30 minutes. I felt bad for the crew 'cause I missed a ton of shots. But with the few shots I did swish, they will be able to make me look like Michael Jordan. Ah, the magic of filming. We did also play P-I-G afterwards with me and Annabel from Medtronic. We tied 'cause we had to move on. Haha.

Next up, they wanted to get a shot of me walking along (like in my world travels) and taking pictures. You can see pictures of the reflectors they had up. They would adjust those as I walked along so it was as if I had a spotlight on me the whole time, whether I was in the shadows or in the sun. But being pros, they knew how to make it look completely natural. Amazing.

After a few more shots outside, we went back to the hotel, had lunch, and then got ready for our interviews. When I had looked at my hour-by-hour itinerary, the line of "makeup" caught my eye, since I obviously don't use make up. So I thought it was funny. But Kris, our makeup artist, did a phenomenal job (wouldn't even have known I had any on), and she definitely made me feel better when she told me she'd put makeup on Matt Damon too. Woo! (Sisters, there is your picture...:P)

Look! Got a picture of Dad getting makeup too. Haha.

By the time we were ready, the room had been transformed into a full set. There were lights from all over, and you can see the special effects they did in this picture. Check out the light reflecting behind me. It looks like the light from the sun setting and shining through the window...except we were filming around 1 PM, and you can see how bright it is outside. But you can see what's framed on the monitor to the left. Absolutely brilliant, Blue Moon Innovative Media Company!

After my turn on the hot seat, it was Dad's turn. But first, another touch up with the makeup.

Jeannie, our interviewer, and Will, who directed the filming.

After the interviews, we did a few shots of me working on my computer, and they even helped me get a plug in for Scholarship Junkies! How cool! Then we went downstairs to the hotel lobby, where they set up for shooting a scene with us playing Scrabble.

After our game, they had me play a bit of piano, and I was somewhat embarrassed to play my songs, so I played one my sister, Grace, wrote. I played a version of her Improvisations in D and added my own little changes to it. Haha. Thanks, Grace! :)

It was such a great day of working with an amazing team from Medtronic, from Blue Moon, Kris, and of course, my dad too. So I made sure to ask one of the people at the front desk to take a picture for us. It turned out alright, but I'm glad they got pictures on their nice SLR cameras too.

Immediately after, I headed straight to the BART station to get to Berkeley to meet up with friends. Amy, who's one of the folks from Medtronic, was kind enough to drive me down to the BART station, since the hotel's shuttle had stopped running (strangely) at 6 PM.

But I finally made it to Berkeley and met up with Grant (who was in Palo Alto for UW Admissions outreach) and Brukab (who's now in grad school at Cal). We met up at a Greek restaurant and waited for Kevin (from BetterGrads) and Alex (from Dream Project and UW/UW tennis team) to join us. Alex ended up not being able to join us, but Kevin arrived soon enough.

I was quite excited with all the Greek stuff around, and I ordered my favorites—cheese saganaki (fried cheese) and dolmathes (grape leaf wraps with rice and meat). Delicious!

The dolmathes came with tzatziki and pita too. Yum.

And here's the cheese saganaki.

Besides the appetizers, we each had a gigantic "Spartan sandwich," which was sooooo big and filling. It was like the size of two gyros one would find on the street in Athens.

We had a great dinner and had a fantastic chat about all sorts of education-related stuff. I am so glad I got to spend some time with great friends. And actually, Kevin and I had never gotten to meet in person until today, since we've been chatting via phone or Skype over the past two years or so.

The BART was easy to get back to Lafayette, and I got home much earlier than I had expected. Two hours earlier, in fact. Which then gave me time to upload my pictures and write this blog.

Tomorrow morning (in six hours actually), my dad and I are headed back to SFO to fly off to our respective destinations. I will be back in Seattle by noon. All in all, this short but packed trip was a fantastic learning experience, and I am so glad to have met all these amazing people. Not sure when my next trip will be, but let's hope it's soon!

Till then,

Sam