Todd Swank

April 9, 2023

15 Glorious Minutes on Cocoa Beach

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for April 9, 2023

My job brought me to Cocoa beach, Florida this week. I was in town for less than 24 hours, but I figured that I couldn't visit the town without taking a walk down to the beach. When I left Minnesota it was 39 degrees and when I arrived in Florida it was 89 degrees. I only had about 15 minutes to actually be here, but it was a glorious time while I was there. I'm pretty sick of Minnesota's winter.

I had dinner with my manager, Jeremiah, and my customer, Troy, at Florida's Fresh Grill. Troy lives in Cocoa Beach thus the reason for our visit. I've never seen Troy wear anything other than a Hawaiian shirt in the year or so I've bene working with him After spending the day here, I'm starting to realize that's a lifestyle I could really find myself getting behind.

I would have loved the opportunity to visit Kennedy Space Center while I was here, but didn't have the time. At least my hotel had this guy in the lobby which gave me a little taste of what the experience would have been like.

After I arrived home Wednesday evening, we headed to downtown Minneapolis to make a special visit to Target Center. It's playoff time and they had an open house to entice us into buying season tickets for next year. They gave us the opportunity to shoot some free throws on the court and do a behind the scenes tour. I didn't do so hot with the couple of shots I took which now makes me feel bad for all the times I've criticized my favorite players for missing too many simple free throws!

The kids joined us for the festivities. It was a fun way to spend a couple of hours on an otherwise boring Wednesday night.

@toddswank Target Center Ceilings #targetcenter #minnesota #timeberwolves #nba #ceilings #ceilingstrend ♬ original sound - Todd Swank

I tried to act out a recent TikTok trend on a whim while standing on center court. One of these days I'll realize I'm not a teenaged girl, but until then I'll keep making these silly videos.

We bought tickets for the Timberwolves Play-In game, but since they won today they'll be traveling to play the Los Angeles Lakers instead. If they win that game, they'll be in the playoffs and if they lose, they'll host a game here again on Friday.

Let's go Timberwolves!!

We enjoyed spending some time in the player's locker-room. It's a familiar site as we've watched many players being interviewed in here after games. We even got to see where the players take their showers, but were discouraged by the staff from actually taking a shower while we were there. I guess they have their rules.

We're babysitting Blue's mother and brother this week so we have golden retrievers galore all around us currently.

Mother Nature finally decided to stop messing with us and we saw temperatures creeping into the sixties this weekend. We figured we'd better go see some nature while we had the chance.

We went down to the Landing in Shakopee because normally we see trumpeter swans in this area. They've either left or haven't arrived yet. The water seemed awfully lonely without them. We'll try again in a week or two to see if we have better luck.

We did see this duck which I can't remember seeing before. I looked online and it might be a muscovy duck, but I'm not sure. Maybe one of you could help me to identify it?

We had a pleasant Easter Brunch this morning with Grandma Linda and Mike. We hadn't been out with them for quite awhile, so it was nice to have this opportunity. I hope you all had an incredible Easter holiday celebration!!

April 2, 2023

The Boston Red Sox Home Opener

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for April 2, 2023

I had the opportunity to visit Boston this week.

It looked like a fun place to be.

The reason for my trip was to attend the home opener for the Boston Red Sox. I'd never been to Fenway Park before but recognized I was getting to experience an iconic baseball institution. I was supposed to go in Gate D so figured when I went to Gate B and then Gate C I was on the right track. Apparently the alphabet works differently in Boston so I had the opportunity to see pretty much the whole thing before I actually entered. Which was nice.

Oracle was hosting a suite at the game. My customer, Gary, and his partner, David, are big Red Sox fans so I was able to join them. Other than the fact that it was only 30 something degrees outside, we had a great day together enjoying the match between the Red Sox & Baltimore Orioles.

I've been working with Jackson as my partner in crime for the past 9 months as we pursue new opportunities for Oracle Cloud with one another. This was my first chance meeting him in person. He's a lot taller than I expected. It's tough to get that perspective on Zoom calls.

I learned a bunch of fun details about Fenway Park while I was there. They all sing Sweet Caroline in the 8th inning and the group of seats above the American Flag is known as the Green Monster. Or Monstah as they call it in Boston.

Baseball had some rule changes this year and also made some improvements to the pace of play. They've added a time clock which imposes penalties to the pitchers and batters if they don't step up to the plate or throw the ball in 10-15 seconds. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it went pretty smoothly and the time of the game was noticeably quicker. Good move, MLB!

The Red Sox fell behind by 10-4 in the 7th inning, so many in the crowd had left probably because they were freezing their butts off. But we had a crew of us who stuck around to the end and watched the Red Sox hit another 5 runs to almost rally back for the win. Unfortunately with 2 men on base in the 9th, they got their 3rd out to fall short of a victory and lose the game 10-9. We still had a bunch of fun, though. Probably helps that I don't really care if the Red Sox win or lose.

When I came back home to Minnesota on Friday, I had to make a quick turn around from the airport because we had tickets to go see the Minnesota Timberwolves take on the Los Angeles Lakers.

Luke and I were attending our last regular season game of the year. The Wolves only have a few games left and are in the chase for the playoffs, but the West is so competitive they could end the season anywhere from the 6th seed to being out of the playoffs. A win against the Lakers was important to achieve.

This game was our first seeing DeAngelo Russell back at Target Center since he was traded to the Lakers. I always liked DLo so I was glad when the announcer gave him a warm welcome and the crowd gave him a nice round of applause. Which was nice. It wasn't his fault he was traded.

LeBron James always draws a large crowd when he's playing. It actually reminded me of the Vikings Packers game because there were so many Lakers fans in attendance. It drives me a little crazy, but we endure.

They showed some local celebrities on the big screen including Minnesota Vikings star receiver, Justin Jefferson. I'm pretty sure he was rooting for Minnesota, but you can just never be too sure.

Apparently there was an illness floating around the team because our star players like Karl Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards were questionable to play until right before the game. You could tell they were still feeling it, because their game was pretty sluggish all night.

Despite their efforts, the Wolves couldn't pull off a victory and fell to the Lakers by a score of 123 to 111. This will definitely hurt them in the standings for the playoff chase. Luckily for Minnesota, their next game is against the lowly Portland Trailblazers. There's absolutely no way they could lose to that team...

We may not have had the chance to see a home team victory, but at least I was able to keep my streak alive for getting my picture on the big screen in the middle of the arena. That's gotta be worth something.

To make our evening even more exciting, we had another 6 inches of wet, heavy snow pour all over us on the 45 minute drive home from Minneapolis. This moved us up in the record books to make this officially the 3rd snowiest winter in Minnesota history. Thank God my wife loves to snow blow the driveway for us!! I don't know what I'd do without her.

March 26, 2023

A Quiet Evening in Downtown Minneapolis

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for March 26, 2023

Miss Sheri stumbled across this little lady a block away from our house this week. We're in a pretty crowded neighborhood, so we don't see a lot of deer wander through but sure do find it pleasant when they do.

My old buddy, Ron "Sugarman" Myers, came up from Iowa to spend the day with me on Saturday. He bought a new car for the trip which I thought seemed a little excessive, but he said he was planning on buying it anyways. Just a coincidence I guess.

The first stop on his visit was to go see Luke & Avery's place and then we all went out to lunch afterwards. They like to see Ron when he comes to town.

Ron and I had plans to spend the night in Minneapolis and were excited to go exploring. It wasn't nearly as busy as I remembered. Our waitress at the hotel told us they've really struggled to get people to come back since Covid. She even said their owners had listed the hotel for sale because they weren't expecting things to change. She also explained there was a shooting a block away a week ago and another 2 blocks away 2 weeks ago. I can't imagine that's helping bring back the people.

We walked over to the Foshay Building which has a rich history. It was completed in 1929 and was modeled after the Washington Monument. I also recently discovered there's an observation deck on the 30th floor that is open to the public. I worked across the street from this building for 2 years and never knew about it, so figured this would be a great time to visit.

When we first arrived, we entered the elevator and went straight up to the highest floor. We then proceeded to get a bit lost scaling random staircases trying to find an exit. We then went down to the lobby and discovered we had to pay $10 each to go on the observation deck. It's a pretty neat place to visit. They have a small museum dedicated to the Foshay that you go through before you can get outside. The deck is covered all around by these iron bars so you can't jump off I guess. I thought I could squeeze through them if I really needed to, but couldn't think of a good reason to do that.

When I started at Oracle back in 2015, I worked with 800 other employees in the building on the left. Covid killed that office and everyone who is still with the company now works from home. That's just one company. When you multiply that by all the companies who had offices down here pre-pandemic, you can start to get a feel for why all the hospitality businesses that still remain here are having such a struggle. Pretty sad.

The IDS Center is the tallest building in the state of Minnesota and we had a nice view of it from the Foshay. You can see Target Field tucked away behind it in the lower left hand corner. The observation deck was a fun way to get a different view of the city. We didn't stay for long, but for $10 I thought it was well worth the visit.

We walked by this mural of Bob Dylan. I couldn't think of anything good to say about it, so I asked Chat-GPT to give it a shot: The colossal Bob Dylan mural, a mesmerizing masterpiece by the globally acclaimed street artist Eduardo Kobra, stands as his most significant public art contribution in the United States. Capturing the essence of Minnesota, it has soared to the top as the state's most Instagrammed image. This awe-inspiring, five-story homage to the legendary Bob Dylan emerged in autumn 2015 as a private commission, swiftly transforming into an emblematic symbol of downtown Minneapolis and the pulsating heart of the Hennepin Theatre District. That's a lot, Chat-GPT.

Ron and I finished off the evening with visits to Manny's, Cowboy Jacks and dinner at Fogo De Chao. Fogo was bursting at the seams with people, so I guess they've figured out a way to keep the crowds coming. Here's hoping the other businesses have similar success soon!

March 19, 2023

Almost a Pot of Gold on St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2023

Todd Swank's Diary Update for March 19, 2023

My friends down south can't believe we still have as much snow as we do. This winter has been pretty brutal with not a lot of relief for us. It currently ranks as the 8th snowiest year in Minnesota history and who knows if it's done yet. I'm hoping it is and seriously considering moving south for next winter.

Krazy Kory & Young Ben came to town this weekend to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with us. We hooked up with our old buddies Jen & Dan Walters to drink some green beers at St. Patrick's Tavern in New Prague, Minnesota. It seemed like the appropriate place to be.

It was a hootenanny for the entire evening. A band called Wreckless was there and they were Jamming! I heard sounds I never knew could be made by stringed instruments before. I had an out of body experience listening to their Twangy Beats, but that also could have been caused by all the green beer that was flowing.

@toddswank Wreckless plays at St. Patrick’s Tavern in New Prague, Minnesota on St. Patrick’s Day. #stpatricksday #stpatricks #tavern #newpraguemn #wreckless ♬ original sound - Todd Swank

Krazy Kory made it a fun evening. He's always making new friends everywhere we go.

I was making new friends also. I saw this little guy sitting nearby and I grabbed him immediately. The way he looked made me swear he was a little leprechaun. I'd heard you can sometimes catch them and convince them to lead you to their pot of gold so I jumped at the chance. And I swear he was just about to tell me when some lady started screaming and said something like "Let go of my baby." As I explained to the officer, you really shouldn't dress your kid that way if you don't want these kinds of things to happen. They let me off with a warning, but I was ticked off the rest of the night because I never did end up with any gold.

Saturday morning, we grabbed Luke &Avery & Abby and headed to have a gourmet meal at iHop. I sure do love me some pancakes.

We then headed to Mystic Lake Casino to try to win some jackpots together. We held our own, but I was again reminded that I was moments away from a pot of gold the night previous. It always feels like I'm a day late and dollar short from the easy riches! It was good to hang out with Krazy Kory and Young Ben though.

March 12, 2023

Marching Through Winter

Todd Swank's Diary Entry for March 12, 2023

This week, Minnesota had enough snow to move us up in the record books to the 8th snowiest winter since they started keeping records of such things. It just feels like it's been going on forever. We primarily stay inside our igloo, but occasionally feel the need to get outside and go for a walk. It's rarely very pleasant when we do.

Blue is a master manipulator, always demanding to be taken on walks like some sort of furry dictator. I'm convinced he's trying to drag us out into the cold just to prove his dominance. He doesn't even flinch at the sight of snow, which makes me wonder if he's secretly plotting to take over the world with his icy powers. Or maybe he's just a sadistic pup who gets a kick out of watching me shiver. That's probably it.

Since we haven't become completely depressed with our lengthy winter, we decided to add to the gloom by going to see another Minnesota Timberwolves game. They're still in a position to go to the playoffs, but they constantly seem to lose games they really should be winning.

Target Center knows how to keep the audience warm when it's really cold outside. The NFL banned fire related stunts in their stadiums, but somehow the NBA gets to keep doing it. Maybe they don't care about their fans as much? I'm not sure how that works.

When I bought these tickets, the Brooklyn Nets were considered a Premium Team, so I had to pay a bunch more money for the game than I did for other games. I thought it would be worth it to see Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irwin play. Then the Nets traded away Kevin and Kyrie and now have a bunch of players you've barely heard of before. I'm sure the Timberwolves will be refunding me the premium price I paid for this game any day now. Yeah, right. At least I figured we'd get to watch the Wolves win a game.

It was a date night for Miss Sheri & I, so I thought I would surprise her by getting our picture up on the big screen. She didn't seem nearly as excited about it as I thought she should have been.

We were in good company for date night as it looks like the Timberwolves billionaire owner, Glen Taylor, was also there on a date with his wife. I'm thinking we should double next time.

We were also excited to see Minnesota Vikings Head Coach, Kevin O'Connell, was at the game with his wife and kids. Nice to see they're still hanging around in the Twin Cities after the NFL season is over rather than moving to a warmer climate. They're one of us now!

One guy we weren't excited to see in the audience was Karl Anthony Towns. He's been out injured since November and they still have no timetable for his return. The team could really use him again as they try to improve their position for the playoffs. Hopefully he comes back soon.

The Wolves started out the game strong and were leading at half time, but a really ugly 3rd quarter put the Nets way ahead.

Somehow the home team scratched their way back into it and forced overtime with a clutch three-pointer by Naz Reid at the buzzer. Unfortunately, they couldn't maintain that momentum and lost the game by a score of 124 to 123. Hopefully next time we'll get to see a win.