Announcing my new favorite sports team

My new favo(u)rite sports team is the Salmonbellies lacrosse team of New Westminster, British Columbia - a suburb of Vancouver.

How did this happen? Hypertext!

Dances with Wolves was on AMC the other day. I thought I recognized one of the actors from Northern Exposure. A quick search showed that I was correct (it was Floyd Red Crow Westerman, who played the recurring character "One Who Waits"). That should have been satisfaction enough, since I'm genetically impaired in my ability to recognize actors. Since I never know when to stop, though, I moved on to an article on Mr. Westerman's Northern Exposure cast-mate Elaine Miles, who played the doctor's secretary. That article contained a link to the Native American name controversy, which, in the section on Canadian terminology, linked to an article on Chinook jargon, the lingua franca of the old Pacific Northwest. Chinook jargon contains the word "hyak" or "hyack," meaning "fast" or "hurry," which became the nickname of the fire department of New Westminster, British Columbia, which is home to the Salmonbellies, one of Canada's oldest prfessional lacrosse teams.

But the greatest link of all came from the 'Bellies web site, where they link to their sponsor, Canadian Beaver Buzz Energy Drink. Nothing says "energy" like a scowling aquatic rodent with pupil-less eyes.

It's also worth noting that the New Westminster Fire Department "Hyacks" set off a 21-anvil salute every May as part of the Victoria Day festivities. Let the anvils ring, eh?

It's the Minnesota pickle

This is all Lisa's fault. The first time she sang a few bars of the Gedney pickle jingle, I was confused - Gedney brand pickles are not distributed here in the former Blagosphere. The second time she sang it, I became obsessed.

Dancing Pickle Warning: do not listen to this dumb song.

Gedney,
It's the Minnesota pickle.
Get me a Gedney
It's the Minnesota pickle.
Bring out more Gedney,
It's no ordinary pickle.
You betcha, Gedney -
It's the Minnesota pickle.

Buy them in New Ulm,
St. Cloud, Duluth, and Montevideo,
Rochester, Blaine, and even
Waaaay up in Warroad.

Gedney
It's the Minnesota pickle
They're good to...Gedney
It's the Minnesota pickle.
They taste good, Gedney,
It's no ordinary pickle.
You betcha, Gedney -
It's the Minnesota pickle.

The Gedney jingle contains a pickled road trip idea. Just for fun, let's have a look at how that trip might proceed from New Ulm, in south-central Minnesota, to Warroad, on Lake of the Woods, only 35 miles from the northernmost point in the conterminous United States. For the extra briney bonus factor, let's visit each place in the order in which they are mentioned.



It's interesting to compare different routing algorithms. The total length of the routes suggested by Google Maps and Microsoft MapPoint are within 75 miles, or about 6%, of each other. Away from the Interstate system, Google seems to prefer US highways while MapPoint seems biased to state roads.

For example, both direct us from Blaine to Warroad via Duluth, but the Google Maps route sends us north on US-53 through the Iron Range to International Falls and then west, while MapPoint directs us on state roads past Upper Red Lake to Rainy River. In this case, I think my preference would be to follow Google through the mountains.

Likewise, both algorithms suggest traveling between Montevideo and Rochester via the Twin Cities, but Google suggests US-212 over MapPoint's preferred SR-7. Personally, I have to side with MapPoint on this one, because Lisa and I were married just off SR-7 in Excelsior.

Oh, and take note: Stop #4 is pronounced "Monta-video." Video, as in Betamax. Observing the local pronunciation will avoid a faux-pas, which, after all, would put you in a real pickle.