"I want to be with the Twins and that's been my main goal, but I'm human and the silence makes you wonder. I think I'm a decent player. I can't believe there hasn't even been a conversation about it. That's tough to swallow."

OK, fair enough. The man wants to get paid. But what about this?

"I love Yankee Stadium. The atmosphere and energy there is great. And the fans know the game. When they get on you it can be pretty personal, but it's always about your baseball game. When someone screams, 'You just can't hit that slider,' that's someone who knows what they're talking about. You don't hear that kind of informed (chatter) in Minnesota."

Ouch.

Pity the Harvard Law student. It is her sad fate to squander her days in the company of America's future overlords—before being thrown out into the cruel world with a six-figure salary at age 25.

Last summer, one particularly sympathetic local decided to share the native warmth that so many Midwesterners feel for the coastal elite. In a good-natured article in last week's Harvard Record, second-year law student Pamela Foohey recounted a mysterious letter that turned up on the windshield of her Lexus SUV—or, rather, her parents' Lexus SUV. The car, Foohey explained, had Connecticut plates, and, more important, a window sticker from Harvard Law.

Tuesday afternoon, Farmfest 2006, congressional candidate panel, Redwood Falls.

After nearly 90 minutes of taking questions, nine incumbent and challenger candidates for U.S. Congress are giving final remarks to a crowd of about 300. Each one--including Collin Peterson, Michele Bachmann, Rod Grams and Coleen Rowley, among others--takes great pains to prove "just folks" bona fides to the independent family farmers assembled.

(Hey, Agent Rowley, how about the name of your blog?)

Tim Walz, the DFLer challenging Gil Gutknecht in Minnesota's First District, scores the biggest laugh of the day, however. (Admittedly, the bar is pretty low at such an event.)

"You wanna talk about small town, I'll tell you that I went to a school with 25 students, and 12 of them were my cousins," Walz says, pausing a beat. "Prom-dating was very difficult."

Wednesday, 6:58 p.m., the Channel 5 studios somewhere in the Hubbard Empire complex on University Avenue, where Minneapolis meets St. Paul.

Longtime KSTP-TV sports guy and recent news anchor Joe Schmit is bidding an emotional adieu, leaving his job of 21 years for a gig with Petters Media & Marketing Group.

Eastbound on the 16 bus, 6:25 p.m., Friday, University Avenue, just past Snelling. White guy and black guy, both middle-aged, both well into their holiday binge drinking, sharing a seat.

"I'm going down to see Alice Cooper," announces the white guy.

"Alice Cooper?" responds his seatmate. "Who's she?"

"I'd like to thank the 6th Congressional District race for this [debate]. And the Blanden paper company thanks you too."

--State Rep. Loren Solberg (DFL-Grand Rapids), during last night's protracted debate over a Gopher football stadium, to Rep. Jim Knoblach and Rep. Phil Krinkie. Knoblach and Krinkie, each responsible for proposing a slew of amendments to the stadium bill, are vying to be the Republican candidate for the congressional seat.

Outside The Cabooze, at roughly 7:30 p.m. last night. Two dudes with impressive facial hair smoking on the sidewalk.

Dude #1: Southwest is a big hockey school too.
Dude #2: It was.
Dude #1: Yeah, it was.
Dude #2: The Somalians don't like hockey.

As part of a pre-election package, City Pages ran a story in October on Minneapolis City Council member Lisa Goodman. The gist of the story was that Goodman, who represents parts of downtown, as well as Lowry Hill and Kenwood, is a rather cutthroat politician: She's accrued a huge war chest to hold on to her Seventh Ward council seat, she's good at strong-arming votes she wants, and she's often brusque with folks around City Hall, including some of her council colleagues.

The story dubbed Goodman "The Diva of Downtown," and Second Ward Council member Paul Zerby noted that Goodman can sometimes "be a downright brat."

A week after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, we've heard from politicians, pundits, survivors, aid workers, and editorialists. Here are just a few of the notable comments coming out of the tragedy...

"We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did."
-- Rep. Richard Baker (R-LA) to lobbyists

"The point is if you look at the big picture, it's a phenomenal accomplishment by everybody involved. It's unbelievable. I am constantly struck by where we are today just a little over a week from the worst catastrophe that this country has seen."
-- Rep. Tom Delay (R-TX)

"I wouldn't say I'm angry, you know. I think I'm tired of hearing the politicians say that, you know, they understand the frustration of people down here. To me, you know, it's not frustration. It's not that people are frustrated. It's that people are dying. I mean there are people dying. They're drowning to death and they drown in their living rooms and their bodies are rotting where they drowned and there are corpses in the street being eaten by rats and this is the United States of America."

-- CNN's Anderson Cooper, 9/2/2005