The Daily Feather — The Land of 10,000 Lakes

QI is in Minnesnowta, as the natives like to call it. To be writing the same day I landed means my flight on American was mechanically delayed for so long, the arrival time pressed into the wee hours. Dragging through the empty airport, peals of laughter cut the air as three young girls briskly made the donuts at the airport shop. Five splendid hours of sleep later, a peek out the window left no doubt Minnesota had earned its bragging rights for having the lowest average temperatures in the U.S. from December through February. If only having found myself within walking distance of a handful of the state’s 10,000 lakes, the old knees had a shadow of their former selves, when I first ice skated in Storrs, Connecticut, I was walking distance from a handful of the state’s famous 10,000 lakes. Minneapolis boasts the Lake of Isles, where you can rent skates and take in the city skyline, and Lake Nokomis Park, where I could have (frozen) taken in an outdoor hockey match. Being the avid fisherwoman I am, a local guide could have swept me away for a spot of ice fishing on Lake Harriet, Bde Maka Ska, or Cedar Lake, all of which are close to downtown.

Alas, duty called given the dramatic turn in weekly state initial jobless claims that demanded analysis even as I prepped to keynote Minnesota’s Chartered Financial Analyst Annual Dinner last night, which was an honor. As for those claims, the number of states seeing rising joblessness hit the Big 30, a fate barely avoided by The North Star State (#31), next up on the list to see its job market succumb to recession.