What is the appeal of Minneapolis/St. Paul? (Bloomington, Minnetonka: mover, condos)

[knke0402]

Originally Posted by Astron1000

If Minneapolis/St. Paul were 1,000 miles further south, it would probably be one of the biggest metro areas in the country.

Okay, just a little facetious.

But the fact that this metro has the US's 5th largest concentration of Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 corporations, and arguably among the three or four best arts scenes in the United States, and home to every major league sports team says a lot about it's industriousness, power and progressiveness

Nearly every single American comes into contact every day with a Twin Cities product or service. Looking at your credit score with Experian, TransUnion or Equifax? Then thank Minneapolis' own Fair Issac Corporation for your FICO score. Eating Wheaties? Maybe Cheerios? Buttering your toast with Land 'O Lakes margarine or butter? Using Scotch tape? Post-It Notes? Shopping at Target? Buying an iPod from Best Buy? Baking a Betty Crocker cake? Reducing fat with Yoplait? Heating up a bowl of Progresso Soup? Managing your 401k with Ameriprise? Getting a new degree from Capella University? Eating at Perkins? Staying at a Radisson Hotel? Healing your wound with a Nexcare bandage? Filtering your furnace with a Filtrete system? Scrubbing your kitchen with Scotchbrite? Eating at Olive Garden? Maybe you have a Medtronic pacemaker or stent? Eating at Oceanaire? Have a helping of Green Giant peas? Planning a trip with Carlson Wagonlit Travel? Chug some Old El Paso salsa? Bake a Totino's pizza?

You are contributing to the Minneapolis/St.Paul economy.

My goodness, there are dozens more examples.

Sure, condemn the winters. Everyone does. I do too. But not many cities in this country can lay claim to the incredible wealth, education, quality of life and amenities that the Twin Cities have to offer.

How many times have the Twin Cities topped "best of" lists in the last 30 years? Dozens. Easily. How many times has Minnesota topped the list for healthiest places to live? Longest-lived residents? Most literate residents? Best educated? Most politically engaged?

I really don't give a flying f*ck that some people consider this area to be insular or stand-offish or unfriendly.

The Twin Cities have been very successful in business, the arts and in education. It's models are not cities like New York, LA or Chicago. It's models are more like Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen and Zurich.

Sweet post.

I once had compiled a list from multiple web sites about articles showing the "Top Ten" ..I think I had a total of 19 links that MPLS/TC had come into..

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by Astron1000

If Minneapolis/St. Paul were 1,000 miles further south, it would probably be one of the biggest metro areas in the country.

Okay, just a little facetious.

But the fact that this metro has the US's 5th largest concentration of Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 corporations, and arguably among the three or four best arts scenes in the United States, and home to every major league sports team says a lot about it's industriousness, power and progressiveness

Nearly every single American comes into contact every day with a Twin Cities product or service. Looking at your credit score with Experian, TransUnion or Equifax? Then thank Minneapolis' own Fair Issac Corporation for your FICO score. Eating Wheaties? Maybe Cheerios? Buttering your toast with Land 'O Lakes margarine or butter? Using Scotch tape? Post-It Notes? Shopping at Target? Buying an iPod from Best Buy? Baking a Betty Crocker cake? Reducing fat with Yoplait? Heating up a bowl of Progresso Soup? Managing your 401k with Ameriprise? Getting a new degree from Capella University? Eating at Perkins? Staying at a Radisson Hotel? Healing your wound with a Nexcare bandage? Filtering your furnace with a Filtrete system? Scrubbing your kitchen with Scotchbrite? Eating at Olive Garden? Maybe you have a Medtronic pacemaker or stent? Eating at Oceanaire? Have a helping of Green Giant peas? Planning a trip with Carlson Wagonlit Travel? Chug some Old El Paso salsa? Bake a Totino's pizza?

You are contributing to the Minneapolis/St.Paul economy.

My goodness, there are dozens more examples.

Sure, condemn the winters. Everyone does. I do too. But not many cities in this country can lay claim to the incredible wealth, education, quality of life and amenities that the Twin Cities have to offer.

How many times have the Twin Cities topped "best of" lists in the last 30 years? Dozens. Easily. How many times has Minnesota topped the list for healthiest places to live? Longest-lived residents? Most literate residents? Best educated? Most politically engaged?

I really don't give a flying f*ck that some people consider this area to be insular or stand-offish or unfriendly.

The Twin Cities have been very successful in business, the arts and in education. It's models are not cities like New York, LA or Chicago. It's models are more like Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen and Zurich.

I love General Mills and Target. Mpls institutions.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by knke0402

Ha, Pick up their new disc- I did say "their" because it is a group. Anyway, I agreee with your generalization of their music, but their new album sets them aside from all their other work. Its really creative stuff.

If you are talking about Lemons...I've heard it. It's ok, but Overcast it is not.

Atmosphere, since Overcast, has just been Slug with what-ever DJ (usually ANT). Occasionally there is a live band and other MC's, but really Atmosphere is just Slug + what ever DJ.

Atmosphere has made great strides for both the TC hip hop scene and the underground hip hop scene as a whole, but it just irritates me that when ever the Twin Cities and hip hop are mentioned everybody immediately screams Atmosphere as this announcement usually comes from (a) a suburban teenager who really has no knowledge of the TC scene as a whole (B) someone who has no clue as to what hip hop is about, but yet they are familiar with Atmosphere from being exposed to the numerous articles written (of Atmosphere) yearly in the City Pages (C) the self-congratulatory nature of the TC music scene writers.

Just my opinion.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by greyduk

And as long as I have your attention... is anyone else unhappy about Target putting Starbucks in their stores? What a great opportunity to expand Caribou Coffee's exposure, and better coffee, throughout the country!

Starbucks, like Target, is recognized around the world. In that regard, the pairing makes sense.

You can find Caribou Coffee pre-packaged and sold in grocery stores on the East Coast. Not sure how far west or south they go.

[pirate_lafitte]

Something about Minneapolis is that it can be itself.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

You can find Caribou Coffee pre-packaged and sold in grocery stores on the East Coast. Not sure how far west or south they go.

There are a bunch of Caribou Coffee places in Atlanta. FWIW...

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

There are a bunch of Caribou Coffee places in Atlanta. FWIW...

That is true. I know of one in Woodstock.

[ateo]

It's cute to see this sort of quaint home town pride going on in this thread. You sure won't see anyone in D.C. talking like this about their home town.

On the other hand, you guys are a bit deluded if you think MN is an educational Mecca for the rest of the country...

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by ateo

It's cute to see this sort of quaint home town pride going on in this thread. You sure won't see anyone in D.C. talking like this about their home town.

No, but I've heard New Yorkers do much the same thing. Not sure "quaint" fits in that case...?

On the other hand, you guys are a bit deluded if you think MN is an educational Mecca for the rest of the country...

No, but it's a lot better than many places, and compares well with most.

[Clifford63]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

Starbucks, like Target, is recognized around the world. In that regard, the pairing makes sense.

You can find Caribou Coffee pre-packaged and sold in grocery stores on the East Coast. Not sure how far west or south they go.

Starbucks has a wider range of coffee than Caribou does. If you like light roast, caribou is decent but far from great.

There are quite a few roasters in MN and some of them are very good.

Dunn Brothers, MorningStar, Euroroast and Gene Hicks. Every one of those will beat Caribou like a red headed step child.

Don't you hate going into a Caribou shop and tripping over stacks of three week old $4 shortbread cookies shaped like a reindeer, then trying to navigate a line full of latte drinkers that want caramel, candy canes, whiped cream, cinnimon and god knows what else. They should pair up with Basken Robins. I just want a cup of coffee. Dark Roasted with a little room. Should not take 20 minutes every time.

If caribou coffee were making cars, they would be making range rovers. Over priced unreliable pieces of crap.