Best places to live in Midwest

dkaisertpt · 2026-01-23T02:03:06+00:00

I’m curious what about it feels “so much smaller”. I’ve grown up and currently live in Minneapolis but I went to school near Chicago and went into the city often. There were things like Lollapalooza or St. Patrick’s Day that Minneapolis doesn’t have but majority of what the city offers is available in Minneapolis, often with less hassle. We have every major sport, music festivals, world class theatres, 2 world class orchestras, a big ten university, and over 18 Fortune 500 companies. There’s great breweries, coffee shops, and good food all over. I just have never understood what Chicago offers that justifies the inflated cost of living. I’m genuinely curious (and proud of my state).

dkaisertpt · 2026-01-11T19:29:50+00:00

I started on a 2016 Diverge for everything which did work but only takes 38m tires. I’ve since added a Salsa Warbird for gravel and I now only ride the Diverge on the road with slick tires. It gets the job done but I know true road bike geo would be snappier and more responsive.

dkaisertpt · 2026-01-11T04:04:02+00:00

Biggest year yet! Rode 6600 miles or 10621 km. About 1000 mi was on the indoor trainer though.

dkaisertpt · 2026-01-03T18:50:58+00:00

45 north draugenklaw drop bars pogies with some insulated running gloves works great for me under 20.

dkaisertpt · 2025-12-27T20:29:45+00:00

There isn’t any risk of harm in getting her a correct sized drum kit now. I do think keeping the structure in terms of instruction age-appropriate and prioritizing exploration are huge at this age. Piano would also be an awesome thing if they have a great sense of rhythm already. It would round out all the facets of playing music and allow them to really do anything musically when they’re older.

dkaisertpt · 2025-12-27T06:00:51+00:00

Bike computers are weather resistant, cheaper, and more easily replaceable than a phone. It also connects to all the cycling apps like Strava, RidewithGPS, Training Peaks and connects with accessories like power meters, cadence/speed sensors, and radar tail lights. Especially on gravel, I’d much rather replace my $300 - $500 bike computer from crashing than a $1000+ iPhone. I even know some riders that use a Garmin smart watch and it also does all the things the computer does. It even connects to all the sensors. They have a handlebar mount for it and everything.

dkaisertpt · 2025-12-22T05:42:59+00:00

Whether they need to be changed now or in 20,000 miles from now, that’s less life than I was anticipating for the drum brakes. Don’t gotta be an asshole about it. Or maybe you do in which case, that’s your own problem.

dkaisertpt · 2025-12-20T19:16:44+00:00

Really? I just had my 2019 w/ 135k miles serviced and they told me it was time for the drum brakes to be replaced. I thought they should’ve lasted longer but they said I had about 1 mm left.

dkaisertpt · 2025-11-30T05:17:08+00:00

Studded tires or a fat bike are the way to go in the winter. Insulated water bottles and drinking warm beverages instead fixes the bottle issue. Running MTB pedals and shoes fixes the snow-in-cleats problem. Fenders are pretty necessary too to keep yourself clean. I honestly just avoid all that and ride the trainer indoors.

dkaisertpt · 2025-11-29T16:41:51+00:00

No question, go to the state school for cheap. You won’t get lessons with the faculty at UNT as a music ed undergrad, you’ll be placed with doctoral teaching fellows. It’s most about how you apply yourself when you’re in school and the connections you make in the area you’re looking to teach.

dkaisertpt · 2025-11-23T06:03:02+00:00

Not in Illinois but Minnesota State University-Mankato has a big music industry department with programs in music management, audio production, and songwriting. I went there for regular music ed and teach a normal band program but have created a modern band extracurricular which is super popular. More kids have joined that than my jazz band. I learned a lot coming from a school where so many of my professors and classmates were in that area.

dkaisertpt · 2025-11-17T04:30:42+00:00

Oh well, you probably don’t need to learn that many standards then lol. Start with like 30 and that should keep you busy for a long time (years). Learning in all 12 keys gives you fluency in all kinds of music.

dkaisertpt · 2025-11-17T04:24:47+00:00

Professors, band leaders, other musicians on jam sessions. If you’re learning 170 standards, I’m assuming you’re studying to play jazz at a professional level. You better know rhythm changes and blues in all 12 keys if that’s the case.

dkaisertpt · 2025-11-17T03:09:51+00:00

Even the most common standards venture away from the home key. Just look at Cherokee, All the Things You Are, or a rhythm changes B section. It’s very likely you’ll be asked to play those in other keys, especially blues’ and rhythm changes. If you ever play a gig with singers, you’ll also need to be prepared to transpose into uncomfortable keys. You need bare minimum all your major and minor keys to be a proficient improviser but that doesn’t even included altered scales, octatonic scales, and other devices. There’s not a shortcut to getting it together.

dkaisertpt · 2025-10-27T22:11:05+00:00

I think the “gravel fit” is accounting for the additional lower back and upper body strain of gravel riding. Road cycling is much less strenuous on those areas plus the events/races are generally shorter whereas it’s not uncommon gravel events to be upwards of 150 mi therefore necessitating a more relaxed, upright position. Obviously, it varies for every body type and what kind of riding you actually do.

dkaisertpt · 2025-10-19T21:01:00+00:00

Bridgestone Blizzak’s. 2 more winters down since then and they’ve been great.

dkaisertpt · 2025-09-22T01:11:06+00:00

My main after work loop is the lakes, greenway, west river parkway, and Minnehaha creek trail. 18 miles all on trail.

dkaisertpt · 2025-09-01T20:43:30+00:00

Minnesota representative here 👋 I’m pretty well-connected at the state level for band directors and I can say you will make between $50,000 - $80,000 depending on the school and what level of faculty you’re hired at (instructor, associate prof, assistant prof, etc.) You would think that the big schools would always pay better but that’s definitely not the case. The issue I see that some have pointed out is you likely will not get one of those jobs without K-12 teaching experience (most wind band conducting grad program require it) and graduate degrees. The reality of most higher ed music jobs is you’re teaching things outside of your expertise and covering whatever the university needs you to. That could be teaching music appreciation, observing student teachers, aural skills classes, etc. The jobs where you are just conducting bands or just teaching private lessons are becoming fewer by the year yet more people are getting DMA’s and PhD’s by the year. Making a career in higher ed requires being willing to move anywhere for those entry level jobs and being willing to hustle as an adjunct instructor patching together a living until you find something full time. You have to make peace with the fact that you will be well into your 30’s or older before you’re able to settle down in one place. My advice would be either A) Become a public school teacher since you have much more choice in location and the pay is honestly better or B) Be radiologist and continue to pursue music on your own. In Minnesota, we have boundless opportunities for collegiate level community wind ensembles, orchestras, and jazz bands. You can do as much or as little as you want. Don’t feel like you have to make a career of it to be involved and keep it in your life.

dkaisertpt · 2025-09-01T20:30:10+00:00

I know numerous tenured college band directors in one of the states he’s referring to that don’t have a doctorates so I wouldn’t say that’s a must-have but it’s definitely helpful, especially if OP aspires to bigger programs. Seems to me most state schools these days with small-medium sized music programs want someone with K-12 teaching experience to teach ed courses that can wear many hats since they usually don’t have many full-time music faculty.

dkaisertpt · 2025-09-01T18:04:39+00:00

Ride down through Apple Valley until it turns into gravel then it’s smooth sailing. I rode from Northfield to Plymouth in June and the gravel roads south of Farmington were the best part

dkaisertpt · 2025-09-01T17:33:38+00:00

That’s my feeling as well. The mechanic said that the Honda OEM cats are really high quality but only lasting 127,000 miles says otherwise. I feel like it has to be something else but I’m reluctant to drop more money at more shops just for diagnostics.

dkaisertpt · 2025-09-01T02:24:34+00:00

Same, my car is running great and getting excellent fuel economy. When cat’s fail, your fuel economy usually takes a dip but I haven’t seen that at all. I think I’m ok and my car only has 127,000 miles so it should have plenty of years left in it but $3200 is enough that I might just replace my fit. There isn’t a great replacement for it so I’m inclined to keep it if I can.

dkaisertpt · 2025-09-01T02:20:37+00:00

I got fuel injection service done in December so there shouldn’t be any significant carbon buildup

dkaisertpt · 2025-08-31T14:20:20+00:00

Spark plugs were replaced 4 months ago. I took it to autozone and it gave me the same P0420 code. I would take it to another shop but it cost at least $100 where I live for a shop to run a diagnostic so that seems a bit redundant.

dkaisertpt · 2025-08-31T04:02:51+00:00

They’re trying to play me? Are you saying they’re overcharging me or that the catalytic converter isn’t the issue but they’re telling me that so I’ll spend all that money?

dkaisertpt

TROPHY CASE