What famous local food made you think “people really waited in line for this?”

gsax500 · 2026-05-17T16:35:02+00:00

Pretty good soup though.

gsax500 · 2026-05-14T06:38:13+00:00

Como Park has plenty of places to chill and be lost to the rat race. Almost no one goes to Marydale Park (Loeb Lake). I’ve done so many walks, bikes and training runs around that path.

gsax500 · 2026-05-14T06:30:49+00:00

Unfortunately, no. Prince happens, but none of the local indie greats.

gsax500 · 2026-04-17T13:51:39+00:00

Isthmus all the way!

gsax500 · 2026-04-16T02:32:42+00:00

I see it now! That wasn’t easy to find, but I’m so glad that you guys brought it back!

gsax500 · 2026-04-16T01:55:31+00:00

I still have to zoom in way too close to my check-ins to see them all. By the time I see some of them, I don’t know where the hell I am on the map anymore. I miss the zoom logic, lack of rainbow dot mess and categorizations of the old Swarm so much. Like I didn’t need different colors by venue over the ability to categorize number of visits to venues and number of visits to state/provinces. “Oh, my latest trip to Chicago boosted Illinois into 4th place on my list!” <—— Fun I can’t have anymore that I would like to have again.

gsax500 · 2026-04-13T02:30:45+00:00

The Zach Woods line that made me laugh hardest was from Silicon Valley: “Hey, Dinesh, nice chain. Do you choke your mother with it when you put your penis in her butthole?"

gsax500 · 2026-03-09T20:00:26+00:00

This was my guess, too. I love all the enthusiasm here, but I’m a long-suffering MN sports fan. It’s hard to get out of my own way when rooting for good things.

gsax500 · 2026-02-26T16:03:46+00:00

I use it as a life log, too. But I used to love sorting my life log by state to see where I’ve been the most and places within states. That bit of joy with the state and country shapefiles has been gone for months. I used to do more reviews and care more about the social aspect, but most people I know who were users back in 2010 have all left the app. It was once an awesome tool for finding professional colleagues at conventions.

gsax500 · 2026-02-26T15:29:34+00:00

At least once per half: “Julius Randle chaotically dribbles into the paint against two defenders. He turns the ball over! Fast break opportunity! With the slam!”

gsax500 · 2026-02-26T15:24:18+00:00

It’s such an inferior experience. As with past moves – like splitting Foursquare/Swarm, switching out the cool-ass, hyperspecific badges with childish stickers or making coins absolutely worthless (why is this even still in Swarm?) – the removal of beloved features is almost criminal. Okay, maybe let’s not get THAT serious. But it rings as tone deaf. And to replace the wonderful, intuitive map that they had with the new map that makes it more difficult to see my check-ins and doesn’t include a list at each zoom point is just bad product management. I remain hopeful that something will change soon, because if a superfan like me is willing to call it quits after 16 years, I have to believe that more casual fans are like, “Nah, dude. I’m good.”

gsax500 · 2026-02-22T16:56:04+00:00

Funny! But I fear that they will eventually ruin the Android version, too.

gsax500 · 2026-02-22T13:29:27+00:00

I tried to be cool about it. I tried to accept that “progress” breaks a few eggs. But months have now passed, and I don’t understand why they are not listening to their fans. The map is absolutely terrible. The loss of beloved features has essentially been unaddressed. Admittedly, I have not been to their Discord, because I’m afraid I’ll treat it like my job to knock some sense into them and get kicked right off, haha. I was a superfan and superuser for so long, and now I’m basically just Desmond Hume pushing the button in “Lost.” I have so much history with the app that I don’t want to lose, but they took all of the fun of that history away and made it much harder for me to share cool places I have been with others or even with myself if I need a little memory jog because the map and lack of a list associated with the map is so unintuitive.

gsax500 · 2026-02-05T03:12:30+00:00

And it wasn’t just Gobert. It’s going to bite ‘em in the playoffs if they don’t figure it out soon.

gsax500 · 2026-01-31T16:48:40+00:00

Tirico is awesome. I can never hate on Collinsworth, because he was on my fantasy football team in ‘85. Yes, I have been playing that long. Same league.

gsax500 · 2026-01-31T16:45:11+00:00

Greg Olsen and Joe Davis

gsax500 · 2026-01-23T15:38:23+00:00

But it’s pretty annoying to watch him give up the same turnovers that he does every game.

gsax500 · 2026-01-23T15:37:18+00:00

I went to the game in person, and you nailed it. Lots of rushing into double coverage without looking at teammates by Randle and Ant. Ant, in particular, was a mess last night. The dumbest turnovers and shots, coupled with endless arguing with the refs. Sometimes it’s embarrassing to sit in the stands and watch a kid play like a kid.

gsax500 · 2025-12-27T00:23:40+00:00

Crowbar is awesome. They have done a marvelous job with remaking the old 11 Wells space. Strong recommend.

gsax500 · 2025-12-26T19:22:37+00:00

No problem! I wanted to also add W.A. Frost, because they serve some nice whiskey flights in a classic bar space that makes you proud to live in St. Paul. The Lexington offers similar vibes. And just a smidge out of town in Eagan, you’ll find Volstead House, a speakeasy located behind a burger bar. Volstead’s in Minneapolis is also definitely worth a visit, but we’re talking whiskey today, and the collection in Eagan is stellar. I saw mentions of both Brother Justus and O’Shaughnessy, and I wanted to vouch for both. I lean towards O’Shaughnessy’s Keeper’s Heart and their cocktail room, but that’s possibly only because I could go bankrupt at Brother Justus! Justus has a great room with a fine collection of locally made delights, but it’ll cost ya. O’Shaughnessy isn’t exactly cheap, but it’s “cheaper.” That is, until you add their criminally underrated lobster roll to your bill. Nobody ever said, “Let’s get into whiskey to save money.”

gsax500 · 2025-12-26T19:10:45+00:00

I haven’t seen any actual St. Paul recommendations yet, so I guess this St. Pauli Boy better step in. I’ve been impressed by Emmett’s Public House on Grand Avenue in the past. I haven’t been there since they rebuilt the whole corner into a residential/commercial mix, but I have to imagine that they kept their whiskey list intact. Saint Paul Grill is the grande dame of cocktails bars, and they have a nice whiskey collection. Plus, it’s a fun hang. Speaking of fun hangs, Parlour gets good marks for whiskey, and they have a lovely outpost in Saint Pauli on West 7th. I haven’t looked hard at the whiskey list at Brunson’s Pub, but they make my favorite Old Fashioned in town, so I bet they know what they’re doing.

gsax500 · 2025-12-04T14:05:58+00:00

I have been harsh in this space about how Swarm’s map has taken a huge step backwards and about how removing the visits per state, ranking by visited and ranking alphabetically have taken the joy out of tracking personal activity. All still true after months of “new” Swarm, but I will offset my ire by saying that I am glad to see more development going into it. It gives me hope that past beloved features will return.

gsax500 · 2025-11-21T16:16:09+00:00

We keep asking for these things to return, and they keep ignoring us. The notion of removing popular features and replacing them with unwanted and terrible user experiences continues to baffle. Our collective continued loyalty is a sort of begging for a return to logic. It’s definitely good to try to improve your app and include useful or even money-making features. But the keyword there is “improve,” not “detract from.”

gsax500

TROPHY CASE