I don’t love going to the dentist, but I do love my downtown-St. Paul dentist, Leroy Hipp. He’s the nicest of guys, which makes my dentist-chair ordeals bearable. He’s very good at his job.

Then there are the little touches.

For instance, Dr. Hipp has a tradition of celebrating older patients’ half-century birthdays in a special way: He will give each person a copy of the Life-magazine issue published (precisely or approximately) on their dates of birth.

My wife got her copy a few years ago, and I have just received mine (a bit late since I had been shamefully putting off a much-needed checkup).

Thanks, doc. You’re the best.

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My wife and I had a memorable Fourth of July weekend in the company of good friends at a handful of fun parties.

The highlight of one bash: An impromptu concert by Iván Sánchez, who has a lovely voice and plays a mean guitar, with an assist from Tom Miller on his own guitar (and cello).

Above is a YouTube playlist with Iván’s performance in its near-entirety.

This happened on a balcony near downtown St. Paul on the evening of July 4, so you’ll hear fireworks in the background.

I made my first-ever appearance on Tom Merritt’s Daily Tech News Show, embarrassing myself early on with ill-timed inattention, but hopefully redeeming myself later with a discussion about alternatives to the recently ruled-illegal Aereo service.

Local tech types like to give Joe Soucheray grief for his Luddite tendencies.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist recently railed against the use of iPads in K-12 classrooms, for instance. Shortly afterward, the Minnov8 Gang let Joe have it.

I happened to be a guest host on that podcast episode, and I defended Joe (up to a point).

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This over-the-top P.R. pitch in honor of “National Columnist Day” is off the mark for a couple of reasons:

• I’ve worn many hats in my tech-journalism duties over the years: columnist, editor, reporter, blogger. Currently, only the latter two titles apply.
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• I’m no Ernest Hemingway or Kurt Vonnegut. C’mon.

Nice try, Max Borges Agency, and much appreciated.

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