Welcome to Gino's East

Good evening. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Mark Heuring. I am proprietor of the Mr. Dilettante blog and I will be serving as Gino's guest host while he makes his tour of the Southern California medical establishment.

In one of those odd twists that are part of the blogosphere, I am reporting from the Twin Cities. Gino has developed quite a following in Minnesota, which probably amazes him as much as it amazes us. Some of you may not be familiar with Minnesota. I've always been fond of the description offered by Joel and Ethan Coen, our gift to Hollywood. They refer to Minnesota as "Siberia with family restaurants." By the way, we don't all sound like the characters in the movie Fargo. Some of our accents are far worse.

Minnesota has a history of gift giving to California, particularly to the Los Angeles area. Besides the Coens, we gave you Judy Garland, Diablo Cody and Richard Widmark. We also gave you the Lakers some years ago. If the current scuttlebutt proves out, we may be giving you the Vikings as well. The current ownership wants a new stadium, which probably won't be forthcoming. Once that refusal is final, it's possible that the Vikings will abandon the antiquated Metrodome (completed 1982) to take up residence someplace in Southern California, perhaps at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (completed 1932). Meanwhile, California has given us Gino. I think I speak for everyone in saying it's a fair trade.

I haven't heard from Gino or his wife yet, but as soon as we get word, I'll pass it along. Meanwhile, feel free to drop me a line if you have something you'd like to talk about.