Izzy's ice cream

Let me tell you about my new office. The view of the lake is amazing, the ceiling is so high as to seem nonexistent and the breeze can be just superb on a warm summer day. The only real problem is when I get distracted and find myself fishing or sailing instead of working. But nobody's workplace is perfect. 

I moved to Minnesota in 1998, and was surprised by the ready availability of great local ice cream and frozen treats. Why should a state that's cold for seven months of the year specialize in a warm-weather treat? Soon, I stopped wondering why and just appreciated it.

It's not so mysterious, though. Minnesota's dairy farms provide about 40,000 jobs, and produced 776 million pounds of fresh milk in April 2010. (Wisconsin produces about three times as much: 2.2 billion pounds!) In addition to milk, dairy farmers help to provide cheese, yogurt, butter, ice cream and other frozen treats. (In the U.S., dairy usually refers to milk produced by cows, but worldwide, dairy is produced by sheep, goats, yaks, buffalo, and horses.)

The words, “Ground-breaking Technology!” screamed out, in large, bold type, from the headline of an e-mailed press release I received last week. It made me wonder: What technological achievement was being heralded now? Was it one of those inventions that I would have invented myself if only I had learned how to write code? Like an iPhone that actually works as a phone? Or a content management system that writes 500-word blog posts? Or an “un-send” feature for the e-mails I shouldn't have written when I was so angry. (Or so tipsy.) No, no, and no. This was for something way, way better. Read for yourself:

"St Paul – May 20, 2010 –A moment more than one year in the making, Izzy’s Ice Cream is proud to announce the launch of an exciting, new service, Izzy’s Flavor Up!, that allows customers to subscribe to their favorite Izzy’s Ice Cream flavors."

It continues: