When I found out I was for sure going to Minneapolis to cover a Jane Austen convention (more on that later), I knew I had to visit the Mary Tyler Moore statue.

I know my co-workers would be horrified to know just how much The Mary Tyler Moore influenced me as a child–but those Mary Mondays on Nick-At-Night were the best! And it is unreal to me that now I work in a newsroom, produce some news, and have my own little studio apartment. And luckily, our anchors aren’t quite Ted Baxter–although some days…

Anyway, I got up early on Sunday morning and made a pilgrimage to the statue. And then I blinked in the photo I forced some swedish-sounding residents to take.