Bicycle (Mis)Adventures

Recently biking has been lots of fun. I've found some people who like biking and going on rides is loads of fun now. Especially when funny things happen. We started doing Wednesday night bike rides, at 9 after my 3 hour class gets over. The first one last week was really fun, rather uneventful. We saw Minnehaha falls and went all around Lake Calhoun and uptown.

This past Wednesday we decided to go to St. Paul. Andy took Kim and I to a waterfall, I forgot was it was called. Anyway, it was really cool because it was dark and it had rained all day, so it was also really muddy. We stood at the top of the waterfall and heard it going down. Then we wandered to a place overlooked the Mississippi and was really muddy. The mud was like clay! It was amazing. Then we biked down Summit Ave, and around the Governor's Mansion Andy got a flat. Andy has this huge bag that he brings with him on rides in case anything bad happens. Except for when flats happen. He was unprepared. So we called Clare to rescue us and take us back home.

Though, the most exciting party of that ride was my first crash! Well, my first crash in a long time. Anyway, it was thrilling because I flew off my bike, but didn't get hurt. Andy apparently has this habit of turning in front of people, and he turned in front of me to go onto a path. I also, didn't see him slowing down, so I was still going at a good rate. So I hit his back tire and somehow came off my bike. Thankfully, I hit the ground running. Crouch running, from what Andy says. I remember not wanting to fall and hurt myself, because I was going pretty fast, so I just kept going with my momentum until I slowed down. It was really exciting.

Yesterday was my first Critical Mass. It's where a bunch of bicyclists get together to raise awareness about cycling as a viable means of getting around. And other such stuff. The website is good. I biked downtown for the first time and that was really fun, I know more about how to get around now. I'm excited about that. Anyway, we started at Loring park, there was a group of about maybe 40ish people there all with bikes. When someone says go, we all start biking around the city. Lets just say, motorists aren't happy, and it's really funny for me. Apparently in the summer there are lots more people. It was also raining yesterday, which could be why there weren't so many people.

My friend Jon hooked up a can holder to his bike and was able to have a drink while on the road. That was entertaining. It was also entertaining when an unmarked white van sounded its siren and flashed its lights, for no apparent reason. Andy guessed it was a Department of Homeland Security vehicle. They didn't do anything. After awhile my back tire got a bit flat, so Andy pumped it back up again. Then Andy, Jon, and I had to find the group again. We did, just in time to go under the Washington Avenue Bridge, and that was really cool because it was echo-y. Jon's favorite part about Critical Mass is driving down Hennepin in Uptown. Though, no one else in Critical Mass wanted to go there. So we three braved it alone, until Jon's back tire came loose. This time Andy had no wrench to fix it. So for the second bike ride in a row, Clare had to pick us up again.

I'm looking forward to biking more often and being more comfortable getting myself around downtown. I like having people to bike with who really like biking. So life is good at the moment.

The internet is slow.

Devolution of power in Northern Ireland is sort of a big deal. I like to read about it. Especially when the BBC chooses to include their best stock of photos for articles. Look here. My favorite picture was of Stormont and how dissolving the Northern Irish assembly has something to do with cutting the grass (no sexual comment intended). Then I scrolled back up only to see the beautiful Ian Paisley looking like the Wicked Witch of the West, only without the green face. As I've said before, I love the news.

I also love Senator Robert Byrd. For those of you who don't know he's a Democrat from West Virginia and the longest serving senator. He's on CSPAN-2 a lot making delightful hand motions. He also is a good guy, very logical. He's written autobiographies that read as American history textbooks. I have a secret, school-girl crush.

I also have five cavities! I hate the dentist. Really, I used to like it, but now that the past 2 times I've gone they've "discovered" 5 cavities, I'm pissed. No not drunk, angry. To get back at them I'm going to floss like the devil!! They'll never see such pristine between the teeths. If I have any teeths left. Turns out I also have Bruxism, you might too. My teeth are slowly being whittled away by my... teeth at night. So all those times at sleepovers when Allie thought I was eating something that she also wanted, it was really me just chewing my teeth. I don't think that's something she actually would really want. Hopefully soon I'll get an incredibly expensive nightguard to relax my mouth at night and I wont make strange noises that wake up others, especially Clare.

I'm not sure sometimes

Life feels out of my hands right now. So I'm not sure what really going on.

The sides of my red shoes have somehow shrunk and are unwearable now. I'm not sure what to do with them.

I keep making tea and forgetting it on the kitchen counter until it gets cold.

On a more positive note, I've decided that if I ever become an uber feminist I will change my very masculine name "Amanda Jacobson" to "Awomanda Jackiedaughter." It really rolls off the tounge.

I've been trying to make friends with this cat in order to make up for missing my puddy. She scratches too much though and it doesn't work.

Catsby.

How I Spent My Spring Vacation

At the moment I am writing my personal statement for the Mitchell/Rhodes scholarships. I was going good at describing my academic and personal interests, as well as my passions. But now I'm stuck on the future goals. Currently I have "My current goals for the future are to gain research experience, work internationally, and to continue my education." Sounds pretty weak. This is mostly due to my lack of direction and also lack of any idea of what I actually want to do with my future. I've decided that if I don't get a scholarship for graduate study abroad, then I'll work for the Peace Corps. My job search has gotten itself off track as I have been looking at mostly corporate jobs. I've forgotten about my desire that my job help people in some way and I want to get back to that focus. The Peace Corps will be good because it will give me the international experience I want, it will help people, and hopefully the 2 year commitment will give me enough time to figure out a specific direction. I might do research.

On to other things. I recently replaced my stolen drivers license, so now I can legally drive other people's cars. Even though I had Mom mail me my birth certificate and social security card in order to have 2 forms of ID to prove I am indeed Amanda Jacobson, it turned out I needed no ID at all. How... secure. Though, while I looked on the U of M "people search" to figure out my permanent address I discovered that I'm not actually listed as a student, I'm listed by my "appointment." For some reason this excited me.

Tuesday I went to the sculpture garden by the Walker and it was really wet. Turned out to be not that enjoyable. I also went with Clare to the Bob Dylan exhibit at the Weisman. That was interesting because I know nothing about Bob Dylan and now I know more. Also, I know that back in the day they also moved the city of Hibbing so that the earth beneath the city could be mined. People do funny things.

There isn't much that I've done recently that warrants a post. I'm getting really excited for summer and to be able to bike around in good weather. I'm going to try and go for more bike rides and become more familiar with the cities and how to get around by bike.

I might look into working for a company that makes wind turbines.

History Weekend

For spring break, some people go to cool places and do cool things. I stay at home and do nerdy things. Such as go to museums. Spring break started off well because I managed to stay occupied, which is something I really needed.

Friday started off with seeing the movie "300," when I accepted this invitation I didn't realize 300 was the movie I decided that I really didn't want to see. It was about Spartans, and Spartans enjoyed violence. Unlike myself. Though the excess of hunky men in leather underwear was rather distracting. Actually the movie ended my Friday. Earlier in the day Clare and I wandered around campus and took pictures. We had malts at Annie's and life was good.

Saturday some of us went to the Mill City Museum to learn about the milling roots of Minneapolis. It was cool to see how the mills really started off the city, and also how the falls have changed over the years. The view from the top was quite nice too.

The start of the Stone Arch Bridge

The mill exploded a few times, and was burnt out in 1991, so it's in ruins now.

It's cool because it's old and new!

Later that night we had an excellent time in Cottage Grove before heading back to Minneapolis for a night on the town. Some of us went to the dancey night "Too much love" at First Ave for about 10 minutes. Then we headed to a house party where Radio On was playing. Turns out Mark Mallman was there and I acted like a little school girl. The band was all buddy buddy with our group and it was like we were VIP. It was pretty sweet.

Ross's brother Olie, Ried, Clare, and I rocking out.

Then Sunday continued history day with a visit to the James J. Hill house and the St. Paul Cathedral. The house is really old and very large. Hill was one of the founders of the Great Northern Railroad, he was kind of a dick. But since he was a heartless bastard he earned lots of money and built a gigantic house for people like me to marvel at.

The dining room was my favorite. The ceiling is made of 24 carat gold and the walls covered in leather. Talk about putting money to good use!

The house is across the street from the St. Paul Cathedral, Ross, Clare and I took advantage of the proximity and took a spin around. It's quite pretty inside, strange to think that religion encourages so much suffering, but is surrounded in decadence. There was also a statue of St. Patrick which I found funny because he's not an official saint. So I hear.

The big dome of the cathedral is really pretty!

Tomorrow we're going to go do other things around Minneapolis to continue the history/learning theme. Plus the weather is really nice.

Broken Springs

Aaah, it's that time again. That time of year when I don't have to go to class for a week. It started a little earlier than anticipated due to a well-timed fire alarm during my afternoon class. I also didn't have to go to my morning class, and I finished my second class early because I finished the final quickly. Woo! So today was a good day. Until I read this headline: Comic book hero Captain America killed off after 66 years . Stunned by this tragic loss, Clare and I made cheesecake, in which we will overindulge in about 10 minutes.

To get over my grief (because you know how much I love comics) I'm going to be adventurous this week. Here's a sweet bulleted list of the things I plan/hope to do over break:

• Go to Fort Snelling
• Go to James J. Hill house
• Write scholarship essays
• Finish photo album
• Write Pete's letter (that's right)
• Go to The Wind that Shakes the Barley
• Go to see Dervish
• Drink lots of tea
• Fix my bike

Thank you.

Once again, the "news" is amusing

I love the Dutch!

People from Florida are crazy.
Take note the last paragraph

The Swiss: Not so neutral?

In sadder news, my picture didn't win last month's BBC photo competition. I resolve to find a picture to match their theme every month until... I get tired of it. March's theme is "Landmarks" here is my picture:


Its of Thanksgiving Square and some river in Belfast.

The white stuff

I mean snow, not crack.

Today we have a super winter storm! For me snow is nothing but goodness because I don't have to drive in it, shovel it, or travel far for class. I suppose biking in the snow is difficult, mostly because the U likes to put recently cleared snow over the bike racks. Making parking my bike a tricky thing to do, as can be seen here:

Notice the almost complete submersion of the bike on the left.

Surprisingly the U decided to cancel classes today begining at 2:30, just in time for me to finish up all my classes. Sweet, thanks. It's good for everyone else who has class I guess, go them. When I woke up this morning a took a look out the window expecting to see some more snow falling down, however there wasn't any new snow in the courtyard. Logically I figured I needn't worry about walking to class in some mushy snow. Contrary to logic my walk to class, which usually looks like this:

Notice the large buildings of downtown.

Looked more like this:

No more downtown!

Earlier (when I didn't have my camera), the snow was coming down in really large flakes and was soo pretty. Now the wind has picked up and it's more like freezing rain that accumulates.
I'm still happy though. I'll be happier when I get a thin headband, so that I can wear my helmet and still have warm ears.

I just thought this was cute:

Clearing snow off the sidewalks.

On an unrelated and overachieving note, I went to an information session on Scholarships for Graduate Study in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Since I got so much support for my ELP presentation I've got this notion that I could possibly be a Rhodes Scholar. So I'll be working on applying for that from now until April 2. More importantly, there is a Mitchell Scholarship for any university in Ireland, which I (maybe) have a bit of a shot at. I'll be trying hard not to keep my hopes up. Though I am researching universities. I found the National University of Ireland - Galway offers a masters program in HRIR for one year (the duration of the scholarship). I'm excited because I've been thinking about doing a masters in Ireland. A scholarship would make things lots easier! They even take you around the country to see places and meet important people. I'd like to meet Bertie.