The Life and Times of Amanda

Cats, Kittens and Tigers! Oh My!

2010-09-17T20:00:00.007-06:00

People talk about their pets way too much.

Which is why I'm devoting an entire post to my cats. Because I'm just like everyone else. I can accept that.

Plus, Andy and I spend much of our time observing the cats and if I'm going to be discussing my life and times, that's (unfortunately) a big part.

I don't have children, and (sorry Mom) I don't plan on having any soon (unless by accident). I feel that having a kitten is somewhat similar to having a child. At least, having a kitten is more work than I was anticipating and I'm assuming a child (who can't poop or eat for itself) would be more work. Those of you who have children are probably saying, "It's nothing like having a child, they're totally different." Which may be true. Children don't have fur or pointy ears. But let me illustrate some similarities.

I have an older cat and a kitten. I have to teach them how to share. Both cats can play with the chew toy. Only one cat at a time can fit on my lap. Buster needs to learn that people are not chew toys, which is a difficulty I am facing as I write this. I'm not sure how, but Buster needs to be taught how cover his poo in the litter box. Buster is learning that the laptop is a place for writing, not napping. He's learned the hard way that just because it's in a glass, doesn't mean beer is delicious. Tipper is desperately trying to teach Buster that her tail isn't a toy. She fails in this mainly because she flicks her tail in his face.

I also have to worry about our new kitten, Buster, hurting himself. As I was trying to learn how to use a sewing machine, Buster thought the needle looked like fun. I'm not sure how he didn't get sewn to my wannabe skirt, but I panicked and he hissed, but no blood was spilled. The next day he fell off of the counter and encountered an end table on his way to the floor. Both instances he was back to normal after about 10 minutes. Which is one way that kitties are better than babies.

Time for adorable cat pictures.

Tipper enjoyed a variety of toys and liberties prior to Buster's arrival.

Buster arrived and became very self-absorbed.

Tipper was then relegated to playing with large-type books and pens.

This was a short-lived peace. Bedtime is peacetime for the cats.

Buster is ultimately Andy's cat, and any social problems he has, I blame on Andy.

Fireworks

2010-08-17T19:40:00.009-06:00

Andy and I have been busy this summer and it's bee a lot of fun. Here are some highlights, from oldest to newest.

Fireworks are more legal in Tennessee than they are in Minnesota. Which I feel makes my neighborhood feel like Kabul on the 4th of July. I've never heard so many explosions before without the sound of police sirens immediately after. In the spirit of this new found ability to set fire to large explode-y things, Andy purchase a couple of large fireworks. I went for the traditional sparklers. Video to come.

Many of you may know that Andy and I enjoy cooking, and cook we will! But did you also know that we now make beer? So far we have 2 bad batches and one going to be good batch currently carbonating. I thank my brother for passing his great beer making desire on to me and hopefully one day we will be able to reward you with a beer that won't give you lead poisoning! It takes a lot of time to make beer, but it's interesting when you do stuff. My favorite part is capping the bottles. Crimp crimp! I could do that all day and not get tired of it.

This is our set up for boiling the beer.

The Natchez Trace is a super long roadway that brushes up to the Nashville area, and it's really good for bike rides. Andy and I thought it'd be a great idea to drive out there and ride around at noon when the temperature was about 100 degrees. It was a short ride. There is a super pretty bridge that we rode over, which gave us an excuse to stop and rest.

The Nashville equivalent to St. Paul's Science Museum (The Adventure Science Center) had an evening where adults (21+) could enjoy the exhibits... free of small children. I had a blast, as this sort of event has been a dream of mine for a long time. I ran, I climbed, I pulled levers, I learned how blood flows, and when I got tired, I drank free beer. It was awesome.

Recently Andy and I have been canning a lot and one of his coworkers invited people over to his farm to pick wild blackberries. Small fruits, such as blackberries and raspberries, are quite expensive at the market; and I've been wanting to make jam ever since we got our canning cookbook. So this was the perfect opportunity to collect enough (free!) blackberries to make an inexpensive jam.

As a Minnesotan (I think that's my excuse) I didn't realize that one can get chiggers from picking berries. I was under the impression that chiggers were in weedy parts of lakes (and so agrees everyone from MN that I've talked to about it). That is wrong. Chiggers are horrible. I wanted to scratch my skin off for three days straight. Plus, it's been over a month now and not all the bite marks are gone. Lesson learned, wear bug spray when going into tall grassy places.

White water rafting seems like something people put on "bucket lists" and if I had such a list, it would now be checked off. We went rafting with a group from Andy's work and it was loads of fun. My face hurt from smiling so much, it was that fun. Andy was a little nervous about it, but I didn't think it would be dangerous until we rode up the route in the bus to get to the launching point. Then I didn't understand how we'd get back down the river all in the raft. We managed and no one fell out! I highly recommend this activity (with a properly trained guide of course).

That night Andy and I stayed in Blue Ridge, GA and saw the sights the next day. It was really pretty in the mountain-y area.

In addition to all this good clean fun I went to the Nashville Brewer's Festival. I've never been to an event like this before and it was super fun. We got to try all sorts of beer. The worst part of it was that I couldn't try all the beers I wanted to, and I kind of forgot a lot of beers that I tried. But if you talk about them, then I remember. There were a lot of good beers there, local and national kinds. I learned a lot about the benefits of having a a refreshing beer in 95 degree heat!

More to come! Andy and I have also taken in a stray kitty we call Buster. And since people talk too much about their pets, there's another post to come about the joys of having a kitty. Also I have ideas for a book post, kind of like my brother. But my books are different!

Amanda's Amazing Diet Plan

2010-06-17T18:51:00.004-06:00

I have no dietary authority, just opinions and ideas. So you don’t have to listen to my amazing diet suggestions. But I strongly recommend you do. Because they’re awesome.

WARNING: This is an explicit post.

Amanda’s Amazing diet plan consists of two simple rules:

Don’t eat shit
Move your ass

It’s explicit because you need tough love to get the idea across. Plus, who wants to eat shit?

I’m sure you’ll have many questions regarding these two rules.

Question 1: What counts as shit?

Good question. Shit is most anything that comes from a fast food restaurant. Even salads. I just don’t trust them. Fried chicken shouldn’t be on a salad. Shit also counts as eating too much of any one thing. I saw a TV show where an overweight man couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t losing weight. “I’ve been eating oranges!” he exclaimed. Eating 16 oranges for a meal doesn’t count as eating healthy.

Same goes for 16 brownies, sliders, and beers. Vary your food and eat it in moderation. If you eat a small amount of a variety of food, you’ll probably have a meal with more complete nutrition.

Question 2: What doesn’t count as shit?

The lines between shit and non-shit are blurry (as with the previous orange example). There are many distinctions you’ll have to learn for yourself. In general, you should up your fruit and veggies. Did that meal you just ate have any fruits or vegetables? If not, it was probably a shit meal.

Just about anything you cook for yourself at home is not shit. There are some examples of cooking shit for yourself that isn’t good. Case in point, I made some sodium-laden fried gnocchi and I could feel my arteries working harder as I ate. Just because I peeled and mashed the potatoes myself doesn’t mean it was healthy. Additionally, if all you make for yourself are cinnamon rolls and chocolate cake… that is also shit.

Bonus time! Cooking for yourself helps accomplish rule 2, “Move your ass”. While cooking you’re up and about, going hither and thither, while if you eat dinner sitting at a restaurant well, you’re just sitting. Also, when cooking you become more conscious of what you eat, good and bad. Plus, it allows you to really enjoy your food because you put the effort into making it. You’ll realize you’ll start thinking things like, “I put too much time into this damn pizza crust and we will scrape this doughy mess off the wax paper and eat it raw if it kills us!” One exception to the “Don’t eat shit rule” - if your homemade recipe turns into an inedible disaster, getting take out is OK.

Question 3: What’s a good way to “Move my ass”?

Move your ass means stop driving around the parking lot for 10 minutes to get the closest spot. Just pull into the lot and pick the first spot you see and walk the extra couple of yards. It won’t kill you. Also, work activity into your day that makes you more active. Get up and talk to someone at work instead of calling or emailing. Take the stairs when you can. Go for walks, after dinner, after breakfast, during your lunch break.

Flexing your abs while you watch TV doesn’t fulfill rule number 2. Speak of… turn off your damn TV. It’ll suck you in until you didn’t realize its midnight and you haven’t moved for the past four hours. I know because I’ve been there. Gyms and stuff are nice, but our skinny-assed ancestors didn’t go to the Y four times a week. They just worked hard and were thin because there was no other way.

At this point I realize this is not really a diet plan, it’s a lifestyle plan. There is overwhelming evidence that says you can’t be healthy by improving just diet or exercising more. You have to change both at the same time to improve your health.

One last tidbit and it’s something that really irks me: STOP MAKING EXCUSES. “I’m too tired, we don’t have all the ingredients, it’s too late, I have a cold, I’m in a hurry.” It’s all bullshit. If you keep making excuses, you’ll never make it a habit and you’ll never get where you want to be.

Now go outside and play.

Literary Nightmares

2010-04-21T07:29:00.003-06:00

Twice since we've been in our new house, I've woken up in the night yelling. I have these vivid dreams that feel like they are taking place in my bedroom. The dreams somehow seem to be related to the book I am reading at the moment.

My first dream came while reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I dreamt that a little boy was standing over me while I was sleeping. I noticed this and found it entirely too creepy and kind of scary. So I yelled at the boy and threw Nap at him as he ran out the door. The next 20 minutes Andy spent searching the house for an intruder and I failed to tell him it was a little boy. In my haziness I couldn't understand why my reality wasn't matching up with what I dreamt was my reality. We finished the night sleeping with the light on.

The next literature dream came as I was reading The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (an attempt I have since abandoned). As you can possibly tell from the title, the book is about genes and chromosomes, science-y stuff like that. My dream was that someone was adding an unwanted "gene" (pillow) to Andy's side of our "double helix" (bed). I'm not sure what I yelled about this time, and Andy has stopped caring and being surprised at my outbursts. This dream was a decidedly dorky dream to dream.

Later that night I had another vivid "in the bedroom" dream. I had gotten up early and decided that I was rested enough to start my day. I went to the bathroom to get ready, had the lights off and tried to be quiet. Andy came in shortly after and said that he too was well rested and wanted to get up early as well. When I actually woke up I was confused as to why I was back in bed and why I was just getting up when I thought I had been up and ready for awhile.

I've always had pretty vivid dreams, and if you know anything about my diet, it's not because I eat a lot of spicy foods. Usually my dreams don't involve scary stuff, and I'd prefer that they stay that way. Maybe I just need to get used to the new room and my dreams will go back to being about chorus lines and skiing.

Living in TN - Musings

2010-03-31T15:12:00.007-06:00

I have lived in a few different places, Minnesota, Mexico, Indiana, and Ireland (I classify "lived" as by staying in a place, getting mail and doing laundry). But no place I have lived (besides MN) has been as permanent as my new home. I'm not sure what the significance of that is, but it seems very new and different to me. I really enjoy this new place and it's not what I expected.

When I think Tennessee, I guess, when I thought Tennessee before, I thought the area would be more country-bumpkin, with tons of country music and not a whole lot going on. I really wasn't a fan of the south (for a variety of reasons) and I'm very happy that my previous notions were wrong. At least Middle Tennessee has a lot going on, it's very beautiful with the hills and the weather. People are really nice, and that's not an exaggeration. Andy and I went on our first bike ride on the Murfreesboro Greenway (which is nothing like the Midtown Greenway) and his chain broke. Some random stranger rode past us as Andy was working on the bikes to ask if we needed help. That doesn't happen much in Minneapolis.

When you go to a new place do you ever think that your first day there feels entirely different from how you see it after awhile? This place certainly does and I'm starting to get my bearings. It's tough to get situated geographically with Andy though because he can never drive the same way twice. So I'm not entirely sure how to get around all the time, but I'm getting there. Overall, this place has been really fun and I'm very happy we've made this move. Life down here is a lot different than our life in Minnesota though, here are some examples.

Slow Pace: Granted government-run anything isn't quick but the time it took to get my driver's license was ridiculous. Especially since I spent a 1/2 hour watching some supervisor stand around in different positions and drink his coffee. Additionally they drive below the speed limit here. Earlier I mentioned that they drive the speed limit due to cops being very active. But I toe the line and I pass about 75% of those driving. I just don't get it.

Because 25 mph is just too fast

Horses, ect: On the way to work for Andy he can pass horses and cows grazing in the fields. I can guarantee you that didn't happen on the crosstown. When I was doing my job search today I saw someone riding their horse up to the stables on the "block" before you get to our townhouse development. When we drove to Chattanooga the other weekend we saw adorable cows with white tube tops on. I enjoy seeing the livestock.

Weather: When we left Minnesota, spring was starting. Spring is my least favorite season in Minnesota because it's so wet and mucky. I like to go outside and spend time hiking around but sometimes it's difficult to wade through the mud and stay on a path. Spring in Tennessee is like it should be. Stuff grows when it's "officially" spring time. Spring break comes at a logical time of year. Heck, as I write this I'm sitting on my front step wearing a tank top, shorts, and sunscreen with no shoes/socks. It's refreshing.

Dirt: Some of the soil here is red, which really throw me for a loop sometimes. We live kind of by a little cemetery (near where the neighbor horses are kept) and the fresh graves have piles of red dirt. It's just weird.

Music: Granted Minneapolis has it's own solid music scene, it's nothing compared to Music City! And I love that. Andy and I saw a bluegrass band play at the Station Inn last weekend. It seems that on any given day in any old bar there will be some form of a band playing there. And I like that. Even if it is country. Speaking of country, I haven't heard a lot of it since being down here. In our first couple weeks, Andy and I resigned ourselves to listening to country in the car because we didn't know where the good stations were. We've found a lot of good music stations since that I really enjoy. Plus, there are two public radio stations next to each other on the dial. That's just the checkers.

Off the Wagon, allegedly the tallest Bluegrass band in the world.

Out-of-doors: I would classify Minnesota as an outdoors-y state. I spent most of my life hanging around outside, reading, hiking, camping, canoeing, taking the dog out. There's a lot to do outside in Minnesota and I would say the Boundary Waters is one of my favorite places to be. However, generally you have to go aways from the cities to get to any fun type of country. And let's face it, Minnesota is pretty flat. Not just outside of Nashville! A couple weekends ago Andy and I went on a hike to Shake Rag Hollow and had a marvelous time traversing the hilly terrain. The road to get to the trail head stopped at cliff with no guardrails, just the hope that you'll be too much in awe to keep driving. There's going to be a lot of camping and hiking down here.

Vistas!

History: We're surrounded by history here. Everywhere we go there's a sign on the road for this battle or that. It's fun to be a part of an area where so much happened to shape our country. Even on Andy's way to work he drives by a Civil-War Era cannon, who can beat that?!

Crops: Much of out state Minnesota is devoted to the cultivation of corn and soybeans. Which makes for a boring road trip. Here, there's cotton! I've never seen (at least that I've remembered) a cotton field until now. And I'm more excited to see what it looks like in full and glorious bloom.

I was given a history of the Cotton Gin at this point.

I look forward to exploring more of what Tennessee has to offer. It's good to be wrong sometimes about a place and just taking a chance.

Not in Minnesota Anymore

2010-03-26T07:19:00.003-06:00

Many of you might not know this, but my blogger link is amandainminnesota.blogspot.com. My previous blog when I was in Ireland was amandainireland2.blogspot.com (there was already an amandainireland, so I was the second). So my blog name is based on where I am currently located. So it would make sense for me to have a new blog now, amandaintennessee.blogspot.com, but I don't want to. That's too many blogs and for the sake of simplicity I am keeping what I have. I did update the format of my blog and now I don't lie and say that I live in Minnesota. So my theme is going to be exploration of Tennessee and all the (exciting) things that I may do.

Also, if you haven't actually visited my blog site and just view the stream on Facebook, I encourage you to check it out. I used a new template in blogger and I would like to know what you think. Do you like the new look and layout?

More explorations to come later when my camera battery is charged!

Living in TN - Our Home!

2010-03-19T13:35:00.008-06:00

Since it may be awhile before many of you will come and visit Andy and I, I'll take you on a photo tour of our new place. Some points to note, this place is huge to me. I think it may be the biggest space I've had to live in since moving out of my parent's house. The spaciousness of this place astounds me from time to time. Plus, sometimes I get annoyed that things are so far from where I'm currently at. Which is good to keep me from being too lazy. I apologize for all the comparisons to our old house, but I keep making them in my mind.

First things first, when you come through the door. You'll be introduced to our airy and open living room.

Welcome to Hitherwood Hollow! (Andy's name creation)

You can see the window opening to the kitchen.

This is the view from the dining room.

As you can see the couch, rocking chair, LoveSac, bookshelf, and secretary desk all fit in the room, with space to spare!

This is our dining room.

You can see our bikes and the table/swing out back on our patio.

The kitchen opens up to the right.

There's enough room in here to have the table open all the way, all the time!

Best of all, a giant kitchen!

Andy and I love to cook, but when we were both in our old kitchen it's surprising we managed to get and stay married!

I once cooled cookies outside because there was no more space in our kitchen/dining room for them.

The kitchen is so big it takes 2 pictures to show the whole thing.

See that butcher's block in the middle of everything?

I thought that would be really annoying to be there, but it's been a great addition.

If I need to bring a glass (from the right) to the fridge to get some water, I can place my glass on the butchers block to rest half way.

I'm not used to things being more than two steps away from each other.

Before we leave the first floor, we must take a bathroom break!

This is our smallest bathroom, which if it had a tub, would be about the size of our old bathroom.

See me squished in the corner back there?

That's about how much space I had to brush my teeth with Andy at night.

This is our guest bedroom/office.

This is my job search central, I enjoy looking out the window while applying for jobs.

Our guest bedroom has it's own bathroom!

Finally... the master bedroom!

There's so much room around the bed to walk, it's great.

No more banging my shins on th bed frame.

The attached master bathroom.

This room has a separate tub and a good-sized shower, in addition to all that counter space.

Last but not least, a walk-in closet!

Andy and I can keep our clothes in the same closet, much less the same room.

This is the closet that I laid down in because I could.

Imagine that I slept in a room not much bigger than this just a few years ago.

Overall, this is a great place to live. I spend a lot of time here since it's job search central. I can be upstairs or downstairs. On either level I can go to the bathroom. I may get tired walking all around the house, but it's a matter of getting used to it. Going up and down the stairs is good exercise and I'm excited that I have stairs to climb.

Living in TN - Week 1

2010-03-13T08:25:00.004-06:00

It's been a week since we've lived in Tennessee and the transition is going smoothly. I'm working on unpacking the boxes, which has proven sort of difficult. In our house in Minneapolis we had a basement where we threw a bunch of stuff and it was out of the way. Now we have a small storage space and that's it. So I have to be a bit more organized. Once I get most of the boxes unpacked and the pictures on the walls, I'll post a tour blog.

So far I haven't experience any culture shock. I've been cooped up in the house most of the time applying for jobs, so I haven't had a lot of interaction with many Tennesseans. Despite this minimal interaction I have notice some marked differences between here and Minnesota.

In Smyrna, everyone drives the speed limit or slower. Are you on a long, straight country road? Better go 30 mph! They are very law abiding here and it throws me off when I drive. Andy's coworkers told him to watch out for the police in Smyrna though, they're tough on the speed limit. That explains it.
They're very generous with their road labeling here, some roads that are labeled are a stretch for even being considered a "road". Andy and I were on an exploratory drive last Sunday and we took a wrong turn. According to the map, to get back on track Andy told me to turn right on Jordan Road, which looked like someone's gravel driveway and was actually a one lane road through a farm. But we managed to get where we needed to be.
While the Tennesseans will label a dirt track as a road, when it comes to actual roads and highways they get a little label happy. For example, depending on who you talk to, where you are, and what sign you're looking at the main road near our house is called Murfreesboro Road, Lowry St, 70S, 1 or 41. When leaving Franklin, TN last night we took a road called alternately Columbia Ave, Columbia Pike, 31 or 6. We crossed over a connection to Mack Hatcher, Memorial Parkway, TRK 96, 397, TRK 431 or TRK 31. When I tried to get to a recycling center I got mixed up because I went on Almaville Road from Nissan Dr (or 102) not realizing that if I just continued West on Nissan Dr/102 that it turned into another Almaville Road and I would have been just fine.
Everyone is really friendly here. Well, most everyone. One person Andy met wasn't nice. But so far everyone else has been great. The woman who is the caretaker of the townhouses we live in said thank you to me after she let me in my house when I locked myself out.

After one week I'm happy with our move down south. We've eaten outside a few times because it's so nice. The other night we sat on our stoop and read. There's a lot of places to explore and just about every day we've gone out for a walk at a new place. It's really quite exciting. Today Andy and I are heading up north to Nashville and check out what Music City has to offer. I'll keep you posted!

Living in TN - Move in!

2010-03-09T15:39:00.000-06:00

Andy and I officially left Minnesota on Thursday, March 4, around 8:30am or so. As my mom mentioned, this is the second time I've moved out of Minnesota. I thought it'd be a bit sadder to leave the state I've spent so much time in, but I think the stress of packing and loading was so much that it felt good to leave all that behind. I might be sadder later, but I'm not sure. I think this move was a good decision and at that time, I was excited about the new future that lay before me in Tennessee.

We spent our last night in Minnesota on an air mattress in the living room, so when we got to my parent's house in Indiana sleeping on Tony's bed was heavenly. I've never slept in that bedroom before. Friday morning my dad roused us and we were up and at 'em early. Mom and I took to my car and Dad followed Andy in his truck loaded with more stuff.

Mom and I arrived in Smyrna ahead of Andy and Dad. Our first task was to make sure the water got turned on (which, thanks to a helpful person at the townhouse, it was on). After that we headed over to my new home.

We live in luxury now compared to our small house in Minneapolis. It seems as though each place gets better and better. I graduated from living in a closet, to having my own big room, to having my own house to now, an even bigger house! We have a gigantic kitchen, which is excellent for Andy and I to start cooking. I actually got annoyed at first because when I pulled a bowl out of the cupboard, the cereal wasn't just right at my fingertips. I had to walk across the kitchen to get my cereal. That's just ridiculous.

We have 2 bedrooms and both have walk-in closets. The guest bedroom closet even has it's own window! I laid down in my closet, just because I could, and there was extra room. Andy and I both have our clothes (dressers included!) in one closet.

Then there's the weather. It's fabulous here! When we moved, I couldn't get a flower pot out of the ground because it was frozen. Here, I planted a strawberry bush yesterday! I've put our winter coats away and last night on a walk, Andy actually wore shorts. It got up to 70 degrees! This afternoon, it rained! Rain is what happens when snow is unthawed. I know it's probably going to be super hot and humid this summer and I'll be eating my words, but for now, I love being outside and having the windows open.

I'll update more later!

Under the Tennessee Sun

2010-03-01T19:37:00.003-06:00

Andy and I are moving to Tennessee on Thursday. We will lay over at my parent's house that night and roll into our new lives on Friday. We'll be living in a 2 story townhouse in Smyrna, TN; which is just south of Nashville.

I'm excited for a few things. The house that we're renting has more square footage of living space than our current house. It has 3 bathrooms! Right now we have 1 tiny bathroom. The guest bedroom has it's own bathroom, as does the master bedroom. Both bedrooms have walk in closets! Right now, Andy and I each have 1/2 a closet in separate rooms. The kitchen is huge and has tons of cabinet space. And that's just stuff I'm excited for about the house.

The area of Tennessee that we're moving to looks really pretty, and it will be near mountains. There's lots of places near by for camping, hiking and even canoeing. The weather will be miles nicer there than in Minnesota. When we get there, the LOW won't even be below freezing. I'm going to throw open the windows and breathe fresh air.

Since we'll have a townhouse, we can't do much gardening. So we'll take up what space we can on our little back patio for container gardening. Maybe we'll have a tomato plant and some basil. We can go to the Nashville Farmer's Market this Saturday when we get settled. I don't have a Tennessee job yet, but that's my focus once we get in and get settled. My temporary job is to unpack, cook dinner and find a job.

About a year or so ago Andy and I were talking about our plans for the future. We wanted to move within 2 years from that point and start seriously searching the January after we got married. Nashville isn't Portland, but it has a lot of what we're looking for. I'm excited that we're accomplishing such a big goal. We can get settled into life down south and maybe buy some land to have a big garden and some chickens.

I will update more once we get down there and start feeling more comfortable. Here's to new and exciting experiences!

Moving can't be that hard, or no one would do it.

The Life and Times of My Feet: An intro

2010-01-28T22:10:00.007-06:00

Ever since my mom bought me my first digital camera, pictures of my feet have been ubiquitous. I'm not entirely sure why I choose take pictures of my feet, they just happen. It might be like my way of saying "I was here." And my feet have been many places! They've been to many interesting places and it's kind of interesting to see all the things my feet (and me) have done.

My feet getting ready for my first 5K.

My feet in Tony's hammock tent in the Boundary Waters.

My feet following a path at Dublin Castle in Ireland.

Andy and my feet on a boat in Lake Superior.

My feet on their way to work at the U of M after a Spring Break snowfall.

My feet on tree roots on 5th Avenue in New York City.

My feet made their way to the top of a playground in Glasgow, Scotland.

My feet snowshoeing while orienteering in Theodore Wirth Park.

My feet on the sand at Dublin Bay.

My feet on a frozen and snowy Lake Nokomis.

My feet and the found plastic cow "Clinton" at the James J. Hill house.

Sometimes other people took pictures of my feet. This is Kim, me, Andy and Jon at the Scavenger Hunt.

My feet on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco.

My feet hanging while I sat on the soon to be wrecked ATV.

Andy got into the foot action on our first date over the Mississippi River.

My feet on the square in Rockville, IN.

Sometimes my feet get dirty sometimes, this is at a kegger to raise funds for the Student Associate for Non-profit Enterprise.

Sometimes my feet pictures are not stylish. This is at a party while wearing leg warmers and long johns. Tequila and beer make anything sound like a good idea.

The Life and Times without Cheese

2010-01-20T21:35:00.003-06:00

I've never had a test that said I was lactose intolerant. But my brother might be. And one of my most popular blog entries includes the very searchable phrase "horrid farts." I know, this isn't what you want to read about while you snack in front of the TV. So I'm warning you now, it doesn't get better.

In that blog post in September 2007, I decided to lay off the milk products for awhile. Well, I can guarantee you that didn't last long. Andy supported me while I purchased something strange like almond cheese, which was a disaster in making cheesy chips. The almond "cheese" solidified so hard immediately after coming out of the microwave that we had to bang the chips on the plate to get them apart. Cheese substitutes just don't cut it. Much to the detriment of my bowels.

I've since realized that I'm addicted to cheese. I LOVE cheese, cream, butter, yogurt, and sour cream. Somehow, I have managed to put soy milk instead of regular milk in my cereal and my mornings are much more manageable. But I haven't gotten to the point where I don't eat cheese. It's too hard. Everything delicious has cheese on it. Here is a list of delicious things that are best with cheese/dairy: sandwiches, pasta, tacos, cheesy-chips, yogurt with frozen fruit, salads, toast (including garlic cheesy toast), pizza, eggs (and egg sandwiches), corn on the cob dripping with butter, lefse, and ice cream.

Recently though I've been getting terrible stomachaches and they're distracting. I can't concentrate at work and I hold my breath while walking around. And that's no way to live. So with Andy's prodding, I've decided to go cheese free and keep a food journal with my symptoms. Hopefully in 2 weeks I'll be able to not eat dairy and feel like a million bucks. I vowed last night not to have dairy and so far today I've eaten buttered popcorn and had four cheese sauce on my pasta for dinner (though no cheese on top!). We'll see how this goes.

To get my encouragement up, I will make a list of delicious things that don't include cheese/dairy. Help me out if I've missed something: fried rice, noodles (like for holidays), cranberry sauce, sliced pears, olives, applesauce, salads are OK without cheese, beer, whiskey, chicken, bacon, tomatoes (are still delicious without mozzarella), carrots, green beans (French cut!), tea, tofutti cuties are good, and actually tofu ice"cream" in general is good.

Here goes!

2000 - 2009 A Life and Times of Amanda Review

2009-12-31T19:05:00.007-06:00

It may seem silly and cliche, but I love reading articles about the year in review and the decade in review. This seems like the appropriate location to review what my past decade has been like. I'm going to use my brother's set up, because it's a great one. This past decade has seen the biggest changes in my life and I don't think it could have ended up better. The decade encompassed my high school and college years. While they may not be the best years of my life, they certainly are some of the most important. I've learned a lot throughout the past decade and I'm looking forward to learning more in the decades to come!

*Some of these years may not necessarily be accurate, and that's because I have a bad memory.

2000

Finished middle school and started high school at Mounds View High School.

My mom borrowed 3 books from a coworker about a boy named Harry Potter. I started to wish my school was magical.

Said no to drugs and alcohol.

Made the competition dance line at Metro Dance and started getting serious about dancing.

Began my short career as a Cheerleader for the MVHS girls hockey team. They were the best group of people I cheered for (sorry Tony's football friends).

Went to the Homecoming dance with a boy who was 30 lbs lighter than me and 3 inches shorter than me. Felt like a giant. First experience hearing someone say "I love you" and being really freaked out by it.

2001

Without plans for our spring break, my parents send Tony and I on a mission trip to an orphanage in Reynosa, Mexico with a family friend. One of the best last minute decisions that has had a lasting impact on my life.

Became a football and soccer cheerleader for a school I increasingly disliked. Told football players don't like Twinkies.

Started getting into music and learning to love a variety of sounds.

2002

Spent a month living with a family in Cuernavaca, Mexico learning Spanish. Had a great time living relatively independently in a foreign country.

Able to take Spanish 5 at MVHS and unlearn everything learned in Mexico.

Joined the junior varsity track team at MVHS.

Started doing competition tap, ballet and jazz after many years out of practice.

Went to my first concert alone, saw Fuel, Sevendust at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium. Saved up $27 to buy a concert t-shirt from selling custom mix CDs at school.

2003

Found out that I could spend my last year of high school, not going to high school and attending college for free.

Got in to the PSEO program at the University of Minnesota, one of the best things that I've ever done. I learned to be independent, take risks, and explored a vast new place.

Continued to do tap, ballet, jazz and dance line at Metro Dance.

Got my first job at Proex, taking portraits of people and developing pictures.

Opened my first bank account!

2004

Declared a Spanish minor while still in high school.

Graduated from high school. Vowed to never step foot inside MVHS again. A promise I have since kept.

Accepted into the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

Quit my job at Proex and started working at East Side Beverage, a challenging but rewarding job.

Moved into Middlebrook Hall on the West Bank of the Mississippi. A great place where I met some wonderful people and made new friends.

2005

Spring semester was the worst for grades as I didn't listen to the recommendation and took 2 difficult classes that I didn't like at the same time. Slacked off an incredible amount for me.

Learned that I can't always coast through classes and spent much of April and May catching up.

Got a lot of music from a fellow music lover and expanded my tastes in music. Though I still don't do rap.

Started a job at the Gopher Express and Post Office in the student union. Discovered a life-long love for Amy's Pizza Pockets. I am extremely knowledgeable about postal requirements. Mailed my first human body parts.

Joined the Student Association for Non-profit Enterprise (SANE). Voted president of the student group to start that fall.

Became a U-Crew in Middlebrook hall starting in fall semester. Got a single and a mandate to help the freshman residents on 6th floor adjust and enjoy their college experience.

Started drinking.

Realized that I didn't want to be an Entrepreneur and changed my major to Human Resources and Industrial Relations. Hoped that with that major I'd be able to help people.

Got a bicycle for my birthday only to have it stolen 2 weeks into the school year.

2006

Applied for study abroad and was accepted to go to the Quinn School of Business at the University College Dublin.

Declared a Psychology minor to fill in the gaps until I graduated.

Moved my parents to Covington, Indiana and helped sell the home I grew up in, in Arden Hills, Minnesota. My job for that summer was to pack up the house, take Chip out of the house when people came to see it, refill the ponds, and keep the house clean.

Worked in Danville, IL for 1 month as an audit assistant. Learned I don't like numbers job and that I must always stay busy.

Traveled to Ireland where I didn't realize until the plane touched down that I didn't know a single person in the country.

Had a great time in Ireland; drinking whiskey, making great friends, studied quite a bit, traveling around Europe, and bringing my family over to show them a good time.

I figured out that I do best when I am constantly learning something new.

2007

Moved into a closet in Minnesota.

Struggled a bit to adjust to the change from study abroad.

Over Easter I ran my dad's ATV into a tree. Thought I was about to die and then got afraid of driving and motor vehicles after that.

Met and started dating Andy Harvey. Our first date encompassed riding in Critical Mass and dining at a Thai restaurant in St. Paul. We watched a barge in the Mississippi during sunset.

Completed my Emerging Leadership Program on principle and couldn't continue with the honors program if I graduated early.

Pete came for a visit over the summer and I tried to show him a good time around Minneapolis. It ended up that he was able to create a good time for himself here as well!

First time I questioned a grade I received from a teacher and went into mediation. Was able to move my grade up and felt more confident.

House got broken into the day after I moved in. I lost my laptop, camera, and sense of safety.

Graduated from the University of Minnesota in 3 1/2 years. Had to do my graduation ceremony in the spring, despite finishing in the winter. Happy to be done with school!

Got my first car that was my own! A wonderful 2008 Honda Fit. It fits a lot.

2008

Got my first job as a Human Resources Assistant at Mall of America. Learned to love MOA and learned a lot about people.

Called the city on my landlord a few times for dumping. Dealt with Thursday night garage parties 2 houses down, roomies that didn't always do their dishes, and the wonderment of a house that could be so cold in the winter could be so hot in the summer.

Got my first promotion 5 months after being hired, now an HR Representative, I started doing interviews.

Andy and I moved in together in a small house in South Minneapolis.

Andy proposed on the train ride home from a visit to Indiana. Started planning a wedding. Bought a wedding dress a couple weeks later.

Moved work offices from upstairs in Nickelodeon Universe to the basement of MOA in December. Stopped seeing daylight for awhile. Enjoyed a bigger "office" and being around the rest of MOA employees.

2009

Learned that planning a wedding takes a lot of time and effort.

Made a plan with Andy that in 2010 we would start looking for jobs out of state in earnest and move out of Minnesota within 2 years.

Started gardening and grew our own tomatoes, carrots, beans, radishes, lettuce, squash, and peppers. Ate more vegetables and fruits than ever before.

Learned how to can and preserve summer food.

Received a canoe for a wedding present from my parents and paddled around the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers and Lake Nokomis.

Took my first trip to the BWCA with Andy and he didn't end up as bear bait. He passed the family test with flying colors.

Got married on October 10, 2009. Had a great time seeing everyone and I realized that the best thing about weddings was seeing all of my family at once.

Honeymooned in Portland, OR and had a wonderful time. Came home knowing that's where we'd like to live in the future.

2010

I don't usually make resolutions, but this year there are some things that I would like to accomplish.

The first is to keep better track of my finances. I don't usually pay much attention to them, but I've realized that's a bad idea.
Get a dog! For Christmas Andy and I saved some gift money for each other to put to adopting a greyhound.
Move away from Minnesota. After living here our whole lives, Andy and I think it's time to try someplace new. Preferable that will be Portland, OR, but we're open to other places.

But it rains in Portland

2009-12-12T09:16:00.004-06:00

I've got a few things on my mind today. Let's start with the cold.

When we've talked to people about wanting to move out west to Portland, Oregon. A common reply is "but it rains in Portland." This is usually coming from Minnesotans, who can't imagine wanting to live somewhere else. I'm a true blue Minnesotan myself, I was born and raised here, I spent my childhood building snow forts, skiing and sledding. But I could die right now if I went outside in my pajamas for any length of time. I love going outside, but not when the outside could kill me! Death from exposure doesn't really happen all that often in Portland. Doesn't that sound nice? Portland is pretty mild all year round. And some people say they'd miss having all 4 seasons. I would miss winter more if it wasn't trying to kill me. The best thing about Portland is that it's surrounded by mountains and you can choose when you want to visit winter. Plus you don't have to shovel all the time.

Suddenly this week, Minnesota decided it was going to be winter. After trying to drive to work, shoveling the drive way and walking to the train when its -20 degrees, I've decided that winter is a season for kids. Kids get to bundle up and make snowmen, wish for snow days, build forts, fall over in the piles of snow made by plows. For adults, snow means snarled traffic, spin outs, and shoveling. Lots and lots of shoveling. But at least its pretty now.

My next topic: Southwest Airlines. When we took our honeymoon to Portland, OR we took Southwest to get out there. Since I checked in pretty late, we were slotted to get on the plane last. If you know anything about Southwest, you know they don't have assigned seats. Boarding the plane last would ensure that we would probably not sit near each other in the 4 hours to Portland. Andy asked the attendant at the desk to see if we could sit together for our honeymoon and surprisingly they agreed! We got 2 seats next to each other in the 2nd row and the flight attendant offered us free drinks and gave us extra drink tickets for our flight home! It was amazing and definitely unexpected. It was a great start to our honeymoon.

Since they were so nice at Southwest, Andy wrote in to tell them the story and recognize the flight attendant for her service. A couple weeks later we got a package in the mail from Southwest with a letter. They thanked us for being customers and sent a wedding gift!! I couldn't believe it. They sent us a candy dish with a little heart in the center. So essentially, we asked for something from an airline and they provided that and kept on giving. That is something that we don't experience with all airlines.

That's all I have for today! It's cold outside and I'm glad to be warm!

I'm Married! Now I have to change my name.

2009-11-15T14:13:00.006-06:00

One important thing for me to do after I got married was to change my name. I'm taking on Andy's name because we were united in marriage and I'd like to show that. To change my name I have to show our marriage certificate around to different places. The Social Security card office, DMV, bank, work, stuff like that. After a disastrous attempt to go to the Social Security office, I decided to get my name changed on my driver's license and bank accounts before I mail my information to Social Security. So we spent our Saturday afternoon getting my name changed.

I believed the name changing stuff should go pretty easy, just show them your marriage certificate, fill out a form and your A-OK. Problem with us is that our marriage certificate doesn't look quite official. This is probably the biggest issue we've experienced due to getting married in a rural, Indiana county. Our marriage certificate is a hand-written, fill in the blanks, 1/2 sheet of paper. The seal that was embossed on to the paper is barely visible. But, it's our certificate and we'll do with what we have.

Unfortunately the fellow at the DMV didn't think so positively about our certificate. He at first thought we handed him our commemorative, fancy-looking certificate and didn't want to take it. I assured him that it was the real certificate and pointed out the embossed seal. He checked with his supervisor who looked over the certificate, pointed out the seal again and noted that our certificate didn't have a "date filed" line. Despite this grievous miscarriage of filing a marriage certificate, the supervisor told the DMV person to accept it, that it's just fine.

After this, our DMV friend proceeded to point out all the areas where he found fault with our marriage certificate. "They did a really bad job," he said, "you should order another one, and make sure it has the date filed on there. Wow, they just did a really bad job, it's just so cookie-cutter. The didn't even put 3-4 things on here that we look for. I mean, they did a bad job on this." After which he tossed the certificate back to me and I had to pretend to be happy when he took my picture for my new driver's license. Once we're back at the booth and finishing up paperwork, the DMV worker continues. "You know who has really nice marriage certificate? Dakota County. They do a good job."

This is what I wanted to reply, "You know what the problem with that is? I didn't get married in Dakota County. I wanted to get married in a small town in Indiana which doesn't have the same pompous expectations in official documents as you do."

I, of course, didn't say that. Mostly because I'd like to think I'm too nice, but probably more because I don't have the guts. I got my revenge when he asked for payment, I gave him my credit card. He said that the county prefers if you pay with cash or check, and I didn't have either. If I did, I wouldn't have given it to him anyway! So there!

Anyway, I think I got the short stick when it comes to DMV folks to deal with. But I'm not sad about my marriage certificate anymore. I'm proud that I got married in a unique place that still hand-writes out official documents. To get the marriage application I didn't have to take a number and wait 15 minutes. Plus, the people at the Fountain County court house were much more pleasant people than those at the Hennepin County DMV.

Harvesting Pumpkins

2009-11-01T20:53:00.004-06:00

This past weekend was the last weekend the Midtown Farmer's Market would be open, so Andy and I thought we'd swing by and see what we could see. We rode our bikes over since it was a wonderful day. Once there we saw lots of delightful foods available, so we made some purchases and we rode home with 2 pumpkins, a bunch of potatoes, pork chops, carrots and lettuce.

This is what Andy did with his pumpkin. He got lots of compliments from trick or treaters.

I used a bigger knife on my pumpkin.

Earlier this fall I decided I wanted to make something with pumpkin from a real pumpkin, not out of can. So today was the day and I made a pumpkin pie! It was an interesting experience, especially since our cheap blender sucks and a food processor would have worked a million times better for pureeing the pumpkin stuff.

But first I had cut open the pumpkin, which was a task. The directions in the old version of The Joy of Cooking instruct you to "hack" the pumpkin into 4 inch pieces. Hack I did. Next I roasted the hacked up pieces for a good while. Then I scraped off the soft flesh and then "processed" it so it wouldn't be stringy. This is me scraping my roasted pumpkin pieces.

After the frustrating experience with the blender, everything else worked out pretty well. The pumpkin pie turned out great! Though I wouldn't recommend listening to how The Joy of Cooking tells you to check how it's done, sticking a knife in the center would work much better.

This is what I came up with today after an afternoon spent hacking, scraping, whisking and baking. On the bottom is the pumpkin pie, above that is extra puree for pumpkin muffins and on top pumpkin seeds to be roasted later.

But you can't eat pumpkin pie without whipped cream! We didn't have any cool whip on hand, but I had leftover heavy whipping cream from the pie, so I whipped up some whip cream. It's fast, easy and delicious!

Here's the finished product (with a bite missing)!

Overall, my making a pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin experience was a lot of fun and I got to try out some new things. I learned more about baking and took the first tentative step to cooking with winter squash. Also, I learned that it's helpful to have the right tools in the kitchen. Sometimes improvising with what you have works well, like using coffee filters to strain the pumpkin puree instead of cheesecloth. But other times, a blender just doesn't do the trick.

Having fun at Seaside, OR!

2009-10-17T22:44:00.001-06:00

It was a windy day on the coast and we had as much fun as we could.

Army of Applesauce

2009-10-03T06:01:00.004-06:00

Mott's can eat it! I've been making my own applesauce recently and here are the results of my latest effort. I feel that this beats out any pre-packaged applesauce any day. It's delicious, fresh, natural and comes in cute, reusable, single serving containers.

Also, I'm getting married in 1 week! I'm getting kind of nervous for it, there's a lot to make sure I do. It's a lot of attention. Andy and I are starting to pack for the trip to Indiana and our trip after to Portland, Oregon. It's going to be a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone who is going!

Today is my first big day of October, I will be running in a 5k as part of the Twin Cities Marathon. I couldn't do a marathon, the 5k seems hard enough. Andy and I have been training for the past 3 weeks though, so I'm in lots better shape. When I was putting lotion on last night, I found a muscle that I didn't have before! That's quite exciting. Here's hoping it doesn't rain too hard this morning!

Adventures in Canning

2009-09-07T07:11:00.006-06:00

Hello!

Andy and I have spent a lot of time this summer picking food out of our garden and perusing the aisles of various farmers markets. Which means that we get a lot of fresh produce, very often. We have more peppers and tomatoes than we know what to do with. So what do we do with them? We can them!

So far we have made dill pickels, canned tomatoes and salsa! We've eaten some of the extra salsa and it was delicious! It's really exciting to have a supply of food if armageddon comes. Canning is exciting and easy once you get the basic steps down. Laura was nice enough to get us a wonderful canning book that explains the steps in basic language.

Here is a photo montage of our pickling and canning tomatoes efforts.

Consulting the canning literature while the pickling spices steep.

That's a lot of cucumbers! Turns out, it was too much cucumbers.

Andy looking pretty with our fresh dill flowers.

Canning tomatoes all shiny and clean! Ready to be skinned and chopped!

Andy filling jars and adjusting headspace.

Out and About

2009-08-01T20:05:00.005-06:00

Andy and I have recently joined a club, the Twin Cities Bicycling Club. It's a lot of fun. So far we've only gone on 3 rides, but it's been a great time. The first ride was a bit slow, but the second ride we went on last weekend was perfect! We went on the same ride again today and I learned a good lesson about the speed at which I ride. The thing about this ride, is that the group is large and it tends to split up into a few groups going at different speeds. Last week we stayed in the back bunch at went between 14 - 16 mph. This week, Andy wanted to keep up with the first group going the fastest. I can't ride as fast as Andy, but I still tried. I was sort of able to keep up with the group as they did their warm up of 20 mph, after that I was toast.

After awhile Andy was dropped from the fast group and we maintained with the middle group. I was pretty tired though. Andy determined that I do pretty good until 17 mph, then I fall back. It'd be neat if I could keep up with the fast people at some point. Right now, I know what pace I can ride at and I will try and keep up to that. Usually when I ride I'm pretty poky, so I know I can pick up the tempo if I want.

Also today Andy and I visited the best bike shop in the Twin Cities, Freewheel Bike. I've thought Freewheel was a great shop and the place I felt most comfortable, but today really solidified that feeling. A couple years ago Pete (from Ireland) got me a gift card from Freewheel, which was really store credit. I didn't use all of it up, but kept my receipt which showed the $9.52 I had left over. Today I went to Freewheel to make some purchases and I remembered I had that receipt, but I wasn't sure if it'd still be valid. So after we shop around a bit and make our picks someone from Freewheel approaches us to check out and I show her my faded receipt from 2007. She recognized it was her handwriting that marked how much I had left and honored my $9.52! It was great, I couldn't believe either!

Freewheel is great for many reasons. They have awesome customer service, they're friendly. They know and love bikes without being pretentious about it. I'm the type of person that doesn't have a type of person, so I feel weird when I don't fit in somewhere, like many bike shops in the Twin Cities. But at Freewheel, I don't feel uncomfortable, I feel welcomed. Not to say other bike shops are bad, but that Freewheel is awesome.

Anyway, off of the bike topic. The garden is doing great. We've harvested all of our bush beans and our crazy pole beans have finally flowered. I made a delicious dinner last night with tomatoes, summer squash, carrots and thyme from our garden. It felt good to eat all that and know we grew it ourselves. Plus it was tasty.

BWCA Videos

2009-07-24T21:21:00.004-06:00

I recently discovered that I can do time lapse videos on my camera, and I think that's pretty neat. So on our recent trip to the Boundary Waters I made use of this new discovery. Here are the results.

In this one you can really see the wind go across the lake. Tony and Dad are paddling.

Tony is taking his time getting into the lake.

I'm on a boat!

2009-07-05T15:04:00.006-06:00

As I have mentioned before, Andy and I got a canoe from my parents for a wedding gift. Andy and I have taken the canoe out for many trips. We've gone out on Lake Nokomis, Andy likes to fish. We paddle around slow and watch the fish jump out of the water but not bite the line. We've gone out on the Minnesota river a few times. We even paddled around Pike Island where the Mississippi and Minnesota meet. That was a rough day.

Today we went out again on the Minnesota at Fort Snelling State Park. This time we launched from the canoe launch, which has seen better days. Here are some pictures from our trips!

Andy was so excited that we got a canoe!

On the maiden voyage of the HMS Tanashoe (temporary name).

The canoe sitting pretty on a sandbar in the Minnesota River.

This is my graduation picture.

Andy conquers all.

Andy caught a fish today! We're guessing it's a White Bass.

Andy is responsible for steering the boat.

We're really close to the airport here, so airplanes on their descent went right over us.

Happy Birthday to Me

2009-07-04T10:02:00.005-06:00

It's not my birthday for a few more weeks, but it's never too early to show off the awesome early gifts I got. From my parents, I got new bike shoes. From Andy, I got new clip less pedals so that I could use my new shoes. Here's me in Oakdale yesterday after Andy and I stopped for lunch. That tube is from my Camelbak, it works really well rigged up like that. I'm pointing at my awesome shoes.

These are my new pedals!

The ride was a tough one, I haven't gone on a long ride in a while. We traveled up the Gateway trail to a pizza place in Oakdale. Then back down the Gateway Trail, along Lake Phalen then Bruce Vento trail back to Summit to Minneapolis. It wasn't a tough route, I was just out of shape. The trail through Swede Hollow was really pretty and full of cool old buildings. I'll be enjoying more rides this summer. Possibly even some bamping (bike camping).

I'll post canoe pictures later!

A Day Off!

2009-07-03T09:21:00.004-06:00

Today I got the day off for 4th of July. I'm excited to hang around and not do too much. Andy and I are going for a bike ride. For my birthday my mom got me new clip less bike shoes and Andy got me new pedals for my Trek (Maddy). It feels great to be able to pedal down and up! I've been practicing my upstroke, it's wonderful. I haven't fallen yet, but I almost did once. I forgot what kind of pedals I had and when I was getting off my bike in the driveway, my feet wouldn't leave the pedals. I got out of them before I fell down though.

After our bike ride we'll probably go for a paddle in the canoe, one more time before the big trip. Andy might haul it out before Tuesday, we need all the practice we can get.

Work is going good, the hiring is slowing down and so I can focus more on training. I'm working on revamping the trainings and making orientation more interesting and effective. It's the sort of thing I really enjoy doing.

Off to go biking!

Goings On

2009-06-02T08:43:00.006-06:00

Recently I've been camping for the first time in the year and I've been to the Indy 500! I have a few pictures from each event, but my internet is crappy and can't upload anything now. Those will have to wait.

Andy and I went camping in St. Croix State Forest. State forests are free to camp in, and if worse comes to worse, you can camp anywhere (not in a designated site). Thankfully for us, it was high tick season, and most people stayed away from camping that weekend, we got our pick of sites! Not after getting lost though. St. Croix State Forest has terrible maps, intersections are not marked and exist and we were tricked into going on a path full of ticks that wasn't on the map.

The state forest is also home to lots of horse trails. We encountered many horse riders along the trails and stood aside to let them pass. It was really fun to see them around. One rider asked us if we lost our horses. Another rider told us that a beautiful, open campsite was not far away, and we got really excited. The rider failed to mention that the beautiful site was across a 20 foot river, running with frigid water. We had no horses to cross the river.

So we set off back the way we came, to look at a deciving map and figure out the next best campsite. Turns out, the next best one was pretty awesome! It wasn't too far from a marked intersection, it was down a little hill, on a curve in the river. It was probably one of the prettiest sites I've camped on. We were able to use our new water pump in the river and got cooking water.

It was a wonderful camping trip, no rain, nice people, a good 2 1/2 hour hike. Except the aforementioned high tick season. I've never gotten so many ticks in my life, in so many inconvenient places. I felt like ticks were crawling over me as I slept, which they were and I thre them out of the tent. It was probably the most insect-filled camping experience I've had. This was a great learning experience on when and where to camp and not to forget the bug spray. We high-tailed it out of that site as early as I thought decent to wake Andy.

Laundry

2009-05-28T19:52:00.003-06:00

Don't you hate when you're doing laundry and you forget to turn the dryer on? It's really disappointing to open up the dryer expecting warm, fluffy, dry clothes and finding cold wet clothes.

That's my thought for the day. I will post pictures from our first camping trip of the year and the Indy 500 soon.

Bicycles

2009-05-20T21:46:00.003-06:00

I'm going to be very open here, because I feel it's necessary sometimes to express yourself. Today in Minneapolis there was a terrible bicycle accident involving a semi-truck. A cyclist was killed while riding in a bike lane when a semi-truck was taking a left-hand turn and crossing over the bike lane. This is a horrible tragedy and no one feels good about this, but it's frustrating for people who do ride bikes. This is a frustrating accident because we see and experience these sort of actions all the time, thankfully, without the consequences of this incident.

It's frustrating to not be seen while riding a bike when a lot to biking is be observant and aware of others. I want that same respect from drivers. It's impossible to get that from drivers though because they are cooped up in a shell and cannot be as aware of their surroundings. Especially in large vehicles, like semi-trucks. I cannot tell how many times I've yelled at cars who've cut me off, and made last-minute swerves to avoid car doors and lane-changes. When I'm at my best of riding, I can be very defensive and I know how to get around without being hit. I'm sure the cyclist who died today did as well. But in this world of large vehicles and complacent drivers, it's exhausting to be on your toes all the time.

For full disclosure, I do not like driving. Ever since I got in to the accident with my Dad's ATV, I've been adverse to motor vehicles. People have told me it's silly to be afraid of driving a car and such, but they have never felt what it's like to have something that large and powerful become completely uncontrollable while you are on top of it. It is hands down the scariest moment of my life. I realized I loved riding bikes before this incident, and after this incident I didn't feel like I really wanted or needed a car. I have a car now and I appreciate it for where it can take me. But I don't go out for joy rides and I still get scared when I'm going around high corners. It's silly, but it's how I feel.

And I feel as though I shouldn't ever be looked down upon for riding bikes or taking the train. Sure it takes me longer to get places, but I exercise more without really trying. I get up and move and I get outside. It seems like people who ride bikes are looked down upon as hooligans and people who break the law. Sure, I don't stop and put my foot down at all stop signs, but 90% of the cars I see don't make a complete stop at a stop sign either. I am more likely to honor the rules of the road if the vehicles around me are doing the same thing. I think drivers and cyclists on both sides of the debate need to get off the soap box and start compromising. Drivers need to be more aware, definitely. And all cyclists and drivers should be taught better how to use the road. There is no consensus or logic in bicycle safety and laws in this state. As the city with the 2nd highest percentage of commuters, Minneapolis has a LONG way to go before it's a safe and logical city for cyclists. And I hope to hell that more innocent cyclist don't have to die before Minneapolis wakes up and makes some logical bike lanes.

Drivers don't know how to ride with bikes along side them and it's high time to begin a discussion with open minds.

Food and Fun!

2009-05-10T20:09:00.010-06:00

Yesterday I made the most delicious lunch that I probably have ever made. Check it out:

It is prosciutto wrapped asparagus with focaccia, olive oil dipping sauce and some Honeyweiss! I've never had prosciutto before and it's delicious! It's like very thin bacon without being fried. It was really peppery and had more flavor than a little strip like that should.

Andy has been doing some cooking as well. He's become our bread master and we rarely buy packaged bread anymore. Here are some of his delicious creations:

Braided bread and pretzels! They were delicious.

We've also been planting stuff and it's been growing. Here is what our parsley seedlings look like:

We also went to the Green Expo last weekend and had a lot of fun! We tried out segways, looked at wind turbines and electric cars. We saw a demonstration for very expensive pans but ate lots of delicious food. It was a fun event. We even saw Don Shelby! Without his pinstripe suit, he looked sort of grumpy. I was awestruck anyway.

I'm a wind turbine, love me!

Andy is a wind turbine too.

An array of home-use wind turbines in front of Sweet Martha's cookies.

Trying out the segway. I didn't fall flat on my face like our former president.

Andy on the segway. He was a pro, but still a little stiff.

More pigs!

2009-05-08T19:35:00.001-06:00

I never thought about seeing pigs at a zoo either, but there are some at the Minnesota Zoo. They're looking to be the new St. Paul Saints mascot! They're really cute.

Poor Little Pig

2009-05-07T20:10:00.001-06:00

I've never felt such sympathy for a pig. But this article is the best. I love the BBC.

Bring Your Own Lunch

2009-05-06T18:52:00.002-06:00

I make my own lunch for work pretty much every day. Anytime I don't make a lunch, there's a good reason; such as I'm getting lunch for free that day. It's work to make a lunch everyday. Especially to make it not the same boring thing all the time that I'm going to get tired of eating, or worse, that Andy will get tired of eating. Sometimes I don't want to make lunches and I'd rather sit around in the morning and read the news. But then I think of the consequences. If I don't make a lunch, then I'm going to have to buy a lunch. Even with my mall discount, a comparatively delicious lunch would cost me between $6-7. To me, that is expensive and money could be better spent in other ways.

One thing I really dislike: microwave meals. I have probably not had a microwave meal for the past 10 years, and that is something I really appreciate. If you try and think what process food has to take to get to the point where it can be frozen and regenerated like that after being shipped thousands of miles, gross. Also, I like the idea of a person making my food, not a machine. I'm not a "locavore" or anything. I just like buying ingredients and making food from scratch. Cooking is a skill that is in short supply and I like to learn how to cook new things.

Granted my best recipe that I created myself is butter noodles with seasoning, I still like to learn. Cooking good food is a challenge with delicious rewards, and I like anything delicious. Andy has been a great help in getting me to be more experimental and try new vegetables and recipes. When I was little I really wanted to be a vegetarian for animal rights, except that I didn't like vegetables. So I'm getting there.

For some reason I just feel a lot better making my own food than going out and eating. Sometimes it's lots easier to just get some food, but it's more rewarding to me to just have my own food that we make. Andy is really good at cooking, so I'm lucky to have him around to make fresh bread and buns. It's nice to take my own lunch to work and tell everyone that Andy made the bun that my sandwich is made on or the salad dressing I'm using is a gluten-free recipe from Andy's mom.

My biggest food problem is planning ahead for each dinner, it's really hard to make a menu a week in advance. Then we have to go out and get a bunch of ingredients and stick to the plan. I like flying by the seat of my pants sometimes. But it gets hard when there's nothing in the cupboards and we're hungry.

I'm open to hearing new recipes from anyone if they'd like to share!

Two Years and Counting!

2009-04-30T20:41:00.001-06:00

Andy and I have been together for 2 years now and I decided to make a photo montage to celebrate! It's really kind of crappy, but I like it. It's my first video I've ever made with pictures, so it's got a lot of odd crops and strange captions. Since it uploaded on YouTube, it's also really blurry. I'll make things better. It's not easy to fit two years worth of pictures into one Carol King song!

Enjoy!

Children Hate Me

2009-04-10T19:10:00.003-06:00

I've never had much luck with kids. They just don't like me, I don't know what it is. Take today for example. I was working up in Nickelodeon Universe for awhile this afternoon. A lady was filling out an application with a child and I thought I could entertain the child for the time. At a loss for what to say to a child, I picked an abundant topic at the Mall of America.

"Do you like Nickelodeon?" I ask, a valid question for a 3 or 4 year old.

"It's too noisy here. I hate this place," she responds, turning away.

Well, so much for conversation. A little while later, my co-worker, Harry, just looked at the kid and she smiled. Some people have all the luck. Like my brother. I don't know what's so special about him that kids like him so much. It must be that since he's so tall, kids think he's a playground.

In general, the feelings I have with kids are mutual. They don't like me, and I don't like them. But every once in awhile, I warm up a bit. Then things like today happen and reaffirm my feelings. I'm glad to live in a child free zone.

I wish I had a dog.

April Snow Showers?

2009-04-08T19:35:00.006-06:00

This is why I hate spring:

What the heck is that crap?! I was done with snow a month ago. I started thinking about a garden. Thanks a lot weather for dumping on my home-grown vegetable dreams. A couple weeks ago I was outside raking leaves in a t-shirt with my pants rolled up. I didn't realized I would need to keep my snow boots out until May.

The above picture was taken at 9:11 am. The following picture was taken at 6:36pm that same day:

Talk about strange! The snow melted so fast it sounded like it was raining. I'm done with kooky weather.

Here are some fun things we've done recently:

It's Maple Syrup time! At least it was, until we went to the Maple Syrup demonstration. Andy and I enjoyed the information, along with 20 children and their parents. And we actually took a decent picture together!

We've also gone on a few bike rides:

My two favorite forms of transportation together!

Lake Nokomis by our house.

Iowa?

2009-04-04T07:42:00.002-06:00

I've never been more proud of Iowa than now and I feel as though I've been a bit too harsh on the state. Maybe it's time to actually visit.

The Iowa Supreme Court rejected a ban on gay marriage. The court said things that sound amazingly logical; such as: “We are firmly convinced the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective,” Justice Mark S. Cady wrote for the seven-member court, adding later, “We have a constitutional duty to ensure equal protection of the law.” (From the New York Times)

I enjoy reading new that is happy whenever possible.

Spring!

2009-03-22T08:18:00.003-06:00

Spring has finally arrived in Minneapolis and it's quite an amazing sight. It came slowly, with days above freezing followed by days below zero. But now it's quite warm, most of the snow piles are fading into the ground, and there's hope in the air that maybe this weather is here to stay.

Spring isn't my favorite season, but here's what I do love. I love the fact that in fall 40 degrees feels like freezing and we all bundle up in coats and scarves. Then in spring, when it is 40 degrees we're outside in short sleeves and feeling hot. I also love seeing people again. I've seen more people out and about in my neighborhood in the past week than I did all winter. When warm weather comes people start emerging from their homes and exploring outside. That house down the street isn't actually a foreclosure, it's just a family of homebodies in the winter.

I enjoy seeing grass again. I can't wait until I can see buds on the trees and the first tiny leaves of the year. We've been out and about on our bikes and we didn't want to die from the cold. Warm weather is truly amazing. It amazing me that I walked home Friday in the rain. That's the form snow takes when it's too warm to freeze. In the winter I forget what it's like to live in the summer. I can picture going to the beach and people wearing swimsuits and wonder why the heck people would want to wear so little outside. Now that spring has started, I can image what heat from the sun feels like, and it's amazing! It'll be swimsuit weather before long!

Andy and I are already planning our first camping trip of the season. We're planning on going bike camping, possibly in May. I look forward to planting things, my lavender has 2 sprouts already! I'm really excited about eating fresh foods, tomatoes, corn, and trying new vegetables. I plan on spending as much time as I can this summer outside, because this time is limited and everyone should take advantage of it while they can.

Watching YouTube

2009-03-12T21:12:00.004-06:00

It's how I've spent quite a bit of time recenlty. Andy and I found this gem this evening. It's rather amusing and set to a really good song from a Minneapolis band, Radio On.

I've also enjoyed watching videos of pandas sneezing. Look it up, you'll not regret it!

An Update!

2009-03-01T09:04:00.003-06:00

I know it's been a long time since I've updated, but I kept putting it off because there kept being more and more to update. So I'll ignore a lot of things that have happened to me since the last update. Maybe I'll post more often that way.

Here are some things that I like:

Blood oranges! They're my new favorite fruit, they're delicious! Slightly tart and still citrusy, it's good stuff. I wasn't a big orange eater until recently, Andy got me into it. I suggest trying a blood orange at some time. The organic ones have more taste than the regular ones.

The New York Times Health news. I'm an addict when it comes to reading the news. Most of the time I skim over the major headlines because I hear enough of it on MPR. Some of these articles are really interesting and fun. I haven't found a recipe I'd try yet, but I'm sure there's one out there.

One thing that I constantly like is the BBC's In Pictures. They have a lot of very good pictures from around the world. When there are crises, then they have pictures that focus on those. I've tried to submit my own pictures a few times with no luck.

CBC's As it Happens. Who knew that Canadian radio could be so interesting? I'm a sucker for their theme song.

In other updates, I'll be flying to Indiana Friday morning for my grandpa's birthday party on Saturday. I look forward to seeing my family! Also, we in Minnesota got snow dumped on us on Thursday. Winter is getting frustrating. It had been quite warm and we were running out of snow, which was really great; until Thursday. I really dislike spring, because it's like a tease. One day it's super nice and you're walking around with a light jacket. The next, you're trudging through 6 inches of snow on your way home from work. I just want summer.

That's all I have for now. Maybe next time I'll post pictures.

This explains a lot

2008-12-15T20:10:00.001-06:00

I love my family.

What Would You do with $700 Billion?

2008-09-28T08:11:00.002-06:00

That's a lot of money. Instead of buying toxic mortgages and golden parachutes; I would buy some things that helps "main street." And by main street, I mean any street that I am on; which is usually never called main street. I would like to hear from all of you ass well. What would you buy with $700 billion?

Amanda's $700 billion purchases:
I would first pay off my student loans; and maybe Andy's too (if he's nice). I would buy a house. Maybe a nice little bungalow with a second story on top. Definitely with with a second story. I might remodel it some. There would surely be a greyhound in that house, maybe a small pack of them. Then I would take Andy and travel around the world. I've always wanted to go to Egypt. I would visit all my family that is far away. When we're tired traveling, I would create a fund to benefit educational initiatives and improve elementary and middle school education in the United States. I would probably also buy a really nice bike and spend a lot more time biking around.

I'm not sure if that puts much of a dent in $700 billion but it's a start. There's probably a lot more other things I would do, but I can begin to fathom right now how much money that is.

The Great Minnesota Get Together!

2008-08-31T12:45:00.007-06:00

It's State Fair season!!

It's a giant cow!! Watch out, it looks mean!

This is that special time of year when city kids encounter farm animals and farm kids encounter city animals. It's a wonderful mixture of quintessential Minnesota and the new forces of change. This year Andy and I went the first Saturday with free tickets from the Mall of America. Here's our story.

We started off at the AM1500 stage listening to the live broadcast of Saturday Morning Sports Talk. You might be wondering why I would listen to a sports program, but never fear, it makes sense. Read on. The second hour of the broadcast was the annual Baby Walk competition. This is where parents bring their small children to the two hosts, tell the hosts the child's name and the hosts determine if the name is "approved" or "not approved." For example, an approved name was "Margaret May." A not approved name would be something like "Jaymie Starshine." There is nothing better than starting your day off hearing defenseless little children being ridiculed. Many parents lined up for the Baby Walk and to determine if their child was going to be made fun of for the rest of it's life or not.

Parents and their children lining up to see if they're terrible parents or not at the Baby Walk

After enjoying the Baby Walk, Andy and I moseyed around in search of food. I found Hot Dish on a Stick and Andy got a burrito. We also got cheese curds, mini doughnuts, and milkshakes from the dairy barn to top it off.

Me eating Hot Dish on a Stick, it was de-lish.

After chowing down on delicious food we visited the animals. I never knew they had bunnies at the State Fair, but I got to pet many soft bunnies. We also communed with the chickens and turkeys. Turkeys are smarter than chickens and were a lot more fun to see. One tried to eat my camera and another tried to eat Andy's hat.

If Buffy were a rabbit, she would look like this.

These are funny looking chickens.

Andy talking to the turkey.

After the poultry we checked out my favorite animals, sheep! They were starting to show some lambs as we were petting the animals. It looked pretty difficult to keep the lambs under control. The handlers didn't have leashes for the lambs and just had to hold their heads. Andy and I didn't visit the Miracle of Birth barn, but in the sheep barn we did see the "miracle of conception." There were some pretty frisky sheeps running in circles.Me and a fuzzy new friend.

These were the frisky sheep. I got nervous knowing what I was about to see, but it was over quick.

After seeing all the adorable animals and watching the cows in the Colosseum we wandered our way toward the exit. On our way we stopped by the DFL booth to see what we could see. It turned out that Al Franken was about to be on his way to speak to the fair crowd. So we waited a bit and then got to see Mr. Franken. I think he would do a good job in the US Senate and represent Minnesota well. We can all appreciate a little humor!

Al Franken at the DFL booth at the state fair.

That concluded our 2008 state fair visit. We didn't see everything, but then again, you can't see everything at the fair. I did something new, petted some sheep, and learned a little more about turkies! I also felt like poo for all the greasy, fattening food I ate, and it was time to go.

History in the Making!

2008-08-28T21:55:00.006-06:00

No this isn't about Barak Obama's nomination. It's about the visit Andy and I made to Historic Fort Snelling! It's just down the road from us now and we rode our bikes for a morning stroll through history. I hadn't been to Fort Snelling since I was a smile child. All I remember was an abundance of rabbit pelts and rock candy.

Andy and the crops at the entrance to the Fort.

An old soldier and I looking official at the front gates.

Little did I know how fun it was! Andy and I got to be "recruits" and learn how to march in the old army. Us and about 10 small children. It felt good to march better than some silly kids having a birthday party. We saw a demonstration of the old muskets firing (after we got out of the line of fire). We saw a guy make a nail, and a doctor show us how messed up old timey health care was.

The blacksmith who made a nail for us. Also, he almost set a small child on fire while he used the bellows.

The best thing to do at Fort Snelling if you were sick, was to not go to the doctor.

Inspecting the muskets before firing them off.

Taking a break to get cleaned up.

Fort Snelling was really fun and interesting. It's amazing to learn how people lived back then and realize how impossible it seems now. Life is a lot easier now, and I can better appreciate the work it took us to get us here. I think it'll be beneficial to learn how all that worked, just in case computers ever go away, we'll be prepared.

The area around the Fort has been converted back to the natural prairie. I thought these flowers were quite pretty.

The soldiers at Fort Snelling had to sleep two to a bed!

Andy checking out an old fashioned rain barrel. Without a filter on the top, these barrels looked pretty manky.

Duluth!

2008-08-26T09:13:00.007-06:00

Quite awhile ago, Pete, Andy, Candace and I went to Duluth for a day trip and see what we could see. We of course started our day at the famous tourist site of the Graffiti Graveyard. Candace, Pete and Andy hadn't seen it yet, and I thought they might enjoy it; and they did! We saw some HUGS and gave some hugs as well.

HUGS lives on!

Andy and I in a typical tourist pose at a typical tourist attraction.

Then we went on a cruise around the harbor and out onto the lake. It was really fun to be on the lake. I don't think I have been on Lake Superior ever, so it was really cool to see Duluth from afar. In the harbor there is also an area for wind turbines to be delivered. I was really excited to see that and took many pictures. The tour guides on the boat kept referring to the turbines and "wind mills" and I wanted to correct them, but I held my tongue.

On the boat.

A view of Duluth from the water.

A big boat!

Wind turbine blades in the harbor.

On the rocks.

Pete looking statuesque in front of the lift bridge.

After our boat tour we dined at the Anchor Bar in Superior, which is a fine establishment. It reminds me of the Saloon in Rockville with a nautical theme. I had a delicious olive burger and a beer and it was a reasonable price too! If you're ever in the area, I suggest trying out the Anchor Bar. It's delicious!

With our tummies full we headed up to Enger Tower to see Duluth from above. It was starting to get windier and was quite exciting to climb to the top of the tower. The clouds started to roll in and began to rain. That was our cue then that it was time to head home. Duluth is a fun city and it was a fun day!

Pete climbing the hill to Enger Tower.

Ringing my bell.

View of Duluth from Enger Park.

Hot Hot Heat

2008-07-15T21:06:00.002-06:00

For most of my life, I've lived with air conditioning. I can't remember a place I've lived without air conditioning, until now. This house somehow manages to capture more heat in the summer than it can retain in the winter. I don't understand. So, I've realized that I've been pretty spoiled with my cool, conditioned air and now it's time to buck up and make some changes.

Just to clarify, I've been in other houses without air conditioning that have managed to stay cooler than this one. We do shut the blinds during the day, so sun doesn't pour in, and when we're home the doors and the windows are open. But, the house manages to become a sauna every evening. I can't sit without sweating, it's gross. A lot of my time while I'm home is focused on being as cool as possible, keeping my core body temperature down. While I haven't resorted to ice packs yet, that option still hasn't been ruled out. Here it is:

A day in the life of someone without air conditioning:

7:00am - Wake up: This is the coldest part of my day at home. I might even have a blanket over me. Both my windows have fans that are working double duty. They circulate air and make white noise to drown out the sounds of my neighbors.

7:05am - Go to the bathroom: This is when I realize the temperature difference between my room and the rest of the house. I make this a quick break.

7:10am - Eat breakfast. On the hottest days, I eat in my bedroom to put off the inevitable. I will have to venture out and start sweating. I read the news for awhile at my computer, make my bed, do the dishes, basically mess around until I have to get ready.

8:00am - Get ready for the day. Usually I curl or straighten my hair so that I can look my best. However, not on the hot days. I spray a little water, run my hands through my hair and that's it. If I can avoid making excess heat, I will. By the time I'm done with brushing my teeth and washing my face, I'll be sweating. Even if I'm still wearing my skimpy pajamas.

8:15am - Get dressed. This is put off until as late as possible so I don't have sweat more than necessary in my work clothes.

8:30am - This is where all the possible coolness ends: my bike ride to the light rail. If I leave exactly on time, I don't have to worry about hurrying to the train and I can take my time. I'm using a pannier now so I don't have to have anything on my back to make me sweat. I usually wear a pony tail too to keep my neck cool. Hopefully the train is pretty cold.

6:45pm - Get home. The windows are thrown open, the fans turned on, and I star making dinner. The reset of the night is spent not trying to touch Andy or move much. If we're really desperate, we'll go see a movie. Just to be in air conditioning. We saw "Hancock" tonight, it was pretty funny. I recommend it.

Top 10 Reasons I'm Excited to Move

2008-07-11T06:49:00.005-06:00

Andy and I are moving into the new house on July 26, and it'll be a wonderful day. We have a countdown to the move we're so excited. While I like my current room and my roommates, there are many reasons I'm anxious to get out of this house. So here are my top ten reasons I'm excited to move.

10. Tipper! I get my cat back.
9. Being able to a plant a garden.
8. Living so close to many great places to shop and do my business (grocery store, liquor store, Wells Fargo, bowling alley, dentist, post office, library, gas station, and bakery)
7. Free laundry!
6. Air conditioning, I'm tired of sweating when I'm getting ready in the morning.
5. Not having to ride my bike through Cedar Riverside.
4. No noisy neighbors! Which means no more Wednesday/Thursday night parties.
3. Having new walks to take in pretty places (Lake Nokomis, Minnehaha Park, and Minnehaha Creek)
2. My commute will be a 1/2 hour shorter, giving me an hour more out of each day.
1. Not seeing my landlord every time I look out my window

It'll be a great day when I move! We're looking to have a bit of a house warming party once we get settled. Something around the lines of a cookout, since we'll have a gas and a charcoal grill.

Pictures of Things I've Done Recently

2008-06-10T07:28:00.004-06:00

I haven't posted pictures for awhile. So here are a bunch!

Andy graduated! We're by the flowers in front of Northrup.

Aunt Jean in front of Rick's tree in Rockville.

Mark, Nancy, Mom and I at the Indy 500.

Top three: Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan on a yellow.

Our view of the pagoda during clean

Chip and I took a walk and this field hasn't been planted yet.

Probably the cutest picture of Chip ever taken.

Little Chip in a big wide world.

I want a baby Emu

2008-06-05T21:22:00.000-06:00

This is the cutest thing I've seen in a long time.

Politics

2008-06-04T07:03:00.002-06:00

Alright, the primaries are over and we finally have a democratic nominee. It's time to get down to business. I'm going to be honest, I haven't been following this race very closely. Mostly because it bothers me when no one speaks about important issues. My biggest desire I want out of the next president is someone who can do things. Not only talk about change, but enact change. I haven't heard any candidate speak about how they are going to make coalitions, bring our nation together and accomplish great things. Maybe that democratic agenda that was supposed to be enacted 2 years ago. I'm incredibly disappointed in our democrats for not actually doing anything despite having a majority in congress. The next president needs to actually put words into actions, I hope Mr. Obama will not disappoint.

Here are some things I would love to have considered for the future:

Alternative energy solutions - maybe change all subsidies for alternative energy from something specific (corn ethanol) to something general to promote new solutions
End oil subsidies - to make oil companies accountable for the prices they charge and create fair competition for new fuels
Getting out of perpetual wars - creating war does not create peace, I would like to see actions in the Middle East that encourage education and mutual understanding so that we may all understand each other.
Putting money into education - I believe the most important part of any one's life is to be educated. Allowing college tuition to increase without a comparable increase in the quality of the education or utility of degree is deplorable and putting today's educated population deeply into debt without anything to show for it. Increasing the intellectual challenges of high schools or offering alternatives for students who seek a different place to learn.

Here is what I don't want to hear anymore about because they are issues not pertinent to an intelligent discussion of the future (in another list):

Barak Obama's former pastor
Whether Barak Obama stands/puts his hand on his heart during the pledge of allegiance
Barak Obama being a Muslim - even if he was, what does it matter? Don't be a bigot.
Hillary Clinton not dumping Bill Clinton after Monica - that's in the past and very personal, wouldn't you rather have a president who could love and forgive than one who was vengeful and spiteful?
Women can't lead countries because other nations wouldn't respect them - this is just ridiculous because women lead other countries too.

Best Work Week Ever!

2008-04-27T11:46:00.003-06:00

This past week was a wonderful week at work. In general I like where I work and all that, but this week was especially rewarding. Tuesday I got to go into work late. I had to stay late, but I did like spending my morning relaxing and such. I had to stay late for orientation and it didn't go as bad as I worried it would be.

Wednesday was Administrative Professionals Day! My job as an administrative assistant falls into this category, and so I was celebrated. It was a wonderful surprise, since I had no idea that day existed. My boss took me out to Starbucks for tea and a snack with my coworkers. And then I got a gift bag full of wonderful goodies. It was really fun!

Then Thursday I got a promotion! One of my coworkers has decided to move on to another job, and Kelly and I shift up our positions. So now I will be an HR Representative and do interviews, and hiring people. It'll be a lot of fun. I get a cube and a salary! (Instead of hourly wages).

Later on Thursday we had a quiz sent to us and the first two people who answered correctly got grab bags full of stuff. I guessed an answer and it turned out to be correct! My favorite part of the grab bag was the actual bag. I've already bought groceries and put them in it. There also was a little socky thing for my iPod. Which it is currently sitting in, looking cute.

I start my new position in two weeks, my training starts on Monday. I'm learning a lot at work now, and I really like it.

Camping!

2008-04-22T07:54:00.009-06:00

This past weekend Andy and I took a trip down to Frontenac State Park for a camping trip! This was our first time camping together and it was loads of fun. We reserved a sweet cart-in site, where we packed up our stuff in a cart and pushed it about a 1/4 mile to our site. Think of it as one step away from car camping.

Andy being my pack ass. On the way back I carried the backpack.

The pooper wasn't too far from our campsite.

Only one other couple and their dog was camping in the same area as us, so it was really quite and nice. The site was nice too, except it was really muddy due to recent wetness. The first day we set up our site, ate a snack, and then took a hike around the area. We saw some large birds of prey, though we weren't sure what kinds of birds they were. We were able to get pretty close, until Andy stepped on a stick and scared them off. A bird book might be helpful for identifying the birds we see on future hikes. A tree book would be nice as well, so that we know what trees we're looking at when they start to grow leaves.

Andy enjoying a delicious snack.

Andy and I by Lake Pepin.

Birds! They have red faces, so I really don't know what they are.

After hiking Andy built a fire and we started cooking our dinner. I don't think I've ever been camping without some sort of camp stove and guaranteed method of cooking, so I was a bit nervous trying to cook without one. We planned on cooking brats and wieners; however, we forgot a utensil for taking our cooked wieners off the grate. In Wabasha we went to a very friendly hardware store and found this nifty clamping grate thing that we could stick in the fire and cook our dogs. It worked beautifully! Much to my surprise.

Cooking wieners.

The finished product! A delicious dinner.

After that there wasn't much to do and it was getting pretty cold. So we retired to the tent and Andy tried to patch his Thermarest, it didn't hold. My air mattress is in Indiana still, so I slept uncomfortably on the hard ground. It was terribly cold that night and I couldn't sleep because I hurt on all sides from the ground and I had to pee, but I didn't want to get up again in the dark. Finally when it was light I ventured out and relived myself. I was able to get back to sleep and wake up to the wonderful words, "Amanda, I got the water boiling!" Andy had managed to get the fire going enough to boil our water for our morning tea and oatmeal! It was a wonderful start to the day.

Andy enjoying his morning tea and oatmeal.

We then took a morning hike in the fog and started down the side of the bluff. It was a really pretty walk down and exciting to get closer to the water. On the way up the fog burned off and it turned out to be quite a beautiful day. After packing our stuff up and heading out, Andy and I stopped at the Whistle Stop cafe in Frontenac Station for lunch.

The foggy road.

These are the switchbacks that lead down the side of the bluff to Lake Pepin.

Me in front of the steep climb.

One of the few things that were actively growing.

My artsy reflection picture.

Camping was a lot of fun and Andy and I plan on doing a lot more. We've decided a blow up air mattress and a camp stove are two important things that we should get in the future. Hopefully since it's getting warming freezing to death at night won't be as much of a concern now. We've also discovered campsites that you can hike into that are 1 to 5 miles from parking. This is our next step as we get better at this whole camping thing.

I am a Consumer Whore

2008-04-14T21:28:00.004-06:00

It's been done. I've done it! And I'm not taking it back (hopefully). I purchased an iPod today. A little blue Nano. I'm still thinking of a name. Lil' Blue didn't like my laptop, or my laptop didn't like the new iPod. So I've set it up on my desktop and everything works fine.

I have discovered the vast and fascinating world of PodCasts. So far tonight I've listened to Garrison Keillor tell me about what exciting things happened this day in history, and I've seen how to cook an asparagus omelet. It's quite exciting for me to discover these things. My reading might be slowed down now.

Speaking of reading! I've discovered a most wonderful author, Michael Chabon (possibly pronounced: Sha-bone). As of today, I've read 2 books and 1 novella by dear Michael, and I've loved, loved each one of them. It's so great! I'm also currently reading H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds and it's great as well! Books can be so invigorating.

Hopefully this little iPod will help me block out the annoying noise of people on the train and I can relax more on my way to work. I'm looking forward to listening to new and exciting Podcasts and possibly learning something new.

This week I have a Wednesday night bike ride planned, which will hopefully be well-attended and fun. Then over the weekend Andy and I plan on doing a little anniversary camping down south. Possibly visiting a familiar Red Wing coffee shop and getting our frequent buyer cards stamped. Good things!

Cats in Sinks

2008-04-07T21:55:00.003-06:00

If you don't think this is adorable, you better start looking for your soul.

Some more pictures I like

2008-04-03T06:47:00.005-06:00

Stupor Bowl! I know you were all waiting on the edges of your seats for these pictures. I didn't take too many, because we were drinking and biking, which makes for an unsteady hand. We didn't make it to many stops, mostly because Andy's intoxicated state made him think it was ok to make a sharp turn on a big patch of ice. It was a fun time though and I got to go to new places, which is always exciting.

Under the Hennepin Avenue Bridge where the alley cat started.

We got off to a running start, by running to our bikes. No one was hurt to the best of my knowledge.

We got mustaches drawn on our fingers. This is Lewis modeling his.

Ross' mustache.

My mustache faded a bit.

Andy chose to interpret his mustache as an unfortunate set of boobs.

Lewis is trying to get with me at the Red Dragon.

Here are some artsy pictures of Andy from far away.

Andy by the Stone Arch Bridge

Andy at Battlecreek Park.

A Neighborhood or a Group of Houses?

2008-03-17T21:28:00.002-06:00

Something Andy and I talk about a lot is how today's society lacks unity. Neighborhoods are not communities anymore. They are groups of houses full of individuals with their own priorities and wants and desires. They have nothing to do with each other and couldn't care less. It's a sad situation when I can't walk down the street and say "hi" to passerby without a response.

I'm not claiming to be immune to this isolation. My noisy neighbors bother me a lot, and I'm dreading the time when we rip the plastic from our windows and throw them open. Not only will I get a nice breeze, but a whiff of their smoke and parties. Maybe they would be different if I chatted with them, or got to know them. I would hope that whether or not they know me they would still be friendly and concerned about not making too much noise.

At any rate, I long for neighbors who smile and wave. I would like to know their names and stories. It would be wonderful for someone to know me as well! I'm looking forward to moving out of this university area so that I can live among people who are concerned about the people they live among.

I watched Bobby tonight with Andy and there's this speech at the end that RFK spoke 6 months before his death. On part really caught me and I would like it to share it with you. It is something to think about how we feel about our neighbors.

"We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community; men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in common effort. We learn to share only a common fear, only a common desire to retreat from each other, only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force. For all this, there are no final answers."

The Hole Gets Deeper

2008-03-17T06:35:00.002-06:00

When I got home from work last week there was a giant hole in the ground next door. Mornings are more unpleasant with all the construction workers wandering around, huge machines vibrating the house and Wayne lurking about. Even though we're not paying rent here for other people to use our house and the objects around it, Wayne doesn't feel like that's a problem. I'm trying to think on the bright side, but it's not fun.

South Korea probably isn't like how I dream it

2008-03-12T06:44:00.002-06:00

Last night I dreamed that I was in South Korea (I think my mind got it mixed up with more backward North Korea). I was stuck in some sort of wooden container moving diagonally up and down. The only place for hand holds so you didn't fall was between the cracks in the wood and whenever the box moved it would pinch my fingers. It was a study on smoke inhalation and smoke was pumped into the box. This didn't make any sense.

Then they were testing a roller coaster, which some how had two different types of cars on it and one plowed into the other. The one full of people fell off the track and no body came to help them. Though apparently, this is typical in "South Korea." After this I woke up. I had to push snooze so that I could get the terrible image out of my mind.

In real life news, our empty lot next door wont be empty for long. It seems as though dear old Wayne (my landlord) is going to build a new house. So that means unpleasant construction next door, and awkward interactions with a rougher set of people. Possibly. I hear some silly girls have already agreed to live in the place next fall, even though the house currently consists of six pink spray painted stakes in the ground. Though, this news explains why Wayne was inexplicably plowing the empty lot.

That's all I have for now!

The Life and Times Book Review

2008-02-24T20:43:00.006-06:00

Hey! Since my daily commute takes about an hour of bus and train rides I've been reading a lot. I enjoy reading very much, so this has been a delightful predicament. Here are some of the most memorable books I've read. We'll start with my favorite!

The Complete Collection of Sherlock Holmes (In Two Handsome Volumes), by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I happened upon the complete collection at Half Priced Books for very cheap in two delightful and the most handsomest volumes I've ever encountered. I was at first wary of these stories as I'm a fan of more modern writing. How wrong I was though! I've never been so enthralled with a set of stories since Harry Potter. These are some of the most intriguing and exciting stories to read. One of my favorites is the novel A Study in Scarlet, which is the first of the stories. Currently I'm reading The Memoires of Sherlock Holmes. I recommend these stories to anyone who enjoys a thrilling story and a challenge to an inquisitive mind.

The Undercover Economist, by Tim Hartford
This is an enjoyable book uncovering the mystery of economics. Overall, this is a fun read. I feel as though I understand how the world works better. It would be satisfying to see some economic policy that actually worked and would help to get us out of this is maybe "recession." The examples given in the book are more understandable than my Econ 1101 professor's Oreo and Milano comparisons.

The Final Solution (A Story of Detection), by Michael Chabon
This is a cute little novella about a mute little boy and a very old man solving the mystery of a stolen bird. It's a terribly cute novel and when I found out that the author thought of the old man as an incredibly aged Sherlock Holmes. I was inspired by this novella to read Sherlock Holmes. It is very well written and each description is hilarious and detailed.

The Optimists, by Andrew Miller
Generally when I read a book I get something good out of it. I like most books, I'm not too picky, usually books I don't like are more "eh" than "I might want to stop reading." I really wanted to stop reading this book. It made me angry, it wasn't good, it didn't make me happy, it didn't make me think, it didn't make me feel anything other than boredom. The main character didn't do anything and the writing was boring. If I looked at a map of London, I would probably be able to trace the steps of the main character, because the author felt it pertinent to name every street this poor soul walked down. It was annoying, and unnecessary. As is this novel.

Rule Number Two (Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital), by Heidi Squier Kraft
This is an excellent memoir of the author's time in Iraq and the terrible things she had to work with. As a professional psychologist she not only experienced the war first hand, but she also listened to many other experiences. It is a really moving story and it makes me thankful that we have such wonderful people over there supporting each other.

What I've been doing

2008-02-12T22:01:00.004-06:00

Andy and I took advantage of being mobile and went to the lovely town of Red Wing. Where Andy bought a hat and I bought shoes from the local cobbler. We also found some interesting art by the train depot.

Andy got curious.

I danced with a metal person.

Another weekend Andy and I ventured to the little town of St. Peter and visited the local Lutheran college. Mr. Gustavus Adolphus was a fairly chubby man according to his statue in the center of campus.

They have a really ugly church there. Only made better with this crazy statue.

Though the views were much more beautiful!

Tony came down for a visit one weekend, and we had a boot or two at Gasthof's with some of his buddies from school. We all learned to polka and did a bunch of dancing. It was less fun when the live band left and we were left with some DJ. Overall it was a good time.

Tony enjoying his boot, sideways.

Like brother like sister.

Andy is uncomfortable dancing with me, it may be due to the placement of my left hand.

The delightful weekend of the Super Bowl, us people who ride bikes had an even the day before called the Stupor Bowl. It is apparently the longest running alley cat bike race in North America (and the largest) and Minneapolis is quite proud of that. It was a lot of fun to bike around to new places and enjoy beers a places I've never been. Once again, I like the camaraderie of biking in these cities. Our ride was cut a bit short though because dear Andy ingested a bit too much and took a risky turn on a large patch of ice and injured his shoulder. He's fine and well now, no harm done. Pictures shall come later.

And that's the gist of what I've been doing!

I want an iPod

2008-02-12T21:51:00.003-06:00

It feels blasphemous to say after avoiding iPods for about sevenish years. I'm going to buy my first mp3 player and it's going to be an iPod Nano. Other products for the same price offer the same amount of storage, but are harder to get at. Being that I work in the Mall of America and the Apple store is right there with tens of eager "geniuses" competing for my attention, an iPod is the best and easiest purchase. Though, with a $200 price tag, this little 8 gig harborer of music will be mine only after some saving. And, since I'm not prone to making big purchases like this (unless the price tag is in pounds, then I don't realize what I'm paying) it'll be nice to wait on it for a bit.

I like it in blue.

Life and Times of the Jobbed

2008-01-20T16:48:00.000-06:00

I have a job! My first day is Tuesday and then I have 2 weeks of training before jumping into the good stuff. I'm really looking forward to going to work everyday and having something to do. I'm also looking forward to being busy all day, being unemployed really sucks. Not having things to do all day means I eat a lot, watch more HGTV than is healthy, and read. Reading is good, but I can also do that when I have a job.

I'm an HR Assistant for the Mall of America in the recruitment portion of the department. People who want to be hired by the mall (ride operators, ticket sellers, security) have to see me first. This is a good job to give me experience in HR and working with a lot of different people. I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm also looking forward to getting into the work force. I plan on taking the bus and the light rail to get to work, make a lunch everyday, and take out any stress on the bumper cars. This is going to be a good year!

My Life Home, Alone

2008-01-07T22:36:00.000-06:00

I keep wanting to take out the trash. I've thought of what I'm going to throw away, the timing of throwing it away, and how to throw stuff away with using as few bags as possible. This is far too much thought about an event 2 days away yet.

Since I've gotten home from Indiana no one else has been here, except Snell for an afternoon. I've been much more jumpy. Whenever someone is in the backyard I know about it and I don't like it. I've had a stressful night or two, but generally, living alone is kind of cool. I've been cooking a lot. And no, not just pasta or chicken and rice. Here's what I've cooked (because I know Tony likes lists):

Turkey Tetrazinni
Cream Cheese Mints
Herbed Whole Wheat Muffins
Spiced Whole Wheat Muffins
Breaded chicken tenders
Risotto
Italian style meatloaf
Apple Struesel Muffins
Turkey Tortellini Salad
Garlic Cheesy bread

I'm sure theres more, but I'm not feeling like remembering. Back to living alone...

I've cleaned a bit, and I've fallen behind on the dishes. But they do actually get done quite frequently. With all this new found cooking, I've been doing more dishes have been getting dirty. I like living alone and doing whatever I want and not worry about disturbing anyone. I just wish that I was living in a house that hadn't been broken into so that I wouldn't be so scared.

Also, I dislike onions.

A Picture

2007-12-20T16:02:00.000-06:00

This is for Pete, you made the suggestion awhile ago and I did it today!

Guess whose foot is whose...

I like to Ride my Bicycle

2007-12-19T13:34:00.000-06:00

and so does the rest of Minneapolis!

Well, not quite the rest, but a growing minority! I have to say, I have been quite impressed with the number of people who have been out riding their bikes this winter. Biking in Minneapolis in the winter is not easy, between irate drivers, wind that'll take your face off, and unplowed bike lanes it can be down right dangerous. I've had my fair share of frustrations this winter and I'm quite excited to see people out and about on their bikes.

I'm studying today at the Purple Onion and I've secured myself a space looking out a window toward University Avenue. Just a block and half down from the busiest intersection for bicycles in the Minneapolis area (15th Ave and University). After seeing so many delightful people out on their bikes I decided to make a count to determine how many people are actually out biking.

The first three half hour intervals ranged from 9-10 people each 1/2 hour sighted riding bikes. I was excited. Especially since I was studying too and not really paying attention. Then the 1:00 half hour say 27 cyclists! They were everywhere! Some looked determined to be out riding their bikes, some looked like it was the hardest thing they ever had to do, and others looked like they were riding on a sunny summer afternoon.

Alright, so what do we do with this information? With so many people out and about on bikes, we should support them, and encourage others to get out and start pedaling. This means more bike lanes. And not those lame signs that display a bike route, they are meaningless because nobody pays attention to them and they honestly make no sense. To ensure the safety of bike riders there needs to be logically laid out and enforced lanes for bike traffic. And they need to be plowed in the winter. Minneapolis touts its "bike friendly" nature; however, the city is mostly words and no action. Not having plowed bike lanes mean bikers have to ride in the streets, endangering themselves and other motorists. It honestly scares the hell out of me to bike sometimes and I blame the city of Minneapolis for absolutely not caring about the safety of cyclists. Lets not wait until more Minneapolis bikers die from car accidents before we improve this situation.

Breaking News!

2007-12-19T09:24:00.000-06:00

Thanks BBC for giving me an excuse to drink!

Guinness good for you - official

The long-running ad campaign is well-known

The old advertising slogan "Guinness is Good for You" may be true after all, according to researchers.

A pint of the black stuff a day may work as well as an aspirin to prevent heart clots that raise the risk of heart attacks.

Drinking lager does not yield the same benefits, experts from University of Wisconsin told a conference in the US.

Guinness were told to stop using the slogan decades ago - and the firm still makes no health claims for the drink.

The Wisconsin team tested the health-giving properties of stout against lager by giving it to dogs who had narrowed arteries similar to those in heart disease.

They found that those given the Guinness had reduced clotting activity in their blood, but not those given lager.

Heart trigger

Clotting is important for patients who are at risk of a heart attack because they have hardened arteries.

A heart attack is triggered when a clot lodges in one of these arteries supplying the heart.

Many patients are prescribed low-dose aspirin as this cuts the ability of the blood to form these dangerous clots.

The researchers told a meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Florida, that the most benefit they saw was from 24 fluid ounces of Guinness - just over a pint - taken at mealtimes.

We already know that most of the clotting effects are due to the alcohol itself, rather than any other ingredients

Spokesman, Brewing Research International

They believe that "antioxidant compounds" in the Guinness, similar to those found in certain fruits and vegetables, are responsible for the health benefits because they slow down the deposit of harmful cholesterol on the artery walls.

However, Diageo, the company that now manufactures Guinness, said: "We never make any medical claims for our drinks."

The company now runs advertisements that call for "responsible drinking".

A spokesman for Brewing Research International, which conducts research for the industry, said she would be "wary" of placing the health benefits of any alcohol brand above another.

She said: "We already know that most of the clotting effects are due to the alcohol itself, rather than any other ingredients.

"It is possible that there is an extra effect due to the antioxidants in Guinness - but I would like to see this research repeated."

She said that reviving the old adverts for Guinness might be problematic - at least in the EU.

Draft legislation could outlaw any health claims in adverts for alcohol in Europe, she said.

Feelgood factor

The original campaign in the 1920s stemmed from market research - when people told the company that they felt good after their pint, the slogan was born.

In England, post-operative patients used to be given Guinness, as were blood donors, because of its high iron content.

Pregnant women and nursing mothers were at one stage advised to drink Guinness - the present advice is against this.

The UK is still the largest market in the world for Guinness, although the drink does not feature in the UK's top ten beer brands according to the latest research.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3266819.stm

Ah!

2007-12-12T16:26:00.000-06:00

I had my last lecture today. My last lecture of the semester. My last lecture of my undergraduate career. Possibly the last lecture I will ever have to sit through again. I'm still in the process of realizing what this means. There is still work to do in the next week, but after that... there isn't any work to do.

Well, there is the work of finding work. But I'm done with school, and for the first time in about 16 years I wont have homework to do.

At any rate, I was thinking about this whole transition process and how it's actually quite scary when I got some interesting mail. I received a Carlson School Alumni magazine! I'm not even done with finals yet! I feel old. But, getting the Alumni magazine made me laugh. In reality, this whole "leaving what I'm comfortable" thing isn't that bad.

And I'm glad to know that I'll be able to keep up with what's going on at Carlson.

I'm managing to make my messages known

2007-12-09T23:58:00.000-06:00

I have a site meter. This is because I'm interested in who's looking at my blog. Mostly I can see that people from Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, Madison, Dublin, and Indianapolis check this site out regularly. The site meter gets relatively uninteresting after awhile.

Until I saw this...

If you look at the search words category, you find that a certain Pennsylvanian searched for "horrid farts" and encountered me! How lovely! I'm glad to know that I can contribute to one man or woman's search for more information regarding horrid farts. My blog life is complete.

What is important in life.

2007-12-04T11:20:00.000-06:00

I like a news service that delivers weather information that is useful to me. The Star Tribune offers a fine example:

"Bardou said he expects today's snow to be more of the fine powdery variety versus the big flakes, as colder drier air pushes warmer moist air out of the area.

"It won't be good for making snowballs," Bardou said. "We are not expecting heavy-weight snow.""

From: http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1590513.html

I went to New York

2007-11-11T14:43:00.000-06:00

Last weekend I went to New York city to visit my friend Max and go to a reunion for the Quinn School of Business. Since I'd never been to NY before this was going to be quite the new experience. Andy and I looked at maps of Manhattan so that I would have an idea of where I was supposed to go. I got in on Friday and made my way from JFK to Manhattan. My first experience with the subway made me feel like I wasn't going to be able to handle the subway. But this was just a first time impression and I managed fine the rest of the trip.

Since Max wasn't done with school until 5 and I got in around noon, I spent a lot of time wandering around. Mostly around Central Park because I couldn't figure out how to get out.

This is one of many roads that goes through Central Park. Interestingly, joggers run in the bike lanes and bikes ride on the wrong side of the road.

I went to a tiny grocery store and purchased these items for lunch. I spent my lunchtime people watching in the park.

I then went to the Guggenheim Museum, which was really fun. There were a lot of Picasso's paintings there and I learned that he did some cool stuff before he became all cubist and odd. After the museum Max and I met up and enjoyed dinner with some of his friends from Teach for America.

The entrance of the Guggenheim.

Cool looking apartments in Harlem.

Cool roots of a tree on 5th Ave. I took a lot of pictures of my feet.

Saturday I wandered around downtown by myself and saw the sites. I'm not very familiar with what is in New York, so I spent a lot of time discovering where things where and learning about different places. I went to the World Trade Center site by accident, but that was pretty interesting. Then I made my way to Wall Street to see what it was like. Then on down Broadway to Battery Park at the end of Manhattan. After all that I was pretty tired of walking and made my way back to Max's.

Wall Street is very narrow.

The Statue of Liberty is not very big from where I was, and also not very interesting.

Max and I then went to Colombia College and wandered around. They have a pretty campus that is reminiscent of the U's mall area. Then I went to my reunion, which was relatively awkward but enjoyable. I didn't think I would know anyone there but I saw three other girls from my year (there were people there since the program began in 2000 or so). After a delicious dinner, I met up with Max and some of his friends at a bar and had a grand time.

Colombia College. There was a blood drive going on while were there.

I passed through Times Square on my way to the subway. It was pretty crazy. This was the busiest area of the city that I saw.

Max and I enjoying a brew at a local establishment.

Overall, New York was alright. All those lights and flash that normally come with ideas of New York are not representative of the city. Everyone I met was very nice and answered my questions if I asked. So it was a good experience and I wouldn't mind going back.

I like comments

2007-10-23T21:25:00.000-06:00

Please comment on world events.

Fancy Pictures

2007-10-18T20:45:00.000-06:00

I recently got the program "Picasa" and I've been messing around with some photos and "enhancing" them. So I figured I'd put them on display.

In fitting with my "I love fall" claim, I love this photo. This is Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk in London.

A tour of the seasons. This over spring break this year when we got a lot of snow. I liked this path.

This is my most patriotic of pictures. The old Grain Exchange is on the wonderful corner of 4th and 4th in Minneapolis.

Here is my favorite wind farm just south of Rockford, IL. The colors are more prominent in this picture.

This is Andy when we biked up to Coon Rapids. We're at the dam looking over the Mississippi.

Andy and I went to fancy dinner and took a fancy photo by the fountain in Irving Park in St. Paul.

This is at some park area in San Francisco commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr. I think.

This is the controversial Weisman Art Museum. Though you have to admit, its metallic sheen reflects the setting sun beautifully.

This is Eddy Hall on the U of M campus during the spring break snow earlier this year.

I Love Fall!

2007-10-16T14:12:00.000-06:00

I have to admit, fall is wonderful. It is the most wonderful season of the year. And I'm really happy that it's fall right now. I should specify, I love fall in Minnesota. I'm sure there are other places that have wonderful fall seasons; however, I have not experienced them. Fall in Dublin was not the spectacular event that it is here. So, in coming back, I've fallen in love with fall all over again.

First of all, I like sweaters. And I like layering. I like putting clothes on and being very clothed. In that sense, summer is bad because it's horridly hot and the goal is to wear as little as possible while still looking publicly acceptable. Some people fail at this. I fail in that I never know what to wear, so at times I end up too hot or too cold. This doesn't happen to me much in fall, mainly due to sweaters.

I'm going to admit my dorkiness before this next reason, I know what it sounds like and I've accepted that. Another reason I like fall is because I like school. I like starting new classes, buying new books and supplies, I like the feeling of hopefulness at the start of new classes.

That brings me to the next reason, fall is a symbol of newness. This may be counter intuitive, but generally it's the start of a new (academic) year. New classes/school, new clothes, new schedule, possibly a new job. This year it also meant a new house, in a new neighborhood, and a new way of living.

Fall is also a transition into the holiday season and my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. How can you be unhappy about that? Fall is just a great time of year and every time I go outside, I'm excited that it's fall.

Also, here are some fall fun time pictures:

Andy and I enjoying the company of Goldy the Gopher at the Como cookout.

Andy and I went pumpkin picking, and to get our $2 worth of entry fees, we picked dried corn off the ground and fed some pigs. They were quite happy about the deal.

Andy made friends with an adorable baby cow.

On the hay ride around the orchard.

Andy's pumpkin! We carved them the next day with Tony and Laura and had quite the time.

I'm Gassy

2007-09-19T16:25:00.000-06:00

This may come as no surprise to most of you. If you're faint of heart, you might not want to continue reading.

Generally when I fart (pass gas), I'm simply happy that farts don't come in colors, that way no one knows that I just passed gas. Nowadays I want to leave the room, because it would be impossible for someone not to notice my horrid farts, despite being a clear gas.

When I finish this gallon of milk and my variety of yogurt and cheeses I'm going to do a bit of experiment and not drink/eat animal-based milk-based products for awhile and see how things go.

I want one of these!

2007-09-11T18:48:00.000-06:00

Smart Car! So small! So cute! So efficient!

A Less than Wonderful Start to the Year

2007-09-04T15:05:00.000-06:00

On September 1st I moved into a new house with 3 new roommates full of anticipation and excitement at the coming final semester of classes. On September 2nd my new house was broken into and my laptop and camera stolen. This made me less than pleased.

Whoever did the breaking in must have been desperate (and pathetic) because they broke the glass on our door with their hand and then subsequently bled in big spots all over the house. This is my only consolation, that whoever did this is now seriously hurt. For all those in the area, look for someone with a cut up hand. We are thinkin it would be the right hand based on the location of the blood spots. The presence of the Minneapolis Crime Lab at the house got us all in a CSI mode. That was the only cool thing about the break in.

So now I don't have pictures, a camera, a laptop, notes from Ireland, or a case to put a new camera in. I also don't feel quite comfortable at night yet, despite the break-in happening in broad daylight. We've gotten motion sensor lights and PVC piping to keep the windows closed and new locks for the screen doors. But I still feel vulnerable. It seems like we're in the same position as before and someone just as desperate (and stupid) could do this all over again.

I do appreciate my friends for supporting me after all this. It truly sucks and I'm sure it will happen to others as school gets back into session.

Speaking of school. Today was the first day of classes at the University. As odd as some may think it is, I like school, I like class, and I was very disappointed that on my first day of class in my ONLY class, my professor didn't show up. As of this posting, I still don't have an email from the professor explaining himself, appologizing, or even giving me back my money for sucking. Hopefully this doesn't become habit, as I expect to leave this institution with an education.

On a good note, I found Ben and Jerry's coupons in the Minnsota Daily's Survival Guide and I fully expect to use them now. It's 92 degrees today and my house doesn't have air conditioning, so I need anything cold I can get.

Back Home Again in Indiana

2007-08-20T19:26:00.002-06:00

Saturday morning Andy, Pete, and I got up excruciatingly early to take a train trip down to Indiana to visit my family. Andy was more than excited for the train and was practically giddy by the time we boarded. Turns out, trains are really fun to take. Sure, it's a longer trip. But you can get up and walk around to stretch, go visit the observation car or the dining car, AND you get a seat with more room than first class on an airplane. Plus, you don't have to buckle in. The trip into Chicago was mildly uneventful and relaxing.

Chicago itself was busy. Union station was packed with people and no one knew where to go or what to do. The three of us managed to get outside to grab some food down the street and check out the Sears Tower. After that we stood in a long and confusing line, and then hopped on the train to LaFayette. This leg of the journey promised to be even more uneventful as the three of us were not sitting together. However, just outside of the second stop our train hit a car. We were stopped for about an hour, and thankfully the driver managed to walk out of the car alright. It was a bit jarring to be apart of that experience though. We finally made it home in time for some good, old fashioned sleep.

Sunday we enjoyed a lunch with Grandpa, Jean, Mary, and Dale. It was a delicious cook out with corn, green beans, burgers, and tomatoes picked from the garden. Later Pete and Andy went four wheeling as I walked around in the woods and was generally fearful for their safety. Pete managed to make it all the way across the abandoned railroad bridge. A feat that no other guest has accomplished. After dinner at the Overpass, we three enjoyed a friendly game of Boggle and unknowingly expanded our vocabulary.

Today it was raining pretty hard, so we ditched plans for kayaking and canoing in the Wabash for some drier activities. We drove out to Indianapolis for a tour of the speedway and a look through the museum. Then we wandered through Circle Center and saw what a mall in the downtown of a city is supposed to be like. After that we dined at the Alcatraz Brewhouse and drank home made beers. Yum! On the way home we stopped for some ice cream and took a hike through the woods to the infamous location of my four wheeling accident. It doesn't look like too many people have traveled through there recently.

At the moment we're enjoying a relaxing bit of reading in the sun room. I'll add pictures when I get them uploaded.

The Bridge Fell Down

2007-08-01T20:28:00.000-06:00

Today the 35W bridge by my apartment collapsed into the Mississippi. Andy's mom called to tell him that a bridge had collapsed, we turned on the news to see it was the bridge that was a block away. Andy had just arrived too, coming over the bridge next to the one that collapsed. Thank goodness we take the 10th Avenue bridge daily, and not 35W. I didn't even hear the collapse, but that's probably because I live in a fortress, and on the first floor. Our lights did flicker though. So far everyone I know is OK, and I'm thankful that we had some people over when it happened.

I do appreciate all of the calls and texts from people concerned about me. My sympathies are with those who have been lost and injured from the collapse.

Thankfully, I don't travel on the interstate usually. I'm a bit worried about how traffic is going to be affected because of this. It's going to be really bad in my area now, since most people will take the 10th Ave bridge that goes right next to 35W. Biking around is going to be more unpleasant now, I'm guessing.

Two more things in response to things I've heard and read about this. This is NOT an act of terrorism. And I'm sure we can't blame the mayor for not giving us enough transportation funding, since there was work being done to the bridge.

For more information go here, and surprisingly here.

My Trip to Mountain

2007-07-25T20:04:00.000-06:00

A week and a half ago I went to Montana for a leadership retreat called the Power of Choice. Before I left I was pretty vague on what I was doing out in Montana, because I only had a vague idea. My mom went a few years ago and really enjoyed it and got a lot out of the program. She thought I could benefit from it as well, and offered to send me. Since development is what I'm interested in the Human Resources realm, I agreed.

It turned out to be a really important experience, as well as very fun and relaxing. We spent a lot of time looking into our pasts to discover what happened in the time between birth and puberty that created set patterns of maladaptive behavior. We discovered these beliefs we created as children, and then analyzed how they affect us as adults. Its surprising to see how my childhood still affects how I behave now. Ultimately, the goal of the program was to create new patters of healthy behavior.

We worked with horses during the program because they are very sensitive to how people interact with them and can act as sort of mirrors to our behaviors. One of the most rewarding round pen exercise was that we had to get the horse to walk, trot, then walk around the pen once, and then come into us. All without touching the horse. I managed to get my horse (Lad) to walk around once, but when it came to making him trot, I was at a lost. The key was to make myself big, and I'm not used to being big and making people do things I want. So actually making myself big was difficult, but with some help I managed to become big and get Lad to trot right around the pen. It was really exhilerating to be able to do something like that.

Currently I'm struggling to actually get myself to move beyond my maladaptive behavior. Hopefully, once I relax more and address problems and I enjoy life to its fullest.

I also got to play with baby wolves.

We the people are disappointed

2007-07-03T15:20:00.000-06:00

Truer words have never been written:

"What the Pew poll reflects is a profound disappointment in America’s failure to live up to its own ideals and standards."

To put it in a very American way, as a country we are all talk and no walk. And I am sorely disappointed.

This sentiment stems from the fact that I really enjoy reading about history. I like learning where I come from, how life has changed, what great things the people of the world have done against incredible odds. Even after taking a course on US history in the the public education system I was ashamed of where I come from. After learning about how racist immigration policies have been, how Lincoln "freed" the slaves with no aim to actually liberate them, how our government repeatedly lies to the people of our nation; I've become a bit more jaded with history. Not history as a subject, because it is important to learn the truth behind the lies, even if they do come 30 years after the fact. I've become angry at our history as a nation because it lingers and continues. Our history of lies and deceit from the government is a reality that continues to this day. These lies have terrible consequences for the poor and working class at home, and everywhere America "fights" abroad.

One subject that really bothers me is immigration reform and this bullshit proposal that thankfully failed. Yes, legalizing the status for many immigrants would be wonderful, as most are not a burden on our society (just like most legal citizens are not a burden). But that bill did not address the actual cause of so many immigrants from Latin America and other parts of the world. Instead of toppling democratically elected governments and supporting brutal dictatorships, our government could support democracy, thereby creating fewer refugees fleeing from death squads in their homelands. American companies should support their employees and not create sweatshops that pay below poverty wages. Americans glorify capitalism and a free market, well, then our corporations abroad need to not complain anytime a new government of a Latin American country steps in and doesn't support your brutal ways.

If America is ever to be respected again then it needs to truly support and nurture democracy, peace, and freedom. Our government is merely giving lip service to the ideals this country was founded on, and it is time for people like you and me to stand up and do something about it.

Who can turn the world on with his smile?

2007-06-18T17:47:00.000-06:00

PETE!

Pete bonding with Minnesota favorite, Mary Tyler Moore on Nicolette Mall.

Since I last updated Pete finally arrived in Minnesota! It had been over six months since I last saw him and now we can have loads of fun on the other side of the ocean. We both have jobs now! It's exciting to start getting paid again. Being unemployed is very depressing. I don't much feel like describing what I've been doing recently. So here are some more pictures with descriptions.

Pete, Andy, Melissa, Scott, Allie, and I went to a concert at the Mill City Museum. They played a washboard and washtub bass. It was way exciting.

Then we wandered around the Stone Arch Bridge and watched a barge go through the lock. Much more exciting than you would think.

Then we made our way to the new Guthrie and wandered about. This is Pete's album cover for his debut album "Boat".

Andy and I played make-believe and had fancy dinner at Forepaugh's in St. Paul with his winnings from the Indy 500.

After fancy dinner we drove through St. Paul and strolled along the high bridge.

Ladies and Gentlemen...

2007-05-27T19:30:00.000-06:00

... I have a headache. But enough about me, start your engines and lets get this show on the road. As some of you may know, the main reason for my trip down to Indiana was to see the Indy 500 with my mom. Ever since I was a wee child I've sort have been involved in racing. It all started when my mom would ready Tony and I the autobiography of Mario Andretti. I actually got to meet him at the Mall of America one day, Mom and I went out to get autographs. After seeing the Indy 500 on TV for most of my life, and having been to a few other races, it was about time to see the greatest spectacle in racing. Seeing is a bit of an understatement, it's more of a full sensory experience. You can see the cars yes, but you can also feel them go by, the noise is exhilarating and rather deafening, and the smell of gas and rubber from the tires permeates the air. It's quite something.

Mom, her cousin Janeen, and her daughter Meagan (who's also my cousin), and I drove out to Indianapolis for the big day. Our seats were in the southwest corner in turn 2. They were up really high, so we could see a lot of the track. It was also a good position to see the 6 crashes that occurred before the rain delay.

I don't think this is the main entrance, but this is the one we went through. The sign in the lower right corner is one of a crazy religious person telling race fans they need to be saved. Most ignored them.

The pace car leading the first lap. Patrick Dempsey of a show I've never watched drove the pace car. Meagan was really excited about that. I think I'd be a bit freaked out leading all those cars.

And they're off! First lap without the pace car, everyone is still pretty close together. This is the back stretch.

Here is the second crash. The road crew guys just stand out in the middle of the track telling the drivers not to run over them or the debris. I would pee myself.

I got really excited about taking pictures of the cars and everything else, then I realized each shot kind of looked the same as the others. So then I took video, so that everyone else can hear how loud the cars are, and Janeen. This is entertaining:

Greetings from Indiana!

2007-05-26T09:29:00.000-06:00

I've been in Indiana for a day or so now and it's been rather rainy the whole time. Except now that I point that out, it's gotten sunny. At any rate, I feel as though it's time for a blog update.

Monday I had an interview at American Medical Systems, which I think went really well. It seems like a nice place to work. They do manufacturing and research in the same facility as corporate stuff. I'd be doing an HR internship, so that'd be really fun. Plus, the facility is on the Greenway, and they have a gym. So I could potentially bike to and from work. This excites me. Other than this interview, my job search continues.

To inform everyone on my dental hygiene, I got the rest of my fillings done last Tuesday (only 3 this time and they didn't find any more). This round through wasn't so bad surprisingly. I even got some stains off my teeth. Apparently drinking tea makes your teeth stained, and I drink a lot of tea. So now I have that to worry about. Afterward my mouth was numb, but it was less amusing this time because I was prepared for it. And I didn't accidentally spurt any water out of my mouth. When I got home I read a bit of Helter Skelter and fell asleep. Since my mouth was numb I drooled an absurd amount all over my blanket. But it was a really nice nap.

Yesterday I went to a baby shower for someone who works at the place I did last summer, though she started after I left, so I didn't know her. It was rather amusing. Only one actual child was present, and she was quiet, so she didn't annoy me. The first of the games we played was to "give birth" to a plastic baby frozen in a cup of water. So we had to melt the ice and whose ever "water" broke first and their baby was able to be taken out, won. I didn't win, but eventually I gave "birth" to a 1 oz. baby boy named Zack. I did sort of win the word scramble game, which made me proud because I have wasted enough of my life playing Text Twist that I should have done well at that.

Dad took the 4-wheeler that I crashed to the shop today because he's tired of working on it. Later we're supposed to go kayaking, and I'm excited. Though I'm slightly nervous that I'll rip open the kayak on some rocks or something. Just so that I can ruin everything new that my dad gets.

Tomorrow is the Indy 500! Expect some pictures from that.

Finals are over, so now what?

2007-05-16T10:50:00.000-06:00

Last week was finals week and it went surprisingly well. Each of my finals weren't as difficult as I anticipated. The grades that have come back thus far have been good, so I'm happy about that. What I'm not happy about is my lack of employment. My work study job at the psychology department is no longer (at least for the summer) because I don't have work study funds for the summer. My brilliant plan to graduate this summer fell through because of one class and one lame department head telling me that 3 credits were too many to do an independent study. So now in addition to having to pay for another semester of college and reapply for loans, I don't have a job with which to ease that burden.

After finals were finished Mom and Dad drove up from Indiana for my graduation ceremony the coming Monday. That Saturday Tony and Laura ventured down to the cities as well and they took Andy and I out to dinner. First was shopping for Tony some new clothes because he can't do it without my mom. I also obtained new "kicks" that I'm really excited about. After dinner I went back to Minneapolis and hung out with Mike, Adam, Dan, and the rest of the gang. They were playing drinking games that involved overly carbonated beer and I couldn't compete. Afterward Andy and I headed to Van Cleave to play on the playground. Where instead we "wrasseled" with Ross and I lost my phone in the sand. Surprisingly it was still there in the morning, in good working order despite being a bit sandy.

Sunday involved brunch with my former neighbors and a stop by the old house. In the last 11ish months the new owner, Jimmy, has changed just about everything he could with the house. Admittedly the garden looks nicer (except for the statue of a dog's butt that makes it look like it's digging in the garden), but it's all overly arts and craftsy. Really quite gross, but hey, if that's what he likes, so be it.

Monday was the big day! I got to graduate this spring because Carlson only has one ceremony a year. So it was either before I graduate or well after I finish up. The ceremony was horribly disorganized as no one really knew where to go. But in the end we all ended up in a line of more or less alphabetical order. I'm glad I'm not in CLA because the processions in and out and the reading of names took far too long, and CLA is much larger than Carlson. Steve Forbes was the speaker, and he turned out to be quite funny and that made everything more bearable. Nothing exciting happened as I walked across the stage, though I could hear the high-pitched cheers from my mom and Andy. Here's a photo:

Me "walking" at Northrup.

Dad, Mom, and I posing with my "diploma."

That night we went out for fancy dinner at the Capital Grille and it went really well. Andy and I ordered entire chickens without realizing. And I got a rose for being a "graduate." It was quite nice. I also got my laptop back Monday, and I was really excited. Except I never got any of the files off of the computer, so I have to go back and get those. It's nice to have the laptop back though. Except now I have to replace all of my music, and that'll be annoying without the network of my former home.

So now it's Wednesday and I still don't have a job. I'll be cleaning my room today, looking for a job, making a list of things I need to get, maybe making a dent in that chicken, and possibly plotting out bike routes for my extreme free time.

The only thing that really makes me feel better about myself is that I'm not a 10 month old baby from Illinois with a gun license.

Scavenging Around Minneapolis

2007-05-07T16:44:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday was my first alleycat race, known as scAVENGER ! Basically we got a list of things to find/do in Northeast Minneapolis and about 2 1/2 hours to get it all done. The results are now in and our team, the Fightin' Unicorns placed an admirable second-to-last. We didn't get handicap bonus points like we deserved, but all's well that ends well.

Someone else took this picture of our team's bikes. Maddy is mine on the far right. That's our team up in the corner, devising our strategy.

Andy plotting out all the stops on a map that already had the stops plotted out.

The day started off pouring rain, but it let up just in time for the race to start. However, at that point I rolled over some large form of a spring and popped my first tire. Luckily Andy has the same bike as me, and he rode of to switch out tires quickly. While he was doing that, the rest of the team (which consisted of Jon, Katlin, her friend, Anouk, from the Netherlands, Kim, Andy and myself) checked an inappropriate picture off our list.

I'm pretty sure Mom wouldn't want me to bike around in my underwear. He could've caught hypothermia!

After that we were off to the highest point in Minneapolis to get a number off a kiosk and to take another photo of a "pointless" human pyramid. This took a lot more discussion than should be required for a pyramid. It didn't help that I couldn't figure out the timer on my camera right away. At any rate, we took a good picture.

I'm not actually really resting on anyone since I had to run around to the back.

Then we rode around and accomplished a few other tasks. Jon wrote a short essay about two songs from a juke box in Grumpy's bar and I tipped the bartender $1 (that was Andy's) for doing nothing. After that we headed to Boom Island to get a bloom and a wonderful picture. Though on the way Kim's chain broke in the middle of the road and we had to take yet another break. For some reason Andy was actually prepared for this set back and magically had a chain tool to fix her chain. The break was helpful in that we found a copy of the surprisingly elusive Northeaster for our collection of things.

Andy Has-the-world-in-his-backpack doing what he does best.

The task was to take a picture of the team on a picnic table with the skyline in the background. I should not have included so much of the other picnic table.

Then we were off to the "Feats of Strength"! Where we had used 40 oz of Miller High Life as a key to get into the stop. Our feat of strength was to each eat a large chunk of tofu covered with cinnamon, and then chug the 40 as a team. Lets just say that it was very beneficial to wash down the tofu with something.

Andy was amused by the tofu, Kim was disgusted, and Jon was thirsty.

Someone else also took another picture of our bikes. I was very excited.

I might have gotten the order of events a bit wrong. But at any rate, we were on our way to being done when I ran over a very dead squirrel and we were able to finish off the photo portion of the scavenger hunt.

We got 10 points for finding roadkill and taking a picture. Ten more points for a team member picking it up. Zero points for pretending to lick it. Jon's hand was immediately doused in whiskey to cleanse.

Then it was off to the after party! I've never seen so many bikers in the same place! It was really exciting. We turned in our manifesto and showed our pictures. The judge was appropriately disgusted with Jon's roadkill photo. Though we didn't win, it was still lots of fun. I really enjoy doing active things on the weekends. Next time though, I won't get so excited that they serve me at a bar.

A pitcher of beer!

Critical Mass Video

2007-05-01T14:05:00.001-06:00

I thought I took better video than I really did. This one is a bit crap, but still exciting!

Critically Massive

2007-04-28T21:08:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was the second Critical mass of my life and it was AMAZING! If I've said before that I like biking in groups, I like even better biking in a group of about 150. The weather is nice and finals are just far enough away, loads of people decided to go for a Critical Mass ride. In that light the ride was incredibly fun and full of new experiences. Here's a shot of the group going over the Hennepin Avenue bridge:

We were in the middle of the pack. The month before traffic was able to get by on this bridge, not this month!

When there is such a large group there are actually Critical Mass techniques, mostly for the protection of bikers and annoyance of drivers. At intersections people actually stand with their bikes in front of cars until everyone rides by, so that the car can't make a mad dash through the crowd. That's quite dangerous. Plenty of people fell off their bikes anyway, there was no need for added car danger. I didn't get a shot of the tactics, but I did get a good picture of a "rally." I forgot what Andy called it. At the intersection of Hennepin and Lagoon in Uptown the ride stopped and a bunch of people rode around in circles. Then they picked up their biked and chanted: "Whose streets? Our streets!"

Bike "gang"

It was really funny. Then they did that again at another intersection, except it was interrupted by fire trucks. I got a video of that one and it sounds pretty badass. So once I figure out how to get a video on here, I'll post it (any help would be appreciated). This was quite the exciting night, I was really happy to be apart of it. Especially since it is for a good cause, people really should bike more. Andy's idea of a legal Critical Mass would be even better though, because then drivers would be annoyed, but not have any legal defense against us.

Here are some random pictures that I took because I was excited about being able to ride my bike and not fall off while taking pictures. Also, for the interest of Pete, I rode Paddy:

Paddy the bike. I wrapped those handlebars myself with the orange tape. That's why it looks so bad.

Andy and his friend Patrick, leaning on each other. They got tired.

I made sure that my helmet matched my shirt, always looking my best.

Ross on Delilah.

Going under the Washington Avenue Bridge, I think this is a pretty picture.

Downtown Minneapolis, this was taken the second round through.

Relay for Life

2007-04-21T17:25:00.000-06:00

Last night was the University of Minnesota's Relay for Life, a fundraising event for the American Cancer Society. SANE got a team together and I participated. The whole point is to have a member of your team walking around the track at all times (the event took place in the field house) for 12 hours. That's a long time.
At any rate, these events tend to be a bit hard for me to get through and I've been thinking about my grandma a lot. She died of breast cancer when I was eight. Seeing the survivors walk the first lap was difficult because I wish that my grandma could have been walking with them. I pictured her trailing behind with a smile on her face. This whole idea of people surviving cancer is amazing to me. Growing up, I didn't really understand what was wrong with my grandma, just that she was sick and had something called cancer. For the longest time, I think until just last year, I didn't think of cancer as anything you could survive. Once you had it, that was the end and it was going to be horrible.
My greatest regret is that I didn't get to know my grandma that well. I was young, when we'd go to Indiana she would always have sacks of goodies for us. I remember her being a good person, always thinking of others. One time when she was in Minnesota, she noticed that I had two very nice combs, and my mom had one come which was missing a lot of teeth. She taught me to share and not be selfish with my things, and encouraged me to give one of my nice combs to my mom. I don't have many memories of my grandma, and the ones I do have are fading. I never really understood why my grandma wore wigs, but I remember them on little stands in her bedroom. One time she took her wig off for me to show me her hair that was growing back. There was just a little bit, and it was as soft as baby's hair. I couldn't understand why she didn't have hair, and I didn't know the significance of it growing back.
I wish I knew her better. I wish I knew all of my family better, we seem to take each other for granted at times. And so with Uncle Ron's death this morning, I really wish I could have gotten to know him better. He was so funny and full of life. But that's all I really know, and I wish I knew more. I'm mostly sad about the things I missed out on in life.
At times I feel like I don't value the relationships I do have with people. It has been very easy for me to write off people in my life. Though now I do really enjoy the people I have become friends with, they are much more caring, intelligent, and interesting people than who I hung out with in high school. I don't want to lose the people I have become close with, and I don't want to lose the family that I have before I get to know them better. Sometimes I wish I was a better communicator and not so awkward so that this would be easier.

Dental Habits

2007-04-12T21:17:00.000-06:00

I'm really excited about this new Listerine I bought. You're all probably excited too, since there is a surprising amount of interest in my dental health.

My daily dental regimen, soft bristle toothbrush from Boynton, two kinds of floss for alternating days, and anticavitiy mouthwash!

Generally when I see something pretty-colored, I want it. That's what happened when I first saw new purple Listerine. However, this is actually ANTICAVITY! So hopefully it helps me get fewer cavities and I won't be so embarrassed when I go to the dentist. This is a delightful addition to my flossing activity.

Superfly and Made of Steel

2007-04-10T14:23:00.000-06:00

How I spent my Easter Vacation. This past weekend Tony, his girlfriend Laura, Clare and I took a jaunt to Indiana to celebrate Easter with my family. It was quite fun, I enjoy going home and spending some quiet time with my parents and animals. My cat Tipper is really fat now and it's funny. Chip is as rambunctious as ever, though getting greyer around his eyes.

Windmills just south of Rockford, IL.

Friday we got home in time to get some food. Clare and I took pictures at the old graveyard. It was rather sad, there were a lot of infant graves. Though it was cool to see really old head stones, mostly from the mid 1800s. After we got back there was a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit, where I strategically chose Clare as my partner because I knew she would kick ass. And we won.

Anne Death's death was no laughing matter. Nor did anyone see it coming.

Saturday was a bit entertaining. Tony's friends who go to Purdue, Jon and Peter came for a visit. We decided to take the ATV Dad had purchased a few weeks ago for a ramble through the woods while Mom and Dad hid eggs for the egg hunt. It started all well and fine, we were having a good time. Until I decided to try my hand at the wheel and travelling up a steep embankment with a curve. My lack of experience driving 4-wheelers/anything with a motor for the past 7 months came into play when I didn't let off the throttle, didn't turn hard enough, and missed the brake. I hit a bump (that bump that occurs when you go off a trail), flew off, and rolled down the hill a bit until I hit a small tree. The ATV hit a larger tree.

Before.

After.

The amazing thing about this fall is that despite flying through the air aways, hitting the ground, and rolling down a hill - I'm okay. I was super sore and in lots of pain Saturday, but that's mostly gone away. I probably have a total of 4 small bruises. The most injured part of my body is my right foot that got all scratched up because somehow my shoe AND sock fell off. So now I'm just horrified that I managed to break something really expensive. Though the ATV starts now, it'll probably cost a lot to fix it. Not to mention how un-fun it is to push something like that up a hill.

After we finally made it back to the house, we had our Easter egg hunt, which was loads of fun as usual. Then we had delicious dinner. That night we watched The Wind that Shakes the Barley, which made my day, even if we had to keep stopping it to let the DVD cool down.

The ride home was incredibly not fun, especially since my muscles were really stiff, and got stiffer the more I didn't move. Also, now I have a healthy fear of anything with a motor. The whole time I was driving I kept feeling like I was going to lose control of the car and we'd all go flying into a ditch. So I'm really glad I don't drive, and that I power my own way of getting around on my bike.

Things that make me happy: Tony got a Peachy-Pooh finally from Maple Corner.

Not as delicious as it sounds.

I also flossed last night.

Quickie

2007-04-02T15:00:00.000-06:00

The Minnesota Daily had a picture from Critical Mass last Friday. Their estimate was 30 people, mine was a bit high I guess. This picture is from the Washington Avenue Bridge. I actually watched the girl take this picture. So I'm to the left more, out of the shot.

I've also flossed for 7 days in a row now. Go me!

Bicycle (Mis)Adventures

2007-03-31T10:32:00.000-06:00

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.

2007-03-26T23:06:00.000-06:00

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

2007-03-19T19:27:00.001-06:00

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

2007-03-18T13:25:00.000-06:00

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.