I'm managing to make my messages known

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.

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

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

Please comment on world events.

Fancy Pictures

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!

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

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.