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

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.

Pictures of Things I've Done Recently

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.

Back Home Again in Indiana

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.

Ladies and Gentlemen...

... 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!

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.

Superfly and Made of Steel

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.

153... 152 ... Hawaiian Countdown

This weekend Tony and I travelled down south to the home of our parents in Indiana. For some reason Indiana has accumulated more snow than Minnesota, which is quite sad for me.

I shoveled a path to my Grandpa's front door.

The real reason for our trip down wasn't to see and bond with family, but to eat a large dinner and wait for certain numbers to be called so we could win a trip to Hawaii. Unfortunately (for me at least) Grandpa was the only one of the family to win anything, and it wasn't a tropical vacation or $250. It was a bottle of Karkov. Just shows that we're not a family of losers, we simply need to age a bit before we can begin to be winners.

Grandpa was excited about his bottle of gin.

Tony and I are flying home together this evening. Hopefully that goes OK. On the way down I sat next to a very nice, very christian lady. She got all excited that I was reading a book about Celtic myths because her son is apparently interested in that kind of stuff. I got to talk about my trip to Ireland, which she thought was really neat.

All in all it was very nice to get away from school for a bit and relax. I forgot my room here has a lot of space, so that's quite the novelty for me. I've run around a bit just because I can.