The Myth & The Majesty

Listening to: Christmas music (yeah, you heard me) Thinking about: how unexcited I am about work tomorrow Just remembered: a bottle of wine in the freezer to "chill" (uh-oh) Hoping: I can sleep tonight Relieved: that the wine isn't slushy Right, so this post wasn't supposed to start with a ridiculous list. It was supposed to launch right into pictures. Went and screwed that one up, didn't I? How about if we see how badly inserting pictures messes with the layout instead? (Grumble, grumble, grumble.) Okay then. Now that I've destroyed the opening, we'll see how the rest goes, eh? After a week of rain and general dreariness, the forecast for the weekend involved sunshine and September-esque temperatures. So on Wednesday I decided I was going to get out of Dodge for a bit, and on Thursday I got the rather inspired suggestion to go to Devil's Lake State Park. I'll admit that at 4:30 Saturday morning, I wasn't thrilled with the guy that suggested i...

I took a trip north last weekend and it almost didn't happen. It started on Thursday, when I realized that I really wanted to get out of the apartment (if only for a day) and take a mini-vacation. I was going to leave Friday after work, crash at a motel somewhere, and spend Saturday sightseeing. After getting suggestions from Kristi & JD, I decided that a trip up to the Apostle Islands was in order. On Friday, I got thwarted by work and weather. It's moderately rare to put in extra time on a Friday (I mean, who wants to be there later than absolutely necessary?) but due to a project that kind of stunk and my new-ness, I was there till after I intended to be on the road -- which meant I hadn't packed or eaten supper yet. When a nasty thunderstorm blew in as well, I decided to leave early Saturday and make the trip. When my alarm clock went off shortly after four, I shut it off and tried to talk myself into staying in bed. Or going. I couldn't figure out what I really...

Like so many things in life, it all started with an email. A late one, for that matter. “Hey, I saw you were going to have a couple Russian parties, and I thought I might try to make it out for one ... Oh, by the way. I moved to Wisconsin not too long ago.” What started on that awkward note turned into a great weekend in Superior/Duluth. Saturday, I met up with Danielle (who, much to my jealousy, spent the last year in St. Petersburg teaching English and just this past Saturday started the venture back for another year) and did some sightseeing. Since I had never seen Lake Superior before, most of our activity was lakeside. The beach, the lighthouse, the Rose Garden ... We even went geocaching (which was even more fun because it was Danielle’s first cache), finding one right down on the shore. After that, we met up with Amy (another member of the 2005 Russia crew) for supper, and then ended up at Marilynn (yep – another one!) and Amy’s apartment to get caught up. Sunday started at a ba...

Ah, the week is over. Well, the work week is over. Whatever. Decided to do some geocaching after work today ... Okay, backing up. I sprang for a handheld GPS receiver this past week, much to my excitement. A Garmin eTrex Legend to be more specific, found on super-sale to be most specific. And today I found my first Wisconsin cache, at the Isle. Next time, I need to remember bug spray. Especially if it's as hot as today. And especially if, like today, there was a massive thunderstorm the night before that left a lot of standing water. Yeah, wasn't very smart about that one. And then I met a friendly stranger in the park with a gorgeous, well-behaved, energetic golden retriever. Yay for random fun people! Tomorrow, fun people that are considerably less random ... I'm headed north, to the Superior/Duluth area, where I'll definitely be meeting up with one woman I went to Russia with (and hopefully at least two more) ... Yay! I'll have to tell you about it when I get bac...

Today, I (re)discovered the magicalness of geocaching ! If you haven't done it, I highly recommend it. It's a worldwide treasure hunt; people hide things all over, give the GPS coordinates online, and then other people find 'em and sign 'em. Sounds rather ... I don't know. Not fun. But it's awesome, and possibly a new hobby -- yay for new hobbies! I have also been watching a lot of chick flicks lately, which just puts me in a weird, slightly offbeat mood. (More offbeat for me -- less Ashley-like.) Earlier today, I had much more to say. Right now, I'm just tired. The black circles under my eyes give me away ... I worked very early this morning. Egads. Bedtime. Have a good one! In time, Noah finished the house. He took a good look at what he had accomplished, got rip-roaring drunk for ten days, thought seriously about setting it on fire, and finally put the house up for sale. -James Garner (narrating), "The Notebook"