My Journal

A year ago I was studying abroad in Australia. It doesn't seem that long ago, that in fact I've been home for twice as long as I was even away already. Last week I read through the journals I kept while I was abroad, about 28 pages of single spaced text in all, and it was a good experience. I am glad I took the time to set up a journal and write regular entries. Reading them was similar to looking at photos from of the places I've been, yet it helped me remember more things, more vividly. I figured it would be a good idea to resume keeping journal entries, so that years down the road I can read through them on a rainy day and remember all the little things that tend to be forgotten...

Happy 22th Brian! It's his birthday today, so I'll probably be going out to the bars tonight. We'll probably start out at Andy's and end up at the Harbor, but we'll see. I'm on spring break at the moment. I work at the liquor store 5-10 tonight and tomorrow, and 4-9 on Saturday. Monday I'm driving back to Gilbert and finishing whatever homework I still have, and then school resumes for me on Tuesday. Sometime before the end of break I have to schedule two interviews with people in Ely to discuss wolves, for my Geog5612: Field Techniques class. I'm also in Anthropology and the Environment (currently reading Polluted Promises), Computers and Software (busywork), Geography of Weather (meteorology basically; easy), and Intro to Mandarin Chinese (Interesting; I just got a 100% on my midterm!). This has been a busy semester and looks to be so until the end. I enrolled in the May term Intro to Maps and Cartographic Methods, so I'll have class 8 to 10:15 AM Monday-Friday from finals week to June 1st. But that's alright, I can do some fishing in the St. Loius River after class, and hopefully add the lake sturgeon to my fishing lifelist. I'm really looking forward to this summer......fishing, camping, baseball and softball. And work : /

I've been getting into Wild hockey recently (... notice this journal's colors); they are playing good as of late. Me, Steve, Casey, and Christa are going to the game vs. the Blues on April 7th. I'm pretty excited for that, should be a blast.

Last night I stayed at Mitch's. We played Super Mario until about 4 AM. Tuesday Cole and I went to Dick's sports in Woodbury and met Danny there. I bought a new light reel and some Trilene Sensithin in preparation for trout fishing this spring. Then we went to Danny's house in Fridley and were hounded by his golden retrievers. We went bowling at Maple Lanes(I bowled well, including three games over 150 and a personal best 191) for a couple hours, and then went to Best Buy to check out digital camcorders. Cole and I are planning on buying one so we can make some fishing home videos this summer. After going back to Dan's to watch Beerfest we went out to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings, and then went bowling again (at Earle Brown Lanes), and then back to Dan's to watch Borat. Monday I was lazy in the morning, and then went to eat at McDonald's with Mitch, Kori, Sam, Faith, Casey, and Christa. Then we went to the piercing place and Casey got her antitrigus (I think?) pierced. Me and Mitch stopped at Kori's and then Mitch's for a while before going to Target. I bought a new baseball/softball glove and we got some games to play. Mitch, Kori, Casey, and I played Battle of the Sexes, Loaded Questions, Boulderdash, and Worst Case Scenario. Saturday I worked 10-6 and then went to Ryan and Ashley's with Steve for a while before going bowling. Eventually we met at Brian's house, and then met Mitch at Andy's Bar. We hit Chief up for a drink, and then headed to the Harbor, where I showed Mitch how to play the deer-hunter game. Brian, Steve, and I got drunk and crashed at Brian's. Sunday I recovered from a hangover and then went to the movie 300 with Mitch, Brian, Devin and his brother and girl-friend. We met Cole at Perks afterwards, and I had a rueban melt, yum perks. Friday I worked 1-9, and last Thurday I drove down to Rdubbs after school. That's been my spring break so far, and the start of this journal. From here on I'll keep stuff up to date as it happens (or try to anyway) and probably fill in a summary of my life since coming home from Australia on July 4th, 2006.

I'm at the Kirby food court at UMD now, waiting for Birdman to get out of class so we can go to Subway. I'm going down to Red Wing tonight for the weekend, but I have to make it through a couple more classes first...

Saturday was St. Patrick's day. I worked til 9 and then went to Brian's and watched Bruce Almighty for a while til Brian was done working. Then we picked Mitch up from Andy's, and chief gave me$20 to sober cab him and his friends. Mitch, Kori, Brian, and I went to the Harbor.

Thursday night after classes I drove home to Red Wing and hung out at Mitch's for a while until Casey and Kori were done with work, then we went out to eat at Applebees. Friday I went fishing at Hay Creek at 320th Street for a few hours, fishing downstream of the culvert. I caught 4 brownies on a coach dog Rooster tail and had many other fish get off. The biggest was a chunky 13 incher. When I was finished I called Bmills and met him at Twin Bluff and we threw a football around and hit some baseballs. When Cole got home from Duluth I went fishing again with him at 325th, and I caught 2 more little ones and Cole got one. I went home and cleaned up, then went to Casey's house. We (Casey, Mitch, Kori, Christa, Brian, and I) played Pretty Pretty Princess (Casey schooled me), and then Battle of the Sexes and Loaded Questions. Later we watched Final Destination 3 and Lisa and Jerrett came over before Mitch, Kori, and I left.

Yesterday I went fishing again, downstream from the culvert at 320th again, and landed 9. None of them were very big. The weather has been awesome though. It's been near 70 degrees the past few days. After fishing yesterday I went to Brian's and played baseball on Xbox, then Kori came over and so did Mitch and we went to Target and then Subway. Kori and I went to Mitch's and we played Mario for a while. Then I went to pick up the case for my glasses at Brian's and we came up with the crazy idea of climbing the bluff, at 2 AM. So we grabbed a camera and some flashlights and headed up there. It was really nice, comfortably warm in just t-shirts even though it was windy, and light enough to see without even using the flashlights. We weren't the only crazy ones...we ran in to a group of kids from Faribault up there. Brian and I made it to the top and overlooked the city for a while, and it was really cool (and I'm glad I finally went on got glasses). When we got back down though, there were 3 squad cars and a bunch of cops checking ID's on the other kids, who were apparantly minors and had been drinking and smoking weed. So Brian and I had to wait a long time for them to search the other car and bust everyone before they talked to us, and then we had to give them our ID's and tell them we had no idea who those other kids were before we could leave. Now I'm at my grandma's and I have to drive up to Duluth and meet with my research group at 5 to fill out a Human Subjects form and complete an assignment. Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment at 10:30 AM in Hibbing, and I'll have to crack down on homework this week : (

I'm so sick of this damn paper. I've been working on, or at least trying to work on, this anth white paper all day. I have to write an Australian congressman with a proposal to help out the Mirarr Indigenous Australians in their case against uranium mining at Jabiluka and Ranger. It's supposed to be 6 pages double-spaced, and I've got about 3 done now, and it's slow going. I wanted to get it done yesterday but didn't even get it started because I slept til noon, did my Chinese hw, watched the Wild game vs. Colorado, which they lost 2-1, loafed around til 7, and then watched the Calgary vs. Vancouver game on the Canadien channel (yeah ya know you're in the boonies when you get Canadien channels broadcast on your local set). Basically all I've been doing is schoolwork for the past eight days or so though, and I'm ready for a break. Luckily I'll get one soon. Next weekend is Easter, and Saturday night is the Wild game with Casey and Steve and Christa. Then the weekend after is the trout opener, and I'll have a reprieve from hw then so I'm going to Red Wing again. Mitch and Kori got an apartment together, and I'm excited to see that soon. The 2007 baseball season starts in 30 minutes...Cards vs. Mets. I couldn't care less about that game, but the Twins play tomorrow! Against Baltimore at home.

It's almost 3 AM now. I finished that paper, and now am actually pretty proud of it. I think I did a really good job and it's probably the most professional thing I've written yet. Hopefully Professor Syring agrees. I've been working on my homepage now, and it's starting to look decent. The hard part will be adding images to the upper right and lower left without messing up the alignment of all the rest, which is NOT gonna be easy. I also made a logo for my web design company...yeah, the one I just started this evening: Kayaking Pelican WebDZINE. Hmm, Pelicans do go kayaking. Well, I'm gonna tinker around with web stuff some more and see what happens...

Haven't written for a while, been busy. Not even doing homework really, I've had time to actually have some fun. This past weekend I was in Red Wing and caught a 20" brown trout Friday. Then I fished on Saturday for a little while and caught a few small ones, and played baseball a couple times. Me and Mitch are going pro as soon as we brush up on a few little things, with the help of our new drill sergeant Casey (she could go pro herself, but someone's gotta coach). I caught a limit of trout from Hay Creek Monday and we tried and failed to grill them at Mitch n Kori's place, but ended up cooking broiling them inside. Mitch also cooked up some of his venison brats, and Casey and I played through all the tracks on Mario Kart for Game Cube. I worked Friday and Saturday morning, and on Sunday I went to the Twins game with Mitch but we lost 6-4 (tied it up in the bottom of the 8th at 4 but Nathan gave up two in the top of the ninth). I saw my old classmate/friend Bjorn in the Dome after the game. Me and Mitch went to Nar's house (but he wasn't home) and hit up Arby's on University Ave. Then I went to the movie The Reaping with Casey that evening.

Now I have to finish up my computer science homework and then drive to Duluth for a group meeting for my meteorology class. We're doing a project on Hurricane Hugo. I'm heading back to Red Wing again this weekend.

I was just about to go to bed, but then I asked my sister and her boyfriend what movie they were watching and noticed a 6 pack of Newcastle Brown Ale. I've never had it before and Jason let me have one, so I'm writing here as an excuse to have something to do as I drink it, and it is really good. Well I suppose it better be, it's the most expensive beer we sell at RWL, at $9.25 a 6 pack.

This past weekend I hung out at Mitch n Kori's a bit, and also managed to finish my homework :0 ! I played baseball with Jeff, Ryan, and Nar one day and got a bad sun burn, which has been itchy as all hell. I also fished a little bit, catching a trout at Hay, a nice smallie at Baypoint, and a mooneye at the Cannon under the 61 bridge. Sunday I met Casey at DQ and we had some ice cream even though it had started raining. Curtis was working there. Saturday night I drank with Mitch, Kori, and Sam and Sunday night I hung out with Mitch and we made mac n cheese and I watched the Western Derby from last week online (the West Coast Eagles beat Fremantle and are currently on the top of the ladder with 16 points after 4 rounds). Then we played Mario Kart on Kori's Gamecube and won all the cups to unlock the special cup. I drove back to Gilbert Monday morning and worked on my Anth poster (and made 2 trips to Virginia for supplies). Today after Field Techniques class I went to the track and ran 6 solid miles in 51:58, making it my longest continuous run yet. I actually went running late Friday night too, from my Grandma's past the middle school, up Pioneer Rd, down Highway 58 and Bush Street to Brian's house, then got a ride home from him at 1 AM. I've been working on my Anth poster and plan to finish it tomorrow, as well as my chinese hw, and I need to continue preparing for my research trip to Ely. We leave Thursday morning and return Sunday evening. It will be a lot of f**king work, but the weather forecast sounds decent and Ely should be a good time when I'm not working on schoolwork. Our project is on the International Wolf Center's contribution to the debate and research on wolves. I can't wait for it all to be over. Well I'm finished with that beer now, so it's time to shower and get some sleep.

Well tomorrow I head to Ely for the big research project we've been working up to all semester. I just finished my Anth poster session on uranium mining and the Mirarr aboriginal people issue. I went to the movie Disturbia with my sister in Hibbing this afternoon and that was a pretty good movie. I'm angry with myself for screwing up my hand today. I was doing pullups at the Gilbert field on the football crossbar, which stupidly has jagged granite rocks under it. I did my pullups, but instead of swinging forward as I let go to land in the grass, I slipped and fell on the rocks. My wrist is sore and there's a small cut and a big bruise the heel of my hand, so now I won't be able to play baseball or paddle a canoe or kayak for a few days. Well, I need to pack my stuff for the trip now, and shower and go to bed so I get a good night sleep.

I'm in Ely now, and it's 10:40 pm. I got here at around 8:30 this morning, an hour earlier than everyone else. So I casted a daredevil off the dock for a bit, then read some meteorology hw about hurricanes. When my group members arrived I left with Kody for an interview with Tom Rusch at the MN DNR office in Tower. We interviewed him and his associate manager about wolf ranges, management, public opinion, and so forth for an hour. Then we got back to Ely, ate at Subway, and walked down the downtown strip and checked out some stores. We asked store owners simple questions about wolves, and then met up with Sam, Nick, and Heidi (I rode with Kody in his Malibu, so they had my car. They called because it wouldn't start, but finally it did). We went to the Ely Chamber of Commerce to confirm my interview with Linda tomorrow (which she hadn't written on her schedule so she fit me in for 15 minutes at noon), and then to the library. When we got back to the cabin (Northern Lights Resort, a really nice place with a good view over the lake and secluded), Sam and I took a canoe out, and so did Kody and Nick. We canoed and fished a little until about 6 (my hand looks worse but feels better, and it didn't bother me too much to paddle lightly). Back at shore Proffesor Kuhlke (Olaf) and his wife (Kari, also a professor at UMD who I had for Prehistoric Cultures) and their kids were fishing. I went for a swim in the icy cold water (according to the resort owner it was still partially iced over as of yesterday morning). I was in the water for about 40 seconds and it wasn't too bad, then I got out and it still wasn't bad at first (it was a nice day today, at around 70 degrees). But after a couple minutes my skin felt like it was burning - just pins and needles. Our class made spaghetti and we all ate a lot, then Olaf held a class meeting and we discussed what we did during the day and what our plans are for tomorrow. Originally Olaf had said that there will be NO drinking on the resort grounds, but Kari talked him into letting us students have some fun and he gave in. So we made a liquor run convoy to town and picked up beer. I grabbed a 6 pack of Heineken, and had one of them tonight. It's a nice evening and we've got a bonfire going, Kari took their kids to bed so even Olaf is drinking some beers!

We have an interview at 9:00 AM at the Ely Echo (the local newspaper), one at 12:00 at the Chamber of Commerce, and two at 1:00 at the International Wolf Center. Then Nick and I plan on hitting the town and taking photos of all the things that include wolves, such as items in gift shops, paintings at galleries, and company logos which include wolves as a symbol. I think I'm the first person going to bed, and the one drinking the least, but it will be good in the morning!

Today we got up and ate some bagels, then headed into town for a 10 AM interview with Nick from the Ely Echo. After going to the craziest designed DQ drivetrhough for food, we interviewed Linda Fryer at the Chamber of Commerce and Jess Edberg and Lori Schmidt at the International Wolf Center. The Wolf Center was pretty cool, and the display is really nice. Now we're back at the cabin and taking naps. We also uploaded photos, video footage, and notes into Olaf's laptop. We are grilling brats and burgers tonight. It's cloudy and looks like it could be raining tonight though.

Friday night we grilled up burgers and brats and had fruit, potato salad, and beans to go with it. It was really nice outside. It did rain a little bit, but people still hung out around the fire. I stayed in cabin 10 talking with Olaf and the lakeshore development group, and took hits of Healer Tea and drank beer. Saturday Kody and Nick went to the forest services for an interview, while Sam, Heidi and I interviewed Sarah Hanson and John Terwilliger about wolves in their backyard. Then we went to the Wolf Center again and interviewed some volunteers, and ran into a couple of funny conservation officers who we talked with for about an hour. The wolves were moving around so we actually got to see them and take a few photos. After the wolf center I let Nick and Heidi take my car back to the cabin and I rode with Kody and Sam to the Winton bar, where the supposed rough neck wolf haters hung out, in search of some negative perceptions of wolves to help our research project. We went in there and there were some rough looking men in there, and we had a drink to loosen up (I ordered a gin gimlet, but the lady didn't know what it was and I think she gave me a cup of straight gin with no lime juice, but I drank it anyway). We talked to a grizzly guy, who was completely hammered, and in a round about way reached the topic of wolves. He actually thought wolves were cool, and claimed he has a den about 200 meters behind his house, and that he's seen them in his yard. It was an interesting conversation though, he was certainly a character...

We went to the Steakhouse and had a beer after that, then I picked up White Russians at the liquor store and had tacos and drank at the cabin around the campfire. Today we slept in and then I went with Drew, Sam, Heidi, and Nick for a drive around Bear Island Lake, and stopped at the Bear Head State Park office before rushing home and barely making it in time for the final class meeting. After that I went into town for a while and hit some baseballs at the Vermillion Community College field before driving back to Gilbert. It's 8 pm and I'm home now. Tomorrow I'm going to Duluth to fish and look at papers for the apartment for next year.

I'm at my dad's now, just finished my questions for the final quiz on our poster sessions for anthropology and the environment. Tomorrow I have to present a powerpoint presentation on our research findings, but I'm pretty much ready for it. Yesterday I was in class all day of course, it being a Tuesday, but on Monday I did some fishing in Duluth. I went to the Lester River first with crawlers and watched a guy land two longnose suckers in front of me with a yarn fly. I didn't get any bites though. Then I met the lady at the Kenwood apartments and got my application for a lease. After that I went fishing again at the St. Louis River. It was cool, windy, and some rain drops fell, but I threw on extra layers and fished for a while. I landed 4 yellow perch and a bluegill. Then I went scouting for fishing spots and followed the road along the river through a state park and all the way to I-35 at Black Bear Casino. I picked Jon up by the UMD library and we went down to Little Angies on canal park to eat and drink. We had a couple of New Castle Brown Ale's and ate fish tacos (I had mahi-mahi and Jon had walleye). It was good stuff. Then we worked on hw in the library lab and the coffee shop before I went to Cole's and stayed over.

I went to Jon's house in Owatonna on Thursday and stayed overnight. We ate some leftover steak and veggies and then watched The Protector. On Friday we got up and went fishing but we were underdressed for the rainy weather and quit early. We went to the 4 o'clock matinee of Spiderman 3 and then tossed a baseball around and Jon's parents made us turkey dinner. I drove back to Red Wing Friday night. Saturday I slept in and then went fishing with Kori from noon til dark, through rain and wind. We caught 20 some sheephead, a couple carp, catfish and mooneyes, a sucker, and Mitch came out after work and got to see Kori catch a nice 4 pound walleye. We picked up some beer and drank Saturday night and I cleaned up and organized my tackle box. Mitch worked Sunday too, but Kori and I went fishing again. They didn't bite as good, but we caught a few. Later we played Mario Party and went out to eat at Applebee's for Chief's birthday. I'm at UMD now, and have completed the oral final exam for Chinese. We still have to take the written part tomorrow though. I'm meeting my geography 5612 group here at the library at 7 and am procrastinating on writing my segment of our research paper now...

I never did work on my paper Monday night. Instead Jon and I found a nice ballfield on Woodland and hit baseballs around until my meeting. Yesterday I knocked off Chinese and Computers and Software exams, and in between I ate a pizza at Blackwoods Grill & Bar. I also went down to the lakeshore and layed on a flat rock and layed in the sun while I studied. Yesterday was the warmest day so far this year, at around 80 degrees. Today I have a quiz in Anth & the Environment and another meeting with my group for the paper. The Twins won last night against the White Sox on a 10th inning walk-off 3 run homer by Justin Morneau. I might go to the game tomorrow if I get out of my Weather & Climate exam on time.

Finals are over and so is our wolf project! Yesterday after the Weather & Climate exam Jon and I went fishing at the St. Louis River for a few hours and caught some ruffe, perch, and rockbass. We also saw a kid pull in 49" lake sturgeon. We also played baseball in Gary for about an hour. All the fishing and baseball was without shirts and foolishly not wearing sunscreen so we both got burned badly. When I got home to Red Wing I went fishing again with Casey and Kori at the Cannon River 61 bridge. We caught a couple shorthead redhorses, sheephead, a mooneye, and a small channel cat. Then we went to walmart and picked up food, and rented Mario Party 4 and played that for a while. I work at the Liquor Store 2-10 today and tomorrow. But now I'm going to Econo foods to pick up an application for the meat department. So it looks like I'll be working with Kevin and Kendra again afterall!

I worked Friday and Saturday from 2-10. On Sunday Jon drove over in the morning and came with my dad, grandma, and Gin, Steve, Andrea, Elliot, and Dylan for Mother's Day brunch at Marie's. Then Jon and I went to Kori and Mitch's and then went out on the boat. Steve came with us and we picked Casey up later. I caught my first lake sturgeon, and Kori got one too. Casey got a 10 pound carp and some sheephead, Jon and Steve also got sheephead, and Mitch didn't have much luck. After boating Casey, Jon, Steve, and I went to the Athletic field and played baseball with Jesse and some other guys. Cole came down there too, and we went to Perks afterwards. Jon stayed at my grandma's and we got up at 4 and drove up to Duluth for 8 am class. We went to the movies 28 Weeks Later and Next at Duluth 10. Both were pretty good. The book for the course I'm taking (intro to maps and cartographic methods) cost $111, but I devised a genious plan. I'm going to read all the readings today and return the book tomorrow for a full refund (they give you 3 days after the start of the course for returns).

Last night I went to Blackwoods with Jon and Justin for pizza, a beer, and baseball, and then read some geography hw. I read a bunch more today and returned my book for the refund. My sister's graduation ceremony (Blue Sky Charter High School) was held tonight at 7 so I had to drive to St. Paul for that and now I'm back in Duluth and ready for bed. I've been thinking about my senior research project on the geography of fish and bought a couple books Sowbelly: The Obsessive Quest for the World-Record Largemouth Bass and Bass Madness: Bigmouths, Big Money, and Big Dreams at the Bassmaster Classic at Barnes and Noble. Jon bought The Cartographer's Library which Olaf told us about this morning in class and a couple Jared Diamond books (Collapse and Guns Germs and Steel) and a couple others...

I spent Thursday reading, then Friday Jon and I drove down to fish the St. Croix River. We started at Highway 70 near Grantsburg and didn't catch anything but saw lots of crayfish. We checked out the campground but decided to move upstream and fish at the Snake River confluence, where we also got skunked despite finding what appeared to be a good fishing spot. Finally we went up to St. Croix State Park and fished, and I landed the first fish of the day at 7 pm. I caught a shorthead redhorse, a silver redhorse, a walleye, and a rock bass before dark. I was sitting on the end of a log fishing, and I heard a rustle in the tall grass. Then a porcupine waddled onto the log I was sitting on and started walking towards me. It stopped when it saw me and we locked in a stare. It was really cool being so close to it, and it was the first one I've ever seen. It made some clicking noises and the cheeky little thing started walking at me again, so I hollered to Jon to come over and bring the camera. Then the porcupine turned around and waddled back up the bank and started to climb a tree. By the time I had the camera it was at about eye level on the tree trunk and I got a couple phots which should be really cool if they turn out. We also heard coyotes and owls howling, saw some deer, and I caught a garter snake with my hands. After considering keeping as a gift for Kori, I decided to let it go...

Saturday it was 39 degrees and miserable in Duluth, and 34 degrees warmer in Hinkley, so Jon and I drove down to St. Croix State Park to fish again. We didn't catch anything though, except lots of snags. The wood ticks have been bad there, and we saw poison ivy too. This weekend was a good nature experience. We watched the movie Hitcher at Jon's place, then watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire here at Jordan's house and Jon stayed over. We slept til noon, watched the end of Rookie of the Year, watched The Breakup, went grocery shopping, and then went to Shrek 3 at Duluth Cinema 10. Now I've been working on the fishing specie competition page, and reading about maps for class, which I have at 8, so I'm going to bed now...

It's almost 9 am now and I'm going to work at Econo. I got a job in the meat department and have been working there and at Red Wing Liquor since I finished my May term course. I got an A in that course. The last week of May Jon and I took Olaf and his son Kiel fishing at the St. Louis River and Kiel got a 31 inch lake sturgeon, not bad for his first fish. I've gotta work now but will fill in the past month soon...

On the 30th I played baseball with Steve and Curtis and then Kori and Jen stopped by and we talked about going on the boat. Brandon was leaving for South Korea the next day, but nothing big was going on at his place and I wanted to go fishing so I met them down at Baypoint. We waited for Mitch and his parents to come in on the boat, and Marcus came in the mean time. Then we went out to the back channel beach and set up our tents and Kori and I started fishing right away. I caught some eating size channel catfish and a couple nice walleyes on worms. We had also brought a couple of large sucker minnows and at 11:30 I hooked up a leader and large hook and put one on. I had a bite right away and missed the fish, then threw it out again and hooked into a monster. I caught a 42 inch flathead catfish, estimated around 30-32 pounds. Since then I've been working a lot, and playing baseball and watching movies (went to Live Free or Die Hard and Transformers and also watched The 5th Element, Hostel, and The Bourne Supremacy at Brian's house). Two nights ago I had Cole help me with the canoe and I went out on the backchannel to the beach again by myself. I set up my tent and then started fishing at the back channel beach, but the bait shop was out of suckers so I had to stick to using worms. I caught 4 channel cats and 4 sheephead, and a shorthead redhorse in the morning. Something was chasing baitfish really close to shore in shallow water but I didn't get a look at what they were. That night I cracked open a bottle of champagne as well, as I had promised myself I'd do for getting a 4.0 last semester and May term. It was a fustrating paddle back to the launch in the morning because of the wind, and I kicked back that day and leveled up Zurkallizar, my facebook pet. I work at the liquor store tonight 3-10 then Brian and I are going to watch Ghostbusters. It's a really nice day out today, not too hot. I worked on my lifelist and organized my photos this morning, and it's a relief having that sorted out. Broken hyperlinks are a pain in the ass....

I had to work at Econo today from 8-5:30 and it was a long day. Kevin's on vacation this week so me and Jay worked today. Saturday and Sunday we had inventory and that's an enourmous pain in the ass. Now I have tomorrow (today technically) off. Me and Steve took the canoe out on the backchannel hoping to catch some flatheads and maybe gar. I bought suckers at Ike's because Four Seasons was pretty cleaned out on them. We got out on the river at around 8 and I had a bite soon but missed it on the hookset. Then after dark I had one more good bite and was more patient with it. I hooked the fish and played it for a while but it spit the hook. Judging by the fight I'm estimating it was about 5 pounds...nothing huge. But it would've been nice to see. It started to rain and so we paddled through it back to the launch and went home. Tomorrow we might canoe or tube the Cannon River if the weather looks promising. Yesterday afternoon after work Jesse Norman called me to play some ball so we met him and his friend at AP and hit softballs for a while. Saturday night we played for a while too at the Ath. I'm planning on flying to Louisiana in a month to do some fishing with my cousin Nick and check out New Orleans and Baton Rouge. We might be deep sea fishing or guided fishing for redfish and sea trout. Then I'd be riding home with him in his car. Hopefully that all works out...

Me and Steve did go canoeing down the Cannon last Tuesday. It was a perfect day for it, cloudy at first but clearing up despite a 50% forecasted chance of rain. We caught over 20 smallmouth bass between the two of us and he got a couple nice ones and his first northern hog sucker, and I got some catfish, all on worms. I also caught 2 white bass on "whitey" (my only named fishing lure, a flat white rattle trap I've had for like 10 years and caught more fish on than any other lures. It's amazing it hasn't gotten lost in a snag or had a fish break it off yet...). We got back to the 61 bridge (started in Welch) at around 8:30 and went home.

Lucas is home for a couple weeks so I've been hanging out with him. LoAnn threw a party for him on Saturday night. I hurt my hand playing baseball (robbing Steve of a homer and got my middle finger of my right hand caught and twisted in the fence, it was jammed pretty good and I missed a couple days of work at Econo cos there was no way I was going to be able to wrap and stock with that). The next day they went tubing, but I decided not to and went to Perks with Brian and Steve instead and I ate a tremendous twelve and pie (thanks for footing the bill BP!). I got some photos developed and bought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and am now about half way through it. I've also been writing my story again recently, and have found a good starting point. The other night I watched Farce of the Penguins at Lucas' along with Brienne, Mitch, and Kori. Last night I went with Lucas and Bri to Knocked Up in River Falls, then we went to DQ in Ellsworth and then stopped at Bri's house and played Guitar Hero II for a while. Then I went to Mitch n Kori's and watched Borat, again.

This morning I called Griffin Fishing and booked a guided fishing trip for August 17th. We'll be targetting redfish and sea trout mostly, but also may catch bass, gar, catfish, flounders, and who knows what else. My flight is booked and I get into New Orleans on August 15th at 8:30 pm. It was cheaper to get a lay over in Atlanta so that's what I did. It came to 120 bucks for the air fare...not bad. I worked at the liquor store today, and now it's 11:30. I think I'm going to either work on my story now for a while, or else read some Harry Potter...

Summer's winding down...I've been working the liquor store and hanging out at Mitch and Kori's the past couple days. Yesterday was Kori's 20th birthday and we went out to eat at Applebee's and we are going to the Harbour for dinner and drinks tonight. Johnny Holmes played in Zumbrota Tuesday night. I read Janet Evanovich's One for the Money the other day as well, and have been working on my story as much as I can. I'm up to 8000 words now. I'm looking forward to going to Louisiana. I leave on Wednesday!

I just got back from my Louisiana yesterday. After riding home in the car without a wink of sleep, I got McDonald's breakfast with Kori, picked up my checks and deposited them, and crashed into bed at 1 pm. I slept til 8, then updated my fishing webpage and uploaded photos, ate some rice-a-roni, and then went back to bed. I'm going to write (or start writing, I work in 45 minutes) my trip journal for Louisiana.

Check it out here: LOUISIANA TRIP: AUGUST 2007!

Yesterday was my birthday and slept in at Kori n' Mitch's before coming home to grandma's and I wrote my Louisiana journal entry. Ginny came over and had pizza and cake with us, and then Brian picked me up and we went on a wine tasting event at the St. James Hotel with Lacy and Ty. It was an older crowd there, but we all enjoyed the wine and appetizers. It lasted from 7-9, and we stopped at Andy's for a while afterwards for a beer, popcorn, and the deer hunter game. I walked to Kori n' Mitch's place and crashed there. I worked today at RWL with Juli, and she brought some peaches and cake for me. I've started reading Richard Carry Adams' The Philosopher Fish and might read a bit on that before I go to bed here. I work 4-10 tomorrow.

I mowed the lawn and worked at RWL Saturday and then at Econo Sunday with Kevin. After that I went to Mitch and Kori's and thawed out my redfish fillets. Brian and Cole came over to help me eat some of them. I mixed Bayou Blast cajun seasoning with Italian dressing and brushed that on the fillets, then chopped up green peppers and red onions and layed slices on top. I broiled them in the oven, and they turned out great. I added a lot more cajun spice to mine to make it spicy and it went good with the brown ale I drank with it. I gave the four leftover fillets to LoAnn, who called me at work to also say they were really good. Monday I went to the Minnesota State Fair with Mitch and Kori. We got up there at around 2 and went to the DNR's fish pond first and watched them swim around for a while. Then we walked around, got food, and checked out the cattle, sheep, and swine barns. I bought some whipped cherry honey and then we headed to the Kare11 shed and sniped some first row seats for the News at 5. Kori was hoping to see Sven Sundegaard but he was back at the station. We did get on TV a couple times during the broadcast, and at the end they handed out deep fried fruit on a stick and the three of us got several seconds of live camera time at the end of the show. After that we walked around some more and listened to the music in the air, ate more food, checked out trucks, tractors, a cool ice shack trailer, and tractors. I found a radar gun to pitch at and clocked at 53 and 58 mph. I also did 13 pull ups at the National Guards challenge building. We went in the education building and walked around some more. There was a guy trying to sell potato peelers and such like on an infomercial. We headed out at around nine. Yesterday morning Kori and I went fishing at the Cannon (1 sheephead) and pottery pond (a few sunfish) before heading to the library, where I picked up For to Score. It started to rain like crazy and I brought Kori to her orthodontist appointment, then stopped at Econo for mac n cheese. It rained torrentially and even hailed a bit as we went back to Kori's and then I ate checked out St. Cloud States meteorology program, which I want to do but it looks like it might just take too much time and money because I'd basically have to start over. I worked at RWL last night 3-10 and trained a new kid named Sam in. I work with him most of the rest of the week, then I'm off to school again. It looks like I'll be going to Steve's in St. Cloud, then to a Twin's game with Jon on Labor Day. LoAnn gave me a pair of tickets to the Renaissance festival, so I'll probably go to that the following weekend with Brian.

Wednesday night after work Cole picked me up and we went to Treasure Island and met up with Bmills, who just got back this week from his study abroad program in South Korea. His mom and Matt Thoms were there too. We stayed and chatted til about 1 and then Cole and I went to Perkins. I worked last night 4-10 and then went to Brians and watched TV for a little bit. Then I went for a three mile run around Coon Hill and read a few pages of The Philosopher Fish before going to bed. This morning I finally got around to putting in my old radio in my car, so I have something to listen too when I go up north again on Sunday and for the commute to school. Soon I'm going to go out for lunch with Cole at the Chinese buffet. I work 3-10 with Juli today, and after that I might go out to the Harbor because it's Mitch's birthday today.

On the 1st I went to Brian's (we stayed at his mom's trailer since he had to watch the dogs) and watched Blades of Glory. Then I got up and quickly packed for school at my grandma's and went to St. Cloud to visit Steve. I got there at around 2 and met him at his new apartment. We went to The Quarry and cliff-jumped into the water a couple times. After changing clothes at the apartment we stopped at Wendy's and then watched Rush Hour 3 at the theatre. When we got back to Steve's place I checked the internet for information on pink salmon and read a few pages of The Philosopher Fish. I got up at 8:30 the next morning to drive to the cities. I stopped at a gas station in Clearwater for a donut and Jungle Latte and then, after a slight detour onto U of M grounds, made it to the 6th Street parking ramp and wandered downtown to kill time. I met up with Jon and his parents at 12:30 for the Twins game (thanks to them for the tickets and food). We lost 5-0 to the Cleveland Indians, and are well out of the penant race now at 10 1/2 games back and less than a month to play.

After the game I drove up to Duluth and met at Jon's new house briefly, and then met Casey and her new friends at Outback Steakhouse for dinner. I was happy to find that I got $2600 more than I expected to get in financial aid and so I've paid off my credit card! School started yesterday. My first class was Geography of Soils. I noticed one familiar face: Drew Lundberg from my Field Techniques course of last semester, and talked to him for a bit before class. After a brief intro, we took a hike to Bagley nature area and started digging up soil samples. My lab partner is a girl named Joy, and she seems pretty cool. She's also in Natural Hazards, which goes from 6 to 9:20 PM every Tuesday. My other class was Geographic Thought, with Larry Knopp. It seems like it'll be a decent course even though I've heard from Kody and others that have taken it that it is not fun. Sam Senjem is in that course, and Kody is Hazards as well (both were in my Field Techs group last semester...the wolf project...) Joy gave me a ride to my car because it was chilly and misting outside.

Today I got up, printed off articles to read for Geographic Thought, and went to my sole MWF course: Political Geography with Olaf. Cine 106 was a sauna today, but the class should be alright. After class I went to the Lester River and fly fished. I didn't see any salmon running but I caught a yellow perch and didn't lose any flies in the trees. Then I read some hw on the shore of Superior and then drove around the town of Superior and pulled into an empty lot and read in my car for a while. I have a lot of papers to write this semester unfortunately...I still haven't finished all my readings, it's 11:30 PM, I need to shower still, and Kori's texting me, so I'm gonna take care of that stuff now...

Yesterday geography majors recieved an email from Tongxin Zhu about a Teaching Assistant position that needs to be filled, and I volunteered and got the job. I get paid $8.16/hour to supervise a lab section of physical geography. I talked to Tongxin this morning, and went to Political Geography class. Then me and Jon went out fishing with Justin Meinholdt on his boat on Island Lake. Chris Holst was at the landing when we got there and was going out for muskies. Me, Jon, and Justin casted spinnerbaits, spoons, and nightcrawlers. It was a partly cloudy and cool day, with a steady breeze. I landed a pair of nice smallmouth bass and four pike up to about 5 pounds. Jon got a pike and a smallie and Justin got a couple pike too. Then we went to Applebees for supper and I drove home. Now it's time for bed. I'll have a lot of work to do this weekend...

Last Monday Justin and I fished again, and went across the lake. It was pretty cool and cloudy, but we stuck it out and landed a bunch of hammer-handle pike, a perch, and a smallmouth bass.

Now I'm back at my dad's after a weekend in Red Wing. Friday I had my first teaching experience as the students completed lab 1. After political geography me and Jon went to KFC to eat before I drove down to RW. Me and Brian went to Balls of Fury. Brian and I had free tickets from LoAnn for the Minnesota Renaissance Festival and we went on Saturday, along with Brian's coworker Chad from Louisiana. It was a nice cool and clear day. We watched Tuey the juggling dude work his mad skills and checked out things in the shops. We each had a giant turkey leg and then watched Puke and Snot. After wandering around more we bought a few things. I got a leather pirate hat (Jack Sparrow replica), and Chad got some masks for Mardi Gras ("Voodoofest").

Sunday I did a lot of hw reading and hung out at Kori's, as she's been lonely with Mitch gone (training for truck driving in Tennessee). We fished at Pottery Pond for a bit and then I took her driving on Hay Creek Trail. We stopped at Brian's and talked for a bit, then I slept at my Grandma's and got up this morning and drove to class from there. After class I fished the Lester with my flyrod, and cheated by using nibs of worms that I found were still in my vest pocket, and caught a bunch of tiny perch, sunfish, and a creek chub. Now I'm going to read some more hw, clean up, and go to bed. I'm going to Duluth early tomorrow if it's not raining so I can commandeer a decent parking spot for our field trip to Hawk's Ridge, which was cancelled last week due to a threat of inclement weather.

Today was a fun day. I had my physical geog lab session today, then I met up with Joy and we had pizza at the Center Courtyard resaurant. After I met with the other TA's at 4:00 Joy and I grabbed our cameras and fishing poles and headed up the north shore. We didn't really have a hard-core destination, but Castle Danger was where we ended up. We walked down under the bridge over Crow Creek and crossed the turbidly roaring stream by walking accross broken logs. There was a cool little area with small tree whose leaves were golden yellow and a dense spread of cool ferns. Then we kicked some rocks apart and, after sampling them..., followed the creek to the mouth. It was a cool spot for taking pictures, and we hung around til after dark. A daddy-long-legs hung around as well, and losing four limbs wasn't enough to prevent the trooper from hitchhiking on Joy's camera bag and joining us for pie at Betty's Pies. We had a ruebarb-crisp and blueberry-peach, and both were really good.

I've done too much homework this weekend, yet still not completely caught up on readings...Yesterday I watched the Vikings lose to the Chiefs and then dad and I went fishing at Jammer Lake. I tried fly fishing for a bit, and was going to wade out to reach deeper water since the water near shore was only a couple inches deep. So I took my shoes and socks off and walked out a few feet on a drainage pole. Then I stepped into ankle deep water only to find myself instantly submerged up to my waist in ultra-loose sediment/muck. With the help of the pole I was able to pull myself out, but the misadventure cost me my cell phone...So now I'm going to Duluth to the Verizon shop to get a new one. Then I'm meeting up with Joy and we'll prolly get dinner or something. I'll probably crash at Jon's if I get ahold of him, otherwise at Cole's. Tomorrow I'm wearing my pirate gear to all my classes.

It's been a busy week, but a great one. This weekend we had our Geography of Soils field trip, which was a fun and interesting time, though we were cramped in the van for hours. I had a good time with Joy and Drew and the deer corpse. Da du da da da, dee dee dee dee dee, in the summer time...

I'm going to bed soon and I'm not detailing the trip now, but maybe will later. I'm really tired. Today was a good day though, except for a boring Political Geography lecture. Joy and I completed assignment 2 for Natural Hazards and then went out for dinner at Little Angies and it was a deliciously good time.

I've spent most of the past week either in class or with Joy, and it's been a lot of fun = ). Thursday Joy, Drew, and I went to the free showing of Michael Moore's Sicko at the Kirby Lounge. Joy and I went to Kmart Friday night and picked up a tent and some socks and oil for Carla, and today we are going to Canada! Without much of a plan, we plan on taking 61 up the north shore and over the border, and then we have to find a place to camp. We are skipping class on Monday to give us a full day to explore and then have to back by 11 Tuesday morning for a soils exam. I'm excited!!!!!! Yesterday I did a bunch of homework including my third "thought" position paper, which isn't due til the 16th. Still, I've got a lot of stuff coming up for school...oh well.

It's Tuesday morning and I checked my email to find a pleasant surprise, Geography of Soils is cancelled today. This means I don't have to be to school until 3. so I can do a little journal writing. Canada was a fun time despite the rain. Check out the Canada travelogue. Thursday afternoon Joy and I went to Canal Park for Coldstone and we looked around in some shops and bought some candy. Then we went to Barnes & Nobel until close and I graded some papers. We both went home this weekend. I drove down Friday evening and got home at around 8. I went for a three mile jog around coon hill and then wrote the first part of the Canada travelogue. Saturday I was going to spend on homework, but I slept til 1 p.m. and then Mitch called and I went with him, Kori, and Trav to Haycreek while they hunted squirrels. I found a garter snake and carried it around for a while before deciding not to keep it. We also heard grouse drumming and Trav and I tracked it through some dense cover and I flushed it, but Trav couldn't get a shot at it before we lost it again. There were a lot of people out riding horses.

After hunting we went to Perkins with Brian (Trav didn't accompany us). Then I went back to Grandma's and talked with her for a while, read some homework, and finished the Canada journal. Sunday I got up and went to Brandon's in Eau Claire and watched part of the Packers/Redskins game, played guitar hero II, checked out Brandon's South Korea pictures and he told stories, watched college humor videos (powerthirst), and hit up the Dog Hut for a Chicago Style hot dog.

I left Brandon's at 3:30 to meet Joy in Elk Mound. She gave me a quick tour of her hometown, past the schools, her old home, and up to the castle. Then she brought me to her house and I met her parents and they are really nice. I also met Tahoe. Their house is really nice. They have a sauna and the house is decorated nicely for Halloween. We had meatballs (which I actually did like!), potatoes, cheesy veggies, melon, and apple bars with ice cream. It was all really good. We had to hit the road and so we did eventually. We stopped at Perkins for coffee and pie and a side of mac'n'cheese before, eventually, it was time to hit the road again and head to Gilbert.

Yesterday Joy came with me to give Carlos an oil change and I grabbed a veggie burger at BK and she got Subway. I was slightly late to class but didn't miss much. After Pol.Geog. I talked with Jon for a bit and then met Joy at the coffee shop and we went to the Mall and studied for our Hazards Exam for a few hours. Then we up Skyline and had an inconveniant run in with police...just my luck, but oh well.

I'm thinking Arby's. Maybe I'll ask Joy and Drew if they want to meet there for lunch before class...

This weekend has been fun. Friday I had my lab section on global wind systems and climate, and then hung around by the gym listening to Zep's Dazed and Confused before watching a video on 'race' in Olaf's class. After meeting my TA's I went to the library and printed off hw articles. Then Joy came and I showed her the very basics of starting a web page. We went down to Canal Park with the intent of eating at Famous Dave's, but there was a one hour wait and we had tickets to the hockey game, so we walked over to the DECC and got brats/polish sausage, nachos, and a malt there. We had pretty good seats for the game, UMD vs. St. Cloud State, and between winning the game 2-1 and the fans comments it was a fun time. After the game I called Schwetty to rub it in, then Joy and I went to the haunted ship. It was well done, and Joy was clinging to me tightly the whole time. After that we went to Joy's house and I met Dan and Nick, and Kile and Chocolate Thunder, and had Joy's amazing smoothies, beer, and wine. She had to work at 8 a.m. and I just stayed and slept til she got off at noon, and then we finally hit up Famous Daves, and the ribs were amazing! I even doused them in Devil's Spit. Joy enjoyed watching me eat. Then we went to the roseless rose garden, and then to a video store and rented Blades of Glory. We watched that and then I left and came home to write my book report assignment about William Bryan Logan's book Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth for Soils class. Today I'm going to write my 4th Thought paper, and hopefully make headway on the Political Geog midterm...

(8:45 pm) I finished my 4th Thought paper, which wasn't too bad. I went to Target today and picked up a 100 CD-R's and a case and am burning music as I read David Harvey's The Geography of Class Power, as the first midterm question for P.G. relates to it. I'm on my fourth cup of tea of the day. Thanks Joy, it's keeping me going : )

Monday Joy came home to my dad's with me after our classes and we had enough daylight to drive into Virginia and check out the sawyer statue and walk to the edge of the mines to gawk, snap photos, and throw rocks. Then we went to Gilbert and grabbed some Newcastles and stopped at home. Joy and I went out to eat with Ashley and Jason at Grandma's in Virginia (not Virginia my grandma's). Then we went to the Whistling Bird and ate Xangos, which were delicious. Yip!

Tuesday morning we slept in, skipping Soils class, and went to eat brekky at Village Inn. Thanks for paying Joy, you are so sweet : ). We got to Duluth at around 2 and I was rushing, thinking I was late for Geographic Thought, and Joy dropped me off in front of SCC. Unfortunately our sense of time was throwd off, and of all places Pat and our soils classmates were coring soil in front of SCC, and they saw Joy drive away in Carlos. Oops. Busted, haha. Pat didn't care though, she's a pretty coolio professor. We realized our mistake and Joy picked me up soon after at the library and we went and picked up groceries for soup. Joy works at a bed and breakfast, the Olcott House, and her bosses had closed the place down and were out of town and she was in charge of feeding the dogs/bringing in packages, etc. They payed her to stay over, left some chardonnay, and said she could have someone stay over. After class we went there and I was blown away by how awesome the mansion was, and the fact Joy and I had the whole thing for ourselves for the night! We soothed our hunger by making an abundance of kick ass chicken noodle soup. We ate in the super fancy dining room and staged a weird conversation, but we both survived the night : D Whew... Then we started a chess game in the library but didn't finish it, and drank chardonnay and beer and played the grand piano. As I completely lacked experience Joy taught me a simple tune, which I can nearly play decently now. Joy gave me the pick of rooms between five sweet suites. I chose the East Wing Suite and it was pretty amazing.

Today I spent between hanging out with Joy at our mansion-for-a-day and school. We went out for supper at the Chester Creek Cafe (aka Tarans Marketplace) and she ordered quesadillas and I got the Middle Eastern Plate, then we split a piece of peach and almond pie a la mode, and it was all very good.

Yesterday I woke up sick but went to Duluth anyway. I picked Joy up at the Olcott House (she stayed there with April last night) and we hyperstudied Montgomery's soil article because we were to present it, and we did a pretty good job I think. We left soils class early because we one can not finish a lab one has not started. Plus I felt miserable and Joy wanted to get out of there too. I gave Jon my 4th Thought paper to turn in and then went back to the Olcott House and rested for a moment, and Joy kindly made me tea, and gave me cantalope and a back rub. Thanks : ) Oh yeah, before stopping back at the Olcott House we stopped at the acupuncturist's on a whim, thinking we might enjoy a needling session. My shoulders and neck would have benefited from a refreshed flowage of qi, but the 65 dollar fee would probably have caused a counteracting qi blockage... The drive home was seemingly the longest that stretch has ever been, as I felt horrible and just wanted to lay down and sleep. I got home at around 5 or so and went to bed, and stayed there until noon today. I got up and felt better, but not completely. I managed to eat some rueban sandwhiches my dad made, and I set to work on my P.G. midterm. It's 9 pm now and I'm done with two of three questions. I just talked to Kevin and essentially quit my job at Econo Foods, as I do not enjoy working there and I do not need the money that bad. He was pretty accepting about it. It's a relief. Now I think I'm going to read some soils web units and Tuesday's geographic thought article.

Joy is the most amazing person in the world!!!!!!!!!

This past weekend I was pretty sick, but I still had to do my PG midterm and I finished that Saturday. Sunday I watched the Vikings and Wild games and did some homework too. Joy and I played a game of Scrabble, and she was very kind and called me often to see how I was doing and to remind me to flood my guts with water! 12 tall glasses/day is not easy. Monday I still didn't feel great, but was better. I met Joy at the Holiday and we grabbed Arbys and picked up Jon's midterm and I went to PG and Olaf lectured about the history of feminist geography. Then I met Joy in the coffee shop and we headed up the north shore in Carla. We stopped in Two Harbors and wandered about Pamida wondering why we were there. I picked up a large jug of V8 and we remembered we were looking for Betty's Pies, so we asked the cashier for directions and then headed there for a rhubarb raspberry crisp pie..YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM. I wrote out the post card I got for Ross when we were in Thunder Bay and then headed on towards our destination: Caribou Highlands Lodge, a cozy ski resort in Lutsen that Joy booked for us, which I thank her so very much for doing : D (Joy rocks!)

We checked in dropped our stuff off at the room, and then walked around and checked the place out. Then we grabbed our swimsuits and went to the indoor pool and spa, which are enclosed in a separate building. We did not find the sauna, but that was only a small disappointment as we had the whole spa and pool area to ourselves and it was really nice. Apparently only 2 or 3 other couples were staying at the lodge that night. After spa and pool we checked out The Pursuit of Happiness. Unfortunately we couldn't sleep in and had to get up and drive back for class Tuesday morning. We ate left over pie on the drive and also picked up McDonald's breakfast in Two Harbors. After Geographic Thought Jon, Drew, and I hung around in Cina 316 chatting and waiting til 5, and then Joy came and picked us up and we went to the geography picnic at Chester Bowl park. The food there was plentiful and good tasting. Joy and I went to Hazards class and Tongxin talked about Hurricanes. "Today" was halloween and I dressed up in my pirate gear (parrot included), and Joy was decked out in her furry barbarian gear (including sword). On the way to school I stopped at Casa Latte and picked up a soy chai tea latte and some mints for Joy, and the drink was on the house because I was in costume...pretty sweet! After PG Joy and I went around looking at some apartments, as I want to live in Duluth if I can find a place that's affordable. The one guy I contacted charged way too much, $585/month + utilities for a one-room unit! whew! I came home and studied soils for a time, made some online flashcards for it, and ate some of our soup again. I'm going to shower and go to bed now, and hopefully I get over this cold!

Last night I went to Saw 4 with Joy, Jon, and Cole. It was pretty good, but a little confusing at the end. Joy came home with me and we ate McDonald's in Virginia and then my dad showed Joy the geneology work he's been doing. This morning we stopped for pasties on the way to Duluth, and I dropped Joy off and went to my lab session. People finished early and I graded the papers right afterwards, and nearly everyone got 100%. It was on the trophic pyramid and energy transfer through the food chain. Next week's lab is on soils, so I better be able to answer questions. Yesterday we had exam 2 in soils, and I thought it went alright. I wrote a lot of stuff for the long essay questions, and the multiple choice were not bad. The short answer questions were troublesome though.

After grading papers Joy and I did some apartment hunting. Basically we entered several lobbies to senior citizen apartments rather pointlessly. Joy was driving Carlos, and from the last apartment she drove up a one way street the wrong way, and we got pulled over by the cops. No harm done though, just "brief roadside consultation". I met my fellow TA's very briefly to go over the next lab and then picked Joy up again and went to Congdon Park for a picnic. She made some delicious pasta with mushroom bits and brought bananas and donuts, and we sat on a rock with a scenic view. Then we stopped at a high school to check the dates and times of a play that isn't showing yet, and then decided to go to the movie Across the Universe and that it was quite good. I drove home and we just now finished a game of online scrabble, and I scored well over 300 thanks to a 56 point well-placed "size". It was my first victory in several games vs. Joy. Well, time to sleep. I still have this nasty tickling cough, and my voice is so hoarse I can not properly yip. 'Tis a shame. Tomorrow I plan on starting and finishing my geographic thought midterm. After sleeping in though...

I slept until 2 today, and had some interesting dreams last night which I wrote down. I just finished the write-up on them now, and am hungry and probably going to make macaroni and cheese real soon. Then I'm going to shower and go to bed. I finished one question of the Thought midterm, as it was more painful than I thought seeing how we have to tie so many dang articles together and use in text citations... That's about all I got done today, but I talked to Joy on the phone a few times. Yip, that was my highlight of the day. I also talked to Jon and he spouted a couple of quotes worthy of "The Jon Collection" (see facebook for more). One was his new motto: "don't have fun; get shit done" and the other was "Geographic Thought is geographic sandpaper. It hurts." Yip, anyway I'm going to feed myself now.

I am done with my Geographic Thought midterm, however crappy it may be I am never looking at it again. I don't really care, it's such a relief to have the thing finished. I also did assignment 6 for Hazards and it's 7:30 now. It seems like it should be later, because it is daylight savings time now. It's nice to have that extra hour. I just read Joy's journal that she put up today. I like that she's doing a journal too, I look forward to reading her entries : ). I do hope her lips : ( get better fast!!!

I don't even know what to do now, I might watch a movie or something. I feel relieved that I got shit done and want to celebrate by relaxing. I'm finally getting over the cold I've had too and I feel almost back to normal. I am behind on my soil lab book and I can do that tomorrow because I have no ambition for that now...

(10:30 pm)
I feel good right now. For the first time since summer I wrote in my story, and exciting new ideas came to me and I got a few hundred words written. Doing that little bit makes me feel like I got more accomplished than what I felt for doing the Geographic Thought midterm. Creative fantasy writing >> Homework.

I checked out some apartments in Duluth this past week with Joy. Now I am strongly considering a one bedroom place on E 4th St. In fact I turned in an application today. I'm excited : D

Monday after school Joy came with me to my dad's and we watched Patch Adams. I then made her some of my heavily vaunted Kraft macaroni & cheese [spirals] dinner. I thought is was delicious and I think she did too. Naturally... ; ) We later exchanged amazing backrubs to Led Zeppelin vids on youtube. There was some unusual and disturbing siren action later, but the world was still the same when we woke up.

Tuesday we worked on lab and learned about biota in worm bins and more in soils and then talked about automated geography in Thought. I went to Hazards and learned about water and floods, and Joy picked me up afterwards and we hit up Perkins. Our waitress (she who coined us "snugglebunnies") made some funny gestures against the interior window we were seated beside. I stayed at Jon's that night and we layed up talking for a couple hours.

Wednesday after PG Joy and I met Blake from Shiprock Management and checked out a studio and a one bedroom apartment at 633 E 4th. I much favored the one bedroom apartment for a few reasons, and am planning on moving in there soon! It is 525/mo, which is a bit high but still affordable (thank god I'm a sugar daddy). Maybe I'll have a room mate this summer to split the rent with me : ) We picked up Jon and went to the Brewhouse. It was my first time in the Fitgers Complex. The food was good and the beer was dark, tasty, and shared. I ordered a reuban.

Yesterday after class we continued our soil lab stuff and started the soil particle analysis lab. In Thought we handed in our midterms and after class Joy and I went to Olive Garden (my first time there as well) and got some tasty seafood portolini (sp? something like that) and then we went to The Darjeeling Limit at Duluth 10. It was an interesting movie. And, as I learned today, the actor that I thought looked a lot like Owen Wilson really was Owen Wilson!

Today I had an easy time with the phys geog lab, on soils, and got all the papers graded before PG. Joy stopped in and drew a magnificent merKyle. In PG we discussed sexuality. Then I met with my TA's and we went over the next lab and I talked to Olaf for a bit about classes and my future acedemic possibilies, internships, and UROP opportunities. Then Joy picked me up and we dropped the apartment ap off at Shiprock's office, and then went to Enger Tower for a cool view, cool wind, and vulnerable situation. We quickly scuffled back to Carla after some weirdos called after us in odd "psycho-vibe" fashion (as opposed to standard "psycho-vibe" fashion). We then went to Barnes & Noble and leafed through a puzzles book and a book of photos. I also picked up an application as I think it would be a sweet work environment to occupate, i.e. I think it would be a sweet place to work. I just talked to Joy and she's going to sleep and now I am too! I think I might not get up until midafternoon.

Much has happened since my last journal entry. I started my Hazards term paper last Saturday and spent Sunday throwing my soils lab book together and filling it out. On Monday I got to school and was drawn into the Garden Room, where they were having a fair trade watchamadingus. I got a small wooden elephant carving for Joy and a Divine milk chocolate bar...mmm. In PG we watched Mulholland's Dream, a documentary of how LA became a city and how it basically stole water from far off rivers and pissed farmers off. I met Joy in the coffee shop and we went to my dad's and finished up our soil lab books. Then we ate mac n cheese again and watched 28 Days Later before going to bed. We took a shower in the morning and had to be to school for soils at 11, and we talked about elements cycles and organisms in soil. Geographic Thought was boring, and in Hazards we talked about raging curs and drought indices.

Wednesday was a busy day. I drove to Duluth and picked Joy up and we went to the Shiprock office so I could sign the apartment lease. I locked my keys in the car at a meter on 1st St. and had to have Jon give us a ride. We stopped at the apartment but the key didn't work, and we realized I had signed the lease to a shitty annex apartment that was much smaller, and that was not cool. Having no car we had to get back to campus because Joy had to work so Jon brought us there. I went to Jon's for a while and called my dad, who was getting stuff together for me to move in, and the cops and notify them of the situation with my car but I ended up getting ticketed anyway. Jon was in a bad mood over school stuff and I was freaking out about having signed into an apartment I didn't want to have. I stopped in at the FYE office and Joy's coworkers were flustered about my situation and adamantly providing advice, but I wanted to talk to Joy in private and waited til she moved to the weblab. Jon was freaking out at me for getting the apartment too. I had called Shiprock and they said the apartment number could be changed on the lease to the one I wanted, but I needed to decide ASAP. It was all pretty hectic. Joy and I met my dad outside the library and we rescued Carlos and I straightened things out at Shiprock and exchanged keys. Then we unpacked a few things into the apartment, which I really like. Though it's expensive I think it's a cozy apartment and I really like the linear layout and view of the lake. It also has a pantry between the kitchen and living room (my bedroom), which I like. I went shopping for groceries and stuff while Joy went to the Brewhouse for class. Then she came over and spent my first night here with me, which was really nice because I was kind of anxious about being here, though I still didn't get much sleep. Yesterday we had another soils lab and lecturing, and Larry talked about his Queering the Map paper/project. I drove back to Gilbert and loaded up a bunch of stuff and dad made spaghetti. My sister loaded me up with chocolate and let me borrow her DVD's. Then I drove back to Duluth and Joy came over for a while and helped me put stuff away and clean, and we watched a couple cartoons: "The Guard Dog" and Opus and Bill: A Wish for Wings that Work. Today she came over and made pancakes, some with kit-kats, and we had those for breakfast. (Thank you Joy for making them, and for helping me clean today! Thank you so much for Futey and the pots and pans and the TV/DVD player too!!! : D you rock!!!) I supervised another lab and we talked about the politics of water in PG. Joy and I went back to the apartment and cleaned some more and ate rice-a-roni. We also watched some of The Princess Bride. She went home and I'm now here at my new home. I am going to bed now. I have been getting nothing done hw wise this week, so tomorrow I'm going to do my 5th thought position paper and hopefully make some headway on the Hazards term paper.

Well today has been a lazy day. I kept waking up this morning and falling back to sleep and I had a lot of vivid dreams, which I did not write down and have forgotten most except for one where I was at this casino and I bought Zep concert tickets for Joy and another where I was selecting some delicious looking candy to purchase. Joy called when she finished work and came over and we napped for a while and then she made oatmeal (Thanks!). We watched some He-Man episodes as she slept and I graded papers. Now I'm procrastinating on my Thought Position Paper 5 because the question is not a very fun topic (on automated geographies, specifically related to several readings...yuk). I might go over to Joy's tonight and have a couple beers, but I suppose before that I should get something done...

I finished my Position Paper Saturday night and went to Gander Mountain and Cub Foods with Cole. I bought my dad a shirt for his birthday and stocked up on groceries and got a toaster and other supplies. Yesterday I slept in til Jon called me at 11:30. We went to Beowulf at Duluth 10 and it was a fun movie to watch because it was done well using all CGI animation, and the story line of the myth was a good one. After that Joy came over to my place after she got off at the Olcott House. I made her find a Toblerone and then ate Velveeta mac n cheese. We drank some beers last night (Sam Adam's Boston Lager) and attempted to watch JFK. She stayed here and slept all day (she didn't have class today) while I went to PG and tried to print articles, my position paper, and do a balance transfer and it turned into an ordeal, and I didn't figure out a way to get money to my checking account. Thankfully Joy is lending me the extra bit of cash I need to cover December's rent, which is totally awesome of her!!! THANKS JOY : D

We just went to Famous Daves and it was delish. It looked like they were closing up by the time we payed the bill and Joy asked what time they closed and the guy said 9, and we were like "wait what time is it?" and he says quarter to ten. We are a glucky couple : ) Now I'm going to read about Carbon Sequestration and web units for tomorrow's soils exam...ugh...

Today is Thanksgiving! I'm full and sleepy; the food was delicious as always. Last night Joy rode with me from Duluth to Elk Mound and I had supper with her and her parents (jumbo pasta shells: a meal connection expirament. I thought it was alright, but Joy's mom, Mary, was dissappointed and apologized for it, although that was unnecessary [not that her cooking wouldn't have been better]). I played triple solitaire with Joy and her mom and lost, despite cheating (unintentional). It was pretty intense. Then her dad, Roger, showed us the flywheel he's been working on, which is impressive and amazing even though the physics of it are over my head and I'm not sure what he talking about most of the time. Joy and I went in the sauna for a while and then layed down for a while (after disposing of a labyrinthine spider nest) with Twister playing before we went to bed. I met her brother John last night too. This morning we got up and ate some caramel bun things and they were delicious, and we watched part of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. I left there at around 10:30 and took the wrong fork of the road once I got on I-94, and accidentally got off on highway 25 into Menomonie. Instead of turning around I took the backroads, not knowing which roads to take and not having a map I used the sun's position to estimate a westward advance, which took me past some places I've actually been before to fish, such as the tiny little town of Eau Galle. The roads came to T's often and so I found myself going south for longer than I wanted too, and ended up in Durand, and then took highway 10 twenty seven miles back north to Ellsworth, so I was a little delayed but still made it to Grandma's before anyone else save my dad and had time to shower before the arrival of additional family. Now I've been working on Joy's present and awaiting a Schwetty phone call, as he is grocery shopping at the moment and we are going to hang out when he's free.

Stepping backwards to Tuesday, the soil exam wasn't really fun, but oh well, it's over. I participated for the first time in a while in Geographic Thought, and was pleased to see that Larry gave me A+'s on both midterm essay's and personally congratulated me for doing an excellent job. Joy and I drew a fish/worm/eel picture with thought bubbles in Hazards class, and Tongxin talked about fire. He let us out early but term paper presentations begin next Tuesday and I need to do it this weekend. I also need to lead the discussion in Thought on Tuesday. Wednesday Joy picked me up at 11:30 as I had left Carlos parked by school and I went to Ecosystems I with her. All we did was play a game with shoes to demonstrate foraging with and without predators. Joy was the predator the first time and hoarded all six shoes succesfully. I volunteered to be a forager the second game because no one else would and it looked fun and I did pretty good, stealing about 5 shoes from the predator, Prescott, who is one of the other physical geography TA's. In PG we had a round table discussion about smoking and drinking ordinances in public and private spaces. We did not get out early : ( but I met up with Joy afterwards and we picked up her stuff and then loaded mine and headed out.

After writing Thursday's journal entry Schwetty picked me up at Grandma's and we went to Brian's for a bit and watched parts of The Incredibles and Dodgeball. Then I went to Beowulf again with them. After that we watched The Tonight Show for a bit and then I went home. I slept in yesterday and read the Thought articles. I worked on Joy's thing for a while and then went to Wal-Mart, Target, Office Max, and the Dollar Tree with Brian. I bought a deck of cards, something for Roger, the movie Blood Diamond (for 4 bucks), and a couple towels and a silverware tray for my apartment. When we got back to Grandma's Brian stayed and we talked with my dad about the Twins and Wild for about an hour before Brian left to go out to the Woodshed. I stayed home and finished my commentary and questions for Geographic Thought. I talked to Joy for an hour on the phone before going to bed. I miss her : (

Brian just called me and wants to go out to lunch. It's almost 1 now. Then I really need to crack down and work on my term paper and presentation for Hazards. I want to finish it tonight, because Joy's coming over tomorrow!!! And I don't want to have to do it Monday night.

It's been a busy week and I haven't gotten around to writing a journal til now. Last saturday night I watched The Last Man Standing at Brian's house. (Brian just called me from Mitch's phone. I'm talking to him now, and I just cracked open a Firebrick beer of my own. Now the phone is getting passed to Mitch and Kori. They are all really drunk by the sound of things...lalala still babbling...lalalala haha.)

(2:40)

Well it was fun to talk to Mitch, haven't caught up with him for a while, even though he prolly won't remember what we talked about. Anyway, The Last Man Standing was a Bruce Willis movie and as such was an entertaining badass movie. Sunday I got up and drove to Elk Mound and had soup and cheese and melon, pineapple, and ...pomegranites. I enjoyed eating the pomegrates; they were not what I thought they'd be like inside but I found them to be rather interesting in appearance and texture. Then I snapped some holiday photos of the Hepokoski's (including Tahoe), and Mary took a couple shots of Joy and myself. We left Mounder territory at around 2 and called Brian up when we got to Red Wing and met him at the steps to Barns Bluff. The three of us climbed the bluff, taking the north trail around to the top and then crossed the prairie trial to the other end. It was kind of chilly but was a good time and I'm glad we had enough light to do that. Then I brought Joy to my Grandma's. We looked at some of my stuff and played a few games of Double Solitaire (Joy is good at it!) and she had coffee (it was warm enough). We then went to Perkins and shared an eggs benedict meal. I couldn't eat my half of the muffin, and it has taken a permanent residency in my fridge hear at my apartment. Someday I might just eat it.

After Perks we went to Brian's and watched Oscar, a sort of tradition for Brian and I now as we've both seen it many times. Joy and I slept on his futon cushion (I'm used to that) and had to get up and leave early to be back in time for Joy to go to work at the FYE office. ... Those three dots represent me going to the fridge to retrieve said half-muffin. I am going to try it now. The verdict is = rather stale on the outside, sort of slimy on the inside, partially covered in hash brown remanents, banana-nutty. Sour aftertaste. I only ate a few bites, decided to discard. I hope it doesn't make me ill.

Anyway...Monday night Joy and I painted ornaments that she bought. We did half of them, each of did a star, snowman, angel, and snowflake shaped piece. I think they turned out good. Joy is an amazingly talented artist, and I made use of my outside-the-box thinking to make up for my lack of painting skills/experience. Tuesday we had a short soils lecture on clay minerology, and Joy had an advising shift while I thought geographically with Larry et al. I presented on Tsunami in Natural Hazards. Joy stayed over and on Wednesday I had to go to Hibbing for a dentist appointment so I dropped her off at school in the morning and went to Gilbert. My dad is testing his theory that electrically heating the house via space heaters will save money over using the gas furnace (which uses a fair amount of electricity anyway). However, it was like 55 degrees in the house when I got there, and my dad was bundled up in his office, and my space-heaterless room was probably in the 40's and I took a nap under several blankets and was still chilly. I put money in the bank for rent and then went to my dentist appointment, which went OK. Then I perused a Goodwill store for cheap books but didn't find anything really worth getting, and then I went to Wal-Mart and then Office North in search of supplies for someone special's special something. I worked on that until 7, barely finishing what I needed to do there in time to pick Joy up at school at 8:30. I listened to the Wild game on the radio (we beat the Coyotes) on the way there. I brought Joy home and laid down to go to bed at 9:45. Joy called, and we both had things on our minds so we decided to go to Perkins and talk about them and it was good that we did because it made us both feel better. Thursday we got out of soils lecture on pH/soil chemistry early because Pat had an appointment, so Joy and I bought our first Christmas Tree : ) (thanks Joy!!!) It's in my 'bedroom' now, with a couple strings of lights on it. It's really nice and I'm really glad we got one. It will be fun to finish making our ornaments. (Good idea Joy, I'm glad we are making them ourselves : D We watched Blood Diamond that night. Joy fell asleep but I thought it was a pretty good movie. Friday morning Joy straightened my hair to give me a radical new look. I liked it, with the exception of hair falling in front of my eyes. On way out a fiasco was set in motion. Different day, same theme: keys. My apartment key broke off in my lock, grrrr. I taught my lab then used Pat's phone book to look up the shiprock number but they couldn't help us so I finally got ahold of the local maintance guy, named Bill. He had the lock replaced while I was in class. For PG I had to give a round table discussion along with Jon, Jeremy, and Ivana. We had to talk for the entire 80 minutes, which was sort of rough but not too bad. I had the unfortunate task of arguing in favor of preeminence and defending America's presence in Iraq as solely due to defensive purposes. Hmmm... Anyway, the fiasco continued: I got to my aparment and the key was not in my mailbox, where Bill said it would be. So I called and got ahold of him right away, and he said it should be on my kitchen table. Ha, what good does that do me when I'm locked out of my apartment. So he came up to the office and unlocked my door, and now everything's alright, as Joy assured it would be : ) (although a small part of me wishes the fiasco would have elevated into a full blown disaster, because although they suck balls disasters are fun to enter into The Journal).

Today I slept til 1 or so and then made Rice-a-Roni and baked a cake. We are in the midst of a big snowstorm, and got about 8 inches today and another 8 or so is forecasted for tomorrow. Nevertheless, I set out for the UMD library and wrote my position paper for PG, about the round table discussion. The library closed at 5 and I crashed my knee into the stairs as I was trying to run up them. The most important thing I learned today is don't wear socks in the library - I've had near crashes in socks before and today it hurt like a son of a bitch. But it feels much better now. I came home and talked to Ashley Gadbury for about 20 minutes, then I called Kenny Dupree, our host when I went to Louisiana in August with Nick. We chatted for 2 hours and 12 minutes about anything and everything, including jewelry, guns, aging, armadillos, rods & cones in eyes, comets, missiles, parents, Joy, Krotz Springs, body guarding, billionaires, the Olcott, the weather, global warming, deer rut season/hunting season (delayed because the earth isn't wobbling the same way), school, Desert Storm, ice skating, LSU football, soup sandwiches, and travel, among other things. It was fun catching up with him. I also talked to Nick briefly, and Joy called and said she made it to the Flannel Party. When she was ready to go I trudged towards her and she trudged towards me and we walked to my apartment together and had a piece of cake and a cup of tea. Then I brought her home as she works at 8 am (tomorrow's her Christmas Teas day at the Olcott), and we had a tough time getting Carlos free from the snow but otherwise he did the job. It's 3:36 am now, so I'm going to go to bed and stay there for a while. Tomorrow I should do some more hw and then I'm picking Joy up from work at around 6. g'night

It's been a busy past few days and I'm forgetting which things we did at what time or even day but I think it was something like this: Sunday morning Jon called me and needed a ride to Thompon's, where his car had been towed the night before. He had gotten in an accident (a drunk kid t-boned him on 7th Ave. and 9th St.) and his car was majorly crushed in on the driver's side, but Jon wasn't hurt bad (but his back kind of bothers him a bit). So we went to Perkins and I had a piece of cheesecake and Jon got a tremendous twelve. Then I brought him to Kohl's so he could buy some fancy shirts (he bought me one too, Thanks Jon!), since he had a date. We also went to Office Max and I had a service performed on something, and picked up a really cheap flashdrive. I dropped Jon off and picked Joy up at 6 and she had a head ache so she took a nap and I worked on my story for a while. We ate Pasta Roni (fettucini (sp?) and I put filleted and triangulated hot dog nibs in). We watched Blood Diamond (or at least I did, she fell asleep) and I thought it was a good movie. Monday morning I brought Joy to class at noon and I had PG at 2 (what did I do between 12 and 2, I don't remember...???) After that we spent some quality time in the UMD library annex working on term papers. I made progress on my PG paper about the Narmada River Dam Project and Joy did her Hazards paper on lightning in the USA. We painted the rest of our ornaments, save for the star, and hung them on our tree. I edited the shapes of my former angel and snowflake, turning them into a bell and a martian dude. I also painted Gromit peeing on my WTF snowman. Joy painted a beautiful abominable snowman and a sANTa, and a snowflake and a star. We had a few beers and some Midori and played SlapJack too. Tuesday we had soils lecture about erosion and in Thought Larry talked about David Harvey's article on capitalism and urbanization. We got out 5 minutes early as the school closed at 3 due to heavy snowfall. On the way back to my apartment (Joy was with me) I lost control and slid down 7th Ave and rear ended another car. The guy got out and we talked and were OK with the minor damage to the plastic on our fenders and so he left and I shovelled myself out of the snowbank. Joy made food while I shovelled a parking space for Carlos. We had pizza fries, tea cookies, and hot chocolate Thank you Joy for making it all! You are the sweetest! ;D We gave each other massages and then I brought her home as she had to work at 8 this morning.

Today Jon called and woke me up at 9 and we went to Uncle Louis for breakfast. Same look to the inside of the building and same great french toast (and cinnamon syrup! YUM!) post burn-down. We came back here and napped, then went to Jon's and watched Team America before I went to PG. In PG we watched a film on Noam Chomsky. Then I met Joy in the coffee shop and we went to Michael's and she picked up supplies for making t-shirts for her roommates, and then we went to K-mart and got a scrapbook. I brought Joy to UMD and she had class, and gave a presentation on Affluenza at Christmas time. I went to Barnes and Noble and nearly finished my PG term paper. I picked Joy up at her house at around 9 and we came here to my apartment and Joy made chow mein, again while I shovelled because a neighbor parked in my shovelled spot and I had to shovel out part of another place. Ashley and Jason came to town and they stopped at my apartment with some beers and we ate supper together and watched some youtube videos and I shared my awesome looney tunes collection of songs (not as well appreciated as I would have hoped for :' (

My sister told me something that grandma told her, about that my parents planned her as a playmate to me :S...kind of an awkward little story as she was walking out the door.

I brought Joy home shortly after they left and now I'm going to go to sleep. I look forward to tomorrow - seeing Joy again : ) We have a lab in the GIS lab tomorrow for soils, and I don't have Thought. I plan on finishing and printing my term paper for PG, and Joy's doing comp stuff, and then we are going to hang out and hopefully have a productive "creative hour" or two. ah, sleep..........zzzzzzzz

Thursday we had a soils GIS exercise which we are finishing next week. I didn't have Thought because Larry's out of town, but I finished my PG paper and graded papers while Joy worked on advanced comp stuff with a classmate in the library. I bought an acrylic painting canvas book and Joy and I did some art when we got to the apartment. She started painting her dad's christmas present and I sketched Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VII, which I plan to give to Schwetty for xmas. I painted it today, and I also painted Brian a Vikings logo. Friday Joy and I drove around Superior looking at Christmas lights, and there were some good ones. I picked up a couple of bottles of wine there too, including an upside down labelled Sauvignon Blanc from Chili (Kono Baru) and a red Augey Bordeaux. Yesterday Joy worked, then came over here and took a nap and I colored my Cloud drawing/painting with colored pencils. Then I went to The Golden Compass with Jon and it was pretty good, though it ends in the middle of the story...have to wait for the sequel(s). Joy went to a reunion party with her old bosses and I went to Jon's after the movie and he made buffalo and corn and we ate chocolate. We also watched Ocean's 13 and part of Die Hard: Live Free or Die Hard. I worked on a powerpoint of the geography of carp, which I plan on doing for my senior project next fall. I picked Joy up at a little after 11 and she came over. I let her take Carlos this morning, and I've been lounging around the house, eating, painting, and am going to start watching a movie I think. Joy is coming over tonight. :D

Joy and I just went to the "I survived geographic thought" party at Larry Knopp's house. He has a nice place that is well decorated and cozy, with a few peculiar decorations. The food was all good and it was hard to quit drinking the egg nog (it was Joy's first). Larry gave us a tour of the place and we talked to some classmates and dined on munchies. Then Olaf showed up and I talked with him for a while. Joy just dropped me off at the apartment (stopping in to eat today's cocao fat)), and after I write this I'm going to hopefully finish my Geographic Thought take-home final. I had a scare this morning, as I noticed last night I did not have my laptop in my apartment or car, so I knew I'd left it at school. When I got to school this morning I checked Cina316, the department office, kirby center, UMD police, and talked to Larry but no one knew where it was : ( But then I decided to ask Tongxin and he had found it in the hall outside his office and brought it to Kirby Center and it was there afterall...whew. So I had my last lab of the semester and last class, and then Joy and I went to Menard's and K-Mart before Larry's party. I bought Jason a hermit crab tank thing (you order the crabs by mail) lol.

Last night Joy and I painted and drank some Sauvignon Blanc. She showed me her mural at the EM elementary school and it was amazing. Joy, you are so talented. I love you. We also went to the Great Lakes Aquarium with Drew to see George Kessler talk about Duluth weather and then had a debate on climate change. He seemed like a nice guy, but seemed to omit some significant things and he really down-played human effects on global warming. I got to talk to him 1 on 1 after the talk and that was pretty cool. Mike ripped on him today when I told him about the speech as I graded labs in the TA office. I also ran into Nick from my wolf group today and it was cool talking to him (he transferred to the TC campus and is in town for the day).

On wednesday I went to the clinic with Joy, and we were there for about 4 hours! Most of it was sitting in waiting rooms, but we at least got an immediate appointment with dermatology. They took a biopsy and blood tests, and were very vague about what Joy is supposed to do with her stitches, pills, and test results. Grrrr... I wish they could be more organized and helpful. I just want Joy to feel better! Immediately, wa'ü! I got a good portion of my final done for Thought, and then Jon called and we decided to walk to Duluth 10 and we saw Hitman, which was better than I expected it to be.

Tuesday we had class most of the day. Joy stayed over, and I let her take Carlos to work in the morning. Monday after PG I watched Steve Irwin's croc hunter movie Collision Course after taking a nap. Then Jon called and I went over there for food and watched First Blood, a Rambo movie featuring Stallone. It was pretty bad-ass. (We were going to go see Dan in Real Life but I got pulled over for a head light out and so we'd have been late, and we picked up movies from Wal-Mart instead.)

It's time to go to the dentist (2:30 pm). Joy was really sweet and came over to say hi and make me breakfast in bed this morning! She didn't stay long, and I napped a bit longer and got up and am listening to music and baking now. I'm going to the library soon to do some hw. I finished my Thought final last night! I still have to do a PG one, and a soils lab paper...

I just updated my dream Web page. Yesterday (saturday) I went xmas shopping at Target and Menards. I went to the library for a while and printed my Thought final and wrote xmas cards. Joy came over after that and we ate and massaged each other, which was wonderful, and then she went home. She worked this morning and I totalled the grades for geog1414 lab. Jon and I walked to Duluth 10 and saw I Am Legend with Will Smith, and it was pretty good, but scary and sad too. We walked back and Joy came over and we finished our soils SSURGO lab and played a couple rounds of double solitaire. She went home [she has to get up early again for work :( ] I uploaded some photos to facebook and chatted with Cole on AIM for a while, and watched Yuko the clown on Youtube. Now I'm tired and going to bed!

A lot has happened in the last 10 days...
It feels nice to be done with the semester. Finals were a pain, as I had lots of writing and a PowerPoint presentation on soil pH, but they are over and I got a 4.0 again! After the Soils final Joy went home and I went to the apartment and cleaned up a bit and watched/napped through Silent Hill. Then I picked Joy up at 7 and we went to Pickwicks for our special Christmas dinner (Thank you so much Joy!!!). I got Alaskan halibut and Joy got a pork chop, and it was all good. After that we went to the apartment and had our Christmas. We exchanged gifts, and discovered that we made each other the same thing, calendars! :) Joy also burned a bunch of cd's for my rockin' year :D and gave me a UMD longsleeve t-shirt and licorice. I got her the Magic Bullet too, and she's already been putting it to use (much to the delight of everyone near her!). It was a really nice first Christmas together. I also got to see Joy on Christmas Day, and I met some of her extended family at her Grandma's in Prairie Farm. I stayed overnight at her place, and we worked on a puzzle, played an interractive Harry Potter dvd, and also Family Fued. I played Joy in double solitaire and got demolished. Then Joy and I watched It's a Wonderful Life and it was amazing :)

In the morning I had bacon and eggs with Mary and Roger (Thanks! Joy couldn't eat because she was fasting for a blood test :( ) It snowed a bit so I helped Roger brush the cars off and did a little shovelling and then he took a look at Carlos. My heater fan hasn't been working and we took it out, which was kind of a pain, and Roger used silicon putty to reattach an intake house that had broken off. That took a while to dry so we worked on a puzzle and he showed me some pics of hydroponic veggies he's grown. We also ate, and he gave me some veggies and cocktail wieners doused in Famous Dave's sauce...yum! By the time we were done Joy and Mary had returned. I said good-by <- ;) and drove back to Red Wing. I got a pedometer, licorice, and the Jurassic Park trilogy at Target with a gift card, and then went to Brian's and watched Jeff Dunham's DVD Spark of Insanity. I slept in today and am going to update my dream page, as last night was full of dreams, and read and maybe finish The Philosopher Fish.

A couple nights ago I went to Mitch and Kori's and they had gotten me a bottle of lotion and a pocket knife for Christmas. I caught up with Mitch for a while and drank a Bombay Saphire and lime juice drink. Christmas at Grandma's was pretty much just like every other year. I got an Electralog from my dad, tie-die underwear, the Free Willy trilogy, and some clothes from my sister, and a cake pan, electric mixer, cake batter and frosting, and a snow globe from my grandma. I also got a Target gift card from Shawn as my exchange gift.

It's about 10 pm now and I'm at grandma's playing Joy in online scrabble. I'm holding onto a loose lead at the moment, but Joy has a history of strong finishes. Today I got up and dad fried some sausage with eggs and hash browns and toast. I went to Brian's and watched the first half of the Vikings game, but things didn't go their way as they eventually lost in OT and Washington won anyway. We played the Wii for a while and then went to Hastings for Chipotles, and we stopped at Wal-Mart and Target too.

Tomorrow I am going to Prairie du Chien, WI for the Droppin' of the Carp. Apparently they have a bunch of Cyprinus carpio related activities and I am going to go to get a feel for the human geography aspect of carp perceptions at this festival, which I will incorporate into my senior project. Brian booked a hotel yesterday, which we were lucky to get considering it's New Year's Eve and everything's pretty muched booked. It's too bad I can't celebrate with Joy...but at least I can see in a day! It's crazy how much I've missed her! It's only been a few days too.

Well it looks like I may be on the road to defeat. Joy just layed "boxer" for 51 points to take a decent lead for late in the game...now I layed Qi on a 3x word to take a slim lead...it's a close game.

On New Year's Eve Brian and I left Red Wing at around 10 am. The weather conditions were fine and we stopped at Shopko in Winona. I got a headband, notebook, and something to drink, and Brian got 3 copies of the movie Hudson Hawk and a copy of Oscar. Then we continued south to LaCrosse, where we ate at McDonalds. I had 2 plain cheeseburgers and cinnamen melts. The rest of the drive was on the Wisconsin side of the river, and we reached Prairie du Chien at around 2 pm. We checked into our motel and then drove around by the river. We stopped in a gas station and a couple of sporting stores looking for Droppin' of the Carp shirts, but they didn't have any. We also bummed around in Walgreens for a while. Then we decided to go for a drive and crossed over to Iowa, and saw the small historic river towns of Marquette and McGregor. We took some pictures and by the time we got back to the river front people were setting things up for the event. We stopped and got to talk with Randi, Kathy, and Tom, who all organize the event, and they told us a bunch of useful information for my senior project. They came up with the idea when they were in Savannah, GA and a giant styrofoam peach was dropped. They figured they needed something like that at home, and being on the river they figured a fish would be appropriate. So each summer someone catches a large carp and it is frozen until New Year's Eve, when it is taken out and the fins and lips are set in place. Then the carp goes on display and people sit around a giant bonfire. The carp is lowered at midnight to ring in the new year, and then Lucky is refrozen until May 6, when it is taken out and buried in a park. Then a tree is planted over the spot.

Brian and I went back to the Motel at 5 and watched a movie, drank some, and I painted a wooden heart for Joy. At around 8:30 we walked towards the waterfront, stopping at Coaches family restaurant for dinner and a beer. I had a rueben, but didn't finish it because I wasn't all that hungry. Then we walked to the event and hung out at the bonfire, drank a little Captain that Brian had tucked in his coat, and chatted with the locals. A carp king and queen were coroneted and the kids got to hit a carp pinata. I was the first one to kiss Lucky, and Brian kissed it too, which is supposed to bring good luck. Then Lucky was dropped for New Years, and now it's 2008! We got up and checked out by 10 am and drove back to Red Wing, not stopping for food until Taco John's in RW at 2 pm. Then I went to my Grandma's, packed up all my stuff, and drove up to Duluth. It was a long day of driving. It was good to see Joy again though!

On the Wednesday the 2nd Joy and I were awoken by an ECDI maintenance guy, who walked right into my apartment at 9:20 am without knocking. He thought the apartment was vacant, but at least our carpet got shampooed. We went to UMD and ran a mile on the track, and then put in 5 miles on the bikes. We are starting an exercise regime to keep us in shape, and we can not start slacking, which has already kind of happened :( That night we watched Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone and started a puzzle of a cool northwoods campsite on a lake. We also booked a room at Scott's Superior Inn in Ontanogon, Michigan. See the Michigan Journal here! Joy and I wrote it together : )

Saturday we were too tired from the Porcupines hike to really exercise. We went to the movie Juno which was pretty good. Sunday we watched The Last King of Scotland at Jon's. Yesterday we layed around the apartment, watched Timeline, and then walked downtown and around the Skywalk. We got coffee and Enviga to wake us up a bit, and felt the brunt of total overreaction on part of rent-a-cop lady for going up the down way on the escalator (the up one was blocked off and not working). We walked to the Radisson and then went back to Carlos and we went to Cub Foods for black licorice and perused Pure Pleasure for the hell of it. Joy went home and I went to Jon's and watched Pan's Labyrinth, which was a very very strange movie.

Yesterday I picked Joy up and we made breakfast here at the apartment. Then we watched Jurassic Park and went for a walk with our new pedometers. We walked the lakewalk and took some very nice pics, thanks Joy for suggesting we bring the camera - it was a great idea : ). We ended up at Amazing Grace for a cup of chai tea and apple cider. There was a cool frog there that could seem very dead, and we watched the gouramis and other fish for a bit before sitting down to look through a giant trivia book. We were there for quite a while before we decided to walk back. We stopped and got spaghetti and then went to Jon's and made it and watched Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. Joy stayed over and we had eggs and velveeta mac n' cheese shells for breakfast before she went home to clean and stuff. I went to the UMD gym with Jon and we shot some hoops (we both really suck) and I ran on a treadmill while Jon biked. Then we went to a library computer lab for a while, and also picked up our Thought finals from Larry. Now going to shower, shave, and read some Dune: The Butlerian Jihad and then later I'm hanging out with Joy!

We are sore. Joy and I just had a major workout session. We went to UMD and I played Jon in 1 on 1 basketball for about an hour. It was pretty intense. We played a game to 11 (win by 2) and he took an early 3-0 lead, and later led 5-2 and 9-6. I tied it up at 9 and then we tied at 10, 11, 12, and 13 points. I got my first lead of the game with the 14th basket, and went on to win 15-13. As we played Joy worked out on the elliptical. Then Joy and I ran a mile. We came to the apartment and made a chicken pot pie and macaroni and cheese. Now I'm uploading photos to the newly improved Roughfish.com and Joy is making thank you cards at home. We agreed over the phone that Finland and Sweden look like balls and a dong, respectively (or not so respectively?). Before working out Joy came over and we watched Unbreakable - an experience that can be summed up in a few words: heroes don't die like that, normal people do, right?; I am just an ordinary man; I work at the university stadium: I am a security guard; when was the last time I was sick, you remember?

Last night I went to Jon's and we watched a couple of depressing movies: White Noise 2 and Death Sentence. Before that Joy and I ran 2 miles at UMD, hit a volleyball around the gym, and shot hoops for a while. It was fun. Joy is the coolest girlfriend ever!!! :D :D :D

Wednesday Joy stayed over and I became acquainted with Slytherin 2. We worked on the puzzle for a few unsuccessful moments and then started a drawing for our scrapbook.

Joy's parents came to town yesterday and they took us out for dinner at Pizza Luce's which was delicious. Joy's bosses are out of town so they stayed at the Olcott last night. I went over for a little while and we had a fire and chatted. Tonight I get to stay with Joy there :D

When I got home last night I read about 50 pages of Dune: The Butlerian Jihad.

Last night Joy's parents took us out for dinner again at Blackwoods before they left for home. Joy and I went to the Olcott and started a fire and talked, and we had a great time (thanks again for letting me stay with you :D )! Today we cleaned up our rooms and went to UMD and ran 3 miles on the track. Then we went back to the Olcott and fed and let out the dogs, and I dropped Joy off and am now at home. I read some Dune, and just ate a hodge-podge meal. Joy's parents were amazingly kind and bought us tons of groceries, filling up our pantry and fridge (Thanks to them!!!). I broke up the ground beef, freezing some, refrigerating some, and frying up a little which I ate with rice and sprinkled with Cajun seasoning (not pleasoning). It was good. I scarfed it down and wanted more, but instead of making more I nuked the pair of hot dogs and ate those plain to 1) get rid of them and 2) satiate my hunger. I also polished off the last glass of Augey Bordeaux. Now it's about time I showered. Then I plan on reading Dune again until Joy gets here at around 8. Tomorrow we are doing laundry (I'm virtually out of clean socks, underwear, and pants :( ). We plan on washing our clothes in the bath tub to save $ and then drying them in machines. On Thursday we are going to the Mall of America and to visit Megan Johnson. Schwetty might come to the MoA with us if he doesn't have class. Then it's one more weekend, a Monday, and then....school starts. Joy wants to get up earlier than early every morning to run a mile before 8 am class/work. I'm starting to like that idea (I usually do like Joy's ideas :) but am wondering how well we will stick to it...which reminds me, I have 100 sit ups to catch up on...

It is 3:45, Joy and I are doing laundry, in the bath tub. We just consumed a liter of grape pucker and played a drinking game in which we looked for articles of clothing to have fun and to churn the laundry.

After writing the last journal entry I took a nap and Joy watched Memoirs of a Geisha. Then we brought the wet laundry to Maytag and dried it all, which ended up costing $14. Joy went home but came back later, and we set the alarm for 6:40 am, planning to get up and run a mile at UMD before heading to the cities. Instead we slept til 10, blew off exercise, ate breakfast, and took a shower. We left Duluth at around 11 and went to the Mall of America for a while, where we perused some shops, rode the Timberland Twister, and ate a Cinnabun and Coldstone. Then we met up with Megan Johnson and her boyfriend Jarrad. After walking around the mall some more we left and picked up their friend and went to 1st Ave to see a show but we couldn't get in so we went bowling instead. Then we stopped for food (Joy and I got huge burritos) and then went back to the mall to get Carla before returning to Megan's place to sleep. This morning we left and stopped at Nar's new place and chatted with him and Matt for a while. We also stopped at White Castle on the way up and we are going to go to UMD for a 2 mile run soon.

Joy wasn't feeling good after eating the White Castle yesterday so we didn't go running. Instead I went to her house and we fed the guinea pigs carrots and played Mario 3 for Nintendo. Then we went to Applebees and shared spinach and artichoke dip, pasta, and a pretty big triple chocolate treat. Then we went back to her place and I stayed over and slept in while she had to work (sorry Joy, I wish you could've slept in!!!). I played some Megaman/watched parts of The Big Labowski and Black Sheep with Dan and Brian. When Joy came home from work we went to UMD to run, but the whole rec center was closed because football prospects are in town...

I just talked to my dad and sister for almost an hour and am going to hop in the shower now. Joy is picking me up soon and we are going to a symphony orchestra show at the DECC, thanks to her bosses at the Olcott for the tickets. It should be a fun time :)

The symphony orchestra show was pretty cool. I was pretty amazed by the violen solo...it's crazy to think that such a range of sound can be made with a violen to produce just the right sounds for a song. It has been super duper freezing (down to about -18) recently. Last night Joy and I went to Famous Daves and enjoyed ribs and Georgia chopped pork. We stayed and watched the end of the Packers vs. Giants NFC championship game, which the Giants won in OT despite missing two field goals late and losing the coin toss to GB. Yes, I was actually rooting for Favre and the Pack, but too bad they couldn't pull it off. Now it's another NY vs Boston championship...yawn. Joy stayed over but had to work this morning, and when she got back we went to the Dollar Store and K-mart and picked up some stuff (Thank you Joy! you are too cool :)

I just read Joy's journal from Mon Jan 21st, and it inspired me to advance upon my own with gusto. So, WHAAALLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA whooooooooooooooo hoooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol (that was the gusto)

Tuesday was a long day. Joy came over and we got ready together and then it was time for spring semester 08. It began with Geography of South Asia, then I hung out in the FYE office, Joy and I relived the Courtyard Cafe (or whatever it's called...), then we went to Ecosytems II, then I graced Life and Death of the Dinosaurs with my presence, I sat through ES Internship Prep with Joy, and also joined her in Issues in Global Ecology.

Yesterday was our 3rd month anniversary :D !!!!!!! I started class at 10 with Stats1411 and Joy came too. Then I had Map Design and Cartographic Methods, with Scott, and it seems like the labs will be very time consuming :( Then I met with Tongxin and the other TA's and he talked forever. I wanted to get out of there because I was going to Two Harbors to pick up Betty's Pies, and I wanted to be back when Joy got off work at 5. I had to get gas and I ended up being late, and the worst part was Betty's Pies is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the winter...so I stopped at Loui's Fish shop (or some such name) and bought a smoked whitefish (Thanks for being so amazingly awesome Joy, and for appreciating my effort (and the fish, except for the getting ill part...). I love you). After running 2 miles at UMD we changed into finer garments and went out to eat at the Radisson for delicious seafood and pasta, and then went to the movie P.S. I Love You, which we both bawled through because it was so sad. Joy also got me a card and it was very sweet. Thank you.

This morning I gave Joy a ride to FYE and came back and read some dinosaur hw and ate. (I dropped Geography of South Asia, am now teaching lab on Thursday morning and Friday, and have 16 credits again as I got into Issues in Global Ecology). I went back to school at around 11:30 and Joy and I ate half of the smoked whitefish in ABAH outside the classroom, and then went to Ecosytems II. Mike talked about demographics and exponential vs. geometric growth. We got out early and Joy and I went to the library and read a little hw and then I had Dinosaurs (Today we talked about crazy dead white people (one eccentric man kept pet jackals and rode (with his bear of course) horses. last time we learned that hummingbirds are dinosaurs (crocs and gators are not) and that I am (we all are) bony fishes. [Seems like this class will be unexpectedly but delightfully obscure!]). Meanwhile Joy had Geography of Cultural Diversity with Suttapa. I dropped her off at home and then came to the apartment for a while (I did 100 situps) before going back to UMD to run a mile with Jon (I did the "seven laps" smile and hop/flail thing and it weirded him out) and then we did rock climbing, which was really fun. My arms are very tired and for a while they really burned. I want to do it again soon. I also worked on my lab in the GIS lab and did some reading for Map Design. I just ate Rice A Roni and now it's 11 and I am going to bed. Joy is coming over in the morning to get ready :D I hope you are feeling 100% by the time you read this Joy!

Friday after Stats Joy took a nap at her house and I came home for a while before meeting with the other TA's to sort maps and go over lab 1. Then Joy came to campus and we ran 3 miles. Joy didn't have to work the weekend so she stayed over Friday night and we got up "early" (8:30 am) and drove to Gilbert. We watched some home videos of me and Ashley's Easter 1990. Then we headed north, deciding whimsically to go to Ely. We stopped at the North American Bear Center and checked that out before getting a room at Super 8. Then we went to eat at Sir G's. We had lasagna and cheese bread, and water with lemon slices (not wedges, it wasn't as easy to shqueez'em). We also had dessert pizza (hey, it's in the fridge! Hmmmm...I'm going to devour it after I finish this...). Then we went to back to Super 8 and went in the hot tub and played some beer pong (fishing bobbers were too heavy, we forgot the pong balls at the apartment, and so we had to use bottle caps). Joy whooped my butt both games. Then we took some pictures of us and listened to music and went to bed.

Sunday we went to the International Wolf Center and saw the wolves (we saw a wolf on Hwy 169 coming into Ely, it was in the ditch and crossed the road after we passed) and a pretty good video on wolves in Yellowstone. On the way out we ate at Dairy Queen. We got Arctic Rushes (cherry and "blue" raspberry) with ice cream in them along with cheeseburgers, a flamethrower chicken sandwhich, and a brownie earthquake without ice cream. We stopped in Gilbert on the way back and I remembered my old fishing records, which I showed to Joy and she looked them over on the drive back. [As I'm writing this I've been on the phone with Brian, talking about sports...and his new lap top]. We stopped at Gander Mountain and Joy picked up a gift card for Dan the Man (his birthday). I went over to Joy's and stayed over. Because of the situation we stayed upstairs but I got to meet Max and Jake and talk with them and Nick a little bit. Joy and I watched Office Space and chilled in bed. This morning I went to her Macro Economics class and we had Stats, then came to the apartment and ate, slept, and watched Jurassic Park, The Lost World.

It's been a long week. I had class most of Tuesday, and thankfully Joy is in them. It got real cold again and my car didn't start Wednesday morning so Drew picked me up and I was at least in time for Map Design. I finished lab 1 then. Joy stayed over Thursday night and we got up and went to school together. I taught my section 3 phys. geog. lab and then we had Ecosystems II and I went to Dinos class. We stayed on campus and did homework, and then we went rock climbing at the UMD wall. It was fun, and was Joy's first time. She did really well :) After that we came to the apartment and made rice and stir fry and we finished Stats hw. Carlos still isn't starting, so I gave Joy a ride to school at 8 with Carla, came back and slept for a bit, and then had Stats and section 9 of my phys. geog. lab. It went pretty smooth, unlike finding a parking meter this morning. Some girl claimed I took "her" spot and that I should capitulate and find a new spot. I said no and she said bad words.

Joy and I had spaghetti and she went home for the weekend (I miss her already!) and now I'm going to do some reading or something...

Yesterday Carlos still didn't start despite it being warmer. Jon picked me up and we went to UMD. He worked, but he still played basketball with me on shift. I beat him 5-2 in a first to 5 game. Then we read some homework until he finished at 5. After that we went to his friend Jessy's house and watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and played bowling, golf, and created profile characters on the Wii.

Today I think I'm going to Rambo with Jon and then we're going to try and get my car started. I can't wait to see Joy! She's coming back up this evening :D Yay!

I did indeed see Rambo with Jon on Sunday and it was a good movie, but really gory and somewhat depressing. Joy got here at around 6 and we unloaded our laundry. We caught the New York Giants vs Patriots super bowl online in time to see (via numbers and several clicks on the "refresh" icon) the Giants score the winning touchdown (they won it 17-14). Monday I brought her to class and then came back for a brief nap before going to Stats. In Map Design we started lab 2 on typology on Brazil. Yesterday Joy surprised me by coming over at 6 am and we got ready together before going to school. I again came back and napped (Carlos still doesn't work) :( Then we had Ecosystems II and I had Dinos (God had an inordinate fondness for beetles) and then we had ES internship prep and Mike talked about measuring wind speed on the north shore. We left UMD after that and came back here to nap before going to the caucus. Then I went to UMD and worked in the GIS lab on lab 2 until 11 or so. Joy went to April's for a bit and picked me up and we came back here to watch Ben's documentary Life, Death, and the Resurection of Scalping, which he obviously spent a good deal of time on.

Today after class I read some Maps and finished grading labs, met with the other TA's, and then printed out a compilation worksheet for lab 2. Joy and I walked around exploring the crevices and crannies of UMD for almost 2 hours before she dropped me off here and then I ate some Mac n Cheese, but added Velveeta to it to make it extra cheesy.

I'm in the GIS lab at school right now working on lab 2 for Map Design. It's starting to look nice. Joy was a sweetheart and ordered me a Jimmy John's sub here and it was delicious. Earlier I went to the mall and dawdled around Barnes & Nobles for a couple hours. Joy and I made chicken, potatoes, and Rica A Roni for lunch today. Yesterday we watched Donnie Darko, went to the Great Lakes Aquarium, and then went to Jake's birthday party. Friday night we went to the free showing of Dan in Real Life here at UMD, and Thursday night I surprised Joy with roses, pizza, and smoothies after she fell asleep at the apartment. I'm going home now...

I just gave Joy a ride to work, as she is so kindly letting me use Carla because Carlos is still dead :( This week we talked to Mike and are trying to get an internship with him, and it looks like we'll probably get it. For Valentine's day Joy surprised me by coming to my lab session with Megan and singing to me in front of all my students, and it was a little embarrassing but very sweet. I love you so much Joy!!! Then after class we went to the mall and finished Stats hw at Barnes & Nobles and I gave Joy a giant custom made cookie from Mrs. Fields. We played wine pong at the apartment and Joy gave me "Our Story: Volume 1" and I love it (she included a bunch of very nice drawings of stuff we've done together, and filled it with clever and cute rhymes)! Although I hadn't finished it, when I saw what Joy made me I had to show her that I was making the same thing for her!

Last night I spent several hours in the GIS lab with Jon and pretty much finished up my map. I also went to Perkins in Superior and caught up with Casey. A couple nights ago I watched Supernova.

Joy's at work now and I just finished cutting up our Christmas tree with a pruners. I just bagged the peices and tossed them into the dumpster. Now a vacuum is in order. Last night we went to Barnes & Nobles to do homework and didn't do anything there. We stopped at her house and grabbed her X Box and PS2 and some clothes, then came here and played wine pong. She took a big early lead again, literally knocking me out of the game for a few minutes lol, but I came back with a lucky off-the-waller and ended up winning. We played part of the game as midgets :)

It's actually really nice outside today so we are probably going to go on a hike or something when Joy gets off. Now I'm going to grade some lab papers...

We never did go on a hike Sunday, and have not done any real exercising at all as of late. At least today we walked a bit. Joy came over and we walked to Hacienda del Sol and had cheesy enchiladas, chips and salsa, and very smooth and mucho delicioso cheese cake. Thanks baby :) Today started with Joy coming over at 6 am, but we didn't go to campus until our Stats exam at 10, which was fairly easy except I totally mind-farted on the last question and time was up. I tought lab 4 (isotherms and environmental lapse rate) and then chowed down on leftover noodles. I worked on Lab 3 for Map Design. Dreamweaver is proving to be frustrating because I'm unfamiliar with the interface and it's been a pain. In one frustrating moment I noticed the song Dreamweaver playing on the radio in the GIS lab and I had to laugh. Yesterday I checked the mail and there was a package from Amazon.com. It was from Joy, she got me (us) The Laughing Falcon for our 4 mo. anniversary :D Thanks again Joy! You rock!!! I baked pound cake last night along with the noodles of which we finished today. On Wednesday morning I went to school early with Joy. We took the bus, and have been doing so since. It's really not bad, and it's nice not having to park and walk from The Spot. On a whim I decided to go to Joy's Principles of Economics: Macro class. We sat in the back on the right side and this strange man wearing black with sun glasses and long hair walked in suspiciously and paced around the back, moved up and finally sat down along the aisle. Then four cops came in and took him to the ground and cuffed him. I saw them pull a leather whip from his coat, and he apparantly had a small billy club thing on him as well. Joy and I left then, having a bad feeling about things and not wanting to be in the room. We later read in the paper that the guy was 36 and had a history of assualt charges and mental illness. It was pretty scary considering the school shootings that have been happening around the country.

It's 10:30 now. I played Ghost