sf

end of an era

So, the title may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I have creative license, so lay off! Tonight was the last night of CSC volleyball for this season. I know you have been on pins and needles for the past week awaiting the outcome of our inaugural season. Sad news. We lost in the championships 24-26, 24-26. It’s been the same old story all season, we play great but we just can't finish our games. We are thinking about switching to the Thurs. nights. Hopefully a change of location and competition will bring about a first place finish. It could happen, we have the talent, we just need to use it. Anyhoo, that's all for now. 2 updates within 2 weeks, geez, y'all must be loving me. Don't get used to it, I can't keep up this grueling pace forever.

delirium induced update

I bet you thought I haven't updated this site in 4 months because I forgot about it, or because nothing new has happened in my life, or just because I'm lazy, but all of those are simply not true. The real reason I haven't posted is because I forgot my password to the site. Yep, one day, I went to post, and it just wouldn't come to me. I tried and tried but to no avail. Luckily, I suffered my first cold of the season this weekend, and as I drifted somewhere between dream state and delirium, my password came to me once again. Alas, the day you all have been waiting for has arrived. Here's a summary from most recent to oldest of the happenings in my life the last few months:

The 6 pills I popped today really seemed to bring my volleyball game to a new level. Tonight was the first round of playoffs, and we won our first match all season and are advancing to round two. It's been our plan all along to peak during playoffs, so I'm sure we will be going all the way to the championship next weekend.

Saturday morning I woke up sick and congested. Yay for colds. I thought a hot shower would do me good, so around 10:30. I got out of the shower right around 11:00, just in time to grab the ringing phone. It was Lis, of course, with her great timing. I had been talking to her for a few seconds when the other line beeped. Caller ID showed the Pointe so I figured somebody was at the front door dialing the wrong code. I flipped over and it was the security guard downstairs. Apparently, the condo below mine had water running down the walls. He asked if anything weird was going on up here, and I told him I had just showered, but nothing out of the ordinary. He informed me he'd call me back, which he never did. Now I'm afraid to use my shower for fear of creating a waterfall effect down 23 stories. Guess I'll have to stop by the management office and find out what's up, because there is no way I'm going to be paying damages for every floor below me. I'm sure insurance has to cover something, right?

A few weeks back I woke to find out the company I work for, the St. Paul Companies is merging with Traveler's. Not the most exciting news to wake up to on a Monday morning. We still don't know anything about job cuts or anything else at this time. Its just wait and see, which is never any fun. I hope I still have a job with the new company a year from now, but the realist side of me doesn't think it'll happen. So, anyone looking to hire an outstanding computer programmer, I may be looking for work.

The weeks before that just seem to blur together. There were birthdays and holidays, friends and family, all of which were good, but nothing too exciting to report, so I think I'll wrap this up and call it an entry. I'll try and do a better job of remembering my password so I can post more often, but I can't write it down because that would be a breach of security privacy. If I don't update and you are dying for some good web fun, check out www.homestarrunner.com, its hilarious and updated almost every Monday.

Full of Crab

WARNING: I sadly still have nothing interesting to write about and I've been too lazy to go out and take some new pictures, so I wrote a review of sorts of the restaurant I went to tonight. Read it or not, its up to you, but you can't say I haven't updated my website lately. Give me a good topic and I'll be glad to write about it, but until then...here you go.

Dana, Boo, and I went to the Fridley Crab House Music Cafe. We've been planning this outing for weeks but tonight our schedules finally meshed. Wednesday nights are all you can eat crab legs for $17.95 so we decided it would be a great night to gorge ourselves. The restaurant was nice, the atmosphere friendly, and the food excellent. The meal came with choice of soup or salad and choice of potato in addition to a HUGE pop-over. We all enjoyed our meals thoroughly and plan on going back there soon.

All you can eat crab places are harder and harder to come by these days. Sometimes you'll find them in bars, but should you really trust a bar to make good seafood? Ever since Red Lobster stopped doing all you can eat crab on Crabby Mondays we've been searching for the best alternative. I think we've found it.

If you're looking for a good seafood meal in the Twin Cites area I suggest you check out the Fridley Crab House Music Cafe.

4th Festivities

My 4th of July was good, but more or less uneventful. We spent Friday afternoon at Jordan's friend John's parents' house (did I punctuate that right?) on Medicine Lake. We played a couple games of v-ball and splashed around in the lake for a bit then headed back to Rachel's to grill out. They decided that no 4th of July would be complete without swimming in a Kiddie Pool, so Rachel and Amy ran to the store and purchased one, then filled it with freezing cold water, and proceeded to play around in it like 4 year olds (except with alcoholic drinks in hand) for hours. It was fun to watch I guess, if you're into crazy girls. The food was good, the company better, but I decided to take off around 6:00 and head back to my place to watch a movie and then the fireworks from my balcony. I have to admit that I'm not as big a fan of fireworks as I was in my youth, but I love watching the 4th of July fireworks from my balcony. I live on the 23rd floor and I can look out and in every direction there are fireworks filling the sky. It’s an incredible sight, for about 10 minutes, and then I lose interest. Nonetheless, I was glad to be there.

Saturday I woke up and headed up to the cabin and spent the day with the family. Tried to fish for a bit but it was too windy on the lake (no hooks in the neck this time) so I headed back and floated on the lake for a bit. My uncle decided that we needed a 45 pound turkey to feed the 18 of us so we ate turkey until we passed out (leaving about 25 lbs. of leftovers). I think he takes pride in the size of his turkey, not sure about that one.

Sunday I slept in, relaxed, celebrated my aunt's birthday at Jax Cafe with the family, exercised, and then relaxed some more. It was a nice day to do nothing.

Despite my best intentions of making it to the Taste of Minnesota this year, I never quite made it over to Harriet Island. It was probably safest that I didn't go considering the number of tragic fatalities this year. Maybe they should move it back to the capitol, it seemed a little safer there. I did however see/hear the fireworks every night, so I at least felt like I was a part of it.

Alright, that's it for this entry. Sorry, no exciting story this time, but I'll work on one for next time.

blind sided bicyclist

You remember when your mom used to tell you, "Look both ways for cars before crossing the street"? She should have mentioned bicycles as well. As part of my latest health kick (I'm getting too fat) I've been biking more and more. Tonight, Tyson and I decided to go for a bike ride. Around 6:15 I packed up my bike in my trunk and took off for Minneapolis. Ty and I spent some time trying to get my brake pads not to rub on my rims, but to no avail. I counted the extra friction as extra calories burned, and eventually got over my bitterness. We rode around Calhoun twice and then headed to BLB (Bryant Lake Bowl) as per usual for dinner and beer (I had a Coke of course). It was "date night" so the place was more crowded than normal and our food took a very long time to get there. By the time Ty and I finished eating our meals, it was dusk. I've been meaning to get some lights for my bike, but just haven't got around to it.

We decided to bike home on the side streets because we figured there wouldn't be much traffic. All was going fine and well until we came to Nicollet Ave. There were quite a few cars trying to turn left from Nicollet onto 25th. The last car in the line did not have his headlights on so I was concentrating on making sure he was out of the way. I looked both ways and saw no cars in the near distance, so I started to cross the street. Ty who was to my left, however, did not start to cross. I thought this to be odd since he's not afraid of death and always challenges cars and/or SUVs. Suddenly, to my left I see this biker coming full speed right at me. I slam on my brakes and easily stop before he gets to us, but he didn't think I was going to. The man slammed on his brakes but unfortunately for him he happened to be carrying a bag in his right hand and his only free hand to grab the brake lever with was his left hand. **He grabs the left brake and his back tire lifts up off the ground and over the handle bars he goes flying (at least 10 ft.) while rolls of toilet paper go flying out of his bag and land in the street and in the tree. The poor guy is just laying in the street not believing what just happened. I'm worried that a car is going to run over him. I ask him if he's alright repeatedly while apologizing profusely but he just stares at me and doesn't say a word. He picks up 2 rolls of TP from the road and climbs the tree to get the other 2 rolls. He looks at his bike, fusses with the chain a little, and then takes off. Needless to say, I was a little shaken. I think I will stick to the treadmill for a little while until this incident gets lost somewhere between my short-term and long-term memory. And yes, in case you were wondering, I was wearing a helmet. Safety first...that's my motto.

** story slightly embellished to make it at least a little interesting.

Lots of storms, little sleep

Thanks to Mother Nature, I've been sleepier than normal these past few days. Seems that it doesn't start storming in St. Paul until about 45 minutes after I fall asleep. Then comes a storm. Very loud. Very bright. Very windy. Very annoying. Also thanks to Mother Nature, my volleyball game tonight was cancelled due to flooded courts. As a result, I've spent some time tonight updating the photos page, not with new photos (yet) but with thumbnails. Take a look.

The Big Switch

If you are true aficionado of this site, you may have noticed that it looks slightly different. At the suggestion of my boy jrdn, I've redesigned this site to use mt. I'm sure you're all fascinated by that tidbit of information. I've decided to pull in my last two entries from the old site. If you are dying to read my old entries (I feel sorry for you if you are) you can find them at http://www.sfmn.net/old-news.php4. With the redesign, I've ditched the frameset. I plan on updating the other pages as time and my will power permits. I'm about to go brave the storms for some wingies at bw3. Later.

Pumped Full of Holes

For those of you who read my last entry, and immediately panicked wondering if my tetanus shot was up to date or not, you can now rest easy. I went to the doctor on Tues. and was poked in the arm (a lot less painful than being poked in the neck by a Rapala). Wow....I wish I had more to say, but I don't. Just be glad I wrote something at all.

Not Soon to Be Forgotten Saturday

As is the case with most people who decide to create their own web page and update it regularly, I've fallen way behind. I blame Jordan for making me decide to use moveabletype which I've yet to setup. In the meantime, I've been getting heckled by my few loyal readers, so I'll write all about my 'not soon to be forgotten Saturday'. Hope you have a few minutes to read it. Its so long it deserves it’s own page, but its here for now.

Saturday, Joe, Trent, and I went fishing on the Zumbro River. Its supposed to be the 5th best place in the state to catch Smallmouth Bass, so we decided it would be a good place to fish. I spent the night at Trent and Joe's Friday night, so we could be ready early and on the river by 11:30.

Trent and I woke up at 7. Trent made a nice breakfast of eggs and bacon (I love bacon). We were slow to start, but ended up leaving their apartment somewhere after 9:00 AM. We are taking 2 cars so we can drop one off upstream and one off downstream to retrieve the upstream vehicle. Trent and I drive to Trent's parent's house to get his good fishing rod and some life jackets and boat cushions and Joe drive's to his parent's house to get the canoe and his gear. We spend nearly 40 minutes at Trent's parent's house looking in the rafters for the life jackets and boat cushions, but to no avail. We did manage to snag 2 Ziploc bags from his parent's to put our valuables in if God forbid the canoe should capsize. We finally leave there and head to Joe’s parents, about a 15 minute drive.

Its now nearing 11:00 and we’re way behind schedule. We finish loading up things at Joe’s house (luckily he had a few extra life jackets) and start to head out. Trent and I were in my car and Joe was in his with the canoe. We hit the road and decide to stop in Cannon Falls for lunch which is about 20 miles away from the place we planned on dropping the canoe. We found a bar that served food and I had a hamburger with lettuce and onion and bacon. We spent probably close to an hour there before we finally headed on to Zumbro Falls.

Keep reading, I promise its worth it.....