Lost and Found

So, I'm pretty sure I lost my iPod shuffle when we were camping. If anyone has seen it since we were about to go hiking towards the waterfalls - let me know. On the found side, I have a key on my keyring that I've never before seen in my life. The only explanation I came up with is that maybe someone put it on there so that it could rest with my keys while we frolicked in the Northern part of Minnesota. Let me know.

Tell me about your lives

Hey kids, it's been a long time since we had any new posts. What's goin on? Kata, Eric, how's grad school. How's the new job Joe? Madge, Kali, what's new with you guys?

Yikes

So, Saturday mornign I learned that there was a storm in Chicago and power was still out in some places. Saturday afternoon I learned that the expressway 80/94 was shut down because it was still flooded. Saturday evening I saw some of the damage in Elmhurst - 200 year old trees completely ripped out of the ground. Today I looked at the pictures and I can't believe I didn't hear about this at all before I went home. Check it out at:

www.chicagotribune.com/stormphotos

In the perfect suburbs we don't get storms like this.

A Day in Minneapolis

So today I ventured out of my apartment onto campus today via bike. Let me tell you, everyone here bikes, how hard can it be? Right?

My bike to campus was wonderful, cool, easy and the lanes were marked. It took about 10 minutes. My bike home was entirely different. First of all it was raining steadily. Second of all, I went home on a different road - a four lane busy road full of potholes and lacking in bike lane lines (although I know there is a bike lane - the Minneapolis bike map said so....). Anyway my bike ride home goes something like this: I'm soooooaking wet from the rain (my gortex doesnt so much repel water as soak it up) and the dirty water splashes I get every few minutes from cars speeding by and freaked out cause they are speeding really close to me. I keep getting caught in turning lanes and slowing down traffic trying to get out of them. Plus I'm trying to use hand signals here cause everyone else does, but do you know how hard hand signals are when its rainy and cars are driving super close to you and its hard to look behind you cause your wet hood is covering half your face? I see some bikers on the other side of the road so I think the bike lane is over there. I decide to cross, but apparently I'm slower on my old purple Schwinn then I had anticipated cause traffic stops and honks as I cross four lanes of traffic. I get home soaked and bike-shamed.

A few hour later, after it stops raining, I went out for a run. I just kind of ran and explored some different streets/neighborhoods and then loop around to go back to my apartment. I get kind of lost in a really shady looking neighborhood and come across a homeless looking guy who resembles Jesus bent over looking into some bushes. When he sees me coming his way he stands up and stares and waves at me as I pass by. Not creepy except for the fact that his hand and upper forearm was a hook contraption (quite like Busters in Arrested Development).

Good day guys, good day.

Minnesota Pictures are posted!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8820433@N04/

so stop bugging me marge .... sheesh.

In case anyone was wondering what it looked like...

Late CO Recap

hey everybody!!!

i hope your drive home was smooth sailing. it was weird to have all the kids back at camp after watching your friends scared out of their wits while doing activities. kata, kelsey, joe, and kevin: we missed ya. marge, kal, eric and bennett: thanks for a sweet weekend!! i hope it was well worth the drive. kata, hope ya had a great time at home and you gotta send me the link to the article you were quoted in; joe, hahahaha sorry about the super sweaty graduation ceremony; kev, hope work's going well; and kels, you should write a book cause all my friends will read it.

as far as the photos go, my camera was left in the cooler full of water by an anonymous (coughcolleencough) counselor so it is out of order. this person also drank the last 6 beers without telling me. btw, marge i never paid ya for em, so the next time we're out, i got the tab; and for gas money as well. the good news is that the memory card still works so when i get a chance, i'll steal the unnamed counselor's camera to upload them.

it feels like a suuuuper long time since you guys left. i got the next day off and we went duckying the canyon. we flipped it twice while trying to keep our open beer cans out of the water, mooned some rafters, had breadcrumbs thrown at us, and yelled "whitewater! whitewater!!" in honor of marge...they loved it.

and finally, the package you all sent was absolutely perfect. i wore the sweetest bonnett on two rafting trips so far. by the way, that was the first thing i grabbed when we flipped. also, imagine a girl in a bonnett mooning you. haha. and your letters/pictures were priceless. kata, i laugh every time i look at it. i still haven't figured out the perfect time to pull out the over-sized undies, but in due time my friends.

i hope you have a great trip in minnesoooooota and thanks again for comin out guys!!! i had a blast:) oh and sorry again marge for cutting off your circulation.

i've been sick in the infirmary for the past two days, but i'm feelin better and tonight, we're goin to a rodeo!!!! ye-hawwww!!

peace out homies!!!!

J&C

As I am sitting here, trying to get a summers worth of diet records completed in record time, a woman comes up to me and asks me if she can interview me for an article she is writing for the Journal and Courier. I say sure, why not. She sits down and says "I just want to know what are some of your pet peeves (at this point I'm thinking oooh boy how perfect, this is going to be fun - and then she finishes...) of dating."

Ugh, fantastic. I'm going to be quoted in one of those articles. The only way I can justify this interview is if I say something disgustingly sarcastic. So, wittingly I say "Uhh...umm....I don't really date a lot but I guess I wouldnt like it if they talked about themselves the whole time." Nice. A real original answer. I hope to god that many other equally unoriginal people will have said the same thing so my name doesnt appear next to that awesomeness.

So, anyway, I just remembered we were going to post out own pet peeve lists (cause we are assholes) ;) Here are some of mine:

the word moist
people who sing Ani DiFranco songs like they've been singing them for years, but they really haven't!!!
ice breakers
small talk
the mall (and anyone who likes to hang out there)
people who think kittens are cuter than babies

Go click yourself.

Missing Colorado to go walk in the graduation ceremony was not one of those decisions that I will remember as brilliant. I mean, obviously I’m glad I did it, and my parents really wanted me to, but Colorado would have been much better. Tom and the infamous Mike Dulaney took me out the night before the ceremony and got be absolutely obliterated to the point where I ended up ralphing in front of the Knickerbocker at roughly 2 in the morning.

This obviously made the following 12 hours all but pleasant. I’m not sure if it was the fact that the temperature was in the freaking 90s at 9 a.m. or the fact that, under this ridiculously hot cap and gown (which was obviously black) I was wearing long sleeves and pants, or the fact that I was insanely hung over and dehydrated, but I was not feeling my best throughout the ceremony. But alas, I survived and my parents took me out to lunch at Scotty’s where I ate one onion ring and a single rib from my full rack of baby backs.

How was Colorado?

the 12th.....

hey kiddies. just wanted to let you know that you're welcome to crash here on the 12th on the way up to Minnesota. I'm going to be in Houston (during the hottest week of the entire year! Score!!) all next week until Friday night and I'll probably have no access to the blog/email so call me if you're coming. I'll just need to know how many cars you're bringing so I can figure out parking.


Kevin Schwartzenberg
Waste Water Treatment Engineer
Olefins Technical Group
Lyondell Morris Operations

also if you're bored you should go to npr.org and read this segment called "my cancer". It's kind of sad but I always appreciate my life more after reading it.

CO here we come!

Kali, the town that our directions are heading to is dotsero, CO. I think Darcy may have said that we are actually going to gypsum, but dotsero is where to get off?

Packing list:

sunglass
sunscreen
hat
athletic sandals
jerseys (something quick drying)
nalgene