Roommateless

My roommate moved out this week. After 3.5 years of having the same roommate, he moved in with his girlfriend. It is kind of weird having the place to myself now. It is hard to believe its really just me now. It is certainly different not having him around. I mentioned a while back about the selfishness that develops when living alone, I guess this means I’m about to become a bit more so ;-)

In any event, if you happen to know of any guys looking to rent a room, have them drop me a line. I have an opening.

Class Reunion

This past weekend I went to my girlfriend’s 10 year reunion. Class reunions have a lot to live up to for most people. After a decade of goal setting, hard work, and weight gain, people have a lot they want to show off. Everyone seems to have a different take on how it will go and what the focus will be. For those with kids, all they want to talk about is their families, others want to try to impress you with all their travels around the world, and the rest with their careers. What I found most interesting about the reunion was to see how these different groups mingled.

Those with kids pulled out the photos without even being asked. In fact, within a minute and a half of meeting one woman, I was already being shown her children’s photos. The travelers were a bit more subtle, and worked it into conversation playing off their travel like it was no big deal, but were sure to interject it into whatever conversation was going on. The careerists would throw around titles, companies, or people they worked with into conversation. When these three groups spoke with each other it was like a dance of story telling, with each picking up the story of the conversation and telling the next piece about themselves.

None of this was done in a selfish “me” attitude kind of way, after all the whole reason people go to reunions is to find out what is going on in people’s lives, but it was such a different communication style than what I’m accustomed to I found it fascinating. I’m looking forward to my 10 year, and finding out what role I end up playing (no, I won’t be the kids role).

A Year, A Raft, and A Semester

Another great weekend. My girlfriend and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary. We had dinner at a place on Lake Minnetonka and checked out a nearby county park. A quiet evening, but a lot of fun. It is hard to believe it has been a year already. It sure goes quickly. It is amazing how much life can change in just one short year. Makes me wonder where I will be a year from now. I know many of you probably don’t feel like you have even had the chance to get to know her over the past year, I guess that is the trouble with a distance relationship. I’m sure there will be more opportunity when she moves back in December (yes, she is going to be able to come back 9 months early!).

Sunday I went rafting near Duluth. They weren’t the wildest rapids of all time, but wild enough to throw a few people out of their rafts, luckily no one from my raft. It is hard to beat the thrill of heading directly towards a large bulge of water only to have it engulf you as you paddle for dear life.

Prior to rafting, we had lunch on the deck of a restaurant overlooking lake Superior. When the waitress came out with the food a seagull swooped down and nabbed a hunk of meat out of my sandwich! I swear animals are out to get me. First my iPod, now my lunch!

School starts for me tomorrow. I’m ready to get back into it. I don’t look forward to the workload, but I’m excited to check some more credits off my list. Also, I think this semester is going to be especially interesting. I’m taking a IT course and a finance course, both areas which have interested me for a while and ones I’ve been wanting to take since the start of the program. Bring it!

Long Weekend

For Memorial Day this year I went to CA to meet up with my girlfriend who was training in San Francisco and we stayed with my sister who lives nearby. Both of her roommates had moved out within the last week, so we were lucky enough to each have our own bed.

Saturday my sister rounded up five of her friends and we drove to Sacramento to hit up rafting on the American River. Without a doubt it was the highlight of the trip. It wasn’t much of a river as far as rapids, but there is just something about being on the water that can’t be beat. About half way through the trip we stopped on the side of the river for lunch. A rope hung from a tree on the opposite bank next to a steep hill, setup so you could swing from up on the hill to down over the water. Naturally, I was enthralled. I had to do it. Since it was still fairly early in the season, the current was moving at a pretty solid rate, more so than it would have been practical to paddle the raft over. I walked up stream a bit and then started swimming straight across, reaching the other side just as the current brought me to the rope. The effort was well worth it! The rope launched me a good 15 feet in the air above the water, arms and legs flailing, before I crashed into the water below. I can’t remember the last time I had the chance to do something like that, which is pretty sad considering all the water around here.

We also went to a party at one of my sister’s friend’s homes who lived up in the mountains. Talk about a wild daily commute! They have to drive 2.5 miles on a one lane road without guard rails to get to there home every day. In places the road was ¼ missing from a mudslide, and in many other places blind corners, steep inclines, and no street lights did not allow for easily spotting any oncoming traffic. It was about a 15 minute drive to go those 2.5 miles.

We grilled out at their place, and played a little Frisbee. My most embarrassing moment of the trip happened at this point. Since the house is on the side of a mountain, it wasn’t surprising that at the immediate edge of their yard was a very steep decline which went down about 100 feet to the road. Their yard was essentially a flat area carved out of the side of the mountain. One of the throws to me was a bit high, and in an effort to catch the Frisbee I ran to the edge and jumped. I just barely touched the disc, and in the same motion and in true David form I made one last extension of my arm out for the disc as I was landing, tripped as I hit the ground unbalanced from the extension, and fell head first off the lawn. After two summersaults, I was able to stop rolling, work the crick out of my neck, and climb back up to the top where everyone who witnessed my act of coordination cheered/jeered me on.

All in all it was a great weekend. I love long weekends!

Sad iPod

It didn’t take long. You may remember my splurge from a couple months ago when I finally dropped the cash on an iPod. Well, my iPod ownership is over. It was charging on a table at my sister’s house and her cat thought the power cord would be a fun toy. She pulled the cord and the iPod came crashing down. I now it displays the unhappy iPod icon on most boots. When it does boot, it will play for a couple hours then just stop. Yet another instance of me realizing I have no desire for a pet. They seem to cause more harm than good.

My sister was very generous about the whole situation and has even offered to help with part of the replacement cost. That was very kind of her. Anyone want to buy a partial working, mostly broken iPod?