FooDew’s House of Wares (not)

I’ve been away for the past two weeks, and although it’s always good to get away for a bit, it’s nice to have a weekend at home now too.  Home has also changed, as Nora and I moved into a new apartment on Monday.  It’s not the nicest place, but it’s a good location, all utilities included, and certainly good enough for the next couple of months before we move to Florida.

My family and I went to Vegas over Memorial Day weekend, which was hilarious and pretty fun.  We drank plenty, gambled, saw a magic show (complete with large wild cats) and wandered around.  By the end of the three days I had lost enough money that I was ready to get the hell out of there, and I can’t really imagine wanting to stay for much longer.   I did play about five straight hours of blackjack one night, all the while breaking even and earning enough money to pay the tips for my free drinks.  That was definitely the highlight of my gambling experience, as the next night I lost all that I had saved in about a half hour.

Last weekend Nora and I headed out to Appleton for a short reunion with some friends from school.  As always, it was good to see Matt again, and of course fun to see everyone else too.  Despite the good time we had, it’s always strange to return to Appleton.  Even though nothing really appears different (aside from the construction) it feels different, and it’s pretty clear I don’t belong there any more with that group of people, which is both good and bad I suppose.

What am I doing with my relaxing weekend, you might ask?  Finishing moving and heading to the new specialty beer store in St. Louis Park - The Four Firkins.  Dan and I have both been most excited about the store opening, so it ought to be a good time.  I’m sure I’ll post on the bizarre/awesome beers I get there soon.

I know usual summer resolutions are something like “get outside more,” but I’m not too worried about that.  With Nora back, moving into a new place, and school quickly approaching, life is getting more interesting now.  The last four months have been months of building a routine, and the next few months will be breaking up that routine, which should lead to doing more interesting things.  Not that I haven’t enjoyed the last four months - there’s a certain joy in solitude that I came to appreciate, but it did not make for many good stories.

So now Nora and I are moving into an apartment on June 2nd (still in St. Paul), and even though she’ll be working at all hours of the day it’s nice to have her around again.  The apartment is fairly small, in a basement, and not in the best shape, but we’ll make it work.  And it’s only for two months, then we’re off to Florida.  In the meantime I’ll be heading to Vegas tomorrow, there’s a new specialty beer store opening in St. Louis Park, and a trip of nostalgia back to Appleton soon as well.  Expect the updates to come more often nowadays, work will be slowing down and there will be more to write about.

It’s been a while, and for that I apologize.  With work my free time has diminished substantially, and it’s always difficult to find a way to find the time to do everything I want to at night.  Blogging has taken the largest hit, having been forgotten entirely.

Well I was getting the mail today and noticed a letter from the University at Buffalo’s Classics department.  That’s odd, I thought to myself.  Not only was this school not one I applied to, I’ve never had any contact with the faculty there.  It may have been on one of my preliminary lists when I was just beginning the application process, but quickly was dropped.  I opened the letter, and it turns out I was rejected!  In all honesty, I don’t know how they got my address, let alone an application and fee.  I suppose it could have been a preemptive rejection - a “don’t bother applying, we’ll reject you even if you didn’t want to come to our school,” letter.

It’s all moot, really.  After having been rejected from Brown and Bryn Mawr as well, it’s looking very likely I’ll end up in Tallahassee at FSU.  They offered me a substantial amount of money in the form of a teaching assistantship and would waive my tuition, and it’s difficult to pass that up.  They also seduced me by flying me down to Florida in the deep of Minnesota winter to visit and putting me up in a really nice hotel.  Although it sounds superficial, there is something to be said for a pretty good program that has that much interest in me.

That means that Nora and I will be in St. Paul for the summer, and then will move to Tallahassee in August sometime.  The prospect of not dealing with snow and not having to take out student loans is incredibly appealing, and if Tallahassee is a miserable city I’ll only be there for two years to get my master’s and go somewhere else for my PhD.

But that’s a ways out, and for now I’m just enjoying having some money from work, playing video games, and drinking plenty of fantastic craft beers.

In reverse order!

I was seriously just thinking about this when I was putting my contacts in this morning.  Pretty neat stuff, eh?

Work continues to be unexciting, but that paycheck in a week or so will be fantastic to get.  And I continue to gain responsibilities that elevate me above the normal CSR, which is always nice.

Lost starts this Thursday, and though I’m a little worried about the writers’ ability to answer some mysteries in eight episodes, it will be great to have new TV that I’m really looking forward to seeing again.  That aspect of living with a gigantic HDTV has been sorely lacking this winter.

Dan has started me down the road to beer snobbery, pointing me towards MN Beer.com.  I don’t know if it would be as much fun without someone else to go to these random events with, but having been to two beer release events in the last week will never be a bad thing.  And with the opening of a beer specialty store in Minneapolis (hopefully) soon, along with Dan’s Tasty Beer Mixer, the delicious beer will keep on coming.

Eagan (Egan.  Understandable if you’re not from around here)

Hennepin (Henipin.  Again, understandable if you’re not from around here)

Orthopedist (Orthapedist.  Not that easy to spell)

The name Susan (Susin?  Suzin?  Suzen? I’ve never seen Susan spelled those ways)

Hospital (Hospitle?  Hospetal?  Not understandable)

Part of me really wants this to continue on a daily basis.  The nicer part of me hopes he learns to spell quickly.

Started my new job with the Company today. I can’t say exactly which one, for who knows who might be googling what these days. The job itself isn’t too exciting, answering calls and setting up appointments, but at least there’s no selling involved.

My coworkers are a varied and interesting bunch as well, ranging from a funny Kenyan who speaks Swahili and some tribal language (and of course, English) to a St. Cloud State dropout who can’t spell Minneapolis, at least not until today. I also get my own desk/half cubicle, computer and phone extension, so things can’t be too bad, right? Apparently I’m better than ought to be expected on the computer system already, so chances are I’ll be on the phones tomorrow. The sooner I can stop using a time card and start using the computer login system, the better.

Despite my understanding of the computer system, I haven’t quite gotten down the whole time card - punch in/punch out - thing. I’ve had four times to practice, and the stamps just won’t go where I think they will. Luckily my performance is not based on my time card punching skills, but rather on customer service and computer skills, which I have a pretty good handle on. Here’s to the first step of becoming a bit more financially secure, at least a little bit.

Last week Dan informed me that The Source, a comics and games store, was giving out free passes to a sneak preview of Cloverfield. Tonight was that screening. Packed into a room with largely the clientele of The Source (read: nerds, including us), we hunkered into a nearly full theater for the show.

The movie was very good, although really short (less than 90 minutes), but it had enough intense scenes to make the 90 minutes a reasonable length. I’ll avoid spoilers, but suffice to say my predictions were wrong, although I don’t think I’ve shared those with anyone who might read this site.

I’d heartily recommend it, especially in theaters. It just wouldn’t be the same on a tv, no matter how large. After being instructed by some guy at the beginning of the movie, here I am spreading the good word and trying to get you to see it. I guess I’ve sold out after all.

Work begins on Wednesday, which means getting my sleep schedule back in order. Luckily the time difference in France, Nora’s limited access to computers, and my desire to talk to her are taking care of that.

It’s been a while, as is usually the case when I’m transitioning between things.  But the transition is pretty much over, so I feel like writing again.

Nora’s back in France, which is a bummer, to say the least.  At least I’ve got Skype set up now, so we can talk pretty often.  Every once in a while I think about what things would be like if she had stayed here, even though I know that’s not realistic.

So I’m living at home, in the basement, for a very meager rent.  I’m in debt, although that will soon be paid off thanks to my new job at MTM, some non emergency medical transport company.  I take calls and set up appointments for people to get rides to various doctor’s offices.  It shouldn’t be too bad, it’s on a regular schedule, and the pay is decent.  I join the workforce next Wednesday.
I’ve been playing lots of Halo 3 and Mass Effect, and neither has disappointed me thus far.   Halo 3 online is loads of fun, especially playing with Jonas, Matt and Dan.  Playing on my own is alright, but it’s most definitely better playing with people I know.

I’ve got all my grad school applications in, and they’re complete too, thank goodness.  My nightmarish fantasies of not having sent in one thing can end, and I can just wait for March to hear back.

That’s about all for now.  There’s a lot to catch up on, but it’ll have to wait.

We made it back, with only a bit of fuss in Chicago. As a result we are both without our luggage, but that will (hopefully) be remedied soon.  I’ve never looked forward to spending a dollar so much - not having to do the conversion for the euro anymore is a joy.

I’ll be back in the Cities on either Friday or Saturday night.  There is the possibility of a snowstorm on Saturday that I obviously would like to avoid.  As for the next couple of days I’ll be relaxing and enjoying American comforts, as well as getting my car ready for the trip and some other business relating to school applications.

It’s good to be back.

We’re in Paris, after packing all of our stuff up, selling our furniture and cleaning the apartment.  We stopped in Chartres to see the cathedral there on the way.  Now a couple days of sight seeing and we’ll be flying back to the States.  I’m staying in Indy for a few days, but then I’ll be driving home a week from today!