Here I go again

I'm posting! And it's only been a bit over a week!

It's kind of funny because I was thinking of things to do and I was like well I could update my blog and part of me was like no way I just updated like yesterday, so I checked and it was last Monday!

So here I am, being good and posting again!

Wow I typed the above and then got distracted watching The Office and now I don't want to write anymore, but I will because I'm dedicated!

On Tuesday I don't know what I did. Went to work (solo again), went home, blah blah blah

On Wednesday after work I ate leftover Dominos, changed, and drove up to Broadway Pizza in Robbinsdale to meet up with Amanda (ex-coworker), Sara, Amy, and Sara's friend (Abby??). We played bingo (everyone won except Amanda and I) and had a great time hanging out, dobbing, and just catching up.

On Thursday after work I again got ready right away after work and headed out to pick up a set of bookshelves from a woman off craigslist. For some reason traffic was ridiculous and I ended up there about 15 minutes late (luckily the woman I was meeting was ~20 minutes late so I didn't keep her waiting), bought her bookshelves (they're nice and small and thin - like book deep which is nice), stuffed them in my trunk, and raced back into traffic. I drove down to Khan's Mongolian BBQ to meet Catie, Sybylla, Vicki, and Meredythe for Catie's birthday dinner. It was really interesting (but good!) food (especially the sesame buns) and we also had a lot of catching up to do. There was some crazy Japanese game show playing on the TVs (Vicki loved that) and again just ate and talked.

Friday I was lazy and mostly just read the 5th book in the Song of Ice and Fire series (the tv series A Game of Thrones is based on this book series). I did that for quite a bit of Saturday too. Later though I stopped by the Cardinal to say hi to the guys running the karaoke show there and then headed out to Plymouth to meet Chris and Nathan to see Captain America. It was actually better than I expected. Sunday was another lazy day, mostly spent reading. I also made brownies, which were delicious. Oh and I crocheted 2 tiny harnesses that fit my rats (and they haven't been able to get out of them from what I've seen!). I might try to take them outside one of these days.

Monday (yesterday) I had a full day at work (ie worked solid while I was there and even stayed late). When I got home I basically spent the entire evening reading the 5th book.

Today was another full day at work, although I managed to get out on time. I also rode my bike to work - it's finally not pouring down rain or sweltering hot, although tomorrow it might storm. Realized that I haven't found anyone to watch my rats while I'm in Canada (I leave Friday) and when I mentioned it to Nathan he didn't sound very willing to watch them for me again. When I told my coworker Katie she immediately offered! I hadn't even considered her but now it seems like she'll be the babysitter. Got home, and again started reading. Cooked my last leftover taco, continued reading. Then I decided that I would finish the chapter I was on and then go do something else but when I got to the end of the chapter, the next was entitled "Epilogue." I had finished the book without even realizing I was close. So I read the epilogue and then felt lost. What to do now? I finally got off my butt, did my next genetics lesson, started some laundry, and of course decided to update my blog.

For the rest of the week I'll be eating soup (trying to get rid of all the groceries I have without buying new stuff), cleaning random things (trying to keep my room clean in case Jordan ever shows it - btw there's a craigslist ad out at http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/roo/2513714228.html, yep that's my room!), buying more rat food so Katie doesn't have to worry about running out, and hopefully packing up and getting ready to go to Canada.

My family (dad, grandpa, uncles, and male cousins) are heading to my parent's house Thursday night and then on Friday morning they're heading up (picking me up on the way) and will be in Canada by Friday evening.

Now Conan's on and I think I need to switch my laundry, so it's goodbye for now!

Catching up again

So I'm going to be flying by the seat of my pants here for some of this but for the rest I'm consulting my calendar and working from there.

I left off (not including SF of course) after getting home from visiting Kristin in Green Bay - holy crud that was awhile ago.

Well the following Friday (May 20) I drove home to Rochester to hang out with Sara and Belle (parents were gone somewhere...) and helped her run the garage sale. We made a killing - I think like $40 each but I don't really remember. Sara abandoned me to run it by myself around 11:30 (I think) and I could hardly close up because the customers just kept coming!

The next weekend (yea okay I'm going to be skipping a lot) I took my second genetics test on Saturday (94%, I'll take it!) and then had to work on Sunday. That was Memorial Day weekend, and Katie and I had to go in and work on Monday as well.

This was around the time that work started getting terrible - working at all hours, weekends and late evenings, and getting absolutely NO appreciation or gratitude or even recognition for how above-and-beyond we were going. Ugh... can't really get into it though, it's kind of still going on but not nearly as bad as it was.

I got nothing now until SF. Although I didn't talk about Wednesday June 8, which is when I worked a half day (starting at 6:30 am) until I hopped on the Lightrail to the airport. Waited there, ate Burger King, then got on my flight to SF. I slept and read the whole time, as well as staring out the window at the snow-capped Rockies (took some pics on my phone). Once I arrived I took the BART (Bay Area Regional Transit?) to downtown SF where I met up with Jackie. I'm pretty sure we just headed to her place and chilled that night, but I don't really remember.

After I got back I turned up my apartment searching and went and saw probably 6 or 7 places. I started with one off Lake street by the Target, and it turns out that my first was the best! There were some in better areas, but small or with funny smells, or others that were nicer and bigger but just too far away or too pricey, so eventually I just bit the bullet and signed a lease starting September 1. I'm really excited about it, and will get back to this excitement after I finish catching up!

On Wednesday June 22nd I went to a Bootcamp class at Anytime fitness. It was intense, and I was dead by the end of it. Other than that however, my working out has pretty much come to a complete halt. I was all into it for awhile but now... it's just hard to get back into it. Even now I'm thinking I should go work out tonight but I feel too full from dinner and it's ridiculously hot out... but I digress...

On Saturday the 25th I went with Nathan to one of his friend's wedding reception downtown at the Millenium hotel. It was fancy - delicious dinner, but not really that thrilling. I did get a rubber ducky out of the deal though (it looks like a monkey!).

On Monday I took the day off from work and Vicki, Sybylla, and I went to Valleyfair! It was a bit cloudy/stormy looking which meant that all the lines were really short! We rode tons of rides, then headed out to my car to grab some lunch, then back in and rode the antique car ride (lame but fun) and then I noticed my keys/wallet were missing! I freaked, ran out and checked at my car and checked with the lost and found and no luck. I thought I might have locked it into my trunk but I wasn't sure. We decided to just keep enjoying the day there and try not to worry about it (easier for them than me). We went and watched the IMAX show, and then I ran back to the lost and found to see if there was any news and lo and behold! Someone had turned it in to a park employee. I was SOOO happy! Anyway, a day of fun was had by all. I came home with a picture of the 3 of us being goofy on the Wild Thing (Sybylla got a matching keychain).

On Tuesday June 28th my family all came up after work and we all went to a Twins game together to celebrate Fathers Day (it wasn't that day but it was our present to dad). We also celebrated our parent's anniversary which was that day. We ate tons of good food and watched the Twins beat the LA Dodgers. It was a fun game.

The weekend of the 4th of July I did very little, other than hanging out at Nathan's and eating hot dogs and marshmallows/smores around a fire at his place. The following weekend I also did very little other than going through my room and super cleaning it. I did go out with some friends on Friday night to Hudson, WI. Otherwise it was all really intense cleaning and packing up things I wouldn't be using for the next 2 months.

On Tuesday the 12th, Sybylla and I went to see Thor for a second time at the Riverview (we saw it together once in real theaters). It was good. Then on Thursday the 14th I played kickball (as I did most every Thursday) and we were short (only 5 girls and 5 guys so we all played the whole game) and we kicked ass - I scored 2 runs. Afterward I ran home, showered, changed, and took Sybylla to the Mall of America where we got in line to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 in 3D for the midnight showing. The line was long and there were some crazy characters waiting with us but it was a great time. We got sweet HP 3D glasses and enjoyed some popcorn and just had a fun movie experience. Once I started crying I'm not sure I stopped (at one point Sybylla looked over and asked if I was crying - I was and my response was "shut up *sniffle*"). Got home around 3am and headed to bed, but couldn't sleep because I kept going over the movie in my head. It was pretty good for a movie, but there were some extra unnecessary corny parts and it didn't follow the book as well as the first part did.

Woke up on Friday ~10:45am. Got up, got ready, and drove down to Rochester in a complete downpour for the majority of the drive. And some crazy people were driving without their lights on, making them nearly impossible to see until you were right on top of them. Made it home, and walked in to a house completely empty except for Belle. She was so excited to see me she had a little piddle accident on the floor. Called my mom and she told me to drive the Jeep down to the Charter house (where she works) because they were having a garage sale and there was some great stuff down there I should look at (for my new apartment). I drove it down there (again more pouring rain), parked, and got soaked walking the block over to the building. When I got there she showed me this great loveseat with a pull out twin size bed in it! I loved it, so we put it on the list of things to buy and kept looking. I also found a nice dining table with 2 chairs and a wooden cart (extra counter space) and my sister found a dresser and we got it all for just $20. We fit all of it but the couch into the Jeep and drove home and my dad found a friend with a van and went and picked up the couch. When we got home the rain finally slowed down and ended so mom and I took Belle out to the park. There were giant puddles of water and a field was flooded so we played fetch with her there and she had a blast running through the water. Friday night we went out to eat at Mr. Pizza (so good) and then home to watch TV. Sara's friend Emily came over and those two made 2 kinds of cookies and a cake - they were baking until 1am.

On Saturday I got up, ate some toast, and then mom and I moved the couch outside and scrubbed it down with soapy water and the scrub brushes we use to wash cars. We scrubbed it with soap, then water, then sucked off the water with a shop vac and set it in the driveway to dry in the sun. Then I went inside and washed the chairs, cart, and table. Filthy water by the end of it but I felt good for doing it. Finally it was time to do what I originally came down to Rochester to do: help dad get fishing stuff ready for my trip to Canada. We went through tons of fishing stuff and got very organized. Eventually I had to go so I drove back up to the Cities.

On Sunday I had to work, so I got up and went in ~9am. I got there and a maintenance guy walked up to me and started telling me about how the temperature warning went off in an animal room in the barrier (he couldn't go in) and if I could check and see if there were animals in there. Of course there were so I ended up having to move all these rats to another room and that ordeal took about 45 minutes. Sigh, then I had to do behavior by myself on a group of 24 animals and then X-ray them all... it was a long day for being a weekend work day. Later I actually started doing some genetics homework a week and a half early! But I didn't finish it so... not that great.

Today I went in to work, did DWB all morning as well as getting stuff ready to ship down to our sister lab in AZ, ate lunch, shipped the package, analyzed the DWB all afternoon, and then had to dose mice with their treatments. Because we have such a huge group (24 animals) and my coworker was in Milwaukee today, I didn't get out until 5:45pm. So another long day. Got home, and I was feeling way too lazy, so instead of eating the leftover tacos (that I made this weekend) or leftover noodles and marinara (also made this weekend) I decided to order Dominos. I watched TV and ate pizza and did absolutely nothing else (other than writing in this for the past few hours).

There are probably a bunch of things I've forgotten to mention, emotional ups and downs, etc and so on but hey if I don't remember it it probably wasn't that important right?

So now I'm all caught up but will I do it again? Only time will tell!

San Francisco

Forgive me readers for I have sinned, it has been two months since my last update.

I'll spare you all the excuses I have ready to explain why I haven't been posting but the simple truth is that I was lazy, and then it got to the point where it has been so long that the shear amount of events I'd have to update on prevented me from even attempting it.

So while I have many things to share, I'm going to just focus on my trip to San Francisco, CA, and perhaps I will get back to the rest later (but don't count on it!).

June 9, 2011

I got up around 9:30am SF time and walked over to Alamo Square and back. The square is a park next to the famous "Painted Ladies" - houses in SF. It's also the park seen in the opening credits of "Full House" where the Tanner family is having their picnic. I got back to Jackie's house, put on some longer pants and a coat, and headed to downtown SF. I got off at the Embarcadero stop and walked over to a Taco Bell for food. I then wandered over to the clocktower/ferry building near the water. There was a big open area so I sat down in the sun, ate my tacos, and browsed through Jackie's walking tours book.

After my delicious lunch, I got up and started walking down Embarcadero road and made it all the way down to Pier 39. I decided to go full on tourist and went into the Aquarium of the Bay - there were some really neat underwater walkthroughs as well as other fish in tanks (pretty jellyfish). I also saw the sea lions that hang out there, went into the Hard Rock Cafe, and went into some random souvenir shops. Eventually I walked to meet Jackie at her work downtown. We hung out at her office for a little while and then walked to the post office so she could mail a package for work. We then went over to the Walgreens to get some sunscreen for me (I was already sunburnt at this point). She then took me over to a place called Yoppi's - where we had some delicious build-your-own frozen yogurt (red velvet cake flavored and so yummy!). We wandered around downtown with our treats and walked up to a walkway above the street level (pretty cool) and found some seats and ate and chatted for a bit.

Afterwards we headed over to Chinatown and followed one of the walking tours from Jackie's book (but we did it backwards, making it somewhat confusing at times). We wandered through colorful shops, lanterns hanging in the streets, went down Waverly street (which used to be full of prostitution), and even found a little fortune cookie factory down in an alley (thanks to the guidebook). We walked in and got free cookies and got to watch the woman make them. We also bought bags of cookies there, including some with "adult" fortunes. We also went into a kite store, and saw the Donaldina house - dedicated to Donaldina Cameron, who saved many underage Chinese prostitutes. We ended our walking tour of Chinatown at the gates and then walked over to Union Square, where we sat and discussed our plans for the rest of the night.

We walked over to the food emporium at Westfield mall and ate some food (turkey burger and fries, yum). We then headed over to the Metreon and saw a private Apple party going on in Yerba Buena garden (we chatted to some security guards who said we could hop the hedge and they wouldn't stop us). We had already bought tickets to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4 though so we couldn't do it. We watched the movie and then rode Muni (the public transit system in SF) back to her place. We got there and found her roomies were a bit drunk and funny, but we were tired and headed to bed.

June 10, 2011

We woke up around 10 am, showered, ate eggs and toast, and got ready to go. We ran to the above ground train/trolley thing and rode to Pier 33 to catch the ferry to Alcatraz. Once on the island, we listened to one of the park rangers give a little speech and then headed inside a building to watch an informational video about the history of the island. It went from being a military fort to a prison to a site of US Indian activism and is now of course a tourist trap/National Park. We then headed up to the prison to take an audio tour, which was very interesting. There were 2 major escape attempts from the prison, one was potentially successful (the men who disappeared were never seen again, after they tunneled their way out with spoons). We then walked around outside the prison and then waited for the ferry to take us back to SF. While waiting, we inadvertently sat on a bench in the designated smoking section and were joined by a woman who decided to smoke right next to us.

Once we got back to SF we walked back over to Pier 39 and wandered for a bit. We decided to stop for some food at a restaurant called Wipeout (I had fish and chips and a tasty margarita). After lunch we walked over to some more souvenir stores, watched a street performer and then the sea lions again, and then headed down towards the Fisherman's Wharf. On the way we passed a guy who was offering a 1 hour cruise under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz for $15. We hemmed and hawed about it for awhile but finally decided to be spontaneous and go for it! We climbed onto the little boat and sat/stood on the edge with the salt spray in our faces. On the way out there we saw a sea lion in the water whacking a fish around to break it apart to eat it and seagulls going nuts around it. We went under the Golden Gate Bridge (really awesome) and the nice captain took pictures of us. The boat then went around Alcatraz Island. We walked through the cockpit to get to the right side of the boat to take pictures of the island and of course my camera died! Luckily my phone takes pretty decent pics, so it wasn't a total loss. Not to mention I tend to take too many pictures anyway...

We made it back to shore and then walked over to Ghiradelli Square. We got some free samples (delicious), looked in some more shops, then back for another free sample. I bought a bag of overstocked chocolates, we took some pictures, and then walked over to catch a bus home. We had a long wait for the transfer bus unfortunately, the estimated time of arrival kept jumping up. Eventually we headed over to a little pizza shop nearby and I got a slice of pizza while we waited. By the time I finished the pizza the bus finally arrived and we took it back to Jackie's. Once there we stayed up just long enough to plan our trip to the redwoods the next day and then crashed.

June 11, 2011

We woke up around 9am, showered, got ready, and took Muni to the ferry building. We walked around the farmer's market going on there and got some bread and cheese samples, used the ATM, and eventually got on the ferry to Sausalito. We sat up front outside on the ferry. It was very windy and a bit chilly but a good view (we saw another sea lion tossing around a fish). We landed at Sausalito, walked around along the shops (after checking out the visitor's center), got some saltwater taffy (yum!), and then walked over to a sandwich place and got some sandwiches and a Diet Mountain Dew. We took our lunches over to a park near the water and sat on the grass and ate.

We then headed over to the Muir Woods shuttle drop off and waited there. The shuttle ended up being 25 minutes late, but it got there eventually. We rode on a very windy (that's a lot of switchbacks, not a strong breeze) road to Muir woods. Once we got there we went into the visitor center there and I bought a pin and a poster that I just fell in love with (it's a print of a painting of the redwoods... very pretty). We found out there that the longer trail was closed due to a fallen tree across the trail. So we headed out and wandered along the short 1 mile loop. There were tons of huge trees, lots of people, and we even saw a fearless deer grazing along the side of the trail, jump the path, and continue on the other side. We then went into the gift shop, then waited in the line for the shuttle back to Sausalito. The line was extremely long and we barely made it onto the shuttle (on which we had to stand for the majority of the crazy ride back). We finally got to sit down when some people got off at Marin City.

Made it back to Sausalito, and got in another line for the ferry back to SF. On this trip we sat inside the ferry on some nice cushioned seats. We got back to the ferry building, Jackie got some coffee, and then headed back to Jackie's place with a stop for tacos on the way. I took a short nap and then chatted with Katie and her friend Michelle before we got all gussied up (hah) and heading out on the town.

We walked over to the Castro (the super gay friendly district) and went to Toadies Hall (a gay bar, full of dancing, Madonna, and Lady Gaga). We then walked an extremely long way (or so it seemed) to Mission and the Elixir bar (where we met up with Muy, Jackie's friend). Jackie also randomly ran into an old friend of hers from St. Olaf. We hung out there for a bit and then headed over to Casanova, took a restroom break, hung out on couches and stared at the pictures of naked chicks, and then back to Elixir. We finally headed back towards Jackie's place and stopped at a bar just around the corner (formerly BOC "Bar on Church"). We sat at that bar, drank, and met two guys (one recently lived in Germany, was in New Zealand, and I chatted more to him). Then we got kicked out of the bar (closing time) and went home. Jackie was desperate for tortillas at this point and we finally went to bed.

June 12, 2011

Woke up late this morning (~11am) then showered, and went and grabbed pizza at Cybelle's and walked over to Duboce Park (a dog park) and sat on the grass in the sun and ate. We then caught a train to Powell and discovered the cable car route was messed up so we ended up taking a shuttle to the next place for a cable car ride. We caught the cable car to Ghiradelli Square and the drivers were all flirting with Jackie. We had a crazy fun ride hanging off the edge of the Powell & Hyde car. It went through neighborhoods, past the top of Lombard street (criss cross street), and let us off at Ghiradelli Square.

We stopped in for another sample (of course), and then began the incredibly steep walk back up to Lombard Street. We took pictures there and then walked down alongside the famous street and too more pictures from the bottom. We then walked through North Beach (the Italian district), walked through some art fair at a park, and stopped for some gelato. We continued to downtown where we caught the train towards the real beach on the ocean.

Once we arrived at the end of the line we got off, walked down to the beach, took off our shoes, and walked in the sand. We walked north along the shore, saw a fisherman catch a fish and bury it in the sand, there were some dedicated surfers out in the water (it was chilly), people flying kites on the beach, dead crab parts strewn about, and cute dogs playing in the sand. We stopped and sat in the sand for awhile just enjoying the scenery and the people watching. Eventually we turned and walked back (this time we spotted a live crab sitting in the water).

We got back to where we entered the beach and sat down in the sand again for while. Then we headed back to the train and took it all the way downtown and then hopped a bus back to North Beach. We wandered around and looked at menus at different Italian restaurants and ended up eating outside under a heater at Calzones (al fresco dining, I had delicious lasagna). The food came out really fast, but there was only one bread roll to share between us. We debated getting dessert there, but eventually decided to head across the street to Caffe Greco and got a cannoli to share + we each got our own dessert. We sat at a corner near the window and scared a guy away accidentally with our exuberance. After we ate as much as we could, we took the leftovers to go and headed out. I took a picture of the Stinking Rose (garlic restaurant my coworker told me about) and met some sailors who invited us to hang out with them. We were tempted but declined (we were pretty tired at this point). We were waiting for the bus for awhile when we realized we were on the wrong side of the road, and Jackie was going a little crazy (getting some nice looks from passersby) :). We finally decided to just walk to the train and took that home. Once we got back I packed up my stuff and went to bed.

June 13, 2011

Woke up, took BART to the airport, and flew back to Minneapolis. Unfortunately my flight ended up delayed for about 2 hours due to our pilot not being there. Otherwise it was relatively uneventful.

Well that update took a long time, and considering I had most of it already written up from notes I took on the trip, updating the rest of the past 2 months is going to take even longer.

But since I have to go in to work tomorrow (Sunday) I'm going to end this here and hopefully come back to it later. Maybe even add some pictures! Who knows?