Omphaloskepsis  -

+ 3 - 2 | § ¶There and back again, part 1: There

The plan was to leave for South Dakota on the morning of Friday, December 22, around 7am. However, since Dad hadn't packed yet, we didn't leave until 3 or 4 in the afternoon. I could've worked a half-day Friday and saved some of my comp time for later use, but oh well.

We went up I-39 into Wisconsin, which I haven't been to before. I thought all the talk about Wisconsin's pride in their cheese had to be exaggerated, but no, it's real. There were at least a dozen big signs on building that said "CHEESE" along the route; in at least one instance, the big word "CHEESE" had a smaller word "FOOD" underneath, suggesting that perhaps that business sees cheese as a bigger attraction than any other type of food, or perhaps they see cheese itself as something so wonderful that it surpasses being labeled as food.

We continued through Minnesota. I've been at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport at least a couple times, but this was my first time anywhere else in the state. It was pretty dark as we traveled through here, so we didn't really get to see that much, although we did stop briefly at a hotel/lodge with a giant funnel-type thing that looked like it might be some sort of ride.

We stopped for supper at a Pizza Hut Italian Bistro. I've seen plenty of Pizza Huts, but this one also had a wide variety of Italian foods, kind of like an Avanti's. There was a bit of a delay here, since the server heard "Pan" when my dad said "Thin". After dinner, we got back on the road.

We finally arrived in Milbank, SD around 6am Saturday, and got checked into the motel. Much sleep ensued.

To be continued...

davidh

+ 3 - 2 | § ¶Getting ready to go...

This evening I'll be driving over to Bloomington-Normal so that Dad, Dan, and I can leave for South Dakota tomorrow morning. We'll be spending approximately a week there, depending on the weather (it looks like it may snow next Friday, so we'll want to come back before then).

I'll probably be without internet access for the next week or so; and I've heard that Nextel's coverage in the area we're headed to isn't that great, so I'll be pretty much cut off from the world for a while. Weird feeling. Still, if you need to get ahold of me, call my cell phone and leave a message. If you don't have that number, call the house and ask Marisa.

Things I've already taken care of:
* Paid bills due next week, or scheduled payments.
* Arranged for Marisa to feed the cats (incl. specifying who gets how much of what, when).
* Arranged for Marisa to update my Travian session once a day or so.
* Set up the DVR to record stuff for the upcoming week.
* Gotten some Christmas presents.

Things I have left to do before I leave:
[X] Fill out timesheet for work (before 8am).
[X] Get the renewal sticker for the Nancymobile at the DMV (between 8am and 5pm).
[X] Stop by the bank to deposit a check (between 9am and 5pm, or ATM anytime).
[X] Get haircut (10am-4pm).
[X] Do another load of laundry so I've got enough clothes (start before 2pm so it's done in time).
[ ] Get clothing packed.
[X] Delete old shows from the DVR so there's room to record stuff from the upcoming week.
[ ] Purchase the rest of the presents (possibly on the road).

List of things I need to pack, other than ordinary clothes:
[ ] Technology: [ ] Camera [ ] Laptop [ ] Phone charger
[~] Medical Supplies: [ ] CPAP machine [X] Prescription drugs [X] Tylenol (just in case) [X] Inhaler
[ ] Entertainment: [ ] Books (two Star Trek: New Frontier books) [ ] Puzzle books (sudoku, pencil puzzles & word games) [ ] Some CDs
[~] Grooming supplies: [ ] Toothbrush and toothpaste [X] Deodorant
[ ] Special Clothing: [ ] Gloves [ ] Boots (purchase) [ ] Winter coat [ ] Slippers (if I can find the second one)
[~] Presents: [~] The ones I've gotten already [ ] The ones I need to get before we get up there
[ ] Extra pillow

davidh

+ 4 - 1 | § ¶A series of segues, from a swamp to a vase

Thanks to the incredibly heavy snowfall on November 30 and December 1, and the rather warm temperatures (comparatively speaking) over the past few days, my back yard has turned into a swamp. There's a ton of water back there, and it's not draining anywhere, except into my basement.

Speaking of the basement, my sump pump isn't providing much help. I think the drain is not far enough from the house to prevent the water from coming back in, and there seems to be some additional leakage in the floor of the backroom, which then causes dripping down into the basement. So the water collects in the basement, gets pumped out, and drains back in... it's a pool with its own waterfall. I need to start carrying an umbrella and wearing galoshes to get over to the desktop computer.

Speaking of the desktop, my cable modem got replaced yesterday. I'd had the same one since I moved into the house, back in 2001, and apparently the technician said it was very out of date (he spoke to Marisa). I wouldn't've really expected cable modem technology to go "out of date", except possibly in terms of being limited in what amount of bandwidth it could handle, but perhaps there's more to it than that. Hopefully we'll have fewer cable outages now.

Speaking of cable, Patches II chewed through the power cable to my laptop computer (don't worry, he didn't get shocked). The battery is dead, and I have no way to recharge it. The voltage and amperage of the convertor are kind of unusual, so I'm going to have to special-order a replacement from the manufacturer (it's been over a year since the computer was purchased, and I'm not sure the warranty would've covered cat bites anyway.) So I have to share the desktop computer with Marisa, and when she's on one of her gaming quests, it can be hard to get computer time. This also means that the website that has a loud, obnoxious alarm clock (I don't have the URL offhand; it's on the laptop, of course) that I use to get myself up in the morning hasn't been used in a few days, which has made it more difficult to get to work on time.

Speaking of work, last night we had our end-of-the-year party, out at Fairview Farms. Instead of the usual "white elephant" gift thing, we just got to pick an item, and trade with someone else later if we wanted to. I ended up getting a vase and a gift card for some flowers. I'm really not much of a vase person. I was hoping to trade it, but it seems that the only person who might've been interested got a Best Buy gift card, and they were convinced by one of their children to keep that.

Speaking of people,
davidh

+ 4 - 1 | § ¶Psi Phi Elections for Spring 2007

Quickie version:
Adam M. is the new Captain, replacing Jon. This is his first office in the club.
Pat O'M. is the new First Officer, replacing Taia. This is his first office in the club.
Ryan C. is the new Grand Nagus, replacing Will. This is his first office in the club.
Ashley M. is the new Communications Officer, replacing Anti-Mike. This is her first office in the club.
David H. remains the Chief of Operations, for the 24.5th total semester.
Taia H. is the new Constable, replacing Forrest. She was First Officer this past semester.

Instant runoff ballot results behind the cut. . . (more)