While up at Kevin’s cabin, we had a lull in the activities after a stressful game of trivial pursuit and some adventuring out in the snow of frozen St. Mary Lake. The usual activities included tackling each other in the snow, throwing snowballs, and teasing the dogs Rascal and Ranger by passing tennis balls. We also got to enjoy the spectacle of Kevin’s Dad cutting a hole in the ice with his auger. These will make for some great photos to add to the flickr pages and later to this post.
Now Frank, Kevin, and the Megans are chilling in the hot tub while the KU and I are sitting in the cabin thinking out loud and talking about our plans for the coming Spring Semester that starts on Tuesday. So I thought this would be a great time to write about the hopes and resolutions for the year 2006.
So without further adieu here it is, Andrew’s Resolutions for 2006
1. Pay my credit card bill on time every time: paying your bill keeps you out of Credit card debt which I definitely don’t need right now in my young adult life.
2. Pay my cell phone bill and switch to Verizon wireless-I could probably do this at Best Buy and use the gift card that my grandma gave me for Christmas. Sprint is terrible in St. Paul and I have had the most dropped calls with them at the worse times.
3. Be nicer to Kristen. Let her decide what she wants to do for a career and not put pressure on her to do things that she doesn’t want to do. If she wants to do family social science, then support her; don’t tell her that what she is doing is a waste of time. Love and support her and make sure that above all things that SHE IS HAPPY and happy with what she is studying. This is one of my most important resolutions, because Kristen is the love of my life and I don’t know what I would do if I lost her.
4. Make time in my schedule to go to the Rec Center and work out a little each week, either that or start up biking to work and school once the weather improves and work on getting my weight back down to what it was this Summer from all the biking I was doing from Minitex and back. I know this is the most clichéd of the resolutions but I think if I can make it a priority I can make it work.
5. To spend more time studying and less time playing video games. I need to get my grades up this coming semester, this is no joke. My performance last semester was not my best and I know that I can do better yet it is always funny how it comes back to this dilemma each year.
6. Finish my paperwork for study abroad to for Norway. The deadline will come faster than I know it and I will want to make sure that I have all my affairs settled before getting on the plane to Norway in August. I might also consider buying a new Ipod or12’ Apple Ibook G4 or G5 laptop. I have the lappy that Frank took Australia which I am sure will work fine, but if I happen to fall on a large sum of money it may be a purchase that I simply can’t refuse.
7. Acquire an internship over the summer before heading to Norway for fall semester of 2006. I hope that I can find an internship either working with the Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority (RCRRA) to continue to work on the central corridor, a potentially paid internship continuing with Transit for Livable Communities (TLC), or to work for the Planning and Zoning Department of the city of Brooklyn Park internship that would be paid and fulfill a requirement of my degree program with Urban Studies and CLA.
8. Reset my circadian rhythm so that I go to bed in the evening and wake up in the morning on time ready for the day. If I can do this then I won’t skip on class by sleeping in and have more energy by getting full nights sleep.
Eight is great as I recall and not bad for the amount of things that I hope to accomplish before Spring Semester ends and summer begins. Most people usually have like one or two resolutions, but I guess I need a little more work.
I started this list around 12:45 PM and finished it at 1:24 Am the next day. In that amount of time, a lot happened. Kristen and I got our turn together relaxing in the hot tub, then joined the others eating some veggies and dip in the kitchen and visiting with Kevin’s folks. After drying off, Frank and I offered to pick up some beer since we were starting to run out. So we headed into Eveleth, just a few miles from Kevin’s cabin, and found Maggie’s Liquor store, which was recommended by Shelly (Kevin’s mother) as one of the best liquor store nearby. Both Frank and myself got compliments about our snowboarding coats that we got extra cheap at American Eagle by one of the local shop owners who was an absolute hoot. When we got back, we had some wine, had a little conversation, and continued to munch on finger food in anticipation for Kevin’s Salmon dish.
While we were waiting, all of us enjoyed a game of Apples to Apples. Kevin’s folks had never played it before and had a wonderful time. Frank’s Megan was able to pull off a victory when it was down to the wire with Kristen, Shelly, and Megan all posing three green cards and needing one more for the win. While we were playing, Kevin’s grandmother Mary arrived and joined us for dinner. She was really sweet and I am really glad I had the opportunity to meet her. It is not very often that you get the opportunity to meet your roommate’s relatives. She reminded me a lot of my Grandmother Virginia, and reminded me of how from time to time I see myself thinking of her and wishing I could have gotten to learn more about her from herself.
Dinner was fantastic. Kevin prepared a Teriyaki Broiled Salmon with a pineapple cantaloupe salsa and couscous. Dessert consisted of a Toll House Pie prepared by Kevin’s mom topped off by a scoop of vanilla ice cream. This reminded of family gatherings on my mother’s side and how my grandma Marie will always serve pie along with a scoop of ice cream.
I probably had way too much to drink of wine and beer this evening and I hope that I wasn’t a total embarrassment. After some more hot tubing and visiting, we all played another game of Trivial pursuit Pop Culture edition that Megan W picked up. This time it was the guys versus the girl and it came down to a close win for the guys. Questions were a lot harder the first time we played this morning, but it still made for some interesting moments. Now Kevin’s parents have gone to bed, and all of us are sitting in the living room debating about what to do with the rest of the evening, talking about useless information found in Megan W’s Glamour, and me finishing this post with Kristen correcting my grammar and spelling errors but quickly telling me “I am ready for bed.” So with that, I think I am going to sign off on this one and I’ll pick it up again back at the house in Lindig.
Goodnight everybody!!!!!!!
Andrew and Kristen too
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