Saturday, March 18, 2006

Some Spring Break…Whew

This has been a hectic week…and Spring Break on top of that. Kristen and I worked almost everyday and were able to spend a lot of time together watching Season 1 of The Sopranos.

Monday was insane. As most of the residents of Minnesota know, Monday we had one of the largest snowfalls of the year with over 6-12 inches of snow falling in St. Paul alone. The snow was the really wet and heavy stuff, causing a lot of mayhem on the roads. I was scheduled to work at 8 at Minitex; I didn’t make it in until 10!!! My older brother, Frank, dropped me off at the St. Paul Campus at 7:30 AM so I could catch the Connector to the West Bank. A lot of people (including myself) were waiting at the bus shelter for the connector, however, no buses were showing up. Meanwhile, 2-3 #87 buses went past us and the snow continued to fall. Being fed up with waiting, I trudged through the snow down Cleveland to Como Avenue to catch a #3 bus to the West Bank and work. On my way down Cleveland, I was up to my ankles in snow and the snow was building up on the trees. It was beautiful, however, some of the snow was a little too heavy for some of the branches. In fact, a branch broke clean off right as I passed by…it was cool and spooky all at the same time.

I got to Como and started waiting for a #3 with some others. I waited for about 45 minutes, and decided to give work a call to make sure that I really had to come into work that day. While we were waiting, a guy in a Honda got stuck in the right turn lane onto Cleveland. He tried rocking back and forth a couple of times, but his wheels just kept spinning and he wasn’t moving. So, I decided to be a Good Samaritan and help the guy out. He through it into reverse, and I gave him a push on the hood. Feeling like I had filled my quota by doing one good deed as an American, I figured I would see if anyone else was feeling generous. I went to the curb, put a big smile on my face, and stuck out my thumb hoping for a ride. Luckily, a man driving a 2002 Ford Explorer pulled up and asked me if I needed a lift. Without thinking twice, I hoped in. My boss had called me and said he would come and get me on his way to the St. Paul campus for the morning run, and I told him to pick me up at 15th and Como Avenue. Nick, the owner of the Explorer, was heading into downtown Minneapolis after dropping his kids off at school. Unlike the rest of the state, the St. Paul public school district did not cancel or have a 2-hour late start. This was the first time I had ever “hitch-hiked”, and thankfully it was with a guy like Nick instead of the horror stories or urban legends often associated with hitch-hiking.

While on the way, Nick told me that a #3 articulated bus was stuck further up Como and was blocking traffic. Over 120 buses were stuck or delayed because of the snow and icy conditions due to Mondays freak snowstorm. Nick dropped me off at 15th and Como and went on his way. While waiting, I got a call from my boss telling me that he couldn’t get the van out of the Minitex Cavern and that he couldn’t come and pick me up. So, with nothing else to do, I walked from the edge of Dinkeytown to the West Bank. By the end of the journey, my feet were about ready to fall off. I got off of work at 2:00 and met up with Kristen for coffee at the Royal.

Tuesday, it didn’t snow, however, I ended up sleeping in and nearly being late to work. Because of Monday’s snowstorm, Frank drove the Intrigue to work. On Tuesday, he decided to take the Protégé. I took the intrigue into work because I was already running late and didn’t want to deal with having to wait for another bus. I drove the Intrigue into work and the roads were a mess. Hennepin Avenue was the worse with thick ice and melting snow, but thankfully I didn’t get in an accident. I parked the car in the Law School parking lot and punched in at 8:10. Took my lunch break at Chipotle and had a delicious Chicken Fajita Burrito, one of the best burritos that I have had in awhile. Got off work at 2:00 and ran over to the HECUA office in St. Paul to turn in my completed application for the Scandinavian Urban Studies Term or SUST study abroad program in Oslo Norway. Hopefully, if all goes well I should be accepted and participating in the program fall of 06.

Having accomplished that errand, I headed towards Brooklyn Park to return the car, eat dinner with the folks, and get a ride back home to Lindig. My Dad got home from ER (Elk River) with some groceries and so I gave him a hand unloading those. Then Mom came home and we made Hamburgers with blue cheese and fries for dinner. My Mom and I then headed over to the Ford Dealership in Coon Rapids to drop off the New 05 Explorer, affectionately named “Black Beauty” by my Mom, for its first scheduled check up. While at the dealership, I took a look at the 06 and 05 Mustangs and caught myself a number of times starring at cars I knew that I would probably never be able to own or drive. This is funny because in the most recent Ford commercial they show a kid, younger than me, opening the door to a brand new 06 Mustang for his Girlfriend as if this was his first car…No *@&^ing way!!!

My Mom took me home and on the way there we stopped off at Kristen’s place, picked her up, and then we headed over to Lindig. Kristen and I watched some Sopranos and then went to bed. Wednesday, we both worked on campus. I worked at Minitex from 8 until 4. My boss tossed me down in Serials Exchange for the entire day. All the recycling bins were full, so instead we had to fill the postal bins until the recycling bins are emptied. We processed a lot of material and filled up about 10 bins before calling it a day. I came away with a handful of magazines; so the day wasn’t a total loss. I picked up an almost entire years worth of WIRED magazine, and a couple of issues of Nature’s Best Photography including an issue with Polar Bears on the cover and an entire issue devoted to the Grizzly Bear. Wednesday night Kristen and I ate dinner at Vescios and enjoyed some Fettuccine. After dinner we caught a #3 and then caught an #87 to home.

Thursday was another long day of work and stress. In the evening, the KU and I grabbed some dinner at Village Wok and enjoyed some Iron Hot Chicken and a sweet vegetable dish. Thursday night, we watched a couple more episodes of the Sopranos and finished off the night with the classic Gangster movie: The Godfather. I had seen it before on TV in bits and pieces but never the film in its entirety. The scene at the end where Michael takes over is great.

Friday, Kristen and I had the day off from work, so we took the liberty of sleeping in. We woke up at about 10:30, and spent the morning cleaning. Kristen and I took care of the kitchen by cleaning all the dishes and the counter-tops, my bathroom, and the entryway stairs. We both tried to do homework, and I got a couple of loads of laundry taken care of. We tossed around ideas for the evening, and decided to head home to BP to grab the Intrigue for the weekend. Kristen and I took a #61 to downtown and caught a #766N to the Noble Park and Ride and got picked up by my Dad. We joined them for dinner with Nick and Willy’s Take and Bake Pizza, a new chain competing in the market of Take and Bake Pizza once dominated by only Papa Murphy’s…We’ve come to call this place Willy Nillys…and they have some pretty good pizza.

It’s March Madness time for the NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament, so of course we have the Brackets through ESPN’s Tournament challenge. So far, Franky J is in first place, I’m in Second, and Kristen is doing well in third place. My Mom and Dad’s brackets were sabotaged by a couple of crucial upsets that no one saw coming…

Now it is the weekend, and we both have lots of homework to do. Hopefully we can finish up The Sopranos and get some work done. Tonight is Erik’s 21st Birthday, hopefully I’ll have a chance to get out tonight and buy him some shots or a beer.

Hope everyone had a great Spring Break and has a good weekend.

Andrew

1 comment:

Unknown said...

What a wonderful spring break it was!