Tired

Pashooooooooo...

It's been over a month since I've written anything. That's no good, but I assure you I have my reasons. See, I've been studying for the bar exam, and it's sucking up a lot of life. My bar review class meets essentially every night, and I'm still working full time of course. I don't get any time off of work until July 16th, but at that point I get 2 weeks off. I anticipate that my days will be full of studying at that point, however. No rest for the wicked, I guess.

My bar review course has been interesting and a bit grueling. Most of it is lecture, but there are always practice tests to complete, and some of them are actually turned in for grading. I've been told that the Barbri program tends to exaggerate when they grade practice exams -- exaggerate on the underside in order to motivate students to work harder. There have been two so far that have been graded, and my grades have certainly been crappy on them. Ugh.

One point of fun and relaxation thus far came last weekend when Kerry and I met a bunch of our friends for the triumphant return of Phish to Alpine Valley. The show was an absolute blast. The boys were completely on fire -- their playing was tight, the sets consisted of a bunch of songs that made Kerry and I very happy, and everything went off without a hitch. I really couldn't have asked for anything more. It even occurred during a lull in my classes, so that was fantastic.

I'm pretty tired this morning. It's early, of course...currently 6:46 but I've been up for a little while now. My daughter tends to wake up early. I was up late last night watching Clerks 2, and it was incredibly well done. Super funny movie, and very very true to the original. Makes me want to watch the rest of the Jersey movies. Well, not Jersey Girl. I still haven't seen that, but I've heard it's crap so I haven't had any motivation.

Well, that's about all I've got at the moment. I'll try to pop in again soon. Stay classy, Minneapolis.

Vacation Recap

Actually, there’s not too much to tell about the vacation. It was super fun, though. We left for Bemidji at Gwen’s bedtime on Friday night, and arrived around 11:00 PM. On Saturday morning, my father-in-law and I enjoyed Bloody Maries (nothing like drinking at 8:30 am…hey, it’s VACATION, right? Also, is that really how you pluralize Mary? I just stopped caring) and fixed Gwen’s stroller, which had previously been run over by Kerry (it was totally my fault for leaving it behind the car). Anyway, it’s once again in perfect condition.

That afternoon we attended my father-in-law’s retirement party. It was pretty uneventful, but there was an abundance of bratwurst and delicious BBQ Brisket. I left shortly after 7:00 to take Gwennerpants to bed.

Sunday we left on a “camping” trip to Big Bog State Rec. Area. We stayed in some camper cabins, which were essentially wooden tents. The presence of a screen porch, however, made the mosquitoes and horseflies bearable. This is my speed of camping. I like having a door to shut. I like having a porch to sit on and watch BSG on my iPod. I’ve been tenting a gazillion times, and really, I prefer the cabins. I’m fine either way, but camper cabins are a fun way to camp.

We came back on Monday after a 2-mile hike on the boardwalk. This was the most active vacation I’ve had in quite a while, and this walk was only the beginning.

Tuesday afternoon we went home, but left the next day for my parents’ lake cabin. My grandparents, parents, sister’s family, etc. were there, and it was really fun. Kerry and I decided to try our hand at fishing lake Linka, and I ended up hosing no fewer than 3 fishing rods. Oh well. Kerry caught two perch the size of my thumb, and I caught a big weed. It was fun and relaxing and very cabiny.

We did a bunch more stuff, but that’s the gist of it. It was a really good trip.

Sadly, vacation is over...

Wow.  I'm tired.  It's Sunday night, and just about midnight, and my vacation is officially just about over.

My girls and I had a great week.  We started with four nights in Bemidji, and followed that with four nights at my parents' cabin near Benson.  It was pretty much a Grandparents' Tour, which was cool for the little Gwenster.  Nonetheless, it was still stressful.

I'm not really going to go into details about the vacation tonight, because I'm really beat and just kinda want to go and sleep in my own bed.  I'll follow up with vacation details in a day or two.  I just wanted to pop on and let anyone concerned know that I am indeed still alive and kickin'.

Alas, although I was gone, work was not.  I fear that I will go back to my place of occupation tomorrow and find that pretty much everything has exploded and is in need of some good old fashioned fixing.  Hooray for Mondays.

I'm the Man

OK, I'll admit that that title was just for the Anthrax reference. Other than that, it's not terribly applicable, except that I actually am the man. Oh yes.

The long weekend was fun, stressful, and full of driving. As mentioned in the previous post, my weekend started at noon on Friday with the whole beer fiasco. It got better from there, though.

My girls and I left home at about 5:45, headed for Bemidji. I always like the drive up there in the summer…it seems more relaxing. Not so at 5:45 PM on a Friday before a holiday weekend, however. At that time, it’s just a freaking traffic nightmare.

Actually, traffic was moving along pretty well until we got out of the city a ways. Just before our exit in Clearwater, we slammed into the stop-and-go crud. Since the monster-girl was sound asleep by that point, I proceeded with my Bemidji-trip tradition of driving through Culver’s and gorging myself on butterburger goodness.

As we approached the Clearwater exit, travelling at a breakneck speed of like 3 miles an hour, we saw a sign that read “MAJOR delay, Clearwater exit.” Oh, woo hoo. I looked at Kerry and asked if she wanted me to take an alternate route. In true wifely fashion, she replied that it was up to me. I then said, “OK, but you have to promise not to be mad.” She nodded agreement, which I knew meant basically nothing. I flipped a coin in my head and opted to try a different route. Skipping over some details, I made it just about to Kerry’s breaking point on this lovely new path, and suddenly ended up exactly where I had meant to go. Everything turned out wonderful, and I owe it all to me being awesome. I'm the man! Yay, it's applicable after all!

A 3 ½ hour trip to Bemidji ended up taking 5 hours, but we got there and had a good (albeit windy) weekend. We headed to my parents’ lake cabin on Sunday night. We used the same tactic of leaving late so that Gwen would sleep, but she didn’t sleep at all. She didn’t really cry or anything, she just chilled out in the back seat and talked to herself about cows. Fine with me --I listened to Clutch.

The weather was chilly on Monday, but it was good to see my relatives and we had a really good time. We came back Monday night.

We saw an astounding amount of Huge Beings this weekend, throughout our travels. As far as I can remember, we either drove past or walked up to:

Paul Bunyan – Akeley
Paul Bunyan – Bemidji
Babe the Blue Ox – Bemidji
Native American – Bemidji
Niimii – Bemidji
St. Urho – Menahga
Big Ole – Alexandria

Ahh, Minnesota…land of huge doods. Kinda like a Lundo green deck.