Monday, December 22, 2008

Come on ride the train, hey, and ride it

I somehow made it back to MN. Somehow. I'm not exactly sure how it happened.

Let's just say, I don't know that I will ever be taking the train again. Or at least not past Chicago. And definitely not in the winter.

After getting stuck on the tracks somewhere between Battle Creek and Chicago because the switches were frozen, we managed to get stuck in Union Station for eight hours. Yes. Eight. This would have been fine had Union Station been more than about 6 degrees Fahrenheit. I ran all over the place and managed to find myself a cup of hot chocolate while the three of us were waiting for the train to even be taken out of the yard! We had some Pizza Hut for lunch. J and D had a few beers. We played around on the internet. We observed a short black man yelling at a white woman for looking at his MySpace page to which he actually said, "Fear my race, bitch." I was a little afraid that we might have to diffuse the situation when he started talking about hitting her. I'm not really sure what their deal was. Maybe they just enjoy role-playing in crowds...

Anyway... We finally left Chicago at 830 and immediately opened a bottle of wine. The three of us split it and hung out for a bit, before D asked if I wanted to go look for food (J had eaten a second meal before we left Union Station).

So, we couldn't find any food so, instead, we opened up another bottle of wine (we packed well, as you can see). Dean and I proceeded to drink and discuss life and stuff for many hours. Somewhere in the middle of the night, on our third bottle of disgusting wine, we started polling the club car about their views on gay marriage, which got pretty interesting being that Dean's gay and we were sitting next to a bunch of conservatives.

Eventually we made it back to our seats to fall asleep but, um, it was so cold! I think I dozed off for a few minutes somewhere between Tomah and LaCrosse. After Dean got off in Winona, I woke J up to go sit in the club car so that we wouldn't get harassed for not getting off in Winona like we were supposed to. We made it to the Twin Cities at 5:30, after my parents were already up for the day.

So, to summarize: trains are cold and late, but a good way to waste time is by drinking wine.

Saturday, December 20, 2008



No worries. I iz. I'm caught up in Grand Rapids with Dean and Juggles for now, but we're on our way.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Lights, camera, action / I think I'm going for it this time

Two down, three to go. Classes, that is. I finished up genetic epidemiology and hospital epid last week. Home stretch: one week, two days to go.

This weekend's a bit of craziness... So far I've written one paper, completed my part of study guide questions, and started another paper. Monday means handing in two papers and taking a test (which I plan to study for tomorrow, assuming I can get this bacteriology paper done tonight)! Then I hope to make it to my friend's thesis defense in the afternoon before I start my social epid paper at night, then start studying for my mechanisms of bacterial pathogensis test. Those are both due the following Monday, but I guarantee the week will not contain much free time -- the test entails memorizing approximately 150 pages of text.

After all the classes are finished, I will have a few days before departing for my magical mystery tour of the Midwest. Dean, Juggles, and I are heading to Grand Rapids for a few days before we hop the Amtrak to Minnesota, where we'll be until the 30th. Then we hit Chicago for the New Year.

I was reflecting on the idea of already being close to ringing in the new year, and was going to type, "2009 will be a year filled with many changes." Then I began thinking back upon the last few years and realizing I've undergone a lot of changes in a short amount of time. But I seem to have really taken them in stride -- though some were definitely easier than others. Coming to Ann Arbor was a great decision for me -- I've really enjoyed my program of study, as well as all of the people I've met. It's so strange to think it'll all be over soon... At least the school part of "it."

And then?

Stay tuned for more... Because not even I know what the script for the sequel will be like.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Don't let your life pass you by, weep not for the memories.

My Thanksgiving was great, thanks for asking. It was a small one this year, with only 8 of us around the dinner table, but it was sure nice to see my cousin Jesse and meet her b/f.

Most of my weekend at home, admittedly, was spent either writing a 25-page paper or procrastinating about doing so. I ended up missing out on seeing some of my friends, which was quite unfortunate.

The one fun outing I did allow myself was the Henry Sibley High School Class of 1998 Ten Year (gas) Reunion up at Sweeney's. Beforehand, Kevin, Shaun, Beth and I went up to Boca Chica to enjoy some delicious Mexican goodness to gain some energy before we embarked on our journey down memory lane. The reunion itself, was A-OK. I was glad to see some of my old friends and classmates.

Here are some pictures I stole from Beth's Facebook.

The dance girls: Alicia, Alesha, Beth, Shannon


Alicia and Shauntastic


And one I stole from Kelly's Facebook.

Alicia and Jaime


All in all it was a good time. My parents even sent me home with a wonderful present of the stomach flu, which I noticed sometime late Monday night as I was projectile vomiting. I spent all of Tuesday in bed and retreated from my shell today where I could function for brief periods of time. The one big issue here is the fact that I have waaaaaay too much to do to waste time sleeping!

So, since I'm actually awake right now, I should probably get to the studying for the tests and the writing of the papers and that stuff.