Life goes fast!

For the life of me I don’t know where the time goes. I try to blog and get in the mind set of blogging a couple times a week and then it always happens I stop. I really enjoy blogging but things get in the way. Anyway… A lot is going on. Melissa and I went on a cruise this February, it was Melissa’s first cruise and let me just say she loved it! In fact she loved it so much that we have 2 more booked for 2013. On our past cruise we did the standard western Caribbean run, which started in Miami, went to the Bahamas’, Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and Cozumel Mexico. The weather was perfect and we had a wonderful time. Melissa is so damn fun to travel with; we really relaxed on the cruise which was so nice. We lounged around when on the ship, ate some great food and just enjoyed our time in the sun. We did some great snorkeling in Grand Cayman. We had a nice beach day in both Cozumel and the Bahamas’. We even tried stand up paddle boarding in Cozumel. We both were able to do it pretty well; it was a lot of fun. I have been on a number of cruises, but hadn’t been for quite a while; it was nice to go again and to remember just how much fun they really are. We are headed back to the Caribbean next March and then to Alaska in July of 2013. I can’t wait! I have always wanted to do an Alaskan cruise so that is going to be an awesome trip. We have balcony rooms for both trips, which will be interesting. I have never had a balcony room on a ship so I am excited to give it a try.

I was a little bummed that we didn’t get back skiing in Montana this year and it turned out that the snow gods would have given us fresh snow to play in while we were there but I will say it was a nice change of pace to go on that cruise. I had forgotten how beautiful the Caribbean Sea is. It is a blue like you have never seen before.

We have a lot of travel plans going right now. And all of them I am excited for. We are headed to Colorado over Memorial Day weekend. I think we are going to be staying in the Silverthorne area but I am not 100% sure yet. Either way we are going to get some fly fishing in and relax in the mountains. I am looking forward to get out there. Then our big summer trip is back to Colorado. We are headed back to Cordillera; Melissa is taking the Orvis fly fishing class out there. I am so excited for her to take the class; I think she will really enjoy it. I am glad she is getting an interest in fly fishing; it will give us something else that we can do together. I took her out for her first fishing trip last week or to the Kinni in River Falls Wisconsin, she did great, she caught her first trout on a fly. It was exciting. Plus I think it really got her into the idea of learning more about fly fishing. I think she will do great in the class and she will become an excellent fly fisher.

With the lack of a winter that we had here in Minnesota which I will add was very odd, most of the lakes are ice free and the temperature has already been above 80 a couple times and it is only March, I have been out fishing quite a few times already and the fishing has been good. I have done really well nymph fishing and the best part of it is, almost all of the fish I have caught so far are on flies I have tied myself. Which makes it even sweeter; I apparently tie a good enough zebra midge to fool even the smartest trout.

I am looking forward to working on my skills as an angler and becoming a better fisherman this year. The couple of cruises that we have planned for next year have some interesting possibilities for fishing built into them. Being in Belize is one, some of the best bonefishing in the world is done there and I found a place that will do a day trip out to the flats for a day of fishing. And also there is a flyfishing trip on the Alaskan cruise that I am very interested in.

These are things that are always going through my head. What to do next, why and how…

Done

Well I am officially a college graduate. While it is only a two year degree it is a degree none the less and I am proud of myself for finishing. It took me a long time, sadly there were a lot things that came up a long the way that caused me to put classes on hold for a year at a time thus making it seem to take forever. But after a long haul I am done. I finished with an Associate of Science and a 3.63 GPA. I worked very hard and I am glad I stuck with it. Now on to the next adventure.

Musings

My life has been crazy the last few weeks. I am finally coming toward the end of my college career, well at least for now. What a long a strange road it has been. It has taken a long time but the experience has been very rewarding and eye opening. I never thought I would love learning again as much as I have the past few years. Even though this process is going to leave me with only a two year degree I am very happy with the fact that I have stuck it out and stayed with it through some very trying times in my life. My next decision will be if I will continue on and work toward my 4 year. I am unsure what will do, but for now I am going to enjoy the feeling of accomplishing a goal that I set for myself strictly for self-improvement and self-knowledge. I am happy with that.

I have been doing some serious record shopping lately, I have bought a few things here and there, but last week I had a great score. I found a mint condition copy of The Wall. It was like the thing was never played. It was pretty sweet. I have a feeling I am going to ware that pile out. I love The Wall; it is my favorite Floyd album. I have almost managed to score a couple more friends’ collections. Good stuff. It is funny because people mostly just want to get rid of their records. I will take them. If you have any old records and are looking to get rid of them I will take them. I got my first Beatles record the other day, I was never a huge Beatles fan, but I am glad to have their greatest hits album, good stuff on there.

I wish it would snow. Right now there is nothing and it doesn’t really even seem like winter outside. Sure it is chilly but there are really no signs at all of winter and that to me is a bummer. I am looking forward to skiing again this year and maybe spending a bit more time trying to learn how to snowboard. If we head west this year I would like to try snowboarding out there. I think it would be a blast.

I am looking forward to Christmas. I love Christmas, I can’t wait to get our tree and decorate it. I really want to bake and decorate cookies. I am hoping that Santa Claus swings by the house this year. I like Santa.

The next big thing will be what we decide for out winter trip. We are kicking around some ideas. I am not sure what we are going to do, but I am guessing it will be awesome.

New Phone

So I got my new phone, I think so far it is ok. I ended up getting the new iPhone 4s. I like it so far, it is really not that much different than my Android phone. I do like some things on the droid much better, but the iPhone is going to be fine. I do really like the Siri function a lot. It is pretty dang cool. I have used it a little bit and so far so good, I had heard people were having some trouble with it but so far so good. More later.

Back for now.

So let’s face it basically I suck at keeping up with my blog. It is not that I don’t have anything to say because I do have a lot to say and it is mostly important stuff as well, at least it is in my own mind. Anyway, life is good. I have 6 weeks left of school and let me be honest it cannot end soon enough. I am just so ready to be done with classes. I want to read my own books and not have to bring a laptop on vacation in order to log into classes. I have been at this a long time, too long in fact. But it is still something that I am very proud of even though with how long it has taken, I could have went to medical school, finished a surgical residency and gotten at least one but maybe two PHDs. But none the less it was a goal of mine and it will come true on December 14th when I graduate. Awesome, I can’t wait.

It has been a busy past few months. Melissa and I have done a lot of traveling this year; we just got back from our second trip to DC which turned out to be a whole lot of fun. We saw some things we didn’t see on our first trip out there in May so it was great to do that and we saw something’s again that we both really loved. I made a little memorial to my dad that had a couple of photos of him on it and some information about his service during WWII, I printed it out in color and laminated it and placed it on the Minnesota pillar in the Atlantic theater half of the World War II Memorial. It made me feel great inside to do that. After I place the page on the granite I stepped back and remembered him and watched as a few people walked by and bent over to read the page about him. I was glad to see people do that, they got to learn a little bit about a great man that was very proud of the service that he gave to his country. It was a neat experience. I was happy to have been able to do that for him.

Baseball season is over and it was a crappy year for the Twins. They lost 99 games and really had a bad year. It was really a bummer. Even though we had a great time at the ball yard it is always hard to watch the team that you really like do so poorly. Oh well, we are hoping for better things from them next season.

I bought a record player about a month ago. Yes records! Vinyl records, you know those things that kids born before 1980 listened to music on. Sad to think some kids have never heard the pops and hisses from a record. I have always wanted to get back into vinyl and the opportunity came when a co-worker of mine asked where she could sell a bunch of old records. I told her about Cheapo over in St Paul, but asked if I could have a look at them first and see if there was anything I might be interested in. She brought her collection in a few days later and I had a look and took all of them. Great old stuff, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and other great stuff. It was awesome, just like that I was back and had the start to a very nice vinyl collection. Since then I have been trolling the bins at Half Price Books and at Cheapo Records in St Paul and am putting together some great music. I have always been a huge music buff so this has almost been a religious experience for me. I bought a middle of the road turntable after shopping around. I didn’t want to drop a grand right off the bat for one until I knew that everything was going to be ok and that I was going to enjoy it. Anyway I seriously looked around a found one that was in a good price range and got excellent reviews and made the jump. It is awesome, the sound is pure and amazing and I am trying to figure out how I am going to swing an upgrade in a year or so. It is amazing to me that the market for vinyl is as big as it is. I am glad to know there are others out there that want the pure sound vinyl gives.

Back soon.

Catch Up Sort Of

So I have been away for a while. Not really sure why because I do have things to say. I guess I just haven’t had the desire to say them. A lot has been going on since we last chatted. I have done a lot of fly fishing, been to Colorado, been laid off due to a government shutdown, booked another couple trips and watched a lot of baseball.

I have been doing a lot of fly fishing this year, and it has been great. I have always enjoyed fishing of all kinds whether on spinning gear or on spinning gear, but this year it has been all flies. I have fished locally on the Rush and the Kinni, the Poplar River in Lutsen and in a couple spots in Cordillera Colorado. All have produced fish in some fashion and all have been really fun times.
In early July Melissa and I went out to Cordillera Colorado and stayed at the Lodge and Spa at Cordillera, let me just say that when we arrived home, within 24 hours I had flights booked and reservations for a return trip later in the summer. Everything about that place was perfect and we are looking forward to the return trip here in 17 days.

I had 19 days off due to a government shutdown in early July as well. Even though it sucked not having a job for the time, it was pretty fricking awesome to not have a job and not have to work for 19 days. I felt like a kid on summer vacation again. It was a nice chance to unwind, relax and do work on my summer classes. I now have officially two classes left, they start August 22nd and I graduate on December 16th I can’t wait to be done. I have worked LONG and hard to get this done, so I am excited to have finally accomplished this school thing. I am proud of myself for sticking with it over a few trying years.

The Minnesota Twins are having a terrible season, they are horrible. It is a bummer because they “should” be better than this. Oh Well, maybe next year they will be better. At least I hope. Melissa and I are still enjoying going to the games, but of course it is better when the team is winning.

I have started playing racquetball with my friend Scott at LA Fitness and we are having a blast. I love racquetball, I played a bit when I was younger and am enjoying get back into it now. Scott and I play at least twice a week for about 2 hours or so at a time. I am also going to join the racquetball league at LA Fitness which starts in early September. I am really looking forward to it. It is great exercise, but it is also have which exercise sometimes isn’t, so win-win I guess.

Summer is disappearing quickly, which is bittersweet. It has been mostly a crappy summer, it has either been a million degrees and super humid or it has been raining. We haven’t had very many nice days. So that is bummer I guess, but I am looking forward to fall and winter. I am planning on learning to be better on my snowboard this year. Melissa and I have season passes to Welch Village again this year. So I am hoping for good weather and lots of snow.

There are so many thoughts going around in my head today. So many that I really don’t know what to type. More random thoughts as usual.

Melissa and I are also returning to Washington DC at the end of September. We loved it there and I can’t wait to get back. I am planning on bringing a photo of my dad to the World War II memorial. I think that he would be proud of that monument, so I think it is important for me to do that. I was thinking I would make up a little thing with a photo and a little information about him. So others can know he was proud to have served his country. I am also looking forward to another trip to Arlington, I loved that place. It was amazing. I could have easily spent all day there; I look forward to going back.

Life is good, lots going on.

Washington DC

Melissa and I returned from Washington DC last Monday evening and here is a short recap of our trip. DC was amazing in every way. We were incredibly impressed with the city we were both pleasantly surprised.

Our flight out of here was good, no major delays or anything; we arrived at Reagan International at about 11pm, hopped in a cab and were at our hotel about 15 minutes later, it was very easy. We got a good night sleep and woke up the next morning ready for some sightseeing. We headed down to the Metro and bought our passes and headed down to the Holocaust Museum. The DC subway was very clean and easy to use. We got in line for our tickets to the Museum and headed in, The Holocaust Museum was amazing, it was beautiful and sad, probably not the best way to start a vacation. But it was a must see and we were both glad that we went. The thing that sticks out the most for me was the room of shoes. If I think about it I can still smell that old leather smell that was heavy in that room it was very sad and made the whole thing seem more real, pictures are one thing being seeing all of the shoes that were left behind from Majdanek was something else.

After that we headed to Arlington National Cemetery. I loved Arlington it was amazing. The grounds are incredibly beautiful and I found it peaceful. We walked up to JFK’s grave site. It was very impressive seeing the black stone with his name on it and the eternal flame burning was a sight that I will remember. After JFK we headed to the Tomb of the Unknowns. This was by far the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Watching the Tomb guard do his walk of 21 steps turn, wait and repeat was incredible. We saw the changing of the guard. I luckily got down to the front row and had a great view, Melissa stayed back a few feet so she could stay in the shade. It was hot outside. Anyway the changing of the guard was easily one of the most impressive things I have ever seen. Everything was perfect, I wish I had an ounce of the discipline these soldiers have. I loved watching the changing of the guard. Looking back on our trip, it was easily my favorite thing I saw while in DC. After watching the changing we continued looking around Arlington, we saw Audie Murphy’s grave, the War Nurses memorial, and the memorials for both shuttle disasters. Arlington was amazing, I could have easily spent all day walking around there.

After Arlington walked across the Memorial Bridge and went to the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial, the Wall was stunning. To gaze upon those 58,000 names was a sight to behold. It was sad there. Quite a few veterans were there and many of them were sad. It was hard to be there, but incredible to see. After the Wall we headed back to our room to relax and rest. We headed out for a nice dinner and back to our room to hit the rack. It was a long hot day of walking and we were both beat.

Sunday we got up and headed out on the subway, we went down to the White House to check that out, very neat to see it in person, it is quite the spot. The grounds were beautiful and I kept thinking how fun it would be to get a game of baseball going on that lawn. We were lucky enough to see Marine-1 leave the White House with President Obama aboard. That was quite the sight. After the white house we headed over to the World War II Memorial. As we walked up on the World War II Memorial I was instantly struck by sadness and a feeling of great loss. I felt my father’s presence there and it made me both sad and very proud. My dad was a WWII vet and it was great to see the Memorial built for his service. Walking into the oval, I had a hard time. I was incredibly overwhelmed with loss and I tried to hide my watery eyes. I felt close to my father there and didn’t want to leave. We sat down by the oval pool and I just remembered. It was a very emotional experience for me. When we return to DC I plan on bringing a photo of my dad to the WWII Memorial and placing it at the Minnesota pillar in his memory. After that we headed up to Hard Rock Café for lunch. Once again it was really hot outside and we both wanted some where cool we could sit, eat and relax. The FBI building was right across the street from Hard Rock so that was pretty cool for us. Melissa more than I is a huge X-Files fan, so I think it was pretty neat for her to see the FBI building. I got a picture of her standing in front of the building. It was fun. We looked for Scully and Mulder but didn’t see them. After lunch we headed to the National Archives and looked at the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. It was neat to see them and to think that everything his country stands for is written on those pieces of paper. We both enjoyed the National Archives. After the archives we headed to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. One of the things that I really want to see was Mr. Rogers’s sweater, Kermit the Frog and Archie Bunkers chair in the Smithsonian. I got to see 2 of the 3, sadly Mr. Rogers sweater was not on display that day, but Kermit and Archie’s chair were there so that was really cool. After a bit more walking around and taking in the experience of DC we headed back to our hotel and had a nice dinner at a little Chinese place that we found. Another awesome day. Monday we woke to another hot and humid day. We had a short day since our flight out was in the late afternoon. We headed down to the Marine Memorial that was really cool to see. It was way bigger than I thought it was be, the statues of the men raising the American Flag are huge. It was a cool memorial and I am glad we saw it. After that we headed back to the National Mall area, went to the Air and Space Museum and had a nice lunch. After lunch we walked around a bit more and then it was time to head for the airport for our flight home, which went off without a hitch. We got home at 8pm, and had time to unwind and relax before bed, and work the next day.

DC was amazing. We both loved it there. In fact we liked it so much we have plans to go back at the end of September. I can’t wait. There are a few more things that we both want to see and I really want to go back to the WWII Memorial and Arlington.
If you haven’t been I highly recommend DC it was very impressive.