home office

One room in my house has been in absolute disarray since the day I moved in, this room being my den. Since that day I've had miscellaneous boxes, papers, and basic junk cluttering the area. About two years ago I bought a desktop computer and placed that in the den on a table. With the monitor and all the other junk laying around it occurred to me today that I am really out of room. So, today I ordered a desk which will be delivered Tuesday. With this desk I should be able to finally turn that room from a danger area to an actually functional space in my home.

done!

I'm now officially SCUBA certified! Next thing on the list... my Advanced open water certification! I'm hoping to start that in 2 weeks! Good stuff.

hobo

Every once in a while at the exit I take on the way home from work there are people, who'd I'd assume are homeless, on the corner. They always have a sign made of cardboard saying something like, "Homeless Vet, will work for food. God Bless". So today happened to be one of those days. As I'm driving down the ramp I notice it looks like he doesn't have a sign. As I get closer I see he's holding his head... or so I thought. As I get right up to him, I see he's on his CELL PHONE! His sign... folded up in his hand. Unbelievable.

new hobby

As if I really needed another hobby, I decided this one was for the best. So, today my endeavor began. Over lunch, I signed up for 2 courses, the first happening this Saturday and Sunday, and the next course next Monday and Tuesday. Come next Tuesday, I will be, open water SCUBA certified! Along with signing up, I picked up a snorkel, fins, a goggle and boots. All I have to do now is read a book, watch a video, and take the classes! I can't wait!

champion

So my team won our co-ed soccer league championship last night, 6-2. We went 8-0-1 and really should have gone 9-0. It was a fun time, and being on a winning team makes playing just that much more enjoyable. After this Sunday I'll be on about a one month break before another couple leagues start up. I think between that time I'll dedicate some time to getting my house cleaned and maybe getting my open water SCUBA license. I can't wait!

chicago to minneapolis

I left Chicago this morning for MSP at 1:30. My goal was to drive the route in 5 in a half to 6 hours. I figured it would be very reasonable. Well, about 15 miles south of Madison I ran into trouble. I came up on a hill and suddenly traffic came to a screeching halt. I moved about a quarter mile in 10 minutes and made my way over the hill, and around a curve. Ahead of me was some kind of multi-car pileup on the shoulder. "Great" I figured, "at least I'd make it thought the accident scene before the cops show up", right? As soon as I said that, here arrive the po-po. "Ok", I say to myself, "well the accident can't be that bad since no ambulances have arrived yet." Well, on cue here comes 1, rather 2, nope 3, nuh-uh... 4 ambulances. At this point I'm about 25 car lengths from the carnage. "Well", I think to myself again, "I hope I make it through the accident before the freeway closes. The good thing is I haven't seen Lifelink yet...." (cue choppers).... "damn." And... the freeway was now closed. In comes the one... errr, TWO Lifelink choppers and the waiting game begins. 2 hours later... and the freeway is still closed. The troopers meanwhile have cleared most of the traffic behind me and we routing all vehicles back down the freeway heading the wrong way. We got diverted to a side highway and routed back around to the north side of the chaos. In all, about a 2.5 hour delay. I ended up pulling into my driveway at 10:30... which made my quick 6 hour drive into a 9.5 hour marathon. Whew.

UPDATE:
I just checked a local website in Madison to see what the results of that accident was...

"A four vehicle accident on I-90 this afternoon left two people dead and five injured, blocking traffic in the eastbound lane for hours. Four vehicles collided on the eastbound lanes of I-90 this afternoon. Two people died, and three of the vehicles were totaled after one car apparently crossed the median, hitting oncoming traffic near the town of Christiana. Traffic was stopped for several hours past the town of Edgerton."

Crazy. Just think, I was maybe 3/4 of a mile from the accident when it happened. That means I leave 45 seconds earlier and I have a good shot of being a victim.