Edwin's City of Lakes Blog

Well my family has returned to the City of Lakes. I had an excellent visit with them. We went tubing on the Upper Iowa River today which was something I have always wanted to do since first living in Decorah. It was a lot of fun but Bessie hurt her toe and my parents ended up taking her to the ED when they got back to the Cities. That's where they are as I type this. I hope she didn't break it.

OMW has something bothering him. He went to bed at 9:30pm and said that there was something wrong but he was ok and just needed to sleep. Hmm.

My family is in town for a visit for Father's Day and my mother's birthday which is tomorrow. We are having a very nice visit and it's been great to see my sisters and brother as always. Tomorrow we are going tubing. My class is meeting for a reduced period of time tomorrow beginning at 7:45am so this is all working out quite nicely.

I am really pleased with the relationship that I have with my parents now, it seems so healthy. Distance really can make a difference.

OK, this clip from KARE 11 is just too funny. The Boston bat boy tackled some loser who had gotten onto the field at the Metrodome during the Red Sox-Twins game.

Mary Kiffmeyer's malfeasance in office has led me to the belief that the Minnesota Constitution does need at least one amendment--the Constitution should be amended to prohibit the Secretary of State of participating in election campaigns and require rule-making to be done by the Secretary in conjunction with a board of elections as opposed to the Secretary by her lonesome. Also Election Day registration should be encoded into the Constitution so that future legislators aren't tempted to screw with it. Just some random ideas on a Friday night. Gives you an idea of how pathetic things are here in Decorah tonight that I am writing a post about the SOS.

Today was registration day for incoming first-years. The nervous parents and kids reminded me of my own registration day 5 years ago here. Time is moving so quickly and I feel old. I am reminded of the "Circle Game" song and would really like to 'drag my feet to slow the circles down.' It seems like just yesterday that I was living in Ylvi with Karl from Sweden and hanging out with Ivan, Yuniya and Saroj. Karl is in Sweden, Ivan went AWOL from Luther I guess and went back to Serbia and Saroj is dead.

Well today I received my first traffic ticket ever. I was pulled over by the Decorah Police Department for going 30 in a 25 mph zone. I paid the $43.20 fee at the courthouse immediately after getting the ticket. I am so embarrassed because Claire Tebbenhoff was in the car with me and I am sure her parents now think I am some kind of reckless driver. But honestly I usually drive like an old lady and get people passing me all the time.

Good news! The president and Gov Pawlenty always harp about how they care about education and want to leave "no child behind." This commitment is most evident when the Star Tribune has headlines like this: Minneapolis terminates 305 teachers. Clearly they care enough to make sure there are enough teachers to allow every student the opportunity to succeed. Oh wait, I guess not.

I am not joking: My roommate, Old Man Welter (OMW) went to bed at 8:45pm. Central Time. Not Alaskan Time or Hawaii Time. Central Time. Right now he is tossing above me and talking in his sleep. This is something he does frequently, just not before 9:00pm. Twin Cities Pride is coming soon and as a general note I want to make it clear that Joseph must come up from Des Moines or there will be much wailing and mourning.

On Saturday I was in Minneapolis and visited the new Central Library which was amazing. It is truly a marvel. I hung out with the human equivalent to Coca-Cola, Aaron Murphy and watched The Aristocrats with Courtney which was fantastically funny. I had seen the film with Micah in the theatre last year and just loved it and had forgotten both how foul and extraordinarily hilarious it was. See it if you haven't.

So I am living in Miller Hall over the summer. I am staying on campus for two reasons:

1) Take classes to meet requirements
2) Work at KWLC and avoid the spending that would likely occur if I was in Minneapolis for the summer with all of its diversions and fun.

Much has happened since I last wrote. I was elected co-chair of Luther PRIDE and associate chair of Luther Democrats. These positions will undoubtedly keep me busy this fall. My roommate for the summer is the other PRIDE co-chair Allan Welter and so far we have gotten on splendedly. My only complaint and it is very petty is that he is a bit of an old man, in the sense that he goes to bed very early. It reminds me of my Grandma who used to go to bed immediately following the 10 o'clock news weather report. My parents are becoming the same way. Now I understand the need to arise early and I myself am getting up a lot earlier than to what I am accustomed, but a resulting earlier bedtime does not occur for me. I function quite well with four to five hours of sleep and am a night-owl. Buf if that's my only complaint, then things are pretty good. I am sure Allan could complain about me shall we say lack of excessive neatness. I try, but clutter is hard for me to avoid.

I am taking Math 110 or Finite Math. It satisfies the "quantative reasoning" requirement for graduation. Yes it is hard to imagine me in math class, especially since my last educational experience in math was in 1999. It's not so bad.