Friday afternoon around 2:30pm I hit the road for KC to meet up with my friend Shelly for the weekend. It’s got to be one of the easiest road trips to take because you follow 35 the ENTIRE way down from the Twin Cities straight through to KC. I got to KC around 8:30 and Shelly had already checked into the hotel. After freshening up a bit we headed down to the Plaza for some dinner. We didn’t have any specific destination in mind but I’d say we ended up at a good location. Tomfooleries is a restaurant/bar and although it was a bit loud, the atmosphere was fun. We both had good dinners & were able to catch up. We saw a group in costume looking like KISS which was hilarious. Otherwise there weren’t too many costumes out near the Plaza anyway.

Saturday morning we slept in (YAY!). I got down to the workout room for a 35 minute workout before getting ready to head back down to the Plaza for some shopping! It was only a few blocks from our hotel so in the daylight we walked. There were only a few things we were actually looking for and I’d say we did a pretty good job finding them. Shelly got some shells to use in her living room decorating as well as a nice fall jacket and I found a dress. One big surprise for me was that there is a 1154 Lill store there! I’ve been to plenty of in home parties in MN but I had never been to a store before. Somehow I managed to leave without purchasing anything…will power I guess! For lunch we ate at Jack Stack BBQ and I had one of the most delicious spinach strawberry salads I think I’ve ever had.

I took a little nap that afternoon before we got all bundled up and headed down to Worlds of Fun. The amusement park has a Halloween event during the weekends in October where there are people dressed up in costume, “scary” music being played and Halloween decorations all over the place. The weather wasn’t too bad when we arrived, mid to upper 50’s probably, but I think by the time we left at 11 it was more like low 40’s because I was freezing! The first roller coaster we went on was the Patriot and I think that was probably my favorite of the whole park. Timber Wolf is a wooden roller coaster and that one was horrible. I ended up with a headache after that one, thankfully it was near the end of our evening.

We had some “excitement” (or drama) while standing in line for one of the rides these 2 men (large men) decided to start pushing their way up to the front of the line. There was a guy (who looked to me like a hick from MO) who wasn’t going to let them through. He put his hands out and held on to the queue rails so the men couldn’t pass. Well, one of the guys decided he was going to get to the front of the line no matter what it took so he jumped over the queue rails and walked all the way around the outside, up to the platform where you wait in line to get on the coaster. A few minutes later, hick guy walks up to the platform too & motions for the workers to come over. When one finally does he points and said “that guy cut in line” and when the guy tried to deny it EVERYONE in the queue started saying that he budded in line. Then everyone started chanting “kick him out” which is supposed to be the penalty for not waiting your turn. There were some words shared between the two men (to be honest, I was waiting for a gun to be pulled) but around the time Shelly & I made it up to the platform a security guy appeared and escorted the man away from the ride. I guess we’ll never know if he got kicked out or not, but it was sort of nice to see that someone was held accountable for their actions.

Sunday morning we slept in again which basically left time to pack up before checking out. We were all set to hit the road around 10:30 when walking out to our cars I noticed Shelly didn’t have license plates. I couldn’t imagine why she wouldn’t have plates so I asked and she said she DID have them. Well, we got closer & found the plastic cover on the ground along with a screwdriver. Apparently it’s not easy to get plates/tabs in MO and so it’s not that uncommon for people to steal plates. Insane. So, after dealing with some idiotic people at the police station she finally got a hold of someone who said they would send an officer out - in the next 4 hours. Ugh. Well, I waited around until noon and then took off because my drive was almost twice as long as Shelly’s drive back to St Louis. She said the police officer came about 30 minutes after I left so that was good. He wrote her up a report so that she could drive home (in case she got pulled over) and also so she could get new plates once back in St Louis.

So, not exactly how we wanted to end our trip. Thankfully Friday night and Saturday were a lot of fun eating, shopping, and riding the roller coasters!

As I sit here waiting for game 7 of the ALCS I decided I should write a wrap-up post about the Twins 2007 season. Life was extra busy for me around the end of the season, which is why I didn’t post about the last few games. That, and the fact that it was incredibly frustrating to watch. I had tickets for 4 games the last 2 weeks of home stands but only went to 3 games. One of the Friday games I gave the tickets to Chris and he went with his friend Chuck.

The season ended with some questions…
1) Was the game 9/23 Torii’s last home game at the Metrodome?
2) Did Santana play his last game at the Metrodome?
3) Can the Pohlad’s be any cheaper? (related to #1 & 2)
4) Do I want to get season tickets again next year?
5) Others…

I have no idea about questions 1 & 2 at this point but #3 seems to be obvious. Carl Pohlad has not felt the need to put money into the player payroll in the past and it seems like his children who are taking over are just as (or possibly more) tight with the moolah. As for buying season tickets again next year - I’m pretty sure I will. I had previously thought about upgrading to a 41 game package but it wasn’t as easy to get rid of tickets this year as I had expected so I’m going to stick with the 20 game package. I definitely want to have seats in the new stadium so I am going to keep getting tickets at least until the 2010 season.

Some highlights of the 2007 season for me:
* Chris telling me “I’ll go to some games with you, but I probably can’t go to all 20″ and my reply of “Good, because you’re not invited to all 20!” We got tickets to 3 games outside of my 20 game package, but total he did end up going to at least 12 games with me!
* Taking the light-rail down to the games
* Torii & Justin hitting back to back home runs at least twice while I was there
* I saw Gardy get ejected for the first time
* My co-worker Tom playing in the Mascot Game
* Spring Training in FL with Shelly
* Liz winning the Famous Dave’s Famous Seat of the game
* Boof pitching a complete game shut-out (although Becky was bummed she didn’t get to see Neshek pitch)
* My Twins Territory number appearing on the board - I won a Michael Cuddyer autographed baseball and my dad was there to celebrate with me
* Kieran’s after-game drinks & snacks with Chris
* Liz & Casey’s bachelor/bacheloette party

Obviously it’s disappointing that the Twins didn’t make the play-offs, but lets be honest - the way they were playing they didn’t deserve to. I’m hoping for a Cleveland win tonight because it would be great to have the World Series Champs in the Central Division.

My uncle from KC emailed this to me today…I thought it was funny, hopefully you’ll smile.
JEFF FOXWORTHY ON MINNESOTA:

If you consider it a sport to get food by drilling through 18 inches of ice and sitting there for days hoping that the food will swim by, You might live in Minnesota.

If you’re proud your state makes the national news 196 nights each year because International Falls is the coldest spot in the nation, You might live in Minnesota.

If you don’t know the difference between “borrow” and “loan”, You might live in Minnesota.

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through June, You might live in Minnesota.

If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don’t work there, You might live in Minnesota.

If your dad sleeps in his baseball hat, You might live in Minnesota.

If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, You might live in Minnesota.

If you know how to say…Wayzata…Mahtomedi…Cloquet…Edina…and Shakopee, You might live in Minnesota.

If you think that ketchup is a little too spicy, You might live in Minnesota.

If you measure distance in hours, You might live in Minnesota.

If you switch from “Heat” to “A/C” and back in the same day, You might live in Minnesota.

If you can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow in a blizzard without flinching, You might live in Minnesota.

If you see people wearing hunting clothes to church, You might live in Minnesota.

If you install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked, You might live in Minnesota.

If you think the 2 major food groups are fish and deer meat, You might live in Minnesota.

If you carry jumper cables in your car, and your girlfriend knows how to use them, You might li ve in Minnesota.

If there are always 17 empty cars running in the parking lot at Mill’s Fleet Farm, You might live in Minnesota.

If you design your kid’s Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, You might live in Minnesota.

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, You might live in Minnesota.

If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and of course, road construction, You might live in Minnesota.

If “Down South” to you means Iowa, You might live in Minnesota.

If you find minus 10 degrees “a little chilly”, You might live in Minnesota.

If you actually understand these jokes, and you forward them to all your Minnesota friends, YOU DO LIVE IN MINNESOTA!

Wow - Mid October already! The weather in MN is more like March or April & I think I can speak for most Minnesotans…it is not welcome! We’ve had rain almost every day in October it seems - what’s up with that? I think the worst part for me is that this is supposed to be prime time to be outside getting fresh air before winter. I think tomorrow is supposed to be nice so I’m planning on going for a walk, opening up the windows to get fresh air inside, etc.

I just finished up the 30 day BES and I guess I’d say I was successful, to a point. I decided to make it my own program so, no, I wasn’t 100% raw for 30 days. I did, however, manage to shed a little weight & refresh my system. I have really been trying to stay raw 2 out of 3 meals a day & have raw snacks too. I am thinking about doing a 7 day detox starting on Sunday to get me back on track for the final weeks before Chris & I spend a few days in the Bahamas. I ordered a couple new swimsuits off of Victoria’s Secret.com (killer deal on solid color bikini’s right now) and I want to look GREAT in them!! One way that will happen is by me adding exercise back into my routine. On Thursday morning I got up and did 35 minutes of WATP before work and it was awesome. I’m hoping to get back into the habit of working out because I know how much better I feel when I’m doing it and I know how my body loves it & reacts nicely.
I should have a bunch of time to work out in the next couple weeks because Chris leaves for 2 weeks in Israel today. He’s going to be staying in a safe part of the country & working with some very intelligent people so it should be a good experience, but I’m still going to miss him (and worry a little bit!). Luckily we have that Bahamas trip to look forward to.

In other news I’m starting to get my house ready to put on the market. I’ve lived in my cozy one bedroom condo for almost 5 years now and it is time to move on. Chris is helping me re-do the wallpaper in the bathroom and I’ve been very busy de-cluttering. It’s a lot of work going through 5 years worth of stuff and realizing I don’t even need 1/2 of it! I should have a decent size load to take to Good Will as well as Half Price Books before this whole thing is over with.

So, yes…time has been flying - before I know it we’re going to be in 2008!

Some women come up with creative ways to announce their pregnancy…special gift, card in the mail, announcement at a meal, putting the used EPT test underneath your husband’s breakfast toast. Wait…putting your USED EPT test underneath someones food?!? Eww.

Okay - I don’t personally know anyone who used this method but I heard about it on the radio today. She contacted the DJ’s because she wanted help figuring out if her germ-o-phobic husband was in the right being grossed out & not the least bit excited or if she was right to expect him to be super excited despite knowing about his germ phobia. It sounds like their both mad at each other over the whole ordeal. All I can think is GROSS. Who puts anything near food that was once covered with urine. ICK.

I’m done talking about it. I am wondering if anyone had any GOOD…UNIQUE…FUN…HAPPY way to announce their pregnancy to their spouse, family, friends, etc. No…I am not expecting. I just had to ask after hearing that story on the radio.

Jill & Brian welcomed their first child into the world on Friday evening…daughter, Ella Jo!! My mom & I got to meet her today and she is so adorable!! Mom, Dad, and Baby are all doing great and were planning to check out of the hospital this evening. I do have to say is that their daughter has perfect timing in order to allow herself the most possible time with Mom & Dad before they each have to return to their respective works. Jill is now able to wait until after Jan 1, 2008 to return to work and Brian is able to take a full week off without using PTO because their hospital days were over a weekend.

Ella Jo
Born: Friday, October 5, 2007 9:37PM
Weight: 7lb 2 oz
Length: 20 3/4 in

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Friday began for me around 8:30PM on Thursday 10/4 when we began the process of Release 6 for work. This was the biggest release that we’ve had since I started at Four51 in March 2006 and it went as smoothly as we could have hoped! It really was a huge success for the tech team at Four51.
So, that all started at 8:30PM and I finally went to bed around 2AM once things looked fairly stable. I was probably one of the first to go to bed, so I guess I should be thankful, but 5:30AM came very, very early. I had to get to work by 7 in order to support our customers on the east coast. Amazingly we didn’t have too many bug type issues. The most difficult thing with this release was that some of our customers continue to not read our release notices! Ugh. I’m sure that is a problem many companies have but unfortunately this time we made a couple changes that are not reversible. Had our customers brought their concerns forward prior to the release we could have helped them but because that didn’t happen it is much more difficult to resolve specific difficult scenarios. Luckily our application services department does a good job talking people through tough situations and most of the fires were put out rather quickly.

I can’t remember when I left work Friday because I was exhausted, probably between 3 & 4pm, but I do know that I went straight to Chris’s house and passed out in his bed for an hour or so. That nap felt AMAZING. I really love naps! The reason I had to get up at all was because we had concert tickets for that night. Yes…I had 3 1/2 hours of sleep the night before & I was going to a concert. So - for anyone that thinks I’m old…think again. Sometime after 6:30 people started showing up at Chris’s house for some fun prior to the concert (which, by the way didn’t start until after 11pm). We played some Wii Bowling, Guitar Hero, and Pool while enjoying pizza and beer. Everyone was getting pumped up because we were going to see Girl Talk and the show back in January was super fun! (In fact, that show was the beginning of my relationship with Chris)

Unfortunately, First Ave & the millions of 18-20 yr olds was not even close to the same experience. On the dance floor there were WAY too many people, to the point that you lost control over which direction you were walking, if you were actually walking because you might have been floating through the crowds. The bouncers on stage were really controlling how many people got on stage and seemed to have possibly the worst job in the house - but we didn’t even get close enough to the stage to even try getting up there. Chris & I bailed on the dance floor after 1 minute of Dan Deacon. We retreated upstairs where we waited (very impatiently) for the Chocolate Rain guy to finish so Girl Talk could finally start. The bars in MN close at 2AM…Girl Talk finally took the stage around 1:18AM as for as I can remember. We tried the dance floor again. This time we lasted for a while longer but finally Chris and I decided to be done with the whole thing. We took a cab home & waited for everyone else. I’ll let you read my brother’s blog post about Girl Talk to get his point of view as well. Overall - I had fun hanging out at Chris’s house before, but the concert was a big disappointment. I guess we got spoiled at the Varsity.

So, yes, by the time we went to sleep at 3AM I think that was officially the longest day ever.

I had a very fun, very eventful birthday weekend! It started out by taking off at lunch time and meeting my Aunt Julie for some food at Q’cumbers. After lunch I ran a couple errands and then got a mani/pedi at a local shop. It was so great & they had a deal so it was only $30!! Woo!

For dinner Friday night Chris and I went to Ecopolitan for a fun, raw adventure (click here to read about it). After dinner we walked down to the Wedge Co-op to check it out. We tried to go to Chatterbox for a couple drinks and some games but the place was packed so we ended up at Buster’s on 28th.

Saturday morning we met Josh at the Doctors Without Borders Refugee camp at Loring Park (click here to read about it) before heading to my parents house to get food ready for lunch. Lunch was another raw adventure, this time with me, Chris, and my family as the chef’s! We made Nori Rolls, an Asian Noodle Salad, and a Pineapple Cucumber Peanut Salad for 12 people (click here to read about it)! The meal turned out to be a huge success (at least I think it was) and we had a good time together. Oh, and my mom made a special raw cake for me that was delicious & refreshing! All the pictures from the 2 meals can be found by clicking on the photo to the left.

After spending some time with family (Jayne - you’re family) everyone took off around mid-afternoon and Chris & I headed to Eden Prairie to hit the mall and pick up flowers at my office that my parents & Josh sent to me. We didn’t end up buying anything, but it was nice to walk around. After that we stopped by my house before going to dinner at Jensen’s Supper Club. Chris enjoyed steak and crab cakes while I had halibut with lobster sauce. We shared garlic mashed potatoes and had a wonderful dinner. We were dressed casually and fit in just fine in the bar area where we ate. If I was going to get reservations I think I’d dress business casual or so. After dinner we went to Burnsville Bowl where I proceeded to bowl amazingly - 150 or so both games! We had to make a stop at the Simpson’s Pinball machine on the way out of the bowling alley. It was fun. We each played one game that was horrible and another that we did well on. Chris managed to win 2 free games (I’m not sure how, but I wasn’t complaining!) so our $2 went a little further than planned. After pinball excitement we went back to Chris’s house and hung out.

Sunday it rained, and rained, and rained. Really, it POURED for a while. Anyway, luckily we were happy to be bums staying in the house and playing Mario Party 8 on Chris’s Wii. That night Josh came over so we could all go down to Roy Wilkin’s to see LCD Sound System and Arcade Fire. Josh had secured us floor tickets so Chris & I enjoyed LCD Sound System from the back of the crowd while Josh made his way closer to the front. We were going to meet in between the shows but Josh messaged me that he wasn’t going to lose his spot. Chris was able to spot him up about 3 rows from the stage so we went & met up with him there. It was a super fun show. Both LCD and Arcade Fire are crazy. For Arcade Fire they must have 10 people on stage at most times and let me tell you…they are high energy! The only complaint I have is that it was a Sunday night…the week following a Sunday night concert always seems longer. Great show though!!

I have to tell you about the amazing gift Chris gave me for my birthday. He is amazing…seriously. He got a scrapbooking album and made me a book. The first page says something about “We’ve been many amazing places together already…where to next?” Then he goes on to make a fantastic camping page followed by a page with an REI gift card for me to get new camping gear. The next page is San Francisco (a place we’ve talked about going to) followed by a page with a Von Maur gift card to buy a dress for a Night out on the Town! It continues like that…he is AMAZING!!