I reached into my wallet today to pay for lunch and realized the only cash I had on me was Euros.
Yes, I’m preparing to leave the good ol’ U.S. of A. and go to Germany. I’ll be gone all next week. Here’s hoping my housesitter doesn’t wreck the joint.
No posts until I get back, and then maybe some photos and stories to tell.
meatpixel.com is the best new blog I’ve come across in a LOOOONG time. It’s written by a friend, but I can’t reveal which one (but I only have three or four, so it would probably be easy to figure out if you know me, which you don’t). He’s really on a roll, though. More people should be reading meatpixel.com. Go read it now.
Brickarms is an online store and mfr that makes minifig scale “real” weapons. Seriously. Real world weapons for your decidedly non-real-world minifigs.
This is so colossally cool, I can’t even begin to describe it.
I’m shopping for a new car. The new gig requires me to commute about 23 miles to work (one way), and the Lumbering Beast (2005 Nissan XTerra SE) gets at most 18mpg on the highway. ON THE HIGHWAY. So, I’m car shopping… again.
If the new Scirocco were available here, I’d be on it like white on rice. Alas, it’s not. I am looking hard at the VW GTI MkV, though, especially now that it comes in the four-door flavor (since I am family-enabled). Fast as, nearly as cool as, and much more utilitarian than the MINI Cooper S I used to own (and regret — often painfully — trading in on the Lumbering Beast two years ago).
My other wanna buy is the new for ‘09 (but coming out in late March) Subaru Forester. A nice redesign of a great car (I had one before the MINI). Also available in FAST version. The new Forester probably won’t have any special incentives or financing like VW or other makers these recession-soaked days.
I need decent gas mileage (24 city/30 hwy), preferably no Premium fuel requirement, driving fun, four doors, under 30K (and preferably under 26K).
Your thoughts?
Day 4 of Minneapolis was pretty smooth. Did some more training. Had another fabulous pizza lunch, this time at Punch (Napolitan style pizza). Finally got snowed on (what’s a winter trip to Mpls without snow, right?). Flew some. Sat around in airports. Flew some more. Finally got home.
I’m looking forward to getting into the new office and getting to work on Monday. It’s going to be a big challenge to get my part of the operation whipped into shape, but it’s going to be fun. I’m looking forward to getting back into the news bidness. I’ve missed it.
My head hurts.
I’ve learned so much new stuff the last three days that I fear my noggin will esplode with it all.
Actually, I just have a backache from the too-soft mattress in my hotel room. Otherwise, I’m doing great. I’m going to miss all the great people I’ve met and worked with in the last few days when I return home to my full-time assignment.
Ate lunch at a great place called Pizza Lucé. If you go, get “The Bear.” It’s fearsome good.
After work, one of my new colleagues (dare I say “friend”? I think so) drove me all over Minneapolis. I saw the statue of Mary Tyler Moore throwing her hat in the air. I saw First Avenue, where Prince got his start. I saw the wreckage of the I-35 bridge collapse. I saw all sorts of stuff.
I finally went to a Trader Joe’s. I went BACK to the Mall of America to pick up some Legos for The Boy at LegoWorld (or whatever it’s called). I went back to the Apple Store to get a World Traveler Adapter kit for charging my Apple goodies on my upcoming jaunt to Germany.
I am now relaxing at the hotel and getting my stuff ready for a half-day of work tomorrow and then seven hours of traveling to get home (a two-hour flight, a three-hour layover, and another two-hour flight). I will be sleeping most of Friday.
Probably no post tomorrow night, but I’ll catch up on Friday, since I’ll more or less have the day off.
My brain hurts from all the stuff I learned today. Training proceeds at lightspeed. I think I’m retaining most of it. I’m feeling pretty close to being ready to hit the ground running next Monday in the new position back in NWA. It’ll be a while before I get my workflow really efficient, but that’s a fun challenge in and of itself, right?
Finally got to IKEA today. I love it nearly as much as I thought I would. I’ve never been to one. I hope to go to one again soon. I ate the swedish meatballs. Excellent. So was the macaroni and cheese.
Bought a few things, including a tinkertoy-like building set for The Boy’s birthday next week.
Finally got to the Mall of America, too. I needed to go by the Apple Store to have my iPhone checked out. It was showing some display flakiness. They replaced it quickly, and I’ve already restored all my info on it. LOVE the iPhone.
Also got to briefly fondle a MacBook Air. Astonishing construction. WAY more solid than my MacBook. Still underpowered and overpriced for my wants (needs?), though.
MOA also has a Legoland. They were near to closing, so I just got to browse. The Boy and I will be having SO much fun with Lego soon.
Looking forward to going to Germany. Just 15 days away!
Tired now. Must sleep before tomorrow, another full day of training and meeting people.
Day 1 of training with the new company went pretty smoothly. The people are really great. They (we? I won’t be working out of this office, though) have a Wii and foosball table in the break room. Free (pretty good) coffee. I think I’m going to like working here.
Was going to go to IKEA and/or the Mall of America after work, but decided I was too tired. Will definitely do it either tomorrow night or Wednesday night after work. There’s snow on the ground here. Apparently, it stays around all winter. That would take some getting used to. It was a balmy 35F or so today, though.
Michael Chabon is the first writer to be nominated for both the Edgar Award (mystery) and the Nebula Award (SF) for the same novel, the fantastic The Yiddish Policeman’s Union.
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