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Three Hours

Posted by Brad on September 8th, 2008 — Posted in Journal

Well, I arrived back in Baltimore without dying in a horrible plane crash. I had an uneventful trip back. My stop in Minneapolis was longer this time. What would I do with three hours? I started by getting some Godfather’s pizza. I can’t get that in Baltimore, so it’s kind of a treat. I then decided to walk the airport a little. I wondered what kind of stores they had. Finding what looked like a shopping area on the map, I headed there.

Wow.

There is a mall inside the airport. The picture I took doesn’t capture the size. The corridor keeps going and going and going… The stores are still airport kind of stores, so I didn’t end up buying anything, but holy moly! It was huge!

Between walking the mall and having a laptop with me, I had no problem finding stuff to do for three hours.

I got home at 11pm. Max seemed happy to see me. As I was getting ready for bed, he was really playing with his water dish. At one time he had his paw in it swishing things around. I tried to catch it on camera, but all I got was him drinking. I like how he watches me from the corner of his eye. hehe…

Reunionizing

Posted by Brad on September 7th, 2008 — Posted in Journal

Yesterday was a late morning. After sleeping in and going to the local truck stop for a wireless internet signal and posting, I met up with everyone for a 10am talk and tour.

Our tour took us all over campus. It was striking to see how much everything was the same. I took pictures like a crazy man. I’ll eventually post them all to an internet service so I can share them with classmates. In the meantime, here are some highlights:

Here is the sign we won naming rights for at this year’s auction. We named it for two classmates who have died since graduation.

When I was student body president, my unique accomplishment was a celebration of Arbor Day. We planted a tree. After a school-wide naming process, the tree was named Roy-Oak. Hehe… get it? This picture is actually from Friday. It shows the full height of the tree.

When touring the main academic building, we went past several bookshelves that had text books on them. I thought the cover of this one was hilarious. I think maybe if I studied Korean Literature, I’d get X’s for eyes as well…

The tour included the gym, a place you wouldn’t think I’d have any memories of. The locker room actually was a place of great emotion… horrible anxiety. I had it every Friday night before football games as I worried about how much I was going to be hit.

We ended the tour with lunch in the conference room of the dorm we’re staying in. After eating, we had some fun remembering our years in high school. The old scrapbooks and photos were fun to look at.

We ended the day by hanging out in the Heidelberg Gardens and the dorm.

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Late!

Posted by Brad on September 6th, 2008 — Posted in Journal

I’m late with my post this morning because I was late to bed last night.

My flights were fine yesterday. Lloyd and Lauren picked me up right on time, though I have to say the Kansas City airport is the weirdest airport I’ve ever been in, including the foreign ones I’ve seen. In the afternoon, we walked around campus a little. Our formal tour is today. In the evening we went to a home football game. The Saints were losing 31 to 9 when we all left. Our next stop was Heidelberg Gardens in downtown Concordia.

Heidelberg Gardens, or the beer gardens as they are called, is a HUGE area where people listen to oompah music and eat and drink. There was a little area where St. Paul’s alums gather, so we saw not only members of our own class, but other classes as well. We stayed until they kicked us out at 1am.

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Restrictions

Posted by Brad on September 5th, 2008 — Posted in Journal

I’m flying to Missouri today to go to my 20th high school reunion. I come back on Sunday. There is internet access in the dorm, so I should be able to post. Since it’s such a short trip, I’ve decided to attempt to carry my luggage instead of checking it. I’m very nervous because I’ve not carried-on since the new liquid restrictions. Will I screw up, and the TSA will beat me? Will I be detained in a small windowless room for 72 hours? Will I be permanently added to a no-fly list?

In case you’re reading this, TSA: I LOVE what you do. I do NOT think the liquid restrictions on carry-on items are ridiculous. I do NOT think it’s humiliating and unnecessary for me to remove my belt and my shoes and walk through security like a criminal. I do NOT think it’s a massive waste of money and man power to search grandmas and teen-aged girls for illegal fingernail clippers.

Thank you.

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Taming a Monster

Posted by Brad on September 4th, 2008 — Posted in Journal

Yesterday when I got home, I looked at my horribly long grass and realized that I would have no other opportunity to mow it until Monday. Tonight is “Parents to School” night, so I’m staying through after school is over. Tomorrow I leave for Missouri for my class reunion and don’t come back until late Sunday night. I bit the bullet and got the mower out. I was the Gentleman Gardener again, cutting the grass in my tie and white shirt.

After mowing, I decided to tie up the branches on the small tree that grows in front of my house. Its branches hang over the sidewalk and make the approach to the house difficult. I’ve been tying these same branches for three years, thinking that eventually they’d stay up on their own. They aren’t staying. Deciding it would never happen, I cut all the lower branches off the tree. It looks much better. I should have done it years ago.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

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