MTB

It’s been very balmy in Minneapolis as of late.  A whopping 34 degrees today and yesterday!  New Yorkers would be walking around in UGGS, a scarf wrapped around their necks 50 times, and a huge furry hat with ear flaps.

And to make it worse, it’s often very sunny here.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining.  But it’s quite the teaser when you’re stuck in the office at your cubicle and you watch that beautiful sun and sunshine come and go and walk out into darkness when you’re done with your day.  Depressing.

I just watched the lighting of the tree in Rockefeller Center on NBC and I don’t know why.  An hour of my life I won’t be getting back.  Don’t worry, I was multi-tasking, at least.

But, I have a question — how have the Rockettes survived the recession?  Doesn’t it seem like all other shows, symphonies, and Broadway are really hurting?

Maybe the Rockettes are different because they’re giving the audience a crotch shot every other second.  Pretty girls and crotch shots.  I suppose that is well worth your $$.  Something people want to go see, for sure.

It does seem like they’ve streamlined a bit — not as many women in the group.  I am happy to see they’ve thrown in the token Black and Asian women.  FINALLY.

I am quite impressed that they are all the same exact size, kick to the same exact height, and have the same exact timing.  Nicely done.

All I can say is that when I was on the pom-pon squad, we could never get it that perfect.  But then of course we had fat girls, skinny girls, short and tall.  I can see why the Rockettes are so stringent on their requirements.  Effective!

Monday is my yoga days with Beth, who I have grown fond of.

I came home from work and, as usual, I tried to think of reasons not to go to yoga because of that silly, tired feeling you get after a long day of sitting on your ass in front of a computer.  Or reasons why I should drive the 3/4 mile to the gym rather than walking in the 18 degree weather.

My senses got the better of me so I bundled up and walked my ass to yoga in that 18 degree weather.

Well, I got there because, really, there’s nothing better than starting a manic Monday with a little bit of yoga and Beth wanted her class to continue feeling the love coming out of the long weekend and the holiday and continuing into the the December holidays.

After having been broken up for a bit over a week now, ironically, I certainly felt the love, and have been feeling the love from my siblings and parents as they have been incredibly supportive, along with my friends, as well.

And when I came out of the gym that’s smack in the middle of downtown, there was a wonderfully serene feeling as the winds had died down and the 18 degree weather felt refreshingly crisp and clean.

Wait, was the city serene or desolate?

Well, that’s neither here nor there since I live in downtown Minneapolis.  I’m going with serene (desolate).

The human body is amazing.  When I returned from Atlanta I didn’t think I could face this cold.  The thought of single digit and sub zero weather just chills me to the bones, makes me cringe, and seems unbearable.  But really, when it comes down to it, we humans adapt.  I mean, I’m a great example of this.  At 5:10pm I wanted the to drive to the gym that’s only 3/4 of a mile away and then I’m walking out of the gym in the same weather at 7pm and strolling down the streets back to my condo.  We are truly adaptive.

I’m feeling handy now that I’ve completed some home improvement projects in my condo.  My husfrenn, Peter, gave me an extra drill he had so I had to go out and buy some drill bits to take down a cheesy, unfinished, rudimentary wine rack the previous owner built into the wall.  There were five shelves.  Five shelves??  Who needs five shelves for wine in a one bedroom condo??  Not this girl.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like to get my wine on, but that’s a bit much.

  (I just tried to turn that photo upside down but it did not work.  Notice my feet at the top of the photo!)

I’m going to open this bad boy up and take down that wine rack like a mother.  And I’ve been trying to give away the perfectly pristine wood since the rack was not stained.  My friend, Mike, at work refused the wood.  How could he??  He’ a woodworker on the side and he refused my wood.  So while I was shopping at Home Depot, I went to say hello to Maria, the paint counter girl, that I became friendly with.  One day, at that Home Depot, I ran into one of my ex-bf’s college friends and an extremely awkward conversation ensued.  This was happening right in front of the paint counter and Maria happened to witness the meeting and feel the awkwardness.  After we said our farewells, I started talking paint with Maria, and she confessed that she wasn’t sure if she should interject in this awkward convo because she said it seemed I needed saving.  Awww, how thoughtful!

So, anywho, I recalled that the other paint counter dude told me that Maria did woodworking, so I quickly synthesized the two and two and had an epiphany!  I asked Maria if she still did woodworking and offered her my old winerack wood!  She said yes!  Success!  Now I won’t have to throw out that wood.

Man, that love is just going round and round.

And now I’m really feeling the love.  Yeah, Gentleman Jack’s loooooooove.  Mhmmm.

On Thanksgiving day, I took a trip down to Atlanta where my whole family, including my 7 month old nephew, spent our Thanksgiving with my brother-in-law’s family, who are all based in Atlanta.

Actually, my sister’s parents-in-law now live most of the time in Las Vegas, but will take a private jet down to Atlanta from time to time.  Yes, I said private jet.

This is the second year we got to spend time in Atlanta with my brother-in-law’s family, which we really enjoy doing.

I love this sign I saw in the security line:

That’s a little agist isn’t it?  I mean, first of all, we all know it really doesn’t matter if people go through security with their shoes and jackets on.  Come on.  second of all, an older person, older than 75 can easily walk onto a plane with a bomb strapped to him/her.  I mean, do terrorists know about this?  If I were a terrorist, I’d be enlisting radical 75 year old to do my work on the airplanes.  Ok, that sounds a little inappropriate and insensitive, but I think you get my point.  Just an interesting sign.  If you’re going to have rules or precautions based on certain reasons, you might as well apply them to everyone.  Even if they’re stupid, meaningless precautions.  As my friend, Jason Horner, says, the airlines only make you take off jackets and shoes to make the people feel safer.   I can see that.

Going there, I got upgraded to business class, as I was sitting with the rest of the coach class suckers the flight attendant said, “Are you ____ _____”?  I said, “Why yes I am?”  Then she escorted me to my new seat.  I had already had breakfast and a quick slice of pizza at the airport and thought that I wouldn’t eat too much before the big, yummy Thanksgiving meal my brother-in-law’s mother makes (I love her homemade stuffing).  But since I got upgraded, my plans to eat light were foiled because they serve lunch in business class!  And you all know I can’t resist food when it’s put in front of me.  So, I had another lunch.  Lunch x 2.  Man, I’m a pig!

Here’s my view from my first row seat.  And I don’t know what it is about being able to see into the cockpit — I just get so curious about what it’s like in there, probably because they keep that door locked!

My return flight was even better!  I was upgraded again.  As I was boarding, I scanned my boarding pass and they printed me a new ticket with a new seat.  It was like winning the lottery!  Ok, not really.  But exciting for about 3 seconds.  This business class was really big.  It had an actual pillow with an actual pillow case along with a comforter!  Just for a flight to Minneapolis.  And the seat reclined further back than usual and you could kick up your legs.  For a girl that can not sleep on planes, you would think I’d be in heaven.  But it was a no-go.  I slept for a few minutes as the plane was taking off (there something about that rocking/vibrating movement that puts me to sleep — in cars and trains, too!).  Then, I was back to my restless self.

They served breakfast on the flight.  Being the prepared girl I am, I bought a turkey sandwich for the almost three hour flight.  Don’t worry, this time I didn’t have two lunches.  Instead, that $9 turkey sandwich is sitting in my fridge, all the way from Atlanta.  And it will sit in my fridge for a few more days until I muster the heart to throw it out because I know I won’t eat it.

Oh, and I almost forgot about this:

Lucky ATL!  How’d they get so lucky?

Time with my family was great.  I’ve found that living so far away from them is getting more and more difficult and coming home to Minneapolis by myself is a very lonely feeling.  Then, add to it that Atlanta was in the 60’s during Thanksgiving and I come back to this:

The Minnesotan winter has arrived.  *Whimper*

I’m just in here dusting off the cobwebs.  Don’t mind me.

I logged in for the first time in over a year and I had over 1,300 SPAM comments.

I’ve been a little busy with some “things” over the past year and I’m ready to be blogging again about nothing in particular.

I’m drinking some Gentleman Jack on the rocks that my friend Stephanie got me as a housewarming gift.  Yes, I am a home owner now.  Condo, not house.  I ain’t doing all that yard work and shoveling.  Psh.  I’d rather pay someone to do that!  I did enough of that on Luther Road and Overhill Drive.  Unwillingly, of course.  Unless we got paid.  Hee-hee.

Tomorrow I’m off to Atlanta.

Yes, Atlanta for T-day.  I will explain later.