Category: Stories from Life

Each year, I like to make a little blurb about the years.

So here it is. 2015 was an amazing year. I decided to stop hugging a comfortable corporate job and to focus on my business (Me? Focus? Scary!). At some point (later than everyone wanted), I finally and actually got over the woman from 2013 (about time, right? And this time, it’s actually, not just saying it). I’ve gotten busier. Much, much busier.

2015 was a very big year for me, mostly because the two items above ran kind of deep.

2016 will be extra amazing!

With lessons and developments this far in life, I have the following prediction about women: Women are absolutely crazy and there is no predicting what will happen!

2016 business success is going to absolutely overwhelm me, to the point where I will have to take frequent extravagant vacations. This is okay because business will be so good that I’ll have the money for it. I’ll also hire more help.

Also, by no longer working a corporate job, I’ll be very, very healthy.

Have a fun and safe night!

On Wednesday, the advertising department at work had a lot of extra tickets to an event at the Minnesota Zoo. It was a great event with wine and food sampling. I’m sure my parents would have loved it, but I took A. I knew she would love it because she use to be the manager at the Saint Paul Hotel’s food hospitality service, or whatever the fancy name they have for the kitchen.

The event was tonight, Saturday.

I tried 14 wines. I’ll list a few I liked:

• True Grit Petit Sirah – this was very good. One of the only Petits I saw there
• Gruet Demi Sec – this was a bubbly, white dessert-escque wine, but not super sweet like a moscato d’asti
• Chateau Beneyt Bordeaux Rouge – full flavor, but neither bold, sweet, or dry
• Blanc de Bleu – get this, it was a blueberry sparkling. I heard someone comparing it to UV Blue. It was unique, but it didn’t give me flashbacks to college parties (as UV Blue would surely do)
• Spring Valley Frederick Red – this was a red blend that had a likeness to Louie’s Wine Dive House Red (Cab, Malbec, Petit Sirah, other miscellaneous reds). I thought it was really good. Coincidentally, it is also the most expensive bottle they had available
• Ferrari Carano Siena – I can’t remember much about this wine. I marked it as good and to buy it in the future.

After that, we went to Red Robin, a restaurant in Apple Valley that I love. We split a Chicken Teriyaki Burger, which had mozz and pineapple. It’s been my favorite burger since high school dates. You know, when the good theater was still open in Apple Valley.

She went to her friends house for a movie night or something. I went home.

The drive on 35E at midnight was strange because it was so normal and uneventful. I’m not sure why. I think it’s just that everything is good.

It allows me to drive around with the windows down in the summer. It ensures that the car wash does a great job. It has a low cost and can be easily washed. It even cleans up random accidental spills!

Of course, I’m talking about an ordinary dish towel.

My car usually has miscellaneous paperwork in the back seat. I don’t sit back there, so what do I care? No I don’t know what it is, but I can’t just throw it away. It might be important!

I can’t drive with my windows down or papers will surely fly out, and we can’t have that! Luckily, I have a nice dish cloth in my back seat, so in the summer, it’s used to cover papers so they don’t blow away.

Or after the car wash does a shabby job drying my car, I just pull around to the pumps (sheets there’s light, because it’s naturally 10:00 at night) and hand-dry my car (before it freezes in the winter!).

Tonight I had a problem worse than I’ve had before. My window fogged up worse than ever. I wasn’t able to see, and of course the window got worse on the 94 on ramp from 6th Street.

I pulled over on Riverside. I was stranded. Hot air didn’t work. Cold air didn’t work.

I finally thought back to my 2nd grade school bus driver who, in poor weather, would wipe the front window with a rag from a bucket of water.

So I reached back to my trusty car rag and started scrubbing down the windshield.

Eventually, I figured out that the best way to keep my window so I could see through it was scrubbing it and having the cold AC air blow on the window plus have the driver’s window down.

Now I know what you’re thinking, and yes, that is a great way to cool down.

As I sit on my porch, listening to the rain, I’ll kind of write a debriefing of my night.

I left work around 7:00. I went to A’s house for a little bit. She had dinner, so I planned on waiting until after I left. Around 9:15, I arrived to a social event in a bar to which I’ve never been.

It didn’t take me long to get bored there. Basically, I was hungry, and when I’m hungry, I can’t socialize or relax. So I went to Calhoun Square to find some food and ended up with a small snack.

I was thinking about going home, but I knew if I didn’t “go out”, I’d probably get antsy later. So I headed back to the bar.

It was a new bar and was pretty cool, but really crowded. That’s why I left – I originally intended to get food at the new place, but they didn’t really have service (do they even sell food?).

I met several new friends. A couple guys, a couple gals, and I saw a couple people I haven’t seen for a while. It was good., and no one carries grudges, which was good and knowing so let’s bygones be bygones. At least for me.

Another friend was nearby, so I joined him for a drink at another bar. Eventually, I left him to drive to another place in Uptown called The CC Club (yes, another bar). Definitely not my kind of place, but it was cool. I would totally not fit in if I wasn’t with my buddy.

We hung out there, and before I knew it, it was 1:30. Time flies.

Tomorrow is a ballroom event I might go to. It’s at 8:30, but I can do those kinds of things (not get much sleep) because it’s not tax season!

Goodnight!

Several years agoI developed a new technique I called “reverse stalking”. I’ve used this technique, and I’ll just say that it does no good but takes a lot of time.

At that time, I liked this girl, but it didn’t happen, and I was stuck on her for a bit after it didn’t work.

At this time, my Sunny Spirit blog was substantially unknown. Me, being who I am, I still emailed her. I’m sure I told her about my blog because I remember promising to nor put Google Analytics on there so she could view it without my knowing. I never did because I was certain she was smarter than that and would just see it in the HEADER.

But okay, I didn’t have a job so had a lot of time. I never used any analytics, cause I keep my word. BUT I was on the up & up on technology in the early 90s, when the Internet was invented.

Talk to any computer person, while Windows (or whatever GUI you’re using) is nice and gives a lot of options, MS DOS is where you go to do big jobs. Everything is still very DOS driven.

The internet is similar, in that its old infrastructure is still there. So while I didn’t have any analytics, I still had raw IP Address logs.

Before you knew it, I refreshed my IP numbers and could tell when someone visited my blog from Verizon in Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Even smaller cities like Shakopee or Eagan had unique IP addresses.

It was a very strange time for me. The thing that would’ve helped me best is if I just calmed down, but I couldn’t.

Then I got busy and stopped caring who visits my blog.

I think this illustrates an interesting point about today’s society. There is tons of information available, but it’s absolutely necessary that no one search too hard. I think that would kill it.

Point is, just let things be, and everything will be more natural and everyone happier.

Cheers!

 

 

I had a most interesting 5K on Saturday night.

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It was actually kinda crazy but mostly fun. “Fun at a 5K?!” you ask. Yup, it’s possible.

It was truly interesting. At the Nation Night Run, it’s not about the run. I’ll tell you about it.

I met A there, and we checked in. On the way to the start line, I introduced her to an old friend from back in the D-Days named vodka-Red Bull.

We then went to the starting line. Many of you know that I’m bad carrying liquids because I walk like a troll. That’s not the case when I’m “out”. For whatever reason, when I’m holding an adult beverage and I’m walking quickly, not a drop spills.

One look at my shirt will tell you that is definitely not case when drinking while moving fast. But I can definitely run while holding my drink.

Eventually, we got to the first music station. There was a DJ there, and we just danced in the crazy lighting.

Eventually, we left and went further on the course. Now the course was interesting. It was at Canterbury. We started on the horse track, but being less lazy than horses, we kept going, eventually running around the stables and various machine shops.

We went to another dance station. The whole 5K took a long time – possibly two hours (I wasn’t tracking time, and there was not a running chip in our numbers).

Well, at the third dancing station, I got a Saga, A got an EPA. THEN WE DANCED.

Okay, we kept going after a while, and then there were outhouses along the course…. with a 20 minute line! (For those who don’t normally run 5Ks, they usually take around 30 minutes and have no outhouses/booze)

We finally got to the end, where there was a giant after party. We stayed and danced there until it was over. A was jumping around like a maniac. I was getting tired and starting to question my usual bottomless, youthful energy.

It wasn’t until the second to the last song that I realized the problem. The music they were playing all night was mostly electronic techno. Basically pop songs with a techno remix.

I thought I was a tired old man….. But then they played Roxane by The Police, and I was spazzing around like my normal self. It turns out that Iwas not slowing down because I was low on energy, but I was slowing down because of my age. Apparently, I prefer good music.

I just had an awesome night at the American Swedish Institute tonight.

The ASI is a big mansion. Tonight they threw a big party they call Cocktails at the Castle.
I went to it with one of my ballroom dance friends, Meredith. I knew there was dancing there, and I knew she’d be up for some random dancing, which she totally was. And yes, she’s just a friend.

There was a concert – a guataring duo, on the Veranda (pictured)

It was rock ‘n’ roll theme, but they had some really good music. Naturally, there was a room in the mansion dedicated to ABBA (a band from Sweden, btw).

I started the night with a 25% charge on my phone and forgot my charger. That’s why I don’t have many pictures.

But some of the details were just super fun!

There was a tent there called The Dance Shanty.
Initially, Meredith danced with me in there. We did some swing dancing and a little disco. It was just big enough to do them, so we did. Not for too long. Then we explored the mansion. We saw a really cool aeralist on a string performing. Meredith said she used to do that sort of thing, too (cool).

Eventually, she got tired and read in a quieter area upstairs. Then she just let me buzz down and have fun.

So I did. There was a human marionette. It was so cool and fun! I’ve ever really seen it done like this.

Then I went into the Dance Shanty again. I’m incredibly happy right now. This is awesome because everyone else loves it. I mean, I’m just myself. and when I’m happy and having fun, I’m a total goof.

I was in a state I call “shit-full-of-energy”. Maybe it’s because of the music, maybe it’s because of the wine, but I could move fast.

Anyways, I was dancing like a super happy energetic person (“silly, goofy spaz”), and everyone loved it. I can’t explain what happens, but when I look at someone, they return my look of cheerfulness. We hang out, often dance together for a little bit, then I move on. I’m just there to have fun, not make connections (even though I got a couple of business cards). The Dance Shanty was packed, meaning I just jumped around with everyone else. Although, there is usually room for me to do a quick spin (read “spaz” above)(I love my shoes because I am very agile in them. They’re business shoes, bought because they have smooth leather souls and allow me to move).

Eventually, Meredith came down because I told her she had to check it out. Initially, we went into the Dance Shanty for a little bit. Then, as we were going to leave, there was awesome music in the front area. At the point, I was in my essence, so she told me I could go dance for a couple songs. And I did, and people loved dancing with me. Again. Definitely a weird night!

I love that place. In general, I’m going to get more involved soon.

We all know we’re going to wait in lines at the Fair, but who wants to wait in line to wait in line?
Of course, I’m talking about Fair Traffic.

Since I’m a local, I know the ins and outs, and because I probably like you, I’m going to tell you how to get close (to a Energy Park Drive Park & Ride or within walking distance without paying for parking).

Step 1:
AVOID SNELLING

Now I’ll tell you how to do that:

From the South (southeast or southwest, it’s all the same):

• Take 494 to 5
• Take 5, avoid airport and 55
• Take the Edgecomb/Shepard exit.
  • Stay on Edgecomb (north) whenever road forks
    CONTINUED AT |||||||
• If that exit is closed because of construction (not sure if that’s done), follow 5, which turns into W 7th
  • Turn Left (north) onto Davern
  • Turn left (west) on St. Paul Ave
  • Turn right (north) on Edgecomb/Fairview
  • Stay on Edgecomb/Fairview when road forks
    CONTINUED AT |||||||

From the East/West

• Take either Lexington (if from East) or Cretin (if from West) exit
• Go South until Marshall
• If from East, take Marshall West, if from West, take Marshall East
• Turn north onto Fairview
  CONTINUED AT |||||||

• ||||||| CONTINUED
• Stay on Fairview (north), under 94, past University light
• Stay on Fairview past Minnehaha stop sign and Hewitt stop sign
• Turn right (east) onto pierce Butler Ave
• Take Snelling North exit (north, but exit on right [south] side of street)
• Snelling North Exit should turn into Energy Park Drive exit
• Turn left (east) onto Energy Park Drive.
• Find a Park & Ride

From the North:

• Never going this way myself, I’ve heard there is parking in the neighborhoods around Como. Good luck!

I’m taking off from MSP. I’m flying on an Airbus A330.

I’m super excited because this is my third international flight up front.

I’m actually super stoked about my trip to Paris! I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but I decided to go last Sunday.

I say actually because I don’t seem like it. But I’m planning on running around like a crazy person, which is my MO when I travel solo.

I’m not entirely sure what I’ll be doing, but I have my Nikkon. I plan on uploading pictures to FB each night. We’ll see how that goes.

Foreign communication is best using Skype. Paris is 7 hours ahead, which means good times to talk are between 10:00 and 13:00 CST.

I think they’re about to break out the wine, so I should go.

When I’m sipping fine wine at the restaurant on the Eiffel tower, know that I am looking west and thinking of you.

I’ve needed a vacation for a while. I’ve been waiting for the perfect time, the time when work, client, financial, and familiar obligations all are at a minimum. A time that was perfect for my plans.

I’ve come to realize that there is never a perfect time. Or rather, the perfect time is now. Sometimes we have plans that seem like they would work perfect, but they just don’t. It’s after one realizes that life is whizzing by that one just gives it a go.

A trip to Paris right now may not be at the perfect time, but I’d rather go to Paris at a time that isn’t perfect than not go at all. I’m still going to have the fun and experiences of going to Paris! I can deal with any client or financial responsibilities when I get back.

Aimer la vie!