One year more

Another year has passed, and another birthday has come and gone. Every year I try to reflect on things that I should be doing at this age. I should own my own cooperate conglomerate bent on wold domination or at least have a lemonade stand that only sells orange juice.
I can't believe it's my 10 year high school reunion already. Granted, I would say that I'm more successful than most of the people I went to high school with, but with going to the school I did, that's not saying much. Pretty much everyone I was close with then, I'm close with now. There are a few people I'd like to see, but not enough to make a real-life effort.
In other news, Heidi's' restaurant was on fire the other day and won't be open for quite a while. What a shame! That was one of the best restaurants in Minneapolis!
I wonder what the next birthday posting will bring? Maybe I finally find that nemesis I've been looking for, maybe I'll find a cure for whooping cough--wait, I think that already happened, or maybe I'll finally ride my bike to the border....

Tales from the Rails. Part 2. Ice Ice Baby

Oh wow. What an ending to a night. And since when did Home Depot stop being 24 hours??

So the time is around 1am after a GREAT night with friends. I needed to be up Saturday morning at 7. So going home seems to be the clear choice for for most folk. However, I am not most folk. After much talking and ranting about painting throughout the night (thanks Drew), I got the bug. Since I wasn't too far from Home Depot, I shot over there to get some paint.

But alas, the doors were shut. Since when did Home Depot stop being 24 hours?!? Well, the next best spot is WalMart. So I stop over there and came across some misplaced paint. **sidenote--there are some NUTTY people at WalMart at 2am**.

Since I didn't feel like driving all over the place looking for a spot, I decided to head to this wall down by the river that I hadn't been to before. Now finding a place--at night--in deep snow--with no sense of direction isn't the best decision I've ever made. Case and point: I was trying to walk down the steep banks by the bluffs and literally fell and slipped on ice almost the whole way down. Well, I made it to the bottom with no broken bones.

Now comes the tricky part: find this spot in the pitch black of night. Well, I can sort of hear the river, so I just walk towards it. Lewis and Clark better watch out.

Well, as I'm trying not to step on a bear or knock my head into a tree, I managed to find a knee deep water hole that has somehow managed to battle mother nature and remain semi-unfrozen. A wise person would have back stepped backwards to dryer ground, but I took another step and got my other leg wet. My next thought was to forget this whole plan and get out of here. As I'm walking back, I noticed 2 things: My pants and shoes are ice crystals from above the knee down, and I'm lost. I managed to get turned around in these woods, and have NO CLUE where I am. I'm really starting to remember why I dislike St. Paul..... (the picture is pretty much where I was, just imagine it being pitch black, with no lights anywhere).

Fast forward 40 minutes: I get myself up to a road. Now I have no idea what road it is, or how I can get back to my car. And I'm freezing! I start walking up this random road and a car pulls up behind me after a while. I'm thinking "Ok, I'm either going to get robbed or arrested at this point". The car stops and there is an Australian guy asking me directions. It turns out he is completely lost. He was looking for Downtown Minneapolis for some hotel, and he managed to get down by Fort Snelling somehow. He explains that he has been driving around for almost an hour, and keeps getting stuck in a loop, and could use some help. Now being the genius I am, I offer my immediate directions in return for driving me to find my car. Before I get in the car, I double checked the backseat for an ax. Ok, this guy is probably not going to kill me--I should be ok.....

We somehow get on the subject of my backpack, and as I'm going through the contents, I noticed that I have 2 CD's I was supposed to give Drew! For shame Jon!!!! Needless to say we put them in and bumped some good rap while we search for my car. But I don't think he liked my consistent Crocodile Dundee jokes.

We drove around for about 20 more minutes before we come across some familiar sights, and I was able to navigate to my car. And I have to say, I LOVE FLOOR HEATERS. So we get out of St. Paul and the guy (who turns out is named Braydon), follows behind me to Downtown to the Double Tree (where his friends/family were staying). We said our goodbyes and went about our business. It still seems really, really strange and random that we met up....

One of these days, I'll learn my lesson, and stick with the group. I always seem to get into odd situations when I go off and decide to do my own thing. Things would have been much warmer, safer and less Australian had I stayed and Tailgated. But then I wouldn't have had a small story to tell.

But a sidenote or two...
-Adam Levine. The Doppleganger.
-Tracy Morgan is too funny in 30 Rock.
-Meeting new people is not as bad as once thought.
-It is too cold to run 15 miles outside.
-Some people really creep me out.
-Coffee: The necture of gods.
-I miss my friends that moved away. I sometimes wished they would move back here.

Mike Cooper

When someone passes away, there comes that moment of emptiness after you hear. Thoughts about the last thing you said to them, the last laugh you had, and the last time you said "see you later".
When I heard the very unfortunate news this morning that Mike Cooper passed on, I thought about all of that...I'm still thinking about all of that. Mike meant a lot of things to a lot of people. During my high school years, Mike was one of my closest friends. After high school, people grow apart, but we kept in touch from time to time. Looking back now, I wish I would have stayed in closer contact.
Hearing the phone calls from everyone today reminded me that I need to stay in touch with people more often. That "see you later" can be a week, month, year, or in some sad cases, never again.
Mike was one of my favorite people that I've had the pleasure of knowing in my life. At first glance, he came off with a rock-hard exterior. But for those that knew him, knew that on the inside he was pure silly-putty. To this day, he was one of the nicest, most reliable guys I've ever known.
I can honestly say that knowing Mike has shaped who I am today. I never got the chance to tell him that. I wish I could rewind 24 hours to just give him a call.
I can also say I have no bad memories of Mike. No fights, no arguments, nothing. Every memory I have of him is good. Even though he threatened to beat me up one day because I kept tagging the bathroom where he worked--and he had the duty of ALWAYS having to clean it up. And sometimes I would tag it just so he had to clean it.
I'll never forget all those Saturday nights at Nokomis Lanes. Or how hard he laughed when he would see me with a pool cue (not the whole stick, just the bottom part--in case something went down). Or how the bus drivers on the 23 route knew our first names. Or how the first time I met him, he tried to sell me shoe laces--and I actually bought some.
Mike is one of those people you rarely get to meet, and when you do, they leave an impression on your life forever.
We love you Mike. Always have, and always will

-Johnny B