The big switch

Due to formatting issues and personal preference, I'm moving my blog over to wordpress.com. For those of you interested, you can find my blog's new location here. It's mostly all "same old, same old" but I think the format is a little more appealing. I haven't been so good about updating in the past few months, but no worries... I'll post more frequently in the new location. Come on in and check it out.

I can't believe it's been so long.

A lot has been happening lately-



I had an adventure weekend. Kritty and I hooked up with my good buddy Karl (who owns a plane) and he happened to take us flying (in the plane that he owns, by the by). It was a Cessena Skywagon. Yeah, planes are probably the only thing cooler than sailboats.



I've been making concious efforts to go and speak Spanish lately. After the three of us got done with our flying fun, we hit up a little Mexican restaurant and had ourselves a little Spanish conversation hour. It was funny because Karl insisted that we order in Spanish, so the waitress humored us and played along.



Kritty doesn't speak any Spanish, so I ordered her meal for her. "She'd like the chicken enchiladas" I said in Spanish.



The waitress asked me, again in spanish: "Would she prefer soup or salad?"



I turned to Kritty, who was sitting in between me and the waitress, and translated "Soup or salad?"



Unsure of who to tell, she looked straight forward and said in an assertive monotone, "Soup."



I looked back up at the waitress and said "La sopa."



She scribbled down the order and then asked in Spanish, "Corn or flour tortillas?"



I turned again and translated. "Corn or flour tortillas?"



Kritty gives me a look, then turns to the waitress and starts to say "Co-," but before she can even finish, the waitress cuts her off with a wag of her finger and says, "No honey, we have to make him try."



"De maize," I say.


"Y algo para beber?" the waitress asks.


"What?" I ask in Spanish.


She repeats herself. "Can you say that again for me?" I ask again in Spanish.


Patient as ever, she repeats her question. The light clicks on in my head.


"Oh," I said, feeling stupid. "What do you want to drink?" I ask Kritty, but she rolls her eyes at me and defeatedly says, "just water."


There's a dinner group that meets once a month at a different South American/Mexican/Spanish restaurant and only speaks Spanish the whole evening. I went to that and got myself a bit of Colombian food. It was pretty similar to what they eat in Venezuela, so it was nice to have a little throwback.



Right now I'm in one of the busiest semesters I've ever had, and I really can't say what it is that's sucking up all my time. I'd love to pin it all on one class, but really I think that I'm legitimately studying this semester, instead of resting on my laurels. Oh, laurels... how good you are to rest upon.

Showboating at the Boat Show

Last weekend the Minneapolis Boat show was in town. Needless to say, I took myself down to the convention center to treat myself to what promised itself to be an exciting display of the latest in Marine technology. Specifically, I went to take part in "Sailfest" which was guaranteed to be the latest and greatest addition to the show.

Although I was entirely disappointed by the low sailboat vendor turnout, it was pretty sweet to see what some of the manufacturers were dreaming up these days.

This was a favorite of mine...

...because it has so many automatic thing-a-ma-jigs. The jib is self-furling and the spinnaker can be deployed and then stored again using only one hand. It had a reverse vang, which I thought was pretty cool, and plenty of space in the interior. The centerboard was friciton based, meaning that it would pop-up should you run aground in some unexpected shallows. Non-sailors should note the colorful sails. This lil' lady was definitely out of my league.

This guy on the other hand, is more my speed. Precision makes straightforward boats without the unnecessarily complicated rigging. I like this 15 foot model.

She's definitely not as colorful as the previous boat, but there's something to be said for sailing something that's not quite as... excessive as the previous model.

Apart from the overwhelming process of looking at the boats for hours and trying to keep up with everyone's jargon, I had a pretty good weekend. My girlfriend Kritty and I went to the St. Paul Winter Carnival - home to the longest freakin' parade ever! After rounding off over an hour and a half with more yet to come, we decided to head out early and hit up Candyland on the way back to the car to satisfy a relentless sugar craving that had been nagging us since we parked.

I recommend the chocolate covered toffee.