Road Trippin' in the MidWest: Holidays Edition

Hey everybody, welcome to 2009! It's been a while since I rapped at ya (yeah, I actually just said that), so let's do a quick recap of the past two weeks:

1. F%(& a Duck Day: Friday before Christmas, the day before I planned on going home, we get news that snow will cover the entirety of the eastern half of the United States from Saturday evening to Tuesday morning, forcing Ms. Carroll and I to flee home much, much earlier than expected. I cancelled my appearance at work the next day, bundled everything into the car, and conked myself out with meds to sleep. At 4:30 in the morning we roared off into the night... and had quite a pleasant drive. It was still F%(& a Duck Day because I had wanted to get a lot of things done on Saturday... but oh well.

2. What is the What: while driving home we listened to What is the What, by Dave Eggers. It's a biographical tale based on one of the Lost Boys of Sudan and his surviving the genocide and eventual migration to the US. The man, Valentino/Achak/Dominic (depending on the year, as he has many names) is hit with one disaster after another, continuing through his life in the US. But, it's a great listen (and read as well I presume), can be funny at times, and has a very unique and engaging storytelling style. Highly recommend it, though it is incredibly long (approx. 20 hrs on cds)

3. Home: home was good; the entire fam (+ auxiliaries) was there and everyone was actually nice to one another for once... a genuine Christmas miracle. I made lots of heffezupf (German sweet bread), played in the snow, and got all sorts of wonderful things for Christmas. I also played a lot of Wii, in particular Star Wars Lightsaber duels (blocking is for sissies!) and Rayman Raving Rabbids (a bunch of psycho rabbits capture the main character and force him to fight in a gladiatorial arena through various ridiculous and hilarious mini games, i.e. shooting bunnies with plungers, making the bunnies dance, cow flinging, etc.). Now I need to get one for my house. Grr.

4. Trip back: started off on Saturday night but first made a detour to Barnes and Nobles. Ran into friends, got dragged into a Euchre game, but eventually made it out and on the road. Winds were very intense, forcing us to stop midway through Indiana to rest and wait it out a bit. 1.5 hours later I said screw it and we continued on through the howling dark. When the sun came out everything was fine, though, and we managed to make it home and watch Dr. Who and eat pizza. Side note: wisconsin can be very pretty on a cloudless day at dawn with snow and frost blanketing the countryside.

5. Duluth: Went up to see Rachel's parents on Monday night, and Rachel actually drove most of the way! Had a lot of fun and good food up there, and actually got some presents from Rachel's parents. First is Fallout 3, the most awesome game in teh history of ever. The other is a wacky websites page-a-day calendar, which is also amazing. For instance, today's website is Everyday's A Holiday, which, you guessed it, tells you what holiday it is today. I think I'll just randomly link in websites from now on from there. Today happens to be the festival of sleep! Anyway, purchased beer and root beer at Fitgers, did some more reconnaissance for my secret project, and eventually headed home.

6. New Year's: we had a booze train, lots of good food and drink, good friends and a glowing polar descending from a tree in lieu of some oversized disco ball. 'Nuff said.

7. For the entirety of New Year's Day I played either Warhammer (I have shiny new Eldars now!), Order Of The Stick, saw people playing games, or watched Spinal Tap. I may have OD'd on fun.

8. ...and that brings us to today, where I am sitting in the computer lab, watching people watch YouTube.

So, until next time...

"New Year's Day--Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever. We shall also reflect pleasantly upon how we did the same old thing last year about this time. However, go in, community. New Year's is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls, and humbug resolutions, and we wish you to enjoy it with a looseness suited to the greatness of the occasion."
- Letter to Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, Jan. 1863 , by Mark Twain