(no subject)
Went into town with Mom this morning so she could drop me at the YMCA and I could get some swimming in before I leave. Alas, as I am no longer a student, I don't have a free membership through my mom anymore, so I did have to pay the $8 for the day pass, even though I only swam for an hour. It was still very nice, though. I miss swimming, and I got to say hi to a few of the people I used to work with.
After I had dressed and the like, I had two voice mails from my dad informing me that he was on his way to pick me up and that we were going to be going to Stevens Point to visit one of our old professors (Dad and I both had him for our GIS classes, albeit about 10 years apart) to show him my new toy. Because I won't be home for Christmas, parents decided to give me a present this morning instead. Mom made breakfast and after Dad woke me from a rather disturbing dream (something about running and/or hiding from a creepy dude, and then having to walk/climb up this almost vertical sidewalk to get away. Thankfully I don't actually remember much about it) at around 9 am to give it to me - it was an old-fashioned brass compass that they had found at an estate sale or the like. No merchant stamp or anything, and the inner dial you're supposed to be able to rotate to mark the directions you've wandered (used when making maps the old fashioned way - by drawing them by hand) appears to be fixed, which suggest that it is a reproduction made by someone who had very little idea how compasses worked. However, it still points north, and it is just darned cool looking in and of itself, so I am pretty content.
Anyway, Dad wanted our old GIS/cartography professor to check it out, so we took a mini road trip over to Point for the afternoon. Dad took me out to lunch at The Wooden Chair, a little cafe down town with a very nice atmosphere and some tasty food, and then we went over to UWSP to talk to Dr. Rice, who gave me some suggestions as to where to look for another temporary position and generally just caught up a bit. I also was able to chat with some of my other professors and tell them about what I've been doing the last nine months. I did not get visit with my favorite teacher, Sam, because she wasn't in today, but I was still able to catch up a bit with three of the six or so professors I was hoping to see, so that was nice.
Then we came home and had pie and left overs and watched two of the three (four if you include both parts of Call of the Wild) episodes of Due South that Leslie Nielsen guest-starred in as Buck Frobisher. RIP, Leslie! We will miss you!
Heading back to Washington tomorrow night, and I am sad. On the one hand, it will be very nice not having allergies again (seriously, they have been *awful* the last two or three days. Severe Tylenol Allergy is the only reason I've gotten any sleep). On the other hand, all my friends and family are here in Wisconsin, and I won't be seeing them again until the end of my internship in March 2011. However, that's only another three and a half months or there abouts, and they are probably going to be pretty busy months at that, so I'm not too worried. I do, however, reserve the right to be as morose as hell when Christmastime rolls around cause you all are 1700 away from me! ;)
Unfortunately, though, the relatively nice warm weather we've been having the last few days is currently being shoved aside by a cold front. Right now it is raining; later tonight it is supposed to turn to freezing rain, and then tomorrow to snow, and the storm system pretty much covers the entire distance between here and Minneapolis/St. Paul, which is where my flight is leaving from. Driving through it will not be fun, and wow will it suck if the flight gets delayed or, worse yet, canceled entirely and I have to spend the night at the air port. Here's hoping that will not happen. ::crosses fingers::
After I had dressed and the like, I had two voice mails from my dad informing me that he was on his way to pick me up and that we were going to be going to Stevens Point to visit one of our old professors (Dad and I both had him for our GIS classes, albeit about 10 years apart) to show him my new toy. Because I won't be home for Christmas, parents decided to give me a present this morning instead. Mom made breakfast and after Dad woke me from a rather disturbing dream (something about running and/or hiding from a creepy dude, and then having to walk/climb up this almost vertical sidewalk to get away. Thankfully I don't actually remember much about it) at around 9 am to give it to me - it was an old-fashioned brass compass that they had found at an estate sale or the like. No merchant stamp or anything, and the inner dial you're supposed to be able to rotate to mark the directions you've wandered (used when making maps the old fashioned way - by drawing them by hand) appears to be fixed, which suggest that it is a reproduction made by someone who had very little idea how compasses worked. However, it still points north, and it is just darned cool looking in and of itself, so I am pretty content.
Anyway, Dad wanted our old GIS/cartography professor to check it out, so we took a mini road trip over to Point for the afternoon. Dad took me out to lunch at The Wooden Chair, a little cafe down town with a very nice atmosphere and some tasty food, and then we went over to UWSP to talk to Dr. Rice, who gave me some suggestions as to where to look for another temporary position and generally just caught up a bit. I also was able to chat with some of my other professors and tell them about what I've been doing the last nine months. I did not get visit with my favorite teacher, Sam, because she wasn't in today, but I was still able to catch up a bit with three of the six or so professors I was hoping to see, so that was nice.
Then we came home and had pie and left overs and watched two of the three (four if you include both parts of Call of the Wild) episodes of Due South that Leslie Nielsen guest-starred in as Buck Frobisher. RIP, Leslie! We will miss you!
Heading back to Washington tomorrow night, and I am sad. On the one hand, it will be very nice not having allergies again (seriously, they have been *awful* the last two or three days. Severe Tylenol Allergy is the only reason I've gotten any sleep). On the other hand, all my friends and family are here in Wisconsin, and I won't be seeing them again until the end of my internship in March 2011. However, that's only another three and a half months or there abouts, and they are probably going to be pretty busy months at that, so I'm not too worried. I do, however, reserve the right to be as morose as hell when Christmastime rolls around cause you all are 1700 away from me! ;)
Unfortunately, though, the relatively nice warm weather we've been having the last few days is currently being shoved aside by a cold front. Right now it is raining; later tonight it is supposed to turn to freezing rain, and then tomorrow to snow, and the storm system pretty much covers the entire distance between here and Minneapolis/St. Paul, which is where my flight is leaving from. Driving through it will not be fun, and wow will it suck if the flight gets delayed or, worse yet, canceled entirely and I have to spend the night at the air port. Here's hoping that will not happen. ::crosses fingers::