The Weekend
Friday: Cleaned up the dining room some. Various boxes and packing material are now taking up much less room and the boxes can be picked up on the next recycling day. The table is still strewn various bits of computers, but that's not likely to change until the office is sorted out - and that won't be for a while, mainly due to furniture requirements.
Saturday: De-cluttered, cleaned, and re-arranged the living room. jmaynard wired up the speakers he'd brought back from Houston this Summer. A clock, a mirror my grandmother had, and a picture that my grandmother had painted were also hung on the wall. Actually the mirror isn't quite in the living room, but in the front entryway. It fits well there. While the living room isn't anything likely to make Better Homes & Gardens, it now looks much more like a normal living room.
After all that was done, we relaxed and watched History of the World - Part I which I had not seen before. I recognized many bits that I'd seen in clips, but this was the first time I'd seen the whole thing.
Sunday: Jay and I went to Sioux Falls and, since Nap's had closed (a column [See: Surprise endings] in the Argus Leader mentioned they'd lost their lease and hadn't found a new location yet - we both hope they re-open soon) we went to Famous Dave's. Verdict: Acceptable, but not great. We want Nap's back! We also did a bit of Christmas shopping and have more of that out of the way. Yay! I'd like to be done with it before Thanksgiving and avoid the madd(en)ing crowds of December. I expect I can, with one probable exception.
As Jay mentioned we saw the aurora borealis Sunday night. From southern Minnesota it seemed not to change too fast and was rather monochrome. It was both intense and not intense. While it was intense enough to be seen here and be visible south of the zenith, it wasn't 'active' with fast shimmering or much color. It was, if anything, a dull reddish, looking rather like the glow from a large city - only there wasn't one. From my father's description, it seems that a couple degrees north there was a better show.