New Computer

I don't know if having a laptop and wireless connection in my apartment is a good idea. I can now sit in bed and play on the computer when I should either be going to bed, or getting up and think about being productive. Case in point, yesterday I spent WAY too much time playing on this thing. I figured I'd go to bed at about 1, and wake up early to be productive or something. I came into my room, played on my computer until 3, woke up this morning and grabbed my computer. Although, I can now update in my room, when I think of things to update. I do love my new computer. I had my other one since 2001. It was getting old, and didn't have Word or let me download things I needed. This laptop rocks. I've been slowly adding files from my old computer to this one. I've added a bunch of pictures and music, and I haven't really downloaded much to it yet either.

I'm trying to plan out the layout of my new apartment. I don't want to plan too much since the only room I have complete control over is my room. I went online to see the layout on a floor plan, but there weren't any there. I know where I'm going to place my bed and dresser, but I don't know about anything else. I'm trying to plan on how I'm going to decorate too. I bought a whole bunch of frames at IKEA while I was home, and now I'm looking at all of my pictures to figure out which ones I'm going to frame and hang. I also got really cute curtains for my window in my room. I think I need to get a shower curtain and a router for the internet. Random thoughts, I know, but I need a router for our computers. Amanda bought the one we have now, and she'll need it wherever she moves to.

Time to update

I guess it's time for me to update. I know that I've complained that others haven't updated...so I shouldn't talk the talk if I can't walk the walk.

I think I'm going to start with my road trip musings:
*I've found more states to add to the list of crappy drivers. I can now add Idaho and Nebraska to California and Illinois.
*I don't like Salt Lake City, on account of their not so good downtown parking. Uh-uh. But I do LOVE the fact that the people don't know how to cross the street, so they need look both ways to cross painted on the street at every crosswalk. Flippin' idiots.
*No open 24 hour Perkins from Albert Lea Minnesota to Green Bay?! That does not help when you're driving all night and are hungry.
*In Nebraska and Colorado, there are windsocks in the medians and by bridges to show the wind speed. At first I thought that was stupid as anything, but when we got into Nevada and hit a pocket of strong wind, I was wishin' I had a windsock to tell me about the wind.
*How about "Stay off the median" signs? Really? Do people need those signs? I'd really like to meet the people who don't know to stay off the median.
*Nebraska has no turn arrows at lit intersections. What's that about? Do people not make left turns?
*Sign in Colorado: Clean dirt needed. What's clean dirt? Isn't that an oxymoron?
*The BEST sign of all: Caution: Correctional Facility Ahead. Do Not Pick Up Hitchhikers. Oh man, I wish we had been able to capture that on film.

The drive out to Madison was cool. We started off by going up to Bryce Canyon in Utah. It was really amazing. Much better than the Grand Canyon in my opinion. We headed to Salt Lake City, saw Temple Square and the Great Salt Lake. Went up to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks. The mountains in Grand Teton NP were awesome. I didn't know if the pictures we took of the mountains reflecting on the water would turn out, but they did. They're some of my favorite pictures. My dad didn't think a digital camera could take such good pictures. Yellowstone was fun. We got to see Old Faithful, and all of the geysers. On the way out, we got stuck in traffic, and then I had to drive down a mountain on gravel...it was less than cool. On our last day we hit up Mount Rushmore and Wall Drug. I had been to both of these places when I was 3, but I couldn't remember either of them. They were both fun. At Wall Drug Adam was able to see his jackalopes, and I saw Sam, the piano playing gorilla. After Wall Drug, we decided to drive through the night to make it back to Green Bay. Never again will I do that. I was so drained that whole next day. I slept for a few hours at Adam's apartment before heading back down to Madison to surprise my parents who thought I was going to stay in Green Bay until the baptism that weekend.

I really enjoyed being home. I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to see, but I'll see them again when I'm home again in about a week. It was nice to go up to Green Bay and see everyone. I got to sit at my favorite place on campus a couple of times. The first time I was labeling pictures from the drive back to Madison. I knew Adam was on campus for a class, so I kept watching my back. I knew if he saw me, he'd do something to make me freak out, thinking I'd fall into the nasty river. I then sat on the river later that night with Adam after we put our photo albums together. It was good times. I forgot how much I love that campus...no, not really. I do know how much I miss campus and Green Bay. I got to see my godson, and make him smile and laugh. He's such a cutie. Back in Madison I spent lots of time at the condo with mom and dad. It was nice spending time there. It still doesn't quite feel like home, but in time I know the condo will be home for me. I got to make Perkins runs with everyone too! I miss Perkins. The last two times we went, we played Pop 5. It was really fun. Our waitress the first time asked us what game we were playing. The second is when I dropped one of the pieces and it landed at the foot of some guy who didn't notice. I didn't want to go get it, but I did.

The drive back to Vegas was fun. We stopped at the Kool-Aid museum in Hastings, Nebraska. That's where Kool-Aid originated. They even have Kool-Aid Days each year. I want to go back for Kool-Aid days. It took us awhile to find the museum. We saw a sign saying to get off at the next exit and head south 15 minutes. The road we took felt like it was straight out of Children of the Corn. I was waiting for children to come take me to the corn field and kill me. We hit up a Pony Express station and Buffalo Bill's ranch in Nebraska before making it to Colorado. We headed through Rocky Mountain National Park on our third day. It was quite amazing. I had been there when I was younger, and I don't remember much of it. We got to see bighorn sheep and elk while we were there. Cool! AND it thunderslushed while we were there! It wasn't quite snow, and it wasn't quite rain. It was slush falling from the sky. We actually watched the storm roll in. We were heading up some hiking path, when someone pointed out a storm and we shouldn't go up any further. We saw lightning, and were debating finishing our hike since we had just seen a warning about seeing lightning and heading to your car for safety. When we heard thunder, we decided that we should get to our car. We drove through the park (on very curvy and steep roads that made me car sick), taking lots of pics, and headed out. I never thought I would see traffic as bad as Vegas until I hit Denver in rush hour. Not cool. The fourth day we hit up Mesa Verde National Park. We didn't get all the way in because we wanted to get to Flagstaff that night. We decided that we didn't want to drive a 90 minute one way road and not be really impressed by it. The roads were curvy again...and I got even more car sick. We got to see Four Corners too! I was in 4 states at once! Even though I said I would never go back, we went to the Grand Canyon. It wasn't too bad. I got to see it in full daylight. And, there was a storm brewing at the east end of the park. Patty and I both noticed how it rained each time we went to a national park, and if we wanted it to rain, we had to open our windows. It was a good trip. We were both happy to be out of the car though at the end of it. Good times had by all.