Relaxation

That is the definition of my next 12 days. I have quite literally close to nothing I need to do. We're staying in Nashville for New Years, so no road trips. The only thing I have scheduled is interning at Showdown on Monday the 8th. Glory.

My trip back to Nashville was uneventful. I got a coat rack, a shoe rack, and some pots at Ikea as I left the Cities. I stopped in Arcola, IL, for the night, and arrived back here a little after noon yesterday, after dealing with stupid Music City Bowl traffic from Kentucky.

Last night I made lasagna, which turned out really well. It's amazing how little technical work has to go in to making that; just kind of mix and layer and it comes together. We saw "The Good Shepherd" with Matt Damon last night too. I thought it was decent enough, extremely long, and I'm pretty sure if I was watching it on DVD at home I would have maybe fallen asleep at times. Good acting, maybe a bit too serious. They really covered a lot of material, some of which I thought was kind of obvious and unnecessary. There was really so much there it's hard to process whether it was good or not. And I think that fact should indicate to me that it wasn't great. For a movie to be great, it should contain enough information to be able to be processed in at most two viewings, and I highly doubt that I could do that with this one. It's not that I didn't understand what happened or the main ideas of the movie, those were simple enough. I think they just tried to have about a dozen too many themes going at once, and it came across as too thick and a bit too self-aware. But that's just me, Jon absolutely loved it. So maybe it's for you, you never know.

I've been hanging around this town

This post is mainly to make sure people know I haven't forgotten this thing over the break.

So I've been working a bunch. I'm up to 40 hours since coming home, which is just about the right amount. Another 7 hours tomorrow, maybe 5 on Saturday, and a few more next Tues/Wed. I will, barring my dad getting a really big job for Thursday or bad weather, be coming back to Nashvile on the 28th, maybe breaking the trip in half. Either way, I will be ready for whatever action is in town on the 29th. Looking like I'll be in Memphis for New Years...

I officially bought my last present tonight. Feels pretty good. AND, we actually have snow now! And by snow, I mean maybe a quarter inch. I feel like I'm in Nashville, getting all excited over a flurry. But I haven't had a brown Christmas that I can remember, so as long as this doesn't melt by Monday I am content.

Another winter day has come and gone away

I am home!

The actual driving was around 15 hours, which is making good time. I think the biggest help there was not having to wait in line at the one toll in Illinois. I did stop at my sister Sarah's boyfriend's house to have dinner with them and watch the Office Christmas special, which was hilarious as usual.

I slept until 9:30 or so this morning, and worked for my dad for 5 1/2 hours this afternoon. Abby had a basketball game tonight in Little Falls, which they won 58-39, and she played very well. I was proud.

Grades are in.
Kudos: I got an A in Investments! I thought this was a possibility, but it never really hit me that I could get that until it happened. I'd actually had a dream where I scrolled down to my grades and saw a C+, and that was freaking me out. But, thankfully, not all dreams come true.
Catastrophes: An A fricking minus in Intel Prop? What's up with that? Thanks for ruining my chances at a 3.95 Moser.

Tomorrow I will be working again, getting the oil changed in my car, and buying a coat at Steve and Barry's because I forget mine, along with all of my hanging clothes, in Nashville. Smooth, I know.

I listened to 8 hours of Christmas music on the road yesterday. It almost reached the point where I was sick of it. Not quite, but almost.

I was going to post about the Golden Globe nominees, but my sister needs the computer, so that will happen at a later date!

I picked Gibraltar Industries if anyone cares

Good Lord, it's 1:30 and the investments paper is complete (at least textually)! Now I just have to get up tomorrow and make sure I get my citations right and proof-read. And maybe study for my international business final, which is at 11.

But now it's time for sleep.

Is it Friday? Really?

It definitely does not feel like Friday. Much more of a Saturday feel, if anything.

My finals so far have been pretty predictable. The only possible exception is that my Intellectual Properties final was a bit more technical and specific than I anticipated, hence it was a bit harder than anticipated. I'm not worried though, so you shouldn't either.

Last night was a lot of fun, I went to Brown's Diner with Ben, Kendra, Wade, and Julie before my final and had a decent cheeseburger and good conversation. Then the IP final. Finally, Dave and Julie Hunt had college students over to hang out and have a study break, so Ryan and I went over a bit before 9 and we were the first ones there for the first bit. Somehow the topic of "Die Hard" came up, and I was forced to admit that I had never seen any of them. This just could not stand for Dave, so I saw Die Hard for the first time last night, and it was so much fun to sit there and read subtitles as more and more people came and the room got louder and louder, and laughing at the ridiculous dialog and crazy explosions and everything about it. Overall, a great time, I'm glad I went.

Today was... good. Yeah, I think that's the right word. I woke up around 9 and watched an episode of Alias from season 4 (I am now on disc 4). It has become much better and more interesting as the season has progressed. Then I got to talk to Italian Jess briefly before she headed off on another crazy Euro adventure or something like that. It was at this point that a decision needed to be made: I could work on my investments paper, which needed to happen at some point, or I could watch Die Hard 2: Die Harder, which Dave was kind enough to loan me last night (along with Die Hard With Avengeance). Obviously, I chose Die Hard. The second one was almost as entertaining as the first, the only thing missing was the great European accents.

I had a meeting with Sara at Gotee at 1, which went really well. We talked about their Grammy noms from yesterday (they had two as a label), and what worked for my schedule next semester. Then she said, "So when was the last time we gave you new music?" I mentioned Sonshine, and she started throwing CDs at me. When all was said and done, I walked away with 8 new albums, most of which should be excellent. I have been telling myself for months that I should get the House of Heroes album "Say No More," and it's bomb. Period. I was listening to it as I worked on my investments paper tonight. (I am done with 2 of 4 sections, and over half the work is done I think!)

Tomorrow will be great, with Reverb and writing in the morning and early afternoon, followed by cleaning the house and getting ready for the party at 7 tomorrow night that will be awesome. If you're around, come on over to Christmas at the Beech, it'll be loads of fun. And there'll be food. FREE food. And Home Alone. Can you pass on that? I doubt it.

Another one bites the dust

One week of finals. That's all I have to get through.

My last day of classes was about as thrilling as the first. I started out with our final group presentation in management communications, which went as well as I could have hoped. My group was extremely good at making crap up on the fly. I also had one of the guest critics say that one of my ideas was brilliant, which felt really good, not gonna lie.

I also received my favorite news of the week today: the due date for my investments paper got switched from Friday to Monday, changing it's status from nearly impossible to extremely doable. I've got the first section basically done, and I think the rest of the paper will be much easier.

Tomorrow I get to have free lunch with the Showdown crew as a thank-you for my semester. I'll be going down to Gotee on Friday to meet with Sara and get next semester set up.

I have no motivation. None at all. I'm ready for something fun.