Moving on up

Monday, June 11, 2007

I am writing this laying in a shelf-bed, tucked away in the back corner of my aunt and uncle’s “cabin” on Gull. That’s right, as of this morning, my parents are homeless.

I spent most of this past week either working for my dad or helping get things moved out of my childhood home. There is nothing surreal for me about knowing that I will never be going back to the house that I called home for the last 15 or so years. Whether I wanted it to happen or not, it has happened, and now we’re moving on. I am actually quite fine with the move; I figure it only impacts me two or three times a year, and I also think that not having that house to come home to will make it easier for Nashville to feel like home, for me to feel like I can really put down roots of my own.

Until I return to my home in Nashville, this cabin will have to do. In all honesty, even though I will be working most days for the rest of my stay here, coming home to this place makes every day feel more like a vacation. I feel like I can rest more out here, like there is less distractions and disturbances.

One aspect of this feeling may be due to the lack of proper technological connections out here. My family decided that they didn’t need to pursue an internet connection for the cabin because they all had their own way of getting online that didn’t involve home. This leaves me to wander aimlessly in search of free wireless, and I have found three establishments that offer it so far. The problem is I have to drive 15 minutes any time I want to check my e-mail or anything, and, unless I want to appear rather stalker-esque and sit in the parking lot, I have to spend $3 on a drink from Caribou or a shake at Culver’s.

The other lacking technology at the cabin is cell phone coverage, which is apparently non-existent. This wouldn’t be terrible except I’ve been using my phone as an alarm clock this summer, and in order for my phone to know what time it is, it must have a wireless signal. This means I have to switch to roaming mode on my phone in an effort to achieve some semblance of service so I can wake up in the morning. So now I can see who is calling me, but can’t answer because the cost of those calls would be obscene, thus I am left with a pile of missed calls that I will return the next day while at work or something.

Work has been mostly as expected: generally long hours spent in random corners of Central Minnesota, installing various forms of floor coverings with a most truly motley crew. I so wish I had the energy and motivation to wake up at 6 every morning and going running for an hour before work, but I may have to give up that dream, at least while I’m doing flooring. The hours are just too long and the toll on my body is too great. I had aspirations that I would be able to push through the pain and become some sort of physical beast by the end of my month at home. So far, that’s a negative.

Goblet of Fire is finished, and now I’m on to the Order of the Phoenix, which I’m a chapter into and am really excited to move through. Onward we shall continue…

9:53, relaxed, moderate, lasagna

Tuesday, June 12, 2007


Summers in Minnesota are amazing. The temperature usually hovers somewhere in the low 80s, the sun shines 80% of the time, and if you can get past the 80% humidity that likes to creep in a good amount of the time, it's an awesome place to chill.


There are, however, about two weeks when everything changes. This is one of those weeks.


The temperature has settled into the low 90s for each of the last few days, and, with a relentless humidity, it's been nearly unbearable. I experienced my first brown-out today at the cabin, which lasted for about an hour before a full blackout ensued. With nothing to do out there, I decided to come in to Caribou and check out what's happening in the rest of the world, which is apparently not much (at least that I'm interested in).


I think these daily journal-style posts may work (for awhile, anyway). The posting may not happen every day, but I'm gonna try and write every day anyway. We'll see how it goes.


8:00, tired, minimal, cheeseburgers