I just finished setting up a layout for The Collective. It's nothing special, but it's simple and it'll do. As for now, I think it's time to relax. I haven't eaten anything all day, and I've been online almost constant since 8:30 this morning. I'm still feeling lazy, so I'll doubt I'll do much more than fall asleep in front of the tv again tonight, but tomorrow - monster truck rally!!!

Shit, validating sucks. I validated two pages, and spent at least an hour trying to fix the links page, but then I realized that I'll probably never get that and the weblog perfect, so I'm giving up on those. It's still nice to check the pages for validation anyway, because it alerts me to a lot of mistakes I didn't realize I made.

I just don't know when to quit. My new goal is to make all of my pages validated. The only one done so far is the index page, but I'll get there. The style sheets would be validated too, but since the scrollbar changes are not valid css, the site's style sheets don't validate. Oh well, I like the change in colors, so screw validation. I need to work on the page for The Collective also. I hate templates... need to make my own. Lot's of work. Pffft.

Damn that blasted internet! Taking away valuable television viewing time! Just like drugs and rock 'n' roll, the internet needs to be banned so Americans get back to watching tv. In fact, what are you doing reading this? Get off your ass and go watch television - it's your patriotic duty.

Okay, forget that. Just like every other Thursday, I never ended up leaving my apartment today. I was online until late this morning, and then eventually I signed off and fell asleep on the couch while watching Almost Famous. I woke up about 6 and put the tv back on. I watched a little tv and ate dinner, and then I watched the rest of Almost Famous that I had slept through this afternoon. I've now moved back to the internet, but I think I'm going to watch another movie soon. I kind of like this whole laziness thing. Maybe I'll skip class tomorrow and not leave my apartment again. I do finally have to leave though Saturday night, because Annemarie and I are going to rock out to the sound of a couple hundred roaring horses at the monster truck rally! Yar har har!!

I just couldn't leave well enough alone, could I? I guess I just get on a roll and I can't stop. So, now I have Christmas colors. I only hope I didn't post them too early and I end up driving myself bonkers in the next month. Okay, really going to bed soon this time....

I just posted the new design layout. It still needs some minor touch-ups and tweaking (and a bit of Photoshop and new photos), but those things will be dealt with in time... in time after I've slept a little.

I was quite disappointed, as is every red-blooded Liverpool fan, to hear the news Wednesday that Robbie Fowler is transfering to Leeds United. Robbie and Steve McManaman were the reasons I became a Liverpool fan in the first place, and as of today they'll both be gone. I guess there are a couple of ways to look at this. For one, it's a good move for Robbie. Leeds are second in the table, and he might get more playing time there than he's gotten with the Reds. More playing time might give him a better chance of being included in Erickson's World Cup plans. The one positive for Liverpool is that they'll be getting £11 million out of the deal, so they won't have to worry about losing him for nothing after next season. On the other hand, there are so many negatives. 1) He's a great player and a Kop favorite. It's always tough to see a local boy move on. 2) Even though Liverpool might be top of the table, Robbie is moving over to the team that might be Liverpool's biggest rival for the Premiership title this season. 2) With all of the injury problems that Michael Owen has had over the past few seasons, and with Milan Baros not officially part of the team yet, Liverpool could be a little thin up top for the time being. Robbie's transfer leaves only Owen (hands-down the best striker in the world, but also injury-prone), Heskey (still in a goal drought despite having scored against Sunderland on the weekend), and Litmanen (aging and a bit rusty, but still a great player) until Baros can get his work permit. I guess we'll just have to move on, and hopefully he doesn't score against us when we play Leeds again.

Shit.

It just needed to be said. Moving on, I turned in my last paper of the semester tonight. If I was really ambitious, I'd sit up tonight and prep my presentation on old-time radio, but you know what? It's not due for 2 weeks, so I don't even care. Other than that, I just have my three finals. In fact, there's not even a good reason to go to class at all over the next two weeks. My sci-fi teacher even cancelled the last class already because he has nothing to talk to us about and nothing to show us. Tonight he made us sit through Hollow Man, which was the worst movie we've been forced to watch all semester. The majority of the movie was bad enough, but when it hits the third act, and Kevin Bacon has to be killed off not once, twice, or even thrice, but rather four times, it was just getting pathetic. I mean, you burn a guy, bash him over the head with a crowbar, and electrocute him, yet it's still not enough? Good god man! It was nearly like the old executions of Catholic saints who would be put through about 5-6 kinds of execution (you know, in case they're like Kevin Bacon and just won't die). Blech.

Taking a step in the right direction, I got both of my papers done. Well, the journalism wasn't really a paper, as much as a short essay response, so I did that last night. As for the sci-fi paper, I got up at 8 this morning and wrote that one. I've been getting tired so early lately that it has increased my procrastination. Instead of sitting up all night writing papers, my new modus operandi has me going to bed early, only to rise early the morning a paper is due and writing it then. Must be getting old. Haven't really had any complaints so far, so I can't doing such a bad job. I don't feel like going out today.

My first experience dealing with parking during a snow emergency, and I already hate it. Finding a place to park sucks. I still don't understand how anyone could handle living around here for years. I mean, one winter of this is one too many for me. Well, I have my place for tonight - we'll just have to deal with it again tomorrow night. As for now, I need to write my sci-fi paper, but I just haven't a clue as to where to begin. I think it only needs to be 5-7 pages. If so, I mean, I can poop out 5 pages, I just need the prunes first. As for all the malfunctioning components surrounding me, I've come up with plans for several of them. The toilet is already fixed. As for the scanner and Photoshop, I think I'll just use the one's at work at night so that I don't get in anyone's way, yet I can get my scanning done. I know it's not a real solution to my problem, but it's a way to deal with it until I decide to get them fixed.

My computer still isn't working correctly, but atleast I can still go online. Hopefully it doesn't completely crash on me... or atleast until after I finish my paper that's due tomorrow. On a bit of good news, my toilet is getting fixed. I was awoken this morning by the maintenance guy, who came to fix it. He left to go buy a part at the hardware store, but he's supposed to come back this afternoon while I'm at work to finish the job. Yeah for functioning comodes!

It would seem that the peripherals are not the only parts of my computer going to hell. Photoshop wasn't working at all, and it seemed that parts of it were missing, so I decided to delete it and reload. Well, that did nothing but mess up the computer worse. Now when I try to select the Control Panel, my computer freezes up on me. I shutter to think I could have acquired a virus.

I finished my paper and went to campus. I arrived at class almost 10 minutes late, but still managed to not be the last one done with the test. Went back to work, but couldn't do the deposit because the key to the booth was missing and no one in the office has a key either. Got sick of sitting around doing nothing and didn't feel like sitting through class, so I dropped my paper off at the art history TA's office and drove home. Took forever to get home thanks to A) it was rush hour, and B) it was snowing. I ate dinner, and then I wanted to work on scanning in some new pictures, but there seems to be something wrong with my scanner. Since I'm having trouble with my printer as well, it's nice to know that all the peripheral pieces of my computer are going to shit at the same time. Grrr...

I seem to have neglected to mention last night that when I returned here yesterday, there was a large envelope addressed to me from Jones Soda leaning up against the wall near the mailboxes. Upon opening it, I discovered a letter congratulating me on being a winner in their end-of-summer contest, a bunch of stickers, two rubber cockroaches (I don't know either), and large blow-up can of Whoop Ass. For anyone who remembers, it's about the size of that blow-up can of Arizona iced tea that they had hanging up at the Dinkytowner. My mom blew it up for me, but I haven't found a place to hang it yet, so it's just sitting on my bed. What the hell - it'll add nicely to the tacky look I'm trying to achieve.

I'm back in Minneapolis, and doing anything I can to procrastinate, even though it could mean I'll have to pull an all-nighter. I have a paper due for film studies Monday night and a test in the mass communication class in the afternoon. I also have my paper for sci-fi due Wednesday night, but luckily that affords me a little more time on that one. Since I'm killing time, I might as well update on these last two days.

My mom woke up me about 10 Saturday morning, as she had made breakfast. I ate, and then I commenced to waste away most of my last day on the computer. I was downloading music and burning cd's. Yes, I was burning cd's - shoot me for being hypocritical. I was supposed to go bowling with Matt and Carrie, but that never seemed to develop. I finally went out for the first time at 10:30 when I went over to Trixie's, where she and her roommates were having a housewarming party. It wasn't so much a party as a gathering of drunks. I stuck around for a while and had a beer, but was pretty bored for the most part. About 11:30 I decided to head home, so I said my good-bye's and took off.

It was a good thing that I left the party early, because Mom and Dad woke me up a little earlier than expected. They woke me up at 5:30, and we were on the road by 6:15. We made a few brief stops before getting here after 11. We dropped off my things, went out to eat, and then they dropped me back here before they left. I've had the tv on ever since, and I've been doing more work on redesigning this site intermittently. I suppose it's about time to get to work on the paper, but every wasted moment counts.

In a bit of great news, team Too Much Trivia in the Pants has a confirmed home for 2002. The house has a great internet connection and plenty of telephones. It should offer everything that we need, and it's right around the corner from Bates and Dunlap.

I've been home for a few days now, and this has been one of the better break periods I've had (even if it's so short). When I left off on Tuesday, my parents took me out to eat for dinner, and I filled up on fried chicken and mashed potatoes. I then went over to Matt and Carrie's, where we watched some tv, and then Matt and I took some turns on GTA3. I came home and watched a little tv, but I was really dozing off and ended up going to bed.

I watched some tv to kill some time Wednesday morning, and then Mom and I picked up subs for lunch. Dennis had an opening for me to move up my appointment from 3:30 to noon, so I got my hair cut then. I then drove around town looking for a place to rent or purchase Breathless, but this town is bone-dry in the Godard department. Unable to control myself when presented with sales prices, I bought Almost Famous and Double Indemnity at Media Play. When I returned home, I gave Tony a buzz, and the two of us ended up going downtown. We wandered up and down College Avenue, making a brief stop in Flanagan's to check out the selection. I was supposed to pick my mom up from work at 4, but we didn't get there until 4:15, and by then she had already caught a ride home with someone else. Tony and I then went to the Exclusive Company before he dropped me off at home. He called me later that night, and we went to George Webb, where we sat for hours downing coffee and shooting the breeze. They finally kicked us about 12:30 when the rush started to come in and there were 10-15 people waiting for tables. Hopped up on coffee, we went back to Tony's and watched "Mother Angelica Live" and a few other programs before he dropped me at a little before 3.

My mom woke me up about 8:30 Thursday morning, and we hit the road by 10 on the way to my grandma's. After a filling Thanksgiving dinner, most of my family sat down for a game of rummy royal, from which I chose to abstain. With little else to do, I sat around watching the football games, and then anything I could find on tv. Supper was little respite from the boredom there. My mom finally decided she was ready to leave around 8:15, so she, my cousin, and I headed back to Appleton. It was about 9:30 by the time we dropped my cousin off and returned home ourselves. Not knowing if anyone else was around and available, I sat home watching tv. I ended up falling asleep watching Almost Famous, and crawled to bed at 3 when my mom came to turn off the tv.

I woke up Friday morning around 8, and I spent the entire morning online. Being that my parents' new computer has a large hard drive and a cd burner, I've been working on downloading all kinds of songs that I've always wanted, but don't have the available cash to splash for them. Tony came over, and when my mom got home, she took Tony and I out for lunch. When we returned home, Tony and I decided to go downtown again. We finally got to go to New Frontier, and I ended up splashing out cash for a 12" copy of The Housemartins' "The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death" (record and sleeve in near-mint condition I might add) and a Jane Wiedlin lp. We wandered up and down College Avenue again, but when we returned to Tony's car, we realized that he had locked his keys in his car again. How do you solve such a problem? By going to the bar of course! We went on over to Dr. Jekyl's (formerly the wonderfully palindromic Pat's Tap) and had a beer. Tony's mom came at 4:30, and the locksmith shortly thereafter, to let us in to the car. Tony then dropped me at home, where Mom made me grilled cheese sandwiches. Tony came back to pick me up, and we met Matt and Carrie at the Cold Shot (formerly the Thirsty Whale - why do all these bars need to change names?), where Carrie's mom and her fiancé were performing. After listening to a set and having a beer, we moved downtown to Jim's Place. We sat there and had drink until it got crowded, and then we went to Frank's. We were at Frank's for quite a while, downing the pizzas as if they're the water of an oasis, and washing it down with a pitcher of soda. Since we sat there long afterward carrying on conversation, I didn't finally get home until just recently. Now I have one more day until I have to head back to Minneapolis, and I haven't even touched my homework yet. Oops. I'll get to it.

I made it home fine, but not until after I had taken quite an interesting trip. It started with having to stand in line forever to check my bag at the station in Minneapolis. We then had to go through security checks, wherein one man patted me down and checked me with a metal-detecting wand, while another man went through every pocket and item in my bag. The bus wasn't very full leaving Minneapolis, but when we arrived in St. Paul there was a wall of people waiting to get on. I not only had to surrender the seats next to me, but I surrendered them to a couple who spent the whole time from St. Paul to Wausau making out. They paused about every 15 minutes for the female to redo her make-up, and then they'd begin again. Once I was on the bus home from Wausau, we picked up another interesting lady in Stevens Point. Her husband had dropped her off with their two dogs. As the bus pulled out, her husband followed her with their SUV. He left the windows open so the dogs could stick their heads out, and as he followed along with the truck, she switched from side-to-side to wave to the dogs. As we were leaving town, he finally turned off and she sat down. It was nice to get off the bus here in Appleton. Now I'm hungry, because Mr. McFeely didn't want to wait for us to get something to eat. I'd better go now, as I think we're finally going to get something to eat. Later.

I'm leaving in the morning to head on back to Appleton. My bus leaves at 10am. I have lots to do before then, including packing and cleaning. I'm a little angry with the TA for one of my classes as well. So I wrote the "Matlock" paper, and on my first draft, she wrote that framing isn't part of mise-en-scene (the basis for the assignment). What did I do then on the re-write? I took it out. And what does she write as a comment on my re-write? "I think you should have found a way to keep the section on framing by cutting from other parts of the paper, such as the description of the episode, etc. I feel as if you took the easy way out in that respect." What the fuck?! She said herself the first time that it isn't part of the paper, and then the second time I got penalized (and insulted) for removing it! Grrr.... I'm also curious to know why she originally gave me a 95% on the final draft, and then cut it down to a 93%. You can't tell me it's because she read better papers. I know the idiots in my class, and there is no possible way that they made my paper look poor. I'm looking forward to getting away for almost a week, even if I do have to do homework over break.

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Just found out that the Charlatans are playing the Fine Line on January 21!! Yes, that is MLK Day for those of you who were curious. It's also the night before the first day of spring semester classes. I already signed up to work that night, so now I'm going to have to get back out of it.

My energy from tonight is finally starting to die down. It was not exactly a wild evening, but still a rather fulfilling one. It started with Annemarie stopping by shortly after 6. We watched some tv, and then Son-In-Law. That got over about 9, and about 9:30 we hooked up with Jonathan to go to the Lagoon, where we watched Amélie again. Afterward we made a stop at Market Barbecue, where we gorged ourselves on some late night food. We all went home, I wrote in my journal, checked my email, and checked out some other things online, and now I'm finishing it all off by making this entry. I have to work tomorrow afternoon, but otherwise I don't know my plans for the rest of the day. I guess I'll just have to be as spontaneous as usual. Anyone else have any plans?

Every Thursday I intend be productive, and every Thursday fails to live up to its expectations. I went grocery shopping in the afternoon. Since it was 2:30 by the time I returned home, it was too late to go to the movie, so I sat around watching tv instead. Why do I waste my time watching the Jeopardy! College Tournament? Every year I get more disappointed with the students and become more disillusioned with the current state of higher learning in this country. I don't know if the real issue is that intelligent students are too apathetic to bother trying out for the show, or if there is some other explanation. I don't mean to be too hard on them, as there are some genuinely smart kids that make their way onto the show, but overall the quality of the contestants is definitely lacking. Okay, so I picked up Jonathan from Kramarchuk's and we went to the Polish class. Since our combined age barely comes close to that of the next-youngest attendee, they were all curious what our purpose for attendance is. Their first assumptions are that we either are traveling soon to Poland or that we are of Polish ancestory. Young people just don't seem to show a lot of interest in learning more about the world around them. Class was entertaining, and we learned a little as well, so it was worth going. Afterward we decided to bowl a few games at Mady's, and my bowling got worse as the night wore on. I opened with a pair of 150's, and followed them up with a 144 and a 130-something. We then came home, I watched a little tv, and now I'm listening to Al on 'CCO. Now I may go to bed soon, as I'm starting to fall asleep.

I've been trying to come up with ideas for redesigning this website, but right now I'm clueless. I have a few minor ideas that aren't really as great as I'd like to think they are. I also have some bigger ideas, but I'm stumped as to where to begin on testing them out. Perhaps what I need is a clean slate. When I redesigned the site to bring it to its current state, I simply made adjustments to the last layout. Maybe I'm just too tired to care right now. Nighty night.

These things seem to be popping-up everywhere lately: Happy 21st Birthday Jacque!

In other news: I registered this morning for my last semester of classes as an undergrad. First and foremost, I signed up for Rick McCormick's Weimar Cinema course. After that, it was a matter of filling in the cracks. I need one more film course, so I signed up for Tom's Contemporary Hollywood Genres course. The Spanish film class I wanted was already full, and the others either sounded completely inane, or didn't fit right into my schedule. Or maybe I'm just a masochist. I threw in Prof. Jahn's Tolstoy in Translation course for good measure. Then, to keep me full-time (and thereby keep myself from having to pay back loans already come June), I signed up for some Scandanavian Immigrant Experience course. It didn't sound too relatively difficult, and it takes me up from 10 to 13 credits. So that's where I am with that.

I need to go grocery shopping today. If I'm ambitious enough, I'll head up to the Lagoon and take in The Man Who Wasn't There. I'm meeting Jonathan later to go to that Polish class again in Columbia Heights. Then, if I'm not too broke and tired out, I'll probably end up at Mady's again tonight. I should try to get a hold of Molly, because I assume she'll need a ride if she's going. So Molly, if you read this, try calling me this afternoon. If I'm not home, it's because I'm at the movie, but I should be back again between 5 and 6.

Wednesday night we watched Total Recall. Then Tom talked to us about existentialism. He also told us, "I've met many an interesting, slutty woman." We watched the scene from Groundhog Day where the drunk guy asks, "Anyone else go for some flapjacks right about now?" (or something like that) as well. Sometimes even I'm curious why I hate that class so much.

Today I went to Golden Valley. It just seemed like the right way to begin this entry. I wasn't lying, I did indeed go to Golden Valley for the first time today, but that's not really all that important.

In a bit of real news, I took the stud out of my tongue last night. Right about midnight, as I was hitting the 3 years, 1 month anniversary of the day I first got my tongue pierced, I decided that I was bored with it and I took it out. I'm not sure which was stranger, right after I got it pierced, or these last 24 hours since I took it out. I mean, I can touch my tongue flat against the roof of my mouth again! I can roll my tongue again! I can roll my r's with so much more ease! I can pick my teeth with my tongue instead of my nails! Oh sure, these may sound like stupid things to the average person, but I haven't been able to do them in over 3 years. I guess I just left it in for so long because I wanted to get my money's worth. When it went from being a novelty to being just plain boring (sometime this last summer), I decided I'd take it out someday soon.

I know I make pitiful attempts to ridicule the local team as often as possible, but even I couldn't do it as well as CBS. Word on the street is that they have moved the Vikings-Jaguars game from a 3:15 kick-off to a noon kick-off. It was originally scheduled to be at 3:15 to accomodate a national audience, but since both Jacksonville and Minnesota are so pathetically awful this year, CBS has scrapped those plans and moved the game back to a regular kick-off time. Ouch.

Woohoo! Thanks West St. Paul City Council! For those of you who didn't hear, they voted today to allow ultimate fighting to continue in West St. Paul. I've never been to an ultimate fight, and I never intend to, but it's nice to know that the Twin Cities have another form of entertainment to offer major corporations considering relocation to the metro area. We needed something to take Percy Ross's place anyway, now that's he's gone. Governor Jesse "The Mind" Ventura, Fancy Ray, King of Diamonds Gentlemen's Club, Sex World, the soon-to-be-contracted Minnesota Twins, and ultimate fighting - what more could you possibly want?

Once again, I seem to have over-stayed my welcome. If you don't hear from me again, I'll see you all at the Heights at noon on Sunday for "If You Buy Me a Couch, Darling" (it's only 40 minutes long, it's free, and it's Polish!). Ciao!

News news news. I put on the tv this morning, and another plane has crashed in New York. Cause unknown. Fox News is currently talking to a lady who seems to be naïve enough to think that airline security could stop everything. Sorry to burst her bubble, but if criminals want to do something, they'll find a way. Anyway... I don't feel like wasting my time with this.

It looks like I gave the Bears too much credit yesterday. They didn't seem to care whether they won or lost. They gave a little more effort than the Packers did earlier this year at the Metrodome, but not much. Atleast they were better than the Vikings yesterday. That Vikings-Eagles game... ouch.

I was really getting irritated last night at work. It seemed that every customer who came in had something to complain about. "It's too cold." "It's too warm." "It's too loud." "It's too quiet." "The movie is too expensive." "Parking is too expensive." "There's no place to park." "Somebody is making noise in the theatre." "Somebody is making noise outside." "Why don't you have any concessions?" "Why is the bathroom so far away?" I was getting ready to just tell them off. These obviously signs of people who have been spoiled their who lives, and it's about time that they learn some humility and manners. Grrr....

My mom called me last night. We talked for a little while, and she told me about people stopping by for my dad's birthday. She also said that one of my cousins is in a burn center down in Milwaukee as a result of getting electrocuted at work late last week. Hope he gets better soon. Then she put my dad on, and I talked to him and wished him well. You know. We parted ways, and I fell asleep once again with the tv and lights on, not waking up until this morning.

Oops... forgot one thing: Happy Birthday Dad!

I'm still around here somewhere. I've been doing... whatever. I guess you can tell there that hasn't been a whole lot of anything exciting flashing through my life lately. My brother was in town on Friday, and for lack of anything better to do, I brought him back here to my apartment and we just sat around talking. I finally did my laundry on Saturday. I had so much, that I actually had to do a third load for once. Then, last night Molly and I went to the Uptown to see Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (Amélie). For anyone with the means to see this film, I most definitely suggest you take advantage. I think it might be my new favorite film of the year (and that's even after I made Ghost World the only film I've ever seen more than once in the theatre). Dreamers and idealists are too often ignored because most believe that they can never be successful. Well, it doesn't have to be that way in the wonderful world of film, and this one truly is a delightfully entertaining comedy. Okay, okay... enough. I came home and fell asleep on the couch. I'm kind of disappointed, because I'm going to miss the end of the Packers-Bears game this afternoon, as I have to be to work about 2:30. Hopefully it won't be close (although I believe it will be). Here, I'll make a prediction: Green Bay wins 27-24. Ciao!

I should have gone to bed hours ago. Then again, if I had, I wouldn't have checked my email, in which case I wouldn't have read a message from Sandra that began like this:

Hello everyone.

By the way, Jason & I got married. This Friday. 
Don't feel left out if you didn't know

Yeah, these sorts of things just pop up. Like the poem Erik wrote me about the teacher who eats poop. And then my mom emailed. I guess my brother is going to be in town Friday or Saturday and he's looking for something to do other than follow around his friend who is checking out the U. I'd tell his friend to just forget about the U, but hell, I'm one of the people who put up with 4 years of construction and other bullshit - by the time he gets here, the place ought to actually be nice again. Okay, I think I'm going to bed now.

Okay, I really was going to shut up, but then I had to go and start reading the Star Tribune, and I came across another Jesse-ism. '"It is not our fault,' he told one caller who criticized the Legislature and Ventura. 'We are not elected to govern professional baseball.'" No, Jesse, you're not elected to govern professional baseball, but you are elected to govern the people of the state of Minnesota. If it is the will of the people of the state of Minnesota that you support and do everything you're capable of to try to keep the Twins from being eliminated, then that's what you need to do. You don't decide what we want, we decide what we want. (Can you tell that I voted and I'm feeling a little democratic today?)

Well, fall is still in the air, and so I guess it's still time for change. Of course, the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees was a good enough change. To digress for a moment and stay on the topic of baseball, it was good to hear that two Twins players actually got recognized for their contributions this year and were awarded Gold Gloves: Torii Hunter and Doug Mientkiewicz. Of course, we may find out very soon if the Twins will even exist next season. For all of you Minnesotans who have been so strongly against the use of public funds to build a new stadium, but now you want to cry that the Twins may be gone, you're a little late. Sucks to be you. Okay, enough baseball and back to autumnal change....

With today having been election day, it looks like Minneapolis is in for some major changes at the beginning of next year. Let's start with the one that's going to gain the most headlines: R.T. Rybak whooping some Sharon Sayles-Belton ass. Yes, I believe a 2-to-1 margin over the incumbent is worthy of being considered one hell of an "ass-whooping." Sharon, do you know why you lost so badly? It's because you don't listen to the people of Minneapolis, you listen to the rest of the country. National rankings can give the city as many A's as they want, but if the citizens of the city disagree, you'd better listen to the people, not the rankings. You can get Bill Clinton and every other high-profile Democrat in the country to support you, but you know? They don't have to live in the city where you're mayor - we do. Next time listen to the people.

Of course, it has to be considered pretty big news as well that City Council President Jackie Cherryhomes lost her seat as well... to a Green no less! In fact, we're going to have 2 Greens on the city council, and a third just missed out. I have to feel for the third who just missed out - Cam Gordon of Ward 2 - simply because according to his questionaire in Tuesday's Minnesota Daily, his favorite book is Anna Karenina. I don't feel like taking the time to explain to you why that alone should be reason enough to elect him. As for my own ward's city council representation, it's hardly surprising that incumbent Lisa Goodman won in the biggest landslide of any race in the city: 83% to 17% for Sean Flynn. In fact, judging by everything I've read about Flynn, I don't know who's a bigger yutz, Flynn, or the 1,345 residents of Ward 7 that voted for him.

In the other elections, I have to admit, that as an uninformed citizen on those involved, I honestly voted completely by name. Let's take the Minneapolis board of estimate and taxation (or something like that). If I remember correctly, the candidates were Wally, Gordon, and Eric. Sorry Eric, but Wally and Gordon are just estimate and taxation kind of guys. Or how about library board? I know a lot of my candidates didn't get in, but who better to serve our libraries than Tron, Wizard, and Hansel? And sorry Meg and Bruce, I was supporting your candidacy for the park board.

Okay, fine... enough about elections. I'll just get back to my presentation.

Yes, I'm still here in all my glory. Halloween came and went like grandma's apple pie. I turned my research paper for my sci-fi class in yesterday finally. It actually wasn't much of a "research" paper, as there were no sources available for me (thanks jackasses who checked out all the books and didn't return them!). I explained my situation to the TA, so hopefully he'll take that into account. Now I've finally begun work on my research paper and presentation for my journalism class. Our group's topic is the phonograph, and I think it's going to go well. For my part of the presentation, I'm probably going to create a webpage. There are some really great sites with fantastic photos and recordings that I could use, so I might as well take advantage, right? I'm hoping to get to the library tomorrow to get some hard-copy research to accompany the work I've done on the internet today.

We should be going bowling tonight. Actually, I should re-phrase that. We are going bowling tonight... or at least Molly and I am. I'm assuming others are coming, but I'm no longer expecting others to come, even if they tell me they are going to 5 minutes earlier. Molly should be letting me know in a few minutes if Eleonore is planning on coming also. Since I have some time before we go, I think I'm going to take a nice, hot, long bath. It would go so well with having gotten to enjoy the beautiful fall weather we had today. I also ran some errands today, including finally going grocery shopping for the first time in about a month, buying a new dish scrubber, and depositing part of my loan money which finally arrived. I've also decided to begin working on this page again. For one, the colors are much to dreary. I love the blues, but I can make them much lighter and brighter shades that will make a hug difference. I also know that some others weren't totally impressed with this last redesign (as I wasn't either), so I'm taking that into account as well. I have some ideas, so we'll see what happens. Ciao!