Dec 19
This past Friday came the annual company holiday celebration. I have a tendency to switch jobs in the later part of the year, which creates for a somewhat awkward holiday party. I have met many people but I can’t say they completely grasp the full jason experience. The party was fun, food was great, the wine flowed like water.
The party was held at the recently rennovated Walker Art Center. The new building, added last year, looks a little odd. I’ve heard it referred to as the metal fish tail in Minneapolis. I think it looks like an angry man.
I was a little nostalgic heading down there again. We used to live directly next to the Walker in an apartment complex. I used to walk through the sculpture gardens every morning on my way to work.
The inside of the Walker is beautiful and much like walking through Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. When we exited the evalator from the parking ramp there were no signs to indicate where we were supposed to go. We weren’t in the main lobby of the Walker. We were in a wing of an exhibit. The only people available for questions were ticket agents. The ticket ladies kindly directed towards the main lobby by suggesting we follow the brick pathway. So we followed it directly into an exhibit on flight, not exactly the main lobby. We stumbled around, but eventually found the main lobby.
We took the elevator to the 8th floor for the reception. Suspciously we noted the elevator had no 5th floor stop. It went from 4th floor to 6th without a stop. Very John Malkovich if you ask me. We drank and drank until we were ushered out for dinner. At that point we were instructed to take the elavator to the 5th floor for dinner. But the elevator we were piling into had no 5th floor. So 20 individuals crammed into an elevator going nowhere began to hypothesize on just how to get to the 5th floor.
“Go to the 4th and walk up a flight!”
“Go to the lobby and take the other elevator!”
On and on they went while the elevator went nowhere. We ended up heading back down to the lobby, walking back through the Walker, to the original set of elevators, the set that brought us from the parking lot.
I saw much more of the Walker that night than I thought I would. If they wanted me to see everything they had to show off then the layout worked. I felt worse for the ladies wearing high heels. I know Courtney would have wore better shoes if she knew she’d be walking around on a brick road for a good portion of the night.
Nov 25
Listen up friends, relatives, and in-laws. I’m never one to make up a very good Christmas list. The requests for the list are already starting to pile up. So I’ve created this ultimate Christmas list. It’s organized by price and centralized in one location. Here you will find what I want for Christmas. From here on out, you’re on your own.
If you’ve made it this far and nothing really floats your boat, you can never go wrong with gift certificates to Caribou Coffee, Best Buy, or Express.
Nov 17
Dear Santa,
All I want this year for Christmas is the rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Hope all is well,
jason.
Dec 20
Whoa! Where did December go? Between the wedding, Vegas, Christmas, computers, and the dentist I haven’t had time to think. So let me recap what’s been going on in my life.
Wedding
Although there are a ton of outstanding issues everything seems to be falling into place. The big thing I have left to do is write my vows. I keep promising Courtney I’ll do it. One of these nights I actually will. For the second time our honeymoon got a little derailed. Not as bad and before though. We were flying on Sun Country until they decided to close up shop. Now we have to take a flight back at 11:40pm Sunday night which is less than ideal.
Las Vegas
Las Vegas was everything I thought it was going to be. And I’m never going back again. Well, at least not for many, many years. The trip was best summed up by Grant at 12:30am Friday night when we were trying to find a bite to eat. We had been there for 16 hours and Grant declared to everyone in a very low, shaky voice, “I am a delicate flower.” We peaked high and quick and from there on out it was all down hill. Vegas has too many lights and too much noise. It’s a sensory overload. I can say honestly if I never see Carrot Top again I’ll be a happy man.
Christmas
Christmas has really snuck up on me this year. We finished our shopping early ‘cept for Courtney’s dad. Though Courtney’s brother said he had it all taken care of. All we had to do was kick in some dough. But I haven’t heard from him lately so if you’re out there, Chad, I think you know my email address. I went to the jewelers (again!) to see if I could find Courtney anything interesting for Christmas. We promised not to go all out like we traditionally do. Neither one of us have much money to be throwing around. So I wanted something cheap. Well, I couldn’t bare to have my darling wearing anything cheap so I picked her up a nice pearl necklace and earrings. You know, for the wedding and all. I couldn’t keep a secret so I gave them to her that same night. Now I wish I hadn’t cuz I won’t be able to top that with a cheesy Christmas present.
Computers
The week before Vegas my computer decided it was going to give up. It basically stopped functioning all together. The hard drives started spouting loud profanities at me so I decided to finally put it in its final resting place and build a new one. I wasn’t able to go all out like I had hoped but for $450 bucks I was able to build a pretty decent machine. 512 megs ram, AMD Athlon 1700+, a new motherboard and case have turned me back into the hardcore computer elitest that I love to be. Feel free to envy me.
Dentist
You may be asking why this was such a big deal, right? I haven’t been to the dentist in 5 years. Of all things my parents made me do, the dentist is what I feared most. This topped off with a tooth ache that was starting to throb had me scared shitless for two months. That’s how long I had to wait for an appointment. I ( and by “I” I mean Courtney) made the appointment back in October. I mustered up enough courage to go this morning and after all was said and done, the Doc told me I have great teeth…..except for the gaping crack in my back tooth. So it wasn’t so bad I guess. It could have been worse. They did say the crack was probably from me gritting my teeth. So no more caffiene or stress for Jason! Yeah, right.
