Ikea

Nealey and I went to Ikea in the Twin Cities on saturday. We purchased a desk, add-on top unit, some filling system, hanging folders, and some floor mats. We went on a saturday, that was a mistake. We overheard one employee saying that they probably get 18,000 people on a saturday. It was pretty busy.

On monday I drove up to Apple Valley where Questar Educational Services is, to interview for a job. I recieved a job. It's not exactly the best job, but I do like what the company works on. I will be working on an Indiana project scoring and analyzing student responses from one of their state-wide tests. This is a temporary position, but I hope that it will lead to a permanate position with the company. That job starts in April, I will still be pursuing employment in the area. If something else comes up, then some decisions will be made.

Yep

From the weather channel's website.

Music

Okay, so I was in the car a lot this weekend listening to a lot of music.I started to compile a list of songs that I would love to play for a show. Of course, the best show is original music, but, if we did do a cover show, these would be among the songs I would do. In no particular order:

David Crowder Band - Do Not Move
Death Cab for Cutie - For What Reason
Death Cab for Cutie - Sound of Settling
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife 3
The Fire Theft - Heaven
The Fire Theft - It's Over
The Get Up Kids - Close to Home
The Gloria Record - Miserere
The Great Fiction - Dream Emotion
Jeremy Enigk - Been Here Before
Jeremy Enigk - Cannons
Jimmy Eat World - For Me This Is Heaven
Justin Edwards - Vampirate VI
Kent - The King is Dead
The Killers - Bling
Luxury - Diary Standard
Luxury - Mincemeat
Michael Edwards - To The West
Pedro the Lion - Magazine
Pedro the Lion - Second Best
Seasons - A Momentous Moment's Momentum
Starflyer 59 - Something Evil
Sufjan Stevens - Put the Lights on the Tree
Sunny Day Real Estate - How it feels to be something on
Sunny Day Real Estate - Guitar and Video Games
Sunny Day Real Estate - Days were Golden
Sunny Day Real Estate - Fool in the Photograph
Sunny Day Real Estate - The Rising Tide
Youth Group - Happiness' Border

I think that is it. As you can tell I'd like to play a lot of Sunny Day. Of course this set is brutally long to the point of impossibility. It would be awesome. I think Pseudobook should start practicing for our reunion show in 5 years. Give me your thoughts.

@ the library

I'm at the library today writing thank you notes, looking at Ikea furniture, and getting a library card. For those of you who did not know, I made an epic trip this last weekend. Thursday afternoon, I was chatting with Mike Edwards about the Great Fiction show. I remember seening them with Justin a while back and it was amazing. The thought ran through my mind, "That would be so awesome to see them again". And then suddenly, it started to happen. Let's do it. Can I do it? This is crazy. I can't do it. Yes I can! So, I talked to Nealey for a bit. No, I did not have to do any convincing. And I was off. 4 p.m Central Standard Time. I would arrive 600 miles later at the Edwards house, at 3:00ish Eastern Standard Time. You do the math. It was so good to see friends again. Lunch with Ben, Jeremy, Mike was great. There was a point during our lunch that was so amazing. Jeremy was saying he wanted some music for his film. After some small conversation, Ben was like, "Yeah, I'm in." Yeah, it was amazing. I love my friends, I just live real far away form them, that is all except Nealey. Nealey is such a great friend. Heck, she's my wife. I love my wife.

Yeah, there is some snow here

Nealey and I went for a nice walk on Monday. We saw that it was snowing and decided to join the snowflakes. Here is but a brief sample of what you can expect in Rochester.

Updates

So, I have some updating to do. Before I start, some really quality songs have come up on shuffle lately. Nealey and I have the 20GB iPod going most of the day. Including Mike's "Part of your World", Ben's "Le Musique", and an epic almost 10 minute "Baby I'm Yours" Seasons jam. Okay, now the updates.
The Rummikub record is now K:3, N:1. Nealey won the most recent game. I have started to hang some art and clocks on the walls here. The apartment is looking quite nice. Nealey starts work in a week. Things are going well.
Nealey and I saw Pan's Labyrinth. I enjoyed the movie a lot. I feel like I am holding back a little. I can't like it as much as I want to. I spoke to Mike a bit about the movie and we talked about some of the things I am about to write. The movie doesn't really explain the "other world" a lot. It just presents it, in a way that is somewhat "believable". I suppose that is the nature of a fairy tale, it doesn't take time to explain why everything is the way it is, it just is. There wasn't any long history on how little fairy came to be friends of Pan. There wasn't some explaination as to how everything came to be. It just starts, there was a kingdom... One item that I could have liked more was the character of Pan. First, I didn't like his voice all that much. Second, I wanted his part to be larger. I know he is supposed to be mysterious because we aren't really supposed to know if he is good or bad. However, as a whole, I enjoyed the movie a lot. Very pretty, dark a lot, great music.

Mike

Mike is officially the person who updates the least. Even less than Joel, that's saying a lot. The committee (wow, that felt weird to spell) of one has ruled.

Nealey and I

Nealey and I are enjoying our dinner tonight. Below is a picture of that. We have been settling in here. I will spare you the pictures of boxes everywhere, those will come in a later post. There are boxes everywhere! We are making progress though.Our bedroom is about finished, not swedish. The office is going to be the room we do last, and that is looking like it is going to be a challenge. Nealey and I played a game of Rummikub. I will update you on the standings everytime we play. K: 1 N: 0. We have also seen a couple movies. We saw Children of Men. I thought this film was amazing. Nealey did not because of the violence. We watched The Illusionist. Nealey enjoyed this film. I liked it except for the "here is everything you wanted to know in a montage" ending. All is well in Minnesota.

Minnesota Cray

Nealey and I have reached Minnesota. We are in our apartment however, our belongings do not arrive until Tuesday. We are sleeping on an air mattress that we bought from Wal-Mart. The apartment is large. We have had to do some substantial cleaning throughtout, there is just dust everywhere. Also, I think one of our neighbors, either the one to the right, or below us, smokes. There is a strong smell in the kitchen, but nowhere else in the apartment, thank goodness. Here is a pitcure looking into the living room. And yes, it has started snowing.

Mike and I in Minnesota

Mike and I made it safely here to the great state of Minnesota last night around 10ish. It wasn't that bad of a drive. We went through Chicago at a good time and I think that saved us a lot of time, rather than going around the city. We made a couple of stops, McD's, Pizza Hut, Gas/Pee. These are pictures of Mike and I at the Pizza Hut. Our waitress was nice and consistant. After anything we said, she said, "Sounds good." The last one is a picture of Mike after our long night of partying. Oh, did I forget that?

Christmas is here.

Here is a picture of me with fire from the new fireplace at our families new house in Toledo.


It is true, Mike Edwards and I will be taking a trip to Minnesota tomorrow, December 26th. I will be searching for an apartment for Nealey and I. We will also be able to enjoy some Roscoes, a really amazing place. I'll try to post some pictures up here.
Sooo close to marriage!

Wow!

So there is a lot happening now. I have 11 days left of student teaching. I have 46 days left until I start the rest of my life with the woman that I love, Nealey Hearns. God is soooooo good.

These days

Wow, Jeremy Enigk is really doing it for me right now. All I have been listening to is Sunny Day Real Estate. The album "How it feels to be something on" is always playing. His voice is so thick with something, but not in a bad way, in a very good way. I don't know why I haven't fallen in love with this album before. Like I said, I have been listening to it pretty much non-stop execpt for a nice listen of Ken Stringfellows "Je Vous En Prie" from Nealey. That was very nice. Like I said, I'm just sayin', you know what I'm sayin'? What are you trying to say?

Lets get some thoughts on the "How it feels to be something on" album. Is there a favorite song of yours?

Also, here is a picture of me at 5:30am today. It's by my bed in my recently cleaned room.

Thursday night, @ the bible study

Tonight is bible study at my house. I just had dinner with my mom.

John Osinski

Today I was walking down the hall at BGHS and saw a familiar face. I knew the face waling toward me. I couldn't place it at first, but as he walked near, we both realized who we were looking at. This person was John Osinski. See picture:

John had just graduated from Ohio State University in Math Education certified from 7th to 12th grade. Just like me. It was so cool to see him in school.

I have been thinking about St. John's a lot lately. I am realy glad that I was able to go to school there. It really did prepare me well for college. Also, it is so much more than a school, its an education, and there is so much more meaning in everyday and every class. It is much, much more than a school.

Oh God, where are you now?

Well, it's gone. Probably for the better.

Busy

Life has been pretty busy lately. School is expanding over the walls that keep school in. I really like taking pictures. I don't know if I am any good by anyother standard than I like them. Here is a picture that I took at like 5 in the morning.

Student teaching

I have been in the class room for almost two weeks now. It's not bad. I really like teaching. I wish my class sizes were a little smaller. I am teaching Intermediate Algebra now and will pick up Algebra II sometime. The day seems really long now. Getting up at 6 isn't fun, but I'm getting used to it. It's really all about going to bed at about 10:00, 11 is pushing it. I'm very glad to be teaching now rather than just sitting observing and taking attendence. I'm a teacher for pete's sake. Today at lunch I planned to use my planning period to use photobooth to take some photos, here are some of those amazing results.

'Sota, again.

We're back in Minnesota again. It was a long drive. We took some photos of Nealey's future employment. Here is a picture of Me, Nealey, and her dad in front of her actual hospital. She works on the top floor which is the neuro surgery.


We will get back sometime on Friday.

Disc Ghost

That's a nice picture. Disc Golfer Greats roam the course at will.

So we are going to see Rob Bell on thursday. I'm pretty excited about that. I also found this cool park near Cleveland called Swings-n-things. There is a multitude of fun fun things to do including batting cages. (I specifically mention this for myself, Justin, Charlie, and anyone else who is struggling in Softball). Nealey comes home in less than 4 weeks. Man it has been a long summer. I am quite excited to see her again. I'm sure Jeremy would like to hear all the gross stories that she has.

In closing, does anyone know Matt Edwards birthday?