Blog Archive for March 2005
I Made It
Some might think it impossible, but I did it. I walked through the whole Ikea store without buying a single thing. (Well, I almost bought a Mountain Dew at a pop machine on the way out, but I didn't have a $1 bill on me.)
For those of you who haven't experienced Ikea, it's a cool place. It's really big and they have lots of nice stuff, although much of it is different than our stuff because Ikea's from Sweden. But much of it is stylish and cheap, which is always great. It was fun looking through hundreds of home and room setups, seeing innovative ideas, and seeing many of them put together in many different combinations. It also got my interior designer bug going - if I get my own apartment or condo in the near future, you can bet I'm going back there to make it look frickin' sweet.
So yeah, I made it out of there without spending a dime. It was kinda hard, though, with 60-CD racks for just $3.99 and such.
The Countdown Is On!
Let's celebrate! Today marks 50 days 'till Star Wars: Episode 3 hits theaters! To celebrate, I used some of my birthday money and ordered the DVD of Star Wars: Clone Wars Vol. 1. It should be interesting to see what happened between II and III in an animated cartoon format.
Oh Yeah, I Forgot...
Yeah, I'm published! Yeah, that's my opinion letter in the St. Paul, MN newspaper.
EDIT: The site no longer has the content, and I don't really have a digital copy of their edited content anymore, but this is the full e-mail I sent them. I think they did edit it down a bit for their Opinion section.
We have a problem. Unless this administration changes its policy, we will not have a mass transit system in five years, we will have an international joke. According to Charles Laszewski's story in the Friday paper, Pawlenty's administration is not giving any more funding to Metro Transit and fares are going to be raised. How can this happen? For the first time in 50 years, the Twin Cities has the beginnings of a solid mass transit system. Even since my mother was young, buses were considered to be for those who were poor or disabled. With the advent of light rail, we may actually have a transit system that regular middle-class workers might use to get to work. However, raising fares and cutting funding is not going to help. If anything we need to channel more state money into MetroTransit so that it can expand its services. Cutting routes and services are not going to encourage new ridership. If the state fails to do this now, Minnesotans are going to be clogging up the freeways for the rest of my lifetime. How about conserving energy and getting to work a little cheaper for a change?
- Dan Ficker, St. Paul, MN
A Heat Wave
Right now it's 67°! I'm wearing shorts and the window is open. And it's March in Minnesota!
My dad was in Arizona last week and he said there were a couple days there that were colder than today.
It's almost too warm for me.
Happy Easter!
Hope you're having a good Easter holiday! Jesus has risen!
In other news, Bjorn was right. My iPod's battery is dying, darn it.
And finaly, I have a really exciting interview scheduled for Wednesday! It's at a small website design company I've interviewed with once before, except this time they're actively hiring. So pray that Wednesday morning goes well, because this would be exactly what I want. (Plus, then I could get a new iPod!)
Honorable Mention
I hate doing this, because it sounds like i'm asking for something.... but this past Friday was my birthday. There, now I can get on with my story....
(We interrupt this story to remind you that Dan always accepts presents! Please check the links on the right for my Amazon.com wishlist and more. ;-) )
So most of my friends have the tradition that we honor the person whose birthday it is. It's great, because with other people, you'd get some people who just say, "You're a cool cat, Dan." These real friends and family actually talk about the gifts that God has given me, which is a real treat to hear because I overlook them all to often.
The first that many talked about was that I seem to have an unbouding joy. I think that's true, although I'm sure you see it a lot less online because it's just me and my computer and sometimes I get a bit bored. But when I'm out hangin' with my friends, I'm always havin' a fun time. Sometimes I think it's a problem, though, because I don't worry too much about life. (It's a "hakuna matata" type of thing.) Sometimes I think that is bad because I don't tend to worry about tests or interviews and such too much, I just figure they'll go well if they're supposed to.
Oh well. They're probably right. It's a good thing.
Another friend honored me because I keep working at this job search thing. Yeah, I suppose so. Sometimes I feel like I'm doing nothing, mostly because nothing so far for almost a year has worked out. I guess it's a good thing this type of stuff doesn't get me down much, because getting rejected twenty times really does hurt. Am I good for anything in this computer industry? Or is it that I need to think past this crappy Minnesota area?
Yet another friend honored me for just being there and ready to hang out. Yeah, when it's easy, I guess I am. This friend lives four blocks away and I see him at events at least once per week, so it's easy to keep up and do stuff. But I haven't talked to anybody I knew at St. Thomas since summer. I don't know if that' s good, but it would be harder to get together with those people. Plus, I'm kinda ashamed to tell them I don't have a job yet.
Alright, I'm done with this rambling. All this double-thinking the honoring stuff is almost getting me down about life. And I can't have that!
Exchange Phone Numbers Just By Kissing?
Here's what I thought was a rather creepy article. Apprently the data goes through your skin or something. And touching people exchanges data. Pretty odd. I don't really care for touching people anyways, but I guess I might have to in the future, I guess.
More Incredible Stuff
Earlier this week I got The Incredibles on DVD, and that was cool. But my sisters just gave me for my birthday a really cool T-Shirt!
Yes, now even I look like a super! How cool is that! I would say thanks again to my sisters, but they don't read this anyways. ;-)
btw, I stole that picture from eBay, it's not my picture.
Hot(Diggity)Sync
Before I left this afternoon I put some contact information and calendar events into Outlook. Unfortunately, after I left, I remembered that I didn't sync my amazing Palm smartphone with my PC. Well, I'm not going to have that problem very often anymore.
I hooked it up so that it can HotSync over the Sprint PCS wireless network on demand (as long as my computer at home is on, which it always is). It's killer.
Ahhh, Snow...
Finally, we have the second decent snowstorm of the year. Not as big as two months ago here, but at least it's been snowing decently all day and we have some snow on the ground.
I watched my new The Incredibles DVD special features last night... very nice stuff.