I found a great school for you!

This was an ad on a website this morning. Looks like it's a great school!

From September 2008

More RNC protest pics

These are from Thursday afternoon. See all pics

From RNC Protest Thursday

RNC Excitement!

I know you've all been excitedly waiting for my photos and report of the RNC protesters. Well folks, things have been exciting here in Downtown St. Paul! Super exciting!!!

There have been marches in the afternoons every day so far this week and everyone here at work has run excitedly to the window to watch them go by. We've been told there will thousands of people marching by in protest - disgruntled poor people! Secret Service guys harassing anyone and everyone who didn't look like they belong in a Republican family values brochure! unwashed hippies assaulting the good citizens of St. Paul with their smell! herds of cops on horses and bikes in riot gear ready to take down anyone who looks like they'd never even consider wearing a tie or pearls! black-clad, bandana'd, feces-flinging anarchists! By all accounts this was shaping up to be a good show.

Tuesday's afternoon march was by the Somali Union. It consisted of about 20 people, half of whom were skinny blond white boys in tie-dye t-shirts. Hmm. I can only speculate that the overcast skies and occasional drizzle kept the masses away.

We didn't let Tuesday's disappointing protest affect our excitement on Wednesday. It was a beautiful day - sunny and mid-60's - perfect for an afternoon of marching, chanting, sign waving, mass chaos, etc by the Scholars for 911 Truth group. Halfway through the morning we spotted a bald eagle circling over the next block. It was a sign! A majestic symbol of American freedom and democracy! The 911 conspiracy theorists must have viewed this as a sign from God himself. Shortly after 1PM the cry went up - here they come! We all lined up at the window and saw... this.


(can't see the slideshow? see my blog)

I counted a total of 44 people plus one dad with a little boy on his shoulders who was running about a block behind everyone else (must have been delayed by a diaper change or something). We actually felt a little sorry for the protesters - all they could drum up was 45 people? (I don't know anyone young enough to still be in diapers who understands concepts like 'government' or 'conspiracy' so they don't count in my protester total.) I think there were more people waiting in line for The Daily Show tickets.

I will not let my disappointment in the previous protests dampen my enthusiasm for today's protest by Youth Against Racism & War. I'm guessing the younger they are, the less afraid of getting arrested they are - and the better our chances for seeing something good. This protest group might even make it worth my while to run downstairs and take pictures at street level!

Baby Josie

8/26/08

Josephine Marie

9 lbs, 20.5 in.

I may be biased, but she's pretty darn cute.

And she has pretty dark hair, just like her mom!

Things have been interesting at work this week. I have a prime spot for watching them set up for the RNC. This morning we've been watching them haul equipment into the History Center for that show with Jon Stewart. There are fences with barbed wire by the freeway and helicopters have been flying around all morning. Soon there will be portable toilets in front of the Capitol (classy!). I am one of the few (the brave!) planning on coming in to work next week. It should be really interesting. I'm in a prime spot for watching the marches/parades/protests - they will be going right in front of our building. I'm not sure what it's going to be like next week - it could be really fun, it could be a huge pain in the butt and it could be a little scary (probably nothing to worry about, but we've been hearing about all the emergency plans/procedures for our building - you never know exactly what's going to happen when you've got 10,000 protesters right in front of a clearly marked government building). I just hope I'll be able to get in and out of our parking ramp and downtown!

Pictures - Duluth and Sammy

Click on any pic to see them all. (hey, I never said they were good pictures! :) )

From August 2008

From August 2008

From August 2008

More pictures - Alexandria and Spike

From June 2008

From June 2008

From Spike

This past year has gone really fast - and really slow all at the same time. My cousin and her boys have been here for a year (I'm not going to go into why here; I don't want to think about it right now). They're going back to Germany this weekend. My cousin moved to Germany when she was pregnant the first time and they've lived there ever since (I can't believe it's 7 years! Trevor will be 7 in two months!). I've only really seen her kids when they have been here for a visit or when I have been there for a visit, which probably works out to about once a year. So I feel very lucky to have gotten to spend a whole year with them. But now I don't know what I'm going to do without them! No one else gets all excited to see me or wants to sit next to me or hold my hand or play Indiana Jones with me. To fill that gap I will be taking applications for new members of my fan club, if any one's interested. ;)

At least Trevor learned how to read this year at school (1st grade) so I can send him emails about Indy and Lego Indy. I tend to get a little obsessed with stuff and it's been nice to have someone else to talk to who is obsessed with the same thing. Trevor is also really into Star Wars so I told him that Indiana Jones and Han Solo are played by the same guy. He seemed pretty surprised by this. Then he asked "How did you know that?" He seemed to really like the idea that there is a link between Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Last weekend we played with his action figures. Our team of good guys consisted of Indiana Jones, Desert Indiana Jones, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Marion, Young Indy (played by an army guy - "he's like Young Indy because he doesn't have a gun or a whip and he's wearing green") and Young Indy's boyscout friend (played by a small figure of Diego from Dora the Explorer). I wasn't quite sure what our good guys were trying to do, but I think we were trying to destroy the Death Star.