Week 39: 09/20-09/26

Week 39

Homemade bun of course

     09/20 - Today I tried my hand at making BBQ beef brisket....I must say it was a grand success! So delicious. I made up a dry rub and let the beef slab sit overnight, then slow cooked it all day. One of the best things I've ever made and I didn't use any recipe! I may try to remember the dry rub ingredients and type up a recipe for the Recipes page someday.

     09/23 - I have ventured deep into reading "The Martian"..it shouldn't take long, I can't tear my eyes off the pages. I estimate it won't take more than a week, tops. It may or may not also make it on my book review list.
   

Week 38: 09/13-09/19

Week 38

     09/13 - School is in full swing so, not much happens during the week. I spend my time going to class, doing HW, making food, and lounging. That's about it. It's good though, I enjoy my classes and I know the free time I have now won't last so I better make the most of it!

     09/16 - I got some Chacos. Cool shoes, cool concept.
     09/17 - Tonight Peter and I joined some fellow grad students at Grand Station Entertainment, a big bowling, mini golf, bar, games, laser tag place. It was cool! I accidentally ordered a hurricane thinking I was ordering a Heineken, drank it anyways... They have a special where after 9:30 you can get unlimited bowling, mini golf, and laser tag for just $10. We played a lot of laser tag and then bowled for a bit. Cool group of people.

     09/18 - Today not much happened other than a visit to a local whiskey bar: Rough Draught. It was a cool little place just down the street in College Station's Northgate district. The whiskey wasn't too expensive and a great way to try out different Texan distilleries.
      09/19 - My family sent me a care package consisting of the SAS Survival Handbook and a TAMU flag! The flag is now proudly displayed.

'merica

Week 37: 09/06-09/12

Week 37

     09/08 - Steak is a thing here. I may have already said that. I may have also accidentally bought pork steaks instead of real steaks. Live and learn. Live and learn.

     09/11 - So I'm a genius, and The Stack has a pool. Let's combine those things, shall we? So I went to Target and bought a pool raft and water gun and Scooby snacks. The Scooby snacks were essential, I assure you. This evening I spent in the pool with a glass of wine on the raft AND my waterproof speaker. It was awesome. Peter eventually joined but not in as cool of a way.

     09/12 - Relient K is playing a free concert on campus to kick off the football season! Free! I went and it wasn't too hot out. I did get a chance to break out my sun hat though. The show was really good, I felt like I was back in junior high haha. Here are a few pics:

Week 36: 08/30-09/05

Week 36

     08/31 - First day of school! But I don't have class haha. As it turns out I'll only have class two days a week: Tuesday and Thursday. That's it. This week, Peter and I discovered some of the great things about this place. For starters, they have amazing grills. Also, the south has Milo's Sweet Tea. Hello! Finally, bourbon is cheap! All booze is cheap and they tax it only like 7.25%! Crazy right?! Especially considering in Seattle it was 26% liquor tax! They don't tax food here or income....where do they get all their money from?

     Today I also bought some new friends. Yes, I buy my friends:

     09/03 - Going home! Yup! Already! This weekend I will be attending two weddings. One of my neighbor and the other of my cousin, it's going to be a blast.
     09/04 - Weddings Part I: Stephanie and John. I think I'll mainly just provide pictures. This wedding was at a nice venue out at an orchard someplace, I don't remember the name. It was lovely, as most weddings ought to be. It was a bit toasty but a really great time! The food was excellent!

     09/05 - Wedding Weekend Part II: Kelly and Tyler. My cousin got married! Whoohoo! It was a really great wedding and I'm so happy for them. The venue was also wonderful and it was a great time to hang out with family. Also, I got to introduce Melissa to everyone so that was swell.

     We sent off Tyler and Kelly with a bunch of glowsticks so that was exciting. At one point my cousin Trevor rapped out some Kanye, much to the amazement of my older relatives. There were some weird song selections. At both weddings, actually, the DJs were really kind of awful. You think it wouldn't be that difficult to play cliche wedding songs?

Week 35: 08/23-08/29

Week 35

     08/23 - This week I move down to Texas! I'll be leaving on the 25th and have much to do before then. I've contrived a nifty way to pack up my shirts. I hung them up on a clothes rack then wrapped them entirely in a vacuum-seal bag, hangars and all. Then I just suck out the air. This keeps them from getting all wrinkled but still saves a ton of space. All of my other clothes I managed to get into a bag I'm referring to as "the Cube." It's rather dense but it should cover everything. Clothes: packed.

     08/24 - I needed a haircut, but I didn't want to go out and get one or pay for one...so I cut it myself. Yes, I cut my own hair and it actually worked. Mirrors and iPads are quite useful for seeing the back of one's head.
     The Jeep is all packed up and ready for adventure! There's not much space for the third passenger in the back but I made it work. I also realized that bike racks are overrated when you have a Jeep. I managed to easily strap my bike to the Jeep's spare tire. I realized later this was a bit of a pain when trying to open the door, only because the window would hit the handlebars as it opened. Note for next time: strap in to the tire upside-down.

Herbert gets a full seat

Engineering at its finest

     08/25 - We are off! Destination: Little Rock, Arkansas. First stop: Chuck Town, USA. I realized as I looked at a map of the midwest that it would be quite easy for me to make a pit stop in Charleston to see Melissa on my way down to Texas, no more than 20 minutes off the highway. So that's what we did! It was nice to see her place and grab a cup of Joe. Chuck Vegas isn't as bad as she might make it sound ;p
     The last time I drove through Arkansas was during the spring and it was desolate. Post-summer, however, it's still infinitely flat but has a bit more character and color. This is good, I was starting to feel really bad for Arkansas people. We finally arrived after 11 hours of driving in Little Rock, Arkansas. I did ALL the driving while my parents just chilled. It was a solid drive and no tickets this time! lol
     08/26 - After long last, College Station! We made it to College Station after about another 6 hours of driving, piece of cake after the 11 I put in the day before. First impressions: Texas A&M is huge! I guess I didn't realize it, but TAMU is actually a bigger school than UIUC. The buildings are taller, the trucks here are all massive white pickup trucks, everything IS bigger in Texas. It's not a lie. I immediately headed on over to my new Texas home: The Stack. This place is super nice. The pool is phenomenal, I have my own bathroom, the kitchen is great and there's a gym somewhere in the building (still haven't found it). Pictures:

      08/27 - Today was fill-the-fridge day. I got a lot of groceries. A big grocery store down here is HEB, not sure what it stands for. For dinner me, Peter, and my parents went to Grub Burger Bar. It was incredible. It's definitely on par with 8 Oz., while not quite as tasty, equally tasty if weighted with price. Also, there is a bar and they have boozy milkshakes, similar to Lunchbox Laboratory.
     08/29 - I spend the rest of the week going to orientation and generally exploring. My parents flew out of Austin on Friday. School starts on Monday!

Week 34: 08/16-08/22

Week 34

     08/16 - Tis the week to pack for Texas! Or at least start thinking about thinking about packing. I cleaned out the Jeep and I've begun assembling a concise pile of plastic bins in the garage. I'm going to have to be as concise as possible if I want to bring a lot of things down south. Another issue is I have to leave room for a third passenger to ride in the back seat. I have plenty of time to think about it...
     08/17 - They built a new Salvation Army thrift shop in my town, awwww yeah. Today I scored an entire free-weights set with a bench and everything for $30! Crazy deal. The weights are all chrome and such too, very nice. I'm going to set them up in the basement and establish a workout room of sorts down there for when I'm at home.
     08/18 - Today (2am) I did just that. My parents want to clean out the "junk" side of the basement so I took some initiative, added some water and sweat, and tore up some carpet. Now I have a nice patch of concrete with which to build my lifting station. A few carpet squares later and voilà, I have a gym, equipped with a TV stand (music stand with iPad and speaker).
     Even more exciting than a homemade gym is that I got a last-minute visitor, Melissa! She decided she didn't have much to do and that she wanted to visit Rockford land for a day/night.

     08/19 - Just as I was a tour guide in Seattle, so now am I a tour guide to Rockford. Today Melissa and I had a fun-packed day starting in the best way possible: with Swedish pancakes at Stockholm Inn. I then toured her about Rockford proper, showing off Anderson Japanese Gardens and the botannical garden center by the Rock River. Later on we drove through my stomping grounds at Rock Cut State Park. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad she could visit :)

     08/21 - Wedding Month: Part I. Today my family attended the first of four weddings this month. It was at Rockford Brewing Company so it had a really cool hipster vibe to it. The bride is a close family friend of ours. The catering was great because the options were Chipotle or Noodles and Company, classic. I had a lot of fun and I always appreciate good architecture.

     08/22 - Today my grandma and great aunt came over for a cook-out at my house. This turned into a sending off party for me as more relatives poured in post-dinner. It was a great time and I'm glad I got to hang out with everyone before leaving for Texas land.

Week 33: 08/09-08/15

Week 33

     08/09 - Ahh Home sweet home. It's good to be back in Illinois. Today I visited some family members and my cousin's cafe/bakery. I got to see my cousin's little son Oliver! He's adorable, as most (yes only most) babies are. It was a good day to chill, but I'm off tomorrow to visit Eureka!

     08/12 - I spent a couple days visiting with Melissa's family in small-town, USA: Eureka! Eureka is a nice little town :) That should be their slogan "A nice little town." I had an amazing time and got to go to the Ronald Reagan museum and touch a piece of the Berlin Wall. There is also an amazing pie shop/diner in the area called Busy Corner. Best pie I've ever had. 

Me and Reagan

Melissa and her new dino friends

     One day Melissa surprised me and took me to Peoria's museum to see.... dinosaurs! Actually, they weren't real dinosaurs, but they were engineering dinos, even better! Somewhere somehow somebody (this body) found a way to combine art, dinosaurs, and engineering into a unique exhibit that let people move giant mechanical dinosaur skeletons with the help of pulleys and cables and such. It was a blast and the Peoria riverfront was a nice little walk too. 

     My favorite part of the visit though was just taking walks and relaxing and napping on the porch, keep it simple :)

     08/13 - After returning from Eureka I'm on to my next adventure, Minocqua! Those of you who have been following my blog (Melissa) may remember Minocqua in my first post. Yes, this is the same place. We like to go there as much as possible, certainly in the winter and summer if we can. It takes us between 4-5 hours to get up there but once we're there, we're totally chill. In the summer my grandparents are up there so it's great to spend some time with them!

(Divergence: I'm no longer going to overly concern myself as to specific dates of events, etc. I'll try to record things in a rough order within a given week, but some/most things can be generalized and summarized in better ways than a day-to-day account. End divergence.)
    08/14 - The first full day of Minocqua, summer edition, brought with it some classic relaxation techniques and activities. One of my favorite things to do up North is to canoe. It's nice just being out on the water, chasing down loons and soaking up the not-too-hot sun. This year, we mastered the art of jumping out of the canoe to swim (previously we only ever jumped out of the flatter paddle-boat).
    Another favorite summer activity is to relax in my hammock under the pines, basking in the woodland aromas and chirps of birds.

Not the most glorious shot, but this gets the point across.
Relaxation.

This one's a little trippy due to the nature of panoramas

         One night we went to Thirsty Whale Restaurant to enjoy some on-the-lake food and catch sight of the world famous Minocquabats (A play on Minocqua and acrobats) -- They are a water-skiing troupe. I'm so happy I got to use the word troupe in context. Anyways, my brother's name is Jonah and so we always find reasons to take goofy pictures of him with whales.

Frat star

     08/15 - The last day of our trip we started off well by going to Wolf Pack Cafe. It has the best non-Swedish pancakes in the world, but for real.