Upcoming lease year

I think I will make it a goal in the upcoming lease year (from now until next August) to save as much money as possible, buy as few things as possible, and get rid of as much stuff as possible. I have a hard time believing that Moose and I will stay in North Minneapolis for more than a year (unless something really awesome happens, or we suddenly become acclimated and have no issues... we'll see though). This is unfortunate because I know Moose really does not want to keep moving every year. We thought we had a keeper in this house. The house definitely is. We will see how the neighborhood works out.

Anyway, I think this is a great opportunity for us to live like we "belong" in the neighborhood. I don't mean to sound condescending when I say that, but it's true. We are not impoverished. We are, however, getting a good deal on a nice rental home. It's time to start saving up money for a house and getting rid of all of our unnecessary possessions that make moving so hard. In 11 months, we can have a nice chunk of change saved and hopefully have paired down our stuff enough to make the next move easy. Or, we can not move and still be no worse for wear. Time will tell.

More North Minneapolis Woes

Well, we're pretty much moved into our new place in North Minneapolis now. There was another shooting on Wednesday that made the headlines. Apparently somebody decided to shoot at people holding a peace vigil. Yay. I guess crime is still down like 20% in North Minneapolis as compared to this time last year. Let's hope it just keeps going down.

Yesterday, I decided to drive through some of the really nice areas of North Minneapolis. These are the areas about two blocks west of us, going up the edge of the parkway. I'm trying to convince myself that we are close enough to this area to be in its area of effect. It is for certain that there are a lot less crimes in the nicer area, but we're *not* in that area. I just need to keep telling myself - we have insurance, it's ok. But, I worry about the next time we need to go out of town, or somebody picks up on our Monday night excursions to Eden Prairie...

Then I sit here thinking to myself, what happens the next time we move? We will kind of *have* to do everything at once, I think. Time to start getting rid of EVERYTHING. Oh well, we were going to do that anyway. I'm going to be working on that once we've unpacked.

I think I'll get the security system activated. I read today that there are fees associated with false alarms. It's like $45 the first time, $100 the second, and add $100 more for each additional offense. After 5 false alarms, I guess the police just stop coming. This is worse than having no alarm. Can cats set off house alarms?

New House, New Problems

We moved on Saturday into our new house. We've acknowledged (pretty much from the beginning) that the new place is in a shady neighborhood. We weren't worried because the house is nice, the houses nearby are nice, and the house has a security system installed that we can have activated if we want. We also have renters insurance.

Me, being who I am, have signed up for weekly crime statistics emails for the 4th precinct of Minneapolis. Totals for 8/14-8/20: 1 homicide, 0 rapes, 2 robberies, 5 aggravated assaults, 4 burglaries, 1 act of larceny, 0 auto thefts, and 2 acts of arson. This is just in our "neighborhood," one of five in the 4th precinct. None of the other neighborhoods are nearly as bad. W00!

Well, there's not much I can do about it. The landlord says she and her tenants have never had any issues when they've lived here in the past. It sounds like that's a history of at least 5-6 years. Hopefully, we can have similar luck. Cross your fingers for me... for the next year. :/

Moving, New House Blues

I know Moose is about the only person that reads this blog (hi honey), but I'm going to try to type this stuff out so I can make sense of it myself.

So, Moose and I have started the process of moving into our new house. It is a fairly modest 2 bedroom, 1 and a half bathroom house near the crappiest neighborhood in Minneapolis, Northside. It is also near the areas hardest hit by the tornado that ripped its way through Minneapolis on May 22nd, 2011. So, it's kind of hard to tell what the surrounding neighborhoods really looked like. Our house pulled through that disaster with a broken window, and nothing else. But that's not the point...

Everything about moving has been a disagreement between me and Moose. When to move, what to move, what to do with the rooms, etc. I'm not sure why. There are only so many options for a 2 bedroom house. I don't think I'm just trying to be contrary, but maybe I am. I feel like this is a good opportunity to make our house nice. Now, don't get me wrong, our place in SLP is nice. But it's always a mess. Piles of crap, everywhere. I am as guilty of it as Moose is, and I really don't like it. I want to get our new place set up and personalized with posters, knicknacks, etc, and put the rest of the things we want to keep in bins in the basement. We can then work on getting rid of everything else. I'm tired of being so sentimental about my belongings. I'm tired of having so much shit I never use. It's stressful. In order for me to want to stay at this house for more than one year, I need this. I need to feel settled and cozy. Maybe it stems from the fact that my mother is leaving. I won't have a home. I need a place that feels more permanent and less like a scattered mess. Or, maybe it stems from the fact that we are "adults" now. Another thing stuck in my mind is when we cleaned our current place in order to have the landlord show it. One of our friends came over and said "Hey, your place looks less messy." Which, in itself is true, but makes me feel like everyone thought it was incredibly messy before. It was. What do people think about us because of that?

This is bad. I'm hoping I don't go all "female" on Moose and be like "WE NEED THIS COLOR CURTAINS AND THIS COLOR RUG AND WE CAN PUT THESE THINGS IN THIS ROOM OR ELSE!" In some ways, I feel like Moose feels the same way, though. I think he's tired of all the bins of stuff we never use. At this place, at least they can be put in the basement and not thought of for a while. It'll make the living spaces feel less cluttered. But, we still need to get rid of things. We didn't get rid of much STUFF when we had the dumpster, only furniture.

Oh well, I need to focus on getting MOVED first. We'll have plenty of time to get things situated. Living in the chaos of unpacking is not fun. Then again, neither is moving.

And on top of all that... hopefully we don't get mugged or robbed or raped or killed. YAY MINNEAPOLIS.

New House

Come August 15th, Moose and I will be moving back into Minneapolis. We're renting a house! Here are the canned details about our new house!

HOUSE FOR RENT ...

2 bdr/1.5 ba, 2story with basement & detached 1 car garage well-maintained house located on a large corner lot, wood floors, tile floors in bathrooms

• Privacy fence surrounding the back yard and a gated chain fence in front yard and large dog kennel in back yard (the house is situated on 2 city lots on a corner) with big, beautiful trees
• Pets are allowed, but I have to see the pet--I don't want to upset any of my neighbors with loud animals, and they have to be clean--I want my house to stay nice (additional security deposit)
• Patio, fire pit, and landscaping in back yard
• Huge open kitchen
• Hardwood floors upstairs & downstairs
• A/C and central heat
• Large 3-season porch surrounded by windows in front of house
• Large walk-in closets
• Clean basement with washer & dryer
• Security system available (you can pay if you want to activate, otherwise already installed)
• Detached single-car garage with side door & garage door opener
• 1.5 blocks off of Theodore Wirth Parkway (Theo Wirth -- the largest park in Minneapolis)

o scenic, peaceful road
o paved bike, running, and mountain biking trails that run for miles through the woods and along the parkway
http://www.startribune.com/10130/story/1164447.html

o par 3, 18-hole golf course

Close to grocery stores, gas stations, and banks
10 min from downtown Minneapolis

sq ft approx: basement 600, 1st floor 700, 2nd floor 600 = 1900 sq ft total ... plus there is a detached garage big enough to fit suv, bikes, lawn mower in.

Hot Minneapolis is Hot

I'm sitting here at my desk, drinking horrible soldier-themed coffee and eating generic Ritz crackers (they're not very Ritzy then are they) to stay awake. My work is an air conditioned, albeit plastic smelling paradise. It sometimes gets cold enough for me to wear a sweater. This is generally between cups of coffee, so we won't count it. In any case, I keep a sweater here for those occasions where I'm not drinking coffee.

I want to add a little bit of the air conditioned-ness and maybe some plastic smell to my house. Granted, I don't spend much time there these days. Between work (gone 7am to 4:30pm every week day) and spending time with Moose (<3<3<3<3<3), I generally only spend 2-3 hours a day at my house. My sister apparently feels like I no longer live there. HOWEVER, when I am at home, I am way too warm. I worry about my kitties overheating. I'd worry about Oscar as well, but he's not around right now (he's been in Duluth due to missing Henry and the 'rents). I'm not entirely sure how bunnies cope with heat, but being on the ground floor on the floor probably means Pepper is alright.

I want to buy a big-ass air conditioner. *peers off on the horizon, squinting, making sweeping gestures with her hands* It needs to be a big-un. Ten thousand... maybe twelve thousand BTU... whatever that stands for. I don't care enough to look it up even for this blog entry... Capable of somewhat cooling a small, three bedroom house... Allowing me to move my air conditioner into my bedroom so that I no longer have to sleep in inappropriate "clothing" if a manfriend or normal friend is staying over... It would be so sweet... I could make the house smell like plastic by attaching tiiinny little strands of duct tape on the fan output... they could waft in the delightful airy coolness of the hunk of metal and plastic designed to cool air... ahhh. *closes her eyes and sighs*

Hopefully I can get one. Every time I want to go look at a used one from Craigslist, it ends up selling before I can even look at it. I might be stuck dropping $300 on a new one. But damnit, it might be worth it at this point. 100 degree is unacceptable weather, Minneapolis. Damnit. Minneapolis, you should buy me an air conditioner if you're going to act like that. Watch out for my pimp hand.

Summer

Yesterday was the first day of summer.

Right now in Minneapolis, it is 91 degrees fahrenheit with a 10mph wind and a humidity of 54%. "Feels like 96 degrees fahrenheit."

Right now in Duluth, it is 61 degrees fahrenheit with a 6mph wind and a humidity of 94%. "Feels like 61 degrees fahrenheit."

Oh Duluth, I adore thee.

Cold marble on a hot spring afternoon

I'm currently sitting on the floor of Walter Library.
I love this building... the ornate wonderfully crafted ceilings and pillars and floors... I know it was built with the cheap labor of the nineteen thirties, but I'd like to think that it was built with love.
After today, I love this building even more. It is building number 042.

It's even more fun to sit on the floor of Walter when you're eating a salted nut roll and have your hair up in a ridiculous bun. (MY BOYFRIEND MADE ME DO IT!)

The marble feels good after playing two games of bowling and two games of air hockey with Moose. His supreme fro (complete with headband making the top portion stick up even further) won over my top/side bun 3/4 times. Spending time with Moose is always fun.

Now I'm waiting for a meeting to start. Ugh.

At least I'm getting some interesting stares.

Crazy Weekend / Introspection

I think I just had one of the most amazing weekends of my life.

Star Wars role play, a party in Glencoe, meeting my new neighbors, and of course Andrew Bird *swoons*. Jam-packed action, mostly involving my good friend Altaris. We stayed up until 3 or 4 in the morning every night and slept until 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Lazy AND jam-packed. Hard to beat.

Andrew Bird rocked my socks and my brain and my heart and pretty much melted all of my circuits for the two hours proceeding his concert. Not only were there calm melodies found on the CDs, but Andrew Bird and his now four-piece band (including himself) rocked out on several numbers. Many of his songs should only be listened to live. The sheer wall of sound produced by his band is amazing. Also, when the spinny speaker thingy (I may insert the name later if I can remember of it) is a great end to several songs. The sound is thrown out into the venue and you can feel its waves wash over you. *sigh*

Unfortunately, my schedule became skewed by all of the awesome. I couldn't fall asleep last night and I had to get up at 9:30 in order to get a good start on my day. Makes me think that I need to start going to bed early and getting into the lab early.

As much as I enjoy staying up late and talking to my friends, the fact of the matter is I get little work done. It was advantageous to me to stay up late when Tara and I were sharing an apartment, but now that I have my own room I have no reason to be up late. Granted, when I stayed up late with Tara and developed these bad habits of mine, I didn't have friends that were up until 4am and were willing to talk to me.

Look for me online less. Watch for me working more. Talk to me and hopefully find that I'll have a better outlook on my situation.

Gotta get this paper done by Thursday.

Reflections (sans grad school bullshit)

I'm sitting in my new home in Minneapolis. I have my own, rather luxurious room. I have my bed and my computer and my bean bag and my desk... I have my books and clothes. All the essentials are here with me. Over the last five or so years, I've accumulated these things. Some of my possessions have moved with me several times. This is my fifth place of residence in Minneapolis... not including the apartments I semi-inhabited with my ex-boyfriend.

This is the first time I've lived in a house. Not a duplex, or a dorm, or an apartment, but a house. As I have progressed in years, my dwellings have also progressed. From a dorm room to a shared room in a "cookie-cutter" apartment building to sharing that same apartment with my ex and my sister to my own room in a duplex shared with men to the anomaly of the crappy one bedroom with my sister to my own room in a full house. Where am I going to move to next? Will it continue to be to bigger and better things? Will I continue to spend my days in this mill-worn city?

Life is a long and arduous journey. I sometimes ask myself... why can't I settle for mediocrity? Why can't I just get a crappy 9-5 job and be content with myself? When will I stop pushing so hard? I feel like the kid in that ubiquitous Far Side cartoon, pushing against the pull door at the school for the gifted. How hard to you have to push on a pull door before it opens? Shall we calculate the force required to break a hinge? How hard to you have to push before you give up and walk away? How long do you push before you realize you're making a mistake and need to pull instead?

When do I make a move? A move that doesn't involve packing and boxes and UHaul rentals... but one that involves the position of the swinging door in my mind that allows me to be content. In all my pondering on grad school and life, I still haven't made up my goddamned mind.

It's time to get the Magic 8-Ball and leave my happiness to the hands of fate... or, in the case of the Magic 8-Ball, a buoyant dice roll. As Einstein said, God does not "play dice." Good thing I'm human.

Late-night Minneapolis in February

Excuse the shaky image... my camera takes horrible night shots. The picture above is from the back door of my apartment. The new 35W bridge is in this picture. Instead of the normal royal blue, the bridge is a beautiful amethyst purple (Perhaps for the first day of February?). Behind that is the Minneapolis skyline. I spend time staring at this view almost every night.

Minneapolis is an interesting place. It has been my home for four years. Hopefully I will post some stories about Minneapolis later.