New bike shops

Well I think I was actually snued at a bike shop today. That even with my Nokon cables on the bike, I mean you think that would be high enough class to get me past any first inspection. But I guess I was wrong, because as I walked into this shop all conversation stopped and I was looked up and down (as well as the bike) and from there it seemed as though the guys there could care less about me. But then again I wasn't riding a new Orbea or white carbon Bianchi, with a postal jersey. Not that it really matters in the end, their club has rides that started at 7:00 am, so I wasn't too keen about that anyway.

I did get in about a little over a 50 km ride, so it wasn't all bad, though the snowflakes that were falling were less than plesant.

Hopefully I'll get a ride in tomorrow with a club.

Food or Flowers?

Well last night I discovered a charming feature of my new neighbourhodd. It seems that there is an over abundance of flower shops in the area. There is about 8 of them within the same distance as the two real grocery stores in the area.

To add to the fun of getting food though is the fact that the closer of the grocery stores is a "natural" grocery store. Where you can buy parsley for the low low price of $1.59 U.S.!!!! Needless to say I didn't bother buying anything there.

Other than those little challenges things are going smoothly and I'm gradually getting settled into my life here.

Chris

I made it!

Well things went rather well with me getting through customs and down to Minneapolis. Though I was worried when the customs agent refused the person before me and also had delayed another to the point where he missed his flight. But I made it through, and was even confused for a crew member by security at one point, which may be why my bags were not X-rayed.

All in all things went well, though I did have to give my taxi driver directions to my new apartment, like I even knew where I was going. But I made it there; the place is great, but empty (for now). I've spent the day running around campus here getting things sorted out with keys and payroll. Hopefully that's about all done and I can get things started shortly.

For now I'm off to Target (the competition for Wal-Mart down here) to pick up some household essentials. I miss you all and have been reliving fond memories of you all. Keep in touch and check back here for more news in the future.

Chris

Trendy & Ignorant

Well I just witnessed the best example of someone blindly following a trend. Coming out of the Chem building I noticed a girl sitting down for a smoke. Nothing unusual there, except that she was wearing one of the trendy yellow "Livestrong" wristband which are sold for the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research!

So either she is investing in future research towards the inevitable cancer she will develop, or she's just really ignorant of what it means and just wants to look cool. Which is probably why she started smoking in the first place so I guess it all makes sense in the end.

At least it gave me a good laugh!

1 Week to go

So I'm almost finished things here. It still doesn't feel like it's coming to an end just yet. But then again the pressure is on to keep everyone happy and see as many people as possible.

So I'll do what I can, at least I had the farewell party, that drew a good crowd and gave everyone a chance to say goodbye. I have to admit I was surprised to see so many people there, I guess I have made a good impression with my time here.

Oh well time to run, maybe I'll add more soon, but for now this is still in a trial/holding phase until I'm ready to send out the link.