Life in Minnesota

I'm feeling very Minnesota at this point. On Friday we picked up our new canoe. It's gorgeous. We immediately got it licensed and dropped it into Lake Phalen and tooled around a bit. Saturday we rowed from Phalen to Keller to Round to Spoon to Gervais lakes, which are all connected by streams. Very nice. The weather was beautiful, and what little ice was left in Phalen had all been blown to the southern lobe of the lake so we could just bypass it. Yesterday Jeron and I got up before the butt crack of dawn and went to go stalk the elusive trout. Here in L'etoile du Nord the trout fishing season starts the second weekend in April, whilst walleye and bass seasons don't open until late May. I'd never trout fished before, but I had an extremely fun time. Just as the sun was rising, we were poised and ready to go on the creek, and the fish were hitting. You can only keep five fish apiece, and the first ones slipped easily into our ice packs. At nine, Jeron and I had one fish to go for our limit, and we got very picky (read: greedy). Jeron hooked into a fine but somewhat small fish, and we decided to let it go so we could get a bigger one. Sure enough, we caught no more fish the rest of the time there. Sad, but an important lesson: take the tenth fish. To complete the Minnesota feeling, it's snowing right now and the wind chill is 4 above. Lousy subarctic climate.

In the last few months the format of this site has evolved to its present version: a topical portion to start, set off by a medium sized headline, with a more normal weblog section below the small headline. More often recently I've been writing a journal-style entry in the top section, and few people have complained. I've always been somewhat nervous about writing much about myself. This isn't because I don't think I can do it; I'm sure I could. It's also not because I'm boring, although some people say I am. No, it's because I've noticed that many of the journal writers attract freaks. Seriously, I understand Noah is an important figure in the journaling world, and he's got psychological problems that he has laid out in detail, but folks: you don't know him. Lay off the crazy stalker like comments. If anyone ever wrote anything like that in my comment section, I think I'd quit. Another example, not quite as bad: check her comments. Borderline, people. Relax, she's just another person. Speaking of journalizers, Al mentioned me in his super awesome and popular journal. Al gets about a million hits a day and I haven't noticed any fawning stalkers in his discussions. I wonder how he does it.

Gabba Gabba Hey!

RIP, Joey Ramone. The Ramones were a fantastic band, and definitely an indelible part of my growing up. Kevin introduced me to them, which is really cool in and of itself. Kevin was PAF while I was in my early teens (that's Punk As Fuck, FYI). Many of his favorite bands were somewhat, errrr, esoteric and I didn't exactly get into them. The Ramones, on the other hand, were catchy, cool, and had insanely short songs. Then he brought home a ripped off copy of Rock 'n' Roll high school, and we watched that over and over and over again. Hell, my mom likes the Ramones. Then I went off to college (taking Kevin's taped copy of Ramones Mania with me - sorry, bro, but you aren't getting it back) and shared my love for the Ramones with my boy Jared Ellis. So, I'll always have several special places in my heart for the Ramones. I'll pour out a little bit of my next forty ounce bottle for ya, Joey. Finally, let me share this brief story of the WTO protests shared by Jeff to me via the wonders of Instant Messenger:


Jeff says:
Well, let me tell you this story real quick. I'm at the main havoc site in downtown Seattle. I am near the FAO Schwartz, with its giant teddy bear made of bronze. Cops are shrieking into megaphones. Tear gas is in the air. It is a scene of fierce surrealism.
Nathan says:
I bet.
Jeff says:
People are dressed as sea turtles to demonstrate the plight of the beasts. Everyone has a sign of some type. "Steelworkers for Fair Trade." "Smash Capitalism." "Free Burma." & etc. In the midst of all of the riff-raff signs I see a professionally printed sign in black block letters that says, simply, "Gabba Gabba Hey!"
Jeff says:
Holding the sign is Joey Ramone.