New apartment photos

Hal writes:

Don't miss our vacation photos below! Here are some photos I took this morning.

A veiw in the bedroom. The wood gives a "cabin like" feeling. We decided to make the smaller of the two bedrooms where we sleep to give the other room enough space for our bookshelves, computer, etc. Both bedrooms had the same size walk in closet. The bench at the foot of the bed was made by Hal's grandfather.


Tall cabinets in the kitchen, but we bought a step stool while at IKEA in the twin cities. The kitchen table has another leaf to make it longer if needed. Early this morning the kitchen light cover fell and smashed glass everywhere, we thought someone was breaking through a window. But we were able to clean the glass up. The fake pipe covering that runs through the ceilings is supposed to be "trendy". Located off to the right (not seen) is our laundry room with a washer and dryer and the door to our bedroom.

Comfy furniture in the living room. The couch is long enough for Hal to lay down on. Bathroom and door to hallway located in the back left corner. Door to second bedroom back left corner.

Corner entertainment center. Door to private patio on the right. As you can see, we have not hung up any framed art or pictures yet.

Anna working on her paper that is due August 1st in the second bedroom. We're using the hutch as a bookshelf instead of displaying plates because it does not fit in the living room. More furniture to come for this bedroom. What you see is just an alcove, a part of the room. The room is much larger than the photo makes it seem.

Photos II

These photos did not make the previous blog (see below).

Dale and Hal after the Park Point 5-miler. (They weren't smiling in any of the photos of them running the race.) Hal saw a high school classmate during the race (Margie) and completed the distance around 41:30 to come in 170th place overall. (His first mile was 7:15, a little on the fast side...)

Hal at the half built bridge. As you can see, Wisconsin could not keep up their end of the bargain. Go Minnesota!

Holy photos, Batman!

Hal Writes:

Here are some photos from our trip. I will refrain from (large amounts of) commenting, but you all know that I would have story upon story to tell about each photo and things that happened in between. I may have to do two posts if Blogger limits the number of photos per post. Is anyone looking at this anymore? Don't be afraid to make a comment!

Anna at the half built bridge in Duluth. Don't eat the fish caught near there!



Dad and my great uncle Donny work on Grandpa's footstone.

Some of grandpa's agates were worked into the the footstone.

Napping on the hammock. We did other strenuous activities like pontooning.

A view of Little Hanging Horn Lake from the hammock.

Hal outisde the museum in Shell Lake. (No photos were allowed inside.)

At the Minnesota Science Museum. Sorry, no photos from the "Body Worlds" exhibit. Gross!

My father the retired chemistry teacher. "Science Buzz", get it?

Anna won the interactive quiz show game and was named "Grand Pubah of Science".
Yet another reason to love Minnesota... Caribou Coffee.

Pictures from Up North

Hal writes:

Before Anna and I leave Shell Lake to return to my parent's cabin in Minnesota, we were hoping to use Kat's computer to share some quick photos and stories. But, alas, the dial up connection is not cooperating with uploading photos, so you will have to wait until next week. (Or longer, if they have not turned on the ethernet in our new apartment.) But my fear is that, since I am the story teller, I will forget some of the adventures.

Like today, when Anna, Dale, Sandy and I went to The Potter's Shed for coffee and then spent time at the Museum of Woodcarving. Exciting adventures! (Well, it's not as exciting as Dale and I on ladder's with power tools, but Anna does not want me sharing Hal and Dal's home improvement adventures...)

But, as a bonus to anyone who may be checking, a new Sven and Ollie joke.

Sven was on a tropical cruise and was blown overboard. He survived on an island for 20 years. When he was rescued, he showed a reporter around the island. Not far from the beach, they came to three huts that were constructed. The two huts on the end each had a crossed erected on top that Sven had made by fastening some wood together. When asked about them Sven said, "Well, da hut in da middle is my home, and dat dere to the right of it is my lutheran church." When asked about the structure to the left with a cross, Sven sneered and said, "O, dat's the lutheran church I USED to go to."

Start of Vacation

Hal writes:

Monday morning was a whirl wind of last minute to do items before we left Platteville. We are officially checked out of Dobson Hall and all of our stuff is sitting in boxes in the new Southwest Hall. Our hope is that by the time we return (in about two weeks) we will have the major appliances added and the Fire Marshall has approved the building for habitation.

After a long, long drive we ended up at my parent's cabin. Yesterday was a day of relaxation at the cabin. In the morning, Anna and I went kayaking for 1.5 hours and then in the afternoon, went out on the pontoon for 2.5 hours. The time on the pontoon consisted of mostly drifing in the lake while we read, turning the motor on occasionally as we approached the shore line.

In the late afternoon I sorted through my childhood treasure: baseball cards. I have a Xerox box full of them, and most of them I now have little attachment towards. I sorted them on a big table by maker and year. Most of the cards I had were Topps from 1986 - 1993. Also in the mix were some Fleer, Donrus, Triple Play, and Upper Deck brands. For some reason, I also have a handful of football, basketball, and hockey cards. I'm going to save some of the Twins cards from my youth (Puckett, Neumann, Knoblach, Hrbeck, Davis, etc.) and try and sell the rest. I have no idea of their present value and will most likely sell them to a dealer below the listed value. In the process, I have set aside cards that I think may be of value. So, if you have any favorite players from '86-'93, let me know before I sell them. Today's goal is to purchase some cardboad boxes sized for baseball cards so I can keep them somewhat organized as I transport them. Anyone have any suggestions on how to find out the value or where to sell them at?

This morning I am writing to you from Two Harbors. Anna and I have dates with Dr. Dan, the dentist, and then we are going to spend the day in Duluth. Most likely, Anna will hear once again that she needs her wisdom teeth pulled. We're hoping to get this done in August, before she goes back to school. I have to start RD Training August 1, so if any of you would like to help me take care of my wife during her recovery, there is free room and board (plus cable) in it for you.

Almost Done....

Anna writes:

We're almost done moving over to the new building. Moving is a pain...but good for us. We have gone through our belongings and gotten rid of garbage bags full of clothes, knick knacks, dishes and various other things. You never realize how much "stuff" you accumulate while you live in the midst of it. It's overwhelming at times.

We aren't able to unpack much of anything in the new apartment, because the building has yet to be approved for human habitation, so most of it is still in boxes stacked in closets (thank goodness there are BIG closets!). We've kept our bedroom free of clutter, however. The closet in that room is also empty, as we're moving our clothes in the final trips tomorrow. We will be able to unpack and organize those into the closet.

Today we went to a wedding.... It was lots of fun to see friends from school, as well as to be a part of the special day for two friends. And the food was excellent at the reception, so we enjoyed that too! We left early to come back and move, of course.

Here is a picture that I've been meaning to post from a few weekends ago when we ventured North to the retirement party. I spent some time with friends that I've known since pre-school, but have since scattered to Utah, North Carolina and Germany.... We haven't all been together at the same time in a LOOOONG while. It was a great visit.

New apartment furniture

Here are a couple of quick pictures of our new furniture. It's not what we would pick, and seems a little "cabin", but the price is right.

The "rolling pin" bed

The bottom middle door opens to a storage area, no shelf. What does one put there?

Like the size of that walk in closet? Well, we have TWO!

Stay tuned for future pictures of living room and kitchen furniture...

2nd Anniversary

Hal writes:

A photo from our 2nd Anniversary.

Sorry the posts are dwindling. We are in the process of moving into our new apartment. I hope to place more photos of the new apartment before we leave for vacation.

Home again, Home again!

Anna writes:

As Hal mentioned previously, I am finished with my first clinical rotation. It was GREAT! I enjoyed being in th clinic immensely. It was so fun for me to work with real patients (as opposed to on my classmates) and see them get better! I got along with my clinical instructor really well, which helped the experience be that much better. Overall, I learned a ton, gained alot of confidence, and am motivated to go back to classes and learn more!

This week we are packing. I didn't mind packing all that much when we moved from Waverly to Platteville, but packing this time is such a chore. It feels silly to put things in boxes to go 2 blocks. Ugh. Today I packed up all the dishes from the hutch (which was alot). Hal and our neighbor, Mike, moved the hutch and the 2 other pieces of furniture that we actually own (the bench and cornertable that Hal's grandfather made us), so the living room is done. Only a few more rooms to go.....

I'm excited for the coming weeks: This weekend is Kim's wedding, which will be FUN. Then we will leave for Duluth/Barnum/Shell Lake for two weeks, where we'll see the Cardwell and DeLaRosby families and spend time relaxing and playing outside. It will be GREAT!

Back to packing for now though.....ugh.

Handy Hal

Hal writes:

I remember taking the ASVAB test while in high school. The military came in and we were given the opportunity to show our knowledge in science, math, arithmetic, word knowledge and paragraph comprehension. Not too difficult, right? Oh wait. There was also testing in electronics, auto and shop information, and mechanical comprehension. Suddenly a handful of my classmates that did not do well in core subjects had the opportunity to best me in an area of knowledge. I think I scored a 15 (out of 100) on the auto and shop information. Needless to say I did not inherit my grandfather's propensity for working with my hands to create things.

But today I rose to the challenge of using basic knowledge of construction to assist in a situation. My colleague was doing a cross country trip to Kentucky and Alabama to visit family so he and his wife could introduce their son. Prior to leaving, I assisted with moving furniture away from the windows because all of his hall was getting new windows while they were gone. They returned today to find that, although the windows were changed, the A/C units were not installed. Not the best situation after driving for 10 hours with a crying baby. After accessing the situation, I was able to pop the screens off and install the new A/Cs. The problem was that there are boards that fit in the window sill (above the A/C unit) to keep bugs and rain out that didn't fit the new window. Without any materials or tools to do much with, I was able to rig the existing wood in place with the Handyman's Handyman: Duct Tape. The fix is only temporary until maintenance gets called early Monday morning, but I was pretty darned pleased that I was able to figure things out without having to call for assistance.

Anna and I were given keys to Southwest Hall on Friday. We are able to move stuff in to only one of the rooms of the apartment (because the furniture and appliances have not arrived yet) and we cannot stay there until the Fire Marshall declares the building habitable. Today we moved our bookshelves and a books over to the new apartment. Over the next week, we will continue to go room to room packing and shipping our possessions. In the process, we will get ride of as much as we can (clothes we haven't worn in the past year, other things we don't use).

As I was making one of my trips between the car and the new apartment, a mini-van pulled up next to our car. I thought it might be some people from town checking out the building. The woman in the passenger seat waved me over. I thought I might be able to answer some questions for her, but I was slightly self-conscious since I hadn't showered yet, the clothes I was wearing I had pulled out of the dirty clothes, and I was dripping with sweat from moving. As I get to the car, I see who is driving. The Chancellor for UWP. Now, one of the things I miss about working at small private colleges is that everyone knows everyone. So, not only was it a little awkward to see the Chancellor, but I have been working at UWP for a full year and this was our first official meeting. Oh well, we didn't talk very long and I'll be sure to make a better impression during the official hall opening. (I'll promise to shower and wear a pretty shirt and tie.)

Anna says that we should have more pictures to post. Perhaps we will get some of the next apartment next week after the furniture arrives.

Anna is now done with her internship (clinical?) and has returned to Platteville. Other than arranging our new apartment, she will have some free time to relax before staring school again in the fall. Next Saturday she will be able to reunite with some of her classmates when her classmate Kim gets married in Dubuque.

Conversion Success

Hal writes:

This weekend we made progress on our ongoing conversion of two computers to one. We purchased a computer earlier this year that came with Windows XP and no floppy disk drive. The tricky part was we both wanted files from our old computers (running Windows 98) and no way to get from point A to Point B without e-mailing them as attachments. Today we went and got a crossover network cable (4 feet for $2.37 at the local computer store) and, with advanced technical support (thanks Brian!) we were able to transfer all of our files to one computer. Now we just need to figure out what to do with the old computers...

We celebrated 4th of July in Platteville with some afternoon lawn games. Mike and KJ brought lawn bowling, bocce, and horseshoes over so we could play outside. Later a few of us went to Andrea's apartment for fresh fruit and Tastefully Simple snacks while we watched Pirates of the Carribean. After sunset we headed to the baseball fields where a number of people watched the fireworks display. Platteville did nice work, although some were a bit too loud and/or bright for my taste (does this mean I'm getting older?). The low part of the evening was having a group of soon-to-be 8th graders sitting behind us giving a commentary the entire time that had nothing to do with fireworks. And who let's these soon to be young women walk around in hoochy outfits? Seriously people, instill some vaules in you children other than "less amount of clothes = high fashion and popularity".

This morning Anna and I went to our new apartment to measure some of the rooms. The furniture for the apartment is going to be delivered next Monday, which will give me a better sense of how things should be placed. The highlight of the day was seeing how big our patio is. 10 ' by 24'. Plenty of room for the grill and some patio furniture (which is already going on discount status at Target).

In sporting news, my family heritage compels me to cheer on the French in the world cup. Viva la France!

Choose Your Own Adventure

Hal writes:

Yesterday for lunch at Fiesta Cancun the RDs gathered to plot their weekend of fun-ness. It was especially nice because we were joined by the Director of our department and she bought us all lunch. We joked with her that she did so in order to avoid our reputation around town as the big group that always asks for separate checks.

For last evenings plans, there were too many to choose from, so the theme of the evening became "Choose Your Own Adventure" allowing us to pick and choose what activities we did. I opted to go with Matt, Kim, and Stef to Dubuque shopping. Anna was on her way back from Waverly and we met up with her at the Olive Garden. Our waitress tipped us off that getting a pitcher of the Sangria was cheaper than all of us getting glasses, so we took her up on that offer.

Later we met up with Mike, KJ, and Andrea at the theater. The guys (and Kim) went to see Click while the women went to see The Devil Wears Prada. Click was a very good movie. The first half plays out like the comedy it is advertised to be on TV. The second half turns into a more serious film reminiscent of "A Christmas Carol" where Adam Sandler's character gets a glimpse of a future he does not like. *tear*

Other ideas for the RD group this weekend: two fireworks shows (Dubuque's is on the 3rd, Platteville's is on the 4th), a 50-turn Mario Party 7 team tournament with Donkey Konga and Guitar Hero for those awaiting their turn (I've been practicing Guitar Hero, Nolan loaned it to me while he is visiting family in KT and AL), Pirates of the Caribbean movie (we will all go see the second movie together when it comes to theaters), and random cookouts and outdoor fun. I really enjoy my colleagues and the fun that we can have together. It's amazing that the staff of 9 (soon to be 10) can have so much fun; I don't think other groups of RDs always click together this well.

Today Anna and I have been "spring cleaning". We are preparing to move to our new hall in the upcoming weeks. In order to make the transition easier, it's time to get rid of old clothes and throw out the garbage that has accumulated since our move from Waverly last July. Tonight we might stay home and watch a movie unless the Thunderstorms in the surrounding area decide to knock out our power. KABOOM!