The Great MN Get-together

I went up to the state fair yesterday with my mom and sister. Yesterday was Govenor's Fire Prevention Day, so there were fire trucks all over the place. It was a pretty long day. We were out of our house by 8:15am and didn't get home til about 12:40am the next day. We started out in Heritage Square, wandering through an old village cabin. There were even people dressed up in character to make it seem real. We went through the Education building and got free stuff. We toured the all-new International Bazaar while listening to polka music. Gotta love the sound of an accordian! My sister and I were lucky enough to find Smokey the Bear and get a picture taken. Now we can prevent forest fires too :P The Pet Center was pretty cool, but sadly there weren't any surgeries going on while we were there. And the rain decided to hold off so the parade still went on as planned; including marching bands, whack-a-wheel, Ronald McDonald, Smokey, fire trucks, and so much more. After there parade, it was time for more adventure throughout the park. There was smore making and pictures with Brad Paisley, teeth brushing, and gas pumping. We got to see a just born cow as well at the Miracle Birth Center. She was so cute! The long day ended with Brad Paisley in concert. Half way through, we ventured up to the fence and peaked through a crack where we could seen him perfectly! Best of all, we saw him for free! It was awesome. And then the fireworks followed, of course. I have never been so close to fireworks before. They were huge! And amazing. I love the state fair! So much that I'm going back on Tuesday. I'm just a nerd like that :P Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Interview = Internship

So I had my interview this morning at Cascade for my internship. After 15 minutes, I was hired! It was a pretty short interview since I am already familiar with the facility. Otherwise it would have been longer. Anyways, I did get to meet a lot of the staff. And I only work Monday through Thursday. It's 4 10-hr days just like I wanted! So now I can still work at Kohls once a week. Yay for money! Luckily I still have a couple weeks til my freedom is no more. But I will now be a vet tech intern. :D

Tommy James & the Shondells

I just got home from a free concert downtown. Yup, that's right. I just saw Tommy James and the Shondells in concert for free! It was awesome! The opening band was Judd, and they weren't half bad. The play a lot in the area at local bars. Anyways, Tommy James was awesome! Think sponsored the concert, and they were handing out blue battery-operated glowsticks. All throughout the concert, blue lights shown from everywhere. It was like a sea of blue candles. It was pretty sweet. Tommy came down to the audience too, but I wasn't quite close enough. But that's okay. I got to hear some awesome songs: Mony Mony, I Think We're Alone Now, Crimson and Clover, and Crystal Blue Persuasion. It was a sweet concert. Too bad it was the last one of the summer, for free concerts anyway. Hopefully next summer will be just as sweet!

School's Out for Summer

It's about time. I survived my last 2 finals, one online and one at school. So now there's nothing left but the internship! No more classes, no more homework, no more tests. It feels kinda weird being done, but it's a good weird. It's nice to not have to worry bout all the busy work anymore. Although, it is kinda weird being out for summer when it's August. Summer is practically over for everyone else! After all, almost all my other friends are leaving to head back to school this weekend. I guess gas will just have to go down so I can go visit them in the fall cuz I'll be bored otherwise. Anyways, since school is out I went on the annual trip to Medford with my mom and sister today. I got a couple new shirts for work, some smell lotion, and some chocolate. Gotta love chocolate! Especially from Russell Stovers. It's German black forest chocolate, and it's soooo yummy!! Then we went to the Steele County Fair, which was amazing. Of course TONS of food stands. I tried something new for lunch: chicken pie. It was kinda like a pot pie, but you ate it like a cheeseburger. It was really yummy. We played some bingo, but no one won. We visited the animals in the petting zoo too. There were ostriches, which are pretty intimidating up close. I tried to get a picture, but they just wouldn't stay still. It was exciting to see them though, even if they were a little scary haha It's time for bed now. Being up stil 6:30 is starting to hit me.

County Fair Fun

As if I didn't have enough greasy fair food a week ago, I decided to head out to the Dakota county fair yesterday for some more. I've always wanted to go to it but have never made it due to other conflicting events. But I'm glad I went yesterday. It was awesome! There was the typical greasy food stands, project exhibits, and midway. But there were a lot of commercial buildings and other demonstrations and hands-on activities as well. In addition to the barnyard petting zoo, there was a wildlife exhibit featuring wolves, foxes, and other wildlife native to Minnesota. It was very cool to be up close and personal with the dangerous creatures.



On the other side of the fairgrounds, there was a historic village based on the 1900-era. There was a library, post office, bank, church, train station, 1-room schoolhouse, fire hall, general store, jailhouse, blacksmith, and a basic house. Natives were in costume and acting in character to the 1900s as well. It was a great experience to step back in time. The commercial buildings weren't too exciting, but there was a lot of free stuff. I got some new pens and the usual candy stash. Underwater Adventures was there with live sharks and other sea creatures available to touch. The fair was defiantely one of the best that I've been too. Those of you in Minnesota should go check it out next year. You have to pay to park and enter the grounds, but it's well worth the cost cuz everything else in the grounds is free! And who can say no to free stuff?? Definately not me! :P

Arctic Fox, no longer remaining in the wild

Near Death Experience

That's right, I had a near death experience when I got off work this evening. After work, I was meeting my parents for supper at a local bar and grill about 5-7 mins away. I was just on the other side of the building from the parking lot when I almost had a near-fatal accident. I'll start at the beginning for you.

I was approaching a red light with a semi in front of me. My direction and oncoming traffic had green arrows, so I knew I would have a green light soon to go straight. I switched lanes, and once I got to the stoplights I had a green light. I knew the other directions had red lights so I didn't think twice about continuing through the intersection. However, a rusty orange corvette with 2 male teenagers decided that they were too important to stop at a red light. The approached from my right, so they obviously had a red light for awhile. Like I said, they were too goo to stop or look around. They floored it into the intersection to make a right turn, cutting off the semi next to me and continued into the lane in front of me cutting me off. I slammed on my brakes, squealing my tires, and blaring my horn. They didn't bother to stop or anything. And they didn't even have a turn signal! So the broke the law quite a few times and were centimeters away from being totaled. If I wouldn't have slammed on my brakes when I did, the driver would be dead--or at least in ICU--and the pretty car would be totaled, not to mention what would have happened to me and Buck.

So to all of those drivers out there, what out for clueless teenagers who think they are king of the road. I know I used to be one, but I realized shortly after getting my liscense that I had a lot of learning to do when it came to driving. To those teenagers out there, watch out or you will get hit. Not everyone will stop like I did today. Some people might be just as distracted and smack right into you at full speed. The road is only as safe as we make it.

And the Semester Comes to an End

My college career of classes has finally come to an end. It's so hard to believe that I don't have any more class! Once I take my last 2 finals, I will be done cept for the internship. And that's just work. So that means no more homework to worry about, no more midterms or finals to study for, no more discussion board postings. It's just a 3-month internship and a certification exam to worry about, and I can handle that after my 18 credit summer semester. It's hard to believe that it's finally coming to an end though. All my friends still have 2+ years left of college, and here I am ready to enter the real world. I'm excited to finally be done with classes, but it's still weird. I shouldn't be doing this for another 2 years, yet here I am. I must have done something right to be here already haha

No More Surgery! (for real this time)

Ok guys (and girls), it's official. I just got my final back for my anes/surg lab. And I passed!! Only by a few percent, but I still passed! So now daily points will get added, which should bring my grade up to a B-/B region. So I don't have to worry about taking it over again! Well the lab portion anyways. But I'm already getting a B+ in lecture, so I should be fine there. Anyways, just wanted to share the good news. Time to get back to studying...

County Fair

Last week was a pretty busy one. It was the county fair. Even though I'm not in 4-H anymore (last year was my last year), I'm still a nerd and entered some stuff in open class. There was about 15 projects scattered throughout foods, plants, photography, hobbies, and fine arts. I wasn't expecting to win much for ribbons, but almost every project got one! It came about to be about $16, so that was a nice surprise when I went to pick up my projects this past Sunday. Now if only open class projects won state fair trips. This is gonna be the first time in a long time where I didn't win a state fair trip. I have to actually pay to go there this year! I guess it's not a bad thing, but it's weird. I guess I'll just have to volunteer more so I can get in for free in the future :P Time to go study for finals now. I had my anes/surg final this past Monday, and I find out tomorrow how I did. Cross your fingers for me in hopes of passing! I get to take my comp review final tomorrow, so hopefully I pass that one too. Then I wont have any more classes! Yay for [almost] being a college graduate! Have a great week everyone!