Well I finally had to buckle down to get internet service. My "local unsecured provider" is no longer in service and with the university's wireless service being less than reliable consistently, I've decided that it is about time that I acquire a dedicated service for myself. It will be provided by the forever awesome cable internet service provider, Cox Communications. I was a little hesitant to purchase service with them, but considering the fact that I would have little savings through Qwest's DSL service, plus Cox being faster, Cox it was. They should be coming on Saturday to hook it up and I may even get the cable modem and router I ordered by Friday (Monday at the latest), so granted that there are no hiccups, I should have "blazing fast" internet service soon.

Oh, I forgot to mention the extra perk at no extra charge Cox will provide for me, basic cable! Now I get access to all my favorite network channels with the quality of analog cable plus I will have access to such other great channels such as the QVC and HSN shopping networks, C-Span and C-Span 2 and over six public access television channels!

Well, I suppose that I had to face the music eventually that I could not get a free ride. Since I am not on the friendliest terms with my neighbors, who are now leaving garbage in my back yard, I thought it was best that I did not broach the subject of accessing their wireless network, thus leaving the only option to get my own. My hope is that they will move out after the semseter with their replacements being much less of the uberparty types and hopefully willing to split some costs. If the price is right, I may consider getting expanded basic, but I think I will save the money for other necessities.

-Trevor

Well I am back in Minnesota after traveling up to the frigid North for Dan and Tanya's wedding. It was pretty awesome and had a great time hanging out with friends and family. Not to mention the best part, no cavities! That's right, my dentist visit was completely clean, they were even amazed about how little plaque buildup I had after nearly five years of no checkups . Anyways, click the title above or here to access the photos. If you want to download all the files in a zip file, click here. Anyways, I know it is late, but that is certainly better than not getting these photos posted.

-Trevor

P.S. The top searches that attracted people to my website this month are: "rasheed wallace" with 42 hits and "b5 boy band" with 21 hits with Bette Midler coming in third and Pat Robertson not being far behind . Not good news because they are probably not returning customers, but it could be worse. On a positive note, the search for "Gaymont Yogurt" is still pulling in people month after month. I think it is time to do some more yogurt reviews.

For those who remember playing the old PC or NES version of Maniac Mansion, Home of the Underdogs are hosting a graphical update to the game (a little better). While it does not offer the best NES soundtrack ever for the protagonists, it is still pretty cool to play. I spent a couple hours playing through it last night with Razor and Bernard. My only complaint, the timing of Nurse Edna leaving the kitchen is slightly different than the NES version leaving Razor to almost getting ass raped for a half hour in the dungeon until Bernard could get the Old Rusty Key, now that was lame. By the way, I decided that the Meteor Police was a fitting way to get rid of the meteor.

-Trevor

Update: Here is a Winamp plugin to play nsf files that you get get from the earlier link.

Classes have started up again nearly full steam ahead which is a change of pace and not something to be dreaded. In any case, not much has happened besides going out last weekend and probably drinking too much. I also rediscovered the problem of paying cash in a dimly lit bar, over tipping. I ended up giving a not bad, but not great looking bartender a $11 rather than a $2 tip at Plush. Then a few friends and I walked to Club Congress on the other side of the tracks and checked out some local live bands. Sort of disappointing when you pay a cover to listen to a lead singer run out of lyrics and start singing, "Dooo Doo Dooo Doooooo Do" in rhythm to the drums.

The next night was not much better. While I decided to be the designated driver, some friends and I decided after going to some bars that we should go check out the snow up at Mt. Lemmon at 1:45 am. We finally made it up to the top near Summerhaven by around 3:30 in the morning though one guy completely passed out in my car for the entire trip up despite up playing music much too loud for my cheap system to handle. The snow was pretty cool to see, some had just fallen so it was nice and pristine. I finally got back home at 5:30 in the morning to realize I couldn't sleep and spent an hour finishing up the movie Children of Heaven, which by the way is an excellent movie, I give it a perfect 5 Galaxies.

As some or all of you may know, I'll be flying back to the frigid North for Dan's wedding on Wednesday-Sunday. If I actually updated this blog frequently, you may notice that I may not post during that time, but I will try to get some wedding related pictures up along with finishing uploading the pictures from when my parents were down in Tucson as soon as I get back. I noticed that after uploading the pictures from Jenny and Greg's wedding, my site had a huge spike in traffic (relatively), so I can hope for the best .

Well I should be trying to get back to bed after my neighbors decided that it would be awesome to start yelling outside about going to a bar. No respect...

-Trevor

Here is an update to my travels throughout Tucson with my parents:

Day 5-6:

These days were pretty slow. Dad was really starting to come down with a cold and really was in no condition to do much, so we took it pretty easy. I ended up going to dinner with Luca before he headed out to Miami and ultimately back to Italy.

The weather ended up getting pretty cool Thursday as well. Tucson recorded pretty decent amounts of rain, and the mountains actually got some snow. I believe Mount Lemmon recorded around two feet of snow. I already got my "snow" shots at the White Sands so it really was not worth the effort to drive up there.

Day 7:

With Dad feeling a tad bit better, we ventured over to the Pima Air and Space Museum. The weather was cool, but sunny. It is always amazing to see that many planes, but after a while, there is just too much and all just sort of blurs together. By the end, Dad was pretty tired and we realized that this may have been a bit too much for him as he ended up feeling pretty bad on Saturday, when we were off to Kartchner Caverns.

Day 8:

Like I said in the previous paragraph, today we went to Kartchner Caverns. We probably would have waited, except that we already had reservations and they are to come by this time of year, so we may not have gotten another opportunity (not to mention the reservations are non-refundable ). Thus while my dad was sleeping, I drove down to Benson to go check out the caves. While we were unable to take any pictures, it was pretty apparent that pictures would not have been able to properly capture the magnificence of the cave. The first thing that we noticed was how warm and humid the caves are. While it was a brisk 50 degrees at the entrance with around 10% humidity, the caves remain a fairly constant 70 degrees with 99% humidity. The formations were amazing.

I particularly liked our guide; he was particularly gregarious and full of little tidbits of information. Tour guides, I imagine, must have a difficult time to try to inspire awe in the tourists. On the tour, one of the workers who had helped make the cave tour accessible was with us. She gave us a lot of information about the conditions they worked in. It was fantastic.

After the caves, we drove around the park and took a couple of photographs around. With Dad feeling ill, Mom and I did not want to walk too far since he was waiting in the van. I could see the trail winding up the mountain which had some snow up on top. It was definitely calling to be climbed, but alas it will have to wait until the next time I get a chance to go up.

Unfortunately, the rest of the day seemed to be a bit disappointing. We had planned to go to Fort Huachuca to check out the museum, but I accidentally took out the registration, thus we could not get inside the base. Then after driving from there, we were planning on checking out some art galleries that I had heard about. In my not so infinite wisdom, I thought Benson was the town whereas it was Bisbee. Stupid "B's". In any case, we ended up driving back to Tucson pretty tired, but at least knowing that we saw some awesome caves.

Days 9-10

Haven't done to much but do a little reading and relaxation while Dad is recovering from bronchitis.

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That has caught everyone up to date with the vacation so far, hopefully it was fairly entertaining. I will post again when we go out.

-Trevor

I have not been following the NFL very closely this season, but I am very surprised about the direction the Vikings have gone this year: down, very far down. One could certainly fault Mike Tice in the past, but he certainly took a lot more abuse from his players that Childress has (but also had many players stick up for him when he was very abruptly fired). Tice certainly did not drop his players as easily with seemingly no justification.

Then there is the lack of communication between players and coach. That is a just a recipe for brooding and not playing at the top level. I suppose releasing top wide receivers and sitting out other top players who may be eligible for bonuses probably does not help team morale. Frankly, it borders on unethical and while coaches certainly do not want problem athletes, there really was no justification for releasing Marcus Robinson.

Well, at some level, I believe the outcome is very well deserved and I almost wish the Vikings had done worse. At least this shows that Tice showed some skill has head coach, and a cheap one at that.

-Trevor