I returned tonight from House’s wedding to Nikki. House was, of course, my freshman roommate. Nikki was a good friend of Martin during my freshman year, during which time Martin was House’s and my SA. Back then, I never would have guessed that three and a half years later I would be at their wedding.

The wedding itself was traditional (in a church) with all of the usual suspects present. I was honored to be one of the groomsmen, a role I have heretofore not played in a wedding. The ceremony was nice; the reception had great craic.

I hope that Nikki and House enjoy many years of happiness and love with one another. It was a privilege to see them joined in matrimony.

—–

As I write this at 3:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, I can’t help but notice that I will be landing in Germany in 49 hours. I think I’m prepared; if not, I can deal with just about anything so long as I have my plane tickets, rail pass, and credit cards.

People have told me that having a book along for the trip is useful. After much thought (and, admittedly, some help from the proximity of the “bargain books” table to the checkout at Barnes & Noble), I chose The Sun Also Rises. The connection? Pamplona: running with bulls!

And, should you (and by you I mean my family) feel obligated to point out the danger inherent in bulls, let me go on the record now as saying that if I get gored, I vow to eat a steak from the culprit bull. Yeah, it’s hazardous — that’s part of the appeal!

After several days of my server being agonizingly slow, I think I’ve fixed the problem. For all of you with accounts, let me know if there’s anything else I need to deal with that can’t wait another month.

So, it’s about a week and a half until Webb and I fly to Europe.

The current list of cities on the itinerary is (in order): Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich, Interlaken, Venice, Rome, Barcelona, Pamplona, Paris, and back to Frankfurt. If any of you have suggestions on places/museums/monuments/ parks/clubs/restaurants/ sights/buildings/events/whatever to visit, I’d love to hear them!

And yet again life shows me that there’s always room for a new surprise.

On an unrelated, less-cryptic note, I noticed that Science is well on its way toward creating cattle with extra-tender meat! The article adds the qualifier that practical applications are still a ways off, but when they figure it out: Mmmm! Just think of the possibilities if this were somehow combined with Kobe beef…

I’m back in Minnesota now. You betcha!

Since I can write about whatever I feel like, I think I will do so. First up: lettuce.

I was in SuperTarget (a Target with a built-in grocery store) today, casually meandering through the produce section. I used to work in a grocery store, so I appreciate the occasional wandering amongst foodstuffs. It was all I could do to hold back from reciting the code number for various fruits and vegetables: “Bananas! 4011!” Ug. But I digress. So I was walking around when I noticed what must be the bleeding edge in fresh produce one-upmanship: lettuce so fresh that it is still alive. Yes, they are now selling mass-produced lettuce with the roots intact. I guess it was a long time coming, considering the prevalence of live lobsters and such. Killing your own lettuce seems a logical next step. No word yet on whether or not the extra $$$ — uh, err, I mean freshness — makes the lettuce taste better.

While out shopping for backpacks today, something dawned on me: I used a bloody HUGE backpack for my books during high school and college. Based on an unscientific comparison between my new pack and my book pack, I’d say that my book pack has a capacity a healthy ways north of 3000 cubic inches — in other words, really big by book bag standards. Due to its size and numerous straps, I think that it’s actually a large day pack or maybe a small backpacking backpack. Anyhow, what’s the point? There are, in fact, two: a) It’s a shame that I’ve actually made use of all of my bag’s capacity on occasion while going to class and b) I think that kids would be better off if they used backpacks with “real” backpack features (namely, a waist strap).



Anyhow, that’s enough rambling for today.