Category: Trips

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Fancy Footing It to Fargo

Dance Off!
Dance Off!, originally uploaded by m!les.

Don’t forget about the play coming up! I finally got my computer put back together with a new Firewire/USB2.0 card and a front panel to access them all nicely. Now, on with the post.

It was a glorious day. We left DSU and drove to Big Stone. This was after, of course, David running back up to his room eight times to grab things he forgot, or thought he forgot, or forgot he didn’t own. We started with me driving, but I had taken benedryl for a sinus headache, so I asked Holli to drive. I was hungry. In Big Stone we ate fish sticks and mac’n’cheese. We stood around, talked a bit, and then we all clamored into the van, and Bryce drove us to Fargo, North Dakota. Yes. There’s a state above South Dakota. We had to pause music periodically for “story time”. If you don’t know what that is, take a road trip with Bryce and you’ll find out.

Once in Fargo, we made it to Tony‘s house. This could have been eventful, as Bryce wanted to go off of his memory. I decided to call Tony, instead. Our first greeting into his house? A fourth roommate. He gave us a tour, with pictures, and we sat around watching TV. It was pretty close to midnight, so Tony took Bryce and Lindsey to the liq, and they brought back pizza(!) and liquor. We ate the delicious pizza and then started watching videos on David’s tablet and Holli’s tablet. The videos on David’s tablet all seemed to be horrifying examples of how unintelligent and fearless human beings can be. We watched cool guitar tricks instead. Eventually (like at 4am) we went to bed.

We got up at 11am or so. I managed to get up, get showered, get dressed, and lay back down without ever waking Holli. It was good for her. Tony took Bryce and Lindsey to Ty’s place. Ty is a friend of Linds’s who transferred from Marshall. I had met her previously when she came to Big Stone to visit Linds during New Year’s Eve 2005. The remainder of us went to Grand Junction to eat. Grand Junction is (as described accurately by Tony) a HuHot for subs. And they cook it just like they cook in HuHot. I liked my sub. Good job, Grand Junction.

Thence went we to campus for a tour. We saw a “quad”‘s room. A “quad” is a quadriplegic, but Tony knows the guy so it’s okay that we call him that. We picked up Bryce and we made 10-point turn. Then we went back to campus to look for an Ag building Bryce wants to write a term paper on. Holli started feeling rotten. Then we went to the mall. I got an Orange Julius. Holli looked for a peacoat. Bryce made plans with Tim. Then, for supper, we tried this Alien food place, but it was mucho full. So then we tried iHOP (which wasn’t necessarily a popular choice), and finally to Bennigan’s. ‘Twas good. Holli and I both got steaks, at the opposite side of the “how done?” scale. From there we journeyed to Tim’s. I enjoyed that. I was able to interact with Ava and Gabe (or Doofie) and Charlie, which I’ve never much had a chance for before. Once back at Tony’s we did tennis like a menace.

The next morning we had church. Good God. We got seperated from Tony, but we met up afterwards. We decided on the mall for lunch, and it wasn’t bad. I had chinese, and I liked it, but Bryce and Linds also had chinese, and they didn’t like it. Then we saw Lonie and Mickey! How weird is that, though we knew they were headed up this way to shop. Finally, we parted ways with Tony. Bryce drove us Back to Big Stone. That was supposed to be a quick stop, but my dad wanted me to look at a computer problem for him. It took forever, but I finally figured (most of) it out. We nabbed some supper (since it was now that time) and took off for Madison.

Good weekend. Pictures are on flickr.

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Elite Eight: Women’s NAIA Division II National Tournament

Elite Eight: Ticket
Elite Eight: Ticket, originally uploaded by m!les.

Man. What a ride! And, after all that, it’s done. What a fantastic voyage. Because this is so long in coming, I’ll shorten it up a bit.

After I was done with work, Holli, Jen, Kendra, and I turned around and headed back to Hawarden, IA. It was hard, now, to remember how frightened I had been before the weekend began. Our drive back was nice. I worked on a skit for Comedy Bytes until it was too dark to continue. Holli drove. We arrived in Hawarden, put our stuff in the house, and then we went to The Drive In for supper. After supper we watched sports highlights of the NAIA games, and we saw some South Dakota state basketball stuff. I may have possibly seen my sister in one shot. Then we played Phase 10 which started out fun, but I soon lost energy and the will to live. It might be better next time.

The next day, because the game was later in the afternoon, we didn’t have to get up until 9. On our way to the game, we agonized for a while over what to eat, and I finally said that I was feeling like Taco Bell (which surprised everyone, especially me), and so we did. I got too much Mountain Dew, and I paid for it later that day.

We arrived at the Arena dutifully early. We purchased our tickets and waited in line for them to open the Arena up to us. We took our seats, the same ones we had before, and we were able to chat with the girls for a while before the game began. I messed with the exposure on my camera.

Then the girls shot around for a while. Hastings was known to us to be a tough team, but maybe not so tough that we couldn’t beat them. We all had high hopes, and the crowd for our side was a great deal larger than last game. Finally, there were fans! Holli’s parents, Larry and Carol Gregg, had decided to come to the game, too, but they couldn’t leave until Carol and Marissa were back from prom dress shopping in Sioux Falls. Apparently, they got some good deals. I say “apparently” because I’m not sure what a good prom dress deal is.

The game began, and it was trouble from the beginning. It was frustrating. The Lady T’s just didn’t play with the same *click* that they had before. Before we knew it, it was over. Trojans: 41 – Hastings: 55. Still, it wasn’t a slaughter, and the team had a really good run with their two previous upsets. It was a good game, fought hard.

Afterwards, we offered congratulations to the team members we bumped into. Holli and I sat with her parents and watched a little of the next game, but we were both falling asleep (having no interest in either team), and we decided to head back. This would give us time to eat before Holli headed to work.

And so, what began as a Spring Break whim, ended up a heart-wrenching story of little team from Madison that just about made its dreams come true.

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Round 2: Women’s NAIA Division II National Tournament

Round 2: Moving On Up
Round 2: Moving On Up, originally uploaded by m!les.

Well, we made it! The Lady T’s are officially in the Elite Eight. Here’s how it all went down.

Holli asked me, again, if I wanted to accompany them back down to Iowa. And I thought, “Why not? Maybe there will be chinese food this time.” (There wasn’t. We had Taco Bell, which, I have to admit, is better than Taco John’s, even to someone who isn’t a big fan of mexican food.) So, we all headed back down to Hawarden, again, but this time we were minus Jen’s sister, Kim. This time Jen was driving. We got there, imparted upon Larry the second season of Arrested Development (of which we watched the blooper reel and then Holli and I watched three episodes when everyone went to bed), and I showed some videos I have been uploading to my YouTube account. I’m working on finding a good way to convert my videos so they look right when they upload. I’ll keep you posted.

The next morning was much the same routine, minus the fake parking ticket, and Jen drove us into Sioux City, while I on-and-off slept. By now we were pros at this, and they escorted us to our seats. “Oh, the fans are here. Right this way, sir and madams.” They offered us dishes of chinese food, but I had to decline, it being a Friday in lent.

This time the Lady T’s played quite well. The crowd was a little thicker, but there was still a considerably larger crowd for Tabor College, across the way. But we have moxie. My own personal observations were that Tabor started out very aggressive, but they either got tired of it or they just assumed (since they were winning for a short time) that we were pushovers. In any case, the Lady T’s pushed back, and harder. We pushed up to a nice six point lead, which still felt uncomfortably close.

At halftime the score was Trojans: 39 – Tabor: 31. After halftime, it seemed like they had us again. The lead lessened and almost evaporated. But the girls wanted this bad. They fought through some poor calls, and some good basketball. There was a lot of excitement in the air. The lead stretched until, by the end, Trojans had won: 77 to 58.

There were some real suprising performances in this game by the Lady T’s. Some players who I didn’t see play in the first game really made some magic happen out there. It was really exciting to watch it all come together.

After the game, we waited to congratulate the players, who were celebrating. Holli talked to her boss, who had been covering the game, and they made plans to get her out of working on Saturday so she could attend. That means that I’m writing this from the comfort of Larry and Carol Gregg’s place in Hawarden, Iowa, and tomorrow morning the Lady T’s are doing it again.

Elite Eight: Saturday at 1:00pm.

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Round 1: Women’s NAIA Division II National Tournament

Round 1: Moving On Up
Round 1: Moving On Up, originally uploaded by m!les.

I was dumb. I should have written this on Wednesday, but here it is.

I’ve never been really into sports. When I did go to sporting events, I usually cheered pretty loud, but that was more the dramatist in me than the sports fan. As such, when Holli asked me if I wanted to watch the Lady T’s play basketball in the National Tournament, I said, “What’s basketball?” But then I said “Yes”, thinking it was something chinese food-related.

I was wrong. Picture this, me in a car with Holli Gregg, Jennifer Sixta, Kim Sixta, and Kendra Weisser, and they all know about 45x more about basketball than I do. They are all talking about rankings of teams, seedings, divisions, conferences, and giving birth, and all I can do is day dream about that delicious chinese food in Sioux City.

Holli’s parents, Larry and Carol Gregg, were gracious enough to allow us to stay at their place overnight (in Hawarden) so we wouldn’t have so far to drive in the morning. We had to drive in the morning because the game was 8:30AM.

Think about that.

So, after some delicious pizza (not chinese) and some conversation, we all went to bed to get up at 6:00am. In the morning, Holli found a ticket on her car which her father had made up for her. It was funny the way shooting paintballs at a hobo is funny. Well, a little funnier. The Tyson Arena where the games were being played was pretty nice. We bought our ticket ($5.00 with student ID) and found a spot. Then we noticed President Knowlton waving at us, and we journied to find new seats on the opposite side. Eventually the game began.

From what I heard, the Lady T’s didn’t play their best. There was some bad passing, some weak shots, and some poor ball-handling. But then Holli found CiCi, a child she babysat off and on last semester and had yet to reconnect with, and then I spent my time holding things the child gave me.

The game ended with DSU ahead, which means that we won. The crowd wasn’t very big, but we were devoted. Ending score was Trojans: 59 – Shawnee State: 55. There was no chinese food, but (then again) it ended much better than I had thought.

Round 2: Friday at 8:30am.

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Huffing It to Hawarden

Holli's Last Locker
Holli’s Last Locker, originally uploaded by m!les.

I don’t know if you know this, but right below us is Iowa. It’s just sitting there, waiting for someone to visit. So, on Friday, as soon as I was off work and packed, Holli Gregg and I made the 1hr45m journey south to Hawarden, IA.

Of course, it was a Friday in Lent, so when we stopped to eat, we got cheese pizza and a cheesy garlic breaded thing. I think Villa Pizza’s goal with those things is to kill you with garlic. It could be a weak anti-vampire tactic, but it’s really quite harmful to mortals as well. I will admit that I was nervous on the trip down. I felt this strange anticipation rising up as we neared Iowa. The sky grew dark, and my breath smelled like a Mafia reunion (because it was garlic:ee and Italians eat a lot of garlic and most Mafia people are Italian).

First stop: the Hawarden War Memorial. It’s not a memorial TO WAR; it’s a memorial ABOUT WAR that is TO THE SOLDIERS IN THE WAR. This is an important distinction. It’ll come up later in the post. My dad has been down there a couple times to add names to this impressive memorial. It looks neat at night because of the lights they have on it, but those same lights make the trees behind it look scary. Almost vampire scary.

Finally we headed to her house. She gave me an extensive tour which included an arguably inaccurate height chart, an arguably homosexual basketball sculpture, and some arguably indecent pictures. It was quite exciting. Her parents and sister weren’t home yet, so I wasn’t quick in a panic yet. Then they did return, and I did panic.

It wasn’t nearly as bad as all that. When I’m afraid, though, I don’t talk much. This made conversation a little quiet and awkward when Holli would leave the room. I tried to not do any of my man-this-is-awkward noises like “Sooooooo…”, “Yup, yup…”, or any attempts at whistling. The key to the whole thing was that Holli’s dad, Larry Gregg, loves Arrested Development. Her dad is a quiet, thoughtful man. Speak softly, and all that, and bringing Arrested was the way to his heart. We popped that baby in and began to watch.

The next morning Holli had a chiropractor appointment, so I woke early enough to eat breakfast with her, then I showered and dressed and found her dad watching some more Arresteds, so I brought up a little project I’ve been working on, and I watched with him. That was a long sentence. Holli returned (and bit flushed, and dribbles of blood on each side of her lips) and we waited for her mom, Carol Gregg, to call us when she was done working at the bank. Then we were going to eat.

We ate at a cafe place downtown. I’d never been, but the Greggs were regulars. There was a minor incident where I ordered a root beer float, and I pushed the ice cream down into my glass using my spoon, and suddenly the root beer foamed up and spilled all over the table. Marissa Gregg, Holli’s sister, joined us near the end.

From there, we got Holli’s car so she could wash it, I met Sam, and then she gave me a tour of the town. First we saw her dad’s parents. They have a nice house. Then the tour. We saw all kinds of interesting sites and renamed buildings. Apparently, when people think of Hawarden, IA, they think of McKenny Furniture. So, okay. I learned of friends’ houses and the like. The old college, her mom’s bank, and the cemetery (of course).

Then it was time for mass. Holli and I went to St. Mary’s and enjoyed the service. The priest had a strange sermon. He sounded like he didn’t really know what he meant to say. It was a sort of rambling, on-and-on kind of homily. There were Asian Lady Beetles everywhere.

That night was Dance Night. Marissa was dancing in it as a member of the West Sioux HS B-Squad. It was a nice time. I got to see a lot of dancing. I also spied Jeff Gabhart‘s brother, Tim. Tim goes to Sioux Center’s high school, and their drum line and dance team were both part of the Dance Night, as was Akron and some other surrounding communities as well as West Sioux High School (which is in Hawarden) and some children. They did a light show at the end that was pretty neat.

Then Holli gave me a tour of the school. We looked through the window of nearly every classroom door, and we looked in the theatre. Afterward we headed back and watched video of the dance routine we’d just seen, the Senior Video that Larry made for Holli when she graduated, and some Arrested Development.

The next morning we (all of us) went to the United Methodist church. Remember that thing I said about Hawarden’s monument not being devoted TO WAR? Well, that’s important because it shows just what a peaceful community this is. So peaceful, in fact, that the cops don’t even care what side of the street you park on. Anyway. The service was nice. I’ve only attended one previous Methodist service, and I was just as confused as I was this time. I guess, being Catholic, it’s unusual celebrating Christ in such a relaxed, town-council-meeting fashion. Also, no kneeling. How do you tell who is strong enough to be welcomed into heaven if no one has to kneel? Sounds vampire-fishy to me.

After lounging a bit, packing up, arguing over who was really taller of the three Gregg girls, Holli and I packed up for the return journey. We decided to leave Arrested Development with Larry so he could finish Season One. His face lit up. I think that alone was enough to make him like me. Let’s hope my “personality” helps keep things going. There’s only so much Arrested Development. Before we left, however, we had to complete the tour. This didn’t include much, but Hawarden does have a new hotel, if you need a place to stay while there. I tried to take some decent pictures of the Farmers State Bank.

Once back in Sioux Falls we hit the mall where I bought the biggest book on mythology I’ve ever seen, and we also hit Ernie November where I bought an ELO record and a Phantom Planet CD. Then we ate at Applebee’s with Grandpa Miles, Grandma Miles, Aunt Karin, and Erin. It was a good time. Karin was telling Holli and I a story that the priest at church had told in his homily, then Grandpa leans foward and says, “No, you’re telling it wrong.” Then he retells what she just said, and says, “There, now you can go ahead.” It was funny.

I drove us back, and Holli took a nap. Once back we watched some Office at her place before going to sleep and starting or Spring Break of working at a job. It’s this thing that you apply for and they pay you to, uh… nevermind, I don’t want to spoil the surprise.

Tonight: the Lady T’s play in Sioux City. Guess who’s Huffing It back to Hawarden? Holli, Jennifer Sixta, Jen’s sister, Kendra Weisser, and me. Pictures to follow.

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Bath and Body Quirks

The Greggs
The Greggs, originally uploaded by m!les.

I suppose one of the stressful rights-of-passage for a new couple is the meeting of the families. I can’t recall a single girlfriend I’ve had where the thought of meeting her family didn’t make break out in a cold sweat. You know the kind. That type of cold sweat I’ve come to associate with influenza and hearing Chuck Norris‘s footsteps.

For the record, when I write about myself possessing something, I write “Miles’s thing”, not “Miles’ thing”. Just like I would say, “Holli’s Comedy Bytes shirt“.

So, it was this very cold sweat that I encountered when Holli called me on Saturday afternoon. We were going to eat with her parents in Sioux Falls at 5:00. That gave me plenty of time. But first, we had to visit Minerva Driscoll. Minerva is an interesting woman. She is the secretary for East Hall, and to look at her, she appears sweet-tempered, kindly, even quiet, perhaps. As it turns out, she’s a smoking, swearing, gruff, tell-it-like-it-is kind of woman. I like Minerva; she’s a character.

Holli and I were meeting with her to hash out the second attempt at a fundraiser with her. We managed to raise over $60 this fall, and we were deciding what worked and what we should scrap. She has a sort of Bath and Body Works business going. We approached her on behalf of her candles, but it soon became apparent that lotions, sprays, and washes were the way to go. That is why the new MD Designs Fundraiser has no real candles in it. Bold, I know. We managed to come to a reasonable set of conclusions. Once done we walked back to my apartment, got a quick psuedo-lunch, and watched some Beatles.

I was nervous, as I said above. I’ve met her parents and sister, but I haven’t interacted with them, per se. I mean, sure I have friends, and my family seems to like me, but I think that’s mostly because I have such a cool website. And, yeah, her parents have seen the website, and they probably love it, but who doesn’t? Her mom even once said that the only way she gets to Holli’s page is through mine. That’s understandable, but it’s unfair to hold me up to the Awayken/MilesRausch.com standard. That, and I didn’t have my tablet around with a browser open to the page.

I was down to my wits. No, not like that. Get your mind out of the gutter, guys.

Anyway, we drove down to Sioux Falls. The plan was to meet them at Perkins. You know, the green place. We got there, and her family wasn’t. So that meant waiting. Waiting as if a blade to fall upon my neck. Okay, now I’m being dramatic. Then they showed up. They parked right next to Holli, actually. First was her little sister, Marissa. Then were the parents, Larry and Carol. The greeting is always a toss-up. I mean, my parents have taken to hugging Holli right away, but Holli is a girl, and my parents love to touch people. Should I expect the same from Holli’s parents? How should I react? What if the hug is too long? But I had no time to think on these. Her dad came at me, hand extended, smiling, saying, “Miles, nice to see you again.” We shook hands. The hate was palpable. Her mom, likewise, extended her hand in greeting. Okay. The decided the hug thing. First social obstacle successfully tackled.

Then we were seated non-smoking. Actually, non-smoking pretty near the door, so it shanted a long walk. (I’m making up words now). The awful thing about eating with people, at least people who are paying for you, is determining what is an acceptible cost for your food. I was sitting by Holli, so I tried to use her meal as a guide, but she got the french toast which was way below any of the supper items I was looking at. Then Vance, our waitor, returned. He reminded me a bit of Toby, from The Office, plus some working out. I panicked and ordered a cheese burger, afterwhich it occured to me that I had had a cheese burger the night before. Two of them, actually.

From then on I just tried to not sound retar- stupid. I tried to toss in a joke or two where appropriate. For instance, Holli mentioned that she has lifts in every shoe but her shower shoes. And Marissa said, “You wear shoes to the shower?” And Carol said, “Oh, yeah. You want to in college.” And I said, “Otherwise you get STDs.” Thankfully everyone got it and laughed. I was worried that it wouldn’t go over so well, but it took off like a free chicken. Carol mentioned that they weren’t ignoring me by not talking to me, but they had a lot to catch Holli up on. It was fine by me, as the less I said, the fewer occassions for misspeaking.

I don’t know if you know this, but Holli has a hiccup-thing that happens. It kinda sounds like she’s saying, “HI!”, but she’s not. It turns out that Marissa has this, too. It’s, like, a family thing, I guess. My family thing is no ice. So, I was scooping what ended up being an entire 12 oz glass’s worth of ice when Carol asked Holli, “What is your boyfriend doing?” Well, I almost made it the entire time without being odd. I explained my sensitive teeth, and Carol explained that she used Sensodyne, and it really helped. Then, for no reason, her sensitive teeth left, and she didn’t need Sensodyne anymore. I am still unclear, however, as to whether Sensodyne was a treatment or cure.

Then, both Marissa and Holli needed new shoes. Shoes, right? Whatever. Girls love shoes. Then we headed back. I called David to see where he actually was this weekend, and it turned out that he was in Marshall (that’s right! I forgot) with Bryce and others. It also turned out that we would not be having an Arrested Sunday. It was okay. I already spend my nights crying; what’s one more tear?

Speaking of tears, have you ever noticed that Joan Cusack usually looks like she’s about to cry? Holli thought that was due to her having puffy eyes, but I think it’s because she’s ugly and sees herself in a mirror regularly (and thus wants to cry). So, we came up with a code phrase to say when we think someone is Joan Cusack ugly. I know, it’s not nice, but it’s hilarious. I won’t tell you guys the phrase because there might be some uggos (as we call them) reading the site right this minute.

Yes. I mean you.

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Guess Who Lost

Tim Miles
Tim Miles, originally uploaded by m!les.

Now look at that. I could never be a sports writer. I just ruined the result of the game in the title. Imagine if you wanted some buildup, some sort of dramatic crescendo to the results of the game this Saturday. I just ruined it. Sure, you can get stats on ESPN, but you wanted a flair, a creative, artistic writeup of the event, something to captivate and entrance as well as entertain and inform.

Well, I’m really freakin’ sorry, but titles aren’t very easy to come up with.

So, Saturday. It seems a long time ago. Still fighting my illness, I purchased some new medicine stuff, hoping that it would help out. What I got was Benedryl. As it turns out, the best thing Benedryl did for me was turn me into a zombie (and not the cool kind, either). Our plan was to meet people at 5:30pm. Holli wanted to go to Wal-mart first, so we left at around 4:00 or so.

I fell asleep on the way up. Wal-mart was what is expected of Wal-mart. I don’t even remember what she got. I do remember that we walked around and ended up at the DVD arena. And I remember being angry at some DVD or something. I don’t know. Holli was disappointed that Wal-mart only had certain seasons of shows. If you’re going to have Season 4 and Season 5, why not carry Seasons 1, 2, and 3? Stupid Wal-mart.

Then we met the Circus at Z’kota. There was an enormously large number of people there. There was me, Holli, mom, dad, Molly, Laura (Molly’s friend), Brenna, Sue, Bryce, Lindsey, Chris, Kelsey, Tony, Tyler, David, and Chris Fellows. That was a mouth full. Anyway, I was pretty out of it, so I mostly just sat there and ate my gigantic burger. From there we headed to Frost Arena. Of course, we had to follow Bryce, and (of course) he was ten miles away before we pulled out of the parking lot. Never let Bryce lead the way.

Frost Arena is peppered with Daktronics Sports Marketing stuff, which Holli interns for. So, we got a picture. The scoreboard was pretty impressive, and massive, and bright. We took our seats and enjoyed the game, which was close. In the end NDSU lost by only 2 points (and it was a pretty close 2 points). It was a good game.

Afterwards, we waited to talk to Tim. He gave a press conference, then he talked to people. Then Tony stole a cowbell (those SDSUers love their cowbells). Then we drove back home.

Lazy sunday. Holli went to Mass with me. We watched the rest of Arrested Development Season 3. I gave up on medication and have taken up medical marijuana. Monday Holli worked all day, so I lounged around here and tried to get some writing done. I did get a really bad skit hacked up, and I felt very ashamed to have to Bytes perform it. Met with Megan. She took Haji for the weekend, got her wisdom teeth out, and got Haji back after Bytes rehearsal. Then Holli and I rented a movie (The Corpse Bride) which I found disappointing, and then I came back here and went to bed.

Well, that’s not exactly true. I checked my email quick, and I rediscovered some folders on my desktop that were related to web design. So, I checked them out. I decided that one of the them (BubbleTooltips) would be easy enough to integrate onto the website, so I did it. I started to integrate another one, but it proved more tricky, so I didn’t do it. Then I realized that I was hungry, so I grabbed what was left of my chinese food from lunch and my mountain dew from evening and I consumed both. Then I got to thinking about all the vast number of plugins for WordPress, and I went a-searching and I installed about a dozen of them, activated them, tested them, and then either integrated them or deleted them. I did stick with the Last.fm plugin for sure, but many of the others weren’t game for 2.0, so I didn’t try to make them work.

Man, that was a rambling post.

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Making It to Marshall

About a 10
About a 10, originally uploaded by m!les.

I feel like that dog sled guy who would come to our schools in Grade School and tell us about how crazy-cold the snow is in Alaska. You know, Vern something. Why do I feel like him? Cause we totally almost died this weekend.

My ill-fated journey began the night before we left. Holli and I were dining with Holly Smith and Bob Davidson at a local cafe. This is where I began to feel the effects of some sort of illness. I managed to catch on digital film the awesomeness of our meal, but I felt none the better for it. The cafe, in fact, was undergoing renovations, and they were down to one waitress for the entire building. And she wasn’t very good.

The next day it appeared that it would snow something fierce. There was cloudy skies and blowing snow and drifting and all kinds of horribleness, that, for a moment, it appeared that we could not make the journey. Holli, however, was very eager to do it. “We can! We have to!” she would say. And so, we did.

We loaded up her vehicle, and she drove. I was starting to feel the beginning effects of the illness that would, in time, claim my life. I road shotgun and picked the music. Our goal was to beat the darkness to Marshall, but Darkness rides on hoofed angels, and it was really cloudy. The drive was awful. Bryce called to remind us that we were missing the beginning of the Arrested Development 4 episode season finale.

We finally get there. Bryce tries, real quick-like, to fill us in on what we missed during the commercials, but we really just tune him out. We order pizza, Katie Burnight, Holli’s best-friend-from-high-school comes over, and to finish up the night we played some games with Katie’s friend Lori. Losing pretty handily at Trivial Pursuit DVD edition to Bryce and Lindsey, I faked a stroke and we all went to bed.

I didn’t sleep well. I woke up at 7:30 and showered and hung out waiting for everyone else to wake up, which was like four hours later. After Bryce woke up, we decided on a game plan for food. Bryce asked where we wanted to eat. I asked if they had a Burger King, which they did. So, being hungry, Bryce, Holli, and I jetted to Burger King to eat. While in line, Bryce suddenly blurts out, “We have a KFC. Do you like KFC?” For a moment he thought that he had forgotten to list that off, but there had been no list; there had only been choice. He continued to bring up random facts about KFC until we were pretty sure he wanted us to eat there instead.

It was here that we noticed how much Holli rolls her eyes. I have always naturally assumed that she rolls her eyes when she’s excited. Her eyes get fluttery, like they just can’t look at one thing, they have to take in the world! At least, that’s the only explanation I can come up with as to why she rolls her eyes so many times around me. I’m just that amazing. Bryce started to keep track. He was just as fascinated with this profound new “excitement meter” as I was.

Then Bryce gave us a tour of the school, including the Forbidden Zones, and we learned a whole lot about what to steal, where to steal from, how to get away with it, and how often to attempt to steal it. Oh, and the Spur.

After the tour we visited Katie’s apartment, looked at her room (which is covered in photos), met her roommate Allison and her roommate’s little buddy, Maria. They were making a super wide, strange-looking yarn bracelet. We never did figure out what it was supposed to look like. After some chit-chat there, and some TV watching, and some catching up, we headed back to Bryce’s to have some lasagna which Lindsey and Bryce made and watch some Season One of Arrested Development. I’ve seen Season One enough to have most of the dialogue memorized.

After food we went to the basketball game. It was here that Holli noticed that her cellphone was missing. Bryce had some uber-problems with the paper (and getting a camera for pictures), and after sitting with the students, we instead sat in front of the band. It was here that one of the opponents got a rebound and got fowled. Then he suddenly screams “AHHHHH!” with Bryce standing right in front of him. Bryce cowers and begins to shrink away when the crowd answers back with “AHHHHHH!”. He practically jumped into Lindsey’s arms. He was pretty sure the basketball player was coming after him.

Then we rented Red-Eye. We actually wanted to rent Elizabethtown, but no place in Marshall had it. Bryce had tried another list to help us figure out what to do, but a list is only as good as the person who decides to take charge of it, and if someone wants to take charge of it, then why don’t they just figure out what everyone wants to do? More eye rolling, and everyone was guilty this time. I fell asleep during Red-Eye, and I’m not sure that I missed much of anything.

Sunday, then, was mostly mass, cell phone searching, cell phone locating (it was in her car), and Mike’s Cafe. Bryce seemed keen on getting me to talk, even though my voice was nearly non-existant. Despite my attempts at making Holli my megaphone, I eventually gave up, attempted to actually talk to people, and then just lapsed into moody silence, as is my perogative.

The drive back was nicer than the drive up, and I got a little sleep in. God bless Holli for driving me around. I think, all in all, it was a great weekend. Holli seemed to get alone really well with Bryce and Lindsey. I haven’t read it yet, but I know that Holli posted about this weekend. Bryce’s post seemed pretty positive, too. I guess, despite my crippling desease and illness ravaged body, everyone had a great time.

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Back to Big Stone

My Mother
My Mother, originally uploaded by m!les.

Check out all the pictures on my special Big Stone photo set.

Well, I was kinda expecting this to be long, but I feel absolutely awful today, so I’ll keep it short. Basically, Holli got to live with my family for a weekend. All that was missing was Bryce, and hopefully we’ll make that up this weekend. David accompanied us back (and forth), which was nice. I think sitting in the back made it hard for him to be in the conversation, so he played Diablo II the whole way. He’s done saving the world, and now he’s saving Hell.

Not much exciting happened, but it was a nice weekend. What made it extra nice was that Tony made the journey back to hang with us. That was cool. We watched Chicago, the movie, which my mom owned. It’s a bit racier than I had anticipated, which caused some mad-crazy sexual tension between me and Tony. Holli pretended not to notice.

Tony taught Holli cribbage, and then he beat us both handily (what happened to my skillz??). David came over with Tyler and two chicks, and we watched ghost specials on TV. We also had Sunday morning mass, where I played guitar with Mom. I got my laundry done in the new, space-age washer and dryer set. Everytime I come back they have something new…

Note: if you see Hogan, his new nickname is Doofus, and he totally lived up to it. Holli decided that Patches was her favorite of the dogs (go Patch!) but, also, he’s probably dying. At least, that’s how it looks to me. I had a really good time this weekend. Holli seemed to fit in really well with my family and Tony. She said that everyone made it really easy for her to “just be Holli”. So, I appreciate that, family and Tony and David and Tyler and chicks.

Other things: the blogs are back up and running. You’re going to see a lot of changes to MilesRausch.com in the coming weeks as I hack and slash this theme into what I want from it. Who knows what craziness I’ll add!

lol greeting cards are going well. We’ve sold at least 10 so far, and we’ve even had orders from as far away as Omaha. I think it’ll be a big hit.

I took some pictures the other day when I really had nothing else to do. Toodles.

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Tippin’ and TAPpin’

Front Door Photo Collage
Front Door Photo Collage, originally uploaded by m!les.

What’s the picture about, Miles? Well, that’s my new photo project. I wanted to cover the glass in my doors, and what better way than with pictures of friends, family, and inaminate objects? My front door is not done, but nearly so, and then I start on the bathroom window. After that, I’m going to reorganize all my “flesh photos” (not digital) and try to keep track of the ones I like the best.

I’m sitting in my Technology Assessment and Planning class right now. We’re discussing web presence, and how important it is that you have a good web presence. Tell your employer “google me“. Get a web page. Register a domain name. And all that jazz.

I think, if you want to get into the web, be prepared to be constantly learning things. The internet is an always changing, dynamic medium. If the internet is an ocean, then it is an ocean of waterfalls. Or something. Anyway, don’t bother me right now.

First half-week of classes! It’s been a crazy week so far. On Saturday Holli and I had our one month. We hit up Sioux Falls and ate at Culver’s (and I saw a Senate Intern there!) which was weird because neither of us really eat at Culver’s much, nor was it a food place that we particularly love, but it was good food. After the food, we went to The Chronicles of Narnia. This is a movie I’ve been waiting for ages to see, but I’ve just never found the proper time to go until now. We bought our tickets and the lady announced that “The theatre is half full.” We didn’t know how to feel about this. Was it “It’s half full, so hurry up.” or “It’s half full, so you’ll have a relaxing movie experience.” It really didn’t matter because the theatre was 90% full, and we had to sit kinda close up.

The movie was good. It didn’t blow me away, but I was in awe of the job they did on Aslan. I wasn’t, however, very awed about some of the other CGI creatures. I particularly didn’t like the hooved animals pullling sleighs. They were kinda fakey. I can only imagine what the movie would have been if Peter Jackson had taken it over. I know that WETA was involved, but I’m not sure in what capacity. It was nice to see on the big screen with Holli. That girl is really something else, and she’s always doing sweet things for me and surprising me with how thoughtful she is. She’s just great.

Then Monday was my first day of classes. Actually, it was my first class: Advanced Discrete. Thanks to a book that Jeff gave me, I was all set to learn about graphs. Berman gave me a weird look. Apparently, he thought I graduated, but I assured him that I had not and dearly wished to learn from him. And so I did.

Then it was work work work. We had our yearly awards banquet at work, and I wrote all about it. Ok. Nothing happened.

That night was the first Drama Club meeting. Our big item of discussion was the election of a new secretary, to be filled by Sara Harp, as Megan Flynn moves on to greener pastures. She was here, then she left, then she realized how friggin’ kick-ass awesome we are, and now she’s back. Never to leave again. Ever. In the world…

Monday night Holli Gregg and I tried watching Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark but she fell asleep a couple times, and I’m pretty sure I did once, too. We called it quits, having no idea what was going on in the movie. I think right before we turned it off, Holli said, “There’s Nazi’s in this?” Time for bed.

Tuesday was classtime crazy. AJAX in the morning. This class will (hopefully) be neat. I think it will be. It’s a Tom class, but it’s a Tom class about stuff I understand, for once. I already know what book I want. It’s called Pragmatic AJAX, and it’s not even out yet. I’m THAT ahead of the game.

Then was my TAPpin’ class, which I started this post in. We talked about websites a lot, and so this post was live for a very short period of time, during which Bryce managed to post a comment.

Then I almost went to Choir, but I lost my confidence, panicked, and spent the time doing other errands instead. Got my check from the Man. Headed to WAPII, which should be far less frustratingly easy thatn WAPI. We’re learning ASP.Net, which is okay (at least it’s something I don’t know) and Shan is teaching it, and I like him.

Then I did tutoring with Tom Bouwman, my dream man, and Holli came by to visit. It was awkward, because Tom and I usually spend most of our tutoring time making out, and we had to cool it in front of the lady. Then CRESH, then Band, then food, then this.

And all the while, a tippin’.

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Pierre Technology Internship: Week the Second

I Love Iowa
I Love Iowa, originally uploaded by m!les.

You can view all the pictures from last week at my Pierre Technology Internship: Week the Second set on flickr.

You know Chuck Norris? Well, I hate his show, but’s hilarious to give him extraordinary powers. Check out these Chuck Norris facts. I’m a fan of Chuck Norris has counted to infinity. Twice., Chuck Norris doesn’t actually write books, the words assemble themselves out of fear., Chuck Norris can set ants on fire with a magnifying glass. At night., and Chuck Norris got his drivers license at the age of 16. Seconds. Seriously. You’ll laugh at least once.

The following is a horribly abbreviated version of the week’s past events. Guess what. Chuck Norris asked me to join him in his new Delta Force movie, and so this is an abbreviated version of events told haltingly inbetween roundhouse kick practice. Booyah. Be sure to read Representative R***ch’s blog!

Day One

holli fell asleep on floor. holly and bob’s, talked to holly. david called. very windy. got here, checked in. I called Jen, and asked if she wanted to go to Tabor Czech Days at the Governor’s Inn thanks to Senator Kl*****. She declined, but I called Dad and journied over. Saw train. Had a nice spread. Talked to a smattering of Representatives and Senators. There was a kick-ass traditional Czech band playing the best Czech music I’ve ever heard. Senator M**** tried his best to get me to switch side, but since I’m really more of an Independent, I signed the name “Peter Parker” to the voter registration sheet he gave me. Had good food and 7up. Then I said goodbye and came back to the hotel room. Talked to Holli on the phone, talked to Bryce on the phone, then back to Holli, and back to Bryce, and then back to Holli.

Day Two

arrived and headed to Senator S**t**’s desk to watch the network. had czech pastry. seems to be webmail unable to handle the load. setup Representative Kl***t with paperless, but he needs help from Representative P****s. Talked to President Knowlton, DSU 125th year coke cans. setup pings in house / senate, and state rejects. setup Senator ***l** for paperless. watched approp. ate at country kitchen. helped Madison carry in cans. sat in caucus and got introduced. senate session. called out to house. back to senate (still State Fair). Did a lot of walking around. fairly busy for me. Represetnative Kl***t tried to set me up with Jen, wouldn’t believe I had a girlfriend named Holli Gregg. Told dad to tell him 6 months. holli showed up when we were allowed to leave. I gave her a tour. We headed back to the hotel, and then went to the Madison thing. threatened by Steve Shirley. came back and watched TV and talked for too long. Drove over to Dad’s to sleep. He had the TV on and the lamp on. Annoyingly friendly front desk guy.

Day Three

Saw annoyingly friendly front desk guy again. back to hotel to shower. drove to capitol and walked around. updated files for approp. updated contacts for Representative D**str*. Found Lt. Governor’s office (with help from wife) with plans to help tomorrow. walked. holli made it back okay. taught the senate sergeant at arms binary. sat in senate health and human services. to dad’s weird uncalibrated shadow (that others have had) but I just resized. back to committee. then to China Buffet for lunch. everyone had ice cream at the capitol. walked around. stopped at Carol’s and gave her my passport. senate session. afterwards there was defibrilator stuff. house lasted for a long time. HB1025 and HB1026 took a long time to discuss. big memorial service, that Lou had to organize. Got some pictures. Real interns sat next to us. We walked around some more. Senator Sch***b**k called me Tip, Jr. got asked a lot to go to the beer and brats thing. headed back. kfc for supper.

Day Four

helped Lt. governor. walked around. looked for a committee. read over bills for senate floor. helped show maps to Senator D****h**. took pictures. Lou emailing about webmail, every two seconds. training at 10am, two persons. “helped” Kathryn Henning. beef day. Representative Kl***t is pretty sure Holli is cheating on me. Sat in democrat caucus. Senators H**dst**’s clock problems didn’t show up. got introduced. Senator B**tl**g – mixed family. Senator M**** – helped me out. Senator N**s**h** asked how I vote. I said, “I’m just a computer guy.” big laugh. avera lobbyist psuedo-problem. sessiion. to house. then joint session and memorial service. other interns sat by us. pages had sweatshirts. then tourism banquet. Destination 2010: Get on Board. saw Nancy Jark. packed, no more room for coats. big suv, top ten (Tippin’ and Trippin’ Tour, Ultimate Sturgis Package, Lowest Prices Underground), Krebs and Naeve hosted, three awards. video, and Hilary Duff South Dakota theme song. South Dakota!

Day Five

Started out great. up and packed. lobbyist AGAIN. Approp. Senator Kl****k – gave him flash games and ACT system. He left after the games. Lou accidentally lost a Representative’s newspaper article when she tried to print. We bough Lou flowers. 4-H job shadowing. Senator N**s**h**’s locking up, but didn’t really get it. Senator Sm**t for appropriations software. pizza party with the LRC people (good talk). more Lou stories. got a cashew thing from Lou. not too bad. session. Pages honored. computer interns honored. got a certificate. lots of handshakes. Senator N**s**h**’s hooked me up. Senator D**pst** shook my hand again. Senator Sch***b**k called me Tip, Jr., again. did some more helping. session over, then session over in House. did some more walking. Lou said we could go. hugged Dad goodbye. then I took off.

I had a good experience out there. Two full weeks is a long time to be somewhere else, on your own, doing tech support. Tech support, while lucrative, takes a lot out of me. And I was getting more and more drained. I don’t think I could have gone another week (and there was plenty of talk and panic regarding our departure). I definately developed an admiration for what my Dad does in his offtime, and I developed a deep respect for the process and institution of Government. I would encourage everyone to take a day before February 28th and visit the State Capitol.

South Dakota: Great Faces, Great Places, and a capitol building in the middle of bloody nowhere.

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Pierre Technology Internship: Week the First

Representative Rausch
Representative Rausch, originally uploaded by m!les.

You can view all the pictures from last week at my Pierre Technology Internship: Week the First set on flickr.

I began my trip by procrastinating. Truth be told, I was nervous about the trip. I would be gone an entire week, working for some of the most powerful people in the state, all of whom would be constantly judging me, my appearance, my demeaner, and my lineage. So, I putzed around forever.

At around 5 o’clock I departed. I soon found that all roads point to Pierre. Well, Hwy35 does, at least. It’s a long journey, since Pierre is in the middle of the state (think “sinkhole” or “drain”), but with some Family Guy podcasts, I was able to pass the time away, away.

Upon entering Pierre, I discovered one axiom of truth that would come to dominate nearly every moment of my existance in this town: everyone knows Dad. I check in. I say, “My name is Miles Rausch. I have a room reserved.” They say, “Rausch? As in Val Rausch?” And the shadow grows darker. After meeting Jennifer Coats, a Dolandite and my fellow interner, I began to prepare. This would be quite the week.

Day One

Up at 8am. Jen drove. At the Capitol Building I met L. Lou Adamson, our supervisor. All interns are hired as part of the Legislative Research Council, or LRC. The L., I would guess, stands for “Louise” or “Loesha”, because Lou is a girl and those are the only L-based girls’ names that come to mind.

Then we got to learn the system. This year there are two new things for the Legislators: webmail and the Agenda and Calendar Tracking system, or ACT. We got some informal training from Lou on this, and then we experimented a little on our own. She gave us handouts, but we didn’t really use them. The webmail system is exactly what DSU has, so both Jen and myself felt fairly comfortable with it.

Then we got to go up and meet with the real interns. These were Political Science majors, graduates, and other ambitiously-minded students of the universities of South Dakota. NSU was representin’, as was SDSU. DSU only brought computer geeks, and there was no one from Black Hills. HAHAHA!!! We learned the basics of the website, and how things all work in Pierre. They urged us not to write anything for newspapers or publication while interning, so I think the rest of my post will be absent of names unless it’s Jennifer or Lou or Representative Val Rausch. So, I’m posting anyway (!), but I’m not going to dish dirt. Except I did hear from a Senator that Rep. Rausch is a jackass.

Jen and I ate lunch at China Buffet. Despite it’s horribly uncreative name, the food was pretty good. Upon returning to the Capitol, we got to go on a tour. The place takes a little getting used to. There are all kinds of rooms tucked away, staircases around corners, and break-away floor panels. Honestly, it took me a couple days to figure things out. I took plenty of pictures, of course. After Lou and Scott showed the rest of the interns the new system, we went back down to the LRC and began to make our rounds, helping where we could. At 5:00pm, we were allowed to leave.

At 6:00ish, Dad came by, picked me up, and we hit the South Dakota Retailers Association banquet hardcore. This was a banquet for the Retailers, but it was also a way to smooze the politicians. Dad introduced me around to an assortment of politicians. I had to inform all the Representatives that I would mostly be looking over the Senate, and I had to inform all the Senators that I would be their babysitter for the next two weeks. I think I heard the line, “I’m the worst with computers!” 32,400 times. This means, to find the person that IS the worst, I’m going to have to do a lot of digging. One neat sidenote, the guy who runs the Dairy Queen in Madison got an award at the banquet. Then Dad took me back to the hotel. I got changed, called Holli Gregg, told her all about my day, she made fun of me for saying “though” so much, my phone died, and I went to bed.

Day Two

The first day of our real job. Walked around in the morning. Gave a training session on Webmail and ACT System. This was open to everyone, and we got about 10 or so legislators in for it. Helped out Senator D**pst**, from Sioux Falls. He had just backed up his system, and then it wouldn’t start anymore. So, we tried to restore to another hard drive, but it didn’t work. Then we just swapped hard disks. He seemed quite pleased with the results, and now we’re buddies. Had to help out the lobbyists with all kinds of connection problems. This would not be the day to get them resolved, either. I had three lobbyists, however, with problems. Ate lunch in cafeteria which had hot sandwiches and then didn’t. Let me explain: when we were standing in line, they had hot sandwhiches on the menu. So I ordered one, which was met with a little consternation and confusion. After purchasing said sandwich, I consumed it, and we left. Then I chortled as I noticed that the “Hot Sandwiches” had been erased from the board.

Then there was the State of the State. Took all kinds of pictures. It’s neat to watch the session. I got a little bored, I’ll admit. And it was crowded and warm. Jen couldn’t stop stressing how important it was that we get a good seat, so we sat down a bit before the session even started. There were all kinds of formalities surrounding the first day. They had to “elect” a Speaker of the House, which was Speaker M*c**ls again. Then the Governor walked in, cape trailing like Batman. He grabbed the mic from the Speaker, and he declared, in a rough and throaty voice, that “there are still good people in South Dakota.” With a strong sense of urgency, he urged the legislature to declare a state of emergency. Not a sound came from the floor. Then, slowly, my father stood. In a clear voice he called out, “Mr. Speaker?” The speaker answered, “Yes, Representative Rausch.” Dad turned on his mic. “I would like to nominate the Governor.” “But, what would you like to nominate him for?” “How about chairman of the Kick-Ass Squad.”

The hoopla was incredible.

From there we walked the floors looking for people who needed help. We were supposed to have training again, but the one person didn’t show. Accompanied Dad to the Pierre Chamber of Commerce food event. Met some lobbyists as well as more legislatures. Shook hands with the Governor of South Dakota. Saw D***y J**ns**, the oldest 18 year old alive, who I have a hi-res picture of on my system, but we didn’t talk to him. Dad wanted me to tell him that I had a huge version of his pic (can we say Senior Picture??), but that would have been creepy. Too, too creepy.

Day Three

I discovered this morning that my brother had called me. So, up at 6:45, and with nothing to do but to get ready for the day, I figured I’d call him back. He didn’t seem game for this. I called him later and we cried for about an hour about our feelings. No, if I remember right, we both spent nearly the entire conversation on speaker phone doing other things like chatting online and reading old Balderdash definitions and saving the funny ones. But, back to that mornining, we hit the floor right away, checking for problems. Then went straight to Appropriations where we loaded a new type of software for those who wished to go paperless. Midway through the process, the meeting starts. The chairman, Senator *p*, asked the interns to introduce themselves. I figured, “We’re safe. We’re not real interns anyway.” I was wrong. He pointed out that there were technology interns at the back of the room, and could they please do the same. So, I did. “My name is Miles Rausch. I’m from Dakota State. And… I love it here….” Of course, the Senator asked if there was any relation to the bald man at the end of the table, to which I replied by turning bright crimson and burying my face in my hands.

Lunch at Pizza Hut. Not my favorite, but I made due. Breadstick heaven! Got back, and had to move a projector. Lou asked us to move a projector to room 468. So we walked up there, and we found the doors to be closed. So, Jen suggests we try the other door. We’ll be at the back of the room and unnoticed. We were dead wrong. We walked in to find the meeting paused, and every staring at us. I wheeled the projector in, set it down, and we left. How’s that for a good impression.

We walked around some more. Then we sat and watched the State of the Judiciary by Chief Justice Gilbertson. I took more pictures. The guy I was sitting next to kept asking which one was the Governor. He said he was from Wisconsin, but in my head I thought, “More like Wish-you-weren’t-bothering-me-onsin” The big topic of the State of the Judiciary was that twenty years ago, nearly ##% of crime in South Dakota could be traced back to alcohol. Today, nearly ##% of crime in South Dakota can be traced back to meth.

Did more walk arounds. I would get into long conversations with the politicians who were older, didn’t know the system very well, and were just used to talking. About everything. I’m sure that you’re children have great jobs as electrical engineers, and I know that you wish you were more computer savvy, but you are not the only person I have to teach double-clicking to. After work was over, I felt so tired. Declined to accompany Dad to another banquet and, instead, went with Jen to Guadalajara’s down the street. To tell Dad that I wouldn’t be going with him, I called while he was in Appropriations. Now, they have this rule in Appropriations that if your cell goes off, you have to buy donuts for everyone. I knew this, but I thought that Dad, having been burned before, would have his phone on vibrate and I could leave a voicemail. Oops. He had the buy four dozen donuts the next day. I told Holli about the incidents, which she found quite humorous.

Day Four

Up at 7:30 again. We had training in the morning. We had set up the projecter in room 468 (see Day Three’s events), but we had to do it again. It was all out of whack, and skewed and such. We were set up to help out the House Commerce Committee. We taught them the Webmail and ACT system. For some legislators, it takes three or four times. For some of them, they don’t pay attention the first time, so it takes a while. For some, one time stepping through it is all they need. I believe they left satisfied. Then, we moved the damn thing back.

My next task was to figure out what was wrong with Senator D**ip**n’s system, which I had to uninstall some stuff from. AOL had taken over her computer, like the red weed, and I had to destroy it. Note to everyone: McAfee and Norton DO NOT play well. I was virus scanning as a precaution when Dad came in. He needed me for Representative H**h**f. He had called me, but I had turned my phone off in the Commerce Committee. I got a donut, the fruits of my phone-calling labor. Then I had to help K**hr** H**n**g (lobbyist) again. This time, successfully. I swear I know her, but I can’t place when or where. I helped another lobbyist who had a WEP key was entered incorrectly.

Then Lou sent us to room 462, but we couldn’t find it. I paged her (my first ever page), which she ignored. Then we talked to an intern, Daniel Haggar, and the three of us still couldn’t find it. But I got them digits. Apparently there is this whole social scene that the Real Interns hit up that we had no idea about. Then Jen talked to the committee chair, Representative C**l** and she discovered that it was in room 468, not 462. We set up the projector and made our way back to the LRC to find out why Lou hates us. Room 462, we later speculated, is a closet behind the the floor of the House. What hurt most is that I had almost gone in there, too.

We ate lunch at a packed Subway. I finally watched a session of Senate, which was nice. I still missed the first part, though. Appropriations needed some help. There is a person responsible for scanning the documents and converting them to journal files, and she had rescanned all of them except what they had already heard. So, we had to delete and resave all those files for the Appropriations people. I was working on one Senator’s computer when he got an MSN message. All it said was, “What’s up, bitch?”, and it made me smile. With that done, we made our way back to the floor, walking around until we were done.

That night, at dinner, Dad took me to the South Dakota Rural Electric Association banquet. There was a large turnout here, due in part to what a great job they did during the ice storm power outages. I met and conversed with U.S. Senator Johnson, the Lieutenant Governor (who was the only person I’ve encountered all week to comment on my DSU pin), the Secretary of Public Health, and the Treasurer of the South Dakota Rural Electric Association. Except for Senator Johnson, they all sat at our table! Plus there was Matt, a member of the SDREA, and Senator Gr***f***d, from Doland. I got to hear a lot of interesting conversation, and I had a lot of interesting conversation, too, with the members of the table. The problem with Holli being from Iowa is that I can’t say, “I met Senator Johnson!” I have to say, “I met the U.S. Senator from South Dakota, Senator Johnson!” And I think I fell asleep during that sentence.

Day Five

Woke up. Finished packing. Jen said, “Let’s drive seperate.” Drove to the Capitol with horribly fogged windows and a poor sense of direction. Luckily, I never lost her. Did a walk around. Today I had to conquer WestLaw. WestLaw is a database of the codified laws and statues of South Dakota. They have all this stuff in books, and on the website, but it’s also nice to have it on the computer, I guess. I have never used or been trained in it, so the WestLaw problem would last for a little while. Then I sat up in the House Judiciary Committee, and, while sitting, got a call from my father. Man, I’m popular! He told me that Representative P***rs was having problems. I got to Appropriations, and I heard that the problem was that no one had the budgets for the Department of Personel. So, I found Lou, and she said that it wasn’t out yet. Then I get another call from my dad. That wasn’t the actual problem. It turns out I had to delete one of her journal files and reload it. It had downloaded incorrectly, and it wouldn’t let her view it.

Back in Judiciary, we listened to two bills and waited for their meeting to end, which would mean the beginning of our training of them. Then we presented, helped with problems, and packed it on up. I walked around for a bit, checking on the Senate, then the House, then Appropriations, and then back to Senate. There were some high school tours going on, and they would watch mostly nothing going on. Then came our first defeat – a smudging printer that we just couldn’t clean. I was heart broken and devastated.

For lunch we hit Burger King hard. That was nice. They have the Rodeo Burger again! That was probably my favorite Burger King burger. Then we got ice cream at McDonald’s. Once we got back, we walked around the houses. I helped my Dad specifically, setting up his new Blogger for Word toolbar so that he can post to his website (valrausch.awayken.com) right from the article that he sends to the newspapers. That is a great victory. Another great victory was determining the problem Representative T**n** was having with his Acrobat printing. He had the box “Print to file” checked, for some odd reason. I should have checked that sooner.

Jen had to help Representative Gl**s** learn the new system, so, feeling bad for her, I stuck around and took pictures inside the Capitol building. Then, with Jen done, I got my coat and stopped to say “Goodbye” to Dad. Then I got a call from Holli. She had gotten a call back from Daktronics and they wanted her to intern with them over the summer! It was great news, and it meant that she’ll be even more busy this semester, but that she’ll have a steady job doing graphic design for the summer. Then I got stopped by one more Representative before I made my way to the door and to the open road.

The ride back was relatively uneventful. I did notice some strange signs in Howard. I think that they must have an ice cream place, or had an ice cream place, because there were originally four signs reading, “I scream”, “You scream”, “We all scream”, and “For ice cream”. Now all that were left were two signs reading “I scream” and “We all scream”. Ominous, to be sure. To add to that feeling, there is a bison farm on the other side of town. Did they get out? Did they kill? Did “we all scream”?

All-in-all, I had a great week. It was long, and tiring, as we spent pretty much our entire time walking and talking, but I’m eager to see what next week brings. I’m sure there’ll be a lot less pictures to share, but I’ll take them when I can (of course). I’ll try (maybe, hopefully) to post at least midweek. Tuesday, the 17th, is Madison Hosts the Legislature, and Holli is going to come out and see Dad and I in action and attend the banquet that night. Then it’ll be my turn to introduce her to people, and then I’m sure I’ll hear, “You associate with this jackass?”

Yes. She does associate with this jackass. And you can install your own printers from now on.