Well, I had thought that moving to Rochester would yet again provide me with hours of undesignated time to write my travels. I hadn't really considered why I had so much free time. I had free time because I had few responsibilities, and I lived alone.
    I don't live alone this summer. Two other IBMers live with me here in the apartment. In the evenings we watch movies and shows together after cooking dinner and sharing stories about how work was good or bad or long that day. I then call my wonderful girlfriend and we exchange our days events and sentiments.
    Yesterday I did the unthinkable though. Let me start the story at the beginning. On Saturday Mark (one of the two residents here) took me to Goodwill to find some random dishes for plants, and after hearing my idea to get a dog next semester, drove me to Paws and Claws Humane Society where read dog stats. One dog stood out: Cedar, but I didn't put to much into it. We drove around to a couple other stores and the pound was closed when we got there, so we went back to see Cedar. He's a four month old Border Collie Rat Terrier mix. I had to check with the apartment management first though.
    Monday I got off work and went to the offices, closed. Closed three hours before the posted time.
    Tuesday I went back in the morning and got permission and some forms and drove to Paws and Claws to pick up my new puppy. When I arrived I was told that he (and his two siblings) had been moved to Red Wing (a city 45 minutes North). I called and they would only be open for another 15 minutes--not enough time to drive there.
    Wednesday I drove to Red Wing and found the little humane society that he'd been moved to, when I entered, I said, "I'm here to adopt Cedar!" The response was not what I had hoped, a couple sat at a desk filling out paperwork and woman with a lab coat on said, "He's already being adopted, but those two are from the same litter." That's how I met Echo. Though, that wasn't his name at the time, he didn't know any better.
    He's a very intelligent dog--especially for a four month old. After one day he sits on command, poops outside, sleeps in his kennel, answers to his name. I already have a few stories of what he's done since he's arrived, but that's for another time... the guys are back with ice cream and movies.

My travels first took me to Fort Worth, to Becca's house where I stayed for a time to relax after a long finals week--and to get to know her family. We went out to dinner with her youth pastor, we had lunch with her sister, and I went to IKEA with her friends. All in all, it was a wonderful week. Her mother even took some pictures of us in the back yard.


    I knew it had to come to an end though. The night before we were going over to a friends house for "The Office" party, I made an early turn onto the wrong road and decided to do a u-turn on the rather wide street. Apparently I misjudged the street's width because I bumped the rounded curb and popped a tire. I'm glad it happened in a place with friends around to drive me to a tire shop. Needless to say, I was delayed for a day.
    The drive North was uneventful, for which I am grateful. I listened to "The Phantom of the Opera" audio cd--which I think is better than the movie. And now I'm here in North Dakota. I got a chance to watch "Expelled", it was a good representation of facts and kept the audience attentive. I also went to coffee/lunch with my cousin. On Thursday, I'll continue my grand adventure and go to Rochester. So 'til next time.

Note: If you're not a needle person, I recommend that you not read this post.

The Red Cross shows up at LeTourneau on a fairly regular basis to take blood from unsuspecting students (they hide in the bushes and snatch the unwary engineers between classes). Due to my yearly travels overseas, I've been unable to give my blood to help the dying (or vampires) until this year. My first.
    I made my way to the top floor of the building and signed in, grabbing the "reading material" before taking a seat with the other guy waiting to give blood. After reading and waiting for some time, I took the health quiz and gave my information--the fun part was explaining which months I was in which country and for how long into my past. The man pricked my finger, checked my pulse, read my blood pressure, and sent me to a chair where I waited to be drained.
    A nice nurse arrived and poked a very large needle into my arm (a needle in my arm hurt more than I remembered). Blood flowed. I picked up "The Four Loves" by C.S. Lewis and began to read, but in a few minutes the nurse came back and said that she wanted to speed up the blood. She unzipped the cord around my bicep and tried to push the needle into my arm further, when she saw me clench my teeth she asked if she should pull out the needle, I said no. I assumed she had finished maneuvering the needle. I was wrong. It began to feel like she was digging into my veins with a dentist hook. I informed her of my extreme discomfort, trying hard to not alarm the growing queue of potential donors.
    The needle was out and a gauze in place. At that moment my vision blurred and darkened, I felt sick, and I tried to regain control. The nurse asked me to raise my arm and hold the gauze, I did. She returned with a cold wet towel and began dabbing my forehead, cheeks, and neck--which I then noticed were hot and covered in sweat. Needless to say, I stuck around for a while drinking juice and eating cookies.
    It's a good thing I've got a caring girlfriend, I felt nearly brain dead for the next few hours. Initially she brought some chocolate mocha cheesecake to eat while we waited for her to give blood. Later she got me some dinner and liquids (which hadn't occurred to me in that state of mind) and in a few hours, I was fine.
    So donating blood is fun. Maybe I'll try it again next time.