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Last weekend the Minneapolis Boat show was in town. Needless to say, I took myself down to the convention center to treat myself to what promised itself to be an exciting display of the latest in Marine technology. Specifically, I went to take part in “Sailfest” which was guaranteed to be the latest and greatest addition to the show.
Although I was entirely disappointed by the low sailboat vendor turnout, it was pretty sweet to see what some of the manufacturers were dreaming up these days.
This was a favorite of mine…
…because it has so many automatic thing-a-ma-jigs. The jib is self-furling and the spinnaker can be deployed and then stored again using only one hand. It had a reverse vang, which I thought was pretty cool, and plenty of space in the interior. The centerboard was friciton based, meaning that it would pop-up should you run aground in some unexpected shallows. Non-sailors should note the colorful sails. This lil’ lady was definitely out of my league.
This guy on the other hand, is more my speed. Precision makes straightforward boats without the unnecessarily complicated rigging. I like this 15 foot model.
She’s definitely not as colorful as the previous boat, but there’s something to be said for sailing something that’s not quite as… excessive as the previous model.
Apart from the overwhelming process of looking at the boats for hours and trying to keep up with everyone’s jargon, I had a pretty good weekend. My girlfriend Kritty and I went to the St. Paul Winter Carnival – home to the longest freakin’ parade ever! After rounding off over an hour and a half with more yet to come, we decided to head out early and hit up Candyland on the way back to the car to satisfy a relentless sugar craving that had been nagging us since we parked.
I recommend the chocolate covered toffee.
Today, Fox ran to two small towns in Northern Minnesota. Tomorrow I’ll go plan to meet Rocky and Bullwinkle over in Frostbite Falls before heading back to the cities. Just kidding, that was sorta stupid, huh?
It’s a strange and welcome event to see your grandparents by yourself for the first time. Even moreso if you can see both sets in one day. Such was my Thursday.
After running through my past semester’s pictures, sharing travel stories, and getting bags of cookies I sort of realized that although some aspects about my visits were different, some things never change.
On an academic note, buckled down and bought my textbooks. Although my wallet feels painfully light, at least I finally have enough coasters for every surface in my house.
Okay, I can’t take anymore. My life is still sort of boring. Anyhow, here’s what you’ve all been waiting for…
I just moved in to my new place. I still don’t have any food, but that’ll get taken care of later this afternoon. I’m residing in the former room of a former roommate who took his former self to France, formally. Let’s call him AR. He’s living in Montpelier right now, so if you’d like you dudes and dudettes can go check out his blog here.
Before I forget (because not all of us are blessed with an elephantine memory) I’d like to send a shout out to my lil’ lady, who’s been putting me up (and putting up with me) for my last two visits up to Minneapolis when I was without residence. Thanks, baby t.
While moving my stuff around on Friday, I attempted to move former roommate’s desk – which he left for me upon request – to a different part of the bedroom. Well, either the desk was shoddily built or I’m tremendously strong, because I ripped the thing in two singlehandedly. I called in another roommate for help, but it was too late. The desk was crumbling into a pile of kindling in my hands. Thankfully AR didn’t mind that his desk had disintegrated whilst in my care, so I didn’t really need to worry about it as much as I had been.
I can’t say I’ve been terribly interesting lately, but on the plus-side Gramps Q is back at home again, so woo-hoo for his recovery, eh?
