More Christmas Fun… in Ipswich
Monday afternoon, I arrived at the home of Mike and Gwen Geditz near Ipswich, which is up in the Aberdeen area.  Since I started dating Amanda Geditz in May, not once had I been to her house, and she thought for sure it would never happen.  But I made good on my promise and took in her family’s Christmas.  The Geditz family consists of Mike and Gwen, along with Amanda and her two sisters, April Denholm and Kristin.  April is a couple years older than Amanda and is married to Ross Denholm, but is still going to school at DSU while Amanda has already graduated.  Kristin is still a junior in high school and is dating a sophomore in college named Chad.  Ross and Chad were also on hand during my stay.  It was a lot of relaxation: sitting around the house watching TV and movies, playing video games, and waiting for the next big meal from Gwen.  I kinda got hooked on Mario Party 7 while there, and now I’m wishing I had a GameCube.  I’m pretty sure they don’t make that game for PS2, which I recently acquired from Alex in a trade.  Their family Christmas was officially Monday night, where presents were opened.  I wasn’t forgotten by the family, as I got several nice gifts.  I also came bearing gifts as I brought Mike a mini keg of Coors Light I saw him eying in Sam’s Club a couple weeks back.  Anyway, I was there for two nights and left on Wednesday around noon.  No one wanted me to leave, but with my very busy upcoming schedule, I was really left with no choice.  On my way home, I encountered some intense fog, but navigated safely to Doland where I stopped at the grandparents’ place to pick up a care package for my move to the Cities in a few days.

Random Stories | Today’s Topic: Pop
I kinda abandoned my old feature of random stories, so I figured since I was so highly enjoying the can of Squirt I just finished, I’d write about pop, or as most Americans call it, soda.

1. Nick “The Rev” Zachariasen was DSU’s version of Van Wilder.  He had been there for years, seemingly going nowhere.  And like Van, he was one of the biggest names on campus… for very different reasons, however.  I had a couple classes with him, including Microeconomics my second year.  Every single day, he would show up to class with a full 2-liter bottle of a generic Mountain Dew, called Hee-Haw, and drink the entire thing in one sitting.  He was rarely spotted without his 2-liter bottles of pop.  Forget the 20-oz. bottles, he went all out and enjoyed it all too much.

2. It’s not much of a story, but I always love the time a drunken Josh Schuh spilled a full 44-oz. cup of fountain pop on himself at a Burnsville Chipotle.  Funny stuff.

3. I was always one to mock the Christian version of the keg known as “Kegs for Christ,” which were contained not with beer, but root beer.  And these people of legal drinking age would show up at a bonfire and drink root beer from a keg and sing church songs and such.  I of course ended up attending one of these my freshman year of college somehow, and made sure that since I was dragged to it, that I’d get my share of root beer.  I drank too much and got a stomach ache.  How ironic.

4. When I went to Canada in 1995, I bought these tiny bottles of Coke and Pepsi.  They were both glass bottles that held like 6 oz. of pop.  I gave them to Jordan as a souvenir, and she kept them in mint condition for ten years.  This past Easter while home from college, I got the great idea to consume the pop still in them.  Everyone else chickened out, but I finished them both, and surprisingly, they were both pretty good still.  I never got sick or anything.  I know that’s the oldest pop I’ve ever drank in my life.

The Week Ahead
Thursday: Leave home, drive to Madison, pack some stuff, and go to the Cities.  I have an apartment or two to check out.
Friday: Sign the paperwork for my new job, and return to Madison.
Saturday: Ring in the new year at my old house in Madison where Justin Jung is supposedly throwing a party.
Sunday: Start out 2006 by returning home to take in niece Emerson’s baptism, only to return to the Twin Cities again that evening… this time for good.
Monday: Take the day to get settled in, whether I’m living at a new apartment or with Liz temporarily.
Tuesday: Starting the new job in Chanhassen.  That’s coming up all too quickly.

Well, let’s hope fog isn’t a factor and Nick and I can make it safely to the Cities.

Ryan