Pre-Dinohaul 2007

The holidays proceeded smashingly. Eggnog was in great abundance. Cheer, joy, and family the whole shebang. We had that typical family Christmas: opened gifts, ate breakfast, went for a family run (all 6 of us), saw little miss sunshine (everyone should see this movie), and then went for Japanese food. We had our own little booth or closed off room. As a perfect example of my family, when our server left the great minds of my family all strived to find the best way in which to attach chopsticks to their person. "hehe....next time I'll knock....says the server as he enters.



A few days later.....I left for DINOHAUL 2007.



What's this dinohaul you ask? Only THE greatest dinosaur migration since they dropped out of existence. The dinosaur is a majungasaurous. This guy was important because he is the first evidence for cannibalism. Luckily, Ray and Kristi found him. Calling on their magnificent resources they chose myself and my cohort Krista as the most reliable and efficient drivers on the face of the earth for this very important task.

As a reward, I was able to fly out to visit friends and enjoy New Year's in New York City.

Here's how it went.....

Not wanting to miss out on the ongoing festivities at my house, I am dropped off at the airport with 30 minutes to flight departure. Just barely making the plane, I fly to Hartford, Connecticut. This is the closest airport to Amherst, Massachussestts where my lovely friend Leah lives. Amherst is a quaint little town that defies the current American trend of strip malls and defines quintessential New England. The town is surrounded by colleges and contains many delectable coffee shops. As a side note, this is also where ultimate frisbee was invented. Through visiting this town I better understand spirit of the game.... I also happened to stalk down one (julie) greene another frisbee invention of Amherst. It was a fun time....met all of Leah's friends. I tried to show them what drinking car bombs was all about but I think they saw through that when my pong strategy of underhand throws went horribly awry.


We took the amtrak to New York. The conductor was a kindly older gentleman. When he discovered I was going to NYC for the New Years, he said, "Don't let them take all of your money and behave." I thanked him for his advice and continued to report in that I had been behaving throughout the two hour train trip. The excitement for the New Year was building!


As Leah and I wandered about Penn Station yelling "ELI"....I discovered that New York truely is different than the rest of the United States. I would ask directions and people would answer in languages other than English.

Eli with the assistance of his friend Jakob the snake-ob, gave us a grand tour of NYC. We walked over the Brooklyn bridge and walked through neighborhoods people watching more than sightseeing....if I want to sightsee I can watch the Discovery channel.

We were also able to catch up with the infamous Zaxelrod and many other Macalester compatriots. Interestingly enough, Eli and I had been commenting on the fact that it would be amazing if shadow were around and lo and behold guess who shows up at this random Macalester gathering.....?

New Years Day:

After further exploration of the city and an expensive beer but cheap hat later....


We are prepared for the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah concert...the anticipation builds. Eli and I have both seen this band previously but concur that the environ that is NYC on new year's creates an entirely new base from which to build. As the opening bands open...the excitement can do nothing but wane....for some reason people came to see this band and don't even know who CYHSY are.

I had seen them before with Architecture in Helsinki and they were overshadowed but the minute they came on stage they captivated the audience....jamming out....new songs...old songs...balloon drops..confetti...screaming...encores....It was AWESOME!