Last week in Bemidji & The Steampunk Initiative

Once again, another two weeks has flown by. First of all, the road trip was awesome! Here's a brief overview...

Day 1:
drove to Madison area
explored cheese 'chalet'

Day 2:
drove to Chicago
appreciated valet service
ate at Mediterranean restaurant (the Purple Pig for "cheese, swine, and wine")
walked to/explored Navy Pier
explored the area
walked to Irish pub nearby (amidst the rain and fire trucks)

Day 3:
discovered a nice bakery (a Corner Bakery Cafe actually) right by the hotel
saw the Museum of Contemporary Art
went to the John Hancock Tower Observatory (it was definitely the right day because the view was amazing)
saw Billy Elliot (simply amazing)
wandered to the House of Blues ("when in Rome...")

Day 4:
met up with a co-worker who lives in Chicago
took a movie tour around the city and surrounding area
discovered a little place (Go Roma, I think) for lunch & gelato
walked to the Adler Planetarium (which has an amazing view of the city)
went to the 'secret but not really secret' lounge on the 96th floor of JHO (no charge to go up there but the food/drink was quite pricey), watched the sunset (people applauded afterward)
enjoy some of the nighttime menu in our hotel cafe/bar

Day 5:
saw all the contributions to the Tribune Tower
packed up, picked the car up, & drove to South Bend
explored some of Notre Dame campus (driving mainly)
met up with Kyle for dinner at this sweet burger joint
hung out with Kyle in his apartment

Day 6:
church at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart (on Notre Dame campus)
explored campus on foot (including Touchdown Jesus)
watched the World Cup final game
met up with Kyle again for dinner and then hanging out again

Day 7:
packed up and drove to Onalaska (mainly a backtrack so we saw the cheese chalet again, etc)
lounged around the hotel (was able to keep the sounds of construction/renovation out mainly)

Day 8:
drove to Bloomington
window shopped at Mall of America
met up with a friend of Mom's
lounged around the hotel (cable didn't include SyFy so no Warehouse 13...)

Day 9:
met up with Jenn, did a little window shopping again
packed all the last stuff up
went home (Happy birthday Mom!)

It was definitely a great road trip although I was ready to come back and enjoy some last time at home. Becky came to town this past weekend, so the weekend included canoeing on the lake, dinner at the pub, Art in the Park, lunch at the Cabin, seeing Bram Stoker's Dracula at the Playhouse, and church at St Philips. Also a good weekend.

Yesterday and today, two of my best high school friends were in town from Fargo, so we spent good chunks of time together. Yesterday was pretty laid back (watching a movie, getting supper, nothing too exciting), but today definitely made my week. Don't ask how the idea got started, but my friends decided to have a photo shoot throughout town with one friend dressed up in a gorilla suit. We ended up spending the whole afternoon going around the parks, lake front, sculptures, etc and it was pretty awesome. None of us really expected the random bystanders to get into it; we had people acting like a gorilla to egg Chris on, people took pictures with Chris, and many people took pictures OF Chris. The kids at Diamond Point Park really got a kick out of it. My two Fargo friends want to recreate the project in Fargo and we should be putting pictures up on a Flickr/Facebook page in the next few days, so when I post my stuff, I'll post a link here.

*phew* Now I'm caught up... well, here on this blog. I leave again for Missouri on Friday and there is definitely a lot I still need to do. The 365 project is WAY behind, but I'm still remembering to take pictures everyday. After all the gorilla pictures, my camera died partway through tonight's mini-shoot, but I think I got a good shot or two. On a happier note, yay for day 50! I was able to keep my challenge going and not use the same location twice at all. I think 50 is a good number though so I'll probably copy a location tomorrow just to save some time. (I'm really hoping that I can keep current during the school year because falling behind like this is not fun... then again, I was on a road trip vacation when I'm already kind of on vacation and away from my main computer... I'm at least partly blaming this on the fact that we didn't have Internet in our hotel in Chicago.)

Of course, there is packing to be had (since I'll be driving down, I can take more stuff down with me), last friends to see, supplies to purchase, and loose ends to tie up. I'm really hoping tomorrow is like my most productive day this past month...

Now to the other part of my blog: "The Steampunk Initiative"... don't worry, this won't be very long. It's mainly an announcement... sort of. So, as I've mentioned a time or two before, I follow Warehouse 13, which is a summer series on SyFy that revolves around a Smithsonian except every item (artifact) has taken on some sort of supernatural ability. Some examples include Harriet Tubman's thimble which can make someone appear to look like anyone else, Harry Houdini's wallet (it's a slippery little artifact), and Robin Hood's cross bow which never misses its target. The show definitely follows a steampunk style, which is best described as modern technology with a neo-Victorian appearance. Think of things with copper wires, clockwork cogs, and typewriter keys... and it's kind of like that. Warehouse 13 definitely has its unique flair since its steampunk style seems to have a touch of 1900's American style, but that could just be me. Anyway, I've just gotten to like the steampunk style.

Over the past year, there were many times when I found myself wasting away time on flash games or browsing YouTube at 2am. With this next school year breathing down my neck, I realize that I need to change some things to make this year better, including my productivity. The Steampunk Initiative basically means that I'm going to put free time into a hobby rather than just wasting it away on nothing. If I have a hobby, then my free time could actually be worth something. (Photography has been this hobby at times, but that's something I want to grow into some more.) As you may guess, with a name like the Steampunk Initiative, my hobby will be designing and creating steampunk-style gear: goggles, clothes, handheld items, etc. This is something completely new to me, so my first steps would be getting things like acrylic paint, paint supplies, old metal contraptions, as well as simply mapping out blueprints. (My first project will be utilizing an old pair of chemistry lab goggles.) I also think this will be a good way for me to find the good vintage clothing/electronic stores in town.

I know this is kind of odd and all of a sudden, but part of this was sparked from today's events. After exploring some of the paints at a hardware store in town, I brought the idea up to my good high school friends and rather than asking the questions that include the "that sounds stupid" overtone, they seemed intrigued. (I hope at least.) Then, as Chris and I were driving back into town tonight, we were talking about how people say there is nothing to do in small towns like ours, but really, you just need to find something to make your experience in a town worthwhile. I'm not sure if anything substantial will come out of my initiative, but if nothing else, I need the initiative to change some things up in the life.

Any thoughts/comments/questions/ideas/suggestions about the Steampunk Initiative are greatly appreciated and as projects are rolling along, I will probably update here and/or Flickr about them. Here's hoping I can stick to this, be more productive, and have some fun trying out something new!