Happy Birthday to...

...The Current. The sweetest radio station ever turned 1 year old this week. To celebrate, they threw a big shindig at First Ave last night, complete with free Pizza Luce pizza and "specials" on Summit beer (note to Eau Claire folk: drinking in the big city is not cheap. Their "special" reduced the price of a 12 oz bottle to $3.75). They also had live bands, of which we stuck around for three. For the life of me, I can't remember the name of the first band, but they were good, as was Robert Skoro and Valet. It seemed that Valet had the largest following of the three, because a crowd actually gathered on the main floor to hear them instead of just hanging out in the wings eating pizza.

We drove to Fort Snelling and took the Light Rail into downtown Mpls, which by the way is totally the way to go. For $3.50, we had run of the thing for 6 hours, didn't have to wait in traffic, and were able to jump off at the Metrodome, go to dinner at The Spaghetti Factory, and jump back on to head to Block E. It was sweet.

In other news, Friday marked my first of 10 paychecks at my new job. I know that I don't teach because of the money, but I'm pretty sure that a steady, decent paycheck was one of the deciding factors in me taking this job.

I also found out that I've finally officially graduated (all the little blue circles are filled in on my degree audit! Outstanding!). Now I can start the long and frustrating (and expensive) process of getting my teaching license...which will be one of 3. In addition to my MN license, I'll be getting my WI license so I can teach summer band at Northstar or South this summer, and a WA license so I can teach when I move. Ka-ching.

On Thursday I took the first grade weiner kids to Orchestra Hall for the Young People's Concert. We saw "How the Gimquat Found Her Song." It was actually very well done. The MN Orch. combined their efforts with a theater company from Montreal, and put on a very kid friendly show that I also enjoyed. Is it sad that the only two times I've ever seen the Minnesota Orchestra have been for young people concerts (the first when I was a young person myself, and then again thursday). I solely place the blame on my Eau Claire friends for not inviting me when they have gone...you jerks. (kidding). With any luck I'll be able to see them before I move...that being said, LET ME KNOW IF YOU ARE GOING, AND I WILL MEET YOU THERE.

Alison won a GPS unit on E-Bay, and next weekend we are going to delve into the modern treasure-hunting world known as geo-caching. It should be fun.

OK, enough randomness...I think I'll play some more Scrabble.