Bloghorn

It’s good to be back on campus. Here’s some shots of what the new room looks like (mostly for Dobbs’ benefit), and a picture for Juli to show Mr. Rubins:

[EDIT]: Updated with better pictures

Too busy and/or lazy for a full update, expect pictures of the dorm setup (mostly for Dobbs) later.

Here’s my final schedule for the semester, including the new class.

I’m used to going to Minnesota in the dead of winter, sometimes for Thanksgiving, sometimes Christmas, but always when it’s cold. It was nice to be able to wear only one layer of clothing outside for a change, but by Saturday I had had about as much of Minnesota as I could stomach, and was ready to go back to New York.

Coming back through Minneapolis St. Paul International was a lot easier than JFK. Instead of a 40-minute wait with self-important idiots holding things up, we checked in our bags at the curb in about 10 minutes without any fuss. TSA and the security checkpoint flowed smoothly, and we were in the main terminal a good 2 hours before our flight. Which left plenty of time to look around. And of course, I had to make a pilgrimage to the toilet stall where Senator Craig famously had his “wide stance.” I was almost expecting a plaque or sign pointing out this historic stall, but I guess they’d rather downplay the hilarious incident.

Craig Memorial Stall

As I was walking around, I noticed a Fox News store with a couple TVs on. And while I would have tried to turn them off anyway (now constantly armed with my inconspicuous and non-bomb-like TV-B-Gone), I felt it was my duty as a Democrat to mess with them. So at first, I turned all three off, then started turning one off at a time, alternating which one, and watched them scurry to fix the TVs, and jiggle cables to figure out why they were on the fritz. No one noticed the kid with the flashlight on the bench outside.

Messing with Fox

The flight itself was pretty uneventful. I had run down my radio’s batteries trying to get it to hook up with the D-STAR repeater at the University of Minnesota (unsuccessfully), so ATC was off the menu, but the 2 hour flight passed pretty quickly. With a 1 PM CT departure time, we were back home and unpacked by 6:30 ET. Not bad for New York traffic.

Three more days, then off to Penn State again. Can’t wait.

Minnesota, especially Minneapolis, is extremely odd.

On Thursday night, the family and I went to the Guthrie, the cultural center of Minneapolis, to see a play called “The Government Inspector,” which was very funny and very enjoyable. But the interesting thing was that this newly built cultural center was erected right next to a fully-functional grain elevator, only a few blocks from city hall. That this city has developed into a modern city, with blanket municipal WiFi, a new light rail system, and the best public library in the nation, while still maintaining the feel of a small town and the typical Midwest accoutrements that go with it, is interesting. I get the feeling that the reason has something to do with the fact that farmland is only a few miles outside the city, and allows for outward growth more than the confines of New York City.

We also looked at Carleton College for Juli. She loved it, but as a Penn State undergrad, I could never go to a small college. It just seems too small to me.

1 PM flight back to JFK, then time to start packing for Penn State.

My grandparents on my mother’s side live out in Golden valley Minnesota, along with 50% of that side of my family, and I hadn’t been out to see them in around 3 years, so my Mom thought it would be a good idea to get out there before the next semester begins.

Unfortunately, the only flight we could catch in the timeframe was an 8 AM flight from JFK to MSP (Minnesota St. Paul Airport) on Northwest Airlines. For those who have never had the privilege of flying NWA, it is affectionately known as “NorthWorst” due to the fact that it is the worst airline in the US. Let me illustrate:

when we got to the check-in area at JFK, every other airline had 5 or 6 counters open for each flight to make the process go faster and keep people happy, with clearly marked signs and helpful staff. Northwest had one single line open, with no signs, and a complicated check-in system. First, you had to check-in using a self check-in kiosk with a crappy and unintuitive UI, and after that, your luggage tags were automatically printed and you were supposed to get in a second line and wait to have your luggage tagged.

In practice, no one knew what to do. We waited 10 minutes for a kiosk, then hopped on the baggage line. About 20 minutes later, we were 2nd in line, and the guy at the desk grabs the luggage tags and starts walking down the line. Now, logic would dictate that those in the front of the line would be served first, having waited longest. However, the self-important idiot who was at the desk decided that he needed to hand out the tags in the order they were printed, and neglected to realize that the way he was holding them, the last tag printed was on the top of the pile. We tried to explain how we were waiting longer and were finished with the kiosk before the people behind us, but he hurried past us, not even bothering to explain himself, and dealt out the tags anyway. All this time, a pair of Korean women were having trouble with the kiosk, and asked him for help. Instead of explaining it, he poked a button on the screen, muttered that it was “self-explanatory”, and hurried on, leaving my Dad to explain it to them (he can’t resist helping other people).

We finally cleared security 30 minutes before the flight, thanks to the incompetent staff of NWA (having arrived at the terminal 2 hours early), and boarded the plane on time, only to have the same idiot from the check-in desk hold up the flight for 10 minutes while he tried to remedy a seating issue he caused.

The plane finally took off from runway 22L at JFK, and made a 3/4 circle left turn (around the landing traffic pattern) to bring us to a westerly heading (yes, I was listening to NY ATC, why do you ask?), and then started on the 2 hour flight over the great lakes to Minnesota. The cloud cover was pretty consistent, so the only view I saw was when we started descending into MSP, and all I could see for miles was flat farmland, divided into even and equal square plots, with one winding road going through each. It was odd that a “big city” such as Minneapolis should be surrounded so closely by farmland, but I guess that’s how it goes in the Midwest. We landed on-time on runway 17 at MSP, and made a beeline for the gate. We were in our hotel room a little after lunch, and off to the grandparents after that.