Had an interesting time in Minneapolis. It is a beautiful city, at least the parks I treaded in. Getting there was a total mess, and probably the longest delay I’ve endured in my three years of consistent air travel. Get on the plane and told that there is a ground delay getting into the Minneapolis/SP Airport due to only two runways being open and just our luck, they happen to criss-cross, so one plane at a time. They pull us off the gate, since we needed to clear it, but we sat and sat and sat some more for 2 hours and 45 minutes. I was told by a former pilot that they can count that as an on-time departure since they technically left the gate. The flight was at 8:10am, you would think the first flights of the day would go off smooth, no dice! I just can’t understand if they knew there was already an hour and fifteen minute delay (without knowing it would get extended) why they wouldn’t allow us to stay in the terminal? It’s not we needed to get in line on the runway (which is another fun experience when you are 13 planes back).

We finally take off sometime close to noon and then we hit some thunderstorm with hail in air so they rerouted us near Nebraska! Finally got there at 1:30pm, their time, was supposed to be 9:45am. I had a meeting at 3:30pm, so my whole plan of sightseeing was destroyed. I got to eat at this place touted as a good vegetarian Chinese restaurant, but I wasn’t real impressed. I had all of 10 minutes to spend at one of the nature centers I found on-line. Saw the same birds we have here, chickadees, cardinals, etc. LAME! After my meeting, however, I did venture out again and went to the sculpture garden near the art museum. Was freakin’ cool. Will be posting pictures soon. Saw some chipmunks, who always make me laugh, we don’t seem to have them where I live, so haven’t seen one in like three years. The culture in Minneapolis is very arts driven. It seemed like a very safe city (at least where I was) and the people seemed pretty friendly. There are tons of beautiful lakes and gardens. I went to this super cool lake near the art museum that just had beautiful gardens, fragrant and flower. Wish I had more time to explore during the day, since I’m sure the nature centers I didn’t get to visit would have been world class.

Last night we went to the Mall of America. Was um… interesting. There is an Amusement Park on the bottom floor of the mall with some crazy ass rides, two rollercoasters, a log flume, and a huge arcade. I won a pretty decent sized Sideshow Bob at the waffle ball cup throw dealie. Had a ridiculous amount of stores and was kind of funny how some of them were 80’s style, Swatch, Jimmy Z, Quicksilver. Just found it kind of odd. I had a snack at this incredibly unique stand. Basically all they sold was peanut butter and X. PB&J, PB and crackers, apples, etc. However, the catch is that they had insane flavors of peanut butter. I got this crazy ass waffle sandwich with dark chocolate peanut butter. I tasted the white chocolate, didn’t impress, however the café mocha was freakin’ awesome. Think I also saw PB with banana, some weird Thai flavor, chocolate with raspberries, etc. Was some crazy stuff, but really tasty. That is what I live for when I travel, unique experiences. My regular life is pretty ho-hum, so getting out there and seeing different things, visiting different places, I live for it, even if it is flavored PB!

Had a good time hanging out with some work folks I didn’t see often, but again I was the punk ass who didn’t want to go along with the group. First night I went out on my own, had a car and since my exploration got smashed that day I needed the night to look around. On the second night they were going to go to Benihana, which is one of these places where they cook the raw food in front of your face, I was not into that, the smell of raw chicken and meat being cooked makes me kind of sick. Being a vegetarian at that place is not easy. They were also not going until 7:30pm, which was just too late. Since a few other people weren't into it, I ended up taking them to the Sculpture Garden again (they didn’t seem too impressed, to each their own I guess), and then we went to this outdoor mall and had a nice dinner. But of course, since I bucked the system, I’ll be labeled and the punk ass non-team player. That shit drives me up the wall. Another reason why working for yourself would be dynamite. One day I’ll get there, just not sure how.

And of course the Take my Shit Away ruined the gift I got for my parents. Was a jar of jelly. They must have some crazy ass scanners at that airport because I’ve gotten away with it before. I got so wicked pissed off this time too. Is freakin’ 5 oz. and sealed. I won’t go into my whole feelings on why the Take my Shit Away regulations are just ridiculous, since I’m still not over what happened this morning. I was probably 5 seconds from being taken into a back room, I got so angry. And I know, why not check my bags? If I trusted the airlines not to lose them, I would. Is just an awful cycling of getting screwed at every turn during air travel these days. Why the hell don’t we have flying cars yet? Do I have to keep having to bring this up? I guess it is because I watch so much Futurama and they have transportation tubes. Burning jealousy. Alright, post is way too long already, adios.