Break the Norm

So, I've broken the doldrums of break, and made it back to Des Moines for the rest of my stay. New Years was a bore. We had bad weather in Omaha, and so a lot of plans were cancelled. I ended up with my brother at a get together, which ended up being not as fun as I had imagined. The rest of my break will consist of teaching, working, and getting things in order for next semester. I will be Dr. Falke in Der Fledermaus with Drake Opera this semester, so I'm getting prepared on all that music as well.

I've only been in Des Moines less than 12 hours now, and have been plenty busy. As soon as I got back, I had to help my friend LInda who has been in Spain all of last semester get settled back into her apartment which meant moving a ton of stuff around and into different rooms. It was hard work, but worth it to help and see a friend who I haven't seen in over 4 months! Then I sat around and unpacked all the things I had brought from home. I still don't have it all done, but at least there is a dent! My friend Phil came over and we put together some things I had brought from home, and went to dinner with Linda, Cameo and her boyfriend. El Aguila Real is amazing, fast, and cheap. Nothing like stuffing yourself full of good, cheap Mexican food. Linda even paid for mine since I had been so gracious to help her move back in. Afterwards, Phil and I were invited over to Allie's new apt near Grey's Lake to watch some Miami Ink on TLC. I've never seen that show, and it was quite interesting. I'm intrigued by tattoos, but don't think I could ever get one. Who knows, never say never I suppose.

The next few days entail: exercising, teaching, homework, and hanging out with friends. So I will have to be extra creative with things to put in the posts. Expect a lot of fancy pictures of odd things. I seem to do that well. :-)

Place to see in Des Moines is: Downtown Skywalk. It's a bunch of connected skywalks between buildings downtown. It's a lot of fun to go walking down there and see the restaurants and stores they have along the skywalk. Go during the day when business people are around.