Weekend Recap February 6-8

Friday:

Because I have been having problems with my camera and the battery not holding a charge, I spontaneously (one does not usually put spontaneous and Dana in the same sentence) purchased a new digital camera on my lunch break from work. Nothing fancy, just a decent point and shoot that I hope to get as much time out of it as I can. I bought it at Circuit City. As you know, they are going out of business and their employees lack of care shows. I went to the Edina store and none of the employees were wearing any sort of uniform so you couldn't identify them. They did not have any information listed for any of the products and they only had hand written price tags and they had heavy metal/hard rock blasting from the speakers. I finally was able to track down an employee and the girl next to me asked him why they don't have name tags or Circuit City shirts on and he simply said, "Because we don't care. We are losing our jobs and none of this matters to us." Nice! (I actually went into the Maplewood Circuit City store on Saturday and I found it to be completely professional still) Anyways, that's where I bought my new camera that was supposed to be 30% off. It's obvious that Circuit City raised their prices and then put a % off on each product. I still got a decent deal as the range of the camera I bought is $82-$200 online and I got it on the lower end of the spectrum.

Michael (from now on, I am calling Michael "M" on here. I don't know why but I hate typing his name out every single time) and I went to see the MN Wild on Friday night. This was only the 2nd Wild game I have ever been to since their inception. Hockey isn't my favorite sport but if you're going to watch it, it needs to be in person. Despite the Wild losing, I still had a lot of fun.

One of the first pictures I took with my camera.  Isn't Powder cute?

The teams during practice

Saturday:

M and I went out to breakfast to Pannekoeken (wow, I spelled that correctly the first time). I then went to Joann's and bummed around the store and then I went to a movie. I went and saw The Reader. I just finished reading this book and I really couldn't get into it and for me, it was one of those books that you can't wait to finish. I liked the first half of the book but I didn't care for the second half. I really liked the movie and the second half of the book that I didn't like was much more interesting on screen. This movie is one of the nominees for Best Picture in the upcoming Academy Awards. It is my goal to see all of the movies nominated for best picture. It's actually a goal of mine every year and I usually end up seeing 2-3 of them but I am going to see all 5 before the Oscars this time. Kate Winslet is also nominated for Best Actress for this movie. I have never disliked or particularly liked Kate Winslet as an actress but she deserves to be nominated for this movie.

In the evening, M and I went to Pepito's for dinner, one of our favorites. On our way home, I wanted to test out my new camera, so we went over to the Cathedral and Capitol and took some pictures. Not the best but it was dark and it's hard to take pictures in the dark with a point and shoot or without a tripod.

The Cathedral

The Capitol and the Cathedral in the background

The Capitol with its reflection on the top of the car

Downtown St. Paul--I LOVE this city!

Sunday:

M and I met my sister, BIL and their family at the VFW in South St. Paul. They just came from church and we were all there to celebrate my sister's new job by having the Commander's breakfast. My sister has been in the hotel industry since she was 16 and she has finally accepted her first General Manager position at a hotel in Stillwater. She has already worked at this hotel brand before and also has used the same computer system so she will hit the ground running at her new job. Congratulations, Jamie. You finally got what you wanted. This was the first time I had seen my sister since my birthday and she gave me an awesome purse, jewelry, shirt and candle holder. Love it all, Jame! For the rest of the day, I hung around the house, watched part of the Pro Bowl and then cleaned part of the house.

Keith and Hunter

Tom and Jamie

Hey, didn't M just have a beard?