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Wisconsin Weekend

I spent the weekend at home in Stevens Point Wisconsin, visiting folks I haven’t seen in a long time, and staying with family. It was good to see my dad, who seems to be better than I have seen him. He’s also lost a lot of weight. Probably from the medication he’s on.

I enjoyed a nice thatnksgiving dinner with my folks, and some family friends. And I also got to see Harry Potter on the big screen with my sister and her fiance. I like that movie. It’s no cinematic masterpiece, but it was good entertainment, especially for the low low price of $8.75.

I got to play Settlers of Catan with my friend Dave of Get out of the Boat. “Settlers” is also called “Settlers of Satan” by some folks I know. Settlers is a wicked fun board game ( I highly recommend it). There’s also a “Christian” knock-off called Settlers of Canaan that’s played the same way. Of course, it’s designed by the same guy, so I don’t know if it can really be considered a “knockoff.” Also fun. I soundly trounced everybody.

I wanted to play some poker with some of my buddies, but my friend Mike, who would’ve hosted the poker night, had a baby on Thanksgiving morning. If you follow the link, beware of textured backgrounds and cutesy baby pictures. I stopped by to see Mike and I got to hold the baby, Evan, who was only two days old.

I never drank beer before coming to New York, and having missed out on the brew-ha-ha that is Wisconsin, one of the things I set out to do in Stevens Point was to drink a bottle of Point Special ($1.75). I’m not sorry I missed the whole bar culture, and I’m not a beer connoisseur, but I thought it was quite tasty. A friend that I’ve met, also from Wisconsin, recommended I try Leinenkugels, which is made in Chippewa Falls, but I didn’t really go out of my way to look for beer.

I also got to talk philosophy with my friend Brent of the 8star blog, ate a cheese bagel, drove a car (and parked!), watched cable TV, and, with nary a Starbucks in sight, started re-writing a novel idea I’ve been tossing around in my head for at least two years (not like that blathering I’m writing for Nano).

I also got to attent my old church, which is packed with so many memories it still feels like home. They added a new chapel onto the building right afetr I left, and now have some wierd sort of triple preaching setup with three services, all staggered 15min apart from one another. I don’t know how those pastors do it. Anyway, I also found out the sermons are available as mp3s on the web site. Cool beans.

I left on Monday afternoon. I visited my old university to see the new Fine Arts building, and say hello to some of the faculty earlier in the day, and then through the wonders of modern aviation I found myself riding the subway back in ol’ NYC at around midnight. I would’ve been home at a reasonable hour, but ol’ NYC has an ol’ transportation system thet left me waiting about an hour for the train.