March 12, 1978 ---- It's What's Happenin'

I was born 30 years ago today!!

Here's what was happening:

March 12, 1978

President: Jimmy Carter
VP: Walter Mondale

PRICES:
House: $64,370
Car: $4645
Milk: $1.44
Gas: .65
Bread: .33
Stamp: .13
Income: $10,671

Top Songs (March 1978):
Night Fever (Bee Gees), Stayin' Alive (Bee Gees), Emotion (Samantha Sang), Lay Down Sally (Eric Clapton), Thicker Than Water (Andy Gibb), Can't Smile Without You (Barry Manilow), I Go Crazy (Paul Davis), Sometimes When We Touch (Dan Hill), Dance, Dance, Dance (Chic), Just The Way You Are (Billy Joel)

Top TV Shows (1977-1978 season):
Laverne & Shirley, Happy Days, Three's Company, Charlie's Angels, All in the Family, Little House on the Prairie, 60 Minutes, M*A*S*H, One Day at a Time, Alice

Top 1978 Movies (from film.com):
The Deer Hunter, Midnight Express, Grease, Superman, Halloween, Animal House, Dawn of the Dead, Same Time Next Year, Days of Heaven, Up in Smoke


SPORTS:
SuperBowl XIII: Dallas Cowboys over Denver Broncos
NBA Championship: Washington Bullets over Seattle Supersonics
World Series: New York Yankees over Los Angeles Dodgers
Stanley Cup: Montreal over Boston
NCAA Basketball: Kentucky over Duke

So long to my 20s

Today is the last day of my 20s...Yep, I turn 30 tomorrow.

It's kind of weird in a way, but then again, I feel like I've been in my 20s for-ever! I'm not feeling at all old, so that's good, I guess. It's now cliche, but it seems that 30 is the new 20. I don't really even know what that's supposed to mean, but I'll go with it!

I wouldn't want to be 20 again anyway. Nor would I want to relive my 20s. There have been A LOT of fun memories, but I think my 30s will be much more productive and stabile. I still look about the same (maybe better), make more money and "know" myself better now than I did in my early and mid-twenties. Plus, the whole job situation and relationships were both pretty much a nightmare in my 20s. I've learned a lot from all those bad experiences, however.

In addition, everyone I've talked to who've been in their 30s for a while always says that your 30s are better than your 20s....And since I'm smarter now than I was at 20, I'm going to listen to my elders and believe what they say!

It was an interesting 10 years! I started this age decade as a shy, closeted college boy at a small state university and am ending it a lot more confident in every way possible with a career in the city...My 20s will probably be the most change I'll ever see in one decade again.

So....20s, you've been fun and we've had a good 10 years together, but it's time for you to quietly slip away. I will revisit you often with the photos we took and in our stories with old friends of all the fun times that were had! So long.....

And hello to my 30s!

Dreaming of Dionne

I guess my new-found appreciation of American Idol is even finding a round-about way into my dreams.

Last night I had a dream that I was a Ryan Seacrest-ish type personality and had some sort of show to host. Where did I go to get ready for the show?? To Dionne Warwick's house of all places. She was in the bathroom teasing her hair and I had to stand in her hallway to give myself a trendy look (although in real life, my hair is far too short for the messy, tossled look).

Anyway, in the dream, Dionne and I were friends so I didn't find it strange at all that we were getting ready for the show together (nor that she lived in a one-bedroom apartment). I asked Dionne if she had any gel or MOUSSE I could use (yes, I asked her for mousse...is this the '80s?). Ya know what kind of gel Ms. Dionne Warwick uses?? DEP.

In the end, I couldn't get my hair to look right and finally just gave up...

The awards show was pretty casual because I was wearing jeans and a black button-down shirt. Dionne suddenly went from casual to wearing a gown. Once we got to the podium and said hello, I turned to Dionne and started singing, "From the moment I wake up....Before I put on my makeup.....I say a little prayer for you...."

To which the crowd was delighted. Dionne, however, was not.

And then I woke up and realized that it's just a snowy Wednesday morning in Minneapolis.

I'd rather be on my way to San Jose....

I (heart) Wisconsin

During work on Friday, I decided that an impromptu visit to my old stomping grounds of La Crosse, Wis., were in order. I hung out there quite a bit from 2002 - 2004, before I moved to Minneapolis. Calls were made and I discovered that both Bill and Danny wanted to join me. So, I picked up Danny after work, ran home to grab a change of clothes, then we picked up Bill and were on our way to La Crosse - about a 3 hour drive.

Actually, nothing too exciting happened, but it was fun. Ran into the group of guys I used to hang out with and it was fun to see them again. We also wound up meeting a couple guys who were also visiting and went back to their hotel room....Well, Bill stayed in our room with some random dude he met. Sorry I spent a good amount of money on a room that I didn't even sleep in....Oh well.

Danny and I made it back to our hotel room just before we were supposed to check out. Then we proceeded to another bar I used to hang out at and had a couple beers in there while playing the fun juke box. I had to really limit myself to a couple since I was driving.....blah!

We stopped in Winona to eat on our trek back to Minneapolis and met a really funny group of girls who were about 27. They were actually freshmen at Winona State during my senior year there, but I didn't know any of them...

Roadtrips are fun. But my car is a freakin' mess inside now. Drunks are messy, I've discovered. And things just seem to be taming down a little bit now that I'm nearly 30. If it had been the same road trip even just a few years ago, I'm sure we would've wound up staying in Winona b/c I would've wanted to have 8 beers before realizing that someone needed to drive the car....Oh, the joy of getting smarter as one grows older!