<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582353642001506413</id><updated>2011-07-30T08:45:13.082-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Things and Thoughts</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thingsandthoughts.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/582353642001506413/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thingsandthoughts.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Johnny Was</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05851125029788439774</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>1</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-582353642001506413.post-6767241868642459175</id><published>2010-10-21T17:23:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2010-10-21T17:23:01.961-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Thoughts about News</title><content type='html'>&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"&gt;This will be the first time I've ever written something for the public eye. &amp;nbsp;I didn't think about doing it until my mom encouraged me to do so. &amp;nbsp;I'm usually pretty late to new fads like blogs. &amp;nbsp;Case and point blogs have probably been around for years now. &amp;nbsp;I recently moved to Minneapolis Mn to be with my girlfriend. &amp;nbsp;She's from here but we met in portland OR. &amp;nbsp;I lived in PDX for about 7 years on and off, mostly on. &amp;nbsp;When she left in September of '09 I was bartending at a little place called the Muddy Rudder in the Sellwood neighborhood. &amp;nbsp;The Rudder is a blues and beer bar. &amp;nbsp;Ten taps that are usually at least fifty percent IPAs. &amp;nbsp;Anyway I was having fun but nothing was really holding me there. &amp;nbsp;So I decided I'd take an "adventure" to the midwest. &amp;nbsp;I thought Minneapolis was a cool city after all my visits. &amp;nbsp;I spent the first two months living with Rosie, my girlfriend, her parents, Jim and June, and their dog Smirk. &amp;nbsp;I worked at a restaurant cooking. &amp;nbsp;Cooking has always been my fall back. &amp;nbsp;I can always default to the restaurants. &amp;nbsp;No matter how bad the economy there has always been a restaurant that could use me. &amp;nbsp;I guess it's luck. &amp;nbsp;I like to think I just have a great personality. &amp;nbsp;The first months were tough. &amp;nbsp;I was both lonely and never alone. &amp;nbsp;June stayed up late so I couldn't avoid her. &amp;nbsp;She's a middle aged woman from an italian family. &amp;nbsp;She loves to talk. &amp;nbsp;I don't really love to talk. &amp;nbsp;I just like it. &amp;nbsp;I just wanted to come home and chill at 11:30 pm after a busy night at the restaurant. &amp;nbsp;But instead I came home and listened and said a few words here and there. &amp;nbsp;In fact we really got to know each other well. &amp;nbsp;After two months Rosie and I found a place in Uptown Minneapolis. &amp;nbsp;It's an old home with four floors including the basement. &amp;nbsp;Our landlady is a nice old woman from Senegal. &amp;nbsp;She loved us because we both like west african food and music. &amp;nbsp;Plus&amp;nbsp;I've&amp;nbsp;been to&amp;nbsp;Ghana&amp;nbsp;so we had common ground. &amp;nbsp;The man upstairs is from Benin. &amp;nbsp;All our neighbors are from Mexico. &amp;nbsp;And down the block is a Somali mall. &amp;nbsp;One white couple lives a couple houses down. &amp;nbsp;It's a bit dirty. &amp;nbsp;There's trash everywhere. &amp;nbsp;But it's safe. &amp;nbsp;People keep to themselves for better or worse. &amp;nbsp;Now I work for a giant global logistics company. &amp;nbsp;I clear freight through customs at the ports. &amp;nbsp;It's really not a glamorous job. &amp;nbsp;I spend my day stressing about documents and government regulations. &amp;nbsp;Rosie is a waitress and also teaches pilates. &amp;nbsp;She is so damn sweet. &amp;nbsp;I wouldn't stay here if it wasn't for her. &amp;nbsp;I love that girl. &amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/582353642001506413-6767241868642459175?l=thingsandthoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://thingsandthoughts.blogspot.com/feeds/6767241868642459175/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://thingsandthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/10/thoughts-about-news.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/582353642001506413/posts/default/6767241868642459175'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/582353642001506413/posts/default/6767241868642459175'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://thingsandthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/10/thoughts-about-news.html' title='Thoughts about News'/><author><name>Johnny Was</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/05851125029788439774</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
