Back from the Country, Off to the Capitol

Well, I've kinda missed a few entries over the last few days, but I've got a pretty good reason...no internet and no phone! Man, it was nice to take a break from the hustle and bustle and take a break for a little bit...

If you know me, then you're thinking, "Matt, take a break? Come on!" Okay, so maybe MY idea of taking a break is a little bit different than everyone else's.

Whenever I come home from Cali, my parents always have a "Matt list" for me to do. This time, the main item on the list was digging a drainage ditch. To be more exact, we had to dig a 100-foot ditch about a foot deep to bury a drain pipe for our sump pump. For those of you in California without basements, a sump pump is a pump in a hole in your basement that's below the basement level. Whenever water begins to rise to a certain level just below the basement, the pump turns on and pumps out the water to prevent flooding. This Christmas, a crazy thaw in the middle of winter and a broken sump flooded our cottage with a foot of water! Merry Christmas.

Anyways, skipping from the technical jazz above, we had to dig a long ditch. My dad and I spent three days digging, leveling, and filling in this hole. Honestly, as I said before, I'm cool with manual work. However, I forgot one small pest of the damp Michigan climate: mosquitoes. I forgot how I'm a magnet for those damn bugs. I sprayed myself everywhere and they still bit me a million times. Oh well, just part of a Michigan vacation I guess.

Check one item off the list. Luckily that was the only major item for the list this time around. Aside from mowing the lawn and other random yard work, the long weekend was pretty quiet.

One night we traveled down to New Buffalo over in Michiana to check out the new Four Winds Casino. I gotta say it was pretty ritzy. It was must fancier than the other Indian casinos I had seen in Jackson and Solvang. However, there was one small problem. Nobody won ANYTHING. I mean, everyone of us just had loss after loss after loss, no small wins whatsoever. Whatever, I'm probably never going back anyways.

The beach out there has also changed since I'd been in Michigan last. The beach is about half the size since the huge flood during Christmas and in spring. Lake Michigan is up a friggin foot, that's a ton! With such a rise, some places don't even have a beach anymore. It's much smaller than any California beach and a little chillier. The water was about 50, which felt pretty cold, although after your body goes numb it doesn't seem so bad. We only hung down there for an hour or so since the July 4th crowd was getting pretty big.

While out there I picked up some more art and photos for my new place in California. I figured with all the white walls in that place I should try and decorate a little. I mean, me and decorating don't usually mix, but I'm gonna give it a try. I also have vaulted ceilings, which makes for a lot of random empty space. Maybe if I stay there long enough I'll find a mobile or something to hang up there. I'm a little short on cash right now, so I think I'll just stick with the few things I got in MI for now.

Tomorrow I'm off to DC for one of two trips while I'm home. We'll see how it goes, hopefully everything goes smoothly.

After that it's Boston with Armen and Nikki. That should be an interesting time. I hope Nikki rented a car (cough cough) since we are going to be traveling all around the city trying to find her housing for the fall.

Until next time...

-StM