I went to Bay Port tonight to see their Summer Theater production of South Pacific. It was pretty awesome! I had stopped by on Tuesday to say hi to the crew, got to see the cool radio prop that Ben made, and even helped rebuild the wheel & pulley system that made a set of stairs mobile. Tonight I got to see the show from the audience for a change- it was a really great time. Left me pretty nostalgic for high school & the 7(?) plays and musicals we put on. It was good to see Ben (who will eventually look exactly like Tom from Gomez), Chris & Greg, Lance, Brent, Phil, Jared, Ashley, and even Mr. Frieder & Mr. Schlegel again, though it was bittersweet & short, very much a “hello, goodbye” type of deal.

Here’s Lance, who will actually be out in Seattle in August for a cruise. Hopefully I’ll seem him briefly then:

It’s weird… it’s not like it hasn’t been more than 3 months since I saw most of them last, because it’s really been more like 5 or 6, but I am much more aware of being away from all my high school friends now that I’ll be at least 7 hours away from everybody this summer. Hmm. Everyone be sure to email/write/IM/call this summer!

In other news this week, my Grandma Betty McCambridge (my dad’s mom) flew in to see us. She left the gate in Sioux Falls, SD, at about 11:20 yesterday morning, and didn’t get to Green Bay until 7:38 this morning. In between she sat on the runway for 45 minutes, sat on the runway for an hour, flew to Chicago, (missed her connecting flight), waited for the flight that was supposed to arrive here at 6:51, waited for a 30 minute delay, had that flight cancelled, waited for the flight that was supposed to arrive here at 10:12 pm, had that flight cancelled, waited until midnight before they were sure she couldn’t fly until the next day, got a blanket & pillow from a nice airline guy who had been following her from gate to gate, trying to get a plane to Green Bay off the ground, got up real early and finally caught a plane around 6:30am to get here around 7:40 this morning. Damn weather! At least she got here in time for me to see her a bit before Jeni & I go out west tomorrow. Her trips have been working out perfectly- Two years ago she was here for my graduation, then last year she was here for a week before I went to Europe, even helped me get some hiking shoes, and now this year she made it over in time to see me before I leave for Microsoft.

Kaisa’s news is that she got her hair colored from blonde to red yesterday, leaving my mother the only remaining non-redhead in our immediate family:

My other news of the week is that we got new cellphones & a new provider. We’re now with Verizon wireless, with four phones and nation-wide coverage. Interestingly enough, the base rate works out to be cheaper than our previous plan, which was three phones and a Wisconsin and UP-only home area. Even more interestingly, my dad and I priced out what we would get from Verizon and Sprint over lunch to make our final decision. The cost difference between the two carriers, with different phones, slightly different base minutes, different percent discounts available for my dad at WPS, and generally just a different situtation, over two years and ~$2226? $0.40. Forty cents. $2225.60 vs. $2226.00. How insane is that?

My cellphone is an LG VX8100, which the sales rep highly recommended over the RAZR. The phone is awesome, and was only $25. It’s got the works- 1.3 MP camera (nothing to write home about, but decent on the 2″ screen), speakerphone (actually pretty common now), bluetooth (with great support [no modification/hacking required] thanks to BitPim – upload custom ringers, download photos from phone, upload pix to phone, DUN, etc), mp3/mpeg player, etc. I think I’ll even be able to set it up for free WAP (counting only against minutes, aka, free after 9pm and all day on weekends), courtesy of HoTTProxy. To access the service menu on your LG VX8100, press [Menu] and then [0], followed by six [0]s for the password.

Jared also got a new phone. It was free w/ contract renewal and came with a belt clip. He once again claims an increase in his overall sex appeal of 10%. Sadly, he made the same numerical claim senior year of high school when he got his first phone. Anyone see any dramatic improvement in the last two years? Yeah, me neither. Have a good summer Mason! (and let me know if Connolly’s still going to be here for a party on August 20)

Well, that’s about it… still have to get up and pack clothes tomorrow, so good night!

No life can escape being blown about, by the winds of change and chance. And though you never know all the steps, you must learn to join the dance.