I, Muehlenhaus. U, Riedermaus.

Having finished grading for the semester, I spent last night finishing another DVD of Lost -- I am seriously a junkie for the show, sad, sad, sad -- and then going off to toast Adam on his new adventure to Estonia. Adam is a former Geog 3161 student of mine who after the semester finished became a good friend and Russian informant. (I say this because he knows Russian and is often giving me insight into the inner workings of Kremlin via Putin's media releases.) He also had similar tastes in music -- Russian ska and electronica -- which gave us an impetus to meet up after the semester and swap music. He took his last final at 6 p.m. yesterday, is now officially a UMN alumnus, and today I am driving him to the airport so that he can hop his one-way flight to Estonia and become an illegal immigrant over there. Absolutely brilliant! He doesn't have a job, he has an apartment reserved without a mattress, and he has no way to get home if things don't work out. But things will work out, because it is Central Europe! That's how things work out over there -- chaos theory. He'll probably start the first Starbucks over there and use his millions to buy himself the Estonian presidency in 30 years. That's just my prediction. If all else fails and he gets deported, he can always buy a Russian visa and go there for a spell. At least, that was his logic last night after three or four pints. Brilliant!

Last night he and his groupies took over the Town Hall Brewery -- there must have been 50 people there, including the bar staff celebrating with him -- and, though I left at around 11, I think they all moved over to Bullwinkle's later on. It was pretty impressive. I met a bunch of cool peeps that knew Adam from various venues, including one who had driven all the way from Spooner, Wisconsin, for the send off. A bunch of Russian and Estonian women were there too, which doesn't surprise me knowing Adam... It was a great time!

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Today the proverbial end-of-the-semester illness struck. Birgit has been sick for about five days, and I have been playing a difficult game of keep-away from her, which has been driving her mad. When she coughs I run the opposite direction, and when she is passing through the room, I scurry and cling to the walls to avoid any passing germs. At first it was kind of a joke, but then after two days it became second nature. By the third day she was shouting at me to knock it off and just give her a hug. I caved. And now... I'm sick! Damnit!

I was really hoping to have just one winter break where I don't fall ill at the end of the semester, and I was almost home free... but this morning I woke up with a nascent head cold of sorts that I can tell is merely in the early stages and will strike with its full fury tomorrow. So my goal is to get shit done today, before I become a bed-ridden, Economist reading vegetable over the weekend.

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Vikings-Redskins
Friends departing and tales of illness aside... what is crucial is that I get well before the game on Sunday! I have a terrible feeling about the outcome, but the Vikings are such an unpredictable team, I still maintain a sliver of hope that they can win it and perhaps even catch the Giants for the number one Wild Card spot. But since ESPN has probably analyzed this to death already, I will stop here.