水，水在每個地方！

I went out with the missionaries two nights ago - the investigator we were going to see was sick, but we visited a less-active member of the YSA and drove around a bit, and it was fun.  On my way home, I couldn't resist taking this beautiful picture of downtown Minneapolis at 70 mph:

Going around a curve, no less, and on a freeway I had never driven on, at night.  Don't try that at home! In other news, it's been raining for a week straight, and the basement pump finally gave out.  Thus, the basement floor was flooded when I came home from work yesterday.  I spent an hour moving things and acquiring a shop-vac, then the rest of the evening helping to wring out the carpet and shop-vac it.  As of this writing, Uncle Matt's still downstairs with the vacuum getting the last of the water out.  The heat is turned all the way up and we have dehumidifiers and fans going like crazy.  I already fear the worst for tonight - sleeping with the heat blasting will be less than pleasurable.  Maybe I'll go donate some plasma and treat myself to a hotel room for the night...

Today, however, the sun is shining and spring is in full force!  Minnesota really is beautiful; lots of trees and even more lakes!  Everywhere you drive you see at least two or three.  I didn't believe it was the land of 10,000 lakes before I got here, but now I'm convinced.

I promised some pictures of my workplace, so here they are!  This is Medtronic World Headquarters, home of the largest medical technology company in the world.  Here it is from the front; there's a few buildings not shown here, and in the Twin Cities there are another 15 or 20 Medtronic offices and buildings.  Next is a view of the central building where I work with the company logo, "Humanity Rising".  It symbolizes restoring people to full health, part of the Mission of Medtronic.  Medtronic really has a sense of core values and is driven by its mission, which makes it a great place to work, because everything's about making people's lives better as opposed to making a profit.

Here's me with the logo; you can see my Medtronic name badge hanging from my belt loop.  Everyone (even the CEO) has to wear their name badge visibly whenever they're in the building...tight security.  We also have to swipe as we come in every morning.  There's a gruff German guard who says good morning to me every day.  I don't know if he gets tired of it, but he seems happy to be there, so I say hello back.

My legs almost didn't work today, due to running yesterday and then spending hours bent over like a contortionist with the vacuum in the basement, but I forced myself to climb the stairs at work and I might go hobbling later on (as opposed to jogging or running).  I should start a club - you want to go hobbling with me?  I should practice first, though.  Five more minutes on the computer.  It's a luxury staying in the home of a piano teacher (my aunt), because you can practice as long as you want and whenever you want and no one cares!  At home, my family complains if I practice for any length of time when they're watching TV or doing just about anything, but here I can practice at 10 pm if I want, even if everyone's in bed!  I don't, but Jakob does, and no one seems to mind.  Hurrah for practicing!  With that rousing battle-cry, it's time to go get the best of Albeniz.

English title: Water, Water Everywhere!