Menomonie, WI

Today’s blog entry was written in the Menomonie public library.

I went to Menomonie to find an apartment, and oh boy did I find one. I already put down my security deposit. My new apartment is much larger and nicer than my current one, and rent will be 23% less than what I pay now. I will move January 4, 2010. Most of the tenants are Stout students. The neighborhood looks quite nice, the building is less than two miles from campus, and it is downhill all the way. My bike ride to school each morning will be fun, although the ride home will not be quite so easy. The up parts of hills are always much bigger than the down parts. I am not quite sure how that works; I will have to ask a mathematics professor about it.

I stopped by the financial aid office to discuss my upcoming financial hardships. I am not happy with the answers I received, but they were the answers I expected. I am not poor enough to get grants or subsidized loans. I can afford school, but I would much rather have Uncle Sam foot the bill.

I took some time to walk around campus and the town. I was surprised at how few students I saw on campus. Many of them would be in class, but I still expected to see more people outside. I cannot blame the weather; it was a balmy 40°F.

I like the campus, but I am still undecided about the town. My neighborhood is very nice, but I was not impressed with the area closer to the campus. A number of the stores and businesses were closed, and on every block there seemed to be at least two commercial properties with for-sale signs. I suppose one could describe the area as ripe for development, but to me it just looks old and run down. In this case perhaps the weather is to blame. It is a gloomy overcast day. I hope the neighborhood looks better in sunshine.

The Menomonie Walmart has a full service fabric department, and the employee who cut my fabric told me they plan to keep the department. I bought some interfacing (for class) and some fleece (because I cannot enter a fabric department without buying something I do not need). Walmart does not carry my preferred brands of rice and coffee, but as long as they have fabrics I can make do with other brands.

That is enough about Menomonie for now. Yesterday in class I made my adult t-shirt. The patterns were for women’s shirts, so I will not be modeling the shirt. I will post a photo after I find someone to model the shirt for me. I had a lot of fun making the shirt. Most of the work was done on an overlock, and for the bottom hem I got to use the coverstitch. I still do not know how to thread either machine, and I have not yet learned how to use all of the coverstitch’s functions, but I greatly enjoy both machines and I look forward to using them in the future. The only drawback to these machines is that the school does not have enough of them. The twenty students in my class must share nine overlocks and one coverstitch. I was the only one in class to finish the adult t-shirt, and my next project will be done on a lockstitch, so I may not get to use an overlock or coverstitch again this semester. Hopefully at Stout I will have more access to machines. But if some generous soul would like to purchase an industrial serger for me I could summon up the humility to graciously accept the gift.