Minnesota 2004 Reunion Weekend


Before the dust could settle after the first reunion of the year, word came out that there was a plan for Minnesota in the works. OK, even I was skeptical at first when told that there is a possibility to party out there. After all, it was still dead winter and a harsh one too especially up north. Minnesota happens to border Canada and temps often dip way below zero so it seemed like a joke to mention the words social and Minnesota in the same sentence at this time of year. That arctic-exposure was enough to drive the faint of heart away. I later found out there are a bunch of rather brave Kenyan souls who've taken up here and I was convinced to see just what kind of deal was involved here. They were all in agreement of the work-hard and play hard theme as already witnessed by the Chicagoans, so all was left really was to sit back and let events unfold.
The meet was at Rochester, about 45 mins south of Minneapolis. This place was very white -literally and figuratively as you will see in the pics. That week NSBE and IBM were co-sponsoring an educational Community Technology awareness week in the area and we were invited to join in volunteering time alongside U of M Gophers. There were some Kenyans among them and together we visited area institutions. Those present or old enough to remember the worldwide-web days before IE, Netscape- Mosaic and even Eudora recall it was University of Minnesota that gave us the Gopher browser!, through the early 90's. They had a sharp engineering team that essentially tested our fundamental engineering skills in the classic miniature truss-beam bridge construction. The harder test was the remote-rover payload landing that I still didn't quite get conceptually. After the mental workouts, pizza was served and later in the evening the unwinding begun. This was where they put to rest all prior notions of Minnesota lagging behind socially. The sheer turnout was something and as the hometown to the Mayo Clinic, there wasn't a shortage of doctors or med students present. School Alumni present ranged from St.Patricks Iten's Kennedy (who as a former hockey player too couldn't help constantly reminding of the day our team B beat them in Hillo), to The Strathmore School. That night we were introduced to the "Snow Angels" and the wild party antics that go on in the northern tundra. Later on the Mayo medics hosted a graduation party that had an impressive showing of practitioners from Russia to Guatemala. The place was mobbed to the point that you could hardly keep abreast of all the names. Unfortunately on this evening what do you know ....the constant zoom, flashes and all made the camera power die out early again. Next time two sets of AA's will be carried! I'd definitely recommend to anyone interested and not minding the cold, to absolutely do Minnesota once. You'll be frozen half the time, but with all the fun and warm people, you probably won't even notice!

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