Interview with Nick Sandbulte
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
It's been three years since Nick and I moved into our Eden Prairie apartment together, and after just one more month we'll be saying our farewells... as roommates anyway. So before Nick departs, let's see what has been occupying his time lately.
Hello Nick, how are you today?
Alright. Still a little upset at my car having issues and how long it took to fix them, but I'm ok.
Our time as roommates is quickly coming to a close, and we'll begin new chapters of our lives. Where do you plan to go after our lease ends?
I will be moving in with a friend I met at church who owns a townhouse in Chaska. Appearently he was a big shot in HS because everyone who went to EP seems to remember him.
What is your favorite memory in our time as roommates?
Probably the random get togethers we had all the time back in the apartments, after everyone else also had apartments at Parkplace. We used to play racquetball a lot back then too. I don't know that I can point to one in particular. Maybe when we were doing filming for 912. That was a lot of fun.
How would you rate yourself as a roommate in general?
Well, really you should be the one to rate me, but personally I think I'm pretty easy to live with. I'm not that noisy - save for when the Vikes are playing - and spend a lot of time in my room on my computer or reading. Admittedly, I'm not the cleanest person in the world, but let's be honest - neither of us were, and I don't think I make that big of a mess generally. I didn't steal you food or anything else as far as I'm aware. I'm do a pretty decent job of having/buying things for everyone's use -TV, Wii plus games, fridge, etc. So all in all, I'd say I'm a pretty damn good roommate.
Will you be glad to be back in the suburbs where you'll be closer to work, church, and many friends?
Yeah, honestly I will be. The city life was interesting, but other than being close to the Dome I didn't see much benefit to it. I guess I just don't get why it's so exciting that people and cars are constantly going by our place, which I remember is what you said you wanted. And it seemed like to me that, again except for the Dome, whenever I'm doing something I'm heading back to the burgs. Honestly I miss our old apartment. There was that lake a block away, the mall/AMC/Best Buy wasn't much further, or any of those restuarants that honestly I liked as much as I liked anything I tried around here. Add in being that close to work, and pretty close to church it really was a great location in my mind.
Word is your car is giving you more problems, this time with the brakes. How much money do you estimate you've put into your car over the years?
Way too much, it's one of those cases where I kept fixing it hoping this would be the last thing and then it would last me a couple more years, but then it wasn't. This last time I just fixed the most immedent issue, and plan to get a new one early summer. Let's see, there was the engine/coolant problem, the driver side window which never really got fixed, the alterator, and now the breaks. I feel like I'm missing one too. Those things were right around $3500, and still feel like I'm forgetting something, so probably more than that. Like I said, way to much. I did get over $1200 back when that guy hit me though. If only I could get someone else to hit me and it be there fault I'd be in a lot better shape.
How is your programming job going?
Pretty well. I still enjoy it a lot. We're now finally getting out of some planning stuff we had been doing and starting to do some early skeleton work on how things might actually look/work when we release, and I do prefer that to all the meetings we had been doing. Still a lot of planning to do, but at least we're testing things out and getting a feel for it. Sadly we did find out today that one of our co-workers will be leaving us for another job, which is too bad because he was doing a lot of the least enjoyable parts of the work which will likely go to me. Oh well. I'll manage. The only other issue is we keep getting conflicting reports on what our priorities should be. We were told it was the stuff that we're working on now, but just this week I found out some other stuff is getting released this week instead of March, and we were supposed to do some work with the stuff this other team is releasing, plus some other stuff is coming down the pipe. We would like to handle all this stuff - largely because it's similiar to the stuff our old software did so we think we can do it much better than anyone else - but may not have the the man-power. So we'll see.
What were your feelings regarding the Vikings in 2008?
I'm not satisfied. I felt they had the best running backs, the best d-line, arguably the best LBs core before EJ got hurt, and an underrated secondary, and not a bad o-line. I felt to keep his job Childress needed to have the QB situation figured out by year end, and he clearly doesn't. I also feel that having taken over a team that was 9-7 3 years ago with all the pieces he had he should have more than a 0-1 playoff record by now. Yes, it was nice to finally win the NFCN crown for the first time ever. But Childress has not taken care of the QB situation, which is supposed to be his strong suit. He has shown absolutely no time managment skills. And the team has not advanced as far into the playoffs as their talent should have dicated by now. I do not understand why he is being given another chance. Remember the Vikes were a popular preseason pick to make it deep into the playoffs and possibly even make the SB. One and done is not satifactory in my opinion.
Are you upset by the Twins lack of activity this offseason? Do you think they have enough to contend in 2009?
Yes I'm upset, especially since the one "big" move they made - giving Punto that much money - was dumb. Now granted, I'm usually the one against them giving a bunch of money to a washed up vet such as Hernandez last year or White. So I'm not as mad as some people who like those moves (you) are. But it felt like this year they had pieces they could've used in a trade to improve themselves - not just dump players they didn't want/couldn't afford. We have too many outfielders. Couldn't we have packaged one of them, Boof, and an infielder (Punto?) to get a power hitting 3rd baseman? Or something? What is our reason to believe this year's team will be better than last years which didn't make the playoffs? Can't we once get a player that other teams are also interested in and we have to outbid them?
We saw you went on a handful of dates with a girl over the last month or two. Is this still going on or has it come to an end?
I don't even know anymore. We still email each other, and she has apologized for things being so crazy on her end. She says she sees the light at the end of the tunnel coming as soon as next week. I think that's when she's a full fledged doctor at her vet clinic, and will have more stable hours and stuff. So hopefully things will pick up again then. We did make plans to go to the next Swarm game a long time ago, though I don't know if that's still on.
Is your favorite sport to play still racquetball?
Yep. It's too long between games though. When I played Jeff a couple days ago I even had to think for a moment to make sure I remembered the scoring rules correctly! Hopefully it won't be too long before the next game; Liz has expressed interesting in getting a game going soon.
How do you feel about your health and/or physical fitness?
Meh.
You recently had the chance to spend a month with the Glanzer farm cat. You are allergic to cats, yet you still seemed to enjoy the cat's company. Explain.
We always had cats growing up, and I do like them. What can I say, they're cute. Yours did need to learn not to jump on everything though.
Would you consider blogging again? The DSU website was always popular.
No it wasn't, that's why I quit. It was largely you and Scott refreshing the page to make it look like I got lots of hits. I'll leave the blogging up to you and my brother, who's studying abroad in Leeds this semester - http://library.ndsu.edu/blogs/jade-sandbulte/ - people should check his out.
Do you think things would be the same if you, Matt Hanson, Hotchkin, and Scott shared a house in the present day?
Well, I'm sure they wouldn't be exactly the same, but honestly if we had to I think we would get along just as well as we did back then. None of us are that hard to live with, we're all pretty similiar in our living styles. I would take care not to move all Scott's stuff into his closet again though.
Has the poor economy affected you in any way?
Not really, actually I'm hoping it helps me get a good deal on my next car.
What movie should win Best Picture this year?
Well, my favorite movies thus far have been The Dark Knight, WALLE, and Gran Torino. I'd probably have to go with The Dark Knight. That movie really sucked you in.
If you were forced to get a tattoo right now, what would it be?
Probably the Vikings loco.
Why do you like to shave your head so much?
It's easy to take care of and to do by myself. That's really all there is to it. Plus it is a lot cooler when it's hot outside.
Do you remember most of the math you studied in college?
Not at all. I enjoyed most of it, but would be hard pressed to do any of it right now.
What separates Perkins from other breakfast places?
I like consistency and knowing exactly what I'm getting plus I love having a Mamoth Mufffin for breakfast tomorrow.
Do you plan to travel any in 2009?
Other than to Chicago to see the Twins play the Cubs, not right now.
If you had not met me, you most likely would never have met my Valleyfair friends like Jason, Jeff, Patrick, Liz, roommates Lauren and Sarah, and many other people we currently hang out with. Have you ever considered how different your life would be if we had never met?
It would be a very different life, that's for sure.
Do you think Obama will still be so popular by the end of the year?
Nope, things are going too poorly and he's going about fixing them the wrong way. He'll stay somewhat popular because it's hard to hate the first African American president, plus he does look like he's trying to fix things (even if I still think the bailouts a terribly idea), but his rating is already starting to take a hit. I predict a surprise rise in the supposely dead Republican party by mid-term elections.
Did Rod Blagojevich do it?
Probably.
Well, thanks for joining us today, Nick. Any closing remarks?
Gonna miss me?
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