Sunday, July 27, 2008
Test#2
Testing a new mobile blogging app for the iPod/iPhone called Cellspin. Hoping to get both pics and text in the same post...
Lazy Sunday
It's a lazy Sunday here in Maryville, punctuated by a couple of noteworthy items:
1)We did the now-traditional office cleaning ritual that for Woodgie marks the unofficial start of the fall school year. Her classes are set up, and apart from the first week's meetings the last week of August, she's ready to go.
2)The weather has been a bit muggy; we may actually get stormed on this afternoon/evening.
3)The house is filled with the wonderful smell of baking chocolate chip cookies: two of our teams at work are having a grill out at our project manager's house in Liberty, so I'm bringing my world-famous decadant chocolate-chip cheesecake recipe: it's actually a cheat out of the Mr. Food cookbook, which wraps a basic cheesecake (egg, vanilla, cream cheese, sugar) layer between two layers of Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough (if you want to add insult to injury, or at least spike your blood sugar, top it with chocolate syrup). The first time I made this and brought it to the college library I worked as as an undergrad, I left it the morning before I went to class. By the time I got back to start my shift at 11, half of it was gone! So, it's been a never-fail recipe for me.
4)But the really big news is that Woodgie's iPhone has shipped, so sometime this week, she will be the proud owner of an iPhone 3G (and I get to inherit her iPod Touch in the process).
1)We did the now-traditional office cleaning ritual that for Woodgie marks the unofficial start of the fall school year. Her classes are set up, and apart from the first week's meetings the last week of August, she's ready to go.
2)The weather has been a bit muggy; we may actually get stormed on this afternoon/evening.
3)The house is filled with the wonderful smell of baking chocolate chip cookies: two of our teams at work are having a grill out at our project manager's house in Liberty, so I'm bringing my world-famous decadant chocolate-chip cheesecake recipe: it's actually a cheat out of the Mr. Food cookbook, which wraps a basic cheesecake (egg, vanilla, cream cheese, sugar) layer between two layers of Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough (if you want to add insult to injury, or at least spike your blood sugar, top it with chocolate syrup). The first time I made this and brought it to the college library I worked as as an undergrad, I left it the morning before I went to class. By the time I got back to start my shift at 11, half of it was gone! So, it's been a never-fail recipe for me.
4)But the really big news is that Woodgie's iPhone has shipped, so sometime this week, she will be the proud owner of an iPhone 3G (and I get to inherit her iPod Touch in the process).
Sunday, July 20, 2008
BSG/Band of Brothers
Just had to toss this in:
Being a fan of both Battlestar Galactica and the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, I ran across this on YouTube today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVX3Le5bWSw.
It's a fan-made title sequence mash-up which I thought was very well done (just ignore the typos).
In doing a Google search later, I ran across a link to two more mashup videos, brought to you on this posting on the acclaimed BSG-news and info weblog Galactica Sitrep.
http://galacticasitrep.blogspot.com/2007/12/band-of-brothers.html
At least, they are supposed to be there: the post itself is blank, probably due to firewall/anti-virus issues, so if someone looks at this and can get to the links, let me know how they were :-).
For a small bit of trivia, Jamie Bamber (Apollo) in BSG played a small role in Band of Brothers, so there's a small connection between the two shows.
Being a fan of both Battlestar Galactica and the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, I ran across this on YouTube today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVX3Le5bWSw.
It's a fan-made title sequence mash-up which I thought was very well done (just ignore the typos).
In doing a Google search later, I ran across a link to two more mashup videos, brought to you on this posting on the acclaimed BSG-news and info weblog Galactica Sitrep.
http://galacticasitrep.blogspot.com/2007/12/band-of-brothers.html
At least, they are supposed to be there: the post itself is blank, probably due to firewall/anti-virus issues, so if someone looks at this and can get to the links, let me know how they were :-).
For a small bit of trivia, Jamie Bamber (Apollo) in BSG played a small role in Band of Brothers, so there's a small connection between the two shows.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Testing, Testing
I'm testing an iPod/iphone app called LifeCast to see if it will talk to Blogger. More later on how I intend to use it...
Posted with LifeCast
Posted with LifeCast
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Back From Vacation
Oh, boy. It's been a few weeks since I've last posted. Frankly, we've just been too busy to post very much (although Cheshirewoodgie, aka Lauren) has been exploring the Apple iPhone App Store, loading her iPod Touch (which I'll eventually inherit) with apps. She's testing an iPhone application (see above) to let us make blog postings (and post photos) on the road. For this, two things have to happen: 1)The app has to be updated to work with Flickr, so we can upload photos, and 2) Her back-ordered iPhone with camera has to come in.
Since we were out of town during the Friday iPhone launch, "Look, woodgie, there's an AT&T store!" was one of my teases, while "I want my #$#$#$=!!! iPhone" was one of her regular comments. Now that the phone's been ordered (and is on back-order, with the 2nd million customers who didn't get theirs in the first run on Friday), it's down to, "it's still on back-order" grumble, grumble, grumble.
So, last week, we headed out to Blacksburg/Christiansburg, VA, where we went to help Lauren's friend and colleague Ceclia Hayhoe celebrate her 60th birthday and her tenure approval at Virginia Tech. We'll have pictures from the week, as soon as Cecila's daughter, Janice, has her pictures developed from that weekend.
Where to start?
The trip itself was fine, although we discovered that we were going to be in for an interesting flight when our outgoing flight from KC to O'Hare was delayed, first by heavy winds at O'Hare, and then by the approach radar at O'Hare temporarily going out (where were the backups???). Note that I had flown a few weeks ago to Richmond for my work-related trip, and that trip was very uneventful, but given that TSA had upgraded the threat level to Orange the day of our trip, the staffers working our check-in seemed very harried and tense ... I don't blame them. Depending on the airline, it's hard enough to fly these days without being inconvenienced in some fashion, and lumping on a higher security alert than normal only added to that.
Still, we made it through to O'Hare, only to find out that, once again, my bad weather average in flying through there struck yet again: we were concerned we were going to miss our outgoing flight to Roanoke, and we did ... after a round of Thursday-evening lake-effect storms, our flight was delayed. Then delayed again. Then delayed once more around 9:30 pm, when it was canceled.
Fortunately, we made it to a customer service station before the bad lines formed, got rebooked for the 6:00 am flight, and then set off to find a hotel, with Lauren wishing that O'Hare would upgrade their signage for directing people from terminals to hotel shuttlebus stops. Even so, we managed to get to our shuttlebus and off to a nearby Marriott.
The following morning's flight was uneventful, and we made it into Roanoke in good time, snagged our rental, and were soon tooling down I-81 toward Blacksburg/Christiansburg. I must admit, being from a very flat portion of Southeast Kansas, I've never experienced actual mountains up close until then. I was like "wow ....", and my wife, who had lived in upstate New York for awhile near the Catskills, was like "What??? It's just mountains." When we have pictures back from the trip, there should be a pic of us standing at a nice overlook near the Blue Ridge Mountains, somewhere close to the former home of Confederate calvary leader Jeb Stuart.
Since we had been delayed Thursday, we were concerned that we were going to miss the events Janice had organized, but we made it to Cecila's house in time to join them for a trip into the mountains to Floyd, VA and the nearby shops and wineries, including Chateau Morrisette (home to the Black Dog and Our Dog Blue vintages), and to Villa Appalaccia, an up-and-coming small winery down the road. After checking out their shop and having lunch at Chateau Morrisette's wonderful restaurant, we had time for a winery tour and tasting. Later that evening, we stopped off in Floyd itself to visit the Floyd Country Store, which features a century-old tradition of live bluegrass music every Friday night on its performance stage. Prior to that, a stop at a local antique store led to Lauren's find of the trip: an authentic Victorian-era blouse which she hopes will form the basis of a Victorian Christmas set.
Saturday morning, we were left on our own until the party at the Inn at Virginia Tech (located off their alumni center), so we journeyed into Blacksburg to check out the Saturday morning farmers market, and from there, onto the Virginia Tech campus to tour the Smithfield Plantation. Admittedly, Lauren isn't a student of military history, so she was afraid that this was going to be a Civil War-battlefield-esque experience. Instead, we both enjoyed a Revolutionary War-era Southern plantation with a lot of home-life "how they lived in that era" history, which we both like to experience. What really got her attention was the garden spaces; I think she actually knew more about what they had in their gardens and why they had them then some of the interpreters that day.
That led us into the birthday celebration: held in one of the Inn's conference/banquet rooms, it was a very informal occasion, with "fun stations" to do scrapbook pages for a book for Cecila, a cariacture artist, who did cariacture pictures of all of us (the originals will go into the scrapbook, while we'll be provided with digital copies for ourselves), fun food (veggie burgers, hot dogs, and sides, plus the makings for root beer/cream soda floats), and a wandering magician/card artist/balloon-maker. Needless to say, everyone had a wonderful time.
Since we were out of town during the Friday iPhone launch, "Look, woodgie, there's an AT&T store!" was one of my teases, while "I want my #$#$#$=!!! iPhone" was one of her regular comments. Now that the phone's been ordered (and is on back-order, with the 2nd million customers who didn't get theirs in the first run on Friday), it's down to, "it's still on back-order" grumble, grumble, grumble.
So, last week, we headed out to Blacksburg/Christiansburg, VA, where we went to help Lauren's friend and colleague Ceclia Hayhoe celebrate her 60th birthday and her tenure approval at Virginia Tech. We'll have pictures from the week, as soon as Cecila's daughter, Janice, has her pictures developed from that weekend.
Where to start?
The trip itself was fine, although we discovered that we were going to be in for an interesting flight when our outgoing flight from KC to O'Hare was delayed, first by heavy winds at O'Hare, and then by the approach radar at O'Hare temporarily going out (where were the backups???). Note that I had flown a few weeks ago to Richmond for my work-related trip, and that trip was very uneventful, but given that TSA had upgraded the threat level to Orange the day of our trip, the staffers working our check-in seemed very harried and tense ... I don't blame them. Depending on the airline, it's hard enough to fly these days without being inconvenienced in some fashion, and lumping on a higher security alert than normal only added to that.
Still, we made it through to O'Hare, only to find out that, once again, my bad weather average in flying through there struck yet again: we were concerned we were going to miss our outgoing flight to Roanoke, and we did ... after a round of Thursday-evening lake-effect storms, our flight was delayed. Then delayed again. Then delayed once more around 9:30 pm, when it was canceled.
Fortunately, we made it to a customer service station before the bad lines formed, got rebooked for the 6:00 am flight, and then set off to find a hotel, with Lauren wishing that O'Hare would upgrade their signage for directing people from terminals to hotel shuttlebus stops. Even so, we managed to get to our shuttlebus and off to a nearby Marriott.
The following morning's flight was uneventful, and we made it into Roanoke in good time, snagged our rental, and were soon tooling down I-81 toward Blacksburg/Christiansburg. I must admit, being from a very flat portion of Southeast Kansas, I've never experienced actual mountains up close until then. I was like "wow ....", and my wife, who had lived in upstate New York for awhile near the Catskills, was like "What??? It's just mountains." When we have pictures back from the trip, there should be a pic of us standing at a nice overlook near the Blue Ridge Mountains, somewhere close to the former home of Confederate calvary leader Jeb Stuart.
Since we had been delayed Thursday, we were concerned that we were going to miss the events Janice had organized, but we made it to Cecila's house in time to join them for a trip into the mountains to Floyd, VA and the nearby shops and wineries, including Chateau Morrisette (home to the Black Dog and Our Dog Blue vintages), and to Villa Appalaccia, an up-and-coming small winery down the road. After checking out their shop and having lunch at Chateau Morrisette's wonderful restaurant, we had time for a winery tour and tasting. Later that evening, we stopped off in Floyd itself to visit the Floyd Country Store, which features a century-old tradition of live bluegrass music every Friday night on its performance stage. Prior to that, a stop at a local antique store led to Lauren's find of the trip: an authentic Victorian-era blouse which she hopes will form the basis of a Victorian Christmas set.
Saturday morning, we were left on our own until the party at the Inn at Virginia Tech (located off their alumni center), so we journeyed into Blacksburg to check out the Saturday morning farmers market, and from there, onto the Virginia Tech campus to tour the Smithfield Plantation. Admittedly, Lauren isn't a student of military history, so she was afraid that this was going to be a Civil War-battlefield-esque experience. Instead, we both enjoyed a Revolutionary War-era Southern plantation with a lot of home-life "how they lived in that era" history, which we both like to experience. What really got her attention was the garden spaces; I think she actually knew more about what they had in their gardens and why they had them then some of the interpreters that day.
That led us into the birthday celebration: held in one of the Inn's conference/banquet rooms, it was a very informal occasion, with "fun stations" to do scrapbook pages for a book for Cecila, a cariacture artist, who did cariacture pictures of all of us (the originals will go into the scrapbook, while we'll be provided with digital copies for ourselves), fun food (veggie burgers, hot dogs, and sides, plus the makings for root beer/cream soda floats), and a wandering magician/card artist/balloon-maker. Needless to say, everyone had a wonderful time.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Apologies for Being Absent
My apologies for being absent (and for not doing things like moderating comments), but both of us have been either absent or busy ... me, absent last week to Richmond, VA, on a software conversion trip, and Lauren, off to the wedding of our former minister, Fr. Mike Kyle's, wedding, followed by lots of teaching/weeding/sleeping.
As I mentioned, I was off in Richmond, VA for a week, on a client experience trip (read: software conversion) that my employer requires us to do every year. I figured that I wouldn't have very much time for sight-seeing, but Sunday evening, I discovered that me and seven other coworkers would be assigned to work 12 hour night shifts from 7 pm-7 am. Although I did sacrifice some sleep, I was able to sight-see a little bit in the daytime ... as a Civil War/history buff, it was a pleasure to see the American Civil War Center, located on the site of the former Tredegar Iron Works, the Virginia Historical Society, St. John's Episcopal Church, the site where Patrick Henry delivered his famous "Give me liberty" speech, and, although I wasn't aware of it at the time, actually stand on the site where Virginians ratified the US Constitution (West Hospital, part of the VCU Health System, now sits where this occurred). I also toured Maymont, an historic, Tudor-style home which now stands as a Victorian-era museum and garden estate.
As I mentioned, I was off in Richmond, VA for a week, on a client experience trip (read: software conversion) that my employer requires us to do every year. I figured that I wouldn't have very much time for sight-seeing, but Sunday evening, I discovered that me and seven other coworkers would be assigned to work 12 hour night shifts from 7 pm-7 am. Although I did sacrifice some sleep, I was able to sight-see a little bit in the daytime ... as a Civil War/history buff, it was a pleasure to see the American Civil War Center, located on the site of the former Tredegar Iron Works, the Virginia Historical Society, St. John's Episcopal Church, the site where Patrick Henry delivered his famous "Give me liberty" speech, and, although I wasn't aware of it at the time, actually stand on the site where Virginians ratified the US Constitution (West Hospital, part of the VCU Health System, now sits where this occurred). I also toured Maymont, an historic, Tudor-style home which now stands as a Victorian-era museum and garden estate.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Should We Start Building An Ark?
Just a quick update for the weekend: Lauren's prepping for her second summer class and I'm prepping for my work trip to Richmond, VA next weekend, where I'll be with a team doing a software conversion from next Sunday to the following Saturday.
Given the storms we've had the last few days (complete with storms since Thursday, local flooding, and now a new storm watch today), and the local flooding, we're both wondering if we should be building an ark. At the least, we ought to start moving faster on plans to build a full basement, given we dodged a bullet Thursday night: we spent a half-hour in the small storm shelter we do have waiting out a tornado warning (and wondering why the town didn't blow the sirens even though NWS had called an alert for the entire county???)
In any event, we came pretty close to having a tornado in town; at about 8:30 pm, we saw the alert, called our neighbor with a full basement only to discover that she wasn't home, decided to get together some bare minimum survival items (windbreakers, water bottles, lantern/flashlight, phone (so I could keep up with the alerts and radar), laptops, and a bottle of wine and corkscrew (just in case it was going to be a VERY long night)), and headed down to our storm cellar. As I pulled the doors closed, I turned to see the beginnings of a funnel cloud (not sure if it was a cold-air funnel or an actual tornado) start to form from the cloud base down towards the ground. Even though it was south of town and heading away from our area, needless to say, I slammed the door shut and prayed that we weren't going to do a Wizard of Oz imitation.
Fortunately, the storm was moving fast enough that the funnel didn't develop any real rotation, didn't touch down, and dissipated as the front moved on. Even so, we didn't get much sleep that night; I stayed up until 11:00 until the tornado watch expired, and after that, I asked Lauren if we could purchase a weather radio with an alert that will wake us if we get warnings overnight, and she agreed.
EDIT: The weather radio came in today (6/9), and it's already coming in handy.
Given the storms we've had the last few days (complete with storms since Thursday, local flooding, and now a new storm watch today), and the local flooding, we're both wondering if we should be building an ark. At the least, we ought to start moving faster on plans to build a full basement, given we dodged a bullet Thursday night: we spent a half-hour in the small storm shelter we do have waiting out a tornado warning (and wondering why the town didn't blow the sirens even though NWS had called an alert for the entire county???)
In any event, we came pretty close to having a tornado in town; at about 8:30 pm, we saw the alert, called our neighbor with a full basement only to discover that she wasn't home, decided to get together some bare minimum survival items (windbreakers, water bottles, lantern/flashlight, phone (so I could keep up with the alerts and radar), laptops, and a bottle of wine and corkscrew (just in case it was going to be a VERY long night)), and headed down to our storm cellar. As I pulled the doors closed, I turned to see the beginnings of a funnel cloud (not sure if it was a cold-air funnel or an actual tornado) start to form from the cloud base down towards the ground. Even though it was south of town and heading away from our area, needless to say, I slammed the door shut and prayed that we weren't going to do a Wizard of Oz imitation.
Fortunately, the storm was moving fast enough that the funnel didn't develop any real rotation, didn't touch down, and dissipated as the front moved on. Even so, we didn't get much sleep that night; I stayed up until 11:00 until the tornado watch expired, and after that, I asked Lauren if we could purchase a weather radio with an alert that will wake us if we get warnings overnight, and she agreed.
EDIT: The weather radio came in today (6/9), and it's already coming in handy.
Monday, May 26, 2008
200th Post
Would you believe that this is the 200th post of the Cozy Kitty's Weblog? I wasn't sure that we would have enough to write about, but it seems that journaling about our lives in Maryville, MO and our travels has gotten us to 200 posts for now. Who knows how much more we can write about!
This weekend found us in Lauren's home area of Marseilles/Ottawa, IL for a Memorial Day weekend gathering. The gathering was a follow-on memorial/family wake for Lauren's mom on Saturday afternoon and a good grill-out later on, as well as being a good couple of days off for both of us. Lauren also got to do some garden refreshing in the family herb garden in the back yard.
We stayed at our now-standby bed and breakfast, the Brightwood Inn, spent time with the family on both Saturday and Sunday, and got in a couple of days of good trail walking at Matthiessen State Park Saturday morning and on the Ottawa stretch of the Illinois and Michigan Canal trail on Sunday. One of these days, we hope to do the entire canal trail, once we're in shape to do it. We also did some wine tasting Saturday morning as well and had dinner at Starved Rock Lodge Sunday evening.
When Lauren's mom passed away, the last thing she said to us was that we should both "go out and have some fun". I think she would have approved of this weekend.
This weekend found us in Lauren's home area of Marseilles/Ottawa, IL for a Memorial Day weekend gathering. The gathering was a follow-on memorial/family wake for Lauren's mom on Saturday afternoon and a good grill-out later on, as well as being a good couple of days off for both of us. Lauren also got to do some garden refreshing in the family herb garden in the back yard.
We stayed at our now-standby bed and breakfast, the Brightwood Inn, spent time with the family on both Saturday and Sunday, and got in a couple of days of good trail walking at Matthiessen State Park Saturday morning and on the Ottawa stretch of the Illinois and Michigan Canal trail on Sunday. One of these days, we hope to do the entire canal trail, once we're in shape to do it. We also did some wine tasting Saturday morning as well and had dinner at Starved Rock Lodge Sunday evening.
When Lauren's mom passed away, the last thing she said to us was that we should both "go out and have some fun". I think she would have approved of this weekend.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Oh Deer!
We had a good weekend ... to a point. Ever since I moved down to Des Moines, I had been hoping to get Lauren to go up to the Downtown Farmer's Market on some Saturday morning. This weekend, with it being rainy and the lawn work mainly done (except for mowing), we headed up for that and also to reconnect with friends we hadn't seen in awhile.
We sampled some of the usual Farmer's Market fare, $1 eggrolls, and Chef Steve's Kabab's, and we also found a wonderful terra cotta cat which will find a home in the kitty garden. During the day, we were able to do some gourmet grocery shopping, and we also managed to meet with Janet at the Riverfront Y, Laura at the Art Center over dessert, and Bethany at Namaste, a small hole-in-the-wall Indian grocery and up and coming Indian restaurant, for dinner.
All in all, it was a very nice day ... except for the deer that we hit on the way home, which is why I'm working from home today and taking the car over to the body shop for an estimate. It wasn't bad damage: just a bent hood and possibly a front bumper cover (we think). Thankfully, neither of us were hurt. As a co-worker pointed out: "cars can be fixed".
We sampled some of the usual Farmer's Market fare, $1 eggrolls, and Chef Steve's Kabab's, and we also found a wonderful terra cotta cat which will find a home in the kitty garden. During the day, we were able to do some gourmet grocery shopping, and we also managed to meet with Janet at the Riverfront Y, Laura at the Art Center over dessert, and Bethany at Namaste, a small hole-in-the-wall Indian grocery and up and coming Indian restaurant, for dinner.
All in all, it was a very nice day ... except for the deer that we hit on the way home, which is why I'm working from home today and taking the car over to the body shop for an estimate. It wasn't bad damage: just a bent hood and possibly a front bumper cover (we think). Thankfully, neither of us were hurt. As a co-worker pointed out: "cars can be fixed".
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Sleepy Weekend
Unlike the last few weekends, we've decided to slow things down a little bit.
For me, it's no taxes to rush getting done. No work assignments needed "right this minute". I can't even do any WBT/CBT work because the company's learning management system is still being upgraded.
For Lauren, her Spring semester is over. Finals are done, her grades are in, and apart from attending graduation this afternoon and some interview meetings on Tuesday and Friday, she now has a week off to rest, garden, and get ready for her first summer class. That, and play with her new iPod Touch, which she won in a raffle earlier this week.
Due to the weather, we really can't do very much to the lawn or garden this weekend, apart from a little bit of weeding: it's too wet to mulch, although Lauren might have a few things she wants to plant. So we got up early this morning, had breakfast at Hy-Vee, and then made the rounds of the city-wide garage sales, which are usually prevalent around graduation.
Oh, there are a few things we could do: while Lauren is at graduation, I'm going to buy some fresh paint brushes and get the front porch floor repainted, so it should last for awhile. And do laundry. I might even get around to cleaning the house.
If the weather stays nice towards later this evening, I think we're going to toss some wood on the fire pit, get out the lawn chairs, and do some hot dogs, salads, and s'mores later on. It's casual, and low-input, which really sounds good to me.
EDIT: I didn't get around to the painting or the laundry or the cleaning. Instead, I spent a half-hour or so trying to get the mower (the one we had brought to the True Value for service) to start, in preparation for the first mowing of the season. Needless to say, it's going back to the True Value tomorrow with a polite "did you happen to do a test start and run before you told us it was finished?"
Still, the evening went great. I started the fire pit at about 6, got out the lawn chairs, and we grilled while Lauren surfed for iPod Touch accessories from the iPod. After that, Lauren did a bit of weeding while I tended the fire, and we rounded off the evening with a small amount of Stone Hill Winery's cream sherry. No, I wasn't a Boy Scout growing up. Or even a Girl Scout. But I made sure that the remaining embers were taken care of.
EDIT #2: We did get the mower dropped off and I did get the painting and the laundry done on Sunday.
For me, it's no taxes to rush getting done. No work assignments needed "right this minute". I can't even do any WBT/CBT work because the company's learning management system is still being upgraded.
For Lauren, her Spring semester is over. Finals are done, her grades are in, and apart from attending graduation this afternoon and some interview meetings on Tuesday and Friday, she now has a week off to rest, garden, and get ready for her first summer class. That, and play with her new iPod Touch, which she won in a raffle earlier this week.
Due to the weather, we really can't do very much to the lawn or garden this weekend, apart from a little bit of weeding: it's too wet to mulch, although Lauren might have a few things she wants to plant. So we got up early this morning, had breakfast at Hy-Vee, and then made the rounds of the city-wide garage sales, which are usually prevalent around graduation.
Oh, there are a few things we could do: while Lauren is at graduation, I'm going to buy some fresh paint brushes and get the front porch floor repainted, so it should last for awhile. And do laundry. I might even get around to cleaning the house.
If the weather stays nice towards later this evening, I think we're going to toss some wood on the fire pit, get out the lawn chairs, and do some hot dogs, salads, and s'mores later on. It's casual, and low-input, which really sounds good to me.
EDIT: I didn't get around to the painting or the laundry or the cleaning. Instead, I spent a half-hour or so trying to get the mower (the one we had brought to the True Value for service) to start, in preparation for the first mowing of the season. Needless to say, it's going back to the True Value tomorrow with a polite "did you happen to do a test start and run before you told us it was finished?"
Still, the evening went great. I started the fire pit at about 6, got out the lawn chairs, and we grilled while Lauren surfed for iPod Touch accessories from the iPod. After that, Lauren did a bit of weeding while I tended the fire, and we rounded off the evening with a small amount of Stone Hill Winery's cream sherry. No, I wasn't a Boy Scout growing up. Or even a Girl Scout. But I made sure that the remaining embers were taken care of.
EDIT #2: We did get the mower dropped off and I did get the painting and the laundry done on Sunday.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Another Busy Weekend
Another busy weekend of working on the house: it actually stayed nice enough that we were able to get some work done in the yard, including the following:
1. The garage, which is older than our house, is now clean enough to walk into for the first time since I moved down here. While it's not suitable for putting a car in, it's still sturdy enough for stowing the mower and various/sundry gardening and lawn tools.
2. We cleaned off both the front porch and the back porch ... of course, this sets up another house project in repainting the floor of the front porch; it was last painted when I first moved down here, but that's been two years ago.
3. We finally cleared the last of our branch and grass pile from the winter, burning a couple of wheelbarrows' worth in the firepit.
We were also asked to do some raking and lawn work at our church, so we spent a bit of time over there, too.
All in all, we're glad that the weather has warmed up ... although looking at the forecast, there is a slight chance of a wintery mix tomorrow morning ... and we're almost to May.
1. The garage, which is older than our house, is now clean enough to walk into for the first time since I moved down here. While it's not suitable for putting a car in, it's still sturdy enough for stowing the mower and various/sundry gardening and lawn tools.
2. We cleaned off both the front porch and the back porch ... of course, this sets up another house project in repainting the floor of the front porch; it was last painted when I first moved down here, but that's been two years ago.
3. We finally cleared the last of our branch and grass pile from the winter, burning a couple of wheelbarrows' worth in the firepit.
We were also asked to do some raking and lawn work at our church, so we spent a bit of time over there, too.
All in all, we're glad that the weather has warmed up ... although looking at the forecast, there is a slight chance of a wintery mix tomorrow morning ... and we're almost to May.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Gardening again (More Cheshirekitty)
I meant to blog on last Friday's Tree Planting at the campus, and I will soon (when I get a copy of myself and two of my students posing with our tree, ankle-deep in mud).
We've been busy doing more garden prep. Last weekend, we bordered the now-enlarged moon garden, and it's been re-rototilled, and waits for its white datura and moonflower and jasmine and woodland tobacco. The peas are popping up in the peas/tomato/eggplant/pepper/basil garden, and I saw the first of the radishes in the root garden. I'm hoping the new seedlings I just saw are rampion and not lamb's quarter, but that's hopeful thinking.
Last night, I was trying out a new gadget in the daylily/daffodil garden -- a dandelion zapper you mount on the end of a power drill. I don't know if it's any more effective to drill the leaves off than it is to try to pull the dandelion out, but it's infinitely more satisfying. I suspect I'll have to re-drill a few times before those dandelions are so demoralized as to quit growing.
I was visited by a hummingbird hawk moth as I drilled, and he hovered around my knees getting drunk on daffodil nectar. He was almost close enough to pet, although he didn't seem receptive to that. If I were my sister, I would have taken an award-winning picture of him, but I'm not a photographer. It was enough to watch him impersonate a hummingbird
We've been busy doing more garden prep. Last weekend, we bordered the now-enlarged moon garden, and it's been re-rototilled, and waits for its white datura and moonflower and jasmine and woodland tobacco. The peas are popping up in the peas/tomato/eggplant/pepper/basil garden, and I saw the first of the radishes in the root garden. I'm hoping the new seedlings I just saw are rampion and not lamb's quarter, but that's hopeful thinking.
Last night, I was trying out a new gadget in the daylily/daffodil garden -- a dandelion zapper you mount on the end of a power drill. I don't know if it's any more effective to drill the leaves off than it is to try to pull the dandelion out, but it's infinitely more satisfying. I suspect I'll have to re-drill a few times before those dandelions are so demoralized as to quit growing.
I was visited by a hummingbird hawk moth as I drilled, and he hovered around my knees getting drunk on daffodil nectar. He was almost close enough to pet, although he didn't seem receptive to that. If I were my sister, I would have taken an award-winning picture of him, but I'm not a photographer. It was enough to watch him impersonate a hummingbird
Thursday, April 17, 2008
The Paper and Pencil Campus -- Cheshirekitty speaks
I work at Northwest Missouri State University, known as "The Electronic Campus" since 1986, when we were the first university in the US with a comprehensive networked campus. We pride ourselves on how "wired" our campus is. Students can register for classes online, check grades in most of their classes online, and even finish one or two of our degree programs online. So what happens when the university's servers go offline?
Nothing. A whole LOT of nothing.
The entire university community was without email, where many timely announcements are normally made. (And obviously, sending an email to everyone to let them know how long the outage would last was out of the question.) Students could not sign on to computers in the computer labs even if they simply wanted to use Word, because signing on was dependent on getting onto the network. One student's laptop was stuck in a perpetual cycle of trying to download the latest Vista upgrade -- because he could not access the Web, the computer could chug hopelessly, then shut itself down repeatedly. Professors could not enter grades or accept homework from the course management software. One colleague, who had just returned from a conference, could not access her Outlook calendar -- and therefore did not know when or even if she had appointments or meetings today.
In my first class of the day, there were to be student presentations -- but the group of students had saved their presentation on "student storage", which can only be accessed through the server.
A rumor had circulated that the reason for the power surges that downed the servers was the Dierks Bentley concert held at Bearcat Stadium last night, but this was just local urban legend. Bentley's road crew came with their own generators, which were powerful enough that his sound check interrupted my 9 AM class yesterday (all the way across campus, I may add). Had the rumor been true, it would have given the Northwest Missourian a great headline: "Dierks Bentley Throttles Campus Internet".
Nothing. A whole LOT of nothing.
The entire university community was without email, where many timely announcements are normally made. (And obviously, sending an email to everyone to let them know how long the outage would last was out of the question.) Students could not sign on to computers in the computer labs even if they simply wanted to use Word, because signing on was dependent on getting onto the network. One student's laptop was stuck in a perpetual cycle of trying to download the latest Vista upgrade -- because he could not access the Web, the computer could chug hopelessly, then shut itself down repeatedly. Professors could not enter grades or accept homework from the course management software. One colleague, who had just returned from a conference, could not access her Outlook calendar -- and therefore did not know when or even if she had appointments or meetings today.
In my first class of the day, there were to be student presentations -- but the group of students had saved their presentation on "student storage", which can only be accessed through the server.
A rumor had circulated that the reason for the power surges that downed the servers was the Dierks Bentley concert held at Bearcat Stadium last night, but this was just local urban legend. Bentley's road crew came with their own generators, which were powerful enough that his sound check interrupted my 9 AM class yesterday (all the way across campus, I may add). Had the rumor been true, it would have given the Northwest Missourian a great headline: "Dierks Bentley Throttles Campus Internet".
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
How does our garden grow? (Cheshirekitty speaks)
Last night, much of our garden almost was a loss!
We came home from dinner and I went to check the greenhouse. My tomatoes and eggplant on the bottom shelf were thirstier than I had thought -- they were dry and very wilted. In addition, the lemon catnip (for the kitty garden, of course) looked downright shriveled. So I panicked, and mourned, and watered and watered.
The next morning, one Thai eggplant has lost one leaf. There were a few leaves wilted on the Cherokee Purple and Coyote (white cherry) tomatoes. One of the Cherokees lost the top of its stem but is still nearly a foot tall. I may have to pot up the Coyote in hanging baskets and bring them in at night, because they're too tall for the greenhouse and starting to flower.
And the lemon catnip? It doesn't even look like it had been thirsty a day in its life.
All in all, it's been a good year for the greenhouse. I'm almost ready to outgrow it, which means ... nothing until we can afford or build a bigger one.
In the raised beds, the lettuces and greens are growing slowly, the peas are finally starting to show themselves -- and so are a gazillion baby weeds that are probably lamb's quarters. I will get at those with a scuffle hoe while they're still only mildly annoying. (Except for the lettuce garden, where I will leave them go, pick while young, and stir-fry with the rapa I have in there. Despite the above link characterizing lamb's quarters as bland, they're actually a lot like spinach, only better!)
In other garden news, the pussy toes are surviving their transplanting into the kitty garden, and hopefully they will spread and be fuzzy. The daffodils are starting to bloom, and other plants are coming up. There are mystery seedlings in a couple places -- in the bird feeder garden, they're hopefully either sweet violet or wintergreen; in the herb garden, they're hopefully either dwarf winter savory or thyme.
We came home from dinner and I went to check the greenhouse. My tomatoes and eggplant on the bottom shelf were thirstier than I had thought -- they were dry and very wilted. In addition, the lemon catnip (for the kitty garden, of course) looked downright shriveled. So I panicked, and mourned, and watered and watered.
The next morning, one Thai eggplant has lost one leaf. There were a few leaves wilted on the Cherokee Purple and Coyote (white cherry) tomatoes. One of the Cherokees lost the top of its stem but is still nearly a foot tall. I may have to pot up the Coyote in hanging baskets and bring them in at night, because they're too tall for the greenhouse and starting to flower.
And the lemon catnip? It doesn't even look like it had been thirsty a day in its life.
All in all, it's been a good year for the greenhouse. I'm almost ready to outgrow it, which means ... nothing until we can afford or build a bigger one.
In the raised beds, the lettuces and greens are growing slowly, the peas are finally starting to show themselves -- and so are a gazillion baby weeds that are probably lamb's quarters. I will get at those with a scuffle hoe while they're still only mildly annoying. (Except for the lettuce garden, where I will leave them go, pick while young, and stir-fry with the rapa I have in there. Despite the above link characterizing lamb's quarters as bland, they're actually a lot like spinach, only better!)
In other garden news, the pussy toes are surviving their transplanting into the kitty garden, and hopefully they will spread and be fuzzy. The daffodils are starting to bloom, and other plants are coming up. There are mystery seedlings in a couple places -- in the bird feeder garden, they're hopefully either sweet violet or wintergreen; in the herb garden, they're hopefully either dwarf winter savory or thyme.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Sunday Gardening ...
After church this morning, we stopped off at Ali's bakery for coffee ... according to Lauren, if he's offering free coffee, it means he wants advice on something. However, he was too busy to ask, and instead, we shared a good conversation with a fellow professor at the college and her husband, who I may have recruited (or at least tempted to apply) for a tech writing slot at my current company.
After that, we had thought that I would finish off the last of the taxes (the one attendant schedule and one additional form we needed to file), and then we would go to the contra dance at the Presbyterian Church (the husband of the aforementioned professor is the caller), as we thought that it might be too cold this afternoon to work on the lawn and garden. To be honest, it was a bit brisk, but it stayed warm enough that we could trench, edge, and start planting on the "Kitty garden" ... something that's been in planning since last year. Now it will be a work in progress as we plant more, add a couple more paving stones for steps, and add some kitty-themed decorations.
That said, I've gone back to doing a little more on the taxes, while Lauren's resting from the gardening. A little later, I'm going to attempt some Thai black pepper pork for dinner.
After that, we had thought that I would finish off the last of the taxes (the one attendant schedule and one additional form we needed to file), and then we would go to the contra dance at the Presbyterian Church (the husband of the aforementioned professor is the caller), as we thought that it might be too cold this afternoon to work on the lawn and garden. To be honest, it was a bit brisk, but it stayed warm enough that we could trench, edge, and start planting on the "Kitty garden" ... something that's been in planning since last year. Now it will be a work in progress as we plant more, add a couple more paving stones for steps, and add some kitty-themed decorations.
That said, I've gone back to doing a little more on the taxes, while Lauren's resting from the gardening. A little later, I'm going to attempt some Thai black pepper pork for dinner.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Taking a Break From All Your Worries ...
Yeah, I know, it's shameless of me to borrow a riff from both Cheers and Battlestar Galactica, but hey, if BSG can borrow a riff from Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix in their previous season's finale, so can I.
I'm taking a small break from doing our taxes. Yes, I know, it's pushing the edge on the deadline, but we wanted to make sure we had enough money to cover our payments ... we weren't exactly sure how much the new job and the marriage would impact our taxes, but now we know: we owed just a little bit more than we did last year, and we're probably not getting a refund. However, we will get the tax relief rebate later this year, which will help a lot and will likely go toward debt reduction.
Taxes normally wouldn't be a problem, but it seems like I've rarely had a case where I could use tax prep software, due to changing situations that the software couldn't handle correctly or due to farm payment income or something that the software didn't quite process correctly. And don't get me started on e-filing. I'm in IT, and I work in the security arena, so if you think I'm going to trust my electronic personal data to the IRS, think again :-).
On one hand, I am proud knowing that I've done my taxes myself either by hand or with the assistance of tax software every year since I started filing. On the other, I wish that my former state of residence would have gotten on the ball and updated their PDF fill-in forms so that you could actually SAVE the darn things rather than have to re-do the entire form to do a correction.
And on other fronts, this morning was a series of errand runs: I found it rather amusing to be taking the mower in for annual service while it was snowing outside. It didn't stick, but it snowed from about 8ish this morning until around 2. After that, it was off to the store for some gardening/landscaping supplies, and then to the post office to get birthday gifts for my niece and nephew into the mail.
So for now, I'm working on the numbers for the Iowa return, Lauren's making coffee after taking a winter nap (she'd rather be gardening), and the laundry is being done as well.
I'm taking a small break from doing our taxes. Yes, I know, it's pushing the edge on the deadline, but we wanted to make sure we had enough money to cover our payments ... we weren't exactly sure how much the new job and the marriage would impact our taxes, but now we know: we owed just a little bit more than we did last year, and we're probably not getting a refund. However, we will get the tax relief rebate later this year, which will help a lot and will likely go toward debt reduction.
Taxes normally wouldn't be a problem, but it seems like I've rarely had a case where I could use tax prep software, due to changing situations that the software couldn't handle correctly or due to farm payment income or something that the software didn't quite process correctly. And don't get me started on e-filing. I'm in IT, and I work in the security arena, so if you think I'm going to trust my electronic personal data to the IRS, think again :-).
On one hand, I am proud knowing that I've done my taxes myself either by hand or with the assistance of tax software every year since I started filing. On the other, I wish that my former state of residence would have gotten on the ball and updated their PDF fill-in forms so that you could actually SAVE the darn things rather than have to re-do the entire form to do a correction.
And on other fronts, this morning was a series of errand runs: I found it rather amusing to be taking the mower in for annual service while it was snowing outside. It didn't stick, but it snowed from about 8ish this morning until around 2. After that, it was off to the store for some gardening/landscaping supplies, and then to the post office to get birthday gifts for my niece and nephew into the mail.
So for now, I'm working on the numbers for the Iowa return, Lauren's making coffee after taking a winter nap (she'd rather be gardening), and the laundry is being done as well.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Morgan Spurlock
This has been a busy weekend here in the 'ville.
Friday night and most of Saturday found us doing yard work: moving brush pile items from the ice storm to the curb for pick up next week, when the city will be sending around pickup crews, re-edging most of the gardens, adding more rock to finish the newly rebuilt watercourse, and some assorted plantings (as well as a quick trip Saturday afternoon to St. Joe for some rock, since the local Earl May garden shop closed up their Maryville branch, forcing us to go to the one down the road). Add to that doing taxes and the laundry, and we're both tired.
Lauren and I have never laughed so hard for so long ... Morgan Spurlock is GENIUS!
Unassuming, humble, but funny as hell, the writer/producer/star of Super Size Me! reminded all of us that careers don't happen overnight: telling us his story, Morgan related how he'd graduated from the NYC Film School after countless rejections from the UCLA film program, and how he had happened to graduate in the same class as M. Night Shamalayan ("you may have heard of him"), before becoming a runner/gofer for Tribeca Films (Martin Scorcese's studio) and later working as an intern on The Professional with Luc-Besson. After a short acting career (including the mental ward aide who is assisting Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) during the first part of Terminator 2 (who knew???)), Spurlock then became a live media spokesperson for Sony and later a producer of promotional films for Sony before developing a web-based show for MTV.
He then laid out the story of Super Size Me! Spurlock related that he had come up with what a friend and fellow producer called "the worst good idea" that Spurlock had ever had over a Thanksgiving, where after watching a news report about the two girls who were suing McDonald's restaurants as the cause of their weight gain, he decided to do a movie about the fast food industry and McDonald's in particular. He noted that he did it using $50,000 he had in hand (despite being in extreme credit debt), plus a cashed in annuity from his grandparents, and how he went from relative obscurity to overnight success at Sundance almost a year and a day after finishing the film.
Mixing that in with funny movie related tidbits: "America's number one steakhouse is Australian (Outback)", and that your average Bloomin' Onion appetizer has roughly 2,500 calories, Spurlock managed to convey that, jokes aside, the fast food lifestyle is unhealthy (even though he sometimes causes his vegan wife issues as he admits to still liking a good burger ... the kind you get from a local diner).
Following his talk, he opened the floor to questions, which ranged from the silly "want to come to our place for a beer bash afterward?" to the serious "how has becoming a father affected your work?"
The questions, and the evening, ended all too soon, but it was a great evening nonetheless.
Friday night and most of Saturday found us doing yard work: moving brush pile items from the ice storm to the curb for pick up next week, when the city will be sending around pickup crews, re-edging most of the gardens, adding more rock to finish the newly rebuilt watercourse, and some assorted plantings (as well as a quick trip Saturday afternoon to St. Joe for some rock, since the local Earl May garden shop closed up their Maryville branch, forcing us to go to the one down the road). Add to that doing taxes and the laundry, and we're both tired.
But we've also had a moment of celebrity this weekend. I'm blogging this from the auditorium on campus, where indie documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me, 30 Days, Where Is Osama Bin Laden?) is about to speak.
Lauren and I have never laughed so hard for so long ... Morgan Spurlock is GENIUS!
Unassuming, humble, but funny as hell, the writer/producer/star of Super Size Me! reminded all of us that careers don't happen overnight: telling us his story, Morgan related how he'd graduated from the NYC Film School after countless rejections from the UCLA film program, and how he had happened to graduate in the same class as M. Night Shamalayan ("you may have heard of him"), before becoming a runner/gofer for Tribeca Films (Martin Scorcese's studio) and later working as an intern on The Professional with Luc-Besson. After a short acting career (including the mental ward aide who is assisting Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) during the first part of Terminator 2 (who knew???)), Spurlock then became a live media spokesperson for Sony and later a producer of promotional films for Sony before developing a web-based show for MTV.
He then laid out the story of Super Size Me! Spurlock related that he had come up with what a friend and fellow producer called "the worst good idea" that Spurlock had ever had over a Thanksgiving, where after watching a news report about the two girls who were suing McDonald's restaurants as the cause of their weight gain, he decided to do a movie about the fast food industry and McDonald's in particular. He noted that he did it using $50,000 he had in hand (despite being in extreme credit debt), plus a cashed in annuity from his grandparents, and how he went from relative obscurity to overnight success at Sundance almost a year and a day after finishing the film.
Mixing that in with funny movie related tidbits: "America's number one steakhouse is Australian (Outback)", and that your average Bloomin' Onion appetizer has roughly 2,500 calories, Spurlock managed to convey that, jokes aside, the fast food lifestyle is unhealthy (even though he sometimes causes his vegan wife issues as he admits to still liking a good burger ... the kind you get from a local diner).
Following his talk, he opened the floor to questions, which ranged from the silly "want to come to our place for a beer bash afterward?" to the serious "how has becoming a father affected your work?"
The questions, and the evening, ended all too soon, but it was a great evening nonetheless.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Going Out Like a Lion ...
It's the last Sunday of the month here in the 'ville, and we just got back from Kansas City, where Cheshirewoodgie and I spent a weekend with part two of our wedding anniversary celebration.
Friday found us staying at the Plaza Marriott, with an excellent view of the Kansas City Plaza. Woodgie spent a bit of Friday walking the Plaza and stopping at a gourmet cheese shop, Better Cheddar, while I was at work, and then after meeting up at the hotel, we discovered quite possibly the best Indian restaurant in KC (almost as good as, and probably better than, gasp!, our previous fave, Swagat). The restaurant, Korma Sutra (the name a play on a certain, ahem, book of Indian origin), has two locations, one of which is in the historic Westport area in KC.
We had their combination platter, featuring a dizzying array of dishes, including a free first order of papadam (lentil wafer) for an appetizer, followed by chicken samosas, a sublime coconut soup, bowls of a just-right spicy lamb saag and chicken tika masala served with a generous helping of basamati rice, two kinds of naan (regular and onion), and for dessert, galub jamin and cubes of frozen mango ice cream (which appeared to be frozen cubes of mango rose lassi).
Honestly, calling Korma Sutra a "better" restaurant than Swagat does a disservice to the latter. We both attempted to determine what the difference was. To be honest, we think it's that the style of Korma Sutra's cuisine was a little spicer, with the flavors bolder and more traditional, while Swagat's items are very good but a little too "Americanized" in contrast.
Needless to say, we left happy. And quite full.
Saturday found us with Lauren's friend Jenny touring the KC Home and Garden Show at the Bartle Hall Convention Center, which is turning into an annual pilgrimage for us. As always, we spent the afternoon wishing we had more home space, and thinking of ideas for things to do to our home. If anything, I know that should we ever win the Powerball lottery, that we are getting Viking appliances ... actually, we would settle for a Viking range; Lauren's heart has been set on an Aga , but from what we understand, using one requires changing your whole style of cooking to accomodate it ;-).
We had planned to head down to Union Station this afternoon (Sunday) to catch the KC Rail Experience and Science City exhibits, but we were a little bit worn down after the previous two days. The party next door to our room kept us up for a bit, so we were both a bit tired. At first, we had headed off to the hotel's hot tub in hopes that by the time we got back to our room, the party would have moved down to Westport, but the neighbors continued rowdiness required a small call to the desk due to the excessive noise and alcohol consumption. We'll save Union Station for a later day.
Instead of doing Union Station, we journeyed over to Cho Ga, our favorite Korean restaurant over on Metcalf Ave., with a prior stop at a Whole Foods (actually, a Wild Oats that is transitioning), for our foodie fix; neither one of us had ever been to one before, as we don't live in an area large enough to support one, so it was a treat for both of us.
So that ended part two of our anniversary ... not sure yet what we'll do for next year, but we hope it is just as entertaining.
Friday found us staying at the Plaza Marriott, with an excellent view of the Kansas City Plaza. Woodgie spent a bit of Friday walking the Plaza and stopping at a gourmet cheese shop, Better Cheddar, while I was at work, and then after meeting up at the hotel, we discovered quite possibly the best Indian restaurant in KC (almost as good as, and probably better than, gasp!, our previous fave, Swagat). The restaurant, Korma Sutra (the name a play on a certain, ahem, book of Indian origin), has two locations, one of which is in the historic Westport area in KC.
We had their combination platter, featuring a dizzying array of dishes, including a free first order of papadam (lentil wafer) for an appetizer, followed by chicken samosas, a sublime coconut soup, bowls of a just-right spicy lamb saag and chicken tika masala served with a generous helping of basamati rice, two kinds of naan (regular and onion), and for dessert, galub jamin and cubes of frozen mango ice cream (which appeared to be frozen cubes of mango rose lassi).
Honestly, calling Korma Sutra a "better" restaurant than Swagat does a disservice to the latter. We both attempted to determine what the difference was. To be honest, we think it's that the style of Korma Sutra's cuisine was a little spicer, with the flavors bolder and more traditional, while Swagat's items are very good but a little too "Americanized" in contrast.
Needless to say, we left happy. And quite full.
Saturday found us with Lauren's friend Jenny touring the KC Home and Garden Show at the Bartle Hall Convention Center, which is turning into an annual pilgrimage for us. As always, we spent the afternoon wishing we had more home space, and thinking of ideas for things to do to our home. If anything, I know that should we ever win the Powerball lottery, that we are getting Viking appliances ... actually, we would settle for a Viking range; Lauren's heart has been set on an Aga , but from what we understand, using one requires changing your whole style of cooking to accomodate it ;-).
We had planned to head down to Union Station this afternoon (Sunday) to catch the KC Rail Experience and Science City exhibits, but we were a little bit worn down after the previous two days. The party next door to our room kept us up for a bit, so we were both a bit tired. At first, we had headed off to the hotel's hot tub in hopes that by the time we got back to our room, the party would have moved down to Westport, but the neighbors continued rowdiness required a small call to the desk due to the excessive noise and alcohol consumption. We'll save Union Station for a later day.
Instead of doing Union Station, we journeyed over to Cho Ga, our favorite Korean restaurant over on Metcalf Ave., with a prior stop at a Whole Foods (actually, a Wild Oats that is transitioning), for our foodie fix; neither one of us had ever been to one before, as we don't live in an area large enough to support one, so it was a treat for both of us.
So that ended part two of our anniversary ... not sure yet what we'll do for next year, but we hope it is just as entertaining.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
More work update:
Did a little kitchen cleaning
Fixed the dust vac holder in the kitchen that was threatening to fall off the wall
Graded five issues papers
Got the root bed and the bean pole ready for planting
Pulled more weeds
Transplanted a bunch of pepper plants into bigger pots
Oh, yeah, and I napped.
And this is my vacation. Wow.
Fixed the dust vac holder in the kitchen that was threatening to fall off the wall
Graded five issues papers
Got the root bed and the bean pole ready for planting
Pulled more weeds
Transplanted a bunch of pepper plants into bigger pots
Oh, yeah, and I napped.
And this is my vacation. Wow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
