Seasons

I never thought I was one of those people who were affected by the seasons. In fact, I thought that people who claimed that they were affected were full of shit.

Then.

Then, the sun came out. I have spent time outdoors whenever possible since the weather started getting nice. I can't get enough of the sunshine on my skin.

On days when I spend time outside, I'm unreasonably happy.

I thought I was going crazy happy.

I'm pretty sure it's due to the weather.

Who knew?

I stand corrected.

Pimp

Have you tried Special K's Fruit Crisps?

They are fantastic. They are the closest you are going to get to a Pop-Tart for 100 calories.

Hmmmm... remember Pop-Tarts? No, not really. Sigh.

I keep pimping the Fruit Crisps to everybody I know, cause when you don't get junk food, even junk food adjacent is a happy, delicious thing.

But, seriously, they're really pretty good.

You. Are. Welcome.

Bliss... In Donut Form

There is a treat circle at work that I participate in. Every Monday there is a new treat, red velvet cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies, blondies, etc. Some are good, some are excellent, all are welcome.

This morning, Jigglypuff brought in donuts. So, I had a chocolate iced donut. With sprinkles. Do you have any idea how long it's been since I've had a donut? Years. It'll be years before I have another one, but holy buckets it was good.

Has anyone ever done a study on the addictive properties of sugar? Because when I put that donut in my mouth, the amount of bliss it brought was a little obscene. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

I'm not bragging.... oh wait, maybe I am.

Invictus

A friend encouraged me to read this poem today:

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance,

I have not winced nor cried aloud,

Under the bludgeonings of chance,

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears,

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years,

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

The captain of my soul.

"Invictus" by William Ernest Henley

Poetry is so underrated.

Concerts and Awesomeness

Two Mondays ago, Fargo and I went to, what I believe the young kids today are calling a "rock concert." Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin played together at the Alliant Center. It was amazing.

Sometimes, words just aren't enough. I wish I could communicate with enough hand gestures and sparkles, so that you could get a sense of it's awesomeness.

Flyleaf was the opening band. We got to the Alliant Center just in time to hear their big song All Around Me. It was a good set and they are definitely a fun, enthusiastic band with a lot of positive energy. It makes me wish that their sound check guys were competent and had arranged for the lead singer's mic to have the appropriate volume. She was drowned out by her band.

Breaking Benjamin went on after Flyleaf. Fargo has seriously fallen in love with this band since seeing them in concert. Don't get me wrong, I like them too, we're definitely going steady (non-exclusively) but I'm going to hold off on buying a ring just yet. If you've never heard of this band before, check out Diary of Jane and I Will Not Bow which are two of my favorite songs from them.

For the first two bands, we sat up in the stadium seating around the floor of the Alliant Center. For Three Days Grace, we decided to venture out onto the floor.

I'm going to be honest here. I didn't realize when Fargo suggested this, that he would want to push us up as close to the stage as we could get. I'm not saying I'm sorry about what happened next. In fact, it's probably better I didn't know or I might not have agreed to go.

The horrible part was waiting for the band to go on. We stood there, packed in like sardines, waiting, waiting, waiting.

Anybody who knows me in real life, knows I'm not super excited about being touched by people I know. I really don't like being touched by strangers. I really, really don't like being touched by sweaty, smelly teenage boys who reek like weed (because they decided what better time to smoke up than when standing in a packed arena and there's no where to go to get away from the smoke. Thanks for that, assholes).

I think Fargo was getting slightly concerned before the music began. I was getting slightly concerned before the music began. I have never been that close to the edge of a panic attack before. I had to really work to calm myself down and not freak. the. fuck. out about all the touching.

But, then.

Then, the music started and all of that melted away. It was (almost) blissful.

I was body slammed into lots of different people many, many times, although Fargo did try to protect me from the worst of it. I was repeatedly elbowed in the back when these bigger girls tried to force their way past us, even though there was no room. And, honestly, I was sort of blocking them. I may or may not have shouted "bitches" at them after they pushed through. I was kicked in the face when some girl body surfed past me.

And yet, it was still pretty much perfect.

It was a mob, united not in violence, but in common love for something. The rhythms of the songs they play cry out for movement, so there is a lot of Three Days Grace on my running mix. But, even when I'm running to it, it doesn't feel quite right. It's not how you're meant to move to it, but listening to it live with hundreds of other people who love the music too, things clicked into place.

I love, love, love this band. I loved, loved, loved this night.

I can't wait to do it again.

Neeeeeeeeerrd!!

Tonight I,

(1) Bought advanced tickets for the 3D showing of Avatar on Friday night

and

(2) Voted (repeatedly) for my favorite acapella group from "The Sing-Off"

That's right. I'm a nerd. Geek. Dweeb.

Call it whatever your heart desires.

But, I'm going to see Avatar on Friday and Nota is a fucking fantastic acapella group.

So, I'm sorry you can't appreciate things that are awesome.

Like (possibly) Avatar or Nota or me.

What I guess I'm trying to say is, you can suck it.

Why I Love the X Games

There is a new event at the X Games, it's called the Skateboard Big Air Rail Jam. Basically, there is a giant drop, then after a 50 ft jump, there is a long rail and a quarter pipe at the end.

The video is from last night's big air competition. You can see the drop (which is crazy dangerous!) is the same as in the video, only off the middle run, there is a rail for this competition.

It's the first time this event has ever been at the X Games. Competing in this competition, is Danny Way. He's a huge badass in the sport of skateboarding. He originated the Big Air competition (and took the sport's first gold medal). He has jumped the Great Wall of China. The.

Great.

Wall.

of.

China!!

Skateboard Big Air Rail Jam was his idea, too. He's a pioneer and has done a lot to really progress the sport.

Tonight, he dropped into the ramp with a bum wheel on his skateboard. Oh yeah, and his knee won't bend. For those of you not into skateboarding, when you fall, they generally try to fall so they are sliding on their knees. It's safer. It's why they all wear knee pads. Danny Way can't fall into a knee slide, so he's just got to slide on his ass and hope for the best.

And, if that weren't enough, he rolled his ankle. He bit it pretty hard on one of his early runs. Tony Hawk, who commentates for this event for ESPN, thought with Danny's other injuries that he might be done for the night.

But, no. Danny, who could barely walk, dragged his ass to the top for the winning run.

That's right. On a bum wheel, injured knee and rolled ankle, he fucking won!

After he won, Kier was interviewing Danny and asked him why, at this point in his career when he really has nothing to prove, did he come out here to compete in this event.

His answer?

He loves skateboarding.

It's inspiring to watch athletes who give their whole heart and soul to their sport, not for a paycheck or fame, but for the love of the game. They play through pain and injury, because they can't bear not to.

That's a beautiful thing. It reminds me why I love sports.

Breaking Bad News with Baby Animals

After the Staff meeting today, Fargo came by my cubicle. Fargo's a pretty cool guy, but usually he only drops by to discuss business. Not today. Today was my lucky day.

He brought by a postcard book called "Breaking Bad News with Baby Animals"

This is fucking brilliant! Beware baby animals from now on people, because from this point onward, I'm breaking all my bad news with a baby animal.

Who could be upset by receiving a postcard saying "You don't matter", when it's accompanied by a little kitten? Mew. Mew.

"You're not the father", when it's accompanied by two adorable little ducklings?

Is there any bad news that can't be counteracted with the cuteness of baby animals?

One of my favorites was a bulldog puppy that says "You were a mistake" Fargo and I discussed sending that one through interoffice mail to a co-worker who really gets on our nerves and signing it "XOXO Love, Mom"

Of course since neither of us particularly wants to get fired, we're not going to do that. Um, it might be a little mean too. Especially since that particular dude isn't very bright, he might not realize it wasn't from his momma. Ha!

(That dachshund is so adorable, even if he does seem a little creepy pimpin' with that caption)

I seem to be writing about correspondence a lot lately.

What can I say? I like written correspondence. It's unfortunate for you that you'll never know if I'm going to pick you up or slap you down.

Am I going to tell you you're terrific or that I'm banging your wife?

It's like a mini-mystery in every envelope.

I like to think that it takes a lot of talent to make the mail scary.

Score!

Mark your calendars.

Sunday, July 26th is the Demolition Derby at the Green County Fair. Boo-yah!

Happy birthday to me!

The More Things Change...

I saw an old friend, MCool, this weekend. I haven't seen him in almost three years. 

With some people, no matter how long you've been apart, you just fall back together like time and distance don't really matter. Some people require a period of adjustment before you remember the patterns of your friendship, how they relate to you and how you relate to them. Don't underestimate the latter. 

MCool and I were talking about weight lifting, he's been really into because of a contest he's doing with his friends. 

Apparently, I've been doing it wrong. He wouldn't really pin down what I was doing wrong, but suffice it to say, I was definitely doing it wrong. 

I have to admit, this initially rubbed me the wrong way. 

I mean, WTF!?! Who is he to tell me I'm not lifting correctly? Seriously, we haven't see each other in three years and one of the first things he does is to tell me what I'm doing wrong!

Then I remembered. I'm talking to MCool, not a normal person.

I think he was just nostalgic for the very first time we met. 

We met in high school, both of us were on the track team. I was a sophomore and he was a junior (although it was his first year in track, due to playing baseball for two years), and I was teaching the freshman girls to use the blocks. 

Ready. Set. Go.

Ready. Set. Go.

MCool walked up behind me and his first words to me were exactly this, "You're doing that wrong." In his (not so humble) opinion, I was holding the girls in their blocks too long before I said "Go."

... Aaaand just for the record, I was not doing it wrong. There is no correct amount of time to hold them in their blocks. 

I remembered this story of our first meeting, and suddenly I wasn't annoyed anymore. It was like hitting the valve on a steam cooker. The steam was released and along with it any bad feelings. All that was left was love and affection for MCool. That crazy kid hasn't changed at all. 

He's the boy who used to be too lazy to walk across the dorm to my room, so we would both watch the Simpson's over the phone together.

He's the boy who used to come over to my apartment every Tuesday to help me with my math homework and watch Buffy: The Vampire Slayer with me. 

He's the boy who used to go out for walks with me in the wee hours of the morning when I would get restless because he didn't think I should be wandering around by myself.

Sometimes it takes awhile to get the memories flowing, but then I remembered: my boy's got some excellent qualities, even if he (erroneously) believes that I do lots of stuff wrong. 

Culinary Ninja

I made bars today for our Brewer's tailgate tomorrow. 

(Bars, for the non-Wisconsinites are, as far as I can tell, any dessert that can be served from a 13 x 9 pan)

To make the bars, I had to melt some chocolate, so I rigged up a makeshift double boiler to do it. I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty much feeling like a culinary bad ass at this point. 

No microwave for me, thank you very much! 

I'll do it the hard way. I'll take the not-a-double-boiler-but-I'll-make-it-into-one-anyway, please. 

If the bars turn out to be awesome (and why wouldn't they?), it will definitely be due to my ninja-like double boiling skills. 

P.S. I have noticed, but I no idea why so many of my blogs are food related lately. 

Wanderlust

I can feel it in my veins. There is a time for staying home and taking comfort in the things that are familiar. Then, there is also a time for venturing out and having an adventure. 

I'm looking forward to two grand adventures that loom on the horizon. 

First, the husband turns the big 3-0 this September and in honor of that auspicious occasion we have decided to take a trip. We're going to go to California. We'll fly into LA, rent a car, drive up the coast stopping at various locales and fly back from San Francisco. We've got a few ideas in mind for things to do (Big Sur, San Francisco, Napa Valley). We booked our flight and car rental tonight. We've still got a lot of planning yet to do, but I'm looking forward to it!

Second, in August I earn my 5-year sabbatical at work. What would you do with a paid vacation anywhere in the world? 

I was thinking about taking it next summer, but after talking to my friend JR, I may be leaning towards next May. I haven't finalized a location yet, but right now I'm thinking possibly Prague. I want to go somewhere that has plenty of history so I know there will be plenty for me to do for 3 weeks. Then, all the other European countries are just a train ride away. 

I think I'm going to put in my request at work pretty soon. 

Half the fun of these things is working out the possibilities and planning what you are going to do. Things are looking up. 

Nerd

The rule on Mother's Day is that the husband and I pick a Mother's Day brunch to go to and Mom gets to decide what we are going to do for the day.

The husband and I picked the New Glarus Hotel, which was lovely. 

She picked Star Trek.

It was fucking awesome.

It's not William Shatner's Star Trek. They were pretty much kicking ass and taking names. I'll admit I had a private little geek out moment to myself when they read the line. 

What line?

Either you like Star Trek and you already know or you don't and well, it would really matter if I explained it to you 'cause you wouldn't understand anyway.

My history with Star Trek isn't something I normally confess. I wouldn't call myself a "Trekkie", but I have more than a passing acquaintance with the Star Trek franchise. I'm pretty sure I've seen all the movies. I've seen most of the original series. I've also seen parts of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. The only one I haven't seen was that short lived Scott Bakula one, Enterprise. 

You can call me a nerd if you like. A bigger person would probably say Live Long and Prosper. 

I'm going to go with fuck you instead. 

I likes what I likes...

When I Grow Up...

My mom and I went to a tap dancing performance at the Capitol Theater last night. It was called the Soles of our Feet. A part of the performance was a tribute to Arthur Duncan.

This guy:

You'll understand why they call him the "King of Taps" around the 1:15 mark. 

It wasn't just a tribute to him, he was a part of the show. 

When he first came out, he tapped and sang. 

I leaned over to my mom and said, "I want to be him when I grow up."

He's about a billion years old (really I think he's about 76 according to IMDb), he still doing what he loves and singing and tap dancing. 

That pretty much kicks ass.

THEN! Then, there was the second part. The rest of the (much!) younger cast came out and they tapped together. And not some slow, piddly tap routine. It was insanely fast. And he was right in sync with the young kids. 

Did I mention he's about a billion years old?

He was doing things with his legs at 76 that I'm pretty sure I could not do at my tender age of 28. 

That's when I leaned over to my mom and said, "I think I overshot. I think I'm going to have to settle for being maybe about as half as cool as he is. Possibly one-third." 

It's something to shoot for, at least. 

Where am I?

This is where I've been all day... 

... I have no idea why. 

iPod Journey

I went to visit my friend, Fatty, last month. He told me that he listens to his iPod play list alphabetically through all the songs since the iPod shuffle function is suck. He even took some artists (Daughtry) off his iPod because his shuffle function loved them so much and he didn't love them quite that much. 

At first, I thought he was crazy. What the hell kind of way is that to listen to music? Alphabetically? What the hell?

But then, I had to agree, the shuffle function does suck. You get the same songs over and over again no matter where you start.

So, I tried it.

I listened to all 1154 songs I currently have loaded on my iPod alphabetically. It took me one month and 20 days. I finally finished my entire play list today. 

On the one hand, it was nice to get to hear songs that don't come up on the shuffle play list very often. It forced me to slow down and listen to some of the lesser known tracks on some of my Cd's.

On the other hand, it made me very impatient at times. VERY impatient. Because, of course, there were rules and I since I made the rules I couldn't break them. 

Rule 1: I can skip Christmas songs, but I don't have to.

Rule 2: I can't skip a song I like just because I'm not in the mood for it.

Rule 3: I can't skip a song just because I don't know it.

Rule 4: I can skip songs I really hate, but only if I really hate them. 

Anything by Colbie Caillat falls in this category. I thought I would love her when I bought her CD, but as it turns out I don't. Her voice gets on my nerves the more I hear it. Oops.

It was an interesting experiment, but I'm not sure if I'd do it again. It took too long. 

Then again, I have to do something to combat shuffle suck, so it's always an option on the table.

Why do I feel like I've accomplished something worthwhile, like running a marathon, instead of something completely nonsensical?

Possibly because I'm completely delusional.

Or it's possibly because completing it thoroughly satisfies that OCD place buried deep within my heart.

I think I end up on the crazy side of the teeter-totter either way. 

Trivia 40 Hour 3

So it begins.

The searching and questioning and googling. 

Hour after hour after hour. After hour.

But, now we're still in the beginning. When it's fun and exciting and I can't wait for the next question. Instead of when I'm addicted. When I want to stop, but I continue on, for just one more question. Just one more. And then, one more. 

It's a marathon, not a sprint.

You can stream it on-line if your interested. 

http://www.90fmtrivia.org/

If you know me and you know an answer, give the husband's cell phone a ring... unless you're here. Then just say the answer. No need to call him. 

I Left My Heart...

Seriously, this town is beautiful. I can see why so many people are willing to put up with insanely expensive real estate, high sales tax and income tax in order to live here. Every where you look it is just so gorgeous and scenic. 

I went sight seeing today with my friend JR and another guy from work that he knows.

We went to lunch at a restaurant called "Chows" in the Castro. Then, we went down that hill that curves a lot. And on over to the Golden Gate bridge. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

There is something kind of perfect about spending the day sight-seeing in San Francisco with two gay guys.  

Hardware Throwdown

So, as some of you know, I've been renovating my upstairs half-bath. (It's step one in my plan to renovate my house and then eventually take over the world.) I've been busy removing hideous wallpaper, repainting and whatnot. I have some ideas in mind for some other things to change, and to that end I've been scouting out options at the hardware store.

I've bought everything so far from the Ace Hardware in Monroe, but it's a teeny, tiny store, and thus doesn't meet many renovating needs beyond the basics. Ace is sweet and I try to spend local whenever I can, but for the most part, Ace was knocked out before he even entered the ring.

Last Friday, the husband and I went over to Home Depot. Home Depot seems like the lux of the hardware store world. It's pretty and clean. It's displays are pretty slick. Their commercials are everywhere (did you know TONS of Olympic athletes work at Home Depot? Side note: this makes me sad for them).

Today, I stopped by Menards. I've always had a bias against Menards. I've thought of it as the "ghetto" hardware store. It's floor is weird. It kind of smells funny. And their commercials are too loud. When we first moved here, the parents spent some time in Menards picking out light fixtures. It took too long and I was really fucking thirsty by the time we left, so every time I think of Menards I get thirsty. I've avoided that place for years, due to that fact alone.

Yet, the winner between the two for home renovating needs and selection is Menards. By a clear fucking mile. In fact, I spit on Home Depot and it's poor selection. It's like some "inspirational" sports movie. Menards is the underdog, scrappy with bruises and scars all over his face and every one underestimates him. Home Depot is the pretty boy every one bets on and he spends most of his time winking at pretty girls from the ring. Yet, when they go glove to glove, Menards is the one left standing.

I was so disappointed after going to Home Depot last week, that I considered giving up some of the bigger changes I wanted to make to the bathroom if it was going to be this giant pain in the ass that I was going to have to pay someone else tons of money to special order and then do for me (it's only fun if I can do most of it myself). But, after my little jaunt to Menards, I'm re-energized. We'll have to save up some money, but the costs aren't unreasonable and in the end I think it will be something I'll really love.

That wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be

That's what she said.

Ha. 

No, really. Today, in addition to going to the grocery store, hardware store, gym and baking cupcakes (strawberry with vanilla icing AND sprinkles, delicious!), I stripped the wall paper out of our half bath. It's been a busy day. I'm tired. 

It was the most hideous looking wall paper known to man. I have hated it ever since we moved in. I put off taking it down because I thought it would be this big ordeal because in order to really get it all down I needed to move the toilet in that bathroom.

As it turns out, both moving a toilet and stripping wallpaper are not as hard as I thought they were. Really, start to finish, the whole project only took a couple of hours. I'm not completely done yet as I still have to fix the walls and repaint the bathroom, but still, I should have done this years ago.

It looks so much better. Of course, it wouldn't have been such a big relief if I had done it years ago. I wouldn't have come to loathe that fucking wallpaper, so I guess it all works out in the end. Right?

I feel so handy.