Weekend Updates

That Was Vacation

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I last week (and yesterday) off from work for a little much-needed break. I had no real travel plans like I normally do for vacation. Instead, Amy and I saw some movies, visited New Hope, went to the pool several times, went to a Mets game (they lost), bought Amy a new television, spent time with her family, toured a vineyard and winery, and shopped for food.

My apartment complex has a pool. When I moved in — three years ago? — I received two passes but never used them until now. I should have been visiting the pool a long time ago. It’s very relaxing and feels perfect on a hot day. Unfortunately, the pool is surrounded by pine trees, so needles seem to make their way into the water.

It could be worse; I distinctly remember being on a school trip while in high school or middle school, and on the way back from our destination, we stopped at a public pool where classmates discovered used tampons swimming in the water.

Compared to that, my community pool is paradise. Now, it’s back to work.

Hey, It Was a Holiday Weekend

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Most of my weekend was spent helping Amy set up her new apartment, shopping for furniture, and building things. We did take a break long enough to see Superman Returns. While Lex Luthor’s scheme was a little weak, I really enjoyed the movie. The big question I’d have to ask is “Who is Superman?” If Christopher Reeve’s Superman is the definitive character, then Brandon Rausch did a good job playing him. The way he delivered his lines was very reminiscent of Superman: The Movie.

I would have enjoyed the movie more without the allusions to Jesus, though, and possibly even more without (spoiler warning, highlight this area only if you’ve seen the movie) Superman’s son, the Plot Device Kid.

On the other hand, I thought John Ottman did a good job of taking John Williams’ overexposed themes and making some decent new music. I’ll probably pick up the soundtrack.

Pulled it Off

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I’m not quite sure how we managed to pull it off, but it seems like my birthday event succeeded last night without any problems. The restaurant, Old Man Rafferty’s, doesn’t take reservations for Saturday nights, so I was anticipating some issues. Last week I called the restaurant to find out what I could do to ensure that a party of 17 people could be seated as close to 7:00 pm as possible. I spoke to the manager — he said his name was Durg, and even spelled it so there was no misunderstanding — and he said everything should be fine if someone shows up at about 6:00 to put the name in and if the whole party shows up before 7:00. Last night proved to be a little more difficult.

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Two Important Things

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Two important things resulted this past weekend:

1. I have a new, doublepluscomfortable bed. I should be in it right now, but it’s currently empty so my motivation is a little lower than what I would prefer.
2. I have an appointment in November for extraction of my third molars (wisdom teeth). I can’t wait to be unable to remember the surgical event due to copious opiates or whatever drugs they’ll put in my body to ensure a smooth and painless non-experience.

Weekend Plans

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Now that I’ve finished all of my holiday shopping, I’m heading to the Washington, D.C. area tonight… going to see some folks down there. On Sunday I’ll make my way back up here are see some folks up here. Maybe I’ll even get some laundry done.

Note to self: never again live in a place without a washer and dryer. Doing laundry without the machinery nearby is very inconvenient. I hope everyone has a great weekend and gets their laundry done as well.

This Jewish boy will have a good Christmas… the paycheck I receive right before the holiday will have quite a bit of overtime in it. That’ll help pay for all the goodies I bought for people in the last few days. Woo…

Good Realization

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I looked at the calendar this weekend and realized that I have three paychecks coming to me in both October and December. That will definitely help ease my money issues since I budget for two paychecks monthly.

I didn’t quite reach all my goals for the weekend, but I did manage to complete the most important one: laundry.

Plan for the Weekend

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These are the things I’d like to get done this weekend.

  • See a movie. I’m not sure which one yet, but I suppose I’ll figure that out between now and the time I sit down in a theater.
  • Laundry. That really needs to get done. It’s such a pain not having a washer or dryer in my apartment. I’ll have to make sure I have enough quarters stored up.
  • Web work. I’m going to take a look at Bryan‘s redesign of Darren‘s company’s website and see if I can bring this project to a closure of some sort. Maybe I’ll look for some other opportunities for web design work. (Speaking of this, I added three more languages to the English-to-Englsh dictionary.)
  • Get a mailing list together for jobs in which I might be interested across the country.
  • Add more information to DrumCorpsWiki which has stalled lately due to my lack of attention.
  • Clean?
  • Plan next weekend’s possible trip to New England. Last night, when I went out after work at a local bar with some co-workers, someone who lives up in Vermont gave me some location tips.

That’s probably enough to keep me busy. I need more hours in the day… and I need to make the most of that time.

Photos From the Weekend

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I successfully resisted the urge to bid on an alpaca this weekend. This is despite an individual who instructed me to bid and he would provide me $15,000 towards the purchase. He was slightly drunk. As I was stationed in the back of the tent with Darren to work on the sound, the inebriated visitor was spending some time with us and the bartender. He wasn’t registered for the auction but he didn’t let that stop him from placing some bids. He successfully drove up the price for some of the animals and ended up winning one lot consisting of two alpacas.

Later on, he informed me he had no place to keep them, but his wife, who divorced him (The bitch, he editorialized), could probably help him out. I think his winning created some problems for the auctioneers, resulting ultimately in a brawl with the bartender.

Despite all that excitement, Darren and I managed to find time to visit the battlefield of the two Civil War Bull Run (aka. Manassas) battles. Of course I returned with pictures from the battlefield and the auction.

Today’s Activities

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Today I trekked up to Chester, New Jersey (actually, Darren did the driving) to visit a cider mill. Darren and Ali brought their daughter, Cindi, along, and we met up with Jen and Elke. After enjoying cider hotdogs and cider doughnuts, we made our way down the street for a stroll in the state park.

It wouldn’t be an outdoor excursion without photographs. The rest of the crew headed for dinner, I believe, but I went home to prepare for my follow-up interview/demo lesson at a school tomorrow. At this point, I’m thinking I’m not going to take the job if it is offered to me. We shall see how it goes.