The Aerie

Hey Y'all

Hi. Not dead. Not even particularly busy. Just a little funked out lately, I guess, and feeling stressed both by work and by my overdue college homework. Everytime I sit down to blog something I feel like I ought to be doing something else.

But aside from that personal funkology we've had a very nice time lately.

On the Friday before Memorial Day we had over a very, very nice woman from my current workplace, and her daughter. My wife had met her a few weeks earlier at a happy hour, and they had hit it off: she had even offered advice to my spouse on how to get into some commercial, technical writing. Her outgoing nature and kindness was very winning, and it was a real treat to have them over.

We played "Apples to Apples," which is a fun party game, except I didn't realize the advantge that our family would have since we all know each other so well. So our guests did not fare well at the game, although everybody had a great time. Next time we'll play Fluxx or Elixir instead.

Sunday was our 18th Anniversary, and my wife and I had decided not to exchange any gifts. What could we really give each other, particularly since our anniversary is bracketed by Mother's Day before and Father's Day after?

So instead of giving my wife anything material for Mother's Day, I surprised her by getting up when she did at 7:00 a.m. or so and offering to come with her to the Farmer's Market. She seemed to really enjoy showing me around, and we had a very nice time. The weather was weird, the air icy cold but the sun burning hot, so we kept warm with coffee. The highlight was the "chocolate demonstration," which I think was supposed to involve making treats with chocolate. Nobody was interested however, so the instructor moved right on to the "come eat some free chocolate" part of the demonstration, which was a rousing success. All sorts of chocolate covered treats were available, including cherries, pineapple wedges, kiwi fruits, and grapes, along with truffles, liqueurs, and other candies. All free! Yum!

We had a very nice relaxed day, and in the evening we all went to the drive-in, our second visit this year, in order to see "Shrek 3" and "Blades of Glory." Unfortunately we got there late on a record-breaking night of attendance, and so watched Shrek dimly and from a great distance (I think they started the film too early, while the sky was too bright.) We also had trouble with reception of the sound, so Shrek was not a rousing success.

During the Intermission (which is a classic intermission, featuring film of "ice cold sodas" and "delicious hot dogs", followed by footage of puppies and kittens frolicking) we drove up to the third row and grabbed a spot vacated by someone who only came to see Shrek. As a result Blades of Glory was much more pleasant to watch, and honestly it seemed funnier, particularly the cameos by many famous figure skaters. Will Ferrell's character hits on Nancy Kerrigan and claims to have "done it" with Oksana Baiyul.

Now we're back into the (mercifully foreshortened) work week. I'm trying to straggle my way through my difficulties at work, which are largely due to my simple unfamilarity with processes, procedures, and people a the client site. Hopefully this will improve with time... and before they can me...

On the upside, I've been managing to bike to and from work again regularly, despite the fact that the weather has been simply silly lately with scattered showers and cool but humid weather.

Finally, I've been re-reading Harry Potter, in preparation for the final book coming out July 21st... It's going to really be a bummer when the series is over. We'll see if my re-read elicits a change to my predictions about how the book ends.

Posted by Albatross at May 30, 2007 9:04 PM | TrackBack