mindless stuff

Sometimes I, like many other people, find myself in the position of having to do something merely out of an obligation. Whether or not there is any value in the task is irrelevant. The competency of the person who doles out the task is irrelevant. What easier way is there to feel like a one of those hamsters, that runs constantly inside the wheel? The wheel constantly spins, and the hamster doesn't realize that he will keep on running without getting anywhere. What an incredibly sad state of affairs.

what's the point if it's raining on a Friday night?

Seriously. I was looking forward to Friday all week. Anticipating a nice bike ride. Expecting a balmy 75 degree evening. Tough noogies, I guess. Or whatever they call it.
But the evening wasn't a total loss. Ryan and I had the best homemade pizza for dinner. I ran out into the garden and grabbed a handful of tomatoes, basil, and a couple of green bell peppers. And that's exactly what went on the pizza, topped with some Provolone cheese which Ryan grated. I stopped by the cheese shop on Hwy 23 last night, and asked the guy if they had Fontina. The guy behind counter blinked a few times and said "no", and that they had never carried it, and had no plans to carry it in the future. OK. I was only looking for Fontina cheese because I had tried homemade pizza with mozzarella before and it just didn't cut it. Fontina was much better. Anyway, the guy said that the closest thing they had was Provolone. So I thought I would give it a try. And it was really yummy! The whole pizza was so good. You can really tell when the ingredients are fresh, I think that's totally what makes or breaks a meal. Plus, it felt so good to know that a pizza was made with things from mygarden!!!
Anyway, tomorrow should be fun. We're spending the day at the beach, and the Flessners are joining us. Which means we also get to spend some time with their adorable girls. I'm excited! I spent another part of this evening making pesto with the basil leftover from pizza ingredients. And I also put aside some chicken in a peppercorn marinade, which I plan on grilling early tomorrow morning so it will have some time to get cold in the fridge. And sliced some fresh French bread. All for tomorrow's picnic. I'm super excited!

remedy drive and karaoke night

So, last night, we went to a concert in Richland Center. It was an indie rock/christian band out of Nebraska called Remedy Drive, and they were FANTASTIC! And also very loud. My entire head still hurts from the sound. But the concert was great! I even bought a t-shirt....after all, I want to support their cause. We had taken the Intern girl, Stephanie, with us as she doesn't have a car. We was kind enough to treat us to Dairy Queen after wards. I got fries (craving) and Ryan and Stephanie got Blizzards which looked very yummy, perfect for the hot day anyway. So, we were driving home through Lone Rock, when it occurred to me that it was the 3rd Friday of the month, and The Shed has Karaoke on the 3rd Friday of the month. So we took a small detour and headed to where the Karaoke was. It was fun! We got a couple beers and I worked up the nerve to sing a song. And it wasn't so bad!
In hindsight, heading from one incredibly loud music venue straight to another probably wasn't the best idea. But it was a very fun Friday night!

It has been an unrelenting couple of weeks, which caused a bit of stress. Most of it was due to work (promotion) or self-inflicted (getting a second dog). So, yes, we did get a second dog.
Johnny B. Goode is a 15-lb runt of a dog, we adopted him on the 4th of July from a nice family who was moving and couldn’t take him. He’s a rat terrier-beagle mix, and has the sweetest personality I have ever seen in a dog. In other words, he’s a spoilt baby and loves to cuddle. He spent the first week with us doing everything he could to hide from Lola who, by comparison, is a monster with abundant energy and a huge tongue that always seems to want to lick him. The two are getting along fine now.
On the other side of the stress-causing issues, I’m excited about the changes at work and stepping up the corporate ladder. But, if the past week or so is any indication of the times to come, I am not looking forward to always being exhausted by the end of each day. But enough of that.
The weekend was fun! Saturday was mellow. Ryan and I vegged all morning as it was pouring rain outside. It cleared up by noon though, and very quickly became a beautiful sunny day! Funny weather. So, we went on a bike ride and our buddy Ben came with us. It was a fun, easy ride, to the bench and back. Then Ben and Amanda and the girls went to dinner with us at Café Four, which was very nice.
Yesterday I had media duty at church, and afterwards Ryan very kindly offered to come and help me clean my desk at work so I would be ready for the move to my new area. It took us two hours, and now my personal belongings are all in boxes, and my desk smells Lemony-fresh.
We met the nicest girl at church yesterday! Stephanie is interning in the area this summer and was looking for things to do and see. She mentioned having a bike, so we invited her to come with us on our bike ride. So after the desk cleaning, we changed, got our bikes and met the girl, and set off on the bike trail. We rode to Ridgeway and back, an almost no-incline 20.3 miles. It was beautiful weather, and the views were spectacular! We discovered that the wild raspberry bushes were starting to ripen, we picked a few and ate them. They were good! Next time we are definitely going with an extra water-bottle to fill it up with raspberries.
In Ben’s ongoing pursuit to “culture me” with the “classic” 80s movies that I missed out on growing up, he and Amanda invited us over last night to a grill-out dinner, and to watch Short Circuit. We invited Stephanie to go with us. We took a bottle of Sauvignon-Blanc that we had chilling in the fridge, and it went perfectly with all the good food – turkey burgers Ben and Amanda made, the fresh romaine lettuce and strawberries and stuff from Amanda’s garden, the new red potatoes I bought at the Dodgeville farmer’s market yesterday, and the veggie kababs Stephanie brought. We watched Hannah play in her plastic fort, it was hilarious. And then we watched the movie. Or at least, we started to, but half of us were falling asleep by 9 p.m. So we decided to finish it another day and call it a night. I was asleep as soon as I got home and my head hit the pillow.

embarrassment

I have been thinking of extremely embarrassing moments this week, particularly Tuesday and yesterday. Like the Friends episode “The One with the Inappropriate Cousin”. I know exactly how Ross feels. Or, the episode of Sex and the City, where Carrie farts in front of Mr. Big for the first time. I know exactly how she feels. It could not be worse. I just want to crawl under the table and die.