Second Week in May 2011

Just as a note, I've decided to go with a slightly larger picture size. It fits within the format, is easier for me to do, and I don't think it will affect the bandwidth too much.

Monday began the latest version of "No life for YOU!" a.k.a. being on call for work. I celebrated by making mac and cheese that was not too spicy, and yet still tasty.

Tuesday morning I stopped at the c-store on the corner by work, and when I came out, my car wouldn't start ... the usual reason ... it doesn't usually happen at 55°F. I got permission of the store manager to leave my car for a while, managed to get the car out of the way, and walked over to work ... only to discover that I left my work badge in the car. I walked back to the car, and it started. Dumbest reason to be late ever. Tuesday night revolved around work.

Wednesday night while waiting for work to pop up, I played a tower defense game on Kongregate. I'd like to sarcastically 'thank' Kevin for introducing me to tower defense games.

Just thought I'd throw in a picture of my 2011 'garden'.

Thursday was a long drawn out affair for work, I finally got home after 2100. It wasn't the length of the day, it was everything that went wrong in between 1700 and 2100. It started with a fire alarm test that only I didn't know about ... picture me running out of the building to a crowd of no one, and ended with my car not starting after working late. It all turned out well, and no one was injured. After I got home, I was in bed a little bit early, and got through the night with on call.

Friday night I managed to get to Jitterbugs very late and danced maybe six songs or so. Afterward I went to Alvarado's with Lee, Cecily, and Nate. I made Lee laugh for about three minutes straight, and my stomach hurt the next day, although it could have been from all the sit ups.

Saturday I did some car maintenance, new wiper blades, a whole lot of clean up. I then got ready to go over to the Johnson's for their spring BBQ. There was some spectacular hail, good food, great friends, a couple games of Telestrations, and of course, stupid o'clock.

Jessica took this picture after Jenny and unsuccessfully tried to take one
(more like 15) of ourselves.


It hailed three different times during the party.
Photo credit: Matt


Here I am trying to explain what happened to my Telestrations word 'toaster'.
Photo credit: Matt

I took very few pictures, but they can be seen here, Matt took more, they can be found here. Playing Telestrations with amazing cartoonists like Dan and Matt makes for a lot of fun. There was also the big surprise announcement ... Vivian is pregnant! She had a lot of fun with it, telling everyone in advance that it would be a surprise announcement about the color they were painting the house ... White! Navy! Pregnant! Congratulations!

Sunday I went out to lunch with Joe at Nebraska Brewing Company. I felt kind of icky all day, kind of a combination of not enough sleep from being on call, and a bunch of allergies. So, mostly the day was spent napping and then working, and repeat. I ended up getting Culver's ice cream and taking a late night walk.

First Week in May 2011

Monday after work I had the latest meeting of our Disorder of the Stick Pathfinder group. However it wasn't until 1900, so I went to Council Bluffs, got gas, then went to Alvarado's to get some food ... they messed up my order but what I got was still good. Our Pathfinder session was just about us escaping town. We keep finding new and stupid ways to try and get ourselves killed. This time Chris had his character, ByPoe jump into a pit and he almost got stabbed to death. We finally got out, on a caravan, and carried away to another land.

Tuesday night after work there grilling at VK's. We had an unintentional progressive dinner, because that's the way it got cooked. It was all really good, and I definitely ate too much. Wednesday after work I stayed home and finished up blog entries (more below).

Thursday was the initial meeting of Rome and Coke, the new Catholic young adults meeting group. The subject was drinking (in moderation) within the church. There are some super smart, knowledgeable people who go to these things. I'm there to represent the touchy-feely side of the Catholic experience. After our spirited discussion, Joe, I, and about 12 other people headed down to eat at Old Chicago. We had a fabulous time.

Remember when I wrote about blogging the paragraph before last. If you can't remember it, go reread the last sentence and come up with a memory exercise to help you improve. Blogspot blew up sometime in between me finishing writing on Wednesday and Friday morning. So everything I wrote on Wednesday and Thursday was gone. I wrote the entire previous entry, Monday through Thursday on this one, and also the 2011 top ten games entry was worked on ... all gone. At first I thought that I didn't post anything, but people told me they read it, so I know it was there. Further research, i.e., looking at the tabs open on my browser, allowed me to save the previous entry and some of the game entry. However what I already wrote on this entry is gone. It was probably the most insightful, clever, funniest stuff I've ever written too.

In the evening I went to the dance, I was on the clean up crew, so *cha-ching*, I just had to work for a few minutes for free entry. Marilou was celebrating her birthday, so I went out to Village Inn with the group and picked up Marilou's tab, that was nice. Not so nice was me arguing with Maggie, in a mean way.

Saturday during the day I cut some really high grass. Troy likes to have it bagged, and I filled up seven bags full of lawn clippings. Usually it's three. It looked nice when I finished, though. I had an impromptu lunch with VK, which happened because I forgot my credit card at Old Chicago on Thursday. Since I had to go get it, I was half way to her house anyway, so we met in the middle.

Saturday night was Kaleb's monthly game night. I was late! Nine minutes late. They had just started a game of Cargo Noir. It's a new game to me. It's a Days of Wonder game, so it was brightly colored. It was a simple game too, I liked it. We then set up the badminton net and played in the cold and the wind. I had a couple shots of 'warm-up juice'. Finally we came back inside and played Shadow Hunters ... it's about time. Kaleb 'found' the game almost a year after it went missing ... and of course I was the first one killed. I then went to play some ping pong, not the kind where you keep score, the kind where you have fun and talk. Suddenly, we were summoned upstairs to play a game of Ultimate Werewolf. I was a werewolf, and lynched pretty early, we had the very odd occasion of having three out of four nights where the person we killed was saved. The villagers won, not us bad guys. I had a very brief game of Fluxx, which I didn't win. Fluxx is a game that should only be played at Ted and Wally's. The last game I played was (twice) Cash n Guns. This is not a family friendly game, but it is fun. The rules are probably shorter than how I would describe it. I won the second game, finally a victory. The evening ended with Rock Band, which somehow went into 0300 ... how does that happen?

Sunday morning I got up for church early, met Joe, and went to Mass at Saint John's on the Creighton campus, in part, to hear Katie play flute. I then ended up back home and had a bunch of difficulty trying to find someone to go to lunch with me, in fact it was too difficult to accomplish. I went for a walk in the evening to get my total miles walked for the year up over 100, as I noted on Facebook, that's the equivalent of five containers Blue Bunny Coffee Break ice cream. Next week: next week.

Last week in April 2011

So I did lawn work on Sunday, and so I did it again on Monday, this time at VK's house. I really wore myself out doing it too. Unfortunately, the guy code doesn't allow you to complain about being worn out, so I didn't.

Tuesday evening I developed a rather bad headache which lasted into Wednesday morning. I ended up not going in to work until the afternoon when I felt much better. Thank God for medicine. After work I ended up hanging with VK, we went to dinner at Carrabba's, which, I found out, is part of the same ownership as Outback. Thursday after work I did chores.

Friday I went to lunch at a local BBQ place, Doc and Eddies. I tried a sandwich, the meat was good, but the sauces were dull, and the sides were just plain bad, cornbread should not stick to the roof of your mouth like peanut butter. After work Kimee and I went out to eat, then for a walk, I then let her drive, and then I hung out at Shannon's until 2300 or so. I then went downtown for a little dancing. Below are pictures that Kimee and I took.

 The local wildlife objects to my picture taking.


 Aw, baby geese! Momma and daddy didn't let us get too close.


 Pretty sunset!

If you'd like to see the rest of the shots from our adventure, please click here, Kimee has a good eye.

Saturday during the day I met VK for lunch at Smashburger, it wasn't as good as the first time I ate there. We ate outside, it was very windy, welcome to Nebraska. After this we walked over to the bookstore and went to WalMart. I would like a new hoodie, but retail places don't seem to have plain hoodies. I think I'll have luck at Cabela's or Bass Pro, but that seems a little expensive.

Later in the day, I introduced Maggie to China Buffet and the concept that 'all-you-can-eat' is a challenge, not a suggestion. After dinner we hit my new favorite secret photo spot. We then drove around Bellevue until we ended up at Dairy Queen. Strange how that happens. You can see some of the pictures below, or all of them here.

If you haven't heard me whine about allergies, let me take this opportunity. They have sucked for me this spring. I was so worn out that I went to bed at 2230 Saturday night and got up at 1100 Sunday morning. I went to church at Saint Mary's in Bellevue, they painted it, very nicely I might add. I then slept some more. When I got up, I went to Westlake Ace, and purchased some supplies to let me pot cherry tomatoes and some peppers. I will attempt to remember to take pictures. That was my week.

Fourth Week in April 2011

Monday after work I spent a nice relaxing night at home. Tuesday I went over to VK's to fix the drain that I broke on over the weekend. On Wednesday I ended up on the phone very late arguing with a friend, odd for me.

Thursday night I went out to Gator O'Malley's to see the Mezcal Brothers. It was the first time I have seen them since Playing With Fire in 2009. I didn't drive, so I had a couple beers or so. Maybe not a good idea, but I had fun dancing!

Friday I ended up working a little late, and then was super hungry on the way home. I got two full meals and did my best to finish them. Silly me. Silly because then I tried to dance and it didn't work out at all. I danced a little while, but then I stopped, and went home around 11:00.

It was okay to get the extra rest though, because Saturday was the first day of the Nebraska Renaissance Festival. We had a group of about a dozen people that went.

Maggie was swimming in her armor...


...but so was I ... which way to the war please? Photo credit: Matt


Chain mail hackysacks. The metal wasn't sharp. I thought very hard about buying one, but I did not do so, maybe if I see them again.


Half of our group. Photo credit: Matt


And what day of mine would be complete without a totally inexplicable photo and/or happening.

If you would like to see my photos of the Nebraska Renaissance Festival, including some of Matt yelling "Bring out your dead." click here, Matt's pictures can be found here, and Jillian has some here.

Later in the evening, Joe, Bente, VK, Amber, and I went to eat at Outback. Our waiter was VK & Bente's brother Caleb ... if you are having deja vu about this, it is because it might sound like something we did a few weeks ago. There was a funny moment with my doctor while we were there. We ate a lot of food and then went over to my place to play Dance Central, everyone did participate, some more than others.

Sunday morning was no Mass Chaos, but I did go to church with Joe, Teri, and others. After church we headed over to Assumption Parish to the Czech Fest kick off dinner. I ate too many kolachi and I won at Pickles ... okay, it's not true, there is no such thing as too many kolachi.

Later in the afternoon I did lawn work, then headed over to CJ's at 1900 for installments two and three of Game of Thrones. There was a lot less nudity in these episodes, I guess that they drew you in with it, but it wasn't necessary, there is so much to like and dislike with almost every character that I'll keep watching.

Holy Week April 2011

Monday after work I went over to the Ozone to hear the Prairie Cats play. The show was pretty good, but the Ozone had it's usual bad service and way too crowded dance floor, I got kicked a couple of times pretty hard and unfortunately I stepped on someone myself.

Tuesday night I went to Saint Mary's in Omaha for a reconciliation service. In the past I have had my confessions much better planned, written out, and ready to go by the time I hit the confessional. This time I was not so prepared. It turned out to be a much more emotional experience than it has been in the past. I was told to meditate on God's mercy for me, not an easy thing for me.

Wednesday was the first lawn cutting of the year. There really was nothing interesting about cutting the lawn, but after wards when I went to make my dinner, things got weird.

The plastic piece came off of the salad dressing as I squeezed it, and yes I know people who put this much dressing on their salads.


Later I tried to do another chore, but I was confounded by the 'help'.

Holy Thursday I and some friends went to Mass at Saint Margaret Mary to celebrate the anniversary of the idea of Mass Chaos. I was there very early (why don't all people do this?), and enjoyed the church while I was waiting for everyone else. Joe kept pointing out to me that Lent is over once the Holy days started, so after Mass we went to Buffalo Wild Wings. Thus ended my Lenten sacrifice.

I took Good Friday off of work. I ended up meeting VK and Bente at Blue Planet Grill for lunch. I have been wanting to try it, and I've reached the conclusion that some restaurants equate 'natural' and 'bland'. Yes, the ingredients were obviously natural, but why so **yawn** ... huh, what? After lunch we walked over to 66th and Center Wohlner's grocery. It's comforting to have a group of friends who, if you lose them in a grocery store, you know where to find them ... in the cheese and/or wine sections. Evidently there are rumors that the acoustics are amazing in the ladies restroom there, and that people test it out by singing the Alleluia Chorus while visiting ... I've been told not to mention anything about this kind of thing occurring. After we left Wohlner's we went to Jones Brother's Cupcakes to build up some energy for the next stop we were going to make. I grabbed the only available table, and we sat and talked. We then went over to Lowe's to acquire some projects for VK's house, a couple faucets and a light.

Friday evening Mass Chaos had it's second to last meeting. I then went over to the dance for a little while.

Saturday I got to work on installing the plumbing and lighting at VK's. Unfortunately, while trying to change the bathroom faucet, things turned weird. There were no valves under her sink, so there was no way to remove the old one without cutting lines. It was one of those things that I sat and stared at for three minutes to try to figure out what I did wrong ... I did nothing wrong, it was installed stupidly. I then installed a kitchen faucet with about a 25 foot hose. After all this work, I need to be nourished, so we went out to eat at Wasabi, which features all you can eat sushi ... so I did. After lunch I did more plumbing, i.e. cleaning traps. I managed to break the drain in the basement too.

I cleaned myself up and headed over to the final Mass Chaos (no link yet) church to celebrate Easter vigil. It was a bittersweet moment, so much of free time efforts have gone into Mass Chaos in the past year, that letting it go was easy. Worry about what would happen with the friendships I had developed caused me to be sad. We had some cake after the Mass at the parish center. Joe and I then went up to Patrick's bowling birthday party.

Easter Sunday began with Joe and I going to a Southern Illinois vs. Creighton baseball game at TD Ameritrade Park. The park is spacious, and I mean the crowd has a lot of room and so does the outfield. The Salukis won 2-1 ... yay!

I think this is the best iPhone picture I have ever taken.

Joe and I had disagreed leading up to Easter Sunday whether the Easter Vigil Mass counted as Sunday obligation. I said yes, Joe said no ... I didn't go Easter morning, but Joe did. However, I got home in the afternoon, and after a short nap, I decided to make a trip to the 1800 Mass at Saint Stephen the Martyr as a Mass Chaos make up, it being one of the two churches I didn't get to the first go around. So I managed to get to 54 of the 55 churches in a liturgical year.

The final part of my Sunday was a meeting of our Disorder of the Stick Pathfinder game. It was just Ben, CJ, and I as my character and Ben's character snuck into the quarters of my murdered master to investigate. It didn't go like I expected, and we are off again to another part of the world to figure it all out.