13 June 2011

First Full Week in June 2011

Monday during the day was really difficult. I don't know what the story really was, but I had no energy, to the point that during lunch I fell asleep in the car, in the parking lot, in the sun, on a 100°F day. Around 1600 my energy level crept up. I did some grocery shopping on the way home, processed the weekend's pictures, then lawn work once the sun was out of view, and was still so full of energy I walked around the block three times.

Tuesday on my way into work I had no traffic and caught no lights. I made it in 12 minutes. I give myself 35 minutes everyday to get to work, but that includes ten to get caffeine and prepare for the day. If I could rely on that kind of commute both ways, every day, I would save a half hour per day!

After work I headed over to Jillian's house and had dinner and kolachi. She made us vegan tacos, they were super tasty. The kolachi were non-traditional, but very good. We played a very extended game of Apples to Apples, of course, we didn't keep score, but we did have fun!

Wednesday night after work I met VK and we went for a walk through the Quail Creek neighborhood and woods. VK found out during the walk that mosquitoes don't like me. It's true, I only get bitten a couple times a year. I believe it is technically feasible to shoot mosquitoes out of the sky with lasers, why aren't there balloons floating around with microlasers and targeting systems to kill them all? Technology is not what it should be.

After our walk, we went out to eat at China Buffet on 370. I didn't eat too much, but I did make it too spicy ... twice. We then took a drive down to the riverfront in Bellevue, to see what the flooding currently looked like. I don't quite understand where the additional 3.5 to 5.5 feet of water is supposed to go.

Early Thursday morning I had an epically odd dream. Troy, Merinda, and I moved to a place downtown that was all marble and columns. We basically rented bed space in a communal room, bed and shelves for $25/month. The room was large, maybe 30x30 feet, with marble walls and floors with a fountain in the middle. The bedding was some sort of black fur and there were twelve beds. We didn't know anyone else renting in the room, it was kind of a college dorm environment. Since there was no way to secure your valuables in the room, I was really worried about them, so I was considering commuting from the house (the one we actually live in now). We wandered around the building, where I eventually ran in VK, and she showed me the room she was renting for just $10/month more ... it had a locking door. Now I wanted one of those. The rest of the dream was wandering around in building looking for the management, interrupted by trips back to the room to check on my things. This dream was impossibly long. It really seemed like hours.

Thursday my state tax refund finally made an appearance, and at lunch I was off to purchase my new phone. Surprisingly it only took about an hour once I got home to set up the new phone and decommission the old one. I had so much time left over after I got it all set up that I went up to VK's house for a visit.

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Here it is, iPhone4 with an attractive Otterbox case.

Friday I made the comic!

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...I mean worked, then headed up to the dance. As it has been for the last few weeks, I am just not so interested in the dancing part. I am interested in the social aspect of dancing, but not as energized by the dancing part as I have been at other times in the past few years. Billy and Lindsay were there, and it was nice to visit with them. I left early so I could get up and...

This time I was determined! I got up at 0715 and headed over to the MidAmerica Center in Council Bluffs to pack sandbags. They were way better organized this week in comparison to last. It was a short wait in line, and I signed in at 0808 and got to work. A reporter from Reuters came over and interviewed myself and the young lady I was working with, you can see the article here, the story was picked up by Canada Yahoo News too here (it's the same story). Those tricky Canadians are reading about me! The Reuters guy was super nice, but he didn't let what I really said get in the way of a well written story, it's okay I'm down with that.

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I talked one person into coming with me to help!

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, physically. I did about 2 1/4 hours actual work, with a couple breaks. Near the end of it I was having trouble picking up the filled sandbags, but I could have shoveled for quite a while longer. I left there at 1113 (it's easy to remember when they make you sign in and out), and came home.

In the afternoon I went down to the Summer Arts Festival. We walked from parking to downtown to the BK Pedestrian Bridge and back, about five miles. The highlight of the walk was Maggie trying to play with one of the fountains at the base of the bridge, she was standing under the stream, and took a step just as the fountain lost pressure, resulting in much wetness.

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Face painting is very serious business.

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That's a lot of river, and maybe as much as five more feet to go.

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Be careful, those are dangerous.

After the morning workout, five miles walking was a little much. I came home and sat around until 2115 and got ready for bed. It was quite easy to go to sleep early.

Sunday we had planned a noon Mass at Saint Columbkille, and then a trip to the Santa Lucia festival. Joe was driving, so we headed down to Mass where we met up with Teri, (surprise) Frank, and Julia. Teri and wore red. In my case it wasn't because I remembered that Sunday was Pentecost. After Mass, they left us and we went down to the Santa Lucia Festival to meet Marilou and Beth. Joe and Beth got me to go on one ride and Marilou to go on two. I knew my limit. We should have ridden first, before we ate, but we weren't that smart.

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Marilou and I could hear Joe laughing even over our own screams.
It made me nauseous, but it was worth it to see Joe (and Beth) all giddy.

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Yeah, there was NO way I was going on a second ride
and manage to keep all that delicious food down.

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Do you remember where you were during the great Missouri flood of 2011?
Of course I do, I have a picture right here.

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For a little perspective on the river levels, on the left is a picture taken during last year's Santa Lucia festival, on the right is a photo of the same area where we were standing. The railing is entirely underwater.

We walked up on to the bridge, talking and laughing the whole way. You can see all my pictures from the Summer Arts Festival, Santa Lucia Festival, and the Missouri River flooding from this weekend here. That was pretty much it for the week other than picture processing Sunday night.

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