07 September 2011

Third Week in August 2011

On occasion our company warehouse gets entire shipments of items, which they resell it at reduced rates to our employees, on Monday, the item was flowers. For my lunch hour, I drove to the warehouse and bought 24 dozen roses at a greatly reduced price. I sold off a few dozen to coworkers, gave a half dozen to the boss, and removed about 15% that weren't very healthy or good looking. I split what was left of them with VK still ended up with my desk covered with roses and three dozen at home too. At least my office smelled good for once. I took the half that VK bought over to her house and we had dinner.

Monday was also the end of my exercise streak. I had gone over 40 days in a row (since June 25th) being active each day, but I finally took a day off on Monday.

Tuesday morning at work I went to get my CPR / AED recertification. I can tell you that they have really simplified how to give CPR over the years. I commend the people who put together CPR training because they have obviously looked at what works and what doesn't, and what people will do and what they won't, and designed it around what helps people live. I truly believe in making things as simple as they can be effectively designed. After work on Tuesday I blogged and did lawn work.

Wednesday after work I ran. I can hardly believe that I actually stayed at work to exercise. I never have imagined myself to be that kind of person. I ran 17 laps (3.4k) in 22:19, I was quite happy with the way this session went.

Thursday after work I went to dinner with (tall) Frank at Swine Dining in Old Towne Bellevue. I really like that place. I thought I was pretty hungry when we got there ... and I must have been right, I plowed right through that food like it was nothing. The chicken was really good, and if you haven't heard, I think the sides are amazing. The real story of the day was the rain storm. Part one had hit before I left work, but it had come from the northwest through downtown Omaha, sliding to the east of Bellevue. A couple of friends of mine on the Iowa had considerable property damage from the first part of the storm. Part two came through while Frank and I were eating. The building did lose power as we were finishing our meal. The rainfall was pretty incredible, and driving down Mission Avenue was a lot closer to jet-skiing than driving.

Friday after work I went to the regular dance. I learned that Cecily likes for people to be excited to see her. I had a very nice time with all sorts of pleasant surprises while I was there, the kind you treasure in your heart, not on your blog. I ended up leaving around 2300 because I knew that Saturday would be such a busy day.

Saturday morning I got up early and went to the annual ALS walk. This year it was at Werner Field, so unlike past years, parking was not an issue. We walked around the ballpark, and then outside the ballpark around the 'neighborhood'. My employer, Werner, sponsors us to walk, and I go with the the same people every year> Ellie from the cafe, and her kids, who I see once a year. The first time I walked with that group I accidentally flipped up a water bottle and hit Ellie's daughter in the head ... and once again, a legend was born. Now her kids can't wait to see what I'll do this year ... sigh.

I came home, cut the lawn, helped clean up in the basement, and got ready for the annual Nothnagel party. The bad news (for readers) is that I didn't take any pictures. The good news is that I was too busy helping to set up the place and then playing football, frisbee, and water balloons with the kids. This year the party featured a band, The Blacktop Ramblers. Fortunately, other people took pictures.

Mobile Uploads 6 of 42 - Troy
Not quite Jake and Elwood, but pretty darn awesome. Photo credit: Troy

P1070946
Matt and Vivian arrived after they got done with the Iowa State Fair, and Jenny came after the Keith Urban concert (She did not bring Mr. Urban with her). Photo credit: Matt

P1070943
This is how I felt about 0130. Photo credit: Matt.

Indeed by the time 0100 rolled around, I was very worn out. I made it until 0145 and then I went to bed. It didn't quite break up the party, but many people left. I remember when that party went until 0515, only 0300 this year, people are getting old.

Sunday morning I got up and went to church with Frank and Joe before heading over to the annual Saint Stanislaus Polish Festival. We met and parked at the K-Mart parking lot at 50th and L, then rode Ollie the Trolley over to the church. On the trolley I saw a coworker from when I worked at Cox Cable. She said the department had changed a lot. Her daughter, whom I haven't seen since she was 7 was with her and all grown up. There were quite a few of us, and we cut into line where Brianne was holding us a place. I say that line jumping, although ethically questionable, was a success, the only drawback was that they were out of potato pirogues as we got to the front of the line.

100_3197
Only about 45 more minutes in line.

Person, Place, or Thing 2010/2011 128 of 129 - Julia
Julia and Maggie discover the joy of pickles tickets! Photo credit: Julia

I am of the opinion that they should move the Polish fest to someplace that people can walk around at. It was just too crowded there. For those of you who wonder, I did not win anything in the raffles or pickles, but I wasn't feeling it either. We ended up hanging out until almost 1600 under the tent. People came and went, and I didn't really notice how many total were there, but I appreciate all my friends who showed. We took Ollie the Trolley back to the parking lot.

Several of us who were at the Polish fest reconvened at Ruth's house for the annual JIVE appreciation dinner. JIVE is the volunteer organization for Omaha Jitterbugs. It's very nice of the board to treat us to a nice cookout. Maggie and I arrived at the same time and I walked in to find Honey laying on the floor.

100_3200
Honey isn't too sure about this whole peek-a-boo thing.

100_3206
Ruth and Ken have lots of pretty flowers.

P1070957
There was certainly a lot of good food. Photo credit: Matt

100_3223
Honey was very sure she liked this.

The weather was perfect, the food was great, and so was the company. I took some pictures which can be found here, and Matt took pictures that can be found here.

My car developed a problem in the middle of the day with the clutch pedal. I figured out pretty quickly that it was just the pedal, but it did cause a few moments of consternation. I was able to figure out a semi-permanent solution, which involves me not driving like a clutch popping moron. A permanent solution will be to replace or jury rig a bracket to keep the clutch pedal from popping out of place. The semi-permanent solution will probably also be good for the long term health of the transmission.

No comments: