12 September 2012

Third Week in August 2012

Monday was the beginning of on call, and I was pretty busy when my normal shift end came up, so I just stayed and finished up. I did some shopping on the way home, then cooked some dinner. Later in the evening, I picked Troy up at the airport, but I still think I got a decent amount of sleep.

Tuesday after work I cut the lawn and then went for a short run, 2012 #30, 1.36 miles in 12:43, that's a 9:19 pace. I celebrated all that physical activity by making ice cream.

Wednesday I went on another run, first time on back to back days. 2012 run #31: 2.61 miles in 28:01, that's a 10:42 pace. I did Zombies, Run #2 - Lay of the Land, a new character was introduced, runner 8.

More importantly, the four day hostage crisis was ended. Flash back to Saturday, after Kaleb's game night I went out to my car and my chicken was tied up, left on the seat and my white bear and monkey were missing. When I got home, I found this taped to my bedroom door.

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Kidnapped! I left it taped to my door so I could question my roommates later about it. I was so worried about it, that I went right to sleep. Sunday afternoon I found out that Maeg found it on the front door, then moved it to bedroom door. She asked me then if I had seen the ransom demand on the back. No! I quickly tore it off the door and found the note, I had missed the exchange, drat! The next day I found another note, this time, they were tied up on the train tracks.

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Look how sad blue bear and chicken are about their missing car-mates.

Maeg gave me the first clue, the pictures were printed off at the Walgreen's on Galvin Road in Bellevue. The train track picture was taken in South Omaha by where Highway 75 crosses over the tracks, I figured that out by myself. Knowing the criminals are lazy I had to figure that the culprits lived in Bellevue somewhere.

I made my pleas on Facebook, and there was no way I could make the drop time because of work requirements. Then things took a nasty turn, I received another note...

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A fate too horrible for anyone.

...and I couldn't take it any more. I gave in and agreed to meet demands. I went to the park at 2100, I didn't try to be sneaky, I wore white and went alone ... well almost alone, an unnammed neighbor with firepower was watching the proceedings from their house and and a sniper rifle.

The exchange was ... weird ... and incompetent. I saw a dark four door drive slowly down the street with it's lights on, turn around at the end of the block, then turn their lights out, pulling up slowly next to the park. I stayed sitting on my bench, but pretending not to see the car. Suddenly there was a very bad bird whistle from the car, and then a deep voice telling me to put the ice cream on the park bench and walk away. I went and sat on the the cricket. I heard the shuffling of feet across the sand, something dropped, then a car door slam, and the car speeding away.

I was laughing so hard at the exchange I never saw the perpetrators.

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Fortunately, Bear and Monkey were just fine.

Oddly enough, just after I rescued bear and monkey, Matt, Vivian, and Hannah showed up at my front door to say someone drove by them and threw ice cream at them ... so not only did I get bear and monkey back, but I also got my ice cream, which we shared on the back deck with Frank and Maeg. Still no idea who were the perpetrators of this crime, but we are all reunited. Matt also made a post about the entire event, he thinks he has solved the crime.

Thursday was kind of dull, I am noticing a Thursday trend. I also didn't exercise to give myself recovery time.

Friday after work had died down, I went late to the dance and then to Donut Stop.

Saturday during the morning was a lot of work, but in the afternoon, I went to game night at Kaleb's house.

The first game played was 7 Wonders. I did not win, I finished in my customary second or third place, although I used the war strategy a little more than usual. I think they have carved themselves a niche for the seven player, half hour game.

The second game was Agricola, and it was kind of my idea. So you can guess how I did at the game, really badly. I finished fourth out of four. It's a lot like last place, in fact that's exactly what it was.

We then played several unmemorable games of Werewolf. I may have gotten myself into the burned out phase of the game.

The last game of the night was a spirited game of Shadow Hunters with the expansion. I don't like the expansion characters, and I lost, and I was fairly confused. That was the end of my evening.

Sunday morning I was up early and went on 2012 run #32. 3.43 miles in 36:15, it's a 10:33 pace. I did Zombies, Run #3, "Distraction", imagine this, the gate gets stuck open ... pretty typical zombie apocalypse fare.

I went to church after running, and getting cleaned up. Most of the rest of the day was just hanging out at the house, making ice cream, answering a few work things, and doing some low impact chores.

Next Week: September already?

06 September 2012

2012 NFL Prediction Post

It's time for my annual NFL prediction post, first, let's review how I did last year. Bold is correct, strikethrough is one I got wrong.
2011 Picks
AFC
North: Baltimore
South: Tennessee
East: New England
West: Oakland
Wild Card: Pittsburgh
Wild Card: Jets

Champion: New England

NFC
North: Green Bay
South: New Orleans
East: NY Giants
West: St. Louis
Wild Card: Chicago
Wild Card: Dallas

Champion: New Orleans

Superbowl Champion: New Orleans
So not really bad, I had six of ten playoff teams, with one correct Superbowl team.

For 2012, there are definitely some teams that I'm not drinking their koolaid, like San Francisco and Houston, but I'm not sure who else to pick in that division. So without further ado, here are my picks:

AFC
North: Baltimore
South: Houston
East: New England
West: San Diego
Wild Card: Pittsburgh
Wild Card: Buffalo

Champion: New England

NFC
North: Chicago
South: New Orleans
East: NY Giants
West: San Francisco
Wild Card: Green Bay
Wild Card: Carolina

Champion: Chicago

Superbowl Champion: New England

I'm pretty excited for the Bears season. If they face any other AFC team in the Superbowl, I would pick the Bears, I think New England has their number however.

Full disclosure: this was written with one game, Dallas defeating the NY Giants already complete.