Third Week in June 2012

First up, a little comedic advertising for Cowtown Jamborama X:

Secondly: I decided that casual games were taking up too much of my time, so I deleted Angry Birds and Bejeweled Blitz. I was sad to see them go, but I think I could find many better things to do with my time. Yes, I know that Diablo 3 is taking some of that time, but I feel better about how I'm spending my time now.

Monday after work I came home, cooked, did some chores, and then headed out in to the heat to make tall grass short. I came inside and played some Diablo 3, I'm about halfway through the first act 'nightmare' level with a demon hunter.

Tuesday I cooked dinner for Maggie, we had pan fried breaded fish. I thought it was good, I'm not sure what to compare it to. Frank came and got us and we went out to Dairy Queen and got some ice cream and talked for a while.

Wednesday, the chore day continued as such, with the evening ending up playing a little Diablo 3. I finished the first act, I'm at level 39 now.

It was a little wet driving home.

Thursday Matt organized a trip to Shakespeare on the Green. This year it is Julius Caesar for the tragedy. I thought it very well performed, but I wasn't paying great attention. I was probably 'that guy' in the audience. Sarah, Jenny, and I had a popcorn fight, and Hannah cried in my arms right after intermission. Heather said it best on her Facebook status "What a beautiful night for socializing outdoors." It certainly was.

There 19 people in our group here, but there may have been more. Photo credit: Matt


Two of my favorite friends!


Is that me holding a baby like I hold a cat? Photo credit: Matt


Et tu, Brute? Photo credit: Matt

The only sad part (besides everyone dying in the play) was that when I saw Vesper in the crowd, she said it was her last day in Omaha. I said my goodbyes to her, to Caesar, Brutus, and Cassius, and then to my friends. I was actually home at a decent hour. I took pictures here, so did Matt, you'll have to click around to see them from one of the pictures up above. Sarah maybe took a funny picture of me too, maybe you can see what my Aunts say about me.

Friday after work, I went shopping and filled up the gas tank in preparation for the trip to Sunflower Swing. I took a short nap and headed down to the dance. It was a pretty light crowd, and I didn't want to stay late because of the road trip the next day.

Saturday morning I had an errand to run before I could leave the house, apparently Zeke was going to want to eat while I was gone. Maggie and I hit the road at 1100 and drove south on 75 to Topeka, then the Tollway to Wichita. We made it to the hotel by 1700, with only a couple of misturns. After settling in and taking a short nap, we went to dinner at a brewery in Old Town Wichita, then to get some expensive, and tasty gelato at the same place we got it last year.

We came back to the room, got cleaned up, and headed to the Sunflower Swing Saturday night dance and late night. There were about 100 people at the dance, the floor, which I think may have been replaced since we were last there, was smooth, but not fast, it made for some workout dancing, and so did the heat. Yes, Wichita is a warm place. The ladies from Wichita did a dance, there was a Strictly Lindy competition, and a bluesey band for late night. We stayed until just after 0100, or maybe a little later.

I got up in the morning and went to Mass at All Saints in Wichita, sorry no pictures, I was actually in a hurry to get back and pick up Maggie at the hotel. We headed over for a very casual late morning and afternoon at Care to Dance, the Sunflower Swing class venue.

Evan ponders the great questions in life, things like
"Do I fly or drive to Cowtown Jamborama?"


Troy contemplates his Halloween costume.


Maybe I tried to get a little artsy with the camera.

It was my first experience taking classes from Todd and Ramona. They were excellent teachers, and I hope I remember what was taught. I took a 'Frankie' class and basic Balboa class. At lunch we walked down the street to try to find the 'lotus-something' place we ate at last year, but it was closed. We ate at a nearby pizza place that had a Zio's or Pizza Collective feel to it. I ordered two reasonably priced slices for lunch, because I was hungry. The slices were humongous, no bigger than you are imagining, no bigger. I couldn't even come close to eating both.

After the last class ended, we packed up, hugged everyone, and hit the road. If you want to see all my pictures from Sunflower Swing, you can find them here. The drive home was unexceptional and not quite as fast as the drive down. We got home around 2130, and that was it.

Next week: I got nothing yet.

Second Week in June 2012

Monday in the evening was 2012 run #19: 2.62mi in 25:58, and please ‎allow me to just plain gush for a moment it felt amazing. I wish every run was like that. Later in the evening, Troy assisted me with the end of Diablo 3, I died just as Diablo did, but it gave me credit for the victory.

Tuesday I ate dinner with Maggie, yet another experimental creation, I called it succotash, but Maggie said it was more like corn hash. It was mostly tasty, and even if it wasn't, I make a great salad.

Wednesday I came home and got some chores done around the house. It seems to be the weekday for such things. When I finished getting everything done, I played some Diablo 3, I started on going through the 'nightmare' level.

Thursday after work Troy and I decided to try a bigger group (than just us) in Diablo 3, so we got Ben to join us for a game with entirely new characters. Troy played the witch doctor, Ben played a monk, and I played a wizard. I didn't really like the wizard as much as I thought I would. The game itself played flawlessly, no lag at all, but the action was confusing ... I suppose it was just like a real battle between three heroes and 20 demons. Ben left about 45 minutes in, so Troy and I played for a few minutes longer, but the experiment was over.

I went and sat on the porch and watched the storms roll over. It was a pretty good show, and power was out for part of Bellevue, including at Frank and Joe's, they came over and hung out around 2200. Troy and I talked to them until 2300 and then they left and I headed to bed. The best part of the storm was letting Zeke out on to the porch. He finally got up the nerve to go out in the rain, and then lightening struck somewhere in the neighborhood. The flash and then the boom sent him scurrying back to the porch ... poor kitty.

Friday was the usual dance. I enjoyed the dancing, and broke out in a sweat a couple of times. Afterwards we went out to Donut Stop and played some Apples to Apples. I did surprising well, until I started to amuse myself ... then I didn't get any more green cards, just a lot of self-generated laughs. I left early because...

...I was up early Saturday for the first annual Run / Pray / Walk for vocations. I went to Mass at 0830, then the run started at 0930. No cost, just commitments to pray for vocations. They did a nice job with putting it together, except for the course, it came in more like 5.5k. Oh yeah, that makes it 2012 run #20, 3.42m in 34:37, that's a 10:06/mi pace. I saw Marcus near the end of the course, he goaded me into sprinting the last 200 meters or so, not that it was difficult to do.

I came home and napped, then headed over to Kaleb's at 1600. I parked in the driveway nearest to the garage, I had a plan to stay there all night, and I was quite successful.

The evening started off with badminton. I like this game and have a lot of fun with it, plus I tend to win a lot, that never hurts.

We went inside and I played Beth's favorite game; Settler's of Catan, Cities and Knights with Kaleb's uber-collectable '3D' version. I had an early lead, but I had such bad position that I wasn't going to win. Just like last time we played, we kept getting the barbarian, I think that die has 5 black sides and the other side keeps switching colors on it's own. Scott won.

I headed back outside to play more badminton until it got dark. I did lose the last game, rather convincingly.

We all piled inside and played Ultimate Werewolf, not Kaleb's old game, but Beth's brand new birthday version. The first game had 29 players, a new record for us. I was a werewolf, but got outed and killed in fairly short order. The second game 'only' had 21 people, I was a villager, but I played it well, being one of five final people and probably setting the course of the game with seven or eight people left, we killed the last Werewolf with three villagers and two on the Werewolf team.

One certain sign that someone is a Werewolf, Q-Bert on your lap.

In between games of Werewolf, and after I played some around the world ping pong. I didn't do well, but did get some bruises to show for my efforts. It was Rock Band after this until about 0200. We then went upstairs and played two games of (eight player) Shadow Hunters. I didn't win with the first game, I was a hunter and it was pretty late in the game that people figured out who was who, I think that favors the shadows. The second game I was a neutral, and I managed to be alive at the end, so I guess I'll call that a win.

I set a goal to be out super late, and I accomplished my goal. I got home at 0445, and before I slept I saw the eastern sky becoming light.

Sunday I golfed at Willow Lakes. I shot an 84 in a very Eric manner, +8 on the first four holes, +4 on the last 14. I think hole #2 has my number, four tries this year, and four double bogies. I did have a little bit of excitement however...

...#7, 135 yds, I was just 3 inches from my eternal golfing bragging rights.

Next week: Which Wichita?

First Week in June 2012

Monday after work I was hungry, I don't mean normally hungry, I mean almost to the bad decision making hungry point ... so I went grocery shopping ... despite hungry-shopping, I escaped without spending a large fortune. I could not, however, escape getting something to eat next door at Freddie's. I don't know if it was being hungry or if it really was reality, but I thought they were the best fries ever. I made a trip to Walgreen's and then home. The rest of the night was cleaning, chores, and then a little Diablo 3. I don't like Act IV.

Tuesday I was going to go to the doctor about what I thought was a nasal infection, but the dull aching pain got very specific. It was a tooth. I went to my dentist, Marty Matz, and he took care of it right away. I'm very thankful for whoever cancelled their appointment. I was a trooper and went back to work afterwards, but really, I felt so much better after they were done that going back to work was easy. After work Maggie came over and I made dinner.

Wednesday after work I had dinner with Kevin. He is in town for his sister's wedding. We visited for a couple hours, he played me a CD of a new band he likes. Kevin and I probably talked more about music than any other subject. I really enjoyed our conversations about the subject, in part because he and I like music for such different qualities. Listening for just a short bit (a couple songs) it was easy for me to 'see' why he liked them so much. When I came home, I played some more Diablo 3 and determined perhaps I don't hate act IV as much as I thought I did.

Thursday after work I went straight over to Sumtur Amphitheater to see a band play. It was a blues band and they were really good. However there were not any follows there immediately, so I just hung with Matt and we chatted and enjoyed the perfect weather.

The crowd was not indicative of the quality of the music or the weather.


Ah yes, the famous high five move. Photo credit: Matt

Friday I went to the dance as usual. There are a lot of new dancers, and that is good. There are a lot of new dancers, and that is bad. Nothing exciting to say about the dance other than new dancers are reluctant to get in the birthday jam circles.

Saturday was a rarity, a morning wedding, Jennifer and Cullen got married. There was another rarity, I forgot my camera. I took a couple bad shots on the iPhone, and did happily run into Marcus, who emceed. As weddings go I really enjoyed it, very service oriented, with a brunch theme rather than a dinner.

I attempted to golf in the afternoon. I went, however it was so windy it made the going slow and the golfing bad. I had to meet Maggie at 9pm, so I actually didn't get to finish.

I met up with Maggie and we went to pick Heidi (who was returning from Haiti) at the airport. It was quite the adventure. Two laps around the pickup area, approximately four million bats, fireworks, and a side quest to Bucky's, Alvarado's, and Dairy Queen on Broadway in Council Bluffs. We took Heidi home and she was reunited with her crazy cat...

...who missed her very, very, very much.

Sunday morning we went to Mass at St John's on the Creighton campus. It was a theology filled Homily. Father made his point about living a life of service quite well. Afterwards, Frank, Beth, Maggie, Katie (who was playing flute for the Mass) and I went down to the Santa Lucia festival.

Beth got her long overdue birthday present. Frank approves.


Help! I'm being attacked by a cannoli.


Frank hadn't been on BK Memorial Bridge before.

It was very odd, about 1315 we all ran out of energy at the same time. I came home and napped. When I woke up, I had a craving for sushi. Maeg and I went to Ponzu Sushi over at Aksarben Village. I ate too much, (there should no surprise with this statement), but not so much that I couldn't choke down a Jones Brothers cupcake. The sky was quite pretty with all the rain and clouds. I took the left over sushi to Vivian.

Later in the evening, I reached the end of Diablo 3. After seven tries at killing Diablo, and I was out of ideas, so I quit that and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Next week: Seeing the wrong 5:00 o'clock ... or maybe the right one.

Memorial Day Week 2012

After playing Bases a last week on Saturday, I have lost all inclination to exercise. I hope it returns soon, or at least I can manage to get myself to do it. I am not connecting the two as cause and effect, I am just saying that is the timing.

I'd like to say goodbye to Clint. Dr. Clint is heading off to Washington D.C. and a new life. I wish him well.

Monday was Memorial Day. To all those people who have given life and limb in defense of freedom, and to their families, Thank you.

Monday started off with meeting Maggie in the early afternoon for ice cream. Yes, Vivian, I finally used that Coldstone Gift Card that was in my Christmas stocking. We sat on a bench outside the movie theater at Village Point and nommed down, enjoying the people watching and pretty weather. Once we had finished, we headed over to Chelsea's Graduation party, by the most curiously circuitous route (thank you google maps). I took my camera, and got zero pictures of the the graduate, but plenty of Maggie and flowers.

Static-head!


Doesn't that ... hurt?


I'm never really sure why my flower pictures get the most consistent views on Flickr,
but someone must like them.

You can see all of my pictures from this event here. We left there, went back to Village Pointe to uncombine cars and head home. I went to the store, came home, took a nap, made a green salad, and went to Frank's Memorial Day party.

Lizzy and I dominated the badminton court before dinner, not so much after.


I'm not sure if I remember who won.


Surprisingly, Cass didn't show up, he must have missed the 'fire' part of the invitation.

If you'd like to see the rest of the pictures I took on that evening, you can find them here. I was actually home (you know, cause I could walk) at a reasonable hour and asleep.

Tuesday was just strange, at least the beginning was anyways. I woke up around dawn and had a conversation with the sun

Me: "OMG sun why do you have to get here so early and wake me up every day?"
Sun: "You could always choose to go to bed earlier."

The sun is so rude, really, pushing it back on me? I guess I had it with my hair, because I came home after work and buzzed it all off, well the clippers were on a '1' setting, so there was a little left. Later, while I was cooking, Frank came over to return the salad bowl I had left there the day before. We visited for a while, and afterwards I decided it was time to play Diablo 3, but instead I got the dreaded 'error 37', so I wasn't able to play. Instead I just processed pictures from the previous weekend.

Wednesday and Thursday were both Diablo 3 days. I was thinking that somehow I might be able to level up fast enough to catch up to Troy. That didn't happen. My Thursday night of playing was interrupted by a trip down to Frank's to assist him with moving some benches.

Friday was the start of a dance weekend here in Omaha, so I headed right downtown after work to a Blues class. After the class Maggie and I went and ate at Victor's on 41st-ish and Farnam. I've been wanting to try it for a while. I got a chicken kabob on salad, and it was exceptional. Maggie had a gyro, and it was okay ... I know this because we swapped meals half way through. We paid, left, and went to the usual Friday night dance. There were not many people there at first, but people crept in and then more and more and it was full. I went home immediately after the dance.

Saturday I was up reasonably early and at the classes. I took three for the day. We ate lunch at Flavors, it was really crowded, and maybe not as good as I remember it last time. There was plenty of activity at the house after classes as we were hosting the weekend event dance party. Troy, Natalie, and Frank made hors d'oeuvres. Maggie, Frank, and I cleaned up around the house.

I wonder what the payback for this will be?


Maeg says "It's been a while since we've seen the invisible lead." I almost agree.


Hug attack!


Here's something you don't see every day.

The party was over at a reasonable time, well it was for me anyways, people were still arriving as I went to bed. You can see my pictures from this here.

Sunday I was up and off to church at Saint Mary's in Bellevue. I was joined by Frank and Teri, and after Mass we went over to eat at Jimmie John's. Fellowship is fun! We all went our separate ways, and my way was downtown for one more class. The dance weekend was really productive, I got a new move I like, some things to think about, and renewed confidence. You can see all the pictures from the weekend event here. I came home, napped, did my lawn work, and played some Diablo 3 ... and that was my week.

Next week: The terror of emergency dental surgery.