Third Week in July 2012

Monday after work I did a ton of cooking, around seven or eight meals. I like to do it that way, it makes it much quicker when for lunch and other nights when all I have to do is heat something up and make a salad. After dinner I went running with Maeg, 2012 run #23, the first 1.12 miles with Sarah at a 11:17 pace. The last 1.23 miles alone at a 9:56 pace. I liked running with someone. Also, I went over 50 miles for the year on this run.

Tuesday was quiet.

Wednesday I did some online car shopping. Conclusion? None, I don't even know if I'll really do it, or will stick with my Saturn for a couple more years. Later in the evening, I played Fluxx with Maeg. We played enough games that it didn't really matter who won or didn't win.

Thursday I went to Theology on Tap.

Friday I ended up going to the regular Friday dance and celebrating my birthday jam.

You can see all my pictures from the dance here. Afterward we went to Village Inn and chatted until about 0200 including a funny exchange with Nate, BP, and I about having long hair.

Saturday I went for a run, #24 for the year, 2.48 miles in 23:46 at a 9:36/mi pace. I really pushed myself to get a 9:45 pace. I got there, but just barely. Evidently it wasn't enough activity for me, so in the afternoon I went golfing. I didn't do very well on the front nine, but was going along pretty well on the back with about a five foot putt for birdie on #16 with a chance to go to just one over on the back nine, I missed the putt, then went bogie, double bogie to finish. Ugh.

Sunday morning I went to church at Saint Bernadette at 1100, and saw no one I knew. I left early so I could get out to Mahoney State Park as quickly as possible, or by 1300 at least. I was there in plenty of time, early in fact. I wonder why I always think it takes an hour to get there. Heather put the group together (thank you) and it's always fun to act like a little kid at the water park. I got a little sunburn, just in the spots on my back I couldn't reach myself. After the park, we searched for a place to eat in Gretna, finally settling on a Pizza Hut. It was a nice way to have an unofficial pre-birthday party.

Next week: another year old and lots of trips to the airport.

Second Week in July 2012

Monday after work, I decided to go shopping to replace the pants that Zeke ruined just before the last wedding I went to. I tried Target (nothing), Penney's (not my size), Gordman's (ridiculous pin stripes), Kohl's (800 pairs of trousers, none for me), and Wal-Mart (any color you want but plain black). I finally ordered from Penney's online and got exactly what I wanted for less money than I thought I'd pay. I also picked up groceries in between stores. The evening ended with Sarah and I going out for ice cream at Culver's and talking until late.

Tuesday after work I went running. 2012 run #22. 3.21 miles in 32:00. That's a 9:57 pace. I may start trying to go faster or farther. I think I'm at the edge of feeling challenged. Wednesday was a dull day.

Thursday was a little busy at work, and in fact, it was a bad busy day. After work I went to the summer session of Theology on Tap. Omar Guitierez was the speaker, and he does such a fabulous job of being firm and loving. It was nice to visit with friends I haven't seen in a while.

Friday I met with FOCUS missionary Amy at the beautiful Werner cafe. It was nice to be able to sit down with her and talk almost uninterrupted for an hour. After work I went to Werner Park and watched the Iowa Cubs do their best big league club imitation. Losing by one run with the tieing and winning runs on 3rd and 2nd base. They certainly didn't have a lack of opportunities.

Saturday morning I cut the lawn, then I met I met Teri for some ice cream, um, no wait, make that Red Mango, it's not really ice cream, right? We also walked through Trader Joe's, and I bought a few items. The last time I was in Trader Joe's there was an epic rainstorm. This time it's the middle of an epic heatwave. Although correlation does not imply causation, it's clear that my visiting Trader Joe's makes extreme weather events happen.

After I dropped Teri back off at her place, I went to Kaleb's and we played a few games. After seeing Eclipse on the Board Game Geek's top ten a few weeks ago, I've been wanting to play. I finally got my chance. It is an enjoyable, involved strategy game. It said two hours, but it wasn't really close to that. I did not win. It's not a real surprise that I wouldn't have a decent winning model for a complex game in only one try. I will probably want to have another try at it.

The second game was one that is quickly becoming a new favorite of mine, Kingsburg. I built a substantial lead in middle and late part of the game, but I couldn't hold at the end and eventually lost to Kaleb. I do like it, but I'm a bit worried that I'm going to start thinking I'm good at it (but really sucking at it), and finding reasons why I didn't win, kind of like my brother Carl playing pool. We started playing a third (different) game when all the stress of the proceeding week caught up to me around 2200, and I decided to drive home while I was still awake.

Sunday morning I was up and at church for a Mass Chaos reunion at Saint Pius X. They recently did a remodel, so I gathered up some of the regulars and we went back. Our plan was to then go to eat at Papa Chris', but there were some logistical issues, i.e. Chris hadn't opened the place yet. We finally got in, but it was too late for me to eat because I had to be over to help Maeg move in as our third roommate.

The move was a little hot and sweaty, but she really only had a few big pieces to haul around. She said thank you to myself and Ben Peet with a nice steak dinner. Dinner was served with a ridiculously strong bottle of red wine, and we played two games of Elder Sign. We won both, but there was alcohol involved, the rules may not have been followed correctly, and I was making ice cream ... and that was the end to my week.

Next week: More stuff.

Independence Day Week 2012

This may be my most scatterbrained post ever. Last week seems so long ago, and it's a blur with lots and lots of fireworks. If I forgot something I did with you, sorry!

Monday I came home after work and went to sleep because of ongoing not feeling well, and on Tuesday I went and saw my doctor about my headaches lately. When I got home (early) I napped, and then when it got dark, I watched fireworks from back deck, with a few photos.

Independence Day started out with a run, 2012 #21. 2.52 miles in 25:11, that's a 10:00/mile pace. I got to 2.25 miles and I was too hot, I made it to 2.5 miles and stopped. The funny part came when I ran by a guy washing his car and yelled "spray me!" He did, it didn't really help. The afternoon was quiet, nappy, and I made ice cream.

I went over to Anne's house for her Independence Day party, but I left before the party got wild. I then went over to CJs house and joined the party / food coma / explode everything there.

I didn't stay very late like in years past, I don't think national holidays should ever be in the middle of the week. If you'd like to see all of my pictures from Independence Day, you can see them here. Thursday was somehow lost in a blur of fireworks earlier in the week.

Friday after work, I went to Swine Dining and had dinner with Frank. Afterwards I went to the dance with camera in hand to take pictures of Cecily and Natalie's birthday jam(s).

I left a little earlier than usual. You can see all my pictures from Jitterbugs Night Out here.

Saturday afternoon I went and got Alvarado's ... okay, I went to the one on 90th, and evidently they have changed the name to something really similar, but have the same exact menu. I headed over to Kaleb's game night. and I ate it while watching the usual gaming suspects finish up a game of Eclipse, which I really want to play.

The first game was a kids game that obviously was too complicated for me. It is called Go Teddy Go, it is the lowest Board Game Geek rated game that I have played. I ended up losing the game for myself on a bad move, so ... no Candyland for me.

We then played a favorite of mine, 7 Wonders. I generally like games that have a multiple strategies that can work to win, and 7 Wonders is one of those games. I played a city, Halicarnassus, that I hadn't played before. Although I thought I played it pretty well I ended up coming in third place. First, second, and third were separated only by 3 points, so close, but no cigar.

The next game up was a suggestion of Tseyu, Kingsburg. I really liked this game a lot, though my strategy didn't quite work out. We'll see if it gets played again.

The next game was Cards Against Humanity. I think this might be suffering from a little overplay. I think I'm ready to go back to Telestrations.

The final game of the evening was two games of Werewolf. I was a villager in game one, and got lynched fairly early. In the second game I was the Witch. The second game ended a lot like the second game at the last game night, it came down to three unverifiable people, two of whom were on team Werewolf against four villagers ... a numbers game, which makes a villager win pretty definite.

There was also staying up very late playing ping pong. About 0230 I felt a twinge in my left achilles tendon and I just watched for the rest of the night. I got home before 0400.

Sunday I was up and over to my church (yes, I actually have a home parish) for Mass, and then stayed there for half the afternoon at our parish picnic. Joe, Frank, and I played a lot of (non-winning) pickles and Bingo (Anne won).

Winner, winner, chicken dinner.


No chicken dinner for you.

You can see all my pictures from Saint Bernadette's Parish Festival, and really, they are dull, here.

I came home and there was a group of game players there playing Twilight Imperium. Why? I can't answer that question, but in the middle they took a break and went out to eat at Famous Dave's, of course their game never got finished because, you know, no one has ever finished a game of Twilight Imperium.

The rest of the evening was taken up with processing pictures.

Next week: Lots of games and a new roommate.

Fourth Week in June 2012

Monday after work started off in a pretty boring manner, with groceries and other errands, but ended up with unwanted excitement, a migraine! Boo. Tuesday the headache continued on, fortunately, my medicine took hold, so I played some Diablo 3 reaching level 40 with my Demon Hunter. Wednesday the headache abated a little bit, I ran errands at lunch, barely beating the hour lunch limit by seconds. Thursday was also a lot like Wednesday, but without as many letters and no errands.

My deck tomatoes are bigger than the variety I thought I was buying.

Friday after work and food I went to Jitterbugs. The dance was pretty fun, and unlike the previous Friday when I was dancing badly, I thought I did pretty well ... except for my wrist hurting, I ended up wrapping it up on Saturday. When I got home from the dance I tried to go out to the driveway with the camera and tripod and get some moon pictures, but they didn't come out even well enough to post.

Saturday was Mike and Merinda's Summer BBQ at Elmwood Park.

Yes, it was hot, but it was also super fun. You can see all my pictures from the event here.

I came home and decided that it was time to run. 2012 run #20, 1.16 miles in 11:33 (9:56 pace). I planned on running further, but the air was very smoky with all the fireworks, my lungs protested.

In the evening Kaleb had a game night. Not a big one, but we had some good games. When I got there as another game was going on, so myself, Maeg, and Lizzy tried a three player game of Tsuro. It went very quickly, and I won.

The game the other people were playing still wasn't done, so Maeg suggested a game of Chrononauts. I got an ID card that I don't recall ever seeing before. I decided pretty quickly that the board was not working correctly for my identity, however my mission card was looking good and I had the right cards in my hand to have it work, I needed just one thing ... and then Maeg won.

We then played an exciting game of Betrayal at House on the Hill. Finally! I was the Betrayer. A Zombie Lord, and I was kicking butt and zombifying everyone left and right ... then self declared "Golden Boy" Scott started rolling the dice like a madman, killing all my beautiful zombies until finally finishing me off without getting hit at all. I think this is the second time in a row I've played this game with a 'movie' ending, with the lone remaining good guy winning barely at the end.

The board game part of the evening wrapped up with two games of Shadow Hunters (not the name Scott called it). The first game, played with the original cards, was a victory for the Shadows, including me, the Werewolf. The second game was played with the cards that Kaleb made up featuring us. I got Maeg's card (the Betrayer), and she got mine (the Martyr). The game pretty much was decided by the two of us playing our cards, and the Shadows won again.

There was some late night Around the World Ping Pong, I won in a clear case of age and guile upstaging youth and skill.

Sunday morning I got up and went to church at Mary Our Queen with Teri. We went to lunch at Village Inn. It was a quiet afternoon until I went over to Amanda's house in the afternoon for an early Independence Day party. I stayed for a little while, but then headed home with another headache and no pictures taken.

Next week: Blowing stuff up!

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.