Sigh.

You know you have a lot of dishes to wash when you have to organize them, divide them into three locations, boil a couple pots of water, and dry them in three different locations. I cannot wait to marry Jen. There are many, many very good reasons for this (I love her more than life, she's the awesomest woman in the world, she continues plays Scrabble with me, etc.), but access to her dishwasher is in there. It's towards the bottom of the list, but it's in there. ;)

Oh, and thankfully my laptop is okay after the spill.

Not as Planned

This was the plan: get a good night's sleep; get up; make a peanut butter, bacon, and banana bagel sandwich for breakfast; go look at a hotel room; go to work; work; go to Longmont to chat with a caterer. Problems started with the first item. I'm sick and I slept horribly, ranging between boiling over and shivering and aching. Thus this morning, my coordination and my consequential thinking weren't exactly working very well. This fouled other things up.

While I was waiting for the bacon to cook to perfection so I could complete my sandwich, I knocked my tea over and spilled it on my laptop, Bible, table, and myself. Thankfully I think my laptop is okay. I very quickly turned it off, but I am giving it the day off to dry out. I then went to go get some paper towels out of my cupboard and ended up dislodging a shelf, causing a minor avalanche of tortilla chips and music boxes. Don't you store your tortilla chips and music boxes together?

Then, while I was sopping up raspberry zinger, my bacon decided to cook really super fast. It had been crawling along and then ZOOM! was instantly burnt in the middle and barely cooked on the ends. Why do people like cooking with gas, again? Oh, and the bagels burnt too. So I had a very crispy sandwich before going to look at a hotel room for my wedding night. That actually went pretty well, but in the process I both dropped my phone and then later I dropped my keys into a pile of black slush.

When I finally got to work, people pointed out to me that A: I was sick, and B: we're not really busy right now, so C: I should go home. This struck me as brilliant. I packed up the laptop from work, came home and proceeded to sleep for a couple more hours. Now I'm watching TV (more Battlestar Galactica!) and convalescing. Hopefully I'll be good to go see Jen and the caterer this evening.

Blech. I hate being sick.

Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's ME!

Yesterday I did something I've never done before: I babysat. Jen had offered to babysit to give some of her friends a chance to have an evening together that didn't involve poopy diapers, so I thought I'd do the obligatory boyfriend thing and sneak over while she babysat.

Well. Actually, this is me we're talking about, so I made sure it was ok with the parents and came over early while they were home to let our charge get acquainted with me and of course was all good and responsible and stuff. We watched Madagascar with the little one, and then after she went to bed, we watched The Nightmare Before Christmas, which was the first time for me.  It's a film I've been wanting to watch for a long time, especially since I had listened to the soundtrack a lot.

My first adventure in babysitting was pretty cool. If my children are half as sweet and trouble free as this little girl, I will count myself incredibly lucky. It was much easier than getting going early on a cold snowy Sunday morning to go run slides at church.

Switcharoo

Ah, Colorado. The state where it can be 70 one day (like yesterday) and snowing the next (like today). The irony is that I drove to work yesterday and rode home in the snow today.

Not Your Average Thursday

Well, today was pretty momentous. The new Beatport site we've been working on has gone live and seen its first sunrise. So far there have been no cataclysms with it requiring our attention. Since there wasn't much to do, I took most of the day off. 

Unfortunately, the first thing I did upon leaving work was go get an EKG. See, for the past four or so days, I've been feeling a bit of mild tightness and achiness in my left arm and left part of my chest. I figured it was just muscle soreness from my workouts, but since it had been going on long enough (and flaring up when stressed) to get me concerned. So I went in and got myself checked out. Looks like it is just muscle soreness after all. Whew.

Then I went up to Boulder and surprised Jen at work with a pitcher full of roses. We went and grabbed some coffee before she had to run off to an appointment. That's one of the downsides of surprises: sometimes there are counter-surprises.

I hung around in Boulder for a while before heading over to Jen's parents house for a chat. Namely I was there to ask for their permission for and blessing on marrying Jen. Of course that went well, and we had a great chat. Every day I get closer to marrying the woman of my dreams! Wootness! 

A little less momentous than that is that my second bluetooth headset arrived today. I had received my first one from TigerDirect, but it had sand in it and wouldn't turn off. So today my replacement arrived and it is sand-free. Of course, they also sent it to the wrong address (my home versus my office), but at least it doesn't look like it was dropped and stepped on. It is currently charging, so we shall see how this one turns out. For those who are wondering (if there any of you out there), it is an Aliph Jawbone, but the first version, not the swanky, expensive Jawbone 2. Thanks to my sister Kadi for the gift card that made this possible!

See? That is not your average Thursday.

Idle Hands

Nothing like waiting around for bad news and hoping it doesn't come. Especially after a morning of anger and stress and knowing that the later it gets in the day, the worse the news will be. And if it comes in, likely it is going to mean bad things and a late night. Especially when I got up and came into work early in order to take care of mildly bad things, finding out they had turned into quite bad things overnight, and losing that early morning advantage by wasting time turning someone else's quite bad things into not bad things. Especially after staying until after 10:30 last night to make someone's very bad thing go away. Especially when one's clever plans have been chewed into sticky little shreds by someone else's bad things, who should have known better than to let said bad things loose when all bad things must be gone by tomorrow; no ifs, ands, or buts. Especially when you want to curl up and take a nap because an early morning flare up of rage and severe case of sailor mouth has left you drained, exhausted, and slightly ashamed. Especially then. Because then you can't use this waiting for anything productive and you just want to eat sweets, put your head down, and breathe out a long, rattling breath.

I think that's sufficiently vague.

Ring Ring

What a glorious day Saturday was! The weather was fantastic, with warmth following up our surprise snowfall on Monday. I spent the morning with Jen waiting for the cable guy, and once that was done, we set out for some shopping. What we were looking for was something pretty specific: wedding rings and an engagement ring. Yayyyyyyyy!

No, we're still not officially engaged, though it has been pointed out that it's sort of a de facto thing at this point. That hasn't stopped us from planning, though. We like planning. We've decided that we are pre-ances, not fiances.

I have to give props to God. He has been providing generously for us in our planning process. This is certainly one of those areas our Father has been giving good gifts. Jen had a ring that she lost before we met and she tore her house apart looking for it. After we had been dating for some time, she found it filed away with some receipts. We were able to trade it in for for credit, which allowed us to walk out with two glorious bands without breaking the bank. Jen got an elegant and gorgeous set and I even found a band which I really, really like and that feels like me, and one I will enjoy wearing for the rest of my life (minus time spent in hot springs or swimming pools).

What really amazes me about this day, is that despite making a huge, momentous purchase, I am not feeling one lick of buyer's remorse. After I bought my car, which I adore, I had a momentary freak out, because I had just bought a frickin' car! What was I thinking?!! I have this for just about every purchase over $100 (and sometimes less). Yet today, after one of the biggest purchases in my life, I felt completely at peace. More than that, I was jubilant. I love this woman so much! I cannot wait to make her my bride, and I want so much to give all in life that is good and beautiful! The whole day was suffused with love and light and warmth; the very palpable love of our Father.

BSG is Back, Baby!

Ooohhhhhhhhhhhhh, I have been waiting for this for some time. Battlestar Galactica (BSG) is airing its final season. I just watched the first episode of the last season, and, wow, man, is this stuff good. Heavy, but good. Garnish with a mind-blowing revelation in the last few seconds, and stir with chatter and speculation. Serve with anticipation.

Seriously, folks, you should watch this show. It is that good. Okay, the last season had some rough patches, but BSG uses the sci-fi premise of a space faring remnant fleeing a nuked-out civilization and a vengeful army of robots to do some interesting social commentary. The characters of BSG have become the lab rats and the wandering fleet the test lab to see how people react to different situations. Now the experiment is this: how do people behave when their last hope has been snuffed out? It sounds depressing, but it is excellent storytelling. Do yourself a favor. Clear your calendar for a few days. Rent the mini-series and the first few seasons. Sit back and enjoy.

Pictures from Austin

Well, that took a while, but I finally have the pictures from my trip to Austin up in my gallery. I divided it up into 3 sections: around Austin, in Austin, and Lyndon Baines Johnson. Enjoy!

30%

If Settlers of Catan has taught me anything, it is that probability never means certainty. Once you've rolled a 10 five times in a row, you begin to see that though it is more probable that you will roll a 6, 7, or 8, it is not at all guaranteed, especially if you happen to have a settlement on a 6 or 8.

That being said, I shouldn't be so surprised about the snow that coated Denver this morning. The forecast I had seen called for a 30% chance of precipitation. My rule of thumb has been to ignore forecasts of precipitation unless they are above 60%. Yet the more than 4 inches that fell this morning remind me that, like in Settlers, probability is nowhere near certainty.

Eat Your Carrots

Yesterday was a full day. Along with cleaning the bathroom, scrubbing down the kitchen and other things, Jen and I had Isaac, Elsa and their kids over for some dinner. The impetus for this was a cooking experiment. For Jen's dad's birthday, we went to L'Atelier in Boulder. There we had this yummy sort of puree that we thought was either sweet potatoes or pumpkin. Our minds were blown when the server told us it was made from carrots.

I wanted to try to remake this amazing puree. Using some other hints from the server, and the culinary prowess of Isaac, we set out to remake this dish. We boiled up a mess of carrots and then tried four different tactics to recreate the puree. I also had a small ham, so we also cooked up some sweet and sour mustard, which is the only condiment you'll ever need for ham. Isaac also brought a couple varieties of cranberry sauce. Afterwards, the kitchen was no longer clean, but we had happy bellies.

Ironically, the favorite variety of Jen and myself was one that tasted nothing like the L'Atelier carrots. Here's what I can remember of the recipe:

Honey Ginger Carrot Puree

2 C. pureed carrots (sorry, dunno how many carrots this would be)

1/4 C. vegetable oil

1/3 C. orange juice (mine was from concentrate)

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 T. honey

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg (ours was freshly ground, courtesy of Isaac)

So, what we did was chop of the ends of the carrots and scrub them before steaming them until they were starting to fall apart when lifted with a fork. We then mashed them using a mixer. Next we put them in a food processor and whirled the carrots until they got a bit smoother. Then we added the oil and orange juice and blended that in using the food processor. We then added the remaining ingredients and whirled until smooth.

The other carrot dishes we tried used a lot of ground coriander, half-n-half, nutmeg, ground orange peel, and butter. They turned out pretty well, and as far as my memory can serve, decently close to the L'Atelier carrots. But I tell you what, if my carrots were like this, I would eat them more often.

Throw in a Pinch of Irony

I've got a new laptop at work. It is sleek, shiny, and new. So far it has been treating me well, other than the retarded placement of USB ports. It is, however, large. This means I can't fit in my traditional laptop toting backpack. So I switched over to a bicycle messenger bag I had gotten for free at a conference. I have used this before, as it is a handy bag for carrying multiple laptops or laptops and other things. But here's the kicker. I had never used this bicycle messenger bag while actually riding a bicycle. And that's a good thing, because a bicycle messenger bag sort of sucks for using while riding a bike. It kept sliding around on me and trying to put itself in inconvenient places or gradually work its way off my shoulder. Maybe I'm using it wrong, but shouldn't a bicycle messenger bag be, you know, convenient for use on a bicycle? Trendiness be damned; I'm going to just use a bigger backpack.

Musical Interlude

I know I'm late to the party on this one, but The White Stripes are really good. I've heard a few singles of theirs, but today I was listening to a couple of their albums off the shared media drive at work, and it's really good.

I'm also enjoying the Kaki King CD and The Weepies CD. I got them with a gift certificate when Best Buy didn't have the actual people I wanted to get music from. Seems like I still got some good tunes.

I realize I didn't blog too much about my Christmas vacation, but never fear. I am working on pictures, though they may be a while in coming. I've got them processed, but the captions take a while to do. Between work and a host of other things I need to do real soon like, the pictures may get pushed to one side while I do battle with the growths in my bathroom that made an appearance while I was in Texas. Priorities, people. It's all about priorities. So why the heck am I blogging right now?

Who Are These People?

Let's say, my friend, that you are drunk. You are very drunk. You are drunk enough that you feel you are about to vomit. For some of you reading this, this will require strong use of the power of imagination. So you are nauseous, and you are either heading to or from your apartment on or above the 6th floor. Here is my question: Do you take the stairs? Well, do you?

Evidently, some people do here in the Tower of Odd Smells. I walked past not one, but two patches of vomit this morning on my way up to the gym. On days I do cardio, I take the stairs rather than one of the three available elevators. So why the heck would you, you drunken sot, take the freaking stairs and vomit in the stairwell? Hmmm? One vomit patch was on the 6th floor and one on the 5th in two separate stairwells. Who are these people?

Perhaps they thought they were being considerate. You know, they might not be sure if they can make an entire elevator ride up without ralphing where other people will see it, so they instead stagger up 6 flights of stairs. Of course, since these vomit patches are in out of the way places, they won't get cleaned up for ages, meaning that the few of us who use the stairs will get to pick our way over the bile n' chunks ornamental puke patch.

Perhaps they weren't even in transit. Maybe they were three sheets to the wind in an apartment and couldn't bear to spew in its confines. Due to their delicate sensibilities, they rushed out through three doors to hurl in the stairs. Yeah, that's got to be it. Gaaaaaaaah! Who are these people?

By the way, this is post 400. Yay, me! Boo, drunk vomiters!

So Long

Today I said goodbye to three longtime companions. I will see them no more, not that I saw them very much anyway, because they were always behind me. I am speaking of moles. You know, the ones on my neck. Ah. Correction: the ones that used to be on my neck.

Yes, I was setting fashion trends with my trio of gauze pads taped to the side of my head. The height of fashion, I tell you. You know it had to be fashionable, because it was uncomfortable and impractical. I can't really turn my head to the left because of the tightness of the bandage. It certainly made driving today a bit more adventuresome. 

That didn't stop me from joining Jason and his friend Brock for an excellent dinner at Wild Ginger. After I left and noticed a patch of dried blood on the one piece of gauze I can see, it occurred to me that perhaps I should have removed or covered my little fashion accessories while in a restaurant. Well, I probably helped along some dinner conversation and encouraged people to keep those dieting resolutions.

Lessons Learned

Happy New Year! I know everyone was busy recounting the best of 2008 before it was over. Well, here are a few lessons that I have learned recently:

1. Never leave cookware and dishes you used to cook eggs unwashed for 10 days while you are in Texas. Foul.
2. I am an idiot. I have had trouble connecting my laptop to the wireless network in my apartment for some time. Only tonight when I brought a new work laptop home did I realize I just had the password wrong.
3. Absinthe is really potent.
4. Don't play Catchphrase against me if you want to win.
5. Bugs suck. Especially when they multiply as you try to fix them.
6. Pistachios are a good way to break fingernails.
7. Never get in a car with Lyndon Baines Johnson.

And now you know.