Just Plain Chips

For the first time in real life, I saw a guy shaving in his car on the drive to work. I wanted to bump him with my car, but I didn’t.

Sorry, I know it’s been a little slow around here lately. But work has been busy and life outside of work has been a little busy as well. I still have to tell the rest of the wedding weekend story and maybe a few tidbits from this last weekend. I hope all is well with everyone.

I had a great dinner with my friend Erin last night. We met on campus at the U and ate at the Manhattan Loft. A new joint that was pretty tasty. I had gyros and fries, she had spaghetti. We wanted to see each other one last time before she left the country today. She’s flying to London this afternoon and will be mainly in the UK and a little bit in other parts of Europe for the next 8 months. Her plan as of now is to work in the south of England for a bit. Then head up to Edinburgh, Scotland and then maybe to the Highlands. And after that she has a connection in Nendaz, Switzerland that she might take advantage of during the winter. I’m very excited for her and jealous of her.

We sat at our table just talking for a couple of hours. It is great to have friends like her that really just “get” you. She’s one of those people that I had a great connection with right away. We never dated or anything, but we’ve been pretty good friends and really gotten along probably from the third time we met forward (the first two times we met were very short encounters). She’s always excited to see me and I’m always excited to see her which I think is the way it should be when two friends get together. She’s happy when good things are happening to me and bummed when not-so-good things are happening to me. And she can sometimes tell when either is happening, even when I don’t come right out and say it.

Anyway, we had a great time sitting down and chatting through our respective situations and everything that’s going on in our lives. There are things that make us each nervous about what’s going on with ourselves, but we’re both excited for the other. I think that works out pretty well.

If I die or develop some cow related disease I just want everyone to know that it is from the undercooked meat I had at Chino Latino. I met some friends for dinner there tonight. It was a really neat atmosphere and all of the food was pretty good. But one of the things we ordered were these little strips of beef that you were supposed to cook on a little heated stone at your table. Supposedly you’re just supposed to sear the meat for a few seconds and it would be fine. Well, whatever we did don’t think we really got the hang of it. I like my steaks on the rarer side of medium but tonight I basically had a few strips of raw beef dipped in some sauce. It was tasty with the sauce you dipped it in, but I am just hoping that there was nothing wrong with the meat. The vegetarian Tina was encouraging me to not eat it, but I did anyway.

On kind of a side note, the other things I enjoyed tonight was some funky, yummy corn; a couple barbequed ribs; enchiladas; and some salmon sushi. A well rounded night for Just Plain Chips!

So, just as a reminder: if I die or get mad cow disease, I just wanted everyone to know what happened.

I’ll try to gloss over the less interesting parts of my weekend instead of going in to so much detail like I normally do. One bummer is that I took no pictures. Am I not an idiot? I’m so mad at myself.

I left work on Thursday and headed west. I made it to a rest stop on this side of Bismarck and slept there for the night. I woke up for good at about 5:30 and started off again. I made it to a rest stop at the entrance to Theodore Roosevelt National Park and took a nap for an hour and then headed out again. I reached Bozeman about 2:30 and headed to Eric’s house. No one was there and the door was locked. What to do? Hmmm, I’ll head to Emily’s house to see if she’s around. I went over and luckily she was there and I hung out with her for a while. Even better she invited me to stay in a spare room she had, with a matress! I figured that would be more comfortable and convenient than staying on a futon at Eric’s place in the middle of him moving. Emily and I hung out for a bit that afternoon and then we headed over to the groom’s parent’s house for the rehearsal dinner. I saw a few old friends and met lots of family members. The food was really tasty and it was a beautiful night to have an outdoor dinner.

On Saturday morning I headed over to Eric’s place to help him do a bit of moving. I helped him move up to Missoula from Bozeman two years ago. I helped him move back down to Bozeman about a year ago. And I just happened to be in town when he is moving from a rental to a house he bought across town. I kid of course, I was happy to help him out with some of his heavier things. But it was quite a coincidence.

After helping him move I headed over to the M and went for a little hike. I went up the “vigorous” way and came down the “popular” way. It was just perfect out and the sun and the little breeze felt great. I think there was one cloud in the sky, way off to the west, and it was pretty small.

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I’m back from Bozeman and back to work. Hooray.

I had a great time and I’ll really try to post about it soon.

Edit: (10:30am) I’ve only been at work for an hour and I’m already getting tired. Uh oh.

Well, I’m leaving for Bozeman here pretty quickly. I’m heading out this weekend for a wedding. I’m really looking forward to seeing my friends again. I am also looking forward to climbing one of the many mountains out there. I don’t know if I’ll be able to post while I’m out there, but I’ll try. Have a great weekend and I’ll try to have some pictures to post when I get back.

I’ve had a few good days in a row here.

Last night I had two choices as to what I could do. The first choice involved heading to Lakeville with my bike to go on a long ride with Steve and a friend that would have been fun, refreshing, good for my fitness, but left me very sore for my 14 hour drive to Montana tomorrow. My second choice involved going out to dinner with two hot ladies.

Sorry Steve.

So I met my friend Erin at Espresso Royale in Dinkytown on campus at the U. We’ve managed to see each other maybe a couple times a year since we graduated from college. Though it’s been difficult as I’ve been in Bozeman and she’s been all over the place. We chatted for a bit while waiting for Chey to get there from St. Paul. She eventually showed up and we headed over to a Chinese restuarant called Shuang Cheng. I had never been there before. We ordered cream cheese wontons, sesame chicken, and a noodle dish with beef and vegetables and shared them between us. The wontons and chicken were excellent, while the noodles and beef were a little disappointing. But there was plenty of food and we were all full and satisfied after eating.

After dinner we all went on a walk through a bit of campus. We headed to Northrup Mall and then through the recently renovated Coffman Union,down to the Mississippi River, and then back to Dinkytown. A very nice night indeed.

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Okay, so I babysat last night. I got to Matt and Jenny’s and before they left Emily came over to get Luke. She was going to take him to see the demolition derby at the Dakota County Fair where Tom was working in the pit for one of the cars. So before babysitting even started I was down to one kid.

I got there right about her feeding time so I made a bottle and she was happy to start drinking. After two ounces I sat her up and started burping her. All of a sudden I feel a little rumbling on my leg and little “toot” noises coming out of my niece. “What are you doing, little girl?” I asked her. Matt laughed and told me, “It’s probably just gas.” and then to Jenny, “Let’s get out of here quick.” So they took off and I fed Elaina the rest of her bottle. After she was done I played with her on the couch and on the floor and I walked her around. I checked her diaper at one point and lo, it was time for it to be changed. It didn’t seem to smell to bad, but I didn’t know for sure since my nose was a little stuffed up. I headed up stairs for my first diaper change ever with a little bit of worry over what I would find.

I opened up the diaper and there was nothing really to see. “Phew!” I let out a big sigh of relief and I went about changing my first wet diaper. It went pretty easy and I was quite proud of myself. “Well,” I told myself, “I’m glad that’s over with.” and I walked back downstairs with a happy baby.

We played and talked for another couple hours and it was about time for her next feeding. I made up her bottle and we started to go, but her eyes started seriously drooping and she just didn’t seem interested in her bottle. Time for a nap. I set her in her little cradle/swing and she was out in a couple of seconds.

I just sat on the couch and watched the opening quarter of the Vikings game. After about a half hour Jenny’s parents showed up to say hi to Elaina and drop off their laptop which I’m going to do a little work on. After they had been there for a few minutes Elaina woke up and smiled and cooed at her grandparents. When they left it was time to continue the feeding. Elaina really took to her bottle this time, but after a couple of minutes she suddenly didn’t seem as interested. Her face got all serious and scrunched up. Her legs kicked out straight and her toes curled up. I didn’t like the look of this. All of a sudden I heard a “toot” sound slightly different than before and another rumbling on my leg. And then it hit me…the smell! OKAY! My nose works and this is no false alarm. She did her srunched face and straight leg thing a little more and then started crying. I felt like crying myself my nose and eyes were burning. So upstairs we went with outright dread this time.

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I just got home from babysitting at Matt and Jenny’s house. They went to the Vikings preseason game against the Chiefs tonight with a couple of friends.

The most exciting development of the evening happened to be me changing the first two diapers of my life. And they were both for the same kid. I’ll tell you all the gory details when I wake up tomorrow.

Good night.

Just before I woke up this morning I was having a very weird dream.

I was driving in my car behind the building I work in. But it wasn’t the building I work it, it was like a college dormatory or something. Anyway, there were lots of people walking around and trucks parked out back. One particular truck that I noticed was a Lays Chips (warning: annoying Flash homepage) truck. It was interesting that I would notice that truck because after driving down a little bit further I noticed a lady in a Lays Chips uniform that I assumed was the driver of this truck. This lady was noteworthy because she was rolling around on the ground.

Rolling around on the ground? What? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Another interesting thing was that she seemed to be rolling around right in front of my car or where I’d want to be driving, like she was trying to block me in. She was really rolling around, not staying in one place, but she managed to always just happen to be in my way when I wanted to drive forward. This went on for a couple of minutes until finally she rolled a little too far one way and I zipped around the other way.

On my way by her I thought, “Wow, I’m going to have to blog about this.” It was just after that that I woke up a bit and remembered that it was a dream and it didn’t really happen so how would I blog about it? And then I decided to blog about it anyway.

Don’t you hate gawker slowdowns? Don’t you hate when you’re just as guilty as everyone else?

What is our facination with everything but the road in front of us? Do we think that our lives will be enriched if we can catch a glimpse of a mangled body beside an accident site? Do we really have to try and figure out why the guy over there is in cuffs?

I can’t answer any of those questions. But I was in a very unique (to me) gawker slowdown last night. My brother, my mom, and I were heading down 494 towards the TGI Fridays near the MoA to meet Matt and Jenny and the kids and my dad for dinner before Brian flew back to LA. As we drove by the Best Buy Headquarters up in the sky we saw a 747 (or possibly an Airbus A340) just floating above our heads. It had just taken off from the airport and was slowly turning to it’s route. It was obvious that no one on the road (which had been moving very nicely for 5:45pm) could keep their eyes off of it as the speed dropped significantly. Of course I didn’t mind because I couldn’t keep my eyes off of it either. A plane that big as low as it was looked pretty darn impressive and it just looked like it was turning impossibly slowly and that it should just be falling out of the sky.

It was neat.

I had a good lunch fairly late for me. It was at Culvers, chicken tenders and a concrete vanilla (just plain chips) malt. So I’m not hungry. Why am I tempted to go and grab a big chocolate chip cookie from the break room every time I walk by? Oh, they’re chewy and tasty…they were at the party yesterday and I had a couple at break this morning. But I’m full. I find myself wandering towards the door and then forcing myself to turn away.

Well, at least I’m finding myself able to force myself to turn away. Mmmm, cookies.

Phew!

This is the quick overview, because I’m too tired to write too much. Of course this could mean I won’t have the time/energy to fully write everything up. But them’s the breaks.

On Friday night a bunch of people from work went to the Twins game. The Twinkies beat the Red Sox 12-0. After the game, my parents, Chey, and I went out to Nochee (a very stylish bar–not my parents’ style) for a quick drink.

On Saturday was a family friend’s wedding. My godparents’ middle child, Seth, was getting married. The ceremony was nice and the dinner and reception was nice as well. I invited Chey to come and crash the dance, which she did. So she got to meet the whole family all at once, even Brian, who was in from LA. Here are a couple facts:

1. It was an open bar.
2. Chey doesn’t drink.
3. My family has been known to tip a few back.

So, she got to meet everyone at their most fun and outgoing best. It wasn’t too bad until Matt had had one too many and we had to take care of him a bit and take him home. So the night was cut a bit short. I was the only one in driving shape so I drove everyone back home. Brian and I ended up staying out at Matt and Jenny’s place.

On Sunday most of us took our time getting up. Though Jenny couldn’t because Elaina and Luke weren’t going to wait for anyone. So I got up and helped her with the kids. After a while we all got ready and headed out to the Nelson’s on Lake Minnetonka for brunch. Famous Dave’s catered the brunch and it was super tasty. I had a pulled pork sandwich and a bunch of ribs and a corn muffin. Mmmm, mmmm.

After a while my dad and I left the party. He was pretty tired and Chey was going to call me to go out and meet her for a party/picnic with her family. She called after a while and I headed up to the northwestern suburbs to meet her. We met and headed off in my vehicle (which that night happened to be my dad’s car) as her car doesn’t have AC and we were getting an ice cream cake and it would be easier to just drive together. We drove out to some big lake/park out by Orono and Maple Plain I can’t remember the name of. I got to meet the parents, and about 8 aunts and uncles, and lots of cousins. They were a pretty fun bunch and we all had a pretty good time. After that we drove to one of the uncle’s houses and hung out there for a while. After that I drove her back to to her car and we both headed for home.

I think that’s about it. Lots of food and lots of family. That’s a recipe for a great weekend as far as I’m concerned.

Here in the United States we go to the doctor to get “shots”. I guess in the UK they go and get “jabs“.

“Annual flu jab” just sounds kind of funny to me. But I suppose that’s because I live in the Colonies. I find it facinating how languages can start out in the same place and diverge so much under different influences.

I hope you’re all feeling super this fine Friday morning.

I like eating. I’ve enjoyed it for most of my life. I’m picky about what I eat, but when I like something, I like to eat it. I also like to eat too much. I’m a bit more husky these days than I was a few years ago while surveying or in my youth when I was in sports all of the time.

Anyway, I hadn’t been to a Chinese buffet in quite some time. Maybe even since I lived in Montana. There was a place up in Havre, MT that Margaret and I used to go to all of the time when we surveyed there. Back in the day I could sometimes do three whole plates. There was a place in Bozeman that I’d go to every once in a while as well. So today for lunch my dad and I headed out to a buffet place called Lucky Inn Chinese Cuisine. I hadn’t been there before and there’s always a bit of nervousness when trying out a new place. Those fears were unfounded. First of all, they may have the best egg rolls I’ve ever eaten. Yowza! Plus, the sweet and sour chicken was excellent, which is pretty much all I need at a Chinese buffet. And then, they had these barbequed pieces of beef on a stick. I don’t know what kind of spices they used, but boy were they tasty. All in all a good lunch. And I only had two plates of food; I just can’t eat as much as I used to.

Now, I know I’m going to sound callous and cold here, but I have to say my piece. If you weigh upwards of 300 pounds, do you really need to be going to a Chinese (or any other kind) buffet for lunch? I’m not saying that a 300 pounder can’t enjoy some tasty Chinese food every once in a while. I’m just saying that maybe it’s not such a great idea to tempt yourself with the never ending buffet of food. When you are at a buffet there is always the thought in your mind: “I better get my money’s worth.” That thought just makes you want to go get one more place or put one more pile of stuff on your current plate. I’m not at what I would consider my ideal weight, but I try not to put myself in a situation where I feel like I have to eat more.

While eating our lunch a group of three ladies walked in. One with an average build and her two very large friends. Then not 10 minutes later another lady walked in with a large companion of her own. I just didn’t think it was the best idea for these ladies. But, for all I know, this one lunch was a reward for a month of being faithful to a difficult diet. So I try not to judge too much.

So that’s that.

My throat has been a little scratchy the last couple of days so I’ve been sucking down water even more than normal. I hit my water bottle with a folder and spilled it all over my keyboard and a bunch of papers I was working on. That got me thinking how long I’ve been working with computers and how many drinks I’ve had while working at my desk. Especially with all of the Mountain Dew I used to drink–I can’t believe I haven’t had to throw more sugar coated keyboards away.

Anyway, I’m just glad I’m laid back enough to not let this make me to mad–I just wiped the water off and continued working. I know people who would blow up at such an event.

I feel tall today. It’s kind of odd but I like it. I’m not all that tall, barely 5′10″ (1.78m) and I’ve always wished I was just an inch or two taller. I’m not wearing my flattest shoes today, but neither am I wearing my tallest shoes. I do have one pair of shoes that make me right under 6′. And when I’m in my work boots from surveying I’m probably 6′1″ or 6′2″–yeah, they have huge heels. But today I just have on my hiking boots.

Back to work.

Chey and I went to see War of the Worlds on Sunday night.

The short review was that I liked it even with it’s shortcomings.

There were a number of funny moments, mostly Dakota Fanning acting wiser than her years let on. In many scenes she was the best actor on the screen. To Chey the funniest moment involved Tom Cruise crying at something horrible that happened to him or his family. (She doesn’t like him all that much.) I’m not the biggest Tom Cruise fan either, but I didn’t laugh at his pain. I did laugh at Chey laughing at his pain though, I can’t lie.

I don’t know, what can I say? I would recommend it as an entertaining and edge-of-your-seat type movie. But it’s not my favorite movie, or even my favorite of this year.

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