Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Brrrrr
I wish I had Liz's problem right now... I'm FREEZING. I just went online and ordered a space heater. My cubicle is in the corner of our building and I have *three* air conditioning vents blowing at me. Ugh.
Quilt Quest
I’m happy to say that after visiting *six* Kohl’s stores in the past two days, I found the solid red quilt that I’ve been scouring the stores for. Gary and I went to two on Sunday. Yesterday, I hit one store at lunch with no luck. On my way home from work I went to three. I was about to give up after that 5th store, but I’m oh so glad I had the thought: “I won’t be satisfied unless I know for sure that the last store remotely close to my house doesn’t have it either”. I almost jumped up and down in excitement when I found it. I refrained. :-)
Monday, May 23, 2005
The Rest of the Weekend
As usual (or so it seems lately), I had another busy weekend. Saturday after the bike rally, Gary and I went to the YAP book club. Six people showed up to discuss The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. Only 3 of us actually finished the book. Group consensus, in a nutshell, was that it wasn’t very good.
Next, we went to the new Star Wars movie. It was OK. We both had a lot of criticism, but I thought it was decent.
Sunday we went shopping and then Gary took me on a tour of his workplace. We had biked by it on Saturday morning and Gary was going to take me, but his badge was in his car and we were in my car. It was neat to see where he spends his days. :-)
Next, we went to the new Star Wars movie. It was OK. We both had a lot of criticism, but I thought it was decent.
Sunday we went shopping and then Gary took me on a tour of his workplace. We had biked by it on Saturday morning and Gary was going to take me, but his badge was in his car and we were in my car. It was neat to see where he spends his days. :-)
Richardson “Wild Ride”
Saturday morning we were up bright and early (which was hard since the Rangers game had us out pretty late) for our next bike rally adventure. This rally was part of the Wildflower Festival. We’re setting a trend with getting a late start - had another flat before beginning. We did 17 miles and I thought it was a good route. This one was more city streets than the previous ones we have done, but there were police directing traffic at major intersections. The best part was it was fairly flat. It *was* a little warm (mid 90's by the time we finished). Good thing it did start early.
We were thinking of going to the festival, mainly because I saw The Blenders on the schedule of musical entertainment. The Blenders are a group of guys from Fargo that I knew growing up. They’ve been to Dallas before during the holiday season, so I thought it was possible that it could be them. However, I checked out their website and found that it wasn’t on their calendar. I emailed them to ask if it was them and their website just wasn’t up to date or if it was someone else. Turns out it was another group. Ironically, I “tattled” and the note back from The Blenders said their lawyers would get in touch with this group… since they have the name copyrighted. Anyway, since it wasn’t them, we skipped the festival.
We were thinking of going to the festival, mainly because I saw The Blenders on the schedule of musical entertainment. The Blenders are a group of guys from Fargo that I knew growing up. They’ve been to Dallas before during the holiday season, so I thought it was possible that it could be them. However, I checked out their website and found that it wasn’t on their calendar. I emailed them to ask if it was them and their website just wasn’t up to date or if it was someone else. Turns out it was another group. Ironically, I “tattled” and the note back from The Blenders said their lawyers would get in touch with this group… since they have the name copyrighted. Anyway, since it wasn’t them, we skipped the festival.
Rangers Game
Friday night a few friends and I went to the Rangers game. There were fireworks afterwards that were really cool. And as a bonus… the Rangers actually won the game against the Houston Astros. It was fun.
Monday, May 16, 2005
Bike Rally #2
After our first bike rally, you might think we would like to avoid hills and would avoid a bike rally called “Rolling Hills Rally”… but I guess those hills didn’t scare us off.
Sunday morning we were at it again at the Rolling Hills Bike Rally in McKinney. We were aiming for 20 miles. There were hills, but nothing like the Germanfest rally. There was some wind, but it wasn’t too bad.
We did have some mishaps. Gary got a flat before we even started (airing up the tires). Thankfully we had a spare tube and got that changed. We started out later than everyone else, but that was actually nice since we didn’t have to constantly pass or be passed by other cyclists. There were two rest stops and the second one was actually only a couple miles from the end. The brochure said the last two miles would have the most intense hills. Unfortunately… or maybe fortunately… for me, I didn’t get to find out. I got a flat and since we had already used our spare tube… no more riding for me. The SAG wagon picked me up. Gary finished those last two miles and encountered his final mishap – throwing a chain. He was able to fix that and finish.
We had fun. The scenery was pretty and the weather was nice. The location was good. The rest stops were nice and at the end there was pizza. It was a good time. We increased our average speed from the last rally - 13 mph. Of course, I can’t imagine going any *slower* than the Germanfest rally – since I walked up several hills there. :-)
Sunday morning we were at it again at the Rolling Hills Bike Rally in McKinney. We were aiming for 20 miles. There were hills, but nothing like the Germanfest rally. There was some wind, but it wasn’t too bad.
We did have some mishaps. Gary got a flat before we even started (airing up the tires). Thankfully we had a spare tube and got that changed. We started out later than everyone else, but that was actually nice since we didn’t have to constantly pass or be passed by other cyclists. There were two rest stops and the second one was actually only a couple miles from the end. The brochure said the last two miles would have the most intense hills. Unfortunately… or maybe fortunately… for me, I didn’t get to find out. I got a flat and since we had already used our spare tube… no more riding for me. The SAG wagon picked me up. Gary finished those last two miles and encountered his final mishap – throwing a chain. He was able to fix that and finish.
We had fun. The scenery was pretty and the weather was nice. The location was good. The rest stops were nice and at the end there was pizza. It was a good time. We increased our average speed from the last rally - 13 mph. Of course, I can’t imagine going any *slower* than the Germanfest rally – since I walked up several hills there. :-)
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Airport Fun
I just remembered that I wanted to share my airport story from my St. Louis trip.
This was the first trip where I decided to just use a carry-on and not check my luggage. After seeing many people struggle on other flights, I was a little nervous about getting on early enough to make sure there was enough room for my luggage in the overhead bins. Leaving St. Louis, I was in "group 6" to board. I decided I would just go in with "group 5". I don't think they would have stopped me... but unfortunately my seat was “flagged” to be searched.
What irritated me most about this was they didn’t tell me what was going on. They just asked me to stand off to the side while one of the guys started typing at the computer. I then hear him pick up the radio and call for a female inspector to come to the gate. I’m thinking, “Surely that can’t be for me”. He turns to me and asks me to have a seat and says the problem is “because my boarding pass was torn a little bit in the corner”, not mentioning the inspector at all.
So, I wait… and someone else asks me if I’m waiting on the inspector. I said, “I have no idea what I’m waiting for, he didn’t tell me”. She then tells me that yes, my seat was “randomly flagged” to be searched. Now I’m thinking... “Was it random or was it because my boarding pass was torn? Or… which one of you is trying to break the news gently”.
The inspector arrives and proceeds to thoroughly search my luggage and me. Luckily for me, one of those small-town bars had given us souvenir condoms, which I had in my purse!! Yep. The inspector, of course, did not say anything, however it was not the highlight of the search process for me!!?? :-)
I was the absolute last person on the plane... in fact the gate people had to rush the inspector a little bit to get me on the plane in time. I could not believe my luck! Thankfully the passenger sitting next to me was very observant and knew which overhead bin (which were by now all closed) had some space in it. I would have been really ticked if I had had to check my bag because of all that.
This was the first trip where I decided to just use a carry-on and not check my luggage. After seeing many people struggle on other flights, I was a little nervous about getting on early enough to make sure there was enough room for my luggage in the overhead bins. Leaving St. Louis, I was in "group 6" to board. I decided I would just go in with "group 5". I don't think they would have stopped me... but unfortunately my seat was “flagged” to be searched.
What irritated me most about this was they didn’t tell me what was going on. They just asked me to stand off to the side while one of the guys started typing at the computer. I then hear him pick up the radio and call for a female inspector to come to the gate. I’m thinking, “Surely that can’t be for me”. He turns to me and asks me to have a seat and says the problem is “because my boarding pass was torn a little bit in the corner”, not mentioning the inspector at all.
So, I wait… and someone else asks me if I’m waiting on the inspector. I said, “I have no idea what I’m waiting for, he didn’t tell me”. She then tells me that yes, my seat was “randomly flagged” to be searched. Now I’m thinking... “Was it random or was it because my boarding pass was torn? Or… which one of you is trying to break the news gently”.
The inspector arrives and proceeds to thoroughly search my luggage and me. Luckily for me, one of those small-town bars had given us souvenir condoms, which I had in my purse!! Yep. The inspector, of course, did not say anything, however it was not the highlight of the search process for me!!?? :-)
I was the absolute last person on the plane... in fact the gate people had to rush the inspector a little bit to get me on the plane in time. I could not believe my luck! Thankfully the passenger sitting next to me was very observant and knew which overhead bin (which were by now all closed) had some space in it. I would have been really ticked if I had had to check my bag because of all that.
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Monday, May 09, 2005
Nice, Relaxing Weekend
I had a very nice weekend. Friday evening, I had a few friends over for game night. It was a Mexican theme in honor of Cinco de Mayo (good excuse for a party).
Saturday I did do some yard work, but the rest of the day was rest and relaxation with Gary. It was really nice to not have anything we had to do.
Sunday we went for a bike ride around White Rock Lake (9 miles). The rest of the night was more rest and relaxation. It was great.
It was a good weekend, but I wish it had been longer. It was really hard to get out of bed this morning, even after all that resting. :-)
Saturday I did do some yard work, but the rest of the day was rest and relaxation with Gary. It was really nice to not have anything we had to do.
Sunday we went for a bike ride around White Rock Lake (9 miles). The rest of the night was more rest and relaxation. It was great.
It was a good weekend, but I wish it had been longer. It was really hard to get out of bed this morning, even after all that resting. :-)
Monday, May 02, 2005
Weekend Trip
Now that the surprise is over, I can talk about my trip. I went to St. Louis for a friend, Tozsha’s, surprise 30th birthday party. Another friend, Melissa, and I arranged our flights to meet up there and spend the weekend with Tozsha. (Melissa is from Dallas, but is currently living in Richmond, VA).
Tozsha actually lives in Troy, which is a smaller town outside of St. Louis. From hearing her talk about it, we expected it to be much smaller than it actually was.
We did some touristy things – shopping in a cute little old town section of St. Charles, went to a Casino (I won $8 – woo hoo) and visited the Arch. Unfortunately, the Journey to the Top at the Arch was sold out so we didn’t get to go up – bummer. However, it was still cool to see it and we checked out the museum.
Tozsha has told us so many stories of her hometown-country-living, that Melissa and I were probably most interested in her pastime of bar hopping in the small towns around her home town. We managed to hit a few of them. First was Little Dick’s in Troy. Like I mentioned though, Troy isn’t really very small, so this place seemed like any little hole in the wall bar you would find anywhere. Next the plan was to go to a little bar in the town of Silex, “If it is still open, because they just kind of set their own hours.” This was around 10pm on a Friday night. We were in luck… they were open. Unfortunately they served *only* beer. (I don’t drink beer). Oh well, we got our fill of the locals there (all 4 of them) and then moved on to one of Tozsha’s favorites in Onley (No link - couldn't find any data on this town). Again, some interesting locals and we really got a kick out of the waitress.
So… You know you are in a small hick town bar when you hear the following:
Tozsha actually lives in Troy, which is a smaller town outside of St. Louis. From hearing her talk about it, we expected it to be much smaller than it actually was.
We did some touristy things – shopping in a cute little old town section of St. Charles, went to a Casino (I won $8 – woo hoo) and visited the Arch. Unfortunately, the Journey to the Top at the Arch was sold out so we didn’t get to go up – bummer. However, it was still cool to see it and we checked out the museum.
Tozsha has told us so many stories of her hometown-country-living, that Melissa and I were probably most interested in her pastime of bar hopping in the small towns around her home town. We managed to hit a few of them. First was Little Dick’s in Troy. Like I mentioned though, Troy isn’t really very small, so this place seemed like any little hole in the wall bar you would find anywhere. Next the plan was to go to a little bar in the town of Silex, “If it is still open, because they just kind of set their own hours.” This was around 10pm on a Friday night. We were in luck… they were open. Unfortunately they served *only* beer. (I don’t drink beer). Oh well, we got our fill of the locals there (all 4 of them) and then moved on to one of Tozsha’s favorites in Onley (No link - couldn't find any data on this town). Again, some interesting locals and we really got a kick out of the waitress.
So… You know you are in a small hick town bar when you hear the following:
- Amy (Friend of Tozsha's) – “Do you have wine?”
- Waitress – “Yeah, we have that pink stuff in a box, I can’t remember what it’s called.”
- Melissa – “Could I have a Vodka and Tonic?”
- Waitress – “What all’s in that?”
- Melissa orders a second
- Waitress brings it in a plastic cup and says – “Sorry we’re out of glasses”
- Melissa looks around the bar and determines she is the *only* person drinking out of a glass. Hmmm….
I’m sure all of the above were funnier in person, but I had to share. We really got a laugh out of them. Overall, we had a great time in Missouri and it was great to see Tozsha and Melissa. Missouri does look quite similar to North Dakota, so it made me a little homesick. I'm ready to go home for a visit now. :-)
At the same time, I couldn’t wait to get home since I was really missing Gary. :-) He picked me up at the airport (brought me tulips– what a sweetie!!). Hopefully I’m not embarrassing him by writing that here. :-)
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