Sigh

I miss you, Vermont. (and Courtney) Why am I where it's 60 degrees and on late-night work phone calls?

Shiny things

Sat I put up a new light in my bathroom...so I have some actual light now. This was not a 5 minute project. More like a 2 hour project as I also had to install a new junction box.
Sat night Pattabi and I went to Justine's for dinner. It's on the east side, it's French, it's packed with hipsters. We wound up eating outside in the freezing weather with a heat lamp towering overhead. Which isn't as bad as it sounds. I was warm until about 10:30.

The escargot and cheese plate were great starters. I had read online that the cheese plate was painfully small, but they couldn't have been more wrong. We both agreed that the triple-cream was grassy and fantastic. And the wine we had, I can't remember the name but it complimented everything.

When our main dishes arrived, him steak, me duck, they reached up and punched us in the face with salt. My ankles started swelling instantly and I briefly contemplated sending it back. His ribeye was definitely "Meh"...I've cooked better ribeyes at home while half drunk.

Then, the chocolate pear tart arrived which helped to end the dinner on a high note. It wasn't special but they used decent quality chocolate and that always makes me happy.

Don't let my negativity overshadow the potential in this place...it started and ended on a high note, which like any good argument leaves a positive impression. Go try the duck and ask them to hold off on the salt.

I have 5 minutes

More random photos/comments from The VT/NJ trip this past weekend. (I can't believe it's Fri again. Going to the B-Scene at the Blanton in 5 min.)

When we first arrived at the B&B and quickly discovered how reflective Tim's skiing outfit was.

Skiing.
Awwwwww. Blech.
Hot tub! Always great after a day of skiing. Preferably with a beer.

Time's up!

0 degrees is warm

Ugh. I unfortunately haven't had time to blog...between 3.5 hours of yoga yesterday and fixing the washing machine today, there just haven't been many free minutes.

Which is frustrating, because I'm itching to share my dog sledding experience. EEEEEEE!

Not only do I want to move to Vermont now, I want to spend my summers in Alaska. And I want some huskies. Essentially, I want to copy-cat our musher from Sunday.

He said: "I try to spend my whole year on snow". How awesome is that?

Once we settled into the sled on Sunday (3 blankets, Courtney sitting between my legs, Courtney also obstructing the camera), we took off on an hour-long 5-6 mile run through hilly VT country-side.

What was especially awesome is Courtney and I got to put the harnesses on the dogs and hitch them up. Right before going, the dogs were going crazy barking...then, as soon as our musher said "go", it was so eerily quiet as the dogs took off through the woods...

Essentially, I have 400 pictures of dog butts. The only reason I don't have 500 is we were also busy laughing and screaming.My favorite doggie was Jessie. A small girl huskie who is Shadow's equivalent. She runs exactly like Shadow, barks like Shadow and has the same face and expressions. They also have the same work mentality.

Courtney and me on the sled with Jessie in the foreground.
It was an amazing experience that I wish I could do every year. But, I'm just happy enough to have gotten to go once. Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who made this possible! It was the BEST birthday ever!

There are so many little details that I've left out....the dog Amber that almost shit on us while running, my forehead freezing, that there were 10 dogs pulling us, that my left leg went numb and we joked about me rolling out of the sled. But, instead, I'll leave you with this...my favorite outtake.

I made it!

I'm officially in New Jersey. Unofficially, I'm ready to hit the road and get to Stowe, VT...right now! Alas, I have to wait for Courtney and Tim to finish work and classes.

I can't believe we're about to spend 6+ hours in the same car. I really don't know why we're not taking a plane to VT...I guess I thought it was closer.

Right now I'm most excited about the fantastic gift I opened on my birthday yesterday. Dog sled ride on Sunday!! Bethany surprised me by booking a dog sled tour on Sunday morning near Stowe. I cried when I read that you guys got together to surpise me with that.

Thank you thank you thank you Bethany, Dave, Rob, Noelle, Elizabeth, Karin, Dima, Blaire and Brad. I really appreciate everything. Hopefully you'll see some good pictures soon....

if we ever hit the road!

Today in history

1986: Challenger exploded on take-off. It was scheduled to be the first flight for a new Teacher in Space Program.

1813: Pride and Prejudice was first published in the UK.

Every year: I swear it rains every year on this date. I have no proof, but it's been rainy, snowy and/or foggy on every Jan 28 that I can remember. In Austin this year, there was no rain on the 27th, rain today, and I'm betting no rain tomorrow.

1969: Mo Rocca was born.

1977: I was born.

Ski knee is ready

This past weekend I went out to my parent's place for some good food, bonfires and catching up. I spent 80% of my time outside, which was perfect. Here's the view from the porch Sunday morning while I drank coffee.Yesterday I did lots of weight work at the gym, which was not good foreshadowing for today's yoga class that included all arm stands.

At the end of class we did a couple back bends to counteract all the forward-bending arm balance poses. I was so fatigued I could not do a back bend. Literally, I flopped around. And now I know how guys with occasional ED feel, because I wanted to yell out "I can usually get up! This never happens to me!"

Rim shot.

What's making me nervous is that my right knee is pretty tender now. I think I did too much spindling of calves inward and thighs outward. I'm hoping it will feel better before skiing this weekend as I'm having trouble with stairs right now.

Now for the bizarre part of the evening....

I came home to an exploded hall light.

Why I heart "The Situation"

If you don't watch Jersey Shore and/or don't know WHO "The Situation" is...none of this will make sense.

On to the list!

1. He makes business situations (heh) funnier.
Any time someone starts a meeting at work with "What's The Situation?", I laugh. Or, "What a great situation!". Or, "That's the Situation". Or, "The Situation is good/bad/unstable/great", I can't help it. All I picture is "The Situation" lifting his shirt and it's hilarious.

2. He's a good cook.
Dude, he wasn't making hot dogs & hamburgers during the summer (oh, and most people mess that up). He made some pretty complicated yet honest Italian food on the show. By himself.

3. He cleaned up the house.
He kept everyone in check with dishes, dusting, cleaning. But also played pranks, like leaving cheese/milk under Vinny's bed.

So that's the situation.

I'm an A-hole

I feel like the only person in the world not contributing to efforts in Haiti.

What to say?

Fundamentally, I really don't believe in giving money or supplies to people affected by natural disasters in other countries.

Conversely, if you're my friend and you decide to live in California or a fault line or near tornadoes or where there's a hard freeze or hurricanes, and something bad happens...call me. I have money. I'll give it to you.

Beyond that, I have an annual budget for certain charity funds that include arts, health and environmental efforts. Plus, I only give incremental funds to domestic issues.

SO STOP ASKING!

This doesn't make me heartless.

Every morning I go to work I see a banner on our internal page that features the black & white eyes of a small doe-eyed boy and the words "Help Haiti".

So, every day that I don't contribute I feel like an asshole.

I welcome your comments.

Easy Project

Before.After:Doesn't my old shower look dejected?

For <$60 and 10 min of time, there is no reason to deal with a semi-reliable or ugly shower head.

Sure, I could have spent hundreds (or even thousands) on a new faucet; but, I don't care that much...I just wanted something semi-OK that would satiate my new bathroom envy (My master bath is getting jealous of bathroom make-over #3).

In case you want to know, here's how you'll spend the 10 minutes:

30 seconds: Wondering how long the project will take
5 min: Trying to open the package
3 min: Removing the old shower head
30 sec: Applying plumber's tape
30 sec: Attaching the new shower head
30 sec: Admiring your work, congratulating yourself

(I swear I'm going to start a company for women who want to learn to remodel...one day.)