Spring, A Meeting and Sushi

This time of year is extremely busy for me, both at work and at home. The customer count at work grows higher by the week as my yard and gardens grow out of control. I see both Easter and Mother's Day as inconveniences, all the driving around and visiting is wasted time which I really need to spend preparing for and dealing with the explosion of spring growth. Throw in a rainy weekend or two and I've lost most of a month's outside work time right when I need it the most. Fortunately this year the rain has held off on the weekends but I still think those two holidays need to be rescheduled.

I've been working my ass off to stay caught up and so far I've actually succeeded! Most everything that needs to be cut down has been, the rest will only take me 30 minutes or less. Everything that didn't survive winter has been removed, several plants that were becoming a problem or that I just didn't like have been removed. All the edging that had shrunk and/or separated or heaved out of the ground has been pulled out and re-installed. Using a saw, a shovel, an ax, a tow chain and my truck I removed an out of control Arborvitae that was up to the windows of the second floor of the house and growing out over the walkway. I really hated that thing. The lawn has been mowed several times already. I've even taken a couple of truckloads of debris to the landfill.

The meeting I missed a few weeks ago when I was sick was rescheduled for this past Thursday so I did take a day off from everything to go meet up with Dee. It was really nice to sit and talk face to face, her visit was far too short but I enjoyed it immensely anyway. She's good company, I hope we get to do it again. We visited the National Aquarium in Baltimore where we learned that some fish are classified like people on the internet, there were hiders and lurkers! We saw some pretty weird looking fish, some really cool ones (I love those rays) and some sharks. The shark tank wasn't as full as usual but there were still some big ones swimming just a couple feet away. Nice teeth, lol. The rain forest exhibit was fun until we started to melt. None of the birds would come land on my finger though. :(  Heeeere birdy birdy birdy.

Last but not least, sushi! We went out Sunday night to my new favorite sushi place in New Jersey. Four of us wanted sushi so we told the waiter to bring two of the sushi boats that feed two people each. He told us they have one for four and he'd bring that one. Holy crap that thing was huge!! It was every bit of four feet long, the part with the sushi, sashimi and extra sushi rolls was 3 feet long by itself. My brother-in-law and I ate most of it ourselves and washed it down with a few Aventinus beers that I'd brought with me. Can you say Oink? I sure did.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

I keep seeing this on blogs and in e-mails, so here's mine. Naturally I think the results are far from accurate. Me, a troublemkaer? Please! Outspoken? As if! What do you think, is it even close?

You Are a Troublemaker

You have the type of personality that people either love or hate. You're opinionated, dramatic, intense, and very outspoken. Some people can't get enough of you - they're totally addicted. Others, well, they wish you were a little more reserved. Your strength: Your flair Your weakness: If you think it, you say it

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

King Tut

Today I went to Killadelphia to check out the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs Exhibition currently on display at the Franklin Institute Science Museum. While it was interesting I have to say that I left feeling more disappointed than anything else.

Maybe it's just me but I was expecting more. Normally when you hear about the treasures of the Pharaohs' tombs you hear tales of vast amounts of stunning gold items, huge ornate statues, beautifully decorated sarcophagi, etc... Well, there's almost none of that in this exhibition. There's roughly 130 artifacts, only 50 were from Tut's tomb. The rest were a sampling of artifacts collected from other tombs in the Valley of the Kings. The overwhelming majority of them were smaller pieces (shoe box sized or smaller).

The 10th of 11 small exhibit rooms held most of the more interesting pieces, items used by Tut himself or found in his sarcophagus with his mummy. A diadem (small crown) with a cobra and a vulture, a viscera coffin used to hold some of Tut's mummified internal organs and a couple chest plates were some of the highlights. We got there early (less crowded) and were through the whole exhibit in about an hour and half after looking at every piece on display.

Upon leaving the exhibit you are forced into the museum store which is chock full of cheap, imported garbage. Some of it was so poorly done or in such poor taste that I considered it an insult to Egyptian culture.

Bottom line, if you are utterly fascinated by old Egyptian artifacts then you'll enjoy the exhibit. There are a few pieces that are quite stunning and the history aspect is appealing too. Personally I found the other unrelated exhibits in the museum more interesting.

Still Alive, Just Slacking

I see I've been slacking on this whole blog thing, shame on me. Since I have nothing of any real interest to talk about I'll ramble a bit about a couple odds and ends, at least you'll know I'm still alive.

I put on a suit and tie and attended my first full on Catholic wedding, complete with chanting/singing priests. It was quite the experience, and at well over an hour it was the longest wedding I'd ever been to. I was beginning to think that it would never end and the poor couple would die of old age before they managed to tie the knot, but they made it through. I was not aware that the Catholic service was so ritualized, just knowing when to stand or sit or knowing what to say in response to the priest and when to say it must take some time to learn. It seemed more like a well rehearsed choreography than a wedding service, but I'm not much of a church goer so what do I know? I have to admit that the building itself was stunning. All hand worked stone, massive wood beams holding up a ceiling with multiple arches, and a lot of stained glass.

Next, the reception. The bride chose a restaurant in the Chinatown section of Killadelphia as the location for her reception. I'm guessing it was for her family's sake, they comprised the bulk of the 300+ reception guests (she is Vietnamese). The place was dirty and smelled of dead fish, most likely from the dead fish I saw in the tanks down in the front of the restaurant. The tables were set up wrong, and numbered wrong, and they forgot a gift table, and one for the cake. The cake arrived 45 minutes after the guests, 15 minutes later the right one showed up but only partially decorated. After that it got a lot better! 

The menu was a traditional 12 course Chinese meal, being the pig that I am I naturally ate all of my portions of all 12 courses, plus a little extra. Oink. Jellyfish, coddle fish and shark fin soup were but a few of the items on the menu. We're talking foods most Americans have never even seen before, much less eaten. Suffice it to say that a lot of them went home hungry or were stopping at McDonald's on the way home. It was fun just watching a couple of the guys at my table as they examined each dish, then braved a taste. The faces they made were great!! The kicker was after the last course, restaurant staff started bringing out Styrofoam "to go" boxes to all the tables. That was definitely a first.

Today I had the pleasure of staying home with a nasty stomach virus. Out of the 365 days in a year it just had to be today, ruining a day I'd been looking forward to for quite some time. I was supposed to meet up with someone I met online years ago while playing gin. We've become very close since then and I was looking forward to spending some time in her company. Instead, I had to call her at 2am and tell her that I was in no condition to be able to meet up with her. What a disappointment :(

Back From Vacation

The first rule of driving in the state of Utah is: "If you ever, ever, ever look up and see the above in your rear view mirror, GET OUT OF THE WAY!!" Do it like your life depends on it, because it does!

Now that I've been back for a few days I suppose I should do a little blogging before anyone starts yelling at me. You know how much that bothers me. I enjoyed my little getaway immensely and was sorry to see it end. Vacations always seem so short. We did a LOT of driving this time so there was plenty of time for talking. I learned a lot about Lisa during these long drives, now I have a deeper understanding of her and greater respect and appreciation for the person she is now. That alone made the whole trip worthwhile.

I got to see a lot of Eastern Utah, and some of the Northern part too (I think). The landscape is extremely different from what I am used to. Barren would be a good word, even desolate would work for some places. It seemed to be mostly dirt and rocks with a few tumbleweeds, straight out of an old Spaghetti Western. It was still quite pretty in it's own way though. The color contrasts between the flat ground, the mountains and the sky, the different colors of the mountains themselves, the multicolored layers of stone and the oddly shaped formations all made for some fantastic scenery. The pictures just don't do it justice and completely fail to convey just how big and open the views actually were. Check out the "Utah Mountains" album if you want to see a few of the pictures I took. Most of them were taken while moving at roughly 80-85 miles per hour proving that high speed photography is indeed possible. Who knew??

We went to a museum which showcased artifacts from the region. There were a lot of interesting exhibits depicting human life throughout early history in what would later become Utah. There was also a lot of dinosaur exhibits. It's a small place but they had a lot packed into it and it was interesting to see. A lot of the pictures we took there didn't come out so well so I borrowed a few from the museum's site to replace them so they'd be more visible. They are in the "Utah Prehistoric Museum" photo album if you care to look.

I also learned that I absolutely made the right choice when I decided to never have kids, lol. 6 hours in a vehicle with 4 boys who all had better things to do was not the highlight of my trip. But I survived!

There's only one bad thing I can think of about the entire trip. I left my last few remaining Godiva chocolates in Lisa's refrigerator!! :( They were my reward to myself for enduring the pain of shopping with Lisa. After an hour in Victoria's Secret I felt I deserved it (just kidding, it wasn't really that bad. Shhhh) Key lime truffles and raspberry truffles in dark chocolate. Shame, shame, shame on me!

Coming home sucked! Drving to the airport, long flights, a layover, losing 2 hours due to crossing multiple time zones then the long drive home. We left Lisa's around 11am, I got home around midnight to find a messy house (grrrrr), then got up and went to work the next day. WtF was I thinking?? Laundry and cleaning the next night insured I'd still not have enough sleep then back to work again. yay Now it's back to life as I know it.

Blogging From The Land Of Mormon

My first ever weekend in Utah is all but over. The mountains and canyons made for a pretty drive from Salt Lake City to Lisa and Adam's place. I didn't get a real good look at them (at 85mph everything goes by pretty quick), but I managed to see a lot. I'm still not used to seeing mountains everywhere I look but I'm getting there. I don't have a camera so sorry, no pics.

The weather has been perfect, sunny and 70ish. Meanwhile at home in PA there was a day of flooding rains then a winter storm dropped 6 inches of snow over a layer of ice. All I can say is hahahahahahaha!! I beat all the airport shutdowns, so no sleeping in the terminal for me!

So far this visit I've done a few things for the very first time. I ate fries with fry sauce on them, it sounded nasty (a mix of mayonnaise and ketchup) but I had to admit that it was pretty good. I saw my first real live (even though they are dead) tumbleweed. I took the four wheeler for a few laps around the yard, that was fun! I managed to avoid hurting myself or running in to anything. We even ended up at a club which was having a swinger party, that was quite interesting. I met some nice people and experienced another first, an Anheuser-Busch product that I actually liked!. I got nailed with a low level migraine which put a damper on the evening but it still ended up being a good time.

Tonight we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over an open fire in the back yard, not a first but it has been just about forever since last time I did that.I'm having a great time and am really enjoying my little getaway. It'll be over before I know it but I'm enjoying it while I can. Until next time .....

Vacation Time!

Reservations for my flights and my airport parking are made and confirmed, the banking is done, the bills are paid, the orchids and other house plants are all watered, the litter box is cleaned, the recyclables have all been dropped off at the collection center, the house is mostly clean and I am all packed. I think I need a vacation from all the preparation for going on vacation! Now I'll probably spend the next few hours driving myself crazy wondering what I forgot... I hate that!

It will sure be good to get away from home for a few days. I leave this afternoon to go spend almost a week with Lisa and family, in Utah this time. Aside from flying over it I've not seen any of Utah so I'm looking forward to it. Plus I know I'll be in good company, so that's even better! I've already been warned that the boys want to fill my luggage with rocks (fossils they've found and collected) so I think I better bring along an extra bag, lol. Let airport security figure that one out.

Here's yet another online quiz for your amusement. I was extremely surprised when I took it. Me of all people, sarcastic? The nerve!! See where you rate.

You're Totally Sarcastic

You sarcastic? Never! You're as sweet as a baby bunny. Seriously, though, you have a sharp tongue and you aren't afraid to use it. And if people are too wimpy to deal with your attitude then too bad. So sad.

How Sarcastic Are You?