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Journal Entry: July 9, 2008

I didn’t get around to making an entry yesterday, but Monday night is pretty easy. After work, I went to the gym from 5:30-6:30, then took AB over to K– and N–‘s, where T– was meeting with N– to prepare for a class they’re teaching together Wednesday night.

While they finished working on that, I kept AB busy, and then when K– got home from the gym we opened up the Spore Creature Creator and checked out some cool creatures. Then N– heated up some delicious frozen pizzas for us for dinner, and by the time we were done AB was fussing so we headed home. Still, it was a fun evening.

At home, we put AB down, watched an episode or two of Boston Legal, and then went to bed early.

Again, I couldn’t sleep, and when I did it wasn’t a very restful sleep. So I woke up late, was late getting in to work, and had a pretty unproductive day. Then last night D– came over and we divided the evening between setting up a computer game for AB to play on T–‘s laptop, and playing HeroScape. Both were fun. I won half of our games of HeroScape (and beat AB at every single round of Laugh, Learn and Play, because she’s a major newb).

Then I went to bed around 11, and had pretty much the same night as Monday, and today’s productivity level is looking about the same as yesterday’s, too. Ugh.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

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Journal Entry: Nickipendence Day 2008

If you check the “My Favorites” links over on the right, you can find picture (and video) illustration of pretty much all the following events. It was a friend-heavy weekend, so all of my friends are chronicling the same things.

Anyway, last Thursday night T– and I went to the gym fairly early, then got home to meet D–, who brought some BWW for dinner. D– had picked up a Sony Handycam camcorder as T–‘s birthday present (that he, his mom, and I had all gone in on), and we went ahead and gave it to her three weeks early so that she could get some footage of N–‘s birthday party on Friday. So we presented that to her, and she was suitably astonished. D– and I played several rounds of Heroscape while T– played with her new camera, and then we watched some TV.

Friday morning I woke up a little before nine, and T– and I ran up to Barnes and Noble to get the rest of N–‘s birthday present. Then…well, somehow by that point it was already 11:15, so we headed over to K– and N–‘s for her birthday party.

Everybody was there. Everybody. We had a delicious lunch, and the kids played in a bouncy castle that they’d rented for the party (so cool), and then we played some party games before all the babies started crying for naps. It was probably two-ish when the party broke up.

We stopped by D–‘s apartment and grabbed his new Fourth Edition D&D books on the drive home, and started working on making up some characters. Nap-time called, though, and we all dozed for most of the afternoon. Evening rolled around, I roused myself enough to order some pizzas, and we finally got around to filling out some character sheets.

It took several hours. The process is enough changed from previous editions and, more significantly, the entire Players Handbook describes the process of character creation. You can’t just turn to pages 20-24 and go through the process. There’s bits scattered throughout the book. Once we know what’s needed, it will actually be a quicker process than Second Edition character creation (and way quicker than the Third Editions), but our first two characters took all night.

Saturday morning AB woke up before T– or I. We were both laying in bed, not ready to get up, and AB was screaming in her room. I decided that, if T– would go ahead and get up (and let me sleep for another half hour or so), I would mow the front yard for her when I did get up. I was about to say as much out loud, when she threw back the covers and went to get AB. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

I finally got up around 9:30, and decided to honor my deal. T– put AB down for her morning nap and she went to the grocery store while I mowed. Then I went out back and, using my newly reacquired drill (K– had been borrowing it), I installed a waterhose hanger on the back of the house. T– had picked it up a couple months ago, and it’s a really nice one. Only took about five minutes to hang, but that’s the first time I’ve ever used a mortar bit or (most terrifying) drilled into the facade of my house. Everything went fine, though.

Sometime in the afternoon I got online and checked out our bank account, and discovered we didn’t have nearly enough money. Ugh. Between all the car problems over the last week and several big purchases, I’d kind of lost track of money running total, and here we are in trouble again. I hate that.

Anyway, I spent most of the afternoon working on our finances, trying to figure out when to pay what and what we should expect in terms of budget stuff. No fun, but I think I’ve got it mostly ironed out.

Saturday evening, T– had plans to go hang out with Rebecca, so I stayed home with AB. T– left about 6:00, had dinner at Chili’s, and then watched Get Smart with Rebecca. I’m jealous.

I didn’t spend the evening alone, though. K– and N– called, and I asked them to come help me with the baby. AB was easier than I expected, though, so they were mostly just there to keep me company. We had Olive Garden (they picked some up To Go), and watched 21, which was an entertaining flick. It had some pretty stupid plot holes, but it was still a fun hour and a half.

By the end of the movie, AB was in bed for the night. K– and N– went home, and I spent a couple hours reading Cat Who until T– got home, then I went to bed a little bit before midnight.

Sunday morning we went to church, and then El Chico for lunch with K– and N–. Afterward, AB and I took naps while T– went swimming with N– at my little sister’s community pool. Then Josh stopped in (he’d been in Tulsa for the weekend), and we watched Family Guy and talked for a couple hours before he headed back home to Little Rock.

Then T– and I headed to Edmond for small groups. K– and N– didn’t make it, so it was the rest of the young couples group (or whatever we’re called) at Brent and Celia’s, and AB running all over the place. Between chasing AB and social anxiety stuff (I am not comfortable among these folks), I had a terrible time. It was a nice enough evening, but I’m just not wired that way.

We got home around 8:30, and T– put AB down while I went back to my office just to be alone with my breakdown. I got over it soon enough, though, and T– and I watched three episodes of Boston Legal, and finally went to bed at 11:00.

Then, I couldn’t sleep. I lay in bed for about half an hour, then got up and played some video games for an hour or so, and came back and still couldn’t sleep. It was not a pleasant night.

I was a little late getting up this morning, but nothing near as bad as last Monday. Got to work, and it’s been a pretty nice day, in spite of the long night.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

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Journal Entry: July 3, 2008

Yesterday evening we went to Jason’s Deli in Edmond for dinner. D– showed up at our place about 5:15, and he rode with us. We met K– and N–. It was fun.

Afterward, T– and D– and I went to Barnes and Noble. I bought a Dickens, T– bought an art history book, and D– bought a plush dragon for AB.

Then we went back home and unpacked D–‘s new master set for HeroScape, and spent the rest of the evening trying it out. Very fun, and the selection provided by all the new pieces really increases the richness of the game. I lost both rounds, though.

D– also picked up copies of the new Fourth Edition Dungeons and Dragons books, and we’ve decided to develop a couple campaigns in the fantasy world we’ve come up with for our collaborative writing project. Should be a fun environment, and all of the reviews I’ve seen make Fourth Edition sounds like a major improvement over Third. I’m looking forward to it.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

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Journal Entry: July 2, 2008

Yesterday T– had business up in Tulsa, so after work I ran out to miss Carla’s place to pick up AB. She’d spent most of the afternoon playing in the dirt, so she was filthy but in a terrific mood.

I was running late enough that T– got home only fifteen to twenty minutes after I did. We had dinner (Taco Bell for her and a can of chili for me), and watched a couple episodes of Arrested Development, then a couple episodes of Boston Legal.

We’ve been very into TV shows lately, clearly. Part of that is because I’m not otherwise occupied. AoC, while a well-crafted game, has not managed to hold my attention. I imagine I’ll cancel my account, but it just renewed so that still gives me access through nearly the end of this month.

I am fascinated by Spore, and I desperately hope that it lives up to its potential. Even if it doesn’t, it should provide enough entertainment to justify its cost. I plan on hooking up a PC to the living room TV, and letting AB watch me develop a Sumo Bug super race. I think she’ll enjoy that.

That doesn’t come out until September, though.

In the meantime, I’m doing a lot of reading and, of course, watching a lot of TV with T–. I have almost no interest in any of my writing projects right now, which is a real shame. I’ve tried, but I haven’t much gotten into it.

Oh! T– was in Tulsa yesterday for work, as I said, and she had some time available to swing by the house. Seems the roof isn’t in nearly as bad of shape as I’d been led to believe. I was worried the next heavy rain would pour into the house and destroy our new carpet, but it doesn’t seem like it’ll be anything of the sort. We still have to get the roof replaced, but the timeline isn’t quite so urgent. That’s a little stress off me.

My back is feeling a lot better, too. There’s still persistent pain, which there shouldn’t be, but it is so much less severe than it was at the start of the week. I’m optimistic that it’s finally healing, and will be all better by the weekend.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

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Journal Entry: July 1, 2008

Yesterday, as I said, I slept late. I got in to work around 10:00, spent some time on my major project, then at noon ran up to Taco Bueno to grab a real quick lunch.

And, when I got there, discovered that I had no check card. I’d loaned it to T–, who lost hers last week, and failed to get it back. So there I was, half an hour from home, two hours into what was already going to be a remarkably short day, and looking at the prospect of a 2-hour lunch (or, worse yet, no lunch at all).

So I called home and told T– to expect me, then I called work and told them I wasn’t coming back. I had plenty to keep me busy for the afternoon.

I went home and T– had a hot sandwich waiting for me, then she drove up to Wal-Mart with me so I could drop off the car for a pair of new tires. Afterward, I made a couple calls and scheduled an emergency visit to the chiropractor (in the hopes of getting off those pain pills that may or may not have been causing me to sleep in).

The chiropractic visit was a qualified success. I immediately felt better, but lost some of that over the course of the day. Having spent a day acutely monitoring my own pain situation, I’m pretty confident at this point that it’s getting better, but it wasn’t an immediate fix. Still, better is better.

Next we swung by Wal-Mart to pay for the car, then ran up to the gym and did our hour. I only did about 10 minutes of cardio (after my full strength training, that is) because I didn’t want to interfere with my back’s recovery, and it rather felt like I was. I spent the rest of the time chatting with K–. N– was there, too, but she was in an aerobics class for pretty much the whole time.

Afterward, T– dropped me off at Wal-Mart, and I picked up dinner and a movie on the way home. While we ate we tried to pick up where we’d left off in Lost (now that we’re out of Boston Legal, pending a delivery or two from Blockbuster Online), but we’ve gotten into the most recent season, and the episodes are fresh enough on our minds that we didn’t really get into rewatching them. Instead, I turned on Arrested Development and we watched six episodes before we went to bed.

I didn’t take the painkiller last night, and I did wake up on time this morning. I can’t posit a causal link there — I’m just reporting the facts. At work, Irene is back from maternity leave, and I got to spend a pleasant half hour catching her up on the state of things during her long absence. It’s good to have her back.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

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Journal Entry: June 30, 2008

We spent Friday evening with D– and his mom.

They came over shortly after I got home from work. We placed a take-out order at Abuelo’s, then D– and I ran up to a liquor store for a box of Chardonnay, grabbed a bag of ice so we could play MythBusters, and then picked up the food.

Dinner, of course, was delicious. As far as the MythBusters thing went, we took the plastic inner bag out of the wine box (which contains the actual wine) and soaked it in a bath of ice-cold saltwater. That’s supposed to be the fastest way to bring a liquid beverage down to chilly temperatures without access to a chemistry lab.

It worked…pretty well. Ten minutes in or so, it was about as cold as several hours in the fridge could have achieved. D– and I had several large glasses, and his mom had more than one.

We talked a lot, listened to some music, and then ended up playing Karaoke Revolution for several hours. It was nearly one in the morning by the time they left.

Saturday morning I woke up late (of course), and went with T– to [somewhere] to shop for [something] for [s–‘s] birthday. It’s all terribly hush-hush, so I can’t tell you any more than that.

Then I spent the afternoon working on the house. I replaced the tub faucet (which had a faulty shower diverter), I rewired the light-switch in our master bath so that the light doesn’t have to be on to provide power to the switch, and while I was at it I replaced the regular outlet there with a GFCI outlet, just because.

I also discovered that I’d lost my drill, and spent most of the next 24-hours in mourning, and then learned all of a sudden that K– has been borrowing my drill for a couple weeks now. So that’s all taken care of.

Saturday evening T– had a crop to attend, and we’d discussed doing a guys’ night at County Line BBQ, but K– ended up working most of the weekend, and B– was out in San Francisco all of Friday and most of Saturday, so when he got in he wasn’t really up to doing much. So it ended up being just D– and me.

We went to see Wanted which would have been a pretty cool movie (albeit cheesy in a Fantasy Action flick kind of way) except that the main character is a total dumbass and the character playing him is a major loser — you end up hating every moment that he’s on screen. And, him being the main character, that was something of a problem.

After the movie, we grabbed some Freddy’s for dinner, then went to D–‘s apartment and watched another awful movie: The Covenant. This one was somewhat intentional — it struck me as the same basic story, except with warlocks instead of assassins. A better description, now that I’ve seen it, would be The Craft with dudes. It was not good.

To make up for all the terrible movieage, we went up to Henry Hudsons for a few drinks, and that was pretty fun. I get home a little bit before one in the morning.

Yesterday morning, quite unintentionally, I slept through church. T– came home right after and called out to ask if I was awake, and I discovered then, at 11:40, that the answer was no. She also mentioned that K– and N– were coming over for lunch, so I jumped up and grabbed a really quick shower.

We went to Jersey Mike’s for lunch, which I had just told D– I didn’t like, but once we got there I discovered I’d been thinking of Winston McDougals, and Jersey Mike’s is quite all right. So there’s a little story for you.

After lunch, K– and N– went home to take naps, and I went home and should have, but instead I watched a ton of Boston Legal with T–, and then suddenly it was 6:00 and D– showed up for dinner and a few minutes later K– and N– showed. T– made some great sloppy joes, and I made salsa, and after dinner we watched an 80’s movie, because we were all gathered together.

This time it was one of K–‘s picks, and we chose Bladerunner over Tron in a split decision. Mostly, it made me want to read the book. The premise was great, but I felt like they left out most of the action inherent in the story so that they could focus more directly on the malaise and inner turmoil — two things that don’t translate well to the TV screen, even if they were central to the written work.

It was fun, though. Our guests cleared out right around nine, and T– and I watched three more episodes of Boston Legal before we finally gave up and went to bed. I had a lot of trouble falling asleep, though, and it was probably around one in the morning before I finally drifted off.

Then I slept late again this morning. Very late. I think it may be a side effect of some painkillers I’m taking for my lower back, but it’s more likely the result of all those ones in the morning. Either way, it’s a nuisance. Hopefully I’ll be back on schedule tomorrow morning.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

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Journal Entry: June 27, 2008

I probably mentioned that K– and N– got home from their Vegas trip on Tuesday night. I knew they both had the day off Wednesday, so I invited them to join me for lunch. Alas, I do work a long way from their home, so that didn’t work out, but T– came anyway, so we had lunch at Schlotzky’s, and it was good.

I also learned that the Schlotzky’s Original was first inspired by a muffuletta. Never knew that. Actually, I’ve seen muffulettas on menus before, and always thought they looked gross. Who knew?

After work, on my drive home, I had a handful of movies that needed returning to Redbox. There’s a McDonalds not far from my house that has one, so I stopped in to dump the movies. Then when I got back in my car, it wouldn’t start. Joy. D– came by fifteen minutes later and gave me a ride home.

We did get together with K– and N– (and D– and Shannon’s family, actually) for dinner at Johnny’s Charcoal Broiler. So that was good. We had a fun time of it, and afterward D– and I went home to meet Toby, who had come up from Norman to learn how to play Heroscape.

Heroscape is the tabletop game D– taught me a couple weeks ago, and which Toby and I are thinking about programming. It’s fun. After setting up the game board and selecting our armies, we got about fifteen minutes into the actual game before church ended and K– came by to help me fix my car.

We ran up to McDonalds and jump-started it, let it run for a while, and then I tried it again without the cables. Nothing. Turned out, the battery was completely dead. It wouldn’t hold a charge at all. No bid deal — battery is one of the cheapest things to fix on a car. We jump-started it again, and I went home. I’d already called my boss to let him know I wouldn’t be in Thursday morning.

So, Thursday morning I woke up bright and early, and we jump-started the car again, and took it in to Wal-Mart. I asked for an oil change, rotate and balance the tires, and a new battery. Then T– drove me back home in the Saturn, I watched AB for an hour while she had a business meeting, and then after a lunch of Taco Bell, I drove the Saturn in to work for the afternoon.

After work, we stopped by Wal-Mart to pay, and I learned that they hadn’t rotated the tires because there was tread damage and they needed to be replaced. Of course, it would have been nice if they’d called me with that information, because now I’m going to have to find another opportunity to drop off the car to get new tires. And, of course, now I have to get new tires. That’s not Wal-Mart’s fault, but it irritates me just the same.

I paid up the bill, anyway, and then we went to the gym, where I was unable to do my jogging for the day because of back pain. I did my four-minute warm up walk, then cranked up the speed and took three or four jogging steps (calling out “Ow!” at every one, which is embarrassing in a crowded gym), and then turned the speed back down and settled for a twenty-minute brisk walk.

We had dinner with K– and N– at the Arby’s right by the gym, and then came home and watched a Boston Legal. Pretty busy day, all told.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

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Journal Entry: June 25, 2008

Yesterday, again, T– watched my niece Sophy as a favor for my sister. She had planned to just take both of the girls back to the gym (since we’re already paying a flat monthly fee for childcare anyway), but she decided at the last minute that she had enough patience to watch them herself.

More power to her. I got home from work, and locked myself in the office.

Actually, I’d made plans with D– to take care of some stuff in AoC, back when I thought she was going to the gym, and she said she figured she could get by without my help. So I spent a couple hours killing werewolves while they played in the kiddie pool out back and then came in and fought over who got to play with the toy telephone.

T– made up some delicious chicken quesadillas for dinner, and then I retreated back to my office again. I finally came out around 8:15, and played with AB for an hour while we waited for my brother-in-law to show up to pick up Sophy.

Once he got there, we watched an episode of Boston Legal, and then went to bed. I couldn’t sleep, though (second night in a row), and ended up sleeping late this morning. That’s frustrating.

Oh, I did make a phone call and got some reassuring news concerning my insurance problems, briefly mentioned yesterday. So that’s not as stressful, and I might make it through the month. Good news, all around.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

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Journal Entry: June 24, 2008

I have been suffering some pretty bad backache for about a week now, and I used that as an excuse to take the week off going to the gym last week.

Well, that and the busyness of having my parents visiting for the second half of the week….

Anyway, yesterday after work I was still hurting, but I figured I had used up my excused absences. I got home and picked up T– and AB, and then we headed over to the Family Expectations building to pick up my niece Sophy (since my sister and her husband were teaching a class), and we took the two girls to daycare at the gym.

Once again, I found that after a week off I could jump right back into my routine, which is encouraging. I also found, again, a pound of weight loss in spite of a week off. That’s pretty good news.

After our workout, we grabbed some McDonald’s for dinner, dropped Sophy off at home, and then went home to crash on the couch. We watched four episodes of Boston Legal and then went to bed. That was my night.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

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Journal Entry: June 23, 2008

I have some pretty ugly business going on with the Tulsa house, involving insurance stuff and roof problems, but I don’t want to go into detail on that, because it’s horribly depressing. If you’re curious about it, ask me sometime when I’m in a good enough mood to handle it.

Anyway, Thursday afternoon my mom and dad came in for a visit. They had to take care of the van (as mentioned previously), and had dinner plans with an old family friend at 5:00 downtown. T– drove down and we all met up near the airport at 4:30, then we dropped the van off in hourly parking and headed to the Zio’s downtown for dinner.

It was nice getting to see Theresa again, and dinner was excellent. D– joined us so he could take AB home with him (he’d offered to babysit while we went to an exhibit at the museum), but he ended up coming with us.

The exhibit is a collection of ancient Roman art from the basement of the Louvre. It’s mostly sculpture and jewelry, but they’ve also crafted a walking tour through it that’s themed and presents all kinds of fascinating historical information. It was very cool. AB’s favorite part was the relief of a cow, sheep, and pig being led to sacrifice, but that’s just because she likes animals and doesn’t quite get context yet.

Afterward, Dad and I stopped at Byron’s to pick up some dessert (as it were), and we all stayed up late watching SNL and talking. It was fun.

Friday, Dad and I had made plans to spend most of the day writing together, but I ended up sleeping in until 10-ish, and then we had lunch with Mom and T– at Pizza Hut, and then I had a dentist appointment at 1:00 (small filling), so it was 2:30 or so before we really got started, and Mom and T– got home from their thing (painting pottery at the mall) around 4:00. We did make some good progress on a story idea Dad had come up with, but I didn’t accomplish much of anything.

Friday evening we went to dinner with D– and his mom, and my little sister brought her family including the in-laws, so we had quite a crowd. We went to this barbecue place called County Line, down by the Cowboy Museum (yes, we have one of those), and it was fantastic. The food, not the museum. Fan-freakin’-tastic.

Then we ran by the Family Fun Night at OC, and AB got to ride one of the ponies. T– has pictures on her blog. Unlike Thursday, Friday was a pretty early night.

Saturday morning, T– went to a tea room for brunch with Mom and my sister. I took Dad to the Texas Roadhouse, and we brought our writing stuff (he his laptop, and me my scribblebook), but we ended up spending the whole time talking.

Mom and Dad headed home around 2:00, and D– came over with a new tabletop came called Heroscape, and taught T– and me how to play while AB was taking her afternoon nap. We played for most of the afternoon, and then he went home and I went over to B– and E–‘s to watch some mixed martial arts.

Mostly, though, we talked. I was there for four or five hours, and it was a lot of fun. I need to spend more time with them. But, then, I think that every time I spend any time with them.

Sunday morning we skipped church because we had plans to celebrate Mrs. Huddleston’s birthday with her. She’s…umm…D–‘s childhood friend’s mom. It’s a little bit of a distant connection for us, but she’s also D–‘s mom’s longtime friend, and the two of them both fell in love with AB pretty much from the start, so we’re invited to family stuff, now.

Anyway, that was at the zoo. We got there around 11:00, and it was already hot. All the girls went on the merry-go-round to start with, and rode this silly little train that goes in a short circle, and then we had a picnic lunch, and talked for a while, and then it was 3:00 and we went home.

Umm…I’m sure T– will make it sound like a lot more fun. Watch her blog for updates.

Both before and after that trip to the zoo, I spent several hours working on a markup of my sister Heather’s first novel. It’s fascinating working on Fantasy again. Her book is a good one, too, so it’s fun to have a hand in that.

After I finished that, around 5:00, I invited D– over for dinner and called in a take-out order to Ole. We ate, and then spent the rest of the evening watching Boston Legal. We’re ten episodes in. It’s…fascinating.

I also had a couple truly bizarre dreams this weekend, but I won’t try to explain them here. Suffice to say, they have me thoroughly weirded out.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.