nanovivid

I’m going to apologize in advance for the length of this entry. I just haven’t found time up until now to write. This has been quite the weekend.

It all began Friday after work when, after packing, I headed to the interstate to drive to my parents’. Unfortunately, my car had other ideas of what to do. I had gotten brake work done on Monday/Tuesday (the master cylinder needed to be replaced as well as one of the brake lines). Afterwards, I had noticed that my car was running a little off sometimes, but didn’t think much of it until I got on the interstate and it started to shimmy like crazy. So I drove to the shop and thankfully there was still someone around who looked at it and agreed that the brakes were not releasing all the way. He loosened the brake lines and that released the pressure. Thus, I was able to get where I needed to go, but the brakes are still tightening up sometimes. I’m gonna see how it feels tomorrow and then maybe take it back in. ::sigh::

Friday night, after I got to Jeremiah’s apartment, the weekend started for real. Ryan and Rianna were there also, and I arrived about halfway through the watching of E.T.. The part I saw, I enjoyed, having not seen the movie since it scared me when I was little. Then after the movie, Jeremiah, Ryan and I geeked out with our computers and video chatted with Bryan (the latter lasted for well over an hour). That was all great fun with great people.

After getting back to my parents’ waaay late, I pretty much went straight to bed. Saturday morning I headed out with my family to go shopping and have other adventures. We ate lunch at this amazing Indian restaurant. After that, it was off to the mall for shopping. I bought two shirts and two pairs of shorts at Hecht’s… for a total of $20! I couldn’t pass that up. We also went to B&N, where I was unable to resist purchasing Fischerspooner’s #1. I haven’t quite listened to it enough to make a definite judgment about the album as a whole (I already knew I liked three songs at least), but I think I like it.

That afternoon I was talking to Jeremiah online and found out that he and Ryan were going to see Bruce Almighty that evening, so I joined them. I really enjoyed the movie. It was quite funny and also made me think some. So go check it out — it’s worth seeing. After standing in the parking lot after the theater forever because Jeremiah kept seeing people he knew, we went (again) to B&N for coffee but once we got there, Ryan saw his ex’s car in the parking lot and didn’t want to go in. We tried to go to another place but it was closed. Then Ryan decided it was his bedtime, so Jeremiah and I went back to his place to hang out. That was by far the best part of the evening. We talked about a bit of everything and watched Trading Spaces and it was just great. It’s almost scary how much alike our tastes in decorating are. He had some catalogs and magazines and one that I really liked was West Elm. Their catalog is beautifully designed and the furniture and accessories are awesome too. He also introduced me to Naked Juice, which is delicious. I need to get me some of that. After TS was over, I hung out a little longer and finally at 2:30 headed back to my parents’.

Today, not that much happened, which is ok, because the rest of the weekend was awesome. I’ll hook my iSight up tomorrow and get some more pics of the new haircut (the one from Sat is still on the webcam).

We’re having a staff retreat tomorrow, so I get off work at 2:30. I should probably work for a couple hours to make up for some of the other time I’ve missed, but we’ll see. :-)

♫ Fischerspooner - Sweetness

It’s been a good Saturday. Ney and I went out to the Farmer’s Market, where I bought some kick-ass horseradish cheese. Seriously, the first time I tried it, I was bouncing up and down it was so good. Almost orgasmic even. We also went to B&N, where we saw a book about clouds that made me think of Adam (aka virga, a type of cloud formation), and Bed, Bath, and Beyond, where I found flatware and dinnerware sets that I really like. We also had a tasty dinner and watched TS and Joe Versus the Volcano. It’s a cute movie, and I love this quote:

My father says that almost the whole world is asleep — everybody you know, everybody you see, everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake, and they live in a state of constant, total amazement.

And after that there’s not much more to say. :-)

♫ DI.fm Deep House

Yesterday, I actually got away from the hotel and conference center a couple times. The first was to go out to lunch at The Vortex Bar & Grill. It was quite tasty, and since the company included Ney, Lynley, Cameron, Jordan, Kyrce, and Maureen, it was very entertaining. The most memorable moment was when Maureen was talking about the British version of What Not To Wear and how much better it is than the American one. I’ve been sitting here trying to figure out how to explain the event, but it just isn’t turning out right. Executive summary: Maureen tells a story, Courtney laughs so hard that chili goes up her nose. The rest of us didn’t quite get what was so funny. But that’s why we love Courtney… she’s always there to laugh whether it was actually funny or not. ;-)

After lunch, we decided to go shopping, sans Lynley, who had to chaperone two hundred kids on a field trip. We went to stores, and I bought stuff (see Figure 1, below).

Figure 1: The spoils of shopping

Then it was back to the conference center, evening session, bla bla bla. Afterwards, Jenni, Bill, and I decided to go out and get something to eat. It soon became very apparent that we are in the wrong part of Atlanta for cool restaurants and bars. The extent of things available was: Hard Rock Cafe (we tried - 45 min wait), Hooter’s (we tried this too… and we got a table… and nobody ever served us at all… for at least half an hour… so we left… at least I can cross "Go to Hooter’s" off my Things-To-Do-Before-I-Die list… not that it was on there to begin with), and McDonald’s (really long line… and not worth it). So after failing miserably at finding food, Jenni went back to her hotel and Bill and I came back to the Omni and ordered an expensive-but-tasty pizza.

Anybody got any suggestions for cool places to go that aren’t too far from Centennial Olympic Park? Because they would be mucho appreciated.

♫ Something Corporate - Good News

These astronomy pictures are AMAZING. And high-res. Thank you Travis Rector! (And Asa for linking it)

I need to go food shopping in a bad way. Leftover pizza and bruchetta for dinner, anyone? Sorry, you can’t have any. It’s mine. Going out to eat a lot over the weekend didn’t help motivate me to go shopping. So tonight’s projects are shopping and laundry. Both need doing. And I want to run. Hopefully the weather will be nice enough to encourage that.

♫ Rhythmsaints - DS132 (Take Me Higher)

Friday morning, I picked Courtney up at around 9 and we drove and drove and drove until we reached DC. Our first stop was IKEA. It was our first IKEA experience and we were both pretty much floored. That place is amazing. The entire gigantic second floor is a showroom and it took us close to two hours to make it through the whole thing and pick out what we wanted. After doing so much shopping, we were pretty famished. Thankfully, IKEA anticipates the hunger that comes from seeing so much cool stuff, and provides a restaurant right in the store.

Once we were done with our tasty meals, we headed down to the first-floor marketplace and loaded up the cart (which, btw, was like the ones in Ireland where all four wheels swivel… they’re hard to drive until you get the hang of it). I got a desk, speaker stands, a wire mesh trashcan, a cool lamp, and a towel. Courtney wanted to get a sweet overhead light fixture, but they were sold out. Oh well, I guess we’ll have to go back (yeah, big disappointment there ;-).

Being right next to Potomac Mills, we had to go do some more shopping. So we went to Old Navy, Music 4 Less, and Gap. I got some nice shirts at Old Navy and Gap, and since Music 4 Less was having a going out of business sale, I was able to pick up Sasha’s Airdrawndagger which I had been wanting for a while, as well as The Right Amount by Bon Voyage. I also got an Underworld single. Yay shopping!

Then it was on to Clarendon, for the now-traditional meal at Big Bowl and visit to the Apple store. Big Bowl was delicious as always, and the Apple store had something new this time! Oh yes, the 17" PowerBook was finally available to be played with. After hearing so much about that baby, it was awesome to finally touch one. My decision to purchase one has now been solidified. Completely. There’s really no other laptop like it.

Once we were done drooling in the Apple store, we browsed through Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel. Both had some pretty cool stuff, of course.

As Courtney said, it was the best Good Friday ever.

♫ DJ Muzik98 - Light Edition Volume II

It’s been much too long… Finally, here is part one of a three-part series of updates (props if you can get the song reference in the title). The plan is to work through the last week several days at a time. So without further adieu, I present Saturday through Tuesday (December 28 - 31).

Tonya arrived at my house Saturday afternoon, after getting lost on Afton Mountain thanks to my slightly vague directions (for future reference, "go down the mountain" actually means, "turn right, go to the top of the mountain, and then go down). Needless to say I got ragged on for that one. After she got there and some extended family left, we went to Patti’s for dinner. It was delicious, but it takes so much energy for me to be around her (Patti, not Tonya… and I mean that in the nicest possible way). After dinner, we watched some tv, including Trading Spaces, which inspired my mom to want to redesign the master bedroom. So after getting home, we proceeded to come up with a design plan (and it’s pretty cool, if I do say so myself… which I do). Now we’ll just see how long it takes to get implemented. :-)

After the design festivities, Tonya and I proceeded to stay up much too late hanging out and talking, which of course was way fun. We also went outside to look at the stars, which, as is typical at my parents’ house, were beautiful. Good times.

Sunday morning, we got up and went to church with my parents and brother. They go to a house church called… actually, the name escapes me. It was an ok service. I tend to be fairly cynical about church stuff these days, but I thought the pastor had some really good stuff to say about christians needing to live in the here and now and not be so focused on the impending "end times" that they forget about their task of loving people. Makes sense to me. The end of the world may or may not be coming soon, but being in the here and now is the immediate task, not focusing on escaping in some potentially impending rapture (especially since people have been reinterpreting the end times stuff in the bible to fit the current day ever since, well, ever since it was written). These days, end times ideas seem to have a lot more to do with merchandising and getting out of thinking about what needs to happen in the world now than anything else. I’m sure there are some good motives, but like I said, I’m cynical. Just my $0.02.

After church, Tonya and I drove into Lynchburg and went to Lowes to gather paint samples for the bedroom redesign, Wal-Mart for me to use my gift card (thanks Marsh Family) and get some cds (I got Daniel Bedingfield - Gotta Get Thru This and Sixpence None The Richer - Collage - A Portrait of Their Best), and ran a few other errands. We were planning to eat at the Drowsy Poet (a great coffee shop) but didn’t realize it was closed on Sunday. Then we were going to eat at Chick-Fil-A… same situation. So we stopped at Subway on the way home. The Drowsy Poet it ain’t, but as far as fast food goes, it’s definitely tops on my list.

Sunday night, not too much happened (for me anyway). But a lot happened on Monday. I slept in (yay for breaks) and then made my way over to Mark’s apartment where Jeremiah and Ryan were waiting. We made get some food and grab some movies from Blockbuster. When we got back, Rianna and Rachel were waiting for us. Introductions were made and we got down to business. Pulp Fiction was the first movie of the day. Jeremiah originally picked it as a make-fun-of movie but after the girls’ adverse reaction and Ryan’s and my fairly positive reaction, that idea faded. My general take on the movie is that sure, there is a lot of violence and stuff that is offensive to some people, but I found it to be a very interesting commentary on the nature of redemption by showing the different paths chosen by two people who started out very similarly. Jules’ decision to give up his life of crime and change his ways is inspired by what he sees as an "act of God" while his partner Vincent sees it as a chance occurrence. This small difference of opinion takes their lives in drastically different directions. In addition to this aspect of the movie, I also enjoyed the out-of-order edit and circular plot structure… very cool.

After the movie, we all piled into Rianna’s car and headed to Roanoke to eat at the Olive Garden. There was excellent conversation (the quote from this entry stems from that) and (after we got done being lost) wonderful food (though Jeremiah found his a bit too spicy… wimp ;-). Then it was back to Mark’s for another movie.

Memento was the second movie choice. It was my second viewing, and I liked it even better this time. It’s a major "wow" type movie as far as having lots of unanswered questions at the end. Similar to Pulp Fiction, Memento is an out-of-order edit. They are very different movies though. Memento was much enjoyed by all and I highly recommend it.

Monday was such a fun day for many reasons. It was awesome to finally meet Jeremiah’s "R Posse" - Ra, Ri, and Ry. The movies were cool and the food and company great. Plus I got to see Mark again, which was really nice. Thanks to everybody involved for an excellent funado :-).

Finally, on into Tuesday (New Years Eve). I had an eye appointment in the morning, and other than getting the massively annoying dilating drops put in my eyes, it was fairly uneventful. During the afternoon I hung around and read some, until the evening. Then we had a bonfire (or "bondfire" as Ryan likes to call it) at my parents’ house and after that Ryan, Jeremiah, and I went to Mark’s apartment to hang out and watch Adult Swim’s New Years Eve Bash. It was fun to get to hang out with Ryan a little longer, but we missed having the other two Rs there. After taking Ryan home, Jeremiah and I stayed at Mark’s a little longer to talk with him and then Jeremiah came back with me to spend the night at my parents’. We got in around 3am and slept in until about 12 noon. Then it was time to head home… and that will be covered in Part 2. :-)

♫ LP-T - The Move (Original Mix)