nanovivid

I’m a little late on getting around to this, but whatever. The weekend before last, we took a trip to Pennsylvania for Bryan’s sister’s wedding. The wedding was lovely, the food was amazing, and the hotel was… odd. We stayed at the Golden Plough Inn in very country Peddler’s Village. Our room had a lovely farm animal theme, complete with a wood cutout of pigs suckling. Confusingly, even though we were in room 108, there were two flights of stairs required to reach the actual quarters. Even though the accommodations were a bit strange, it was a nice time. Since Bryan was in the wedding, I took a bunch of pictures with his fancy camera which he’s going to post at some point. However, the camera was apparently in the wrong autofocus mode, so a lot of them didn’t turn out so well. Here they are anyway. Oh, and there was a massive thunderstorm during the outdoor reception, so that was exciting.

After the wedding (and breakfast at the Cock ‘n Bull… no, seriously), we drove on to visit Dave and Olivia. They already posted a nice summary of our activities and some pictures, so be sure to check those out. It was great to see them again and to finally get to experience firsthand the amazing work they’ve done to their house (even if the fact that it’s a row house lead Bryan to remark that their neighborhood was “like The Wire”).

We also took the opportunity to visit IKEA, where I picked up some white DIODER lights for my desk, replacing the halogens I had previously. Even though the LEDs are a little flourescent-ish, they put out barely any heat and are wonderfully diminutive.

The trip was very enjoyable and I definitely want to get back to Philly at some point in the future. Due to poor planning and research, we missed out on all the museums, so that’s at least one reason arrange another visit. I could probably pass on a second Peddler’s Village experience though.

♫ Sigur Rós - Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur

This may be the last chance I get to blog from the house I grew up in, so I’m going to take advantage of it. We’re here because my dad is getting remarried this evening (congratulations, dad!).

Last night was the rehearsal, of course, followed by a delicious dinner catered by amazing caterers who must have had magic powers. There were only two of them, but somehow they were everywhere at once and managed to keep everyone’s drinks full and empty plates cleared immediately.

Now we’re at my dad’s house, enjoying the wonderful dial-up one last time. It’s weird realizing that I’ll probably never be coming back here again. Even though I haven’t lived in this house for years, there’s still part of me that is going to miss it.

♫ Tim Hecker - Rainbow Blood

Apparently it’s the season for people to visit us. A couple weeks ago, Courtney came up and hung out for a few days (she may have had a job interview somewhere in there too). Then last weekend, my brother and his girlfriend came to visit. Then this weekend, Dave and Olivia will be here for an overnight stay. For some reason, nobody comes to Cleveland when it’s nice, preferring to enjoy the lovely snow and frigid cold.

Bryan and I are also trying to decide who we’ll be going to see this summer. I really want to go out to see Jeremiah and Arthur in California, but we might be too poor for that after buying our house (at least according to Bryan). We also might finally go see Dave and Olivia at their place in PA. Does anybody else have vacation proposals?

♫ Loveninjas - My Lust Is Dead

We made it home safely today without any deadly shampoo or toothpaste incidents on the plane. I’m glad the government is protecting us from that threat.

Best part of being home? Escaping the 80-plus percent humidity that plagued St. Louis while we were there. The trip was super fun, but the heat was a bit intense, to say the least.

Bryan has posted some pictures of the trip. I might put some up later this week. We’ll see.

Hanging out with Eric and Kristin was a lot of fun this weekend. It’s good to be home though!

Yesterday after dinner we went to Vintage Vinyl where Hyperbubble was playing. Their music is pretty fun, but they have this one song called Leon that is extra special. Go listen to it, then come back. Catchy, no? I especially like the meows that are interspersed throughout. Bryan decided that Leon needed to be the ringtone on my phone when he calls me, replacing his previous choice of Grillz.

I also (shockingly) picked up a few albums while we were there. After Hyperbubble was done, the store was playing The Eraser (the new Thom Yorke album) and I couldn’t resist buying it. SO GOOD. The Knife, The KLF, The Magnetic Fields, and Ralph Myerz and the Jack Herren Band were my other purchases. There seems to be a bit of a “the” trend happening witch my choices. Interesting.

Today we’re going to see Chihuly in the Garden, which is supposed to be excellent. There also may be some Geocaching. As long as we don’t get heatstroke, it should be a fun day.

♫ The Magnetic Fields - I Don't Believe You

Today, my hair product became a threat to national security. This morning at the airport, they stole it from me to make sure that I wasn’t going to bring down the plane due to the fabulousness of my hairdo. Of course, I’m not bitter at all (assholes!).

In spite of that rough start to the day, we’ve had fun so far in St. Louis. We visited the arch and took shelter next to it during a major rainstorm. We also learned the important life lesson that The Old Spaghetti Factory doesn’t serve lunch portions. Instead, you get salad, your entree, bread, a drink, and ice cream whether you like it or not. So we had quite an unexpectedly large lunch. Good, but large.

Tonight we might be going for some yummy martinis at Baileys’ Chocolate Bar. Mmmmm… chocolate martini.

In other news, we just learned that the Bradford pear has weak crotches. *snicker*

♫ Dead Disco - The Treatment (Metronomy Remix)

Tomorrow we’re heading to St. Louis to visit my brother and his girlfriend. It’s been a while since we’ve seen them, so it’ll be cool to hang out. Plus I’ve never been to St. Louis before! I hear that they have some kind of an arch? I’m thinking about seeing that. Eric has promised to bring the restaurant hookup, and I think we’ll be visiting some gardens and some other fun things. If I’m feeling really motivated, maybe I’ll even start actually using my Flickr account. Don’t count on that though. St. Louis, here we come!

♫ The Long Winters - Carparts

Thanks to the magic of the off-season, Bryan and I are taking a long weekend trip to Niagara Falls. We’ll be staying at the Embassy Suites Niagara Falls (which, you’ll be pleased to know, has a “Suite View of the Falls”) in one of the fancy Fallsview Suites. With a jacuzzi!

As part of our 2-Night Package, we even get two complimentary alcoholic beverages each evening. Which will no doubt serve to make the trip all that much more lovely.

To prepare for the trip, I’ve enlisted Googleism to help me learn about Canada. For example, I have learned that Canada is dangerous, Canada is a flax leader, and Canada is very concerned about the continuing sale and use of illegal satellite decoding equipment. You don’t say!

Now that I know all about Canada, I’m ready to go have some fun, eh! (Oh, come on, you know I couldn’t write a whole entry about Canada without an “eh” joke. That would be like a certain someone I know going a whole day without talking about farts. Or poop. Or cheap booty.)

♫ Benny Benassi - Who's Your Daddy

I’m not going to apologize for not blogging, because I’ve decided to stop feeling guilty about it. Lately it’s felt like a chore to write anything, and I don’t want my site to be something I feel obligated to work on. I think it’s better for my posts to be less frequent if I enjoy them more that way.

Now that my non-apology is out of the way, here are some things I’ve been up to recently:

• Redesigning Bryan’s site. It’s all raspberrylicious now. But you probably already knew that!

• Visiting Bostonia again and had a fabulous time with Jeremiah, Arthur, and RyanHarne.com. Highlight of the trip (apart from finally getting to meet Arthur): the crazy drunk guy that we saw twice on the T who told loud, disjointed stories about whatever crossed his mind, including the price of dry cleaning a shirt in the 1930s.

• Seeing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (while in Boston). I absolutely loved it and recommend that you stop whatever you’re doing and go see it now. Seriously, put down that highly educational textbook and go rot your brain. It’s worth it.

• Learning Ruby by reading Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby. It’s by far the most bizarre, original, and enjoyable programming book I’ve ever read. There are cartoon foxes, aliens, elves, and, yes, chunky bacon. Ruby seems like a pretty cool language, so I’ll probably figure out some sort of project to write just so I can learn it.

• Trying to get over a sinus infection-ish thing. Ugh.

• Not going biking like I wanted to because of said sinus infection-ish thing. Double ugh.

• Being way too entertained by the phrase “chunky bacon.” But really, it’s pretty fun. Try it!

Chunky. Bacon.

♫ Gus Gus - David

Today I’ll be spending much of the day in the car driving to Pennsylvania (and back) for Tonya and Andrew’s wedding. She’s one of my best friends from college and it’s been a while since I got to see her, so I think the drive will be worth it. Just maybe!

It’s times like these that science really needs to get its shit together and invent transporters already. Come on, science!

I think today would be a good day to end every paragraph with an exclamation point!

So I’ll be on the road between 1 and 4:30 pm, then again later tonight, so call me if you want. It would make me happy!

♫ Sigur Rós - Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása