Moved more files and stuff up to the new office. I feel like I’m building a fort of file cabinets in there.
We walked to Tutti Frutti where we had to get 8 dollars’ worth of frozen yogurt to satisfy the demands of Emily’s Groupon. I believe I sweated out the whole of my yogurt on the walk back.
Watched Gran Torino from Netflix. Really great film. Who knew Clint Eastwood could do such a good grizzled old man? The “get off my lawn” line was delivered perfectly.
Took our first “real” shopping trip to Costco to prepare for our party. We got a great deal on snack foods and Mexican Coke, but I don’t see it being very useful for our everyday grocery shopping needs.
Party time! Lots of great conversation with friends. It seems a good time was had by all, especially Mike, whom I’ve never heard laugh louder.
I debuted my homebrew and got some useful notes and criticism, but overall it was well-received. I have a good idea of where I can improve things next time.
Internet connection was dead most of the morning. It’s really hard to telecommute when the tele- part goes belly-up. Luckily it came back before lunchtime.
Took a bus downtown for the gallery crawl. First time I’ve paid bus fare since… forever I think. I miss my Pitt ID.
Met up with Emily and some friends and toured some exhibits. There was some art being created live at SPACE by artists and by onlookers. Pretty neat. Wood St. Galleries had an Icelandic exhibit which was… weird. There was one room where they lock you in the dark for five minutes. Another where they had a candle being magnified against the four walls of the room by magnifying lenses, but one of them was out of focus. I must admit I didn’t “get” most of it (like the guitar player guy with the buzz saw lowering into his head and retracting) but then I don’t really get Bjork either.
A couple of our companions had a Groupon for Olive or Twist, so we stopped by there for drinks and a bite to eat. The main bar area was full so we headed up to the very swanky upstairs lounge. I was pleasantly surprised to see East End Fat Gary on tap. Emily got some godawful drink with olives and vodka (yes even Boyd & Blair can be ruined by adding olives).
Headed out to Dormont for the screening of the 48 Hour Film Project. My buddy Ted was in one of the films, and he killed as a fence (the criminal type) on the streets of the South Side. Some of the other films were great, others not so much, but that’s a pretty good result for a slew of films made within 48 hours.
Emily and I hit up Tom’s Diner for dinner. They make a pretty decent burger and Emily seemed to enjoy her club sandwich. I’d like to catch them for breakfast some time but that’ll more likely happen at the South Side location.
After work we were both pretty tired so we ordered in some Chinese food and relaxed around the house for a while.
Killed some more weeds in the back yard. We’re actually gaining ground now. It’s a bloodchlorophyllbath back there. Not pretty, but it must be done.
My homebrew is finally finished. It’s supposed to be a “robust porter” but I’m not so sure about the “robust”ness. It might help if I actually drank it cold.
Finished re-reading American Gods. Every bit as good as I remember. Still one of my favorite books of all time.
For lunch I poured the leftover turkey/spaghetti sauce from last night over some also-leftover rice form last week. Surprisingly tasty. I should start a bizarre-leftover-combination food blog.
Emily made chicken with pierogi and peas for dinner. Yum.
Went for another walk after dinner. This time with Emily. Walked in the other direction just to mix things up.
Played around a bit with Google+. I like the user interface. It’s really well thought-out. it doesn’t get in the way as much as I remember Facebook doing. The interface actually reminds me quite a bit of Diaspora*, which makes me sad in a way because now it’s even less likely to take off. Still, the ideal outcome for me is for Google+ to become king of the hill, then start supporting OStatus, so I can leave it and communicate with everyone from my StatusNet account.
Made spaghetti with ground turkey and Newman’s Own Sockarooni sauce for dinner. Delicious, if I do say so myself.
Worked a little on a hobby project. One of the things I like least about application programming is how you don’t have much to show off before you write the UI. And I don’t like writing UIs.
Finished off the evening with some Mass Effect. Only a couple of missions left. Then I don’t know what I’ll do with myself.
Up early; to church. Today’s “sermon” was about a new “behavioral covenant” proposed for adoption by the congregation (The quotes aren’t ironic. The Unitarian Universalists tend to use very specific terms). There were seven proposed rules which are inspired by the seven guiding principles of the congregation, essentially meaning (to me, anyway) that they are things that the congregation should be doing already. They were also very specific that these were not meant to be enforceable rules but guidelines for a self-governing congregation. I’m not sure what the point is, then. They’re basically saying that you should abide by the principles of the church or excuse yourself from it, but most members of the church were drawn to it by those principles, so they will have already made their choice. This sort of thing (rules designed by committee, which aren’t enforceable, and don’t really add anything to the discussion) is why I’m reluctant to become a full member of the church, and is an example of why I find organized religion in general unappealing.
After church we went to the Gypsy Cafe Geek Brunch. Today’s theme was “Joss Whedon”, which meant dishes inspired by and named after Whedon creations like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly. I had the “Serenity Scramble”, which is steak and eggs scrambled together with home fries, while Emily had the “Captain Hammer Crepes”, which were… crepes. Very tasty all around, especially with a little Frank’s Red Hot thrown in.
Stopped by Costco and signed ourselves up for a membership. Our first purchase will likely be a new set of tires for my car. Our second will likely be a pallet of peanut butter.
For dinner we made our way out to Wings, Suds, & Spuds in Moon and met up with Greg and Jim. The teryaki wings are still delicious, as are the fries. We ended up BSing for a couple of hours after eating, until the place started filling up and we finally freed up our table.
Home for some Mass Effect (really really almost done now!) and bed.
Up late. Emily made bacon and eggs for breakfast. There was apparently some mishap with the bacon, as I found some outside on the deck later today. It was black.
Bombardier company picnic at Kennywood. Wonderful time even if it was a bit warm for my taste. Got a free lunch and didn’t win any door prizes. Rode the Old Railroad, Phantom’s Revenge, Noah’s Ark, Sky Rocket and of course, the Thunderbolt. The Sky Rocket was pretty cool. Reminds me of a smaller version of the old Steel Phantom, with a loop and a corkscrew and a similar aesthetic. It doesn’t go as fast, however, and the restraints are not nearly as annoying. Ran into my cousin Elizabeth as we were leaving. She was there with her friends. Tried not to embarrass her.
Stopped at the Waterfront to catch Super 8. Really enjoyed it. The movie itself plays like an old Super 8 flick only with a budget and competent direction (which, I suppose, is the antithesis of those movies), and the kids’ finished film during the credits killed me. Killed me.
Up early; thunderstorm got in the way of my morning walk/bagel. Pity.
Emily made Brazilian chicken over rice for dinner. Delicious.
Watched Team America: World Police a mere seven years after it was first released. Hilarious flick, and I like that they treated it like a real action movie and let the humor come out through the puppets.
