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.
Up early; short walk around the block before work.
Had lunch at Nicky’s Thai Kitchen in the North Side with Justin and HEAD. Got caught up on the Timesys comings and goings while gushing about having a job that does not require putting on pants in the morning.
After lunch finally shipped my old laptop to an organization that refurbishes them and gives them to school children.
Emily and I went to see our “Financial Dude” (the guy who manages our IRAs and whatnot). It appears our financial house is in order for the time being.
Stopped for dinner at the Bite Bistro in Bellevue. My hanger steak was delicious. I don’t know what’s in their sauce but I want to put it on everything I eat now. Emily had a pork loin over sweet potato that was also quite tasty.
Came home and put a fresh install of Ubuntu 11.04 on my replacement hard drive, which arrived today. Started the long process of transferring my stuff over. Also installed Déjà Dup and set up a regular automated backup scheme.
Moved my desktop computer from the basement up to the new office space. I have a sneaking suspicion that the poor climate control in the basement may have contributed to my hard drive starting to fail. The replacement drive should arrive tomorrow. Thinking of putting a small beer fridge where my computer was. Much more effective use of the space.
Up early; took a nice walk before work. Should make it a habit.
After work I made fake-meat burritos for Emily and myself. Very similar to my fake-meat tacos, only we were out of taco shells and had some huge tortillas lying around.
We decided to work off those burritos by taking an epic bike ride around the city. We rode down to the South Side trail then through Downtown and up Liberty Avenue through Lawrenceville and Bloomfield and back to Squirrel Hill. We took our time and had a nice leisurely two-hour ride.
Showered, packed up, and hit the road for home. The ride was pretty uneventful and mercifully we saw almost no traffic. There was one rain shower, which the windshield wipers handled without a hitch. We made it home in seven hours, including a stop for lunch, which was much faster than we expected.
Cooked up a frozen pizza for dinner and relaxed for the evening. Watched some local fireworks from the back deck.
Popped out to do some shopping. Picked up some new windshield wiper blades and had them professionally installed. Time will tell how they hold up.
Spent most of the day relaxing in various places outside while reading and trying to avoid direct sunlight. I had just received my copy of the 10th Anniversary edition of American Gods (one of my favorite books) and I tackled a huge chunk of it this afternoon.
Helped my 2 ½ year old nephew break in his new Cars-themed fishing pole. Caught four or five bluegill (or maybe the same one four or five times) right from the boat without even leaving the dock. Must be the bait — hot dog with mustard, including the bun. Bluegill are apparently suckers for the stuff.
We headed around the lake to a neighbor’s house for another barbecue. Ate a burger and chased aforementioned nephew around the yard before giving him a piggyback tour of the neighborhood.
Back to the cottage. Emily’s father built a nice bonfire and we cooked up some s’mores with huge marshmallows. As the fire was winding down some kids at the house two doors over were setting off some pretty large fireworks. Unfortunately they didn’t seem to have a clue what they were doing and had two misfires, one landing on the roof of the house next to us and the other right in the middle of a cluster of boats. Thankfully it seemed no permanent damage was done, but the revelers won’t be setting any off for a good while.
Drove to downtown Ann Arbor to park and walk around before lunch. Got accosted by a local cop for making a left turn in front of her. In reality, we made the turn well before she got to the intersection but had to stop for a pesky pedestrian (which she probably couldn’t see) which kept us in the intersection long enough for her to catch up and get testy. She may or may not have ticketed the people behind us who made the same left turn.
Walked a few blocks in the oppressive heat and humidity before turning back and checking the car for tickets. Finding none, we went into the Arbor Brewing Company for lunch. I had an “Olde Number 22 German Alt” and the cask ale with my burger. The German Alt was pretty smooth but still a bit heavy for such a hot day. The cask ale really hit the spot though.
On the drive up to Emily’s family’s cottage we hit a few little rain storms. As the first one began, Emily flipped on the windshield wipers and the passenger side blade promptly flew off into the distance. She assured me that she was not the one who installed it. Thankfully I did not need to see the road so we pressed on.
We arrived at Houghton Lake shortly before dinner. We sat on the porch overlooking the lake and got caught up with Emily’s folks and her sister and brother-in-law then some family friends joined us for some delicious pulled pork sandwiches and a belated birthday cake for Amy.
A few of us piled into Emily’s parents’ boat and headed out on the lake for an amateur fireworks show. The fireworks were really impressive, especially since they were going off on all sides of us. These folks really spared no expense and actually seemed to know what they were doing.
Up early; continued my new tradition of walking to Dunkin’ Donuts for a bagel on Friday. I hope the walking offsets the bagel like I think it does.
After work Emily and I hopped in the car and headed off to Michigan. Our destination is Houghton Lake but that’s an eight-hour drive which is not how we roll after work. We stopped in Ann Arbor for the night, to make the last three hours of the journey tomorrow (after visiting Arbor Brewing, of course).
