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.
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.
