Movie weekend

I got a good laugh at work today while listening to the radio at work (I pretty much listen to the radio all day, unless I am listening to a podcast on my phone).  The University of Illinois, which is an hour southeast of us, was advertising season tickets for this coming football season.  The first laugh came because they have to advertise that tickets are on sale.  That would never happen back home at UGA, except maybe if the team had a long run of bad seasons.  The bigger laugh (yes, I actually laughed out loud) came when the ad announced that you can get a set of tickets for all 7 home games for $99.  I about fell out of my chair…  $99 season tickets that don’t require a “donation” to the GA Fund is what every Bulldog fan dreams of!    Hell, I’ve paid almost that much for ONE ticket to a single UGA game.  I’m definitely not living in football country anymore!

The CFO and I went out with two other couples for dinner and a movie on Friday night.  At dinner, we told the story of getting pulled over to our friend who got a ticket a few months ago (in a Prius, no less!).  She started laughing when we told her that we got pulled over (she really enjoyed the fact that we got stopped), so I sped the story up and said, “but he let us go with a warning.”  You should have seen her face immediately switch from a happy “ha, ha, I’m not the only one to get a ticket around here” to a stern “what the hell do you mean you didn’t get a ticket?” look.  It was priceless; I wish we had it on video.

After dinner, we went and saw “The Internship” with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn.  I wasn’t sure how good it would be, but I actually laughed a lot during it.  After seeing all the images of the google facility during the movie, it was a little depressing to go back to my homely office on Monday morning.  I can’t imagine working in a place with slides, sand volley ball courts, napping pods and free food.  That would be pretty cool.

The rest of the weekend was laid back, with exception to an especially brisk Saturday morning.  we made a run to the farmers market, the grocery store and the gym and were home by 10:30am.  Serious efficiency was displayed. 

The remainder of the day was spent watching a movie, working in the yard, going out for pizza and watching another movie.  Some how, we’ve fallen behind on movies and we ended up making a serious push to catch up over the weekend.   Some of them were a little chick-flicky, but they all had their merits.  We watched:  Silver Linings Playbook (a little dark/twisted, but interesting), Guilt Trip (occasionally funny, but a little predictable), and Safe Haven (the chickiest of the 3).  There are still a few out there that we want to watch, but with company coming the next two weekends, I don't know when that will happen.  Evidently June/July is the busy time for our Bed-n-Breakfast, I just don't understand why people don't want to come visit in the winter time.

Weight watch update:  We hadn’t been to the other gym location in a while, so it has been a couple months since I was last on a scale.  We finally went to that location on Saturday and I can report that I have made more progress, dropping 3 pounds since the end of April.  I’m happy to say that I’m still eating potato chips, candy and cookies, so to still see progress is nice.  It just goes to show that if you burn enough calories, you can almost eat what ever you want.  Personally, I would hate to have to go on a serious diet, especially since leafy greens and my stomach don’t get along.  I also just renewed our gym membership for another 6 months; nothing motivates me more than knowing that I have pre-payed for 6 months of dues!   I’ve paid for it, so I better use it.

Starting weight (Nov 2012):  178 lbs.

Dec 30, 2012:  176.6 lbs.

Jan 19, 2013: 176.6 lbs.

Feb 9, 2013:  173.4 lbs.

Feb 23, 2013 172.4 lbs.

April 13, 2013 170.0 lbs.

April 26, 2013 169.4 lbs.

June 22, 2013 166.4 lbs.

150's here I come!

Tennessee trip

Unfortunately, my “lucky day” experiment of buying a lottery ticket on the day that I just received a warning after being pulled over for speeding didn’t work out.  My plan to join the much hated “1%” via the Powerball game was a bust; I didn’t even have one matching number.  Oh well, it was worth a try.  Myth Busted.

The CFO and I spent the week working during the day and hanging out with my mother in the evenings.  It was really nice to have mom around for the week and I think she enjoyed the downtime that she had while we were at work each day.  There are no grand kids to chase around at our house!  Since mom knows her way around a sewing machine, I requested that she bring hers on the trip so she could help us with a little project: 

The outdoor chairs that I rescued from a neighbor’s trash pile last year were attacked by squirrels over the winter and the back supports got a little chewed up.  We picked out some outdoor fabric and mom sewed them into covers for the backs of the chairs.  They turned out well, although the fabric seems more appropriate for a view of the ocean and not corn stalks swaying in the wind.

On Friday evening after work, the three of us got into the car and we headed south to Tennessee.  It took a little longer than expected, but after almost 9 hours on the road, we finally arrived at our destination at around 1 am in the morning.  The following day, we went to a wedding celebration for one of my cousins who got married while she was volunteering overseas.  It was a great opportunity to catch up with aunts, uncles and cousins that we hadn’t seen in years, some since our wedding 6.5 years ago.

The CFO and I made the return trip home on Sunday, making a 10 mile detour off the interstate so that we could to eat lunch at Zaxby’s, a restaurant chain that originated in my home town of Athens, GA.  I haven't had any Zaxby’s chicken since we moved almost 3 years ago, so it was nice to enjoy some chicken strips and their delicious dipping sauce.  I don’t know why I am so sentimental about so many food joints, but I am.  I briefly thought, "maybe I should open a Zaxby's in Bloomington."  A quick trip to their website leads me to believe that I won't qualify...  They require a minimum $400k  in liquid assets and $700k net worth.  How much is a 1995 miata worth?!

There was a lot of construction along our driving route and, on the ride home, I was totally frustrated with people’s inability to merge when a lane was closed for construction.  We didn’t have this problem on the way out, but evidently all the idiots were out driving on Sunday, causing a total cluster at each construction zone.  Merging is a simple concept; it sure isn’t rocket science, people!  What infuriated me even more were the people who thought that they were so special that they could zoom past the line of people who already merged and then try to squeeze in right before the construction cones block the lane. 

As you might imagine, I went out of my way to make sure that they did not pull in in front of me.  When I see them coming in my mirror, I make sure that my front bumper is glued to the back bumper of the car in front of me in order to eliminate the possibility of them merging in front of me.  I enjoy the frustrated looks that I get from them when I don’t let them in, like I’m the a-hole or something… Sorry, but it isn’t my fault that you either (a) can’t read the big, freaking signs that warned of this merge 2-3 miles ago or (b) you think that you too good to merge in ½ mile ago like everyone else. Either way, you will not be allowed in front of me.  I enjoy watching how many vehicles behind me deny them entry into our lane and always feel a bit disappointed when someone finally lets them in.

We finally made it home at around 6pm, tired and wondering where the weekend went.   Note to self:  1100 miles round trip is a lot of driving to spend a single day at the destination.  We went to bed early on Sunday evening and that 4:40 am alarm came way too quickly Monday morning.  Despite being tired from the trip, we both still managed to roll out and head to the gym.  That’s dedication, or craziness, depending on who you ask.

She's back!

The CFO is back!  After being gone for 17 days, she finally returned on Saturday morning.  She was greeted at the airport by me and my parents, who had driven up the day before.  It was great to see my parents, we hadn’t seen them since Christmas.  We had a low key weekend spending time with them, during which we ate a lot of good food, played some of our favorite games (in which the guys dominated the gals!) and my dad and I went on a couple bicycle rides in the Illinois country side.  Dad headed home Sunday evening (determined to drive through the night, which he did) and mom is staying with us through the week.  I hope she doesn’t get too bored hanging out at the house while we go to work!  We did give her a sewing project to do, so that should keep her somewhat busy while we are gone.  I’ll post some pictures next week.   

After a week of physical therapy, my wrist is still bothering me; however, I can rotate it further than before. (Taking a weekend off from yard work probably helped it some too) Hopefully the progress will continue because I want to get back out on the golf course! 

I realized yesterday that I didn’t have much to write about this week and then something happened this morning (Wednesday) that changed that.  I was driving (the CFO was riding with me) to the gym at our usual 5am time and I was, admittedly, zipping along an empty roadway.  I was totally focused on the stupid high gas prices at the gas station on the left side of the road (over $4/gal) and missed something on the other side of the road.  I was about to comment on the gas prices when I caught a glimpse of a dark brown vehicle that was sitting off the road on a driveway that leads to a farm field.  The sun was just coming up, so he disappeared pretty well there.  Was that a cop?!?!?

He obviously didn’t miss me, as he whipped out onto the road as soon as we passed and started to follow us.  He didn’t turn on his blue lights, he just followed us up the road.  By the time that he caught up to us, I had already lifted off the gas and coasted down to within a few mph of the speed limit.  Since he didn't turn on the blue lights, I continued to drive and he followed us for about ½ mile up towards the next intersection.  I signaled and moved over to the left lane and he followed.  I signaled again and moved to the turn lane.  He followed.  Crap.

I turned left at the intersection and he continued to follow, this was not looking good.  Nothing is worse than those few moments when you know that they are going to pull you over, but they just follow you, teasing you, making you think that “maybe they won’t pull me over.”  The further you go, the more you your hopes increase that they might just let you go... But your gut still says that there is a 99.99999% chance that they are about to pull you over.  You keep one eye on your rear view mirror, just waiting for the light show.

He followed us through the turn at the intersection and then turned on his lights.   I quickly pulled over into a business parking lot, rolled down the window and turned off the car.  He walked up saying that he had clocked me at 59 in a 45 and he followed that statement with the typical, “Any reason why you are driving so fast?”  Of course I had no good reason why, other than the fact that I believe that the speed limit along that road is way lower than it should be and that the speed at which I was driving was entirely reasonable for the time and conditions... (for reference, the speed limit on other sections of this road is 55 and the roadway is no different here... so why the speed limit is lower in this section is a curiosity)

But, saying that would appear argumentative, give him the wrong impression and would probably start us off on the wrong foot, so I replied, “Nope, we are just heading to the gym.”  What else could I really say?  With that he collected my license and insurance card and went back to his car, leaving me to deal with the CFO.  Surprisingly, she didn’t have too much to say, other than the fact that this was going to cost us $$$.  He returned to our car pretty quickly and, to my surprise, he said that he was going to let me off with a warning and that I should slow it down. 

I was shocked; I have never been pulled over without receiving a yellow souvenir (citation slip) to remember the event by.  Perhaps today is my lucky day?  Just in case it is, I’m going to buy a powerball ticket for tonight’s drawing; I’d hate to miss out on my lucky day. 

The good news is that, even with the traffic stop, I was still able to make it to spin class just as class was starting... I walked into the spin room and was greeted by a friendly, “you’re late” from the instructor.

Still raining

Since the CFO has left town, all it has done is rain.  Seriously, it has rained EVERY day since she left.  Evidently I’m not the only one crying about the fact that she left town.  LOL.  Despite the sorrowful weather, I tried to push on and do some of the stuff on my list anyway.  I have been keeping an internet explorer window on the radar map so I could capitalize on any apparent breaks in the weather.   I caught one such break after work on Wednesday and was able to mow the lawn, even though it was wetter than I would like for cutting.  While mowing, the mower tried to commit suicide by ejecting the oil fill tube from the engine.  I was ¾ of the way through cutting the yard when I looked down at the mower deck and saw a puddle of oil growing around the engine.

For your reference, the lawn mower that I us is an old lawn mower from the 1980’s that originally belonged to the CFO’s dad. He was going to discard it after the self-propelled part of the mower stopped working, so I took it off his hands because I wanted a bagging mower and didn’t need it to be self propelled.  After getting the mower home, I promptly removed all the broken self-propelled guts, which made it a usable un-propelled rear bagging mower.  That was 6 years ago and the mower has been running pretty well ever since, albeit a little loud because the muffler is rusted through and sears doesn’t offer replacement parts for it any more.  Sorry neighbors.

I admit that have been eyeing the shiny new mowers at stores... (I would really like a new mower with the mulching feature) So, when I saw that puddle of oil, a little devil appeared on my left shoulder and said, "I wonder how long it will run without oil in it?”  Yes, the little devil on my left shoulder saw a perfect opportunity to run a scientific experiment that would result in me “having” to buy a new mower.

As I continued to mow and watch the puddle grow, I heard a whispering from my other shoulder, “You better stop the mower right now... the CFO will certainly accuse you of sabotage if the mower breaks while she is out of town and you have to buy a new one unsupervised.”  I mowed another strip before deciding to stop the mower and investigated the issue.  It turns out that the screw that holds the oil fill tube in place had worked its way loose.  I tightened it, but it wouldn't tighten down all the way, the hole was stripped.  I didn't have a screw that would fit, so I rolled the dice and tightened it as much as I could and hoped for the best.  Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you want to look at it), it held long enough for me to finish the yard.  The old mower lives to mow another day. 

The following day, I ran to Lowe's while on my lunch break to get a larger screw to fix the mower and decided to take a stroll through the garden section while I was there.  No trip to Lowe's is complete without a visit to the garden section, even if it is raining!  I was greeted there by a sign that read, “All trees 75% off.”  Lowe's, you have my attention.  I was in the CFO’s vehicle, which wouldn’t accommodate trees very well, so I decided to return in my car after work.  I ended up picking up two dogwoods and a small willow oak, all for 21 bucks.  Bargain.

 The Honda Accord makes a great tree hauler

 

The trees sitting in the garage waiting for a break in the weather, not bad for the price.

On Friday, I broke down and went to the doctor because of some pain in my right wrist when ever I try to rotate my hand.  He poked, prodded, and squeezed, but couldn’t identify anything… which is pretty much what I was expecting.  He sent me downstairs for xrays, in case I was suffering from a hairline fracture. Those xrays came back clear, so he is assuming that I strained/pulled/tore a ligament and it needs some therapy and time to heal.  If that doesn't help, we might have to do a more expensive scan and/or surgery.  My unprofessional opinion is that it isn't that bad, since it hasn’t slowed me down much.  Unfortunately, I can’t swing a golf club right now and while doing other tasks (like spinning a wrench or applying shaving cream to my face), I twist my hand without thinking and the pain goes shooting through my arm.  Good times.

It rained off and on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but I was still able to manage to get outside to plant those new trees and do some weed eating.  Some friends pulled up in the driveway after I had finished weed eating and they invited me to join them for dinner... They did, however, require that "I clean up first."  How rude.  On Sunday, I finally got the deck pressure washed and ready for staining/sealing, however I finished the process in the rain. (the recently recurring theme) 

Due to the rain keeping me inside, I was able to catch up on some movies that the CFO wasn't interested in seeing (that typically means action packed/gory/sci-fi):

1.      Django Unchained – A Quentin Tarantino movie, so you know it is going to probably be a little gory for people like the CFO or my mom.  It had a lot of famous faces in it including Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leo Dicaprio and Samuel L. Jackson.  I thought that they all did really well in it but Samuel L. Jackson stole the show, I thought he was hilarious in the film.  I really enjoyed this one and kind of want to see it again because I’m sure there were some subtle things in it that I missed the first time around.

2.      Jack Reacher – A Tom Cruise action-ish movie about an ex-military homicide investigator.  Some of the acting wasn’t all that great, but I still enjoyed the movie.

3.       Kill the Softly – A Brad Pitt movie… a little dark, sort of twisted and kind of slow.  Save your $1.20 at redbox and rent something else.
 

I almost forgot a funny story from Friday:  When I returned to the office after my lunch time Lowe’s run, there were two police cars parked up the road with their lights on.  A riding lawn mower was parked on the street in front of the police cars.  Interesting.  I went into the office and continued to watch the action through the window to see what was going on.  I figured out that the guy leaning against the police car was in hand cuffs and the officers had their clip boards out and were giving the lawn mower a thorough inspection.  Interesting... what is going on here?

There is a trailer park that backs up to the "small business park" that our office is in and several of the residents often drive their riding lawn mowers to the nearby store and McDonald's.  As I continued to watch, the cops talked with him some more and then put him in the back of one of the squad cars which then drove off.  Hmm… I wonder what they are going to do with the lawn mower?

My question was answered a few minutes later when a flatbed wrecker pulled up to the scene and backed up to the lawn mower.  I started laughing because it looked like they were going to impound the mower.  Within minutes, the mower was loaded up on the flatbed and away it went.  I found the whole thing entertaining, I only wish that I knew the whole story.  Existing warrant for arrest?  DUI?  It probably would have made for a good episode of COPS... It isn't every day you see a lawn mower get impounded.