Unfortunately for me, the CFO isn’t a big fan of cake… that is bad for me because I am a HUGE fan of cake. I love cake and will jump at any opportunity to consume a slice or two or three, as long as it isn’t German Chocolate or Red Velvet. In a vain attempt to appease both of us (yes, I know it is her birthday, not mine!), I hopped online and found a recipe for an apple cake… She said a dessert with apples in it, so, even though it is cake I wasn’t technically breaking the request since it had apples in it.
Saturday was cold and rainy, so I fired up my trusty red kitchen aid mixer and made the apple cake while she was at work for a morning conference. The cake turned out well, although I have a few alterations that I’ll try the next time that I make it. Yes, I think that I can improve on the recipe. It was still raining at dinner time, so I ventured back into the kitchen and made some sausage and red bell pepper risotto for dinner… what can I say, I have mad kitchen skillz.
UGA’s football team had the week off, so I wasn’t stressed out over football this weekend. (Don’t ask me why I care so much, I just do!) ISU and JMU both won, while Virginia continued their recent losing ways… not sure why they are so bad this year, but it was painful to watch.
On Sunday, we went to church and ran some errands and then I hurried us home so I could watch the Red Bull Stratos jump live. For those of you who haven’t heard about it by now (it was all over the news after it happened), Red Bull was sponsoring a team that was trying to break the record of the highest jump which was set in the 60’s at around 105,000 feet. I’ll give you a moment to think about that… most jets travel at 30-40,000 feet and there are 5,280 feet in a mile.
The Stratos jump had been postponed a few times over the past couple weeks due to high winds that could damage the huge helium balloon that was going to take the jumper, Felix, in a pressurized capsule up to the planned jump elevation of 120,000 feet. He ended up jumping from about 128,000 feet or 24 miles above the ground. He was two miles short of falling a marathon's distance. That is absolutely crazy! The jump was a success and he broke the speed of sound on the way down. I believe his top speed was around 820 miles per hour and his free fall lasted for almost 4.5 minutes before he opened his parachute. Can you imagine falling for 4.5 minutes? Kind of like those falling dreams where you wake up in a cold sweat... or maybe that is just me.
I thought it was really cool to see happen live, the CFO wasn’t quite as impressed. Here is a link to one of the videos if you haven’t seen it, the view as he steps off the edge of the capsule is wild.
After the jump, I tried to plant some daffodil and tulip bulbs in the back yard, but I was chased back into the house by another heavy rain storm. The CFO said she didn’t know anyone else who enjoyed “working” in the yard as much as I do… and that she also didn’t know anyone who was disappointed when they couldn’t get out there and work due to weather. What can I say? I find it relaxing and like seeing some results from all my effort.
We also spent some time trying to nail down the details on our upcoming trips – we are going to be on the road a lot in November – January, stay tuned for updates. We’re going on some trips together and she is going on even more without me… so many total trips that I finally had to ask for her to write it all down for me. Yes, I need an itinerary for the upcoming months; there is that much going on. Not that I’m complaining about it, as I haven’t really been anywhere since we went to Denver in the spring… unless you count the trips to the Indy 500, a weekend at Indiana dunes or the Georgia game in Missouri…. Well, ok, so I have been some places this summer… heck I guess I am a bit spoiled when the trips listed above don’t “count” because they weren’t very far from home. That being said, I’m still ready for a dramatic change of scenery and the opportunity to dip my toes in the ocean!
November also means that we’re closing in on election time; I can’t wait for this one to be over! I’ve been biting my tongue a bit around neighbors and the CFO’s co-workers. Sometimes I really want to interject, but don’t want to get into a long discussion so I just keep my mouth shut. Heck, I was even pretty well behaved when her parents were visiting… her mom and I do not agree politically, so I do enjoy making political jabs at her whenever possible. I will say that election time has made me really miss my old co-workers in GA. A lot of my political opinions were vastly different from the majority of them and we had some very interesting discussions about them. I can still remember seeing their jaws hit the floor after some of my statements… good times indeed. I thought about stirring things up on this blog, but decided that I didn’t want to potentially alienate any of the few people who read this!
No comments:
Post a Comment