Memorial Day Weekend

It has been a really busy past week. My brother, who is serving in Iraq, came home on leave to get married to a fellow soldier. Her family is from Louisiana so we made the trip down there. It was really nice to get away for a bit as well as meet new people, see new things, etc. I am excited for them and the commitment that they have decided to make.
We also took the opportunity to see some of the sites. We went on a swamp tour and also went into New Orleans. Check out this snapper that was right outside of our boat (canoe).


The swamp was actually surprisingly beautiful. I had a great time. Overall, it was great to be with family away from work and school and everything else at home that occupies my mind constantly.
By Memorial Day we were back home and ran the BolderBoulder 10k race. I have ran it for five years straight and every time is a great experience. It is a race of over 50,000 that welcomes all to have a great time and also honors those who serve in our military. It is an interesting time right now where political differences, especially about the war, question what patriotism is and how it should be shown. I do not choose to use this site as a banner for my political views but regardless of what is taking place right now in our world I am proud to be in this country and have the rights and freedoms I have. I am proud of our flag and see it as a representation of what we have here, not a representation of a political party or current idea. It is much deeper than that. I am grateful for soldiers, especially my brother and my brand new sister-in-law who are willing to do what they do. My wife and I ran in honor of them and their sacrifices.

A work of art

The lady of the house is fairly particular about the appearance of our living quarters. After living with a group of guys for years some adjustment on my part has definitely been needed.
Over the weekend I did some preparations for my next trip up to the cabin site.....in two weeks. These preparations included lumber and a lack of storage space. I knew the spare bedroom would house everything quite well but I also knew this would not go over too well. And then like a flash of light I had a grand idea....create a work of art and its placement will be appreciated....or at least tolerated. I stacked everything in an appealing formation and waited for approval.....

GMAT? Ugh....

I had the distinct pleasure of taking the GMAT this past week. I felt like I had prepared enough to understand the format and learn some of the common tricks. I was confident in the math but knew no matter what I did I would struggle on the verbal. I ended up doing exactly as expected....kind of. I did fairly well on the math but bombed the verbal. I guess I will wait and see if my performance was good enough. Needless to say, I hope I never have to take that test again.

Oh just in case you are wondering the garden is still alive.

Gardening

My wife and I recently decided that we wanted to try our hand at gardening this summer. We planted a lot of seeds in multiple starter trays and hoped for the best. We knew that some of our choices could very well be a success but we also knew that inevitably some of them would not. Consequently, we planted a lot more seeds than we had room for and all of them seem to be doing really well so far. This weekend some of the sprouts were ready to go into the ground so we spent a few hours setting up beds and planting them. It doesn't look like much in the picture but it was a lot fo fun and pretty exciting as well. My folks had a garden for much of my upbringing so, of course we always had to work in it. Never during that time do I recall having fun working in it like we did this weekend. It's interesting how perspective changes on so many things as one gets older.

Blizzard on Weekend One

For the past little while, I have been designing a small cabin. It has been a lot of fun and a learning experience as well. This past weekend the plan was to go up to the property, cut down some unhealthy trees and do an overall layout. I brought my brother up to help out. Upon arriving, the weather was beautiful. There were a few snow drifts here and there from the passing season but overall we were ready to get to work. We worked for a few hours until it started to get dark. We decided to set up camp have a fire and take a load off.

At about nine o’clock the snow started coming down. It was light but showed signs of accumulation. The plan for the next day was to cut down a few more trees and then do the layout. This did not happen.

The next morning there was six or so inches of snow on the ground and still piling. We still managed to get some work done but opted to leave a little early to make sure we could actually get off the mountain. The schedule is already on a delay but, of course, these types of things are to be expected and I am sure it won’t be the last. I’ll be back up the first week of June to see if I can catch up.

I love my hairstylist....

....in a totally non-flamboyant way! One of my best friends has been cutting my hair for the past 3 or 4 years now. Its a great thing. I never have to tell her what I really want. I just sit down, relax and let her do her thing. Due to both of our busy schedules I had put off getting a haircut for quite sometime and right at the point where something needed to be done....she was out of town for a week. Sooo, I had to go to one of those "other" places.

I was uncomfortable from the start. Was it the stylist's foul appearance, her raspy voice, or could it possibly be her tuna fish breath 6 inches from my face inquiring about my life. You be the judge. It was all of the above coupled with the pain of trying to explain the length and style I wanted...something I have taken for granted up until now. The outcome wasn't horrible but it was undesireable. I hope to avoid this in the future.