Still buzzin'

I can't get over how much fun I had this weekend. Seriously, in my mind, I pictured Memorial Day weekend with great weather and me out on a pontoon with friends. And that's exactly what happened. I got a lot of sun and felt great all weekend, even in the mornings. I was even ambitious enough to get in some rollerblading this morning, even though my legs died again. Oh well, they will grow. Back to workin' for the weekend! After a few more pics, that is :) (PS the second pic is from when I grilled for Mother's Day, it's just too appetizing to not post)

A lil' bit more

Plus we just got back from the cas, and everyone won or broke even. 6 out of 6 winning or breaking even? That's a good day. Actually I just wanted to put up a few more pics:)

What a sweet weekend

Saturday night was the UFC fight. We started with a grill-out, then continued on with a keg and drinks. Everyone was riled up by the time the main fight came, and the younger champ came out on top. Not a lot of action in the fight but a lot of strategy between two of the best in the business, and very fun to watch. Afterwards we headed downtown for a few more drinks and some dancing. Just an overall fun night. Sunday morning I was awoken at 8 am by an early-rising friend who wanted to get the day going. I finally got up at 9 and we headed out for a day at a friend's house on Forest Lake. We started out with Perkins where I had steak for breakfast. Mmm. When we got to the lake house, super strong winds prevented us from using the pontoon, but the view and breeze from the lake was more than enough to keep us happy. Grilling, lawn darts, and emptying of coolers ensued. Nighttime came and for awhile we were on the pontoon blasting the radio and going crazy. By the time everyone was out, some of us were in random beds while some were in the lawn... We woke up to have our host making some good breakfast while we watched the original Batman movie with Michael Keaton. It was my favorite of the series until Batman Begins came out. Still a great movie nonetheless. I just got done cooking one more big meal on the grill, NY strips with mashed potatoes, grilled corn with cilantro butter, and some Texas toast on the grill. Soo good. It's gonna be tough getting back to work tomorrow...

WOW

...are my skating muscles out of shape!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I lasted about two miles. On rollerblades. My legs are still burning. Well, it should just get easier from here, right? It was soo much better than running, breezy and fast.

Last night was a high school reunion back in the WB. I got to see a lot of old faces and catch up a little, something I haven't done in a while.

Tonight is UFC/keg/2039402934 pounds of meat on the grill. I'm so hungry, I might sneak a quick steak...

What to do, what to do

My roommate asks me when I get home today: "So, keg and UFC on Saturday?"

Me: "Yeah."

Roommate: "What are you up to Sunday and Monday?"

Me: "I don't know."

Roommate: "Tomorrow night?"

Me: "I don't know."

Damn it. I's gots to do somethin' 'bout that.

I hope to use my rollerblades for the first time later tonight, but two things have to happen first... one, it has to stay dry out, rain ruined it at lunch today; two, I have to bust out of the tournaments I'm currently in. I've forced myself to play the past few days as I could use a few extra bucks for this weekend.

Meanwhile, there's some awesome hockey on right now. Go 8 seed Oilers!

HELL yes

I finally got my rollerblades. I went to Sports Authority after work and they didn't have the exact pair I wanted, but they had similar ones... I wanted the Crossfire 90s, and they had the regular Crossfire 84s or the Crossfire 90s with adjustable wheels. Obviously I bought the better pair. I cannot believe how much rollerblades have progressed in technology since I last bought a pair. These, I just slip on, pull a buckle, pull a string, and they're on. Perfect. It's almost the same getting them off, two buttons and I"m free. Later tonight I'll do a lap of the neighborhood. I know it'll take a little while to get used to these huge 90mm wheels but when I do, I'll be going pretty damn fast. I know I'm going to like rollerblading much better than running in my basement too, as I get a nice breeze and get to use all of the trails around my house.

On another note, I must say I'm quite disappointed with my planning... for the three day weekend, that is. Usually I'll have cooked something big up by now but I haven't, the only thing I have on my plate is UFC on Saturday night, which will, no doubt, be awesome.

Oh yeah, is it ever getting hot out... I might have to do some thinking about upgrading my car status, as I REFUSE to have to deal with no A/C resulting in me being a sweaty mess to start every hot day.

Congrats, Twins, on your new stadium. Start winning more games!

I would probably be doing some blogging over golf at this time of year, but I won't be able to golf for some time due to my drinking accident... Good thing I got those 'blades.

A weekend of retreat and the week ahead

So this weekend I went up to the boss's cabin, about 60 miles from the Canadian border. I know what the cabin life is like as my parents have one near Mille Lacs which I frequented growing up. The weather was great and the mosquitoes were out. I got some unsuccessful fishing in, a lot of fresh air (it really is noticeably fresh), and got to know some people from work a bit better. For the ride I took along Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, which is the prequel to The Da Vinci Code. I-could-not-put-it-down. I read it on the way up, while I was there, and on the way back. Almost 600 pages later, I was done. I have never into a book as much as this, not even close. It is therefore my new favorite book. I'm still stunned by how much I liked it. I'd say it's somewhat like Indiana Jones, so if you're into that sort of stuff, I recommend it. Highly.

This week I hope to get a haircut and get my rollerblades ordered. There's some smaller stuff but those two priorities are top. Updates later.

That's much better

After just a few days back into the workout routine I feel 10x better. I still can't do everything I normally do but it's good enough for now. I'd say it's a few more weeks before my stupid hand heals completely. But damn it feels good to have some energy again.

This weekend will be up north with people from work at a cabin, which should be a good time as I'll get to know everyone a little bit better. I need to pick up a fishing pole today so I can do some fishing up there... hope I catch something.

One more thing, I need to plan a trip or something so I don't feel like I'm stuck in such a routine and I have something to look forward to. Where to? Hmm... somewhere with some nightlife...

Something I have to do very badly

... is get back into shape. I can feel how much my energy level has dropped in just two sweat-free weeks. It's not cool. Friday night was a Grand night, fun and crazy as usual. But Saturday, wow, I was dead until I went to bed at 2 am. No energy to do anything it seemed. Sunday too, after cooking my mom her mother's day dinner, I fell asleep for another few hours. Just a waste of good time, in my opinion. By the way, the dinner was porterhouse steaks with grilled vegetables, steamed broccoli and garlic bread. One of my better ones and it only took an hour to make everything. Below is a pic of the veggies grillin' :) Everyday this week I'm running, period. If my hand starts to hurt, f it, I can't stand this laziness.

...damn it, my phone won't upload the pic right now, I'll have to do it later :(

A flip and a flop, then another flip

My daily routines seem to be the same for a long time, then suddenly change, then change again. I started out in November at work playing almost zero poker, and cooking a lot. January rolled around and I realized that I really did need the extra money so I hit a poker streak for awhile. It got good and I paid my roommates back and I left myself with diddly and no room for fluctutation. I then had more time to cook again and had money to buy some weights to get into better shape. I got into relatively decent shape and then I went to Madison and had a drinking accident which resulted in stitches, effectively nullifying my ability to lift and cook. So I got back on the poker every night thing and I'm glad to say it's back on the upswing. I'll be having a good weekend, that's for damn sure. And I don't mean playing poker. Friday night? Maybe Grand, we'll see. Saturday is the Pat show, maybe with a good friend who is just graduating. Sunday is Mother's Day, so I get to cook for mom on her new grill, oh man what should I make? Something to think about.

I got my stitches out today and it wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it would be. I imagined the stitch threads sticking to the scabs and hurting when pulled out, but I'm scolding my intellect as I realized that the stitches are probably made of a material that is resistant to that sort of thing. And I'm a materials scientist? Geez.

Oh yeah, since the stitches thing I haven't done a SPECK of housework the past two weeks and our place is a damn pit. Seeing how the roommates will be gone tomorrow night up to St. Cloud, I think I'll go nuts and make the place sparkle, and get some other chores like laundry and dry cleaning out of the way. Maybe I'll even have time to go food shopping.

One more thing, I plan on buying rollerblades by the end of the month, maybe this weekend. I have thought about this and seeing how I really don't like running that much, why not get to know the lakes and trails conveniently near my house on some wheels, yeah.

M- uhh, wow, let's get in a barfight on Saturday. I'll watch you win.

S- I just realized I won't be able to golf for awhile, which SUCKS!

Madi- I miss you and love you

Closer to having two hands again

Tomorrow I get the stitches off, I hope it's not too painful. I thought things were getting back to normal but I accidentally bent back my thumb and I yelped out OW. So it still hurts a lot, just not as bad as fresh cut flesh. I'm definitely losing some shape, I'll get it back as soon as I can. But in the meantime, being lazy is kind of nice;)

As for the weekend... a possible dinner for two on Friday, we'll see... Saturday, Pat show... Sunday, quality time with the mum.

Randomly, Conan is SOOOOOOOO funny, watching him now

Lots to blog

I'll start with last weekend. I went to Madison for a reunion/Mifflin Block Party/Jakeapalooza (My friend's birthday blown up because it's always on Mifflin weekend). I had been looking forward to this for weeks and I was pretty pumped. Every second I was there was an absolute blast. Well except the part where I cut myself and had to go to the ER and get 7 stitches at 3 AM on Sunday. But hey, that's just a small price to pay to see all my friends from Madi again and have an awesome time with them. I got to revisit all of my regular hangouts and I realized that I really missed them, as I have been thinking about my trip nonstop ever since it ended. I even got a number on both Thursday and Friday night only to somehow lose them in my phone. Damn. Another highlight was made up by our hosts that still lived there. They made up a Jakeapalooza sportsbook with seven categories where everyone puts money down and bets on who they think will do something first. The seven categories were: first to cry, first sex, first internal fight, first vomit, first Mifflin day pass out, first random fight, and first legal trouble. Every category had a winner, but the sex category was nulled as not everyone was there when it happened for the only time. Other than that, everyone had an awesome time picking and anticipating who would win each category. We decided that next time we would add a "first major injury" category, which I would have taken this year of course. So fun, I miss the college times like this.

Now that I have these damn stitches, I feel like I'm a cripple. I pretty much determined I can't do a workout since I can't lift with both hands and running requires painful pumping of the arms. So, I'll fatten up and work it off in a few weeks.

This weekend? Hmm, maybe I'll use my wound as a conversation starter... :)

scarred

mifflin was awesome, but i'll be recovering for awhile... i'll blog more later when i can use both hands