A weekend with a bit of what seems like everything

Friday I was still pooped from traveling... made tentative Saturday plans for downtown, worked out, rested, got good sleep. Night-in, check.

Saturday I woke up and met mom for lunch and talked 'bout stuff, went directly to bartending school, came home, napped, woke up, worked out, went out (Applebee's, Sneaky Pete's, The Lodge, Axis), came back, made drunk food for guests and crashed. All that, check.

Today, woke up, drove guests to car downtown, drove straight to Canterbury for quasi-work for six hours and made a few bucks, came home to meet friend for weekly Sunday night show watching, and now here I am, trying to tell myself to go to bed so I can get up early... oh yeah, they finally got that elliptical machine, and I've finally gotten used to it.... the first few times on it my form was a bit off as I tired wayyy too fast, now it's all good. Sooo happy that I finally have that.

This week will be a scramble to finish reports and my presentation for Madison on Thursday... then I took off Friday and it should make for an interesting (CRAZY) weekend at Mifflin St. Block Party. Yikes. Then I have to drive back Sunday for my first playoff hocket game. Yikes x2. Damn it, time to sleep. Damn this sleep thing.

Two quick trips

Last week was Chicago... got to see some of the city, see Blades of Glory, take part in the Biomaterials conference, eat good food, ride the subway, and experience some of the stresses of a crammed travel schedule. This week was San Diego, with much of the same. In both cities I got to visit some friends that I would not have seen had I not traveled for work... a new perk that I never really considered. Now I'm back home for a few days which should be nice and relaxing, no plans, I'll take 'em as they come. Thursday I finish this travel spree in Madison where I get both work and play, and in the right order, work, then play. For now, I think I'll crashzzzzz

I like this...

... this trend... of big birthday bashes. Saturday was one, at a hotel downtown, with 4 rooms and plenty of people. A bit of VIP treatment at the Lodge with free drinks was great, and then it was to Drink where Alex from The Real World Denver was at (no I didn't go there for that reason), so there were plenty of oogling girls. Everyone was in good form, and in good form, I mean in the mood to dance, ha. I don't care what anyone says, it's always a freakin' awesome fun time. We got back to the hotel and grabbed junky food, and I didn't feel like ending the night... another buddy and I headed back out to wander, and ended up at Pizza Luce. My friend ended up rambling with a possible business connection and I watched as they talked what was jibberish to me but they were obviously on the same page, and my friend gave him is business card. Man would that be crazy if something came of that, a 4 am random meeting. We finally gave up, got back to the hotel, and acted goofy until we were silenced by the last silence uninterrupted with a drunk rambling attempt at humor. Good times.

Decent plan, planned a little late, but better than average outcome. Plan: B. Plan punctuality: D. Outcome: A-. Overall: B+. I'll just have to keep this up until it's an A every birthday.

Sunday hockey was good, a 7-6 win to take over sole possession of 1st place in the league. Ni-ice.

Wednesday-Friday are in Chicago for work, should be a nice change and I get to see Chicago for the first time.

Oh, and it's still a good streak. 35 and counting. Tricky, and I like it.

uuuuuunnnnnnnnbelievable

Went to a bud's new place to watch the Wild (lose), then went across the street to the local tavern that had bowling... somehow we got free bowling and I didn' t have to buy any of my drinks... so I spent zero dollars. Wow. Good. Today we woke up and wanted breakfast food, and we ended up driving around Uptown to find a place. Eventually we found the Sunny Side Up Cafe, where we had to actually wait 10 minutes to get a seat. There were stickers on the wall that had numerous references to it as a great place to eat, and yes, the huevos rancheros I had made me agree. The wait was a bit long but understandable with all the people. We even had a local celeb sighting as Don Shelby the news guy was eating there. Then we leave and find the dash of my buddy's car pried off, and at first glance we all laugh thinking his car is a POS, but then we realize that the CD deck is gone too, and it's instantly not funny anymore. Unbelievable, in the middle of the day in broad daylight. And, all of his CDs were still there next to his Oakley sunglasses in plain sight. Stunning.

Tonight: we have a hotel booked at the Radisson Plaza for a sort of joint birthday. We have the room, I'm leaving in a bit to get there early and use the pool and workout facilities. Then we'll see what happens. Should... be... fun... but will it be an unbelievable kind of fun? I hope so. We'll see. Time to stop babbling. Now. Ok bye.

Where the hell...

... is this elliptical machine that my apartment complex is supposed to get? They took out the stairmaster last week on Tuesday during the day as I used it that morning and it was gone at night. My face is getting fat (the cardio gets rid of it) and my energy is slightly down. I NEED this elliptical machine. The bike in the room is horrid, and I just plain don't like the treadmill. End exercise rant.

Dang it, I might have to coordinate my friend's b-day party this weekend... and I feel I have to be the one to do it, because if I don't do it, nobody else will, and the weekend will probably suck like last weekend. It's a lady friend's b-day on Saturday as well, and she is already on top of things having booked 2 hotel rooms for her lady friends, and she asked for me to do something with the boys side. I won't get the appreciation for the planning, but I don't care as long as everyone has a good time... I hope it's a good time. Weekend report to come later...

Sometimes, I trick myself for my own good

I have grown to know my tendencies, and sometimes I try to use them to my advantage. For example, I know I have a very obsessive compulsive behavior when I find something I like, such as a new recipe for salsa (which I used about once per day for a month until I grew sick of it). Well another something I can really get into is a video game, and I know this, once I start playing it I won't be able to stop, everything else be damned. I know this from experience, as I watched it happen a lot freshman year in college. Now I just don't put myself in a situation where I can get into trouble like this -- I just don't ever play. I'll be at someone's house looking for something to do, and I always naysay that option. It works.

I recently took advantage of my tendencies in a positive way again... I have something about keeping streaks. If I've done something for X consecutive days and it would slightly amuse my fancy to keep it going, I'll do whatever it takes to keep that streak going. For example, one year for Lent, I gave up pop (that's soda, for all you yokel weirdos). Just to keep the streak going, I continued to go pop-free... for two years. Weird. So anyways, recently that streak has been fitness -- in the gym or hockey for 28 days straight now. I've been hungover, tired, or just out of time, and I've made time. I need to find more ways to trick myself...

I need I need

...something, and I'm not sure what it is. It might be something to look forward to, it might be to finish bartending school and get that second job to make new connections and make a bit of extra money, it might be to get back into poker, it might be, it might be, I don't know.

This past weekend I needed a group or someone to go out with the way I like to go out... like that one weekend that started downtown early with eats and developed slowly instead of the drink somewhere late, scramble for a ride, and get downtown at midnight with only 2 hours to go and long lines already growing. Friday I bowled in a far away location with a lot of smoke surrounded by high schoolers and groups twice that age, nothing in my range. I bowled okay, didn't have a drop, and left at midnight. Hmmph. I made a spur of the moment decision to go somewhere I hadn't been in a while... Canterbury. I played for 3 hours and made a few bucks at a lower limit than I know I can play at, but the funds just aren't there right now. It made the time seem a bit worthwhile. Oh well, there's Saturday at least.

Saturday was productive, food shopping and toiletries were taken care of, oil change, and a workout. I scrambled for plans and found everyone going somewhere that I honestly hate going.... back to White Bear, with all the kids I don't miss from high school in a smoky bar with a bunch of tough guy thugs I'd rather not share space with. I said f that, I'm going downtown or staying in. I scrounged for plans and found two to go out with, and I was ecstatic. From Friday night, I was still in the mood to make a few more bucks so I went to Canterbury again for a few hours in hopes to make for a fancy night. I made some more, headed back to my place with a fistful of dollars and an urge to go out about to be fulfilled, and I got the call. The call to cancel at the last minute. I instantly fell off my cloud, got home, and picked a few movies to order on demand. Connecting back to paragraph one, what is it that I need, what the hell am I missing? 0 for 2 on weekend nights does not make me happy.

I woke up in a bad mood on Sunday, headed to brunch at the parents' house, and I just couldn't shake the bad mood. The food was good at least, but afterwards I stuck around just to be present as I know it makes my parents happy... but after two nights of what I would call wasted, I felt I wasted another 5 hours watching TV. The words "but it's Easter" kept me there for my parents. I was gonna stick around until my late hockey game, but I just had to get out of there and do something, even if it's just tidying up my apartment... and that's what I did. It didn't make financial sense to drive across the cities for an hour and half at home then drive back across the cities to hockey, but man, I had to do something more than sit around. Hockey time came and we killed, and I was ready for the after-game beer. I felt good about the win and decided it was my turn to buy a round, so I was first to the bar and did just that, knowing that at least a few would show up and join me as it happens every single week. One teammate that doesn't drink showed up with his friend who doesn't drink either and saw me there with 12 beers, and they tell me that nobody else is coming. I thought they were joking. They weren't. They made a few calls and I made a call and two people turned their cars around and came back... better than nothing I suppose. I stopped myself at my limit and watched 2 of the beers just sit there to waste away as I left, and I wondered what the hell happened this weekend. What am I missing?

"A" weekend

Friday was productive. Saturday day was productive, and it turned into downtown fun... Applebees happy hour to O'Donovan's for a second then to Brothers. Not usually a huge fan of Brothers Minneapolis but it was fun this time. Some stupid bar craziness hit the spot. Today I got to be lazy and watch TV, eat fast food (Wendy's #2 without cheese, only lettuce, onion, and tomato with a frosty), and play some hockey. It was a meaningful game and I actually knew some of the other players from the other team from years past. We won. And I got asked to play for the team in the summer, which is awesome. I think I may have found a year-round hockey fix. Tomorrow I have great seats for the Twins opener thanks to work, a most triumphant and pleasant surprise. ^_^