Full of Sheet

I ate at a gas station - I admit it.

Okay, so Ms. Fit finally managed to get me to dine at her favorite restaurant (Sheetz gas station). I've been holding off for as long as I could, but the time had come. I did manage (during my hold-out) to get Ms. Fit and the entire Team Fit to delve into the world of organics and veganism too though (not fully, mind you, but at least to try some of the cuisine on the 'light' side). The recently acquired Mr. Fit is the real holdout now, Ms. Fit, and Mrs. Fit have both admitted that they like what they have tried so far (especially Mrs. Fit... her and my Alter Ego have even started shopping in our grocery stores)

Okay, so after saying time and again:

I can't eat at a gas station.

I broke down and ate at a gas station. It pains me (to some degree) to say this, but it was actually good.

I know, you are skeptical, so was I, but it was above even Jared and his Subway in quality, as well as menu diversity. Here is the play by play of the evening, it will be like you are on the date with us (I call it a date simply because MVG and I like to fuel rumors about ourselves - just for fun).

So, I left work (and I'm going to take a slight tangent here since I've put in a gas pump and all) and walked the DeeOhGee (Dog for those of you who can't spell), then fed both animals. Peptide (as always) was feigning starvation. I left home to go pick up Ms. Fit in the micro-mobile, stopping en route to fill up with gas. At this time, it was at $2.59/gallon for low-grade (we use premium at $2.79/gallon)...
time warpto do a slight time-warp here, it was $2.99/gallon for low-grade when the date ended... end of time warp.
Okay, back to 'the date'. I picked up Ms. Fit, then we went to Sheetz. It was very exciting. First, we perused the aisles – Twinkees, Ding-Dongs, donuts, the works. The coolers were bubbling with liquid HFCS (a.k.a. Soft drinks)... To the computer (yes, you order via a computer, no talking to any humans here). It was VERY sophisticated. I (slowly) ordered a 6” veggie on whole wheat with a TON of veggies... supplemented with a hot pretzel. Ms. Fit's fingers danced across the screen as she ordered a veggie wrap (good choice in my opinion). We then ate at the pic-nic tables in the parking lot watching people pump gas. Survey says:

• Food Quality – High
  
• Company Quality - High
  
• Humor Content - High
  
• over all - two thumbs up
  

From Sheetz, to the Trek store. We drooled over the new bikes (Ms. Fit would like a cyclo-cross bike), then went shopping at 'The Mall'. I picked up two shirts (with the help of my fashion advisor - Ms. Fit).

From there, we went to Starbucks for two Grande Soy Mochas (no whip), enjoyed some nice conversation, then Ms. Fit returned to her home, and I returned home to once again care for les animaux, talk to MVG on the phone, then retire to bed. Two more daze until MVG is home.

Until the next time, au revoir.

P.S. In previous posts, Ms. Fit was referred to as 'personal trainer'. This was an error, it contains too many letters, thus the new reference is 'Ms. Fit' since it has many fewer letters, and with the rising cost of gas, we don't want to overuse letters (it increases server load, which in turn makes air conditioners work harder, using more gas, and increasing the cost of 'The Internet').

P.P.S Mrs. Fit and Mr. Fit are not married to one another, Mrs. Fit is married to my Alter Ego, Ms. Fit is dating Atom.

Homecoming

So, we returned to the 'Great White North' last weekend (Aug 26 - 28). MVG has team meetings all through the following week, so we went up early for a homecoming party. The 'cast' threw a party, where there was drinking and foosball. It went until about 3am. Dang seemed to be the most wasted of all... about 2am he jumped in the pool (it is still not clear if he was naked), then crashed face first into the couch where he remained until 3.


Peptide got a new box (well, actually, it was a box that was at her former sitter's house), so here is a shot of her in it. Either the box has shrunk, or she has grown... (she is convinced the box shrunk). Day two involved some poker (Texas hold 'em)... I was the beeg weiner. Also got to ride on the micro-bike (picture to follow at a later date).

Anyhoo... that is it for now. I'm flying solo this week, I have a big date at 'Sheetz' on Wednesday with Ms. Fit, details will follow on that. It will be my first dining experience at a gas station (local cuisine). I seem to go on a lot of 'dates' when MVG is out of town... shh, don't tell!

Big News (a.k.a. - It's the end of the world as I know it)

Well, my world changed today. Tenzil has 'tendered' his resignation. His last day will be on September 2. I say this changes my world, because now my workload will double (since everything he did will now become mine). This is the news I've been anticipating for the last week.

Why this is good: This is good news from a few points of view:

• It is a great opportunity for Tenzil
  
• It shows that the IT job market is strong
  

Why this is bad:This is bad news from a few points of view:

• Tenzil and I are the only people on the team that have similar skills, so I get his workload by default
  
• There is A LOT of work going on in our areas
  
• I like having a 'like-minded' person in the next cube
  

Tenzil and I went for beer after work today to celebrate (with his fine family)... I had Arrogant Bastard Ale... it was yummy.



In other news, it came to light today that my wife wants to see Tenzil naked. I was a bit shocked, but what can you do?* Raitch also seems interested in Tenzil's nudity (as well as many others so it seems). As you can see by the photo of the chat, it is late, and people should be sleeping, so I will sign off yet again.

P.S. It seems that I am not the only one plagued with travel horrors, I learned of some woesome travel today from Marijuana Mike, I won't share them here though, those stories belong to him.

*Of course, the entire nudity thing was taken out of context, but I thought it made for some good plotlines.

Grog

For some reason, we were very groggy today... no energy. I don't think the 95 degree weather helped. A quick food of the day review, then into the activities:

1) Breakfast - Optimum Power with Blueberries, Flax seeds and Soy Milk
2) Brunch - East End Food Coop - yum (kale, potatos, tofu scramble, soy patties)
3) Afternoon snack - Toast, popsicle, smoothie
4) Supper - Baja Fresh (Veggie Burrito - me, Veggie Bare - S)
5) Eve Snack - Vegan Ginger cookies, beer.


So, this morning, we drove over to our personal trainer's place, picked her up and went to the "Jail Trail" for some roller blading (in-line skating is probably the correct term, but who's counting). No crashes today. Last time out, both the trainer and I crashed. It was a pleasent day, Sheila was just flying on her blades (as you can see in the picture).



Man, she was on fire on those blades today. We did the five mile loop, then went to the Coop. We asked the 'trainer' if she would like to come to the party up north next weekend (aka Sarnia Homecoming), but she had some plans next Friday that clashed... too bad... Retard would really like to see the trainer.

This eve, we did some 'Barnes and Nobling', when a HUGE storm hit. Got soaked running the five feet to the car. Poor Cherry was terrified when we got home (Pepper was just mad that we were late coming home to feed her).

I'm still groggy... so, I'm gonna end this now. It seems pretty boring anyway.

UPDATE: The grog is catching... look at our cat, she is groggy too!

DC Day 4 - The voyage home

Day 4... my legs are like stumps today. I forgot to mention that I ran 10k yesterday (which was preceded by a 5.5 mile run on Tuesday). I also wandered about downtown around the White House and stuff (a reverse protest was taking place with people proclaiming their love of Dubya on placards)... The few people who were protesting were doing so in a pathetic manner... using 8 1/2" x 11" bits of paper with "Stop the War" printed on them. Not very effective next to the "We love ya Dubya" 8 1/2' x 11' placards.

So, I finished part one of my work by lunch, Mr. Gamgee and I went to an Afghan restaurant to celebrate. It was a buffet... Huff (HBO) was the host, waiter, busboy, etc. Mr. Gamgee packed a lot of food into his chops... it was mighty tasty though (I had a kidney bean dish, rice and bread with water - Samwise had mounds of meat and other animal bits).

I left for the airport at about 1:40 (in an effort to get on an earlier flight going standby). I was originally scheduled to leave DC at 6:30pm, but there is (was) a flight at 4:15pm. I had called our travel corp on Tuesday about switching... they said it would cost $45, but the flight was underbooked, so I could just show up and go standby. So, upon arrival at the airport (more than 4 hours in advance of my original flight), I went to the ticket desk and asked how to get on standby...
"Click here... there... okay, that is an extra $200"

WHAT??!?

Apparently, there is a standby fee', and the flight at 4:15 is a "costlier" flight. I'm not sure how that can be, since they serve NOTHING on the flight (unless fuel prices at the time they filled that plane jumped, then fell again in time for the 6:30 flight)... so, here I sit in the airport... it is 5:46pm...

Let's talk about airport food. Choices in this particular section are:

1) Cinnabon
2) Auntie Annie's pretzels
3) Some deep fried chicken stand
4) Great Steak and Potato (although, the closest thing they have to a steak is a hot dog)
5) Pizza

Fat, Grease (okay, technically also fat), Sugar, flesh. Yup, all the basic food groups are there.

I'm in the corner finishing my water, and thanking myself for bringing a Soy Milk drink box and spare Clif Bar. What is it about my luck with airports? I dunno, maybe all people are travel impaired, but I'm feeling cursed or something.

Okay, 11 minutes until boarding (no plane yet though, so unlikely)...
According to the airline website, this flight has a 69% chance of being on time. The next flight has a 51% chance, then the one after has a 39% chance... The flight I wanted to get on had an 85% chance of being punctual. Interesting.

Okay. Bye.

UPDATE:
There was no wireless in the DC airport, but I'm now home. 9:29 pm... 3 hours from the time my flight left DC. Amazing. So, the reason that I couldn't go standby was the fact that I had luggage to check (hence the change fee), if I only had carry on (carrion), then I could have gone to the gate and asked if there were open seats...

So, back from that tangent (you'll see where I'm going), the reason it is 9:30 is the fact that I waited for an hour (this particular airline is famous for slow baggage retrieval), then went to the 'lost luggage' desk. One agent - many, many people lined up to complain. By the time it was my turn, they looked at my luggage sticker thingy and said "oh, we have that here, it came on the earlier flight". Ugh.

Signing off... tired in Pittsburgh.

D.C. Day 3

Eat it up...

Lunch - Chipotle Mexican. I had the Fajita Burrito (veggie of course). It was a lot like Qdoba, except they serve booze (I had water). Supper - Bombay Palace. I had the Aloo Gobi, Aloo Paratha Bread and a Veggie Samosa to start it all off. Kingfisher beer washed it down.

So... what is the news of the day other than food? Good question. I could spew some work stuff out, but that would put both the author and reader to sleep. The only real news is that I found out our Integration consultant (Gigantor) was given notice that his last day is on Friday.

This is the Canadian in the US Capital signing off for another day... bye.

D.C. Day 2

Another day done.  Spent the day at ACC working on Infrastructure diagrams, and composing a report of the current state of the Infrastructure, as well as next steps to be taken.

Lunch today was Baja Fresh - a lovely Veggie Bare Burrito (sans cheese and sour cream).  I also had the 'Pronto' Guacamole.  My search for sunglasses was again fruitless.  It appears you cannot buy sunglasses in D.C., perhaps I have to pull some off of somebody's face to get a pair.  It is a shame that mine are in Pittsburgh, while I am here.

Supper was "The Thai Place" on Pennsylvania ave.  Yum.  Veggie Green Curry, followed by Mango & Sweet Sticky Rice.  A bottle of Sam Adams washed it all down.  Samwise Gamgee went with me to the Thai Place, discussed work (in particular, the lying Boy Wonder).

Other than that, not much going on.  Started the day with a 5.5 mile run, went to the Gym to do some weights after work.  Tomorrow, a 10k (6.2 mile run), and perhaps a visit to the Mall and Smithsonian after work.

Until then... bye.

D.C. Day 1

After a rushed experience at the Pittsburgh airport (20+ minutes to get boarding pass, 30+ minutes to get through security, 10 minutes to get to gate, then immediately board the plane), I arrived in Washington D.C. as scheduled. The flight was uneventful (other than the bad breath of the passenger next to me... if only he wouldn't have been breathing...). I got to the hotel, checked in, unpacked and was at the ACC before 9:15am.

I spent much of the day working on network diagrams and the like - boring, no details on that here. The highlights of the day were: 1) lunch - Yellow Thai Curry 2) Supper - Aloo Chole, Roti Bread, Samosa. 3) Georgetown - walked about 5 miles in and around Georgetown, some very nice bicycle shops.

Other than that, nothing else to report. I was beat from getting up early and having an intense weekend of activities. Perhaps Day 2 will have more to offer.

Bye for now...

The re-awakening

Bone Fricken Idle

Okay, okay. I'm lazy. The first step is to admit it. I have neglected the blog for long enough. I mean, it was hard to top the 'Trip to Nowhere', but I guess there are other tales to tell.

Where to start? Our personal lives have been a mix of good and bad. Good is the fact that we are managing to get in a lot of cycling... bad because work seems to be invading and corrupting what once was our sanctuary. I'm not sure why, but there seems to be SO much more work now that we've moved, yet at the same time, the work seems so much more trivial and meaningless.

The problem with work is, well, how much can we say about it. Even though this blog site has nothing to do with work, is our private domain and such, apparently, people can get fired for talking about work in a blog:

Fired Blogger.

So, that is it for now. The blog is alive and well, and waking from its hibernation. Next week, I go to "our nation's capitol", so some very interesting stories should come of it.

Bye.