Mi Ranchito

Tonight we ended the long weekend with a date night at Mi Ranchito, one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. It was a nice end to the holiday.

Word on the Street

Meghan and I are both fans of board games.  One of our favorite weekend night activities is to stay up late, have a few drinks, and play games.  Tonight we played Word on the Street, a new one that Meghan got me for Christmas but one which we hadn't yet played.  There aren't a lot of good board games for only two players, but this one qualifies, as it was a pretty fun game.

A Grassy Beach

Today we took advantage of the nice weather and the weekend to lounge in our backyard. Although we wish we were on a beach as we were here, we're at home, so we had to make do with what we had. 

Late-Night Snack

Meghan and I stayed up late tonight watching TV together, and we decided we wanted snacks, so I went to Sonic to procure them.

Fallen Chandelier

It may look like a low-hanging chandelier, but it's not hanging at all.  It's sitting on the table where it landed after detaching from the vaulted ceiling and crashing down.  Amazingly, nothing broke, except for a poor pineapple in a fruit bowl (not pictured), and fortunately no one was at the table at the time, so everyone's okay.

Camden Yards

Oriole Park at Camden Yards is generally regarded as one of the best parks in all of baseball.  I've heard many people talk about what a great park it is, and I've always wanted to go.  Since I was in Baltimore for the first time in my life this week, I had hoped to be able to go, but the original schedule didn't allow for it.  Today was supposed to be the last day, but a change of events caused me to have to stay overnight unexpectedly, and a coworker and I were able to make it to an Orioles game tonight.  So I got a chance to see the park, and it really was outstanding, and it may even be the best one I've ever seen in person.

Sitting Up Straight?

I am working on creating an office space for myself, albeit very slowly. I do plan to have a normal chair too, but I thought I would also try a balance ball chair. It is supposed to improve your posture, which mine is terrible so if it even works a little, that will be a success. But I am not sure I am very convinced about it as of now.

This way to the crab cakes.

This week I'm in Baltimore for a conference.  I'm pretty sure the most famous thing about Baltimore is crab cakes.  I figured they wouldn't be hard to find, but I didn't realized just how easy it would be.  Right as I got off the plane and walked into the airport, I saw this giant thing, basically an indoor billboard, telling me which way to the crab cakes.  So I did what any decent first-time visitor to Baltimore does, and I went to Obrycki's and had crab cakes.  Well, make that one crab cake, as it was $19.  But it was delicious.  And easy to find, as you can see.

Goats!

Today Jason planned a date for us that was really fun. We ate brunch at Figlio's, which is one of our favorite places and then we went to Deanna Rose. We had never been there before, but I am really glad we went because they have a petting area for goats and I love goats. If we lived out in the country, I would probably have a couple, because I just really like them.

Outdoorsy

Today was absolutely beautiful out so we went out to dinner and drinks on a restaurant patio with Jason Keeler, one of Jason's long-time friends. It was nice to catch up and enjoy the weather.

A Big Ball

One of the interesting features about the new Overland Park soccer complex is the giant floating soccer ball.  It's sort of weird and random, but I like it.

Taking up residence

While in San Mateo, I stayed at a Marriott Residence Inn.  Like most Residence Inns, it was nice and home-like on the inside (full-size refrigerator, microwave, dishes, etc.), but unlike any I've been to before, it wasn't like a hotel on the outsde.  The property had 12 or so individual buildings, each with 8 "residences" inside.  Here I am outside my building.

In an office, but not my office

I had to go to my company's headquarters in California for some training.  While there, they gave me an office to use during my down time.  Here I am in that office, which was convenient, although at the time I didn't notice the supernova which was apparently occurring right outside my window.

On a plane, but not flying

Today I was flying to San Francisco and had a layover in Denver.  The weather in Denver was terrible, and because of it, we were delayed leaving the tarmac from KC after we had boarded the plane, delayed while circling the Denver airport waiting for the weather to clear, and delayed for another 1.5 hours on the Denver tarmac after touching down while we waited for the lightning to subside.  So I spent a lot of time on the plane.  Here's I am sitting in my seat while waiting on the tarmac in Denver.

Protein

Meghan's mom is trying to get more protein in her diet.  I have a protein supplement that I use, so I suggested she try some while she was here.  I know it has an artificial sweetness to it, and it doesn't bother me, but it apparently was too fake-tasting for her.  Meghan feels the same way, so I'm probably the one with the warped palate.  Anyway, here we are showing our respective opinions on the taste.

Some Williamses

Meghan's sister and mother are both visiting us this weekend.  Today we went to Union Station to see the Dinosaurs Alive IMAX movie.  Before we left, I took a pictures of the three of them on our back deck.

Rockfest

Meghan's sister Christine and I both like rock music, and no one else in our families really does, so each year for the past few years we go to 98.9 The Rock's annual Rockfest.  It's a one-day festival with a lot of bands and a lot of people.  This year 55,000 people attended.  However, the rain also attended.  This meant it was a muddy mess, but it was still a whole lot of fun and an awesome concert.

Empty Office

Today my office was like a ghost town for some reason.  Some of the people sometimes travel, and some of them can and do work from home, but today it was like there was a corporate holiday that I forgot, as no one in my wing showed up.  So I just cranked up my music and went to work and got a lot done.

Sisters

Today my sister Christine came into town. She comes every year for Rockfest and she and Jason usually go to the concert together. Before she moved away, she puppy-sat Terrence during the day when he was a baby and she was in college, so he just loves her. He is always just thrilled when she comes and today was no exception.

Blind Leading the Blind

Tonight we continued our work in the guest room, and I installed a new set of blinds. We still have some more work to do there, but it's looking pretty good so far.

A Little Bit Knotty

We won't be totally done with the guestroom when my mom and sister come for a visit this week, but we hope to have most of it done. Here I am putting up additional wall-hangings including a shadow box of sailing knots.

Some call it laziness, I call it efficiency

The chandelier in our dining room has eight bulbs.  My desire to have things orderly and correct makes me want to change a bulb as soon as it burns out.  But my engineering brain and my desire to be efficient makes me want to wait until more than one of the bulbs are burned out and then change them all at once.   The most recent time with this chandelier, I waited until, well, quite a few were burned out.  When it was noticeably dim in the room, even with the light on, I knew it was time to change them.  Here I am screwing in the last one.

Wall of Water

Today I got some pictures hung in the guest room. This is a collage of photos we have from our various trips, all with an ocean theme.

Torreon

We only have a few Mexican restaurants in our rotation, but there are a few outside of the rotation that we still really like even though we don't go that often. One of them is Torreon Cantina. It's kind of far from us. Also, it's really small, so unless you go at off-peak times, you may have a long wait. Tonight we decided to go there, so we left home early. As it turned out, there was plenty of room out on the patio even when we left, but that may have been because it was a little chilly outside. Regardless, we had a great meal, and we even sprang for the fried ice cream, which we rarely do.

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang

My sister recommended Chelsea Handler's books to me. I really dislike her show because I think it's mean-spirited and not that funny, but I read her first book, which is the one Michelle read, and it was hilarious and perfect summer reading. Here I am reading the most recent book, which is her third. It wasn't as good as the first one, but it was still funny and enjoyable. I definitely plan to read the second one. The pugs provide moral support when I read and give me weird looks when I laugh out loud.

O'Hare

One of my least favorite airports is...  No, let me restate that.  My least favorite airport is O'Hare in Chicago.  There are frequent delays, it sometimes takes 10 to 15 minutes for the plane to taxi to the gate after you land, if you have to pick up checked luggage at the carousel you'll wait forever, there are almost no outlets to charge electronics, it doesn't have many good food options, it's a very very long way to the rental car pick-up location, and it's sort of old and most of it ugly.  Regardless, sometimes I have to fly there, so I deal with it.  There is one place that's actually not outdated and ugly, so I here I am standing in a well-lit glass atrium area.  That's as good as it gets.

So let's root, root, root for the visiting team

Thanks to my multi-city business trip, I was able to attend my second baseball game in three days.  This time I was in Chicago and several coworkers and I went to a White Sox game.  They played the Royals, and it was weird for me to see the Royals play as the road team in a game, as I've only ever seen them play in KC.  They're my hometown team, so I rooted for them.  Unsurprisingly, they played like they normally play, and the White Sox won 9-2. 

Also, I was only 6 rows from catching a home run ball, so I was on ESPN on the highlights of the game.  I'm basically a celebrity at this point.  I will sell you my autograph for a small fee.

Some assembly required

Today I worked a little bit on our new guest room since my mom and sister are coming soon. I assembled this nightstand from Target. It actually was pretty easy to put together compared to a lot of things. However, it's times like these I miss Lisa, my roommate from college. Besides being a great roommate overall, she really enjoyed assembling furniture to an almost unnatural degree.

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks

I was in Minneapolis tonight, and I got to go to a Twins game at the new Target Field with my manager, Dylan.  Although he's my boss, we get along really well and have fun hanging out together.  The weather (mostly) held up, the home team won, and there were a lot of runs scored, so it was a good night.

Oak Park

I had to get a few things from Oak Park mall today. It had been awhile since I'd been there, but it's still pretty much the same.  One thing that hasn't changed in years is the near guarantee that as you walk by the Dead Sea cosmetics cart, that one of the flock of girls will accost you and try to get you to try their product.  Anyway, here I am in the mall keeping a safe distance from the vulturous Dead Sea girls.  And by "a safe distance" I mean I'm on the opposite side of the mall from them.

The sun shines bright

Today we we visited our friends, the Hansons. Since it was the same day as the Kentucky Derby, Jason planned a fun Kentucky Derby party for us that involved traditional southern foods, fun hats, mint juleps, and low-stakes horse-betting. It was a really fun time and I personally thought the hats were the best part.