Good bye old friend!

Well, I have some sad and somber news. Unfortunately, we had to put one of our horses down this morning. Yes the long lived Pepper has passed on. Not terribly surprising though as he was the human equivalent of like 104 years old. He was healthy right up to the end and acted like his usual self until yesterday evening. He began rolling constantly, a sign of colic which Arabians are particularly prone to and he’d had several cases of in the past, and was cold to the touch and shaking. Obviously he was in shock, he’d never been this bad before, so the vet was called right away. When the vet got there he performed a quick examination and said he was almost positive it was a twisted bowel that was about to rupture if it hadn’t already. Normally, a surgery could be performed and the problem remedied, but due to Pepper’s age he most likely would not survive the surgery. So the decision was made to dope him up and force about half of a gallon of vegetable oil through his system to see if it might untwist on it’s own with a little lubrication. At about 4 this morning as the pain killers began to wear off, it was obvious that he was not doing well. He continued to worsen until 6 when my sister decided that she didn’t want him to suffer and made the decision to have him put to sleep. I had a feeling he’d go out quickly but I’d always imagined that someone would be riding him down a trail at about 40 mph and he’d just keel over. It’s a substantial loss to the family, particularly Ashley, and he will be sorely missed and dearly remembered. To make matters worse, when Ashley got home from this whole fiasco she learned that her dogs had gotten out and one of them had been hit by a car. Fortunately, it was a relatively low speed impact and there was only some soft tissue damage and Toby should be fine. Needless to say, it has been a rough 24 hours. On a lighter note, Nikki and I are finally ready to host a house warming party, which we plan to do this coming weekend. We were planning on having a few different things going on. First, we had thought about having a LAN party going on if there will be enough people interested to facilitate it. Second, although all we have is our standard home entertainment system, we could to some movies (stupid or otherwise). Third, I think it would be cool to start a game of full contact croquet. Or we could all just sit around and talk about the good old days when we were young and stupid. I am also game for suggestions so feel free to make them. I will expect you all to post your thoughts about what you’d like to do, movies we could watch, games we could play, etc. If you fail to suggest something (even one little thing) your invitation will be revoked and you will be warded off with gun fire (or something like it, perhaps angry possums or Backstreet Boys music)! Again all are invited (at least until I read your comments) and I will supply the food but if some of you could bring things like drinks, dessert, chips or whatever. I was thinking I could make some pizza’s and breadsticks for everyone, although I will need a head count of who will be attending. For those of you including friends with two or more heads, if they share the same stomach then only count one of the heads. If we decide to do a LAN party, we discovered a new game type in UT04 last HDR and will most likely be punting each other across levels if we decide to play. Let me know what you all think and we’ll go from there. Sorry to be less than entertaining this time, but I’m feeling a little down. I’ll try to post again tomorrow. Until then…

The party will begin at 4:00 Saturday afternoon, and it's BYOD (and although I could let you all make endless silly comments as to the meaning of the acronym, I'll just tell you that it stands for drinks! Bring Your Own Drinks!! Not Dudes, Not Dorks, Not Dinks, Not Diplomats, Not Durigibles, Not Deodorant, Not Dairy, Not Dandruf, Not Death, Not Dictionary, Not Dinosaur, Not Droppings, Not Dr-other-stuff, Just Drinks! And if it's not too inconvenient, in a resealable container. If it's too much trouble then that's ok but we'd ask that you be careful.

Totals thus far:

Lan = 5

Movies = 4
(Lost Skeleton of Cadavra = 3)

Full contact Croquet = 4

Others (including: ?drawing 3 ant dragons?, ?car-be-smokey?, and poking dave!) = 1

Those attending: Nikki, Shawn, Dave, Chris, Mandy, Heather, Jeff...

My own little disco inferno here....

So I says to myself, “Me, why you like killin’ bee’s so much” and then I reply with “Well, don’t rightly know, ‘ceptin’ I likes the smell they make and the way they wiggle when on fire!” Yes folks, I have discovered hornets around our house. However, due to their proximity TO said house I was not able to use my normal means of “flaming napalm death” to rid myself of these horrible little demons. Instead, I was compelled to purchase some of that “I’m afraid to get within 400 feet of the nest” spray killer for pansies. Well My Fair Lady is now officially over. Nikki and I were all happy because we had a 3 day weekend to enjoy our new found free time, but little did we know. Saturday we had to get up at 5am to take my parents up to the airport so they could go and vacationize them selves. After returning we decided that we wanted more sleep and that we were going to get it. We then woke up a second time and went on a horse ride which took the better part of the day. Then we went to the final performance and cruised on home for some more sleep. Sunday we went to our new Ward for the first time and, despite having been told that we’d be announced and asked to stand up thus creating the reason for us to go in the first place…(partially true), we remained anonymous. The few people that did greet us were friendly and what ever, but I’d still like to dwell un-noticed in the shadows for a while longer. After that it was time to work on unpacking some more. Then the day ended all too suddenly and we had done… some things (not THOSE things). Monday it was time to mow the lawn and various other yard related things ( he he bee killing) and then a quick trip to Wal-mart to pick up the few things which yet remained on our shopping list. 2 hours (and another $200) later, we immerge from Wal-mart and vow that we are not going to spend any more money on food and house stuff, although our food storage is nearly complete. We then decide to go take a ‘gander’ around the RC Willey clearance center and see if we could find a couch for our living room, or some other piece of furniture that we felt we needed to make our lives complete. We walked around in their climate un-controlled building for an hour or two, ate a crappy hot dog, sweated like pigs (which I don’t get because when we had pigs, they only sweated when it was hot…… just like people. So why can’t we just say “hey, I sweated a lot because it was quite warm” crazy animal hating bunch you are!) and then decided to leave. So we were on our way out (which is when most of the REAL shopping gets done. And by out I mean we were actually outside….in the heat…a lot of it) and saw a couch, a big couch, 4 big couch (I left this singular on purpose, because it was all one couch, yes it was outside). We looked at the tag and decided to sit on it. When I sat on it I hated it. This is probably because the surface temperature was around the neighborhood of say 120 Fahrenheit. But after I lost consciousness it felt pretty nice. So we look into it further and the tag only lists 3 of the 4 pieces, and there is clearly a fourth piece sitting just far enough away as to suggest that it was indeed SUPPOSED to be separate. However, this fourth piece did not have a price tag on it and the price tag for the main set had its serial number crossed through with pen. At this point, it occurred to me that if we wanted to find out what was going on, we’d have to talk to one of the sales associates (a.k.a. sub-middle management vultures). So we did, and she had to talk to her manager about every single question we asked her. Anyway, we wanted to know how much it would be for the whole set so that we could tell her that we weren’t going to pay that much. And indeed, when she told us (after talking to her manager of course) we told her we wouldn’t pay that much. We DID however tell how much we would pay, at which point she went and ok’d it with her manager. Then we suddenly bought a couch… a big couch…4 big couch. The problem with the couch, the big couch, 4 big couch, was that it is difficult to move from one location to another. Now I don’t know about you all out there in reader land, but when I think of difficult things to move I think of horses. And what do we use to move horses (besides firecrackers).. a trailer. So I get the horse trailer, and I had to clean the crap out of it (literally), and am able to wedge it nicely in the parking lot so that no one can get around me while I’m there (at this, I smile… “that is SO Arizona”). Fortunately, the dudes at RC Willey were in charge of covering it and putting it in the trailer. Once in there, the couch, the big couch, 4 big couch, took up the entire volume of the trailer. So we get it home, unload it and get it in the house. And by in the house I mean that it was all in the living room, not where it was going to reside. Besides our living room isn’t big enough to contain this couch, this big couch, 4 big couch. So we decided to break it up and leave half of it upstairs in the living room, and the rest of it down in the anti-theater (because it’s not a theater….yet), which is where it will all end up eventually. So we start to take the biggest piece down stairs, and it won’t fit. At this point I noticed that it appears to have a built in seam part way through it which looks like it may separate with a little…persuasion. Indeed I was right, and who ever built the couch was smart and provided a way to take bits of it off and make it possible to maneuver. So I separate it off, and we make another go. So close, but no. So we pack it back up the stairs again and take off another piece of it. This time it barely fits and we actually get it in the anti-theater where it gets reassembled and will live out the remainder of its life because I am NOT taking that thing back up the stairs. Thus we have a couch, a big couch, 4 big couch, for the theater and bits of it will function as a living room set until we feel rich and can get something for that purpose. Nikki and I will be trying to get our house a little more in order and we will hopefully be planning a house warming party for the first weekend in August. This is subject to change and I’ll keep you all posted. Until then, don’t die.

Rise of the unholy food storage!

Only 4 more performances to go, and the people rejoice. See? See the people rejoicing? Right there, all reverently clapping their hands and the like. What lovely happy little people. Maybe a little old though. So nothing much has happened in the last week. We’ve been performing almost every night and when we’re not performing we’re still attempting to get the house set up. The table is finished…. Ba dum dum pish! HA! And it’s now back in the house. Um…. We have a few apricots that are about ready to be picked and consumed with much tastiness. The girls are all freaking out because they never get to see us. My car needs washing, and I could use a manicure! That’s about it. And since there is nothing interesting going on in REAL life, I am afraid that I may have to come up with something more interesting. Or if you’d rather I can ramble on about nothings and what-knots until you all die of acute cerebral hemorrhaging caused by a self inflicted screwdriver wound to the head. BUT, since I don’t want to have to go out and find new friends (too much work, besides everyone else is crap! YOU HEAR THAT? IF I DON’T LIKE YOU, YOU’RE CRAP!!) you’ll only be forced to sit through a mild ranting. For a lack of better subjects I’ll tell you all about the experimental trip Nikki and I made to Costco. We’ve been bombarded with offers to get a Costco card since we got married (and even a time or two before I think). Ah yes, the magnetic force of saving a few bucks on a 30 gallon jug of mayonnaise. Anyway, we decided to arrange a trip to Costco in secret (i.e. using someone else’s card) and check out the “Costco-topia” in an effort to fill our house with many scrumptious eatables. So it starts. We show up at about 6pm on Wednesday (yes last week now shut up and listen) and were fully expecting to spend about 2.5 hours and around $500. Being that it was going to take so long, we decided to start with the dry and canned goods (these are known as “non-perishables” to the home making and give-food-to-hungry-people crowds). So we grab a cart. 13 aisles later we grab another one. After we finish the “non-perishables”(what does that mean again?) my mom shows up (a.k.a the “inside” man….well woman). At that point we get a third cart (we also begin attracting attention). As we move in the direction of the produce and such, I begin wondering about the whole buying in bulk topic with “perishable” items. (“perishable” is sort of like “non-perishable” in that its not like “non-perishable”) Nikki and I can put down our fair share of veggies and froo-it, but a whole flat of nectarines is a little much. For the most part we decided to forego the produce in favor of getting smaller quantities elsewhere. After looking at the bread prices, and realizing we were going to have to go somewhere for produce anyway, we decided to work our way towards the front of the store. It took us a while, as it usually does take someone a while to push nearly 1100 pounds of food across a 45,000 square foot warehouse, so we picked up a few things here and there. At this point in the game we are pretty neutral on the “to get a card or not get a card” issue and were kind of leaning toward getting one for the fuel prices. The prices weren’t that great on many of the items (about average between the grocery stores in the valley), were pretty good on a few (strangely nothing sticks out as being a GREAT deal), and were too high on the rest (this includes bread and all other baked goodies. Especially the cookies! If I were to judge a place on its chocolate chip cookie quality and value, Costco would earn the prestigious “I’m going to kill you!” award). So we proceed to the check out where I learn of their “No, we don’t have bags but here are some boxes that won’t fit in your car” system. Mildly annoying, but manageable. This is also when we learn that you can’t buy just four nectarines! And the grand total….Ba dum dum $707.change. Ok, a little more than what we were expecting but, considering we won’t have to buy toilet paper for nearly a year, I can deal with it. Now a swipe of the card and we’re done. This is where we learn that they no longer (assuming that they did at one point) take Visa or Mastercard (The cruel irony is that they DO take American Express. I smell a commercial coming on. Oh wait, never mind…. That was something else >blush<) That’s ok because we still have those archaic notes known as personal checks! What’s that you say, you only take checks from the person on the membership card? Ok mom, buy our groceries for us. And hopefully the check won’t clear before our check to you clears! Prognosis…..Negative! I can’t say that I hate Costco, because they have a great setup if you are trying to abolish hunger in a third world country and have means to transport about a million oddly shaped boxes. What I can say is that the amount we would have gotten back from our credit card cash back feature would have almost outweighed the sales tax, that the cost of the membership puts a large dent in the amount of annual savings from fuel purchases, it’s a ways out of the way (perhaps not distance but at 5:30 pm it takes about 20 minutes to get from the University Park freeway exit to the parking lot, one way), the prices on the stuff we’d buy the most of was not impressive (the cookie thing!), and there was little or no variety (if you wanted peanut butter, you either get Adams or Jiff and both are crunchy). So Nikki and I will not be getting a Costco card. And that’s that.

Yup, that's right! It's captain o-zone... Well I figure I’d better get to writing before Heather lashes out violently at me! Well, opening night was last Friday and in my opinion it went very well. Now there are only two more weeks of the run before it’s over, YEA!! So, I’ve been refinishing our dining room table and have come to several conclusions. #1, An air powered orbital sander, using 240 grit sand paper, takes about 1 hour to chew through a very thin layer of clear coat on an area of about one square foot. #2, An electric vibrating sander with 36 grit sand paper STILL takes about 30 minutes to do the same thing. #3, In spite of all these cool and expensive pieces of equipment, it only takes about 30 minutes to chew through the clear coat on the remaining area of the 10 foot long table (with both leaves in) by hand using the vibrating sander as a sanding block (a 40 year old, ugly and obviously built in the seventies orange, poorly ventilated so it got really hot and burned my hand, cord keeps falling out, type of sanding block!). #4, Water based stains (which I did not know existed until the other day) actually work VERY well and dry in about 15 minutes. Also clean up is a breeze. #5, When a salesman at RC Willey tells you that a table is “Solid Oak” what they really mean is “Shut up and buy this veneered table so I can go rape someone else. And by the way, our top coat is guaranteed to not stick to the surface it’s applied to and thus will not be water tight.” Prognosis, when a pumpkin which appeared sturdy and healthy at the store is brought home and left on top of said table over night and turn itself inside out by literally melting all over, resembling a large pile of oozing orange internal organs on an oak operating table, you may suffer a little damage. The point is, it’s been a fun project and by the time I am done with it it’ll be about ¼” taller, due primarily to the protective clear coat I will be covering it with to ensure that this DOESN’T happen again. Anyway, we have a few rooms set up now and are well on our way to being unpacked and fully moved it. Also, it is becoming very apparent that our house is going to seem empty until we can eventually get a little more furniture. So I went to take my first midterm for my programming class on Friday. “How did it go?” you may find yourself asking. Well I’ll tell you. Cue music “He’s going to tell, he’s going to tell, he’s going to tell…Uh... could some one give me a push?” Well I had been a good little ant and had “done” all my studying and was all brushed up on the material that would be on the test. (I’m sure Chris will be about the only one who gets the reference to the “done” ant there so just laugh even though it’s a joke you probably don’t get. By the way, what was the name of that book Chris?) SO, I go beboppin’ on over to the testing center and, long story short (And by long story I mean that I actually typed it up intending on inserting it in this particular entry then sat back and stared at a 3 page blog entry which contained about 1500 words and a story that was painfully drawn out and wasn’t funny at all. In an effort to keep Heather interested and reading, I decided to shut up and stuff that boring and unimportant ‘tale of woe’ into a sentence or two) So anyway, I am stupid and read the date wrong so I had missed the testing period. It’s alright though, I was able to talk to the professor and declare that I was a moron and he’s going to let me take it on Wednesday. I don’t take full responsibility though, as he posts due dates as “Due Friday June 7 at 12:00am” which actually means “Due Thursday June 6 at 11:59pm” but whatever. So Jamie is back from Europe now and is doing well. Anyway I should probably wrap it up so that Heather doesn’t get mad at me… again! Tchuss!

P.S. I have updated the Encyclopedia Stupidica with a few more things, so when you have a minute check it out!

P.S.S. When they broke open molecules, they found they were only stuffed with atoms. But when they broke open atoms, they found them stuffed with explosions!