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This weekend I got a chance to go up to Beechwood for a couple of rights of passage.  One, I ate pretty much the best pizza I’ve ever eaten.  California Pizza Kitchen.  I was a little skeptical – I mean, you can buy these in the grocery store – but it was awesome.  I didn’t lick the plate, but it was close.

As a new homeowner, it was inevitable that I make a pilgrimage to Crate and Barrel.  I was strong and managed to get out of there having spent less than 20 dollars.  [I got a blue glass bottle and a fake plant – but no crates or barrels].

On Saturday, went to another ballet in the park.  Or rather, the cemetery.  The cemetery was really cool and peaceful.  The ballet was… long.  Some of the performances were impressive, but there was a fair amount of repetition too.  I was polite and respectful of the performance, but would have been fine with a shorter show.  Also, not nearly enough explosions.

Went for a walk in the park on Sunday and did a little work on my Halloween costume. This year’s will be pretty involved and I’ll need more time than usual.

Other highlights from the weekend:

Went to Spaghetti warehouse for dinner and struggled again to get the meal I wanted.  Spaghetti, Pesto, meatballs.  Shouldn’t be that complicated.  They were having a rough night as it turns out – a party of 150 and another of 50.  Kitchen was slammed and a few people at nearby tables left without getting their food.

Played some Dragon Age Origins.  Cured the werewolves, stopped an assassin, and rescued a village from the un-dead. All in a day’s work for my Rogue Elf Archer.

Also played some minecraft.  Just got a little cave-house built and went outside at night to hunt monsters.  I was headed for an Enderman when a Creeper blew up right behind me.  Recovered from that, then chased the Enderman around while dodging arrows from the skeleton archer.  Very intense pixels.

Read some more of my Cthulhu books.  A couple of the stories were really weird and scary, but the rest are somewhat lackluster.  I was hoping for more evil fungus or a color that will make you crazy to look at.   You know, the classics.

Spent a little time outside, got some good quality sleep, and watched a little True Blood. All in all, a good, quiet, and restful – though somewhat busy weekend.  Oh, and I even did laundry and housecleaning.

Well, the great crocs experiment of 2012 has failed.   They’ve never been as comfortable as I would have hoped and they slow me down when I try to walk anywhere.  They were also wearing a sore spot on tops of my feet.

All this I could get past, but yesterday I saw a colleague wearing a pair very similar to mine and I was forced to admit that they look ridiculous.  And unprofessional.  Like really boring clown shoes.  Which I guess would be fine if I was some kind of corporate clown.  But then, aren’t they all?  (Ba-dum-bum!  Thank you, I’m here all week Tip your waitress.)

So, I’ve switched back to dressier, but no more comfortable, shoes. My “I’m on my feet all day and need comfortable shoes” saga continues.

As I write this, I’m seated at a desk at work.  Which is odd and uncomfortable – I’m at another desk while I wait for memory to be installed on my work computer.  I’d better call and check on that – all this sitting is making my back hurt.

What I really need is no shoes and a beanbag chair.  I can chill out for hours with that combination and a video game controller in my hand.   I’m guessing that won’t really be viable for work, but a fella can dream, can’t he?

I took yesterday off work and headed from my folks place up to Columbus to buy a car from one of my friends.  I was running early enough to take some time to sit in a park for a while and enjoy the sunshine – put me in a good mood.

I got to the dealership right on time and my friend met me at the door.  We talked about some used cars, then took a test drive.  I liked the car and within a couple of hours of walking in I was driving out in a new 2012 Honda Civic Lx.

Highlights:

1. This was far better than my last car buying experience

2. I had a higher credit rating than the finance guy had ever seen.

3. I put a good chunk of money down and my payments shouldn’t be too bad.

I took an easy drive back home with the AC on and the radio blasting.  The inside of the car has very soothing lighting and  – weirdly enough – it feels like a “grown-up” car.  Not really sure what that means, but I feel like I should be wearing a tie or something when I drive it.

When I got home, I mowed the yard and got some sunshine.  Even with buying a new car and the drive back to Akron, it was a pretty low stress day.

I gratefully got out of work early on Friday and headed down to visit my folks. My dad was already home, but mom had to work late that evening. I noticed that she had a package from Crocs on the doorstep as I came in and an opportunity presented itself.

I opened up the package, took the croc sandals out and put them in a carboard box – then taped it shut and wrapped it. Dad saved the packing slip and I put the box on the table, but didn’t say anything about it to mom when she got home. After a while, I brought it over to where she was sitting and told her I had a present for her.

She got a puzzled look on her face and asked what it was for. I told her “it was just because I loved her”. Still puzzled, she unwrapped the box and opened it to see the crocs. She was now even more puzzled and told her “I saw these and thought they would look great on you,”

These were, of course, the very crocs she had ordered for herself only a few days before and I finally admitted what I’d done. It was a lot of work, but well worth the effort. Both my parents thought it was great. 🙂

On Saturday, we headed over to see my sister, brother-in-law, and niece to meet the newest addition to their family. The new baby was very sweet and adorable and her big sister is old enough to carry on conversations and stay focused on what she is doing. In their own ways, both were great to be around. My sister is doing well, though still sore and not getting much sleep.

One of their friends needed some help done at her new place and my dad and I joined my brother-in-law to help. Our task was to convert a bed with box springs into a platform bed that didn’t need them. We used a piece of composite board to make a platform and had to make several trips up and down stairs until we had all the cuts right.

Back to my sister’s for clean shirts (it was really hot outside and at the apartment) and a walk in woods with the older niece before dinner – then more toddler and baby time until we had leave.

My folks are at church this morning and we’ll spend day together when they get home. Not sure if we’ll visit my sister again this weekend. I’m taking tomorrow off and buying a car on my way back home – looking forward to that, but already missing my current car. I’ve already cleaned it out and everything is in a crate (maps, manual, jumper cables, etc). Feels like I’m moving again.

Got some paperwork to do this morning while things are quiet – best get to that.

One of the techs figured out what was wrong with my password yesterday.  About a year ago, I had been working with a user that was unable to log into our systems remotely.  The computer he was using had the Slovenian language pack enabled and I replicated that on my machine as a test.  I undid all those setting when I was done, but apparently this were still set in the default profile.    When my password wasn’t working, I was actually in the default profile and the keys I was typing in for the password were getting changed by the language pack.  The tech that had been trying this had a password that wasn’t affected by this and my ID wasn’t showing a change – just when I typed the password (which I of course couldn’t see)

We finally got it sorted out and I got some recommendations for an upgrade out of the deal as well.  So very frustrating – especially since I could log in exactly the same way on another machine with success.

While literally doing the work of three people yesterday, I got a call from the Ladies from New York.  The younger of the two – relatively speaking – had recently had eye surgery and was unable to drive.  She asked if I would take them grocery shopping.  So, I headed over and picked them up around 6, took them to giant eagle where they bought enough food for maybe 2 meals, then took them back.  Must be a New York thing.  The younger complained about the heat – her mother wore a sweater.    I wish that their family took a more active interest in what they are doing, but I don’t mind the quiet bemusement I get when I help them out.

After work – but before the grocery trip – I invited our departments student assistant to join me for a swim.  It had been a long time since he had gone swimming as exercise and he was looking forward to it.   I figured that he would be faster than me on the first lap since I pace myself, but that in the long run I would outlast him.

Well, I hydroplaned past him on the first lap and he had to stop and rest for a bit.  He got in about another 1/2 lap and then got out of the pool.   I did 10 laps (with the long lane configuration) and got out of the pool to find him.  He was laying on one of the benches – sound asleep.  I woke him up and we headed out.

It totally wasn’t fair – of course.  I’ve been swimming for years and several times a week.  I’ve got my form down and my breathing and I know how much I can push myself.    So, I kinda felt bad for him – having been there at one time.  On the other hand – it was freaking awesome to out-swim a college-aged guy.  I may be almost 40, but I still kick ass in the pool.

I got a notice that I needed to change my main password at work and though I dreaded it, I started the process.  The password gets changed online, then I have to sync the password with the encryption on my desktop, then with windows.   This has never gone well for me.

This time, it failed worse than usual and I was totally locked out.  I called the support desk and patiently went through again all the steps I had already tried.  At their direction I rebooted again and they decided to open a ticket to get a tech over to look at it.

Side notes:

1. I dunno why I need to have my hard-drive encrypted.  My desk is the furthest from any door and I’m not even allowed to have any kind of sensitive data on there.  It’s always a pain in the ass.

2. Rebooting works far more frequently than us geeks would like to admit.  It never sits well with us when that is the best solution.

So, the tech comes over and we try changing the password again.  Still no good. Neither the old password, the new password, or the new-new password will let me into windows.  He can log in, but when he does, IE opens up in Russian.

Finally, I have them watch as I log into a laptop successfully – then type that same damn password on my machine and fail.  This was after the tech had called another guy over and he got stumped too.

It was time to leave for the day so we just shut it down and they promised to come back tomorrow.  If we can’t get it soon, I’m going to back up my files and have them install a new operating system on there.  Very frustrating since before I tried to change the password I was doing the work of three people and getting a lot of stuff done.

As a further side note, I asked my boss today about our evaluations  – since they are due soon – and he expressed some concern about the forms and their usefulness at gauging our performance.  He said that he needed a box on there for my evaluation that said, “Busts his ass all the time and gets everything done that he needs to”

So, I took that as a compliment and thanked him.   Hope I can get logged in tomorrow, I’ve still got way to much to do and would like to leave early on Friday.

So, this past weekend I got invited to an art festival.  The day was really nice and we wandered around the booths for quite a while.  There were a lot of photographers and jewelry makers – and a few that worked in glass – but I didn’t really see anything that a). caught my eye & b). that I could afford.  Still, it was nice to get out and see some cool artwork.

After the festival, my friends and I headed to the west Market street Chipotle.  And once again, the wizards at this Chipotle created an amazingly perfect burrito.  I dunno how they make it so much better than any other Chipotle, but they do.  And it was full-on awesome.

After dinner, we went back to the festival for ballet in the park.  This was my first ballet and while I don’t think I really got it, I enjoyed it.   Some parts were a little boring or repetitive, but the scene from the Dracula ballet was impressive and the ending number had some really amazing moments.  I don’t think I’m a ballet kind of guy – not enough explosions – it was still fun.

On the downside, I got eaten alive by mosquitoes.  I’ve determined that I must be delicious.

My new baby niece was born yesterday – 7lbs, 14oz, 20.5 inches.   She’s got a full head of hair and my sister reports that the newest member of the family is eating well and pooping well.  And since that’s all a baby really has to do, she’s doing a job well done.

I asked my mom if she was “super duper excited” or “super duper awesome excited”.  She said she was Super Duper Awesome Excited.  🙂

My first niece is doing well too – she’s pretty excited about her new baby sister and I know she’ll do a great job with her.

I’m looking forward to making the trip to visit them this coming weekend – it will be great to see everyone and to meet the little one.

I was driving to work yesterday and it’s pretty much a straight shot directly to campus on one road with many side streets and a few traffic lights.    I noticed a police car with the sirens going as he came towards me.  I slowed and prepared to stop – the police car turned down one of the side streets.  Then I noticed that another police car was right behind them and turned down the same street – sirens blaring.

Then I noticed lights in my rearview mirror and saw another police car behind me.  I stayed slowed down expecting him to pass me – then he also turned down a side street, though not the same one as the others.

Next, two more police cars ahead of me turning down side streets.

Then I heard a series of loud popping noises.

Then another police car  – this one racing directly across my path, headed in the same general direction as the others.  As I got a little closer to campus, a police van with sirens going roared past me.

I checked the newspaper online today and got the full story.  Turns out it was a low speed chase and the suspect stopped the car, tried to run, pulled a gun and was shot by police officers.   Tragic, scary, and a little too close to home. The owner of the property said that the neighborhood is normally very quite and peaceful  – so, I guess that’s something.  Still…

Full story from the Akron Beacon Journal

I got a text message from my sister yesterday.  This started to load as a picture message and since my sister is very pregnant, my first thought was that she had gone into labor and had the baby before she had a chance to contact me to say it was happening.   The picture wouldn’t load, so I excitedly read the text.  She said that my 2.5 year old niece “had gone poopy on the potty” and was very happy about that.  I was then less looking forward to an image and glad that nothing loaded.  I called my sister and got the scoop.  Nope, she hadn’t gone into labor and no, there wasn’t a photo of poop – though my niece was very proud of herself.   My sister and I had a good laugh and I’m looking forward to the “gone into labor” call or text soon.

I got asked to help baby-sit a three year last evening.  My friend and I ganged up the little dude and managed to keep this very hyper kid entertained/ occupied while his parents were out to dinner.

We had pizza shortly after his folks left and we all helped clear the table.  Next up, building a lego fire truck that I had brought for him.  At one point the directions called for flipping the lego pieces over and I joked that maybe he should be the one to be flipped over.  He laughed out loud at my silly suggestion and protested, “No, I’m not a fire truck, I’m a boy!”

After the fire truck was put together we worked on a lego helicopter that he had – and he called a hopper-copter – then there were a series of helicopter, fire truck and robot related adventures in the living room.

For the record, the blue robot got named after him.  The pinkish-purple girl robot in a skirt got named after me.  My friend, who provided the robots to begin with, escaped any robot naming shame.

Next up was a trip to my friend’s house to hang out with his dogs.  There was a lot of jumping and running around, but everyone escaped unharmed.  Back to the kids house so he could change into his pajamas and then he and I played lego Star Wars for a bit before it was time for stories and bed.  His parents came home just before he went to sleep and we de-briefed them before we left.   Lots of fun, but wow, I was exhausted when we were done.

As always, I remain impressed and respectful of the great job my sister and brother-in-law are doing with my niece.  I watched this one kid – with help -for three hours and was ready to drop.  I dunno how they do, but I’m impressed.