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I was driving recently and noted that the truck in front of me had a license plate that read:

UR A 2L

Which I would translate as “you are a tool”

Really?  What kind of a person must this be to broadcast that kind of attitude 24/7?  And to go to the trouble of a personalized plate.  And the arrogance  – I’m guessing – that they themselves are the only non-tool in a sea of tools.  I wonder how much road rage they have generated?  I wasn’t enraged myself, but a little offended once I had translated the letters.

In other news… I helped one of my neighbors get tags for his dogs.  He was a little delayed in getting the license for them and I went with him to get the actual tags for their collars.   We went into Pet Supplies Plus and right over to the tag kiosk where a woman was standing in front of the machine  – chatting with two other women.  We waited patiently and I noticed that there was a screen saver running on the machine.   I gave her about 30 seconds, then approached.

“Excuse me,” I said, “Are you using this machine?”

“Yes,” she lied, “And you need a code to use it,”

So, we went over to the cash register and my friend bought the tags for the dogs.  We went back over to the machine where the woman was now finished with her conversation and was just getting started on the machine.  We waited while she took two phone calls (to determine what address to put on the tags) as she keyed in the information.  Suddenly she stopped and turned to us with a panicked look on her face.

“I need help,” she said, “Which lettering should I use?”

Now, let’s pause for a moment and reflect.

1. Font choice is not something to panic over.
2. As a web developer, I’m actually qualified to help in this regard, but she didn’t know that.
3. It really didn’t freaking matter what font she picked.  She named the dog Goober. The sooner the text on the tag wears off and the dog escapes – the better for the dog.

I picked the font on the far right because it was more readable and she moved on.  While the tag was being printed, she proceeded to strike up a conversation with us.  In the span of maybe 2 minutes she decided to tell us:

1. She had dumped her boyfriend and bought a $950 whippet.
2. She could have picked up the dog before now, but had been deployed and didn’t want the dog to have to stay at her mom’s
3. She would be picking up the dog on August 20th.

Before she left, she pointed out the code on the receipt – though this was a explained on the screen for us later – and proceeded on her merry, if slightly insane, way.

We got the tags done in record time and were out the door in less time than it took to finish her conversation while she was blocking using the machine.

What have we learned from all of this?

That license plate was meant for her.

On Friday night, I had dinner with some friends and neighbors.  We had pizza, chicken, and jo-jos.  And let me tell you, those were some dang good jo-jos.  I kept their little boy entertained with my video game prowess and we had a nice time just hanging out.  The little guy is on some allergy medicine that makes him very hyper as a side effect.  I felt bad for him – he was so excited about everything, but had just trouble staying focused.  And his mom was suffering some wear-and-tear as well – must be exhausting to try and keep up with him.   We finished up the evening with some gelato and called it a night.

Saturday went on a “pond tour” with a friend.  The tour spanned 3 counties and had all kinds of waterfalls, ponds, gardens, etc.  Some really nice work on several of them – though one had way too many gnomes.  I decided it looked like the end result of a hoarder who decided to put in a pond.

That evening, I met up with friends for dinner at PF Changs.  The restaurant was really cool and the food was excellent. And the company was a lot of fun.  We covered a lot of topics and really had a great conversation.  Hoping to hang out with this crew again soon.

Sunday morning I worked on the mint I had drying in my basement. I got all the leaves off the stems and sealed away in some tupperware – I’ll crush this a little better one of these days and get it ready to become tea.  I’ll do a test brew to make sure it’s good before I give any away – just in case.  Though, really, how can you screw up mint?

Went out to dinner on Sunday to Rockne’s and got wheat pasta, chicken, and broccoli  – and no sauce.  I cleared my plate on that one – really good.    And pretty healthy too.

Had a bit of a mild headache most of the weekend and it’s come back today.  Not bad, just enough to be noticeable and mildly annoying.  I took some advil this morning, but it hasn’t been able to kick it yet.

Also over the weekend I bought another wooden box.  I really enjoy containers in general and this was shaped a bit like a pyramid with the top cut off – and then inverted.  I don’t have anything in particular to put in it – it’s been added to my collection.

I’ve started to make the moves to replace my car.  I’d really rather not have to get a new one – I like my car pretty well – but the looming repair bills have me worried.  It was also really nice not having a car payment.

That’s it for the weekend.  My sister is due to have her second child any day now – looking forward to meeting the newest member of the family.

Here’s the breakdown of my afternoon yesterday.

3:59 I got a text as I was headed up campus to swim, but couldn’t read it because of the sun glare.  When I got the pool I read the message and saw that it was from my former co-worker – he was inviting me to dinner and asking if I would bring my external hard-drive to get the music he’d left behind on his work computer and that I had salvaged.

4:11 I sent him a text back asking when he wanted to meet, but didn’t get a response.  I changed clothes and hit the pool, thinking I could still get a quick swim before dinner, even without knowing the time.

4:32 20 laps done and back to the locker room to change.  No message yet.  Back to the office to pick up my iPad and then to my car to head home.  While I’m driving, I get a text saying 6:00 – easily do-able.

5:02 I’m home, changed clothes, picked up the drive and out the door again, heading down to Red Robin.  In route, I get another text saying 5:40 for the dinner time.  Since this is also a dinner to celebrate his wife’s birthday, I decided to stop first at a bookstore and get her a card.

5:25 I’m at the bookstore and pick out a card, a magazine, a comic book, and a book of short stories.

5:36 Checked out my purchase.

5:39 Back to my car and over to the restaurant.  I’m in the lobby with one minute to spare and text my friend letting him know I’ve arrived.  He responses that he’s getting close to the exit.

He and his family arrive and we have a nice dinner.  I stole a french fry from his wife – because that’s what I do – and we entertained and were entertained by his toddler.

He had forgotten his computer so I followed him over to his Mom’s house to use her computer as a temporary storage place for his music.  He starts copying the music over, then heads to the bathroom to “desecrate” it.  His wife is talking to her mother-in-law and with nothing to do I decide to keep track of their daughter.  I prevented her from eating magnets, stepping in the dog pee on the floor, playing with scissors, and climbing on anything. I eventually convinced her that finding Mommy would be a good idea and I was able to hand her off to her mom and grandmother.  Dog pee got cleaned up, music finished copying, and I was on my way and home by 7:30

I spent the rest of the evening playing video games and relaxing – trying to wind down from the afternoon.

I got a call from Jeff’s sister yesterday from the beach.  She told me that the evening before, they had spread Jeff’s ashes from the pier at Surfside.

Doesn’t really seem real to have to write that line.    And I can’t imagine having to do that.

I’m glad that they were able to honor his wish – that area was among his favorite places along with his hometown (where the rest of his ashes have already been laid to rest).  His family has been going to that beach for decades for their vacations.

I hope that this gives his family some relief – if not now, maybe down the road.  His sister said she wished I could have been there.  It was nice of her to say, but I don’t know that I would have felt right about that.  I guess this is one of those times when you set aside the bad times and try and focus on the the good memories and honoring someone who has passed.

The rest of the conversation was about where they were going out to eat and problems with the condo.  Just their ordinary vacation – except they spread the ashes of their brother in the ocean this time.

I’ve been using the standing desk at work for over a year now and while I’ve gotten used to being on my feet all day – my shoes haven’t.  I’ve gone through several pairs of shoes in that time and when they start to go they start to bother my feet.   So, I finally broke down.

I bought a pair of crocs.   Yes, I’m THAT guy.

I’m wearing them now and here’s my report/review.

1. They are too big.   I wear a size 10 – in fact, my feet are so perfectly a size 10 that I rarely try on shoes.  If they say 10, they fit.   Not the crocs though, I feel like there’s enough room in these for me and a small child – if a small child could be convinced to ride around in my shoes.  (I ordered them online and didn’t have a chance to try them on in person. )

2. They look a little silly.  Not a lot silly, I can still wear them for work, but just slightly silly.  I think it’s the bulk and the curve of the front of the shoes.  Just a little too big and clown-shoe-ish.

3. They aren’t really that comfortable.  I was expecting an all day foot massage and instead they are slightly irritating.  I’ll give it a few days to see if I get used to them.

Went for a swim at lunch yesterday and again after work.  Total laps = 65.  Not too shabby – and I was the fastest person in the pool in the afternoon.  My shoulders and back started to get sore or I would have gone further.

Been playing a lot of God of War for the PS3.  Good game, lots of fun, but I may have been playing too much.  The puzzles, while not that terribly complicated, are stupid easy. I don’t even have to put any thought into them – I’ve learned the way the developers thought and I just find the solution instantly.  That, along with Easy mode, means that I’m flying through the game.

Well, back to work.  Got some system weirdness going on we need to investigate.

Went and saw the Dark Shadows movie over the weekend.  It was pretty good, though I guess I was expecting it to be a little more serious.  Not a lot more serious – Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, etc. – but maybe a little more serious.  Eva Green was awesome as usual and it was a fun bit of distraction.

I had been expecting my former neighbors to come over for a visit on Saturday, but they didn’t contact me.  I’m guessing something came up and they forgot, but since it’s the third attempt I think I’ll just let things go.  It would be nice to see them, but they may have felt awkward about it.  If they contact me again I’d be happy to have them over – we’ll see how it goes.

I went to a birthday pool party for one of my friends – her husband is a very recent former co-worker – and I made her a lamp for her birthday.   This was actually a request she had made months ago, but I couldn’t get the design right.  I finally gave up, bought some new paper, and redesigned it.  Turned out pretty amazing – if I do say so myself – and she seemed pleased with it.  I asked her to get some pictures of it when it’s hung up and I’ll share those when I have them.

Much of the day was spent in the pool, dodging raindrops and tormenting children.  Her nieces and nephews all seemed to want to be tossed around in the pool and I did my best to oblige them.  When I wasn’t in the pool, I was stuffing my face with desserts.  Well, I had some actual lunch too, but the desserts were the best.

Today I was back to work and missing my buddy.  He was online for a bit and walked me through the process of getting his music collection off his former work computer – one thing he had forgotten.  I worked on that with him in the morning before he had to start his new job.  I’ll share my external hard drive with him sometime soon and he can get his extensive music collection back.

The rest of the day was pretty quiet, just trying to keep things running and from breaking themselves.  In the middle of the day I got a call from the New York Ladies.  They were having some TV troubles and needed help getting them set up.  I went over after work and got things set up in record time before heading out for some errands.  It’s not much, but they do appreciate my help and I’m glad to do it.

The rest of evening has been video games and reading.  Hoping the week goes quickly – and cools down a bit.  Still no AC for me, but I may need it tonight.

Yesterday, I went with my neighbor to his mom’s pool for they day.  He brought his puppies along too and since the breed is a water-dog, we decided to take them in the pool and see if they would enjoy a swim.  The male took to it pretty well and was fairly calm – though when given a chance he would always swim for the steps out of the pool.   The female didn’t like it as much, though she did like the treats she got for swimming and being a “good girl”.    It was fun, though I got a little sunburned on my shoulders.

I still haven’t turned on my AC yet.   It’s partly because I want to save energy, partly to save money, and mostly because I’m stubborn and I want to see how long I can hold out.  Open windows and fans have generally been enough and a cold shower before I go to bed is enough to let me go to sleep.  The heat really doesn’t bother me much – I figure that if it’s summer time, it’s going to be hot out.  But guests to my home do not share that philosophy and they are uncomfortable. So, I’ll give way in a few days and turn it on – though I’ll still keep it warmer than most places with air.

Finally, an observation about observation.  I’ve long prided myself on being aware of my surroundings and paying attention to details.  I make connections, find lost things, and keep people from stepping out into traffic.

However, my observational skills failed me recently – or rather, I noticed recently how they had failed me months ago.  I have a door in my house that separates the first and second floors.  It’s got 12 glass panels and the former owners had a curtain on it that I’ve never done anything with.   I did notice that one of the upper panes was cracked, but in the months that I’ve lived there, I never noticed that 2 of the lower panels are just flat out missing.  As in, they’ve been gone since before I moved in.  I only noticed them when I was running the sweeper and went to rest my hand on the door for balance while I switched out the attachment.

How in the world did I miss the fact that these were missing?  It’s not like the rest of the panes are ultra-super clean.  They are below eye level, but still.

Not sure how I’m going to come back from this – maybe I need to find a nice big haystack and go needle-searching.

After work on Friday I hit the pool and did 60 laps.  Felt pretty strong afterwards and when I got home I took myself for about a 4 mile walk.   The heat started to wear on me and ever with a break in there for dinner in air conditioning, I was still worn out.  I was almost home and started to cut across and exit ramp from the highway –  and though the way was clear, I was still going against the light.

No sooner had I stepped into the street when a police car fired up his sirens and lights and started to pull into the intersection.

“Great”, I thought, “I’m going to get a ticket for jaywalking. I cannot freaking believe this”

Instead, though, the police car pulled through the intersection and the next one before turning off this lights and sirens.

So, no ticket.  Just a really impatient police officer running a red light.

I spent much of the morning on Saturday doing some housecleaning to get ready for my former neighbors visiting on Sunday afternoon.  I was just about done mopping when I got a text saying that they had accidently double-booked and would need to reschedule for another day.  I was fine with that – though I am getting a little weary of keeping my place so clean.  I need a little disorder, I think.

That afternoon I was up at the mall looking for a tea strainer.  My mint is drying nicely in my basement and I’ve been looking for a strainer for a few days now.  Went into a Williams Sonoma figuring that if anyone had one, it would this place.  A somewhat zealous clerk approached me and asked if she could help and when I told her what I was looking for she took me right over to the section. She handed me the tea strainer and asked if I had been to Teavana – I told her,

“No, I’m making my own tea,”

She got a puzzled look on her face and I continued, “I’m growing mint in my backyard,”

Based on her reaction, you would have thought that I was the most clever person that had ever lived.  It was a little disconcerting.    I managed to convince  her that I didn’t need the larger size for all the astonishing tea I was making and managed to escape with my purchase.

Yesterday, I went to a birthday party for one of my neighbors.  It was outside in the full sun and we all got pretty well cooked.  The food was excellent and the company was fun.   One of the people I was talking to was from France, though he and his family have lived in the US for a number of years.  They speak French in their house and English otherwise, though they would all shift languages seemlessly.  He and I talked a little about Origami and I gave him some references.

It was late when I left and I may coined a new phrase when I announced:
“Time for me to go.  It’s already 10 minutes after yesterday,”

Today I’m headed to a small pool party and dinner.  Should be fun.

Not looking forward to this week though – it’s my buddy Casey’s last week with us before he takes a new job.

So, time to do a little folding, a little reading, and a little relaxing.  Gotta make the most of the weekend before it slips away.

I had a great 4th of July.  Got invited to take a boat trip on the Portage lakes with some friends and we had a really good time.    The day started at about 10:30 when we met up and headed to the lake.  The rented boat wasn’t ready for us yet, so we went into the bar and had some drinks  – I entertained the group with some paper folding.  We got the word that the boat was ready so drinks were finished and we loaded up.  Most of lakes and channels are “no-wake” zones so it was slow going, but we had our sandwiches and enjoyed the sunshine and the breeze.

We were quite a ways out when we had to turn back to pick up a late arrival.  Once he was on board we headed out again to a spot where we could stop and swim for a bit.  A few of us jumped out of the boat and enjoyed the water. And since the visibility in the water was about 0 feet, I almost immediately took off my trunks.  At one point, while I was treading water, one of my friends saw the trunks in my hand and grinned.  In a few moments, his trunks also surfaced in his hand.  I don’t think anyone else joined us, or if they did, they were even more subtle than we were.   It was very freeing and I was a little disappointed that we didn’t stay there longer.  So, trunks back on, we all climbed back into the boat.  Which was easier said than done – it was a pontoon boat with no ladder.  A few of us managed – barely – to pull ourselves back on the boat, but most needed someone to pull them up.

We cruised around the lakes for a while longer, then stopped again.  I doffed my trunks and tried to swim down to the anchor, but it was too cold down there.  The second swimming trip was cut short since we had to get back, but it was still fun.  We pulled into the dock right on time and got all the gear unloaded.

Later that evening I went to IHOP and some amazing pancakes.    Didn’t watch any fireworks this 4th, but still enjoyed the day off.

I had called my former neighbors last week and left them a message asking if they wanted to come over and see my place on Sunday.  I didn’t hear back from them until Sunday afternoon saying they couldn’t come – by that point, I had been a cleaning machine.  Right up until my cleaning machine – i.e. vacuum cleaner – broke.  Well, broke again.  The handle release broke once before and I had made a partial fix.  This time, parts flew across the room.  It was over 10 years old and badly in need of replacement.  And it smelled funny.

So, I salvaged some of the more interesting parts for future Halloween costumes and went out and bought a new vacuum and a mop.  The vaccum claims to be better than a Dyson at half the price.  Well, it was far less than half price  – don’t know about being better than a Dyson since I haven’t tried it yet – I had pretty much finished my cleaning when the old one broke.

The neighbors said they could maybe visit this weekend so I skipped the mopping until it gets a little closer to their visit. The place is looking really good – I’m pretty happy in my house now.  Though, in some ways, it STILL doesn’t feel like mine.  Weird.

I made my first harvest from my garden over the weekend.  Well, I cut some invasive mint that was growing next to the garage and hung it in the basement.  Think I might be able to make some tea at some point.  So, that counts, right?

Got some sad news at work.  My co-worker and one of my best friends is leaving the university.  He’s got a much better job, for more money, doing what he loves, with a much better commute.   So, I’m happy for him that he’s moving forward, but sad that he’s leaving our crew.  He’s got about a week and half before he’s gone and we’re taking him out for Chipotle for his farewell dinner.   I’ll keep in touch with him by email and text, but it won’t be the same.

I’m going on a day trip on a boat with some friends around one of the local lakes tomorrow for the 4th.  Should fun – looking forward to some sun and some swimming.  Swimming in the pool and doing laps is fine, but in a lake I’m more like an otter. 🙂