Bike et al update

On Tuesday the 6th after work, I rode to the bike shop and purchased my upgrades. How I came up with $50-$60 is beyond me (at least for the moment) because it set me back $82 for the rack, headlight, taillight, under-seat wedge and cargo net.

As of Friday the 8th, I estimate I have logged 82.5 miles on the bike this year (not sure what my total is - can't find the notebook I used last year to log my miles). This Friday should bring that total to 114.2. I again rode my bike to my Monday night volleyball match (where again, we lost 2-1). On Wednesday we had the final night of our tournament for that particular league. I carpooled with my girlfriend and put the bike in the bed of her truck in case she wanted to leave shortly after the tournament and I wanted to stay and play a bit longer. Well we ended up winning the tournament after three games, 25-19 or 20-ish, 29-27, and the final 25-22. Afterwards we went to the restaurant upstairs at the Tucson Racquet Club to eat our free cheese crisp (with half-chicken and half-green chilis) and drink our free pitcher of beer. I couldn't tell you want the beer was since I wasn't there when my teammates ordered it, nor did I really care. I trust their judgement. Amy decided to leave right afterwards but the rest of us played some drunken volleyball before calling it an evening, so I rode the 5.5 miles home, arriving just after 11:30. At some point I realized I left my helmet in Amy's truck, so I had to do it with no cranial protection. Scary.

On Saturday, I went with Amy to visit her family who was camping in Tombstone for Mother's Day weekend. She mostly wanted to spend time with her grandmother, Sophie, who is a riot! At 87 years old the woman has tons of energy (and can put away a whole plate of biscuits and gravy, much to my dismay) and is only barely showing signs of slowing down. Amy describes her as a fiercly independent woman who really doesn't take any crap from anybody. Kudos to Sophie! We left Sunday afternoon and had enough time to get home, shower and take a long nap.

Monday (my new day off), Amy took a "mental health day" as she called it. She has been dealing with her ex-husband who still owes her money from their house they owned, but hasn't (according to her, and I have no reason not to believe her) done his part to close out his end of the deal. It all started before the recession, but he didn't get the house refinanced when he said he would, and since then housing prices have plummeted and he's lost his job. Life sucks, hence the need for a "mental health day." I kicked ass cleaning up the house (mostly) and in the afternoon we went out to buy a medicine cabinet, exhaust fan cover and supply air register, all for my second bathroom (which Amy now uses exclusively). Unfortunately we purchased these items later in the day on Monday, so I've yet to install any of it. Hopefully I can get it all taken care of this weekend. The only remaining item for that bathroom is a base board, but I'm not planning to do that anytime in the near future.

I made meal plans to get us through this weekend before needing to re-stock. I need to cull through some new (and easy) recipes to get us through until the end of the month. I haven't been using the crockpot as often as I should, so I think I might find some new crockpot recipes. The prep time can sometimes be obnoxious, but the leftovers are usually good for quite a while!

Starting Saturday, I'm picking my studies back up in preparation for my June 15th Building Technologies Exam. I took it back in October and failed it, unfortunately. This time around I should be able to pass it relatively easy. The next exam will be a re-take of my Building Planning exam (which I failed because I ran out of time on the shorter vignette - Interior Layout), which will be available to take in September. Pending the results of the most recent test, Pre-Design (105 multiple choice questions), BP should be my final test. After that test, I will officially (hopefully) be an Architect!

Ciao.

The Weekend

I didn't make it all of last week riding my bicycle to and from the office, unfortunately. However, I needed to go the bank and with the pending need for gas, decided to do it on Thursday, since it was payday. Technically I made it to the new month for gas, since I get paid on the last day of the month.

Technicalities...

Nor did I make it to the bike shop to get my shopping list of upgrades on my bike. On Friday, I biked to work on the way to my Pre-Design exam (test 7 of 9 to get my Architectural License), where I found out my office was reducing the work-week again, this time to 32 hours. My boss had mentioned it a couple times during staff meetings in the previous weeks, so we all knew it was coming, but it's just a bummer. To make it easy, management decided we'd work four, eight-hour days and asked us our preference for our day off; I picked Monday. Friday will always be Friday, and work always seems to crop up towards the end of the week, needing resolution before the weekend. I've always had a love-hate relationship with Sunday; it's a very bittersweet day, isn't it? I love the relaxed nature of Sundays, yet there it is, the lurking presence of Monday just beyond the shadows waiting to pounce. For me, Monday was the logical choice.

It was a busy weekend, altogether. On Saturday, I did laundry, grocery shopped and cooked dinner. Amy is gluten-intolerant, so we have to use a wheat-free pasta, which is surprisingly easy to find. Quinoa is a great wheat pasta substitute (better than rice pasta, anyway). On Sunday, I oiled up my dog Flame (see - Sabaceous Adenitis) then washed her off twice in the shower. Amy and I cleaned up the front patio and considered options for what to do with our bikes. We proposed hanging them in the patio or putting them on the north side of my townhouse in a storage cabinet (her idea), which seemed to be the best idea. The problem is my townhouse is small, and we are really trying to be efficient with our use of space. After Flame was taken care of (and the tile floor covered in residual baby oil) I left to meet some guys to play sand doubles for a couple of hours. Afterwards I returned home, showered and cooked dinner with a nice side. Amy brought a patio table and two chairs from her parents' house, so we were able to enjoy dinner outside under candelight. It helped there were no insects about.

Monday (my new day off), I lounged in bed until almost 11, before finally getting up to make breakfast. Amy was long since gone to work, so it was just me and the dogs so it was quiet. I made a couple of egg and ham muffins with juice and coffee before settling down to continue reading Second Messiah, which is a fascinating book and provides many alternative theories to history (King Arthur and his KotRT represents Jesus and the twelve Tribes of Israel, the Black Death may have extended to the Americas by the Norsemen and eradicated the Toltecs, Freemasonry, and the Knights Templar before it, are actually, or at least originally intended to be, preservations of the original Jerusalem Church, which is what Christianity was really supposed to be, oh and that the Shroud of Turin is not an image of Jesus, but of Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar). Finally I decided to get to work, which was to finish painting my second bathroom (so Amy could have her own), install the cabinet hardware, mirror and towel rack. I then cleaned the tub and toilet so it was ready to use (mostly). Afterwards, I cooked dinner before riding my bike to my Monday night volleyball match (we lost 2-1).

All in all, it was a very nice and productive weekend. I'll touch on the subject of efficiency and my townhouse at a later date (I hope).