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).