I was neither in the mood to watch this movie Friday night nor did I want to see it in the first place, but I took one for the team and was pleasantly surprised. The movie was about the rise and fall of N.W.A, the controversial rap group from Compton. While I’m not a fan of rap, their music is pretty good (and sounded great through my tv’s new sound system, which I got for my birthday).
My rating: 4/5
I’ve been fretting about my sidecar’s lighting for weeks. Never mind the fact that it took me forever to find lighting that I liked, I had no idea how it was going to get wired up. I read numerous articles on the subject, but still did not feel great going into the project.
However, once I took a look at how the previous lights were connected, it all became clear (I guess I should have done that earlier in the process). I got everything hooked up and working last night. So long as I don’t blow any fuses, I’m good to go. Just in time for Thunder.
There are some other customizations I’d like to make, namely adding a sidecar headlamp and doing some upholstery work (including a removable seat for the dog), but that’s probably enough work for the moment.
When we bought Jake a car, part of the deal was that he’d have to get a job in order to pay for his vehicle expenses. He applied at a bunch of places and received an offer from Westwood Garden Haven (so be sure to stop in and say “hi” and buy a bunch of stuff). I’m sure the fact that we’ve been customers of theirs for 20 years didn’t hurt his chances. His first day was yesterday and they put him through the grinder (a little hard work never killed anyone), but he came out unscathed and is scheduled for another three days this week. I expect he’ll be working at least 20 hours a week, which is ideal. The only issue is that this is a seasonal position, so he’ll have to look for something else at the end of the summer. But, we’ll worry about that when it happens.
This book was ok. It was a suspense novel about a former police dog who witnessed a murder and whose owner is suspected of the crime. It was kind of a goofy premise, but it worked out ok. I wasn’t all that fond of the main character, the lawyer representing both the dog and the accused, though. Apparently this book is one of a series. I don’t know that I’d be interested in reading anything else from the series, but you never know.
My rating: 3/5
We took a break from the forest this year and hit the beach at Jake’s request. Much like the last time we were at Wildwood, Jake’s friend Dom joined us.
We had an uneventful trip down on Monday (though we hit a little traffic around Philly), got settled in and ordered some pizza from Sam’s. Serious Eats hails it as the best pizza place in Wildwood. I thought it was pretty good, though the crust was a bit dry. I’ll still take Pizza Man’s pizza over anyone’s. The boys were off on their own after supper. It’s kind of nice that they are old enough to do so, but sad at the same time. Brian and I went for a walk and then just hung out the rest of the evening, which was the recurring theme of the week for us.
I did a lot of reading, knitting, and coloring. And we went on a lot of walks–I logged well over 10,000 steps a day, including the day we got there (after being in the car for 6 hours). The weather was nice, though it was really windy one of the days (and I mean really). It only rained for a couple of minutes, too. The hotel we stayed at was great–it was the cleanest place I have ever seen. All in all, it was a pretty good trip, but it’s back to work on Monday. At least we still have the weekend.