We went to my parent’s today for the annual birthday dinner for my brother and me (my brother’s birthday is in May and mine is in June and we normally celebrate both birthdays the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend). The dinner was kind of like a Thanksgiving dinner–turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and the like. Everything was delicious, of course–especially the cheesecake we had for dessert. I got some cool gifts, too. My brother got me the latest Type O and NIN albums. My parents got me a subscription to Organic Gardening magazine and some recipe books among other things. We had dinner on the deck and it was the perfect day for that. I guess the weather should be no surprise as it is the “official” first weekend of the summer.
dirty work
I took advantage of the beautiful weather this evening and planted some veggies and herbs. I also put my pepper plants outside to harden off. Unlike my tomato plants, I’m starting them off in the shade. So hopefully they will survive their stint in the cold frames. As it turns out, a few of my tomato plants lived. They’re pretty small, so I hope they bear fruit. I still had to buy most of my tomatoes, though. And, I still need to get a few herbs. I went to two places yesterday, but could not find what I was looking for. I have another place or two to check before I give up and plant something else.
There’s still plenty of work to do outside. There always is. The weather looks good this week, so I should be able to get a lot done. I really love working in the yard this time of year.
chicago
The title of this post is deceiving. A co-worker and I had to go to AJAX training this past week. The training was billed as being in Chicago, but it was actually in the Chicago suburbs in a town called Schaumburg. Nothing exciting going on there, let me tell you. The class was through Learning Tree and it was quite informative. We checked out some nice restaurants for supper each day, Benihana being the most interesting one. And we trekked over to the Woodfield Mall after class the one day. The evenings were pretty boring, though–I didn’t have room for my laptop in my luggage. Next time, I’ll wear the same clothes all week if I have to, but I’m not leaving my laptop at home.
Our trip out of Pittsburgh wasn’t the best. Everything was running on time, but right when we were about to take off, it was announced that all flights going in and out of O’Hare were grounded due to weather. So, we sat in the plane on the tarmac for 90 minutes (the length of the flight was only supposed to be 90 minutes) and then finally took off. But, there was more bad weather and we had to fly around it, so we ended up being in the plane for a total of 4 hours.
The trip home went just fine, but the hours leading up to it were another story. Our flight was not until 9:10PM last night (central time). Our class let out at 2PM. You do the math. There was a nice atrium in the building our class was held in, so we sat there for a while and read. Then we headed back to the hotel for a while and sat in the lobby and read. Finally, it was time to get the taxi to the airport. Getting through security took a while. And the place was very crowded–evidently there were a bunch of canceled and delayed flights yesterday. And, while the Chicago O’Hare airport touted Chili’s as one of its restaurants, we only saw Chili’s Express vendors. Pretty much everything was fast food. Ick. I grabbed a salad from McDonald’s and called it supper. We sat around and people-watched after that and then headed over to our gate and waited to board the plane. The flight left on time and wasn’t too bumpy considering that it was pretty windy out. The only snag was when we hit Pittsburgh, we had to wait 15 minutes before we could get off the plane because the ground crew was working on another plane when we arrived. But, I wasn’t going to complain about that.
Brian picked us up and we finally made it home around 2:30AM. It was a long day. But, I’m glad to be home. I actually have to work today (can you believe it?) starting at our 11:00 staff meeting. Ugh. I’ll probably be face-down on the keyboard by 2:00.
forever odd
I started reading this book on my last business trip and made pretty good progress with it. But, life got in the way and I never finished it. I wanted to finish it up before my next trip (which, incidentally, is tomorrow), so I’ve been making an effort to read it in recent days. I just got done with it this evening. I liked it, but not quite as much as its predecessor–Odd Thomas. I suppose if I would’ve liked it as much as that book, I wouldn’t have had to make an effort to finish it. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Brother Odd.
busy as a bee
I have to go to a training class for work next week, so I’ve been trying to get ahead on my household duties so that I’m not overwhelmed when I return. Couple that with Jake’s bedroom remodel and I’ve been quite busy the past few weeks. As I previously mentioned, Jake’s carpet was installed on Tuesday. Last night, we finished assembling his new desk/wall storage unit and put it in his room. At this point, all of the furniture is back in his room, but none of his stuff has been put away yet.
I’m looking forward to Memorial Day because it will be the first day off I’ve had since New Year’s Day. Normally, I like to take a day off per month, but with all of the job changes I’ve had this year, that’s not within the realm of possibility thanks to my new and improved reduced vacation schedule. But, what can you do? Grin and bear it.