FuzzyCouch

I had been looking for some cross country skis, and came across some earlier this week on eBay. I won the bidding today ($26) and have plans to pick them up Sunday in Springfield. My fingers are crossed that the boots I already have fit the bindings. If all that works out, it is supposed to snow tomorrow night, so maybe I’ll be able to use the skis Sunday or Monday.

We hung the February show at the gallery tonight. Opening is Friday night.

I’ve been drinking a load of hot tea lately. Erin got Julie and I a handy electric kettle and I’ve just gotten into the groove of making tea all the time. In fact, I think I’ll have some right now…

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I was able to spend the weekend in Lincoln, and had a great time!

A few weeks ago, there was a lot of rain in the area, and our basement was flooded by about three inches of water. Apparently, the backup battery was OK, but the sump pumps failed.

Kallie is watching the house and kept us up-to-date on the whole situation. Our home warranty covered the replacement of the pump, and all the water has been removed and professional cleaners have restored the basement, all before I returned. However, the water heater’s pilot light was flooded, and burner rusted, and that was not detected until the day I arrived. Luckily, the part was in town and replaced Friday night.

Friday, I visited with Mom, Emilie and Dad and then went to David’s house for coffee. We ended up talking pretty late (midnight or maybe later, its foggy now).

Saturday morning, I had coffee at Katie’s with the family and ate lunch at Don Panchito’s with David. That night, Dad, Emilie, David and I played “Puerto Rico,” it was a blast! Everyone thought that I had won the second game, but, after adding up the points, I was in LAST!

Sunday, I went to early service with Mom and Dad and then we had lunch with the entire family at Mom’s, it was a lot like Thanksgiving since she made turkey and homemade noodles. Travis and Grace joined us too, it was great to see them. They recently bought a blue Honda Fit and Grace is now a financial advisor! I went to bed early because I had to fly out at 6 a.m. from Peoria, but that got me to Minneapolis by 7:45, in time for my 8 a.m. meeting.

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Julie and I met up up with Mom and Dad for dinner tonight after Ultimate. A dual birthday meal for dad and me.

We tried a new place, “Ginger,” near Barnes & Noble in Springfield. The food was pretty good. My vegetable curry dish was freaky hot. They had a sign up that they were having a soft opening. It was only their third day open. We could tell, which was fine, but I hope they pull it together soon.

We saw Joyce, my former boss from the Maple Club, there, too.

Had to get another filling Friday. It’s annoying that I have to go out of town to find a dentist on my dental plan. Julie found one in Springfield and I’ve gone to one in Winchester a couple times now.

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I went skiing Sunday night — back to the place I went last year.

Phil posted a message online looking for anyone interested in going for a special night ski at Hidden Valley in St. Louis. I imagined that he already had some friends going, but it was just him and me.

The temps were especially low, and though I was pretty well prepared, my toes and fingers were definitely getting cold. Because it was so cold, they were making snow the whole time. Having to ski through that was a bit of an obstacle.

It was a long day for me. I got home from Ultimate. We left from Phil’s a little after 7 p.m., the night ski thing ran from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., we got delayed with a trip to the hospital, and I got home at 7 a.m. I went directly to bed.

I risked taking my camera, but I didn’t get it out too much. I put some photos here.

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I updated my iPhone with the new software update announced at Macworld. I think the “locate” function is really smart and makes getting directions with the map application much more useful.

We spent Saturday afternoon with Matt, Mandy and Lucas and had a great time visiting. We ate at a Mexican restaurant “Nacho Mama’s” in Stillwater, it was really good, portions were huge!

I’ve hooked up an antenna to our HDTV here … and we are currently watching the Giants – Packers game… well Jantina is watching it, I’m surfing while its on :)

I’m heading to a customer in Indianapolis on Friday, and I’m going to drive down to Lincoln after work, spend the weekend, and then fly back to Minneapolis on Monday.

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Someone from WICS news recorded my Ultimate group playing today. He said it might be on the 10 p.m. news tonight.

UPDATE: It doesn’t look like they used it.

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Friends Jake and Nate Sorrill were in the Springfield newspaper’s Voice section the other day. [link] Then the week before, a story about Jake was in the Illinois Times. [link]

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My usual, Sunday Ultimate game luckily fell on a super, 65-degree day this week. The turnout was pretty good and we were able to play for a bit longer than usual.

BABY
A couple we know through Ultimate — Matt and Bridget — are about to have a baby (unless he arrived today). They were both at the game yesterday and the baby was several days past the due date.

Update: Matt and Bridget had Alexander J. Ratz the following day.

OPENING NIGHT
Friday was the opening reception for the January show at Noir Art Emporium. The artist arrived about 11:30 p.m. Thursday night with his work and a friend. The three of us went to work on unloading, then Rhett decided how he wanted the work grouped, then we started hanging.

About six and a half hours later I arrived home and went directly to bed (for two and a half hours of sleep). I also wrote up a little bio and price sheet and got those designed, printed and copied during that time. But at the end, we had around 81 paintings hung. I was amazed thatit took so long and that 81 paintings fit in the gallery.

Josh is in Boston for his graduate program, so he wasn’t around, as he usually is, to help out. So with the all nighter, work during the day Friday and the opening Friday evening, I was wiped out Friday night. I don’t know how Rhett and Tim managed to drive back to Chicago after the opening.

TELEVISION
Julie and I just watched the first disc of “Extras” season one. And I watched the whole season of “Kitchen Nightmares” online over the past couple days, as our cable has been out. I had to download Friday’s “Stargate Atlantis,” too.

CAMERA
New camera arrived today. Seems to have some nifty features. Julie took some pics of me flying my remote control helicopter last night at the gallery, but I haven’t uploaded them yet.

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