Afterwards
Last night was the perfect two-year anniversary. I got her a card and flowers. While she cooked, I hit up Surdyk's for wine and beer and cheese. After dinner, we left the TV off and sat on the couch together, alternating between talking and reading. Then we went to bed around midnight.
It was an awesome anniversary. And the last one we'll celebrate as unmarrieds.
Two Years
It was a very cold December night. I was working at the bike shop and was pretty nervous. See, I had a date lined-up around the corner at the Herkimer.
Kate was waiting for me in front of the shop. We did the small talk thing while we walked over. There was beer.
I don't remember what we ate. I was too fixated on her eyes, what she was saying, the sound of her voice. The way she laughed. I didn't know where it was going to go when all this happened, but I knew that the journey was going to be a good one.
That date and these two years have just been the start of things. I can't imagine a life without her, I can't imagine growing the way I have without her. And I can't imagine her not being around to share in everything.
It's a good thing I'm marrying her, huh?*
* That is predicated on her ability to survive the nine hours my wedding vows are going to take me to recite.
Learnificating
One of things that's bugged me since leaving college, Internet, is that I can feel my brain slipping away as time goes by. This is doubtless the result of not feeding it enough in the last eleven or so years, and is compounded by the advent of microblogging and typical Gen-X malaise. The combined factors have turned my brain into a thin gruel wherein occasionally a pair of neurons will pass close enough to one another form a synapse, a spark will jump, and I will have a fleeting Thought of My Very Own™.
In the past year, I have endeavored to learn new things. In late 2008, I finally got around to taking formal swimming lessons which, for me, was a pretty big accomplishment. This year, I've been all about the framebuilding class. I'm learning a wide variety of things there -- welding, frame design, metallurgy, and all-around general awesomeness.
There are two other things that I'm eager to learn -- photography and a martial art. The former, I've always wanted to learn, and Kate and I have been discussing taking that class together (and buying a nice D-SLR). The latter I want to pursue because the old skills I developed have gone badly rusty -- last year, while wrestling with Kate's brother Drew at the family camping trip, I was in a position where I found myself thinking, "Well, from here I can either kill him or get my ass kicked. Neither of these is a positive outcome."
After I'm a learned scholar of photography and kicking ass, I think I'm going to start looking for low-cost and free classes on a wide variety of subjects, just so that I can continue to keep my brain happy. The sources will be community education classes, MCTC, and probably the U of MN.
A few of the other things I want to learn:
- beer making
- public speaking
- sword making
- gardening
- lead climbing
- to play an instrument other than the Rock Band guitar
Miscellaneous Crap
- I have a doctor's appointment today. Follow-up on a few things, and going over some new things. I won't go into detail here -- not until I know for sure what's up and the people closest to me have been made aware of anything important that comes out of this.
- The Vikings have eked out a 6-0 start to the season, but I suspect that that won't go past Sunday, as they travel to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers. Minny's pass defense has been lacking, and was really hurt by Winfield's absence after the first quarter against Baltimore. All in all, I have us down as losing to the Steelers, Bengals, and Giants, though that second one could go either way now that they've lost Odom for the season. Final record, most likely 13-3, possibly 14-2. Unless the Saints get some catastrophic injuries, they eat us alive in the NFC Championship game.
- This weekend looks to be interesting. Will be "up north" this Friday night and Saturday -- for you non-Minnesotans, "up north" is defined as anywhere north of the exurbs (Monticello, for example). We're going to be doing food tastings at caterers and looking at reception sites. After that, it's back to the Cities. Sunday, I've got my framebuilding class, which I'm looking forward to. More welding and mitering. Possibly some blueprinting.
- Been spending a lot of time and lovin' with the Cyclist's Training Bible lately. Figuring out a two-peak plan for next racing season -- with peaks in August and November. Wanting to do well at the various State Championship races next year. Going to be competing in road, track and cyclocross. Need to find a yoga class to start attending, too. I think there's a weekly one at the Y. Maybe.
- In the geek realm, I'm designing a new website for my framebuilding venture, wondering what the hell the point of Google Wave is, and thinking about getting another Airport Express on the home network -- this one for the living room stereo, which I should really get around to hooking-up one of these days when I have some time.
- Have I mentioned lately that I am madly in love with my wife-to-be? Yeah, well, I'm going to mention it again. I look at her and I get butterflies in my stomach. I think about all the awesome things we've done and all those still to come, and I can't imagine doing those things with anyone else.
Weekend, Food, Etc.
Well, I was all gung-ho about racing 'cross this weekend, but that's off the calendar. I was going to race Saturday, but that's all the way up in Fargo. Too damn far to drive for a single race. I'll settle for hammering a couple of hot laps in a local park and doing some mount/dismount practice.
Some cookin' is on the agenda for the weekend. Since Sunday is the Vikes-49ers game, I will probably get up and take a stab at a pierogie pizza. The whole concept is something I cannot ignore and sounds like it would be a good game-time food.
Also have a chimmichurri recipe that I'm dying to try -- we discovered the Agentinean green sauce while we were in Vegas, and fell in love with it.
In other news, we've had to move our wedding date because our locale and the associated hotel rooms are inundated by the Bayside Blues Festival. Dammit. Now I gotta wait another two weeks to marry Kate. Ah well. She's definitely worth the wait.
I am sleepy. Work is too long today. I want a beer. And a nap.
I’m Back
So it's been awhile since my last post. Partly because I had a short week at the office last week and a normal workload. I got everything done, then blew town for Vegas, which was awesome, as usual.
The first thing you'll have noticed is that I reverted back to the old theme I'd been using. The garish one was too damn obnoxious for my tastes. The second thing you'll notice is that I deleted all the accumulated spam in here. (Okay, maybe you didn't.)
Life: Wedding preparations are starting to roll. We've got a location, but it's going to necessitate two separate lists -- one for the ceremony (small) and one for the reception (huge). I want Kate to walk down the aisle to "Brick House" by the Commodores. She's having nothing of that.
Bike: 'Cross season starts this weekend and I'm not really ready. But I'm going to hit it anyway. Might as well suffer a bit and use it as training. Worst case scenario is that it becomes training for next year. Framebuilding class is starting soon. Real soon. Oh yeah, and the debacle with my RA'ed mountain bike shoes has been resolved. Got them. Heat treating them tonight.
Writing: I think I'm finally completely burned-out on reading. Vacation'll do that. To maintain my relationship with the written word, I'll be trying to wrap-up the rough draft for Bubble over the next few weeks. Hoping to keep it under 130,000 words. Going to be close. After that, I have to start my next novel, which is about humanity's first (indirect) contact with extraterrestrial intelligence.
A Long Summer
It's been a long summer. Terry, Mooch, mom, and my sister-in-law. My weirdness with the neurological symptoms. The plight of friends that have lost, or are in the process of losing, people close to them. And through it all, Kate has largely -- but not always, thankfully -- been a distant voice on the phone and via email.
Thankfully, she's home this Sunday, and won't be returning to North Carolina again (that I know of). I've missed her more than you can imagine. And not just all the perfect things about her -- but the imperfections, too. I miss her morning grumpiness. I miss the looks I get when one of my jokes falls flat. I miss trying not to talk to her during a TV show that I'd never choose to watch by myself. I miss all the good stuff, too, of course. But the longer this has dragged on, the more I've come to realize how important she is to me.
The next few months are going to be a little tough as we have to re-integrate and plan a wedding, but I believe that it's nothing we can't get through. Our little family (us and the cats) will be back togther again, and that is pretty kick ass.
T-Minus One Year and Counting…
A year from today, I'll be standing in front of a group of my family and friends, declaring with absolute certainty my love, affection, and intent to spend the rest of my life with Kate. It's been a few months since I spun around the Scrabble board with MARRYME across the triple word score, and for most of the time since then, she's been on an extended business trip to North Carolina.
They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and they're right. I'm not sure who "they" are, but they're pretty smart cookies.
Our engagement, knowing that we've got decades ahead of us, has made the summer apart much less angst-y and easier to endure. A year from now, I'll be making my vows, looking in her eyes, probably trying not to cry (because I'm a giant sap).
It's a big step to take and there's no one I'd rather take it with.
A Few Things
1. This Friday marks four weeks remaining for Kate's NC Biz Trip from Hell. I cannot tell you how excited I am that she'll be home full-time again. She was home for 9 days recently, and wow it was tough to see her go. There might have been some choked-up sadness in the car when I left her at the airport. I'm just sayin'.
2. My cholesterol test that I had last week was bad. OMFG bad. Like "overhaul your diet and live on your bike" bad. The latter part of the equation I can live with. But I still want fatty, disgusting food. However, that's not going to happen. Diet changed on Sunday morning, and I've been well-behaved and eating sensibly. Not a long stretch of time, granted, but please recount the old adage about a journey of a thousand miles.
3. The Las Cruces has been lobotomized, and I now have a few more chainrings sitting around, plus a front derailleur. Yup, I cut her down to a 1x10 for 'cross season. My new shoes, which will hopefully prevent any sort of foot injury, have also arrived. I'll be going through the heat-based form-fitting this coming Saturday, and we somehow managed to have a set of the Sidi half-inch toe spikes in stock, which should keep me rockin' the muddy run-ups this year.
4. There's more, but it's mostly boring.
An Update of Sorts
So things have been crazy lately, and I make no apologies for not updating this blog more often. I'll give you a quick recap on what's shakin', though:
1. The WRX. After spending almost $300 on fluid changes in the Subaru, I took it in to Car-X for a look at the struts. They wanted $1600 for struts and labor -- highway robbery at its finest. Some research indicated that OEM struts were about $700 if I ordered them from a Subaru dealer. I bought good-quality aftermarket struts and found a highly-recommended mechanic who'll do the work for $100. You can't argue with that, can you? Struts should be here today or tomorrow via FedEx, and I'll have the work done this weekend.
2. Kate's still traveling for business, and as a result, whenever she's home (usually for a 36-hour weekend blitz), the last thing I want to do is go near a computer.
3. Also, language. I keep coming across the word "brifters," a stupid-assed contraction used to describe integrated brake/shift levers on a bicycle. I hate the word "brifters" so much that I frequently put the laptop to sleep after encountering the word. It actually took me two hours to write this paragraph because I kept typing the word "brifters."
Christ. There I went again. It is now another hour later and I can just barely stand myself.
Honestly, there's just been lots of shit going on lately and I can spread blame around, but the bottom line is that I just haven't felt like updating.
Currently Reading
The Constitution
Tag Cloud
Flickr
More...
Support
Wishlists
Lifestream
-
Checked in at Knight Cap Bar & Lounge
-
-
Trio of girls covering "ABC" by the Jackson Five. They are fucking NAILING it. Michael Jackson lives! [fontosaurus]
-
-
Checked in at Northeast Palace
-
I'm at McDonald's - NE (1100 University Ave NE, Minneapolis). http://4sq.com/7fT8JH [fontosaurus]
-
Checked in at McDonald's - NE
-
Checked in at Lens Crafters
-
I'm at Mall of America (Mall of America, 60 East Broadway, Bloomington) w/ 4 others. http://4sq.com/4z906f [fontosaurus]
-
Checked in at Mall of America
