An update... again!
So, I guess it's been... what... about 3 months since I made a real update to this journal?
A lot can happen in 3 months...
...unless you live in Moscow, Idaho. :D
So, I've been racking my brain over the last couple weeks trying to decide what I should put in this thing other than, "Nothing much happened." And... well... mostly I've come up blank.
So... Um... stuff. And things. And er...
Oh! Toward the beginning of April, doc_mcdowell and Caly came out for a few days to y'know, do the hangin' out things. It was a lot of fun; I got to introduce Doc and Caly to Raclette. That weekend we went hiking to Elk River Falls (which was fun, even though Caly was the only one with enough sense to bring along some water to drink.) Pictures can be seen here.
(As a parenthetical, I shall eventually be putting more stuff on my gallery.)
Hmmm... toward the end of March, Teekachu and I went to go see my parents in Boise for a couple days. Got to see a kick-ass hockey game with them while we were there. I have to admit: I don't really care much about sports (and hockey is no different). However, there are few things as fast-paced and exciting as a good, live hockey game. And it's always fun when you totally trounce the opposing team. :)
Lesseee... Oh! For those of you who haven't heard, Teeka and I will be going on a "real" honeymoon this summer. Some of you might recall that last year, our wedding date got suddenly moved up due in large part to the absolutely screwed up insurance/health care system we are forced to live with here in the U. S. of A.. One of the results of this was that we didn't have the time or money to plan a truly special honeymoon. Well, we're correcting that now: Starting July 29th, Teeka and I will be taking a week-long cruise along the coast in Alaska and British Columbia / Vancouver Island. We're very, very excited by this. As of two weeks ago we've finished paying for it. Finally got our passports sent to us by the U.S. State Department this week. The only thing we have to do now is get the paperwork from the travel agent, pack, and show up. We're totally pumped!
Um... um... It's kitten season again; Teeka and I are proud foster parents of 5 ky00t widdle kittens for the next couple weeks. They've already been weaned and stuff; Mostly we're involved to help socialize them until they grow big enough for spaying/neutering. So far 3 of the 5 have turned to the Dark Side (ie. we've successfully turned them into little cuddle-monsters). I'm sure we'll be able to turn the last 2 before they're beyond our grasp... Pictures to come... um... soon, I think. I'll post a note when they're up on my gallery above...
Hmmm... the Prius continues to be one awesome little car to drive. I'm getting almost exactly 50mpg from each tank now (which is good, since I have to drive 40 miles a day total, going to and from work.) This is up from about 42mpg when I was using the gas/10% ethanol mix one gas company around here sells. Things to note: For the Prius at least, gas with ethanol in it isn't as efficient as just plain gasoline. I suspect that's probably the case with most engines, since there isn't really anything special about the way the Prius' gas engine works. I have to admit, though, that it weirds me out a little that the Prius is getting better gas mileage than my 2001 Honda Shadow.
Teeka and I have mostly broken our World of Warcraft addiction. I figured we prolly would: Mostly we play games obsessively until we either beat the game or get through most of the content and challenge the game designers have put into the game. Once you have a level 60 character in WoW, the game is all about doing top-level instances. And you can't even do half of these unless you're in an ueber-huge guild that demands (yes, demands) a certain degree of participation (eg. playing 3-4 nights every week, and submitting to some of the stupid-ass guild politics, drama, and other nonsense that go on in these large guilds). So... yeah. After doing Strat a few times and Scholo a few more... it just got boring. So we kinda quit. I do miss the friends we met and played with exclusively through WoW, though. Still paying my subscription fee right now, though, because I'm not totally sure I want to give it up for good. I mean... it took me 25 days to get to 60. (Man-days. That's 25x24 hours of playing what turns out to be a pretty damned repetitive game, despite the size of the playing field, the awesome graphics, etc. It's still about: Go around, kill shit, and make pseudo money so you can get better gear with which to go around killing shit.)
Teeka and I also put our satellite-T.V. subscription on a 6-month hiatus as of about a month and a half ago. We just weren't watching. And we weren't interested in watching.
Lately I've been wanting to do more stuff that matters with my time. Not necessarily being productive: You can be amazingly productive at mind-numbing, pointless things... but, stuff you make memories about or stuff you're proud about years afterward. Stuff that isn't "easy" to do. I know... several different things I want to do. And I'm trying to do them with limited success. I'm hoping I can get myself into the habit of doing stuff that matters, or at least make myself acutely aware of when I'm doing stuff that doesn't matter.
Hmmm... Not entirely sure where that came from. But whatever. In case you couldn't tell, this is really a half-hearted attempt at adding some details to the course of my life over the last few months after the realization over the last couple weeks that... well... while life is good, steady, and calm, it's nothing really to write home about for Teeka and I. :) So... um... yeah, I'm just sort of writing stuff down as it occurs to me.
Teeka and I have also started to do a much, much better job of watching/managing our finances over the last many months. It feels so good to compare the totals we're spending and earning each month, and through that realizing that we're actually, finally, really spending less than we're earning. Which means we're finally able to save money. Which is and exceedingly good thing. (I just hope that Teeka doesn't think I'm being too miserly, or, I dunno... overly thrifty with the way we're spending money.)
And... um... yeah. Teeka and I discovered that Rudy's burgers here in town makes some truly awesome fries. And their burgers ain't bad either.
And... well, I can't think of anything else to say for now. Teeka and I really like having out-of-town guests over to visit (announced, please! We don't really like the, "Hi, I'm on your doorstep now. Entertain me!" kind of visit). Anyone looking for something to do over Memorial Day weekend?
Man... with this weather... we've *so* gotta finally get those fishing poles out this weekend...
A lot can happen in 3 months...
...unless you live in Moscow, Idaho. :D
So, I've been racking my brain over the last couple weeks trying to decide what I should put in this thing other than, "Nothing much happened." And... well... mostly I've come up blank.
So... Um... stuff. And things. And er...
Oh! Toward the beginning of April, doc_mcdowell and Caly came out for a few days to y'know, do the hangin' out things. It was a lot of fun; I got to introduce Doc and Caly to Raclette. That weekend we went hiking to Elk River Falls (which was fun, even though Caly was the only one with enough sense to bring along some water to drink.) Pictures can be seen here.
(As a parenthetical, I shall eventually be putting more stuff on my gallery.)
Hmmm... toward the end of March, Teekachu and I went to go see my parents in Boise for a couple days. Got to see a kick-ass hockey game with them while we were there. I have to admit: I don't really care much about sports (and hockey is no different). However, there are few things as fast-paced and exciting as a good, live hockey game. And it's always fun when you totally trounce the opposing team. :)
Lesseee... Oh! For those of you who haven't heard, Teeka and I will be going on a "real" honeymoon this summer. Some of you might recall that last year, our wedding date got suddenly moved up due in large part to the absolutely screwed up insurance/health care system we are forced to live with here in the U. S. of A.. One of the results of this was that we didn't have the time or money to plan a truly special honeymoon. Well, we're correcting that now: Starting July 29th, Teeka and I will be taking a week-long cruise along the coast in Alaska and British Columbia / Vancouver Island. We're very, very excited by this. As of two weeks ago we've finished paying for it. Finally got our passports sent to us by the U.S. State Department this week. The only thing we have to do now is get the paperwork from the travel agent, pack, and show up. We're totally pumped!
Um... um... It's kitten season again; Teeka and I are proud foster parents of 5 ky00t widdle kittens for the next couple weeks. They've already been weaned and stuff; Mostly we're involved to help socialize them until they grow big enough for spaying/neutering. So far 3 of the 5 have turned to the Dark Side (ie. we've successfully turned them into little cuddle-monsters). I'm sure we'll be able to turn the last 2 before they're beyond our grasp... Pictures to come... um... soon, I think. I'll post a note when they're up on my gallery above...
Hmmm... the Prius continues to be one awesome little car to drive. I'm getting almost exactly 50mpg from each tank now (which is good, since I have to drive 40 miles a day total, going to and from work.) This is up from about 42mpg when I was using the gas/10% ethanol mix one gas company around here sells. Things to note: For the Prius at least, gas with ethanol in it isn't as efficient as just plain gasoline. I suspect that's probably the case with most engines, since there isn't really anything special about the way the Prius' gas engine works. I have to admit, though, that it weirds me out a little that the Prius is getting better gas mileage than my 2001 Honda Shadow.
Teeka and I have mostly broken our World of Warcraft addiction. I figured we prolly would: Mostly we play games obsessively until we either beat the game or get through most of the content and challenge the game designers have put into the game. Once you have a level 60 character in WoW, the game is all about doing top-level instances. And you can't even do half of these unless you're in an ueber-huge guild that demands (yes, demands) a certain degree of participation (eg. playing 3-4 nights every week, and submitting to some of the stupid-ass guild politics, drama, and other nonsense that go on in these large guilds). So... yeah. After doing Strat a few times and Scholo a few more... it just got boring. So we kinda quit. I do miss the friends we met and played with exclusively through WoW, though. Still paying my subscription fee right now, though, because I'm not totally sure I want to give it up for good. I mean... it took me 25 days to get to 60. (Man-days. That's 25x24 hours of playing what turns out to be a pretty damned repetitive game, despite the size of the playing field, the awesome graphics, etc. It's still about: Go around, kill shit, and make pseudo money so you can get better gear with which to go around killing shit.)
Teeka and I also put our satellite-T.V. subscription on a 6-month hiatus as of about a month and a half ago. We just weren't watching. And we weren't interested in watching.
Lately I've been wanting to do more stuff that matters with my time. Not necessarily being productive: You can be amazingly productive at mind-numbing, pointless things... but, stuff you make memories about or stuff you're proud about years afterward. Stuff that isn't "easy" to do. I know... several different things I want to do. And I'm trying to do them with limited success. I'm hoping I can get myself into the habit of doing stuff that matters, or at least make myself acutely aware of when I'm doing stuff that doesn't matter.
Hmmm... Not entirely sure where that came from. But whatever. In case you couldn't tell, this is really a half-hearted attempt at adding some details to the course of my life over the last few months after the realization over the last couple weeks that... well... while life is good, steady, and calm, it's nothing really to write home about for Teeka and I. :) So... um... yeah, I'm just sort of writing stuff down as it occurs to me.
Teeka and I have also started to do a much, much better job of watching/managing our finances over the last many months. It feels so good to compare the totals we're spending and earning each month, and through that realizing that we're actually, finally, really spending less than we're earning. Which means we're finally able to save money. Which is and exceedingly good thing. (I just hope that Teeka doesn't think I'm being too miserly, or, I dunno... overly thrifty with the way we're spending money.)
And... um... yeah. Teeka and I discovered that Rudy's burgers here in town makes some truly awesome fries. And their burgers ain't bad either.
And... well, I can't think of anything else to say for now. Teeka and I really like having out-of-town guests over to visit (announced, please! We don't really like the, "Hi, I'm on your doorstep now. Entertain me!" kind of visit). Anyone looking for something to do over Memorial Day weekend?
Man... with this weather... we've *so* gotta finally get those fishing poles out this weekend...