A political post from Rick????
Are you kidding? No way!. It's been done by everyone else. I want to write about something really exciting, like the weekend I just had.
I drove down Friday night to Virginia. It took me about 6 1/2 hours, which is actually pretty good. I left work early, so I was down there by 9:00. I spent about an hour with Monique, apologized a lot, and then we went to bed. Saturday morning, we were up at 5:00 to bring her sister and my cousin to the airport. We went to an IHOP with them for breakfast. Sadly, the heat was out in the place and by the time we finished eating our breakfast, the food and the coffee were cold. After dropping them off at the airport, we went back to their house, where Monique decided to go back to bed. This struck me as a good time to go on over to Steve's house.
I stopped at the local grocery store and picked up a whole bunch of snacks, a fruit tray and a veggie tray, and some blueberry muffins. i figured nothing would go to waste and I was correct. I was hoping to find a Dunkin Donuts on my way over, but there don't seem to be many in VA. So sad. As it turns out, I went within about 50 feet of one and didn't know it because it was facing out away from the very plaza I was shopping in. *sigh*
Saturday consisted of Erin making breakfast for everybody (I felt like a hobbit having second breakfast) and much hanging out with cool people. Nikki did both lunch and dinner for everybody. Saturday night, we got in costume (mostly) and did a several hour in-game session as our Madrigal characters. I caught up on Eurvein stuff with Petros and convinced Grum's Company to enter an entertainment competition. I had a fabulous discussion with Valentine. She actually managed to surprise me, both IG and OOG. Most amusing.
Sunday was pretty much a mirror image of Saturday, though Cindy and Hope and Josh did manage to overcome inertia and lethargy. They got eight of us out hiking the trails of one of the fine VA parks. It was wonderful and I'm really glad we got out and about. It was an invigoration walk through a beautiful LARP mod site (well, it should be anyway) where I enjoyed the conversation, exercise and fresh air.
Shortly after getting back, I had to say my farewells and head back to Monique. Josh came with me and the three of us went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. It was a wonderful meal, good food, great company. I don't spend nearly enough time with Josh and as predicted, much of the conversation was about children, his and mine. Of course, mine are the same age as half the people I hung out with this weekend and his are barely older than my grandchildren, but it gave us common ground.
I tried to get Monique to go in and see people when we brought Josh back, but she was really tired and just wanted more crash time. We went back to her sister's house where she worked on finishing the third book in a trilogy she started that weekend. i worked on the database on my laptop. We listened to his and hers iPods. It was so romantic. :-p
Monday morning we headed over to her other sister's to pick up the flowers she forgot there on Friday. We chatted for a while and I played catch and Connect Four with my nephew. He won one. I won one. He didn't want to play a tie breaker. Monique and I then headed up to Frederick MD where Monique is spending the rest of the week for work. I got her luggage in the hotel for her and we watched a movie before dinner, after which I headed home.
I listened to an audio book most of the way, The Time Travleler's Wife. I got a little over halfway through it. It's an excellent book so far and I highly recommend it. However, if you read it and don't like the second half or the ending, don't blame me. I'm only recommending the first half so far.
Work today would totally ruin this post about a fine weekend, so I'll skip it for now.
I drove down Friday night to Virginia. It took me about 6 1/2 hours, which is actually pretty good. I left work early, so I was down there by 9:00. I spent about an hour with Monique, apologized a lot, and then we went to bed. Saturday morning, we were up at 5:00 to bring her sister and my cousin to the airport. We went to an IHOP with them for breakfast. Sadly, the heat was out in the place and by the time we finished eating our breakfast, the food and the coffee were cold. After dropping them off at the airport, we went back to their house, where Monique decided to go back to bed. This struck me as a good time to go on over to Steve's house.
I stopped at the local grocery store and picked up a whole bunch of snacks, a fruit tray and a veggie tray, and some blueberry muffins. i figured nothing would go to waste and I was correct. I was hoping to find a Dunkin Donuts on my way over, but there don't seem to be many in VA. So sad. As it turns out, I went within about 50 feet of one and didn't know it because it was facing out away from the very plaza I was shopping in. *sigh*
Saturday consisted of Erin making breakfast for everybody (I felt like a hobbit having second breakfast) and much hanging out with cool people. Nikki did both lunch and dinner for everybody. Saturday night, we got in costume (mostly) and did a several hour in-game session as our Madrigal characters. I caught up on Eurvein stuff with Petros and convinced Grum's Company to enter an entertainment competition. I had a fabulous discussion with Valentine. She actually managed to surprise me, both IG and OOG. Most amusing.
Sunday was pretty much a mirror image of Saturday, though Cindy and Hope and Josh did manage to overcome inertia and lethargy. They got eight of us out hiking the trails of one of the fine VA parks. It was wonderful and I'm really glad we got out and about. It was an invigoration walk through a beautiful LARP mod site (well, it should be anyway) where I enjoyed the conversation, exercise and fresh air.
Shortly after getting back, I had to say my farewells and head back to Monique. Josh came with me and the three of us went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. It was a wonderful meal, good food, great company. I don't spend nearly enough time with Josh and as predicted, much of the conversation was about children, his and mine. Of course, mine are the same age as half the people I hung out with this weekend and his are barely older than my grandchildren, but it gave us common ground.
I tried to get Monique to go in and see people when we brought Josh back, but she was really tired and just wanted more crash time. We went back to her sister's house where she worked on finishing the third book in a trilogy she started that weekend. i worked on the database on my laptop. We listened to his and hers iPods. It was so romantic. :-p
Monday morning we headed over to her other sister's to pick up the flowers she forgot there on Friday. We chatted for a while and I played catch and Connect Four with my nephew. He won one. I won one. He didn't want to play a tie breaker. Monique and I then headed up to Frederick MD where Monique is spending the rest of the week for work. I got her luggage in the hotel for her and we watched a movie before dinner, after which I headed home.
I listened to an audio book most of the way, The Time Travleler's Wife. I got a little over halfway through it. It's an excellent book so far and I highly recommend it. However, if you read it and don't like the second half or the ending, don't blame me. I'm only recommending the first half so far.
Work today would totally ruin this post about a fine weekend, so I'll skip it for now.