Loved him in Bruno

I hit the pool this morning which was a task after the dojo- sweep the leg!- last night.  I actually swam a bit over 1300 yards even with the ancient lady sharing the lane with me and doing her back stroke and mistakenly smacking my ass.  I dunno- maybe she was doing it on purpose because it did not happen once or twice but three times.

When I catch the real early bus in there is a totally cute blonde guy also going to the gym as he is in shorts and sweatshirt as well and carrybg a garment bag.  He is married too but it makes for a nice ride in.

So the IMF now has given a sell by date to the Pax Americana it seems.  They have predicted that China will become the largest economy i the world in five years.  That makes sense as I recall reading a study that most empires last roughly 250 years and it went all the wayback to the Assyrian Empire. 

I see Ron Paul is probably going to run for the Presidency again.  He has a lot of beliefes I agree with but the proof is in the pudding, aka how much he kowtows to the fringe on the right.  I also liked his cameo in Bruno.

I have been thinking about what exactly it means to be conservative.  It definitely does not mean you believe in the Bible (the best fantasy novel I ever read) literally, ala the Christian Taliban we have here.  It does not mean you fuck over the poor and middle class every chance you get by giving more and more to the financial elites here, aka the Grover Norquist types.  I have to give credit to my bond friend.  He has- and I am paraphrasing here- that true conservatives believe that humanity would revert to their basest instincts unless society placed some sort of guidelines- be they legal or moral- on society as a whole.  Kind of like the White Lords of Order from the Elric series. It means your are prudent in your decisions and are willing to take a long view of things so that we get it right.  I could have completely misunderstood him as we discussed this over cold beers and Philly cheesesteaks awhile ago. 

I read a great blog post about how the baby boomers have totally screwed over their country with their complete hypocrisy over most of their lives.  I loved it.

Annotated

Last week was kind of busy- I got to the gym every day but did not make it to the dojo- Cobra Kai never die!

Wednesday was the husband's actually birthday.  I made him dinner at home and got him drunk- whoo hoo.

Am I the only one who sees the dichotomy of Syria lifted the 48 years of emergency rule and then firing live ammunition on peaceful- they were doing a sit-in- protesters???

Greek bonds are telling you that you aint getting your drachmas back.  Seriously- the two year paper pays 22%. 

We had MP and SJ down to the cottage for the weekend.  Friday night they had quite a bit of wine and made quite the impression on PJ and ST...lol.

I have been baking all weekend.  Friday night I made a crumb top apple pie.  It was quite a hit so much so the husband said I clearly did not love him as I had never made it before.  Last ngiht I made a crumble top blueberry pie.  It came out too soupy- clearly following the directions and using 5 cups of blueberries is too much.  Today I made my (in)famous Easter Bunny cake.  The husband has been cooking up amazing dinners all weekend as well.  It will be topped off roast leg of lamb this evening. 

Last night after dinner before dessert we dyed Easter eggs.  It was quite fun.  MP and I then hid all of them and when her bf SJ got up we told him he could not have any breakfast until he found them all.  It took him some time but he ate breakfast.

After dessert MP made me go down into the spooky basement and find the box with all y yearbooks from high school in them.  I also came across my high school lacrosse jersey and a bunch of other stuff.  It was pretty funny to look back at all of it.  SJ who is a Brit found the idea of a yearbook fascinating.  He commented on how there was a lot of hair and I told him duh- it was the '80s.

I will be taking the train back tonight and the husband will be staying the night along with our guests.

This week will be interesting as it is a full week and there is a Fed meeting.  The Fed can't really say anything worthwhile but the format has changed so it could cause some agita.

Bruce's line

The weekend was pretty good and not too busy with stuff around the cottage.  Friday night we celebrated the husband's birthday with PJ and ST at the cottage.  The husband made amazing grey sole.  I made chocolate birthday cake.  The husband got two sets of binoculars and a guide to bird watching as he is totally into that now that he has bird feeders up in the backyard.

Saturday the husband skipped the gym as he claims I had a heavy hand with the wine bottle the night before so I went off to the gym and did a small brick- swam 1,250 yards and biked 15 kilometres.  I then got back and we did some more work around the house and then it was off to see Scream 4.  It was an excellent flick.  Afterwards it was nap time for me and the husband caught up on some television.  Saturday night we dined out with PJ and ST.

Sunday I did some baking as the husband had requested I make oatmeal raisin cookies for him.  I then went and picked up the boys to take them out for lunch in celebration of my oldest son's birthday.  the pizza place he wanted to go was closed so we ended up grabbing sandwiches.  Then it was over to the cottage.  We then headed across the street to ST's so the boys could run around like wild men with his pack of pugs.

Time to do some more work and then nap time while the husband did a run.  I made dinner and we watched some tv and then I caught a train back to the city.  I came to a realization last night while I laid in the bed wide awake around 12:30 AM.  I don't think I can drink coffee anymore after 9 PM at my age as it now seems to actually affect me.

I did not hit the gym this morning as I think I fell asleep around 3 AM. 

The husband stayed down at the cottage and did some yard work.  ST got him a flowering tree- specifically a yosheno cherry tree- for the yard and some plants to put in the bed in front of the house.  He took pictures and sent them to me.  One looked like lavender to me but the husband told me the plants were saliva and dysentery salvia and dicentra.

We have outside lines at work.  They must have been for some other company previously as we get calls for people who are not employees.  I picked one up today and the person on the other line asked for Bruce.  I explained no one by that name worked here and he may not have the right number.  He hung up.  I told everyone else if that line rang again immediately to answer it "Bruce's line."  My co-worker did and put him on hold.  After three minutes on hold I picked up and asked who are you holding for?  I then explained to him again there is no Bruce at this company.

So the mouse roars.  Somehow S&P reached into its boxers this morning and found a pair and they are brass.  They actually had the nerve to put the credit outlook for our nation at negative.  Will wonders never cease.

Shrugging

The kids were psyched Tuesday night as they got to sleep on the bed with me since the husband was down at the cottage.  They were not psyched when I got their furry asses out of the bed Wednesday morning much earlier than they are used to and walked them.  Then I hit the gym, lifted and biked.  I still doubt if the eSpinner is right on miles biked.

Wednesday had me busier than a one armed barber.  I think I had my busiest day ever in my entire twenty plus years in the business.  I was fried by the end of the day.  I did not get home until around 6 pm,walked and fed the kids and was not in the mood to hit the dojo- sweep the leg!  I took a nap, the husband got home from his drinks and getting his hair did and we had some dinner then off to bed.

This morning I was up and in the pool.  I did notice a cute guy with his suit and tie in the dry cleaning bags at the gym.  As I was getting dressed to leave he was getting back to the locker room- of course I checked him out and he was quite nice shirtless, lol.

So this morning there was a discussion about the Barry Bonds case and I opined that if the Congress was really serious about cutting wasteful spending they wold not be pursuing such bullshit cases as steroid use in MLB.  They have bigger fish to fry like investigating how the BCS is operated by a cartel.  Oh wait that is a complete waste of time and money too.    Some people were arguing that Barry Bonds lied under oath to Congress and he should be prosecuted.  I told him you are missing the point.  I don't care that this case started in '02.  The fact that they are still pursuing it when the economy is still totally fracked- in case you missed it jobless claims are moving higher again- and Congress should be focusing on how to create jobs, fix the economy and work towards getting our fiscal house in order.  The retort is ok so all those mob guys who lie under oath shouldn't be pursued either.  I said no, steroid use in MLB is not related to national security, saving lives or teaching our children.  Going after the mob is related to saving lives and quite possibly national security.

Seriously- do they really need to turn "21 Jump Street" into a movie?   I read that they had already cast some people for it. 

Every libertarian, neo-libertarian and faux libertarian must be psyched for Atlas Shrugged, Part 1 opening tomorrow.  I tried reading that book and it was ponderously boring and shitty writing.  I gave up on it before I even found who who John Galt is or his (in)famous sixty page monologue.  I and the husband however are incredibly psyched for Scream 4. 

Ahhh family

So over my spring break staycation the IT department upgraded the Outlook on all the PCs.  I am happy to say we are now only four years behind on the version of Outlook we have.

I did not get up for the pool this morning.  I was real sore and banged up after last night.  It was nice to sleep in a bit late.  There was a cute blond on the bus though so that was a plus.

Work was pretty busy as we are short two people and there is quite a bit of activity going on do to some shuffling of the pieces.

Family is funny.  The parents will be having their 50th wedding anniversary next year so us kids are trying to figure out what to get them as a gift.  I had a fight heated exchange discussion on IM- which IT sees all, lol- about the gift idea.  It ended with an agreement that en email would be sent out with the proposals and a majority would decide which one to go with.

Hit the gym tonight and was so sore from classes last night I just ended my workout with only two miles on the treadmill.  The eye candy was nice but I was just not that into drooling, lol.

Constuctive criticism

So I missed on spring break that Portugal went for the rescue package.  Of course all the propaganda spokes models say this is a positive...yeah right.  I even read how this will help Spain.  WTF?  In what bizzaro universe is there logic in that thought process?  Spain is next.  Greece will finally default restructure after Spain goes for the rescue and the vicious cycle will start again.  And everyone told Iceland they would suffer eternal damnation when they stiffed the British and Dutch banks by not saving their local banks.  Right- so not going to happen.

The kids are finally going to the groomer tomorrow.  Holy shit thank the Unimind.  They resemble bear cubs currently.   It was fine for most of the winter but I had to brush them both out twice so the groomer would not yell at us and just give them both buzz cuts.  They were not happy with me.

I did not go to the gym this morning as I did not sleep well.  I had one particularly odd dream where I was at the office, a co-worker threw chocolate milk on me, ruining my shirt.  I of course had to go get a new one.  I recall saying I had to have a Thomas Pink one.  I ended up in some warehouse with a sales person I am friendly with who works at Zenga.  He sent me to the dressing rooms- int he basement of course which morphed into caves with doors.  I got in a fight with someone who stole my dressing room, went back upstairs only to catch the husband trying on new shoes (he is a shoe whore fyi) because they were on sale.  He was upset I caught him.  then I woke up.  There is some sort of serious issue there I am sure some therapist would love to tell me about

I did hit the dojo- Cobra Kai never die!- tonight.  I had a shitty partner.  Young kid, probably no more than 16, who is impatient, immature and hence insecure.  I was trying to be a good partner, telling him to slow down, do the drills the way joshu instructed us to, etc.  He does not know how to take constructive criticism.  I should have known as everyone avoided him like the plague when it came time to partner up for drills.  It is too bad to as he has great potential and if he can learn at least patience he will be very good.

This just in- the Fukishima incident is not at all like Chernobyl....oh wait it is now rated a 7 nuclear event.  Actually the first part of that statement is still correct- Chernobyl was a 6!  

So the season finale of "Being Human" was pretty good.  What is it with every writer of vampire stuff that says the vampires have to have a queen?  Seriously- why can't it be a king or emperor?  

Planning on hitting the pool tomorrow morning.  Fingers crossed but definitely banged up after first time back in the dojo- sweep the leg!- in about three months.

Back to the salt mines

Spring break is over.  It was actually a good week off.  We got the garage cleaned and organized, same with the basement.  The yard got somewhat but not totally cleaned up.  We entertained a bit too.

Friday I, the boys and ST went and saw Your Highness.  It is quite juvenile in its humor but pretty damn funny.  I did not realize it was rated R though and there were some scenes I squirmed with as my 11 year old sat next to me, lol.  Some one liners as well that made me squirm a bit.  Definitely not a movie the husband would like.  ST fell asleep during it though he did catch quite a few of the better lines.

Friday night we had ST, PJ and NB over for dinner to celebrate PJ's birthday.  The husband made this awesome mustard and tarragon crusted rack of lamb.  We actually used the living room as well since we now have a proper couch there and the smaller couch is now in the den.

I made two cakes- a gluten one and a gluten free one.  The line of the night was PJ saying he wanted  really big piece of cake since he was going to die anyways.  He also asked if he could take the left over cake- roughly one third of it- home with him.

NB took some great pictures as I had gotten hats and noise makers for when we had birthday cake.  He asked if he could post them to facebook- I said yes, my oldest said no.  I also said he was free to tag me in them.   

NB was a big hit with the boys.  He definitely has a good immature sense of humor which fits well with two young boys.

Saturday was sort of lazy as we had been doing things all week.  We all went and saw Hanna.  It is an excellent movie and I loved that The Chemical Brothers did the sound track.

Last night we celebrated my oldest son's birthday.  It is actually this coming Saturday but he will be with his mom and he likes the birthday cakes I make.  I told him he got to pick what was for dinner so he picked sushi.  We then had cake and he got to open his presents and cards.  I actually got him two cards- one of those sappy ones parents always get their children and then a humorous one.  He actually hugged me after reading the sappy one- I was a bit stunned.  he then opened his gifts- I had gotten him Skull Candy headphones and a hoodie that you can put the head phones in the hood and snake the cord down through it to the pocket.  He told me it was a totally awesome gift- woo hoo!

After dinner we watched Tron:  Legacy.  I liked it- it was an excellent Saturday night movie to watch.  My favorite part was seeing our arc lamp in it.

Today was a nice quiet Sunday.  I cleaned the boys room and we had some breakfast then did some more cleaning.  Then it was time to get them back to their mom;s house.  I got home, took a nap and did more cleaning.  The husband made us some dinner and then we watched "Bob's Burgers."  That show is pretty damn funny.  It is going to get added to the dvr for future recordings.

Back to the office tomorrow and back to training, the gym and the dojo- sweep the leg!  I have a little over two months to get ready for the triathlon.  The boss is out this week on his spring break with his family, I was not told about any situations that would need attention so I am hoping it will be a some what quiet week.

Spring break

Spring break with the boys is half way done and it has been kind of relaxing and fun.

Friday night the husband and I cam down to the cottage and got cleaning done as we were having dinner guests Saturday night.  It was a good thing as we had  quite a bit of cleaning to do. 

I picked the boys up around lunch time Saturday.  They were psyched for the week off from school and hanging out at the cottage.  The rest of Saturday was spent finishing the cleaning and getting dinner ready.  I made my semi-famous triple berry pie with crumb topping.  This time though I used this all purpose gluten free flour for the crust and topping so I was a bit concerned as to how it would turn out.  It looked fine when it came out of the oven but we would not know for sure until we ate if for dessert.

I actually got to put to use my mad sewing skills from 9th grade home economics class.  The new sofa in the living room (which the husband found on sale at the outlet for 70% off) had a loose button because the button onthe opposite side was gone.  I took the boys with me to the fabric store, found upholstery thread and needles and a similar button.  I then sewed the new button on the back and attached it to the other button thus producing the tufting in the cushion and the husband was impressed.

I had recommended to our dinner guests that they take the train down and I would pick them up and then to take a car service home- that way they could both imbibe freely and not worry about the driving.  Their train was about twenty minutes late but that was not an issue as I had to get gas and liquor.

We got back tot he cottage as the sun was setting so they got a great view of the backyard and woods.  The husband then took them over to PJ and ST's gallery to see the art as they had expressed an interest and since they both work they thought maybe they could afford to start collecting- that was all the husband had to hear.  They were duly impressed with the gallery.

When they got back the wine was opened and started flowing.  I gave the guests a tour of the art the husband has hanging in the cottage while he did some more cooking for dinner.  I then got the husband's iPad out and gave them a little photo tour of what it all looked like when we bought the place and the work we did.  They were impressed with our skills in renovating the place and loved how it turned out.  One of the funnier lines of the evening was when the wife commented on how she loved the decorating we had done and the husband looked at her and said we haven't done any yet, that is next.

The husband made his awesome crackling pork loin, I made the dirty garlic mashed potatoes and we had a zesty asparagus side.  The meal was great, the boys were their usual well behaved (in front of guests that is) selves.  The funny part was when my oldest asked why someone was driving down the driveway.  It took us a few minutes to figure out it was our guests car service.  My oldest found it both odd that the driver had to wait out in the car. 

Sunday was yard work day.  We spent most of the day cleaning up the front yard and still did not get it all done but we have 12 tall paper bags of leaves sitting in the garage waiting to get taken away Friday morning by the waste hauling company.  If thy don't take them I am burning them all in the back yard in the old oil can the widow used for such things- totally breaking the law ha!

Sunday night I made pizza for everyone and the gluten free crust turned out pretty good but I have to say I will not be giving up gluten pizza any time soon.  Then we went and saw Insidious.  It is a great old school horror flick.  I say next to my youngest so he could grab my hand and cover his eyes whenever he felt the need.  I basically had my arm around him the entire movie and he actually fell asleep at one point.  It is definitely worth going to see.

Monday the husband headed back into the city to meet with a head hunter and go to one of his book clubs.  So the boys and I hung out and I did some more cleaning.  We then hit BK for dinner and I took them to see Sucker Punch- yes I had seen it with the husband but they wanted to see it.  The oldest thought is sucked, the youngest enjoyed it.

Yesterday was garage day...ugh.  We had basically been using the garage not for cars but as one huge dumpster, lol.  So we broke down all the cardboard boxes we had, cut them up and tied them up into large stacks.  All the small crap was put into contractor sized and thickness garbage bags.  i then loaded them all up into the truck and took them over to ST and PJ's dumpster and threw them in.  Then it was time to tackle all the large scrap wood from the demo we had done.  We removed all the nails and piled them up to one side along with more contractor bags of crap.  We then rearranged the work table, rearranged the peg board and made room on one side that the truck can be parked there if it gets backed in with both side view mirrors folded in.  Once ST and PJ's dumpster is emptied we will be putting the rest of the junk in it.  It was a tiring day.  The husband went out to dinner with ST and PJ and the boys and I had pasta and home made garlic bread- and I had several glasses of red wine as well.

Today is actually sunny and warm out so we will be hitting the local tennis courts to play doubles for a bit.  Tomorrow we hit the basement- that should not be too hard as it will just be organizing everything after we put together the heavy duty shelving we bought.

Thursday the husband is back into the city for his other book club and he will be staying over for that one since they definitely drink at that one, lol.

Friday we will be going to see Your Highness with ST int he afternoon and then having ST and PJ over for dinner to celebrate PJ's birthday.

Saturday we have Hanna on the docket to see and then we will celebrate my oldest son's birthday a week early as he will be with his mom that weekend.