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Some reading to do

Magician: Master (Riftwar Saga) author: Raymond E. Feist asin: 0553564935

Magician: Apprentice (Riftwar Saga) author: Raymond Feist asin: 0553564943

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1) author: George R.R. Martin asin: 0553573403

I’ve got two new book series that I’ll need to find everything published for, which is good because I’ve been looking for something new to keep my interest.

The first is the Song of Ice and Fire, by George R. R. Martin. I’ve read the first book, A Game of Thrones, and must read more. Multiple factions, no one is really evil or good (though there are some factions you’re supposed to like more than others), not being afraid to kill off characters, and a slow return of magic to the world. It doesn’t help that he ended the first book without really ending anything.

Oncall during DST patching

I was “on call” last week at work, for the uninitiated, “on call” means that you’re the guy that gets contacted by some combination of automated systems and live human beings if something goes wrong that needs attention.

At my company, it’s more automated systems than live human beings. This has its ups and downs. On the plus side, when the pager goes off at very-very-AM in the morning, you’ll be dealing with a computer, not an irate, sleepy human. On the minus side, you’re the irate, sleepy human that’s getting paged by the (not-too-bright) automated system. The automated system can’t make the value judgments like “that can wait until morning”, or “that happens every third day at this time. It’s safe to ignore”.

Thanks Sara... now we've all got to do it.

Might as well get this out of the way, since it ended up fitting better than these things usually do:

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable – even if you don’t love them! You are usually feeling: Logical – you rarely let your emotions rule you You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

Hey! Sometimes I post too

See up there, where it says “submitted by mike”. That’s cause I wrote this.

Some of you commenting people in the peanut gallery need to learn to read the bylines of stories. You know who you are.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

— Mike

The Melting Pot Comes to Madison

Last Friday, the 24th, Mike and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. We’re not exactly sure what we did for the previous 4 anniversaries — possibly 2 trips to Tuscarora Mill in Leesburg, VA (delicious!) and some Italian place in Arlington with a horrendous one-man band singing “pop standards” and some Christmas music.

This year we got reservations to the “Lover’s Lane” section of the Melting Pot — newly opened over on Odana Road. We opted for the 4 course meal including the cheddar cheese fondue(with beer), salad, meat course, and the bailey’s chocolate fondue course.
DELICIOUS!

Thanksgiving (a poultry post-mortem)

We had an interesting Thanksgiving and I learned many lessons.
1)Never, EVER taste the brine, not even by accident and certainly not on purpose.
2)Do not tempt fate
3)Turkey roasters make blonde turkeys.

The brine worked very well and we were able to make juicy turkeys, but the road to the dinner table was a long, dark journey…
We hit Sentry to pickup some additional last-minute items and arrived at home around 11:30am. We started to prepare the birds and get them ready for the roasters. In a short amount of time we got them stuffed with aromatics (garlic, celery, cinnamon stick, carrots, poultry herbs, onions and apples) and put into the heating roasting pans.

I wanna be a kid again

As the Christmas season approaches, and we are bombarded by messages telling us we should celebrate a season of giving by lusting after material things, I’m drawn to one inescapable conclusion:

They’re doing MUCH more interesting things with plastics these days than when I was a kid.

I mean, when I was a kid, you couldn’t find this, or this, or the marble-game-fridge-magnets I saw the other day, or… well, you get the idea.

I know that when I was a kid, I had the marble-game my grandpa made (that Adam still can’t get enough of), and neckerchief-wearing Fisher Price construction workers, and Lego, and Construx, so I can’t really complain too much, but there’s some neat stuff out there.

Random Musings

Everyone around me seems to be sick, so far I only feel like a truck has run me over, backed up and ran over again. 800mg ibuprofen and no relief! What I want is a hot cocoa with brandy and a nap.

Tomorrow I have to go to Chicago for a work meeting. Glass half full side: I get to hang out with Scott and see his new condo. Glass half empty: I’m probably going to be fighting a cold and then I’ll have to drive all the way back to WI on Thursday night feeling like poo.

This weekend could be jam-packed with non-stop fun and excitement. Saturday afternoon/evening is already taken up with the “Thanksgiving” potluck we’ve been invited to.

A Quiet Week

This weekend we dropped Adam off with my parents up in Spooner. I am pleased to say that for our relatively short stay in Spooner, we enjoyed it immensely. We relaxed, we read, we napped, we played Sudoku, we ran around outside with Adam and his new sprinkler ball. The well water at my parent’s house is COLD — even in July when its almost 100 degrees outside.
Adam enjoyed “helping” water the plants at night. He also enjoyed running around buck naked (except for his water socks) in the back yard. Mike and I enjoyed fresh veggies from the garden and a lovely dinner cooked by my parents. Then we drove back on the hot, busy, crowded interstate. Back to the house with no A/C.

Virgin Mega Store in Chicago

I smell a road trip.
There’s a Virgin Mega Store in downtown Chicago.
Woohoo! It’s not Times Square, but then again, maybe it will smell slightly better outside.
Very exciting.
WooooT.

I’m now going to have to plot out an entire shopping trip to Chicago now.

Ikea
Container Store
Virgin Mega
Outlet malls(?)
Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Only 132 miles from Madison to Schaumburg. If this wasn’t July 4th weekend, I would be out the door tomorrow morning.
Good thing it is, otherwise I’d be spending money we don’t have (yet).