Of course

Of course it would rain today. The landscaper came yesterday and activated the sprinkler... Maybe I should have sprung for the system that had a water sensor... Maybe.

Some Mariner fans are just an embarssment

Jen pointed out a few in her recent posts. Last night we sat in the cheap seats. Yes the ticket actually cost less than the Ticketmaster charge. That seems nutty, but whatever.

So we were in the bleachers. The ginormous family reunion behind us spilled over next to me. Yeah it's ok to let your little kid sit next to me. She'll bounce around and be completely in my space, but hey since you are behind us and in perfect view of it don't do anything, k? Also when people want to get out of your posse please make sure they step right next to me on the bleacher to go down a few rows then out in front of someone other than you because you know we wouldn't want you to have to move. They were sox fans so that helped.

Best jack ass of the night though was the guy who was with 3 under (drinking) age girls who kept going and getting two beers by himself and keeping one and splitting the other one between the ladies. The best part of that guy was the look on his face in the 8th when they had cut off the alcohol sales. I thought he might leave, but no he had to wait to his most obnoxious victory dance at the end of the game. I can't even Begin to describe it.

It was a fun night overall and despite my cold coming back I had fun. Nobody spilled beer on us so that's one thing we have going for us.

Dots.. gone

I just wanted to point out that I removed my sideblog. I also wanted to point out that it wasn't because of bluedot not working or not being good, but because I'm not dotting enough.

That's all.

I'm not sure this march is a good idea, sargent Hulka...

...it is the cold and flu season.

I got a nasty cold and had to take two days off of work. Jen took great care of me, but then as no good deed goes unpunished she got it, too. I hope she doesn't get it as bad as I did.

I tell you, it takes the blog right out of your sails.

Many pop-cicles and bowls of soup I'm feeling somewhat better and I'm just up waiting for a delivery.

I must be getting old I keep posting about my health... DOH!

There is nothing more wild...

I took Max and 5 of his 6th grade classmates to WildWaves (clickers beware there is sound at that link) yesterday. I know it sounds like a stupid thing to do and it is. He really wanted me to take him on this particular field trip. I dunno why exactly, but he went as far as to say, "You don't have to do anything else just this one."

So I woke up yesterday with the start of a small cold. Joy. I drove him to school and did the briefing and signed away my life and my car. Listened to the teacher tell us directly there is no more peace today. He was right. Then we realize that one of my group isn't even here yet. So we wait. Teacher leave and we wait. I suspected very quickly that a child named Payton was going to be a pain in the ass. He was. (Go figure.) Also my group had two girls.

So we're late leaving. We make it on time without a hitch because some of the kids have been there before and they are better with directions than most adults.

Right after clearing the gate we hit the bathrooms. As a side note this place has rides and a water park. We decided to do the rides first then change then do water. Ok the guys are out of the bathroom. Girls. Um not yet. I call in after a few minutes and one of the girls reports a problem of a "woman" (her word not mine) nature. OK take your time. Are you OK. (Can you hear me freaking out in those words. No? Read them again. We'll wait.) OK fine. Rides.

We deal with a variety of ride tastes by some riding and some waiting while other's ride. One of my girls keeps repeating that she is firmly attached to the ground (except when we did the gliders which was OK for some reason. I dunno)

Then lunch. I thought we were buying lunch so Max and I didn't make one. All the other kids brought lunches and no you can't bring them in. So we go to the car and watch them have lunch. It wasn't so bad other than hot because Max and I had gotten a corn dog (slightly under done if you ask my professional opinion, but hey I don't draw minimum wage anymore to sit in an oven and fry corn dogs anymore.)

After lunch we change and start hitting water slides. I hid under a tree.

Next was the wave pool. Um ok in Ohio I kinda get this idea, but we have an ocean. I mean grated it's fricken cold Mr. Bigglesworth, but still. So we get in a pool (yes I went in. Which might be why I have a full on cold today) and some large pumps create like 3 or 4 foot waves in the water for 13 mins then off for 7. Why 13? No idea. Why 7? So they add up to 20? No clue. But we stand there and jump up and down in the waves.

I had one of those frequent flashes of, "my god people are stupid." Followed quickly by, "I'm a person." Which leads, of course, to, "I'm stupid." We can then recall that brought 6 6th graders with me and Q.E.D...

TWO WEEKS

Heading to work after two weeks of gone is something. Not really something I'd wish on anybody. At least I got my email at work down to 100 messages yesterday. Granted that's 100 too many, but it is a start.

Home again home again...

Yes I'm lazy and I haven't blogged since we made it home. Let me tell you there was furniture to assemble. In fact there is still more furniture to assemble. Then there will be stuff to unpack when it arrives.

It's a small world at cowboy corner

Jen and I were getting gas as we prepared to enter the Badlands National Park. So we stopped at a little place (hard to call it a town, but whatever) called cowboy corner in the town(?) of Interior, S.D. When I was paying for the gas this guy goes to me, "Sox Hat?" I cleverly respond, "Yeah. Sox." He goes, "You must be the other Massachusetts plate." I go, "Huh?" He goes, "I'm from Boston, too." I go, "Oh. Right." (Yes, I'm just as slow as ever.) "Well I'm from Seattle, but my girlfriend is moving from Boston. It's her car." He goes, "Cool. My girlfriend is from San Francisco and we're moving to Boston."

He had obviously gone round trip. They were headed the other way maybe to Mt. Rushmore where Jen and I had just come from. Either way we crossed paths. We were going west and they were headed east. We met at Cowboy Corner one afternoon over a full tank of gas and some cokes.

I found the beef

So we crossed into S.D. (That's local speak for South Dakota. OK, not really, but that's how I'm going to type it from now on.)

So we crossed into S.D., and we saw a sign that said, "Enjoy some South Dakota beef during your visit."

Does McDonald's count? Seriously, we stopped in Mitchell, S.D., and went to none other than the World's only Corn Palace. (No, seriously, you can't make this shit up. Jen will have a post about it soon.) On the way out, we stopped at the McDonald's for a quick bite on the run. You know how it is on the road and you want to eat right but jesuz fuck that's the only thing are those demon arches every fucking place. So fine. We get the #3 meal medium (no not super size, shut your pie hole.) My god that fucking burger was good. Maybe it was fresh. Maybe it was just those S.D. cattle make a good fuck off burger. Maybe I was just really fucking hungry, hot, and tired on the road.

Maybe.

we are about to...

cross a significant river. I've never crossed it before when not in the air.