Locked Up

The carpet cleaners came at ten this morning. Actually, they came just a little early, meaning that I wasn't yet dressed when they arrived and wanted into the building. The guy had a very crazy eye. To be honest, I couldn't have told you which eye was working correctly. He did a nice job on the carpet though. As far as I can tell, all of the stains came out.
While he was doing the carpets, I went to George's apartment to check on his disposal. He had mentioned to me this weekend that something wasn't working. I had no idea what he was saying, but I could tell it wasn't an emergency so I had said I'd check on it Monday. So, true to my word, I asked him what was wrong and he demonstrated that the garbage disposal was not working. Nothing happened when I threw the switch, so I crawled under his sink to have a look. This was the first one I've had to mess with, so I quickly crawled back out and decided to call Karen and see what she recommended before I made anything worse. It turns out there is a reset switch at the bottom of the disposal. I crawled back under, pressed it, and almost peed my pants. The switch had been left in the on position and that thing came roaring to life right over my head, sounding like it was trying to grind up a human corpse. After I got it shut back off, I went and found a flashlight and some pliers and had a look down the drain. I ended up pulling a four inch long piece of clear plastic from who knows what and tried again. It made the same awful noise. I looked again. Finally, I found a little inch long piece of crystal (quartz maybe) and removed that. Who knows how that got in there. But it's all fixed now.
When Daulton showed up he told me that his teacher/prison guard or whatever that guy is had said he would come by today to check on him. Since the carpet guy was here, Daulton couldn't vacuum, so I just had him sit and watch out the window for the guy and should he see him, I would have had him start cleaning the windows. The guy never came.
Taz boxers of Taz boxers.
Daisy had her first trip to the vet today. She did fine. We got her some flea medicine and heart-worm preventative. She was also microchipped. Anna asked the vet how old he though she was and he guessed three, not quite four months. That's bad. If that's really the case than she is going to get much bigger than we want. Let's all hope he's wrong.
Ever lay in bed and contemplate death and absolute non-existence? Ever thought about what it would really mean if all the atheists are right? I did last night and freaked myself out a good one. I'm still kind of messed up.
I took a shower last night, but I didn't shave. I suppose that really means I should shave tonight.
I would like to get my hair cut soon. It's in the in between stage of long and short, and I don't like it like this. I like it short, and I like it really long. In between, I just look like a goober.
Anna craves Fazoli's like I crave Chinese.
Or Chick-Fil-A.
I was discussing Chick-Fil-A with my brother today. I was lamenting that even with his transition from ASU, which had a restaurant on campus, back to Colorado Springs, he was not without easy access to that glorious goodness. I, on the other hand, traded in a state without a single Chick-Fil-A for one that had it but an hour away. Which is like having none at all if your wife prefers Fazoli's.
Howie just pooped, and it was really stinky. It was so stinky that I was afraid he hadn't used the litter box. But after checking the whole room with a flashlight, I have determined that he did indeed use the litter box. He just has really stinky poop.
Fernie is just cruising right along.
Daisy still hasn't had any accidents here.
Anna was trying to teach Daisy some tricks, but it seems she may already know "sit" and "beg." I guess next we'll have to teach her to "go fix dinner."
I think I'm going to go attempt a BLT with those tomatoes I stole yesterday. And no Sara, I am not going to try it with peanut butter, but I am going to make my own special kicked up mayo for it (chipotle and ancho chile powders, cajun seasoning, and the like).
I only just discovered the wonders of chipotle chile powder this year. Thank you, Foodnetwork.
p.s. Once again, I have forgotten something. In this case, I completely forgot the reason for my title. When got got back from the vet, we discovered that Howie had spent the whole time locked up in our bedroom. We had been keeping the door shut so that Anna could have a sanctuary from pet dander, but apparently, he surmounted our defences. Though somehow, he failed to consider a line of retreat once he did.

Crazy Daisy Doozy Floozy

So, uh, we have a dog. We got her Friday night. Anna finally decided today that her name is Daisy. She had been calling her Josie, but her name is now officially Daisy because that's what we had engraved on her tag.
Because of this adventure of getting a dog on Friday afternoon, I was up really late Friday night trying to get ready for the pancake breakfast I had promised the residents. I think I finally went to bed sometime around three and then got up early to start cooking and such. I think the breakfast went well. I made pancakes (duh), bacon, and a mixed fruit thingy. I think roughly two-thirds of the residents stopped in and ate. They seemed appreciative.
Daisy is roughly six months old.
Chief scratched my foot really badly today. I have this bloody streak running from mid-foot all the way onto my pinkie toe. It's the worst thing that has ever happened to me.
Daisy has yet to have an accident at our place, but she did poop on the floor at the in-laws'.
The Broncos just lost to the Bears. This doesn't really matter since it is still preseason, but I have a strong feeling that the regular season isn't going to look much different than tonight's game.
The last few games the Rockies' offense disappeared, and then tonight, they couldn't hold a strong lead. Sometimes it's worse to have a team in the mix because it sure makes it harder on you when they lose.
When we first got Daisy, I said she looked like a Saint Bernard. Anna thought I was stupid. Then when her parents saw Daisy, they said she looked like a Saint Bernard. Anna is now terrified that she has Saint Bernard in her and will grow too big for this apartment.
I just finished doing some laundry.
I've decided I really like having a DVR for watching sports. I used it several times during the Broncos' game. Though to be honest, I used it more to re-watch commercials than anything related to the game.
Did anyone else watch the Broncos' game? Did you pay attention to the plays that McDaniels chose to challenge? Is he not the stupidest man ever?
Also during the game, the Bears were called for a late hit on the Broncos' QB. It was an awful call. The Bears' player had already leapt (On a side note, Blogger's spell check doesn't recognize "leapt" as a correctly spelled word. Weird) at the QB when he threw the ball, and yet it was called a late hit. This is absurd. Let QBs get hit for goodness sake. They wear pads. They are football players, right?
Anna fed Daisy some rib bones leftover from her father's lunch. Daisy devoured those suckers like they were nothing.
After the pancake breakfast, Anna's parents helped us repaint the vacant apartment. It took us roughly five hours of the four of us working to get the whole thing painted. I am so glad they offered to help. I would have spent forever doing that on my own.
After we finished painting, I took a quick shower, and then Anna and I drove up to Anderson to meet up with Anna's friend Angela and her boyfriend. We decided to get dinner at BW3s. I ate hot wings. Anna ate a wrap. My food was manly. Hers was girly. It's a good thing I'm the guy, huh? I had Asian Zing, Caribbean Jerk, and Spicy Garlic wings. Those are my three favorites. I think it's just a coincidence that those are all right next to each other on the BW3s scale of hotness. I've had hotter ones, and I was fine. I've had both the Hot and the Mango Habenero, which are way up the scale. I just really enjoy the flavor of those three in the middle. I do think though that they have the Asian Zing and the Spicy Garlic in the wrong order on their chart. They have the Zing charted as hotter, but I swear the Spicy Garlic is hotter.
After we finished eating, we all played euchre for a little bit. We were tied at four each when we looked at the time and realized we'd been there over two hours and that we needed to go. So we decided to stop the game at six. Though honestly, I think our cutting the game short may have had more to do with the table of guys that were smoking this awful cigars than the time. Angela and I prevailed in a closely contested battle that came down to the last card.
Howie and Chief don't seem to know what to think about Daisy.
The church that was interested in Anna's father as pastor took a vote on him today. He got 100% approval. This is a very small church, but that's still a rather unusual thing. I guess he and Anna's mother went there tonight to talk to the congregation and answer questions. Apparently several of the questions had to do with whether or not Anna and I would be around much. I think they want Anna to sing and lead music. We'll see.
We took Lucy's old crate and have given it to Daisy. She hasn't had any problems adapting to it. As far as I know, she's willingly sleeping in it as I write this.
I really should take a shower tonight and shave. I really don't want to do either of those things.
Dark blue.
Anna thinks Daisy is some sort of terrier mix.
I stole some tomatoes from the in-laws today. I'm looking forward to a good BLT.
I'm currently making use of the shiatsu massager I got from Anna's mother a couple years ago. My back is a little stiff and sore from painting. I'm an old man.
I'm sorry I haven't updated this thing in a couple days. Daisy, painting, and cooking have been occupying too much of my time.
Check back tomorrow for another installment in the amazing adventures of the Hoffs.
p.s. I forgot all about this in all the excitement of the last couple days. Fernie seems to have made a complete recovery. He went from being 99% dead and dried out on the floor to being just fine. Honest to goodness, when I picked him up off the floor, I was sure he was dead. I really can't explain why I even dropped him back into the tank. He was stiff. He was dry. He made no movement whatsoever. I should have just thrown him away. I guess I just wanted to do something with him until Anna woke up and could say goodbye, and I didn't want to just leave him on the floor until then. And voila, he is alive. Though roughly half of all of his fins have fallen off. I guess they dried up too much and died.

Still Kickin'

Fernie's still kicking. And by that, I mean that his gills haven't stopped moving. Otherwise, he's pretty much the same. Though it kind of looks like the ends of all his fins are going to fall off. Maybe that's a good thing? Maybe it just means that the rest of him is healing?
Daulton and I cleaned and organized one of the storage closets today.
I've been trying to get in contact with a carpet cleaning service to have the complex cleaned. I called them yesterday, and they told me they'd call back with a quote. They did call back with a quote, but I tried three different times to get a hold of them today to schedule cleaning and didn't get an answer.
Light blue boxers with no modesty button (I don't know what to call this button, but that's pretty much the best description of it). I'm so unwholesome.
I went to Wally-world tonight. It was exciting, let me tell you what. I'm joyously celebrating the return of AriZona Pomegranate Green Tea to their shelves.
Anna wants a dog.
Daulton really likes to talk smack to me. As I said, he's fourteen (nearly fifteen) and looks like he's twelve. If he's hit puberty then it has only just happened. He likes to act tough. I guess it's a classic example of a Napoleon Complex. Though a quick bit of research tells me that psychologists have yet to declare this a real condition. But there's a flaw in their research. In their studies on the subject, they tried to see if short men were more aggressive. That isn't the issue at all. Short men in general having nothing to do with it. It's an issue of short men on an individual level, and I guarantee there are a lot of short men compensating for their height. Psychologists can be idiots.
I replaced the toilet seat on our toilet with one that has a lid. Anna likes there to be a lid on her toilet seat. I think the idea is that this now gives me something that I have to raise and lower each time I use the toilet.
While I was switching toilet seats, Chief was stealing the parts necessary to make the switch. At one point, I had to crawl under the futon to retrieve a piece he had carried off.
We have a ridiculously awesome and comfortable bed. And it wasn't even one of the expensive ones. It's so perfect.
I'm ridiculously awesome and comfortable and so perfect. You wish you were me.
Want in on a secret? One of the reasons I've been blogging so much is that it gives me an opportunity to sit at my computer and listen to my music. I love my music. You should love my music too. If you don't love my music then you are not awesome, attractive, or intelligent like me (though I suppose this doesn't preclude that you still may be awesome, attractive, and intelligent in your own way).
But if you are seriously looking into hearing some incredibly awesome music, check out Maylene & the Sons of Disaster. "III" is just so good. No, it's not the heaviest stuff out there. But it's some of the nastiest, dirtiest, grittiest, incredibliest rock music ever.
And don't think I'm forgetting Project 86 because if you don't pick up "Picket Fence Cartel" you are a failure at being alive.
It's time for my midnight snack. They say you shouldn't eat after eight or so at night, but that's for people who get up at weird times like 8 a.m. or something. I on the other hand am completely normal and won't go to bed until three or four.
So go listen to some Maylene while I got eat. I mean it too. Just give it a chance. It's just so much fun. Seriously. Even you Jana, you need to listen to it. And if you cry, then you are doing it wrong. If your ears bleed, you're probably doing it right. Just try to appreciate it. Please? For me? Please? Tell Jeremy to grow out his hair and bring back the beard, and he can join the band and pretend he's from the deep dirty south.

Long Division and Fernando the Overly Adventurous

I was headed back into the bedroom this morning to get dressed for work when I happened to glance over at the fish tank, and there, to my dismay, was Fernie lying stiff as a board on the floor. A quick survey of the scene revealed that sometime during the night he must have had one of his freak outs and knocked the lid straight off the aquarium, landing himself squarely on cold hard floor. I rushed to his side and attempted to perform CPR. And by CPR, I mean that I picked him up and for lack of anything better to do, I dropped his cold stiff form down into the fish tank. And low and behold, he wasn't quite dead. At first, I couldn't be sure if the movement I detected in his gills wasn't just caused by the water circulating in the tank, but eventually, I was sure that there was still just a tiny bit of life in him. Unfortunately, I'm still not sure if he's going to make it. As I said, he was stiff as a board when I dropped him in, and he actually ended up on his back in the tank. I propped him upright so at least he was oriented correctly. Since that point, he has started working his gills much more normally, but he's laying on his side on the bottom of the tank and almost appears to be growing fungus. He might just have been a little too adventurous this morning.
Daulton is a little overwhelming. Since discovering his connection to Anna, he's wanted to come over and say hello to her, first thing every morning. He's obsessed with the animals, calls Edith "the rat," thinks Chief is a girl, and is terrified the cats will bite him. And the whole time, he just keeps talking.
We had agreed to take Daulton fishing tomorrow, but we learned that he was grounded by his father. As I understand it, Daulton actually reported (falsely-I hope) his father for abuse, which brought a visit from Child Protective Services. That seems to be the biggest thing he did to precipitate this grounding, though apparently he's also been lying and stealing and has stopped taking his medication.
In light of all of this (not to mention the whole reason he's in the Restart program), Anna and I have been discussing just how much we should trust the kid. We're both of the opinion that we should trust him, within reason, until he gives us a reason not to. But the key to that might just be the "within reason." The last couple days Daulton has only wanted to use the bathroom in our apartment. It occurred to me a little too late the first time that he might be looking to steal pills or something. Fortunately, Anna and I aren't old people yet and don't have any drugs worth stealing, but I'm definitely not going to let Daulton alone into a resident's apartment. I guarantee there's some big bucks lying in some of those medicine cabinets.
Without being overly picky, I can't give Daulton enough work to occupy him the three hours he's here. Should he get himself into trouble with us, I will get overly picky and make sure he works constantly, but as for now, I think this may be a good thing. Today, this allowed me to help Daulton with his math homework. First of all, he's doing long division. He's fourteen and a freshmen in high school. When did you do long division? He told me his dad can't help him with it, and from the sounds of it, his teacher is pretty indifferent, so I might be his only chance to actually learn it correctly. He was showing me his homework today and said that the teacher's instructions were to round to the nearest hundredth. I looked at the two problems that the teacher had done for him as examples. Neither were right. In both cases, the teacher should have rounded the last digit up, but he didn't. This worries me greatly. I started checking Daulton's answers. He didn't have a single one right. So I started watching him as he worked on them. He's actually really good at the basic arithmetic, but he has a huge problem working out what happens once he gets to the decimal place. I don't think he's stupid, at all. I get the sense that at some point, amid all the turmoil of his childhood, he struggled in math, and that caused the school system to dramatically hold him back on the math front. And once he in those remedial classes, he probably ran into teachers who just didn't care. I've seen kids who just can't get it. Daulton can get it. I just don't think he's been taught how to get it. And the thing is, he actually seemed really glad I was helping him with it. It's depressing.
Bobbie came by today for more quarters. She wanted twenty dollars worth of quarters to "finish up [her] warshin'." Now, I was being facetious when I said that I thinks she spends as much money on "warshin'" as Katie and George do on cigarettes, but in all honesty, she must stop by at least once a week asking for quarters. I know I've given her at least fourty dollars worth this month alone. That's twenty loads of laundry washed and dried. For one old lady. And she always says she's "finishing up." Does she ever get finished? If she does finish, does that just mark when she starts again? I really don't know. I don't know if she's crazy or she really does that many loads of laundry. I'm leaning towards crazy. Karen told me that she thinks Bobbie's got some form of dementia. Her family denies it, but clearly, she's not right. She comes by and tells me the same thing every day. Today she asked me twice in a row if the "mail has run yet." I don't know. It worries me that her family doesn't seem to think anything is wrong. Most of these people have someone to check in on them, but she seems to be losing it all on her lonesome.
I'm getting kind of hungry. I might go eat something. Hopefully that will remedy the situation.

The Walking Dead

So I got rather freaked out in the office this morning. When I checked the answering machine I got a message that went something like this (spoken in a very quiet and sad sounding woman's voice), "Karen (the lady I replaced), this is Wanda. I don't know if you'd been notified, but Beulah died Saturday night. (Insert something I couldn't make out). Thank Alice for me." I spent about half an hour freaking out that one of my residents had died. I was looking through her file trying to find a contact phone number. I couldn't find anything. I was sitting there hoping someone would call and give me more information or something, when I saw Alice and Beulah walk right into her apartment with some groceries. Who on earth is this deceased Beulah?
Daulton accidently put a fly swatter through the shredder today. He's got an unhealthy fascination with that thing. He wanted to shred a dollar bill, but I convinced him that that would be ridiculous.
Daulton's making friends with the old people. Katie tells him everytime she sees him that his "head sure looks funny with that haircut."
Anna went to her parent's place while I was in the office. I guess several family members were over there. She tells me she got all sweaty and gross scraping off an old dresser with her sister, but I think she still looks super cute. Maybe she'll let me kiss her later.
Project 86 is asking for input on their set-list for their fall tour. They want to knwo what songs we haven't heard live that we would like to hear. The problem is I've seen them nine times over seven years, and I really had a hard time finding songs I hadn't seen live.
The awesome thing about getting pizza is the leftovers. We got pizza Saturday night. I had leftovers yesterday and today. Yum.
Leftovers are the downside of Chinese buffets. You don't get any. Boo.
Howie and Chief are both sleeping on the futon in here. I used a Pledge pet hair sweeper on that futon the other day. I swear I picked up a whole new cat.
Because Anna spent the afternoon with her family, I didn't do much today. I mostly just read.
I did just make a rootbeer float for myself. It was tasty. Be jealous.
I'm going to go give Anna a huge kiss. You can be jealous of that too.
Good morning, Kyrgyzstan.

anna.

i don't really have a whole lot to say. just thought i'd pop in and say i'm still alive. still trying to get subbing stuff together. it's not really exciting.

trying my hardest to get a dog, but it's not working. :)

it's ok.

have a good day.

Itchy + (word that rhymes with itchy and starts with b)

I'm no longer itchy. I was itchy. But I'm not anymore. It's all because I showered.
Before I showered I was itchy. I was itchy because I was covered in bits of hay. I was covered in bits of hay because I helped Anna's father load 81 bales of hay into the hay loft of his neighbor's barn.
Even while being covered with pokey bits of hay cemented to my skin by salty sweat, I didn't want to take a shower. Unfortunately, I didn't think Anna would appreciate me getting into our bed in such a state.
The reason for the vulgar title you ask? Earlier this summer, Anna was randomly rhyming words with "itchy." Unthinkingly, she added a "b" to itchy. And she did this right in front of her parents. She was mortified.
It's alright though, Anna's mother decided that "A" was for a...s...s.... I won't even begin to explain how that came about. I don't think I quite understand what was going on.
So today was Anna's paternal grandmother's birthday. We went to her Salvation Army church in the morning to surprise her. Anna and her father were practically torn to pieces when the Majors learned that they hadn't brought their instruments or any song they were prepared to sing.
I should remind everyone that the Salvation Army is right next door to these apartments, so Anna and I didn't really have to go anywhere this morning in order to get to church. Well the service started at 10:30. At 10:00, I had just awoken and was going through my usual wake-up routine of nude web surfing when I suddenly heard the sound of our patio door open and the lovely tones of my in-laws' voices. Yeah, that was awkward. I had no idea they would come over to our apartment before the service. Fortunately, my computer is in a separate room from where they came in, so I was able to warn them that I was in a state of undress. That woke me up.
After the service, we went over to dear grandma's to have lunch.
Throughout the whole church service and meal, we got to hear how much everyone loves dear grandma. "She's such a blessing." All we can respond is "she's something."
Anna and I came back to our place after lunch. I took a nap. I'm not sure what Anna did.
When I woke up, we went over to Anna's parentals' house. That is where I ended up helping with the hay. Anna's father stores his hay in a neighbor's three million year old barn. I'm not a small man and being up in the hay loft gave me the heebiejeebies. Fortunately it didn't collapse on me. While stacking the hay, I was always attacked by some unknown gigantic rodent. And by attacked, I mean that one ran past me. And by gigantic, I mean slightly larger than a mouse.
I'm not wearing any boxers.
I'm not wearing any briefs either.
I'm not even wearing any boxer-briefs.
I am, however, wearing some shorts. So unfortunately, I'm not altogether naked at the moment.
I think I want to go get hammered and then spend some more time working on "Midnight's Children." It's not like this book is that long. I guess I just get bogged down in the density of his writing.
I'm thirsty.
I trimmed my goatee before my shower. I did it before my shower so that I could make sure to wash off all the whiskers.
It's weird to look at facebook pictures of guys I knew in high schoo because so many of them now have facial hair, and at CSCS, facial hair was forbidden.
I'll probably grow back the full beard for the winter. I thought it was a decent look for me.
But then again, everything is a good look for me. I'm just that handsome. All you girls (and some of you guys) are just so jealous of Anna. I know. You should be.

Congratulations. You are reading our 100th post.

Pat yourself on the back for reading this post. It will do you good.
We went to the in-laws' place today. Anna and her dad fed the horses some corn stalks. We ate leftover meatloaf. Anna and I went fishing. It started raining. We went inside. It stopped raining. We left.
I think Anna got some good pictures of a watersnake while we were fishing. Maybe she'll put them on facebook.
Tomorrow is Anna's paternal grandmother's birthday. We're going to surprise her by going to her church in the morning and then bring her back to the parental's. Yippee.
I made the bed all pretty like today. I know. I'm awesome. I watch HGTV. Not really.
The Rockies are currently demolishing the Giants. But where were all these runs last night?
There's this little pizza place here called Mancino's. It's good. I picked up some pizza for us tonight. We ate it. We're currently digesting it.
I've never understood these yogurt commercials and this obsession with "regularity." I asked Anna what the heck they were talking about, and she said it had to do with pooping. Why do women need yogurt to poop? I'm pretty sure women pooped before yogurt was invented.
Anna thinks that I should get a bunch of country music to sing along with, to practice my ability to match pitch. Male country singers tend to sing in a much lower range than any other male contemporary musicians. She has me sing along with the radio all the time, and if the guy is singing really high, she has me sing an octave down. I sound like an impaled moose. I can tell when I'm matching pitch, but I can't ever tell when I'm matching at an octave. It's awful.
I don't know why Anna stays married to me. I smell bad, and I can't sing. What is there to like?
I should probably shower tonight, and I might even shave too. I'm not sure why I avoid shaving so much. I guess it just takes time to use a standard razor, and an electric razor just doesn't do much.
I'm wearing blue boxers covered in images of Tazmanian Devil boxers. I might need to trade these in soon. I think there might be some holes devoloping along the butt-crack seam.
Chief is trying to catch my left arm while I type. Earlier he jumped up on the chair and scratch my back. I might have bled. I can't see it. He probably misses his new friend, Melissa.
I neglected to mention this yesterday, but on their way back from the outlets, Anna and Melissa were pulled over by not one but two police officers. They first officer apparently informed them that Melissa's car matched the description of one seen fleeing a jewelry store robbery. Anna tells me that Melissa was terrified and kept insisting that they could search her car. I guess the officers discussed the situation for several minutes before they finally came back and said that in fact Melissa's car did not match the description of the crime scene car.
My wife is a hardened criminal.
So I'm reading this book, "Midnight's Children." It's enjoyable, but I realized the other day that I had been working on the thing for over two weeks. I just can't seem to make much progress. I think when I finish this post I'll go take a shower, shave, and then try to put a dent in that book.
Anna's mom got a little deep fryer. I'm excited about it. Just think of all the foods I can improve upon with a little deep fat frying. Mmmmmmm. I should try to make some deep fried bacon.
I like Anna.
I like root beer.
I had some root beer.
Maybe Anna will want to come read with me after my shower.
I really don't want to take a shower.
Quick, think of something for me to write about so I can put off taking this shower.
Oh well.
Shower time.
Naked Hehoff time.
Who knows what undergarments I may or may not select post shower.
Goodnight cruel world.
This is our 100th post saying, "Farewell."

Still Not Our 100th Post

Anna had lunch with her friend Melissa today. They've been friends since Anna was even shorter than she is now. After that ate lunch, they digested their food for awhile. While digesting her food, Melissa harassed Chief. They are bff now.
After Melissa finished tormenting Chief, she went with Anna to the outlets for some shopping. Anna got a pair of Crocs that don't look like Crocs. I won't judge.
I had Daulton clean the doors today. They get grimy from dirty hands pushing them open all the time.
I really don't know what to write about tonight.
I got lonely when Anna was gone with Melissa. I'm going to be really lonely when Anna starts substituting.
Did I mention that Anna absolutely dominated her Praxis II? Now, she just needs to take her Praxis I.
Anna's really cute. I think I'm going to go cuddle up to her.
Pardon me for the short post.

This is not our 100th Post

I guess there's one pressing matter I would like to discuss, but I need to begin this post by saying that this is not our 100th post. In celebration of that fact, I am doing laundry.
And wearing dark blue boxers.
Daulton.
It's spelled Daulton. Weird right?
Well, it gets weirder. You see, Daulton, this kid doing his mandatory volunteer work/community service for dealing drugs. He's Anna's cousin.
Well, to be precise, he is Anna's first cousin once removed. Daulton's grandfather is Anna's uncle. His father is thus Anna's first cousin. Therefore Daulton is her first cousin once removed (I had to look this up on Wikipedia to clarify how this stuff works. Who knew?).
I had no idea of this connection until Anna came over to the office today to bring us something to drink. She walked in there, took one look at Daulton, and declared, "you're TJ's son." Daulton looked horrified, but after Anna explained the connection, he actually gave her a big hug. I guess I've actually met the kid before at Anna's families' Christmas get-togethers. There was something about him that seemed familiar.
So yeah, that's weird. I guess it just makes it all the more sad to us that he's in trouble like he is because we are now aware of all the connections and the problems within his family.
Anna hopes I can do the kid some good. I hope so too. I certainly don't want to do him any harm.
Apparently, he really loves to fish. I told him we'd take him over to "Aunt Karen's" to go fishing sometime. I think he'd have fun.
In unrelated news, I went to Wal-Mart late last night to pick up some 7up for Anna because she had an upset stomach, and while I was there, I discovered that they again had AriZona pomegranate green tea. I bought all five bottles. You have no idea how happy this made me.
What else should I write about in this, our not 100th post?
The Rockies won today.
The Broncos will never win a game again.
Project 86 is close to announcing new fall tour plans, are currently working on a music video, and Andrew has a book coming this fall.
Living Sacrifice finally announced an official release date of their new record (a year late).
I miss my friends.
Anna misses her friends.
We have a spare bedroom. Our friends should come visit.
See you in post 99 and all posts thereafter.

Dalton

I've officially changed my office hours. They were 10-1. They are now 11-2. Why would I do such a thing? No, it's not because I want to sleep in longer. It's because I got a phone call today from the principal (or warden or head inflicter of punishment or something) of a "Restart" school that's near the apartments. This school/juvenile correction facility exists to educate troubled teens that get themselves expelled and/or arrested and can no longer attend regular school. This head inflicter of justice wondered if I could use some help around the apartments during the day from one of the students/inmates. I knew Karen had done this last year with a kid named Jacob, and I figured "what the heck?" So I said that I could certainly accommodate him.
So at about 11:30, he showed up with Dalton, my new janitor. Apparently Dalton does classes in the morning and then is my property from 11:30 to 2:30. Because of Dalton's hours of availability, I figured it would be easier if I just pushed my office hours back.
So Dalton is fourteen. He looks like he is twelve. He mutters. And he was arrested for possession and the attempted sale of hydrocodone. Dalton loves fishing and shooting his father with a BB gun when he's mad. Dalton does not like old people. He hides when he hears people in the hallway.
I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with him. I guess he'll mostly just end up doing the same thing every single day: vacuum the carpets and clean the windows.
Anna's computer flipped out last night. It kept restarting itself, letting you sign in and then before it would finish booting up, it would give a blue screen of death and restart. It did this for over an hour. We tried to do a system restore. That failed. It kept restarting itself. And then magically, one time it finally loaded all the way. So Anna backed up all her pictures and important information to our external harddrive. And I drove to Greenwood today to get another backup harddrive, just in case. You think that's overkill? The first backup harddrive we had freaked out and no longer works. So that's why we have the two working ones right now.
It's amazing that you can now get a TB of storage for under a hundred dollars. Six months ago, I spent almost exactly the same amount on a 500 GB harddrive.
The Rockies won. They are still leading the wildcard chase. I'd love to see them in the playoffs again. A Rockies/Dodgers NLCS would be so awesome.
Because I was already in Greenwood, I stopped at Half-Priced Books. I found myself another Salman Rushdie book, which is good. There's just so much there that it's kind of overwhelming. I need to start making lists of authors that I need to read before I go.
I love ESPN, but I hate ESPN. They always short change the Rockies on coverage. They only ever talk about six teams: the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, Phillies, Dodgers, and Cubs. Unless the Rockies are playing one of those teams, good luck getting to hear about them.
In some ways, I hope the Broncos go 0-16 just to guarantee that they go ahead and fire McDaniels. Why would I want this? I want this because I know that however much I hope it will happen, Bowlen isn't going to fire McDaniels before the end of the season. Bowlen should fire himself for hiring McDaniels. Ridiculous. Bowlen should have fired himself twice over after the draft. For seriously. This is going to be a depressing NFL season.
Now I'm all depressed thinking about football.
You know what else is depressing? Last night Anna and I were watching "Secret Lives of Women" on WE TV. Sounds incredibly dumb right? It can actually be really interesting. Last night they were documenting child brides. They profiled four different girls/women that got married as young teenagers (13, 14, 15). One girl was Asian and had been forced into an arranged marriage by her parents. One girl was from Nebraska and had been impregnated by her 22 year old boyfriend. Two of them were from Kentucky, where one had gotten pregnant at a really young age, and the other had simply "fallen in love" at 13. The thing about it was that the three white girls were obviously very uneducated. The two women from Kentucky abused the English language like a rented mule that had mated with a red-headed step-child. It was extremely obvious that these girls were all super low class. So I asked Anna if she though WE had intentionally focused on the super uneducated to make a point or if these were the only kinds of girls they could find. I thought about it some, and I just can't imagine girls with any sort of education or money marrying at such a young age, pregnant or not. But I still wonder. There's got to be some educated rich girl out there that got married at 14, right?
Well, I've talked about nothing for long enough tonight. Sweet dreams.
(Speaking of dreams: I was dreaming about boat-sized snapping turtles earlier. I wonder what that means?)

La Dee Da

I took a circuitous route to the office this morning because I had trash to take out to the bin. I then entered the building through the front door and found myself confronted by Bobbie. She informed me that not only had George dropped a watermelon in the hallway, but one of George's friends had broken the decorative framework around the front door glass. Thankfully, she also told me she had already cleaned up the watermelon. She then asked me to make change for ten dollars so she could do her "warsh." As I told Anna, George and Katie spend more on their cigarettes each month than they do on rent, and I could almost imagine Bobbie spends more on cleaning supplies and laundry money than she does on rent as well. Every single time I see her, she is telling me she is going to go finish up her "warshing." I guess I should be grateful that there is a resident who picks up messes before I'm even aware of them, but it makes me feel bad.
While Bobbie was telling me all of this, Alice walked past us with a wet paper towel and went outside. She came back in after a couple minutes, muttering something about "all the bloods gone." I have no idea what that was about.
As for the broken door stuff, I thought for the longest time I was going to have to figure out a way to replace the frame part without actually getting a whole new door. Then it occurred to me that maybe I could put it back together myself. I found one of the broken pieces right away, but it took some searching to figure out where the other part went. It turns out someone had tossed it in one of the cigarette collecting bucket thingies that sit outside the entrance. Once I had the two pieces, I was pretty quickly able to put them back where they came from, and they actually hold there pretty well without glue. I think I will get some super glue from the store though, just to make sure it stays.
Later, Beualah came by and started with her usual greeting of "I want to talk to you." I'm honestly not sure exactly what it was she wanted to talk to me about. She jumped around a lot, but she did hit on a couple main themes. The first thing she started on was about going to the neurologist today to switch her medication, but that (somehow) quickly shifted to telling me about Alice and her no good kids. "Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum...." she kept saying. I was rather shocked when thinking of the situation caused her to cuss and then tell me that she was just going to tell Alice "to go to Hell" the next time she asked for something. I didn't know what else to do but just keep nodding my way through her rant. In the end, I just told her that she had to do what she had to do.
We went to visit Anna's grandmother this afternoon. We met Anna's father there and gave her some corn from the garden. We didn't stay long because we had to get back to the parental's place for dinner. I think Anna's grandmother suspects something, since she commented that Anna and I never come to see her without Anna's father there too. Once again, the visit was composed of hearing about how we never come see her and how everyone else on earth loves her like crazy.
After dear grandma's, we went back to Anna's parent's place, where I grilled chicken for chicken tacos. I can do amazing things with chicken and a grill, let me tell you. After the tacos we ate some of the leftover cake and ice cream cake from Anna's father's birthday. Yeah, it's some good stuff. I've eaten so much of that cake that Anna's mother made.
I believe I mentioned that I made a cake from scratch for her birthday. I don't think I'll do that again. The cake was fine though I thought it was a little dry, and I've never had a mix turn out dry. It's just as fresh when it's done as doing it from scratch.
Anna's mother is just about the funniest person I know. It's pretty close between her and VanderHassall.
After dinner, Anna, her father, and I went out to the pond and did some fishing. Anna caught a pretty nice bass, and I caught several crappie and one blue gill.
Whenever we go fishing at their place, we have to leave Hank (the dog) locked up inside the house. If we don't, he always dives into the pond after our lures. Yeah, you can imagine how impossible that makes it to catch fish.
I definitely prefer cooking to baking.
Anna's mother hates fish (and seafood in general). Apparently, she had an awful experience as a child with her mother forcing her to eat some and her puking as a result. This makes me think about two things: 1. it's amazing how much psychological damage our parents can do to us by just trying to be decent parents, and 2. Anna's mom is missing out on a lot, especially with crab and shrimp and lobster.
I love Anna's mom. She's awesome.
Anna's dad is pretty decent too (though by the simple fact of being Anna's dad, he terrifies me. Anna doesn't understand this, but I know all you guys out there know what I mean).
I think I faired pretty well in the in-law catagory.
Now, if only Anna was a little more awesome.
I keed, I keed.
Anna's got a "to do" list for herself. The only thing on it is "Get a cuter boyfriend." The poor girl is stuck with me.
I've been listening to so much music lately. Mostly, it's been the new Project 86 mixed with a healthy dose of Maylene & the Sons of Disaster, mewithoutYou, Becoming the Archetype, and Zao. Though, at the moment, I'm actually listening to Jon Foreman's solo stuff. Good shizzle fo' rizzle.
It's a good thing you people read my bloggings. You will come away from this smarter, healthier, and better looking*.

*Claims not verified by the FDA.

Interesting

So today Katie walks into the office and tells me one of George's closet doors is falling down. So I head over to his apartment. Sure enough, the screws holding the track for the pantry door have fallen out of the ceiling, and the door itself is nearly falling over. It should be easy enough to fix. And it was, but that wasn't the interesting part. The interesting part was that while I was standing there examining the problem, George came up behind me to look with me. Ok, him looking with me wasn't interesting. What was interesting was that, while we were looking together at this closet door track, George toppled over. I whirled around to see him lying unconscious on the floor. At first, I was afraid he was dead, but then I realized that his eyelids were fluttering wildly. I had started to look for a phone to call an ambulance when he came to. Katie, who was still around, started helping him up, and I quickly started helping as well. We got him over to his couch, and I asked him if he need to see a doctor. He said he was fine and didn't need anyone. I didn't really know what to do, so I just went ahead and fixed his door and left. I saw one of his nurses come by later and heard Katie tell her what had happened. Later on the nurse stopped in the office. From her, I learned that apparently George has a lot of incidents. He probably just didn't take his medicine, and he hadn't eaten. She's afraid that if she reports anymore such happenings, he'll be forced into a nursing home. Apparently, I did the right thing by not calling anyone, but man, I have to say that it scared me poopless.
Howie and Chief are wrestling on the futon at the moment.
Today was Anna's father's birthday. We stopped at Dairy Queen and picked him up an ice cream cake, and I grilled burgers, which we topped with guacamole and bacon. The ground beef Anna's mother had was a little on the fatty side so the burgers shrunk a little more than I anticipated, but they tasted good.
Sometimes I like to listen to music that doesn't blow out eardrums. Strange, huh? At the moment, I'm rocking some Seabird. I must say that for a band who couldn't get a mosh pit going to save their lives, they make some really really good music. I do also have to say that Jon Foreman's solo stuff is also super excellent chill music. So if you ever are in the mood for good music that doesn't melt your brain, check out Jon Foreman and Seabird.
On a side note, stop assuming I only listen to P.O.D. I still listen to them sometimes, but they in no way define the kind of music I enjoy. I guess people tend to attach that band to me because they are the only band I've ever listened to that anyone has ever heard of. But no more. I will not stand for it. I listen to metal: death metal, doom metal, black metal, metalcore, southern metal. Metal. Want an example? Check out: Zao or Becoming the Archetype. They have myspaces. Do yourself a favor and listen to some of the best music ever. Heck, even Project 86 is on the light side for me. They might be my favorite band, but that's only because they are the best band in existence. Genre wise, they are not my favorite style. Ok, I'm done.
METAL!
Ok, now I'm really done.
I love this massage chair.
My back is still slightly sore, but I think in general I'm pretty much better.
The love machine is back in working order.
Today, I cleaned the litter box, folded and put away the laundry, and did the dishes. I'm the perfect man.
Tomorrow, I plan on finding some sporting event on TV, sprawling out, and demanding Anna bring me a beer every fifteen minutes. When she's not bringing me beer, I'll keep telling her to get back in the kitchen.
Speaking of which, why do I let her buy so many shoes? It's not like I ever let her out of the apartment to wear them.
Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and give himself up for her.
Peace out, wenches.

The Love Machine's Down

I need to shower. Seriously.
I spent almost all weekend in bed because it's the only place I can comfortably rest my back.
Fernando keeps spazzing out in the fish tank. We're not sure what his deal is.
Edith squeals anytime Anna talks to any of the animals. I guess she detects the raised pitch in Anna's voice and thinks it means she's talking to her.
All our pets are spoiled.
Anna's had a bad headache for the past week. I suggested we just amputate, but she didn't go for that idea.
I'm not exactly looking forward to trying to sit in the office tomorrow.
Anna and I have been trying to figure out what churches around here are worth trying. I spent awhile last night doing some research and came to the conclusion that there are none worth trying. I've decided all of southern Indiana is going to Hell. I'm kidding, but seriously, there's nothing. Why? I'll tell you.
We had seen signs for some "Reformed Presbyterian" church. Now, I figured any reformation based church was a good start, and I knew that the Presbyterian church is relatively similar to the Christian Reformed Church. Fortunately, I did some research on this here church thingy. Little did I know, "Reformed Presbyterian" is actually it's own denomination. I found their website and was going through their beliefs and positions and such and thinking to myself, "Self, this sounds pretty sound," when suddenly I came across the deal breaker: the music. Now, I'm not talking about praise music versus hymns. I'm talking about a church that only sings from the Psalms and doesn't use instruments. I told Anna that there is no way I can trust a church that can commit the intellectual suicide necessary to make this claim. Never mind that the composer of most of the Psalms was famously a harpist, but the New Testament specifically calls for the singing of Psalms (yes, Psalms), hymns, and spiritual songs. That sound suspiciously like more than just Psalms. Yeah, I couldn't do that.
So after I eliminated the Reformed Presbyterians, I started looking into the various Presbyterian churches. It turns out that only the liberal kind inhabit southern Indiana. I can't handle that either.
I checked out the Lutheran churches. They are all way too liberal.
Apparently the only churches around here that aren't too liberal are Arminian. I don't want to do that either.
Anna's father was asked to consider taking over a small church he actually used to pastor when Anna was little. I guess he's seriously thinking about it. Personally, I kind of hope he does take it because that makes the church decision easy for us. Is that bad? I disagree with him theologically, but he's Anna's dad. Problem solved, right?
I think the litter box is jammed again. I guess I should fix it before Howie drops a load of rebellion on our futon.
Goodnight, dear readers. Goodnight.

Weeeewooweeewooo

I can move a little better today. The back still hurts, but I haven't gotten stuck or anything.
We have a bread machine. With this bread machine, we make bread. We used this bread machine to make bread to bring to Anna's parents today.
Before we went to see Anna's parents with our bread machine baked bread, I went to Lowes to find some glue for Anna's father. I don't know what he's gluing. Whatever it is requires at least a gallons worth of "contact cement."
I took one of those facebook application quiz type things today. This one claimed to be a Myers-Briggs personality test. According to this here quiz thing, I'm ISTP. That just doesn't sound right to me, specifically when it tells me that I'm tolerant and flexible. I'm about as tolerant and flexible as Hitler.
When we came back from the in-laws tonight, there was an ambulance sitting in the parking lot. Naturally, I start wondering if someone died. Apparently no one died. I guess Alice just had a really bad headache. I have a hard time imaging calling 911 because of a headache. It must have been terrible.
I'm watching Bartholomew County, Indiana play some team from Kentucky in the Little League World Series. It's kind of cool that these kids get to be on national television.
I miss playing baseball.
I miss wrestling.
I miss having a healthy back.
Anna's mom donated some hydrocodone to the cause. The idea I suppose is that I take some tomorrow so that I can make it through church. Sounds bad, doesn't it? I have to take drugs in order to sit through church.
I won't take them unless I absolutely have to.
It's kind of warm in here.
One of the bathroom lights is going bad. I'm going to have to call the electrician. It seems weird to me that I have to call an electrician just to make a bathroom light work.
Bartholomew County is getting destroyed. It's sad watching little kids get embarrassed on national tv.
I'm doing laundry. It should be ready for me to switch it to the dryer. Yay.

Pain

I am in so much pain. I ended up only sitting on the office for an hour. My back hasn't hurt this bad since last Fall, when I had to take vicodin to get through square dancing class.
Pity me. And by pity of course I mean send me a million dollars.
The nice thing about this job is that I'm in charge, and if I say I can't be in the office then that's ok. That came in handy today.
I need to find something to eat.
You know what's strange? When I hurt my back like this I can never stand up straight or walk normal unless I first drive our Explorer around. If I drive the Explorer, I can walk normally until I sit down in any other chair than the driver's seat of that car.
Anna just asked me for my pizza dough recipe. Apparently one of her friends is trying to make homemade pizza. I hope my recipe works ok for her. It's so approximate. It's not even fancy either. I hope I don't ruin her pizza.
Speaking of food, I'm hungry. I'm in the mood to grill something except of course for the fact that that would require moving.
We got this handheld fabric sweepy thingy designed for picking up pet hair, and it works pretty well. According to the manufacturer though, it's supposed to be disposable. You use it until it's fully then throw it away. Anna, being the economical awesomeness that she is, just figured out how to pop out the bottom of this thing and empty it herself. A glance into my wastebasket tells me she did that recently. It's actually rather amazing how, in just a matter of weeks, two cats can shed enough fur to produce a third cat.
Ok, I'm going to stop blogging. I need to find a different position for my back.
Dark blue.

anna.

since this is just geoffrey's blog, i won't be writing anymore.

just kidding. :)

Light Blue

You know that achey breaky back from yesterday? Yeah? It's worse. I was going insane in the office today. I could not get comfortable, and my back just kept hurting more and more. I sure hope it feels a little better tomorrow, or I might just go insane in the office.
Chief decided to eat some corn on the cob today. Now there's shredded corn husk all over our apartment. I swear that cat will eat anything as long as he sees a person eat it first.
I'm so thankful I got this computer chair last year. It helps my back a lot.
I took a long nap today. I didn't know what else to do. I could barely move.
I might go read some. Why? Because I like to read, and lying in bed eases the pressure on my back.
Are you sensing a theme yet?
I'm trying to listen to a bunch of music I haven't listened to in awhile. I've been so occupied with the new music that came out in the past few months that in some ways I'd forgotten all the good music I already had. At the moment, I'm listening to Oh, Sleeper "When I am God." It's a pretty good album. They actually have a new album coming out in a week and a half. I guess that means I'll have another thing to monopolize my time.
I just heard what sounded like the end of the world coming from our bathroom. I went to go check and apparently Anna just knocked down a bottle while she was taking her shower. At least she's not dead or anything.
I'd be sad if Anna died. That would put a damper on my life.
Stay alive faithful readers. If you died, who would read my blog?

Achey Breaky Back

I'm currently making use of the shiatsu massage thinger my mother-in-law got me a couple Christmasi ago. I'm so grateful for this thing. My back has been so sore the last couple of days.
I fixed chicken fried steak for Anna's parents tonight. It tasted ok. Though it wasn't the prettiest meal ever.
After dinner, Anna's father and I went out to their pond to do a little fishing. We each caught a couple blue gills. Hank kept ruining it by diving into the pond after our lures and then coming out and getting us all muddy.
The exterminator came today. He comes once a month to spray each of the units to prevent any sort of bug problems. I heard some horror stories about roaches in one of the apartmens. I'm guessing that's why the exterminator now comes so often.
I had a lady come into the office last Monday to tell me that she was moving out. The problem was that she intended to be out of there by Wednesday. Well, it's not really a problem for me. It just kind of took me by surprise. Not giving me a months notice mostly just means she has to pay all of her August rent and forfeit her deposit.
Her departure does mean that I have to turn the apartment (i.e. paint, clean, probably replace the carpet...etc). This will be the first time I have to do this. I guess we'll see what it entails.
I'm listening to "Awake?" at the moment. Zao did not disappoint at all this time. No sirree Bob (Is that even how that saying goes? Am I just making stuff up?).
This massager feels so good right now.
On top of receiving an automated back-massage, listening to incredible music, and blogging, I'm also following the Rockies' game on ESPN's online gamecast thing-a-ma-jigger. Oh, I'm also surfing the internet and cruising Facebook. Isn't the modern world fun?
I like pineapple.
I also like root beer.
I prefer Barq's (it has bite).
Not only does ESPN's gamecast keep me updated on the progress of the game but it also gives odds of victory on a pitch by pitch basis. As of the middle of the sixth inning, the Rockies have a 90% chance of victory.
Anna and I started watching Breaking Bad the other night. It's pretty good.
Mostly, I just can't wait for Dexter to return.
My back really feels like it should pop, but it just won't. It's so stiff.
Sometimes when I want to listen to music I look at my music library and am stumped. I just have so much good music that it seems impossible to decide what I should listen to.
There are a bunch of circular mirrors on the wall.
I developed a liking for AriZona brand pomegranate green tea, only to discover that Wal-Mart no longer sells it. I'm sad.
Ok, my back is driving me crazy. I need to go lie flat.
Goodnight my hoes.

Headachey Breakey Heart (Or something like that)

As you may have guessed, my head hurts. My heart on the other hand seems to be holding in there. Let's hope that continues.
I'm glad you like this blog Sara. It's natural that you should. We are of course the coolest people you know. You should start your own.
I"m actually wearing clothes right now. It's kind of unusual, and it's not even a special occasion.
I'm currently blogging.
I'm too lazy to undo my shorts to see what underwear I'm wearing. You'll just have to guess.
I'm thirsty.
I need to go to Wal-Mart, and perhaps if I do I can remedy my thirst problem.
Anna stepped on Chief earlier. Don't worry it was on accident. But it was funny. He went squalling around the apartment. I chortled.
The tub drain is getting clogged. This is one of the reasons I need to go to Wallyworld.
I used the bathroom earlier so I don't have to right now.
I just sneezed. Though, I don't actually remember the last time I really sneezed. Mostly I just say "Ah-choo" and bend over really hard. Sometimes my back pops.
Chief is currently molesting me. He likes to climb all over my chair while I am on the computer and paw at my hands. It's distracting.
Like I said, I'm thirsty. I think I'm going to go fix that right now.

Anna.

I don't have any concerts or music to talk about, but I do have a headache that's been driving me crazy for the past few days. I could talk about that for a while. :) But I won't. I just stepped on Chief's tail or foot or... some other body part and he let out the craziest squeal I've ever heard. And now I feel really bad. Now he's sitting here staring at me and I think he just might attack.

I'm about halfway through all of the substituting paperwork. You wouldn't believe how much there is! Still have to do some observations, take a drug test, get a background check done, get a couple recommendations, etc. I'm not sure who to ask for recommendations, really, but it'll be alright. I'm kind of getting scared about this whole thing. Nothing will be the same from day to day. In some ways, that will actually be nice. No lesson planning, etc. No real responsibilities that stick with you from day to day. If I had a bad class of kids, I won't have to see them again (ha!). But on the other hand, I won't get to know any kids. Ever. And that's part of the reason I want to teach. And on the monetary side of things, I really won't be making a whole lot. So this whole "saving up for another car" thing will be taking quite a while. And then there's the whole 5 years of a college education thing. I do sort of feel like I've just wasted 5 years of my life. But... Whatever. Hopefully I'll have everything checked out and checked off by the end of this month and be subbing in September!

I'm actually watching Star Wars and I have to say... I just don't get it. I'm not sure why it was ever so popular let alone why it's still popular. Maybe it's just me. I actually went and saw Star Trek earlier this summer and I didn't think it was very good, either. Maybe I'm just not into this StarWhatever stuff. It's all kind of the same thing to me, anyway.

Ok, this headache is officially getting the best of me. Excedrin time.

Old People

I was asked by George's cleaning lady/nurse to make sure he didn't leave before his other nurses showed up today because he needs a bath so bad. Yeah, it's gross. It's also sad.
Comcast showed up today to disconnect George's cable because he didn't want to pay it anymore. They had to come to my apartment to get my help in recovering their cable box because George denied having it. It wasn't much trouble, but it's just astounding how gross it is walking into that apartment. I'm surprised I don't already have lung cancer.
So much good music came out this summer. This maybe have been the greatest musical summer of my life. Zao's "Awake?" is awesome, mewithoutYou's "It's all crazy! It's all false! It's all a dream! It's alright" is very nice, Maylene & the Sons of Disaster's "III" is superb, Neon Horse's "Haunted Horse: Songs of Love, Defiance & Delusion" is excellent, August Burns Red's "Constellations" is pretty decent, and naturally Project 86's "Picket Fence Cartel" is stellar. What more can be said? God loves me.
Sadly though, it looks as though I'm done with concerts for the summer. Boo. Maybe, just maybe, somebody (Project 86 again? Zao against all odds?) will head this way this fall.
Earlier this summer, Anna and I picked up a couple writing prompt books at Half-Priced. It's amazing how much easier it is to get started when you have a prompt. I think Anna and I might start doing it together and comparing our results. Want to join?
I had some left over pizza for dinner. I'm still hungry.
Who voted for this Obama guy? Seriously, what were you thinking?
Anna's snuggling with her kitties.
I'm blogging.
I'm also wearing camouflage Tasmanian Devil boxers.

Surrender to the Sound

We went to church this morning. Anna's dad preached. They anointed someone.
I'm wearing "Euro Style" brief thingies in a turqoisey bluey huey.
Anna and I just ate some pizza, and then she did the dishes while I cleaned out the refrigerator.
I just found out that Maylene & the Sons of Disaster are dropping off of their tour with Emery before they get to Franklin, Indiana. I'm depressed.
My contacts feel kind of dry.
Anna has managed to teach Chief to beg like a dog. It's not like this was much of a trick. Mostly she just started giving Chief food every time we were eating. So now whenever we eat he comes to the table and whines really loudly until she gives him something.
The Rockies won today. But they lost yesterday. I believe that combined with the Giant's loss today, those two teams are again tied for the NL wild card lead. It's nice to have a competitive team.
The Broncos won't be competitive. They should fire McDaniels right now.
Have merely seen previews for the movies "Transformers II" and "G.I. Joe" I have decided that a simple test to determine whether or not you should be permitted to procreate would be this: did you or did you not enjoy said movies?
I got Anna some new headphones the other day because Chief chewed through the cord on her good ones. I tried them out. They sound nice, but I still prefer these headphones I got in the Calvin bookstore five or so years ago.
Project 86 is currently blasting through said headphones.
"Somehow I lost my way and now it's clear to me. All that I fought so hard to keep is all I had to leave."
We ate lunch with Anna's parents. Her mom fixed a tater-tot casserole. It had lots of veggies. She knows I hate veggies, so she said that I could pick them out. I did.
Go pick up a copy of "Picket Fence Cartel" by Project 86. You will be glad you did (unless of course you have horrible taste in music).
"How will we open the eyes of the dead when we are hollow? And all along here, I was told by fallen men in their charade that we could find a hope inside the safety of this empty place."
There's a mug on my desk. It's dirty. I think I had some OJ in it earlier. Maybe I should wash this mug.
The other day, Anna and I went to the mall with her sister. Anna got some new nose studs. She doesn't wear them very much though because they make her parents sad. This makes me sad because she looks super sexy with a nose stud in.
She'll probably punch me for saying that she looks sexy. My shoulders are still sore from her punching me for calling her cute earlier.
The Bills and the Titans are playing the Hall of Fame game right now. Both are wearing throwback jerseys. The Bills have the standing buffalo, and the Titans are actually wearing old Oilers jerseys. I have to say that the Bills owuld be so much cooler if they went back to the old standing buffalo. Heck, I think the Broncos should go back to the big D with the rearing snorting bronco and the orange jerseys. But maybe they should wait until after McDaniels is fired. I don't want the return of the orange awesomeness ruined by that douche.
Let me conclude with the closing of "Picket Fence Cartel"
"Who do I belong to?
Not Earth
Not World
Not Evil
Not mortals
Not wretches
Not horrors

Who do I belong to?
Unchanging
Unbreaking
Unfailing
Creator
Immortal
Eternal"

Best Wife Ever

I should mention this, though Anna already referenced it in her last post. Last week I was checking out the Rockies' scores and it occurred to me that they were playing in Cincinnati. I mentioned this to Anna, and instantly, she told me that we should go. So this past Saturday Anna and I drove to Cincinnati to watch the Rockies destroy the Reds. It was a great time. We timed it perfectly too. We reached our sits six minutes before the first pitch. We had a good view considering our tickets were only seven dollars. Great American Ballpark is a nice place, and Anna really enjoyed being able to look out onto the Ohio river during the game. And like I said, the Rockies dominated. Thus, when it came time to leave, most of the Cincinnati fans had already left. This made it super easy to leave without there being a huge rush of people. All in all, it was an awesome time.

More Headbanging Madness and Unrelated Stuff Too

I promised an update on happenings around the apartment complex. Well, here you go.
Upon returning from the trip to South Carolina, I was informed by a couple of the residents that two of George's "floozies" had forced their way into Janet's apartment and demanded she watch their dog. I guess while they were there, Janet snuck out the back to Sara's apartment for help. When they came back and told the women to leave, the floozies threatened to set their dog on Sara's dog. A couple of days later I was also informed that one of these ladies had been wandering around outside in only a shirt. I talked to George about it, and of course he denied everything. I told the residents though, that they have every right to call the police on these ladies.
The other day I got a call from a lady who started the conversation with: "Is it or is it not correct that this is an elderly only apartment? And if so, why are there children and grandchildren of tenants living with them?" Yeah, I knew this was going to be trouble from the start. I tried to ask the lady who she was, but she refused to tell me. What she did do was yell at me for fifteen minutes about how it's not fair that Pat and Alice have their kids and grandkids living with them, and of course, she wanted to know why I wasn't doing anything about it. I tried to tell her that all I could do was tell these residents that their family wasn't allowed to live with them, but all they would have to do is tell me that they were sleeping elsewhere, which would leave me with no way to prove it one way or another. She would have none of this. She absolutely refused to accept that there was no real way to prove these people were "living" there. You tell me? How do you prove someone lives with someone else if you can't follow them around 24/7? This lady wouldn't let it go. She also tried to tell me that the building wasn't being cleaned and the bathroom disgusting. When I asked for specifics, she tried to blame me for the stains that residents had made on the hall and community room carpets. Apparently these are my fault. I tried to tell her that by being stains, by definition, they are hard to remove. They also aren't any real indicator of whether or not something is clean. Oh well. The best part was when she ended her tirade by saying "I'll pray for you" before she hung up. Good grief.
Ok, no more apartment stuff for now.
Monday was Anna's mother's birthday. I baked her a cake from scratch. It was kind of dry, but it tasted ok.
We went over to Anna's parent's house to celebrate her birthday. I was going to grill some chicken, and we'd have a nice time. But when we pulled into their driveway, we saw them dressed up and looking like they were about to leave. According to her dad, they had just received a frantic call from Anna's grandmother saying she had everything ready and wondering where we all were. Ugh. We had planned on having dinner with her on Tuesday to appease her evil little shriveled soul, but I guess she got Tuesday mixed up with Monday. So poor Anna's mother ended up celebrating her birthday by eating dinner with her least favorite person in the world.
Speaking of birthdays, today is my mother's birthday. I called and wished her a happy fiftieth anniversary of being birthed. I also called my siblings to remind them that it was her birthday. My brother had no idea. My sister didn't answer the phone, so hopefully she gets my voicemail.
So last night I drove three hours to Evansville to see Project 86 headline a show. Yes, you heard right. Last night I went to my fourth Project 86 show of the summer. This time I was totally willing to drive the three hours because I knew they would play a full set. Yeah, it was awesome. Though I did forget that Evansville is on central time. So I arrived an hour early. It's a good thing I drove that far though because there was hardly anybody there. It took me forever to find the venue too. The place is called "Boney June's" and is located on a little side street full of restaurants and banks and all that normal suburban shopping area stuff. The problem was, there wasn't a sign for the place, and I could not see an address on any of the buildings for the life of me. Fortunately, the street itself was relatively short, so I just started circling all the buildings on the street looking for the place. I finally found it by spotting Project 86's van. The venue itself didn't even have a sign. It just had the named written really small on the front door. It took me by surprise to say the least. But there it was, smashed between a Quizno's and a tanning salon. There were maybe fifty people at the show, and I think half of those were friends of the local openers. It was kind of depressing in that sense. I was up against the barrier at the very center of the stage, and I didn't have a single person touching me. Yeah, that's how uncrowded the place was. I saw all the band members before the show and by this point they all recognized me on site. They ended up playing thirteen songs, including several new ones off the new album. I screamed myself raw. It was a good set. It seemed to go by so quickly, but I know they played for over an hour. They played all the songs they had played on the Scream the Prayer tour, and they added in some others to go along with the several new ones from "Picket Fence Cartel." I was especially pleased to hear "Illuminate" and "Evil (a chorus of resistance)" live, since I hadn't ever heard those live before. During the show, a guy made a comment that this was the best birthday present ever. So Andrew verified that it was indeed his birthday and asked him if he knew the songs to "The Spy Hunter." Thankfully, the guy was honest and said he had just started listening to Project. So Andrew concluded the show by having the crowd surround this guy during the playing of "The Spy Hunter" and scream the lyrics right into his face. It was kind of fun. I think he may have actually enjoyed it too.
The end of the show meant having to drive back. There was so much construction on the way back and with the time change, I didn't get home until nearly 4 a.m.
Next up for me is Maylene and the Sons of Disaster next week. That'll be a blast.
Ok, I'm done typing. My wrists hurt.
Blue boxers.

Anna.

We got this great big tank. Had it set up for a while. We put a couple fishies in there to make sure it wouldn't kill our fishies that we've had forever. Checked out OK. What happens when we put Fernie and Con in there? Fernie just stays in one spot. He won't swim. Except when he swims hard enough into something that makes a big gash in his head. And Con hides all the time. It's kinda sad.

So yesterday Hehoff and I went to Cincinnati to go to a Reds/Rockies game. It was kinda fun. The stadium is really cool. It overlooks the Ohio River. And the Rockies won, so that was pretty cool. And I discovered there's an aquarium in Newport, KY (which might as well still be Cinci), so I have a fun day all planned for us. First we'll go to the Cincinnati Zoo, and then we'll go to the Newport Aquarium! Yay. I guess we could go to the Creation Museum, too. But not in the same day. Because I like to take my time to look at things. I don't know how I feel about the museum, but I'm definitely curious. Their slogan is "prepare to believe." ( http://creationmuseum.org/ ) They DO have a petting zoo, though... :) "There you can feed a zonkey (zebra/donkey), a zorse (zebra/horse), a camel, wallabies, and other intriguing animals." Whhhaaaattt? Zonkeys, zorses, camels, and wallabies?!?! How can you go wrong? I think it would be worth it just for that! I'm SUCH a dork.

Alright, lunch with the parents. Over and Out.