Paris in the Toilet

This cat story by Lance Arthur is the funniest thing I've read all week. Okay, so it's only Monday, but I laughed out loud.

Weekend update

On Friday, I spent the day with our friend Dan, who broke both arms in a bike accident last weekend. We even took his dogs to be groomed. Friday evening I worked on more unpacking and we watched some TV. I had brunch with friends on Saturday morning, and Steph and I went shopping. We got birthday present for Dan, some pants and shirts for Steph to wear to an upcoming wedding, and Crocs. I got red ones and Steph got olive green ones. We wore them to dinner for Dan's birthday (in the Pope Room at Buca di Beppo). Today I took the recycling to the recycling center and we got a load of stuff from my house.

Interesting gadget

This at-home soda maker looks interesting. I wonder if it's healthier than diet Coke.

Happy birthday, Spike

Spike is four years old today! Happy birthday, little man!

This is the photo I wanted to post in this spot, but it keeps timing out.

Weekend update

Steph wasn't feeling well Friday night after work, so we stayed home and watched TV. On Saturday, my dad came down and helped me and Joe refinish the dining room floor at my old house. It went better than the refinishing of the living room floor did three years ago, and it looks really nice. Then I went to a Turkish restaurant (The Bosphorus) with friends for a birthday dinner, and afterwards we went to Elizabeth's for games and cake. The restaurant was great -- I highly recommend it. Today I mowed the lawn while Steph worked on turning over the dirt in the flower beds on the side of the house. In the afternoon we went to see the movie An Inconvenient Truth, which was amazing. You really have to see it. I mean it. We went to Border's afterwards to buy the book. The movie recommends a Web site with ways to learn more and take action.

Birthday alligator

Yes, it's my birthday. I'm 34 today. So far, I'm enjoying being 34, but I might have to give it a day or two to see if I really like it. :-)

I share my birthday with--among others--Napoleon Bonaparte, Sir Walter Scott, Julia Child, and Ben Affleck. Ben and I were both born in 1972. I don't think I own any Ben Affleck movies, so I won't be watching any in his honor today.

I've been told that the birthday alligator will come to visit tonight and bring me presents!

Flickr photo badge

Steph helped me place a Flickr photo badge on my blog. I uploaded 17 photos tonight that I took with my new camera (Steph's old camera). (Actually, my cow-orker Alan took two of them.) Anyway, I'm planning to take more pictures than I used to now that I have a better camera and an easy way to upload them.

Here's a really frightening picture of the hot dogs my cow-orker Patrick grilled at work the other week:

Odd article

This came up in the rotating links at the top of the page in Gmail: Charity wants people to lend a hand... (Note: Not safe for work.)

Me?! Nope, not going.

Things to do to the house

I made a preliminary list of things to do to the house.

Have survey done
Get fence around back yard for Spike
New kitchen lights (and rewire switch so they work correctly)
New electrical outlets: porch, bedroom
Have electrical outlets grounded
Get new grill cover so we can move grill to deck
Get china cabinet for dining room (after fence so we can move bar out to deck)
Buy dehumidifier for basement
Paint rest of laundry room
Paint bedroom
Paint downstairs bath
Paint upstairs bath
Paint deck
Paint hallway/piano room
Paint kitchen
New drywall in kitchen ceiling
Foundation repair in NE corner
Get rid of carpenter bees
Have year-long radon test done
Replace upstairs bath floor covering
Replace laundry room floor covering
Replace shower with claw foot tub in downstairs bathroom
Get upstairs bathroom cabinet to hold towels and stuff
Replace upstairs bathroom lights
Replace downstairs bathroom lights
Add fan to upstairs bathroom
Build three-car garage with carriage house
Get shelf brackets for shelf in piano room closet
Paint exterior/fix siding
Replace brick sidewalk

Salmon wraps

Earlier this week, I made salmon wraps for dinner. I was trying to copy the salmon wrap Steph had at a restaurant a few weeks ago, and although it was different, we both liked it.

I cooked some salmon in a saute pan with tequila lime marinade and a little oil. Also in the tortillas were brown rice, dill, light cream cheese, chives, chopped green onions, and bean sprouts. Try it yourself -- it makes a nice summertime dinner.

Mid-weekend

Tired. Last night after work Steph and I went out to eat and then went by Dan's house and convinced him to go with us to the Team Indiana after-Games party at Talbott Street (it didn't take much convincing). We had a good time, and the Team Indiana athletes got to go up on stage at one point to introduce ourselves.

Today we worked on putting stuff away at home and then I went to Linens and Things and got a cloth shower curtain liner and a new curved shower bar. Then we went to dinner with a friend and hung out with her for a few hours and I learned how to take care of her cats, as she'll be out of town in a couple of weeks. She showed us a really good Greek restaurant in Fountain Square. Now Steph's reading about how to make a waste veggie oil processing tank for a Mercedes. I'm blogging. Lucy is hissing at someone -- not sure who.

Time for bed. Tomorrow David and Garrett are helping us move the rest of the shelves from my house, plus as much other stuff as we can get packed.

Gay Games report

I may have posted some of these details before, but here's the message that I sent to the skaters' list I'm on:

I had the most amazing time competing at the Gay Games last week. It was wonderful to meet Sara and Debbie, as well as many other skaters, and also Jim, who volunteered. It was also great to see Cinderella and Erica. All of the skating was incredible to watch. I’ve already started asking my coach how to do some of the neat things I saw, like a lunge into a sit spin.

Several skaters did programs in memory of friends, family members, and partners. I don’t know how they do it -- I would be in tears trying to skate such a moving tribute.

I had to skate against the book in both of my events, as the other skater in my group didn’t show up. My freestyle program went well, although I didn’t land my loop. I did land it in the warmup for my showcase event, but not in my showcase program. (I’ve been saying for four years that my goal was to land a loop at the Gay Games. Maybe I should have been more specific and specified that it should be during the competition!) Regardless, the one in the warmup felt good, and I’m happy with how I skated in both events. I was surprised to get two gold medals.

The ice show was a lot of fun. I chose to skate my spotlight program, which is to “Defying Gravity” from the musical Wicked. I hadn’t skated under a spotlight before, so that was a little disconcerting. I didn’t skate my program as well as I would have liked, but I still had a wonderful time.

I can’t wait for 2010 in Cologne!

Memo

To: Lucy

Mommy and Other Mommy take showers just about every day. Showers do involve water, but they are not painful. Neither are they frightening. In fact, we like them. We aren't flexible like you are, so we have to resort to other methods to clean ourselves. We understand that you fear for our lives every time we get in the shower, but we don't need you to warn us (at the top of your lungs for the entire duration of the shower) about the dangers inherent in water. We don't know why the shower suddenly started to scare you, but we are not afraid. Do not worry. We love you, and we will protect you should the shower attack you.

On the way home

We're heading out soon -- only a day later than expected. We didn't make it to Ikea on Thursday because of the traffic, so we decided to go yesterday instead.

I'll post more about the competition and ice show and all the people we met when I get home.

Press coverage

My friends Sara and Debbie have a picture from their pairs program featured on Yahoo News! I'll find other coverage when I have more reliable Internet access....

It's not easy bein' green

All of the spotlight and couples events were yesterday. I skated my spotlight program (also known as interpretive at USFS competitions), which is to the song "Defying Gravity" from the musical Wicked. I am Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and in the song she learns to fly (and I learn to jump). The costume consists of a black skating dress, black tights, black boot covers, a black cape, a witch's hat and broom, and green gloves and makeup.

My warmup went really well -- I landed my loop during it, and Steph saw it. I didn't land it during the program, but everything else went well. I skated against the book again, and I got another gold medal. Because of the green makeup, I didn't want to stay in costume until the awards ceremony, so I stood on the podium in my Team Indiana jacket and pants and my witch's hat, gloves, and broom.

Tonight is the ice show, and I get to choose which program to skate in it because I got gold medals for both. I'm currently planning to skate my Wicked program because so many boys came up to me and told me how much they liked the musical.

We'll be at Ikea until my 4 pm call.

Gold medal!

My freestyle event was this afternoon. I had asked to be allowed to compete against the boys instead of having to skate against the book (that's when you have no competitors, so they judge you against the test standards, and you don't necessarily get first place). They combined a couple of events so I'd be competing against one of the boys who was in my age group, but he didn't show up, so I had to skate against the book after all.

There were hundreds of spectators cheering everyone on. It was wonderful -- I don't think I've ever skated in front of such a large audience. Debbie put me on the ice, and I skated well. I didn't land my loop, but just about everything else felt good, and I even heard the audience clap for me a couple of times during my program. I didn't shake afterwards, either.

I placed first, which means that I get to skate in the ice show on Thursday night. My medal is gorgeous and very heavy. It's engraved on both sides, and I wore it all evening.

Tomorrow: showcase.

Very tired

I had two official practices today, one for freestyle and one for spotlight. My freestyle practice was at 7:30, so we got up before 5:00 so we could try to beat rush hour. It was so humid during my first practice that it was raining in the rink. However, I skated fairly well (considering that it was just after an hour and a half of driving). My loop showed up once, and my backspin attempts were better than usual. After my first practice, we went to Boystown to look around and stopped at Caribou Coffee for a cup of coffee and a muffin, and we walked over to Gay Mart, where Steph bought some cool body wash and I bought a Boystown T-shirt. We also bought a rainbow bracelet and a present for a friend. Then we checked out Unabridged Books and went back to the rink for my second practice. I had an okay practice -- it was really hot in the rink -- but my head started to hurt and I started crashing, so we went to Duck Walk, an excellent Thai restaurant, before we got on the road to go back to my dad's.

Tomorrow is my freestyle event! I'm still beading my dress.

Sunday at the Gay Games

Today was the skaters' meeting. It was nice to get everyone together and have a way to get some of our questions answered. I met Sara and Debbie from the adult skating e-mail list, and they're both really nice. After the meeting, we went back to the Hilton to see the booths at the expo hall and I tried on these bouncy shoe things that are used for low-impact exercise. (Steph has pictures of me bouncing around in them, but she can't get a wireless connection to upload them yet.) We ate at an Irish pub in the Hilton, and the service was really slow -- slow enough that we ran out of time seeing the rest of the expo hall, so I couldn't practice this afternoon.

My designated practices tomorrow are at 7:30 and 1:20. We're going to try to see some other sports in the meantime.

Opening ceremonies

Turns out we have wireless Internet at my dad's. Apparently one of his neighbors has an open network, so we can get online (although the signal strength is very low).

The opening ceremonies were amazing. I especially enjoyed all the different kinds of dance and the gay and lesbian marching band. It was incredibly hot, though, and they kept us in a big field for three hours while they lined us up to march into the stadium. According to Steph, we were the only team wearing long pants.

Two more figure skaters joined Team Indiana in the last few weeks, so I'm not the only one anymore! Today is the skaters' meeting, and tomorrow I have official practice ice. There's also some open ice this afternoon, so I might take my skates in case we decide to stick around for it.