Wow...haven't blogged in a while! Well, I guess because nothing as happened. While the Cubs were off Monday, they won Tuesday and lost Wednesday. They picked up Doug Glanville, another former Cub, shortly after ditching Jose Hernandez. Let's hope Doug doesn't strike out too often.

Last night we went to Epcot briefly to pick up a pillbox for Court from China. She has to take some medicine for her back and doesn't like carrying around all of them in her purse. Weather was nice. Got in about 2 hours before park closing. Pretty big crowd, most of them staking out spaces for the fireworks show at park closing.

Tonight we'll go see Tomb Raider 2...if we get stuck with second row seats (like LXG) I will absolutely go postal. No doubt about it.

Wedding stuff is going good I guess. We are at 220-some at last count. Plus, I know of 2 more because my Dad hasn't sent his RSVP in yet. Also, haven't gotten an answer from Dan (my boss) yet. Not sure if he's coming or not. He's got 3 little kids, so unless he can kind a good sitter I'd say no. We guaranteed Fountain Blue 250 so we will probably be short. I told Court, better 220 than 320, mostly for $ reasons. Paying Fountain Blue will come within about $1500-$2000 of cleaning my bank account out. No big deal though, since I've always known that would happen. It'll be nice to see it all come together. I hope everyone has a good time.

Though I forgot below, I want to give props to 'ole Betsy, my beloved Contour, who came through in a clutch on Saturday and saved the day!

For those of you who thought my car was 'old n busted' and would be the more likely to die rather than Court's, I say poop on you.

I missing updated yesterday during the day, so let me give you a rundown of what happened on Saturday.

Actually, story starts Friday. On our way home from being out and about, it was raining. The battery light in Court's car came on. She said it's happened before and nothing has been wrong. Also, Thursday, while the car was being repaired for catalytic convertor work, they did a check on the batt and it was fine. So we dismissed it.

Cut to Saturday...Court's on her way to work, I'm still sleeping. She calls me on the nextel, saying her instrument panel has given out. She has LCD spedometer and other gauges, so when it goes it's just OFF. She made it to the Gaylord (where she was working) and I said I'd get ready and get out there to swap cars so she wouldn't have to drive her car (with no gauges) and I'd just take it straight home. Well, I go there and drop my car off and take her car home. Well...I was *trying* to get home, and then...

The radio gave out. To me, that's a sign that the car's electrical system/battery is ready to plunk it. The car then began to have some other problems...it wouldn't change into the next gear, so I was stuck going about 25mph on the street. I was able to coax it onto on onramp so I could at least get it on the shoulder of the highway, which was better than the street because there was no room. I went on the highway for about 2 minutes and then decided to try to get off and get it into some parking lot so Court could bring my car and jump it. It didn't make it that far. It died, totally, 100%, at the light at the end of the exit. Thankfully, there were 2 lanes going the direction I was blocking, so people eventually got the hint (after I waved a dozen people past in all) that I wasn't moving. The blinkers were on, but with no juice they were just about invisible. Eventually, Court called the dealership, which ok'd a tow truck applied against her warranty and they sent a truck out. Court then left work and met up with me where I was stranded.

In all, I'm glad it was me and not her. Unfortunately, I've had a *lot* of experience with this...with the blue beast and Dad's various vehicular problems. I've had cars die in the middle of the highway in the middle of rushhour...die in huge snowstorms...die and have to be restarted on the fly while shifted to neutral. And that's not even mentioning some of Dad's car things. I'm long passed being embarassed about it as people pass me. To their credit, Floridians are nice people, as about a half-dozen people asked me if I needed help and seemed eager to do so. I'm just glad it was a Saturday with the light traffic and less hustle and bustle. Had it been a weekday I doubt people would have been so nice. Also, it was hotter than hell. It's about 98 today, and it was probably around there on Saturday. And with no air I was DYING. Good thing Court left work and met up with me in my car. Tow truck driver was a nice guy...it sucks that he had to come out on a weekend but I tipped him $10 on top of whatever he normally makes. So that was my adventure.

So Court has my car today, her late day, which means she'll be home at 11pm. Normally I'd get Little Caesar's $5 large pizza and $1.99 two crazy bread, but I have no car. Luckily, Court's car will be done tomorrow and she's going to Amy's after work to help with our FL shower favors for the shower we're getting down here this weekend. I helped out with enough favors in all, so I'm opting out. At least I'll get my Caesar's tomorrow. Bwong!

We did a ton of running around yesterday. Court had to go shopping for a few things so we went to the outlet mall, the regular mall, and Target. We went big food shopping at Target...I swear, we can't leave that place without spending $100. I miss Jewel, I have to say.

At Target, there was a big fat woman harassing the pharmacist because allegedly he didn't let her '9-months pregnant' daughter have the key to the bathroom in the pharmacy, which the pharmacist said he didn't have anyway. I guess there's been something wrong with the door for like 3 days and they can't even use it themselves. Best part was, the lady started off her rant with 'I'm in here spending 300 dollars and you refuse to let my daughter' blaa blaa blaa...thing was, about 70 feet away is the front of the store, with the regular people restrooms and all that. My impression: go to the other bathrooom, lady. Court's impression: 9-months pregnant women shouldn't be going to Target anyways. But the phrase of the day was said by a random passer-by who heard the rant...'Jeez lady, go get yourself a can and piss in that'. I'm not sure if she heard that, but I did, and it was funny as hell.

While Court was getting her perscription the pharmacist told her some other info about her medicine...as we were leaving, I said 'oops, we forgot to ask him for the key to the bathroom' and that got a laugh out of the clerk. :)

We went to Chili's for dinner tonight. Ended up being out so late that when we got home Court was ready for bed anyways. (read: 10pm) I'll have to save 'Monk' and 'Stargate SG-1' for tomorrow to watch I guess. I'm about ready to start reading, and then bed. She works tomorrow so I'll do some outside lawn work on our bushes and stuff in front and then maybe watch some DS9 DVDs or maybe some American Revolution stuff I Tivo'd off the History Channel on the 4th.

BTW, State Farm woman called today with her quote. Once Court & I are married my 6 month insurance will be somewhere around $538. Bonus...that's cheaper than it was at home. Still sucks that I got that school bus ticket though...what total BS that was! Snark!

It's past three and because fo work stuff I haven't even had time to take a shower today! Dang it. You know, people tease me about getting to work from home and being able to goof off...the truth is, on a normal Friday I'd probably be heading home/out by now. And there's on way I would have gotten into the office at 8am like I did today.

Wanted to see LXG tonight, but Court says Amy & Chris (FL) want to see that too, so we're going tomorrow night. Tonight we might see Lara Croft, which means we'll encounter the exact crowds that I wanted to avoid by wanting to go see an 'older' movie tonight. Why wouldn't they go see LXG tonight? Oh, who knows. blarg

We had a nice dinner tonight. Pork chops baked in with some Campbell's meal-in-a-box stuff. Some kind of sauce and stuffing...it was very good. After running to the post office this afternoon to return some damaged crystal we had gotten I went to Panera and got some sour-dough rolls for dinner. It was very good. After, we watch 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding'. Kinda funny, kinda appropriate somewhat. I think my family is like the guy's family, while Court's is kinda like the girl's family, but not quite that bad. :)

I beat EF2 tonight. It's an awesome game. I guess the multi-player (internet gaming) isn't as good as EF1, but I don't really have the time/inclination to stay up until 4am playing against some online guys in Germany. Too much other stuff to do, I guess. I get about 1-2 hours of gaming in a day, usually in the time between when Court falls asleep and I feel tired enough to start reading. I'm installing 'Enter the Matrix' now, which I got a while ago but never found time to play. Then, it'll be 'Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb' or 'Bridge Commander'. Most like BC, so I can see if anybody on the Raven boards wants to take me on in my retro Bird of Prey.

Cubs lost tonight...Lofton and Ramirez went 0 for 4, and Ramirez missing a grounder at third that *I* could have snagged up...and I was a catcher/outfielder by trade. Oh well. Let's hope they win the next two to win the series with Philly.

Just heard the Cubs traded for Kenny Kenny Kenny Kenny Kenny Lofton and Aramis Ramirez! They had to move Jose Hernandez (who sucks), some money, and a prospect! Aramis WILL BE the solution at THIRD! And Kenny Kenny Kenny Kenny Kenny can play center and steal bases, so he'll be a good replacement for the injured Patterson! What great news! Too bad the Cubs lost tonight though. :(

Still, I can't WAIT to see the new lineup!

We watched Star Wars tonight...Court's choice, strangely enough. She's a fan, so that's cool. VHS tapes though...sucks...can't wait for the orig trilogy on DVD.

Frozen Boston Market Turkey Pot Pie for dinner. I've never had a pot pie made of anything before. It was good. Nuff said on that.

p.s.---Boots is fine from his Road Hotel ordeal. No ill effects. He was actually acting nice to me today. Probably because we went to Target for some stuff and got him so new treats. We got 3 different kinds, and when they all didn't fit in the normal container I just put the excess in his bowl. I miss my Bay-Bay.

This morning I awoke to find one of the roach traps (which I put out yesterday) on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. It had a hole in it. Next to it was some cat puke. Boots must have gotten a hold of one somehow and gotten a taste of it that made him glark up his breakfast.

Oh well. The cat is fine. That is all.

Went with Court to her doctor's appointment today. She got a prescription for some painkiller for days her back is bad. The doc said that the MRI of her back looks like that of someone much older than her. Basically, he said she's too young for the kind of surgery it'd take, but 10 years down the road it'll have to happen. I just hope it doesn't get any worse. :(

Cubs won tonight, after Mr. D called to raz me about Prior going on the DL. It's 15 day, retro from his last start, so he'll miss a start. The Cubs called up some nobody to take his space for the start. Hopefully, it's a good kind of 'nobody' meaning that teams won't have a script for him so they won't know what they're seeing until it's too late. We'll see what happens.

Dinner at Ale House tonight, after we decided to forget the idea of having yesterday's OG leftovers. After the doc we weren't in the mood for re-heated yesterday food. In fact, I'm never in the mood for that. AH was ok...I can do without going there for a while...and it's enough like Hooters where I can forget that for a while too.

Our trash bungee cord was stolen ...

WHOA...just saw a huge roach on the wall. Ran downstairs, got the RAID, and BLASTED it! El-gone-o! Sucked it up with the vacuum. Good thing Court didn't see that. She can't handle bugs. Funny, we just put roach motels in the crevices and bowels of the house tonight too. Reminds me of my days at ACE where if I saw a bug I'd run to lawn & garden, get some spray, and blast it out of existence.

Anyway...back to the bungee cord. So, the dang bungee cord I use to close up the trash can each night was stolen by some bastard. This morning I noticed it was gone when I picked up the trash can from the street, and I figured the trash guys just threw it in with the trash. I happened to mention that to Court and she said that when she left this morning she had to move to lid, cord, and trashcan out of the way of her car. So the trash guys didn't take it...some bastard in our neighborhood did. We live at the end of a cul-de-sac of sorts, so there are only about 4 families that could have even seen it to take it. And out of those, one is our new neighbors (extremely unlikely) and one is our semi-new neighbors (older couple, no chance whatsoever) so it's either 'late night raining stereo installer' people or 'people I don't even know and have rarely if ever seen'. I'll keep a lookout. It's a $2 cord, but after 'The Great Gas Grill Heist' in the backyard I'm taking no chances, especially with important things in the house, like my DVDs, Tivo, TV, and the cat. (in that order)

Well, I'm off to read and to bed. Later Skaters

Well, the hellbeast that rips up our garbage appeared again Saturday night. He must have strewn it ALL OVER. And that's with the bungee cord on...he must have gotten into the bowed-up areas on either side that happens when I put the bungee cord on. Anway, I was sleeping when Court found it and put everything back in the trash, but when I went to put the trash out last night I looked in the can and there was loose stuff all over the inside. I had to re-bag everything. I swear, if I ever see that thing doing it, I'll destroy it!!!! Thing is, it must have been after 7am Sunday morning, because around that time Boots was mewing like nuts at the front window. I looked outside and saw the trash can had been moved a bit but everything was fine. Then, 3 hours later it was all over the place. I think I'll sleep in the car and catch it in the act one night! I sprayed the trashcan down with RAID last night so it (hopefully) wouldn't be destroyed in the morning, and it wasn't.

Sight seen: gray and white maverick cat out in the back late last night. You can always tell when Boots spots another cat...he freezes up, hunkers down, and doesn't even run away when I'm petting him. It's either one of the two 'outside' cats in the neighborhood, or some kind of raccoon that's messing with our trash.

Got a *TON* of stuff done today. First we went through the crawl space and took most everything out. We headed to target to pick up some book cases and plastic storage containers...we got a small bookcase a 3 storage containers. We saw a big 5 shelf bookcase on sale for $25 but they didn't have the color we needed in stock. Picked up a raincheck for that one. When we got home we put together the bookcase and transferred the crawl space stuff from boxes into the storage containers. We ended up needing 2 more containers so I ran to pick them up. After we were done with that Court suggested we look at another target for the larger bookcase. They had the one we wanted and we came home and pieced it together. All my books from my boxes are out now, and they look great! There's a problem though...

Several of my hardcovers are missing. I must have left them in one of the tubs in my Mom's garage. That sucks, because they'll be heavy to ship. I thought I had accounted for every heavy tub but I must have missed one with some books in it. Oh well. I'll take care of that stuff in August.

We watched 'Batman - Mask of the Phantasm' during dinner. Court thought it was ok, which is as good as I could have hoped. She made tacos for dinner and they were great! Been a while since I had home-made tacos. (non-Taco Bell I should say)

later

Had a nice dinner tonight...I cooked up some 'meal in a box' type thing...ham and augraten (butchered that spelling) potatoes. It was could, but I could only eat so much of it. Court seemed to like it too. No leftovers since we threw the rest in the trash. It didn't seem like it'd 'keep' too good.

Went to Target and picked up some food and a small bookcase. If we like how it looks we'll get another one. That means my books will be properly displayed for the first time in a really long time. It's funny but it does mean a lot to me, as I'm proud of my books. Tomorrow is a big clean/put away stuff day. We've got a lot to do but a lot of time to do it in, which is nice.

CatWatch...came out from under the bed and horked on the floor. How nice! :( My solution (stop feeding him) did not pass the House by the required 2/3 margin.

We watched 'Atlantis' last night, which Amy C had not seen. I like it, though most do not. I have to say, the speakers sounded great. Nice to be able to hear them in an actual room of any real size. I'll be happier when the rear surrounds are actually *in* the rear though.

After a late night trip to Wal-mart (don't ask) we made some popcorn in the hot-air popper we got from our shower. Popcorn tasted good, though a little bland since you can't add anything to the popper...later we melted some butter in the microwave and put it on the popcorn...it didn't get on everything though, so some were bland and some were really buttery. Still, I liked how it came out. Maybe Target has some kind of butter topping or something? I'll have to see.

Weekend plans: Saturday, clean house, put away shower stuff, get some book shelves, empty my boxes into them. Sunday, Epcot with Melissa and John.

Cubs play the Marlins down here tonight. Tomorrow's game is a mid-afternoon one...I should see about tickets!

Was planning on making dinner, watching 'Batman - Mask of the Phantasm' with Court, and making some popcorn. I figured I'd intro her to animated Batman with 'Mask', as it's a nice entry point. Then, on to 'Sub-Zero' and maybe someday 'Return of the Joker'. Eagerly awaiting the 'Batman - Mystery of the Batwoman' DVD that comes out in August some time.

Anyway, plans have changed. Now we're ordering pizza and Amy Adams is coming over. Well, so much on cutting down on eating out. :)

We'll still watch a movie, just not 'Mask'...maybe 'Gangs of New York'? We'll see.

Bah ha ha! Project Bungee Cord is a success! Whatever the animal was that had been toppling our trash and strewing it on our lawn was unable to do that last night! Woo hoo!

Went to Buffett's last night, Rick Nowalany was in with his friend Paul (who we met at Joe's wedding in Columbus) and some other friends. Had a few drinks (though I hate margaritas---too sweet) and some good times. It was good to see him, as neither of us hasn't really spent any time with him in a while. They're staying in Daytona until some time this weekend and then driving back. Poor guys.

Is it pouring rain now? Yes.

Is that why the cat is under the bed? No.

Sight seen yesterday...across-the-way neighbor (presumeably) working on his car stereo. He does this a lot. 'cept this time, it was POURING rain. And I don't mean the typical FL rain that we get every few days (or just every day) I mean the whiz bang boom 'lights go out' rain. He had his passenger door open and was holding an umbrella while installing his door speakers or something. I guess he was just a man on a mission. Of course, the kid who also lives there was riding his razor scooter thing all through the parking lot during the rain as well. They must be from Atlantis or something. These people do this kind of thing at real weird hours too...creepies from Atlantis...right here on our street.

sidenote: Yesterday I did something you can only do in Florida (and California)...went to the Magic Kingdom for 5 minutes to pick up a few things, then left.

Surreal, isn't it? At least I got to ride the monorail and ferry boat from/to the TTC.

Well, for my inaugural post I was hoping to say something memorable, something important, something that will make the reader feel he has come away with something from this experience.

Then I thought...wait...why not just make this post as dull as all the ones that'll follow it will be? Heck, it's a lot less effort too, and I'm all about the lessening of the effort.

Today was a big day...after the normal work issues with the computer and the screen and the keyboard and all that rot, it came time for out favorite thing to do in our new household: The Weeknight Project! I'll have to relate the wonderous story of our first Weeknight Project...Project Computer Room Shelves. (which includes the tale of the not-missing wall stud)

Well, today's installment of Weeknight Project was Project Laundry Room Shelves...the wicked cousin of Project Computer Room Shelves. Today, we actually failed in not-missing the wall stud, which was good. But we hadn't bought a critical piece of hardware, which was bad. You know the things that connect the shelves to the wall? We forgot those. Whoops. That meant a trek to home depot (second this week) to buy the fasteners and some other odds and ends, including a bungee cord so The Racoon From Hell (or Cat) will be unable to do his twice-weekly 'throw our trash all over our lawn' mission.

Anyhoo, returning from the Home Depot with the fasteners and utilizing all my pen, drill, level, and standing on the washing machine skills Court and I were able to mount the fasteners to the wall. BUT THEN----We found out our shelf was 12" deep, instead of the 16" deep one we wanted. I know, I know, 4" is a big difference...should I have seen that? ANSWER: NO. Because this is a Weeknight Project, I am physically incapable of having it come off without a hitch. SOME PROBLEM MUST OCCUR! NO MATTER HOW BIG OR SMALL!

This meant another Trip to Home Depot (third this week) and the returning and purchasing of shelves and shelving material. Long story short (too late, har har) shelf is up and is now filled almost to the ceiling with shower stuff we probably will never use, like a crockpot, some kind of dustbuster on steroids, and an iron...which to me is useful as a Monopoly token but not as a household appliance.

Seriously...I am more likely to use a buggy whip to go nutso on my car than ever iron anything, ever. I just use the shower steam like every other hobo and homeless man.

With that, it's late, and this first post is in the can. Played EF2 for a few hours after Court went to sleep...now the contacts are-a dryin' up.

Later skaters