Bluecoats Show, part 2

We had a successful trip to Charlotte to watch the Bluecoats. They did really well, better than last year. They placed second at this event scoring 91.05 (a good score, but even with an explanation of where the points come from, I really can't tell you what's good or not). The visit with Kelly was really good. she's matured so much in a year. Getting off to college and away from home has been so good for her. She cut her hair real short for the tour this summer and it looks really cute. We encouraged her to keep it that way, but she'll probably get a little more length to it since it is just below her ears right now. Pictures are forthcoming, but we're packing the crystal right now, so first things first.

Bluecoats show

We're off to Charlotte to watch Kelly perform with the Bluecoats. We have 180+ brownies, five watermelons and 10 pounds of peaches for them. Hope it's a little cooler up the road. I'll have pictures and maybe a bootleg video later.

Our new house!

Outside of the house. We couldn't get a picture the first night because of the rain, which turned out to be fortunate because someone cut the grass since then (kept me from photoshopping out the weeds...) We'll post inside pics soon.

Packing

First box is packed!

A home!

We signed a contract on a house last night and are so excited to be moving into our own home after being in rentals for the last eight years or so. We took the camera with us the other night, but it was raining so I couldn't get a picture of the front of the house. I'll try to get one tomorrow and post one.

Spades variation

Thursday at lunch, the four who work in our rehab department were playing Spades, three teaching the fourth how to play. I entered midway into the instructions, and they were talking about trump cards and listed them this way: Big Joker, Little Joker, 2D, AS, KS, QS, JS, 10S ... this variation was one I'd never seen, but obviously exists since all three knew it. I'd never seen Spades played this way, although I've seen the trumps done this way in another game (my OCD has taken over at this point as I'm searching my Official Rules of Card Games book for the specific game with no luck, and also found the Spades variation online just to frustrate me that someone would play it this way ... earning Jeni's nickname for me, OCDean.) Anyway, I don't know why I should let this befuddle me except that maybe I'm a purist with some things, and they all insisted "this is the way Spades is played ... I've never heard of not adding the jokers" like I'm the nutbag here. What bothers me, I guess is that there are 13 tricks to be won, so why would there be 16 trump cards? That devalues the face cards, adds too much strength to trump cards and essentially negates the other suits. OK, got that off my chest ... no wait ... WHY WHY WHY? OK, now I'm fine.

Superhero?

I think I've finally found a show that will get Jeni to watch the Sci Fi Channel ... Who Wants To Be A Superhero! Premiere's Thursday night. Watch for it.

A real electric car

Doug is partial to Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me, but my public radio choice is Marketplace (despite my distaste for most money issues, I enjoy their delivery and take on their stories). Listen to (or read) this piece on a new electric car -- faster than a Porche, equivalent to 135 miles per gallon -- this is the future of cars hopefully.

Comic strips

I have always been drawn to the funny pages -- the daily comic strips in the newspaper. As a kid, I would eat my cereal as I read the comics (usually getting a good number of newspaper ink smudges on the counter top, much to my Dad's displeasure). Now, I read my comics, still over a bowl of cereal, but in front of the computer instead. I've been able to discover rare gems like Dog Eat Doug and A Mission Deep and my latest find, the darkly twisted and equally sweet Lio. Without the internet, these would probably have been lost in the rough. (Of course, you can't miss my old favorites, Non Sequitur, Overboad and FoxTrot.) Hmm... I suddenly have an urge for some Froot Loops.

Long week

This has felt like the longest week. I can't believe it's just Thursday ... and the drama at work is just heating up. It seems when we get one source of drama settled down another just boils over. Too much to get into right now, but suffice it to say we could fire one person and probably resolve everything.

Test yourself

Try these fun tests:
Senses
States

I passed the states 48/48 but struggled with the senses one 8/20. I would have done better if I wasn't taking the test while seeing patients and I rushed with the timer. Excuses, I know, but come on ...

New lamp

Jeni was running errands with Barbara the other week to help her get ready for her wedding (oh, the wedding! That's another post ... a LONG one). They stopped in this cool store because they were having a good sale and Jeni saw some cool lamps. We went to lunch, ended up at the store, and bought one. (We almost bought this one instead.) It is very cool, with a light inside the base that illuminates the Tiffany glass. We finally put it together last night and found room for it and it looks really cool. (FYI -- we got it something like 75 percent off).

[OK ... I just re-read this post and if there was such a thing as the Blogosphere Police, I think I would get ticketed for the overuse of the word "cool."]

A website for Tiff (and other music lovers)

The Fabulist referred to Amp Camp in a recent post as a website by people who love music and want to bring you good music. It is an interesting website to find new music, different music, fresh music. The creative appearance of the website makes navigating it a little challenging, and I struggled to find samples of the music (although, honestly, I didn't spend a lot of time working on it) but they do have an MP3 download of the day that will give you a lot to sample and enjoy. This looks like a great place to get the junk out of your ears.

Bizarre sights

I saw two bizarre sights yesterday ...

On my way home from work, I was stopped as the first car in a left-hand turn lane. Waiting at the red light, I wasn't paying too much attention to the traffic around me because there was a lot of it and my light wasn't changing soon. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw a large blue Ford F-150 truck coming from my right and turning left across traffic (down the way I had just come) when I hear the skeeee of tires and a speeding BMW slams into the bed of the truck. I watch as the truck dances and spins my way, stopping about 15 feet from me, and spun facing right-to-left like it had never started the turn. I have been in wrecks before, but this was the first time I've ever sat and watched one happen, especially this close to me. Both drivers emerged aggitated but no apparent physical damage (but surely in need of a chiropractor -- law prevents me from handling out cards at the scene). I saw smoke rising from the BMW but the souce was obscured by the truck's hood, so when the light changed and my left turn was obviously blocked, I backed up and drove straight, fearing the source of the smoke. As I passed, I could see the airbag had deployed and was emitting the smoke. The windshield of the BMW was completely shattered on the passenger side. Really, it looked like one of the off-center crash tests you see on Dateline.

The other crazy sight I saw was when I went to pick up dinner from Miyo's. It's beside a Blockbuster and I saw a car parked at Blockbuster with "Just Married" written on the back window. I'm going with the assumption that they just got back from the honeymoon and haven't washed their back window yet. I hope...