And, yes, even though it's only Wednesday, I can already say that. Early last Friday afternoon, Chuck and I headed to Cleveland for a weekend family get together. Almost immediately, we were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on south-bound US-23, making it impossible for us to make it to the 7:05 Indians vs. Mariners game that we were supposed to meet up with Chuck's family at. A tractor-trailer had gone off the highway at the US-23/M-14 split just north of Ann Arbor and all traffic was being directed down M-14. While loudly complaining about having to drive my 5-speed Civic in such traffic, Chuck totally disregarded my directions and took the first exit off of M-14 and headed right into Ann Arbor, where there was not only traffic backed up due to the accident, but also due to the Art Fair. Before long, we made it back onto the freeway and were well on our way down I-94 West before I realized that we were headed towards Jackson, which is totally not the way that we wanted to head. After much bickering, we finally got situated and headed in the right direction, making a bee-line straight to Progressive Field for the ball game.
Somehow, both of Chuck's sisters and his mom had Club level passes, which got us into the Terrace Club, where Chuck's family was having dinner. The restaurant provided a great view of the field, but the food just wasn't worth the price. Now, I expect to pay through the nose while at a game, but for the dinner we had didn't taste that great and was tiny. We ordered an appetizer of potato skins stuffed with barbecue pork; and my dinner was another appetizer of crab cakes. Chuck had a lamb dish with couscous (sorry no photo).
By the time we arrived, the game was well into the 4th inning, but that didn't matter because I didn't really pay much attention to it; and talked with Chuck's sisters while working on my Flat Feet socks.
We hung out afterwards for the post-game fireworks, which were really a good show. Better, even, than some of the July 4th displays I've seen. Being pretty whipped from a full day at the office and the long drive, I took a rain check on Chuck's offer to walk around downtown in the post-game revelry (which was strangely upbeat given that the Indians lost 2-6).
The main reason we were in town was to attend a birthday party for Chuck's step-dad Frank at Frank's son's house. The party went fine; especially now that Chuck's cousin Colin is engaged, we were pretty much left alone by his family about us getting married any time soon. I took my usual party route -- eat a little bit here and there, get drunk early, and head to bed early. No muss, no fuss, and very little social time.Happily for me, Chuck kept his promise not to dilly-dally too long before hitting the road to return home. I haven't been a fan of returning in the middle of the night on Sundays, so he vowed that we'd leave early in the afternoons as often as we could. While the drive itself was not as eventful as Friday's, we did make a couple of pit-stops while on our way. First, we did a little bit of shopping at Cabelas in Dundee. I'm always amazed whenever I stop in this store by the sheer number of people there are shopping. This place definitely casts a wide draw. But what also amazes me is how unfriendly the staff and other shoppers are. I've never really felt comfortable in this store and usually prefer to look at the one or two items I'm interested in at the moment, then get the hell out. During our visit, there was a fairly large sale going on and I managed to find a pair of Yak Trax Pro for $15, which I'm still trying to determine if that was a good deal or not.
Our second stop was at Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor for dinner. Neither of us had been there before and I think we'd go back, though I'm wondering how our two sandwiches could possibly have come to over $30. I had the #38 Schoolkid' Song 'n Dance; Chuck had a #2 Reuben; and we split an order of latke fingers. I think next time, we'll just split something since I couldn't finish half of my sandwich.
After finally arriving home, we ended the weekend by watching "Knowing" with Nicolas Cage and Rose Byrne. Cage plays John, an astro-physics professor at MIT who had recently become a single-parent after the death of his wife in a tragic hotel fire. His only child, Caleb, is the recipient of a letter unearthed within a time capsule as part of the 50th anniversary of their elementary school. The letter was composed of numbers that were written by a girl who was haunted by voices that rattled them to her. While wallowing in his sorrow one night, John has a drunken epiphany on what the numbers might mean and searches the great wide Internet to investigate the numbers to find that they correspond to the dates and body counts of tragedies that have occurred around the world. Byrne's character, Diana, comes in as the grand-daughter of the letter's author who had always believed her grandma to be crazy. I'm not quite sure what else to say that won't spoil the end. I've tried several times here and have erased it each time because the words are just escaping me. And that's not in a good way.
I wouldn't recommend that anyone rents this movie. If it's on TV already, then it would be watchable, but I shouldn't complain too badly since I used a free coupon for this one. Within the first 15 minutes, a scene with John and Caleb stargazing struck a pet-peeve and had Chuck yelling at the screen, "What are they doing?!?" They had every light in the house on; a lantern blazing on a nearby picnic table; and a third light illuminating a midnight barbecue session John had going on a grill. I don't know about you, but I dare you to try (just try) to light up half that number of lights around a group of star gazers. Be sure to have your earplugs in and your running shoes on because you're going to need them around that tough crowd. Any folks that can sit out all night long to gaze at the sky in the dark (and usually in the very cold, because most clear nights tend to also be the coldest ones) are not the folks you want to piss off by ruining their night vision.
So, with all that said, you're probably wondering what has made this a pretty shitty week so far. Sure, I've had plenty of busy weekends, but I came out of last weekend feeling like I didn't actually relax during one minute of it. And, starting early Monday, things haven't gone pretty well at the office: my computer was on the fritz and I couldn't stand just sitting there watching my coworker try to get the proper software running again. The problem was with some GIS software I'm using and, while he's not an official IT guy, the GIS software is in his arena (yes, the division of responsibilities is a little strange around here). So after a couple of hours of watching him work, I waited until some bacteria plates I had cultured earlier in the day were ready to move from one incubator into the other (where they'll sit for another 22 hours), then clocked out, went home, and headed back to bed. I wouldn't say that I had an anxiety or panic attack, but I just needed to get out of the office and only felt better once I hit the confines of my warm, safe bed. I've never felt that way before and can't really explain it in any other way.
Tuesday was somewhat better. My PC ended up needing actual help from the IT staff, and they worked on it while I went out for a long lunch with some friends who had moved to Grenada and were back in the States visiting. They were doing an unconvincing job of making me believe that island life is over-rated. My day ended with a relaxing knit-in, thanks to Ann; but I ended up getting into an arguement on the way home with my car-pool friend over the fair market value of knitwear. I warned her that I was the worst person to ask because I give away as gifts or donations most of what I make. Apparently, my opinion was skewed enough to be "wrong, wrong, wrong" and it took everything I had to not be a complete bitch back about it. (So, friends, be forewarned -- there isn't a right answer.)
Tonight, we're having Mark & Becky over for pizza and movies. Hopefully, this'll be what I need to get out of this funk. (No pressure, guys.)
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