Puzzle Up!

What a silly weekend! President's Day weekend always has some sort of adventure tied to it. In the past, most of the time was spent at The Eagle with a fireside chat and many vodka tonics in hand observing the hustle and bustle of International Bear Rendevous. Not this year, and I am totally okay with that. Not so much about the hustle and bustle anymore as well as fewer vodka tonics. I have come to enjoy remembering what I did with the time spent over the past few days, imagine that. It's simply not good for my constitution anymore.

I am pleased to report that the cold/flu/whatever the heck it was is 95% over. Still have a stuffy nose and am tired. But other than that, it's close to a clean bill of health. Miss B has done pretty well to escape the germs of the month and let's hope for her sake, it stays that way. I did take it easy with alcohol consumption and rested so with those two things, I think it's gone. Please please please be gone!

On Sunday, A, JEthan, and I met up at the Wildside West for a beverage and hang out in the back patio area. That place cracks me up. Every Sunday a random group of musicians meet below the deck to sing, play, drink, smoke, and whoop it up. As A put it, they do pretty much use the same three chords just in a different order for each song but then again, think about it, most songs ARE three chords. There was a variety of selections all the way from Radiohead, Beatles, to of course, the Indigo Girls. All sorts of instruments, including a drum machine and mandolin. Give it up to the Wildside Music Cooperative!

While there, we discussed most everything from politics to what the heck we are going to be for the upcoming Procrastinator's New Year's Eve party. It was great to see those two and they crack me up! A tried out her new pipe for smoking tobacco. The smell reminded me of winters past and this guy who always smoked a pipe after church. I forget his name but he was real nice and always had his pipe in hand puff puff puffing after we got told to love the Lord. Now I am glad to have an outfit picked out for the party AND got to spend some good time with good friends.

Earlier in the day, Miss B and I had been wandering around 24th street in Noe Valley. I forget exactly what we went over there for in the first place....oh yeah, baby clothes. A dude at work, his wife had a sprog so we needed to get something for the little one. While there, we stumbled into "Just For Fun" a toy and stationary shop. Lo and behold, we found a LOST puzzle. 1,000 pieces of fun and clues as to they mystery of the folks trapped on the island. The House of Bear had invited us to dinner so how could we not purchase this and take it over for post dinner puzzle madness! We did and it was the gift that just kept giving.

Bear one and Bear two made a lovely dinner, turkey loaf, potatoes, corn, all the fixin's. We brought over veggie burgers to round it out and had a wonderful meal! Once over, it was time for the puzzle. We layed it out, everyone taking on their roles. Miss B and Bear two were in charge of edges, the rest of us, just figuring out what went where. I wasn't sure if it would have the lasting power but the next thing we knew, it was 1AM, all cross eyed, and the puzzle 45% completed. I couldn't believe it kept us that engaged for so long! And my goodness it was difficult. Just when you thought to be onto something, curve ball coming your way! Monday Bear one called and said they had been working on it all morning. Miss B and I eventually made it back over to polish it off. It was all about the hatch and the first season. Three more puzzles to go! We have decided to take one to the beach this year. It's perfect beach relaxing material! Can't wait! Everyone should have a puzzling experience. It's good to work out the brain!

***Note*** Spell check is down again. I can't spell very well.

Welcome to the 2000's

And then there was nothing at all....

Simply haven't had the time to document here on the ol' bloggy. I have been documenting my pants off at the jelly doughnut factory. It's not fun documentation either. It's that which will lead to the end of careers in doughnut preparation and send them off to fend for themselves. And sometimes that is okay. Other times, not so much. Makes it rather difficult to get out of bed certain days knowing the day ahead is full of not so comfortable conversations and interactions with HR which in the happy times, were few and far between. But here I am trudging through another year of reviews and most, not so favorable as days past.

On top of that, I am sick AGAIN. This is the ga-gillionth time this year which is so odd. It's rare for me to be down and out this often. It came on like gangbusters and hasn't left yet. I'm ready for it to be gone. Can I just cast a spell and say "BEGONE WITH YOU EL GERM-O!". Guess I just did and unfortunately, it didn't work. Saturday morning awoke feeling sluggish and sleepy but figured it was from a long week and simply tuckered out. Post yogurt class and haircut, the feeling of exhaustion kept increasing and body aches kicked in full force. What totally sucked was that Miss B and I rode bikes to class. Nothing like riding up Bernal Hill with a fever and chills. Being the stubborn goat that I am, of course would not let Miss B ride home and come back and get me with the truck. No sir. I was going to sweat this thing out. Eventually took a 2 hour nap (note: napping never happens so it must really be proof that I was ill!) and awoke to the invite to hang out with A and her investigator. Again, being stubborn, of course I was going to do this. I can overcome anything, right? The lovely Miss B poured me a bath to which I relaxed in for an hour. Immediately after that, I crawled into bed and went back to sleep. No going out that night, no matter how much it was willed. I succumed to the fact that I was sick and just went with it.

The ladies did eventually stop over, even after the warnings of the germ investation. Brave? Yes! They were sweet enough to bring over a birthday gift which was the new Radiohead album. I love it! Had heard some not so great feedback so didn't purchase it. Thank goodness they got it for me or I would have missed out on this treat! It's wonderful. I liked it so much it inspired me to learn how to finally, after three years of owning one, use my iPod. It's a nifty little Nano and fun. I have been down loading like mad and have a crush on it, it's so cute. And it certainly makes working out at the gym much more tolerable. If I can't run with Miss B, a run with the iPod is second best. Shouts out to A and the investigator for the motivation!

No more mixed tapes....can you belive it?