That Was Interesting

Well the first week of my firsts is over. It went rather well. So, to recap, Monday I took my dog on a 5 mile walk around Burke Lake. She enjoyed it, I enjoyed it, much fun was had.

Now, onto the firsts of the week, but a I feel a bit of explanation is required. Now a few people I have told the idea of firsts to seem skeptical about my motivation, and additionally find it to be a bit overambitious to do one new thing every day. But I must explain it like this. It is a shotgun approach where you do so many new things that unexpected awesomeness occurs from some. Kinda like picking someone up at a bar. If you try hard enough you'll find someone skinny enough that your flabby arms can lift them up off the ground. Ba-zing! Any who, I think it will reveal a bit more as I write.

Monday: Dog Walk of awesome distance.

Tuesday: A peary awkward moment. (Get it, its a PUN)
On Tuesday I was sitting at work and was musing over what I should do as my "first" for the day. It might have been fate or just my bad luck that I had a pear in my hand while considering this. So, deciding that one idea is as good as the next (which it turns out was WRONG) I decided to give into spontaneous curiosity and see if I could fit a whole pear in my mouth. Not I have tried to fit my fist in my mouth but I have big hands to that has never really gotten past a general fist gumming, but I figured I have a big mouth so a pear should be within my realm of possibility. And that is when things went horribly wrong. The short story is, no, I cannot fit an entire pear in my mouth. The long story is more like this. I have to say I was very glad my office mate was out of the office so no one was around to see this (and on retrospect this also meant no one was there so save me). But needless to say when I tried to fit the pear in my mouth it was a tight fit and could not get past my teeth. But I figured I had nothing better to do (yes I was at work while doing this) and decided to wiggle it and try and force it in. What this in reality started to do, was cause my teeth to cut into the pear, essentially acting like a proverbial fish hook barb, so that when it came time to give in and concede that this was not going to work, I could then no retract the pear because my teeth were stuck. Well to wrap this up I spent altogether too much time unwedging my jaw from the pear and had a strained face for the rest of the day. But, well, I learned something new.

Wednesday: Now Wed. was Meg's birthday so I figured I'd take her out to a nice steak dinner. So while we are there perusing the menu I decide to order outside my normal ordering criteria. Now this will require a small bit of backstory. My friend Nick has talked to me about steaks and which cuts yield better taste etc, and what this boils down to is that a Ribeye has the most marbling in a steak selection and is thus one of the best cuts for flavor. So I order the ribeye thinking to be amazed and astounded by the fatless high grade cut of meat. This was a bit of yes and a bit of no. The steak I got ended up have a lot of fat on it, and so I start surgically separating out the meat and find my taste buds unassailed. So I think that the ribeye was a bust. But now, this is where the idea of firsts and their goal is more presented. As I eat the steak I start to realize that bits of the fat are on the pieces I eat and are contributing HUGELY to the flavor, so I toss out the surgical approach and essentially go to town and it turns out to be an astoundingly well flavored experience. So 1) I learned what marbling ACTUALLY means, and how it exists in steak, and how it will actually come across in flavor. And 2) It make me think back to how my dad used to make steaks when I was a kid and how he used to like the fatty steaks and give the lean ones to everyone else, which I always thought was him being generous or just not being picky, but now I wonder if he actually is something of a steak hobbiest and was enjoying those steaks on a different level than the rest of us. I'll need to call him and ask him, cause it now makes me wonder if there is a facet of my dad's personality that I had never been aware of before.
Shotgun approach, interesting results.

Thursday: I bought something from the Dollar Store
Now this may not seem like much but I had never actually bought something from the dollar store before. It was an interesting experience. First off calling it the dollar store is an F-ing LIE. There was not ONE THING in that store for a dollar. Most of it was like five or ten bucks, and not some sort of pack of ten crap, like a three dollar spatula. Same dollar store crap. Not a dollar. And people who shop there are kind of odd. One lady pulled out a SERIOUS roll of bills. At the DOLLAR store. I think that the dollar store is just some weird ironic hole in the universe. But I bought my stuff and left, only to find a guy outside asking for change. Now this I was impressed by, I mean people are shopping at the dollar store so they are likely to have cash on hand, being the dollar store. Good placement there poor guy, nice strategy, except for me cause I use credit at the dollar store mwahaha! Another interesting thing too, was that when I talked to Meg about it she went off on this interesting story about how her parents took her and her brother to the dollar store to teach them financing and fiscal responsibility. Like here is ten bucks, go nuts, and then the would learn money without a big budget hit like some college freshman who thinks a credit card is a ticket to everlasting happiness that doesn't have to be paid back. But I must say sending your kids into the dollar store to learn about money and finance seems a bit suspicious cause I feel like all they would come out of there with is a warped perspective of the cost of things and the knowledge that crap worth a dollar can be sold for more than a dollar because the people at the dollar store apparently can't COUNT. But this first taught me more about my wife. Shotgun and shit can fall like dominoes. This is actually the analogy I came up with when talking to a friend, doing a new thing every day is like taking a shotgun to a stack of dominoes: SOMETHING will happen, but you can't really be sure what.

Friday: This was another simple one. I got dunkin doghnuts coffee instead of Starbucks coffee as I usually do at the little sell everything store at work. Result: Ain't havin it. That coffee for some reason just wasn't good. Friend Brett keeps trying to get me to switch to black coffee (to go with my soul) but I'm not having it. I hate the way my mediocre coffee tastes now, I can't even imagine how it will fry my tastebuds black.

Sat: On Saturday I threw Meg a party. A Muppet Themed Party! If you are reading this and for some reason did not get the evite I apologize, I think the evite didn't make it to everyone and I'm not sure why, but you are invited retroactively. So if you manage to get ahold of a time machine I'll see you there yesterday. But it was super fun. The idea was that everyone would dress as different Muppet's to avoid doubles, and it was glorious. Most people tended to wear costumes they either made or bought but there were a couple zingers. My friends Brett and Joe went as the two old men from the Muppet's tonight show and the component of their costume that made if amazing was that they had a full balcony they toted around with them the entire night to stand behind. So good. We had Muppet's from all walks, we had a fraggle we had muppets from sesame street, we had muppets from the Muppet's tonight show and we even had one from the movie labyrinth. Bravo to everyone who dressed up. I must stay though I think Meg's costume was my favorite. She made an all out Animal Costume which was just spot on, huge and amazing. And was running around rather in character all night. One thing I found out today (and nearly peed when I did) was that one of Megs friends, (I tip my hat to you for showing up) apparently has a puppet phobia. That's right, scared of puppets and came to a muppet themed party. Welcome to Hell. But all in all it was a great party. We had a pinata where I made up the rules that you drew the item with which you were to strike the pinata with, out of a hat. So we had one guy strike the pinata with a sword, another a table leg, another used another PERSON'S leg, yet another used their FACE, and one had to use a straw. Like a drinking straw. Surprisingly he actually managed to knock a singly piece of candy out using the straw. Bravo! Cake was good, though I think I would recommend against using sparkler candles (candles that are like fourth of July sparklers) You can't blow them out and they burn for like 10 minutes if you can ever get them lit. Had to use like a blowtorch to get those suckers going. The one bit of craziness that occurred was the dog escaping....twice. So please envision four or five people, correction, four or five muppets, running through the neighborhood screaming. Puppet phobia, not all that uncommon.

Left to right: Sweetums; Sir Didymus (Labyrinth); Big Bird; Bert; Animal! ; Beaker; Ms Piggy; Waldorf-and-Statler (Old Men) ; Kermit; Janice; Red (Fraggle Rock); Dr. Teeth; Cookie Monster (Actually ate cookies through the whole party. Good Commitment to the part!)



Sunday: Today is another lame one, I've been working on installing my new laptop battery all day. Very much a lame first, but I have never had to do this before. I didn't know installing a BATTERY was such a pain in the ASS. You apparently need to let it charge all the way up, then run all the way down, then charge all the way up yada yada yada the aristocrats. But you get the idea, cause doing this four or five time "sinks" the laptop and the battery, whatever the crap that means. But I assume it is necessary because while I am doing this my laptop keeps freaking out, giving me a big angry face where my battery icon should be, and tends to shut down at awkward moments. Oh laptop, you crazy thing you.

Well it has been a full week, but I am intrigued to see what next week brings. I'm thinking of seeing if I can get the dog to go nuts tomorrow by staring at the closet door and growling at it in a menacing way. Woot!

Patent of the Week: Now I'm not really sure what this is supposed to accomplish but I'm fairly certain Figures 4, 9, and 12 just guaranteed me nightmares later.
http://www.google.com/patents?id=W5TVAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false

Something New

Well this weekend was entertaining. Got to go up to a house near Deep Creek ski resort and hang out with the in laws doing hikes and snowshoeing for good times to be had. Interesting thing, the hiking path had been trod on so much that all the snow had turned to ice, making it the most DANGEROUS HIKE EVER. Now let me set the stage. So a bunch of fun go-getters are out for a hike, and they see the ground has all turned to ice. All of it. So half put on snow shoes because the steel grips will keep them on the ground, one even puts on a modified boot with spurs to keep his footing, but the rest, including the dogs, go balls to the wall. It was .... interesting. There were also many stairs to lead you down to the water. And by water I mean icy slope of DEATH. And by water I mean Watery Rapids of DEATH. Well, on the up side no one died, or ever, surprisingly, fell in the water. We slipped a few times and fell a few times. I think my personal low/awesome moment was when I tried to run up an icy slope to the top. I almost made it.... almost. I started to slide back downhill and sideways towards the rapids and had to rely on the benevolent rescue of my brother in law to pull me back from what would have loosely been described as, an embarrassing moment. Probably to some EMTs at a later time.
All in all fun though, and it did get me thinking. A thought that had occurred to me before again occurred to me that I don't do much with my time, and that makes me feel like I don't grow as a person. It is my belief that people grow as people when they have new experiences. Now these don't need to be drastic new experiences but can just be small ones, but I believe they should be sought out. I have tried to do this on my own in the past, to do things I have never done before. Mainly just because, but also because I feel like it in some way makes a difference. Some rousing "First Time Experiences" have been *Peeing on one foot (while standing on one foot, not ... the other way you could interpret that). *Peeing while drinking something (Yes several of these have occurred while in the bathroom. It is a very cognitive place.) Sleeping upside down in my bed (not like on my face, I don't roll that way (hyuck hyuck) but facing the opposite way (surprisingly restful), and various other "firsts". But needless to say I was thinking, as I do, that I would like to achieve a "first" every day, seek it out intentionally if necessary, and then every Sunday, blog about it. I figure it will be a good way if nothing else, for me to keep track of these "firsts".
Well, so let us see. Today's "first", I took my dog around Burke Lake. Now Burke Lake is a pretty kick ass lake that has a path running the full length around it at about 5 miles. So the girl and I took the puppy (Honey Bun) on a walk around the lake to get some outdoorsy activity in today. Now nothing too fancy happened, though I had worried the walk might be too much for the puppy. Other times we had taken her on long walks when she was much younger had yielded her giving up and laying down to be dragged on the ground (Meg doesn't turn around much when she is power walking) and on another occasion getting puppy blisters (Super cute, Super Sad). But nothing too much this time, though I did learn one interesting fact. Honey Bun (my dog) can scream like a murder victim and has wicked separation anxiety. We stopped to use the public restroom and when Meg wandered off she thought she was getting abandoned (apparently she forgot I was there, not very good peripheral vision my dog) and proceeded to squeal like a squealing thing of some sort. And when some other lady came out of the restroom before Meg the dogs eyes proceeded to follow this new person (thinking it was Meg because aside from Separation Anxiety she apparently has a terminally short memory) and once this new person began to walk away she began to go nuts again because she was being abandoned again! (Again no peripheral vision). Finally Meg came out and Honey Bun nearly pooed herself in happiness, or maybe just because she is a dog and that is what she does. But I must say my heart felt warmed when I went to the restroom and she proceeded to lose her shit when I was walking away. I thought it was just separation anxiety with Meg, but it is good to know that I fill a special (able to feed me when I'm hungry) hole in Honey Bun's heart.

Thankfully when we got home she passed the crap out from all the exertion. I wanted too also but Meg dragged me back out to be active some more. Personal fail, but I did get my new activity in for the day. So it was a success.

Patent 7861900 : It's for drinking soda....honest....just soda....
http://www.google.com/patents?id=3KTwAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false