take it on the run

I had a very hectic but ultimately very nice day in Denver. I woke up at 6:30 because I desperately needed to work, and so I worked from 7-10:30 (while eating breakfast, and with a brief shower break). Then I had a three hour meeting, which I had to take from the lobby because my room doesn't have a desk and I didn't want to sit in bed that long. By 2pm I was done with all immediate obligations, and also was very burned out from working seven hours before two pm, so I walked out of the hotel and found a fairly mid (but quick) lunch option. And then I did a walk in manicure before coming back to the hotel and wrapping some stuff up. 

Happily, I was able to stop working and meet up with Katie - we had early dinner reservations at El Five, which was v exciting. We enjoyed our tapas and paella, and then came back to the hotel and had a drink at the v nice hotel bar. And then we came upstairs (mostly to avoid seeing one of the more violent scenes in the Shawshank Redemption, which was playing above the bar) and chatted for a couple more hours. 

But now I need to sleep so I can continue the fun tomorrow - goodnight!

jokers at the bottom with the radio guitar

No blog tonight - I got up super early to do work before an 8am allergy shot appointment, got my shots (and my arms swelled, which was annoying), came home, worked a bunch more, said a brief hello/goodbye to my mom (and pawned a bunch of produce on her), watered various plants, finished packing, etc. Then I sped to the airport, where I got through security in time to have a glass of wine while participating in my favorite meeting of the week.

Sadly my flight was delayed an hour, and the extra glass of wine I had while waiting didn't help my productivity. But I got to Denver smoothly, got to my hotel smoothly, unpacked, and then did a couple of hours of work because I absolutely had to. And now I must sleep - goodnight!

we drove out to the desert just to lie down beneath this bowl of stars

I had an insanely busy day, in ways that are unusual, so I shall recap. I got up early this morning because I had allergy shots at 8 am. I was apparently in trouble with my allergist because it had been over a month since I had managed to make it in. He wants me to come in every 2 days to catch up, which is a bit of a jhoke, considering:

1. I had always been told that I could never come in with less than 3 days of a gap, and

2. I am going to Denver next week. Luckily, my nurse thought this is all very funny and doesn't seem to think I'm actually in trouble. But I am going to get allergy shots again on Thursday, which is not really what I planned to do with my Thursday morning. 

After I got allergy shots, I went to the courthouse and voted, since I wanted to make sure my vote got in before my travels, in case anything happened. Then I went to Hy-Vee and bought six bottles of wine, which is also not what I usually do on a Tuesday morning. However, on Saturday I noticed that while the wine selection is usually abysmal, they had a Cabernet that was, for some reason, marked down from $55 to $22 a bottle. I had bought one bottle to try and really liked it, so I decided to go back and clear out some of their stock. I'd say they got a whole case, since there were still several bottles left, but I thought that six bottles was more than enough to make the cashier worry about me.

Then I came home and immediately jumped into my usual run of meetings. I was also doing laundry at the same time because of my aforementioned travels. During one of my meetings, I baked an entire package of bacon - it's a bit concerning that I'm still getting gorgeous tomatoes in late October, but I decided that I wanted another BLTA before the end of the season. I cooked the bacon, had a meeting with Emily, and then took advantage of a wee break in my schedule to make a couple of open-faced bacon, lettuce, tomato, and avocado sandwiches on some gluten-free bread. They were delicious, and I'll be sad to see the tomatoes go, but at some point, it should probably cool down, or I'll begin to wonder whether we're going to survive the coming decades.

Then I slept for a couple more hours before dashing out the door for the most unusual errand of the day. Yesterday, I happened to stumble across a meetup in Des Moines for a group related to startups and writing. This, as you can imagine because of my day job and my night job, seemed right up my alley, and so I decided on a whim to go. The meetup was located a block from the Drake Diner, which was infamous in my childhood for being the site of a shooting. It's funny that, in my mind, I still consider that to be an incredibly dangerous neighborhood even though I have lived in objectively far more dangerous places than some place that had a random restaurant shooting 30 years ago. You'll be pleased to know that I did not get shot, and the venue was actually super cool, so I would happily go back.

Anyway, the meetup was fun and worth going to. There were about 15 people there, but I had some really nice conversations with some people. I ended up sticking around to chat with a few after our event ended and an overlapping trivia night started. And then I drove home, got back in time to do a bit of tidying up, and realized that I really need to go to sleep if I have any hope of getting my job done tomorrow. Goodnight!

there's been a robbery

I had a pretty good day, despite the fact that I went to bed after one, and then woke up before seven and was only able to fitfully doze for an hour before giving up. I was not as productive as I intended to be today, but I helped [censored] with some stuff, changed my sheets, tidied up, did a bit of work, etc.

And in the afternoon, I went into town to get groceries, and made a v impromptu stop at the museum to see the new mastodon exhibit. I got a sneak peek while they were installing it, but the finished product is pretty cool - it's the best mastodon remains ever found in Iowa, with most of the skull and a bunch of other bones. The museum finally got it back from U of I, who had it for a couple of years to preserve and study it, and the display is very nice. 

Then I went to the grocery store, came home, messed around, and made beef and noodles and mashed potatoes for dinner for me and Mom and [censored]. And now I'm going to bed early because I did not get nearly enough sleep last night - goodnight!

lunation

No blog tonight - I did nothing of note beyond slogging, which I did excessively (including three hours tonight from nine to midnight). But I got done a swath of tasks that I couldn't put off any longer, and I won't have to work much this weekend as a result, which is a win. And I also did various tings around the house when wandering during my breaks - I did laundry, opened various packages, picked up some alterations, and brought in some pepper plants that I decided to save from tonight's frost.

When it was time to take a real break, I made dinner - [censored] and I enjoyed a batch of Elmer's chili, which hit the spot since it's suddenly feeling like winter here. Okay, maybe not winter yet - but it will freeze tonight, and it was 85 last weekend, so this is a real rude awakening. It should warm up again later this weekend, but clearly summer is at an end.

But I have nothing else to report and really need to get some sleep - goodnight!

we could probably fix it if we clean it up all day

I have really fallen off the blogging wagon - partially because my days are somewhat boring, partially because I'm trying to stay off my laptop late at night, and I have gotten tired of blogging from my phone. But I just worked until 10:30, so while I'm still on a large keyboard, I shall fill you in.

I had Monday off for Indigenous Peoples Day, which was a welcome treat. I managed to stay quite busy, though - and I filled the house with the smell of pork, since I made carnitas in the slow cooker and then also made pork chile verde in the pressure cooker. A nine pound pork shoulder is arguably more pork than I can eat, but carnitas and pork chile verde both freeze well, so I shall have many porky meals in the future. Also, I made the chile verde almost entirely from ingredients from my garden - while I had to buy a white onion, I was able to do the rest with poblanos, anaheim peppers, jalapenos, and tomatillos from the garden. It turned out quite well, if I do say so myself, and I've enjoyed eating it this week.

On Tuesday, I had to get up early for an economic development board meeting, which was a rough way to have to start the shortened work week. Then I slogged all day before taking a brief walk around town to decompress. I'm sure I did other tings in the evening, but I can't remember them.

On Wednesday, I slogged all day (again), but I had a call with my friend Tanya at 11, which was a delight. I also had my library board meeting, which was a good way to get out of the house. Our meeting was accomplished pretty quickly, and then we helped the librarian move a v. large bookshelf - it went smoothly, but it was a ridiculous process. After, I talked to Sammi for half an hour, and then I ran to the grocery store. While I was in town, the local florist stuck a couple of roses in my driver's side door, so I took one to my mom, and hung out with her while she cooked and ate her supper. I declined to eat her food since I had so much pork at home, but it was nice to chat. Then I came home, ate pork, and wrote until past my bedtime.

Today, you guessed it - I slogged. I also went to city hall to take care of a water bill issue and talk to the city clerk about various tings. You probably also guessed that I ate more pork - chile verde for lunch and carnitas with a baked potato for dinner. I froze almost all the rest of it, so I can move on to other culinary delights. And I also had many meetings, then chatted with [censored] when he got home, and then worked for the last couple of hours.

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

someone stole my shoes, but there's a couple of bananas and a bottle of booze

Apparently I have not blogged all week - this happens when my weeks are v. boring. I shall recap for posterity, such as it is:

- Wednesday, I had many meetings, which is true of most days. I then talked to Adit about work stuff while wandering around outside to take a bit of a break, and then I drove into town because the Vietnamese food truck was on the square. This was only the second time I've gotten them, but I was happy with this order - their pork skewers and shrimp skewers were excellent, and their pad thai and fried rice were pretty tasty (and, as far as I could tell, fairly gluten free except for the soy sauce). It took quite awhile for my food to be ready, but I spent that time chatting with various townsfolk who were also hanging out in the yard waiting for or eating their food, so it was a v. nice evening. And then I came home, ate, and welcomed [censored] back from his usual weekly jaunt.

- Thursday, I had many meetings, which is true of most days. I also had a city council meeting, which meant that I had to spend two hours talking to various townsfolk about various issues. I still have not been run out of town, so I think that means this is going well?

- Friday, I had many meetings, which is usually not true of Fridays but happened to be true of this one. I ended the day by making burrito bowls for me and [censored], which really hit the spot after not having them all summer. We ate the burrito bowls while watching last week's SNL, which was middling, and perhaps I did other stuff that I cannot remember.

- Saturday, I had no meetings, and yet somehow I managed to fill or squander the vast amount of excess time. I guess I did talk to Adit about something work-related for awhile, so it was almost like a meeting? But I also did various tings at my desk, procrastinated a bit, did a whole bunch of laundry, ate a couple of tomatoes that should not still be in season but are because it's 85 degrees here, messed around, and then went into town to get groceries. And then I made potatoes au gratin to go with the steaks I had thawed out to grill, and I also made some excellent onions and mushrooms to top the steak with. Mom came into town to join us, and so we had a v. tasty dinner.

- Today, I had no meetings, but I did spent a lot of time at my desk researching various tings. I also did some gardening - theoretically I should be cleaning up my gardens, but instead I harvested a bunch of tomatoes and peppers, and everything is still attempting to go strong (the eggplant is putting out more flowers than I saw all summer, the tomatillos are still attracting pollinators, the cucumber is trying to cucumber again, etc.). It will cool off by the end of the week, so we'll see what that does, but my semi-apocalyptic garden is hanging on in this unusual heat. Beyond gardening, I did various tings, wrote on my balcony for awhile, and then grilled hamburgers for me and [censored] (which turned out perfectly, if I do say so myself). We ate them with leftover potatoes while watching last night's SNL, which was surprisingly excellent. And then I came upstairs and read the first few chapters of FAMESICK, which I am enjoying so far.

And now, I need to go to bed - goodnight!