and then they put you on the day shift

I had a lovely day, all in all. I spent the morning doing various desk tings (including a little bit of writing stuff), and then I spent the rest of the morning making lunch. I had intended to prep some of it last night, but I was feeling lazy then, so I had to cook this morning so that [censored] and I could eat. I made the fixings for cobb salads, which took a bit of prep, but it means that I now have four jarred cobb salads in the fridge waiting for future lunches. I feel like I'm almost past the season where I'll be in the mood for a cobb salad, but it tasted good today.

Then I cleaned up, did a bit of work, and went into town to get allergy shots. They reacted as usual, but not terribly, so I'll take it. After my shots, I grabbed a couple of groceries, came home, and wrote for a bit. But I mostly let myself get sidetracked by other things I needed to take care of, which was fine with me.

When it was time to think about dinner, I decided to experiment with a chorizo fried rice recipe. It came out of J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's THE WOK cookbook, which I got last year for Christmas. He contributes to one of my favorite online recipe sites (Serious Eats), and I follow him on Instagram, so I knew it would be good. I usually don't modify a recipe on the first attempt, but I decided to add some shrimp, increase the amount of rice, and scale up the soy sauce / sesame oil accordingly.

After I'd diced the chorizo, shrimp, onion, green pepper, and scallions, and defrosted the frozen corn just a little bit, I turned on my induction burner as hot as it would go so that some I could heat my skillet (note: I bought a wok but I haven't fully seasoned it). It turns out the turbo burner on my induction stove is perhaps faster/hotter than gas, because my fried rice produced so much smoke that [censored] and I had to open a bunch of windows (and the front door, and briefly the garage door) and I was coughing as I finished cooking. But that level of heat produced some absolutely delicious fried rice. There were some lovely smoky bits, some perfectly crusty lattices of rice, and yet none of it was overcooked.

So this is a hard one, because from the taste alone + the ease of making it, I would absolutely add this to the rotation. But the smoke level was definitely carcinogenic (not to mention pervasive through the house). I think I'll try again at a slightly lower temperature point and see if 20% less flavor yields 80% less smoke.

Ssssanyway, after [censored] and I enjoyed our rice (and cleared out some of the smoke), we watched a bit of TV (including an interview the Please Don't Destroy guys from SNL did with Jimmy Fallon), and then we watched three episodes of OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH. It continues to be absolutely absurd, which means I love it.

And now, I need to sleep since I have a million tings going on tomorrow - goodnight!

the near-miss that almost shot you out the blue

I didn't blog yesterday, but you didn't miss much - I already can't remember what I did, beyond making breakfast, spending some time at my desk, and picking up Mexican takeout to eat with the parents and [censored]. Today was a little more action-packed - I woke up earlier than I usually do so that I could chat with someone about hosting a bridal shower. Then, I did some desk work and organizing of grocery lists, and eventually I made breakfast for me and [censored]. Since it's Sunday, I made scrambled eggs and hash browns - [censored] also got them yesterday in appreciation of the food drought that I caused here by my long absence, but usually I only make this once a weekend in deference to both caloric intake and effort expended.

After breakfast (which was really lunch), I did some more desk stuff, and then I watched the NCAA women's title game. The officiating was the story of the game and the technical on Caitlin Clark was beyond absurd, and I also I mostly dislike LSU's coach - but the LSU ladies played an amazing game and were fun to watch. So, after [censored] and I remembered that we usually hate the Hawkeyes, the loss became a lot easier to stomach.

Then, I hate-read twitter for a bit to dig into that technical foul, and then I went outside and cleaned out one of my flower beds that I should have cleaned out last fall but failed to do before the weather turned. And then I tried my hand at making a new-to-me pad thai recipe. All in all, I thought the flavor was great and the chicken turned out perfectly, but the noodles themselves were off because I followed the recipe directions instead of the package directions, which did not work well. I'll have to try again, but it was a valiant initial effort.

[censored] and I ate said pad thai while watching most of last night's SNL, which was perhaps the most consistently funny episode of the season. Then I cleaned up the kitchen, messed around online, and now I should sleep - goodnight!

we barely notice as the pages disappear, floating off into another year

I had a nice Sunday, although it would have been nicer if it were eighty degrees and sunny. I got up at a reasonably respectable hour and made breakfast for me and [censored] -- it was the usual Sunday affair with scrambled eggs (filled with bacon, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms) and hash browns, and it was v. tasty (if I do say so myself). We ate while watching most of the skits from last night's SNL -- they're definitely still rebuilding and I hope Keenan is in all the skits because he wants to be and not because no one else is capable (although I could see that being true). But there were some good moments, and Weekend Update was funny, so that was a worthwhile watch.

I then spent the afternoon doing some desultory office work, journaling, and riding my Peloton, which is finally fully set up and ready for use (after an absurd number of months of paying my subscription). It was really nice to ride again (after the first five minutes, when I thought it was the stupidest idea I'd had all day), so I'd like to make it into more of a regular part of my routine.

Eventually, I showered and then made supper. I made the usual instant pot burrito bowl at [censored]'s request, but I tested a tweaked version and added some diced Spanish chorizo to the mix. I was a little leery because tweaking pressure cooked recipes is a science that I don't yet understand, so I was worried I would burn it or make the bowl too wet/dry or perhaps cook the chorizo into oblivion. But it turned out really well and was a nice addition, so I'll probably add it on the occasions when I feel like driving to Des Moines to source Spanish chorizo (which isn't even at Whole Foods, I don't think - but I found the brand I used to buy in Denver at Cost Plus World Market, so hopefully that continues to be true).

After it was ready, we ate and watched an episode of Letterkenny. Then, I cleaned the kitchen, procrastinated a bit, and came upstairs to plan out the week ahead. I have a lot of stuff I have been putting off that I want to get done this week, and I want to get deeper into the book, so hopefully I've outlined a plan to make all of that happen. And now, it's time for bed (or maybe reading before bed) - goodnight!

and now i pull up in my green honda

I had a lovely and relatively productive day today, although I probably should have gone to bed two hours ago. I spent some time this morning taking care of email and getting ready, and then I had a meeting regarding my volunteer project. One of the women there told me that she'd told her husband, after seeing how I was organizing something, that I'm like my grandma on steroids, which she assured me was a compliment. I'm pretty sure she meant my organizational skills (mine are related to spreadsheets; Gram's were related to feeding dozens or hundreds of people), but she may have also meant that I'm a couple of inches taller than Gram. However, my height advantage is not due to any sort of illegal drugs, and is more due to Gram shrinking before her death.

sssanyway, I was flattered, so I'll take it. After the meeting, I came home, ate some leftover fish chowder, did some more work, and ran a few errands. I also made dinner, which took waaaaaay longer than intended - I was trying a new recipe, and while the food tasted amazing in the end, it took more like forty minutes to cook instead of twenty (and this was at the final cooking stage, not including the twenty minutes of prep before that). I'm looking forward to the leftovers and I would probably make it again, but I need to tweak it to figure out if there's any way to speed up the process.

While the dish was simmering, I wrote for 40-some minutes, which I'll take. And I ended the night with some Zelda - I may be overdosed, which is what I need to get out of playing for awhile, so hopefully tomorrow I won't feel the urge. But it was fun to play tonight, so #noregrets.

And now, I need to sleep - goodnight!

i ain't no fortunate son

Welcome to 2023! I rang in the new year mostly like any other weekend day (which means I made scrambled eggs and hash browns for me and [censored]). However, I did write for an hour this morning, which felt great after some extended time off during the holidays. I also took a walk around town this afternoon since it was a balmy forty degrees. And I read a book tonight...so in terms of filling the first day of the new year with things I want to do the rest of the year, I think I got off to a good start.

Beyond all that, I mostly did house stuff. I also made a new-to-me recipe for dinner with great success. Ina Garten's cookbooks never fail me - I got the new one for Christmas, and I made her salmon teriyaki tonight, and it was excellent. It's a super simple sauce (soy sauce, olive oil, maple syrup, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, red pepper flakes), boiled/reduced just a bit, and then poured over salmon to bake for <15min. I also roasted broccoli to go with it, which turned out perfectly. And, I experimented with my new rice cooker, which is a gift to myself - I had never thought I needed one before, but I used to live places where I could get Asian food whenever I felt like it, and I find myself wanting perfect rice more than ever. So far, I'd say it was a worthwhile investment - the rice really was perfect, and made it easy to time with the other meal components.

So, supper was excellent - even [censored] thought so, and turning [censored] into a roasted broccoli convert is a crowning achievement. After that, I cleaned up the kitchen, and then read a research book about elves and witches (so far, I don't know where the elves come in, but we'll see). And now I must sleep - goodnight!

going down the old mine with a transistor radio

I had a v. nice day, even if it was approximately Day 23 of ignoring [censored]'s request to clean out the garage. When I woke up, I drank some cold brew and then took a walk around town, mostly in service of dropping off my water bill payment + some stuff to mail at the post office. Then I came home and wrote for awhile before taking a shower and eating lunch (an assortment of leftovers) with [censored].

After that, the afternoon was mostly spent in my office - I had a follow-up chat with Alyssa, and then I did an hour of reading for my class before it met this afternoon. The discussion was pretty good, overall - it's been a v. long time since I've been in a workshop-style writing class, but it is good to get the juices flowing.

At some point, I was going to start cooking dinner, but on a whim [censored] and I decided to check out a new-to-us restaurant in a town we never go to (Garden Grove). I'd heard about it last week, and it's only open Thursday-Saturday, so we decided to see what it was all about. It was actually quite nice inside - it's in an old recently-restored hotel, and the decor is pretty nice (and features some trains, which my family is into). The menu is limited mostly to burgers and pasta and various fried tings, which isn't great for the gluten-free life, but my burger without the bun was quite tasty - and their cheese curds (which definitely had gluten) were excellent. So, having sussed it out, I would go back - and it's nice to add possibilities to the food options around here, even if it is 25 or so miles away.

Then we came home, and I mostly messed around and did nothing until now. And now I should sleep - goodnight!

old teeth and a curse for this town

I inadvertently stayed up too late and I'm falling asleep on my couch as I type this, but I had a v. nice day all in all. The last couple of months have been almost absurd in terms of what I've been able to do - between my dad being in the hospital a couple of months ago + my surgery immediately after that, followed by two weeks in Iowa and almost two weeks in Tahoe / SF, this really was my first weekend day here since August when I could actually lift things / walk around / hang out without my belly hurting. So, that was pretty exciting!

I mostly spent it thinking about food - I haven't cooked much at home in forever, mostly because of the aforementioned issues (and cooking when you can't lift more than ten pounds is not ideal). So I made a sweet potato and sausage hash this morning - it's one of my go-tos that I somehow haven't had in months, and it was delicious. Then I went to H Mart in Westminster in search of ingredients to try some new-to-me recipes. H Mart is a Korean supermarket with all sorts of imported Asian food products - and I always feel like it's amateur hour when I go there, since I don't know where anything is and spend a lot of time searching for things in the wrong place. For example, the dried anchovies were not at all where I expected them to be (and not at all something I usually buy). So, my shopping trip took a big chunk of time. But I got some cute little housewares along with the food products, and I got a milk tea to drink on the way home, so that was fun.

When I got home, I did a bunch of stuff around the house. Then, my new neighbors came over for a drink and some snacks - so far they seem nice, and I think we'll get along great. After they left, I put the dried anchovies to use - I'm going to try making soft tofu soup tomorrow, and it requires a dashi (stock) of water, dried kelp, and dried anchovies. I've never cooked with dried anchovies before, but pulling their heads off and removing the inner waste (similar to deveining shrimp) was oddly satisfying, and the dashi smelled amazing. So hopefully tomorrow's experiment turns out well.

I then ended the evening by looking at furnishings for my Iowa house, which was a fun exercise even if it's just an endless series of things that say they'll ship next July. And now I really should sleep - goodnight!

can't keep up with my rhythm though they keep trying

I'm exhausted and need to go to bed asap, but I had a delightful day and wish that more days were like this. Actually, in fairness, I had a mediocre day - I had way too many meetings, I didn't leave myself time for breakfast and then ate lunch too late, and generally things were a bit annoying.

But I had a wonderful afternoon / evening - I did a quick training session with Alyssa at four, and then Veronica and her family descended for an evening of delight. V's daughter is in college in Boulder, and they were all out for a visit before V's son starts college in a week, so they came into Denver to hang out with me. We had a lovely hour hanging out on my patio with snacks and sparkling rosé, and then we had dinner at Brazen. I've never been, but I'm really glad we went - it's very close to me, has a magical back patio with a view of a small park, and the food was perfect. We lingered over it and generally caught up, and while V's Gen Z kids had v. judgey and hurtful things to say about millennials, I had a great time overall. And, of course, it made me wish that Veronica and I lived in the same city (or even state), which is something I shall dwell on in my dreams tonight....

So, after four or so hours together, it was unfortunately time to part ways, but I have high hopes that we'll see each other more this fall. And now I should sleep since I have a million and one meetings tomorrow - goodnight!

like a damn sociopath

I can't blog tonight because I'm too tired and falling asleep on my keyboard and have thus far misspelled most of these words at least once before going back to editing. Today was great, though - I got some tings done talked to my friend Barbara (California Barbara, not Colorado Barbara) for a couple of hours, did some more tings, took a nap, and took care of some stuff outside.

Then, the reason I'm tired is because I had an 8:15pm reservation at Tavernetta, which is approx two hours later than I usually eat. Tavernetta has been on my list of places to try and I would say it hit the mark - the service was great and the food was impeccable. And I went with Jackson and Kelly to celebrate Kelly getting a new role outside my company - I don't want her to leave, but at least our friendship is likely to survive.

And now I'm desperate to sleep - goodnight!

lawyers guns and money

I had a long but lovely day. Today started with interrupted sleep - my carbon monoxide detector chose 4am to give up the ghost, so I had to figure out how to get it to stop chirping so that I could sleep. I also had a meeting with my boss at 8:30, so I had to get up and get with it earlier than usual.

Despite all that, my day was good (albeit still too many meetings). At some point, [censored] rolled into town - he is visiting for the weekend, theoretically to take a vacation but mostly to fulfill a bunch of house projects for me. Yes, this is a good thing, [censored] can come back anytime.

However, this visit isn't actually free, because I went to see Micky and the Motorcars with him, which is a country music band that I would never listen to if left to my own devices. The concert was at Globe Hall, which I've also never been to - turns out they serve barbecue and a full bar, and then the concert is held in a room directly adjacent to the restaurant. So we got there early enough to have barbecue and a drink, and then we went into the concert area just in time to snag one of the last barstools along the wall.

I thought both the main act and the opener were clearly v. talented, so I enjoyed myself a lot. I also thought that several of them looked like Lord of the Rings characters, which was apparently not supposed to be my takeaway.

But now I'm exhausted from lack of sleep last night, and I have to get up and get some tings done tomorrow - goodnight!

blink three times when you feel it kicking in

I had a pretty lovely, lazy day. First up was a pedicure - I think I've found my new spot and my new person, which is great since this place is 8min from my house and is not, instead, 'conveniently' located five minutes from my office in Boulder. Since I haven't even driven to Boulder since sometime last year, I don't really feel like picking up the habit again just to get my nails done.

Then I drove over to Sloan's Lake and had lunch with Laura and her husband and son. She's my old boss/coworker from a million years ago who lives in San Antonio, but she's in the process of moving to Denver, and they were in town this weekend to finalize some details on their new build. So, we grabbed lunch at the Tap and Burger in Sloan's Lake - I've never been to that little strip of stuff before, and I thought it was cute. We had a lot to catch up on, which we did over burgers + some very awesome cauliflower 'wings' (basically cauliflower fried and coated in buffalo sauce, which was really tasty).

Then I came home and was lazy the rest of the day - I took a long nap, cleaned up my kitchen, tidied some things, did some laundry, etc. And I started reading a book. And that, honestly, was pretty much it, and I'm glad that's all I did because I needed a break.

And now I need to sleep and hopefully not let myself get sucked deeper into this book - goodnight!

if the world would only know what you've been holding back

Today was a fast and brutal slog - I have a lot going on at work, and I should have done some stuff this weekend and did not. So, I worked all day with basically no breaks. But I did sign off around 5:30 to get ready for dinner, and then I picked up my friend Kelly and we went to Rioja.

When I go out in Denver I almost never bother to go downtown, since Katie and I usually stick around our neighborhood - but Kelly and I were talking about the need to try other restaurants, so Rioja was our first attempt. It's on Larimer, and that block has been shut down to traffic and feels very festive, with lots of outdoor seating for lots of restaurants. All in all, it was a delightful evening - I wasn't quite as impressed with the food as I thought I would be (my halibut was slightly overcooked, and I didn't care for the dessert - but I'm really not a dessert person anyway). But the ambiance was fantastic, and Kelly and I had a really good time, so it was a v. fun excursion even if it was v. weird to be out on a Monday.

Then I got home, relaxed for a bit, and worked for the last hour and a half to get through some stuff for tomorrow. And now I really should decompress and go to sleep - goodnight!

i'll be all you need and more

I'm v. tired but I had a v. lovely day (or at least a v. lovely end to it). I woke up this morning in time to have some fairly leisurely coffee before getting started with work, and work itself was not too onerous - I got through most of my inbox backlog (which was a miracle in and of itself) and got some actual work done, and also had some good meetings, so that was all great.

Then I sloughed off slightly early to get ready for my evening plans - Katie and I hadn't been out to dinner in fourteen months (although we've seen each other all the time in quarantine), so we decided to break the seal tonight. We had six p.m. reservations, but we were both not feeling it in terms of work (Katie because she had taken the afternoon off, me because I was tired), so I went over to her place a little before five and we grabbed a drink before dinner. Our first stop was Lady Jane, which we used to go to often in the beforetimes - I had a tiki style drink with an umbrella and everything, which felt like a v. warm welcome back into the fold of people who sometimes go to bars.

Then we went to our dinner reservation - I had booked us an outside table at The Fifth String, and the weather was perfect for it. If anything, it was a little too perfect - it turns out their outdoor tables are still in little greenhouses, which would have been great in winter but was roasting for the first bit of our dinner. However, it cooled off soon enough, and the food and cocktails were so amazing that the temperature didn't matter. Fifth String is where Old Major used to be, and while we always liked to go to Old Major for the ambience and the location, Fifth String has way outdone Old Major in terms of food. My cocktail was perfect, and Katie and I went all in on food - we started with oysters (and omg I've missed oysters), which were delightful. Then we split two prix fixe menus (i.e. ordered things and then shared them) - the appetizers were a wagyu carpaccio and a hamachi crudo (the carpaccio was almost too decadent, since the raw beef was covered in some incredible bites of other things; but the hamachi was just right). The mains were a Japanese pork dish and a halibut on top of the most perfect buttery mashed potatoes. For dessert, we had a strawberry pie and a v. nice sorbet. All in all, the food was to die for, especially after a year of eating takeout or #quarantinechef endeavors.

Of course, it's allergy season and so now I have a sore throat and am convinced I have covid, but other than that it was an incredible night. Katie and I discussed many and varied tings over the course of approximately four hours together, which was way overdue since I've been in Iowa. We ended the night sitting in my car and talking like we often do, and I could have kept talking forever...

...but I'm also old, and clearly that's true because we both paced ourselves and didn't get drunk despite the temptation of those killer cocktails. So we said our farewells and I came home, and now I'm considering bedtime. Goodnight!

are you fed up yet

I've been seriously unmotivated since coming back to Denver - or rather, the things I'm motivated to do are not the things I should be doing. I awoke this morning to a winter wonderland - 6-8" of snow, gleaming in the sunlight. The storm last night was over by the time I woke up, and the sun was shining almost all day - so while there is still plenty of snow to be found, it wasn't as dreary as some of the snow days I had in Iowa a couple of weeks ago.

I did have a decent morning - I ate oatmeal and did some writing, and I will most certainly take that. Then I worked all day, although I had a break for a call with Alyssa, which was great as always. I wrapped up around six (with a call with an aspiring writer at work, which I enjoyed) and then tried a new dinner recipe - I made chicken tinga tacos with a side of brussels sprouts, and they were delish. Basically, it just required pureeing tomatoes, chipotles, onions, and garlic in a blender, then browning some spice-rubbed chicken and finishing the chicken by simmering it in that sauce. They were delish and I'm excited to eat leftovers for the next couple of days - although I have some ambitious recipes planned to try this weekend, so we'll see if anything tops the tacos this weekend.

Then I cleaned up, messed around, and put a foot peel on my feet (perhaps a mistake, but my heels are cracking and I think I managed to keep the peel from touching my ankles, which was the mistake I made last time and resulted in feeling like I had burned skin that wasn't meant to be peeled). And now I am going to read or write or something and go to bed - goodnight!

that's a fine looking high horse

I got a decent amount done today, which is shocking...not really much writing, but in my effort to procrastinate my way around my current block, I did a bunch of other stuff instead. I woke up at a reasonable hour, did a bit of planning for the week, and did a lot of wardrobe maintenance (mostly hanging, folding, and putting things away, since my guest bed has turned into a spare closet in the absence of any foreseeable guests). I also went on a wine run to restock my supplies in advance of fall / the election / general life events - I hadn't made a wine run since June (other than the occasional bottle at the wine shop down the street) and while the situation certainly wasn't dire, I was basically out of the <$20 bottles that are good for opening and sipping throughout the week and instead had started popping the expensive bottles that were mementoes from wineries and other past lives.

So, I succumbed to my inner hoarder that now worries when I have less than two of anything, and I stocked up. Then I went to the grocery store to grab a few things (mostly produce) for meals this week. Then I came home and spent most of the afternoon talking - I had a videochat with Katrina, then a call with [censored], and then my usual Sunday night call with my parents. Everyone was in good form, and it was nice to catch up with all parties -- never long enough, of course, but I'll take what I can get.

After I hung up with my parents, I immediately cooked for a couple of hours. I made four servings of oatmeal for breakfast this week. I boiled eggs, cooked bacon, and cooked chicken breast for cobb salads (but I didn't put the salads together because I ran out of steam). I also tried a new-to-me recipe for a spicy carbonara pasta by Chrissy Teigen - I was in the mood for carbonara, especially since I was cooking bacon anyway, and this recipe was v. tasty. The spicy part wasn't a joke - it involved three tablespoons of chile garlic sauce, which is about three more tablespoons than I usually put into things. But it was super tasty and I would definitely eat it again, which is a good thing since there are leftovers.

And now I need to go to sleep and get tomorrow off on a strong writing note - goodnight!

in all the good times i find myself longing for change

Today was a full-on onslaught of all the things that lure me fully into corporate america - money, status, prestige, fine wine, etc. My VP's boss is in town, and my VP also happened to have an all-hands today, which meant I had three hours of meetings with them - and I had to present a couple of things at my VP's all-hands, and also moderate a Q&A with the big big boss. We also had an official opening of our new space, including a ribbon cutting, and so I had to do that before scrambling to do some work for an hour since I'd ignored everything in favor of getting through all of the stuff that absolutely had to be done today.

But I left at 5:30 so I could drop my car off at home and then walk to Frasca to have dinner with my VP's boss and the rest of the Boulder site leadership team. I've been wanting to go to Frasca for awhile - it's next door to Pizzeria Locale and owned by the same people, but Frasca is super fancy and has won a whole bunch of James Beard awards. I shudder to think how much the bill ended up being - we had a four-course tasting menu in a private room, and the big big boss was in charge of ordering wine. Since he's French and v. v. vocal about his love of French food/wine and disdain for American food/wine, we started with a very nice champagne, then had at least three different, wonderful red wines throughout the meal. At some point I heard him say that he was going to be more reasonable with the next wine or else Sundar would fire him - which I doubt, but also, the first wine tasted like a gift from heaven and was served in a glass that was probably more expensive than any bottle of wine I would buy, so I would guess his expense account is far more luxurious than mine.

sssanyway. The food was perfect - I pretended for the night that I have no issues with gluten, and I don't regret that choice because their bread was amazing and the pasta was one of the best things I've tasted in awhile. Actually, that's a lie, because the wagyu steak and the amazing mashed potatoes in the next course were even better than the pasta. I also spent a lot of time talking to Michael and Mike about the good/bad old days from a million years ago, so I had a surprisingly fun time considering that it was a work dinner and I was attempting to be on good behavior.

But now I need to sleep off the wine so that I can get up early and do all the work I should have done tonight. Goodnight!

i got all pig iron

Today was a v. long day in the pixel mines, as my friend Shedletsky would say. I woke up at 6:15, but I didn't write - instead, I started working on day job stuff as soon as I poured my coffee. I don't regret that, because spending three hours at my desk at home getting things done was incredibly helpful in terms of making me feel like a decent human later when my meetings started.

Still, it made for a long day. Eventually I took a quick shower, took a meeting from home, and then went into the office for another string of meetings. I managed to leave at 4:30, though, and met up with Katie at Blackbelly. The only advantage of the government shutdown is that she drove up to see me rather than me having to go to Denver - and I remembered the fact that she eats as much meat as I do, so I took her to a butcher-focused restaurant that I've been wanting to go to since few of my other visitors have been into that kind of scene.

It turned out to be a v. nice place for happy hour - she had a burger (which is probably what I really wanted, in retrospect), but I decided to try something new. So I went with their crispy pig ears, which the server described as 'bacon french fries', which is pretty much what they were. They came with a fried egg on top and some perfect red pepper jelly underneath, and it was surprisingly delicious (although rich and perhaps not actually filling enough). I also got the broccoli, which was tasty as well. And I caught Katie up on everything she needed to know about southern Iowa, so that was a fun way to spend a couple of hours.

Then I came home, messed around the house, tried on some stuff that I'd ordered online, and then did another hour or so of work for the day job. I'm trying to get caught up on a million things that have been lingering, and I don't know how successful I'll be since I'm about to go out of town, but we'll see what I can make happen.

But now I'm going to read for just a bit and then go to bed - goodnight!

rain keeps falling

Today was pretty perfect. I slept later than planned, then spent some time messing around the house while talking to Heather (aka dear respected madam), and eating scrambled eggs, and packing for our weekend away. Then we drove up into the mountains, which are entirely gorgeous.

Our first stop was Beaver Creek, where we had lunch - this was mostly an inside joke, since Salim (her husband) always liked to claim that I was from Beaver Creek in some derogatory joke toward my rural upbringing. Of course, Beaver Creek, Colorado, is more like Squaw Valley - an upscale ski resort that is not rural at all. But we had a delightful lunch there, and wandered around the resort a bit, and it was a great break.

Then we drove to Glenwood Springs, and I was astonished by how quickly the landscape changed after Beaver Creek - we went from the Rockies to an alien land full of deep canyons, red rocks, and scrub vegetation, carved out of the earth by the Colorado River, which is rather effective at creating dramatic scenery. When we got here, we checked into the hotel (delightful), then walked around a little, then had a drink (or perhaps many drinks) at a nearby restaurant. We then went to the hot springs, but we only lasted 30min before it started raining pretty hard, and the cold rain on our faces wasn't quite as pleasant as the hot springs.

So now we're hanging out at the hotel, and it's pretty magical, but it's time for bed - goodnight!

hit me with your best shirt

I had an awesome day, but I need to go to bed immediately even though it's only ten p.m. and my inner night owl is crying at my self-imposed surrender to the working world. I spent too much time this morning lazing about, but I did manage to get up, get around, and scramble to finish pulling my house into some semblance of order after all my travels.

I also spent a few minutes (which wasn't nearly enough time) talking to my parents - it was earlier than I usually call them, so they weren't expecting me, but I had to call and say happy mother's day. But I couldn't talk for long, because at 2:30pm, Katrina showed up - she's in town for a conference later this week, so she's staying with me for a couple of days, which is super fun.

We hung out at my place for a few minutes so that she could get acclimated, and then we took a driving tour of my surroundings. That meant we drove immediately into the mountains - it really is incredible how quickly you can be in the mountains here, which I definitely don't take enough advantage of. We went to Nederland, which I'd been to with Drewbaby last November. The drive was gorgeous in a misty, atmospheric kind of way - it rained off and on all day, so the mountains themselves were shrouded in clouds, but the foliage is much greener than usual, so it was v. pretty.

We had a drink and some chips at a brewery in Nederland, which we entered after waiting out a downpour/small hail situation while parked outside. After that, we took the long way back to Boulder by driving through Golden - we didn't stop there, but we enjoyed the drive. We made it back to Boulder just in time for a reservation I'd made at Santo, which is a newish New Mexican restaurant owned by the same chef who owns Blackbelly (and who won a Top Chef many years ago). I have to say, I was a little disappointed; the service was too slow (we ordered three appetizers and an entree to share, and they decided to course out the appetizers so that we got a small salmon tostada by itself, then waited fifteen minutes for the soup/salad, and then waited another twenty minutes or so for the enchiladas...no bueno). The soup was pretty tasty, and the enchiladas were good, but the rice and beans with them were boring (and they initially forgot the rice). However, the servers were really friendly despite the slowness, and the prices were decent, so I'd be willing to try them again when they work out the kinks.

Then we came home, and we pretty much immediately wanted to go to bed, so that's the plan I'm pursuing. Goodnight - and happy mother's day to those of you who are celebrating!

somebody save your soul 'cause you've been sinning in this city, i know

Yesterday involved way more fun than my body had budgeted for, and that meant that today required paying the wages of my sins. I slept in yesterday morning, and then spent most of the morning/early afternoon taking care of office-related stuff - mostly sorting through all the piles of documents that I've let stack up for the last six months so that I can start figuring out my taxes. This is going to be an exercise in pain since there are so many documents, receipts, etc. to sort through - and since I've been basically ignoring my writing business for the past six months, things are really not in order.

But I had to slack off around three so that I could take a shower and get ready for fun. Katie and I had a 5:30pm reservation at Ophelia's, so I drove to Denver and met her at her house so that we could lyft over together. We both forgot that yesterday was St. Patrick's Day, which meant downtown was super messy with people pretending to be Irish (the same people who also pretend to be Santa during Santacon, and patriotic during the 4th of July, and Mexican during Cinco de Mayo, etc., etc.). Ophelia's was also messy, since there were a lot of drunk people (which I judged, although as the night turned out, I was being a total hypocrite).

The food, though, was v. tasty - we had some excellent arepas and some kobe beef sliders, and a lot of fries, and it was great. I was pretty sedate at Ophelia's - I had two cocktails over two hours, and Katie and I talked lots about life (mostly me, yay - jk). But when we were done at 7:15, we weren't quite ready to go home...

...so we went to Lola, where we somehow ended up staying for five hours, drinking more margaritas than was advisable while covering many and varied topics of conversation. The music was perfect (I kept thinking things were by Roxette, when really they were by Heart, and [censored] would be very disappointed in me), and the drinks were strong, and we were high on life, and it was one of those perfect nights where overindulgence seems like a good idea...

Spoiler: it wasn't a good idea. Or, at least, it didn't feel like a good idea this morning, when I awoke in Katie's guest room feeling like death. I hung out for awhile in an attempt to recover, which was helped along by James picking up breakfast burritos for us - but considering that sitting in a rocking chair at one point made me want to vomit, you can tell I wasn't in the best place physically. That said, though, it was a lovely morning - we sat in the sun in the backyard, and I was rocking my plush pink robe (I know how to make myself at home at Katie's), and hanging out with Katie and James is always blissful.

I came home around noon and promptly crawled into bed, where I nursed my pain for awhile. Then I ate a snack and called my parents. While I was talking to them, all the great weather disappeared - the sky turned dark, and then suddenly it hailed, and then proceeded to rain. I wanted to just hole up in my house for the rest of the night, but I had dinner reservations with a visiting coworker in Denver...so I took a shower and drove back to Denver after only having been home for ~5hrs.

On the way, the rain suddenly turned to snow - I ate breakfast outside this morning, but by dinner everything was snow and ice. The roads were warm enough that it wasn't sticking, though, so I made it to Denver on time and picked up Navin from the train station. We had dinner at Avelina, which I hadn't been to before - it's your usual hip new American kind of place. I liked the decor a lot (warmer than many minimalist new American places), and the food was pretty tasty - however, what I ordered was probably a little too rich (short rib with beet risotto). Still, I would probably go back. And it was really fun to hang out with Navin, so I'm glad I went.

But now I need to sleep and try to effect the rest of my recovery - goodnight!