Splat.

Sometimes you are the windshield and sometimes you are the bug. Do you ever have a period of time in your life where you feel that nothing can go right? I am in one of those funks right now. I wouldn't really call it a Funk, but I just did...I am generally in a good mood except for the aforementioned not being able to do things correctly.

I will start with the hot water heater. Two weeks ago, I returned home from Blacksburg to find the overflow pipe of my hot water heater leaking from the top between the heater and the fastener. After countless Google searches as to what this would entail...it was determined that a new heater would be necessary. $1400 down the tubes or put another way, another flat screen for the bedroom...or to stay in savings for these lean economic times. The following week I return home only to find that my electric disconnect for my HVAC system is bad. $250 down the drain. I knew this was coming from last winter when the fuse blew a couple times. The heat must use more power than the AC because this only happens in the winter. And the final house item happened at 3:30 AM last Wednesday night. The damn smoke alarm starts beeping. EVERY MINUTE. This of course means that the battery is dieing. I went looking for a 9 volt and found one in the freezer. With hope, this would do the trick. It did not. That battery must be dead too (although licking the end still gave me a jolt). So, with the alarm still beeping, I grabbed the wire cutters. Cut the sucker off from the house's electric system. I will now have to re-connect it and get a new battery, but at least I could sleep.

Now with all of the household nightmares, I don't seem to be doing much better at work. It seems that every decision I make is not in accordance with my bosses thoughts on the topic. I know this will pass, but what can I say...I'm trying to make too many people happy right now. Trying to please clients so that we may get some work sent our way and at the same time not trying to spend too much money doing so. It is a tricky balancing act.

Should I dress as Waldo (From "Where's Waldo? fame) or Bret (From Flight of the Conchords fame)? Waldo may be easier, but Bret seems more obscure. HMMMMM. Decisions.

LEED AP and UK part 2

I passed my LEED exam today. It feels like a million bucks. I know that it is only a certification, but I have been studying pretty hard for it lately and off and on for 8 months now. It is a monkey off my back. I am now the only LEED AP in my office and most importantly can now get back to reading my book, Agent Zigzag. With some intense studying the past few weeks (2 months really) I haven't wanted to waste any time not studying. Spending two entire nights in the car after work eliminated most free time during the week.

So...I think we left it with our trip up to the British country side for Kate and Joe's wedding...we had a blast. I don't feel like getting in to it too much, but suffice it to say it was very nice and the setting was great. The day after the exam we caught a train in Evesham on our way to Edinburgh. We changed trains twice, once in...well, I don't really remember, and once again in Birmingham? It is getting fuzzy now. The second change we actually had to walk to a totally different station. Once in Edinburgh you come out of the train station right in the middle of the city, between New City and Old City. We were staying in New and headed to find our room. We rented a room during Fringe Festival at a ladies flat in a very nice old building. Her spot was quite nice. Fringe fest was fun as we saw 2 comedy plays. We also visited the Edinburgh Castle and wandered around most of the center area of Edinburgh. After a night, a full day, and another half day we headed on the train to St. Andrews. St. Andrews is home to the Old Course, the oldest golf course in the world. I wanted to hit this up and the British Golf Museum for sure. It is situated on the Ocean or Sea and quite pretty. We toured an old castle that was in ruins as well as the old cathedral which also was in ruins. Only it was now a cemetery...very cool. Having a couple friends that studied at St. Andrews, we were adept at the watering holes to pass the evening along until our night train back to London Euston. The night train was nice, picked us up in Leuchars, the train station about 15 minutes from St. Andrews and rode straight through the night to London. Our berth had 2 beds, a sink, and a desk. We got into London around 7 and then caught the tube back to Holland Park where while walking to our friends townhouse we ran into Petra...our friend with whom we were staying. I of course saw her right away and my wife with her ever lasting tunnel vision nearly blew right by her. Petra is Michelle's best friend so this was quite funny. Petra was on her way to work...saw our visit was short. Our last day in London was spent mostly wandering around with Gemma. We rode the double decker bus and went to the Arsenal stadium where I picked up my rad Arsenal Polo. That evening we met up with Sorrel, who with Gemma, visited us in the US a few years ago and Petra for dinner. We then parted ways and went home to visit with Petra and finish up the laundry so that we were prepared to head out the next morning. A whirlwind of a trip and a good time as well.

Oh...get out and vote. Unless you are voting for McCain. While it is your right to do so, I would prefer you don't. His beliefs are that of an idiot in my opinion and can't see how any one with half a brain would think that is the way we need to head. For instance, while discussing abortion and selecting someone for the US Supreme Court stated (paraphrasing here) "I don't have specific things that I look for in a justice as long as they are qualified. But if they believe in abortion, I don't think they are qualified." Uh...John...That means exactly that you do have specific things that you require. Just saying. Now, I am not so naive that I blindly think Mr. Obama can accomplish what he hopes to. Very rarely does a President actually get to do such do to dealing with congress. Well, if the President follows the Constitution anyway.

Hello non followers....Innit.

Have I lost all that read? Not that there really were any readers. So how has everybody been? Is the stock market low enough for you? What else will the government buy? Will the Rays beat the sawx?

So...I've been pretty busy here at work and at life in general. I've been studying every Tuesday and Wednesday with Jacob for our LEED AP exam which we are going to take on Thursday. Tuesdays are spent at the Starbucks in Oakton where I have had a girl somehow figure out that my wife is in Vet School (Shout out to Michelle...love you babe!) and ask if she knows any horse researchers that can work on her friends horse and I have had a girl try to flirt with me (I think) by discussing my rad USSR jacket and how she also has one. On Wednesday we study at St. Elmos Coffee in Alexandria, Del Ray to be exact. Sometimes there is a performance and sometimes it is quiet, but it is always different. Occassionally, my dad is in there, and as King of Del Ray, he introduces me to everyone that works there. What does this get me? Free coffee...well, nope. It gets me nothing but short term conversation. 3 of the last 4 weekends I have studied LEED in Newman Library at Virginia Tech while my wife studies something having to do with animals. I spend generally 3 hours there on Sunday and up to 6 on Saturday. Did I mention that I had better pass this damn exam?

I went to the VT vs. Nebraska game a few weeks ago. That was a lot of fun. I also got to see my Grandparents that are not getting any younger and I don't get the chance to see that often. The Nebraska game experience is a great one. They support their team loudly during the game, but shake your hand and congratulate you after. Never seen anything like it. I've seen people nice to each other before the game, but to seek out any opposing fan and congratulate them after losing is amazing. And strange. This must have happened 5 or more times to me alone.

Back in August, Michelle and I went to the UK. It seems like a different life ago, but in reality is only about 2 months ago. First we flew into London and rode the Green Tomato (Highly recommended by this writer) Car service to our place of residence in Holland Park. Green Tomato uses only Toyota Priuses as my way to save a bit of petrol. We were staying at our friends place in London for the first leg of our trip. Petra and Adrian live in London now. They were not there while we were here, but were very gracious to lend us their town house. It was about 3 blocks to the Holland Park tube stop and in a very nice neighborhood. Hello Ferraris parked on the street. We arrived in London around 6 am and were at the house by 7. Michelle and I napped until about 11. We then got up and walked up the road for a quick sandwhich. After our sandwhich we headed up to Hyde Park for some walking around and free art gallery viewing. We went to Harrods, Princess Di's memorial and then the grocery for some food. After dinner at home the first night we went to the local pub around the corner. A good first day in London. The next day we went to St. Pauls Cathedral (did not go inside b/c of the 12 pound fee), across the Millenium bridge to the Tate Modern, down the Thames to the Tower Bridge and then to the Tower of London. Had some Indian a couple stops away on the Tube and met up with Michelle's study abroad friends for some drinks a bit later...Day three in London (Friday for those scoring at home) we wanted to see the changing of the guard...which we did. Ehh. Did it. Don't need to again. Immediately got in line for Buckingham Palace tickets (word up 2 hour line!). Walked to Parliament and Big Ben for a bit of a bite to eat and then back to BP for the tour. Afterwards we walked to Trafalgar Square...what up NO PIGEONS! They had olympic boxing on the big TV. My camera died at that point, so there were no more pictures for the day. Met up w/ Gemma that night for some drinks somewhere...Angel? Yep. That's it. Angel. Saturday we went to the country for Borat and Kate's wedding. Well, Joe and Kate...we learned at the reception that Joe is fond of wearing a MANKINI...so I will now call him Borat. Very Nice. Can I say that Gemma is a crazy driver? She indicated that we would be in a bus, but by bus, she meant the smallest mini-van i've seen since those little Toyota's in the 80's. No curb went unchallenged and somehow, immediately after telling us that if you go over 100 you get your license revoked, you guessed it....we were going 105. You may think km, but no, Brits are a bit confused as they have MPH in speed limit and long distance but measure rooms by square meters. You figure it out.....

Part 2 of the UK Vacation will have to wait, we will pick up with the wedding and follow through to Edinburgh and the fringe festival, up to St. Andrews, the night train back to London and one final day in London...

Paris Hilton? Seriously?

I was unaware that Paris Hilton and B-Spears were accomplished lawyers that graduated from Harvard and had worked their way up the political ladder. Did you know this? Wait...you mean they are just celebrities? So that means that Barack Obama is like them because he is popular? Give me a break McCain. Is this the best you've got? Lets stick to the subjects at hand...and you point one of those out...offshore drilling. Again, don't let facts get in the way McCain...if drilling started today, and I'm willing to forget the environmental aspects of this for this note, not one drop of oil would be around for 7-10 years according to the oil companies. So, please explain to me how this is supposed to help gas prices? Don't worry America...we will keep doing the status quo and in 7-10 years your gas will go down in price 5 cents a gallon! Wow...you are right McCain lets drill today!
We can make a lot of progress on alt. fuels in 7-10 years, lets focus on that thank you very much.
And to your second point McCain (you aren't worthy of having both names used right now...) about raising taxes, it seems that according to analysis done by the Brookings Institute, while you and Obama have differing ideas on taxes, both of your plans actually lower taxes. So again, stop trying to scare the dimwits you covet and stick to the facts. Douche.

Bears? We will never know.

On the June 28th we went for a hike on the AT to McAffee Knob which is about 30 minutes or so from Blacksburg. The hike is nearly 4 miles from the parking lot in Catawba, VA to one of the most famous photo opportunities on the AT. It appeared as if it T-storms would cut the hike short, but they faded away after about 20 minutes of hiking. The hike isn't too difficult itself. 8 miles round trip isn't too bad as it takes us about 2 and a half hours to do such a hike. But my blood sugar got low and it was warm if not hot. I was sweating pretty good. As we got near the knob we were walking through some sort of berry bushes when we heard some rather load rustling in the woods. In case you didn't know, bears love berries. Also, the 2 times I've seen bears in the wild it was at about 5/6 in the evening. Well, wouldn't you know that it was about 5:15? So, we started blowing on the whistle and talking more to make sure that the bears? knew we were around. You don't want to suprise them comign around a corner. We heard more rustling at different points of the hike to the knob...it could have been something else like a racoon but I don't think so. We also saw two snakes on the trail. The first a garder snake and the second a black snake on the side of the trail. Michelle came upon them first...so she scared them off.
Last weekend for the 4th we stuck around Blacksburg to watch the fireworks and did a bit of fishing. Michelle caught her first fish! A small 7 inch or so Largemouth...picture to follow at some point. The firework show was nice. On Saturday we went to Charlotte to visit w/ the Hollands for Quinn's first birthday party. While there we checked out a couple edgy neighborhoods, NoDa and Central. Cool, but small. Charlotte is very generic so it was nice to find a place like these. Unfortunately, you can do everything the neighborhood has to offer in just under 2 hours and that includes eating. On Sunday we went with Charlie and Lisa to the Wine Festival on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Floyd. The festival was ruined by rain. This did not stop us from tasting many different area wines. I believe the central VA wineries to be better, as the climate produces better grapes for the wine. Like I know what I'm talking about.

Oh...Ed...as an upcoming teacher...your blog is on the public domain...you may want to dial back the cussing!

Fishing? Technically...

Six of us went to Gatewood Park this weekend and rented up a couple john boats for about $5 each and went fishing. It should be called drowning worms and getting a sun burn. Our boat lost 6-0 in terms of fish caught. Of course it was me and 2 girls against 2 guys and 1 girl. I had to keep the boat in position (no anchor) and wasn't able to fish as much as was necessary. But, it was fun and that is all that really matters.

The night before we went to a fish fry put on by the local Ruritan club. $7 for all-u-can eat fried whitefish, fries, slaw, tea or lemonade, and dessert. Damn good stuff. We then proceeded with Charlie and Lisa to Floyd for Contra dancing...no, not "up, down, up, down, b, a, start, start" Contra, but a version of country line dancing. People of all types were there, beginners, experts, hippies, young, old, hot, ugly...I also say that it was fun. Michelle loved it which means that we will be going again.

I think I've settled on a new TV for the Condo in the Burg, but I have to make sure it will fit in the bedroom at home when Vet School ends. Note to self, measure the dresser. Nothing too exciting occurring here right now. Very busy at work and a very busy weekend coming up. A 5K Saturday morning...followed by a trip to Philly for a party, followed by a trip back home and then on to the Nats game on Sunday afternoon.

I watched the show "greensburg" on the planet green channel...observations: the greensburg town council has no clue, the greensburg football team sucks (homecoming called at half time? losing 70-12? fugh.) and they need to get the show moving to the new building of the decimated town. The background crap got old quick...it is time to see some plans coming to fruition.

OK, until the mood strikes again...cheers.

Is it time for lunch yet?

The simple answer is no. 30 minutes to go.

I went to the Obama rally last week at the Nissan Pavilion. It was interesting as I have never been all that into politics or to an event like that. Some people yell at everything that is said, some, like me, clap along when something you agree with is said, and some just observe. Nothing wrong with any of the above I guess. Tim Kaine, the VA governor spoke first about 15 minutes before 6. Promptly at 6, Obama and Jim Webb, a senator from VA, came on stage. I was expecting the event to start late, but it did not, which was a pleasant surprise. Webb spoke for 10 minutes or so prior to turning it over to Obama who spoke for I would say nearly 40 minutes. Overall, a good night, and what I believe a step in the process of changing the course of the country. This was after all, a black man, coming to VA, to kick off his general election campaign. VA is a state that hasn't voted for a blue president since 1964...most presidential nominees don't even bother to visit, and here was Obama starting off here.

I played softball last night, drank too much beer after, and now feel a little slow today. But, we won the game and I had a good time.

I should be meeting up with Jacob tonight to study LEED. We need to crank this up. It is high time to take this exam and pass. I learned this week that I probably have tickets to the VT vs. Nebraska game, so I now need to find some airfare. I should be doing work right now, but am terribly unmotivated to do so. This week I will telecommute again for the first time since late April as I will be driving to BBurg to visit Michelle. Got to love gas prices these days right?

This past weekend we nailed down where we will be spending portions of our trip to the UK in August. After the wedding ends, we will head to Edinburgh for 2 nights. From Edinburgh we will catch an early train to St. Andrews and spend the day there. After our day in St. Andrews we will catch the sleeper train back to London for one final day around town before heading home. The first 3 days of the trip will also be set in London. Overall, I think a good first trip to Europe.

Alright...must....work....now....