An Adventurous Weekend, And Pleasant Too
Monday, Jun. 02, 2003

Man, I should have written a stuffo while I was in a great mood over the weekend. I was just swimmingly content and/or happy about all the time, even though I was tired.

Friday, heck, I really don�t remember what we did that night. I think that was the night we all went over to Aisai�s mom�s and stuff. I don�t remember that well. Unfortunate.

Saturday, the first thing we had to deal with was that we were having our pictures made that morning at church for the church directory (via Olan Mills) and also another, just digital camera shot, for the big wall of pictures. Aisai decided to wear her hair down. I have warned her in the past and I warned her then that this mad her head looks like a pyramid. Some of my exact words were �You should have little Egyptians walking on your shoulders.� Well, she couldn�t see what she looked like in the Olan Mills photos, but when we went to the room where the normal guy had a digital camera hooked to a TV so we could immediately see what he took, Aisai saw her picture and immediately tied her hair in a knot on the back of her head (yes, literally. She can do that.) That picture came out Ok.

We were supposed to have one free 8x10 of any of the Olan Mills photos, but they were all total crap. Aisai wore black and is rather pale. I�m not too pale and wore my dark suit. And the background was dark, so when the camera adjusted for light, Aisai seemed to glow. She referred to herself as �Moby Dick� on the way home. Though I�m not sure that was the white whale�s name.

We told them we didn�t want any of the photos in an 8x10.

Before even that, a great breakfast adventure in pain and agony. We didn�t have enough milk for both Aisai and I to have our protein drink with milk. I didn�t tell Aisai this but just asked if she wanted her protein drink (it�s Saturday, so maybe we do something different, no?). She did and so I made mine with Crystal Light. Oh, it was very very foul. In fact, I tried drinking a second glass since just one didn�t have enough calories, but could only drink half of it.

After pictures, we zipped home, changed, and went to help Dan and Rachel move. We did that and it was the same old thing from when we help other people move. The setup:

They: Oh, remember how you said you�d help us move? Can we do that this Saturday?

Me: Sure, just make sure to pack everything in boxes. I don�t mind moving heavy stuff and boxes, but I don�t pack them. If it gets down to that, we�ll hit the road.

They: Oh, we don�t really need help with boxes, as we can get those ourselves. We just need help with the heavy stuff.

So, we get there and some other people had already done one run with the big truck. We loaded two pickups and a 20� rental truck with what was left (including the heaviest piece of furniture I�d ever dealt with, a china cabinet of about 400 lbs (I am not exaggerating)). And what was left in the old apartment, lots of kitchen stuff, nick-nacks, etc. And was there tons of room on the big truck? Yes.

We started grabbing waffle irons and phones, wall hangings, rugs, and just about anything we thought would travel well without breaking. We did the equivalent of packing boxes without the boxes. It wasn�t unusual to see one of the larger guys walking to the back of a pickup carrying only a toaster.

We knocked it out and it was done. Now, they have about 4 trips with their cars to do to get everything else. If they�d just boxed it, we�d crank it out in about 20 more minutes total.

Heck, it takes me more than 20 minutes to get over to their side of town. It�s not a big deal to actually move all their stuff. This has happened, with different people, repeatedly.

The only person with a really good excuse was the gal who�d just had surgery and we were helping her escape her abusive husband. That was a few years ago.

After moving, we went home and changed again and then went to see The Matrix Reloaded (again) with Neice Christine, Leeann (Aisai�s sister from England), and Tyler (Chris�s boyfriend). Upon a second viewing, I must say:

1. Lawrence Fishburn can�t act.

2. The titty dance scene wasn�t as long as I remembered.

3. You catch many hints about the end from the beginning.

4. I realized how there was totally no info about the first movie, so people who didn�t see it first (AKA Dora from Aisai�s work) were completely lost.

5. It kicked 10% more ass than I realized.

6. Notes on first 40 minutes �Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up.� After Larry Fishburn�s crap speech, I leaned over to Christine and said �Don�t worry, the movie will start in about 10 minutes.� However, I�d forgotten about the old dude�s basement machines speech.

7. That old dude was like having a ST:TNG extra pop up in my movie.

8. The Manglavelian, or whatever, his wife�s scenes didn�t seem so odd this time.

9. Agent Smith is very killer.

10. The Vanilla Manilli twins aren�t as cool as they could have been.

11. In an informal poll in the car, only Aisai and I found the Cadillacs obvious in the chase scene.

12. Keymaker was cool. Not to be confused with Rick Moranis.

Sunday, Aisai went shopping with her sister and mom. I painted my front calipers and changed my oil. I�m running my �summer oil� of 15w50 Mobil 1. Smoother at high heats. Not good for winter though.

One lame side effect of the caliper painting is that the lug nuts being in different places has made my wheels a little, and I�m being picky here, but just a little out of balance. Now, technically, my wheels are in balance. But since I have those locking nuts which are larger than the others�the rotor et al are obviously balanced to make it all work.

I need to take the wheels off and see if there is marking showing me which one to put the locking nut onto. If I can�t find that, I�ll go buy all new lug nuts so it�ll be balanced.

There were other adventures. I played with Damian, my English nephew (3). Leeann didn�t understand the fundamental concept of fun behind a convertible. Aisai, Mom (hers), and Leeann had the Camry�s battery die when they were out shopping. Aisai is taking care of that for them now as they are pathetic women and Aisai as been mutated beyond that into a borderline superhero among normal women.

Oh, and we didn�t buy my 300 dollar rug. Aisai still says I can get it, but in the last few months we�re spend �$700 of unbudgeted money�. Which just lets me know that the budgeting system is inadequate. So we�re laying low for a while.

I�m still getting a present for my Car�s birthday, July 12. But rather than being a rollbar, it�s a Nintendo Gamecube. Ooh, with free Metroid Prime. And then we�ll play Animal Crossing.

Crap�I think we have rats in here again (work).

Groovy.