Oh, and see the following (sent today in preparation for this sunday); roundly hailed as one of my best invitations ever!

So the party this weekend will be at Rob & Summer's; they're up for the hosting, not so much for hosting all the food because they have to spend money on feeding and clothing some sort of small creature that has taken them as hosts.

So I'm figuring on showing up early early afternoon to set up food and start getting in football mood. My evite isn't accessible here at work currently so this here e-mail should start some planning. Still RSVP there though (James - can you add all these addresses to the invitation?).

How about we break up party responsibilities?

Jeff & Val = 5 to 10 lbs of italian beef sandwiches with appropriate rolls; some good hot dogs & buns; cheese stuffed jalapeños wrapped in bacon.

James, you want to get a bunch of interesting toppings for a hot dog bar? and how about italian sausages… I hear you're in good with those mandola brothers. any kind of hook-up there?

Cate = a mixed drink of superbowl quality & one of your amazing dips. coordinate with Val, Lori, & MGT on ingredients needed. I want to see creativity and a chicago tie-in. (blue crac should be incorporated of course).

Damon & MGT = avocado based food; Brats - your heritage mandates it. just bring a dozen or two with some onions and green peppers and we can start the beer marinating process early.

Ben = cocktail weenies & pigs in a blanket. this is a MUST for all superbowl parties so you best be showing up. the weenies are easy and for the blankets all you need is some pillsbury dough boy wrapping that come in the frozen tubes.

And all except cate (& the mixed drink committee) should bring their midwestern beer of choice. just think of the good times spent in both Indy and Chicago and it should come fairly easy.

and if rob is in the mood I'd be up for making some pizza as well. we all know of rob's legendary dough making skills; so if he is interested we can add pizza ingredients and sauce to the list of items to bring.

Just remember - it may sound like a lot of meat and food; but this is a midwestern themed

ah, so the weekend planning begins. there's nothing quite like the seamlessness of staying on top of work tasks and contributing useful input while managing one's own life and planning for things while at work. there is just something about accomplishment and organization that's satisfying.

so first of all: last night was a HOA board meeting - nothing like the optimism of a condo board before the annual meeting. so that was much fun for about 90 minutes before i got to head over to the planning meeting for my march england trip. it was quite fun and i was able to subtly get my point across and convince the group of my desired route through conversation and no overt disagreement or prodding. quick summary: there are 8 of us renting a canal boat from outside of manchester, UK for a week. we can traverse any direction we choose, provided we return the boat in a week's time. there about five primary routes of travel available from our starting point and i am for seeing as much of the country as possible. the group essentially narrowed the choices down to 2 prior to yesterday: a westerly journey towards wales or a northern bearing towards chester. You can take a look here if you like. there is obviously some quiet concern in the group of so many people being in such close proximity for a whole week on such a cozy vessel. that initially led people to choose the shorter chester trip which would require 3 hours a day of canal travel while the llangollen route would require 6 and, of course, cover much a greater distance. while traveling i usually default to covering as much area as possible as to take in the most culture and sights. there are of course exceptions for great locations and taking the time to relax and acclimate to the schedule and mannerisms of the locals. but regardless - in this case i was more worried about how to spend the non-traveling time. there is only so much to see in small towns located off the beaten path and i imagine after a while they tend to be fairly uniform. for the shorter trip we would get to spend almost two full days in chester and liverpool - but i espouse that the reason for taking a canal trip is to become one with the boat and traverse as much culture and distance as possible.

but this is a conversation that will continue on until our trip in mid-march, so i digress.

only 4 more days until the superbowl! and i am slowly becoming fairly excited. i do not really recall the last rooting championship game i was able to 'participate' in because, while sports have been a fair constant in my life, the teams with which i associate, identify, and somewhat follow have not fared well for two decades. so this leaves me with faint memories of childhood happiness and gatherings - which i will now attempt to recreate for my friends this weekend.

good times, eh?


oh, and for Aqua Teen Hunger Force - nice!
I don't even follow news tickers anymore but noticed 'special alert' crawls about boston happingings yesterday and ignored them as usual. today i get to read the orgin and cause of such excitement.

to sum up: apparantly boston folks are quite terrified of moonanites.

opera and bread

a summary from yesterday: much work, then relaxing.

got to see the new Phillip Glass opera Waiting for the Barbarians last night. it was - eh, ok. the sets were great and the music was typical of Glass. but the characters and the singing - not impressive at all.

but on the plus side - i made my first loaf of bread ever and how exciting is that! i found a recipe several months ago that requires no mixing or kneading and decided that sounded like a good opportunity to start trying to use the cheapest ingredients ever to make good food. i'm moving more towards using everyday fresh cheap ingredients in cooking rather than expensive high dollar items. its a fun transition that should take a while. [one more reason why i need a big plot of land for a garden]. but the bread turned out excellent - a great crust with a firm moist inside. the key is that it takes 12-24 hours for the dough to rise; which is not all that difficult. time is free as they say.

so that was tuesday.

montag

so the new week of cold. all the promised rain that was due this weekend failed to materialize; which was kind of nice - there's nothing quite like a clear, blue-skied, very brisk day. so not too much excitement - a fun friday afternoon and boring friday night. leaving work and noon and getting to grill, bike, and shop when one is normally at work is always pleasurable. night was early teacher happy hour at one of valerie's friend's houses. sometimes those are some of the most tiresome events - a small group of teachers talking / complaining about their work and certain teachers and students whom I often hear of in their stories, but have no idea who they are. i'm thinking i'll be skipping these more in the future and attempt to create my own happy hours.

other than that, a full day of relaxing yesterday; and now a new week of beginning yet again.