Chilly legos....

http://shop.lego.com/Product/?p=4277645

First of all, they need to make it available in the US. Second of all, they need to make a top layer so that it can mold to function like actual legos. Hours o' fun... :-D

Randomly Vicious and lucrative gigs...

So, there's this climb at Great Falls, 5.10+...it's called Randomly Vicious. Folks, there was nothing random about it...it's just plain hard!! And yes, it's going on my 'list'. That was Saturday and I must add (for the lazy who decided to stay in that day), best climbing weather EVER. It was absolutely gorgeous out. Also came to realization that Juliet's Balcony is a really cool place to climb. I've done some routes there before but never ventured to the cliffs below which are fantastic. :-)

And so that night, I made up for my Friday-night-$15-unlucky-poker-streak...second gig in a row in Georgetown and with the generous pay we've been getting in that neck of the woods I'm ready to start throwing up some Swiftkick posters on the street corners.

New Orleans report, don't get excited...

There are some cities that were just not meant to be business trip destinations...and New Orleans takes the #1 spot in this category.

So we got there and walked around the French Quarter and Bourbon Street for about 3 hours. And thus concluded the extent of having any fun at all. We were up literally all night...no hurricanes, no hand grenades. Just work. Sheesh, I'm depressing myself just writing about it!

Anyhow, I did get a shot of a pretty building while I was there...

Fun gig, mean cops...

Apparently, Georgetown police aren't very nice. After a gig of very sporadic playing, at a volume that wouldn't wake a sleeping baby, we were politely asked to end early at last nights gig. Drama, drama.

Folks, when having a house party....always invite the neighbors.

Work, work, and more work...

So, during my NM trip I ran into a former co-worker who had quit the NRA, moved out to Denver and started his own design company (of course, the NRA being his #1 client). I felt rather envious...but more so, hopeful. I figured, if this guy could do it...so could I (not to knock the guy at all, his writing and photography would put me to utter shame). And to make matters even more tempting, my old boss requested that I become an official vendor so that he could outsource some design jobs to me. While these are all good things in terms of fulfilling my freelancing full-time fantasy, it also means putting more work on my plate in addition to my full-time job. Sheesh....I complain enough as it is....oh well. :-)

Now, in terms of my full-time job...it's been quite a frustrating week. But a good learning experience, none the less. I was building a website and thanks to our designy-designer, it was a challenge. Turns out, the client is just going to use some of my build and using tables for some elements (of course, the same elements that took a while to figure out in CSS). Why he would use tables for these things is beyond me...it's so much harder to update. Most of the time, the answer is just because they don't want to come to grips with the fact that tables are the old way of doing things. Nothing much I can do about that, but if they come back wanting it built in a table...be prepared for a long blog rant...

Admit it, you all eat cake like this at home...

Happy 1st Birthday, Grant Man!!

Pondering life's meaning over ice cream...

Tyler's thought: "I wonder where my Ben Ten watch is..." (and he's probably still wondering...). Parker's thought: "I need to teach Tyler how to have perfect posture like me...". Any other takers?

My cameo appearance in New Mexico...

Just driving to work like any other Monday morning...cell phone rings, "Amanda, can you help out in Albuquerque?" says a former co-worker. And after a few rushed last minute phone calls and a quick stop by work to get the laptop...I was off to NM. Lemme give you all a little background here. In my NRA days, I went to Police Nationals for two weeks as the awards officer. Well, after I left the NRA, two things changed in regards to the event...1) it went from Jackson, MS to Albuquerque, NM and 2) the long-time coordinator of the event resigned, oh about, 2 weeks prior to. So, basically....very few people were there that had worked the event before.

Anyhow, things were fine...but I was pretty bummed about running the awards office, as opposed to the 'helping out' (as advertised). So, maybe I'll go out there next year if they don't tie me down to a cramped awards room. One 'oops' happened with the stat office, but given the situation, I was pretty impressed how smooth things went, relatively speaking. And it was nice to see all the familiar faces from the good ol' NRA days...

We did manage to break free for a couple of hours to head up the Sandia Mountains (pic coming soon). I'll definitely be back to climb that!! And in case you all ever head out there, kinda dusty!

Got back late last night...next stop, New Orleans!! I might not share those details....hehe.... ;-D

What's wrong with Boy Scouts??...

Now, I remember the really funny SNL skit w/ Alec Baldwin...but is that really the reputation they have?? Here's the thing, I thought it'd be great to put Ty's into Boy Scouts. Lord knows I can't show him how to build a fire... However, someone is dead set against the idea. What's the deal...can anyone enlighten me as to how being a Boys Scout could be bad thing?

Did j2's dog go climbing this weekend??...

...because if not, I'd have to say that unless you find chasing one's tail more exciting than pulling a tough overhang in midair, that I win for a more exciting Saturday. Yea, I'm actually quite impressed with myself...not the tough overhang, the fact that I pried myself away from Comedy Central. Scrubs marathon... :-)

Tough crowd...

So, I get crickets chirping and learning that boring dogs have more exciting lives than I. I'd like to check out you all's heart-pounding, edge-of-your-seat, can't-wait-till-the-next-post blogs. Oh...wait...you don't have one. My bad.

Nine bites and a wedding...

Nothing too much to report from the weekend. We had a wedding gig on Saturday night which went very well. Fun crowd...but vicious mosquitoes!! Nine bites total, seven of which are all on my left arm. I think I'll be wearing long sleeves in this nice warm weather we've been having, wouldn't want to scare anyone with my lumpy red arm!

Weekend synopsis...

Went to Great Falls (surprise, surprise) on Saturday. That was a much needed trip as I got to practice placing gear. I didn't actually lead anything, but I did pseudo-lead. :-) I'll explain to those of you familiar with climbing terms: we top-roped the climbs but I placed gear and pulled up a second rope to clip it as I went to basically make believe that I didn't have a rope above me. Did you all get all that?? Anyways, we didn't do anything too hard. I figured I'd save that trip for Sunday, but I couldn't drag anyone out ...lazy bums!! :-P

Saturday night was a good time. After spending the day climbing, I was on the line about going out...but I'm glad I did. We went to Clarendon and happened to see a really good 80's tribute band called The Reflex. Their singer nailed the high notes on "Take On Me" (A-Ha)...I'm still thoroughly impressed. Also ran into some guys from Dr. Fu...if you have not seen these bands, you must put it on your to-do list.

Kindergarten kid...

It's his second week now, yes I know...I'm a bit late at the update. Here are some pics.



The weather was just miserable that day and of course, with me freaking out about everything else...I couldn't find his raincoat! So, anyways all went well except for the fact that I had to call the school to tell him to get on his after school bus. He said that on his first day, he drew a picture of Colin, Parker, and Kai. I thought that was cute...maybe even cuter of he would've included mommy, but oh well.

I do feel bad for my poor bug...his day is from 8:40am to 6:30pm. :-( I really need to win the lotto... But it is nice that thus far, there have been no complaints...besides him missing Colin and Parker.

Mademoiselle, I'm not just a cartoon...

Ladies and gentleman, I kid you not...I met Pepe Le Pew today. He was trapped in a mans body, but I'm sure it was him.


Well, being the absolutely gorgeous day out that it was, I decided to eat lunch outside next to a lake and guess who strolls by and sits next to me. After a few minutes of being referred one too many times as 'mademoiselle' and invading my personal bubble, I called it an extra short lunch.

First day jitters...

I'm really not trying to freak out over Ty's first day tomorrow but it's definitely happening. He's only going into Kindergarten and I'm finding myself with the same butterflies I got going into middle school...not the good kind! It didn't actually hit me until I tucked him in tonight. Luckily, he's not picking up on my vibe...he's really excited and looking forward to it. I do have a good feeling though that he'll have a much better experience than what he had in preschool. His new teacher seems really great and I'm relatively pleased with the after-school care he'll be going to (although, he will miss his Uncle Scott!). I'll keep you all posted...

Kids-o-rama and the best cup of coffee ever...

The crew (Denise, Eric, Erica, Meagan, Scott, and kabillion kids - including myself and my dad) went to Hershey, PA for the weekend. Having the bad weather on Saturday, we hung out mostly at the hotel toying on the edge of getting kicked out with the noise/kids we brought along. We went to Hersheypark the next day which was interesting and fun. It didn't take us but a couple of minutes within arriving to lose Colin. After a quick "I thought you had him..." toss around, he was found hangin' with the popcorn vendor...should've known. The boys (not including Colin) went on their first roller-coaster ride. My poor little guy was so scared, and he absolutely hated it. But after seeing the rest of the kids so excited about it, he and Parker insisted 'it was fun'. Yea...his kung-fu grip on my arm throughout was fun, too!

Btw, don't let the name fool you...the only chocolate you'll come across at Hersheypark is double-priced candy bars from vending machines. And yes, I was expecting something a little more Willy-Wonka-esque...

So, today after hitting the zoo and Chocolate World (where it was a bit more chocolate-ish, but still no rivers of it...), we came back home. Then I had the best cup of coffee ever, which really has no story behind it...just happened to hit the spot with my killer headache. :-)

The climbs, the gig, and the mall...

Hmm, where shall I start?

So, Great Falls is now becoming quite the little backyard get-away for me. I realized while I was at the mall today (which I'll get to in a moment), how much I liked going there. Doesn't even necessarily have to be a climbing outing... We climbed 'the climb' on Saturday (faithful readers, you will know the one in which I'm referring to). But no good news to report, it's still a work in progress. During the brief session today, we climbed at the Dihedrals. The climbs were fun, but unfortunately time didn't allow for more than one setup. But now I know where they are...and I shall be back.

Foxchase Tavern was fun. Some folks from my office and Stacy, Lynda, and the J's came out which was cool. To my surprise, someone brought a date....ahem, thanks for sharing, you know who! Very not in character, hmmm...what's the deal? Inquiring minds want to know!

Oh, and so the mall...hard to believe that just a few years ago I would've liked nothing better than to spend a gorgeous day inside a mall spending money on stuff I didn't need. How times have changed... although the spending part remains consistent. Well, today I was there to get an oil change and I guess everyone and their mother had the same idea because the wait was 2 hours during which I had to endure the crowds of teenagers agonizing over which homecoming dress to buy. Turns out the latch for popping the hood is broken so finally, the oil was not changed and I've got another car issue to add to the list. Yup, that'll get fixed next year...

A newbie for my life's tick list...

Okay, it's not so new...but it will be for you all as I'm just posting it. I want to climb a mountain. Haven't decided which one yet...but something big, something technical, something that'll require some acclimatizing, something not so dangerous (K2 can wait). It's not something I have in mind for a vacation next year. But I'm thinking maybe in the next 5-10 years...

It's odd to say this as it was just last year that I got into rock climbing and Adam had given me the low-down on how a 'climbing bug' progresses...1. climbing at the local crag (Great Falls for us locals) 2. learning how to lead climb 3. spending a ton of money and amassing a large amount of climbing gear 4. and finally, mountaineering. (FYI, I'm just in the early stages of phase 2) And my response, as I recall, "Mountaineering, no way. Not me, not gonna happen".

Saturday mornings, not the best time to call...

Am I the only one who's phone rings constantly on Saturday morning? It's always some stupid telemarketer, and it's really quite infuriating. This morning my first call was at 8:30am...and it didn't have that signature 2 second silence that usually gives away the telemarketer. No, it had a "You have an important phone call, please stay on the line" message. Great, so I'm freaking out on a Saturday morning thinking what emergency happened. And, of course, it's just some company trying to get me to sign up for their credit card.

I don't know why I haven't just cancelled my home phone, I use my cell mostly now anyways. I guess I like paying that extra $$ a month to make sure I get my awesome weekend wake up calls.