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arandia.net wine minute

Applewood Winery's International Red goes well with Utz potato chips and low-fat cottage cheese.

gotta dance!

I decided that in order to lose weight I have to find some sort of exercise that I enjoy. This gym thing just ain't motivating me.

So, I have decided that I want to go back to my love of tap dancing. I found a school near where I work, Wyckoff School of Dance.

Unfortunately, they have no adult classes until October. So, I guess it's back to the gym for me. Unless I can find someplace else before then.

I know I used to go to the Broadway Dance Center. That's near where I used to work. But, now it's a pretty difficult commute nowadays.

nibble on a leg, sire?

Aimee, Christian, and me got to go to the ren fair today. I got to eat my yearly smoked turkey leg. Although, this year, it didn't seem to taste so good. I think it was too hot. You know, you can't eat meat just out of the oven. You have to let it sit for a little bit. I think we got fresh out of the smoker legs, but they were way too hot to enjoy.

We got to the fair late because we took a detour to Applewood Orchards and Winery. We got to taste some wines and we bought some wines. We joined the Wino's Club. Where we get sent wine for 20% off. This solves my problem of getting wine.

I'm glad we went even though it wasn't my first choice of wineries. I really wanted to go to Warwick Winery. I really like their apple cider. Although, Applewood also makes a pretty good cider. At Applewood, I bought the International Red which is a semi-sweet red with a dry finish. I also bought, Ruby's Kiss, which is a very sweet red wine made from Concord grapes(the same grapes in Welch's grape juice).

The thing I most like about Warwick Winery is that it's a really good sit down and hang out place. They have a nice layout where you can sit there and relax with a glass of wine and some food and listen to the musicians they have usually. I mean, Applewood had musicians and pavillion. They have a beautiful garden. And they have a bunch of animals. And the musicians there today were really good. I thought we were listening to the radio while we were tasting, but it was the musicians' music coming in through the window.

So, the Ren Fair, in a nutshell, was eating legs, walking around, buying stuff, juggler eating fire, funnel cake, jousting, sword fighting, and lots of corset contorted breasts.

I had printed out coupons to get in. It was $18 admission. But the coupon gives you 2 bucks off. I made such an effort to remember to bring them with me only to forget them in the car when I got to the Fair gates. *sigh*

I'm more upstate than you are.

I scored a 58% on the "How Upstate NY Are You?" Quizie! What about you?

blackout!

I was at work when the power went out. And it didn't go out out. It flickered a lot. Lights flickered a lot. Power would come in and out. And we thought it was just us. Then our salesman, Bob, called said he was having a major problem. Then someone had a radio, it became clear that it wasn't just us.

I got sent home. Traffic wasn't so bad because I go in the opposite direction as traffic going home. Power was out in my condo, too. It was still cool from being air conditioned all day.

I have this dinky little radio that I got in Baltimore. I donated 10 bucks to some children's charity and they gave me a dinky radio and a cd case. Listened to Bloomberg talk.

I made some phone calls. Aimee doesn't answer. Colleen doesn't answer. They're both in the city. I called mom. Mom has no power.

*69'd Jay. Jay has power. Said I'd see him for Mike's wedding in 2 weeks.

This neighbor guy, Jacob, asked me if I had eaten. And he invited me to join his family in the park for a barbecue. It was like 8pm. I'd eaten a granola bar. So, I hop in their car and they go out to this nearby park I didn't know about, Schmidt's Woods.

The light was going fast and Jacob got the charcoal going. This guy came by and said that this was a good idea. By the time the coals were ready, it was pretty dark. My night vision must suck because Jacob was still seing fine. He noticed this skunk and scared it away. All I saw was a shadow.

We had hot dogs and chicken breasts. No rolls. He toasted some sliced 7 grain bread. It tasted really good. While we were grilling, the lights came on in the park and in the neighborhood around the park. Hooray! The lights were on! I finally got a good look at the skunk that was stalking us. As we ate, he moved in a big circle around us.

In addition to meat and toast, we had pickles and pickled pepper. When we came home, it was still dark. Which upset us.

I went to bed early. I had a cool little flashlight that I got in Missouri. I felt like a burgler in my own house. I opened a window in front and another right next to me bed. It had warmed up from today and was uncomfortably hot. I couldn't sleep for a while. I tried again to make some phonecalls to folks in the city but nobody answered. I entertained myself by playing with the flashlight. Drawing patterns of light on the ceiling. I slept horizontally at the top of the bed with my body next to the open window. I turned on a reading lamp just so I would know when the power comes back.

I regret that. The power came back on around 2:21am. And the light woke me up. I just turned it off and went back to sleep.

I don't know if it's general new york attitude or 9/11, it seemed like people were generally blasé about the whole thing.

Hmmm, the milk tastes okay. I think I'll keep it.

bastards!

Made me come into work at 1pm! 1PM!!!

augh!

I had coffee while on the road. So, now I'm wired and tired. I'll try to sleep now.

long day

I just got home from work. That made today a 15 hour workday. Woo hoo! And lovin' it!

Good thing I don't have to come in tomorrow.

related?

has anyone noticed how much Wil Wheaton

looks like Tommy Kirk?

home again

I got home wednesday night. It takes forever to get back from missouri. I think it would be cool if everyone started pronouncing "Missouri" like the people who live there...MIZZOORAH!

Anyways, today, the sales guy in the office took some of us to a yankees game. Box seats right next to first base. It was sweet. We got to see some really good baseball. And some really sucky ball. Like what's with needing 5 pitchers to get through a game? Wasn't there a time when you only needed one or two?

And save for Jeter, there are all these new yankees. Where did the team go?

great day

I got up at 6am. I ate the complimentary breakfast buffet. The complimentary breakfast buffet was much better than the uncomplimentary breakfast buffet at the Holiday Inn in Baltimore, MD. For breakfast, I have eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, english muffin, and a biscuit covered with country gravy. I gotta say this Hawthorn Suites is, well, sweet!

So, I get to the client's site by 7:30am. I get a lot of stuff done. I'm outta there by noon-o-clock. I get lunch at Cracker Barrel. I get the Chicken Fried Chicken and mashed potatoes covered with more country gravy. My two sides are green beans and hashbrown cassarole. The waitress was quick to point out that I was ordering two potato sides. I assured her that it was what I wanted and that I was looking forward to the hashbrown cassarole. Oh, and lemonade!!!

After that, I spend a couple more hours at my favorite hangout in Columbia,MO, Cherry Street Artisan. Nothing like a new laptop, free wireless internet, and a tall pint of iced chai tea.

Then after that, I have a choice of either taking a nap or visiting a winery. You know what I do? Winery!

So, next stop on my big day is Les Bourgeois Winery. I taste a bunch of wines. Since my palatte is still on the sweet side, I start with some dry whites, some reds, and semi-sweet reds. Then there was Berry which was my favorite. Even though I didn't buy it. I got River Red. But what I did do was go off to the Bistro down the road and sipped a glass of Berry on the blufftop. The view was spectacular. You got a beautiful day. Sunny with some puffy clouds. A bluff overlooking a river. Flowers and butterflies. And the occasional hawk flying around. I got this book I'm reading The Coming by Joe Haldeman:

Coming

No, it's not about Jesus. It's about aliens. But I really couldn't read the book with such a beautiful view to look at.

And I guess the food was spectacular. But I wouldn't know because I didn't eat there. Although, it would have been perfectly alright to have a nice expensive dinner there on my company's tab. But my crave for steak had been fulfilled last night.

Tonight, I craved a cheeseburger. And from what I'm told, the best cheeseburger in town is at Booche's on 9th street. It's a bar/billiard place. The cheeseburgers look a bit greasy. The patty is not neat. Very irregular looking grey meat. But, very very satisfying for those that crave a good cheeseburger. My boss will be happy to hear that I spent only 10 bucks on dinner tonight.

And after that, it's back to Cherry Street Artisan for another couple of hours of internet. This time including a double mocha cappuccino and a slice of chocolate cheese cake covered with nuts and caramel. Mmmmm. This time I get some work done for my other job. So, not only is it great to be playing with my laptop on the internet, but I'm getting paid, too.

That's always been my dream to have a laptop and have wireless connectivity. To be anywhere and do work and get paid for it. That's a dream come true for me. I'll really have it made if I can go to the beach and get work done there. Then, I'll know that I'm where I want to be.

And to finish a long day, I come back to the Suites and jump in the indoor pool for a bit. Then soak in the hot tub for a while. That's the perfect end to a great day.

MISSOURI!

Hey, kids! I'm in Missouri. I got sent here by my job to swap out a server. It was planned to be a 2 day job, but I got it done in 3 hours. I hope nothing goes wrong tomorrow. But, I'll be hanging around just to watch it.

Columbia, MO is apparently a college town. I'm in this hipster cafe that has free wireless access that I found on the WiFi Hotspots List.

Cherry Street Artisan
It's a very cool place with a fireplace, board games, and plush leather couches. I'm drinking this iced tea that has just a hint of fruit in it. I'm not sure which. It is probably raspberry or peach.

See that corner there next to the bookcase next to the fireplace? I'm sitting there. Right where that kid in white t-shirt would be. Except behind me there are no longer lamps. It's now a little statue of a dolphin atop a pedastal. And it's all track lighting.

I just at dinner at the Boone Tavern. I had a nice 12oz prime rib steak with baked potato and caesars salad. The steak was delicious enough..as good as prime rib gets. Even better is that it's expensed and paid for by my company! Woo hoo!

I'm glad I got fired last April. This new job rocks!

for better or worse

REN! fair

I totally forgot about this. It opens this weekend!!!

NY Ren Fair!