I bet you think this blog is about you.

And it is not disappointing.

Not a bad weekend. We didn't have any plans on Friday, but Brian cooked an amazing Mexican-like meal of roast pork, yellow rice, and black beans. I went to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour and was up at a nearly unprecedented 9 a.m. on Saturday, and actually felt rested; fortunate as we had Danielle's birthday brunch to attend.

We got ready and drove by Whole Foods for a bottle of wine; I'm a big fan of the super-rapid bottle cooling bath. Then we drove out there and navigated the needlessly complex parking garage in their building before getting up there. She and Isaac moved into this huge, old two-bedroom, two-bath apartment about ten months ago, and I'm way jealous. They're on the top floor of a 1920s building but has been completely redone--and well--so it still has 11-foot ceilings (!), hardwood floors, and huge windows, but also has a dishwasher and a newish gas stove and so on. Their brunch spread was also nice: fresh fruit, quiche, pasta salad, and from-scratch bloody marys. We ate and drank and took a tour on to their roof deck too. Shawn was also there with good news, that he got a new job starting June 1, so we also celebrated that before driving him back to his place so he could get ready for one of his last days at Old Job.

Later that evening we went to Whole Foods again to get chicken legs and went to Keith and Tristan's new place to break in their new grill. In addition to quick-marinated chicken, there were beef and shrimp fajitas and grilled corn on the cob. Danny and his girlfriend came over and we gorged on food while watching the first few episodes of Game of Thrones. Such a lovely Saturday night.

Today has been low-key as well. I was up not as early, but that's fine, and got the laundry knocked out. All I've really done since is read a few work documents that my boss just sent in preparation for the coming week, get soda from CVS, and now watch the Billboard Music Awards. And we have Chinese food on the way. They are trying much too hard to be fun/relevant/hip, but I enjoy the spectacle.

At least I can lean against this pile of clean laundry.

Brian has been doing a lot of the cooking recently, and it really is saving me. On weekdays I'm leaving the house as early as 7:15 am and often am not back until almost 9:00 pm, so ... having dinner ready to go and lunches to take is a huge help. Tonight while he went off to see a midnight showing of The Avengers, I assembled my own dinner (it was fine) and then took on the laundry. Now it's 1:00, I've cleaned up the kitchen, and I have three loads to fold and put away, and sheets to put back on to the bed. There is also a dishwasher full of clean dishes, but they are going to stay there until tomorrow because after the laundry I will have no energy to spare.

Keeping up the house + 40-hour work weeks + the gym + commuting are adding up to a little too much, but fortunately not as nutty as graduate school. I did at least articulate that situation well last year. Anyhow, I plan to take some vacation time before and after Jason and Jason's wedding at the start of June, and that will certainly help.

A weekend in three parts.

Had a pretty successful weekend out; I may not have intended to, but I went out Thursday, Friday and Saturday. But after spending so much time alone in my cube at work, it was a welcome change. On Thursday I met Joe Z. and Mark H. at Omega, where karaoke performers brought a variety of talent, or lack thereof. We tried to head to Phase 1 after that, but it was closed for no apparent reason so we opted for Duplex instead. On the way we ran into Jason and his date on the street, and after chatting for a bit they joined us. Duplex was a packed mess, but still good people-watching and cheap drinks. And I learned his date has a planning degree from UCLA! We're everywhere.

On Friday Brian cooked a lovely dinner of penne with ground turkey, bacon, and mushrooms in cream sauce topped with parmesan. We weren't originally planning to go out, but Brett convinced us to join her at DIK Bar around 11:30. Norbert and Chris F. were also there, the latter with surprisingly slutty stories from his trip to Virginia Beach, so that made the trip more than worthwhile. From there we took Brett to Larry's Lounge and had a few, with the always welcome presence of Gunther.

Last night Brian had gone out before me while I worked on some work work, but I eventually met Leet, Dave, Jonathan, and Gordon at JR's. Whomever was DJing was extraordinarily fond of teenage pop, so we suffered through too much One Direction and Selena Gomez before moving on to a better soundtrack. From there Leet and I went over to DIK Bar and joined many of the kickball group, plus Brandon. Shawn and RJ were also there, and in the course of chatting with them I was convinced to take two tequila shots and sing I Touch Myself on karaoke, and Brian walked in as we were shouting lyrics into the mic. So it was basically a fantastic idea.

Today we have done very little; I've been catching up on work again, and now I'll finally take a shower at 6:00 p.m.

Follow-up questions welcome, including "Why did you go to Reno?"

Click for larger versions.



Nevada: first in welcome mats



Entertainment at my Reno casino resort: ¡Paquita!



Bre, with the federal agency bearing her initials



Sort of Pathfinder from The Price Is Right and sort of the Billie Jean sidewalk



West Hollywood



Bre, me, Amanda. IDK.

I'll sleep someday.

It's been a busy past week or so. Saturday was another party at Sarah S.'s house, and it was fun despite apparent roommate tensions. Before we went over, we got pizza, fried shrimp and surprisingly tasty fries* delivered to Tristan's apartment with he and Shannon, as we watched some random Japanese Hunger Games-type island survival movie on mute to the soundtrack of Shannon's iPod. At the party I spent most of the night on the back porch yakking with friends old and new as we passed around a handle of tequila. Mixers? What are those? Sunday night was Keith's birthday celebration at Chief Ike's. We had the jukebox going all evening, and the earlier band left the mike live so it became a karaoke night by default. The sole bartender seemed unfazed.

I'm flying to Reno tomorrow to visit the Nevada State Capitol (this will be visit 4 of 50), then I'll spend the night there and fly to Los Angeles for the APA conference on Friday. Bre, Ang, Amanda, and I have been making tons of plans and I hope to do some much-needed shoe and tote bag shopping. I'm mega excited about the whole shebang now that I've finished and submitted my presentation. Be back Wednesday, DC.

Since this was a short week at work I had to smoosh all my duties into three days. It was pretty frantic at a couple of points, but I made it out of there by 6:30 every day and even went to the gym all three days. Hopefully I continue this vein throughout my week of travel.

* Just trying to keep it healthy.

Magic may happen.

Or not. Who really knows.