Back from Orlando and Columbus

Well, hello there.  I feel like it’s been awhile.

I did write last week, but it was in-between everything.  We left on Thursday for Columbus, Ohio, and my sister came along.  The weather was really nice, and we had a good time.  While Tracy was in her interview, my sister and I drove by the Franklin Conservatory (then balked at the $7.50 entrance fee when it was clear there wasn’t much of a gardens there), then went to the James Thurber house for a tour.  That was one of the strangest house tours I’ve ever taken.  The two front rooms are in reasonable shape, but the kitchen is an office and then most of the bedrooms upstairs are offices too.  But they’re not separated, like they do in most house museums.  You’d walk down a hall and the bedrooms would be full of desks and papers and office equipment, and then the last bedroom would have a bed and be decorated ~1920s.  People would be talking and chatting and on the phone, and you’d be there holding a brochure and reading the placards.  It was very weird.  But it was also cool, because I’d read a few of his stories (especially “The Night the Bed Fell”) and it was funny to see the actual layout of the house where that took place.

After Tracy finished her interview, we went out for dinner and then dessert (because Tracy’s birthday was Saturday).  We had dinner at the Northstar Cafe in the Short North neighborhood, which did both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food.  My sister ate vegetarian so we could try everything, and it was delicious.  I had the Northstar burger, which was, by far, the best veggie burger I’ve ever had.  By far.  And it was made with beets!  I hate beets.  I couldn’t even tell.  It was so good.  I would love to have that recipe.  Tracy and my sister each had a tofu wrap, both of which were also good, but personally I was thrilled with my burger.

We had to get up very early to come back on Saturday morning, but we flew from Columbus to Memphis, and from Memphis to Columbia, Missouri, so we were back in our houses by noon, which was great.  I’m not generally a fan of the little prop jets, but there’s something to be said for not having to make the two-hour drive (as we’ll have to do again this week- we leave for Hartford, Connecticut, on Thursday afternoon).

We then had most of the weekend left over, which was nice.  Tracy took the dog to the park, and then she did some errands before we went up to my parents’ house with a Hy-Vee sheet cake (which is Tracy’s favorite kind).  The goal was to watch the MU game, but then we couldn’t get it for some reason, so we just listened to it on the radio, ate Frito pie for dinner, and talked.  We took the dog with us there too, which was good for her because we could tell she was lonely and wanted some fun.  She thus had quite a weekend, because Tracy took her back to the dog park on Sunday.

I spent Sunday running errands and doing laundry, both of which were immensely satisfying.  I think I did most of the laundry in the house, plus cleaned out the fridge and stocked it again, and made dinner for myself while Tracy went to play videogames with my sister and her notboyfriend.  (I am not usually interested in videogames.  I watched The X-Files and did some work instead.)

And today I had a physical at the doctor, and now I’m feeling very on top of things and ready to face the week.  I mean, I still have a lot to do, and I’m out of town both this weekend and then next weekend, but still things are good.

The weather has definitely turned cold here, with freezes every night.  I put up the lawn furniture last weekend when I cleaned out the garage, and I started feeding the birds again.  The dog wants to be outside all the time now, because she loves cold weather.  And I don’t know if I’m going to get any more yard work done from my Fourth Quarter 2008 Resolutions list.  But I did finish a second book on the Columbus trip, which puts me on target to complete a third while on the trip this weekend.  I finished Barack Obama’s first book, Dreams From My Father, written while he was a law professor at the University of Chicago, about his father and his heritage and his race and ethnicity.  It was a really excellent book, very well-written.  I look forward to reading The Audacity of Hope sometime soon.  I don’t know what I’m going to read next, though.  I think I will have to stop at the library tonight.