It was a wonderful day. Slept in late in the morning. The worked outside all afternoon. Mowed the yard. Trimmed the rose bushes. Cleaned the garage. Sprayed the right spots with Round-Up. Just a lovely day to be out doors. Now I should clean up inside the house, but I have no incentive for that :)

Today started out with a wonderful breakfast prepared by layni_girl with help from sgtgwn, as I slept in until about 10. Then some more visiting with that group. Talked with chentzu about his chances of coming to Pennsic. Said good byes and headed to cliffjumper2's house.

The plan was for cliffjumper2 and sgtgwn to head out to see the horses. But there was still work being done on the house when we arrived. So I said Sean and I would go ahead and head to the zoo. I then went next door and invited draconisregena along. She said sure and came with to Miller Park Zoo. That was fun, but the feeding of the bears, while at the same time as the St Louis Zoo, is nothing like it. They just pour the food out for the bears. They do not toss it to them or anything fun. But Sean called ldybz3 anyway.

We were going to go to the park to swim and do some rapier, but Sean was tired of the heat, so we headed back to do some rapier at draconisregena's place instead. When we got there we found that the others had not left yet. There were plumbing issues and those were still being worked on by cliffjumper2's Dad. So we geared up and fought some rapier. sgtgwn came by after about 30 minutes and said that the plumbing project was being put on hold and heading for dinner would commence soon. So we wrapped up our fighting with a few more bouts. It was good to fight her, always fun because she is always smiling when she fights me. She was also a sweetie for taking care of Camile for the night.

Then we went to cliffjumper2's parents camper. Which is more like a motel room on wheels. We were joined by gunvor and had dinner and good conversations until after midnight. Then we came back and I could not find the airpump. So after some improv, people got to bed and now it is time for me to do the same.

Two very nice days for the weekend. It has been a great weekend with time filled with friends.

EDIT: Error fixed now thanks to sgtgwn

Had a great time at chentzu and layni_girl's party. Still there at the moment. We had some really good fighting. Not the largest turnout, but good stuff. druminmychest was here for the first time. ourflagiswhite and I had some good exchanges. little_deer was back in armor, even though we did not get to fight, I was glad to see her back. And it was nice to meet Spanky.

We had so much food. I am not sure how we keep coming up with more food than we can all eat in this group.

Then lots of great schmoozing, geeking, and staying up until 4am with talkisdead. Very good stuff.

Now it is off to the next visit!

sgtgwn and I have started taking evening bike rides. We are only on day two, and I will have fighter practice tomorrow in Illiton, but I hope that we can maitain 4-5 nights each week. It is wonderful to be outside in the summer.

Cleaned the catch all corners in the dining room today! I am very pleased with this. Now all I have to do is clean off he breakfast bar and the kitchen would be organized.

I also started on a new pole arm and sgtgwn and I went for a bike ride.

A very nice day at home.

I am off to a belated birthday dinner with sgtgwn! Yay!

I think I need some. I really want to write about all the good things at Jubilee before the phone call, but I really am too tired. I slept in a recliner at the hospital last night. I did not fall asleep until after 2 was woke up at 5:30 by the nurse checking Jen and was up to stay at 7. Tried to nap when we got home but I was waiting for Jen's car and my stuff to come home, so I could not fall asleep.

Now bed for 9 hours sounds good, but I still do not know where my stuff is other than in transit. I feel like I should stay up and wait to here from Tarin. But I am so tired.

I am not sure how to describe today. It is really not fair. I was not doing what I wanted to but most of the day went well. Slept in nice and late. Went out the farm and buried Zeus. That was sad. My father-in-law shaved our dog so she looks like who-dog again. Got the yard mowed. Went with sgtgwn to a wine tasting and found someone needing a ride to Jubilee. I just wish they would be active in the SCA. Had some disagreement with zix123 about what a clean room is. It was mostly worked out. Now we are dueling in Yugi-Oh.

A day.

So sgtgwn calls me this morning and tells me that I need to go to her brother's house as she is getting her hair done for the wedding and her car is blocking him in. So I drive over and on the way I am caught by chentzu. He can tell the story of how oblivious I am, I do not want to go into that. But he was on his way home from the Salt Lake City and I had told him he could stay with us if he could get that far. 1000 miles was all he could do leaving him over 100 miles from here. But it was so cool to see him and he came to Dan's to wish congradulate his former brother in law.

It was odd but really nice.

So instead of finding a random neighbor's internet, I am at evils_thoughts and so_zanie's house using their connection. I am helping them clean for the graduation in exchange though. It is good to have friends.

So today sgtgwn, zix123 and I went out for fun in Chicago. We had breakfast at IHOP and then headed to the Adler Planetarium. It was great. It had been a very long time since I had been there. We did three shows, all the exhibits and had a snack in the cafe, visited all th exhibits. I was very impressed. Everything was well done. Then we went and walked along the lake front for a bit and went and had dinner. Stopped at the store to pick up food for tomorrow. We are now all at the apartment watching Willow.

It was a nice day.

The train is the most econmoical way to travel based on fuel used. So why is Amtrak failing? How about they are not clear and they have too much variation. Sean was supposed to take the train up here tonight. But he could not. Why? Macomb is an unmanned station and he would be travelling after dark. Minors are not allowed to do either of those things. It does not make that clear on the website. All the website made clear was that you could not buy a half price minor ticket alone. So Sean was stuck in Macomb, but sgtgwn is bringing him up at the sacrifice of her night. I was going to drive down and get him, but she is going to come up here and then drive to Des Moines tomorrow. Sigh. And then on Monday he still can not go to Macomb. My Dad has to pick him up in Galesburg. And I can not have him start in Naperville because the ticket agents do not start there until 11am and the train leaves at 8am. How does any of this make sense? So I have to take him to Union Station to catch the 7:30 train, so we will have to leave my place by 6:15 to make sure we get there in time. Fun, fun.

And then the gas costs. And the cost on the enviroment. He could take Metra anywhere up here without a second glance. I could put him on a plane or a bus. But not on an Amtrak. I called customer relations, gave them my guests reward number and then told them that this is why Amtrak loses money. I would have paid more to have my son on the train!

I know that I should have checked the rules in advance. It is my mistake. But I never dreamed the rules would be this stupid. All in the name of protecting a minor. Which by the way, is only until you are 16 for Amtrak. And the age at which you are not a child is a whole subject unto itself for me.

ARGH

The wedding of Duke Bardolph and stargazer_jq was wonderful. The ceremony was very traditional. She looked radiant in her dress. He impressed us all when he ended his vows with Thus swear I. She made us all laugh when she had to ask the preatcher to repeat that line "to be my lawfully wedded husband" when she was saying her vows.

The weather held off to allow for a perfect outside wedding. The reception was lots of fun. I would call it laid back. It was great to see so many wonderful friends. It is always fun to see people dressed up in mundanes. It was an intersting mix. Lots of old Free Militia as was to be expected. So many SCA peers and nobles that you could not swing a cane without hitting one. And Sir Kaydian was swinging the cane. The teenage children were having a great time too. It also seems that I can only see Alaric and Noelle at weddings not events. It was a wonderful day to celebrate a great occasion.

Pictures are uploaded here

The tire just needed a plug in it. $10.95 with tax. I have put it back on the van and the van. Yes, all by myself. It is now ready to go out and get sgtgwn's mothers day present tomorrow: A new grill. She knows. She is going to help pick it out. It is better that way. Anyone reading this with suggestions, go right ahead and make them.

Now that I am no longer going to get dirty, it is time to clean up for the wedding.

The AC in the office was at 81 today. It was great. Now for some reason someone is here to fix it. I did not think it was broken

So tonight I am going to hang out with mairegirlas she is up here for a library conference. Just finished having dinner with her and so_zanie. They are finishing up the prep work. Those two are not my stereotype of librarians. This is another benefit of being up here for a while.

So if anyone else has buiness bringing them to the greater Chicago area in May let me know and we can get together if you are free during any week night.

Despite the 1.25 hour trip to get groceries, I got them. I washed and dryed the laundry and plan to put it away next. I did the dishes and I took the garbage out. Not that when living in an apartment any of these are major things compared to home.

I spent some more time with aneyah today before she had to leave and then hit the Ayerton Combined Practice. 12+ fighters in armor. A different mixture. Got to fight with Sabah and do some melees. Came home and chatted with sgtgwn about our weekends and video chatted with my boy.

A great end to a fun weekend.

Now it is time for bed.

A night spent with a lot of friends is the best way to describe tonight.

I went over to evils_thoughts house and we had dinner. Delightul conversation. ovens_thoughts sort of joined us after he got home. Then mairegirl and [Bad username: youngcynical18'> arrived about 9. They were just settled in when the wedding group of <lj user=], terrilyn and aneyha got home. Much hilarity ensued. I got to meet worldofmin02 and he and I agreed to get together while I am up here. Talked on line to sgtgwn and zix123 until they went to bed. Then had a great night of conversation. The best of which is when youngcynical18 determined that she and I gave off all our body heat and that is why we were cold and more clothes did not help.

The only down sides to the night were the one lane expressway and the fact the my AC unit for my MacBook is still at evils_thoughts's house.

Off to bed and then tomorrow it will be time for the wedding of purplebard and amorsalado. First wedding of four that I know I will attend in 2008.

I ended up doing these wonderful mundane things tonight:

I made my first real supper in the apartment. Spaghetti of course. But I made it with Italian Sausage. Which was hard. I hope I cooked it enough. And I have enough left over for another batch. It was on sale as..

I went grocery shopping. I bought whole grain spaghetti as it was the first thing I have found that is cheaper in the Chicago area than in Macomb.

I found where the garbage is in the complex and took out garbage

I did all my dishes. Cooking spaghetti creates a lot more dirty dishes than a frozen dinner or pizza.

All becuase I did not know that youth practice in Vanished Woods was tonight and my armor is up north still.

Now for a very, very snowy view of the NCAA finals as I am to tired to go out somewhere to watch it with people I do not know.