Congratulations!

To Temp, who rocks in so many ways.

Vacation! (Now with pictures)

The China trip was awesome, but I find I'm having a hard time coming up with anything coherent to say about it. Maybe I'll try a list.

Awesome Stuff:
1. Diplowhat and Wog! So great to see them both; I wish Diplowhat hadn't had to work so much of the time, but what time we did have together was lovely. They were amazing hosts and tour guides and took very good care of us.
2. The food. Everything from the higher-end restaurants all the way down to the bowls of beef noodles and jian bing street food (totally craving this right now). And any country where spicy noodles are standard breakfast fare is good in my book.
3. Scenery. The mountains at The Great Wall, the rivers and karst hills in Yangshuo, the fields and oxen and towering bamboo. So much gorgeousness to look at.
4. Guardian Lions and dragon turtles and all the other impressive, iconic imagery that goes with China's ancient sites.
5. Ridiculously affordable, awesome Chinese massage. The exchange rate in general.
6. Being on vacation.

Less Awesome Stuff:
1. The air.
2. The crowds/scary traffic.

I guess that'll do as a nutshell version. I'm sure Puck and I will both bore all of you to tears over the next few months with random "Oh! And in China..." stories though. Meanwhile, here are some pictures.

VACATION!

We leave for China tomorrow! Holy crap!

No.

Dear Dodge:

No, the Caravan did not literally give birth to all other minivans.

No love,

Pusher

p.s. This still isn't as bad as your grossly sexist Hemi SUV ads. I'm sort of glad you make such a shit product so I will never feel tempted to give you my money.

Awesome.

I just got to edit copy written by a non-native speaker. Wow.

The best part? The restaurant review that talked about foie gras, caviar and happy pills.

Edit: Okay, I got to see it again, so I'm reproducing the whole thing here for your ...enjoyment?

"Taste of Discovery Station and happy pills, caviar and foie gras, terrace barbeque, pink therapeutic cocktail lounge and international DJ... Sunday brunch in pink themed new perspective awaits your discovery."

Or, as I thought of it at the time, "Copy edit this, bitch."

Under the wire

Just noticed that I have not posted once in June, despite it being a perfectly lovely month in which many good things happened.

Kicked it off with a visit to Temp in her new digs. She took us to the licorice store, an awesome street market, the Nebraska store with its incredible selection of Nebraska wine (don't laugh), several nifty beer joints, and The World's Most Homoerotic State Capitol. There was also a little gardening in what locals seem to consider soil but I know as modeling clay.

Hit the lake for the first time this year for a rainy weekend with the folks. It dried out long enough for us to go on a few good walks and for my dad and I to fail to catch any fish. We did, however, have a splendid bird-watching excursion from the boat, so let's just pretend that was the point.

Last weekend was the Minnesota wine tour! Yay! A bunch of us squished into J & TSB's minivan (thanks again for driving, J!) and drove around the southeastern part of the state drinking wine. Beautiful vineyards and sparkly shirts abounded. Couldn't have been nicer, even down to the dramatic thunderstorms on the return trip.

The garden is going well. I built a raised bed for the tomatoes this year and filled it with mostly compost, so I have huge, beefy, mutant plants. Whee! Since Ken retired this year, he's growing his own. It feels very strange to only have five tomato plants instead of my usual 15 or so. The snap peas have been weird this year. The plants only got about a foot high. They still gave me peas, but on these tiny, spindly little vines. For the first year since I put them in, I'm getting a bountiful blueberry harvest. Oh, so tasty. Now I'm wobbling again on whether to move them. They just finally started producing well, so it seems a shame to dig them up! Accidentally bought bush beans instead of pole (oh seductive purple, why could I not read the packaging beyond your allure?). The poor zone 5 peach tree is still with me, but the center keeps dying off every year, so it's weird and sprawly and completely lopsided. I'm sure I could fix some of that with pruning, if only I had a clue how to do it properly and what to take out (though there's really no pruning that can balance out an empty center). But it did bloom this year, which was pretty damn cool.

Also, bought a reel mower. I should really do a product review of that soon -- it's nifty, but does have some issues.

Faster, Day, faster!

Not a lot to do at work to day, and wow am I impatient for the weekend! Heading out this evening for the long drive to Lincoln to visit Temp and check out her new digs. (Poor Puck is going to have quite the drive, since I haven't managed to stay awake much past 9:30 yet this week....)

Is it time to go yet? How 'bout now?

...

...

Now?