Movin' on up
I have to combine topics here to save time and energy on a moderately exciting week in my life which included moving, bad news, and 4th of July. At first i will attack these individually, then everything will likely merge together - which will make for a confusing, yet far more enjoyable tale of boxes, babes, big trucks and a god awful lack of beer.
Moving
Quite literally, i moved - duh. If anybody out of the zero readers who linger upon this blog happens to know someone who does enjoy moving, please let me know. Plain and simple - moving sucks a D, especially when you're just coming down from the acute symptomatic portion of mono. I look back to the past week as something quite similar to attempting to give a commencement speech to the Swarthmore literature graduates after yourself, having graduated with a business degree from a state school was out late the night before drinking and eating extra spicy hot wings with bean dip; sure, you'll get through it and probably survive the event - but it is not going to feel good, look pretty or impress anyone.
On the positive side, my room is all setup, broken-in and organized. I find that my lack of training, while having an adverse effect on my general fitness, body fat, definition and mental state actually has freed up an immense amount of time for me to do things like laundry, cooking and organization. Pretty soon I'll probably read all of the books left in my queue (that's British for "line-up" or netflix for "it's in the mail, son") and knit myself and my roommates matching, monogrammed sweaters - Ala Harry Potter.... i can practically picture it now.
This is me (if my name started with J and i were 6 years old), at home, killin' the queue, not training, with my sweater on.
Bad News
Having masterfully sequestered a large, patriotically pigmented (red) bucket full of beer from a work event a few weeks ago I was on my merry way back towards Portland on the 3rd of July when my phone rang (almost always a good thing). Since my doctor is away on vacation his nurse Laura called to inform me of the results of my blood test. Excellent! I thought. It turns out that my bout with mononucleosis had rocked my spleen (which i already knew) it kept me out of the octagon for a while (yeah right). It also turns out that it really did a number on my liver. Apparently when your liver is dramatically overworked by this viral infection, which leads to a minor case of hepatitis (not like that.....please). Wikipedia on Hepititis
The result of this phone call from the nurse was a completely unfriendly twofold:
* Absolutely no alcohol/energy drinks for the next 2 weeks
* No exercise for the same time period
WTF!BBQ??????
So let me get this straight, the two things i had stone-cold counted on doing the following day were wiped out of contention. I could no longer go for my much anticipated first run (jog) after being sick - an easy 4-miler, and i couldn't even get close to an open container of alcohol, let alone imbibe in, during my housewarming/ 4th of July fireworks-watching bonanza from my new spectacular apartment.
FARK! So i'm pretty sure i'm not going to die, but this is not cool at all. My liver enzyme levels were basically off the charts, which is measured by the amount of enzyme spilled over into the bloodstream. Normal operation runs on a scale of (0-32), mine was at right around 120 - holymothereffin whitewater overflow batman - not cool.
Picture my liver enzymes (in the raft), rollin' extra ferocious into my bloodstream (the river, get it)!
4th of July BBQ
The stars aligned just as the gods of used weber products blessed my keyboard as i scoured craigslist on Tuesday. I happened to find a moving sale by this fantastic woman who runs marketing for a local architecture firm. She was kind enough to let me swing by to look at the grill on tuesday night, and then with the help of Patrick "the utility friend" Marzullo and his season pass to everything flexcar we hopped in our borrowed Honda minivan, cranked the tunes and drove a full 1 mile from our apartment to her home - talk about crazy considence and outstanding proximity. We ended up getting the grill, which is a high-quality Weber genesis propane 3-burner BBQ with a tank, a cover and 3 awesome outdoor patio chairs for $100 bucks - what a bargain. Better yet - the thing actually worked like a champ for the gathering and i think it will be the highly valued 4th member of our home.
Friends started arriving right around 7pm, at which time i had awoken from a particularly restful, yet slightly too comatose nap. I showered, tried to wake up, but was in a state of supreme "mellowness" and shocking sobriety throughout the party. On the good side I got to see some outstanding people and participate in a fun night at the new pad, catch up with a friend, Kema whom i hadn't seen since our date like 10 months ago (not speaking the highest of my date skills, eh) and made sure people had drinks food, and a clean place to relax.
The projector was a huge hit, almost as impactful as the fireworks - but not quite :)
Here are a couple of shots which i really love from last night's celebration of our country's independence. I won't go off about our own celebrations while imposing strict sanctions on other nations, or bringing destruction and pain to other countries - but that was definitely on my mind as the fireworks launched, exploded and the colorful sparks cascaded throughout the night's sky.
Moving
Quite literally, i moved - duh. If anybody out of the zero readers who linger upon this blog happens to know someone who does enjoy moving, please let me know. Plain and simple - moving sucks a D, especially when you're just coming down from the acute symptomatic portion of mono. I look back to the past week as something quite similar to attempting to give a commencement speech to the Swarthmore literature graduates after yourself, having graduated with a business degree from a state school was out late the night before drinking and eating extra spicy hot wings with bean dip; sure, you'll get through it and probably survive the event - but it is not going to feel good, look pretty or impress anyone.
On the positive side, my room is all setup, broken-in and organized. I find that my lack of training, while having an adverse effect on my general fitness, body fat, definition and mental state actually has freed up an immense amount of time for me to do things like laundry, cooking and organization. Pretty soon I'll probably read all of the books left in my queue (that's British for "line-up" or netflix for "it's in the mail, son") and knit myself and my roommates matching, monogrammed sweaters - Ala Harry Potter.... i can practically picture it now.
This is me (if my name started with J and i were 6 years old), at home, killin' the queue, not training, with my sweater on.
Bad News
Having masterfully sequestered a large, patriotically pigmented (red) bucket full of beer from a work event a few weeks ago I was on my merry way back towards Portland on the 3rd of July when my phone rang (almost always a good thing). Since my doctor is away on vacation his nurse Laura called to inform me of the results of my blood test. Excellent! I thought. It turns out that my bout with mononucleosis had rocked my spleen (which i already knew) it kept me out of the octagon for a while (yeah right). It also turns out that it really did a number on my liver. Apparently when your liver is dramatically overworked by this viral infection, which leads to a minor case of hepatitis (not like that.....please). Wikipedia on Hepititis
The result of this phone call from the nurse was a completely unfriendly twofold:
* Absolutely no alcohol/energy drinks for the next 2 weeks
* No exercise for the same time period
WTF!BBQ??????
So let me get this straight, the two things i had stone-cold counted on doing the following day were wiped out of contention. I could no longer go for my much anticipated first run (jog) after being sick - an easy 4-miler, and i couldn't even get close to an open container of alcohol, let alone imbibe in, during my housewarming/ 4th of July fireworks-watching bonanza from my new spectacular apartment.
FARK! So i'm pretty sure i'm not going to die, but this is not cool at all. My liver enzyme levels were basically off the charts, which is measured by the amount of enzyme spilled over into the bloodstream. Normal operation runs on a scale of (0-32), mine was at right around 120 - holymothereffin whitewater overflow batman - not cool.
Picture my liver enzymes (in the raft), rollin' extra ferocious into my bloodstream (the river, get it)!
4th of July BBQ
The stars aligned just as the gods of used weber products blessed my keyboard as i scoured craigslist on Tuesday. I happened to find a moving sale by this fantastic woman who runs marketing for a local architecture firm. She was kind enough to let me swing by to look at the grill on tuesday night, and then with the help of Patrick "the utility friend" Marzullo and his season pass to everything flexcar we hopped in our borrowed Honda minivan, cranked the tunes and drove a full 1 mile from our apartment to her home - talk about crazy considence and outstanding proximity. We ended up getting the grill, which is a high-quality Weber genesis propane 3-burner BBQ with a tank, a cover and 3 awesome outdoor patio chairs for $100 bucks - what a bargain. Better yet - the thing actually worked like a champ for the gathering and i think it will be the highly valued 4th member of our home.
Friends started arriving right around 7pm, at which time i had awoken from a particularly restful, yet slightly too comatose nap. I showered, tried to wake up, but was in a state of supreme "mellowness" and shocking sobriety throughout the party. On the good side I got to see some outstanding people and participate in a fun night at the new pad, catch up with a friend, Kema whom i hadn't seen since our date like 10 months ago (not speaking the highest of my date skills, eh) and made sure people had drinks food, and a clean place to relax.
The projector was a huge hit, almost as impactful as the fireworks - but not quite :)
Here are a couple of shots which i really love from last night's celebration of our country's independence. I won't go off about our own celebrations while imposing strict sanctions on other nations, or bringing destruction and pain to other countries - but that was definitely on my mind as the fireworks launched, exploded and the colorful sparks cascaded throughout the night's sky.
Our view - before the show started.
Talk about a Kodak moment for these two eh? I think Garren pulled some digits that night!! 
Look across the horizon at all of the fireworks launching - incredible timing w/ the camera. 
One of my favorites.
