Sore subjects

I hurt. A lot. Apparently soreness is the thing to talk about today (reference Karen). Actually, its mostly my upper body that hurts. It has made me resolve to make more of an effort on strength exercises for my arms. I'll try pushups, and maybe the occasional trip to the rock gym (though rock climbing is one of those few things that scares the heck out of me).

Last night, I went over to borrow Katie & Fred's lawn mower. Why did I do this? Because mine fried a few weeks ago. So, this is strike three against an electric mower (one of the reasons I was recommended this mower is because it takes LESS maintenance than a gas mower. yeh, right.)

Anyway, their's was a lovely, self-propelled, many horsepower gas mower that just tore through my lawn. Hurray for inefficient, polluting fuel sources! In a little over an hour I was almost done with my front yard (which usually takes twice that much time with my electric mower). Then, as I'm cutting the last little patch on the side of my house, the mower goes vrooom, vroooooooooom, vrum, choke, vr... and just stops. I figure, maybe out of gas. But that is not the case. I try to restart it, and it kind of halfway spins up, but dies again the minute it hits grass. I let it cool off and start again. Still nothing. I check to see if there is something caught in the blades. Nope. Its just dead.

I guess this means I'm having a run of bad luck with lawn mowers.

I didn't stop there, however. My yard was looking really ragged. So, I edged, weedwacked, and weeded all the beds around the trees (I still have a couple flower beds that need some help). All and all, it was a very productive three hours of yard work, and definitely a much better workout than my normal 30 minute occasional morning jog. I was most surprised when the sun set at 8:30 p.m. though! This is the first time I've noticed it, but the days are definitely getting shorter (ok, well, not that short, but still shorter than the 9 p.m. sunsets we had last month). Finally, I went inside, made myself a yummy salad, ate the last of Cari's brownies and pretty much passed out.

Floors and roommates rock

I love my new floor. I can't say that enough. It feels so good. I love it I love it I love it. Oh, here's what Nick (my future roommie) has to say ...for those keeping score at home, that is almost exactly TWICE the area in which I lived for nine months in France. Speaking of which, I'm selling tickets for the first day all three of us are in the house at the same time (which, given Kennda's travel schedule, may not be until November). I'm beginning to call my house (in addition to the House of Becca's Wayward Strays) the Home of Difficult people... three opinionated, outspoken, (and probably a little brash/tactless) people in one house. Sounds like a great time! Oh, I'm sure it will work out after some adjustment, but in the meantime, its going to be VERY entertaining.

Birthdays

My dad's turning 50 next month. My brother called yesterday afternoon with an exceptional idea for a gift. Its perfect, he would appreciate it, he's offhandedly mentioned on a number of occasions how it would be perfect if he had this, and its a downright good idea. However, its about 4 times as expensive as any gift I've ever bought before, putting it well over my price range (my first thought was that if I had the money to buy the item, I would probably buy one for myself). Not to mention, its setting a precedent for the gift we'll have to purchase Mom next year for her 50th birthday. This puts into motion a downward spiral that can only lead to increasingly complicated gifts (such as taking a trip with my grandfather in Italy for his 70th birthday and my Aunt Ellie's 60-somethingth birthday, like was done two years ago!). Not that my family doesn't deserve wonderful and thoughtful gifts. But I'm a civil servant! I need to win the lotto or something...

Nick suggested we go in on the gift with Rini (avoiding sarcastic comment in order to finish telling the story). I'm not comfortable with this option, because, well, let's face it, she'd be spending Dad's money on her part, which is basically like Dad buying it for himself -- not much of a gift if you ask me. Last night I dreamt an unfortunate fate befell Rini. Thank Sarah for putting that image in my head.