Jan 31, 2014

I had a nice and easy day covering meetings at Landis School in Vineland this morning. There weren't many to cover to begin with, and I had this swanky break room all to myself. Apparently no one wants to climb the extra set of stairs up to the nest. So I got to watch shows without even wearing headphones. How nice. And I left quite early since there were no meetings after 11am.

I came to the gym early to do a long run and then Ryan met me there for a weight circuit. The circuit we did was pretty intense: pull ups, overhead press, and barbell squats repeated for a lot of sets. I was pretty pooped after that.

I went to Hammonton to get Mexican with Brenda and her friend. The food was awesome, but the restaurant was so loud! It was their opening night, but I was informed that the place is often playing really loud music. That would keep me from going back there. I'll just get take out if I want it again. I went to Kate's later and we tried a couple of wines. And that was my day.

Jan 30, 2014

I didn't get a job during the day so I spent the day working at home. I got an Alternative School job so I was happy the day wasn't wasted that way. The job was good and went by quickly. I even got out a little early because it was a testing schedule.

I went up to Gaby's where she had made a peanut sauce stir fry with pasta and butternut squash. When she finished cooking we sat down to eat and had a glass of wine. I got a merlot that was really good. Dinner was great. I didn't love the al dente pasta, but the veggies were awesome.

After dinner we hung out for a while, had some more wine and a shot of tequila with the lime and then watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It was a fun night. I didn't really notice the tequila I drank, which I found surprising.

Jan 29, 2014

When I woke up I was putting off getting out of bed until I read a text from Ryan saying Millville had a snow day. I got up and checked Vineland's site to find that they had one also so I was off! I had been in bed for a long time so I got up, feeling much better than the night before, and made breakfast for myself and then watched some Six Feet Under and made a list of things I needed to do.

I met Ryan at the gym in the afternoon for jump rope circuits and then I ran three miles on the treadmill. I did some grocery shopping without a list so I ended up getting a bunch of random things that I'll have to find a way to cook with. I came home for a little while and had dinner then headed over to Kate's.

Since I've been craving red wine lately I brought the bottle she got me for Christmas and we opened that. It was a Syrah that I wasn't too fond of right away. It was a bit spicy. We opened a red blend that she had and that was much better. After that the Syrah was much more enjoyable. We headed over to Quizzo to meet Chuck and Jamie, where we played a pretty good game, but we still managed to come in third-ish behind the other two top teams. I'm pretty sure they get extra points for being in the lead for rankings so they have a leg up to begin with. Annoying!

Jan 28, 2014

I got a job at Memorial for the day and it went pretty well. The classes had a test on Romeo and Juliet so they were quiet for at least half the class. I also had last block off so I got out early. I met Ryan at the gym later with the intention of running afterward. We did our push up day exercises, but I got a pretty extreme headache that would come and go. I made it through most of our exercises, but I was in no mood to run. I went home and had some food, but I got in bed early and watched Six Feet Under hoping my headache would go away.

Jan 27, 2014

I woke up in the morning to a phone call telling me that my job had been canceled because the teacher came back from jury duty. I have no idea why I was informed that late; they must have known. I didn't get another job so I went and got a haircut then went to Target to get a new pair of headphones. Finally! A pair that work!

Brenda and I went to the post office so she could drop off her passport renewal forms so we can leave the country soon. We went up to the rock gym and decided to start with bouldering. I haven't done it in a long time, but it was fun. It's still much harder.

It was a good warmup, but I still prefer belaying. I think we are going to stick with bouldering first and try to get better at it. Brenda had to be at a yoga class so I dropped her off at her gym and then went to my gym to do an inclined run on the treadmill and an ab circuit. I was feeling full from eating on the way home so I couldn't do as much as I wanted.

Jan 26, 2014

Another early start to the day. Ryan and I made breakfast and then headed over for day two at Elk. It was supposed to be much colder today, but it felt warmer with the sun out. After a while it went away and I felt the cold even more.

There were far fewer people there this time so that was a plus. It was nice not dealing with groups of people getting in the way as much. The trails were groomed even more nicely this time. We spent some more time on the far side of the mountain, but soon returned because there isn't that much over there.

Once my goggles fogged up enough times to be annoying and we got cold enough, we decided to head out. It was a good day of skiing, but it was also starting to snow and we thought it might be wise to head home at that point.

Once we packed up the house it was time to head out. The ride home was interesting as my windshield washer fluid was not working so with the snow and the salt spray from the road it became almost impossible to see at times. We had to pull over once or twice to clean it. I tried to fix the fluid to no avail. Once we got closer to Philly the roads were better so it wasn't a problem anymore. Once I got home I was tired, but I ended up staying up late watching shows anyway.

Jan 25, 2014

Ryan and I were up pretty early making breakfast and getting ready to head over to the mountain. The nice thing about having two cars is that we don't have to all be on the same schedule. And it's nice that it's about a four-minute drive to the resort. We put our gear on at the car and took the shuttle up to the ticket office and then we hopped on the lift.

It was a cold but nice day. The trails were all pretty good, and we didn't see many lines until after lunch. Even then it was mostly just people congregating and getting in the way rather than actually being in a line that we had to wait for. We did a couple of races down a trail called Kickapoo. Some of the turns were a little icy so that made it fun. Other than that we did a good selection of black and blue trails and called it a day after about five hours.

We came back to the cabin and hung out for a while, waiting for the others to come back. Once they did, Ryan and I went down to Scranton to get dinner at Damon's. After a filling meal and a couple of beer samples (Sam Adam's Cold Snap, and Susquehanna Toboggan; both very good) we headed back for the night. Ryan turned in early and I stayed out with the rest of the gang drinking a bottle of wine and talking for a few hours. Sometimes that's the best part of the ski trip.

Jan 24, 2014

We had a good day at work with the science class today. The students were all good despite not getting their usual "fun Friday." After work I stopped at Shop Rite for food and came home to pack for the weekend. After I got everything together I went to get Ryan, then we went to another Shop Rite to get groceries and I picked up a bottle of wine.

The drive up was a little long, but not too bad. It took about three hours or so. We stopped at a rest stop and got coffees. At least the weather was good. Once we got there it was just us for a while. We realized there was barely any phone service in the cabin. An hour or so later Tracy, Mike, and Christie showed up and we stayed up talking for a while before bed.

Jan 23, 2014

Luckily I woke up in the middle of the night and decided to check the school website to find out we had a delayed opening. So I got to sleep in a little bit and then went in for another abbreviated day. It was a good day back, and then I came home for the night. I was talking to Carrie and she decided to come over and hang out while she worked on sketches for a cake.

She came up with a few sketches and I provided my expert insight as an artist and a cake eater. Except I'm not a cake eater. While she sketched we drank some wine. Really it was just an excuse for me to drink wine while I talked to someone. It was a good time.

Jan 22, 2014

No work due to snow again! Again, it was a good call on the school's part. I got to sleep in and then I went over to Parvin for a snow walk. It was fresh and untouched. I was the first one to park there and the first one to walk on most of the trail. It was really pretty all around.

I listened to Fireworks most of the way around, but I couldn't quite match the tempo as I walked in the deeper snow. It was nice not seeing anyone else on the trail and being the first one to make footprints. I was wearing Under Armour, ski pants, a hoodie, my jacket, and my face mask. I was happy with my bundling, and I just alternated taking my mask on and off my mouth.

I came home and shoveled off the walkways in the front and back of the house while I waited for Ryan to get there. We went for a walk down the river trail and around near the park. We looped around and extended the walk to the other side of the trail toward Sharp Street before heading back.

Once I took my gear off I was ready to stay home so I did laundry and watched White Collar in the comfort of my room. I was going to take another walk, but I didn't get a call so I stayed home until it was time for Quizzo. The cold and snow kept a lot of people inside it seemed. Only three teams were there and it was just Chuck and myself at our table. We fell behind in the first few rounds and were never able to catch back up so we came in third of three teams. Go team go!

Jan 21, 2014

Back to work today at Vineland Memorial in the same science class. They called for a half day because of the impending snow storm so that meant short classes again. The snow started around 10 so we got to watch it slowly accumulate. I also found out the teacher needs to be out for another week so my job is extended. Good news!

I came home from work and considered going out to shoot in the snow, but it didn't seem to be piling up yet. That didn't happen until later. So I spent my afternoon updating and watching White Collar until Ryan asked me if I wanted to come over and work out at the school behind his house.

We took the kettle bell and came up with two circuits. The kettle bell exercises weren't even that bad; it was the push ups on the parallel bars that really made me feel it. We did five sets of each exercise and the blowing wind made it even more interesting.

It was fun, but it felt good to come back inside. We played some Mario U and then some mini games based on old NES games like Mario and Excitebike. They were fun. I came home and watched New Girl and Justified before bed. No work tomorrow! (I'm not really excited about it.)

Jan 20, 2014

I took Brenda to the course so she could try disc golf for the first time. On the plus side, she already can actually throw a disc so that's one giant obstacle that won't be a problem. She did really well for her first time. We practiced putting for a while and we made it through the whole course with no real issues.

We went up to PB's for food and I got a Brawler and then we each had an Angry Orchard cider. Our waitress was pretty terrible, but we had a good time. Later I went to the gym with Ryan where we decided against doing our push up day after we both felt a little weak in the shoulders. We just did other arm exercises and then left without exchanging EZ Passes, which is why we suggested going in the first place.

Jan 19, 2014

I spent the morning going through photos and updating the blog, then I picked up Brenda and Ryan and we headed up to Blue Mountain for the night. Brenda realized she had forgotten her ski pants so she had to get another pair when we got there. Ryan went ahead while we waited to get her board sharpened and then we did a few runs together before meeting back up with him.

The slopes were a bit crowded for the first couple of hours, but it started to die down. Dreamweaver was open this time, but it was super icy so not as fun as usual. The whole mountain was actually more icy than usual. I assume because of how much use it got on the holiday weekend. It was a little scary in some parts, but we had fun with it anyway. I didn't break anything.

Someone told Ryan he looked terrifying with all of his gear on his face. I was glad we didn't have to wait in line too long at any of the lifts, and we managed to ski right up until the Ski Patrol was funneling us to the exits. Somehow Brenda managed to get to the bottom lodge after they stopped the lifts so we had to go down and get her after we packed up and changed. It was a really fun day and the weather was great. Just a long drive home that didn't seem so bad with good conversation.

Jan 18, 2014

A lot of photos today. I went to the gym with Ryan in the morning to continue/finish our pull up day exercises from last night. We did more pull ups than last week, and I improved my wall sit time by 40 seconds. I think I can do the full 5 minutes if I really want to. I met Kate and Matt at Flightline Restaurant after I showered and we had a good breakfast not fully comprised of breakfast foods.

We went next door to Glasstown Brewing for their grand opening. It was more crowded than I expected, but that's great for them. We had to wait for a while until they did the official ribbon cutting. Everyone was excited and taking photos because the mayor was there. And for the cutting, I suppose.

They did a fair amount of talking and thanking everyone. The mayor told everyone to start drinking, but then someone else talked for a minute. After that it was officially open to pouring. The next challenge was getting to the bar.

I was a little disappointed that there were only two beers on that I hadn't had. They mentioned last week that there would be several new ones and eight total. Either way, I started with the Bourbon Brown. It wasn't bad but not what I expected either. It's hard for me to explain, but the bourbon flavor was more muted, and it tasted more like a bitter brown. Good once it warmed up a bit though.

I tried the Glasstown Ale that Matt got. I liked that one; they use dark malts which gives it a full flavor. I got a pint of the El Dorado Pale Ale, which is tasty and maltier than pale ales usually are. They had the Glasstown Founder's Ale which wasn't on the menu, and I liked that a lot once it warmed up a little. I only had a sample, but I'd get that again. Chuck and Alex stopped by to fill up growlers for their evening, and they gave us their raffle tickets to increase our chances of winning. We didn't.

Paul gave us these cards when we came in since we had done the tour twice before. Technically (legally) everyone is supposed to do the tour to be able to drink there. I finished with the IPA, which I sipped on for a while and had some Doritos with the people at the table next to us that we became friendly with. They were all really friendly teachers, but were clearly getting drunk. It was amusing.

I left Kate and Matt to go get a run in before the sun went down. It was much colder than it was this morning when I thought it was a good idea. I went to Parvin anyway and froze my hands for the first mile until they warmed up. One thing I can say for the cold: when I think about stopping to walk I know I'll be frozen if I do so that's motivational. I had a good run around the lake listening to Anberlin, and the sunset was nice as I finished.

I got some food and came home for the rest of the night. I didn't feel great so I had a nap that turned into staying in bed basically. I got up for a few hours later in the night and went through wedding photos that I need to edit in the next week or two. I was in a Scrubs mood so I watched a few episodes and went back to bed.

Jan 17, 2014

We had shortened periods through the day because of an afternoon basketball game that the students play against the staff. So the day went pretty quickly and easily. I had a shorter break early in the day, but I got an extra hour break at the end when the game was going on. I was glad I didn't have to go. I met Ryan at the gym after work, but after a few exercises he had a bad headache, so I just ran three miles on the treadmill and we put it off until tomorrow.

I went home for a while and edited the rest of a batch of photos and sent them off to Kim. We went to Matt's house later for games. Chuck and Alex were already there, and Ryan and Jamie showed up soon after. We started off playing Pandemic, which had to be explained to all the newbies, but it seems like it's easier to explain each time we do it. That's coming from someone who understands it though.

We played two rounds of that, one of which we lost horribly before a full round ended, and the second we ended up doing really well. It didn't seem exactly like it was involving everyone though, so we got out a card game called Citadels. I had thought Ryan had Cards Against Humanity so I had everyone's hopes up, including mine, for that. It turned out he wasn't able to get it because it's still sold out.

Citadels was actually quite fun once we figured out the rules. We definitely did a bunch of things wrong, but they were minor things that didn't really affect the game too much. Once we got the hang of it, we had a good time playing it. I thought I had won, but Jamie and Ryan kept killing me. I was close to winning in the end, but Ryan was just a few points ahead. It was a fun game night. We just need to remember to bring more games.

Jan 16, 2014

My third day in the science class was the best yet. I know all the students know and they have a relative level of respect for me, I think. They have been working and I didn't have to yell at anyone all day so that's an improvement. I went right to the gym after work to do jump rope circuits with half ball pushup planks and bicycle kick things on the half ball in between. We did a few more ab things and then called it a night.

Gaby came over later and we went to Kawa to pick up some sushi and took a walk around the shopping center while we waited. I went over to Starbucks to get a latte, going with the caramel flan flavor that was recommended. I liked it. I saw Erika and Meg at Kawa as well, so I stopped to talk to them for a few minutes before heading back home.

We watched Happy Gilmore, which was required viewing since Gaby had somehow never seen it. It still cracks me up even though I've seen it more times than I can remember. We hung out for a while after the movie talking about hikes or "hikes" we could do, and then she had to get going because she had an early flight. I then had a hard time getting tired so I watched Community and Parks & Rec.