Feb 28, 2014

I worked my second day for the German class today and I was happy to be done. I had food and then headed up to Philly with Kate to meet Chuck and Alex for a drink. We were going to do Monk's, but it was so crowded we went down to Misconduct and had some tasty beers before heading to the Merriam Theater for Mike Birbiglia.

We got there just in time and met Jordan and her boyfriend at our seats. Birbigs was hilarious as always. He started the show talking about people who are late vs. those who are on time. He called the former "laties," which Chuck and I loved. The whole show was new jokes so that was great. We need to make sure we see him more often.

We went back to Misconduct for some more drinks after the show. Neshaminy Creek's Coconut Mudbank Milk Stout is possibly the best stout I've ever had. And the Helltown Mischievous Brown wants to take the crown for the brown in my book as well. We had a couple from Cigar City and an Avery Black IPA that I wasn't in the mood for, but then I had the Terrapin Mosaic Rye IPA. It might have just been that night and my really wanting good beer, but it was phenomenal. Exactly what I wanted. I need to have all three of these beers again soon. Top notch.

Feb 27, 2014

I worked at Memorial and Lakeside for a German teacher for the day and then went to the gym to do a few miles on the elliptical before Ryan met me there. It was a good workout. I might have to try that more often. We did several different things around the gym from weights to machines and TRX. It was a grab bag day. I went over to Kate's later to watch 2 more episodes of True Detective. I wanted to watch more but I was really tired by the end of the second and I didn't want to miss any details.

Feb 26, 2014

My third day at Memorial covering meetings was somewhere in between. I had a good amount of break time so I watched New Girl and Sherlock as I hung out eating my yogurt parfait thing.

We went to The Abbaye for DuClaw's U Buy the Glass night early enough to get a good table. They had six beers on the menu. I had forgotten how good the Euphoria was, but I was happy to have that.

We ordered our food and the beers kept coming. There was the Venom Pale Ale, Bare Ass Blonde, Misfit Red, and Sweet Baby Jesus. I had forgotten about the Mysterium, but it didn't sound like one I would like. I was very wrong. Might be my favorite of the night.

People got drunk. Matt had to leave for his volleyball game and we stuck around until they stopped pouring. Once the raffle was over Kate had won a shirt and I didn't get anything. Earlier I had talked to the DuClaw rep, Chris, about being a big fan of their brewery for a long time so he told me to come out to his car after the raffle if I didn't win anything.

I did just that and he hooked me up with two bottles: Hell on Wood, which I'd never heard of, and Cocoa Fuego, which I actually haven't had yet. That was pretty awesome of him and just solidifies my love of that brewery and all that they do. After hanging out for a while longer we headed home to drop everyone off.

Feb 25, 2014

I had another day of meetings at Vineland Memorial today. This time my schedule was pretty packed. I had a nice lunch break though. After I work I met Kate and we headed up to Cherry Hill to meet a wedding client so I could give her the contract and get the deposit. We went to Iron Hill after that to get a drink before the rock gym. We ended up getting a growler of Luca Brasi.

We met Brenda over at the rock gym and got into it. We were there for about three hours and did a lot of climbing it seemed like. That one extra person really helps out by giving a little more breaks between climbs. We also did some bouldering in between. It was a good night.

Feb 24, 2014

I worked at Vineland Memorial and my meeting schedule was for the first two periods of the day and then my last one was period 8 so I had a huge break in between where I sat in the break room watching Girls, The Walking Dead, and Shameless from last night. It wasn't a bad day.

I went to the gym with Brenda later and the racquetball court was booked for a few hours so we went to the cardio room to run and walk on treadmills until it was time for yoga. Yoga was really long, but it was fun and challenging. There are definitely motions I need to practice if I want to do it more often.

After total relaxation we went to the racquetball court and started nailing a ball full speed at the wall. We ended up having some really great games. It was nice that she is pretty good and gives a real effort to win. She did beat me both full games we played. I also managed to hit her directly in the face with one of my shots. She was okay, but it looked like it hurt. I think I'd really like to join this gym just to be able to play more often. And yoga.

Feb 23, 2014

Ah, a nice day. I went to the course with Brenda for a round of disc golf finally. It was so nice to be playing again. She was doing really well for only being her second time. After playing that game Kate wanted to play so I came back for another round. It didn't feel old even though I had just played. Nice days are great. I went to Parvin for a run after the second round, but there were more cars there than I have ever seen before so I knew that wouldn't be a fun trail to navigate. Later I went to Kate's and started watching True Detective. We ended up watching three episodes. It's so damn good. I had a 7 Hop IPA by Rogue that was soooo good. Good night.

Feb 22, 2014

I headed to Valley Forge in the morning to meet Joanna for a long bike ride to Manayunk and back. After we got on our bikes and headed to the trailhead we found it covered in snow and ice still. People on mountain bikes were having trouble with it. So after standing there staring at it for a while in disbelief we went back to the car and tried to regroup. Disc golf! But oh-- the course we wanted to play is closed only on Saturdays. Makes sense. I should probably just drink beer. Not even good beer as it turned out. I went to McKenzie's and tried their sampler. Some of them were average, but mostly not so good. I'm not even sure what it was.

We decided to go to Wissahickon Creek. Surely one of the more popular hiking, biking, and running trails very close to the city must be clear by now. Or it's still a solid sheet of ice with some developing puddles. Well then.

More beer it is. We went to The Abbaye, the one place that can't disappoint! I got a couple beers, we split the vegan lasagna, which was awesome, and then I had peanut butter pie for dessert. Jorge was even there to serve us! And I got the pie for free because they were out of ice cream.

There was still a while until I wanted to go into Union Transfer for the show so I sat in the car and listened to a podcast while almost falling asleep at times until I actually did go in. The World is a Beautiful Place and I'm No Longer Afraid to Die was really good. I think I'd like to check out their recorded music. Into It. Over It. was up next and they were phenomenal. This is the first time I've seen them since I knew the songs so it was even better than last time. 

I was directly up front singing along and it was great except not being able to hear the vocals sometimes. Evan was really funny and played most of the songs from Proper. I didn't leave wanting much. I already can't wait to see them again.

Feb 21, 2014

I worked at Lakeside for an English class that started later in the morning. After my first class I had a two hour break so I went home for lunch and took a walk around the lake trail because it was amazingly nice out. No need for a jacket at all. I also took this photo.

I went to the gym with Ryan after work for a few random sets of exercises and then headed home below the beautiful sky during sunset. After the rain stopped everything lit up.

The plans for the evening changed a bit so I ended up joining Jamie to go see some of her friends' amateur wrestling match. The warehouse where they did it was freezing, but the wrestling was really entertaining. They know their stuff.

The characters were hilarious. Jamie and I agreed that we weren't sure if it was supposed to be funny, but the whole thing cracked us up. We also agreed that the villains were better. I was definitely glad I decided to go except for the not feeling my toes because of the cold.

Feb 20, 2014

Another day of meetings. This time at Lakeside. Between teachers having prep periods and not having to come down, I ended up covering one class for about ten minutes and then I got to leave before noon. Another win for these jobs. I met Ryan at the gym later for a workout before I went to eat at Italian Affair with Alex. The food is so amazing there. I was happy to have leftovers.

We went to PB's after dinner for some beers, where I had Alex try the Sweet Baby Jesus. She wasn't a fan. I don't understand. I did mix her Time Traveler Strawberry Shandy with it and we both thought that was great. They were unfortunately out of the two IPAs I really wanted, but I got a Dale's Pale Ale which does the trick.

We somehow stumbled in on the night when they have Quizzo so we obviously had to stay for that. The host made me laugh quite a few times. It's a fact-based game, but he makes it fun by joking around a lot. We did not win, but it was a good time despite that, and it went pretty quickly. I'd like to go back and check it out again soon.

Feb 19, 2014

My day began by covering meetings at Wood School, having a long lunch break, then covering longer meetings in the afternoon at Mt. Pleasant. That was the majority of the day's activities until later when Jamie invited me Saladworks with her before we went to Quizzo. We ran into Jordan there so we sat and talked with her for a while as Jamie had her dinners. At Applebee's, we somehow got seated directly between two of the other teams that come every week, so that was special. We tried saying the answers quietly, but that did not help us win. Again.

Feb 18, 2014

I had meetings to cover at Memorial during the day. They went pretty quickly as usual and I was done early. I went to the gym to run for a while before Ryan showed up and we did pull up day exercises. That might not have been the best idea before going to the rock gym with Brenda. I felt a little weak, but we had a good time. The place was more packed than I've ever seen it so we bouldered and then stayed on one wall for a while until another opened up. 

We went to Philly after the gym and got some food at the Abbaye. It was Brenda's first time so we got the mac & cheese and vegan wings. She approved of both. I got a couple beers as well and then we headed over to The Barbary for Through Being Cool with Kenny Vasoli DJing. The music was great. I want to come to all of these from now on. It was like going to a show just without a band playing. And cheaper beer. I saw Bree and her friends there so we hung out for a bit, but Brenda wasn't feeling the crowd so we headed home.

Feb 17, 2014

I went to the gym for a long time in the afternoon, running for a while and then doing several circuit sets in the group room. I was surprised I stayed for as long as I did. Chuck and I headed up to Iron Hill in Voorhees later where we met Jamie, Matt, and Kate to celebrate Jamie's birthday. After playing some musical chairs to sit in the bar area where beers were much cheaper we ordered some food and drinks.

The food was awesome and the beer, as always, was great. The Rye'ght on was one of my favorites I've had from them, and the Wee Heavy was on point. We also tried the Titus double IPA, which was tasty, but I was in the mood for something else. I did have a Rising Sun IPA though, because it's one of my favorites.

After we ate, we played a game of mustache mystery where each card has a silhouette of someone famous' mustache. The back has clues to help the players guess who it is. Amy, who didn't think I knew her from high school, showed up with her husband and we played the game. He kept guessing Stalin and was eventually absolutely right! I kept guessing Jamie Hyneman which sadly never showed up. It was a really fun and funny game to play. Happy birthday, Jamie!

Feb 16, 2014

After a nice sleep and a morning inside I decided to take advantage of the warm weather and go for a run. I went to Silver Run where it turns out the sun hadn't quite reached the trails enough to melt the ice. I figured I'd give it a try anyway, but swiftly found myself on my ass and turning back to the car. No running today. I went to the dock at Union Lake as I listened to a podcast and stared out at the frozen lake for a while. I left and went to the grocery to get a few things before heading home and staying in for the rest of the night.

Feb 15, 2014

When I got up in the morning Alex fed me leftover pizza that her dad brought home from work last night and then sent me on my way to the Big Brew Beer Festival in Morristown. It was cold and icy in the parking lot and the people working there had no idea what they were talking about. They made me walk back and forth to each side of the building several times before I finally got in. I found my place at the Six Point Brewing table, said hi to people from the club and other reps I know, and then got settled and ready to pour some beers.

I really lucked out, as I was directly in between Brittney from Dominion and Caitlin from Oskar Blues so I had friends to talk to all day! That really helped when it got boring or when someone did something stupid. I can usually make friends with people pretty easily, but it helps when you already know them. The first session was good, but we needed to get out of there. Brittney and I inched our way slowly down the slick road in horrible traffic because of the snow to get to the Famished Frog for lunch. We split two sandwiches so we didn't have to decide what to get. It was delicious.

We came back a little late because it took so long to get to the restaurant and back, but we took up our posts and got back to the work. I was pushing Resin and Righteous Ale all day, but I got to drink some other things even though it was frowned upon (shhhh!) Newburgh Brewing's Brown Ale was fantastic, as was the KUKA Devil's Treat Stout by Andean Brewing. I need to go visit both of them when I get up to New York again.

As the day wound down I had poured many, many beers and my pointer finger was hurting from opening so many cans. We hung out while everyone rushed the doors so it would be easier to leave in the snow. I also followed the lead of the other people there and scored quite a nice stash of beer from what was left over on tables. Not a bad little bonus. I drove home down the Parkway to 295, listening to podcasts and genuinely enjoying the ride. I was completely tired by the time I got home.

Feb 14, 2014

I began my day driving up to Montgomery County to do a photo shoot at a legal aid firm. I did head shots and office shots. It all went pretty smoothly and easily. I was happy with the library head shot I did for the guy that was being honored at an award ceremony in the near future. Everyone was very friendly there.

I went for a short walk around the area after leaving the office to get some shots of the court house and some other local building. The giant piles of snow everywhere didn't help me getting around. I was parked on top of a mound of snow already so I was hoping I could get off of it back to the road.

I did, indeed, get back on the road and drove up to North Jersey to pick up Alex for our Valentine's Day date. We went to Montclair to Mesob Ethiopian. We ordered our food and caught up on the many, many things we hadn't gotten to talk about. It was nice seeing her again. She was also working on a photo project so she had her little tripod set up on the table, shooting photos once in a while as we sat.

The food was amazing, of course. It was served just like it has been in the past. The spicy lentils might have been my favorite. Or the cheese. It was all fantastic though. The set menu came with a dessert and tea as well so we were very full when we left there.

Next stop was the Upstairs Bar. It was really fancy and somehow we lucked upon two open seats at the bar. There were fun lights and mirrors everywhere. I really liked the design of the bar.

The main reason I wanted to go there was because they were supposed to have great cocktails. We both got a couple and were happy with them. I got that night's signature cocktail which came with pink peppercorns on top. It was great. I drink too fast to get expensive cocktails though so I switched to beer.

  

I talked to the bartender for a while about beer and he's interested in joining NJCB. I got Elysian's Split Shot espresso stout which was amazingly delicious! I also tried a Pilsner by Palm that was surprisingly great. We had a great night out, but it had to end eventually. I was set up on the couch in Alex's basement where I fell asleep with ease.

Feb 13, 2014

And for another productive day: I spent much of the day inside my room watching television because we got yet another snow day! This time I didn't really venture out except to go to the gym with Ryan in the afternoon. We had a good workout and then it was back home to have dinner and continue the not doing things. Look at all this blank space where I could have written about how productive I was. Nope.

Feb 12, 2014

I got a Child Study Team job today at Holly Heights and Bacon School. I was at Holly for about fifteen minutes. I covered a gym teacher while she went and signed a paper. I watched the kids jump rope until she got back and then I had a two hour break before the next meeting at Bacon. The meeting there took longer but not long at all so I was done and out early. Thanks for the full day's pay.

Later we went to Quizzo for the championship round. We were soundly defeated as has been the case for most of the games. Still, we had a good time and some late night appetizers.

Feb 11, 2014

I was not feeling the return to work so instead of getting a sub job I slept in a little. It was barely enough to justify staying home, but it was nice to stay in for the day. I edited a bunch of photos that needed to get done and tried to be productive otherwise. Later Chuck came over with a six pack of Sweet Baby Jesus and we had some beers and watched internet videos. Mostly they were of cats doing stupid things or falling off tables. It was a quality evening of hang time.

Feb 10, 2014

Our final day we headed back to Killington, both a little less than excited about it. How can you follow up the day we had yesterday? Plus today was cold, snowy, and gray. There was fresh powder and that was a new experience where I was skiing and couldn't see my skis or boots at times. It also made turning a little more difficult. We did sections of the mountain we had not even been to on the first day. There were no crowds and few moguls this time around, but it still felt a little less fun. We did some good trails but ultimately ended up heading out early.

It was freezing! My hands were so cold when I got back to the car to take my boots off. We got some coffee at our first opportunity and then began the drive home. I had this delicious bean and veggie salad.

The drive home always seems longer. But this time it didn't seem so bad. Maybe because I wasn't driving this time. Either way we had a good drive home and I had to take my stuff out of Ryan's car and put it in mine. Obviously when I got home I only brought in the stuff that needed to come inside. The rest could stay in there for a while.

Feb 9, 2014

Day two we went to Okemo in the morning. We got a much earlier start this time, but it didn't help too much as we realized right about when we got to the resort that we had forgotten our passes at the hotel. We got them as part of a promotion and needed them to get our lift tickets soooo we made a round trip before we even started skiing.

We still had a pretty early start on the mountain and the place was amazingly less crowded. It was a gorgeous day and the conditions were completely perfect. We had gone up and down probably 4 trails in the time it took us to do one at Killington yesterday. Maybe slightly exaggerated but not much. The trails were great too.

We took a break at the summit lodge at one point after we got separated on a glades trail that I decided not to do because of the uncovered rocks and myriad other things that could kill or break me. We took a little break at the lodge and got some water before being offered a free hot beverage for taking a survey! I sipped on my delicious hot chocolate for a while and then we headed back out.

I didn't want to leave really, so we kept skiing for a while longer. I wanted to take advantage of all the trails we could. I would honestly have liked to spend the whole weekend there. I can't describe any more how perfect everything was.

After the ideal ski day we had to go to Applebee's for our usual dinner to cap things off. I tried a couple of beers they had on tap from local places that I'd never had before. Magic Hat's Chair Lift IPA and Long Trail Limbo IPA. Both were fantastic. Another nice night back in the sauna for a short time and then we hung out playing some games before retiring to bed.