Mar 18, 2014

No snow day this time! I worked at Vineland Memorial covering meetings for the day. It was an easy day, as per usual, and then I came home to relax for a while. Later I met Brenda at the gym for some treadmill walking, a couple games of racquetball, and then some weight machines.

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 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 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 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 5, 2014

I worked at Vineland Memorial covering meetings again. This time I had to stay the whole day, but I still had a lot of down time. I went to the gym with Ryan a little bit after work for a workout and then I ran on the treadmill for a while after we finished.

Ryan and Bree joined Chuck, Matt, and me for Quizzo. We had some appetizers and had a good time even though did poorly on the quiz. Damn Mac and Cheese.

Feb 3, 2014

It was a lazy kind of day. I ended up not taking a job and just running errands for the day. I went to the bank and to Staples to get some things printed and did some grocery shopping. I picked up Brenda and Yoki later to go for a walk at Silver Run. I was having a strange day and felt like having some beer while I walked.

We walked the long trail and then stopped at the bird blind to enjoy the view and pass the leash back and forth. Then we continued our walk back to the car and headed off to get some food.

After eating some Wawa food, we went to Cold Stone because Brenda was craving it. I wasn't going to get anything, but the peanut butter crazy chocolate thing just looked too good. So I was bad. I tried to make up for it later at the gym by running for 60 minutes. I ran somewhere over 6 miles in that time, so I was happy. Then Ryan joined me for a workout.

Feb 1, 2014

I went to the gym with Ryan in the morning to do some jump rope circuits. After we had enough I came home and had something for lunch and hung out for the day. We went up to The Abbaye in the evening for the Vegan Wing Bowl, which I had considered taking part in before I realized I wanted to enjoy my wings and not gorge myself on them. They were even on special at half price! I probably should have not eaten all day so I could eat more.

Before I got to sit down with everyone I went over to the Troc to get tickets. It should have been easy, but there was a ton of traffic in Chinatown and when I ordered Bayside tickets the guy gave me tickets to some other event entirely, which I realized after I had walked out and had to move my car before getting a ticket.

So eventually I made it back and sat down eager for a beer and food. During the event they had a Philadelphia Brewing U Buy the Glass with mostly beer we had tried before and the Schwarzinger. That was really good. We had a fun time at the back table squeezed in while everyone was yelling at the contestants in the wing contest. Always a good time at The Abbaye.

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 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 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.

Jan 14, 2014

I went in for the potentially week-long job at Vineland Memorial today and was pleasantly surprised that all of the eighth grade classes were really good. The work was laid out well and for the most part they all did it without extra direction from me. I also like the way her schedule is set up so I think I'll be keeping this job. I did get called to the vice principal's office so she could tell me that writing up a student and sending her to the office isn't proper procedure here. I told her that's how I've done it everywhere else and she said she "sincerely doubts that." So she's an asshole. That explains it.

After work I had to send some images to a sculpture group in Santa Monica that wants to use my image from the Seward Johnson exhibition at Rowan a few years ago. I was surprised by the request, but my image might get used in a book, so that's pretty sweet. I met Ryan at the gym for our push up workouts. We increased the weight or set numbers to increase the difficulty and we can already notice improvement. I got Chinese and came home to finish Sherlock and stayed home for the night.

Jan 11, 2014

Ryan suggested the gym this morning as a way for us to both motivate each other to actually go. It worked out well. We did two sets of jump rope circuits with exercises in between. We were sufficiently exercised after that. I got an oil change and had a few things to take care of throughout the afternoon and then came home to chill for a little while before going out.

We picked up pizzas on the way to Glasstown and then got ourselves a table and some beers. Twice in two days is a good way to do it. It was Chuck and Jamie's first time coming so Chuck sampled some of course. They only had three this time because they are gearing up for the grand opening party next weekend. That's what they said anyway.

I was really digging the Amber this time. It was much better than the sample I had last night. I had a couple of those, a pumpkin, and an IPA. I'm looking forward to them having more on tap next weekend. We hung out for a couple of hours, did the tour again for the newcomers, ate pizza, and tried to figure out what songs were playing on the radio. Brandon stopped by so we talked to him for a bit and realized he had a better idea buying the growler and pouring his own drinks. Economical/illegal. We had a great time and I wanted to have more drinks, but once I came home it was all done. Goodnight.

Jan 10, 2014

The morning was an icy slide to work as the morning rain froze all over the place. I barely broke 25mph the whole way to Vineland Memorial school and the parking lot and walkways were insanely slippery so I tried to stay on the grass and not pick up my feet as best I could. I was covering CST meetings so I spent most of my time in the staff lounge watching Workaholics and trying not to fall asleep. It was a rough day. I met Ryan at the gym after work for the second part of our new set of workouts doing wall sits and pull up exercises. It was exhausting in a whole different way.

Matt and Kate invited me to Glasstown Brewing with them so I finally got to go check them out. I sampled the 4 beers they had on tap which were an Amber that was pretty good, a surprisingly good Pumpkin, the El Dorado 47 Pale Ale, which was flat but tasty, and the Double IPA, which was great. I had a pint of that. I look forward to them having more. We had to do the tour, which showed us their very small brewing system. I was surprised at how small it is. I assume they are planning on upgrading eventually as they grow. I went to Kate's for a bit after to watch Modern Family for a while before it was home for sleep time.

Jan 9, 2014

I worked at a sixth grad math class at Lakeside today. The students were mostly cooperative, but I had a few difficulties with students as well as faculty which annoyed me and made it a relatively bad day. When I came home I ate and watched some shows as I fell asleep for a nice nap. Naps always make things a little better. I went to the gym with Ryan late and we stayed until closing time doing exercises and hand stands for a while. Once I showered I went over to Kate's to hang out for a while and watch TV while I complained about work.

Dec 17, 2013

I looked for a job in the morning, but ended up deciding to take the day off. After staying up late and having a busy long weekend of nonstop working, I thought it would be nice. And I was right. I went back to sleep for a while and then got up and watched Burn Notice and How I Met Your Mother, not getting dressed or putting my contacts in until the afternoon when I went to meet Ryan at the gym. We did our usual bout of hand standing along with a mix of exercises throughout the gym. A girl in the group room gave us a suggestion about keeping our ankles together that really helped with our hand stands.

I spent a couple of hours editing wedding photos and then went to the movies to meet Chuck and Matt for Anchorman 2. I tried not to, but I went into it with high hopes and I was not disappointed. It was hilarious for the same reasons the first one was. It didn't seem like they beat anything to death, and the character dynamic was still great. There were definitely times when we were all cracking up. It was absolutely worth my money.

Dec 10, 2013

I woke up to find out we had a snow day and I was very excited for some reason. I can take off any day I want as a sub. I don't get paid if we have off so I shouldn't be excited. Anyway, I met Ryan at the gym when we finally were both up and did my best hand stand thus far. We did some more jump rope circuits and then more hand stands at the end. We went to Kawa for sushi after gymning.

The snow wasn't even that bad, but it was nice to have off. Ryan and I went to his house and threw the disc to Anya a bit and then went to play some more Mario 3D.

I went over to Jen's house for the first time since she moved/had her last 2 kids. Maeby and Micah spent most of the time sitting on my lap and looking through books and playing with my camera. We just sat there and played for a while while the grown ups talked. I also got a brownie for the road that was delicious.

The sunset was really nice in the farmland on the way home. I went home and got a shower, had some food, and chilled out for a short time before heading back out again.

I went up to Barnes and Noble at Rowan and browsed the books. I found quite a few that I am interested in so I took some notes. I sat reading for a little while and then Gaby met me to get a tea and walk around campus. Really we just walked down to Westby because I wanted to look around.

Things looked about the same but still different. I went into the darkroom to show her how that works and wandered the gallery and computer labs for a while. I got on the computer and showed her some of my photos and things that were up at my show then played a quick game of hangman before I showed her the darkroom and then headed back out into the cold and back home.