Mar 14, 2017

I worked at Memorial in an English class for the day. It was an easy day and it went pretty quickly. After work I went to Ryan's to play Aladdin for SNES and plan our ski trip. Aladdin was a lot of fun but much shorter than I remember. That happens a lot with older games. We got all our hotels booked and lift tickets purchased so we are ready to go.

I went to Becca's where we got the cooking underway. We made eggplant parm pizzas again. They never get old. They take quite a while to make, but they're so good. The olives, jalapenos, and artichokes really make them so much better. We ate and watched a couple episodes of the new season of Love before an early bedtime.

Feb 15, 2017

I had quite an easy day covering meetings at Vineland Memorial. My light schedule allowed me to get a good amount of editing done in the break room and my long lunch gave me a chance to go to Landis Park for a full round of disc golf on the clock. It was a pretty nice day so I couldn't pass it up.

I went to Becca's later where we made this colorful and delicious scramble-ish thing. Lots of broccoli. We looked some things up for future plans and watched some Californication before I headed home for the night.

Feb 14, 2017

The meetings were nice and easy at Silver Run. I sat in a first grade class while they decorated Valentine's Day bags with hearts. I had about two hours so I went home and had lunch, caught up on some shows, and called Comcast because the internet was out. I came back after lunch for two more meetings and I was done by 2.

I went to Anytime Fitness to pick up some free passes and, since I was right there, I decided to finally get that haircut I've been talking about for a while now. The lady who did it took a long time, but she was nice. I don't think I like it as much as the last time I got it done, but at least I know it will grow fast.

After spending one full hour talking to the Comcast rep trying to get the new modem working I was done and I headed to Becca's to spend the night with Lilo watching movies. I think she enjoyed them. I got into a movie binge starting with Joshy, which I really liked. Subsequently I watched Drinking Buddies and Search Party. I'm enjoying that genre right now. I got to bed pretty late, but it's okay because I napped a little on the couch.

Feb 5, 2017

When we got up Becca made us some delicious blueberry pancakes and we watched an episode of Flaked. We tried to go to the mall, but it became a challenge when we found out nothing opens before 11. We went to Target, where I got the 4TB external drive I wanted and then we bounced around, going to my house to get the other one to return to Best Buy. We made a couple of other stops then came home to get some stuff done. One of those things was finally labeling all my discs and putting them in the drawers for my car.

We got down to business after that... I poked Becca's new nose stud into her face with tweezers after she almost gave up on it. THEN we got down to business. Becca did some studying and I did some editing. It wasn't long before we were hungry again and eating our leftover scramble watching another episode of Flaked.

It had been nice out all day so we went to Parvin for a run. The plan was to run 5 miles so we took the Black Oak Trail and I added in part of the paved loop for distance. When we got back close to the car Becca kept going so I stuck with her and we ended up doing the full green loop the other direction. In all we ran 8 miles and it felt great aside from my feet hurting. I don't know if it was my shoes or what, but besides that I felt like I could have kept going.

We stopped at the store on the way home to look for a couple of things and then headed home to start cooking dinner. We got ingredients earlier to make lentil sloppy joes so we began the fairly easy process. It took a little time, but we made a lot and it was really good! 

We watched the last episode of Flaked which left us on a cliffhanger. 8 episodes isn't enough! Becca gave me a miniature pedicure while we watched. I put my feet in a warm bath then she gave me a nice massage. I needed it after those miles today. I spent the rest of the night at home setting up my new hard drive and transferring some things while I caught up on some shows.

Feb 4, 2017

We began the day right-- with pancakes. Halfway into making them we realized we didn't have any almond milk, but I remembered that I had a free coffee coupon for Wawa so I ran down the street, filled up a 24oz cup with soy milk, presented my free coupon, and returned moments later to save the day.

We enjoyed our pancakes while being entertained both by an episode of Flaked and watching the cats act very much like cats. Loki chased his tail quite a bit and kept sitting in the sunlight.

Around noon we headed back to Glasstown for their bottle release. There was a line at the door as people were excited to get a lot of beer, but we waited until they opened up to get out of the car and into the cold. We saw Lance, who was quite far ahead of us in line as well. We waited in line for a little while and I bought a bottle of the 3rd Anniversary Murder, Inc. for Chuck before we grabbed a flight and found a corner of a table to sit at. The Double Bourbon Brown was great, the Murder was much better than I expected, and the Danky Jr. tasted better today than last night. All around good beer as usual. And some lady got really passive aggressive about me sitting in the stool she thought was hers but that she wasn't sitting in for ten minutes.

We came home and made some tofu scramble for lunch and watched some more Flaked. It's really good. We also took out the frozen bananas we put in the freezer this morning and blended them to make some banana ice cream with peanut butter. It was a nice healthyish dessert. Johanna asked me to go get coffee so I meet her at the Starbucks Cafe. We had a great chat about traveling, tinnitus, and social media. I also was happy to have a cold brew again.

When I got back it was late, but we got ourselves right out onto the trails at Silver Run for three miles of running up and down hills and watching our footing as it got progressively darker. I felt great the whole time and I wished we could have kept going. It was nice to get out and be active a little bit for day anyway.

When we got home I had to put my fingers in Becca's eye to help her remove her newly-acquired contact lenses. It was weird. But once that was done we went to Tomo Sushi in Glassboro for Dan's birthday dinner with him and several of his other friends. Becca got him a Cider from the liquor store next door, and we got a six-pack of Tarte Nouveau to have with dinner. It was a nice time replete with a heavy-handed waitress who slammed down our glasses and knocked over my beer, spilling it on the table, and almost taking out people with the food tray more than once. Other than that it was a lovely night of good food and conversation. We didn't go on to the house party portion of the night, opting to relax back at home and get a few things done in the quiet. Like write this blog. Productivity, people.

Jan 31, 2017

This single photos sums up my day more or less. I worked at Wallace middle school in Vineland for a Math class. The teacher left 5 problems for an 80-minute class. They were a bit of a challenge, but I didn't care too much since their teacher didn't put any effort in. The day went by pretty quickly and I headed back to Becca's alone for the night while she was in Delaware. I got a few little things done here and there, but mostly I just chilled and watched six episodes of Insecure. It's a good show. I got in the big bed alone pretty early too. Nice lazy night.

Jan 24, 2017

This is how I spent most of my day. I got up and didn't find any jobs that I wanted to take; not too many even came up anyway. Once I accepted that I got into my day of relaxing and doing work. It was a pretty even mix of editing and watching shows on Netflix. I watched a great comedy special by Neal Brennan. I finally went and got my oil changed and picked up a new external hard drive. The night was more of the same. I watched House and edited photos. 'Twas a nice day in.

Jan 21, 2017

We started the day with yoga at Heart Beet Kitchen. April was our instructor and we did a great flow class with some poses I couldn't quite hold, but I enjoyed it all. I was feeling the squats immediately afterward, and after smelling the delicious food the whole time we finally got to the real reason we got up at 7:30am on a Saturday to drive an hour: the BLT. And it was worth it.

We came home and spent the rainy afternoon working on our respective things at home. Becca studied and worked on flash cards while I went through photos and did a lot of editing. The cats helped by sitting on us randomly.

I picked up Chuck and we headed to Cape May Brewery where Tracy and Mike and met us a short time later. We did a couple flights to try the handful of beers we hadn't had before. The Erosion sour was pretty good, but not as tart as the Corrosion. The Snag & Drop double IPA was really good, and there was a mixed berry pale ale that we all agreed tasted like Fruity Pebbles.

We went to drinking pints because we never do that and we know what we like now. We alternated getting the Three Plows IPA and the Corrosion. It's a really interesting story; just ask Chuck. We discussed our differing definitions of ski trail difficulty while we tried to come up with a plan to go skiing soon. After one last beer the place was closing down so we headed out.

We made a quick stop at the liquor store for Chuck to pick up a 6-pack of the Cape May King Stomp Porter that he was enjoying at the brewery and then headed back to Becca's to play Wii for a bit. We started playing Mario 1 on the emulator, but we quickly decided to move to Super Mario World.

It became clear that we were getting through the game tonight by playing all the levels. Chuck and I debated the point of the game, where I believe it's to spend time and enjoy it, he kept saying he could just use the warp to get to the end faster. It was a good semi-drunk discussion. There were some levels that seemed much harder than they should have. By the time we were done it was really late so I took him home and came back to get to bed.

Jan 5, 2017

Very exciting day ahead, so buckle up. It was nice being able to sleep longer after being out late, even if it wasn't the best sleep. I had to be at Silver Run at 10am and I had to cover for one meeting and I was out by 11am. I then had to be at Holly Heights by 1:15pm for the rest. I was done there by 3:15. Not a bad day of work. In between I caught up on episodes of Chance instead of doing errands I should probably have done.

More of the same after work was over. I was tired so I tried to nap with little success. I went to Becca's before she got home from work to start cooking up eggplant parm for when she got home. I was almost done when she walked in, only the slightest bit surprised. We finished up and sat down to eat after a lengthy discourse about what movie to watch. We started Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which I didn't know featured Tom Hanks. The first half was good, but we stopped so we could do Day 5 yoga and get to bed a little early.

Dec 30, 2016

We slept in and got up to make a tofu scramble eventually. It was really tasty, but the sweet potatoes are always the best part.

We sat around being lazy for a while, which was quite nice. The cats joined in.

We decided we should go for a run so we went to South Vineland Park to do a couple of laps. I did a little over two miles but it felt nice to be outside. We tried playing disc golf, but after being sweaty we both felt cold and not really in the mood for it.

Later Omarey met me at my house and we drove up to Starland for Thursday night two. We had a great chat on the way up about a lot of things in life and travel and inspiration. It's great to be able to have deep conversations with friends I don't see too often. Thursday was amazing just as last night, but I prefer the other setlist. Tonight's was themed towards more hopeful songs and they did a great job with the theme. The crowd was a little more crazy too so that played a part. Along with everyone in the crowd being excited it was apparent that Geoff was having the time of his life. It's great to see the band back together like no time has passed. Definitely worth the long wait.

Dec 24, 2016

I began Christmas Eve by going to Ryan's to both play Super Mario 3 side by side and race. It was a really close and fun game. It was nice both playing constantly instead of trading off, and it was nice to be motivated by something. I ended up winning by just a little because he used his skip clouds early in the game and I saved them for the more difficult later levels. We played some Mortal Kombat 3 afterward and did the one button fatalities so that was fun to watch. Especially Friendship.

Becca and I went to my mom's for a night of wine, beer, vegan chili which was INCREDIBLE, and vegan pepperoni bread. Larry's sons and Joyce were there as well. We mostly stayed in the kitchen talking to my mom. I gave her the bottle of wine I got her and her photo of the bridge I printed. The frame Becca picked out went really well. It was a really nice night and we had a nice time talking and stuffing ourselves with good food.

We also spent our time in the kitchen making faces and taking photos of ourselves.

We went to Becca's parent's house for some family time right after. That was a little awkward/boring for me. Mostly boring. I sat while people talked about fishing and the nephew smashed cookies into the rug. It was over pretty quickly and we went back home where I gave Becca her gifts. She really liked what I got her: headphones, her favorite ice wine, stuff to make sushi, tickets to Mike Birbiglia, and rock climbing lessons. We finally had our nice night in sitting around making sure we had everything ready for the trip tomorrow.

Dec 18, 2016

We woke up earlier than planned, but it was nice to just lie around for a while in bed and not have anything to do right away. We got up and cooked a tofu scramble and sweet potatoes. It was delicious. We watched another episode of Planet Earth while we ate which just made me want to travel more and learn how to do the ridiculous camera work they do.

We decided to go for a run because it was super warm out. We parked near my house and ran down the trail near the river. We went out and back and I was loving it, but Becca started to feel lightheaded so we stopped about halfway through the planned run. It was still nice to get out there. On our walk back there was a guy on the trail who pointed our attention to two giant bald eagles on a tree across the water. They were beautiful! I went and grabbed my camera and managed to catch a few shots of them despite not having an empty memory card or a tripod easily accessible.

We had to go get ready and go up to Cherry Hill for the Escape Room. Ryan, Shannon, Chuck, Alex, Tracy, Christie, and Becca's friend Jennell met us there. We chose The Illusionist as our theme, so it was a magician's room with tricks and cards all around. It was fun, but it wasn't nearly as interesting as the one we did last year. We didn't manage to escape, but we all agreed it was a little bit bullshit. There was one clue that we understood totally and we kept trying it without it working. They gave us the answer, but it didn't make sense. Anyway, we moved on, but it seemed like we couldn't split up and do things; we had to all work on one thing, which felt like a waste and poorly planned.

We went to Iron Hill Brewery after the game and sat at a long table in the bar. Becca and I got a flight that included a tart sour that was aged for 6 years. It was a surprise, and it was really good. I got a hummus and veggie wrap and stole some of Becca's fries. It was fun to hang out for a while when we weren't searching for clues and also to complain about the couple of things that didn't really make sense at the room.

Becca and I headed off to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's for ingredients for upcoming meals this week as well as some trip snacks for next week. We stopped at REI so Becca could look for new hiking boots and we could both look at day packs. I really do need to get one. My old high school bag isn't cutting it anymore. I'm tempted to just wait and hope I can make it to the REI Garage Sale on New Year's Eve. It was getting late (or it felt late) so we ended the shopping there and went home. After hanging out for a little while I decided to come home and call it a night to attempt getting more than six hours of sleep.

Dec 14, 2016

A while ago I decided I should stop taking Child Study Team jobs at Memorial because I end up being in classrooms longer than I would if I took a normal job, which is the opposite of why I liked taking them to begin with. Today was no exception, and it reminded me why I shouldn't. I had class coverage all day with a 45 minute lunch as opposed to the (normally) 30 minute lunch in addition to the hour and a half I'd have off for my break period. Sometimes it's nice to stay busy and help the day go by faster, but I'd rather have the break most days.

After work I went to Parvin for a run since I know it's getting cold tomorrow. The weather was good for a run once I got started. I was running fast and looking forward to seeing my actual pace when I took out my phone 2.5 miles in to check it and as soon as I turned it on it shut off. My shitty iPhone has been doing this any time it's below like 60 degrees. I was out one day when it was 55 and it shut off at 30% battery. That's unacceptable. Anyway, my pace up to that point was 8:04 and I continued to the end of the 3 mile loop at, I think, the same pace. Time for a new phone.

Becca got some bad news that she failed her certification test, so I picked up Thai food and sushi to take over along with wine and beer to cheer her up. We spent the night watching Planet Earth while we ate and drank, then we tried to play a game of Scrabble that was forfeited pretty early on because the letters and the board were not being good to us. We went back to playing Mario Wii, making some progress and drinking the Rogue Cold Brew IPA that I brought over (it was supposed to be a Christmas present for someone else, shhhh!) It was a nice night and I was able to make her smile so mission accomplished.

Dec 10, 2016

Today's post is all photos of computer screens or screenshots, because that's all I looked at for the whole day. I woke up early, considering going to yoga. Since no one else was going I decided against it which began my day of choices that kept me in the house. When it comes down to it, I'm not exactly sure how I passed all of that time, but I did watch the last 3 or 4 episodes of Westworld so that was a good chunk of it.

I did do something mildly productive: I joined in a live webcast that a photographer did as a free training for making a better portfolio and marketing yourself. I enjoyed most of the presentation and took a bunch of notes. I will say it did inspire me. One thing he said stuck with me. To paraphrase, he basically said that when you're stuck, you just need to learn something to get past it. That really made sense to me and, interestingly enough, worked out exactly that way for me later.

After the tutorial I got some dinner, did the iOS update on my phone finally, and proceeded to play with that, create a bitmoji in my likeness and then download games to play through iMessage. Between finishing Westworld, playing Battleship on iMessage, and then starting to watch some New Girl and Casey Neistat videos, that was pretty much my night.

Around midnight I decided I should really get to work on that Frank Turner interview I did on Halloween. I did a big chunk of the work and then I just lost steam on it because the video splicing between the two camera views was a pain. I guess I didn't find the information I was looking for previously because when I searched this time I found right away what I needed to learn for insanely simple multi-cam editing. Once I had that information I was off to the races. I ended up staying up until 4am finishing the edit. All I ever need to do is get started. Why is that first step so hard??