July 19, 2004
Well, I just got back from a five-day weekend. I even remembered how to get to work, and got here ten minutes early. Of course, like every time I show up before 8:00, the boss ain't here yet. Which means I got here at 7:30 instead of 7:50 ;)
Tuesday night, Shannon and Gordon (my sister and brother-in-law) were supposed to fly in. Shannon made it, Gordon had some stuff back in Florida to take care of. We still did the Pittsburgh-tourist stuff I'd planned on Wednesday, checking out the Duquesne Incline and the Carnegie Science Center. There's some neat stuff at the Science Center, but it's definitely geared toward young kids. We barely spent an hour there, and I still don't feel like I got my money's worth out of it. The giant model train set was cool, though, but I have no idea what it has to do with science.
I originally planned on taking Gordon to Primanti's for lunch, since he'd never been there, but Shannon opted for Southside Steaks instead. Supposedly if you order a "whiz-wit" you'll get the proper sandwich, but I haven't tested that out yet.
Thursday I went back to Cedar Point for the first time since I worked at BME. They've added some new rides (Millennium Force, Top Thrill Dragster and Wicked Twister) and left everything else as-is. Millennium Force was OK -- it's big and tall all right -- but it's not a very good ride. You only spend 80 seconds or so on the coaster, and half of that's the climb. I'm not sure I'd spend close to 2 hours waiting for it again. Even though it's 100 feet shorter, the Magnum is a much better coaster. And since MF (heh) is now drawing all the coaster freaks, the line for Magnum was less than half an hour long. The only thing I missed was the Bluestreak. I'm thinking next time I'll go on a weekend after Labor Day; I hear the crowds really dissipate at that point.
(Wow, this is getting lengthy, isn't it?)
Saturday was Joanne's wedding, and it met my sole criterion for a good one: It was short. Even with the dippy song her father wrote (and played) for her the thing lasted less than an hour. After all, the god-stuff is secondary to the party afterward, right? Anyway, after moving on to the reception hall, where the bastards didn't let us in until 6:00 on the dot, I commenced with drinking vodka-flavored tonic waters. Since those failed to be worth the dollar tips I was dropping I drank half a bottle of Asti Santini instead. After all those months of not drinking that was enough to give me a mild buzz.
Sunday was a cookout with my uncle, his wife and their family before I headed back. I got here at about 9:00, watched all the Toonami stuff I'd recorded Saturday night, and crashed out. Somehow I remembered to set my alarm clock, and here I am. I've been at work for about an hour, and I think I'm almost ready to think about possibly being productive at some point later today.
And finally, all my FedEx packages (NewEgg shipped my order in three boxes from two states) have "Arrived at FedEx Destination Location" as their status. Hopefully that means they'll try to deliver today and I can pick them up later. My apartment is strangely quiet without the hum of the fans.
