July 2012

Hi again. Just an update to prove we are still alive.  Life is proceeding at it's normal carefree pace. We have been doing the usual stuff, that is, work and eating and sleeping. We have also been watching quite a bit of the Olympics which is very fun, although I wish they didn't show it all so late at night!

My work is going well and I'm enjoying it - usually - and keeping busy most of the time. Jeran is working also, and while I'm not sure if he's enjoying it much,  he's working hard to get things done.

Jeran had a birthday this past week. I made a really delicious root beer float ice cream cake. It was pretty easy. It's basically white cake mix plus root beer and vanilla ice cream. While I was assembling it Jeran commented from the other room that it was sounding pretty sketchy based on the frequency of "Oops!", "Oh nooo!", "Aaaack!", etc. coming from the kitchen. Mostly it was really hard to get the cake intact out of the pan so maybe next time I'll use parchment paper or something. So the cake was looking pretty poorly when it was assembled, but then you top the whole thing in whipped cream and it amazing hides the worst flaws. And it's frozen so something that may have fallen to pieces stays nicely hard and stuck together. Anyways, this cake was forgiving and it was a success and I'm still enjoying the leftovers.

We got to go spend a weekend in Atlanta with my sister Jessica and Aunt Kara. Jessica, Jeran and I went to the Georgia Aquarium, which is always awesome, even though there were about a billion people there. The sea otters were really active and leaping in and out of the water and wrestling and chasing each other and just being funny - they were the highlight for me. I think for Jeran it was the giant tank with an underwater tunnel and huge viewing side containing sharks, whale sharks, manta rays, guitarfish, groupers, and lots more. He also enjoyed talking to the aquarium employees about diving and interesting dive sites.

Then we had Chick-Fil-A complete with Georgia peach milkshakes. Yum. After a nap, we went to Stone Mountain and despite the occasional raindrop and ominous clouds, climbed to the top and surveyed the beautiful area. It's a very nice view because although there are lots of buildings nearby, there are so many trees that you can't see many of them, although farther off you can see the huge Atlanta skyline.  After eating the sandwiches we packed for dinner and hiking down, we parked it on the wet lawn to wait for the laser light show. We ate snacks and watched the show and then headed home to dry off. It was a fun weekend.

I can't believe it is August already. 2012 will be over before we know it and then we'll be in an odd year: 2013. Not odd as in even/odd, but strange. 2013 sounds like a strange number for a year. Oh well.

Random Facts: I like potatoes. I like air conditioning. I like clouds and trees.I need to paint my toenails (opinion?). Some crossword puzzles are hard. I like summer but spring and fall are nicer to enjoy. I do not like calling the season "autumn" because that seems to me to be referring only to colored leaves and pumpkins. 2013 is not really a weird number, but it is an odd number.