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Amanda spent most of this last week (Sunday afternoon – Thursday evening) in Wisconsin on a photo shoot. I was able to keep myself sufficiently busy with things to do, which turned out to be a lot more fun than my original plan of sitting in an unlit room, rocking back and forth and whispering absurdities to myself until I fell asleep every night. Besides, there’s always the weekends for that.

However, I was pretty amazed by how quickly (and unconsciously) I reverted to some of my “bachelor” ways, particularly when it came to food preparation. On Sunday night, I made myself a batch of macaroni & cheese, which isn’t odd in and of itself. But then I plopped down on the couch with the cooking pot in my lap and ate straight from the cookery. No fuss, no mess. :)

And one other night this week I pulled out one of my true single-male favorites. It was late, and I didn’t feel like making a full meal, so I grabbed a cold hot dog out of the fridge, skewered it on a chopstick, and cooked it over the range. Then I just stuck it in a bun, covered it in spicy mustard and relish, and wolfed it down in three giant bites. Dinner took all of three minutes total.

I did try one ambitious meal last week: I made homemade rice and beans. I had a bag of dried black beans in the pantry, so I started them soaking when I went to work in the morning, then rinsed them and started them simmering when I got home. I flavored them up with some salt, garlic, and cilantro. Then I made brown rice – I sautéed some diced red pepper, jalapeño, garlic and onion in some olive oil until they were tender, then tossed the rice and water right on top. It wasn’t too bad in the end, but I think the rice could have used more flavor (that’s brown rice for ya), so I think I’ll be more heavy-handed with my peppers in the next go-round.

The only real bachelor thing I didn’t get accomplished this week was playing video games. I tried playing a couple, but every time I did, my computer would shut down after a few minutes. I think I have a component on its way out or something. Which is a little unfortunate, because I was hoping to start gaming a bit more, and I’m too cheap/poor right now to justify upgrading my PC. Life, it is hard.

Whew! My life continues to move forward at a breakneck speed, whether I’m ready for it or not.

I start teaching my first web design class in five days. I have my course packet written and sent off to the coordinator, who will make me copies and make sure they’re in my classroom on the first day. Last time I checked, I have 14 people signed up, and since the class is currently capped at 15 students maximum, that’s a pretty awesome number to have.

Of course, I still have some details to work out for the class. For example, I’m going to be teaching my students how to upload their files via FTP to a server, so they can see their pages live on the web. But I have no idea where that space is going to exist. And I’ll need to have code examples for most of my classes that don’t yet exist (although Justin pointed out that the code is simple enough, I could probably write it on the fly without much of a problem).

And then there’s the class that starts in April. I’ve barely even started planning it. I have a general outline as to what I want to teach each day, but I don’t have specifics laid out yet, and I haven’t written a single word of the course packet yet. And if the last course packet is any indication, this one will probably be around 30 pages long. So I should really get writing, is what I’m saying. Especially considering we leave for Europe three weeks from tomorrow, and I have to have the whole class planned before then. Yeesh.

CSSnewbie is still taking up a lot of my time, as well, but at least that is fairly rewarding work. Not monetarily rewarding yet, by any stretch of the imagination. But it’s personally rewarding. And I guess that’s something. Happily, I’ve found a couple of people willing to write me a couple of guest articles for the site while I’m on vacation, so I won’t need to worry about generating a boatload of additional content in advance.

ICanHasHope has sadly fallen by the wayside. I haven’t updated that site in like a week. It doesn’t take up all that much time, but I don’t have a lot of free time regardless, and I just can’t justify spending that time for the amount of traffic (or lack of traffic) that it’s pulling in. Sadly, it’s actually gained more steady traffic since I’ve started ignoring it. Although, I’d still encourage anyone and everyone to submit images, and I’ll post them. :)

Non-web-related life has also been busy. I spent a good portion of last week (and a bit of this week) sick with the flu, or at least flu-like symptoms. My grandfather has also taken a (momentary) turn for the worse, health-wise, so I’ve spent a bit of time over the last couple of evenings visiting him in the hospital. You can read more about that on my mom’s site.

And there’s been other stuff taking up a bit of my free time that I’ll probably talk about real soon. But you know what? I think I’ve already spent enough words and minutes talking about working. :)

I started thinking to myself recently about what I was doing at work around this time last year: getting ready for the Graduate College’s New Student Reception. I had a great time at the reception, and I noticed something interesting: although the students coming through the grad college seemed to appreciate all the information they were picking up, what they were ~really~ interested in was what Life in Ames was all about. Many of them had moved hundreds or even thousands of miles to attend ISU, and many had only been in the area a week or two. I was asked dozens of questions about life in Ames during the brief two-hour event, and it was by far my favorite part of the day.

So, since it’s that time of year again, I thought I’d write up a few tips about Life in Ames for the Uninitiated. If you’re familiar with Ames, there might be a thing or two I’ve written that you disagree with, but the good news is, there’s an equitable solution: you’re wrong. No hard feelings.

1. The speed limit on Highway 30 around Ames is 65 MPH. Sixty-five. Miles per hour. Seriously. Do yourself a favor, and go at least the speed limit. You are not being a rebel if you’re rocketing down the pavement at 57. And besides, tooling along at 50 MPH while everyone around you is trying to go 70 is no way to make friends. In fact, if I find you going anything ~less~ than 65, I will not like you anymore and might stomp on your cat. (can you tell I spend too much time in my car these days?)
2. You are obligated to go to Hickory Park within the first three months of moving to Ames. It’s just the way things are. If you are vegetarian, go for some ice cream or something. If you are lactose intolerant ~and~ vegetarian, they make some pretty good baked beans—go nuts. If you are anorexic… well, I suppose you have bigger problems, but you should still try to go within the first year. Without Hickory Park, you and your fellow Amesians will have nothing to talk about. Nobody is interested in your stories from back home. Nobody.
3. Nobody goes to Hickory Park for the barbeque. They go for the price, the atmosphere, the experience, and the ice cream (and not necessarily in that order). The chicken is pretty good, and I’ve had the occasional lucky strike with a pork rib or two, but really… it’s more about the place itself than the food. Except the ice cream, obviously. If you are strangely insistent on getting good barbeque from your barbeque joint, check out Battles.
4. There are two* real “main street” areas in Ames: Downtown along Main Street and Campustown along Welch Avenue. If you are new to the university, you will probably spend a great deal of time in Campustown, which is perfectly understandable and acceptable. However, you should do yourself a favor at some point early on in your Ames-centric life and check out the Downtown district. There is a lot of cool stuff downtown. Spend some weekend evening checking out the fantastic window displays on the 200-400 blocks, sharing a pizza at Great Plains or grabbing a bite at the Downtown Deli, relaxing in the breeze in one of the little garden areas, browsing the wares at Firehouse Books, or playing some pool at the Corner Pocket. There’s even a Farmer’s Market to visit on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings throughout the growing season.
5. If you go out drinking on the weekends during the school year, make use of the Drunk Bus. Some people will call it the Moonlight Express, but we don’t talk to those people. The Drunk Bus runs from around 10:30pm until nearly 3am on Friday and Saturday nights. Back in the day, summoning the Drunk Bus required a drunken phone call to Cyride and an extended, sobering wait. Nowadays, the Drunk Busses (plural!) run shuttle routes on a regular, 20-minute cycle. Look for the little blue signs featuring Cy, a bus, and a crescent moon: standing below one of these on a weekend night can only yield good things. You’ll meet all sorts of people en route, have a lot more fun than you would have had walking or driving yourself, and you’re being “responsible” to boot. Killer.

Thus, sadly, ends part I of Life in Ames for the Uninitiated. If you live in the area, feel free to send me some tips, and I’ll see what I can do about adding them to future segments. Assuming, of course, you are not wrong.

* Once the Somerset Village area becomes better established, it will probably constitute a third main street. Also, the West Street area is fantastic, but not quite so large as to be considered “main.”

Oops… looks like I missed my now-traditional weekly posting. I’d even promised Alicia (to be mentioned) that I’d start posting more. I am a bad friend, a worse blogger, and my hair is too flat and straight today. I don’t know how that third one is related, but honestly, it’s bugging me more than the other two right now. :)

So two weekends ago (7th - 9th for those with memories like mine) Alicia was up from Alabama to visit me. Okay, she was really here to visit lots of other people and I was probably an afterthought, but I like my version better, so that’s the one I’m choosing to remember. :) Picture right is proof we existed in the same general location at least briefly over the weekend. We had a great time bowling, drinking, tanning, swimming, and watching of the movie-ing. In fact, the only part of the weekend that wasn’t fun was the saying of the goodbyes. I nearly cried, and she did cry a little (which didn’t help my near-tears one bit), and then I was sad the rest of the night. Hanging out with her all weekend reminded me as to how much fun I used to have when we used to hang out on a regular basis (Oct. 04, for those counting (I was funny back then!)). I’m already vaguely planning a trip down to Tennessee sometime yet this year to visit, though I don’t remember when she’s moving from Tenn from Alab in the first place, so vague thoughts of plans are the closest I can come. It’d cost me about $175 to drive down and back (assuming I do it all in one go and don’t stop to sleep at a motel anywhere) and $220ish to fly (assuming I plan a few weeks in advance), so the difference is really close enough to be negligible, especially when considering it’d be around 24 hours travel time round-trip to drive.

The week twixt was also pretty nice from what I remember, which isn’t much. I went bowling one night, I remember (Wednesday, maybe?), and hurt my arm. I celebrated this by playing volleyball and racquetball on Thursday evening back-to-back. I was pretty tired by the time I got home, but I was proud of myself for playing acceptably well in two of the three racquetball games (the first and third). On Friday, I had lunch with Megan (Vietnamese cuisine) and dinner with my parents (pork chops and stuffing (Iowa cuisine)).

Friday night Dana, Kate, Yusuf, and myself went to the Corner Pocket to play pool, which is always a good time. I don’t remember how well I did, which means it was probably really no better or worse than usual. Or that I did so poorly I’ve chosen to forget it. I’m content either way.

Saturday, I went camping at Saylorville with Dana, Kate, Steph (SAJ), Anya, Damir, and two of Kate’s Turkish friends whose names I can’t currently remember and which I’d probably obliterate regardless. :) I’ll get them eventually. My tent got its first real trial, with six people sleeping in it overnight. It was plenty roomy and comfortable-go tent! Anya and Damir brought kebab-makings, and we all stuffed ourselves with grilled meat and veggies. Yummytime.

Sunday was Adventureland day for Dana, Kate, Steph, and me. I had a really good time, and ate WAY too much unhealthy food… so much so that I have an unopened bag of cotton candy in my apartment, because I couldn’t force myself to eat it yesterday. The Dragon was closed for repairs, but I got to ride the Tornado three times and the Outlaw once, as well as manyplus rides in-between. Kate and Steph left early, but Dana and I stayed in the park for a good 9 ½ hours, which was more an endurance challenge than an adventure, but still really fun. Then we came home and watched a movie, which I fell asleep during, so I headed to bed shortly after 11pm, which is fairly early for me.

At’ll do for now. Enjoy your lack of nothing today.

Oh… so many blogworthy things to talk about… so few things that I wouldn’t get fired for repeating. :)

Not that that’s the real reason I haven’t been blogging. Truth be told, I’m a lazy little bugger. Were I to ~make~ time for writing, you-all’d be being entertained.* Last night, for example, laundry took precedence. Of course, laundry involved a bit of movie watching and a bit of ice cream eating and a bit of wine drinking, but that is my burden to bear and we all do what we must.

However, I do feel that it is my obligation as the owner of a blog to make myself easier to stalk, so to continue my list-making trend, I’ll give you ten eleven things you probably didn’t want to know about me, but will now know regardless, ha and neener:

1. I often joke about having OCD, but I’m probably not joking. Ask about the jello story sometime.
2. I often joke about having a horrible memory. Not only is that one not a joke, it really isn’t all that funny.
3. I often joke about things that aren’t funny. This either makes me a blast to hang out with or damn near intolerable. It seems to vary from person to person, but it’s probably one of the extremes in any case.
4. I walk nekkid or mostly-nekkid in front of a window at least once a day.
5. I have curtains for said window, but so far I’ve been too lazy to put them up.
6. I sing at the top of my lungs in the shower, and in the car (with other people in the car), and in my apartment (to my cat). Still won’t sing in public.
7. I like to wear my fun t-shirts under my work clothes because it makes me feel tricksy. Today I’m wearing my “Bad Poetry/Oh Noetry” tee under a long-sleeved dress shirt from Gap.
8. Even though I almost never pick out my clothes until I’m putting them on each morning, I almost always have a pretty good idea as to what pair of underwear I’m going to put on. Sometimes I know days in advance.
9. I’m mildly allergic to a lot of fruits and some vegetables. I eat them anyway. Sometimes I even seek them out.
10. I’m convinced that my fingernails and toenails grow abnormally fast. In reality, I probably just forget to cut them (and then forget that I forgot), but the result is my fingernails are often longer than many girls’.
11. I don’t mind my long fingernails because they’re pretty damn useful a lot of the time.