Category: Untagged

Older posts that are not yet properly tagged, as they were posted before WordPress added tagging support.

White Castle

Alton Brown, Pig Gig, White Castle, Shopping, Delta, More shopping, WWDC, and Site.

Alton Brown has a new show on food network in case any of you haven’t seen it yet. It’s called Feasting on Asphalt. He and a camera crew are riding motorcycles across the US over a month, and eating at roadside cafes, restaurants, pubs, bars, drive inns, and diners. So far there have been 2 episodes and I have really been enjoying it. Sadly, it seems it will end after the month, but who knows. It’s on Food Network on Saturday night.

Friday Jenn and I went to the Pig Gig. We were there around 12:30 so admission was free so we were able to spend some cash on food. I had a $6 pork sandwich and her a $5 skewer of overcooked shrimp, plus a $5 lemonade and $3 refill and a $3 french fry. It was all good (except overcooked shrimp), just not worth the money we payed.

Sunday we were going to go to the Fish Sandwich Festival, but since we had little cash after Pig Gig and the bank was closed, we decided to go shopping instead. On the way to Saginaw, we changed out mind and went to Flint instead. First off, to make sure nothing got in the way of it, we went straight to White Castle. We got the 3 burgers, flavored chicken rings (ranch or tobasco, we got ranch) and drink combo, plus an onion chips and a fish sandwich (for Jenn). After eating all that, we went back for 3 jalapeno cheese burgers and 2 more fish sandwiches. I didn’t try the fish, but everything else was good. If I were to return, I would go cheap and just get the regular burgers in a greater quantity perhaps. Chicken rings and onion chips and special burgers are good, but if you can get a $0.54 burger (I think it was anyway, between 51 and 59, the point is cheap), take it. After filling up, we went to the mall and we both found shoes, and they were buy 1 get 1 half off, so we saved some $$. Mine were about a year old, so it was certainly time.

Since I received my pell grant and such, Delta decided I didn’t need work study, so I am waiting for them to process my re-review form and get me set up. If I remain a library employee, I will stay at $5.70 an hour until October 1 when minimum wage rises, then I will go to about $7.50 or so. If, however, I get my workstudy, I go up to $6.50 on August 28, pay no tax, and go up to around $8.30. Now, that probably wont happen, since I doubt the increases will be increases over the new minimum wage equal to the amount over current minimum wage, but it is fun to imagine.

Which leads up to today. I went to the mall with my mom where she got some sandals, and I got a folding rocking camp chair since mine broke the last time we were camping (which we need to do soon). I fixed out doggie door for the second time, had lunch at Kingfisher downtown, and made shrimp, pineapple, and peach skewers with fresh mint, over coconut rice. It was as good as it sounds.

Also today was WWDC 2006. Leopard looks good, what we saw anyway. Mac Pro and XServe updates are cool, but unrealistic for me. Good news is Leopard is supposed to ship come spring, in time to come on my MacBook next summer.

And finally, I think I fixed the display problem. I figured it was CSS related, and just before going in to look over the code I decided to first check that it was still valid, and sure enough it wasn’t. Apparently Safari is more relaxed on validity so I hadn’t really noticed the problem, but Firefox and IE both choke a little on it. As I said, should be OK now, will check at work tomorrow to see for sure.

I suppose that is all.

nick

Our Little Trip

A very eventful Saturday.

So, a week later and I finally write about it.

Saturday, as you should already know, I had off work to go with my mom to the funeral home for paperwork. Having the rest of the day free and needing something to keep my mind off recent events, I had told Jenn to be ready to go away at 10:30, and bring a bathing suit and towel.

We ran a little late, but did leave around 11:30 to a destination Jenn had no idea about. We headed off first down US-10 to Clare, where we stopped into Jay’s for a look around. Lot’s of camping stuff to wish for and inflatable boats to think long and hard for, but I ended up with a pocket chain saw and a rawhide cows head for the dogs (this thing was like 18″ diameter hunk of rawhide, with ears and everything). We then wandered next door to General Jim’s as I had never been there. Lots of cool things in there, military surplus and military pride and all that. They even had a 15 person life raft in the plastic case, like they throw off ships and auto-inflate.

Next we got back on 10 and for a few minutes I was excited that they redid 10 into divided 4 lane but that was quickly dissolved when we reached the freeway end and went down to a 2 lane road. After a while we came across a rummage sale and decided to look around. Among old dishes and clothing, there was a box of X rated tapes that were clearly recorded. We wondered if they were recorded from TV, copied form rentals, or home movies, but regardless purchased nothing. Further along the road we reached Reed City and turned south. We passed the Yoplait yogurt plant and headed down to Big Rapids.

Holy crap is Ferris big was the first impression. We stopped to look around the Alltel store for Jenn’s mom and I found a Big Rapids phone book to bring home. Next up we drove around the downtown area to look for somewhere to eat, but settled on Qdoba. We really didn’t want to eat at a chain restaurant, but at least this was a chain we had never eaten at. We really had wanted to eat in Paris, but the only restaurant was Pizza in Paris, and that wasn’t what we felt like. Anyway, Qdoba turned out to be very good, and now full we decided to drive around Ferris’s campus to see what we could. We never even got out of the car, a real campus tour will be come fall, but at least we got to see stuff. Following that, we headed toward the freeway, and down to Grand Rapids. On the way we saw a really bad accident, a trail blazer about 100ft off the freeway upside down. Sadly the paramedics didn’t look to be in much of a hurry.

GR is a big city, and our first stop in the big city was the museum. Very much on accident actually, we just saw it and were like wow, lets go. It turned out to be 4:40 though, and they were going to close at 5, so didn’t go in. Next we looked for the hospital, as Jenn would be working there. We found what we thought might be it, but kind of thought no, so kept looking and driving around, then gave up and went to find the mall. This took like an hour since we had no idea where it was. We went through some rather ghetto areas, but nothing bad, and got to see quite a bit of the city. Finally, we decided oh well and started heading for home when we decided to try 1 more exit, and after a ways we found the mall. Jenn went into DEB for a shirt, and when she came out I went looking for the Apple Store, but found it no where. I did find a shoe store with some nice shoes I would be dragged away from. I called my mom, and asked her to look up where the GR Apple Store was, and it turned out we were in the Kentwood Mall, and needed to be in the Woodland Mall, ACROSS THE STREET! We had come so very close. So, we headed out and across the street to the MUCH bigger mall. We had thought Kentwood was rather empty and blah for the mall of GR. So, we went straight to the Apple Store, having already walked around 1 mall that day, and went to drool at the MacBooks. Jenn decided they are too small, but I do like them. The graphics chip does scare me a little though.

Finally we decided to head for home, this time on I-96 to Lansing, the I-69 to Flint, and I-75 home. Just onto 69 we stopped in Perry to get something to drink at the Burger King. When we returned to the car, it wouldn’t start. I called my brother and Jenn called GM and nothing really amounted from it. GM was of the opinion it seemed that the car was there only concern, and what we did from now till Monday when it could be fixed (this was Saturday night remember) was our problem. Jenn got upset, and eventually GM sent a wrecker form Birch Run (to us, near Lansing) with an estimate of 90 minutes. I finally decided to give what my brother had suggested a try, since Jenn was not very focused at this point, and low and behold it worked. I got the engine started and as I understood it, it would be fine so long as we didn’t shut it off. This meant no White Castle, sadly, but oh well. We headed home and dropped Jenn’s car off at Dunlop to await repair on Monday. We tried starting it again, and it started right up fine, but decided not to risk it. We ended the night with Texan breakfast buffet with my mom (we went to Euclid, center used to be much better one, was left very disappointed).

So that was Saturday. I did see the Pere Marquette in Clare, and the intersection of Pere Marquette and White Pine in Reed City. As was suggested to me by Jenn, Big Rapids is still really far but much more logical goal the Mackinac, at least for now. That’s not to say I am canceling Mackinac or anything, just considering alternative near-term options.

Yeah, that’s about it.

Ohhhhh!!!
My mom fixed the iMac, she got a PowerBook. 1.67GHz, 15″ PowerBook G4, 80GB HD, 512MB RAM, and a SuperDrive. It’s the last PowerBook model made, and was a refurbished model too, and is now a “previous generation” which all add up to a hefty discount.

OK, see you later, hopefully a little sooner though.

nick

My Grandma

Note: this entry does not have a happy ending.

I am sorry for the lack of posts again, but I do, again, have a very good excuse. The update of the weekend will wait for tomorrow, as I feel this post should be on it’s own.

As you know, my grandma was having some health problems. A pain in her right side and shortness of breath. We found out she had a mass in her abdomen as well as 2 aneurysms and a clot. Monday the 10th she was admitted to Covenant for a week where they implanted a filter to block the clot and put her on oxygen, and sent her home to recuperate so they could hopefully perform surgery in a month or 2 to remove the mass. On Monday the 17th she went back to the ER because the pain in her side was worsening and moving down her leg. The sent her home with stronger pain medication that night. Thursday she went to her family doctor who prescribed a still stronger medication.

On Friday, my mom called the doctors office and asked what was going on, and why she kept being sent home when she was in so much pain. They suggested we call as many family members as we could and prepare them for bad news. Saturday and Sunday most of my family arrived in town during which time my Grandma’s health was visibly failing. By Wednesday she was totally unable to walk without help, and by Thursday was in bed and mostly unresponsive. Then, at 11:54 Friday afternoon, she passed away. the mass in her abdomen was cancerous, and was breaking apart into her blood stream, as well as applying heavy pressure to her abdominal aorta and sciatic nerve, causing intense pain and blocking blood flow.

I took Saturday off work to go with my mom to the funeral home and get everything finalized. Her obituary was in yesterday’s Bay City Times and Saginaw News. She will be cremated sometime this week and no service will be held as she requested.

My Uncle Steve and Aunt Donna came in with Danielle, DJ and Patrick, My Uncle John, Cousin Scotty and Jenny (who I haven’t seen in 17 years, nor had grandma), and many family members from Saginaw and Midland area all came by over the week. It is really terrible that it takes such circumstances to bring a family together.

Saturday I took Jenn and we went on a road trip to try and get my mind off it all for a while, but that comes tomorrow. Everyone is gone now and the very eerie realization that I will never see her again is setting in. It really seems like she is just gone to the store and will be back in an hour or something. The one thing I am thankful for is that when I close my eyes I see her as a year ago in good health, and not as she was over the past week.

That’s all for now,
nick

Number 389

Tour, Grand Rapids/Big Rapids, Sleep, Poll, and WWDC.

So the Tour de France has been an exciting one. Tomorrow is the final individual time trial that will likely shake things up quite a bit, then Sunday is the final day of racing.

Jenn and I are going to Grand Rapids Sunday, staying there that night, then going to Big Rapids Monday. I am not fully sure what we are doing in all, but will let you know afterward.

I have been sleeping way not enough for some reason. Not as bad as Jenn trying to switch from working nights to working days.

I really have no idea what to put up as a poll. If you have an idea, comment it and I will be happy to post it.

Other than that, not a whole lot. WWDC is coming in about 2 weeks now.

Yeah, that’s it.

nick

Revised Mackinac Plan

Template, Macinac, Ferris, and Grandma.

Yes Scott, I am aware of that. I used a pre-made template for the blog which apparently wasn’t made all that well. I do plan on fixing it, but just haven’t gotten around to it.

On the Mackinac trip, I have decided fall would be a good choice. Expecting to make it by the end of June was rediculous, and July, August, and early September will be too warm most of the time. I figured though that once school started, I wouldn’t be able to though, so was sticking with Summer and becoming discouraged by heat and insects. I checked my schedule tough, and realized I only have class on Monday through Wednesday, no Thursday or Friday classes. So, there is the possibility of leaving Thursday morning and being there by Sunday, and get a ride back. That hives me 3 – 4 days to get there, which should be fine. Yes, I would have to take those days off work, but I would have for a summer trip anyway. So, I figure September is out because I want to get into the groove of school, and later October has hunting, so the last weekend of September or one of first 2 of October will probably be it, depending on school schedule somewhat, as well as the weather.

I have officially applied to and sent my transcript to Ferris. As I said last time, Jenn and I plan to go to Ferris next Monday. Gary, the head of the manufacturing program, said he may be out of town, so I wouldn’t be able to talk to him, and he suggested that I come in the fall to see everything up and running. Still, maybe they will have my application processed and I can talk to someone about how everything will transfer and financial aid and such.

My Grandma should be home from the hospital today. She has been in since Monday.

I think that is all.

nick

Happy Belated 4th of July

Uncle, Fireworks, July 4th, Work, Deals, Jenn, and Ferris.

Sorry for that gap in posts, has been a weird week.

My uncle Steve came in on Friday night (I think was Friday) with my Aunt and DJ and Pat. They just left last night at 12. My grandma is having some health problems and they wanted to come visit and see us all. They are supposedly returning in 2 weeks for the Munger Potato Festival.

Jenn and I went to fireworks all 3 nights. Saturday we went to the middle grounds, then Sunday and Monday we went downtown behind DoubleTree. DoubleTree is definitely the better spot, though if you are in wrong area the bridge can block some of the view. Monday night’s Fireworks were some of the best I have ever seen. I enjoyed the hell out of them. The wind was just right both nights to give us quite a whiff of the gunpowder too. Jenn even got an elephant ear Monday, as she has wanted one since St. Stan’s 2 years ago. it was good, almost worth the $5.

Wednesday at work I almost killed a few people for not knowing the date. Independence Day is actually more often referred to as July 4th or 4th of july, yet these schmucks don’t know the date of the following day? What the hell?

We found out the Beth, my boss, actually knows most of my family. My Uncle John used to hang out with her brother, and through him she met my Mom, and Uncle Steve, and Grandma. I have actually met her brother and parents at Rudy J’s a few times. Beth’s Dad was once a police officer, and was honored Monday as one of the people to organize Bay City’s first fireworks festivals.

I was looking around the online Apple Store, and realized that right now, they have one hell of a deal, if you do it right. If you were to purchase a MacBook, an iPod, Microsoft Office, and a printer, you can save several hundred dollars. On the MacBook, you save $100 just for being a student, then you get a 2GB iPod free, or $179 off any other iPod. Then, even with Office already discounted for students, you save another $50 by rebate. Finally, you save $100 off several different printers, including a nice photo printer with wifi. But… I cant afford anything right now because I bought a car. Besides, I don’t really need it now, not till next fall, so if I wait for next summer when they will probably run nearly the same deals again, I will have a 1 year newer computer, printer, ipod, etc… And maybe there will be an intel native version of Office:Mac then (think Office 2007 is supposed to be native, but that probably won’t be out till March ’07, which would be too late, but we will see).

Uhm, also, Jenn went home for July 4th to see parents and such. I would have gone with, but she stayed night and I had to work Wednesday.

We are working on figuring out when we can go to Ferris. We have 2 possible dates, but I don’t remember them.

OK, that’s enough for now.

nick

I Got Bawls

Bawls, Camping, Poll, Work, and Car.

So I went to Speedway on Euclid and there they were, so I picked up a pair of sweaty blue bawls and sucked them dry. One Thursday night, and one this morning. It was enjoyable, like sprite, with a hint of ginger ale maybe, and some bits of something else. Too bad the $1.99 price tag.

Something I forgot from camping summary is the lightning bugs that were very prevolant all 3 nights. I think there was something else too, but not remembering it right now.

I am very aware of the need for a new poll, but haven’t come up with one yet. I will try harder I guess.

River Roar and St. Stans are this weekend. Library is quite dead as a result. I dont mind.

My car is being a litlle grumpy right now. Shouldn’t be too big of a thing though, if problem is what I think.

I think that is it for now. Will try for another early in the week.

nick

Camping 2006 – 01

Camping at Rifle River.

So, we are back from camping. We had fun, despite a day of rain. There are no pictures as they would be mostly the same as last years spring trip to Rifle River, though there were 2 times I really wanted camera.

Saturday I got out of work at 1, we left a bit before 4 I think. Jenn got a bike rack so we could take the bikes on her car instead of needing the truck. Once there we set up camp and got a fire going. Ooh, and I got Jolt on the way up, which is hard to find recently. We went for a short bike ride, but not real far. About 4 miles I think. I tried swimming too but it wasn’t particularly warm water. I had McDonalds on the way, but jenn was hungry so made some veggie sausages on the fire.

Sunday it rained almost all day, but we did get breakfast in before it started. Oil works much better than butter, and the food was not as black/brown as last time. After getting sick of sitting around, we drove to West Branch for somethng to do. We ate at Lumberjack’s, which had pretty good food, but our waitress was horrible. On the way back we stopped at the gas station for some ice and other stuff, and what do they have but Jolt. Weird. The rain had let up so we got another fire going and made some chili for dinner, which though vegitarian was pretty good. We forgot to get rid of the tomato an dbean cans though and has a racoon visit just after we went in, but it was gone after about 15 minutes.

Monday (Jenn’s Birthday, I got her a speedometer for bike Friday, but haven’t installed yet) was much nicer. We made breakfast, after which Jenn took a nap while I stripped bark off branches and had fun with the fire. It sprinkled for a while but was gone after not too long. We then decided on a bike ride and set off. We set off down the trails, and found out Lost Lake is lost from itslef, and not visible from the point on the map it claims to be. We then went further along to the south-most point in the park and looped back up. When we got to the road we had a break, and decided I would continue the trail and Jenn was going to take the road back. I think I had the better choice. I went over the Rifle River, saw a stand of all white birch and fern, no oak or pine at all (pic moment 1) and was stopped by a porcupine (moment 2). I came along it as it was either crossing or shortly following the trail, and spooked it so it turned around and balled up. I tried to encourage it to move, as it was blocking the only 18″ wide trail, but just sat there. I had just grabbed a stick to toss near it to try getting it moving when it turned around with a very cute fuzzy-woodland-creature look and then moved just off the trail so I could pass. I honestly thought it was a skunk at first, as I just saw black and white and kinda freaked. Anyway, I made it back and Jenn and I cooked up hot dogs with macaroni salad we had bought earlier in the day and made a big fire for the night.

Finally, this morning, we woke up, packed, and came home. We unloaded all my stuff first, then she headed home and we got showered and cleaned up. When I had all my stuff away I went to her appartment to help unpack and get her stuff taken care of. Just after we finished, about 4, Beth called to ask if I could work tonight, and agreed, so I am at work now from 5 – 9. I didn’t realize until about 10 minutes later that I work at 8″15 tomorrow, and haven’t had a lot of sleep recently, but oh well. She did made it to Yax out of 9 tech pages, and its just 1 day, so I will be fine. Besides, I already made it to 8.

So, thats how things have gone.

Note: Jolt Cola: ehh, Jolt Blue: yum.
Jolt Red, Jolt Green, and Bawls: awaiting judgement.

OK, thats all for now.

nick

New Car

Car, Work, Camping, Aid, and Pics.

I own a car! And, unlike yesterday when I bought it, I even have it now. It is a 1999 Plymouth Neon Expresso, with a mere 161,000 miles on it. Yeah, that is really high milage for a 99, but I only paid $999 for it (just under $1300 with tax, title, etc…). The air conditioner seems to be broken, the radio will randomly shut off, and the sun roof doesn’t open, but since I only paid about $1000 I can afford to fix that. Cosmetically, it is very good inside and out. I am happy with it, as long as I don’t run into any mechanical issues. And best of all, it is MY car in MY name.

So, other than that, I work at 9 tomorrow morning after 3 8:30s in a row. Today we had a staff meeting and I worked Dave’s shift so he would pick up the second half of mine tomorrow and I can leave camping earlier.

We are actually a little unsure where we are going still, but 90% on Rifle River. We will return Tuesday at some point.

I received some of my financial aid today, 2 months ahead of normal. Federal only, no state yet, which will include my work-study.

Uhm… I guess that’s it. I got pictures from the wedding, but not digitals, so will be a bit to get them up. Actually, I have all the old pics still to get up.

OK, that is all.

nick

Home

Wedding, Camping, and Shed.

So we are back from the wedding and it all went well. The reception was nice. Jenn made me dance. Food was pretty good. Jenn’s Mom got pictures so will try and get them up as soon as I can get them from her.

We are going camping next week. We are thinking will leave when I get out of work Saturday and return Tuesday afternoon. Not totally sure where yet, have some ideas though. I want to go to Hartwick Pines, but they are a little expensive at $25 a night. I am hoping for somewhere under $18 or so. The fallback is, or course, Rifle River, since we know they are cheap and nice. Will see what I find though.

Yesterday and today I cleaned out the shed and got everything organized in it. Hasn’t been done since we moved it and everything went flying all over.

OK, that’s all I have for now. Later…

nick