Camping Is Fun!

Over the weekend, Nick and I joined the E-Vegasians on a camping trip at Turkey Run State Park in central Indiana. I was really looking forward to it--I like to hang with my peeps--but I must admit that I underestimated the amount of fun I'd end up having. I think the last time I went camping was in high school senior year on a backpacking trip on a portion of the Appalachian Trail in West Virginia. I never did tent camping (other than in the backyard) as a kid, so I don't consider myself a camping expert. I was even somewhat doubtful as to whether or not I actually like to camp. But, the jury is now in, and I'm glad to say that we had a great time and definitely hope to do a lot more camping in the future.

So, here are some pics of the trip. I didn't take a lot cuz my camera mysteriously got a case of the low batteries half way through the trip but then managed to work again toward the end, despite the fact that I didn't charge it at all. temperamental camera...


First, here's me sitting in the tent in our backyard. I wanted to make sure that the tent was in one piece, stink-free, and not missing any parts. Also, we sorted through some of Nick's old camping gear. Did you know that baby wipes, even if stored in a ziplock bag, will dry out and turn yellow after, say. at least four years of being in the garage? Needless to say, we had to trash some items, but for the most part, Nick was pretty well set up for a weekend of outdoor living...







OK, so its not the grand canyon, but Turkey Run does have some enjoyable hiking trails with some huge old trees... this used to be a huge old tree, until it was uprooted. Apparently it reminded Nick of an airplane, or ballet, I'm not sure which...






The weather was almost perfect, despite a couple chilly nights (in the low 40'). It was great weather for snuggling by the campfire.... with PopTarts...




Due to the cold weather on Saturday, we decided to forgo our canoe trip and hike instead. This is a picture of the poor souls who did decide to canoe that day, taken from the hiking trail above. I hope they weren't too cold.


Yes, we did have a great time, but there were also frustrations along the way. (This is the complaint portion of the slide show). So, Nick and I discovered that we are apparently too old to sleep on the hard ground with nothing under us but a sleeping bag. After a moderately miserable night of tossing and turning, massaging sore backs, and dreaming of the Temperpedic mattress we have at home, we decided to shell out $25 at the camp store (it might as well be called the "WE jack the prices up and sell shitty stuff because we know you're desperate" store) for an air mattress. Things were going ok; the camp store let us use their air pump for free to blow up the thing, instead of us having to do it manually. I thought that was so nice of them. But, when we put the blown up mattress in the truck and managed to immediately puncture a hole in it, we were no longer happy. I held my finger on the hole, while Nick went back into the camp store to buy a patch kit. This is a picture of the mattress with an attempted patch.





This is a picture of the patch kit which did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to patch the hole.





This is a picture of the mattress once we decided to go with what was our initial idea and put duct tape over the hole. Nick drove it back down to the air pump (notice this time, away from any sharp edges that might exist inside the actual truck bed, to try to fill it up again. It totally didn't work. Now we are left with the conclusion, and a conclusion that I feel it necesary to share with everyone, that Coleman air mattresses SUCK!


In the good news department, it did get easier to sleep each subsequent night. And, I must say that our new sleeping bags were GREAT as they managed to keep us warm and cozy during those chilly nights.

So, yeah, camping is fun, y'all. I have a feeling that the E-Vegas reunion will become a semi-regular event, which sounds great to me. If you enjoy camping and would like to coordinate a camping trip sometime, just let us know.

Although...

In response to the puppy kitty nirvana picture from yesterday, I don't know if we'll ever get to this point:

Pcture Picture Picture

Acrobatic squirrel goes for the bird food


Puppy / Kitty Nirvana

Mo cat vs. the dinner rolls



I have no idea why those captions were underlined (and why this sentence all of the sudden is not)... but anyway.. there y'a go.. just wanted to share some pics I've been saving up for bloglaned.

Super Mario Goodness

I played a bit of super mario brothers this weekend while the gang was in town. Sitting at work today, I decided to "google" YouTube to see what weird SMB stuff I could find... here's a taste..


Classical guitar meets supermario...this dude has mad skills




Watch someone beat SMB in 5 Minutes



SMB Tellenovela (or something)....



Ok.. now we're getting to weirder stuff...




And finally... a news story about SMB and Nintendo... I can't figure out if this is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek or if they're being serious (and therefore.. completely hillarous)

Apparently, Its Crying Season

Hi blog people.

...one of the blogs I've enjoyed reading recently (the comedian Mike Birbiglia's Secret Public Journal... which is freak'n hilarious) starts each post as "Dear Journal" and I like that and may start doing it here, since generally my blog is more of a journal entry (ie: sort of a self reflection as well as a way to document my days so that I can be amused when I read these accounts several years from now) ....

So yeah, Dear Journal-

(maybe I will use two different greetings depending on the nature of the blog entry (Hi Blog People for when I have information to pass to others and Dear Journal when I'm just babbling to myself...)

Dear Journal-

Ok so, as if crying of Pav wasn't bad enough (see yesterday's blog), today I cried ON THE TRAIN TO WORK in response to the fact that Nick decided to shave off his beard this morning. I dunno what the big deal is for me. The first year I dated him, he didn't have a beard. He didn't have a beard during last summer when we got married. It was a bit out of the ordinary that he decided to keep his beard throughout the summer (his beard usually comes and goes with the coming and going of winter weather), but still, I shouldn't be this weirded out about it.

So, what's the deal? Well, its not that I'm crying over the hideous site of Nick's face (he asked me if this was the case)... (his face is NOT hideous, of course). I think its just the feeling of unfamiliarity that it suddenly creates. Like, obviously I know he's the same person he was, with or without facial hair, but it makes such a drastic difference in his appearance that I can't help but do a double take "who is that strange looking person" when I look at him right after he shaves off his beard. This morning, I felt like my familiar friend had gone away and had been replaced by someone else. Then, of course (in my never ending ability to freak out over things that a) I have no control over and b) I have no reason to believe will happen in the near future) I started to freak out over the possibility of Nick dying or disappearing or something... and that's when the water works started.

So yeah, I cried when Nick shaved off his beard because it reminded me of how sad I'd be if something happened to him.

Sometimes I really get on my own nerves. LOL!


Added a few minutes later:

Here are two pictures for comparrison (with beard, without beard)

Pav

OK, so I cried over the Crocodile Hunter (Steve Irwin, who, incidentally died just over a year ago), which surprised me. I mean, I liked the guy, his shows, I thought he seemed to be a cool dude and seemed to generally do good stuff for animals (shut up PETA)... but I was surprised when I sat at the kitchen table and balled my eyes out for an hour during his memorial service... for someone I've never met and, until he died, didn't really have an extraordinary interest or attachment to.

Well, it happened again.. this time with Pavarotti. The thing I associated most with him, until today, was the song he did with U2 and Brian Eno on the Passengers Original Soundtrack Number 1 CD back in 1995. I'm not really a big opera fan. I can't even name any of Pav's most famous (or not so famous) performances. But, I have always been impressed with his abilities. But, here I am, at work getting all teer-y-eyed over him. Maybe its all the tributes that have been on the radio today (and I'm sure plenty more will follow). Maybe it was something about being able to listen to two different Pav performances on two difference radio stations (one in the other room) at the same time (kinda like the moment of silence all the radio stations played... umm... errrr... was that for the first aniversurey of Sept 11th attacks?).

So yeah, I went YouTubing looking for Pav stuff and I found this, which claims to be his last public performance, at the winter Olympics in 2006.



and here's Pav with U2 + Brian Eno.