lots of activity

This weekend S and I had a going away/birthday party. It was fun. We played ring toss again. The drinks were somehow slightly less disgusting than last time. For those of you I may not have indoctrinated yet, ring toss consists of putting the entirety of your liquor collection out, along with a few gross bonuses like vinegar or cooking wine or lemon juice -- and then tossing homemade aluminum foil rings until you land on three, which you then must drink in a shot. Since it's only a shot, you don't get drunk; mostly it's a gross out game. Also -- L made me a pear ginger upside down cake, not remembering that I don't like pears. Fortunately for everyone involved, the pears she'd selected where mild in both pear flavor and pear texture, and it turned out to be delicious. I ate it for breakfast the next couple days. :)

I think I have told most everybody that I am moving to a new apartment. We moved a bunch of stuff and found some furniture and planned some more. It was good. I think we might actually be ready to move in this weekend.

Yesterday morning I threw out my back. I have gotten twinges and soreness before, but this was quite demobilizing -- twin sneezes and suddenly tilting forward or backward causes intense pain. I have never had anything quite like this happen, especially without a known cause -- moving furniture, or playing a lot of volleyball, or whatever. The heating pad and I are once again sharing quality time together.

Oh yeah -- my birthday rocked. I had the actual day off from work, so S brought me up to Napa on Wednesday afternoon where we stayed at an adorable homey B&B, walked around, ate the yuppiest of cuisines, and went wine tasting. We each tried five at one place, split two flights (six total) at another, tried 8 at another automated place where you create a little debit card that you can stick into a machine which then pours 1 oz of whichever wine you choose, with each one pro-rated according to its overall cost, and then I had a glass with dinner. That's 20 -- count 'em -- different wines in one night. The highlight was the first place, which had great picks, and the automated place, which allowed you taste a couple $100 bottles. We tried one at $8.30 for one ounce -- it was a dark, luxurious cabernet. I quickly learned that one way to tell the difference between a bargain basement wine and an expensive wine is that first smell -- cheap wines just smell medicinal (one even smelled like bug spray!), while expensive wines smell like a pantry, or a basket of vegetables, or a freshly planted earthy field. In other words, they don't smell like alcohol, they smell like other smells. It's not a far leap to see how this contributes to their flavor. I also learned that the proper time to decant a wine is a couple hours before you intend to serve it. Cool.

On the way home, we were passing by a six flags and though, why not? It turned out to be a great day for it. Being a week day and still early enough in summer not to be too inundated by families, the lines were fairly short and the crowds were manageable. We rode some great coasters, ate some greasy grub and dippin' dots (which are always an interesting taste sensation) and spent about 5 or so hours being, well, amused. They also had a sea world there and we ended up catching a show in which a dolphin and an orca swam around and showed off -- together. That was a first, and pretty fun to watch.

It's been a great last few days and a wonderful birthday. We're smack dab in the middle of a huge transition, but everything's going smoothly. In a few weeks time, we'll be starting a whole new phase of life.

Which reminds me, I signed up for the GRE in August. It's about time to start planning ahead.