marcy's playground...

a couple of weeks ago we adopted "marcy" or "marcie" the guinea pig from my sister's family (thanks sis?). marcy is a female of unknown age. as far as pets goes she is pretty low maintenenace, especially for me as i vowed from the get-go to play little to no role in taking care of this animal. she's still little skiddish when someone tries to handle her but she does like to be let outside in the backyard occasionally to nibble on grass. anyway, it looks like she is staying around so i though it was worth mentioning here.

hot in the city tonight...

i know that it's summer and all but 99 degrees with high humidity in minnesota is just not right. one of the great things about living here is that minnesota truly does experience all four of the seasons, but come'on! it's normal for our friends in the south and west to be hot & muggy and i'm sure they think we're all wimps for complaining about double-digit heat (like we think they're wimps for thinking 45 degrees is cold) but it's getting a bit ridiculous around here. each day is hotter and more humid than the one before. what's worse is that i actually played in a softball tournament yesterday and in my leagues playoffs tonight. that's 7 games, a ton of water and powerade, and a couple less pounds, in 2 days. they say that more normal temps are heading our way by the middle of the week. i'm ready. in the meantime, thank God for central air.

a blast from the past...

UPDATE!
more pics added here courtesy rebecca whitney.

as previously mentioned, had the 20 year class reunion this past weekend. i didn't take a ton of pics but there are a few posted here. it was fun to see everybody, although there are a few that couldn't make it, and a few i wished i would have got to talk to more. thanks to kathy and everyone who worked hard in throwing it together. the booklets that were printed were awesome, although i wished now that i would have spent more time on my answers :-(. also, it appears that i misspelled my URL to this site, but if you are reading this, you have found it so it doesn't matter. it was fun to get caught up on people's lives, tell a few war stories, and have a few laughs.
also the cruise on lake minnetonka saturday night was spectacular (this was NOT related to the reunion!). another perfect summer night and the view of the sunset over the lake was truly amazing.

'86 kix...

it's hard to believe but i have my 20 year highschool class reunion tonight. there's no way it seems like i could be that old but i've ran the numbers and this is in fact true. (i wonder if my english studies have paid off as i struggle with whether or not the previous sentence needs a comma or two somewhere). it will be fun to see some people that i haven't seen in years and probably won't see again for many more. my school was small enough that everybody pretty much knows everybody else. unfortunately a couple of my better friends will be unable to attend but it will still be fun to see everyone. tonight is the dinner and there is an all-family picnic tomorrow. i'll report more about this later.
it's a busy weekend in general as tomorrow night the wife and i are attending a friends birthday party on a private yacht on lake minnetonka. yes, that private yacht. i plan on squeezing in some softball on sunday too. this is a weekend that i know will positively fly by.
more soon...

correction...

thirdthoughts would like to make the following correction. it was noted in a previous post that the redsox\yankees game would probably be the highlight of my trip to boston. of course this is not the case. the highlight will most definitely be meeting my new nephew in person for the first time. thirdthoughts regrets this error and apologizes for the oversight. i will be sure to list the highlights of the trip in the apropriate order after the trip.
i can't imagine the redsox\yankees game to rank any lower than second however :-). we'll see...more to come

feeling strangely fine...

went to the kickoff of the alleged "10 best days of summer" friday night in downtown minneapolis. caught the semisonic performance at the "subway block party" on washington ave between hennepin and third. it was a hot & humid day, but as the band played and the sun went down, it went from tolerable to a downright pleasant evening. good times & good people watching too.
went to snail lake park for a swim with the wife and kids saturday evening. have had to think of creative ways to beat the heat these last few days.
oh, and i almost forgot, i sold my buick (yay).
rest of the weekend was fairly nondescript. more soon...

greatest rivalry in sports?

we our firming up our plans for our vacation to boston next month. i received great news yesterday in that my brother-in-law scored tickets for me for the redsox-yankees game on saturday, august 19th, (also the fox game of the week). if you know anything about this rivalry you would know that is among the best in sports, and i can't imagine how difficult it must have been to get tickets. the sox\yankees games sell out basically as soon as they are available to purchase. thanks bro, for coming up with these! we have a lot of things planned and i will enjoy all of them but this will probably be the highlight for me. can't wait!!!

common courtesy...

know what i hate? people who make arrangements to come see your car for sale at a specified time and place and then fail to show up...or call. i'm talking to YOU donna from oakdale. i left work a little early, spent $25 on gas and a car wash. i left you 2 voice mail messages on your cell ph and you didn't have the courtesy to call me to tell me:

A. i'm sitting in traffic - sorry i'll be a little late

B. i had a a family emergency to deal with - let's reschedule

C. i've changed my mind - i don't want to see it

so, no more leaving work to show the car. car showings are now available ONLY at my convenience. nights an weekends. good day.

"not too rusty but plenty trusty"...

was a slogan i considered briefly. for about 8 seconds until i realized how lame it was. anyway, i've had the buick posted for about 2 days now on both craigslist and carsoup. have gotten 2 calls and one test drive but no buyer...yet. we'll hope someone moves on it this week. i spent 3 hours saturday cleaning, scrubbing, and vaccuuming. the whitewalls are actualy even white now.

how i roll...

for the last several years i have been driving a '92 buick century. a pretty classy ride in it's day, it is now pretty much considered a grandma-mobile. let's just say if that car was a computer, it'd be a p133 mhz processor, with 64 mb of ram and a 2.5 gb hard drive running windows '95. yesterday i purchased a 2000 ford taurus sel. another taurus you say? yes, but it really was very close to what i was looking for. the mileage and price was in my zone, and i pulled the trigger on the deal last night. above is the actual photo of the car. here's a sample of what it packs.

power steering, brakes, windows, locks, mirrors

leather seats

anti-lock brakes

heated side mirrors

alloy wheels

auto-climate control

24 valve engine, 3.0L V6

it's black with only a couple minor scratches. it'll look even better once i get the car seats in. ok, maybe it's not your average dream-car, but it's a nice upgrade for a guy that's been driving a ancient relic from the past. it's also nice to have an airbag as they have been standard now for about 10 years.

click here to see craiglist ad for buick. adding a carsoup ad tomorrow.

parade pics

pics from the eagan independence day parade. had a great day at my folks place in eagan and the weather was awesome this year. lit some sparklers and glow worms in the driveway tonight but no fireworks display this year. everyone's beat including me. more later...

fourth day of july...

at some point it became popular to say "fourth of july". i'm not sure why nobody seems to say "independence day" anymore, but that's what i like to call it, because, you know...that's what it is. you don't say "25th of december", or "31st of october". it may be due to the fact that almost all of the holdays now are becoming more comercialized and their actual meanings become secondary. or it may be as simple as i need to get over it and worry about more important things. either way, i hope you enjoy your independence day.
this weekend started with the wife and i going to see the streaking minnesota twins on friday night. they continued their torrid pace by beating the brewers of milwaukee 8-2. saturday morning i setup a wireless network at my folk's to compliment their newly acquired dsl internet connection. had to consult with a fellow tech source to troubleshoot the router but after enabling mac address cloning i was off and running. i actually have to "work" on monday, but that will be a relative term as i anticipate a slow day and an early exit. tuesday (independence day:-) we head to my folk's in eagan for the annual parade and a cookout. more soon.