Schnitzel Happens - Rain and Sun in the Summertime

Last evening, Germany played their final group stage game of the Euros, but instead of heading out to watch the game at a pub with a large crowd of people, I elected to watch it quietly at home.  This decision was driven primarily because I have been out every night since the beginning of the tournament, almost two weeks ago.  During June and July, it is always fun to spend as much time as possible outdoors.  It stays light much later, and as long as the weather is good, most people are outside enjoying the summer evenings.  Add the European Championships, and there is even more activity.  But, the body can only take so much before it needs a little break.

As much as I like (if not prefer) autumn and winter, I do enjoy this time of year, as long as it does not get too hot.  That has not been any problem so far this summer.  In fact, we have had rather a lot of rain over the past weeks.   However, as much as I like the rain, I looked forward to perhaps a few days with a bit more sunshine, particularly last weekend when some old friends came into town. 

Shortly before their arrival, the weather reports were pretty direct:  rain, rain, and more rain.
Sure enough, over their visit, we had rain, rain, and more rain.  What was a bit interesting is that we also had extended moments of sunshine, and several times we actually had rain and sunshine simultaneously. 
None of this deterred us from hanging out, seeing a few bits around town, and making sure that they got their fill of German cuisine.  


For me, it was one of the special situations where time seemed to race by and stand still at the same time.  It seemed like we had been hanging out for weeks, after the second day...
Then, suddenly it was Sunday evening and time to let things go back to normal routine. I would return to work after a couple of days off, and they would fly home to the US.

Yesterday in the gym, I checked myself on the scale, and was not surprised to see that I had put on a few kilos in the past days.  I, too, got my recent fill of local cuisine and apparently have a few souvenirs from the experience.   Well worth it, as far as I am concerned.

At any rate, that all helped me decide to have a quiet night at home last evening.  Germany won their match, and afterwards, I stood on my balcony for a few minutes and watched it start to rain.  Again.

As I stood there, I thought about my friends back in the states and wondered if they were going to do Taco Tuesday.  Ironically, I realized that that is what I had eaten for dinner, too. 

 "Yep," I said to myself as I turned to go back inside,"that was a great weekend."

cheers to Goliad. thanks for the visit.

bryan

Suck Potential and Other Domestic Bits

When I was a freshmen in college, a guy who lived down the hall on my floor in the dormitory stood out for a couple of reasons.  One, he was muscle-bound, albeit not overly tall.  Sure, there were a lot of pretty big guys who were hitting the gym and playing on the football team, but this guy didn't play any sports.  He was clearly only into bodybuilding, but clearly knew what he was doing in the weight room. 

Number two, he acted and spoke as if he came straight from the set of Valley Girl, which was a bit odd, as that film was already 5 years old, and perhaps more significant, this guy did not come from California.

Let be me clear, the guy was a nice enough and while we never were really friends, we certainly acknowledged one another around campus, in the gym, or wherever.  My school was small, and I was well aware that he had some intelligence, as our school was heavily focused on academics.  That being said, and although I didn't hold this against him, I couldn't help but think to myself regularly, "Gosh, this guy talks like a dipshit."

One of his key phrases was always, "Man, that has suck potential," which started to get annoying after about the 3rd time I heard him say it.  In the grand scheme of things, it was rather insignificant and I had forgotten all about it until this past weekend when I was doing the house cleaning. 

For the most part, I keep a pretty tidy flat.  I pick up after myself, and try and do a thorough cleaning at least every two weeks, if not once per week.  This includes hoovering.   Normally, I try to adhere to the rule of "shoes off," which really cuts down on the dirt and crud that one tracks through the house.  However, in the past month or so, I have had some back problems that made it somewhat painful to put on and remove my shoes every time I had to go somewhere.  This was only a short term solution, and as my back improved, I looked forward to getting out the vacuum cleaner. 

My little hoover works pretty well, but I decided to have a peep at the dust bag before I started cleaning last weekend, and sheepishly realized that perhaps it was time to install a new bag.  It might have even been better had I actually changed out the bag 4 years ago when it really needed it, but anyway, I changed the little bag out, flipped the switch, and then the extension tube that I was holding in my hand suddenly pulled a poster off the wall.  Part of me was amazed at the improvement in suction, but I was equally disturbed by the fact that the past couple of years at least my vacuuming had clearly not been so adequate. 

As I continued my cleaning, I found myself thinking about my first year of college and thought to myself, "Never underestimate the power to suck."

see you out there
bryan