The Weekend, Plus Today

First off, I can't even explain how good it feels to be back in action.

The weekend was a good one, despite getting off to something of an inauspicious start. I actually got off from work a little early (3:30 instead of 5:00), so I stopped on my way home to pick up tickets for BGSU's basketball game vs. Western Michigan on Saturday. Brandi had to work late that night, so she wasn't home when I got there. I rattled around in the apartment for a little while, but I was feeling restless for some unknown reason, so nothing was really holding my attention for very long. When Brandi finally got home, we ended up getting on each other's nerves fairly quickly and so just went to bed pretty early. Luckily, we were able to talk things out so it didn't affect the rest of the weekend.

Brandi had to teach a class at noon on Saturday, so we both got up shortly before that. Brandi got herself ready for that while I played PlayStation football. I took a shower after she left, then headed over to Anderson Arena for the basketball game. I found a spot to sit down and wait for Brandi, who was meeting me there when her class was over. She got there around 1:30 (the game started at 2:00), and we had to sneak down into the student section. Occasionally, for big games, they check IDs and only let students down there, but it's easy enough to get down there. It's where I always sit, so I hate the very idea of sitting anywhere else. Besides, I get just as loud and crazy as any of the students, so I feel justified being there.

It was a highly charged game, and a fairly good one. It featured some of the worst officiating I've ever seen at Anderson Arena (and with MAC officiating, believe me, that's saying something) and a fight among the players in the tunnel leading to the locker room at the beginning of halftime. Unfortunately, the Falcons weren't able to translate that emotion into a win, as they fell short to the defending MAC champions. I have to give the WMU Broncos a certain amount of credit: they're a very good team, and they get the ball down the court as quickly as any team I've ever seen. On the other hand, some of their players (particularly guard Ben Reed) are the biggest jerks I've seen at Anderson that didn't play for Akron. Reed was actually a BGSU recruit coming out of high school, and personally, I don't care if he scores fifty points per game; I'm glad he went elsewhere. At any rate, I don't feel too bad about the loss. The Falcons went toe-to-toe with a very good WMU team and hung with them, despite quite a bit of adversity. They meet again later in the season, so we'll see how that goes.

Neither Brandi nor I had eaten at that point of the day, so we grabbed some McDonalds and came home to watch NFL football. We caught some of the New York-Pittsburgh game before heading in for a nap. I managed to wake up in time to catch the overtime period and watch the Steelers win. Brandi woke up shortly thereafter, and we watched some of the Rams-Falcons game before getting ready and heading out for a few drinks.

We started at BW3 and watched the rest of the game there. It wasn't much of a contest at that point, bit it's always good to get a chance to watch Michael Vick play. We had a couple of drinks there, as well as a basket of onion rings, but in general the service was far too slow and inattentive. We finished our drinks and headed over to Downtown, where we always get good service because we know one of the bartenders. They also just got new flat panel HDTVs above the bar, so it was pretty cool to hang out there for a little while. We didn't close the place down, because Brandi was done drinking and had to work the next day. I was done at that point anyway, so we went home happy after a good evening.

Once again, Brandi and I got up at the same time on Sunday morning. She didn't have to work until the afternoon, but she wanted to go in early to work out herself. I watched the movie Garden State after she left. I had brought it home from work to watch, and I went ahead and watched it myself because I had to return it today and I wasn't sure if Brandi was interested or not. So I watched it, and I'm really glad I did. It was very, very good. It was really quirky and funny, and also well-written and acted. It reminded me of something I would write, actually.

After the movie ended, I played some PlayStation and watched the beginning of the Vikings-Eagles game. I watched that until the outcome wasn't really in doubt any longer, and then I headed out to the grocery. I got that taken care of, and with a trunk full of groceries I pulled through the drive-thru at Wendy's. Of course I did. Then I came home to watch the Colts-Patriots game. After I finished my fast food, I ended up taking a nap, but the game was still close when I woke up. That didn't last long. The Patriots started running away, and I quickly lost interest.

I found something to occupy myself when I decided to try once again to fix Brandi's laptop. This time I managed to find success, at long last. I'm glad, too, because we were getting to the point where we were about to drop some serious coin on fixing it. Now it's fixed, and it was free and relatively painless. I spent some time after I got it running just running diagnostics to make sure everything was back to normal, and I'm happy (and at least a little proud) to say that it seems to be.

Brandi got home from work about that time. We cooked up some dinner and then watched the other movie I brought home from work for the weekend, which was Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. That was just a strange movie. It definitely had some funny moments--I mean, come on, it starred Will Ferrell--but overall, I don't think it was that great. It had potential, but it was just too far out there.

After that, the night was over except for the laundry. Today I had to work, despite the fact that it was Martin Luther King Day. It would have been nice to have the day off (I think this holiday is at least as important as Labor Day or Memorial Day, and I could go on from there), but that's okay. It was nice to get back to the office, as I spent last week working in the warehouse (more on that later in the week). Other than that, it was a pretty typical day at work.

After work I headed over to the gym. Instead of my typical workout, I was there for a massage. Brandi bought me a gift certificate and set up the appointment, and today was the day. I had never had a massage before, so I was just a tiny bit apprehensive, but it was really, really nice. I was in there for an hour, and it was awesome. My muscles feel very nice and relaxed right now. I'm hoping it lasts. I'll definitely be doing that again.

When I got home, Brandi was making spaghetti for dinner. It was frickin' awesome. I'm telling you, I don't deserve days like this very often. Other than having to work on a holiday, this was a great day.