All Is Quiet On the South Minneapolis Front

Emily and I had a very active weekend. Friday she returned from Chicago and three hours later we were on our way to a wedding at Mill City Museum, where we had our own wedding reception almost five years ago.

Last night we went bowling at Memory Lanes with her sister and her family and then went to pretty funny improv show at Brave New Workshop.

But now our life is back to the pace that I prefer. We watched the Twins game this afternoon at Emily's aunt's house. At least once a summer we make a point of going to her house to watch a game OUTSIDE on her TV, while other people paid money to go into the Metrodome to watch the game. And the weather was awesome today, so it couldn't have been better.

But what post is meant to be about is s p a c e.

Normally, I get in bed after Emily and out of bed in the morning before her. So I covet the rare times I have the bed all to myself. What I found while she was gone for so long is that this is really overrated. Sure, it's great to stretch out and have the bed all to myself for five minutes, but then the novelty of that wears off and then I'm just a lonely dude hanging out in a bed by himself. It's kind of boring.

But I also leaned one aspect of bachelorhood that is decidedly underrated, in terms of space. Emily had her parked at work while she was in Chicago. So I had the garage all to myself. Of course, if I just sat in my car for five minutes, I would be even more bored than when I am laying in bed all by myself, so maybe the I just never stayed in the garage long enough for the novelty to wear off.

Regardless, man was that luxiorious having the garage all to myself. No more tight turns to fit my car in, or having to go back into to reverse to get my lined up how I like it. Keep in mind I am always the first to leave for work and we drive my car when we go places, so it is rare when I use the car without Emily's car already in the garage.

No siree, it was like having an eight line highway all to yourself. One one night I parked the car right down the middle. That was satisfying. Another night I parked my car on Emily's side and put my bike in my parking space.

All that space... made me feel like my garage was a McMansion.

Of course I'm glad Emily is back, even if the garage has a clausterphobia vibe once again.

Bachelor Party

Emily has gone off and got her one of them booklearning degrees and an important job. As a result she travels a lot for work. She was gone from Monday to Friday last week and left today for another work trip and won't get back until Friday.

Needless to say I miss her. So does Pancho. I think the cats even miss her, the same way I missed bugging my older sisters when I was a bored eight year-old.

But I am proud of myself on several fronts. The house is still standing up. I washed the dishes tonight and cooked a meal for myself that included vegetables. I still get out and exercise. I even ran a pretty tough workout tonight. Two back to back sets of something I call the Texas Fartlek. I could tell you what it is, but then you would know my trade secrets. You know the secrets that allow me to run with no shirt or shame, but with a beer belly, pale skin, and a bald head. The Texas Fartlek kills your pride.

What is crazy is before Emily and I got married I was cooking all the time, mostly vegetarian. Lots of beans, rice, and salad. I ran pretty reglularly all by myself. I didn't need races or friends to help me along. Maybe I wasn't running as much, but when I did, I just ran for the hell of it.

Perhaps it was a matter of survival. Review the summary of my week last week. If I lived this way on a regular basis for the past ten years, my heart would have given up on me sometime between some pick-up baskteball game I played two years ago and this morning when I ran up the stairs at work.

Sunday Dropped Emily off at the airport. Went home and watched the Twins on TV with a can of Coke. Then biked over to my friends house where he grilled brats and burgers for dinner. I drank two or three of his beers and gave him a PBR and beef jerkey for Father's Day. His wife also served some salads she bought at Lund's. I was in bed by 11:00 p.m. This ended up being my healthiest night of the bachelor week.

Monday I went to the grocery store and bought fruit, believe it or not. Then I went for a short run, came home and finally got around to eating around 9 p.m. I had some of those salt and pepper chips I blogged about earlier for an appetizer and then an entire frozen pizza as my entree. Oh yeah, and a can of PBR. I stayed up past 11:00 watching the first 70 minutes of Once Upon A Time In America.

Tuesday Fancy Kirk and I ran a somewhat hard workout followed by Jucy Lucys at Shamrock's on W. 7th in St. Paul. We had two beers while watching the Celtics/Lakers game. We knew a third beer would park us on our ass. So I went home and watched the next 70 minutes of Once Upon A Time In America. I had some more of those salt and pepper chips and was glad I am too lazy to go the garage fridge once the movie is on. Otherwise that third beer would have been pretty tempting. I then read unitl about midnight.

Wednesday I had a Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon meeting. I drank a Coke and had three slices of pizza. This would end up being an appetizer (read on). No Handle Chad was at the meeting and chastised me for not blogging. I came home and it was too late to run. But it wasn't too late to walk the dog, eat another frozen pizza, and stay up past 11:00 finishing Once Upon A Time In America and watch some of the special features. Two beers were also involved.

Thursday I don't work Fridays, so I was out until 1 a.m. and in bed at 2 a.m. I went to The Hexagon Bar with my friend where I took in four bands and three beers. I actually had a healthy risotto primavera at the Birchwood Cafe, but this all has to be offset by how late I was up. I did get a run in and rode my bike to The Hexagon and Birchwood. When I got back home around 1:30 a.m. I polished off those salt and pepper potato chips.

One week does not an unhealthy life make. And I know there is no way I could lived like this for more than maybe ten days.

But this summary does answer my question, as to why I used to be on such regular good behavior before I got married. I didn't have a choice. I think left to my own devices I would find my feet again. But as unpracticed bachelor, I flail around a bit and end up eating potato chips at 1:30 in the morning. But this week has gotten off to a better start than last week.

For example, it is time for bed.

Back In The Saddle

I went out for my quarterly sortie to Matt's Bar for Jucy Lucys with, among others, Fancy Kirk, Awalt, Los Deets, and Mrs. Los Deets.

I do not know if Los Deets will post a field report on his Jucy Lucy website, but I do know this: the waitress was the most organized and, dare I say, regimented server that restaurant has ever seen.

Anyway, Mrs. Los Deets scolded me for not blogging anymore. And I know she loves lists. So I thought I'd get back into the blogosphere with what's new. I have a new...

1. Favorite Restaurant Brasa has a simple menu and really good food. A great summer spot. Ride your bike there and then you can head over to St. Anthony Main for a nightcap. It looks like I have the next date night planned for Emily and me.

2. Favorite Bar The Hexagon Bar. Great live music that is usually free. Cheap beer. Half the bar is for the music; the other half is quiet enough to socialize. It has a mix of quasi-hipsters, locals, and aging lamies like me. It's like a cheap First Ave without the scene.

3. Netflix Series Emily and are caught up on Weeds (well maybe not, season three might be out now) and are now making our way through Entourage It's like Sex and the City for guys. But so far Emily has been watching it with me.

4. Favorite Twin Carlos Gomez. The Strib ran a story last week about how he was scared of a ghost in his hotel room. He sometimes tries to steal third for no appearant reason. He can outrun a comebacker to the pitcher (okay I exaggerated on that one). What's not to like?

5. Training Plan I will train for both the 5k and the marathon for the rest of the year. Is such madness possible? I will tell you after my first injury. I pretty much knew after my last race in college I'd never run that fast again, much less break 15:00. I knew I was too lazy to keep training that hard. But I always figured I could hop off the couch and break 16:00 until I was like 70 years old. Obviously I was an idiot back then; but I would like to break the 16:00 barrier one last time (I ran a 16:20 a few weeks back). I'll focus on a marathon goal after the Victory 5k in September.

6. Favorite Snack Kettle Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper Chips. A friend of mine introduced them to me last week. I have eaten an entire bag since then and I am still wanting more. Damn those sons of bitches at Kettle make good chips.

7. Hobby Biking everywhere. The same friend who got me hooked on those chips, got me hooked on biking everywhere. On Saturday I a) ran 18 miles through Afton State Park with Fancy Kirk and Grizzly Christ, b) worked in the yard for three hours, and c) biked to Dominguez with Emily. So I was pretty tired, but we had a summer solstice party to go to. We were both thinking we didn't want to go, due to fatigue. But as we rode our bikes there, we got so energized.

8. Favorite Day of the Year Summer Solstice in Minnesota just beat out Thanksgiving. We went to that party, which was a summer solstice patio party with awesome food and great beer, and last night we had a our solstice meeting at Matt's. It's like two Thanksgivings without the turkey.

9. Horrible Idea A Jucy Lucy turkey for Thanksgiving. Instead of stuffing, inject the bird with cheddar.

10. Blog to Read Coincidentally, it's all about one lady's quest to do new things. Check it for yourself. I have know Maureen since college, so I know a lot of things she's already done and therefore can't count them as new things. You know, things like "watch Mike shotgun a can of Busch Lite" or "chant ' PARTY! PARTY! PAR...' with a bunch of idiots." That would describe the four years she had to come across me in college.

He'll Be Missed

There are a lot George Carlin routines that I love. His pacing and timing was as brilliant, if not more brilliant, than his content. His baseball vs. football routine is my all-time favorite, and somehow it is actually safe for work.