Weekend Intelligence: Fishie

New additions to the family (no, not another baby...), deforesting the backyard and completing WHM AF. Just a small sampling of the things we did this weekend. So, in typical weekend intelligence fashion, here are the highlights.

I got one of those calls that makes an IT guy cringe: a massive reinstall at 5 minutes to 5:00. I didn't get outta work until a quarter after 6. Well, at least the big neighborhood BBQ for Friday night didn't take off. I grilled up the brats, but no one came. Probably just as well. That doesn't mean that I didn't get to shoot the breeze with one of the neighbors. One of the guys from across the street came over as I was finishing cleaning up the grill and we sat outside and had a few beers. I've been needing to hang out like that for a while. LOL I just need more friends in general. Spent the rest of the evening campaigning and relaxing. The counsel was still not happy by the end of the evening. -.-"

We got up somewhat early on Saturday. I picked up some breakfast tacos from Whataburger and we knocked out some yard work before it got too hot. I pulled a tree of a weed out of the back yard. No joke: the thing had a trunk about the width of my wrist. I got a whole bunch of other things pulled up before my back started going on strike. I just used the weed eater to knock down the rest of the 5ft grass. x.X We also wanted to get the oil changed in the Vue, so after a bit of a nap, we went and got it in line at WalMart. She's needed new toys for the longest time, so we also got her some blocks and a coloring book with washable crayons. Not to leave Colin out, we got him a set of goofy teeth and a heavy duty metal slinky. He likes them, but tends to break the cheap plastic ones in less than a day. Spent most of the afternoon looking at TVs and fish. Clara gets really excited when she sees the fishies, so we got her a betta fish in a small starter fishbowl.

Speaking of fish, I decided to pick up a Texas fishing license this year. You know, I used to go fishing all the time after college. Maybe it went with the whole having friends thing, but it seemed like, when the weather was good, I was fishing or camping almost every other weekend somewhere. Then when I moved to Texas, I just stopped. I got busy, got a job, had kids and just stopped. Last time I was anywhere close to camping was a men's retreat two years ago, and that wasn't really camping. It wasn't even roughing it in style. It was closer to staying at a hotel. I mean, housekeeping came and cleaned the bathrooms, changed the linens and the towels in the cabin twice while we were there. WTF? I want to break out my tent, catch dinner (or at least try to) and chill under the stars again. I figure a license is a good start.

After toys and provisions, oil change and a new fish, we ran home and cooked up some burgers for dinner and started setting up the new fishbowl. Everything needed rinsing and the water sat in dechlorinator for a little bit before adding Mr. Fishie. Colin instantly took his slinky to the stairway landing and made a few attempts at getting it to walk. Upon presenting Clara with the set of crayons, she ran over to the wall and promptly decided it would look much better in scribble green. -.- Luckily they are washable... Now to get the wife to wash the walls. :P Finished out the night with another round of Campaign. FINALLY the counsel let me keep my medal. With one day to spare. We did a few more fights for good measure and called it a night.

I'm glad I got a lot done on Saturday, because I got very little done on Sunday. Some kind of wicked stomach bug ripped though me and I was out for the day. Didn't get much sleep at that, either. Made for a very grumpy Jason. About the only thing I did of note was attend Dynamis - Jeuno. You might notice that WHM 5/5 is scratched off my list. XD I'd seen several of them drop in past runs, but always get outlotted or am not high enough in line for one. This run, 3 of them dropped, and I got the first one. At least now I can store the set.

Might go car shopping tomorrow. We checked into buying a new car all weekend. D's little Chevy Prism (we affectionately call it the go-cart) is starting to go down No Workie Road. Mechanically it's clean and gets great gas mileage and has an AWESOME A/C. But it rattles hardcore when idling and shakes at highway speeds. Not as bad as when the strut mount was going out, but I just don't want to dump much more into this car. I might look into replacing the door handle, just to bump the trade-in value, but I don't know how much I can do to this car and actually see much of any return. We put an inquiry into a rather inexpensive Sebring Convertible, and as luck would have it, it's still available. I'm not going to rush into it, though. I need the right deal if I'm going to take on more debt.