Midway, Day 16

New Year's Eve. 2011 is about to be a thing of the past.  I think I need not reflect at this point.  Save that for another space.

Last night Dana and I had ourselves an Eve's Eve gathering over at the Fir.  Rick came by and gave us all the neighborhood gossip - who's opening what where and which landlords suck.  Gaia and I snuggled in Ballard - I think she's still in bed.  I just attempted a GF crepe order downstairs - I figured for all the internet mooching I'm doing, I could get a snack, even try to eat a real breakfast.  Nope, out of GF batter.  Which they didn't know until I went back down to pick it up.  Grrrr.

Tonight will probably be up in Skykomish with Sile.  Dana and I were kicking around ideas, and she's opting to stay in Seattle, and I haven't really decided yet.  I'm going to break down the shelves in the kitchen and try to get it all up to Sile's this afternoon.  Should be interesting with the dog in the car too.

Highlights from the last few days... Meat Sweats at the Brazilian steakhouse in Milwaukee.  Half a dozen dudes walking around with nine kinds of meat on sticks.  Andrew definitely won the Eat The Most Meat Contest, although Dad wasn't far behind....  Mostly just ran errands and cleaned up around the house the last few days.  Started Operation Kitchen Redeux, which is involving clearing out the afore mentioned Ikea shelves, and the table & chairs.  Then installing cabinets and shelves that DON'T block the baseboard heat.  Hoping Sile will take the current table and chairs too, but I just need to figure out how to get them to Sky...  Dinner with the Brown Turtles the other night, which is to say Sam & Silas started Bananagrams while Mary and I drank wine.  Scott retreated to the football game.  Mary and I drank more wine.  Sam & Silas ditched Bananagrams and Mary and I finished the game while we drank wine and had eggplant and almond enchiladas....

I met RMI Phil at the climbing gym last night.  The other day I watched the guys reset all the routes on the big overhang.  Now there are even a few that rookies like myself can do (or at least attempt).  I cranked out a V2 on my second try, with only a tiny bit of direction from Phil.  When I was about to throw in the my-forearms-are-toast towel, we went to try some "stemming" which I actually wasn't too bad at.  I had tried a few of those routes before but it hadn't clicked that I could push AND pull, which opened up a whole new world for me.  And my core is wonderfully sore today.

Time to pack up Gaia and relinquish my internet.  Otherwise I'll just sit here all day.