1. Bicycles.  Particularly when they replace old, dual-wheeled dilapidated death chariots like the one Elizabeth was riding previously.  Her former chain-churner should, by rights, have been taken out behind the barn and shot quite some time ago, but we had never really gotten around to it.  This weekend, that changed when we rolled her shiny new toy out to the park, where we did one lap before being driven back inside by frigid winds and the ever increasing threat of chill rain.

2. Caramel squares.  Elizabeth doesn’t make these terribly often, which is probably good because otherwise I would be enormously fat.  I’m talking manatee levels of fat.  Nonetheless, when she does make them, and when I can get to them before they are (horrors!) given away, I stuff them into my face like a chipmunk in autumn.

3.  Blanton’s.  We’ve spoken before about bourbon, and the merits thereof.  Blanton’s takes bourbon to a whole new level – a wonderful, caramel-y level, where the stars pour forth their melodies and noble stallions charge about your living room.  Metaphorically.

Incidentally, the fact that each bottle is hand-labeled just makes it that much more awesome.

photo credit: josef.stuefer

1. Vacation.  There probably isn’t a need to elaborate further on that, but let me just call out that it is the holiday break, my projects are done, and I am in full-on not-thinking-about-work mode.

2. Skiing.  Elizabeth and I have decided that we need to take up a hobby.  We’ve been looking for something we can do together, that’s active, and that we both enjoy.  Skiing (of the downhill variety) fits the bill, and has the added bonus that it’s frigid cold and offers an unparalleled opportunity to wrap ourselves around trees at high velocity.

3. Lasagna.  Diggory got a great recipe from his mother for the stuff, and it makes for a fantastic meal.  Plus, it’s one of the very few dishes that actually tastes better as leftovers.

photo credit: gregor_y

You may be asking why Elizabeth went off to Spain, while I stayed at home and toiled mightily.

This is a good question.

In any case, she is home and she has posted some pictures and reflections on her shiny new blog.  Feel free to wander over there if you’re interested in Spain, architecture, or giant anatomically correct bull sculptures.

I only wish I was kidding about the bulls.

photo credit: Paulo Brandão

1.  Farmville.  Diggory introduced me to this goofy little Facebook app, which has since been sucking my time away like a Shop-Vac in a box of Cheerios.  Perhaps it’s because it connects with my fond memories of growing up on a farm.  Perhaps it’s the bright colours and pleasant looking fruits and vegetables it sends prancing about my screen.  Perhaps it’s because it is free and yet of comparable quality to a farming sim game I remember paying good money for about 10 years ago (Don’t ask.  Please, don’t ask).  Whatever the case, it’s one of those simple, simple games that I find myself almost unwillingly wandering back to from time to frequent time.

2.  Trail mix.  Elizabeth took it upon herself to make our own last week, after doing some quick math and realizing that she could manufacture trail mix at roughly one-third the cost of what the grocery store would charge for the pre-mixed stuff.  To her great irritation, Diggory and I then proceeded to scarf the whole gallon of it down in the space of a day and a half.  Elizabeth has threatened to visit all manner of horrors upon me if I do not ease up on my trail mix consumption.

3.  Mint.  We’ve been using this site to track our finances and attempt to uncover the black whole that seems to absorb a startling amount of our disposable income each month.  The black hole may or may not be chocolate; the jury is still out on this one.  Still, the site has proven a handy way for us to keep tabs on things and track where the money’s coming in and going out each cycle.  The good news is that it’s free; the bad news is that it isn’t available in Canada yet.

photo credit: kevindooley

Pie.

Just pie, today.  Elizabeth is baking up a storm here, and pie is one of the principal foodstuffs in production at this point.  She has gone to considerable lengths to make it cosmetically appealing, as well as tasty.

It will be out of the oven soon, at which point I expect it to disappear in very short order (mostly into the inner recesses of my own doughy self), but in the meantime I am amusing myself by gazing fondly at the picture I took of it before it went in the oven.

Delicious sweet awesomeness

1. The Escapist.  If you’re not interested in video games or video game culture, or if you are interested in it but struggle with the overwhelming geekiness of it all, this site is probably not for you.  If, however, you can happily wallow in your own nerddom, there’s a lot to enjoy on this site.  Zero Punctuation and Unskippable are definite highlights.

2.  Gord Downie on CBC Q.  The May 11 episode features a lengthy interview with the frontman for The Tragically Hip, one of the best Canadian bands ever.  The interview is a fascinating look into the mind of the poet and performer.

3.  Uncle Jay Explains the News.  More than Fox, CNN, or even BBC, I look to Uncle Jay to make sense of the events in the world around us.  And then to mock them.

photo credit: Pipe ?

1. Exercise.  It’s not so much that I like the exercise itself (at all), but I do like the general sense of well-being and smug self-satisfaction that one gets after one has returned from exercise.

At least, I get the aforementioned smugness and satisfaction.

Elizabeth and I were quite active this weekend, relatively speaking, though the relativity there should not be underestimated.  We even went to the gym, which is somewhat remarkable given my previous forays into dedicated fitness facilities.

2.  The Hip.  I know, I know, I need to shut up about the Hip already.  Bear with me.  I’m still buzzing (and my ears are still ringing) from the concert, and I just recently picked up two of their albums which I didn’t have before.  They are playing through my PC’s fair-to-middling speakers as I type, and are making me feel very soulful.

3.  Good sp0rtsmanship.  It allows me to remain friends with Diggory, even as he hands me the ass-whupping of a lifetime in our folding stats.

photo credit: kevindooley

I do not play poker often, and I do not play it well, but it was tremendous fun getting a group of friends around the table and busting out the very dapper poker set that my brother-in-law got me as a wedding present.

It’s a good thing I don’t play poker often, because I got cleaned out.

photo credit: awshots

1. Cherry berries on a cloud.  Elizabeth made this dessert for me this weekend.  It is, essentially, whipped fat and sugar with a fruit topping, and It. Is. Awesome.

2. Bourbon.  Diggory presented me with a bottle of Knob Creek on Sunday, and we shared a nip that evening.  It’s very similar to scotch, though it has its own distinct richness and flavour — interesting, given that it’s made from corn rather than grain.  Plus, it has the advantage of sounding really cool when pronounced in a low baritone.

As an aside, since it’s made from corn does it count as a serving of vegetables?

3. Salad.  Diggory made supper last night, which included lasagna, garlic bread, and tossed salad.  I was especially glad for the salad, because after the cherry berries, bourbon, lasagna, and big fat aftermath of my birthday, my body was in need of some veggies.

photo credit: Kyle May

Today, I am grateful for my wife, Elizabeth, because:

1. She lets me be a huge nerd.  For example, I really enjoy video games.  For good or ill, that’s the way it is.  Elizabeth, on the other hand, decidedly does not.  She is very patient, however, with my “need” to get in some gaming time now and then.  Over the weekend, Diggory and I spent some quality time with BioShock while Elizabeth napped or read Harry Potter, and I feel we are all better persons for it.

2. It’s more fun to do things with her.  Cooking, for example, is something that I largely eschewed prior to hitchin’ up, but cooking together can be a fun activity.  Especially now that we have new knives, and when we get a chef in to teach us what’s what.

Also in the “more fun” category: trips to Six Flags and the Delaware Water Gap.

3.  She likes being with me.  Surprising as that may be, she seems to enjoy spending time with me.  I’m not sure what causes this, but it’s very good for one’s psyche to have someone actually want you around.

Now, I just need to figure out a way for us to be together in the car during our eight-hour jaunts back to the homeland without her going stark raving mad with fidgety boredom.

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Just as a point of clarification, when I say “today, I am grateful”, I don’t mean that I’m indifferent on all other days; it’s just that today’s the day I’m writing about it.  Thought it might be best to point that out.

photo credit: Jeff Belmonte