Power Outages and Magic Moments

Last week we had a number of storms, beautiful but violent storms. The kind that drop grape sized hail and brighten up the sky with constant lightning. On Wednesday I had gone over to see my uncle who was visiting my parents. Jeff called at 10 to let me know not to rush home. The power was out. I can't pass up a power outage so I rushed home. I am actually one of those strange people who love power outages. They are so quiet and so dark. We sat in the dark, no flashlight, and watched the lightning outside. Every couple of seconds the sky lit up but there was no thunder or rain. A perfect electrical storm. Out in the woods the fireflies would light up everytime the lightning struck. There were thousands of them. So Jeff and I rolled up our pants and went out to play in the puddles and the lightning and the fireflies. It was totally dark, and silent, and beautiful. After a couple attempts Jeff caught a lightning bug. He carried it in his hands over to show me. And the moment he opened his hands the firefly lit up, and the power came back on.

Magic.

Live Drama

We have seen some terrible movies in the last month. From the second Pirates of the Caribbean, Madagascar, Dukes of Hazzard, Elf, and most recently Open Season, it is has been a little slow on the movie scene. Now I hate going to the movie theaters so we watch a lot of movies at home. But the most recent ones seem to be terrible. And the one thing I've seen in the theaters, Iron Man, was fantastic. I would recommend it to anyone. So other than a couple movies we have really been lacking for visual entertainment. 

But this month I have been fortunate so see some fantastic live drama. I have been to the opera twice now and an outdoor community theater once. In the beginning of June we were in St. Louis to visit Jeff's family. His dad took us out to see Shakespeare in the Park. Now if you have never seen Shakespeare done outdoors you need to. There is something about a park setting that makes the experience so much more magical. I felt bad for his dad though. He had never seen Shakespeare done before, much less read much of the work. So which play do we get? Not Romeo and Juliet, not Macbeth, not even Hamlet. No, we saw Richard 3. Not a beginners play. Richard the third is so complicated that you really need an org chart to follow the family structure. It was a well done performance but I felt bad for Dad. 

Last weekend Jeff and I went to see Regina done by the Des Moines Metro Opera. My parents get season tickets and weren't able to use them. This is a modern operetta and is a lot of fun. I thought it was a very enjoyable show. But apparently that is because I have no idea how enjoyable they can be. Now I like Carmen and the Magic Flute, but the Elixir of Love is now my very favorite opera. This was an amazing show. I got to go last night with my mother. Beautiful voices, stunning set and costumes, and memorable music made for one of the best shows I have ever been to. I honestly hoped it didn't end. 

Elixir of Love is Donezzetti's work and is sung in italian. The Des Moines opera does supertitles so you can follow all the words. It is a fun story of man pining for a beautiful woman who isn't interested in him. He buys a magic love potion from a charlatan. (actually just wine) When the village girls find out that the young man has recently inherited a fortune they flock to him and he thinks the potion is working. The young woman becomes jealous and vows to win him. The show, of course, ends happily with the two of them together. I clapped so hard my arms gave out. Breathtaking. 

So I have been to the theater three times in one month. And I've enjoyed all of them. I have one more option for a show within the next month too. I have two friends in Minneapolis doing Oklahoma at an outdoor stage. Now I just need to talk Jeff into making the trek up to the cities again. I've already promised him golf and a casino up there. It might be incentive enough. But even if I can't go I'll have seen some amazing theater and found a new favorite opera. Ah the stage!!! 

Odd mood

So I woke up this morning, threw open the blinds to find a hummingbird perched beautifully right in front of the window. Okay well Jeff pointed it out. But still I brought it to the house with my hummingbird feeder. I receive a small flighted guest a couple times a day. There is both a male and female ruby throated hummingbird that make appearances regularly. Ruby Throated hummers are the only ones in Iowa so identification is pretty easy.

Looking out the window I saw a small fawn, still with spots, running through the common area. And I realized that I loved my neighborhood. I love backing to the creek. I love most of my neighbors. It is a very quiet beautiful place. I know most of the people on my block and talk regularly with them. One of the neighbors is moving and I'm a little hesitant about who will buy. Pat is a quiet tidy neighbor who is enjoyable to talk to. We'll miss her. I'm just worried about someone loud and obnoxious moving in. We'll see. Such is home-ownership So far her place has been on the market for about three weeks.

So the morning started out beautiful. Any day when I can spot deer and hummingbirds before 7 is a good day. Work was good. I just finished a pot of coffee so the caffeine has me jittery and productive. I just went out to lunch at one of my very favorite restaurants in the whole world, Lucca. All and all a good day.

But something conspires to keep me pensive. I've just been in an odd mood. Lucca has been closed for two weeks due to flooding. I've missed them. The parking lot at work flooded yesterday. Luckily my car was safe. So flooding has been on my brain and I started thinking about Cedar Rapids. And then I wrote this poem.

Cedar Rapids

Dark clouds shroud
a city underwater.
Daily, hourly warnings plague,
a population already tired of warnings.
Tired of rain.
Tired of treading water.
Rebuilding, their only thought
Rebuilding lives,
scattered by river torrents.
Rebuilding hope,
washed away.

See what I mean about an odd mood. Great day, depressing poem. Maybe tomorrow I'll have a crap day and write happy poems. We'll see.

Custom Radio

Now I'm not a huge music buyer. I have always bought more movies than music but with iTunes I have been spending hundreds of dollars in songs. I love that I get to buy just the songs I love, rather then buy a CD to find that I only like the two or three songs I know. My only problem is that I have kind of stagnated on my music. I don't get introduced very often to new artists. So I am more than thrilled to discover Pandora Radio. www.pandora.com. This amazing website allows me to customize my radio, all for free. And even better it introduces me to new stuff.

When you arrive at the site it starts by asking you who your favorite artist is. It then customizes the songs played based on that selection. I started with a somewhat indy group that does mellow songs with great vocals. It then played hundreds of songs with similar styles. If you don't like a song you can let it know and it will remove that band. That way you are only listening to music you don't know but may like. I'm crazy about the service. And now my iTunes can get a workout as I add tons of new artists.

On that same note I have fallen in love with the band Bishop Allen. On a rather ugly weather trip back from Chicago with my sister, she introduced me. I was tense (I hate driving in snow) and was making her tense. Sorry Em. I'm pretty sure we were going to come to blows there. So to cut the stress she played this band. Oh and she taught me a meditation technique. But music-wise I started with "Like Castanets" and fell madly for these guys. It is a two man group out of the Bronx making independent music. For anyone who likes good lyrics and fun music give them a try.

Does this wine make me look fat?

Saturday was beautiful so we had gone out disc golfing. So before we went I tried on a pair of last years shorts. Well I almost tried them on. No zipping. Then I pulled out another pair, and another. Until I was practically reduced to tears sitting among five pairs of shorts that wouldn't fit. Not even my new capris (that I bought last year and wore twice) fit. So I decided, on Saturday that I would start being good about what I ate and try to limit my portions. Ah good intentions!

And on Sunday those feelings were re-enforced watching the women's triathlon. Those women were in great shape. I told myself, I would start running and then I would eventually be in that kind of shape. And then dinner came. And this past week dinner has been an extravaganza. On Sunday we found ourselves at Cosi Cucina, a standard whenever my brother comes to visit. On Monday we ate at Sam & Gabe's, a local restaurant that makes my mouth water just thinking about it. And both nights I had glasses of wine (a new passion) and full meals. But I was still trying to be good. At Cosi I had a pasta with vegetables in a chicken stock broth, and amazingly no bread. At Sam & Gabes I had a beautiful grilled Ahi with mango salsa and asperagus on the side.

So I was trying to be good. The portions were big but at least it was healthy, and I took home leftovers. And then yesterday happened. Somehow my brain decided that nutrition wasn't all that important. Arby's for lunch (and not the healthy choices) followed by Perkins for dinner and then ice cream at home.

So I rationalized that it was one bad day out of a couple. Then I remembered. Tonight I'll be going out for pizza and beer with girls from my former work. I know me. I'll drink too much and then eat too much. And then tomorrow my uncle is in town so we are taking him out to the holy grail of restaurants in my book, Trostel's Dish. A beautiful, elegant, and amazingly tasty tapas place that makes me practically swoon. Can you tell I like food? And this one will be a dieting disaster. Small portions sure but there will be many, and I mean many. Imagine wine (again!!) and 25 plates to try. Plus a cheese platter and dessert. I should easily wake up five pounds heavier.

And what makes this worse is that I'm trying to lose weight for this upcoming trip we are taking. Jeff and I are taking our first cruise in September. My goal was to at least be presentable in a swimsuit. I'd like to wear those shorts and capris that would work so well in the tropics. So I'll have to be good next week. My diet always seems to start tomorrow.

Full weekend

I am exhausted and it is not even Sunday night. This weekend has been full. Very full. Friday was slow. Mostly just Jeff and I lying on the couch watching old episodes of Dead Like Me. We finally finished the first season on DVD. Great show. Although I'm not terribly excited about seeing the upcoming movie. 

Saturday was busy. We started the day celebrating S.O.S.A.D.. Lots of eating and mostly just home time. By one o'clock I was going a little stir-crazy so we decided to go out disc golfing. With all the flooding in the city there are only a few courses left open. And lucky for me that includes one of my favorites. Grand View Park is a gorgeous old park with tons of mature trees and enough hills to make the course a great challenge. I played pretty well. A lot of bogeys and even a par. 

My parents called us right before we got to the course to see if we wanted their opera tickets for the evening. We went to see Regina, a modern operetta. We sat fourth row on a fantastic stage. The costuming was great and the music was beautiful although not incredibly memorable. 

Jeff and I set an alarm this morning in the hopes of making it out to Target to find a Wii Fit. We didn't hit the first store until about 9 (an hour after they open) but apparently they didn't get their shipment anyway. No luck. Then breakfast out and relaxing at home. Jeff took some nice hummingbird pictures. I'll post one here. 

I had lunch with my parents and then Dad, Jeff, and I walked over to see the Hy-Vee Triathlon. This race is part of the Olympic trials so we were seeing some of the best triathletes in the world. We watched the women bike and run and I took some great videos and pictures. These women are in amazing shape. There is not an inch of fat on any of them. And with good reason. These races are tough. The course was long and hilly and they had a number of laps to do. It was incredible to see and really inspiring. I want to do one.  I've picked up a couple books earlier on training for one. Now I just have to start jogging. And biking. And swimming. Who knows, maybe next year I'll do the amateur. 

S.O.S.A.D.

I love art, particularly fun art. I have a number of art sites that I go to on a regular basis. Sites like illlustratedFriday.com and roadsidescholar.com offer compilations of a ton of different artists. I have some illustrators whose blogs I check out. But one of my favorite fun artists is Terry Border in Indianapolis. Terry writes a blog called Bent Objects in which he shows off the bent wire creations he makes. I have a link to the site below. Check out Terry's work. Very inventive and very fun. Here is one of my favorites, a cheese doodle cat. One cheese doodle and some wire and you have a cat. 

Terry Border Bent Objects

In the beginning part of the year Terry decided to create a holiday. He figured that since Hallmark could create one, so could he. So his holiday? S.O.S.A.D. Strangely Orange Snack Appreciation Day. Yes you know them. You love them. Those odd snack foods that have that weird unnatural orange coloring. Cheese Doodles, Cheez-its, Cheetos, and Tang, to name a few. 

Terry Border Bent Objects

So Jeff and I are celebrating. Why not? A great excuse to eat silly fun snacks and celebrate what Terry calls "Holiday anarchy". Here are some images of Jeff and I enjoying our favorite strangely orange snacks. We bought Cheetos, Cheese Puffs, Cheddar Pringles, Cheez-its, and my favorite one orange push-pops. They make me feel like a child again. 

Literary lust

I've been quiet with the blog these last couple of days. It's not that I haven't had anything to say but I've been focused elsewhere. I haven't even logged onto World of Warcraft yet this week. What has been keeping me so occupied? Literary Lust. 

I go through these periods occasionally. Literary lust is a brief passionate affair with an author. Okay now before you talk to me about monogamy and Jeff's feelings, don't worry. Basically these periods mean that all I do is read every piece of writing by a particular author that I can get my hands on. And I mean all I do. No housework, little time with Jeff. Heck, its tough to make myself go to work. And the poor cat keeps looking at me as if she hates me. 

I have had literary affairs with John Irving, Jane Austen, Christopher Moore, Neil Gaiman, E.M. Forester, to name a few. These affairs tend to last a couple weeks, until I have exhausted all the books by an author or until I move on to another writer. My current lust is actually an old passion. I picked up a book of short stories by Ray Bradbury and fell all over again. If you can possibly read "Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed" and not be amazing by the man, explain it to me. Show me where "The Veldt" didn't have enough tension for you. Read Fahrenheit 451 and tell me you are not moved. And then read Dandelion Wine and tell me you are not nostalgic for a time you never lived in. 

I have been reading passionately this past week. Barely pulling myself away to eat. And I love food, almost as much as reading. This lust period is a little different though. I actually mixed in a different author today. Stuck at work with no book, I went online to www.literature-network.com. This site is a free website that offers public domain stories in full text. I picked Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte because a friend had recommended it.Anyone who tells you that the classics are boring have not read this book. Stabbings, insanity, false marriage proposals, fires, and orphans make for exciting reading. I devoured it in two days. I still have not gotten to the library to pick up The Illustrated Man to resume my passion. I have had a taste of the book and need to finish. And then perhaps this Bradbury affair will again be replaced. I don't stay in one place long, at least reading-wise. Until then I will awe at the far-off worlds, tense moments, and pure horror that Bradbury can create in a well crafted paragraph. If you have never read him, pick up Something Wicked This Way Comes. I guarantee you will be hooked. 

Flooding and Fun

We escaped Des Moines this weekend to head up to Minneapolis for a trench party. What's trench you ask? Don't worry I'll get there. First though I have to add some of the pictures we took on the way there and the way back of flooding in the state. Now we took I-35 which hasn't seen as much flooding as the Iowa City and Cedar Rapids area. So there are no pictures of building underwater. But there are a ton of pictures of what look like lakes until you see the fence tops or trees sticking out of them. Here are just a couple pictures to give you an idea. 

These were taken from the car, so sorry about the medians. I didn't really want to stop and gawk. This last picture is an image of my office building. This river is normally at least half this size. My building is just shortly after the Chinese pagoda. While leaving the office (in an voluntary evacuation) on Friday, I passed more police and state troopers than I have ever seen in one area, the national guard, and the Red Cross. It is a never a good sign if you have the Red Cross, CNN, and the National Guard in your city at the same time. And again we are still far better off than other places in the state. 

Even with all the flooding we had a fantastic weekend. Some good friends in Minneapolis invite us up every year for a trench party. Trench is a modified Dodgeball where after getting hit once the person goes to the "trench" (an area surrounding the other teams players). They can then hit the opposite teams players from behind or the side. If one of the players catches a ball thrown by the person in the trench they are out for the rest of the game and one of their players who was in the other trench gets to come back in. I know a little confusing but it makes sense once you see it. It also makes for a much more exciting game. We always end the evening with great food and video games and normally don't leave until late. Sorry guys. Here are a couple trench shots I took. 

We also started Saturday with breakfast with a friend and then the zoo. Jeff took some great videos and pictures of the animals that I might post later. My favorite is a video of a wolverine moving a huge tree branch. Some of the animals were active and it gave me a chance to see the outside portion of the zoo. I got burnt, again. But the trip was great, filled with plenty of friends. 

Forecasters don't know anything

Since we have started flooding I have kept a very close eye on the news. You do that when you are waiting to see if the waters will take out your car and office. So I have been reading the predictions about when and how the river will crest. I wish I could say that the forecasters have been accurate. But if that was the case I would have been home both yesterday and today. No flooding today. Worked a full day, with only minor street flooding outside the building. It was rising so fast that I was a little worried but no need. A half an hour later and the street was almost totally dry. 

Now they are saying that it will be Saturday for the crest and it will be almost a foot lower than expected. That is today. Give it a couple hours and they'll be predicting the end of the world. You have to love weathermen. The only people who can be wrong over 50% of the time and still keep their jobs. 

I went out today in bare feet with my jeans rolled up Tom Sawyer style and wandered in the wet grass by the house. Nothing makes you feel more like a kid than playing barefoot in the grass. I even got the cat to come play with me. 

We were out of town last weekend in St. Louis, enjoying 90 degree sunny days and visiting Jeff's family. We had a fantastic visit and got to see his brother off before they head to China for six months. I also got to see my little brother who took us to a fantastic bar/grill called Pat's for breakfast. Shockingly I didn't take advantage of the $2 Mimosas. It's amazing the effect that in-laws can have. 

This weekend we are heading into what appears to be the opposite. We head north, to Minneapolis. The weather there has been cool (70s) and rainy. We are supposed to go up to play trench, a modified dodgeball. Okay Jeff plays trench with the boys while the girls sit and talk and eat and watch the boys make fools of themselves. It's a wonderful time. Let's hope the weather holds. Okay lets be honest, lets hope the roads hold. They closed I-80 today east of us. I'm hoping that I-35 stays intact. And lets hope that Minneapolis is even a little drier. I'm tired of flooding. 

Flooding...Maybe....Possibly....Probably

So I went to work today. And although there was some minor street flooding the river stayed mostly in its banks and the world continued on like it was any other day. Last night Saylorville went over its emergency spillway and poured billion of gallons of water down at us. The river rose but not enough to crest the banks. I went to work waiting to be dismissed all day. And for good or for bad, it didn't happen. 

At first they said that this would look nothing like '93. That there was just not going to be that much flooding. Then they said that it would be similar to '93. And now they say that there is no use comparing the two. This year will just be worse. There may be less damage (we are more prepared) but there will certainly be more water. The river outside my office laps at the bottom of the bridge. It will crest the bridge by Sunday at the latest. 

I watched water shoot out of a manhole producing little geysers in the street. Another wobbled around on edge letting out bursts of water. It would have been fun and pretty if it wasn't for the two inches we are supposed to get tonight. "Rain, Rain, Go Away". 

Tomorrow I will get up and check my email before heading to work. I will arrive, replug in my computer and work. Trying to ignore the files piled up on my desk and the fact that my car will need to be moved to higher ground at some point. Tomorrow night I will unplug my computer before going home. Because as they say, this is not an exact science. And we have no idea what tomorrow will bring. 

Des Moines in Trouble

This afternoon at work was an interesting one. I work in downtown Des Moines right by the Des Moines River. Normally a pretty view and a nice walking trail. Today a difficult place to be. I spent my afternoon at work moving all my files over three feet off the floor. Why three feet you ask? That's how much water they expect to flood the office tonight. Saylorville Dam, the local reservoir is well over it's banks. It's actually going to be over the emergency spillway. And all that extra water is heading downtown. Most of the bridges were closed this afternoon. I may very well have a couple forced days off. 

My older sister lost her car on Thursday to flooding. She had parked in back of a restaurant when a flash flood hit the area, totaling the car. We were in St. Louis this weekend so she borrowed Jeff's car for the weekend. Although that may just be the curse of Suburus in my family. My little sister lost her Suburu to flooding as well in 1999. I know I'm not buying one, ever. 

Everyone is comparing this flood to the one in 1993. The water levels are very similar. The patterns are very similar. Now here is hoping that we still have running water. Everyone who was here in '93 remembers being without water. Three weeks without a good shower is enough to drive anyone crazy. Hauling water to flush the toilets. Boiling water to bathe in. Now I know there are many people who don't have running water regularly. But for a city of Des Moines' size to be suddenly without water was tough. So far they are not predicting any problems with running water, but I'm not so sure. The forecast for this week is Rain, Rain, Rain. 

No one is sure what to predict for Des Moines but I know that we are far better off than a lot of other cities. Cedar Falls and Waterloo evacuated their downtowns this afternoon. Newton's surrounding areas were underwater when we drove by yesterday. We are escaping up to Minneapolis this weekend and I am beginning to wonder if we will have a way up there. I just know that tomorrow will be interesting. And there may be a lot of sandbagging in my future. Wish us luck. 

Okay Now I'm Impressed

I'm learning to be a juggler which seems to amaze people. Okay so I have limited depth perception (one bad eye) but that shouldn't make a huge difference. I think people just think that it is really difficult, which isn't true. It's just a lot of practice. A lot of dropping. I love doing it. I'm currently working on my contact juggling. If you don't know what that is check out the first couple minutes of the movie Labyrinth. I'm nowhere near that good. But I'm working on it and having fun. 

Every year me and some friends go to a juggling/unicycle convention up in Minneapolis called Mondo. Here is a picture of Jeff and I at Mondo last year. Note the unicycles in the back. They do unicycle hockey every year. One year we watched unicycle jump-roping. In this picture it almost looks like we know how to pass, huh? 

The one problem with going to Mondo is that I see all sorts of cool juggling. Now that sounds like a good thing but what happens is that I am less impressed with just basic tricks. Three ball juggling doesn't really interest me anymore. I've seen a huge number of tricks. Some impress me, some don't. I get to see people doing club tricks while balancing plates and standing on a balance board. (and trust me that's impressive) But this past week I found a video of a juggler who just floored me. This kid is amazing. This is Vova Galchenko, one of the best in the world. I found this video and had to share it. Amazing. (sorry about the link, my video uploader is not working.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEb3YknGUks

By the way he was at Mondo in 2004. Passing 11 clubs like it was nothing. That was the one year I missed. 

Giving them back at the end of the evening

So I'm childfree. Not to be confused with childless. There is actually a difference. Childless people are hoping to one day have children. They feel a lack of something because of their childless status. I am not that way. Now I'll start with the standard caution. Don't assume that because I don't want kids of my own that I don't enjoy children. I have been known to play for hours with friends kids, nieces and nephews, and in this case cousin's kids. But I don't enjoy the responsibility of kids or the worry that goes with it. I will spend hours playing with your child but don't ask me to discipline it or take care of it. My favorite part is handing it back at the end of the night.

My family has been really good about my childfree status. My entire extended family knows and they support Jeff and I. I have only been told once that I would regret this decision and that was by one of my cousins. She was almost 40 and desperate for a child. So she met a man and had one. And that brings you up to this recent funeral in Chicago. And my story.

My cousin arrived at the funeral, talked for a little and then went to pick up her 3 year old. Now this kid is a terror. I redefined my definition of hellion after meeting this kid. Even my sister was impressed with his level of mischief. He does the exact opposite of whatever anyone tells him. And his mother does nothing to discipline him. NOTHING. After arriving with her child she informed me and my sisters that she had a doctors appt to go to and asked if we would watch the little boy. What I wanted to say was that I would rather poke my eyes out with hot pokers but what came out of my sister's mouth was "Of course". Of course we would watch him while she went to her OB appointment. I can't even imagine how this woman is going to handle two.

Now we're in a funeral parlor, on a busy street. No option to take him outside. Instead he ran up and down the halls until the funeral director asked us to keep him under control. No amount of scolding, holding, or picking up would deter him. He's not my child so I don't feel comfortable really disciplining him. At one point my sister and I sat in the hallway, in dress clothes, and blocked his access to the hallway. I was so glad that we were the only funeral going on when he started screaming about wanting to get by.

After two hours of chasing, holding, squirming, and screaming, I was done. I hid in the bathroom for a bit just to get a bit of quiet. My sisters took him like a champ. My older sister had even gotten him to mind a little bit. He would no longer run, he just didn't stay in one place. And walked deliberately to show that he wasn't running. Then his cousins showed up and now we had three. All hell broke loose. They were of course left to us sisters since we already had the one.

At the end of the night I was exhausted. I have to admit I had several beers that night at the hotel. I never really got to grieve with all the running back and forth and I was reminded of why I don't want children. They are fun for a while, great to play with, and wonderful to hand back at the end of the night.