I swear...

The airplanes are trying to drive me completely insane. For the past hour, there has been this pack of maybe 15 or 20 planes flying around in what appears to be a big circle. This means that every 4 or 5 minutes there's this awful roar over my head. My balcony doors actually rattle. This has been going on for AN HOUR. What could they possibly be doing up there for AN HOUR!

For the love of...

Must...Kill...Airplanes...

Ok, I admit it was partly my choice to work at a place directly across the highway from the airport. But seriously, I'm so sick of the airplanes. Yes, that's right folks...it's EAA time (i.e. good luck getting anywhere in Oshkosh time.) *sigh* In past years I've been able to avoid all the hullabaloo by simply avoiding the south part of town. Unfortunately I don't have that option this year. *smack on head* What was I thinking? It wasn't so bad (airplane-wise) until yesterday. Both yesterday and today it seems like there's a constant stream of planes flying over my office. No less than 10 passed over my head as I walked from my car into the building this morning. Since we're so close to the airport, the planes are still relatively low to the ground and therefore deafeningly loud. Continuously. All day. AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! Add to that the fact that they blocked off 44 so everyone has to use the street right in front of Curwood to get anywhere. This means that it takes forever and a year to get out of the parking lot and then you're stuck at the stoplight (which the police have been manually operating since Sunday) for a good ten minutes. I hate EAA. All the stupid tourists who don't know the left lane is a turn only and then try and sneak back in the right lane halfway through the intersection. I don't THINK so! There's a fucking sign a good ways back telling the idiots about the turn only lane. I'm not going to let them in just because they're morons. I almost got smacked into by one of them today. Gave him the finger. In front of his small boy child. Heh. That felt good. Then at the next stoplight the RIGHT lane is a turn only and once again people can't be bothered to follow the rules of the road...

It's over on Sunday... Just have to make it to Sunday...

Got a call yesterday that informed me (well, us) that our application for the apartment out in Neenah was accepted and one opened up that fits our specifications. Woo. Time to start shackin' up! LoL. We of course don't move until October, but it's still something to look forward to. Adam slept here on Tuesday night (don't really know why. It was his idea and I wasn't going to complain.) and it was nice. It's different on weekends than on weekdays. It will definately be an adjustment to live full-time with someone again. Although this time it's actually someone I like so maybe that will help. (Just kidding Catherine!) I have concerns of course, but I'm not going to let them bother me. As long as Adam knows that sometimes I need to be left alone, he should survive. Hee hee.

Oh yeah, got an e-mail from someone today (definately not a friend... some psycho ex of a friend of mine who took an "interest" in me a few years back, stalkingishly e-mailing me and begging me to hang out with him because he really liked me and then telling me he was dying of a brain tumor or something stupid like that) telling me that I must have gained a ton of weight because I was HUGE. Uhm. I would have thought he'd be dead by now, but ok. I ignored it and deleted it. In hindsight I don't even know why I opened it. Oh well. Yes, I know I've gained weight. That's what happens when you sit at a desk for most of the day and then eat unhealthy food at night. I'm working on it. My biggest vice is beer. It's horrible for any diet, but so hard to give up! :) Once it stops being so darn hot and sticky out I hope to start walking and biking again but I've gotten lazy since the weather has been so unbearable. In all fairness, this guy met me when I was at my lightest. My lightest since I was probably about 10, so I'm thinking it's not really fair to compare me now to me then. Ideally I'd like to get down to that again, even lower if possible. But I'm trying not to let it bother me too much. Adam always yells at me to shut up when I say I'm fat. It's just that so much of my pre-adult and adult life has been spent obsessing over my weight and the fact that no matter what weight and shape I am, someone will always call me fat. It's tiring. There are people who are skinnier than I am, but there are also people who are much fatter than I am. I figure if I can still shop in the regular ladies section (as opposed to the plus size section) I'm ok. And I've still got a few sizes to go through in the ladies section, SO FUCK OFF YOU DUMBSHIT.

Thank you very much.

In other news, uh, hmm, not much else to report really. I've been travelling around a bit for work lately. Was up in Denmark last week and in New London last week and yesterday. This month has flown by and somehow things just got out of hand and I needed to go up there and try and help stop the stampede, so to speak. It doesn't help that my plant manager has been on vacation for a week...and won't be back until next Monday. What a great time to take a vacation... *sigh* I've been spending more time sitting home alone since Adam has been working lots of nights over at Wal-Mart. I'm still not sure how I feel about that whole thing. I guess I'll get used to it. I got the new John Irving book and I'm about halfway through it. I'm noticing a lot more blantant sex kind of stuff in this book as compared to other books and I'm not sure it all of it is really necessary. Maybe my mindset has just changed so I don't appreciate it as much? I don't know. All in all it's a good book so far. I'll reserve my final judgement until I read the whole thing. We all know how much stuff can go on in 300 pages...

Speaking of sex...for some reason my sex drive seems to have gone MIA. I'm not sure if it's a "body fighting the birth control hormones" thing or if it's a mental thing. It's just weird. I'm not really liking it.

And on that lovely note, thus ends this entry. :D

Success!

Our latest attempt at camping was MUCH more successful than our first attempt. The weather was gorgeous, the air mattress was unbelievably comfortable, and we seemed to have great timing in pretty much everything we did. I also took a lot more pictures this time (but since I took most of them, there aren’t too many of me…) and you can find them at http://photobucket.com/albums/v665/mld82/

Ok, now the more specific recap. Both Adam and I took Friday afternoon off so we could get an earlier start. We left his house around 1:15 and after stopping at Menards and Wal-Mart for our last minutes supplies, we were up at the park around 4:30. It was a very fast trip. There was a lot less traffic and we didn’t get stuck in Green Bay for an hour this time. Heh. We checked in and headed to our campsite. This time we had a site much further north, in Nicolet Bay. Site 610, which just happened to have a semi-private trail to the beach. What a coincidence. We proceeded to unpack some things and put the tent up. We had bought a new tent for this trip - a much larger tent that provided some challenges during the assembly process. We figured it out eventually and were able to marvel at the hugeness of the tent. Adam could almost stand up inside it! At this point he was all hot and sweaty and we decided to check out the beach. Neither of us had thought to bring swim suits since we were unaware of how close to the beach we would be. He just used his mesh shorts and went wading while I hung out on the beach. After he refreshed himself, we hopped in the car and made a quick run back to Sturgeon Bay where I acquired a swimsuit. I figure I was due for a new one anyway. The one I have now is from my freshman year of high school. On the way back to the campsite we stopped for a late dinner at Diggers. They’re the home of the best burger in Door County (at least that’s what the guidebook said.) Since I don’t eat hamburgers, I was content to be impressed by their curly fries and yummy beer. After we finished there we returned to the campsite and Adam successfully built our campfire. Those little pieces of wood soaked in lighter fluid do wonders! LoL. We made s’mores and sat outside watching the stars for a bit. We then called it a night and enjoyed the cooshyness of an air mattress. Luckily there were no “Adam flailing around while asleep and Martha flying into the side of the tent” moments. It was actually quite comfortable and our bathroom trek was very well timed.

We woke up/got out of bed around 6:15 on Saturday morning. We headed over to the showers at a different camping area since the ones by us weren’t co-ed and it is much easier to do the whole showering thing together since I brought all the shampoo etc. Plus that way we only took up one shower, leaving more for other campers. This didn’t stop an old lady from giving us a dirty look though. *sigh* There was no hanky-panky in the shower. Geesh. Anywho, after we were all cleaned up we headed to the Gibralter Grill for their tasty breakfast buffet like we did last time. Those cinnamon buns are to die for! Once again we were practically the only ones there. After breakfast we headed up to Washington Island. We had decided to take the ferry out again and enjoy the island under less stormy skies. Ok, I admit it. I wanted to see the pigs again. Heh. We got to the ferry landing about 2 minutes before they started loading it. We drove out to the Mountain Tower and walked up way too many stairs to get to the damn thing. Then we had to walk up MORE stairs to get to the top of the tower. Pretty view of the island from up at the top though. We hiked back down and decided that that was our exercise for the weekend. LoL. We got back in the car, vetoed the ghetto looking maritime museum and concurred on visiting the Manitowoc one sometime instead. Also vetoed were the farm museum and some other museum that we weren’t sure what it was about. We headed back to the ostrich farm and said hello to all our favorite animals again. (Except the rabbits. We don’t like them anymore.) The camel was friendly this time and stuck his head out the side of his fence. Adam petted him and discovered that camels and very soft. We upset a pair of yaks (or whatever they were), pissed off the donkey, annoyed the llama, incited rage in a goat, and made the bear climb up the wall. All in all, it was a good time. The pigs were still cute.

After stopping at a few gift shops and having no luck finding a pint glass, we returned to the ferry station and once again showed up right before the ferry started loading. We sat up on the top of the boat and enjoyed a nice breeze on the trip back to the mainland. We headed back south and stopped at the candy store again. Yum, sour apple balls. We then went back to the campsite and made some lunch. That’s right folks, we cooked on the grill we bought and made lunch at our campsite. Woo! We were unaware the grill required assembly so it took a bit longer than expected, but Adam cooked some chicken and we enjoyed the cookies his grandma had made. We still had some time before I was willing to go to the beach again so we lazed around the site for a bit but ultimately decided it was too warm for that. We hopped in the car and set out in the quest for a pint glass. We stopped at numerous little shops, but no pint glasses were to be found. Oh well. When we got back to the park we changed into beachwear and headed to the lake. We spent about an hour frolicking in the water. It was very refreshing. When we were done and showered we headed out to Diggers again to share a basket of curly fries. We returned to the site, built another fire and had a re-run of the previous night, although I think we went to bed a bit earlier.

We awoke around the same time on Sunday and disassembled our campsite by about 7. After showering we headed to Gibralter again. This time we WERE the only ones there. Even though Adam bumped the table, spilling coffee and water all over the place, we ended up getting our breakfast for free. We’re thinking the waitress didn’t want to get up from reading the paper, but who knows. LoL. We headed back to Greenville, unpacked the car, watched Maid in Manhattan (which I’m ashamed to say isn’t that bad of a movie), and then I felt like I was going to throw up so I went home. In was a pretty fun weekend but there are no definite plans for an encore trip as of now. There’s too much uncertainty with Adam’s working at Wal-Mart and I’d still like to be able to do something with Catherine and Tony at some point.

Update Version 2.0

Well it’s T minus one week until our next attempt at camping. So far the weather looks like it should be decent. According to weather.com, all three days should be sunny and warm. We’ll see about that. With my luck, hurricane Denis will decide to tough it out over dry and land come all the way up to Green Bay and rage around the peninsula while we’re in a tent. *sigh* LoL. Just kidding. There are a few changes that have been made since our last trip. Hopefully they’ll make the whole experience a bit better although I maintain that the reason it was so bad was because the weather sucked.

First of all, we bought a new tent (well, Adam did.) It’s bigger/taller than the other one and is brand new and should therefore be hole-free. Apparently the tent he had had a few teeny holes in the door that let the water come in a bit when it was torrentially downpouring all night. So we’ll see how this new one works out. Hopefully it’s as easy to put up as the other one was.

Secondly, we bought an air mattress. True, we did actually buy this during the last attempt but we didn’t really use it since we kind of packed up and left in the middle of the afternoon. It’s a queen size one that just barely fit in the other tent. It was relatively comfortable but I have a sneaking suspicion it will lead to some problems. The main one is the fact that Adam tends to toss and turn a lot during the night. Normally this is just an annoyance, but nothing I can’t handle. With this air mattress I fear that his tossing could send me flying into the side of the tent. We’ll see what happens I guess. If all else fails I suppose I could strap him down somehow so he can’t move. Hmm. Now there’s an idea. Heh heh.

Anyway, thirdly, we bought a propane camp stove rather than hauling a charcoal grill around. It takes up less space and is more reliable and faster. Adam has also decided to buy fire-starting thingys at Menards so hopefully we have more luck with the fire this time.

Lastly, we also bought an inflatable loveseat. Stupid, I know, but it was so cute it was just irresistible.

At this point it looks like it will just be us two. Catherine and Tony seem to have gotten very busy lives at the moment so we’re hoping to do something with them at another time. I’m fine with this arrangement. It will give Adam and I more time together in the great outdoors. Woo. (No really, that was a serious “woo”.)

In other news, I recently gave into my desires and splurged and bought all six seasons of Sex in the City. It cost me a pretty penny, but I seemed to have a lot of money sitting around (as Adam well knows since I apparently kept telling him how I had a lot of money and he finally got fed up with me and told me to spend the damn money on the DVDs that I’d been talking about getting for months) So I’ve been spending a few hours each day watching a few episodes. I just started season four yesterday night. It’s such a good show. Even Adam likes it and has agreed to watch episodes with me. I find that interesting. That’s really the only big ticket item I’ve bought lately. Oh wait – I also bought a new hard drive. Yeah, go figure that the only part that was reused from my old computer would die 6 months after the new one was built. *sigh* So I lost everything again. Luckily I hadn’t really built up the kind of stash I had had the first time. Most pictures I had uploaded to photobucket anyway. It’s just a matter of rebuilding my Money files and trying to remember everyone’s addresses. I think I saved most the e-mails from February so hopefully I’ll be able to recreate that file as well. I’m crossing my fingers that this hard drive won’t spontaneously erase itself, but who knows. My track record isn’t too hot.

I’ve been keeping busy at work and have been to one of the summer board meetings for IMA. It’s interesting to see the inner workings of the group. It’s much different than I would have expected. It still appears that I will have a lot of fun and meet a lot of interesting people. Hopefully my previous bad luck with organizations won’t rub off onto this one. There’s really not a lot of travel ahead for me. I know I’ll be heading up to Denmark for a day or so later on this month to do internal audit testing up there and I need to get out to New London to do a fixed asset physical sometime this summer but that’s about it.

About two weeks ago Adam and I submitted an application for an apartment out in a complex in Neenah. My lease isn’t up until October, but we were being proactive and liked the place so much we wanted to get their attention as soon as possible. They have a two month notification period so we should know if something we want opens up by August sometime. Luckily my apartment complex has only a one month notification requirement so there should be no overlap. Assuming something opens up in August, that is. My lease also has a “you can’t move out in November-February” clause it in so hopefully something opens up or we’ll have to wait until March. Not that that would be a tragedy or anything. It’s just that there are so many things about my apartment that are bugging me lately. The place we’d be moving to is a much nicer area and they’re much nicer apartments. They have a garage, a dishwasher, and a washer and dryer in the apartment itself. How awesome is that? The kitchen is huge with lots of cabinets and counter space. It will be a lot of fun. My apartment seems to be falling apart a little bit at a time. The bathroom is the worst hit. The toilet seat totally broke last weekend and had to be replaced. The shower makes weird noises and spontaneously switches from hot to cold. The sink doesn’t drain worth a damn and every so often weird shit comes bubbling up out of it and leaves nasty crap all over the sink. The faucets drip. *sigh* And don’t even get me started on the neighbors. Ugh! It will just be nice to get away from all that. Yes, it’s a longer commute and I will no longer be able to go home for lunch, but I figure it’s worth it to live in a better place and be closer to Adam. Well, live WITH Adam. I guess we’ll see how things work out.

Adam recently got a nights/weekends part-time job over at Wal-Mart. He starts on Monday and seems to be excited about it. I can’t help but think it’s my fault that he decided to do this. When we were talking about getting an apartment and were looking around at our choices, he got nervous about whether he’d be able to afford his part of the expenses. Yes, I make more than he does, but not THAT much more. He just decided he’d be more comfortable with the whole thing if he took this job for a bit to accumulate some money in savings and add a little padding to his current balances. I can understand this and I totally support it. I’m just not sure how much I’m going to like his being unavailable to me for so much of the time. Both he and I likened it to my stint in Lancaster. I suppose him doing this now will eliminate the need for him to do this later on. I really like the idea that he’s trying to get himself together and organized financially since he knows this is a big thing with me. I guess it’s kind of flattering that he’s been asking for my advice and help about this kind of thing. Money does tend to unleash a psycho part of me though and I worry that I’ll get too bossy or something. I don’t know. I suppose I shouldn’t worry since I’m sure if I was bugging him he’d let me know. That’s one great thing about the relationship we have: we both don’t see the need to be someone we’re not and we have no problem being completely honest with each other. If he’s doing things that are irritating me, I tell him, and vice versa. It’s a good thing. So anyway, I think I’ll be finding myself alone more than I have been in the recent months but I’m thinking this might be good. Maybe I’ll get that latch-hook done. Or started. LoL.