Sheep Guarding Llama

Ok gang, you are never going to believe this but … we got the Mazda out of the shop and it is finally fixed! Nate and I are so happy. I drove the RX-7 down to Pittsburgh on Monday just to try it out. It is running great. [Jumping up and down.] Sorry that it has been so long since an update, I have been pretty busy.

We are trying out a new font sizing system for the site, so let us know what you think. It is a whole lot easier to read a whole lot more now, I hope.

Loopy, Dominica and I went out wine tasting on Sunday. That was a lot of fun. We went up the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail on the west side of the lake and managed to hit three wineries before it was too late in the day. I also managed to get out to the Ithaca Farmer’s Market for the first time this past weekend. They have some pretty cool stuff there, you should all go check it out. It is probably better to go on Saturday, though, because there are more vendors there.

Golf has been a main activity around here the past week. Bob, Tim, Nate and I actually got out and played a game of it on Thursday and we were able to make two additional trips out to the driving range as well in the past week. That is more than we ever do. Plus, we have a game scheduled for August 18th. So I am finally getting back into it. I hadn’t played a game of golf in eleven years, so I am pretty rusty.

Late last night, Nate, Bob and I went out to the driving range and each hit a bucket of balls. I haven’t been to a driving range in so long. I think it has probably been five years since I hit a golf ball and eleven years since I played a round of golf. I am up early this morning hoping that we will be able to head down to the city course and play nine holes but they ended up not being open yet. So, at least I am up early.

The RX-7 is STILL not out of the shop. It has now spent over an entire month in the shop in the six weeks that we have owned the car. Believe me, this is getting to be a little bit frustrating. After spending an entire month in the shop, we will have had new mufflers and a new intake manifold gasket put on and a new headlamp on one side and battery terminal connectors. That is it. I could have done the last two items myself in 30 minutes or less. We might have the radio antenna fixed but this waits to be seen. Mufflers can be done in under an hour at many places. It really makes you wonder.

Wow, it is August already. Today is the day that we were supposed to be moving into our new house but obviously that hasn’t happened yet. Now they are telling us that we should be in by August 18th but that isn’t looking so likely either since there is no kitchen yet, the walls aren’t painted, no carpeting, etc. The house is largely unfinished so we are thinking that mid-September is the earliest that it will be done. How frustrating.

Today is a big car day. Nate and I have to drive to Canandaigua and get the Mazda out of the shop and then we also have to drive to Horseheads and pick up Nate’s new ’92 Buick LeSabre that he is buying. So there might be a little bit of driving around going on today. I finally saw Bob yesterday for the first time in three weeks! He drove down to Ithaca with his new Mazda Protégé ES 2.0 and I finally got to ride in it. Very nice. It is very similar to the car that I am planning on getting.

Last night was Llama Karaoke at the Bear Lodge in Collegetown. We sang from 9pm – 11pm. Our friend Anthony showed up and sang a bit too.

So Loopy went out and got this new video game called ” Black and White ” and we decided to try it out. The idea of the game was really interesting and we started to get into it. But the interface for the game is so frustrating that both of us gave up on it. I didn’t even make it through the incredibly long tutorial (hours long) before I decided that attempting to play the game was way too much work to be fun over any length of time. Everything in the game is an effort. It is too bad, it had a lot of potential but they really blew it.

So after an entire week of not missing a single day of updates, I missed one day. At least we set a new Llama record for continuous updates. This is my first real week of working from home and it is a little bit weird. I get so many phone calls during the day. My office here is really turning into an office.

Josh headed back to Rochester yesterday afternoon after an exhausting weekend here. We all went to Margaritaville on Saturday night and that wore everybody out pretty bad. I managed to get almost everyone to sing some karaoke. Josh, Loopy, Dominica and I sang “Summer Lovin'” from Grease as well as a number of other songs. Loopy even got up and did his own renditions of “Like a Virgin” and “I Touch Myself. ” He was the hit of the evening.

Tomorrow I have to work in Rochester again. I have not seen Bob in at least two weeks and I have not seen Nate for one. I will probably pass Nate as he heads towards Ithaca and I head towards Rochester. The Mazda should be out of the shop tomorrow. We will see if that really happens.

I am moving everything older than July over to the archive files to help speed up the time it takes to download this main page. That should cut about 40% off of the download time.

[Ed.  Margaritaville was a special “Mexican” night at the Crooked Board Tavern on the east side of Ithaca out in the country.  Andy’s drunken renditions of “Like a Virgin” by Madonna and “I Touch Myself” by the DeVinyls have turned into legends within our social group.  December, 2007.]

Not much to report today. Yesterday I worked in Rochester almost all day so it was fairly uneventful. Josh came down last night and is spending the weekend helping Bob and Heather move. I was going to help move but I have a broken toe and have to work this morning (yes, even on a Saturday.) Lunch today is from Oswego Subs – one of our favorite places in town. It should be here any minute, I am very hungry. Our new friend Sara has been over the last couple days and has been named the house wrestling champion after whuppin’ Josh and I pretty bad. Originally we had a tag team competition until Josh injured Dominica.

Nate and Bob are out of town for another couple days so Loopy and I are running the house. How dangerous. Tonight is Margaritaville in Slayterville. So everyone be sure to come out to the Crooked Board and join us for some margaritas and karaoke.