Nem W. Schlecht

There was a wedding party hanging out on the NDSU Campus today. The Fargo trolley was there carting them around and they took pictures by the gate and nearby lawn. I was just driving by so I didn’t have time to compose a good shot with my camera phone, but what I got isn’t that bad.

Yesterday, Brian told me that Char (Don Schwert’s wife) was diagnosed with leukemia. In the hopes of keeping their spirits high, Brian and I worked up a quick “Don’s Car Watch” ticket wishing Char a quick recovery. It took us quite some time to locate Don’s car (which would have gone much faster had we actually read any of the signs that said “Visitor Parking”), but we eventually found it and left our little gift.

Lunch with Tim today at Perkin’s. As usual, I ordered (and ate) too much. We talked geek stuff and a good time was had by all.

Went to Mazz & Dayna’s house tonight (Dayna is off to Medora for an annual trip with Quinn and her friend Natalie). Mazz cooked up some steaks and potatoes and then we went to “Live Free or Die Hard”. Lots of action, computer jargon and even a little parkour. I had a great time.

Lunch at my Aunt & Uncle’s house – excellent food as usual. Got to see my cousin Cameo (whom I haven’t seen for years) along with her husband James and their six(?) kids. Kenyon and his wife Vonnie were there as well with their three kids. A great meal and great conversation.

On the drive back to Fargo, Dayna called and invited me over for supper along with Mazz, Quinn, and Stephen & Sarah. After the meal we played Croquet (which I won by sheer chance) and then a game of Apples to Apples, (which I lost horribly).

Tired from my long day, I’m curling up by the air conditioner, reading my book, and going to bed early.

Got my road bike back from the bike shop. It’s nice to have a tuned up bike – quiet and a firm ride. Only they put somebody else’s chain on my bike (I’ll take it in Monday and get that straightened out).

Just shy of 30 miles in 90+ degree weather with a strong south wind. The first 15 miles really, really, sucked. Coming back was much more fun (I even hit 32mph at one point and was averaging right around 20mph).

I’m a little dehydrated (drinking chilled green tea right now) and fatigued, but otherwise feeling pretty good. I’m also happy that I coat myself with SFP 30 sunblock before I go riding – I would have been burnt to a crisp if I hadn’t been wearing it (2+ hours in the sun with little to no shade).

I’ll be taking it a little easy tonight at the last night of the Fair anyways, as I have to go to my Aunt & Uncle’s house near Ypsilanti. I haven’t seen some of my cousins in some time, so it will be a nice trip.

Crews work to remove the temporary train bridge at University between NP and main. For almost a year now I’ve had to deal with stupid people who can’t read the four signs that say the left lane is ONLY for turning onto NP when heading south on University. I also blame the city for not putting up a “Left Turn Only” sign at the end of the lane (there’s just one of the orange and white barriers). Turning from 1st Ave. N. onto University has been confusing as well (the city just gave up and took down all signs that people were supposed to turn wide). It’s been a huge debacle since day one. Hopefully, soon, construction will be over and traffic at this intersection will return to normal. It would have been even better if they had done this, oh say, 3-4 months ago, or longer. I haven’t seen a single construction worker at the intersection for a long, long, time.

My swag from the Sun Boot Camp session today. I got a nice Sun beach towel and several OpenSolaris T-Shirts (one for John and another for Travis). It was a good (but tiring) day. There were actually a few things in today’s session that I didn’t know much about (mainly Solaris Containers – cool!). All that, and it was free, too. Another surprise today was running into Erik Kringlie, formerly of ITS, but now back at Valley City State – a great guy – too bad NDSU doesn’t have him anymore.

Drinks with Mark tonight, partially in celebration of Dawn’s birthday (kinda).

After lunch with Nachos, I finally took my road bike into Island Park Cycles. My rear wheel needs trueing and I need my handlebar tape fixed up (I’m going to have it double-taped like my old bike). I also asked for a generic tune-up.

This evening I had dinner with Mazz & Mark (grilled steak, mashed potatoes and corn on the cob). Afterwards (Dayna finally arrived) we chatted and I did a little quick work on their sump pump outlet tube.

I was supposed to go to bed early tonight in preparation for tomorrow’s Sun Solaris training, but that hasn’t happened.

Lunch with Nachos at Juanos. We both enjoyed the taco buffet – good stuff.

I shot this with my cell during my bike ride last Saturday. Finally got around to uploading it to Google Video.

I bought a package of small steaks yesterday, marinated them, and grilled them up for supper. Yum! A little pink on the inside – perfectly cooked. My colon hates me, but I’m a happy camper.

Dayna had some flooding in the house-o-problems. Much of the carpet in the basement had to be torn out. Mazz is trying to cool off while Dayna cooks up dinner.

We had a grilled pork roast, beans, and couscous with cranberries. Afterwards we walked over to an ice cream shop where Dayna and I split a scoop of coconut ice cream. All of it was yummy.

The ever-adorable Ann and me in the Beer Garden at RRVF 2007.

On the I29 overpass at 124th Ave S, Fargo. Half point (mile 15 of 30) of my Saturday ride. Beautiful day, calm easterly wind at about 87 degrees.