Traffic for 2008 August

(2) Sun Aug 03 2008 15:20 EST with style (and green gravy): Susie and I celebrated our anniversary yesterday by dropping the Beet off at Jodi's and jaunting over to Le Cheesecake Factory. I had the Miso Salmon, and I must say it was excellent. The miso and something about the salmon took away all traces of fish taste. Susie even tried it. Now that's really something. Even though it was on the lunch menu, it was enough for two meals.

We got a cheesecake to eat and one to go. To go, we got my favorite: Lemon Raspberry Creme Cheesecake, full of lemon-raspberry soaked lady fingers surrounded by cheesecake. Yum. For the table, we decided to try something new: Pistachio Cheesecake. It had a flourless chocolate cake crust and was beyond good.

Afterwards we walked around the mall. We used to always peruse South Coast (indoor mall) and The Spectrum (outdoor mall) in SoCal but here we normally stay away from malls. I figured out why yesterday. South Coast, in particular, had no food court. It had real restaraunts. It also had H&M, Borders, Williams-Sonoma, etc. All the malls here have to offer include Panda Express, Hot Dog on a Stick, and stupid trend shops like Hot Topic and Aeropostale. Nothing fun. I used to enjoy clothes shopping. Now it's a chore (except for Maggie--it's still fun to buy her clothes).

It's August, which means only one thing to me: personal life goes on hold while work takes over. I have so much to do between now and October 15th that I am literally losing sleep over how to get it all done on time.

(4) Wed Aug 06 2008 19:03 EST Young & the helpless: With yet another traumatic event that happened in our lives in the wee hours of the morning, I must say I'm not a happy camper with life in general. It seems this summer Susie and I have suffered one problem after another, all completely different, and most very jarring. I've kept a good front so far, and really tried to Pollyanna-ize the whole experience by playing the glad game. But I don't think I have it in me for anything further at this time. Please, all, send some good vibrations our way. Thanks.

Fri Aug 15 2008 18:55 EST Alpine this: So we had a work party yesterday at the Park City Mountain resort. We got to ride the Alpine coaster in turns while Maggie took a nap. And we took Maggie on the lift and the Alpine slide! Technically you have to be two to ride, so we lied. Honestly, do you really have to be two to sit on your dad's lap on the lift pointing frantically at the alpine slide? Maggie did clutch me pretty tight on some of the drops, though. She's been obsessed with slides as of late, so this trip must have been a dream come true for her.

I can see why some chidren should not be allowed to ride, however. It would be a harrowing 20 minutes indeed if you had to ride a ski lift with a toddler that refuses to sit still!

We saw all sorts of gophers and prarie dogs trying frantically to burrow under the slide. I wonder if they're up to something. We also happened across a gopher the size of a cat along the way. Be afraid. The alpine coaster is awesome! You just meander all the way up the mountain, lulling you into a false sense of a serene country ride. Don't be fooled; the down parts were fast and furious. It was pretty cool.

Lastly, I found out that Mike (a neighbor) is kin (a cousin) to Stephanie Meyer, of the Twilight persuasion, not the bologna persuasion.

Mon Aug 25 2008 22:20 EST Ryan started the fire: Our mountain is on fire. Lucky for us, the wind is blowing hard northeast, so we can' smell it, nor do we have smoke and ash all over our yard. Unlucky for us, Brook is on a fire in Oregon.

Contrary to popular belief, a woman need not be bitchy to get the respect of a man in the workplace. Just sos you know.