Saturday morning, Suki got me out of bed early to feed her, and I whomped back into bed for a little more shut eye before heading into the office. We have a major set of documents going out next week and I needed to get a jump start on coordinating some stuff with our electrical and air conditioning engineers, so I went into the office.
It's kind of nice to be at the office by yourself. I brought my speakers to play whatever music I wanted, and wandered around in my sandals. When I'm there alone, the silence is just too creepy, so I like having music. Anyway, I called it quits at 11 to go check out the USA vs England World Cup match. Originally, I wanted to go watch it at the English pub, the George&Dragon, but driving by, I saw that the crowd of people had actually spilled out onto the sidewalk from their outdoor patio and so I opted to watch in my own little pub, the Couch&Samsung.
With rabbit ears, we have a pretty good signal from ABC, since we don't have cable. However, since everything switched over to digital broadcasting, the game came across in HD, as good as anything you'd pay for.
With rabbit ears, we have a pretty good signal from ABC, since we don't have cable. However, since everything switched over to digital broadcasting, the game came across in HD, as good as anything you'd pay for.
It was a good game, the US held it together against the UK and in return, the UK essentially gave away a 1-0 game to a draw. I'd invited a friend over to watch it with me, but unfortunately he called around halftime and then showed up just after the match ended. There was a communication gap, and he thought there was 90 minutes left in the second half. It was all good, we watched the recap and analysis, and just talked. He'd brought beer, salsa, and chips, so we dipped into that stock a little bit before he left.
I left shortly after to go pick up my Grandma from the airport, which was inexplicably packed on that Saturday afternoon. I don't have any idea of what was going on in town that might account for the crush of people. Waiting for her to arrive, I browsed through the Arizona Highways gift shop, doing some pre-departure souvenir hunting, but honesty it was all trinkets and crap. Petroglyph tee shirts, novelty shot glasses, copper and turquoise jewelry, tequila flavored suckers with worms.
What is the best AZ souvenir? I guess it really depends on how you see AZ. Here's what I'll be bringing to St.Louis:
- weathered skin from so much time in the sun (hope I'm not unwittingly packing skin cancer)
- a small Navaho pot I picked up at the heard museum
- a large bronze Arcosanti bell
- some CDs of a Tempe-based, all-Japanese rock/punk band (Toybox)
- numerous metal and acrylic water bottles
- several tons of desert dust that settled into everything
Anyway, I picked up Grandma and we drove to mom's house way out in Ahwatukee where mom made us dinner. I stayed until around 9 and took off back to Phoenix. I swung by the apartment to pick up some beer, and drove down to my co-worker Raun's house for his birthday party. That was a lot of fun, he'd set up a projector and speakers in his backyard, so people were playing RockBand. I stayed there until around midnight, and drove myself home.
Today, I got up and drove to Tempe to meet mom and Grandma for breakfast at Harlow's Cafe, one my favorite "Eats" in Phoenix, at least as far as breakfast goes. Got a really spicy chorizo burrito plate. I hope I can find good Mexican food in St.Louis. Afterwards, we drove to Fry's Electronics to look for cameras for Grandma and netbooks for mom, or at least to look at prices. After that, we drove up to Kierland Commons in north Scottsdale.
Nothing I really need there, I ended up picking up two books for our upcoming cruise, The Master and Margarita, a Russian book mom and Tay recommended, and Main Street, one of the bitter satires of Sinclair Lewis. For me, Lewis seems to sit between Ayn Rand and Kurt Vonnegut. His protagonists are always characters that fall from idealism into a compromised world. Where Vonnegut satirizes with laughter and buffoons, Lewis seems only to find bitterness. So, light, fun reading for the cruise. Along with the bubbly, uplifting Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health, I'll have plenty of lighthearted entertainment to while away those carefree hours.
I headed back to work afterwards, and got a few more hours of work in before heading back home and collapsing into a nap.
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