214 ~ Again

I had a weekend of culinary debauchery two weeks ago after the last time I broke 214, and for some reason it's taken all this time to lose the weight I had gained after two days of pigging out.

I'm not so sure the Army Captain is as smitten with me as I was with her. I have not heard from her since Friday when she told me that she was out of town all weekend and would make plans for our next date when she got back. "Oh, well. Oh, hell." ~ Margaret

I've got another first date set for next Tuesday. That's when Juli will be back from a long weekend in Duluth with her mom and sister.

I've got a lead on a year-long writing contract that I'm pursuing. In the meantime, my current gig should last through November.

Where is Margaret When You Need Her?

We could use the services of Margaret, Scat Enthusiast/Expert.  There is a grouping of four scatological samples in a roughly two square foot area in our backyard.  They are not cat scat.  They are quite dark and seedy and smaller than cat poop but in general tootsie role form as opposed to bunny pellets or deer nuggets.

Any thoughts?  Margaret, I know you read this...

Lovely Longueuil

Ian and I just got back from a long weekend in Montreal and we had a really nice time--the only bad thing about the whole weekend was that we were jinxed when it came to food.  Orders were wrong, food was cold, servers forgot us, etc.  Usually we have such good luck with eating out but Montreal was determined that we wouldn't overeat.

Besides that, we really liked Montreal.  On Friday, we went on a four-hour walking tour of the city and hiked to the top on Mont Royal for a spectacular view of the area, then on Saturday we went to see the Sporting KC soccer team play the Montreal Impact (tied 1-1) in heavy rain.  We also went over to the mainland (Montreal is on an island!  Who knew?) to visit Longueuil, Quebec which is the community where our Surprenant ancestors settled after they came over from France.  To be honest, I was expecting the worst and figured it would be an ugly little industrial town sitting in the shadow of Montreal but in fact, it is a very charming, very old little village.  We walked around a little bit but the historical society building was closed and the church was hosting a wedding so we were not able to look for Surprenant's.

The large cathedral was built in the 1800s and sits on the site of the previous church and supposedly there is a museum and crypt-like cemetery but it is by appointment only and I didn't think to plan ahead and make an appointment.  Next time.

I highly encourage any to go visit the North American ancestral village--you won't be disappointed.  It has a bit of the feel of Stillwater since the old village center is now almost exclusively restaurants and gift shops but there are plenty of really old buildings and history still there.

Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures but here are a couple that I found online, plus there is a web site for the Longueuil Historical Society. http://www.societedhistoirelongueuil.qc.ca/index.htm

Captain, My Captain!

No progress on the weight front...I took a big step backwards last week, so I'm working to get back to where I was before the weekend.

I've got another first date lined up for tonight. We are meeting at the Astor Cafe. I discovered it on the City Pages "Best of The Cities" site, and tonight will be the first time I've been there. If nothing else, these dates are a great opportunity to see more of The Cities.

Her name is Colleen, and she is an Army Reserve Captain. She is also a nurse, a horse trainer/competitor, and amateur photographer.

214

Big, big surprise this morning when I weighed in at 213.8. The day after I broke the 216 barrier last week, I jumped right back up to 219 and spent the week hovering around 217.

I was moved to a new cube yesterday. It is fully enclosed, practically an office, with a west-facing window. The absolute best seating I have ever had anywhere.

Big date this weekend. It looks like we'll be taking in an exhibit at the Bakken Museum.

I'm thinking of taking part or all of the day off tomorrow to head down to Mankato and Madison Lake.

Petty Peeved

Am I the only person who has never used one of those handicap "Push to Open" pads? I cannot believe how many people in these buildings go out their way to use those pads when it would be so much faster and easier to simply open the doors themselves. Just now, I had to wait behind and able-bodied man who was waiting for the door to open after he pressed the pad.

Second-hand waiting is a killer!

216

No wonder I felt a few beads of sweat on my brow as I walked the 3 blocks from my car this morning...the humidity is 100%. I hate humidity.

I was 216 on the dot when I stepped on the scale this morning. I suppose that is to be expected after having my heart savagely carved out of my chest by a flight attendant who has flown on to another guy. But I should stop now before I become melodramatic. I would have thought my heart weighed more than 2 lbs. Anyway, that's a total of 19 lbs. since mid-June.

Seriously though, the flight attendant I started dating however many weeks ago is out of the picture. I was going to treat her to a jazz performance last night at the Dakota Jazz Club for her birthday, but she cancelled earlier in the day because she preferred a guy she had met a little before I came on the scene.

Oh well, Oh hell. I have a date with someone else after work today at The Chatterbox. She finally responded after 20 emails asking what it would take for me to stop writing.

"I might stop you go on a date with me."

"I will you stop if I don't?"

"No."

And so there we are.

Greg

P.S. You know I was joking about the emails, right?