There has been a delay in blogging due to the fact that I had the flu Monday-Wednesday and slept most of the time, so blogging did not happen as I would have liked. Anyway, here is a quick week-in-review:
Tuesday the 11th – Mer and I went back to Massage Envy for massages. I wanted to try to work the pain out of my shoulders and back, and so I scheduled a deep-tissue massage for myself. Mer is okay with my going for massages as long as she gets to go too, so she came along for a relaxation massage. My massage therapist spent an entire hour just on my shoulders and neck, and boy, did it hurt. She found lots of knots that she worked out, and some of them were pretty intense. Mer enjoyed hers very much. Even though mine hurt, within a few minutes of the massage being done, I did not hurt in the shoulders any more, which was the first time I had been pain-free in my shoulders in a couple of weeks. It took another two days for all the soreness to go away, but the deep-tissue massage certainly seemed to work.
Since we were right there, and since I had a little money saved up, I took Mer out to eat next door at PF Chang’s, which is a Chinese restaurant chain that we had eaten at before when visiting Mer’s parents in Florida. We liked the food, so we tried it again. We both got a really good chicken dish, and skipped dessert because we were pretty full. The food was good, but I was surprised at the bill – about $40 with tip, and that is without dessert. Normally, Mer and I easily come in under $30, and when we skip dessert we can come in at about $20. So, while I very much enjoyed PF Chang’s, it may be awhile before we go back there.
Wednesday the 13th – Our kitchen was a mess of dishes, so I took Mer out to eat again, this time at Aladdin’s in Hudson. We both enjoy Aladdin’s very much, and usually it is pretty cheap. This night, we both opted for full entrees, which is rare for us (usually we get wraps or soups), so it was another expensive night out. We were a bit crunched for time and I was running out of money, so we again skipped dessert.
We then headed over to Clarice and Matt’s apartment for game night with them and Josh and Kristen. This night, we opted to play Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit. We split into three teams. For some reason, we were having trouble with questions when it was for a pie piece, or we could not land on the category we needed, but what is normally a fairly quick game went on for two-and-a-half hours, and we finally decided to have a sudden-death question for the two teams in the lead. It was 10:00 when we finished. It was still a fun night, but I would have been happier if the game had been 45 minutes shorter.
Thursday the 14th, Mer took me out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. When we had gone the Friday before, Mer had skipped dessert, and it had been on her mind most of the week. She wanted to correct that. So, we drove up and had an excellent meal, and Mer was able to get her Reese’s Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cake, which is what I had had the last time. I got a rather large piece of chocolate cake, some of which I took home with me.
Friday the 15th, CVCA had its fall Open House. This is where the school gets all the clubs and sports teams to have student representatives to talk to prospective students from interested families. One or two teachers from each discipline also are available to talk to. We usually have 75-100 families come through the Open House. I have two clubs – Royal Fools Improv, and Ceili (Irish dance) Club, so I am usually around for these events as well as my two or three student representatives. Mer is often around to represent the English Department. We get fed pizza, and while it is not always very exciting to sit and watch people walk past (only a few ask questions about the clubs), I do believe it is important to have a presence for each group just to show what CVCA offers.
To add some excitement to the evening, the power went off at 3:10, and did not come back on until 4:55, with the Open House scheduled to go at 5:00. That made me rather busy with getting computer stuff taken care of for the first hour or so of the event.
After Open House, there was a football game. Mer wanted to grade until halftime, so I went out by myself. I missed my usual post of cheering for the band this night because the band had marched early so it could honor the seniors in a special pre-game ceremony. That was sad, but I did take up my usual post next to the band. One of my former students, Andrew, saw me, so we watched the game together and chatted. Mer joined us right at halftime, and we watched a new band show, which was a lot of fun. CVCA was winning pretty handily at halftime, so we left after the band show, especially since Mer had early morning plans for us for Saturday. Probably ones that involved more food.