Stamford, CT

I now reside in Stamford. I haven't really explored enough to get an abundance of pictures to share, but I'll still give you a rundown of the last week or so. Last Thursday I made one last trip to Purdue to visit my girlfriend, the Neon Cactus. She was gorgeous and impregnated with little ones as always, but this time only in the Piano Bar, so I had to forgo my typical time at the table near the dance floor so that I didn't spend the night alone. Notice the lack of people on the dance floor, this wasn't only at 8 pm, but the entire time we were there :(.
After my always-enjoyable Thursday, I spent the day recovering from the ensuing hangover most of Friday, before DK and Aaron got to town and we went over to Brothers and Where Else?. They were the typical nights, although I got to meet Tmo's new girlfriend, who seemed quite nice. It was nice to get a little goodbye in before taking off. Then on Saturday night Kathryn and I went to the epic B96 SummerBash, which had a wonderful lineup like always including T-Pain, Pitbull, Cascada, Ray-J, Natasha Bedingfield, Flo-Rida, and more. Flo-Rida and Pitbull really lit up the stage from what we could see from the best seats in the house. Notice how well positioned we were behind the snack stand! Luckily we were able to move a few seats to the right a bit through the show and actually see the screen and stage. Haha. Then the next morning it was off to Stamford! The drive was about 13 hours, pretty much what Google Maps said it would be. What Google Maps didn't say is that I'd get stuck on George Washington Bridge in NYC for over an hour of that trying to pay an 8 dollar toll to go over the bridge -- this was NOT FUN AT ALL in the new stick shift! Oh well, at least now I know to avoid driving in the city at all costs. Stamford doesn't seem terrible to drive in, and one day thsi weekend i'll probably try driving to work just to see what it's like traffic-wise. The neighbor across the street is a lot of fun, she stops over once a day or so with her big guy poodle Indy and we chat, but otherwise I haven't done too much exploring or meeting people yet. I went and got a membership at LA Fitness, found all the essentials, and now I'm kinda sitting it out until work starts. Maybe this weekend i'll explore a little more, find the beach, and get some more pictures of the town for you all. So i'll leave you with my room -- I picked the smallest room, because I ball like that, but I think it'll be fine -- it's already cozy. The new (expensive) bed is the most comfortable thing i've ever laid on :).

Jealousy

I don't even have my Mazda yet, but I'm falling more and more in love with the lineup every day. Today I spent most of the day doing random yard stuff -- picking up rocks that the snow plow pushes way off of the driveway, fixing the push mower, cooking venison sloppy joes (wow, those were terribly good), and checking out my neighbor's bright red Mazda RX-8. That's a gorgeous car in person, and I just wanna sit in it and spin the tires for a few minutes every time we drive down the driveway.
Saturday my dad and I went on a road trip to visit my uncle Ron and aunt Jackie. Ron hasn't changed a bit, still the happiest goofiest guy you'll ever meet. He has pretty much my favorite put down in the world -- "they're inbred." And who else can I go into the gas station with to get a drink, then have him walk out with a 12 pack of beer, jump in the car, pop it open and start heading home. We spent a couple hours at his new house, which is a very nice pad for the two of them, and then took about a 50 minute drive to his river house. The house on the river was very cute, someday I'd like to have either a house on a river or a lake, though it always seem that I end up having good friends that have exactly that setup that I can mooch off of. Maybe I'll do the fat condo in the city -- then they can mooch the real fun off of me :). Tonight I watched the WEC live event that was on -- I find MMA fighting so fun to watch. The guys from East Chicago and Hammond (around here) have a real dominant presence in those fights. It's crazy how guys who look like they have more muscle than me can weigh 125-145 pounds. It's absolutely ridiculous, haha. Those fights are so brutal, and the title fight definitely didn't disappoint between Urijah Faber and Jens Palver. I won't spoil it for anyone that actually watches those cage fights, not that I think any of you do =P.
I should be able to pick up my car Wednesday or Thursday, whenever it comes in from the dealer they had to ship it from. I'm gonna make a point to stall it out 10 or 20 times with my mom in the passenger seat since she gave me so much crap for wanting a manual, haha. Then it's up to Kathryn's for a few days to lounge on the golf course, maybe I'll hit a few balls down the driving range instead of the 9th fairway a couple hundred feet to the right this time. Thursday next week I'm hoping to have my "for real" last cactus trip, followed by a chill Friday at the Purdue campus bars. Sometime early Saturday I'll head up to Chicago to enjoy a day in the city and then a night at the B96 Summer Bash! B96 always seems to get a wonderful lineup, so that should be a great time. And then Sunday morning... it's time to pack it up and drive away from home for the last time!