So Patriotic I Can Hardly Stand It

Whew. Yesterday was a marathon of fun and excitement.

No pictures, sadly, but we started off going to the Farmer's Market on the Capitol square early in the morning so we could be sure to not be there when the annoying rental company people were going to come through showing our place for about the 30th time. (They're never going to rent it if they don't lower the price... Hell, we only rented it because we were desperate and had 2 days to find an apartment.) We bought basil, green onions, and snow peas, and discovered that it was Massage Fair Day, so we each got a free 10 minute massage. Anita used her keen detective skills to discover that the massage school in town has a student clinic where you can go to get your knots worked on by students for absurdly cheap. Something to check out later...

Then, we had breakfast at the Orpheum, which is this fancy old theatre with a restaurant in the lobby. They make a mean omelet and pretty good waffles. If the posters on the wall are to be believed, they also seem to do Rocky every week, which might be too much Rocky, but it's hard to say. You wouldn't have to go far for toast, anyhow.

Then on to a barbeque at Bob's place, where Anita and Kristi talked about horses while us menfolk watched MMA fights on the TV in the basement. (Bas Rutten is a hoot.) Kabobs and watermelon were had, and were good.

And we ended up the day at the Terrace, listening to blues by the Cashbox Kings (who are pretty darn good), and watching fireworks across the lake. Madison has the largest fireworks display in the Midwest, and it was, in fact, totally excessive. I like fireworks as well as the next guy, but once you hit the 20-minute mark, there really isn't that much more they can do. It must have gone on for half an hour or more, accompanied by bad blaring music on the loudpeakers (including that great patriotic classic "The Phantom of the Opera"), and I'm sorry to say that by the end I was just sort of wondering when it would all be over. We were across the lake from the actual display, so maybe it would have been better if we'd actually been with the 100,000 people in Warner Park under the fireworks, but it probably just would have been louder and more crowded.

No more adventures for me this weekend. Sitting here by myself in the lab is quite pleasant, really. I think I may have some sort of social allergy.