Egypt

woo-hoo! I'm going for 2-3 weeks at the end of the year for work. I think I'll be in Cairo for the end of the year. How exciting!

columbus day

i can't believe i have to work today. i hate it. good thing they mentioned the bus being on a Sat schedule, as that would have just added insult to injury... waiting for a bus that isn't coming.

hike

we went on a beautiful hike today. the weather was perfect... the blue of the sky was the kind that you only get on a fall day. R and I went right before going to bottle our beer.

The pilsner is great. The stout feels like a cheap imition. Like Tang and OJ, only not quite so extreme.

I made a peach/pear crisp in ramekins. Well, I am making them, as they are still in the toaster oven. I don't think I have used my ramekins before, so I'm happy about that. It should hopefully be very yummy, especially with vanilla haagen daaz ice cream. yum.

booze

going to bottle some beer tomorrow. i'm looking forward to it. just got back from an evening at the living room for a friend's birthday. they have some good martinis there - but they're expensive! i was a bit disappointed in my dirty (vodka) martini - it was weak. how is that even possible??

anyway, time for bed. i'm tired. i have to wake up early tomorrow to wash the bottles for the bottling... we were going to go for a hike, but R really just has way too much work in the next few days. he has a conference in atlanta and he has to apply for jobs and participate in some competition all in the next few days... he'll get to visit his mom while in atlanta though, so that's nice.

Oprah

So a girl at work asked if I would go with her to an Oprah workshop - she had comp tickets. I figured I may as well go and check it out. She's picking me up at 1, and then we're off to the new convention center. I'm a little worried that this will be crazy boring, but I'm also super interested in finding out what this is all about. Who is paying $95 to attend?? Will I actually benefit in some way? oh - and there are free gift bags, and they looked fairly promising. Oprah won't be there, just people who are regulars on the show or regular contributors to her magazine, so - again - who is paying $95 to go?? We also get a year subscription to her magazine - I've never read it. Hopefully, it'll be interesting.

I'm about to go to the gym, and then to the grocery store. I'm hoping they have Peet's coffee beans, so Rob can finally use the grinding part of the coffee maker I bought him. He really likes the coffee maker I got him - yay! He was so sad when the one he had broke... as much as I'm against his coffee addiction, I had to get him a new (and of course better) one. This one grinds beans and has a "gold filter" which he was very against for some reason before. Now he's a fan of the gold filter, even though he can use a paper filter if he likes. Sometimes I wish I liked coffee... I'll even try it out every now and then to check if I like it, but it's always just impossibly bitter. How could something with such a rich and inviting smell be so revolting (to me)? On top of that, one sip gives me a stomach and headache. The coffee culture just looks so warm and fun - ooh! Starbucks coffee breaks and mocha choca lattes, but it's not for me... I'm really just not a fan of warm beverages... although very little beats hot chocolate on a cold day. makes me feel like a kid.