The Drunken Shot Glass

One summer at Uncle Toby's house I noticed something at the bottom of the pool. I made Uncle Toby dive down and get it. Turned out a shot glass had some how ended up at the bottom of the pool getting drug around by the vacuum. The shot glass had been worn down on several sides so it sat tilting. We called it the "drunken shot glass." Everytime I was at Uncle Toby's house we always did shots from the drunken shot glass. No matter how many shot glasses Uncle Toby had in his collection we took turns and did all of our shots from the drunken shot glass. But then one day, the drunken shot glass disappeared never to be found again. We now take a moment of silence for the drunken shot glass....



A few weeks ago, I was talking to Uncle Toby on the phone and he told me he had bought me a gift and would send it to me soon. Before Uncle Toby could even send me the present, I went to visit him in Pittsburgh. My gift? A Duquesne Incline souvenir shot glass. How cool are these! One for me and one to stay in Pittsburgh at the Rechenmacher house.


Uncle Toby did mention though that it was a little upsetting how the Duquesne Incline took our idea of our carefully handcrafted drunken shot glass and turned it into a heartless mass manufactured souvenir glasses in China... And I do agree, but I also like how it ties California to Pittsburgh!

Training... (cont.)

I am severely missing my training buddy from last year. This training has nice people....but none compare to my Dallas training buddy! No one gets my humor, and I have no one to giggle with when the trainer mispronounces silly words. I have to admit I have not suggested finger mustache tattoos, but I feel they would not wanna join in on the fun! I miss you Mel!!

Growing Things

One night when we were cooking, Conrad decided that we could not use one of the cloves of garlic because it had started sprouting. I think I would have used it anyway, but he insisted we plant it. Luckily I had an empty pot on my table since I had recently given into my ill feelings to the pot's previous occupant. Conrad shoved the clove down into the dirt and forgot about it. When I left for my week in Ohio, it was nothing more than a pot of dirt. When I came back this is what it looked like.



I said, "Oh, look at the garlic!" Conrad responded with, "Oh, I was wondering what that was!"
Sometimes I wish I had a memory as bad as his...everything would be a surprise.

Training...

So with the new job comes training. Originally I thought I was supposed to do one week of home study followed by two weeks in New Jersey. Then it switched to one week of home study, one week in Ohio riding with a mentor, and one week in New Jersey. Turns out my mentor lives super close to Pittsburgh. Not one to miss an obvious opportunity, I went to Pittsburgh a few days ahead of time and hung out with my Uncle Toby. Unfortunately Aunt Kim, Taylor and Jake were in California, so I missed out on seeing them, but it also afforded me lots of quality time with Sir Toby!

On Saturday we went to a Bremmer graduation party. My Pittsburgh Rechenmacher clan is so fantastic. I have spent very little time with them in my life, but when I do, I always have a good time. I sweated in the humidity, learned a new picnic kind of game (ladder ball) and generally had a wonderful Saturday. On Sunday Toby and I assembled his entertainment center just in time to watch the Lakers lose in Game 5 of the finals to the Celtics. As I was drying my tears, he drove me out to Boardman OH and left me at the Holiday Inn....

The days went by with my mentor without anything to really comment about.

Tuesday morning I began planning which local sports bar I would be watching Game 6, and just as I was thinking I might need to be a little bit careful about going out alone I got a text from Toby saying he was going to drive out to watch with me! We had a fantastic time cheering for the Lakers in semi-Celtic territory and making friends with the locals.





All in all it was a successful trip.

Hey Baby, Let's Go to Vegas

A few weeks ago I made my virgin trip to Vegas. I honestly can not believe I had not been there yet considering how many times I have been invited....but to be honest, I never wanted to go with the people who were inviting me. Driving to Vegas was made interesting by all the people we saw on the side of the road receiving tickets. How we managed to escape any tickets is beyond me! We stayed at the Encore....and had this fantastic view of the strip...not bad for a first time!

Me and the C-Rad in front of Caesar's Palace.

Conrad was asking me what I really wanted to see in Vegas and the only thing I could really think of that I wanted to see was the Bellagio's fountains. So we saw them twice!




We had such a fun chill time. Hanging out by the pool, gambling just a little, visiting with his grandparents....and of course Toby watching over me most of the time!

I think I would like to go to Vegas again.

Escape

On Tuesday, Conrad needed an escape. So we went to Egypt.





Ok, fine. We did not go to Egypt, but we did go to the California Science Center. I think I have not been taking full advantage of my funemployment! The Science Center was cool, but the Explortorium is significantly better. To be honest my favorite part of the Center was the IMAX where we saw a film about surfing the deadliest waves in Tahiti (great...now I wanna go on vacation, specifically Tahiti.) I did also enjoy the Egypt exhibit, but really we only saw it for three minutes two of which were used on the photo op (we tried to get a pic of us together, but the employees there are not so adept at using cameras) and the remaining time was me using a map of the Middle East to explain the Six Day War to Conrad (in the history of wars, the Six Day War ranks pretty high on my list of interesting wars).

And that was our Tuesday.

Funemployment

Laguna is one of my favorite parts of unemployment. Since Conrad is from Laguna I have had the greatest of luck to visit there often in the middle of the week since I have become funemployed.




Yes, he is a surfer boy...and last week, I myself was actually out in the water with him on a surf board of my own. I did not stand up on it, or catch any waves...it was a challenge enough just sitting on it.



Mostly I just watch from the beach.