23 August 2008
And the whirlwind is over, it seems.

is in Las Vegas.
SaraRules is back in SLC.
He and she are in the house
But there’s only me at home.

After I wrapped up the workday on Thursday, and I hit the road for Cedar City. SaraRules preceded us by a few hours, as she had to do her Capstone defense (which, I heard from the other MFAs, was amazing). Once we got in and took our things to the hotel, and I headed to Applebee’s to get a bite to eat; SaraRules was supposed to bring Lish with her… but he punked on us. The three of us sat and talked and hung out for a while.

Friday morning, SaraRules got up and did her “exit interviews” with the Dean and other faculty members. I slept in. Apparently, wasn’t able to sleep in. After I woke up and got ready, he and I headed to Cafe Orleans for lunch: I had the Shrimp Etouffe, he had a Shrimp PoBoy.

After polishing off lunch, I took up to Cedar Breaks. It’s comforting to know that I’m not the only one for whom the phrase “sphincter pucker factor” comes into play when driving/riding on high-altitude roads without guardrails. We made the journey up to Cedar Breaks and took a few pictures at a couple of the overlooks. (To be posted later) I also took him along the Alpine Pond Trail that SaraRules and I hiked last year. He seemed to enjoy it. Once we got back into town, we met SaraRules at the local Dairy Queen. We needed our ice cream fixes. We also took in a bit of people-watching. Chalk it up as an afternoon full of “Win.”

After a little down time, SaraRules and I headed over to SUU to meet the other MFAs for dinner and a show. Dinner was at Costa Vida; the show was Fiddler on the Roof, which I had never seen… although I know three or four songs from the production. Go figure. I enjoyed it and thought it was a fun production. The pre-play plan was that Lish and Steve would come back to the hotel with us and have drinks. The reality was that everyone decided that they were pretty tired – and the MFAs were going on a hike this morning – so drinks fell by the wayside. Again. Oh, well.

This morning, the alarm went off far too early. 6:00 AM. I managed to hang in bed until almost 6:30, though. SaraRules and I got up, ready and were on our way. I headed over to the grad house, to say goodbye to Lish and the others before I headed north. I was pleased – and a bit shocked – to note that gas was cheaper in Cedar City than in Salt Lake City. I made decent time back to SLC. I came home to find that there had been a power outage in my absence. This was a “good thing,” as I realized Thursday evening that I had neglected to turn off my alarm clock. Whoops.

I shaved (including adding a new cut that required a Marcellus Wallace-like bandage) and headed out to meet and her teammate, JillDozer, for breakfast. I managed to catch , , and OnlyAly and invite them along, as well. We met a couple other skaters, only one of whose names (Movin Violation, from Salt City Derby Girls) remains with me.

When we broke from breakfast, I headed to Far West Comics. Today was their first anniversary and they had Lou Ferrigno there as a special guest. I told Matt and Nano that I’d be available to help out, if they needed an extra body around; I wound up manning the cash register. There were a LOT of people there; I’d say somewhere between 200 and 300 showed up, including ‘ sister and her family. Mr. Ferrigno seemed to be a nice enough guy. He took pictures with the patrons and signed autographs. Three hours later, he packed up and was on his way… to wherever it is that Lou Ferrigno goes. But, before he left, we (the guys working the event) were able to get a few pictures with him, too. (Also to be posted later)

Home.
Shower.
Back out again – I had to put a couple of eBay items in the mail.

Back home.
And, in a few minutes, I’m heading out again: SaraRules and I are meeting and some of the skaters for dinner.

*whew*

Namaste.