Life in a Drought

Living in an area that is in an area that is declared Exceptional in regards to the drought situation forces you to be creative. As most of you know, I enjoy taking good care of the exterior of my cars. When I have the time, I like to spend exorbitant amounts of time ensure that my cars look their best by applying some TLC to my cars. Well, since I've moved to Georgia, that has not been an option. My car is pretty dirty. The last time I had washed it was right before I went to camp in 2006. It got another bath while I was at camp thanks to Dad and Dana. Needless to say, I'm getting to the point that I need to provide my car some TLC.

The apartment complex that we lived in didn't have outside spiquots to wash our cars with. I had plenty of hose to use should I have found one, but to no avail. Then, in spring, we buy our house. Focus then was removed from the car and to the house. By the time the house was situated and I was ready to focus on the car again, we were in a drought condition. It became illegal for us to use our outside water except during specific times of certain days.

If I recall correctly, the way it worked was if you had an odd numbered house, you could water on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. If you were in an even numbered house, you could water on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Fridays were banned for everyone. Also, for all houses, if you were watering, you could only water from Midnight thru 10am. If you were caught watering outside of those days and time frames, you would be fined.

Needless to say, I was not about to wake up at 5 or 6 AM just to wash my car. However, since the drought has gotten progressively worse, our water restrictions also have gotten worse. It is now illegal to use water outside on any day or time. It has gotten so bad that companies have been forced to stop using water. This includes car washes, street paving companies, green houses and floral shops, or anything else that you can think of that consumes water as a matter of business as usual. This drought is further complicated by the fact that the nearby lake, Lake Lanier, is being drained and shipping our fresh water down stream to Florida for an endangered mollusk.

Well, in the light of all of this build up, I did something that was likely not the wisest of things that I've ever done. Since it was raining still at the end of my shift today, I decided that I would take advantage of mother nature and wash my car in the rain. However, as most of you know, it now gets dark at about 7PM when I'm off work. So, not only was I in the rain, I was in the dark. It was getting cold out there too while I was doing it.

To wash my car, I used a total of 4 partial buckets. I used one partial to mix with soap to wash the car. Two partial buckets to rinse the car down, one by wringing a rag over the car and the other to wipe down with. The last bucket was used in conjunction with some degreaser for my rims. I think it took longer to get the water, wash and rinse down the car then it did to clean my four rims.

While I was washing and rinsing the car, the rain had subsided, but I was still getting water off of the roof to fill the buckets (we have a clogged downspout). However, once I thought that I was going to luck out and not have to finish in the rain, the sky just opened up on me. This was also about the time that I was starting to wash the rims. Then, not only was it raining harder, it was also getting colder by the minute. Once again, I remind myself, this is not the smartest thing I've ever done.

Finally, I get done with the car and close up the garage, it is time to dry off and get warm.

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Up Beat!

As I was poking around on the net today, I came across some miniclip games. This one I had played before, but I felt the compulsion to share it with the rest of you.

For those of you that have played the Guitar Hero games, this will be familiar to you. I find it to be an easier interface then the guitar, but then again, I type much more than fiddle with a guitar. So I guess that is only fitting. However, Guitar Hero has much better music. At the bottom of every page within our blog, you will find Up Beat. You can play it from within the page, it is not an external link.

If you don't know Guitar Hero, give it a try anyway. You might like it.

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Edit:I've managed to limit this only to the index page and this post, not every page within the site. Yes, I was getting annoying with it being everywhere.

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House Guests - First Friends to Visit

Since we are so far away, we don't get many house guests. Up to this point, all of our guests have been family. We've finally had our first set of non-family guests visit us at the house. We had discussed James coming to visit a couple of times previously but, it seemed that we just could not get the timing down. The timing has finally straightened itself out. James made the trip to the ATL.

Finally, our first non-family guest comes to visit. Except this means that we need to get the house prepared for guests. Angel did some laundry and helped get the common areas presentable. We made sure to vacuum, sweep & mop, in addition to the general pickup that the house needed. I'm not complaining about these things, it needed done anyway. It was just added motivation to get it done. This took us from Wednesday to Friday to complete. If we put on a full press to get it all completed in one day we could have, we just didn't.

Friday afternoon, James and Ashley begin their trek to ATL. James wasn't sure how accurate my estimate of travel time was and therefore over estimated the trip. He thought he wasn't going to make it in until late. Well, late wasn't late at all, they rolled in at about 9. Before their arrival we determined that there wasn't enough food in the house for four of us so, we would need to run to the store. After I get off of work, we finish up the house and ran to the store. We didn't exactly go shopping just for them, we needed to stock up anyway, but while we were there, we picked some things up that I knew James would appreciate. Breakfast is not a common meal in our house, it is a must in James, so we grabbed some stuff for breakfast. By the time we returned home, unpacked the car, and put the items away, they were pulling into the driveway.

It was great to see James again, regardless of the fact I had just been to his place two weeks prior and would see him again in another three weeks at the wedding. When a man is preparing for another trip to combat, you can't see too much of him. So, after the ten cent tour, the first order of business is to determine what we're going to do with the night; especially since they arrived much earlier than either of us had expected. The question is, do we say in and catch up or do we go out? Well, Angel answered that question. She has to work early Saturday so we'll stay in. I can't say I'm surprised, but James brought two fifths of Jaeger with him. Other then that, the only alcohol we have in the house is 151 and Captain. While we were at the store, we grabbed some frozen fruit and are thinking of using the smoothie machine. Therefore, I'm sent to get Vodka.

As most of you know, alcohol is not one of my forte's. There are really only three names that I am usually concerned about bringing into my house. Yuengling, Captain, and Jack. Buying Vodka is not a typical thing for me. The funny thing is, while I was there, I found everything but Vodka in the place that I had expected to find it. Turns out, the vodka was not stored on the wall shelves but in displays in the middle of the room. I knew what I wanted, but I couldn't remember the name. Ashley was there with me but, she wasn't much help on the topic either. I was like, it is a clear bottle with the name in a red banner. If I saw it, I would know it. Well, looking around long enough, I was able to find it. Stoli. She was impressed. She was like, that's excellent. I just shrugged. It's the only name I know aside from Smirnoff and they sold out long ago.

We return to the house and we break out the smoothie machine. On its maiden voyage. I don't have a clue what I'm doing, but I'll fake it just as well. I grab some mixed berries and strawberries from the freezer, pour in some vodka and hit the high button. I ran this thing for what seemed to be 10 minutes. It was think and I didn't have a clue what it taste like. James, Angel & Ashley are the first to point out that water might be a nice addition. WTF, like I know these things. In hindsight, maybe a fruit juice would have been nice. Throw some apple or pineapple might have been it. Anyway, water and more vodka go in. Blend some more. Is this stuff thin enough to pour yet? I dunno, but I think the better question is, what does this taste like? I grab a tumbler and open the spiquot. It just oozes out. I'm not sure what I've just created, but it sure is interesting. Angel gives it a go and requests more liquids. Another round of water & vodka and I think we're set. I also notice this time that the low setting also says pour. I kick it on low and open the spiquot and away we go this time. It pours like a champ and Angel is satisfied with how it turns out. Mind you, all while I'm working on this "work of art", we're doing shots or Jaeger and chatting it up. As the night goes on, we do kill a fifth. I was actually surprised by this, thankfully it was slower then the last bottle I was involved in.

Well, once Angel and Ashley are starting to feel good, the party separates. James and I in the living room and them two in the kitchen. They are playing the getting to know you game and James and I are on a tangent or two of our own. Also, James and I are kicking around my computer. He brought two or so dozen CDs down on his trip. I asked him to do this since he has quite the extensive collection and I wanted to demonstrate to him the speed of ripping his collection to MP3 would be like. Once I completed the disks he brought down, which did take all weekend, I created a DVD for him to transport the tracks back home with. I would have given him CDs (his car will play MP3 CD's) except I couldn't for the life of me find the CD spindle. Later discovered that Angel had put the spindle in her book bag; I never thought to look there.

Eventually, we call it a night. The next morning, I wake up to breakfast already prepared, a new experience for me(of course, I was the last to wake). After doing some him-hawing around the house, James asks what we're going to do. Suggests Lazer Tag. Well, I do some research online and suggest paintball instead. I had previously done both and certainly prefer paintball. Ashley is down with it and off we go. The gaming location is not but 2 minutes down the road. We walk around like lost puppies for a moment and then find the desk. We sign our waivers, get our equipment and paint (I forgot how expensive this can be) and head to the floor.

There were a few kids around, the bay doors were open and we couldn't figure out what was going on. There is a team that is out of this outfit. They had just completed practice and were cleaning up the court. Since I had played this before and this was new to them two, I really didn't know how this was going to go down. The first game we play, once we load up and don our masks is a two on one. James decides to take the two of us on. Interesting choice. Anyway, I lit him up.

Once the kids see that we want to play, more join us. We played some interesting two on two matches and even once got up to five on four. We couldn't line up the teams for some reason, but we didn't care. It was good fun. During our time there, I made a couple of interesting choices. One worked, the other two didn't.

One game it came down to me vs. Ashley. She is a passive player, shoots on opportunity. I'm more aggressive, just not so much as James. I was going to wait for her to show herself, but it was taking too long. I made a run for it. As soon as I saw her I started firing, but I didn't stop moving. It was like a strafe maneuver from UT or something. As soon as I saw paint, I stopped shooting. Ballsy, but it was fun. The other two didn't work out so well.

There was another time when it was Ashley and James vs. me. It didn't start out that way, but that's what we had. Since Ashley was so passive, I focused on James. Once I got him out the way, I had Ashley left. Well, the rush worked last time, lets see if I can do it again. Man, was I wrong. I saw where she was and made a run for it. I figured that after a couple of shots it would be over. Not this time. I made a bad choice. Instead of continuing to walk front to back, I made a turning move. I should have walked straight and ducked behind a object. Well, this turning move took me all the way around her and I still hadn't hit her yet. It was almost like she was just waiting for me to be in the right place. Once I hit that spot, she just lit me up. This wasn't nearly as successful as the first time. However, the next one was worse.

We didn't have any other participants this round. Each time we did a two-on-one it was James flying solo. I decided that I would take them on this time. I knew James tactics (somewhat) and definitively knew what to expect from Ashley. Therefore, I decided to change my tactics this time. Surprise them. It almost worked. Key word almost. I made a quick run from my end to theirs, doing my best to stay low and not get their attention. This worked. I made a move from my right to my left sweeping around their end of the court. I made a quick glance to find Ashley and didn't see her, but I did find James quick enough. I shot a few rounds at him, only to find his ankle. Good enough, I see paint. I turn back to find Ashley and I get lit up. Taking out James had taken too long and she had her sights zeroed in on me. Goes to show, just because they play a passive game, doesn't mean you can ignore them. They will take you out just the same.

There were quite a few other memorable moments during the day. Like the time that we both shot James in the face mask. He didn't like this one bit. Apparently the paint doesn't taste that good. But it is a good thing for the mask. There were more then one situation where he took a shot to the goggles. Definitely would have lost an eye with some of those shots. It was a great time and great exercise. If it wasn't so expensive, I think I would do it more often. Even if I had my own gun and protective equipment, paint is ungodly expensive. I don't know why either.

Of course, James would notice that there is a tattoo shop in the same location. Therefore, that means we've got to check them out. We head over and he decides that the tat idea he has for his bicep would get done here. However, his design isn't stock so it would require some artistic time. We give the guy an hour and a half or so and James returns. I stayed back so I could get dinner started. Well, it turns out that the design is a no-go. James said that the guy didn't portray a demeanor of confidence and thus passed on getting the work done. For as much work that James has and the quality of work that it is, I can't blame him for passing on a potentially shady deal.

In between the tattoo attempt and dinner, we take a trek to a local tourist trap. I'm not sure what else to call it. It is a mountain with a piece of artwork carved into the side of it that has been commercialized. I hadn't been there since I was a little kid. I really couldn't remember too much about it. Apparently there was a reason for this. Unless you have kids, this really isn't being marketed to you (unless you are hitting the multi star restaurant or the golf course and we were doing neither). So, once we get there, the question is now what? Do we walk the trail up the mountain? Do we take a riding tour on the train? Do we check out this ducky tour? For some reason, we think that the ducky tour is a good idea. We couldn't be more wrong. Just like the ducky tour at Station Square, this is just as lame too. We ride in an amphibian around the park and in the water (enter and leave from the same dock, WTF?) listening to this guy tell stories, most of which are fake about this and that and some true stories (or at least believable) about the park itself. Honestly, I'm not sure the kids would much enjoy this, much less the adults. So it was a bust, but it did kill some time till dinner. (We also tried to play a round of mini golf but it was so busy I think we only played but 7 holes in 50 minutes.)

One of the things that Angel & picked up at the grocery store the night before was dinner for Saturday. We wanted to cook some steak. Neither one of us are fans of sirloin. We both think that if you are going to take the time to cook it up, especially on the grill, it should be good quality. However, I also discover that she is not a fan of ribeye. I don't know why, but I don't argue. No sirloin, no ribeye. As we're looking around at the cuts that they had, nothing really looked appealing. Either too small or too thin or lacking in confidence. Then we stumbled upon the London Broils. Wasn't a name that I was previously familiar, but they looked healthy and were certainly thick enough to please. We picked up two of them. Each one at about 2 pounds. The price wasn't bad either. The only problem was, I didn't have a clue how to prepare these monsters.

When I was up in Fayetteville, James put on a masterful show in the kitchen. Therefore, I waited on a decision till I could call on his skills. I know he knows marinades, so I let him lead. It was different then the preparations I was used to. I'm a rub guy, myself. But wanted to try something different. Maybe next time he visits I'll treat him to a rub. Anyway, we run to Publix for the required ingredients and return. So, time to start the fire. Yes, fire. A charcoal fire. This is atypical of me (and the grill). The grill that was left at the house is a gas grill, however the prior tenets of the house left it behind with the evidence of how it was used. With charcoal. I don't know why, I didn't check the gas tank or the burners to figure out why they would do this. Anyway, I grab my bag of quick light, single use bag coal. You know the type, just set the bag on fire and away you go. Well, after dumping the bag out, it is evident that maybe there isn't enough to prepare dinner, but we decide to go with it anyway.

Now is the time that I pulled out the tools of the trade. I have an entire tool box for grill cooking. James was impressed. :) Anyway, we let the coals get white and up to temp and toss on the marinated steaks. Well, once again, in hindsight, I know that I didn't spread out the charcoal enough, there was a hot spot in the middle of the grill. The middle tips of the steaks got a bit charred. I didn't hear any complaints, but I wasn't exactly happy about this. We also decided that we would try to get baked potatoes done for dinner too. Well, they never did quite finish right that night. Also, by the time they were done to an acceptable level we had eaten enough steak and green beans that they really were not a requirement. All in all, even without the potatoes and the charred edges, the steaks turned out quite well. They also made for great late night snacking too.

After we recover from our dinner and have a couple of more shots, we decide to go out to the Blue Moose. Since it is Saturday night and they typically have a band playing we make a go of it. Well, something happened to the band that night, they didn't show. Also, we're not sure if it was related, but they were also dead slow. Unusually slow. So, first off, what do we get. Of course beers all around and shots of Jaeger. I didn't do the shots as I was DD, I had to stay straighter then the rest of the crowd.

We mill around, grab a table, and start chatting it up. James and I take in a game of darts (which I won, again) then Angel wanted a turn. She did very well for her level. This matchup is usually a no contest. However, she actually got 4 of the 6 targets closed out. Very good for her. She is improving. Well, once our game is over, we were going to play some pool. Well, this didn't happen. I ran to the car to put up the darts and when I return, it is painfully obvious that someone had too much to drink. Time to go. By the time we return to the house, it is about time for us all to hit the sack.

Sunday was much more reserved than the rest of the events. Alcohol is shelved and we just chill. We tried to pull up the Steeler game, but alas, the transplanted Yankees don't get what they want. Instead we put the Cinci/Cleveland game on. This was a shootout if I'd ever seen one. So, during the game, I get his CD collection finished & burned and they are off shortly there after. I didn't want to see him leave. But alas, all good things must come to an end.

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