Since the planned dinner wasn't going to get made tonight, she told me to forgo the groceries and just to come straight home instead.  Who am I to argue with that logic?  While I was driving home, it looked like there was a storm blowing in.  Some of the clouds over the river were enormous, and I saw one cloud that looked like it had been stretched out length-wise like a piece of bubblegum.  It must have extended for tens of miles.  I cursed that my digital camera was sitting on the bookshelf at home.

Even after I got home, our discussion continued and it wasn't until much much later was I finally able to get a bite to eat.  But when I feel like talking, we better talk as who knows when I will get that mouthy again.  That's not to say that Jen & I don't talk.  I think we're improving communcation-wise as a couple.  Granted we still have a ways to go, but we're doing better now than we've done in previous years we've been married.  And you can't say we didn't "talk" while we were dating as proved by the 2000+ pages of emails we sent to each other over 2 1/2 years (Those copies of emails are now sitting in 4 volumes on our bookshelf).

We dropped by Carvers tonight so Jen could give Kathy a baby sling (one of the most useful baby items *evar*).  We used ours daily with Braden.  To heck with strollers and infant car seats.  A sling is just much easier to carry around.  While we were over there, I couldn't help but bring up my journal and informed Kelly that I had written about them in last night's entry.  I guess Kelly never bothered to tell Kathy about my journal.  He didn't want her reading about a sensitive, thoughtful husband that would made him look bad.  He said that I was unlike most "guys" and that I set an example that was hard to follow.  That lead me to think, "do I really have such rare qualities sought after by women in general?"  Perhaps that's another reason I don't feel like I fit in with "da guys".  Anyway, that's the first time I heard someone refuse to share my journal because it was *too* good.  I still chuckle thinking about it.

Instead of going out tomorrow for a co-worker's birthday lunch like we planned, we went out today to Tia's instead.  The service has been less than spectacular the last few times we've went, but it still remains on the top of my list as far as yummiest places to eat.  Once you've lived in Texas, you just never lose the hankering for  Tex-Mex cuisine.  While we were eating, my co-worker (who is originally from India) asked how baseball is played - as he's figured out nearly every other sport, but baseball still baffled him.  Trying to see baseball from an uninitated's point of view, I can see how confusing it could be.  It seems like there are no cut-and-dry rules - almost every rule has some sort of exception.  But I also brought up the point that one of baseball's unique qualities that they keep statistics for everything (how a pitcher fares against a RH or LH batter, how a batter fares against a specific pitcher, how many times has a batter tripped on his own bat...).

I got an email from Nate at work today saying how they were going to run a beginner's clinic on Adventure Racing for those who were interested in competing in the Raid the Rock Urban Adventure Race to be held in late September.  Once I heard about adventure racing, that's something I've always wanted to try. If I can get the gear, funds, and team together, I think I might seriously consider doing Raid the Rock.  It's essentially a 50-55 mile race consisting of mountain biking, hiking/running, and canoeing.  The course is set out to be completed in 8-15 hours with the race starting in the middle of the night.  Teams consist of 3 people, at least one of which needs to be female. This race pretty much combines my three most favorite outdoor activities so I think I could be successful at it.  Anyway, I will think about it further and talk to Nate and see what he thinks.  Definitely something to work towards during the next couple of months.

TGIF tomorrow!  I'm relieved that the weekend is almost here.  Now that I work a 42-hour work week (highly encouraged by upper management), I really cherish the weekends a lot more than I did as a student.  T-minus 15.5 hours or so...