MetaChat - What's been the highlight of your weekend?

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16 November 2008

What's been the highlight of your weekend? Mine was today.→[More:]

Waiting in line at Pets at Home, you have to queue between the two guinea pig enclosures (girl guineas on the left, boy guineas on the right). One of the boy guineas was fast asleep and having a dream, his little face, ears and paws twitching. It was unbelievably cute and I was amazed he could sleep so soundly amidst all the hubbub of the store.

post by: essexjan at: 11:01 | 40 comments

Awww!

LT and I decided we needed a mini-vacation yesterday. I called my local library and borrowed the pass to the New England Aquarium and we went down to Boston. It was a rainy day, and there was a 45-minute-long line to get in! Wasn't too bad though, we watched the seals while we waited. We watched the seals while we waited, and a friend joined us. It did me good to see all those animals full of life. We saw these sea dragons, which I never knew existed until yesterday. It's hard to believe they're real -- they look like something created in CGI for a fantasy movie. Then we went for dinner in the North End and walked around browsing in salumerias and bakeries. It was a really nice day.

posted by Miko 16 November | 11:29

I had an extended snorgling session with rosemary the kitteh, played some fallout 3, and chilled.

posted by By the Grace of God 16 November | 12:00

Wow Miko, those are crazy!

Mine is a combination of receiving some really wonderful tea in the post, and having a friend I made a few months ago go all flirty touchy on me. Finding out lfr got her job was pretty splendid as well.

posted by -t 16 November | 12:03

I bought a lint brush on Saturday. Now my shirts won't have lint on them.

My life is so empty.

posted by cmonkey 16 November | 12:04

I scored a Le Creuset pot, and am taking it on a test run today. I have a huge stew simmering on the stove, and I am unexpectedly overjoyed by that fact.
That would be my highlight, except that last night I got to get dressed up in fancy duds and attend a fundraiser at the home of some EXCEEDINGLY WEALTHY people. It was fun to see how the other half lives. Strangely enough, for all of their money, they evidently could not afford to purchase hand soap for their guest bathroom. Strange, that was.

posted by msali 16 November | 12:09

I scored a Le Creuset pot,

That's awesome!

posted by Miko 16 November | 12:24

I did some thinking and some reading and kinda resolved a personal issue that's been bugging the shit out of me for a while. (Of course, it probably won't be the last time I think about it, but still, progress is good.)

posted by sperose 16 November | 12:29

Mentioned in the post just below yours. Annabelle Chvostek is all kinds of awesome, and I can't think that Miko would not really like her.

posted by danf 16 November | 12:31

I´m currently trying and halfway succeeding at installing Debian on my OLPC. All I have to do is get wpa_supplicant working and I´m home free.

Also, if I had that pot (and a kitchen), I would make pork shoulder browned in butter and simmered in milk in a low oven (damn kitchenless BEQs...).

posted by concrete 16 November | 12:46

I really, really want a Le Creuset pot. Every time I go to a jumble or boot (yard) sale I look out for one. No luck yet.

posted by essexjan 16 November | 13:35

Oh, Miko and LT, y'all just had my favorite Boston day. I'm envious!

Sunday's just starting for me, so there may be more highlights to come, but I think that Friday dinner was pretty good -- steaks that I finally managed to cook perfectly and lots and lots of farmers' market vegetables on the side and a really superb bottle of cab that we had been saving. And we were both in a good and silly mood and it was just really good and really nice.

Close second-choice would be going to the storage unit yesterday and being unable to get the lock open, and when I went to the office to ask if the guy could help me, he looked at me very seriously and quietly for a long time, and then he finally said, "Hmmmmmmm. Did you swear at it? Because you've got to have a back-up plan with some of these locks."

posted by occhiblu 16 November | 13:38

Going to the National Museum of Mexican Art, finding fuzzy dice shaped like pan dulce nearby, and #bunnies.

posted by halonine 16 November | 15:20

Finishing my Renaissance lit paper 90 minutes before my self-imposed deadline of 10 p.m. Saturday night! Whoooo! Even though I have another paper due for another class on Wednesday, I gave myself the night off.

And then I gave myself Sunday midday off, too, to have lunch with some of The Fella's family. After lunch, his 3-yr-old niece P. and I took a walk, romped on the empty deck of the restaurant, sang the Veruca Salt song, and sat on the bench in front of the theatrically large wood-burning pizza oven, at which point she snuggled into my side and said "I just want it to be Auntie [Elsa] and [P.] all the time forever. Okay?" Okay!

I also fixed a vexing and seemingly insoluble household problem with only some pliers, my brain, and liberal applications of creative swearing. Yay, me!

The low point will come in just a few minutes, when I go back to writing. Writing about maize. Maize and gender. Maize and gender in colonial New England. What dumbass came up with this thesis? Oh, right --- it was me.

posted by Elsa 16 November | 15:40

Snuggling.

posted by Eideteker 16 November | 15:48

Seeing The Thing, a hellacious Swedish/Norwegian free jazz band in a Catholic Church downtown last night. Didn't know what to expect, had only heard recommendations and was absolutely floored. Best show I've seen all year, possibly.

posted by 2or3whiskeysodas 16 November | 16:10

My relatives from Canada are in town. We had lunch at my parent's house today and had a grand time.

I invited them for dinner on Tuesday and I am seriously panicking because I have to make something delicious and special for 12 people. I need ideas and pep talks. Maybe I will make what occhiblu had on Friday night. :-)

posted by LoriFLA 16 November | 16:27

Lori, if you want to do beef, you may want to look into a salt-crusted beef tenderloin, which I would highly recommend. (The recipe I usually use actually has you slice up a few cloves of garlic and insert those into slits in the meat before sealing it up, which ups the yummy, and she suggests rosemary for the crust rather than other herbs. But the idea is still the same.)

posted by occhiblu 16 November | 16:46

(Oh! But I forgot the best part, which is the totally decadent mustard cream sauce that goes with it. If you're interested lemme know and I'll post or email that recipe.)

posted by occhiblu 16 November | 16:47

Driving home, I saw three of thesePorsches driving down the highway. It was cool, because they're still in the testing phase of development. It's like spotting a unicorn, only in car form.

posted by hellojed 16 November | 16:47

My son's 6th birthday party on Sunday. The weather forecast was for "scattered thunderstorms", but the jumping castle was installed by 10, the kids were balls of sweat by about 10.05 (it was over 30c in the morning and the sun was bilsteringly hot). We had 25 kids and 15 adults there, so things were a little frantic at times, but it was fun.

We sat out in our half-completed alfresco area and watched the approaching storm while the kids played on the jumping castle - rain poured down in buckets, there was lightning everywhere (including several very close strikes with thunderclaps loud enough to rattle the house), but the kids played on, soaked and loving it. It was only when the power went out after a particularly loud thunderclap that the castle deflated and the kids substituted splashing in mud-puddles and sliding down our muddy bank - ending up not only drenched, but bedraggled and incredibly muddy, but very very happy. The adults stood under shelter, shouting encouragement.

It was a good day. We were a little concerned that our request on the invitations to not bring presents, but to provide cash that we would use to put towards one large present would not go over too well, but everyone was really happy to do it and understood. Now, instead of 15 crappy presents that would get broken in a week, he will get a Wii that everyone can claim to have bought him (we got $305 in total).

posted by dg 16 November | 16:50

Tenderloin would be easy enough and special! I'd love to have the recipe. Thanks, occhi.

posted by LoriFLA 16 November | 16:50

The recipe was a bit too long to post, so I emailed it.

posted by occhiblu 16 November | 17:18

I am currently enjoying just sitting here doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Entourage on the DVD player, tracking the "Motrin Moms" controversy on Twitter- this is fun. The rest of my weekend has been trying, I need this brain-dead time.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 16 November | 17:38

Hiking up a local mountain today (not my picture - credit goes to Daniel Ferguson). As we neared the top, we emerged from the fog and discovered it was sunny. The view was of mountain tops and fluffy clouds today. It's always beautiful and ever-changing.

cmonkey, lint-free clothing is just the start of a fuller life ... keep at it! :)

posted by nelvana 16 November | 18:18

I had a lovely quiet weekend, but the highlight was definitely catching up with a friend I used to work with, Emma. I lost track of her about a year ago, and have thought of her often over the last year. She called me up about a week ago to invite me to her party, and I'm so glad to see her.

She was looking really well, and really happy, Which was lovely to see. She was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder just before I saw her last, but seems to be doing a lot better than she was.

I missed her way more than I realised, and don't intend to lose track of her again anytime soon.

posted by jonathanstrange 16 November | 18:49

"I just want it to be Auntie [Elsa] and [P.] all the time forever. Okay?" Okay!

The best.

Those Porsches are neat. Is it me or do they have a little Chevy Nova about them? In a good way?

The mountains are beautiful, nelvana. Wow.

posted by Miko 16 November | 19:09

Sleeping in this morning was a treat. Really, really sleeping in. Like to almost nine o'clock. That never happens for me. Mr. V was kind enough to walk the dog and feed the cats before coming back to bed. I made pancakes for the family, and the rest of the day has been relaxing and wonderful.

posted by redvixen 16 November | 19:20

I just finished putting in the last piece of "wood" flooring in my dining room. I've been working on the living room/dining room for a few weeks, since my wife had my son rip up the nasty carpet while I was out of town on business. Now I just need to do a little paint touch up and put the wood moldings back on. Feels good to have that done.

posted by Doohickie 16 November | 19:51

Our daughter discovered her feet this weekend. She spent a lot of time shaking them around and staring at them and trying to touch them. We put on some slippers that TPS and stynxno gave her (with a little rattle in them) and they kept her entertained for an hour or more.

posted by gaspode 16 November | 20:02

I finally broke through a major weight-loss goal, especially fitting as I turn 50 on Thursday. I also nailed a great Hammond organ sound on my synth that I have been tweaking for the last 2 weeks.

posted by Ardiril 16 November | 20:10

That's easy: first child was born, a daughter. Also known as: the milk vampire or weerwolfje (because of lanugo).

I wonder how many metafilter babies there are....

posted by jouke 17 November | 00:25

Congrats, jouke!

posted by Miko 17 November | 00:39

I celebrated the changing of winter coats tonight. I now have 44 of them. (I'm 44 years old) and went to dinner where I got my meal for free! WOO HOO!

When desert was served, the waitress brought it on a very tacky cake plate I brought for the occasion. Setting it on the table, she hit the button on the bottom of the stand and it played the happy birthday song loudly accompanied by flashing lights. The entire restaurant of people and the staff all smiled at once.

posted by MonkeyButter 17 November | 00:47

Congrats, jouke! And as to your question, maybe start here?

posted by gaspode 17 November | 08:41

Congratulations, jouke!

Lessee...I think the best part of my weekend was that I went out to look at a couple of homes for sale in my neighborhood. I'm thinking about buying a house soon (scary!), and it's fun to think about.

posted by Stewriffic 17 November | 11:10

How fantastic, jouke! Congratulations!

posted by jrossi4r 17 November | 12:17

The highlight of my weekend was not getting killed in a car accident. I was driving to the Bay area on I-80 Friday afternoon, in the middle lane, when the car in the right lane suddenly veered to the right and hit a concrete construction barrier, bounced violently off it, then did two 360s, crashing into several cars. By sheer luck, no one was in the left lane beside me, and I was quickly able to veer left and avoid hitting anything. I pulled over into the emergency lane for a few seconds - I literally had stopped breathing, thinking I was going to die. And god help me, I didn't stop. I just kept going until I got to the next exit so I could pull myself together. A few seconds later, I heard fire trucks and police cars that I assume were going to the accident scene. I hope everyone was okay but I feel extremely guilty that I didn't stop to see if everyone was okay.

posted by heyallie 17 November | 19:15

Whoa, heyallie. I'm glad you're okay!

posted by goo 17 November | 19:25

Wow, jouke, I almost missed that! Congratulations! What's her name?

posted by tangerine 17 November | 20:08

Thanks, mechas!
She's called Eleonore. Noor for short. It's a Dutch abbreviation of Eleonore.
Born 2 1/2 weeks early because her mother. So she's rather tiny and scrawny. So fragile.

≡ Click to see image ≡

We call her our flamenco dancer because of how she twirls her hands.

posted by jouke 18 November | 07:53

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