the lowdown

so what have I been up to for the past, oh, fourteen months or so?  Nothing that would excuse my lack of blogging, unfortunately.

*I’ve gotten back into playing roller derby – this time, with the Circle City Socialites.  It’s so great to get to skate again – I know I’m not the fastest or strongest skater, but I know there’s a place for me.   It’s awesome.

*Since I’ve been skating so much, my lovely friend Laura convinced me to attempt to run the 09 Mini Marathon.  I’ve been training for that, slowly but surely.  Emphasis on slowly.

*I’m still drinking and critiquing with the fine folks at Hoosier Beer Geek, but my schedule doesn’t really let me join them as much as I did last year.  You can check out their upcoming events here.

So, anyway, sorry for disappearing.  I’ll try to do better.

one, two, three, four

Whee, she returns! 

What have I been doing, you ask?  Well, the big fat majority of my waking time has been consumed with the following: 

1)      Work.  Work, work, work.  And more work. 

2)      Planning the vacation to here, here and here.

3)      Drinking beer and planning gatherings with these fine folks.

4)      Geocaching toward the Epic 92 Challenge (this will require another blog post, I’m sure.)

5)      Wasting copious amounts of time on these websites.

6)      Thinking of pithy and fun things with which to update my blog, but chickening out.

7)      Being indecisive over which new restaurants to try.

8)      Apartment hunting in these locations.

9)      Becoming a Netflix junkie.

10)   Getting back into the role of consummate rock snob. 

…what have y’all been doing, I wonder?

feeling hot, hot, hot

Hello from Arizona!  I’m in Scottsdale this week, training on one of the aspects of my new job.  

It is HOT out here!   The breaking-record-heat-warning-air-conditioning-cranked-and-I’m-still-sweltering type of hot.  I’ve never been to Arizona, so I’ve never experienced this desert dry roast firsthand.  Now that I have, I think I’ll take my next trip in, oh, January or something. 

I’m fascinated by the pseudo-Southwest architectural style they have going on in greater Scottsdale as well.  I say ‘pseudo’ because it reminds me a lot of “Old Town” Carmel, very manufactured and contrived.  It makes for a great theme, but there are some that are completely over the top.  It probably doesn’t help that I’m smack dab in the tourist district – apparently everyone that visits is required to buy a piece of turquoise jewelry and a smoothie.  Just sayin’. 

The highlight of my trip so far was a trip to Papago Brewing, just up the road from our hotel.  I thought I was going to strike out as far as hitting a brewery on this trip, but the front desk clerk highly recommended this place.  The beer selection was top notch; the service, not so much.  I tried a New Belgium Mothership Wit (kind of a cross between a Leinie Sunset Wheat and the Brugge Wit) and a Papago Hop Dog (pretty similar to the Dogfish Head 60 Minute, although not quite as tasty).  I would have sampled more (they have huge coolers in the front where you can buy singles, and nearly thirty on tap) but I had to head to dinner. 

So, yeah.  I’m finishing up my stay here tonight, redeye-ing it back to Indy, and hopefully sleeping most of the day on Friday. 

Under the sweet, sweet air conditioning.