Distractions

I managed to have a little fun this weekend. I got to hang out with blogbuddy (and now "real life" friend!) Anne from over at e.b.'s world on Saturday. We just sat at one of the lovely outdoor restaurant in Ybor City, had a couple of brews and talked about everything and nothing.

Saturday evening Dean and I went to the Clearwater Thresher's game, where we laughed at the group date where the girls wore too much makeup and the boys too much cologne. We didn't pay too much attention to the game, just enjoyed the weather and the minor league atmosphere. The reason for our trip to Clearwater wasn't the game, it was to try the new Clearwater Famous Dave's. As we are both fans of Famous Dave's, this was a big development for us. We anticipate many more Clearwater trips before leaving the region. Each Famous Dave's has a different theme - the one in Uptown Minneapolis is like a St. Louis blues bar, the one near the University of Minnesota Campus is decorated like an old time gas station, and the one at Mall of America is like a rustic Northern Minnesota cabin. Fittingly, the Clearwater location is decorated like a beach house with old time life jackets and water skis. Very cute. And the food was just as good as I remember.

And lastly, we have spent the last several evenings caring for and being entertained by these guys:



They are the offspring of my last fertile female, and they are Dixie's half-siblings so it is no surprise that they are utter maniacs. When I first caught them they were pretty freaked out



But now they are playing and enjoy being handled. They are about 5 weeks old and into absolutely everything. They spend most of their time in a cage on the balcony but for a few hours each night I lock up our cats and let the babies run around in the living room. There is one boy and one girl. They have nearly identical markings. However, like most solid-colored cats, as babies they have faint tabby markings under their top coat. The boy has stripes, and the girl has swirls. They will grow out of their "tabbiness" though and be beautiful tuxedo cats in only a couple of months.

On Sunday they are going to the Animal Coalition of Tampa as part of their "Street Kitties" program. ACT will spay/neuter them, along with de-fleaing, de-worming and first round of vaccinations. Then they will go to PetSmart where I'm certain they will be adopted by the first person who lays eyes on them because really, who could resist?

Girls Night: Tampa Edition

For Friday night, my lab planned a dinner in honor of my successful defense a couple of weeks back and we all agreed to meet at a local Thai restaurant. I was completely shocked (and hopelessly confused) to go to the restaurant with Deano and find Geb and Di, two of my best girlfriends from Minnesota. You know the weird things that go through your mind when you see someone totally out of context? Here's what I thought when we walked in and saw those two sitting at the table:

Wow, those two girls look just like Geb and Di. And they're staring at me like I know them. Oh my God, that is Geb and Di! They came to Tampa and didn't tell me, and happened to come to the same restaurant as us. This is going to be awkward when they try to explain why they are here without telling me. Oh wait! They came for ME! They came to hang out with ME!

Ridiculous, right? Needless to say they got me good. They had been in touch with Deano, my parents, even my lab mates to pull off this feat. And the predictable subsequent collision of worlds ensued how you might imagine with the girls telling my lab mates and Dr. Hari about the wild college days when my reputation as a robust drinker preceded my intellectual prowess. And so, being reminded of those days, and since I am still the same person after all, I decided it was perfectly reasonable to drink the way I did in college. Never mind the fact that age and an adult lifestyle have seriously eroded my tolerance, not the mention my ability to bounce back from a wild night.

I blame the girls. They force me to party every single damn time. Except this time Geb is preggo, which is totally awesome because not only do I get to be an honorary auntie in a few months, we also got a designated driver for the weekend.

Dinner at the Thai restaurant was excellent and I had a lot of fun watching my girlfriends and my co-workers mingle. Especially when one of my lab mates tried out her best Minne-sooo-tan accent on my friends. After an extended dinner and a couple of cocktails, half the lab went home to their spouses and families. The party continued (with Dr. Hari!) at the bar next door for a little while where we shared some pitchers and listened to Dr. Hari reminisce a little about his own college days.

Later, Deano, the girls, and I hit the neighborhood bar at the end of our street where things got out of hand very fast. We ran into some fellow grad students (a couple of "lifers") who took it upon themselves to hit on my friends. We also played a rather mean game of "who has the best drinking story". I got pretty emotional as it is a rarity to have my husband and my best friends with me (usually the husbands tend to step back a little in the wake of the force that is us girls) but I know they wanted him to hang out with us since they hadn't seen him in a few years.

Things got blurry after several rounds and the last clear memory I have is the clock reading 2:00. After that there are fragments of the remainder of the night including a not-so-great toilet-hugging session, but it was worth it to have an evening with my friends in my neck of the woods. Girls night in Tampa was a success.

Saturday we went to Clearwater. We ate lunch at Frenchy's and then headed to the beach where we recovered from our hangovers under a cabana among the sounds of the waves and seagulls, the smell of the saltwater and the beach eye candy that we realized for the first time was way too young for any of us. But it didn't stop us from looking. Or commenting.

In the evening, we just watched sappy chick flicks with candy and more junk food, reminisced some more and said our good byes until the next time we meet up, when Geb will either be big as a house or even a mom and I'll likely call some place else home. They flew back yesterday morning, and I resumed life as normal.

Thanks, ladies, for planning your trip down to Florida in a completely covert fashion, surprising the bejesus out of me and showing me a fantastic time, as usual. After 10 years, we still know how to have a totally kickass time.

I Heart Joel

A few months ago, Dean started hanging out with a guy from work named Joel. Due to various circumstances, I was always unable to join them. Either Joel had only one extra ticket to an event or I was too busy with work stuff. What I found hilarious though was the man-crush Dean had developed for Joel. Every time Dean would come home from one of their "dates", he'd rave about what a cool guy Joel is. Through Dean, I learned all about him and his wife. That he is a Cuban immigrant to the States via Spain, that he is a cyclist and that he and his wife at one time owned a small gym.

Dean and Joel finally planned an evening out with me and Joel's wife, who Dean had never met either. All four of us had to drive separately to the restaurant and unfortunately Joel's wife never made it due to prohibitive traffic, so it was just the three of us. Over dinner, I'm pretty sure I developed my own crush on Joel. He just has a way about him that makes him literally one of the most likable people I have ever met. He is extremely conscientious. The first thing he asked Dean when we sat down was how his day went. He asked me all sorts of questions about my work and then proceeded to tell me how great Dean is and how much he admires him. Not that I don't completely agree, but it's a pleasantly unusual thing to say. Then he told us about how he had his wife had dated for ten years before finally getting hitched in Vegas. Sound familiar? And since his wife was adopted, the two of them want to adopt children of their own because they understand that a loving family is the best gift you can give to a child who doesn't have one. I know, sounds almost sickening, but I assure you this man was completely genuine and I found myself in the same position as Dean - totally enamored. AND he does the Tampa-Orlando MS bike tour. We already have plans to meet Mrs. Joel and it couldn't come soon enough, though I'm pretty sure Dean and I are both a little jealous of her.