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Last night, because I was too tired to write then
We went out for Mike's birthday, as he mentioned. The restaurant he chose was the "Chesapeake Steak and Seafood" restaurant, not to be confused with the chain Chesapeake Bay. It was out in... I don't know what part of town it is, but you go to homestead, go down eighth street until you feel like you're in a bad horror movie waiting to happen, and then it's right there on your right. It was an interesting restaurant though. Had a banquet room and a bar and a place with a live band playing and all - we were in the normal dinner room as far as I can tell. I enjoyed all of my food except for the actual prime rib I got. Oh well. We were there for like 3.5 hours because of a combination of a forgetful waitress and that none of us were really pressed for time anyway. Whee. Mike seemed to like all of the presents we got him.
(Now I can mention that my Thursday evening was delightful because I went around in Squirrel Hill shopping. I did not find the present I did want to get him, so I'll have to save it for a later holiday. I did have a silly encounter in the candy store where it was like
Storekeeper, to really-confused-looking-browsing-me: "Can I help you?"
Me, really distant: "Uh... I'm... um... looking for a present for a friend..."
Storekeeper: "What does he like?"
Me: "Um... er... pretzels, yeah..."
Storekeeper: *starts putting together a box of chocolate-covered-pretzels, most likely in an attempt to get this freakish person out of the store*
After that, I went around to other stores, including Barnes and Noble, where I ran into my friend Francisco. He wouldn't let me leave until I promised to buy a copy of the first book of Lord of the Rings, which I still have never read. Yeah, I know, you can flame me later. Anyway, so I got that and a book for Mike, and by that point it was like 9ish or 9:30ish so I got a bus and came home. I really did enjoy going around shopping by myself though. This worries me a little bit, but I'll think about it more later.)
Yesterday at work they finished their "classes" and "graduated" people. Of course, only 5 people out of the 40ish in the Pittsburgh office actually finished enough stuff to "graduate". I apparently came closer than a lot of people, and if I buckle down will have no trouble finishing the "homeworks" required for the second graduation ceremony on the 28th. After that, we had a company-catered lunch of bagels, and a bunch of people went bowling.
However, my response to the "Are you coming bowling?" email was:
"If you bring me a book for the nouryoku-shiken, I will come bowling."
Well, sure enough, he forgot to bring the book, so I decided not to go bowling. Carl and Avi and I played a game of Tigris and Euphrates instead, where I utterly demolished everyone, mostly due to Carl being merciful early on and me building tons of monuments. Carl and I went shopping at Phantom and Watermelon Blues afterwards. As I mentioned, Phantom had a ton of stuff I want. Blah.
And I think I've come full circle on this entry, unless I mention how later I played Simcity 3000 some more and found that I can't build on-ramps to highways and that they made a Philadelphia land grid, but it's aligned incorrectly to actually build Philadelphia, which annoys me a lot. Also, I built the CN Tower and the Golden Gate bridge in my random city. I feel so gratuitous.
(Now I can mention that my Thursday evening was delightful because I went around in Squirrel Hill shopping. I did not find the present I did want to get him, so I'll have to save it for a later holiday. I did have a silly encounter in the candy store where it was like
Storekeeper, to really-confused-looking-browsing-me: "Can I help you?"
Me, really distant: "Uh... I'm... um... looking for a present for a friend..."
Storekeeper: "What does he like?"
Me: "Um... er... pretzels, yeah..."
Storekeeper: *starts putting together a box of chocolate-covered-pretzels, most likely in an attempt to get this freakish person out of the store*
After that, I went around to other stores, including Barnes and Noble, where I ran into my friend Francisco. He wouldn't let me leave until I promised to buy a copy of the first book of Lord of the Rings, which I still have never read. Yeah, I know, you can flame me later. Anyway, so I got that and a book for Mike, and by that point it was like 9ish or 9:30ish so I got a bus and came home. I really did enjoy going around shopping by myself though. This worries me a little bit, but I'll think about it more later.)
Yesterday at work they finished their "classes" and "graduated" people. Of course, only 5 people out of the 40ish in the Pittsburgh office actually finished enough stuff to "graduate". I apparently came closer than a lot of people, and if I buckle down will have no trouble finishing the "homeworks" required for the second graduation ceremony on the 28th. After that, we had a company-catered lunch of bagels, and a bunch of people went bowling.
However, my response to the "Are you coming bowling?" email was:
"If you bring me a book for the nouryoku-shiken, I will come bowling."
Well, sure enough, he forgot to bring the book, so I decided not to go bowling. Carl and Avi and I played a game of Tigris and Euphrates instead, where I utterly demolished everyone, mostly due to Carl being merciful early on and me building tons of monuments. Carl and I went shopping at Phantom and Watermelon Blues afterwards. As I mentioned, Phantom had a ton of stuff I want. Blah.
And I think I've come full circle on this entry, unless I mention how later I played Simcity 3000 some more and found that I can't build on-ramps to highways and that they made a Philadelphia land grid, but it's aligned incorrectly to actually build Philadelphia, which annoys me a lot. Also, I built the CN Tower and the Golden Gate bridge in my random city. I feel so gratuitous.
shopping
On a semi-related note, I also just realized I kinda like touring RenFests alone, too, although I think that's more that I prefer to doing it along than doing it with random friends trailing behind me that I feel like I have to entertain. Ideally I could go with someone who really enjoys the arts and music and shows just as much as I do and we could just hang out all day. Oh well.
help with SimCity 3000
Re: help with SimCity 3000
(I had seen the site before, but had not realized they had so many tips and stuff... damn, now I need to start a new city and do it right the first time)