Sunday, June 5

Well, we didn’t sleep in quite so late this morning. You set your alarm for a trip to the Pancake House. Of course, we were dressed and all ready to go when Tim told us that Stef’s mom was planning to make this huge breakfast. I don’t know that I’ve ever felt disappointed about the prospect of a great home-cooked meal, but the Pancake House will do that to you. Then again, this is Teri Spiro we’re talking about. She made us crepes, bacon, and eggs and it was WONDERFUL. We’ll just hit the House another day ;-)

Good GOD, it was hot today. Over 90 freakin’ degrees! I mean, I wanted a warmer summer than last year, but man. Good thing I packed some shorts. Stefy and I wanted to sit outside and read our new books after breakfast (she bought me this Steve Jobs bio on Friday as a surprise), but that only lasted about 30 minutes. It’s a little hard to read with sweat and sunscreen dripping in your eyes. I guess this just means I’ll have a killer tan by the end of the weekend.

We went back into Birmingham this afternoon for a screening of ‘Cinderella Man’. I was a little reluctant to see it after some luke warm reviews, but it was definitely much better than I was expecting. The joke that Chris Rock made about Russell Crowe at the Oscars is true: "You want Russell Crowe and all you can get is Colin Farrell? Wait. Alexander is not Gladiator". Well, for that matter, Russell Crowe is no Bob DeNiro, and this is no ‘Raging Bull’, but it’s still a pretty damn good movie.

Miss Spiro and I got some ice cream after the movie, and back to the house planning to meet up with her folks for dinner. Those plans got scrapped, since they decided to go see the same movie at 6:30, so that just meant that we had to spend some more time by the pool. It was more comfortable reading weather by 6 p.m. tonight but it was still pretty hot, so we took a break after an hour or so, and drove to get some Chinese food for dinner. We watched part of ‘Celtic Pride’ on DVD over dinner—a sentimental favorite at the Spiro household—but put the movie on hold when we noticed how bad the weather was getting. After realizing that there was a tornado watch and multiple thunderstorm warnings nearby, I decided to abandon my plans of driving back to Lansing tonight, and just stay for the night. Aw shucks. Well anyway, that was pretty much it for this weekend. Very busy, but very fun. What’s amazing is that next weekend will be even better with Justin’s party, and the week after that I’ll be in Vegas baby! This is shaping up to be one hell of a summer 8-)

Saturday, June 4

I woke up at 9. But then I looked at the clock again and it was 10. It’s funny how that happens. I probably could’ve kept sleeping, but I felt like that would be a waste. The original plan was that we were going to try and meet up with my folks for breakfast this morning, but since Dan called during the movie last night, we never had a chance to re-connect and set something up. So, that meant we were solo this morning with no plans. Stefy and I went downstairs and had some hash for breakfast, and man that hit the spot. Meat ‘n potatoes. Gotta love it.

The Southers crew was coming over today, so that meant that Stefy and I were on pool duty again. We didn’t have as much to do this time around, but there was still some stuff that needed to be wrangled before the kids came over. Sean and Marina grabbed some stuff from Zoup for lunch on their way out to the house, so we had quite a mid-afternoon feast on our hands.

It was such a gorgeous day outside today. Stef and I played in the pool with Colin and Brandon for a while, but we spent most of our time being lazy, floating around in pool chairs. It’s a rough life, let me tell you.

The party eventually broke up at around 5:30, and Stef and I spent about an hour or so getting ready for game six tonight. We were up high the whole time tonight, but it was still great to just be there. Stef’s cousin Jeff and his girlfriend had the seats next to us, so it was a double date of sorts. Of course, I don’t think I heard Jeff’s girlfriend speak all night, but then again it’s kinda hard to talk in the middle of a basketball game. The Piston’s came to play tonight. A complete pasting of the Heat—their lowest point total in a playoff game EVER. You gotta love it. Now I just hope the boys in red white and blue can pull out another one in Miami on Monday.

Stefy and I celebrated the victory with another stop at McD’s on the way home. We figured that since this could be the last home game of the season, it’s best to soak it up while it lasts. But man… those wuz some goooood french fries. Mmmmm.

It was after 11 by the time we got back to the Spiro house, but it’s never too late for a swim. Stefy popped in the new mix CD I made for this weekend, and we went out for a short dip in the pool. The 84 degree temperature was a little balmy during the day, but was just perfect tonight. We dried off by the fire afterwards and finished listening to the CD. Just a wonderful, quiet way to end a fantastic day.

Friday, June 3

My last day sans-iBook at the office. It was a really busy Friday though, so the time flew by. Plus, it didn’t hurt that we ordered Kewpee’s for lunch today. Mmmmmmmm. God, that place is such my favorite. Olive Burgerrrrrr… mmmmmmm.

Well, I was out of the office at 4, and I’m glad I left when I did. I think leaving any later for Bloomfield is an invitation to rush hour hell. I made pretty good time though. Stefy and I wanted to go see ‘Madagascar’ in Birmingham tonight, so we left pretty soon after I got to her house. We stopped at the Coney Island across the street from the theater, and had a quite bite of dinner. The movie was really cute—much better than I was expecting. I did feel a little old when Stefy and I were the only ones cracking up at one pop-culture reference in particular, but I guess that just means we’re smarter??? Well, that’s what I’m telling myself anyway.

We were in the mood for ice cream after the show, but everything was closed by then, so we just went home. Our original plan was to watch another movie or something when we got back, but since we were both already pretty sleepy, we just decided to watch a couple episodes of ‘The Honeymooners’ on DVD (which I’d never seen before). Of course, a certain somebody passed out after about 20 minutes, so I just turned off the show and went to bed.

Thursday, June 2

It’s amazing how much I really use my laptop at the office. Working on the DULL for 9 hours a day gets real old real fast. Still, I could do most of my work in Windoze, and kept busy enough.

My night at the apartment was a busy one. I drafted a letter to mail out to various family and friends as a sort of fundraiser for my trip. I hate doing stuff like that, but basically it’s the nature of the beast. So, after spending a couple hours tinkering with the letters, I wrapped everything up in time for game six of the Pistons/Heat series on TNT. Tonight was not so good for our Pistons. We’re talking Train Wreck Awards here. The only good thing to come out of this game—and I’m definitely going to hell for even thinking this—was that Duane Wade got hurt in the second half. I mean, that’s not how anyone wants to win a series with a dude getting hurt… but I’ll take it. Still, it didn’t have much of an impact on tonight’s game, since it was such an ass pounding to begin with.

Other then that, I pretty much spent the rest of the night packing up for another weekend at my new home-away-from-home and talking with Stefy online. I gotta say, this video chat has been working out much better than I ever thought it would. Now, if I could only get my mom to figure out how to use her iSight camera…

Wednesday, June 1

A blur at this point. I was up before 6 driving back to Lansing, and didn’t get to sleep until after 1 last night. Work was a little slow since I managed to forget my laptop at Stefy’s house, but I kept busy. Most of my workday was eaten up by our staff meeting anyway, so the day actually went by pretty fast.

I drove out to my dad’s for dinner and laundry tonight. It was a nice visit, but Kyra was an absolute TERROR the whole time I was there. Psycho hose beast. I stayed until close to 8 while I was finishing up my laundry, but my bleeding ear drums were more than ready for a break by the time I pulled out of the driveway.

Tonight was spent putsing around my room, basically just trying to recuperate from a long, sleep-deprived day. I talked to Stefy on iSight before bedtime, but that was pretty much it.

Tuesday, May 31

I’ve made an executive decision to change the way I write events from here on out. Instead of pouring over every minute detail of my day, I’m just going to cover the highlights—in excruciatingly minute detail. Or something like that. Hey, it’s my site.. I can do what I want!

Okay, I got a phone call from Stefy this afternoon sheepishly asking me if I would mind driving all the way back to her house this afternoon so we could go to game four of the Pistons/Heat series. Ummm… yes please! I ducked out of here at 4:30 or so and made great time on my way out to Bloomfield. Stefy had dinner from Cosí waiting for us when I got to her house, so we scarfed that down right quick, and then took off for the Palace at around 6:30. Miss Spiro had managed to sweet talk her dad into letting us take the two tickets in the lower bowl for the first half—ROW FOUR!—and we wanted to get there early to soak up the atmosphere. Well, it might’ve been a little TOO early in hindsight, since the game didn’t start until close to 8:30, but it was still pretty sweet. We sat in those same seats for a game back in December, but it’s amazing how much cooler it is during the playoffs. I don’t mean to rub it in though O:-)

Well, the first half was pretty close, but it was clear that our beloved Pistons were controlling the game pace. Stefy and I took a couple of cute pictures of us while we were sitting down there, so a new photo series should be coming along soon enough. Anyway, we eventually had to yield our prime-time seats to Tim and Justin for the second half, which put us back up in the nosebleeds. Still, there really isn’t a bad seat in the house, and we actually enjoyed the fans in the upper level a lot more than the yuppies sitting down by the court. I mean, everyone was rowdy and annoying, but they were just more endearing up top.

The second half was closer than it needed to be, but it was still a pretty steady cool-down for the Heat. Stefy and I were in such a post-victory afterglow on our way home after the game, that we decided to celebrate by stopping by McDonald’s for a couple frozen cokes and some fries. We’re pretty wild and crazy like that. A great victory. A great night with my girl. And it sure beats the hell of watching it on my ten-year-old, 19” Magnavox.

Monday, May 30

I was up by 9 this morning, and did some more last-minute updates to Stef’s computer before heading downstairs for a light breakfast. My original plan for today was to simply pack up and leave when the Spiros left for the lake, but since the thing at my Dad’s house wasn’t starting until mid-afternoon, I decided to tag along for a few hours. It was a little chilly when we got out to the lake, but the sun kept peaking out, so we went for a little cruise in the boat with Stef’s dad while we waited for Teri to finish some gardening. We eventually went back and picked her up, but just made a couple more laps around Bald Eagle lake before calling it a day.

Stef and I snacked on some chips and salsa for a little while before eventually taking off for her house at around 2. I pretty much just dropped her off there and then hit the road for my dad’s at that point. The drive was pretty easy—must’ve been perfect timing—and I made it there before 4. I was just in time for hot dogs… oh yeah. There were only a few of dad and Sherry’s friends and their kids at the house, so it was a pretty low key affair. Still, it was good to see the people who were there, and I had a nice time just chilling out in the back yard, soaking up some sunlight.

Everyone filed out of the house by 6 or so, and I helped my dad do some cleaning up before I took off at 7ish. The apartment was empty when I got back, and I pretty much just spent the night cleaning up my room and getting some things organized. I talked to my mom and Dan online via iChat for about a half hour, so it was nice to catch up with them. Afterwards I fired up my camcorder and had a video chat with Stefy as I was getting ready for bed. Well, that’s pretty much it for this Memorial Day weekend. I had a nice break, and I hope everyone else did too.