Sewicked

I saw a really neat thing yesterday, one I don't see often. I suppose that I would if I was outdoors more. I saw a redtail hawk raiding a squirrel nest. I was running an errand & I heard a squirrel; they do make vocalizations you know. So I looked up to see if I could see the squirrel. There was the squirrel & there was the redtail in the squirrels' nest. One squirrel was hiding, it popped up every so often. The hawk was raking through the nest & parts of it were floating away on the breeze. I just stood there & watched for a few minutes. Like I said, it was really neat.

Good news, no snow last night or today. I am relieved. I am actually sick of snow. Ask me again in four to five months, though.

I did go to SheVaCon. Since my back-up was on vacation I was only going to be able to have Friday the 27th off if my supervisor's baby held off that long. She didn't. She was born Wednesday the 25th. So I was glumly expecting to work all day Friday & then to drive to Roanoke, by myself, after work. I went ahead & packed Thursday night & at Chris's urging put my gaming bag & my amusements/food bag in the car. After all, one way or the other, I'd need them there. As you may (or may not) know it started snowing Thursday afternoon. I left work early because the last time I didn't, it took me three hours to get home. The next morning, UNC was condition III in the Adverse Weather Conditions. That means only emergency personnel show up & I'm not emergency personnel. So I drove to Joe Junger's house, put my stuff into his van; we picked up Mike & Kelly; then drove to Roanoke. By the time we hit the Virginia border, the roads were dry. Roanoke didn't get a thing, not even rain.

It was a great weekend. I played 6 games, including a 2-rounder. I had 5 hours of sleep Thursday night (packing kept me up until almost midnight & I woke at 5 am), 5 hours Friday night (late gaming & then up at my usual wake up time), & 2 hours Saturday night. I played midnight madness Saturday & the game started about 12:30 or 1 am. When we finished playing, I looked at the window & asked, "What's that light coming in the window?" "Dawn" was the reply. Oh. It was too early to wake my roommates so I tried to check my email on the computer in the lobby. No luck, someone was playing cubis. I finally gave up & went to the room, 312, at 7:20. I either went into the bathroom to put on my pajamas (scrubs) or I went to bed at 7:20. Either way, I woke up at 9 am. I don't know why. I had planned to leave a note "wake me one hour before check out."

Since I was awake I went to the dealer's room, bought stuff I couldn't afford (but the room was cheaper than I had expected), and bothered Eric Menge as he was running Rites of Eternal Spring (guess what I played for midnight madness). Actually, I 'entertained' the players while Eric checked on the status of the art he wanted to buy in the art auction. Then Joe, Mike & I went to the Tanglewood mall & picked up pizza for the Eric & his players. Rites is a double round mod & they were trying to get done in about the same time everyone else was doing a single round.

I tried to nap on the way home, but failed. I read the signed, hardback copy of March to the Stars instead. I think I finally caught up on my sleep about Wednesday. That evening (Wednesday), Chris & I went over to Richard & Kathy's for supper & so Richard could download the pictures from my camera for me.

Hailey, my niece, had her 8th birthday party this past Sunday. She had it at Tumblebee's. So the girls (all 8 of them) played on the trampolines, the uneven bars & in the foam pit. They had lots of fun, burned off lots of energy & then we had cake & ice cream. Hailey opened her presents. She likes the wrapping paper that I use, she told her friends so. She got 3 or 4 music cd's. She liked the Klutz book of simple embroidery that I gave her but she wasn't certain what it was. Just that it was used to make stuff. She just had her ears pierced so I bought earrings at Claire's. I bought 12 pairs. It was a set of 6 pairs for $6.25, buy one, get one free. Hey, she's 8, if she loses them it's no big deal. Her other aunt (Lisa's sister) bought her 14k gold ones. Hope Hailey doesn't lose those. The party was a lot of fun.

I spent too much money Saturday at SouthPoint while I was getting Hailey's presents. I bought earrings & hairsticks for myself at Claire's, plus I went to the Body Shop & stocked up on shampoo. They're getting ready to do new formulas. I also bought 2 games at Electronic Boutique. Both for Xbox & both are used. So one was $20 & one was $9. I haven't played them yet.

Chris & I had lunch across the street from Southpoint at Ted's MOntana Grill. The bison burgers are very good. Alltell, next door, was having an open house. I picked up a Duke tshirt for Dad, entered the drawing for the Duke signed basketball, $100 gift cert to Wal-Mart & something else. 3 drawings; I won the Wal-Mart certs. Yay me. I picked them up Monday evening, after work.

Sunday, before I left for the party, Chris & I went to the grand opening of the SuperTarget where Southsquare used to be. We bought some open shelves for the kitchen, for shoes at the front door & for the dvd's, cds & games by the tv. Plus picked up a few grocery items & I bought a car seat cover my car. The color is close to the upholstery & I put it on Monday. It doesn't fit very well but hopefully it will prevent any more wear on the driver's seat. It's wearing through on one side. Returning from Target we made it home about 1:25. I had planned to leave at 1:30 for Greensboro. I still needed to wrap Hailey's presents: 2 books (previously mentioned embroidery & a Klutz activity book), 2 sets of earrings & 1 cd (Shania Twane's Up!). I left about 1:45, got gas & was on my way out of Durham before 2pm. I was trying to make to Dad's place in Pleasant Garden by 3pm. Luckily, the new I85 is shorter, plus I broke the speed limit most of the way there, and I was on time, barely.

This has gotten absurdly long. I'm going to stop now.