Edelweis, Stieg Larsson, and GAP wars

Thursday: After work I went with Phil and the gang to Edelweis, a charming little German pub with the most amazing Thursday special I've ever experienced. You can get a liter of beer for $5 and a brat with sour kraut for $3. I downsized to a 1/2 liter and then ended up having two of them. But all in all the cheapest dinner you can get. Also you get to rub elbows with Mike the accordion player and Richard Prichard and old (possibly senile) old man who as allegedly been married 6 times and showed us not only his moon rocks but some antique Chinese coins he's "not supposed to have." This week we also met Lupe and Carlos and their white, uber-friendly "bro" who joined our table unsolicited. They were fun. No harm done.

Friday: I got up and did... nothing. I read the rest of "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" by Stieg Larsson. Not going to lie, it was a little difficult at points because it's set in Switzerland and there are mentions of things I know nothing about and casual references to places I've never heard of and can't pronounce. Overall I really enjoyed it though. I suppose I also went to Chicken Express with Rachel Seo (not my roommate) so that was good. At least I left the apartment once.

Today: I went to check my mail and STILL don't have the work pants I ordered from the GAP at the beginning of LAST MONTH. Geesh! Can't even call them because they're not open on Saturday. Dumb. I went and got a couple of grocery items at Target and now I'm chronicling my less than thrilling weekend. Being broke is no picnic. You pretty much have to invent things to do for free or read books. I'm ok with it but it doesn't make for very exciting blog posts. I'll let you know how the sequel to my book ("The Girl Who Played with Fire") is when I finish it. Possibly this weekend unless I finish watching class lectures. Which reminds me I have several hours of that left to do. Gross.

Rooooaaaaadtriiiiiiiiiiip!

So Saturday was essentially all driving. Conway to Little Rock airport to Houston. It was just a long day on the road. I got to Houston about 5 (yea I didn't get lost or anything--miracle!) or so and was immediately greeted by my homegirl, Jennifer. Missed the crap outta that girl fo realz. We spent the rest of that evening on various shenanigans including, red wine + peach schnapps (which is DELICIOUS and DEADLY), dinner at Alexander the Great (a Greek place around the corner--I had braised lamb shank and it was delightful!), a run to Walgreens for CHEAP wine (we only had that one bottle which was NOT sufficient to meed the needs of all of us, let alone the new wine fetish of Julia and Jen), and drinking said cheap wine while we lounged around in Jen and Julia's room listening to some choice tunes. Those in attendance included Jen and Julia (obviously), Maria, Anjelica, Aislinn, myself, AAAAAND.... Donnald! That's right, the man we all know and love, the pimp the men envy, the one and only Rap Master D! Also known as D Money, he is so fly he can get his nails painted pink and have no one even dare THINK of revoking his man card (lest he shame them to their core with his lyrical stylings). It was a great night.

Today we spent the whole day at a race track. Not the ponies but go karts! It was a long day because there were so many (70) of us but it was a good time. We got there at approximately noon and the final race wasn't until 6 (a whole 5 hours after we began... we had to "warm up" and then qualify...intense!) so we didn't leave until... something like 8ish. Woof. When we finally made it back to the Double Tree we ate some of the tastiest pizza ever and then we all pretty much dispersed to go either to bed or to work on our presentations (don't worry I'm done). It was just a fun day but I'm wiped, however my devotion to you dear readers has kept me up long enough to do some behind the scenes reporting. You're welcome.

Tomorrow: presentations and then one of our infamous dinners on the company tab. I'm hoping my liver can handle it...it's kinda out of practice after this very lame summer. I'll let you know how it goes... eventually.

In unrelated news I finished my first recreational book in ages. State of Fear by the almighty Michael Crichton. Very good. Thought provoking. I recommend it.

And finally we'll wrap up tonight with the usual countdown:

Houston: NOW!!!

Manhattan: 4 days!!!

SFKS: ONE week!!! (MOM IT'S SO CLOSE!)

Goodnight and good luck.