No one mourns the wicked

The war is over

I hate fruit flies, I sure do
I hate fruit flies and so should you
They feed on fruity things that rot
And come out of my garbage pot
Their reflexes are lightening speed
"Please hold still," I beg and plead
They breed and breed like its their job
It makes me want to moan and sob
My first trap didn't work so well
I wish that they would go to hell!
Next I tried some plastic wrap
Over a cup of apple sap
They crawl right in and can't crawl out
Looks like they've lost the exit route
I tip the cup and then they die
I surely, surely do not cry
Now that all of them are dead
I finally can go to bed.

The lake house

This past week Summer and I planned another trip to Lake White. I think I'd consider it my new favorite local retreat. Our friends live on the lake so we spent the day tubing and boating.

All the houses around Lake White are white with red roofs and the lake is surrounded by the hills of southern Ohio.

Summer and I tubing


I tried to get Summer off her tube.
It didn't work.


Steve walking on water


View of the lake from their house. Notice the pirate ship to the left.

Yes, a pirate ship/raft. It's awesome.
We towed it behind the pontoon boat & set up a projector screen on it to watch a movie at night.

They've also turned an old school bus into a scarlet and gray traveling party van, complete with futons, a refrigerator and mini-stove.

Did I mention that Lake White is the middle of Pike County so it is "hicks-ville?" Here are some amazing/hilarious things we saw around town.

A toilet being used as a flower pot. Ingenious!

Animals feeding in the front yard.

They were sold out when we stopped inside to pick some up.

The thing

I came out from the movies last night and this is what I saw on my car:

I know that I'm scared of insects, but this is one HUGE praying mantis

Pete was the only one who would get close enough to it, so he provided a size comparison.

Pete was mesmerized by it. I was not.

I also made Pete swat if off the car. Candace and I were too freaked out to go near it.

You say it best, when you say nothing at all...

I love the Olympics. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching this past week, especially swimming and watching Michael Phelps race . However, the announcers have been incredible. And by incredible I mean horrible. Here is a sample from Saturday's race after he won his eighth gold medal.

"Eight for eight. In the 112 year history of the modern Olympic games, more than 100,000 athletes have competed in summer and winter Olympic games. Only one has won eight gold medals. That is called beating the odds."
Beating the odds? Really?

"Michael Phelps and eight gold medals in a single games; never, ever done before, may never be done before. Who knows."
So you're saying it's never been done before?

"Probably doesn't matter what the conditions are. Just wind him up and he goes, although the pool and modern training techniques and the new swimsuits didn't help or didn't hurt rather when it comes to all those world records set here."

And then there is Andrea Kremer, a reporter for NBC who asks the worst questions. Brendan Hansen had not won a medal at these Olympics until the last medley relay. With Michael Phelps standing right next to her, what did Andrea ask Brendan?
"Can you put it in perspective for people what winning 8 gold medals in a single games, 16 overall in an Olympic career means?"
That is the only question she asked Brendan.

Don't get me wrong. I think Michael Phelps's is a great athlete, if not one of the greatest athletes ever. But some of the announcers and reporters need to find some new material. Or stop talking.

Mistakes

I recently heard this quote on a television show and it got me thinking:

"There are certain things in life where you know it's a mistake but you don't really know it's a mistake because the only way to know that it really is a mistake is to make that mistake and go, "Yup, that was a mistake". So really, the bigger mistake would be to not make the mistake because then you'll go about your whole life not knowing whether it was a mistake or not."

I really hate when lines from a tv show strike home. However, this quote sums up many aspects of my life. A few of the more trivial events in my life that I knew might be potential mistakes (and the ones I'm willing to divulge):

• Was it a mistake last week to have 2 cookies for breakfast, a cupcake for lunch and Jeni's ice cream for a mid-afternoon snack? Absolutely. But now I know my sugar tolerance in a 6 hour span.
• Was it a mistake to go Europe twice in one summer even if it meant not divulging the trip to my coworkers and calling in sick from Dublin (great story)? Heck no, although it remains one of my proudest yet shameful moments.
• Is it a mistake to plan another international trip when I just paid off the previous trip to Spain and the student loan bills just started coming? I hope not.
• Is it a mistake to stay up past 10:30 the nights before I go to work? Yes, and yet I continue to make this mistake.

Do I learn from these mistakes? Yes, for the most part. Do I regret some of these mistakes? Of course. But I think I'd rather regret the mistake than regret not even making a potential mistake.

So You Think You Can Dance...

There is this TV show on Fox called "So You Think You Can Dance." It is along the likes of American Idol except, obviously, it features dancers (and the dancers in the show actually have backgrounds in dance so they are really good to begin with). My friends and I got a little "crazy" on the 3rd of July waiting for the fireworks and started dancing. I'm pretty sure we're going to try out next year. I think we have a chance. Especially my friend on the left.

Girls Gone Wild

No, not that kind of girls gone wild. I'm referring to my recent trip to Ikea. My friend Summer needed to outfit her first apt. Ikea recently opened a store in Cincinnati so we decided a trip was in order. Summer rented a U-Haul & we drove down.

The adventure begins

Candace and I overfilled our first cart.

Six carts between us (Well Candace and I only had two of those carts).
The people behind us enjoyed watching 4 people push 6 carts.

With our new purchases

Activities after rain or "It's midnight, now what?"

Last week we got some severe rainstorms.
What do you do when you get that much rain?
Here is a simple formula to follow:

Borrow or find some old t-shirts and shorts that are slippery
(and make the #1 sign with your fingers-you'll look really cool).

Find a park that the cops won't check and look for good puddles.

Form a line

Run and dive

Come to a stop

Get back in line and get splashed.

And if there is time, form a pyramid.

Top 10 moments from my trip to Utah

In no particular order, but somewhat chronological

10. Staying with Katie. We stayed up late and talked like the good 'ole days when we were roommates. A special thanks to Quinn for not waking up while we were talking, but waiting till I went to sleep and Katie had just fallen asleep.

9. Staying with my cousins and staying up talking with Kristen. I love my family.


8. The family reunion. I missed
it last year and was excited
to be in town the same weekend.
I also got the servers to give me extra rolls.
It was my victory of the luncheon.


7. Megan's wedding, which I almost missed because I forgot my recommend in Ohio. At least I realized I didn't have it the night before.
6. Staying with Nate'. Now that she's going to Law School I won't have any more real ties to Turnberry. I guess that isn't really a bad thing though.

5. Megan's mom giving her a "congrats, you're expecting" card instead of a "congrats, you're married" card.

4. Reunions with friends: Andrea, Becca, Chris, Trisha, Jaclyn, Craig, Will, Big Dave, Christian, Kristen.

Pictured here is Andrea


3. In what will come as no surprise to many, food. Or rather, eating at some of my favorite places, and getting my favorite dessert.

2. Running into Troy at East High... It's the start of something new.

1. Katie describing someone as "husky"
and doing the arm movements.
Totally unscripted.
I about fell off the couchwhen she did it,
and did have to ask her to do it again.
Apparently I'm not the only one who
thinks that you have to use the arm movements when using the word husky.

There isn't much to do in our town, or Logan Ohio Rocks!

This past weekend I went camping with some friends in southern Ohio. The Hocking Hills region to be exact. This area is about as close to mountains as you can get in Ohio, but they are still hills. Anyway, it is a beautiful area and we had a lot of fun. On the way home, our car found some great pictures in Logan, Ohio (capital of the Hocking Hills region).

This guy set up a tight rope and was practicing in the morning. I think he was in the circus. He was juggling later.

We shouldn't have taken pictures of people while they're camping, but we couldn't pass this up.
As a note, this was about 11am, and we were all ready for the day.

We found this sign in the park's visitor center. The title of the list was "Nature's Chronicles." The list includes the dates of Ohio's founding, the American Civil War and other important dates in the history of Ohio and the nation. However, mark 13 states the day the OSU football program started. Their obsession with football is sometimes embarrassing.

Gary is thinking of converting

Stairway to Heaven or stairway to nowhere?
Either way, Gary and I couldn't get in.

Nothing says class like a half naked woman tattoo on your calf

Not much going on or a whole lot going on