Greetings from West Des Moines, IA!
Just got back from ice skating downtown at the Brenton Ice Rink. Decided to practice a bit before my next round of lessons starts tomorrow (Monday) evening. The ice was decent and it was not overly crowded. Practiced transitioning from forwards to backwards via the mohawk turn and by a few other methods. My only complaint tonight is that my feet hurt more then usual. Tomorrow will wear thicker socks.
The ice rink tonight...
Last Thursday the temps got into the mid 60′s… so was able to have the windows open for a few hours in the apartment. John went outside and cleaned all of the apartment buildings windows using the squeegie on the telescoping pole we purchased from Menards a few weeks ago.
Weather has slowly been getting back to normal. Today it got up to 41 out.. still pretty good for January in Iowa. Keep thinking we are going to pay for all of this with a nasty blizzard and below freezing temps in February.
John is getting back into the swing of things with his new set of college classes. He is taking a web site design class and a computer networking class. They both look pretty interesting to me. The networking class is going to have him use a “Cisco Network Simulator”. He will be changing the programming of routers and get to understand how IP (Internet Protocol) functions.
We’ve been having fun with the remote control car/tank think John received for his birthday. One of the neat things it does is let you take pictures from it’s internal camera. Here’s a few pics from when I chased Prince around the apartment with it:
Cautious yet curious..
Like a deer in the headlights 
Taken in "Infrared Mode"
Enough already.....
This morning was apartment cleaning day. John became the “angry cleaner” and complained and moaned about stupid stuff while doing his part. I did the laundry (including bedding) and cleaned the bathroom. John cleaned the kitchen, dusted and vacuumed. Seemed like a pretty even distribution of tasks – except mine lasted all day. Last load of clothes is in the dryer now.
Have started to read more the past few weeks. Just finished The Associate by John Grisham – borrowed it from my Dad at Christmas time. Did not like how it ended. Now reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I’m 75 pages into the book and so far it is interesting. Was able to check it out as a digital book for free from the West Des Moines Public Library using their WILBOR eBook system. They purchase eBooks and then loan the copies they own to one person at a time. After you check them out you are then directed to Amazon.com to download. I’m reading it with the Kindle software on my iPad. This is the first eBook I’ve read on my iPad and it is going well. Not sure I like looking directly at a light source while reading, but it does work well for reading in bed while John is sleeping. Still prefer my Nook’s E Ink screen but free is free and not complaining.
Next Saturday I leave for the Lotusphere conference in Florida. Wanted to purchase some nice clothes to wear, so we went to the Valley West Mall a few miles away from the apartment. First we stopped at Chipolte for supper. Enjoyed a vegetarian fajita burrito and ice tea. Like how they grill their veggies – really brings out their flavors. Then headed over to JC Penny’s. Nothing like trying on new clothes after eating, but oh well. Received a gift card from my parents for Christmas – so was able to pick out several pair of casual kaki Dockers, three shirts and a new belt. The weather in Florida has been rather cool the past week, but today it got into the mid-70′s. Hoping to wear short sleeve shirts most of the time I’m there, but will bring a jacket just in case. I’m going to have to pack carefully since the first week will be “business casual” attire, then the second week will be shorts, swim suits, Speedos and vacation attire. Thinking about brining along my ice skates because there’s a really nice indoor rink not too far from the time-share. Very much looking forward to the two weeks in Orland, but first need to make it through a full week of work. Want to get lots done before I leave so I don’t fall too far behind.
Not much else going on… I squealed with delight when I discovered that Project Runway All Starts started last week. I missed the first episode on the TV, but was able to watch online via their website: Project Runway All Stars. It is just delicious to see some of my favorite contestants back and competing. The only downer is that the show is not hosted by Heidi and Tim. Watching it makes me realize how much they bring to the show.
I’m off to play Warcraft for an hour, then watch TV and read until I fall asleep in the freely laundered sheets.
That helicopter thing sounds fun. I’m sure Prince appreciates his new roommate.