Smoking Cars, Tiny Horses, and Hairy Men--Nicole and Matt Go to the Fair

As promised, this has been a busy week. The week started off normally as Nicole worked and I went with school. We were met with disappointment however on Wed. We decided to go karting on Wed. night because it was both college night (for me) and ladies night (for Nicole). It would have made it an affordable activity. However, upon calling the track, we found out that ladies' night had been disbanded. So instead of going home happy and smelling like two-stroke, we went home clean and disappointed.

Thursday was a great day however. Nicole finished teaching for the next three weeks. Since Nicole is teaching in a year-round school, they now get a few weeks to recuperate. Nicole is particularly looking forward to this time because she really hasn't had a good chance yet to sit down and plan for her class. On Friday, I spent all day down on campus working with some equipment to take some measurements in a wind-tunnel. I was hoping to get everything done in roughly an hour--instead, it took me four. But I felt particularly smart after I figured it out and got the results I was expecting.

Friday night was the highlight of the week though. Nicole and I drove up to Richmond to the Virginia State Fair. There was a lot going on, but most importantly was the demolition derby. It's always refreshing to see grown men act like boys and smash things together for the pure fun of it. It's also lots of fun to listen to large hairy men in NASCAR shirts, with a beer and John Deere caps, yell a whole bunch of things that no one understands. After the derby finished, we enjoyed ourselves and just walked around the fair and talked about life and how glad we were that we didn't end up as 'carnys'. It was a great night of just enjoying the fair lights and fair aromas of grease and livestock. Of course to finish the evening off proper, we had a funnel cake.Cars smashing each other at the derby.

Some Midget Horses

Saturday was a great day as well. We had conference all day which was very good. We were also able to get some things done around the house before and between sessions. For me, after only three trips to Home Depot, I was able to finally mount our headboard to our bed. Then for an evening activity, we went to Bed, Bath and Beyond to pick out our first vacuum as couple. Our two area rugs have been in desperate need of vacuuming. The unit we got is small but has some really intense suctional powers. Shopping for a vacuum was a lot more fulfilling for me than picking out something like matching napkin holders or throw pillows where I am at a disadvantage because I can't match colors. I am lots more excited about the process when I can say things like, "it has a 12 amp motor" and "says here it operates on 745 watts rms power" and such. I can't wait until we can get to pick out our first radial arm saw and our first chipper-shredder.