I have seen the top of the mountain, and it is good…

What a whirlwind week it’s been. Luckily, I’ve had nothing but time to take care of things so everything is shaking out nicely. Today was spent in interesting fashion, bouncing back and forth from different things all day.

This morning we went to Washington to discuss the wedding pictures with our photographers. It turns out they are looking to refine their online presence and they may be calling me about setting up some web servers for them. That may be a nice little side thing to get some extra cash to slap up the credit card debt.

Then we went to a few small shops in Washington, where I scored this awesome metal coat of arms with dragons on either side. It only cost $30 and it is has a nice patina and looks like it was made for the spot above my fireplace and below the mantle. I have to figure out whether it is safe to drill into the brick there to anchor a screw to hang it up.

Then we came back into town and took care of some insurance stuff with my uncle, which took all of five minutes. By this time, Tasha and I were both hungry so we ventured to La Gondola where we ate our body mass in Italian food. At that point we were both quite tired, so we took a several hour long nap before deciding to venture out into the world to spend our Christmas money.

And spend we did.

First we headed to Northwoods Mall under gathering fog to see if the Peoria Sears carried iPods. They don’t. We then shopped for a ‘gaming chair’ for Tasha, she found a nice butterfly chair at Claire’s that suited her purpose quite nicely. After that, we decided to head to Bath and Body Works, where they were having a sale. Tasha elected to get enough Cucumber and Melon lotions and creams to wash the smell off of an Indian guy for an entire hour or so, and then it was off to further quest for my iPod.

After being repeatedly foiled at buying an iPod from Sears (website sold out, stores don’t carry them), I decided to head to Best Buy because a friend of mine swears by their replacement policy. They had the iPod I wanted for the standard price so I laid down my Christmas money and charged up the mighty forces that back my Discover card and I am now the proud owner of one of the coolest digital devices ever. Seriously, this thing is going to get used. I love the fact that my entire music collection fits in my coat pocket and can be called upon whenever desired.

Then it was onward to Barnes and Noble, where we were after South Beach Diet books so we can give that a shot after the first of the year. Tasha has been wanting to try it for awhile now, and I’d like to shave off a few pounds (just a few, don’t freak people) before my second degree black belt test. I have had several online acquaintences that said that this diet actually works, one that relies on it so much that they’ve said that if they ever needed to lose 10-15 lbs in a few weeks they can do it with no trouble on this. We got those books, a Linux Magazine for me (which I would like to subscribe to soon), and a B&N membership since Waldenbooks discontinued theirs. Then it was time to head home.

The drive home was a little nervewracking since the fog had rolled in heavily by that point. We still made it home in one piece, where we found one of Tasha’s Christmas gifts waiting for her on the porch. I won’t spoil the surprise for her, but it’s a pretty neat present.

We came in to find that the dog had knocked off a small candy dish that sits on the living room table and eaten a bunch of candy. He was sugar-high for awhile and consulting with the Internet yeilded that he would have to eat something in the order of two pounds of Baker’s chocolate to be in danger of dying. He’s resting comfortably next to me, so he’s going to make it.

That’s all from today, it was busy and fun!