Bistro de' Bidwell

I haven't had a grill for a year now. One of the necessities of being a man is owning a grill, and its absence from my life has had me feeling a little inadequate. We've been looking to buy one for a while. That last grill we had was huge. Stainless steel, porcelain grates, three burner with an extra burner on the side... queue the Tim Allen grunts about now. It was a monster. We got it on sale with allusions of entertaining multitudes. We were going to be grilling steak for dozens of people on this massive beast that took up half our deck. I was going to use it every other day. Anything that could be grilled, would be grilled.

Of course none of that happened. The first summer we used it several times, but it was usually just the two of us, and we only fired up one burner. The grill quickly got taken down off the deck cause it took up so much room. Now it was in the yard and I had to move it every time I mowed. After a while I started to hate the thing. I wanted to get rid of it. We finally sold it last summer. Now that we didn't have a grill we suddenly wanted a grill, but this time we were going small. We acknowledged the brutal reality that we didn't have many friends coming over for dinner.

Qdoba. I hate you.

I don't get out much, so it should come as no surprise that I've never been to a Qdoba before today. One opened up nearby last month, and we were overdue to check it out.  I was starving, and I was getting super excited about a big burrito.

There were a lot of people there, but the line was going fast. This turned out to be part of the problem. I looked over the menu and decided to order a queso burrito with grilled chicken. It listed a bunch of ingredients and sounded pretty awesome.  It was our turn and I told them my order. I got to choose which kind of beans I wanted... and I thought I was done.  But that is when the chaos started. Our food was moving down the line faster than we were. There was a big group of people who were jamming up the works.  They had my burrito at the toppings station, but I wasn't there yet.

First ride of the year

This is what happens when my wife
isn't here to keep me in check. 

What a beautiful day we had in NWA. I wasn't going to allow myself to be lazy today. I had to get out on the bike at some point. It was supposedly judgement day, so I wanted to try and make the most out of it. I got all geared up to go ride and I saw that I had a hole in the sidewall of my front tire. I took this as a sign that I wasn't supposed to ride. I was already afraid that a driver would get raptured near me and his car would run me over before I had a chance to get raptured myself.

I went back in the house and took my gear off and tried to decide what I wanted to do. I couldn't think of anything, and I knew I would feel guilty if I didn't get out there on my bike. I decided to go to the store and buy a new tire for my front wheel. It would have been cheaper to order one online, but I wouldn't have it for a week.

Bachelor Week

Today officially started my week on my own. It is so weird being here at the house without my girls. I think I'm going to miss them a little bit.  I've been able to keep myself busy by cleaning, and watching NBA basketball.  By the time they get home the house is going to be spotless. Well probably not. Anyway, so far so good, but I still have 6 more days to go.  Wish me luck.

Back from the Windy City

View from my hotel. White building on
the corner is my most favorite bar ever.

I was in Chicago this whole last week for work. It is so nice to be back home and just have a lazy weekend. It is just me and the babe right now. She is taking a nap. It is crazy. I was only gone for a few days but she seemed so much bigger when I first saw her. I can tell she has gotten better with her hand-eye coordination. She is definitely more purposeful with her hands... less flailing around.

The trip to Chicago was a lot of fun. I had never stayed in downtown Chicago before. I don't think I have stayed downtown in any major city before. I am thankful that my new position affords me opportunities to spend some town out at our rail ramps. While sitting in my cubicle it is easy to forget about the day to day operations that I am helping to accomplish. Chicago is one of our major sites, and I hadn't been there for 5 years. It was pretty cool to meet everybody and see what great work they do.