The title has nothing to do with anything. But I just re-read Tom’s comment on “Family Guy”, and now I can’t get variations of the word “steamer” out of my head. What is it with you, anyway? And actually, the funniest part of the episode Sunday was finding out that Cleveland’s last name is Brown. If they would have only dropped a “this marriage is over, I’m moving to Baltimore” line… Seriously, even as a die-hard Browns fan, I would have loved it. Alas, they let it slip away. However, Brian smacking Lois’ half-bare ass more than made up for it.

As I think I mentioned in my haze Sunday night, vacation was pretty cool. Figuring it would be good to get away and that Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater would be neat/interesting, I knew the trip would be all right. What I didn’t realize is that even a walk through mud-soaked nature trails on a hot and humid day would be such a good time. And the actual house blew me away. It was really like a big tree house. Everything just seemed to fit, and the views over the stream/waterfall and surrounding forest were just ridiculous. I was even kind of sad to have to leave.

Even more exciting was the drive to and from some of these places. Even growing up around some rural areas, I can never figure out where people work/shop/play when they live 30 miles from ANYTHING. Though when you live down the street from “Hillbilly Golf” (if I weren’t scared for my life, I would have loved to play there, just to say we did, it was a mini-golf course on the side of a hill, 18 holes packed in about the size of my kitchen) and the “Home of the $10 Wave Basket” (not sure what that means, but its apparently something to do with flowers and gardening, and looks oh so impressive spray-painted on a 15×15 sheet of white plywood along side the road), your possibilities are limitless. Also, when you’ve got street signs for what appear to be half gravel-half grass driveways, maybe you’re more high class than I give you credit for.

Saturday night was entertaining. Not only did we find out that the Quizno’s in New Stanton, PA has “happy hour” (free drink or chips with purchase) after 4pm everyday, and that, according to the two high schoolers working the counter, there is nothing to do within at least 45 minutes of town, we discovered that high schoolers working at Quizno’s lie. A lot.

Not that there was a bustling underground club scene in New Stanton, but the restaurant/lounge in the Days Inn (B.T. Spritzer’s, to give it a name, I’m sure their website will be showing up on Geocities any day now) is the type of place I could have alot of fun at. Granted, they needed a few more patrons that didn’t look like they were waiting to be the subject of a country music song, and probably a Golden Tee machine, but draft beers were $1.50. After years of hoping that random bars could get me a domestic pint for under four bones, I find this. And its six hours away. To top it off, there were signs advertising 75 cent “Taco Night”, 35 cent “Wing Night”, and the local everyday favorite… “Fresh Hot Dogs — $1.00 Each”.

Now THAT’S some good eatin’!

On the way back, we stopped in Zanesville, Ohio, first to use the restroom, then to pick up “sippable sundaes” from Steak N’ Shake (is there really anything better than a turtle sundae through a straw? Really?) and off to see the world-renown Zanesville “Y-Bridge” (Thank you Joe Clark Photography for that one.). It’s not as impressive as it seems, as I remember Dan once saying, but it was fun to say we saw it. After lunch in Columbus, it was back to Indy for the real fun to begin.

Since I’ve already typed a small encyclopedia here, let me sum it up like this:

In the first 4 hours I was home, I broke a piece off the girlfriend’s digital camera, spent 15 minutes in a hallway waiting for a “storm cell that has the potential to cause a weak tornado” to pass (Seriously, what is a “weak tornado”? Does it tap on the back door and ask nicely if it can take the roof with it as it passes?), realized I left a pan soaking with mushroom soup in it for four or so days and had a fun little issue where some parts of my computer didn’t want to load, including the part that showed me anything but 16-bit color on a 640×480 screen. It was great. (A complete unhooking, canned air spraying and five pounds of dust removing later, I was back up and running!)

Then last night at work, someone heard on the police scanners that a tornado had touched down in NW Indianapolis. Fortunately, it was a whole mile and a half from my apartment. Even more fortunately, it never even happened, and more incompetence shined through in the office. (Not necessarily by the whole office, rather just one individual.)

So that’s it. I’m at the Friday of my 3-day week, and it feels like I’m coming to the end of working 20 days straight. If I ever doubted the logic in taking 4 days off after returning from Wisconsin this September, its sure looking like a kick-ass idea right about now.