andycrews

Confuse 'em

Blog kitt decided around 17:58 on 23 November 2007 to publish this:

Andy IM'd this morning and asked if we were interested in taking the dogs to the park. Go outside and play? Uh, yes? Kris had plans at noon, so wanted only to go to the local park. We went off to the park, three people, four dogs in tow.

I expected each dog to do his usual thing: Bella would sniff everything along the perimeter; Annie would run run run, then sniff along the perimeter, waiting for a lapse in our awareness to make her escape; Blue would chase the disc as long as Andy threw it; and Shadow would alternate between playing defense on Blue and hovering near one of the people for a quick snuggle.

To my surprise, Bella came out to play with us, chasing one of us when someone was running around, and dodging us when one of us was chasing her. She artfully zipped among the three of us, swerving in and out, juking one way and dashing the other when we made to cut her off. Bella pretended to be a 2 year old dog, and endeared her little heart to us.

Shadow also surprised me by chasing me down, nipping at my legs and herding me back to the pack when I tried to run down Annie, who had "wandered" away. When I turned on him and started chasing him, Andy and Kris joined in, turning the herder into the herdee.

When we were done, Andy asked if I was interested in heading to Ft. Funston, confuse the dogs by giving them not one, but TWO outings. I was up for it, so off we went. Although the trip was billed as a "fool the dogs and go on a hike," in reality it was, "display how inaccurate Kitt's timing is with her new camera."

Andy asked if I could take a picture of Blue mid-air. Sure! So, throughout the hike, I took pictures of Blue. Note, I didn't say I "took pictures of Blue mid-air." No, that would have required good timing on my part. instead, I managed an off-frame picture of Blue:

A distant shot of Blue:

A close shot of Blue:

Blue chasing birds in the surf:

Blue eating sand:

Way after a catch:

Just a little after the catch:

Waaaaaay before the catch to compensate:

And so far before the catch, Blue was still spinning:

But, you know, you take enough pictures, ONE of them is bound to be good, right?

Of course, there's the shot of Andy, to prove he was there, too:

Of my dogs, well, I have a lot of pictures of their butts:

The Orange meal

Blog Instead of being asleep at 23:54 on 1 November 2007, kitt created this:

In Florida, I asked Andy if he wanted to host communal dinner this week. He enthusiastically said yes, so I volunteered his house and his hot tub for the group. In honor of the Orange Box and the new console games Andy had received when we were all gone, I proposed the meal to be The Orange Meal™. I offered salmon and sweet potatoes, and asked everyone else to bring something orange to the meal. Suggestions were pumpkin pie, butternut squash soup, pumpkin ice cream (mmmmmmmm.....), and the like.

Last time Andy hosted, he had an elaborate (but incredibly tasty) meal that kept him in the kitchen the whole evening cooking. What fun is that (read: none)? This time, we agreed to keep each portion someone cooks small, and encourage everyone to bring something tasty.

I grilled whisky marinade salmon. Humorously enough, I bought six pounds of Salmon since we expected around 14 people, one of who was Tyler, so six pounds didn't seem too unreasonable. It was my first time grilling salmon on a grill outside. Kris kept having to answer questions like, "What happens if the skin sticks to the grill?" and "Is the salmon suppose to catch on fire?"

Warren brought some amazing pumpkin soup with onions and corn. Steffi brought some also amazing dessert from Sugar Butter Flour. mmmmmmm.... pumpkin cheesecake. Goodness, how I love fall. Andy made squash and a green (!!!) salad with hints of orange. Crystal's orange salad had some token green in it. The potatoes I was making were late in coming, but still managed to be eaten.

As soon as the first guests arrived, we were off and playing Guitar Hero again. Portal is a single player game, but well, Guitar Hero is good for both players and fans, provided the players actually act out what's being performed on screen. Kris kept dressing as a scantily-clad bass player with big hair. I wonder if he's trying to tell me something.

The goal of this whole endeavour has to be to see if we can get everybody's poop orange tomorrow. Because that would be entertainingly funny.

Update: Gah! Almost forgot one of the most entertaining parts of the evening. As Crystal and Nick were getting ready for the hot tub, Nick spied Andy's yearbooks in the guest room closet. As I entered the bathroom to change into my "swimsuit," I heard Nick ask, "Should we look?" When I exited, the two of them were furiously flipping through the two yearbooks, my year and Andy's year, trying to find our pictures. I found them, and managed to show them to Crystal and Nick before Andy surprised us from behind, none of us had noticed his arrival. "Uh, I don't think Kris wants those out."

Yeah, neither Kris nor my mom.

Mortified

Blog Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 08:36 on 28 October 2007

DanO: "Lyndsay's are better. Sorry, Kitt."

Me: "If you say so."

"I haven't seen yours."

"If you want to, look at Andy's yearbook."

"You two went to school together?"

Andy: "Yeah. Kitt asked me out, too."

Me: "!!!!!!!!"

Next morning, me: "Uh, did I really? Because I don't remember that at all."

Andy: "Yes. Fairly vivid memory of it."

Crap.

I'm completely mortified by this revelation. I thought I recalled every guy I asked out in college. I have exactly no memories of asking Andy out. Zero. Zilch. None.

Suddenly my crush on him has taken on new dimensions. Like, over a decade old dimensions.

Might have to stop with the Office + hot-tub journeys.

Surprised

Blog kitt decided around 17:12 on 24 October 2007 to publish this:

Andy, DanO, Kris and I went off for lunch to a local Italian place. When the drinks arrived, DanO picked up his straw, removed the wrapper, plunked it into his drink, and started drinking.

"Given how environmentally conscious you are, I'm surprised you use straws. Is there a particular reason for doing so?" I commented and asked.

Kris looked over at me surprised at my directness. Andy looked over at me unsurprised, but reached for his drink.

DanO hemmed and hawwed for a few moments, trying to come up with some reason for using a straw, as I continued, "You know, those take decades to decompose. They're made of plastic."

Kris sat silent. Andy looked down, busy with something in his hands.

DanO continued to wave his hands and say little, until he finally stopped, and stated, "I like drinking from straws."

"That's fine," I responded, "As long as there's a reason, and not just a mindless use of them. Liking them and deliberately using them, say, to keep the liquids from staining your teeth, is reasonable."

We looked over at the relief on Kris' face.

And Andy's answer to my straw accusation:

It exploded five seconds after the picture.

Hot tubbin'

Blog Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 23:37 on 22 October 2007

Went over to Andy's tonight. He had sent an invite over for 'tubbing and the Office. Mike Leech had shown me my first viewing of the Office when I stayed with him the week before Regionals, and had explained the briefest of plotlines to help me along. I've seen many more with Andy, however, and, though we don't need another show to Tivo, Kris and I have been enjoying heading over for an Office and 'tub adventure.

With Kris working late before his vacation starting tomorrow (also known as "yet another ultimate tournament masquerading as an ultimate tournament"), I grabbed the dogs for a social visit.

We watched an episode or two, then went off to the hot tub. I've been trying different shorts to see which would double best as a bathing suit, too frustrated to actually go out and buy one, having purchased two that didn't quite fit, even with the mix and matching.

Now, normally when I go hot tubbing, I can last about 15 minutes in the hot tub before I'm done. Kris can attest I like my showers "tepid" so hot, hot, hot water isn't comfortable for me. Kris and Andy seem to be able to sit in for hours, though I haven't tested this theory, with my getting out after fifteen minutes, playing with the dogs, wandering around the house, washing all of Andy's dishes, rotating the compost bin, and cleaning up the dog poo in the back yard before the two of them are done.

Tonight, however, I was determined to stay in the tub. I wasn't going to be the first out tonight.

So, after an Office or two, in we went. We talked about how cool a blackout would be, sitting in the tub looking up at the sky. We talked about Nationals, about meeting up at various ones in years past, about injuries and recoveries, about dogs (especially after the dog pile that had Shadow on the bottom crying with Blue nipping him then dominating). We talked about geeky games, Portal in particular, and how the physics might work. We talked about the enzymes he was using in lieu of chlorine for the hot tub, and the rotation cycle of the alternate chemicals, and how chlorine just doesn't sit well with either of us. We even talked about the tub itself, and how some jets weren't working, and others felt really really good when aimed at the bottom of the feet.

During all of our talks, I sat in the tub, or on the edge, or in front of a jet, or leaning over talking to a dog or two. I stayed in the tub, mostly, waiting for him to get out first.

After lasting more than three times my usual tub length, I gave up. I was a prune and completely warmed all over. I didn't need to be in the hotteum any longer, as all of my muscles were all limbered. Just as I left the tub, Andy jumped out. "If I had known you were that close to getting out, I would have stayed in. I was waiting for you to get out first,"

"Well, I was, too. I was waiting for you to get out first."

"Great. Playing chicken in a hot tub."

"Yep."

Train up

Blog Posted by kitt at 22:45 on 27 September 2007

This afternoon, as I was thinking of wrapping up work, Andy IM'd me with the single word question, "Train?"

A dozen reasons why I didn't want to train up to small groups ran through my head: I had cones I wanted to take to practice since we never seem to have any; I had discs to take since we never seem to have enough; I had warmups to deliver to teammates, even though DanO picked up 10 for the team, thereby reducing my load to 2 for today's practice; I already had my car for the day, I'd have to pick it up later; there isn't a train station within 100 feet of the fields, which is how close I can park. All sorts of excuses not to train, but not really any valid reasons not to train.

So, I packed as minimally as I could, as we'd be running from the station to the fields, a half mile run plus or minus, left twenty minutes early, and went to catch the train. Tragically, I spent the whole train ride talking about me and my failings as an ultimate player these last few years, instead of, oh, I don't know, talking about him. Yeah, that would have been better.

Once we stepped off the train and jumped over the tracks, all while thinking, huh, wow, this is a crazy silly station with a bizarre layout, as we weren't crossing the tracks illegally or unsafely, Andy prompted, "Jog?" Uh, I guess if we're going to make it to practice on time, hustle starts now, and off we went.

About a quarter mile into the run, Andy asked me, "Do you run regularly?" I thought the question odd, but answered, "I try to, yes," then asked, "Why? Am I slowing down already?" We were running at a nice clip, faster than I would have run on my own, more his pace than my pace, but I didn't think I was yet struggling to keep up. He commented, "No, you're just not breathing hard."

Huh, what do you know? No, i wasn't, but, dang, that was the nicest compliment I've had in a long time. Maybe he'll stop flustering me as much.