All Over the Place

The last couple of weeks have been a bit chaotic, and my mind is all over the place, so this post is gonna be a brain dump.

National Pretzel Day was last week, a fact I was unaware of until Jess told me and asked if I wanted to go get a pretzel.  As I am a man who would rather perish than turn down a pretzel, I said, “of course!”  And thus we paid a visit to our local pretzel establishment, Smales Pretzel Bakery.  This was my first pretzel from Smales, and it was the perfect mixture of hot, soft but not soggy, and salt.

I am currently reading KING SOLOMON’S MINES by H. Rider Haggard. I love old adventure novels, like this one, THE LOST WORLD by Conan-Doyle, and — one of all time favorites — BEYOND THIRTY by Edgar Rice Burroughs, just to name a few. The kind with a rugged explorer protagonist, that are set in the jungle, and usually involve a search for a lost city or artifact. (What can I say: The Indiana Jones films and books imprinted on my soul as a kid.) KING SOLOMON’S MINES is quite fun, and Haggard clearly was a Michael Crichton of his time, but the biggest problem with a book like this, published in the late 19^th century, is the racism. Good lord, is there a lot of off-handed, casual racism. I know the book is a product of its time, but that doesn’t a) make it right or excusable, and b) any more palatable to read.

Speaking of adventure books, I am apparently evolving into my early-middle-age, adventurer-explorer fashion era, as evidenced in this photo from last weekend.

I’m not even trying to, really.  This is just a look my subconscious is gently nudging me towards.  Given enough time, I will no doubt check the mail one day and be perplexed to discover I had ordered a replica Indiana Jones shirt and jacket in my sleep…

Speaking of last weekend, Jess and I celebrated our 45^th Month Anniversary by getting lunch at Fifty West Brewing on Saturday, and taking in a Nat Geo Live show and getting dinner at Salar on Sunday.  It was a very good weekend.

A lot of photos of me this post, which I suppose is only fair given the name on this blog’s masthead, but as part of my penance, here is a photo of Fozzie, who got his first haircut in two years yesterday.  He’s so handsome.