Weekend in Dubuque

We went back to Dubuque for the weekend, and had a great time. Some good family friends were in town to visit, and it was really good to see them again.
We also celebrated AJ's second birthday. He was a blast to watch. I am very excited to spend a week with him on our vacation!
I made myself (and Krystal) get up for an early mass Sunday so that I could spend some time fishing. My brother-in-law's brothers and their girlfriends and I went out to our pond in Dubuque. We were not too sure how the fishing would be, because it seems to be hit and miss there, but it was awesome. We were pulling out a lot of bass, and some good size ones. Check out the gallery for some pictures.

Fishing fun

Last night I went fishing with Matt again. It was a perfect evening for it once the sun went down a bit. It was very calm, and the fish were swirling and jumping all around us. Note, I did not say they were biting. Matt did get a little striper on a worm, and I did manage to get a bass in the boat. This is where the story begins. As I am reeling it in Matt notices that the fish is barely hooked and tells me to swing it in the boat. I did. I go to grab the fish by the lip, and my Awesome knot skills were called in to question and the lure broke free from my line. Note, the fish was still on the lure, both of which accelerated towards the bottom of the boat at 9.8 m/s/s. Unfortunately my thumb got in their way, and one of the hooks went entirely in to my thumb. I use a quick profanity and ask Matt for help. We spend a couple seconds deciding if we unhook me, or the fish first. We decided it would be easier to take a picture of the fish if we unhook me first. :) (priorities) Dr. Matt tugs on it a bit and realizes it is going nowhere. He grabs his surgical needle nose pliers out of his tackle box and I try to hold my hand still while he makes the first attempt at removal. He offers a comforting "You know this is going to hurt right?" I confirm this knowledge. Dr. Matt pulls once, noting that something popped, but that the hook was still firmly pulling on my skin. He yanked one more time and it was free. I unhooked the fish, posed for a picture, and recalled some profanity that I had learned at a previous date. Amazingly it did not bleed, but it is definitely tender today. Thank you Dr. Matt for your mad skills and for not laughing at me. :) Feel free to laugh now. I am. I will be posting pictures of all two of the fish soon.

phone service

Not that anyone ever calls it, but our land line telephone (AKA telemarketer line) has been disconnected. This was intentional, no, we did not forget to pay our bill. Thank you to Quest for raising your rates again to make the decision that much easier.

My truck

I finally got my truck back last night. It no longer makes the noise that caused the concern, so that is good. One of the mechanics thought he was clever and when I went in to pick it up he said "I bet you forget what it looks like!" I responded with a "I bet you remember." Anyway, I asked for a parts list. It is quite the list, but it does not have part costs or a labor estimate. I was hoping to find out how much this would have cost out of warranty. Well, I will have to accept too much as the answer.
I have a list of chores for the truck to do now. It's vacation is over.

Random updates

Just a few random updates, because I don't have a lot to say otherwise.

* My truck is still being serviced. Just over a week now, they had to order out parts, again.
* Krystal and I spent our holiday cleaning out our garage. It looks much better, but if I had a truck I could get rid of the pile of junk that needs to go to the dump.
* I still want a shed.
* The safety line at the fireworks is approximate. Sitting directly behind it does not guarantee safety.
* For someone who hates to code, I have been enjoying scripting. Automation is good.
* Some day I would like a truck.