So my driver side window in my car as been acting weirdly. Basically it has not been working in the afternoons and nights. I am guess from the heat. Its a big pain when you have to go in and out of a garage where you need to roll down your window to use your keyfob. I took my car in this morning to Plaza Lexus in St Louis. They gave me a loaner car like they always do. I walked out of the service bay with the service writer looking for the loaner car. The porter said it was one of the three cars in front of the building. We couldn’t find it so asked the porter. He said it was the one we were in front of even though my key said 3 and this one was 13. It started right up with the keyless ignition fob in my hand so I didn’t think anything. The gas also matched what my paperwork said which was between 1/2 and a 1/4 so I assumed this was it.  I drove away and hopped on I-270. I noticed that I had a bunch of alerts. The first two being oil change and filter needed. Thought this was pretty weird being its a dealers car. The third one said “no key.” I immediately moved the key closer but assumed that the diagnostic screen was messed up since I was now 5 miles away from the dealer and the car started. I got to my office after a 30 minute drive then tried to lock the car with the key fob. It wouldn’t lock. I then tried to start it and it did not. Looks like I did have the wrong car. So how did the thing start the first time. Either the porter had the key in his pocket or even scarier possibility is that the car was close enough to the office that it picked up the key fob. We were probably 15 or 20 ft away so not sure the range. What is scary about that is what if that was your unlocked car in your driveway. A kid or a thief could go start your car while you were watching TV in the house. Why did the car not shut down once out range of the car? Pretty odd.

This week was round one of my birthday month spectacular according to some of my friends since I met with one group of friends at Parties in the Park on Wednesday and another group on Friday. Next weekend will be the grand spectacular in Vegas Baby!

My girlfriend threw me a party on Friday for my 30^th Birthday. It was pretty awesome. She went all out and got me a great cake from McArthur’s Bakery.  We ate delicious party pizzas, quesadillas, and other snacks while playing Rock Band and conversing. We followed it up with a night at Rue 13 for my favorite 80’s night. It was basically a perfect night. I had so much fun with my girlfriend and other friends. Many thanks to all that wished me a happy birthday and celebrated with me. This is probably the most I have done for a bday ever but I really do not feel any different. Being 30 isn’t depressing like some people have told me. It’s actually a little exciting because I feel like it’s the next chapter in my life.

I chilled at a friend’s pool in JeffCo all day on Saturday relaxing. We have been hitting up a lot of pools this summer and it makes me realize more and more that my next house must have a pool. My girlfriend joked though that she didn’t think she would ever get any work done around the house if she had a pool because she would constantly be in it. After the pool, we hit up West County mall to do some much needed shopping for Vegas and Wedding cloths (got two in the next couple months).

Sunday was a mix of all kinds of stuff. It was supposed to be a “working around the house day” but it was rainy when I woke up. Thus, my girlfriend and I went for another round of shopping. By the time we were done, it was hot and dry outside so we started the yard work. The big project was dethatching my girlfriend front yard. The Zoysia grass was getting so thick that it was killing itself. TruGreen recommended raking out all the dead grass so it could breathe. We were comically doing this with a metal kids rake for 30 minutes before we decided to go buy a “Big Boy” rake. The funny think is that the kids rake was easier since it wasn’t as wide so it did not require as much force. It was pretty grueling work so I hope it helps. We both got blisters on our hands and a good workout. We filled up a huge yard bag of dead grass in a relatively small front year so I was surprised. We finished the night watching our Sunday TV shows. All I have to say is that I really like True Blood this season. The story is very unpredictable but believable in a sense which was not the case last year.

This weekend pretty much revolved around our “annual” float trip. I felt like I had been planning this trip for months even though we only started seriously discussing it two weeks ago. The reason it seemed like it took forever because I think about 100 emails were exchanged between where we wanted to stay, who was going, and what we were bringing. The issue we ran into was that most wanted to stay in an air conditioned unit for the night and waiting till two weeks before is not a smart idea.

We finally found a place after calling several campgrounds. The funny thing was that the place we ended up at was our original plan. They had some cancellations that freed up some spots. We chose Ozark Outdoors since we floated with them several times in the past and they are the closest. We had two rafts, 1 canoe, 1 motel room and 1 camp site. We chose a lot longer than usual float  (for some reason) so we were a little worried about doing a 9 mile float. We got there early (or at least some of us). There was no reason to worry because we got done with the float by 5PM which sucked. The water was high and had a decent current so we were just flying down the river. I was hoping to get back around dusk.

We had a lot of float trip “rookies” this year and it definitely showed. I almost thought my girlfriend died after she got swept up by the current under the raft and did not pop up till another 15 feet down the river. It was pretty scary but was out of her control. It was definitely the fastest current I have ever seen on a float trip. Especially in mid July when most of the time you are worried if there is enough water for a raft. Also, a couple of the girls took long naps during the trip. Jello shots are not for everyone…lol.

The water camera was also lost again. This is the second time in three trips so no pictures from the trip. Sorry to Mike. Hopefully it turns up.

The motel was very nice. Having your own shower and bathroom was nice. We were right next to our campsite too which was awesome. Needless to say, I still prefer not staying down the night but staying in the AC is ten times better. I would like to explore the party bus idea where we rent a bus and a driver for the day to drive us down and back. I think the cost would offset what we paid for the cabin and camping.

Not much went on Friday evening and Sunday. I went to my favorite Mexican restaurant again on Friday. We got fake tattoos again for the float trip but the alcohol in the spray sun screen quickly dissolved them. I watched the World Cup on Sunday but was bored with it mainly because I was tired. The game itself seemed very physical and fast paced. A lot of scoring opportunities were missed too. There should have been at least 3 or 4 goals that should have been made.

This extended weekend seemed to last forever but I still am not sure where it went. I had so many plans and was looking so forward to celebrating the holiday weekend.

My girlfriend and I met some friends for sushi on Friday. We went to Tokyo Sushi since it is a favorite of both my gf’s and some others in the group. I have eaten a lot of raw fish and weird things on my various work journeys around the world but this was my first true sushi experience. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. 75% of what we ordered (and it was a lot…it came in a big wooden boat) was good. It seems I like things with spicy tuna and do not like thinks with shrimp which makes senses based on past eating experiences. With that said, it is not something I am chomping at the bit to go back and eat. I can name about 20 different meals that I would prefer to eat first because of taste and price. We followed the dinner up with a St Louis tradition of eating Ted Drews. Two of my friends went and got their dogs so we could fit in with all the other dog couples…lol. The place was packed since the weather was gorgeous and the Cards game was just getting over. The concretes were good as usual.

I went back to my roots and went swimming at a friend’s house in rural Arnold on Saturday. A good time was had relaxing in the pool, shooting some pool hoops, and enjoying some adult beverages. My girlfriend and I were exhausted after a long day of sitting in the pool so we relaxed at my place for the night. We watched She’s Out of my League. I did get some good laughs but overall I wasn’t impressed. For some reason, I thought Seth Rogen was in this movie but it was only his lackeys.

I had a 4^th of July party on Sunday. It was a small get together but was a good time. My gf made delicious turkey pin wheels which I could eat for days. We made the 1 mile trek to see the air show on the Arch ground for it to start raining. We saw one F-14 and some old planes but they cancelled the show before the much hyped Harrier made an appearance. I guess it’s more of a reason to go to the air show at Scott in September. We were hungry so we decided to go get some food and skip the B52’s performance. We started walking and all the really close places like TGI Friday and Hooters had a long line. What amazed me was that a ton of restaurants were closed. For example, St Louis Bread Company was closed even though it almost right in the heart of the fair and right next to all the places that had a packed line. So we walked to Wash Ave to find more of the same. We finally made our way all the way back to Side Bar to find it open. I wish it would have been closed because we had a horrible experience. We found a table but had to ask for menus after sitting for about 5 minutes. After about an hour of waiting for our food, we realized there was a problem. We did not think we would be  in a time crunch for the fireworks but we now were. They gave free chips and salsa to almost everyone in the restaurant. We finally had enough and the waitress told me that had a new cook (which was going to be fired). We asked to cancel our food after we told her that we wanting to catch the fireworks. We ended up waiting another 10 minutes in which they packaged our food to go and gave it to us all for free. I at least have to commend them for that. We made it to Kiener Plaza to watch the fireworks but I would rather been on the other side to see the lower displays. Needless to say, it was a good site.

I felt like Monday almost did not exist. I think I slept like 11 hours and watched a whole lot of nothing on TV the entire day. I was such a bum. I had fried chicken for lunch and hot dogs for dinner so my laziness was compounded by the unhealthy eating. So much for the “Vegas Diet.”