Friends in Town

We had such an amazing time with these two! We'll have to tell you about it later, though... just got back from Milan, and I'm too tired to type. Such a hard life we lead.

Visitors

Lance Armstrong and Brandon Wellborn are here! We could not be more excited.

My neighbor actually saw the former ride his bike right past our apartment building. He's warming up for the Tour de Suisse tomorrow. And Brandon, he's just coming to hang out.

Friends and famous people... looks like we're in for a fun weekend.

Ryan Copes

Ryan came up with the perfect solution for watching TV while I'm studying. Headphones = I can't hear anything. Every once in a while, I look up, and he's smiling at a commercial. It makes me laugh.

Correction

I just realized that my "no holidays and siestas" post came RIGHT after two vacation write ups. So maybe we are living the European life of holidays. But no siestas! Does that still count as a reason for me to complain??? I miss Ryan and I'm grouchy.

Long Week

Ryan's in Zurich this week for training. The days are really long when he's not here. And when he is here, he doesn't get home until 8 or 8:30 (and this is not busy season). So much for a laid back European life full of holidays and siestas. Although my part of life here is pretty laid back... most days I get home before 5:00 (and lately even earlier) and there are loads of school holidays. But it's no fun if you're by yourself! Well, it's still a little fun.

I have exams this week, so you'd think studying would occupy my time. Wrong. I still manage to piddle, dawdle, and mindlessly search the internet. I am studying, though. There's just only so much you can take. Exams are tricky this semester - split right down the middle. On one side, it's all math, a little finance, statistics and economics. One of my teachers is from MIT, and I've realized that those guys really are in a different league. Everybody in the class is FREAKING out. I'm not, surprisingly. It's not because I think I'm going to do well... we'll all be lucky if we pass. It's just that it's fascinating how smart someone can be, and how truly dumb we all are in comparison. I find that class an interesting study in the human mind. I'm going to need to find the actual subject matter interesting later on this week. The other half of my exams are business theory, so you can do well in those classes, you just need to memorize 15 chapters worth of material. Yay for summer break!

Until then, I'll just wait for Ryan to get back. I've gotten good at it.

Hound Dog

My friend picked up a stray on the side of the road a few weeks ago. I love people who do that... those animals have nothing to rely on but the kindness of strangers.

I've picked up a few strays. Some weren't even ready to be rescued. I crept into the high voltage area at my college, trying to rescue a tiny kitten. Turns out her mom was about 3 feet away. Ryan and I pulled over one day, and picked up a dog that was dangerously close to a busy street. We got his attention, started looking for a number on his tag, and were leading him to our car when his owner called him into the house. He lived on that busy street, and was just taking a bathroom break.

But some animals need to be rescued. This dog my friend picked up, turns out he was heartworm positive. A shelter agreed to treat and take him only if she took one of their healthy dogs as a foster. So, anyone want a hound dog??? Here's a picture and description from Julie:

Introducing our new foster pup! Her name is Carley and she is about 4 years old. She is a purebred bassett hound who is heartworm negative and up to date on vaccines. She will be spayed next week and ready for her forever home a week after that. She is a very laid back, VERY sweet girl.

GREAT Dinner

So, we just finished the best dinner I've ever cooked. I wish I could post Ryan's reaction. For those of you who have seen What About Bob, picture Bill Murray at the dinner table. This recipe tells you to throw away the marinade, but I baked the fish with the juices all around. And after it was cooked, I poured the leftover marinade on top of plain couscous. Also, I baked the salmon (at 400 degrees) instead of grilling it, because we're not allowed a grill at our apartment. All together, we had salmon, couscous, and asparagus. Yummy!
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Grilled-Salmon-I/Detail.aspx

By the way, it's 9:30, and the sun is just going down. It's unbelievable... since the weather's gotten warmer, we've had full sun at 8:30 at night. We've been going to bed later and later... it sort of messes with your mind.

Ryan had the day off, and today we got to try out our Lido, which is basically a little beach area with a pool and full access to the lake. It was perfect. We see many weekends there in our future. Happy weekend to all - ours has started off right!