Vacationing in Michigan

My kids are on a 2 week fall break from school, so I decided if I don't take a vacation now I will lose much of my vacation time (we don't get to roll it over or get paid out at year's end). With mom having gone through her surgery I figured now would be a good time to come. Plus, Erik's birthday just happened yesterday.

The drive out was uneventful. Kevin helped with about 7 of the hours of driving. I don't rest well with him behind the wheel, but I did take a nap the second morning, only to be jolted from my 20 minutes of sleep when Kevin hit the warning track on the shoulder. No more sleeping for me! He wasn't going off the road, but some states put their warning bumps way too close to the lane.

We had a nice party for Erik last night. My brother-in-law and niece came up from Ann Arbor with a cake made from scratch. It was great to see everyone there. We're all getting together again on Wednesday too.

I had to come to the coffee shop down the street from the senior center mom lives in to get wi-fi. There is something wrong with her router. I am sure that is something I will tackle this afternoon or tonight during the Red Sox game.

I went on a first date this past week. It was kind of an odd thing. She messaged me first, which is always a good thing, since I am such a fucking coward sometimes. We decided to meet at an Old Chicagos near her house. Meeting at a bar is not always a good thing. She asked if I was good at trivia... "pretty good", I said. But I hadn't played the trivia game that plays in the bar. She seemed genuinely excited to meet, so that made me feel at ease.

The evening we decided to meet she was going to have dinner with her parents and daughter, but would meet me after that. She said to relax after I got home from work, throw on some jeans and come meet her around 9.

Before meeting her I decided to take a really critical look at her profile. The big thing that stood out was that she smoked "sometimes". I decided that maybe it's only a minor thing and to let it slide. Normally to me it is black and white, either you are a smoker or you aren't, but we'll see.

When she arrived, I saw her walking through the bar and said hi to a couple people. Hmmmm. She was wearing a pretty hot little dress with a lot of cleavage showing, which made me wonder about the jeans comment. Oh well.

She knew most of the bartenders, and told one to get us another trivia controller. and she ordered a beer for herself, I did as well. The bartender delivered the controller and a personized stein with her name on it full of Guiness. The first game I started out good, and by the time we finished 15 questions I had kicked ass. She then told me she needed to go outside to smoke. She told me she only smokes when she drinks... From the looks of that mug, she must drink a lot.

The second game she kicked my ass hands down. So she is smart, at least on trivia. The 3rd game I again got my ass handed to me. WTF! Did she let me win that first one? She won the fourth game, but not by as much. She is a very nice lady. I doubt this is someone I will be with long term, but she is a lot of fun. I wouldn't mind having her as a friend. We have VERY similar senses of humor.