Beth and I went to see one of the dumbest movies ever this weekend, “Moonfall.” It obviously is fairly late in the theatrical run of that movie, since we were actually the only two people in the theater seeing it. But holy cow was it ever stupid. We just kind of laughed and shook our heads at it a few times. It was kind of a bust overall for date night, because we went to the fish restaurant in Syracuse before the movie and what we got was seriously overcooked. Dry, chewy fried fish. And the scallops we had for an appetizer were all breading and no flavor underneath. Well, it was nice to have a date night anyway.

Saturday morning was the Fight Club breakfast meet & greet. We have a mega-squad this time around, like 40 guys from Warsaw that are doing it so we are broken into 3 sub-squads. It’s a basketball theme this time so we’re named after NCAA tournament regulars, my squad is Marquette, the sub-squad is Blue. There’s also Gold and White. We all got together at American Table for breakfast, I met a few new guys. Seems we have a good squad, it’ll be great to get it going again!

Saturday we all headed out to Bremen/Nappanee/Goshen to go to the Amish grocery store and Coppes Commons. We found that the Amish grocery is no more, which is probably why we had such a hard time finding it this time. All the signs had been taken down. We wandered around the back roads for a bit all around where we were sure it had been, but it’s permanently closed. So we hit Rentown and then Coppes Commons in Goshen, where we found that Rocket Science ice cream is also closed. Although that appears to be temporary for remodeling and expansion.

The van finally got back in to the shop this week to get the heat fixed. It’s been a cold few weeks since it was in last, but they have been so swamped that it took this long to get it squeezed in once they got the parts. So now the heat works again, and the display doesn’t reset to everything turned off every time you shut off the engine. $660 for that little fix, and of course there are some other things that should be fixed soon, most notably the ball joints are worn. Which I’m sure they are, because I can hear the front end bumping around again.

This week, once again, I was driven to the doctor by the down there, and found out what I pretty much already knew, my prostate is inflamed again. It's been a few weeks since I thought I should go, but delayed because I knew what would be coming. And it was, and arduous prostate exam, punctuated with the 'does this hurt? And this?' which it did. A lot. Anyway, another round of antibiotics. I wonder though what the root cause is, if it's the prostate stone I heard about a few years back or what. The pain has been mild, I guess, but never completely went away after the last time. Ah well.

Saturday Beth and I also found what will soon be her sewing/quilting table! I'm trying to push her to get back into it, so we took her sewing machine into Lowery's to get it cleaned and tuned up, and picked it up Saturday, then headed out of town a bit to a place where someone was selling a used dining room table without the chairs. For $40 we picked it up and brought it home. It's big, solid, in good condition, looks great; I think it is going to be perfect for quilting. 

The Return of Fight Club

Saturday (early) was the kickoff meeting for the newest chapter of fight club. I made it up there this time so no need for a makeup assignment. I wasn't sure how worshipful I was going to feel at 2:00 am in the freezing cold and snow but we made it. A pretty large group from FCC is doing it this time around, like 30-40 men. We all met at the church at around 10:30 and caravanned up to the lodge, where several hundred men were gathering. There was some sledding going on as well, and a kickoff of the kickoff with a sledding en masse, during which I went through a lot of slush and my gloves got soaked, so my hands were freezing the rest of the night. There was a worship service, some testimonies, disseminating of information about Fight Club, then a chaotic time of fun & games that I wouldn't say was well planned out. Some tug of war and some other stuff I couldn't really hear what it was about, but only a few of the hundreds could actually participate other than cheering. Then the high-5 gauntlet and getting the blocks, and heading home around 2:30. Home by around 3:00 am.

Also Saturday Beth and I took Missy to go see "Death on the Nile." Natalie chose not to go. It was a really good move, everyone enjoyed it a lot. Missy said she thinks she should read all the Agatha Christie books. I maybe should too but probably won't, even though I did really like the movie.

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful, with the Super Bowl being the only significant event. I was nominally rooting for the Rams, although I didn't care all that much who won. No party or anything, but Beth made some fancy dishes for us to snack on anyway. She made some wings which were really good, and some buffalo chicken dip that I didn't care for that much. Anyway I was only rooting for the Rams because I thought Matthew Stafford deserved some postseason happiness after languishing in Detroit for so long, so I was happy to see them win it.

Snowmageddon

This week there was finally some good news for Missy's EF Tours trip to Greece & Italy. Looks like we are finally back on! Tours have started up again, and as long as all the precautions are taken, and as long as things don't get bad again by this summer, looks like she can finally go! We had a meeting on Monday at the school to go over everything and make sure everything is taken care of. They also recommended that the students quarantine themselves for the week or two before leaving so they don't get sick right before departure. There are some rules about what happens if students get sick on the trip as well, but hopefully things will all work out and she'll go on the Adriatic Odyssey sometime between June 11th and 28th. 

The van went in to the shop on Tuesday, because we have had no heat in it for several days now. No heat comes out on the drivers side or the back, and every time you turn it off, the climate controls all reset to everything off when you turn it on again. So the van was in the shop all day, and they found a problem, but didn't have the parts for it. And they're so backed up with work that I had to reschedule for the 17th instead of just leaving it or bringing it back tomorrow. So, no heat in the van for a couple more weeks.

Snowmageddon this week. It started snowing on Tuesday night, and school had been cancelled for Wednesday before long on Tuesday evening. Just as well, because once it started it didn't stop for days. It snowed pretty much constantly until Friday night. By the time it was done, there was about a foot and a half of snow on the ground. I spent a lot of time shoveling, both our own driveway and Linda's across the street (she keeps trying to pay me to do it and I keep saying no, but finally I took some and it was too much, like $50). I think I shoveled our driveway 8 times in a couple days and hers at least 3 or 4 times. I was trying to keep up with the snow so it didn't get unmanageably deep, but that meant doing it often because it was snowing hard, constantly. School was cancelled (e-learning) for 3 days, no youth group. Roads were bad but not bad enough to keep me home from work. Overall, a pretty huge snowstorm but I've seen worse.