vikings, princesses, slip and slides and forklifts

so it's been a busy summer.  i've been gearing up for my three week summer intensive at vcu, which means three weeks of dining hall food.  always brings my normally cast iron stomach to it's knees. 

so on the fourth of july i went to dustin's farm.  someone had brought these little firecrackers that packed a wallop.  ahh the simple pleasure of blowing up beer cans.  i grilled about 12 steaks for everybody.  there was also a 100ft slip and slide that ended in a mud pit.  a rocky, root filled mud pit.  i must have been the heaviest one there because i always ended up skidding into grass, thereby extending the pit of mud, rock and roots.  the next day i looked like i had gotten in a fight with a mountain lion.  lubrication was key.  first we lubed up with dish soap.  then we tried mineral oil, followed by baby oil before settling on laundry detergent.  that worked best.  in the video you will see aaron riding dustin like a surfboard with me batting cleanup.                      


last week we all went to charlottesville to clear out an auto parts warehouse.  fred was like a kid in a candy shop.  he had his own little cart of goodies, one of which was a cold air intake that he says he is going to put on my isuzu.  i asked him what it did and he said it was just another filter for me to have to change.  there was no electricity or water at this place and when nature called we had to revert to what i like to call 'guerrilla pooping'. you had to go out back to the loading dock, walk about 100 feet to the water spigot, fill up your bucket up and then haul it back to the bathroom so the toilet would flush.  i'm going to start a consulting group that uses this as it's model to increase corporate productivity.  if you have to carry a 40lb bucket of water 100ft then you're probably going to consider if you really have to go or not...we ended up getting thirty some pallets of stuff, mostly spring clamps...

the other week a photographer friend asked a group of us to participate in a photo shoot in which i was the warrior and the two ladies were the princesses.  photo shoots are hard.  i never knew how to hold myself or what face to do or any of that.  it was very hot and i stepped outside for some fresh air while the princesses were upstairs.  a cop car drives by, looks at me and then drives off.  they drive around again and this time they stop.  one of the cops asked if he could take a video of me for his sick brother-in-law.  i said something fierce in viking-speak, everyone laughed, and they drove off...