Wrapping Up August

As another month of 2015 slips away, I've had one bonkers week in a month of bonkers weeks.

This post has not much to do with EVE, so you can skip ahead a bit if you feel the need.

In the past week, I've gone to an Opera (Christmas present for Mom), and a monster outdoor-venue rock concert for one of my favorite bands (Christmas present from Mrs. Durden to me; the show sold out ~9mo ago).  The opera was fine (I enjoy the pit orchestra but could do without the singing).  The concert was fantastic - easily in my top 3 concerts.

We took time off work to go to the eye doc; I didn't want to go this week but we'd already cancelled once and I was on my last set of contacts.

We took Friday off to go to an antique tractor show about 90 miles away.  It is a show that my father and grand-dad used to display their old engines at.  I'm getting old enough now that I walk through the aisles of John Deere and recognize the models that my uncle used to farm with.  It doesn't seem so long ago, but he quit farming almost 30 years ago.  Along with tractors, there were old engines of any and every kind.  My favorites are the large hit-and-miss engines that were used to pump oil or water or whatever from the 1910s through the 1940s or so.

So we toured row after row of small engines like the one pictured, and several rows of monster engines that filled a flatbed semi trailer.  These big ones put out maybe 20 hp, but spun flywheels 4-8 feet across and flexed the trailer when the piston hit the limits of its travel.

Amanco hit-and-miss engin by PeterJewell - Own work.
Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons

Thursday afternoon I had a job interview.  It smells like a good prospect, and I'm hopeful that an offer will be on the table by mid-next week.  The job duties sound less fun than what I do today, but the promotion potential is virtually unlimited and the stability is solid enough that I'd say I could retire there in 20 years if I desired.  At the interview (which was conducted by the Deputy Director), I was introduced to the Director / VP-level exec as "this is him, the guy I told you about."

On Thursday I also took the car to the shop for a semi-emergency set of tires.  I was going to replace all 4 this fall anyway, but one had a slow leak (caused by a monster screw or nail that I finally found this week) and then I hit a board on the way home on Tuesday and did in another tire.

Today I got up fairly early and biked ~30 miles, then returned and showered and the Mrs. and I ran errands.  Three stores, lunch, and (literally) a truckload of "stuff" later, and we returned home.  And by "stuff" I mean 280 pounds of bird seed, steel roof panels for my new wood crib, 2wks of groceries, other odds and ends for winterizing the house, and a couple of new work outfits to wear should I need to wear something swanky for a repeat interview.

So that's been me - two concerts, a job interview, car in the ship, road trip for an old tractor show, and a truckload of stuff to get the house ready for fall.  I hope next week is more calm so that I can enjoy the Holiday weekend here in the U.S.