Post About A Low Key Week

Pretty interesting week so far. The layout of our office is finalized. Now we're clearing the last of the boxes out. Our kitchen is basically complete. Bedroom's good. Our living room is well worn in too.

I basically became a master chef Tuesday when I made a huge batch of my marinara sauce from scratch. Jackki wanted to try making a sauce straight from the tomato. It didn't end in tears and now we've got a pretty killer sauce. Herby did his share too.

He bled to make our meal taste better.

Herb's doing fine by the way. I was worried after trimming and re-plotting on the same day, but he recovered like a champ after a few rough days.

I cleared the background check at Starbucks. My first day is July 11th. Which means I get the 4th off for the first time in years.

Speaking of America. Prop 8 being dismissed and DOMA getting the axe is pretty cool. I mean it's frustrating that it's taken this many years to get Americans to agree to what boils down to common decency. And of course it's frustrating that what amounts to being a huge accomplishment, has really only fixed a sliver of of the problems inherent in American society. ENDA? Public education? Immigration reform free of racism and xenophobia?

Which reminds me, today the Senate sent a bill to the House that includes a 13 year path towards citizenship. That we consider waiting for 13 years to become a citizen generous makes my teeth clench.

Herby ain't got shit on this.

Fresno continues to share its secrets with me during canvass walks. I encountered these apartments on Weldon where rows of buildings faced each other with paths down the center. The residents have dug out the grass and grown some pretty impressive vegetable gardens. I was struck by the rampant poverty though. Are these gardens a necessity to feeding these families or do they just like fresher veggies? Maybe it's both. A water hose haphazardly patched with several rags and rope throughout its span said a lot. The fact that the walkways were submerged in about 4 inches of water did too. I couldn't really communicate with the residents, but it was an experience I'll remember a long time.













I encountered a kind of chicken I've never seen before, she was shy so I could only get a blurry pic.




Let's steer this back to me. People who I have hung out with. I'm sorry about my hair the last few weeks. It has been out of control. I finally visited Ruben's in Tower.

It's short and looks good. Perfect for the weather too.

Now that I've got you under my watchful gaze, let's talk music and movies.

Bosnian Rainbows and Smith Westerns both put out really cool albums that I've been enjoying on Spotify. Amon Amarth also put out an album but I haven't been able to get my viking metal fix in.

I finally saw Man of Steel, and while my buddy Andrae gave it a score somewhere between a B and a C, I actually really liked it a lot. I wasn't loving the idea of slogging through another origin story, especially a Superman one. Who doesn't know how he came up? Seriously though, the flashbacks were surprisingly powerful, and the main characters were all well acted. I have a feeling that Zach Snyder has a directors cut that will flesh Zod out a bit more.

Anyhow, that's a lot, my biggest post so far. Thanks for reading.

tl;dr Derek did stuff in Fresno and had a good time doing it.