Unlike last time today's trip to Sioux Falls didn't have any lengthy setbacks. Thus I was able to dine at Taste of India. I opted not to do the buffet thing though it was early enough and would have been cheaper. Instead I ordered off the menu and got exactly what I wanted rather than the luck of the buffet. I had a glass of mango juice along with the standard ice water, roti (flat bread), mint chutney, and chicken vindaloo. The waitress asked if the vindaloo was spicy enough and giving it some thought, it was perhaps a bit less spicy than I might have liked, but it was quite respectable and not worth complaining about. Dessert was gulab jamun.

I will go back again. The meal was quite good. To my surprise, they didn't charge me for the mint chutney as it was on the buffet. I wasn't about to argue. I think I will try the buffet next time since it'll be less expensive and will let me sample a few things I might not otherwise order.

At the cash register there is a bowl of seeds available as a "mouth freshener." I think it was all or mostly fennel seed, which was interesting, but I doubt jmaynard would like them as they have a very anise-like flavor which surprised me. I'd never had fennel before as far as I know and hadn't been expecting that flavor from it.

Oddity: LJ's spellchecker flags vindaloo yet the first thing it suggests instead is vindaloos.

Current Mood: satisfied

While Jay stayed in Fairmont today, I set out to go to Sioux Falls today and did, eventually. I went to South Dakota twice today. On my way to Sioux Falls I passed a beat up Ford Escort, which was no big deal. A while later that same Escort passed me, which was also no big deal. I left the cruise control where I had set it and went along. It was a couple miles later that things went wrong.

I didn't know if the folks in the Escort failed to notice or if they noticed and failed to realize, but there was a rather large cloud of dense white smoke suddenly appearing from their exhaust. They kept on going for what seemed a surprisingly long time to me, and made it into South Dakota, but not to their destination. They wound up pulling over, wondering what happened. What happened was that cloud of white smoke was the anti-freeze burning. Anti-freeze, of course, should not be burning in the engine.

The folks were from Worthington and didn't have anyone to call (on the one day I make the Sioux Falls trip with a cell phone). So they decided the best thing was for them to go back to Worthington and see about things. Okkay. So I drove them back to Worthington and dropped them off in a parking lot presumably near their house. I would have driven them right to their place, but they insisted on stopping there and I wasn't arguing. They were having a lousy enough day as it was.

I made my way back to Sioux Falls and stopped at Rainbow to pick up the comics they hold for me, then went to an Indian restaurant I'd recently found out about. I got there just after 3:00. Guess when they close? Yep, 3:00. They'd re-open at 5:00 but I didn't intend to be in Sioux Falls that long and I was getting hungry. I wound up stopping at a Schlotzsky's on my way to Barnes & Noble. I plan to try for the Indian place again, but that'll likely be in about a month.

On my drive through Sioux Falls in search of substitute meal I mused that I would have been at the Indian place in time had I not stopped for the folks in the Escort. But I did stop, and I'll sleep well tonight for that.

Current Mood: tired

Friday: Cleaned up the dining room some. Various boxes and packing material are now taking up much less room and the boxes can be picked up on the next recycling day. The table is still strewn various bits of computers, but that's not likely to change until the office is sorted out - and that won't be for a while, mainly due to furniture requirements.

Saturday: De-cluttered, cleaned, and re-arranged the living room. jmaynard wired up the speakers he'd brought back from Houston this Summer. A clock, a mirror my grandmother had, and a picture that my grandmother had painted were also hung on the wall. Actually the mirror isn't quite in the living room, but in the front entryway. It fits well there. While the living room isn't anything likely to make Better Homes & Gardens, it now looks much more like a normal living room.

After all that was done, we relaxed and watched History of the World - Part I which I had not seen before. I recognized many bits that I'd seen in clips, but this was the first time I'd seen the whole thing.

Sunday: Jay and I went to Sioux Falls and, since Nap's had closed (a column [See: Surprise endings] in the Argus Leader mentioned they'd lost their lease and hadn't found a new location yet - we both hope they re-open soon) we went to Famous Dave's. Verdict: Acceptable, but not great. We want Nap's back! We also did a bit of Christmas shopping and have more of that out of the way. Yay! I'd like to be done with it before Thanksgiving and avoid the madd(en)ing crowds of December. I expect I can, with one probable exception.

As Jay mentioned we saw the aurora borealis Sunday night. From southern Minnesota it seemed not to change too fast and was rather monochrome. It was both intense and not intense. While it was intense enough to be seen here and be visible south of the zenith, it wasn't 'active' with fast shimmering or much color. It was, if anything, a dull reddish, looking rather like the glow from a large city - only there wasn't one. From my father's description, it seems that a couple degrees north there was a better show.

Current Mood: accomplished

Last night as we were about to go into a restaurant we heard an announcement over the city public address/civil defense/storm warning system. The July 4th fireworks were being postponed. While the sky did not look promising, that was not the reason. The pyrotechnics had not yet arrived from the vendor. Whoops.

There were fireworks, though. The sky wasn't promising nice clear weather. It was was threatening a storm, and delivered. Much arcin' and a-sparkin' through the night.

Am finally finishing up the scanning of the negatives from Osceola. That's the first step. Next I get to do some graphic editing & such and see what the GIMP can do. Or rather, what I can get the GIMP to do, clunky interface and all. (Many little windows to wade through for one program.. not what I think of as a clean design.)

Did go to Sioux Falls. Picked up LT 104 (Yes, Michael, I know I haven't finished 103 yet). Had a nice lunch at Nap's. New item, blackened salmon... done just right. Yum! Also, listened to XM radio on the way there and back. It's weird to hear Jack Webb outside his Dragnet role. Why? Jack Webb.. with emotion. Jarring.

And there's this... ( You're kidding, right? )

Current Mood: surprised
Current Music: the scanner scanning

Well, Jay's folks are in the Fairmont area this week. We saw their new motorhome last night. They saw our house. And we all had a supper at the local Mexican restaurant (which was the third night in a row for me & Jay - not bad, but I'm ready for something else now).

We'll be making our way, though not all together, to Sioux Falls on Friday. Current plans are to meet up with Billie & James for supper at Nap's Alabama Barbecue, then we all spend Saturday at the Siouxland Renaissance Festival. Depending on the weather they may well be another potluck there Saturday evening. I'm not doing the M&M thing again, though. Maybe I'll just get some bread spreads (peanut butter, Nutella, jellies and such) and if it rains, well, they can be used in Osceola, IA in a couple weeks.

Jay & I will stay for Sunday, or most of it, at the festival. His folks will be going on their way to see a bit of the Fargo area. We will likely see them again in Minneapolis next week for supper at Lindey's.

This weekend should be quite interesting. Last year was Siouxland's first year and they got more right than many well-established faires do. Sure, they had a few misfires, but they didn't have any big misfires. It seems as if everyone (performer, vendor) asked to be invited back. And the Siouxland folks not only took notes, so to speak, but sought out ideas of what could be done better - and have since then set to work to fix those things. The only real problem they may have is one they can't control: the weather.

Current Mood: good

The day started with a trip to Sioux Falls to pick up comics (LT102 is rather so-so like MichaelMink says, it's a bit odd too). Besides my usual comics they included a sizable stack of freebies from Free Comic Book Day. One could waste, er, spend a fair chunk of time going through the lot. I expect I will, but not all at once.

After picking up the comics it was time for lunch, which was had at Nap's Alabama Barbecue (an improbable but good place in Sioux Falls).

And finally home. I had shut belgian (the linux box and main machine nowadays) off before we left. A few days ago it got noisy. The noise of something caught or hit by a fan. So this afternoon I took belgian apart enough to get at the drive cooling fans. After a bit of fiddling it became apparent that the motors (three tiny fans in the thing) were quiet.

What had happened was the filter had gotten bumped or pushed and a couple of the fans were hitting it with their blades. With the fan assembly apart, the filter could be pressed into place out of the way again. When reassembled, all was nicely quiet again. Well, as quiet as a PC can be with hard drive, power supply fan, CPU fan, case fan, and HDD fan(s). But now it's nice low hum again, not a shrill buzz.

If this happens again, at least I know how to fix it. Though if it does happen again, I'll be looking for a substitute for the crude filter.

Current Mood: relieved
Current Music: Properly working fans, and a hard drive or two...

If you don't care how I spent Saturday, then ( skip this )

Current Mood: content