Trees and Lakes

This weekend Adam worked a lot so we didn't have time to do anything too exciting.  On Friday night we went to a park nearby called Centennial park.  It was pretty nice.  They had lots of trails and a small lake.  We just walked for a little while. 

On our way into the building that our condo is in I found this bug.  It is literally the biggest bug that I have EVER seen.  The picture doesn't do it any justice.  Those are normal size bricks though so just imagine how big this thing looked in person. 

When I got my hair cut earlier this week the hair dresser told me about free jazz concerts in Columbia. Anyone that knows Adam and I is aware of our liking of free things.  I looked it up online and it said that they were playing at Columbia Lakefront at 8pm.  We got to Columbia town center and saw signs for concert parking.  We just parked at the mall and walked so that we didn't have to pay.  We followed the crowds of people and walked to the entrance.  Someone was scanning tickets which I thought was strange because it said free online.  I asked the woman if you needed a ticket and she said yes.  We went over to the ticket counter to see how much they were.  As we observed our surroundings I started to think something was a bit strange.  It was a really young crowd and extremely packed.  Is that what high school kids in Columbia do on a Saturday night?  They go to see free jazz concerts?  I then spotted a tour bus.  I thought this was just a jazz group from Baltimore.  Why would they need a big fancy tour bus?  It all became clear when I asked the ticket lady what was going on tonight.  Guess what, the Black Eyed Peas were in town.  To make a long story short, we were at the wrong venue.  The lakefront was about a quarter mile down the road.  We finally made it to the lakefront and the Jazz band was already on stage playing.  It turned out to be a bit dissapointing knowing that the Black Eyed Peas were playing just down the street and we were hanging out with the 50+ crowd at the jazz concert.  The lake was pretty though so we just sat on the dock for a while and enjoyed the nice weather.   

This tree sculpture was neat.  They call it the people tree. 

Patapsco State Park

First off, we went to the movies yesterday to see Harry Potter in IMAX 3D.  It was really good.  Today we decided to go mountain biking.  It is very convenient because Patapsco state park is only 7 minutes from our house.  It was over 100 degrees out today.  I don't know when this heat wave is going to leave.  That being said, we were drenched in sweat, but we still had a lot of fun.  

Adam is navigating the way

And off we go....

The park was really pretty

Time for a break

We saw so many deer

This was on our way down the cliff to get a good picture of the dam. 

And there it is. 

Retirement Community

We found a really nice place to live.  It is a two bedroom two bathroom condo which is perfect for when we have guests.  We are by far the youngest tenants here though.  Our neighbor told us that with us living here the average age might go down to 68.  We've only lived here for a week but I really like it so far.  I haven't heard a neighbor once.  Everyone around here is really nice too with an exception for the one lady that sighed when we told her that we were moving in.  She also asked us if we were going to leave "that thing" parked there forever.  She was referring to the uhaul.  An older couple helped us unload the entire truck last week.  There was also a widow that helped but he could only carry really light boxes.  I thought it was really nice and cute.  I expected there to be really nice neighbors along with bitter ones.  That seems to be the way the elderly are.

Our condo has a really nice bathtub.  We don't pay for the water here so I tend to take baths way too often and fill it as high as I can.  I need to cut that out though because I am supposed to promote water conservation and that is just hypocritical.  Here are some pictures of our new place.

The chandelier is a bit weird but I am getting used to it. 

Our bedroom.  We plan on painting the walls a better color eventually.

We have his and hers closets.  I get the smaller one.....

.....and he gets the larger one rightfully so.

We even have a closet for our sports stuff.

Our living room.  We don't have a TV yet so we just look at the wall mount that the owner left for us.  Hopefully we can get one pretty soon. 

That is our kitchen.  I think that the first owner was an NBA player because I can't reach anything in those cabinets. 

This is supposed to be a dining room but we turned it into an office.

Our guest bedroom is all ready to go.  Now we are just waiting on our first visitors. 

We Finally Have Internet!

This has turned out to be the longest week of my life.  I had to survive without internet and TV and it has been over 100 degrees every day so I can't even occupy myself outside.  I guess on the plus side I spend 10 hours a day at work (including driving time) so what free time do I have anyways.  I think that I am going to like my job though.  I am just training right now so it is pretty boring but I am optimistic that it will get better.  My coworkers are really nice too.  On Monday my coworkers took me to lunch at G&M.  Apparently they have the best crab cakes around.  They told me that they ship them on dry ice all around the country.  I of course had to order one.  It was a lot different from the crab cakes I am used to in Toledo.  I'm not much of a seafood fan but people around here are obsessed with it and I guess I understand why now.