I’m on vacation. Three weeks out of the office. I’m saving the other two weeks for  my honeymoon in late October, and visiting the in-laws in Minnesota sometime next spring. Oh yes, I have five weeks of paid vacation per year - as do almost everyone in Sweden; some people have more. It’s okay to be jealous.  There are some benefits to living in a market economy with socialist tendencies. Where was I? Oh, right, vacation.

So the idea is that vacations are to be relaxing. In theory, there’s very little planned for these three weeks that I have to do, so I should have plenty of time left over to, among other things, blog stuff. But I haven’t. I’ve been really bad at blogging. Why? Because I’ve been busy. Busy, busy, busy. It’s funny how busy I can be when I’m on vacation, but it’s true - I’ve been very busy.

I’ve spent time riding my bike to my favorite ice cream parlor, for instance. It takes me and Lori a little over an hour and a half to ride our bikes there, buy the ice cream (depending on how long the line is; it tends to stretch out into the street given the popularity of the place) and then stroll around downtown while eating it, and finally to ride our bikes back. 90 minutes, poof! Gone, just like that.

I’ve spent time wondering what the hell we’re going to do about the fact that our female cat - Ada - once snuck out at night (both cats, the other is named Galileo by the way, are indoors cats) and has upon her return 24 hours later not been herself anymore. She DESPERATELY wants to get back outdoors. She makes really loud, weird noises. She scratches at the door. This morning, unprecedented, she pissed in our bed.  That did it for Lori and me, and we’ve now made the decision to let the little brats be outdoors cats if they so desperately want it. The reason they’ve been indoors so far is primarily because we used to live in a second floor apartment. But since we moved a few months back, we decided to keep them indoors since most vets seem to be agreeing that there is no real good reason to make them outdoors cats, it just makes them a lot more likely to get hurt or killed. Also, we wouldn’t have to get a cat door or figure out how to get them in and out at winter. But, alas, catpiss in my bed was enough of a tipping point.  So, I’ve spent time at the pet store today buying collars (they haven’t needed them so far) and treats. There’s some sucking up to do on our part, to make sure they like us enough to want to come home after we let them out, after all.

I’ve also spent time playing poker. A lot of poker. It’s not gone so well. A lot of up-and-down. Or maybe down-and-up, depending on where in the swingy cycle that is shorthanded limit hold ‘em you decide to start counting. I’ve seen posts asking when it’s time to move up since they’re “solid winners after 3k hands.” Bwahahahaha. Ha. Ha-ha. Ha.  I laugh at their naïvite. I envy their youthful ignorance and innocense. I remember thinking stuff like that myself a year ago.

What else? Oh yeah! I’M GETTING MARRIED IN A LITTLE OVER A WEEK. This is “sort of a big thing” and is of course also part of why I’m busy during my so-called vacation. There are things that need to be prepared, although we’ve covered most land already before I took time off. But my in-laws are coming on Sunday afternoon and will be here for 10 days, so next week won’t be “scratch my balls until Lunch”-days, anymore. At least I won’t do it in the livingroom like I have so far.

And, finally, I’ve been not playing golf. I’ve spent a lot of time not playing golf. I wish I hadn’t. But, as it were, my golfing buddies seem to be out of town, the weather has been crappy, and I’ve been, as I believe I’ve mentioned, busy with other stuff.

Including scratching my balls in the living room. I can do it for hours.

PS. Ada is named after Ada Lovelace. No, not the girl from Deep Throat (that’s Linda Lovelace). We have a thing for naming pets after scientists. I bet you don’t know what Ada Lovelace is known for, though. Shame on you. Now go look it up. DS.