Taking time away from blogging and my websites does not necessarily mean I’m being productive. In fact, it usually means I’m just being lazy. It is summer, after all.

Lots of photos under the fold.

To get the most out of this summer weather, The Partner and I have been taking daily bike rides through town. It’s hot, so we usually dump cups full of water onto ourselves, strap a bandana filled with ice around our necks, and head out. On one recent trip to campus, I caught a few pictures of some chalking:

“In religion and politics, peoples’ beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second hand and without examination.”

On another trip to campus, we were pleasantly surprised to see several watering stations for the public. The cold, cold water spewing out was a relief on many occasions.

For the Fourth, we had a few friends over for dinner and later, for drinking alcohol and blowing shit up. Nothing mixes better than liquor and explosives.

The Partner was in charge of the community grill (the gas grill, with a full propane tank, was left by a previous tenant and is in complete working order) and cooked up portabella mushrooms and veggie burgers (we did not cook the geode).

The Partner loves to grill.

Everybody got in on the cooking, including this blurry-faced guy — although whether you count reheating food in the microwave “cooking” is relative.

We’re not 100% vegetarian and the meal also included a chicken taco salad made by The Canadian®.

George was begging the entire time.

And what cook-out isn’t complete without some rainwater-filled toilets in the courtyard?

I didn’t take any shots of us blowing shit up because (1) it was too dark and (2) we don’t need that sort of inciminating evidence floating around teh Internets. Let me just say it’s risky when you live next to a busy road.

This weekend was The Partner’s birthday and we went out of town to hang out with his family. On Saturday we went to Deep River Waterpark, where “nobody gets you wetter!”

Although it was The Partner’s birthday, it had been decided (by his family even!) that he would stay home to dogsit and I would go to the waterpark. I think next year we should leave the dog at home with friends so that we all can go (better planning).

To keep the birthday bash excitement going, I woke up Sunday morning with a migraine. LUCKY! After a lot of water, a couple pills, and a few mintues on an inversion table, it had abated by the later afternoon, just in time for an awesome cake made by The Partner’s mother.

All-in-all, I’d say it’s been a good past couple of weeks.