Anniversary and Certification

I have finally gotten solid proof of completing a certification; behold:

Yeah, I'm awesome. I should also have Inpatient and Mychart finished up today- now there's only STC to go  and I'm good to work. Which is a good thing as people from my hiring group are already starting to get customers, and once that happens I'll have no time to do any more training. So gotta get er done!

Also this past week was Ms. Carroll's and I's (mine? my? stupid possessives...) 5th anniversary. Kind of boggles the mind to think that we've been together for 5 years as it doesn't seem so long.

Anyway, we of course had to give gifts to one another. My gift, continuing a theme from last year, was making her some Dr Who miniatures, this time the 11th doctor (Matt Smith) and his companion Amy Pond.

 And the complete group for full measure. All of the miniatures  (except for the TARDIS) come from Heresy Miniatures, bt dubs.

She probably one upped me, though, by biking out to far away places in the rain to deliver me this:

She even put it in a little basket with Easter grass and wrapped it in plastic. Makes me tear up a bit to think about how good that Nettle Gouda is going to taste paired with the cracked pepper beer...

We also went out to dinner at a fabulous restaurant on the Capitol square called the Blue Marlin and then ended the night with a sold out viewing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. Excellent meal, pretty darn good movie and of course amazing company.

We closed out the weekend with modeling (me) and studying (Rachel), though we also had a cozy game night Sunday night. One of the beers that we bought for the game night still has me stupefied; it's called Brown Shugga' from Lagunitas Brewery. It tastes like beer flavored malt syrup, but better than what that description sounds like. It still has a bit of bitter character, but the sweetness is through the roof and the beer itself looks like amber colored glass.

As Lagunitas put it (in very fine print around the bottle), "We believe this Special Ale is Something Unique. Feeding Brown Cane Sugar to otherwise Cultured Brewery Yeast is a'kin to feeding Raw Shark to you Gerbil. It is unlikely to ever occur in nature without Human Intervention. And it looks weird besides. But it has happened and now it's too Late." Truer words never said.

Until next time...

"What ought to be done to the man who invented the celebrating of anniversaries? Mere killing would be too light. Anniversaries are very well up to a certain point, while one's babies are in the process of growing up: they are joy-flags that make gay the road and prove progress; and one looks down the fluttering rank with pride. Then presently one notices that the flagstaffs are in process of a mysterious change of some sort--change of shape. Yes, they are turning into milestones. They are marking something lost now, not gained. From that time on it were best to suppress taking notice of anniversaries."


- Mark Twain's Notebook, 1896