DEC 27

2024

FRIDAY (Wichita trip for Peter's wedding)
2324: slow start to the morning, as the boys were out of the house to deal with an auto repair issue, but we eventually left as well to get lunch at Hog Wild. (Philly offers many kinds of food among its restaurants, but quality barbecue is hard to find.) When we got back to the house, the guys had returned, and we decided to head to the Zoo.

It wasn't uncomfortably cold, but there still weren't many people around. We skipped the petting zoo and went straight from the penguins to the lizard/amphibian habitat. The tortoises were pretty sleepy, and we got to see a cobra return to its chamber after frogs had been distributed, though we didn't stick around to watch it eat. The stingray pavilion was closed due to the temperature, but the otters were in fine form, as usual, and we saw black bear cubs at the start of the North American regional exhibits. The Mexican wolves had just received various meaty bones, and the bison were looking good. The giraffes weren't very active, nor were the gorillas, though they were interested in picking up more of their greens as long as we weren't around to watch.

Julie's highlights came in the various big cat enclosures. The leopards had nice walkways to allow them access to various habitats, and while the snow leopard had been napping on one such overhead walkway, it came down around the time we walked to the tiger territory. The tiger could see the leopard, and it was VERY interested in what that cat was doing. It was definitely to the leopard's benefit that the tiger had no way of reaching it.

As we continued around the area, we reached the lion pen, and the lions put on quite the show for us. The female may wasn't interested in moving, but she made a lot of eye contact with us. The male, though, climbed up to the highest rock it could reach and spent a minute or two vocalizing. (I guess it was technically a roar, but it's not the sound most people imagine when imagining what lions sound like.) We really enjoyed watching them.

After the cats, we hit up the elephant area to watch the closest one gathering up what little edible grass had been left behind on the ground nearby. The other seven seemed more interested in getting back to the interior shelter. Things seemed to be closing up, so we took a last trip to the chimpanzee area, and we watched a couple of the youths doing loops around the room as they clambered on the ropes and walls.

We were getting pretty tired at this point, so we exited through the gift shop (and bought a commemorative magnet). Back at the house, I was getting sleepy enough that Julie recommended I nap for 45 minutes, and I took her up on that idea.

We were scheduled to meet up with Matt, Jess, and Courtney at 5:30 at Playa Azul. We were thrilled to get to eat here again; I had my usual Jalisco Especial. (Quality Tex Mex is impossible to find in Philadelphia. Even just the idea of complimentary chips and salsa is unthinkable there.) It was great to catch up and finally hear about everything that had gone on since we were last in the area.

After we finished dinner, we walked over to River City Brewery for drinks, which was maxing the Christmas theming with "Miracle on Mosley Street". They were offering themed drinks, and I had a "Cran-ic at the Disco," which turned out to be a lager with cranberry and orange flavor mixed in. Pretty good; kind of reminded me of the Rally Ales I used to get. While we got situated, Courtney's new boyfriend Barry showed up, and I tried to make sense of the televised entertainment: the festive fireplace program was paused, but the other TV was definitely playing one of those "Despicable Me" movies. As we finished our drinks, we took some pictures with an oversized decorative nutcracker, but we soon needed to walk to the escape room.

The room in question turned out to be just north on Mosley in a building I didn't recognize. Any time a team finished, they got to sign one of the interior walls, so there was a lot to look at as we waited for people to finish using the bathroom. Once we were all ready, the guy brought us into the "escape the bunker" scenario. It had a lot of "Cold War missile command/AI experiments gone wrong" theming, which turned out to be a highlight when the TV started playing "Diamond City radio" from Fallout 4. (Julie would later admit that she hadn't expected to be of any help, but once the music started, she was more than happy to spend all her time just singing along.) We were probably too quick to request assistance the first time; we were on the right track, but we weren't diligent enough in trying the numbers we'd found on the objects for which they clearly corresponded. In any case, we were able to finish with around 20 minutes, 28 seconds remaining. It was a lot of fun.

Once we got out of the room, we signed the walls and took our group photo before walking back to the cars and going our separate ways. Back at the house, the guys had already gone to bed, so we retired to our bedroom to catch up on phone updates and coordinate plans with my parents for the morning. Sounds like we'll be going to their hotel for breakfast by 9:30, so I should set an alarm now that I'm done with this.

2023

Wednesday: still suffering through this sinus infection, but at least it was my last workday of the week. I got all the litter and trash taken care of prior to having that leftover soup for dinner, at least two servings of which still remain, and I power-napped in the bedroom for like an hour afterward. To get myself pumped up for project-work, I rewatched 17776, but the current rate at which I'm accumulating mucus might defeat further efforts this evening.

2022

Tuesday: Work, leftover shepherd's pie, Civ VI, dishes. Sleepy.

Steam:
Sid Meier's Civilization VI - Real Estate Disclosures Required