current distraction: paper paper paper

Time to recap the last month or so.  Yevatron and I took a trip to Asheville, NC.  It was really a great, cool place and I suggest everyone visit.  It definitely has its own culture and you feel that the second you get into downtown.  We stopped at a sort of indian-american place called Chai Pane (I think?) and it was quite tasty.  They had a ton of indian street food and it was all pretty cheap.  Then we walked around some more, going into little shops here and there, and then went to get massages.  Dah, I love massages.  Especially because I did not bring my back brace down here to Knoxville so I felt a little out of sorts.  Anyway, we were talking to the hippie receptionist about what we should do after and she recommended a Kava bar.  We never had kava before so we sought that out.  This was a hilarious place.  Kava is a drink made from the root of the piper methysticum plant and it’s supposed to have kind of the same effects as alcohol but without the hangover.  However, it also has a reverse tolerance so we didn’t feel anything but it was just a funny place to experience.  It tastes like dirt, exactly like dirt, and we chased it with pineapple.  The other people in the bar were really funny and they kept telling us we have to try Kratom, a leaf that you can make kind of like a tea.  Apparently it is stronger than Kava and some people prefer that.  So we hung out in the Kava bar for a while and played cards, then walked around some more before getting dinner at a japanese place.  After the Asheville extravaganza we made our way to Hot Springs, NC to enjoy the natural hot tubs.  This was really nice but not as much of the earthy place I was expecting.  Nevertheless, it was a real fun day and in case you didn’t notice from the lack of pictures I forgot my cameras memory card and couldn’t use it.  Depression =(

Last weekend Frank came to visit.  All the interns came over Friday night and it was the usual food, drink, and music. We ended up going to Half Barrel and Tin Roof, losing some friends and finding some friends and all was good.  On Saturday Frank, Yeva, and I went to Vanderbilt to visit Ryan.  That was insane.  Ryan is in a frat, in case the word wasn’t broken to any family members yet; I had no idea.  There were just parties all over the street and so many drunken undergraduates.  It made me kind of happy that I was done with all of that but it’s funny to see.  They had their Rites Of Spring music festival that night and we heard Matt & Kim while waiting in line, saw Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and saw Kid Cudi.  I could’ve done without Kid Cudi for sure, he was ridiculous.  He seemed like a nice guy that just needed some close friends to talk to.  We drove home after the show and got back to Knoxville at 6am Sunday morning.  DAH.  Monday and Tuesday night we went out for Franks birthday and got some drinks and hung out downtown.  All in all it was a fun visit and it was good to have Frank here for a while.

Now I’m focusing on finishing up everything ORNL related.  There was a cyber attack this week so unfortunately the internet has been down and cell phone reception is terrible and I have no distractions.  Now I have to work at home today so I get to leave in a week and go back home.