Karen and I spent the early part of our day running more errands. So far, it has been a very exciting vacation break, I know. Following the errands, I was again motivated to work on renovating the first floor bathroom.
The task today for the first floor bathroom was to add blocks of wood between the studs (including me... just kidding). Like most home improvement projects, one task always inevitably leads to another unforeseen task.
In the case of our first floor bathroom, the unforeseen task had to deal with our studs which were more noticeable once the insulation was removed from the wall. For anyone curious, our first floor bathroom shares a wall with our kitchen. As our kitchen has cabinets hanging on the wall, the screws that hang the cabinets protrude through the wall.
Normally, the screws that attach cabinets to walls are set into the studs for sturdiness. Oftentimes, when the screw cannot be attached directly to a stud, a drywall anchor is used to hold the screw within the piece of drywall. For anyone who knows me, they would know that I am not a big fan of that idea (even though the anchor works) especially when it comes to hanging heavy objects like cabinets full of breakable dishes.
So naturally, I figured that it would be best to attach pieces of wood (where I can) between the studs such that any future screws can be drilled directly into wood and not simply a drywall anchor. And so, I spent the better part of today cutting wood and attaching the wood between the studs shared by the kitchen and first floor bathroom. Realistically, I probably did not even need to do that. I had just figured it would make installing new kitchen cabinets easier in the future. (I currently don't plan on installing new kitchen cabinets, but you never know.)
Anyway, I had barely finished that home improvement task before going to hang out with my friends (Marc and Kelley). We had switched our weekly get-together day to today because we had plans the rest of the week.
As usual, Marc was gracious enough to make dinner. The risotto dinner he made was delicious. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) I could have eaten all of it.
On the agenda for the night were a few more episodes of the greatest television show ever: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episodes that we watched were: "Doublemeat Palace" about Buffy's new fast food job; "Dead Things" about Warren killing his ex-girlfriend and attempting to frame Buffy; and "Older and Far Away" about Dawn's guidance counselor/vengeance (justice) demon putting a curse to trap everyone inside Buffy's house on her birthday.
And for anyone curious, the justice demon known as Halfrek was formerly known as Cecily, the object of Spike's (then William) affection who had rejected him. The rejection consequently led the devastated Spike to find Drusilla and become a vampire.
Following the three episodes, we decided to end the night with some Web Soup. Now, I suck at Web Soup.
(The video below is from Web Soup.)
Web Soup was airing its Golden Download Awards show. Needless to say, the show was comical. In my opinion, the best bit from the show was the watermelon saga. That bit cracked me up.
All in all, it was a great night.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
I Suck At The Chateau
Karen and I took the week between Christmas/Annamas and New Year's off from work. My former employer used to close the office during that week between the holidays. I am not sure if my former employer still does that for its employees, but ever since Karen and I have made a habit to take that week off.
One would think that Karen and I would relax and enjoy our week off from work. Yesterday, however, we ran through a bunch of errands on our ever-expanding "to-do" list. The main errands that we took care of yesterday were the oil change and the inspection sticker. (For anyone curious, it was a good thing that we did the oil change first because it turns out that our tail lights were out.)
Anyway, following our errands, I worked on renovating our first floor bathroom. The bathroom on the first floor has been in disarray for quite some time. I figured that I would at least work a little on the bathroom during my vacation break so that I could feel somewhat productive. And so, I removed all of the insulation that had lined the walls and the ceiling of the bathroom.
I realize that removing insulation now while the weather is cold and chilly outside is probably not the best idea. Helping to ease my mind, however, is the fact that the previous owner or builder did not correctly use the proper insulation anyway. The first floor bathroom was cold to begin with. I just made it a little colder now.
Needless to say, it felt good to finally remove the old insulation from the first floor bathroom. So now I can at least say I was somewhat productive during my break. Sadly, there is still a long way to go before I can finish this renovation project.
Having been somewhat productive, I then got ready to go out with Karen to the restaurant known as The Chateau. The Chateau, located in Braintree, is an Italian family restaurant. The restaurant took the place of Famous Dave's (near Bugaboo Creek).
Now, I suck at the Chateau. Truth be told, I think the owners of the place suck at naming the restaurant. After all, the word "chateau" is French. So naturally, I thought the place was a French restaurant. Nope. It's an Italian restaurant. I don't know what the Italian equivalent is to "chateau", but I guess the word just didn't have the same ring to it. Castello, is that?
Anyway, Karen and I were meeting up with our friends (Pam and Ed). Pam and Ed, who live in Bon Jovi's home state of New Jersey, were back for the holidays. (Of course, if I lived in New Jersey, I would be back in Massachusetts every day...) Nevertheless, they organized a little get-together. Apparently, Pam has dined at The Chateau before, albeit the one located in Waltham, and absolutely loved it. So it was with great excitement that she was able to plan and organize the dinner with the much closer location in Braintree.
In addition to Pam, Ed, Karen and myself, joining in on the festivities were my friends (Jen, Hot Amy) and my BFF (Kerry). My friend (Joanna) unfortunately could not join us due to communication issues. By communication issues, I mean that Joanna did not get the email about the plans until it was too late.
Needless to say, I have never been to the Chateau. The food was okay. Of course, there were great expectations for the toasted ravioli dish already because Pam had hyped up the meal. It's tough to live up to high expectations.
The high expectations remind me of the movie "Wedding Crashers". When the movie came out, the movie was hyped as the funniest movie ever. I was sadly disappointed when I finally got around to seeing the movie. Don't get me wrong. The movie was funny, but definitely not the funniest movie ever seen.
Speaking of movies, I forgot to mention that Karen and I also watched "17 Again" yesterday as well.
(The video below is the trailer for "17 Again".)
Interestingly enough, the movie was enjoyable. And contrary to what my friend (Cass) had joked about... not all white people look like Zac Efron. Regardless, the movie was entertaining. (For anyone curious, the movie also starred Michelle Trachtenberg of Buffy fame.)
Anyway, the food at The Chateau was okay. I actually did not have the toasted ravioli dish. I opted for the eggplant parm dinner, but I did try one of the toasted raviolis. It was okay.
Regardless, it was a fun night.
One would think that Karen and I would relax and enjoy our week off from work. Yesterday, however, we ran through a bunch of errands on our ever-expanding "to-do" list. The main errands that we took care of yesterday were the oil change and the inspection sticker. (For anyone curious, it was a good thing that we did the oil change first because it turns out that our tail lights were out.)
Anyway, following our errands, I worked on renovating our first floor bathroom. The bathroom on the first floor has been in disarray for quite some time. I figured that I would at least work a little on the bathroom during my vacation break so that I could feel somewhat productive. And so, I removed all of the insulation that had lined the walls and the ceiling of the bathroom.
I realize that removing insulation now while the weather is cold and chilly outside is probably not the best idea. Helping to ease my mind, however, is the fact that the previous owner or builder did not correctly use the proper insulation anyway. The first floor bathroom was cold to begin with. I just made it a little colder now.
Needless to say, it felt good to finally remove the old insulation from the first floor bathroom. So now I can at least say I was somewhat productive during my break. Sadly, there is still a long way to go before I can finish this renovation project.
Having been somewhat productive, I then got ready to go out with Karen to the restaurant known as The Chateau. The Chateau, located in Braintree, is an Italian family restaurant. The restaurant took the place of Famous Dave's (near Bugaboo Creek).
Now, I suck at the Chateau. Truth be told, I think the owners of the place suck at naming the restaurant. After all, the word "chateau" is French. So naturally, I thought the place was a French restaurant. Nope. It's an Italian restaurant. I don't know what the Italian equivalent is to "chateau", but I guess the word just didn't have the same ring to it. Castello, is that?
Anyway, Karen and I were meeting up with our friends (Pam and Ed). Pam and Ed, who live in Bon Jovi's home state of New Jersey, were back for the holidays. (Of course, if I lived in New Jersey, I would be back in Massachusetts every day...) Nevertheless, they organized a little get-together. Apparently, Pam has dined at The Chateau before, albeit the one located in Waltham, and absolutely loved it. So it was with great excitement that she was able to plan and organize the dinner with the much closer location in Braintree.
In addition to Pam, Ed, Karen and myself, joining in on the festivities were my friends (Jen, Hot Amy) and my BFF (Kerry). My friend (Joanna) unfortunately could not join us due to communication issues. By communication issues, I mean that Joanna did not get the email about the plans until it was too late.
Needless to say, I have never been to the Chateau. The food was okay. Of course, there were great expectations for the toasted ravioli dish already because Pam had hyped up the meal. It's tough to live up to high expectations.
The high expectations remind me of the movie "Wedding Crashers". When the movie came out, the movie was hyped as the funniest movie ever. I was sadly disappointed when I finally got around to seeing the movie. Don't get me wrong. The movie was funny, but definitely not the funniest movie ever seen.
Speaking of movies, I forgot to mention that Karen and I also watched "17 Again" yesterday as well.
(The video below is the trailer for "17 Again".)
Interestingly enough, the movie was enjoyable. And contrary to what my friend (Cass) had joked about... not all white people look like Zac Efron. Regardless, the movie was entertaining. (For anyone curious, the movie also starred Michelle Trachtenberg of Buffy fame.)
Anyway, the food at The Chateau was okay. I actually did not have the toasted ravioli dish. I opted for the eggplant parm dinner, but I did try one of the toasted raviolis. It was okay.
Regardless, it was a fun night.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
I Suck At Celebrating My Friend's Birthday
My friends (Cass and Ellen) organized a little get-together for today. The reason for the get-together: to hang out, have fun, celebrate birthdays and have our silly holiday present swap.
Ellen's birthday is the day before my birthday. Unfortunately, I suck at celebrating my friend's birthday. Of course, with the added bonus of the holidays, celebrating a birthday in the month of December is always difficult to do. Thus, Cass and Ellen organized a gathering for after Christmas/Annamas.
Needless to say, today was a blast. We got to hang out, eat great food, and just have fun. I suppose a special thanks should go out to Cass's employer as they apparently provided a lot of the food that was there today. Most notable was the apple crisp (with cranberries) from the Milk Street Cafe. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) The apple crisp was delicious. I could have eaten the whole tray... and almost did.
Anyway, joining in on the festivities today (besides Cass, Ellen, Karen and myself) were my friends (Marc, Kelley, Garv, and Leeann). And to everyone, thank you again for your generous presents. I was pleasantly surprised with everything. I am also looking forward now to March 12th, which is the date the Boston Celtics will be playing against the Indiana Pacers. I can't wait to attend.
Amid the birthday celebrations was talk about the fantasy football season. After all, today was Sunday... the day of professional football. It was a little comical because Cass and Ellen were in the playoff hunt. So they were checking the status of their respective teams. As of right now, things weren't looking too good for Ellen's fantasy team.
During halftime of the New England Patriots football game, we decided to have our "silly swap". In years past, all of us used to do a Secret Santa swap whereby we would each draw the name of someone in our group and purchase a present for them. For the most part, the Secret Santa was fun. There were, however, a couple of years where things weren't so fun... through no fault of our own of course.
A few years ago, we decided to switch things up and just have what has become known as a "silly swap", which is basically a Yankee swap of silly gifts and items (whether the items were gifts that were received and unused, things lying around the house, or whatever). In my opinion, I think the "silly swap" has been very enjoyable. I actually think we should have silly types of swaps with our other circles of friends.
From a purely green point of view, having a silly swap with our friends cuts down on waste because things are being reused. Plus, having the swap would also remove the need to remember if a specific present needs to be given to so-and-so. And realistically, after a certain point, there really aren't any secular "things" that I would personally want to receive. As you can probably tell, I am very much into pushing the idea of a "silly swap" to everyone.
I think last year, we had skipped the "silly swap". Last year, neither Karen nor I were much into the holiday spirit with the passing of our son (Braden). This year, however, the swap was brought back and I'm glad it was. The swap just made celebrating the holidays that much more enjoyable this year.
For me, I enjoyed watching Leeann open her present. She had unwrapped her gift and then pulled out the contents of the box. She then immediately burst out laughing because the contents of the box was a black and white shirtless Ryan Reynolds photo... in a South Shore YMCA picture frame. Just watching her crack up had me laughing. (Of course, it helped that Karen and I brought that silly present.)
The other silly present that Karen and I brought also had everyone laughing pretty hard. The present was also another picture frame, with a little heart on it. Within the frame itself was the following:
(The picture below is of Garv and his infatuation: Taylor Swift.)
Needless to say, Garv enjoyed the picture. Garv ended up with the picture after trading with Cass. (Although... it would have been more comical had someone else kept the picture for themselves.) All in all, the silly swap was just pure and simple fun. I am, however, curious as to where Garv will place the picture. We recommended that he put the picture at Blue-22, but he wasn't too keen on that idea.
Following the silly swap and some more football, we then decided to play a game. In fact, the game was the same game that we had played on Black Friday: "The Game of Things". The premise of the game is to determine who responded to a certain "thing" (like "Things you shouldn't do at a..."). Of course, with our group of friends, the responses degenerated to sharts, Ryan Reynolds, and a combination of both the last time around.
This time around, things were still pretty comical. In fact, sharts were a recurring theme... as was Ryan Reynolds... and Taylor Swift... and the combination of all three. Needless to say, the responses were absolutely brilliant. The game was quite enjoyable. Of course, I was pretty inept at the game... due to my horrid memory of responses. The game was fun nonetheless.
Anyway, I had an absolute blast today. Just hanging out with everyone and laughing our butts off was pure genius.
Ellen's birthday is the day before my birthday. Unfortunately, I suck at celebrating my friend's birthday. Of course, with the added bonus of the holidays, celebrating a birthday in the month of December is always difficult to do. Thus, Cass and Ellen organized a gathering for after Christmas/Annamas.
Needless to say, today was a blast. We got to hang out, eat great food, and just have fun. I suppose a special thanks should go out to Cass's employer as they apparently provided a lot of the food that was there today. Most notable was the apple crisp (with cranberries) from the Milk Street Cafe. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) The apple crisp was delicious. I could have eaten the whole tray... and almost did.
Anyway, joining in on the festivities today (besides Cass, Ellen, Karen and myself) were my friends (Marc, Kelley, Garv, and Leeann). And to everyone, thank you again for your generous presents. I was pleasantly surprised with everything. I am also looking forward now to March 12th, which is the date the Boston Celtics will be playing against the Indiana Pacers. I can't wait to attend.
Amid the birthday celebrations was talk about the fantasy football season. After all, today was Sunday... the day of professional football. It was a little comical because Cass and Ellen were in the playoff hunt. So they were checking the status of their respective teams. As of right now, things weren't looking too good for Ellen's fantasy team.
During halftime of the New England Patriots football game, we decided to have our "silly swap". In years past, all of us used to do a Secret Santa swap whereby we would each draw the name of someone in our group and purchase a present for them. For the most part, the Secret Santa was fun. There were, however, a couple of years where things weren't so fun... through no fault of our own of course.
A few years ago, we decided to switch things up and just have what has become known as a "silly swap", which is basically a Yankee swap of silly gifts and items (whether the items were gifts that were received and unused, things lying around the house, or whatever). In my opinion, I think the "silly swap" has been very enjoyable. I actually think we should have silly types of swaps with our other circles of friends.
From a purely green point of view, having a silly swap with our friends cuts down on waste because things are being reused. Plus, having the swap would also remove the need to remember if a specific present needs to be given to so-and-so. And realistically, after a certain point, there really aren't any secular "things" that I would personally want to receive. As you can probably tell, I am very much into pushing the idea of a "silly swap" to everyone.
I think last year, we had skipped the "silly swap". Last year, neither Karen nor I were much into the holiday spirit with the passing of our son (Braden). This year, however, the swap was brought back and I'm glad it was. The swap just made celebrating the holidays that much more enjoyable this year.
For me, I enjoyed watching Leeann open her present. She had unwrapped her gift and then pulled out the contents of the box. She then immediately burst out laughing because the contents of the box was a black and white shirtless Ryan Reynolds photo... in a South Shore YMCA picture frame. Just watching her crack up had me laughing. (Of course, it helped that Karen and I brought that silly present.)
The other silly present that Karen and I brought also had everyone laughing pretty hard. The present was also another picture frame, with a little heart on it. Within the frame itself was the following:
(The picture below is of Garv and his infatuation: Taylor Swift.)
Needless to say, Garv enjoyed the picture. Garv ended up with the picture after trading with Cass. (Although... it would have been more comical had someone else kept the picture for themselves.) All in all, the silly swap was just pure and simple fun. I am, however, curious as to where Garv will place the picture. We recommended that he put the picture at Blue-22, but he wasn't too keen on that idea.
Following the silly swap and some more football, we then decided to play a game. In fact, the game was the same game that we had played on Black Friday: "The Game of Things". The premise of the game is to determine who responded to a certain "thing" (like "Things you shouldn't do at a..."). Of course, with our group of friends, the responses degenerated to sharts, Ryan Reynolds, and a combination of both the last time around.
This time around, things were still pretty comical. In fact, sharts were a recurring theme... as was Ryan Reynolds... and Taylor Swift... and the combination of all three. Needless to say, the responses were absolutely brilliant. The game was quite enjoyable. Of course, I was pretty inept at the game... due to my horrid memory of responses. The game was fun nonetheless.
Anyway, I had an absolute blast today. Just hanging out with everyone and laughing our butts off was pure genius.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
I Suck At The Alumni Cafe
Karen and I received a call tonight from our friend (Jen). It turns out that Jen was organizing a little spontaneous get together for the night. The destination: the Alumni Cafe located in Quincy.
Unfortunately, I suck at the Alumni Cafe. I have never been a big fan of the Alumni Cafe because (among other things) I find their pizza rather greasy and not as delicious as everyone else. But since it was a get together of friends, I figured why not?
Plus, one of the bonuses of going tonight was seeing my friend (Joanna) who was back visiting from Oregon for the week. Joanna absolutely cracks me up with her stories. At one time, I had thought that Joanna would make the perfect partner in the Amazing Race... had I the opportunity to be in the show. Naturally, I have since reconsidered that notion, opting instead to choose my BFF (Kerry).
Nevertheless, it was the first time Joanna had ever been to the Alumni Cafe, which is surprising because the place is a staple of Quincy. As it was her first time there, I did my best to hype up the place with the fact that a former substitute teacher that we had worked there. Yes, the Alumni Cafe is one of those sad places.
It's probably a good thing that the former teacher was not working tonight. At least that way, Joanna will always remember that teacher the way he was back in the day... a chick magnet of epic proportions. Things are always better when they are imagined. Regardless, in addition to Joanna, Karen, Jen, and I at the Alumni were my friends (Andrea and Hot Amy).
Anyway, it was a fun night of random discussions. We talked about everything from sororities, to recycling batteries, to the cuteness of my friend's (Aimee) brother's children, to tomatoes, to Asians (in particular... me) growing facial hair, to Facebook... It was comical.
Probably the most comical moment happened when Joanna joked about someone who she knew that was 28 and still living with their parents. She had prefaced her comment to both Karen and I because we had lived with our parents until we were married. Unbeknownest to Joanna, Hot Amy still currently lives with her parents. Needless to say, Joanna felt stupid when I whispered that fact to her during her comment.
All in all, it was a good time. Unfortunately, I felt a little ill near the end of the night because I devoured my pizza, along with parts of Andrea's pizza. I think the cause of the problem may have been the fact that I ingested too much grease at a given setting. Some day I'll have to work on that part of my brain to tell me to stop eating. Some day...
Unfortunately, I suck at the Alumni Cafe. I have never been a big fan of the Alumni Cafe because (among other things) I find their pizza rather greasy and not as delicious as everyone else. But since it was a get together of friends, I figured why not?
Plus, one of the bonuses of going tonight was seeing my friend (Joanna) who was back visiting from Oregon for the week. Joanna absolutely cracks me up with her stories. At one time, I had thought that Joanna would make the perfect partner in the Amazing Race... had I the opportunity to be in the show. Naturally, I have since reconsidered that notion, opting instead to choose my BFF (Kerry).
Nevertheless, it was the first time Joanna had ever been to the Alumni Cafe, which is surprising because the place is a staple of Quincy. As it was her first time there, I did my best to hype up the place with the fact that a former substitute teacher that we had worked there. Yes, the Alumni Cafe is one of those sad places.
It's probably a good thing that the former teacher was not working tonight. At least that way, Joanna will always remember that teacher the way he was back in the day... a chick magnet of epic proportions. Things are always better when they are imagined. Regardless, in addition to Joanna, Karen, Jen, and I at the Alumni were my friends (Andrea and Hot Amy).
Anyway, it was a fun night of random discussions. We talked about everything from sororities, to recycling batteries, to the cuteness of my friend's (Aimee) brother's children, to tomatoes, to Asians (in particular... me) growing facial hair, to Facebook... It was comical.
Probably the most comical moment happened when Joanna joked about someone who she knew that was 28 and still living with their parents. She had prefaced her comment to both Karen and I because we had lived with our parents until we were married. Unbeknownest to Joanna, Hot Amy still currently lives with her parents. Needless to say, Joanna felt stupid when I whispered that fact to her during her comment.
All in all, it was a good time. Unfortunately, I felt a little ill near the end of the night because I devoured my pizza, along with parts of Andrea's pizza. I think the cause of the problem may have been the fact that I ingested too much grease at a given setting. Some day I'll have to work on that part of my brain to tell me to stop eating. Some day...
I Suck At Annamas
Yesterday was December 25th... the day our lord and savior and my friend (Anna) was born. Happy birthday Anna! I hope you enjoyed your day, Anna. Of course, it's probably hard not to enjoy December 25th. After all, the day is a national holiday.
December 25th, which I will refer to as Annamas in honor of Anna (our lord and savior)... was a good day. Unfortunately, I suck at Annamas. Luckily for me, I was on Santa's good list this year.
There were not many things on my Annamas wishlist this year. I have found that after a certain point in life, coming up with ideas on what I would want or need gets tough... and pretty much not worthwhile in the grand scheme of things. I would be happy enough wishing for Karen to reach May 2nd with her pregnancy. That would be good enough for me.
But since people like to receive an Annamas wishlist, I figured I had to try and think of something. The main thing on my list this year was the Worm Factory. Interestingly enough, Santa did leave one for me under the tree. I was pretty excited... well... as excited as one can be to play with worms. Go worms!
Of course, now I just have to finish renovating the bathroom on the first floor so that I can keep the worm factory inside our garage during the colder seasons. (Karen is against having the worm factory in the same vicinity as our washing machine and dryer.) And lo' and behold, Santa also brought me a reciprocating saw... which I need to work on the first floor bathroom. So, I have a funny feeling that there was a theme this year to get me motivated to finish renovating the bathroom.
Anyway on Annamas, my parents came over for breakfast. As I have such a small family (which consists mainly of just my parents), I feel the need to at least spend Annamas with them... if even for a brief time. So, I made omelets (with ham from the previous night) and waffles for them before exchanging gifts. My parents were thrilled with the presents they received. We had contacted my brother too, who currently resides in Texas, but we received his answering machine.
Following breakfast, Karen and I headed over to my favorite sister-in-law's (Janine) for Annamas dinner. This year was interesting. Karen's father's car had a warning light come on in the early morning. So, I went to pick up Karen's parents (and drive them back). And as usual, the food at Janine's was delicious. My favorite brother-in-law (PJ) made a rolled pork that he had learned from the weekend he spent at the Endicott House.
I ate... so much. I was pretty stuffed by night's end. Among the other highlights of the night (aside from my gourging), was the breaking of the traditional gingerbread house, and the playing of Family Feud on the Wii. (For anyone curious, it was men versus the women... and we ended up splitting two games.) All in all, it was a great time at Janine and PJ's.
At the end of the night, Karen and I even finished watching another one of Karen's movies that was on her Netflix queue: My Life in Ruins.
(The video below is a trailer for "My Life in Ruins".)
The movie was surprisingly good. I enjoyed it. It was a nice way to end the day.
Anyway, Merry Annamas everyone!
December 25th, which I will refer to as Annamas in honor of Anna (our lord and savior)... was a good day. Unfortunately, I suck at Annamas. Luckily for me, I was on Santa's good list this year.
There were not many things on my Annamas wishlist this year. I have found that after a certain point in life, coming up with ideas on what I would want or need gets tough... and pretty much not worthwhile in the grand scheme of things. I would be happy enough wishing for Karen to reach May 2nd with her pregnancy. That would be good enough for me.
But since people like to receive an Annamas wishlist, I figured I had to try and think of something. The main thing on my list this year was the Worm Factory. Interestingly enough, Santa did leave one for me under the tree. I was pretty excited... well... as excited as one can be to play with worms. Go worms!
Of course, now I just have to finish renovating the bathroom on the first floor so that I can keep the worm factory inside our garage during the colder seasons. (Karen is against having the worm factory in the same vicinity as our washing machine and dryer.) And lo' and behold, Santa also brought me a reciprocating saw... which I need to work on the first floor bathroom. So, I have a funny feeling that there was a theme this year to get me motivated to finish renovating the bathroom.
Anyway on Annamas, my parents came over for breakfast. As I have such a small family (which consists mainly of just my parents), I feel the need to at least spend Annamas with them... if even for a brief time. So, I made omelets (with ham from the previous night) and waffles for them before exchanging gifts. My parents were thrilled with the presents they received. We had contacted my brother too, who currently resides in Texas, but we received his answering machine.
Following breakfast, Karen and I headed over to my favorite sister-in-law's (Janine) for Annamas dinner. This year was interesting. Karen's father's car had a warning light come on in the early morning. So, I went to pick up Karen's parents (and drive them back). And as usual, the food at Janine's was delicious. My favorite brother-in-law (PJ) made a rolled pork that he had learned from the weekend he spent at the Endicott House.
I ate... so much. I was pretty stuffed by night's end. Among the other highlights of the night (aside from my gourging), was the breaking of the traditional gingerbread house, and the playing of Family Feud on the Wii. (For anyone curious, it was men versus the women... and we ended up splitting two games.) All in all, it was a great time at Janine and PJ's.
At the end of the night, Karen and I even finished watching another one of Karen's movies that was on her Netflix queue: My Life in Ruins.
(The video below is a trailer for "My Life in Ruins".)
The movie was surprisingly good. I enjoyed it. It was a nice way to end the day.
Anyway, Merry Annamas everyone!
I Suck At Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve went by very quickly. (Unfortunately, I suck at Christmas Eve.)
The day started off with breakfast at Stars, located in Hingham. For the past several years, Karen, my BFF (Kerry), my friend (Jen) and I would meet and have breakfast together. Occasionally, our friend (Joanna) who currently lives in Oregon would also join us. I guess you could say that Christmas Eve breakfast is pretty much a tradition now.
As usual, breakfast was delicious. The food at Stars is simply amazing. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) It helps that I was pretty hungry too when I arrived. I think I ate my breakfast, part of Karen's breakfast, and part of Kerry's breakfast. All in all, it was definitely fun to hang out with Jen and Kerry. One of the benefits of hanging out with a smaller group of people is that things seem more connected and involved. I feel that people can talk more among each other regardless of the shape or size of the table (square, rectangle, circle, etc.)
It's not that I dislike hanging out with larger groups of people. Larger groups allow seeing more friends at a given point in time. That is always a benefit. Conversations, however, are sometimes disjointed within a larger group because not everyone is involved in the same conversation. It's only natural group dynamics.
So needless to say, with the holidays and all, it was good to start off Christmas Eve with Jen and Kerry. Of course, after breakfast I was simply stuffed. To work off my fullness, Karen and I began tidying up our house as we were hosting dinner for the night. I don't think I have ever cleaned and vacuumed so much within a given day. It seemed like the chores never ended.
Plus, I was cooking dinner for everyone. So that is always stressful... hoping that the food comes out edible. I don't know how mothers used to do it in the past. It simply is a lot of work. Hats off to all those mothers.
Anyway, I was cooking something that I've never cooked before: ham. In truth, ham is actually pretty easy to cook because it is already... cooked. I simply had to heat it up in the oven and pour a glaze over it.
Needless to say, I think the ham came out okay. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. Karen and I have been hosting Christmas Eve dinner for my parent and Karen's parents for awhile now. It's usually a small gathering, but the night is always open to any and all friends who want to stop by.
In the past, Jen and her brother (Bill) would stop by. Karen's grandparents sometimes stopped by. My friends (Marc and Kelley) have been stopping by the past few years. My BFF (Kerry) always tries to stop by, but can never make it due to her family obligations. Other friends have sporadically stopped by.
But all in all, Christmas Eve went by very quickly. I think everyone had a great time. I certainly did. The only downside of the entire day was our treadmill. Apparently our treadmill died. I was very disheartened by that. But, I am hoping to get it fixed. I just don't know how yet.
The day started off with breakfast at Stars, located in Hingham. For the past several years, Karen, my BFF (Kerry), my friend (Jen) and I would meet and have breakfast together. Occasionally, our friend (Joanna) who currently lives in Oregon would also join us. I guess you could say that Christmas Eve breakfast is pretty much a tradition now.
As usual, breakfast was delicious. The food at Stars is simply amazing. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) It helps that I was pretty hungry too when I arrived. I think I ate my breakfast, part of Karen's breakfast, and part of Kerry's breakfast. All in all, it was definitely fun to hang out with Jen and Kerry. One of the benefits of hanging out with a smaller group of people is that things seem more connected and involved. I feel that people can talk more among each other regardless of the shape or size of the table (square, rectangle, circle, etc.)
It's not that I dislike hanging out with larger groups of people. Larger groups allow seeing more friends at a given point in time. That is always a benefit. Conversations, however, are sometimes disjointed within a larger group because not everyone is involved in the same conversation. It's only natural group dynamics.
So needless to say, with the holidays and all, it was good to start off Christmas Eve with Jen and Kerry. Of course, after breakfast I was simply stuffed. To work off my fullness, Karen and I began tidying up our house as we were hosting dinner for the night. I don't think I have ever cleaned and vacuumed so much within a given day. It seemed like the chores never ended.
Plus, I was cooking dinner for everyone. So that is always stressful... hoping that the food comes out edible. I don't know how mothers used to do it in the past. It simply is a lot of work. Hats off to all those mothers.
Anyway, I was cooking something that I've never cooked before: ham. In truth, ham is actually pretty easy to cook because it is already... cooked. I simply had to heat it up in the oven and pour a glaze over it.
Needless to say, I think the ham came out okay. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. Karen and I have been hosting Christmas Eve dinner for my parent and Karen's parents for awhile now. It's usually a small gathering, but the night is always open to any and all friends who want to stop by.
In the past, Jen and her brother (Bill) would stop by. Karen's grandparents sometimes stopped by. My friends (Marc and Kelley) have been stopping by the past few years. My BFF (Kerry) always tries to stop by, but can never make it due to her family obligations. Other friends have sporadically stopped by.
But all in all, Christmas Eve went by very quickly. I think everyone had a great time. I certainly did. The only downside of the entire day was our treadmill. Apparently our treadmill died. I was very disheartened by that. But, I am hoping to get it fixed. I just don't know how yet.
I Suck At Alice
On Wednesday, Karen and I hung out with my friends (Marc and Kelley).
Marc was gracious enough to make dinner for all of us. He made pasta with meatballs. Yum! To go along with the pasta, I made garlic bread.
I have actually never made garlic bread before. I probably would not have made garlic bread on Wednesday were it not for our experience at Trader Joe's in Hanover. While at Trader Joe's, Karen and I were looking to pick up garlic bread. Apparently, Trader Joe's does not sell garlic bread. They did, however, recommend making it from scratch with these crushed garlic cubes that they sold.
So basically on Wednesday, I decided to make garlic bread from scratch. Naturally, one would think that I would make it using the crushed garlic cubes that we purchased from Trader Joe's, as recommended by the employee there. Nope. Not me. I decided to use real garlic that we had in our refrigerator. After all, how hard could it be?
Needless to say, I did a quick search online for possible garlic bread recipes. There was a recipe that seemed interesting (from Guy Fieri) involving hot sauce, but I decided against it because I was relatively certain that Karen would not enjoy it. And so, I settled on a recipe based in part from Rachael Ray (Yum-O!). I simply added other oregano and parsley to it.
Anyway, I think the garlic bread came out okay. So I guess it is true: garlic bread is easy to make. Of course, it donned on me after the fact that Kelley could not eat the garlic bread. Kelley has had a history of stomach issues. She believes that she may have a gluten allergy. I sometimes wonder if it's difficult for doctors to diagnose gluten allergies, because Kelley has had a seemingly long history of stomach issues.
Regardless, we had a good meal. And of course, Kelley made some of her delicious cookies. Yum! And rather than do the usual watching of Buffy and/or Angel, we decided to change things up a little.
On Wednesday, we decided to watch the Syfy channel's mini-series known as Alice. Now, I suck at Alice. This version of Alice is a take on the Alice in Wonderland story.
(The video below is a preview for "Alice".)
In my opinion, the mini-series was okay. I was not a big fan of Alice, probably because she was not blonde. (Remember, I am attracted to shiny objects.) But the mini-series was entertaining, even if I did think the ending wrapped up very conveniently.
All in all, it was a good time. Karen and I actually left Marc and Kelley's a little earlier than usual. Of course, we had arrived earlier than usual as well because Karen left work early. Apparently it was a slow day in the research dietitian world.
So following Marc and Kelley's, Karen and I headed home and decided to watch another movie: The Proposal.
(The video below is the trailer for "The Proposal".)
Karen had recently received a gift certificate to Netflix. The first movie on her list was "The Proposal". Interestingly enough, I actually did enjoy the movie. The movie was the predictable chick flick, but enjoyable nonetheless. And of course, because the movie starred Ryan Reynolds, there had to be the naked Ryan Reynolds scene.
As far as I can remember, it seems like since the movie "Blade: Trinity", Ryan Reynolds is shirtless in all his movies now. Not that I blame him. If I had his abs, I would probably show them off all the time as well. I would probably never wear a shirt ever again... which could be tough when it comes to going to work... or shoveling snow.
Anyway, it was good time on Wednesday.
Marc was gracious enough to make dinner for all of us. He made pasta with meatballs. Yum! To go along with the pasta, I made garlic bread.
I have actually never made garlic bread before. I probably would not have made garlic bread on Wednesday were it not for our experience at Trader Joe's in Hanover. While at Trader Joe's, Karen and I were looking to pick up garlic bread. Apparently, Trader Joe's does not sell garlic bread. They did, however, recommend making it from scratch with these crushed garlic cubes that they sold.
So basically on Wednesday, I decided to make garlic bread from scratch. Naturally, one would think that I would make it using the crushed garlic cubes that we purchased from Trader Joe's, as recommended by the employee there. Nope. Not me. I decided to use real garlic that we had in our refrigerator. After all, how hard could it be?
Needless to say, I did a quick search online for possible garlic bread recipes. There was a recipe that seemed interesting (from Guy Fieri) involving hot sauce, but I decided against it because I was relatively certain that Karen would not enjoy it. And so, I settled on a recipe based in part from Rachael Ray (Yum-O!). I simply added other oregano and parsley to it.
Anyway, I think the garlic bread came out okay. So I guess it is true: garlic bread is easy to make. Of course, it donned on me after the fact that Kelley could not eat the garlic bread. Kelley has had a history of stomach issues. She believes that she may have a gluten allergy. I sometimes wonder if it's difficult for doctors to diagnose gluten allergies, because Kelley has had a seemingly long history of stomach issues.
Regardless, we had a good meal. And of course, Kelley made some of her delicious cookies. Yum! And rather than do the usual watching of Buffy and/or Angel, we decided to change things up a little.
On Wednesday, we decided to watch the Syfy channel's mini-series known as Alice. Now, I suck at Alice. This version of Alice is a take on the Alice in Wonderland story.
(The video below is a preview for "Alice".)
In my opinion, the mini-series was okay. I was not a big fan of Alice, probably because she was not blonde. (Remember, I am attracted to shiny objects.) But the mini-series was entertaining, even if I did think the ending wrapped up very conveniently.
All in all, it was a good time. Karen and I actually left Marc and Kelley's a little earlier than usual. Of course, we had arrived earlier than usual as well because Karen left work early. Apparently it was a slow day in the research dietitian world.
So following Marc and Kelley's, Karen and I headed home and decided to watch another movie: The Proposal.
(The video below is the trailer for "The Proposal".)
Karen had recently received a gift certificate to Netflix. The first movie on her list was "The Proposal". Interestingly enough, I actually did enjoy the movie. The movie was the predictable chick flick, but enjoyable nonetheless. And of course, because the movie starred Ryan Reynolds, there had to be the naked Ryan Reynolds scene.
As far as I can remember, it seems like since the movie "Blade: Trinity", Ryan Reynolds is shirtless in all his movies now. Not that I blame him. If I had his abs, I would probably show them off all the time as well. I would probably never wear a shirt ever again... which could be tough when it comes to going to work... or shoveling snow.
Anyway, it was good time on Wednesday.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
I Suck At Gingerbread Houses
Last night, Karen and I went to my favorite sister-in-law's (Janine). On the agenda for the night: the annual tradition known as the gingerbread house. Now, I suck at gingerbread houses. We had originally planned to make the gingerbread house on Sunday, but thanks to mother nature and the mounds and mounds of snowfall, the annual tradition was rescheduled for yesterday.
For anyone curious, the annual tradition of the gingerbread house with my in-laws apparently started way back in 1955 by Karen and Janine's grandmother (commonly referred to as Nana). And like most things with my in-laws... if it's tradition, it has to be done. (It's like that movie, "The Ten Commandments" where Rameses says "So let it be written, so it shall be done." Same idea.)
Needless to say, Nana's grandchildren have continued the gingerbread house tradition on their own, even though the tradition is older than all of Nana's grandchildren and their respective significant others (with the exception of possibly one).
This year, however, the gingerbread house tradition was slightly different. In the past, there would usually be a family gathering to decorate the gingerbread house. Karen's relatives from Lowell would come down to the South Shore... even though there is a lot to like about Lowell. Her cousin (Jonathon) and his significant others would sometimes come down from what I refer to as the Booneylands of Massachusetts to also help decorate the gingerbread house.
With Nana's house no longer acting as the focal point for family gatherings, it seems like the traditions are changing. Thus, the annual gingerbread house tradition was small this year. The tradition involved only Karen, Janine's family, myself... and Janine's friend (Gretchen).
(The picture below is of the gingerbread house.)
For anyone curious, Gretchen was not exactly initiated into the gingerbread house tradition. She just happened to have stopped by and watched my favorite niece (Kaleigh) and nephew (PJ) decorate the house. And she may also have had a couple of limoncello drinks in the process.
Anyway, last night was a fun time. Like most gingerbread house traditions, I basically sat on the sidelines and watched. There are specific ways the gingerbread house has to be assembled and decorated. So, it's best not to mess with the rules.
For anyone curious, Kaleigh did an amazing job decorating the gingerbread house. She was quite focused on decorating the house and would probably be still decorating the house if given more time. She's artsy that way.
On a random note, I found out that Janine has blue eyes... and not just the color of her pupils. Near the sides of her eyes... is blue. It was interesting. I never knew that.
All in all, it was a good time.
For anyone curious, the annual tradition of the gingerbread house with my in-laws apparently started way back in 1955 by Karen and Janine's grandmother (commonly referred to as Nana). And like most things with my in-laws... if it's tradition, it has to be done. (It's like that movie, "The Ten Commandments" where Rameses says "So let it be written, so it shall be done." Same idea.)
Needless to say, Nana's grandchildren have continued the gingerbread house tradition on their own, even though the tradition is older than all of Nana's grandchildren and their respective significant others (with the exception of possibly one).
This year, however, the gingerbread house tradition was slightly different. In the past, there would usually be a family gathering to decorate the gingerbread house. Karen's relatives from Lowell would come down to the South Shore... even though there is a lot to like about Lowell. Her cousin (Jonathon) and his significant others would sometimes come down from what I refer to as the Booneylands of Massachusetts to also help decorate the gingerbread house.
With Nana's house no longer acting as the focal point for family gatherings, it seems like the traditions are changing. Thus, the annual gingerbread house tradition was small this year. The tradition involved only Karen, Janine's family, myself... and Janine's friend (Gretchen).
(The picture below is of the gingerbread house.)
For anyone curious, Gretchen was not exactly initiated into the gingerbread house tradition. She just happened to have stopped by and watched my favorite niece (Kaleigh) and nephew (PJ) decorate the house. And she may also have had a couple of limoncello drinks in the process.
Anyway, last night was a fun time. Like most gingerbread house traditions, I basically sat on the sidelines and watched. There are specific ways the gingerbread house has to be assembled and decorated. So, it's best not to mess with the rules.
For anyone curious, Kaleigh did an amazing job decorating the gingerbread house. She was quite focused on decorating the house and would probably be still decorating the house if given more time. She's artsy that way.
On a random note, I found out that Janine has blue eyes... and not just the color of her pupils. Near the sides of her eyes... is blue. It was interesting. I never knew that.
All in all, it was a good time.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
I Suck At Celebrating My Birthday
Yesterday, I had the distinct pleasure of turning another year older. Yep, it was my birthday. Interestingly enough, not only was it my birthday, it was my father's birthday, my former co-worker's (Kristen) birthday, and my friend's (Hot Amy) father's birthday. Happy birthday dad, Kristen, and Hot Amy's dad! I hope all of you guys enjoyed your day.
Unfortunately, I suck at celebrating my birthday. After all, it's not every day someone can get a snow storm for their birthday. A snow storm was just what I always wanted. Yay me!
With the upcoming snow storm, Karen and I started the day taking my father out for his birthday. My father reached the impressive milestone of the big 7-0. For his birthday, he wanted to go out for dim sum at the China Pearl located in Quincy.
We met my father, my mother, and my mother's friend (Jane) at China Pearl. It was interesting because my father, my mother, and Jane were running a little late. So Karen and I were seated by ourselves for quite some time. We must have looked like fishes out of water, especially since Karen did not know what the dishes were that were coming around... and neither did I. (I only know the staples of dim sum: har gow and shumai... and maybe cha siu baau.)
Needless to say, Karen and I had some of the staples of dim sum while waiting for my family. Eventually my family arrived. My father seemed quite excited about dim sum. My mother and Jane were equally excited, especially when they realized that they could get one of those large red calendars with the Chinese Zodiac on them. It's the little things that make them happy.
My father even started a conversation with a former owner of the China Pearl as we were leaving. The former owner happened to be the father of one of my friends (Amy) while growing up. Amy, not to be confused with Hot Amy, Amy the Czar, or Aimee, was someone who I knew since elementary school. Amy was always rather smart. She would probably be the first to tell you so as well. Amy and I attended elementary school, middle school, and high school together.
In high school, she was quite the sprinter. It was quite funny to see Amy run, not because she had flat feet, but because she was tiny. She was like the stereotypical Asian: short and really fast. (Quite possibly, Amy could have been a stereotypical bad driver too, but I don't remember ever being in her car. So I can't comment on her driving skills.) My track coach used to joke saying that if I and Amy got together, we would have very fast hurdling children.
Anyway, the only reason why I even brought up Amy was because my father seemed excited to speak with her dad. I think my father, in general, had a great time celebrating his birthday. For me, that was all that mattered. I love you, dad. I'm happy that you could enjoy your day.
Shortly after China Pearl, Karen and I went to the Halfway Cafe located in Holbrook. Originally, my BFF (Kerry) and my friends (Jen and Andrea) had plans to visit New York City this weekend. With the coming snow storm, however, the plans were canceled and they decided to go out for dinner instead.
The Halfway Cafe was selected because Kerry generally enjoys the place. Plus, she received a coupon from the Halfway Cafe where the birthday girl/boy can receive a free meal so long as the date is within five days of the birthday. As Kerry's birthday and my birthday can overlap within that range, it only made sense to go to the Halfway Cafe in an effort to kill two birds with one stone.
Joining Kerry, Jen, Andrea, Karen and I were my friends (Marc and Kelley) as well as Andrea's sister (Sarah) who joined us for a few drinks. Needless to say, it was a fun time to hang out with everyone. The Halfway Cafe even had a brief moment where the local firefighters joined in on the celebration. (The fire alarm in the restaurant had gone off.) Speaking of fire fighting, I sadly am over the age limit to be a firefighter now.
Anyway, we had a lot of laughs especially with the upcoming snow storm. Despite the Halfway Cafe incident, I think Kerry enjoyed the celebration. And by incident, I don't mean the firefighters. It turns out that the Halfway Cafe only honors one birthday meal within a given party. So, Kerry and I will never be able to celebrate our birthdays together at the Halfway Cafe... or if we do, only one of us will receive our meal for free. Like the Highlander quote: there can only be one!
In my opinion, I think that is a terrible policy. After all, under that policy I will never be able to celebrate my birthday with my father... or Kristen... or Hot Amy's father at the Halfway Cafe. I think it's a shame. (For anyone curious, I believe the Abington Alehouse has the same policy because my father and I tried to celebrate our birthdays their once. Speaking of the Abington Alehouse, this was the first year in some time that I did not go there for my birthday. I generally enjoy going to the Abington Alehouse for my birthday. Their food is quite delicious.)
Regardless, after dinner, all of us (except Sarah) headed back to Marc and Kelley's for a post-birthday celebration. Andrea was gracious enough to bake a cake for Kerry and I. The cake was a cookie monster cake, which was very good. Amid the cake eating, we watched "Olive the Other Reindeer". (For anyone curious, "Olive the Other Reindeer" was pretty good.) Interestingly enough, the cake turned our mouths blue, which was funny.
All in all, yesterday was a great day. I got to spend the day with my parents and my friends. So thank you everyone for making the day so enjoyable!
Unfortunately, I suck at celebrating my birthday. After all, it's not every day someone can get a snow storm for their birthday. A snow storm was just what I always wanted. Yay me!
With the upcoming snow storm, Karen and I started the day taking my father out for his birthday. My father reached the impressive milestone of the big 7-0. For his birthday, he wanted to go out for dim sum at the China Pearl located in Quincy.
We met my father, my mother, and my mother's friend (Jane) at China Pearl. It was interesting because my father, my mother, and Jane were running a little late. So Karen and I were seated by ourselves for quite some time. We must have looked like fishes out of water, especially since Karen did not know what the dishes were that were coming around... and neither did I. (I only know the staples of dim sum: har gow and shumai... and maybe cha siu baau.)
Needless to say, Karen and I had some of the staples of dim sum while waiting for my family. Eventually my family arrived. My father seemed quite excited about dim sum. My mother and Jane were equally excited, especially when they realized that they could get one of those large red calendars with the Chinese Zodiac on them. It's the little things that make them happy.
My father even started a conversation with a former owner of the China Pearl as we were leaving. The former owner happened to be the father of one of my friends (Amy) while growing up. Amy, not to be confused with Hot Amy, Amy the Czar, or Aimee, was someone who I knew since elementary school. Amy was always rather smart. She would probably be the first to tell you so as well. Amy and I attended elementary school, middle school, and high school together.
In high school, she was quite the sprinter. It was quite funny to see Amy run, not because she had flat feet, but because she was tiny. She was like the stereotypical Asian: short and really fast. (Quite possibly, Amy could have been a stereotypical bad driver too, but I don't remember ever being in her car. So I can't comment on her driving skills.) My track coach used to joke saying that if I and Amy got together, we would have very fast hurdling children.
Anyway, the only reason why I even brought up Amy was because my father seemed excited to speak with her dad. I think my father, in general, had a great time celebrating his birthday. For me, that was all that mattered. I love you, dad. I'm happy that you could enjoy your day.
Shortly after China Pearl, Karen and I went to the Halfway Cafe located in Holbrook. Originally, my BFF (Kerry) and my friends (Jen and Andrea) had plans to visit New York City this weekend. With the coming snow storm, however, the plans were canceled and they decided to go out for dinner instead.
The Halfway Cafe was selected because Kerry generally enjoys the place. Plus, she received a coupon from the Halfway Cafe where the birthday girl/boy can receive a free meal so long as the date is within five days of the birthday. As Kerry's birthday and my birthday can overlap within that range, it only made sense to go to the Halfway Cafe in an effort to kill two birds with one stone.
Joining Kerry, Jen, Andrea, Karen and I were my friends (Marc and Kelley) as well as Andrea's sister (Sarah) who joined us for a few drinks. Needless to say, it was a fun time to hang out with everyone. The Halfway Cafe even had a brief moment where the local firefighters joined in on the celebration. (The fire alarm in the restaurant had gone off.) Speaking of fire fighting, I sadly am over the age limit to be a firefighter now.
Anyway, we had a lot of laughs especially with the upcoming snow storm. Despite the Halfway Cafe incident, I think Kerry enjoyed the celebration. And by incident, I don't mean the firefighters. It turns out that the Halfway Cafe only honors one birthday meal within a given party. So, Kerry and I will never be able to celebrate our birthdays together at the Halfway Cafe... or if we do, only one of us will receive our meal for free. Like the Highlander quote: there can only be one!
In my opinion, I think that is a terrible policy. After all, under that policy I will never be able to celebrate my birthday with my father... or Kristen... or Hot Amy's father at the Halfway Cafe. I think it's a shame. (For anyone curious, I believe the Abington Alehouse has the same policy because my father and I tried to celebrate our birthdays their once. Speaking of the Abington Alehouse, this was the first year in some time that I did not go there for my birthday. I generally enjoy going to the Abington Alehouse for my birthday. Their food is quite delicious.)
Regardless, after dinner, all of us (except Sarah) headed back to Marc and Kelley's for a post-birthday celebration. Andrea was gracious enough to bake a cake for Kerry and I. The cake was a cookie monster cake, which was very good. Amid the cake eating, we watched "Olive the Other Reindeer". (For anyone curious, "Olive the Other Reindeer" was pretty good.) Interestingly enough, the cake turned our mouths blue, which was funny.
All in all, yesterday was a great day. I got to spend the day with my parents and my friends. So thank you everyone for making the day so enjoyable!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
I Suck At Angel
Tonight, Karen and I hung out with my friends (Marc and Kelley).
Marc was gracious enough to make dinner. I don't know what the meal is called, but it was delicious. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) The meal involved chicken, chocolate, and some other stuff. There was also a favorite dish of mine: asparagus. You have to love the smell of urine after asparagus. Nevertheless, the entire meal was very good.
For dessert, Kelley made some cookies. I am a sucker for Kelley's cookies. I love her cookies. I could eat a whole bunch of them at one sitting... which I did.
All in all, it was very good. I actually felt a little bad because I had to do some work when I first arrived at their place. I had received a call from my boss asking me if I could look into a specific problem. As I had the most experience on the particular project, my boss had contacted me. Always the good soldier (I did, after all, have my chance to be in the armed forces. If only they would have let me be a grunt and not intelligence... damn them!), I attempted to diagnose the problem for work. Unfortunately, I encountered technical problems at Marc and Kelley's so I could not do much work.
Instead, we got to watch a few episodes of Angel and a couple of episodes of Human Wrecking Balls. Now, I suck at Angel. The episodes that we watched were: "Lullaby" about the birth of Angel's son and subsequent death of Darla... sad; "Dad" about Angel's attempt to keep his son safe from demons and lawyers; and "Birthday" about Cordelia's birthday in which she gets to choose between her dream life or her current vision-filled one.
For Human Wrecking Balls, we got to watch the Pumphrey brothers tear down a house and a barn. Awesome! If I ever redo our shed (which will be someday), I want to tear the shed down... Pumphrey-style!
Anyway, it was fun night as usual. I also got to learn about some of the other intricacies that I seemingly forgot about at the Tree Trimming party on Saturday. My memory is awful as it is. (Hence, that is why I have this blog: to write down things... so I can remember it.) When I imbibe, I tend to forget a lot more. On Saturday, I imbibed thanks to my drinking buddy, Kelley.
That is not to say that I do not remember anything. I remember up to a certain point and then it all goes downhill from there. (And the freefall happens rather quickly and abruptly. It's like a switch turning off.) During the downhill slide, I tend to remember only trivial bits and pieces... like my friend's (Kim) love for Miley Cyrus's "Party in the U.S.A." or how Hawkeye is already taken in my friend's (Adam) phone. (Again, who takes Hawkeye?)
Needless to say, it was interesting to hear what I had forgotten. All in all, tonight was a great night. I had fun... work aside. (In fact, the reason why I am even up so late right now is because of work.)
Marc was gracious enough to make dinner. I don't know what the meal is called, but it was delicious. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) The meal involved chicken, chocolate, and some other stuff. There was also a favorite dish of mine: asparagus. You have to love the smell of urine after asparagus. Nevertheless, the entire meal was very good.
For dessert, Kelley made some cookies. I am a sucker for Kelley's cookies. I love her cookies. I could eat a whole bunch of them at one sitting... which I did.
All in all, it was very good. I actually felt a little bad because I had to do some work when I first arrived at their place. I had received a call from my boss asking me if I could look into a specific problem. As I had the most experience on the particular project, my boss had contacted me. Always the good soldier (I did, after all, have my chance to be in the armed forces. If only they would have let me be a grunt and not intelligence... damn them!), I attempted to diagnose the problem for work. Unfortunately, I encountered technical problems at Marc and Kelley's so I could not do much work.
Instead, we got to watch a few episodes of Angel and a couple of episodes of Human Wrecking Balls. Now, I suck at Angel. The episodes that we watched were: "Lullaby" about the birth of Angel's son and subsequent death of Darla... sad; "Dad" about Angel's attempt to keep his son safe from demons and lawyers; and "Birthday" about Cordelia's birthday in which she gets to choose between her dream life or her current vision-filled one.
For Human Wrecking Balls, we got to watch the Pumphrey brothers tear down a house and a barn. Awesome! If I ever redo our shed (which will be someday), I want to tear the shed down... Pumphrey-style!
Anyway, it was fun night as usual. I also got to learn about some of the other intricacies that I seemingly forgot about at the Tree Trimming party on Saturday. My memory is awful as it is. (Hence, that is why I have this blog: to write down things... so I can remember it.) When I imbibe, I tend to forget a lot more. On Saturday, I imbibed thanks to my drinking buddy, Kelley.
That is not to say that I do not remember anything. I remember up to a certain point and then it all goes downhill from there. (And the freefall happens rather quickly and abruptly. It's like a switch turning off.) During the downhill slide, I tend to remember only trivial bits and pieces... like my friend's (Kim) love for Miley Cyrus's "Party in the U.S.A." or how Hawkeye is already taken in my friend's (Adam) phone. (Again, who takes Hawkeye?)
Needless to say, it was interesting to hear what I had forgotten. All in all, tonight was a great night. I had fun... work aside. (In fact, the reason why I am even up so late right now is because of work.)
I Suck At Celebrating My BFF's Birthday
Yesterday was my BFF's (Kerry) birthday. Happy birthday Kerry! Hope you had a great day!
Naturally, I suck at celebrating my BFF's birthday. After all, I am posting this a day late. I suppose I should also make note that on Monday, it was my friend's (Carlos) birthday as well. This is like a birthday week! Truth be told, the month of December is jam packed with birthdays.
To celebrate Kerry's birthday, I had dinner at the in-laws. Dinner was good. For dessert, there was apple crisp. How do you like them apples? Yum. I like apple crisp. In fact, I like most apple products: apple bread, apple sauce, apple pie, apple crisp... you name it, I will eat it. Of course, I will eat a lot of things.
Following dinner, we spent the rest of the night at the Norwell Public Library. Interestingly enough, we got to close the public library. Well, maybe not us personally. Karen and I, however, were the last two people in the library outside of the librarians.
As another random note, I find librarians very intelligent. I don't mean that in a way like my friend (Hot Amy) who thinks my other friend (Garv) is an intellectual. (For anyone curious, Hot Amy is quite mistaken, which is common occurrence because she thinks she will someday beat me in a challenge... Fat chance!) I just think librarians happen to be very knowledgeable about a vast array of things. They are interesting that way.
I remember Kerry once had a profile picture of herself on a social networking site that made her look somewhat like a librarian. The picture was interesting. (And you were wondering what libraries have to do with Kerry...)
Nevertheless, the reason why Karen and I were at the library so late was because of Karen's involvement with the Friends of the Norwell Public Library. Karen was running a fund-raising activity involving the raffling of donated items by various local companies. As it was a raffle, she had to pick the winning names. So last night, she picked all of the winning tickets while I got to explore the offices of the library. And by explore, I mean move the donated items into the offices.
It was a nice time. It probably is not as good as a birthday celebration, but it was nice. Anyway, happy birthday again Kerry. Hope you had a great day!
Naturally, I suck at celebrating my BFF's birthday. After all, I am posting this a day late. I suppose I should also make note that on Monday, it was my friend's (Carlos) birthday as well. This is like a birthday week! Truth be told, the month of December is jam packed with birthdays.
To celebrate Kerry's birthday, I had dinner at the in-laws. Dinner was good. For dessert, there was apple crisp. How do you like them apples? Yum. I like apple crisp. In fact, I like most apple products: apple bread, apple sauce, apple pie, apple crisp... you name it, I will eat it. Of course, I will eat a lot of things.
Following dinner, we spent the rest of the night at the Norwell Public Library. Interestingly enough, we got to close the public library. Well, maybe not us personally. Karen and I, however, were the last two people in the library outside of the librarians.
As another random note, I find librarians very intelligent. I don't mean that in a way like my friend (Hot Amy) who thinks my other friend (Garv) is an intellectual. (For anyone curious, Hot Amy is quite mistaken, which is common occurrence because she thinks she will someday beat me in a challenge... Fat chance!) I just think librarians happen to be very knowledgeable about a vast array of things. They are interesting that way.
I remember Kerry once had a profile picture of herself on a social networking site that made her look somewhat like a librarian. The picture was interesting. (And you were wondering what libraries have to do with Kerry...)
Nevertheless, the reason why Karen and I were at the library so late was because of Karen's involvement with the Friends of the Norwell Public Library. Karen was running a fund-raising activity involving the raffling of donated items by various local companies. As it was a raffle, she had to pick the winning names. So last night, she picked all of the winning tickets while I got to explore the offices of the library. And by explore, I mean move the donated items into the offices.
It was a nice time. It probably is not as good as a birthday celebration, but it was nice. Anyway, happy birthday again Kerry. Hope you had a great day!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
I Suck At Christmas Songs
With the holidays looming right around the corner, a lot of Christmas songs are slowly making it to the airwaves... in the mall... and in retail stores. For the most part, the songs are usually the same Christmas songs that you hear every hear.
Now, I suck at Christmas songs. I stumbled upon this Christmas song today and it made me chuckle. Of course, the song also made me think about my friend (Garv). For anyone curious, the song is called "Merry Swiftmas" by Evan Taubenfeld and is about Taylor Swift. And for anyone still curious, Garv is a big Taylor Swift fan... a big big fan. If I didn't know any better, I would say that Garv is attracted to shiny objects like me.
(The video below is the "Merry Swiftmas" song.)
So enjoy! I actually like the song. I hope the song gets played more often during the holidays.
Now, I suck at Christmas songs. I stumbled upon this Christmas song today and it made me chuckle. Of course, the song also made me think about my friend (Garv). For anyone curious, the song is called "Merry Swiftmas" by Evan Taubenfeld and is about Taylor Swift. And for anyone still curious, Garv is a big Taylor Swift fan... a big big fan. If I didn't know any better, I would say that Garv is attracted to shiny objects like me.
(The video below is the "Merry Swiftmas" song.)
So enjoy! I actually like the song. I hope the song gets played more often during the holidays.
I Suck At Car Accidents
Last night was an interesting night.
In an effort to do some holiday shopping, Karen and I went to the Derby Shoppes located in Hingham. Unfortunately for me, I still do not have any ideas yet on what to get Karen for Christmas. As the days get closer to Christmas, I may have to resort to my old fallback plan of "the big box of nothing".
Karen and I had a good time at the Derby Shoppes. Before our shopping spree, we grabbed a quick dinner at the Chipotle Mexican Grill, which had recently opened last week (Wednesday). Karen had never been to Chipotle's, so it was a new experience for her. For anyone curious, the burritos are delicious there. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.)
Following our quick trip to the Derby Shoppes, we headed home. As we were driving down route 53 (south), we noticed a police car blocking the street near the intersection to our house, which is near the Stop and Shop. As well, there was a police officer directing traffic. And by directing traffic, I mean the police officer was signaling for the cars to turn around.
As we approached the police officer and explained that we lived just on the other side of his vehicle, he told us to loop around to the other side of route 53 using the back roads. Naturally, like any good law-biding citizen, I turned the car around and looped around to the other side of route 53.
On the other side of route 53, we then encountered a similar set up. Another police car was blocking traffic and another police officer was directing cars to turn around. Intrigued, we explained to the officer that the other officer directed us to drive around to enter the street that leads to our house.
Since the police officer was from the neighboring town, he then suggest that we loop around the back of Stop and Shop and try that way. Being from another town, the police officer was not familiar with the streets of Norwell.
Lo and behold, the police officer's suggestion worked! We cut through the back of Stop and Shop and made it to the intersection leading to our house. Apparently, near the intersection was a car accident.
Now, I suck at car accidents. Unfortunately, this accident looked pretty serious. Last night, Karen and I were only able to make out a shopping cart lying on the road, with another vehicle pulled over to the side.
It turns out, someone was struck by a car. According to the Boston Globe, a 64 year old woman from Norwell was killed as she pushed a shopping cart across route 53. The driver was a 76 year old man from Scituate.
That's very sad.
In an effort to do some holiday shopping, Karen and I went to the Derby Shoppes located in Hingham. Unfortunately for me, I still do not have any ideas yet on what to get Karen for Christmas. As the days get closer to Christmas, I may have to resort to my old fallback plan of "the big box of nothing".
Karen and I had a good time at the Derby Shoppes. Before our shopping spree, we grabbed a quick dinner at the Chipotle Mexican Grill, which had recently opened last week (Wednesday). Karen had never been to Chipotle's, so it was a new experience for her. For anyone curious, the burritos are delicious there. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.)
Following our quick trip to the Derby Shoppes, we headed home. As we were driving down route 53 (south), we noticed a police car blocking the street near the intersection to our house, which is near the Stop and Shop. As well, there was a police officer directing traffic. And by directing traffic, I mean the police officer was signaling for the cars to turn around.
As we approached the police officer and explained that we lived just on the other side of his vehicle, he told us to loop around to the other side of route 53 using the back roads. Naturally, like any good law-biding citizen, I turned the car around and looped around to the other side of route 53.
On the other side of route 53, we then encountered a similar set up. Another police car was blocking traffic and another police officer was directing cars to turn around. Intrigued, we explained to the officer that the other officer directed us to drive around to enter the street that leads to our house.
Since the police officer was from the neighboring town, he then suggest that we loop around the back of Stop and Shop and try that way. Being from another town, the police officer was not familiar with the streets of Norwell.
Lo and behold, the police officer's suggestion worked! We cut through the back of Stop and Shop and made it to the intersection leading to our house. Apparently, near the intersection was a car accident.
Now, I suck at car accidents. Unfortunately, this accident looked pretty serious. Last night, Karen and I were only able to make out a shopping cart lying on the road, with another vehicle pulled over to the side.
It turns out, someone was struck by a car. According to the Boston Globe, a 64 year old woman from Norwell was killed as she pushed a shopping cart across route 53. The driver was a 76 year old man from Scituate.
That's very sad.
Monday, December 14, 2009
I Suck At The Princess And The Frog
Yesterday, Karen and I had quite the busy day. My favorite sister-in-law (Janine) had asked if we could babysit our niece (Kaleigh) and nephew (PJ) while she and my favorite brother-in-law (PJ) went to the Patriot's game. It's been quite a while since Karen and I last watched over PJ and Kaleigh.
Anyway, our babysitting started bright and early in the morning. After a couple of hours of watching television, Karen and I brought my niece and nephew over to visit my friends (Cass and Ellen). PJ and Kaleigh have actually visited Cass and Ellen before, when Janine dropped off a diaper cake for us at their house.
The reason why we were visiting Cass and Ellen was because we were helping them set up their new television along with my friends (Marc and Kelley). In the process, we moved three televisions. Yes, Cass and Ellen have a lot of televisions.
For anyone curious, Cass and Ellen purchase a huge flat panel television on Black Friday. They wanted to set up the flat panel television in their main living area, move the existing television to their sun room, and then move the television in their sun room to the front lawn (for disposal purposes). Needless to say, there was a lot of lifting, cleaning, and sorting through of wires.
While I was helping, Karen brought PJ and Kaleigh to the park across the street from Cass and Ellen. I think they loved the park because they were very excited to go back to the park the second time when I took them. Of course, they may have been more excited because I probably let them run wild... and may have picked and twirled them around more than my pregnant counterpart.
Interesting side note, I think contrary to what he would have you believe, Marc is actually pretty good with children. When Marc came out to check on me (to make sure that my niece and nephew did not tie me up or anything), he played around with PJ and Kaleigh too.
Anyway, we were successfully able to set up the televisions at Cass and Ellen's. (Knock on wood.) As they were preparing for the football game, Karen and I decided to then take PJ and Kaleigh to see the new Disney movie, "The Princess and the Frog". Unfortunately, I suck at the Princess and the Frog.
(Below is the trailer for the movie.)
Karen had already planned on taking them to watch the movie. (I think Karen herself really wanted to watch the movie.) So off we went to watch the movie at the Patriot Cinemas located in Hanover.
Anyway, the movie was good. It had the predictable Disney formula to it. Nonetheless, it was entertaining. Even PJ, who did not originally want to watch the movie because he thought it was about princesses and romance, enjoyed the movie.
Following the movie, Karen and I took our niece and nephew back to their house to watch "Flushed Away", which was another entertaining movie featuring the animation talent made popular by Wallace and Gromit.
All in all, it was a good time baby sitting. I hope my niece and nephew also enjoyed the day.
Anyway, our babysitting started bright and early in the morning. After a couple of hours of watching television, Karen and I brought my niece and nephew over to visit my friends (Cass and Ellen). PJ and Kaleigh have actually visited Cass and Ellen before, when Janine dropped off a diaper cake for us at their house.
The reason why we were visiting Cass and Ellen was because we were helping them set up their new television along with my friends (Marc and Kelley). In the process, we moved three televisions. Yes, Cass and Ellen have a lot of televisions.
For anyone curious, Cass and Ellen purchase a huge flat panel television on Black Friday. They wanted to set up the flat panel television in their main living area, move the existing television to their sun room, and then move the television in their sun room to the front lawn (for disposal purposes). Needless to say, there was a lot of lifting, cleaning, and sorting through of wires.
While I was helping, Karen brought PJ and Kaleigh to the park across the street from Cass and Ellen. I think they loved the park because they were very excited to go back to the park the second time when I took them. Of course, they may have been more excited because I probably let them run wild... and may have picked and twirled them around more than my pregnant counterpart.
Interesting side note, I think contrary to what he would have you believe, Marc is actually pretty good with children. When Marc came out to check on me (to make sure that my niece and nephew did not tie me up or anything), he played around with PJ and Kaleigh too.
Anyway, we were successfully able to set up the televisions at Cass and Ellen's. (Knock on wood.) As they were preparing for the football game, Karen and I decided to then take PJ and Kaleigh to see the new Disney movie, "The Princess and the Frog". Unfortunately, I suck at the Princess and the Frog.
(Below is the trailer for the movie.)
Karen had already planned on taking them to watch the movie. (I think Karen herself really wanted to watch the movie.) So off we went to watch the movie at the Patriot Cinemas located in Hanover.
Anyway, the movie was good. It had the predictable Disney formula to it. Nonetheless, it was entertaining. Even PJ, who did not originally want to watch the movie because he thought it was about princesses and romance, enjoyed the movie.
Following the movie, Karen and I took our niece and nephew back to their house to watch "Flushed Away", which was another entertaining movie featuring the animation talent made popular by Wallace and Gromit.
All in all, it was a good time baby sitting. I hope my niece and nephew also enjoyed the day.
I Suck At Tree Trimming
On Saturday, my friends (Marc and Kelley) had their annual tree trimming. Unfortunately, I suck at tree trimming.
In keeping with the annual tradition, I naturally got a little inebriated thanks to my drinking buddy Kelley and her great bartending skills. Yes, in addition to baking delicious cookies and muffins, Kelley is pretty good at making martinis. So naturally, I could not resist the temptation of booze... or more particularly... mass consumption of booze.
Sure, I admit it. I may have an unhealthy relationship with booze. Eventually I will give up consuming mass quantities of alcohol... either from sheer willpower... or organ failure. I am hoping it will be the former case.
As always, the tree trimming was great. It was good to see some of Marc's family whom I have not seen in awhile. Of course, it was also great to see and hang out with my friends (Cass, Ellen, Meredith, Doug, Andrea, the Czar, Adam, Alex, and Kim) and my BFF (Kerry) who attended the tree trimming. For anyone curious, I refer to my friend Amy as "the Czar" so as to not confuse her with my phonetic sounding friends (Hot Amy or Aimee). The first four letters of Amy's last name is c-z-a-r. Hence, "the Czar". By no means is she Russian... at least, not to my knowledge.
Amy the Czar is great. I don't get to see her too often. She is one of the nicest people I know. So, it was nice to be able to see her again.
Among the other people who I hardly see within a given year are Adam, Alex and Kim. Adam and Alex are the brothers of my friend (Scott) who lives in New York. They are a riot together. We spent much of the night trying to figure out a superhero that I could be within Adam's cell phone. Rather than use names of his friends with their cell phone number, Adam assigns a superhero name. Hard to maintain? Sure. But in terms of geekdom, I think it's pretty funny and cool. (For anyone curious, the superhero that I wanted was already taken, which is why we spent some time trying to figure one out. C'mon, who likes Hawkeye?)
And not that I am particularly proud of this fact, but Kim is also a big fan of the Miley Cyrus "Party in the U.S.A." song. Kim happens to know more (if not all) of the lyrics than I do. Truth be told, I'm not sure I know any lyrics. Somehow that song came up in conversation. I have no idea how or why I remember it, but I do.
Proof that it is a small world: Kim and Kelley were neighbors growing up. I first met Kim when she was a freshman in high school. At the time, my friend (John) who had a thing for freshmen girls... somehow started hanging out with Kim (probably because he wanted to date her). Sadly, John and I were seniors at the time. I believe they may have met in Drama club. And yes, I was in the Drama club in high school... not because I enjoyed drama... or the freshmen girls like John. I was in the club strictly for the food... which was very lacking in the club. (Interestingly enough, John is married to someone who is his senior.)
Anyway, John and Kim helped set Kelley up with Marc... and the rest is history. And since that time, Kim has ended up briefly dating Adam and my friend (Garv). It's very six degrees of Kevin Bacon random.
Regardless, the tree trimming was fun. The food, as usual, was delicious. Andrea brought her stuffed mushrooms again. Yum! So needless to say, I had a good time.
In keeping with the annual tradition, I naturally got a little inebriated thanks to my drinking buddy Kelley and her great bartending skills. Yes, in addition to baking delicious cookies and muffins, Kelley is pretty good at making martinis. So naturally, I could not resist the temptation of booze... or more particularly... mass consumption of booze.
Sure, I admit it. I may have an unhealthy relationship with booze. Eventually I will give up consuming mass quantities of alcohol... either from sheer willpower... or organ failure. I am hoping it will be the former case.
As always, the tree trimming was great. It was good to see some of Marc's family whom I have not seen in awhile. Of course, it was also great to see and hang out with my friends (Cass, Ellen, Meredith, Doug, Andrea, the Czar, Adam, Alex, and Kim) and my BFF (Kerry) who attended the tree trimming. For anyone curious, I refer to my friend Amy as "the Czar" so as to not confuse her with my phonetic sounding friends (Hot Amy or Aimee). The first four letters of Amy's last name is c-z-a-r. Hence, "the Czar". By no means is she Russian... at least, not to my knowledge.
Amy the Czar is great. I don't get to see her too often. She is one of the nicest people I know. So, it was nice to be able to see her again.
Among the other people who I hardly see within a given year are Adam, Alex and Kim. Adam and Alex are the brothers of my friend (Scott) who lives in New York. They are a riot together. We spent much of the night trying to figure out a superhero that I could be within Adam's cell phone. Rather than use names of his friends with their cell phone number, Adam assigns a superhero name. Hard to maintain? Sure. But in terms of geekdom, I think it's pretty funny and cool. (For anyone curious, the superhero that I wanted was already taken, which is why we spent some time trying to figure one out. C'mon, who likes Hawkeye?)
And not that I am particularly proud of this fact, but Kim is also a big fan of the Miley Cyrus "Party in the U.S.A." song. Kim happens to know more (if not all) of the lyrics than I do. Truth be told, I'm not sure I know any lyrics. Somehow that song came up in conversation. I have no idea how or why I remember it, but I do.
Proof that it is a small world: Kim and Kelley were neighbors growing up. I first met Kim when she was a freshman in high school. At the time, my friend (John) who had a thing for freshmen girls... somehow started hanging out with Kim (probably because he wanted to date her). Sadly, John and I were seniors at the time. I believe they may have met in Drama club. And yes, I was in the Drama club in high school... not because I enjoyed drama... or the freshmen girls like John. I was in the club strictly for the food... which was very lacking in the club. (Interestingly enough, John is married to someone who is his senior.)
Anyway, John and Kim helped set Kelley up with Marc... and the rest is history. And since that time, Kim has ended up briefly dating Adam and my friend (Garv). It's very six degrees of Kevin Bacon random.
Regardless, the tree trimming was fun. The food, as usual, was delicious. Andrea brought her stuffed mushrooms again. Yum! So needless to say, I had a good time.
I Suck At J.J. Mulligans
On Friday, Karen and I went to J.J. Mulligans located in Braintree. Now, I suck at J.J. Mulligans. I have not been there in a while. It's not that I dislike the restaurant or anything. I do like the food there. I just never think to go to J.J. Mulligans probably because I am hardly in the Braintree.
Anyway, the reason why we were going was to celebrate my friend's (Jen) birthday. Jen thought it would be a great place to celebrate her birthday because she liked the french fries there. And for anyone curious, the fries are pretty good there.
In addition to Karen and I, my friend (Andrea) and my BFF (Kerry) joined in the night's festivities. My friend (Hot Amy) was originally supposed to come. Due to her weakened constitution, however, she could not attend. For anyone curious, Hot Amy is always sick. I imagine that if Hot Amy could live in a bubble, she would.
Andrea was actually running a little late to the shindig, so the rest of us feasted on the french fries while we waited for her. Andrea was helping her parents with their Christmas tree, which I jokingly refer to as the Charlie Brown tree. From what I have heard, Andrea's family typically gets one of the larger... grander... trees in the lot. So by no means is it a Charlie Brown tree. Since I like to give her grief, I like to refer to their tree as the Charlie Brown tree. Good grief, Charlie Brown!
Anyway, it was a fun time. J.J. Mulligan's was actually offering a pretty good deal where you could get a burger and a beer... all for the low price of $7. Jen and I couldn't refuse and opted for the burger and beer special. Their burgers, by the way, are pretty good too. Of course, my judgment of their burgers may have been clouded because I was actually craving a burger that night.
Needless to say, I had a good time hanging out with everyone. I think Jen enjoyed it too, which was good because the celebration was for her birthday. Although, I am not so sure Jen is currently excited about her birthday, which is a little sad.
Like my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) at the time who was turning the same age, Jen is not liking the prospect of being in a different age category. In Janine's case, she was told that she was at "the fork in the road" by a medical professional. I think Jen is similarly feeling that way because things are currently not what she had imagined for herself when she was younger.
Truth be told, that concept can be said about any age. When I was five, I wanted to be a knight in shining armor. Look at me now... no horse... no plate mail... no sword... nothing. My life now is not exactly how I imagined things when I was five. I suppose if I really wanted it badly enough, I could buy a horse, buy some armor, and buy a sword... although I'm not sure how practical that would be in the real world. Plus, Karen would probably not like having a sword and a suit of armor in the house. I may be able to get her to buy into the horse though.
Anyway, hopefully Jen won't fret too much over the whole new age bracket category. Life is too short.
Anyway, the reason why we were going was to celebrate my friend's (Jen) birthday. Jen thought it would be a great place to celebrate her birthday because she liked the french fries there. And for anyone curious, the fries are pretty good there.
In addition to Karen and I, my friend (Andrea) and my BFF (Kerry) joined in the night's festivities. My friend (Hot Amy) was originally supposed to come. Due to her weakened constitution, however, she could not attend. For anyone curious, Hot Amy is always sick. I imagine that if Hot Amy could live in a bubble, she would.
Andrea was actually running a little late to the shindig, so the rest of us feasted on the french fries while we waited for her. Andrea was helping her parents with their Christmas tree, which I jokingly refer to as the Charlie Brown tree. From what I have heard, Andrea's family typically gets one of the larger... grander... trees in the lot. So by no means is it a Charlie Brown tree. Since I like to give her grief, I like to refer to their tree as the Charlie Brown tree. Good grief, Charlie Brown!
Anyway, it was a fun time. J.J. Mulligan's was actually offering a pretty good deal where you could get a burger and a beer... all for the low price of $7. Jen and I couldn't refuse and opted for the burger and beer special. Their burgers, by the way, are pretty good too. Of course, my judgment of their burgers may have been clouded because I was actually craving a burger that night.
Needless to say, I had a good time hanging out with everyone. I think Jen enjoyed it too, which was good because the celebration was for her birthday. Although, I am not so sure Jen is currently excited about her birthday, which is a little sad.
Like my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) at the time who was turning the same age, Jen is not liking the prospect of being in a different age category. In Janine's case, she was told that she was at "the fork in the road" by a medical professional. I think Jen is similarly feeling that way because things are currently not what she had imagined for herself when she was younger.
Truth be told, that concept can be said about any age. When I was five, I wanted to be a knight in shining armor. Look at me now... no horse... no plate mail... no sword... nothing. My life now is not exactly how I imagined things when I was five. I suppose if I really wanted it badly enough, I could buy a horse, buy some armor, and buy a sword... although I'm not sure how practical that would be in the real world. Plus, Karen would probably not like having a sword and a suit of armor in the house. I may be able to get her to buy into the horse though.
Anyway, hopefully Jen won't fret too much over the whole new age bracket category. Life is too short.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
I Suck At Celebrating My Friend's Birthday
Last night was a very special night. No, I am not talking about the fall finale of the awesome television show known as Glee... although that show is pretty awesome.
Nope, I am talking about my friend's (Jen) birthday. Happy (now-belated) birthday Jen! In true fashion, I suck at celebrating my friend's birthday. Hence, that is why this post is late... and not on her actual birthday.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your day, Jen!
Nope, I am talking about my friend's (Jen) birthday. Happy (now-belated) birthday Jen! In true fashion, I suck at celebrating my friend's birthday. Hence, that is why this post is late... and not on her actual birthday.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your day, Jen!
I Suck At Attending A Service For Remembrance
On Tuesday, Karen and I atttended the 17th Annual Service of Remembrance at the Old South Union Church which is directly across from South Shore Hospital. Now, I suck at attending a service for remembrance.
The service is basically for families who have lost their children through various things like miscarriages, unexpected pregnancy outcomes, still births, early infant deaths, etc. For those who know me, they would know that I am not much for religious faith, especially having lost our son (Braden) who was born extremely premature.
We had attended the 16th annual event last year shortly after Braden's passing. From what I remember last year, the service was difficult to get through as I constantly thought about Braden and all the things that I would never be able to do with him. Truth be told, the entire past year has been much of a total blur to me. If I did not know any better, I would have sworn that I lost a year of my life.
This year, the service was not any different. You would think that a year later, things would be easier. Needless to say, the thoughts of Braden overwhelmingly rushed back when we attended the service. For one night though, it was definitely nice to hear my son's name being read aloud and honored.
One of the things that happens at the service, aside from the reading of the names of children who passed away, is that families are allowed to share thoughts or stories with everyone else in attendance. The sharing functions almost like a support group. Last year, a woman wrote a poem about the loss of her child. This year, she returned and wrote another poem. It was touching.
Although I would never get up to the podium myself to address everyone, I have at times wondered what I would say if I ever did. My speech would probably be something like this:
"Hi, my name is Mike. My son, Braden, was born extremely premature. My wife, Karen, and I were lucky enough to be with him for his one and only week after he was born.
I always thought pregnancy was a great thing. Television and the media made child birth seem like such an easy thing. People get pregnant. They have a baby. It's not until we actually lost our child that I realized that having a child is more difficult that what is on tv.
When we lost Braden, I ran through the gamut of emotions: sadness, anger, helplessness. In fact, I still feel those emotions at various random times. I don't think I will ever stop feeling those emotions when it comes to Braden.
I still wonder how this could happen? What could I have done differently? How could I have prevented it? Why did it happen?
If were any bit religious, I would be asking God the same questions. I would probably be angry with him for even letting it happen, or perhaps even blame him for taking Braden away from me. Of course, those pious enough would probably tell me that the Lord works in mysterious ways, which loosely translates to the fact that they have no idea themselves.
I know I will never get any concrete answers. For me, it's the not-knowing that makes it difficult to come to grips with my son's passing. The best that I can do is create my own rationale to explain Braden's passing: that he sacrificed himself for his family... for his future siblings... in order to inform his parents that they needed more help during pregnancy.
It's not much of a rationale, but it's at least something that I can believe in that will take away some of the grief. So thank you Braden. You will forever be missed. Mommy and Daddy will always love you."
I don't know. I guess my speech would be something like that.
Needless to say, it was a touching night. Karen and I actually went out to eat at Bertucci's in Hingham after the service. Interestingly enough, one of the families that attended the service also went to Bertucci's. I guess Bertucci's was the place to go after the service.
The service is basically for families who have lost their children through various things like miscarriages, unexpected pregnancy outcomes, still births, early infant deaths, etc. For those who know me, they would know that I am not much for religious faith, especially having lost our son (Braden) who was born extremely premature.
We had attended the 16th annual event last year shortly after Braden's passing. From what I remember last year, the service was difficult to get through as I constantly thought about Braden and all the things that I would never be able to do with him. Truth be told, the entire past year has been much of a total blur to me. If I did not know any better, I would have sworn that I lost a year of my life.
This year, the service was not any different. You would think that a year later, things would be easier. Needless to say, the thoughts of Braden overwhelmingly rushed back when we attended the service. For one night though, it was definitely nice to hear my son's name being read aloud and honored.
One of the things that happens at the service, aside from the reading of the names of children who passed away, is that families are allowed to share thoughts or stories with everyone else in attendance. The sharing functions almost like a support group. Last year, a woman wrote a poem about the loss of her child. This year, she returned and wrote another poem. It was touching.
Although I would never get up to the podium myself to address everyone, I have at times wondered what I would say if I ever did. My speech would probably be something like this:
"Hi, my name is Mike. My son, Braden, was born extremely premature. My wife, Karen, and I were lucky enough to be with him for his one and only week after he was born.
I always thought pregnancy was a great thing. Television and the media made child birth seem like such an easy thing. People get pregnant. They have a baby. It's not until we actually lost our child that I realized that having a child is more difficult that what is on tv.
When we lost Braden, I ran through the gamut of emotions: sadness, anger, helplessness. In fact, I still feel those emotions at various random times. I don't think I will ever stop feeling those emotions when it comes to Braden.
I still wonder how this could happen? What could I have done differently? How could I have prevented it? Why did it happen?
If were any bit religious, I would be asking God the same questions. I would probably be angry with him for even letting it happen, or perhaps even blame him for taking Braden away from me. Of course, those pious enough would probably tell me that the Lord works in mysterious ways, which loosely translates to the fact that they have no idea themselves.
I know I will never get any concrete answers. For me, it's the not-knowing that makes it difficult to come to grips with my son's passing. The best that I can do is create my own rationale to explain Braden's passing: that he sacrificed himself for his family... for his future siblings... in order to inform his parents that they needed more help during pregnancy.
It's not much of a rationale, but it's at least something that I can believe in that will take away some of the grief. So thank you Braden. You will forever be missed. Mommy and Daddy will always love you."
I don't know. I guess my speech would be something like that.
Needless to say, it was a touching night. Karen and I actually went out to eat at Bertucci's in Hingham after the service. Interestingly enough, one of the families that attended the service also went to Bertucci's. I guess Bertucci's was the place to go after the service.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
I Suck At Holiday Parties
Yesterday was quite the busy day. In fact, the month of December is generally a busy month. My birthday, my friends' (Jen, Ellen, Anna) birthdays, my BFF's (Kerry) birthday, other birthdays and events which I'm sure I forgot about, and of course the traditional birthday of baby Jesus are all in the month of December.
I refer to Jesus's birthday as the traditional birthday because contrary to what a lot of people believe, December 25th is not Jesus's actual date of birth. From what I have read, there is evidence that Jesus was born around Yom Kippur which is in the fall. December 25th just happened to be designated as Jesus's birthday to coincide with the pagan festival of Saturnalia. I guess Saturnalia-mas just did not have the same ring to it as Christmas.
Needless to say, December is busy with the holiday season. And of course, holidays would not be complete without holiday parties. Unfortunately, I suck at holiday parties.
Karen and I kicked off our holiday party tour by venturing to Lowell. There is a lot to like about Lowell... or so the city of Lowell would like to have you believe. Karen's aunt (Denise) hosted the annual family Christmas get-together. This was the first year that Christmas was not being celebrated at Karen's grandmother's (Nana) house, in part because Nana's house is no longer accessible to the family. (The house was recently sold... and I have a funny feeling that the new owners would not appreciate an entire family showing up on their doorstep to celebrate Christmas.)
For a family steep in tradition, I imagine celebrating Christmas at a location other than Nana's house may have been a little strange. As it was, things did seem a little different because not all of the usual suspects were able to attend the family get together. Luckily for me, I was not one of those usual suspects.
Truth be told, it was not that bad. I was expecting a lot worse because Nana's sister was scheduled to attend. I suppose every family has that one crazy family member. I think for Karen's family, that crazy family member is Nana's younger sister. More often than naught, Nana's sister is likely to say something crazy... forget... and then say the same exact crazy thing again... forget... and then repeat the cycle again and again. I imagine it's much like talking to me... which is probably why I expect the worst.
But like I said, the family celebration was not bad. No rigamaroles yesterday. It turns out that yesterday was the first time in over a year that my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) has been to Aunt Denise's. As well, I got to meet one of Karen's cousin's (Laura) significant other. He was quite the interesting person.
All in all, it was fun. The food was good. The highlight of the celebration was probably the family Yankee swap... also known as the inappropriately named Ghetto swap. The swap is basically a Yankee swap of items that family members are trying to get rid of from their household. So needless to say, the items are generally interesting. I'm glad that Karen's cousin (Karlene) started that tradition because the swap definitely does make things a little more fun. (For anyone curious, I ended up with a couple of sombreros that I had pawned off in a previous family Yankee swap. So I got it back... Damn!)
Anyway, following the family fun, Karen and I then headed off to Salem where Kerry was hosting her annual holiday party. For Kerry, this was her 7th annual holiday party. I don't remember how the annual party started, but I believe Kerry looks forward to this event every year.
Attending Kerry's 7th annual party were my friends (Marc, Kelley, Andrea, Jen, Hot Amy, Carlos), Hot Amy's significant other (Mark), and a whole slew of Kerry's friends from Rhode Island. In years past, the party was a little territorial. By that, I mean the party was segregated by location. Kerry's friends from Rhode Island would be in one room; her childhood friends from Massachusetts would be in another; her friends which did not fit either category would be dispersed in-between. It's only natural because people tend to do what they are naturally comfortable with. Thus, people tend to associate with others who they know and whatnot.
This year, however, I think there was more of an interaction between groups which was nice. I think it definitely helps that Marc was there. This year was Marc and Kelley's first year attending. Out of Kerry's childhood friends from Massachusetts, I would definitely say that Marc is probably best suited to bridge the gap between the groups with his unreserved comical personality. So it was great that he was there. Of course, it may also have been the fact that each group is now more comfortable with the other group now.
Anyway while at Kerry's, I decided to come up with a new term. The term is "blog-worthy". Much like the Seinfeld episode involving Elaine and the sponge, "blog-worthy", to me, will refer to anything that is deemed worthy of printing in this blog.
Normally, the thought would not enter my mind. After all, to my knowledge, I didn't think anyone even read this dribble known as my blog... outside of a handful of people. And even of that handful, I am never sure if they actually read this blog because they never add any comments or whatnot.
It came to my attention, however, that someone wanted to be mentioned in my blog. Hence, that certain someone wanted to be "blog-worthy". It never occurred to me that any of my friends would want to be mentioned in my dribble. Most of the time when I mention things, people simply roll their eyes.
So in accordance with my friend's wishes: Kudos to Andrea! Truth be told, I probably would have mentioned her regardless in this post because she made some delicious stuffed mushrooms for Kerry's party. I love fungus. Yummy yummy fungus! The stuffed mushrooms were delicious. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) I must have eaten half the tray of mushrooms.
In general, Andrea does make some great food. Her peanut butter balls... yum! Maybe instead of a bake-off between Kerry and Kelley, I can now convince them to have a showdown with Andrea as well. Yeah, maybe I do just want to eat the fruits of their labor...
I refer to Jesus's birthday as the traditional birthday because contrary to what a lot of people believe, December 25th is not Jesus's actual date of birth. From what I have read, there is evidence that Jesus was born around Yom Kippur which is in the fall. December 25th just happened to be designated as Jesus's birthday to coincide with the pagan festival of Saturnalia. I guess Saturnalia-mas just did not have the same ring to it as Christmas.
Needless to say, December is busy with the holiday season. And of course, holidays would not be complete without holiday parties. Unfortunately, I suck at holiday parties.
Karen and I kicked off our holiday party tour by venturing to Lowell. There is a lot to like about Lowell... or so the city of Lowell would like to have you believe. Karen's aunt (Denise) hosted the annual family Christmas get-together. This was the first year that Christmas was not being celebrated at Karen's grandmother's (Nana) house, in part because Nana's house is no longer accessible to the family. (The house was recently sold... and I have a funny feeling that the new owners would not appreciate an entire family showing up on their doorstep to celebrate Christmas.)
For a family steep in tradition, I imagine celebrating Christmas at a location other than Nana's house may have been a little strange. As it was, things did seem a little different because not all of the usual suspects were able to attend the family get together. Luckily for me, I was not one of those usual suspects.
Truth be told, it was not that bad. I was expecting a lot worse because Nana's sister was scheduled to attend. I suppose every family has that one crazy family member. I think for Karen's family, that crazy family member is Nana's younger sister. More often than naught, Nana's sister is likely to say something crazy... forget... and then say the same exact crazy thing again... forget... and then repeat the cycle again and again. I imagine it's much like talking to me... which is probably why I expect the worst.
But like I said, the family celebration was not bad. No rigamaroles yesterday. It turns out that yesterday was the first time in over a year that my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) has been to Aunt Denise's. As well, I got to meet one of Karen's cousin's (Laura) significant other. He was quite the interesting person.
All in all, it was fun. The food was good. The highlight of the celebration was probably the family Yankee swap... also known as the inappropriately named Ghetto swap. The swap is basically a Yankee swap of items that family members are trying to get rid of from their household. So needless to say, the items are generally interesting. I'm glad that Karen's cousin (Karlene) started that tradition because the swap definitely does make things a little more fun. (For anyone curious, I ended up with a couple of sombreros that I had pawned off in a previous family Yankee swap. So I got it back... Damn!)
Anyway, following the family fun, Karen and I then headed off to Salem where Kerry was hosting her annual holiday party. For Kerry, this was her 7th annual holiday party. I don't remember how the annual party started, but I believe Kerry looks forward to this event every year.
Attending Kerry's 7th annual party were my friends (Marc, Kelley, Andrea, Jen, Hot Amy, Carlos), Hot Amy's significant other (Mark), and a whole slew of Kerry's friends from Rhode Island. In years past, the party was a little territorial. By that, I mean the party was segregated by location. Kerry's friends from Rhode Island would be in one room; her childhood friends from Massachusetts would be in another; her friends which did not fit either category would be dispersed in-between. It's only natural because people tend to do what they are naturally comfortable with. Thus, people tend to associate with others who they know and whatnot.
This year, however, I think there was more of an interaction between groups which was nice. I think it definitely helps that Marc was there. This year was Marc and Kelley's first year attending. Out of Kerry's childhood friends from Massachusetts, I would definitely say that Marc is probably best suited to bridge the gap between the groups with his unreserved comical personality. So it was great that he was there. Of course, it may also have been the fact that each group is now more comfortable with the other group now.
Anyway while at Kerry's, I decided to come up with a new term. The term is "blog-worthy". Much like the Seinfeld episode involving Elaine and the sponge, "blog-worthy", to me, will refer to anything that is deemed worthy of printing in this blog.
Normally, the thought would not enter my mind. After all, to my knowledge, I didn't think anyone even read this dribble known as my blog... outside of a handful of people. And even of that handful, I am never sure if they actually read this blog because they never add any comments or whatnot.
It came to my attention, however, that someone wanted to be mentioned in my blog. Hence, that certain someone wanted to be "blog-worthy". It never occurred to me that any of my friends would want to be mentioned in my dribble. Most of the time when I mention things, people simply roll their eyes.
So in accordance with my friend's wishes: Kudos to Andrea! Truth be told, I probably would have mentioned her regardless in this post because she made some delicious stuffed mushrooms for Kerry's party. I love fungus. Yummy yummy fungus! The stuffed mushrooms were delicious. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) I must have eaten half the tray of mushrooms.
In general, Andrea does make some great food. Her peanut butter balls... yum! Maybe instead of a bake-off between Kerry and Kelley, I can now convince them to have a showdown with Andrea as well. Yeah, maybe I do just want to eat the fruits of their labor...
Thursday, December 3, 2009
I Suck At Human Wrecking Balls
Last night, Karen and I hung out with my friends (Marc and Kelley). Marc had cooked up a delicious mac 'n cheese dinner for everyone. I thought the mac n' cheese was quite good.
Speaking of which, Marc wanted in on the mac 'n cheese challenge with my friend (Hot Amy). Marc seems to think he'll beat both Hot Amy and I. I'm okay with losing to Marc, so long as I do not lose to Hot Amy... not that I ever will. I could probably put a dab of cheez whiz on a piece of pasta and I'd beat her... and then she'd cry out of her one good tear duct.
Trash talking aside, it was a pretty good night. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Kelley and I tested one of her libation recipes. Kelley even broke out the crystal bowl for the concoction. Luckily, we both had saved our long straws from the Imperial Terrace where we had shared a scorpion bowl. It was good.
Anyway, on the agenda for the night were a couple of episodes of Angel. The episodes that we watched were "Offspring" about Darla's return to Los Angeles as she still mysteriously carries Angel's baby; and "Quickening" about the return of the vampire hunter known as Holtz. Naturally, the episodes were good... in part because Darla was in them. (Blonde... shiny... yay!)
From there, we decided to catch a couple of episodes of the new season of Human Wrecking Balls. Now, I suck at Human Wrecking Balls.
(The video below is of the Human Wrecking Balls.)
For anyone curious, the premise of the show is very simple. The show follows two brothers (Paul and Craig Pumphrey), who are well-versed in martial arts, as they destroy certain things... with their body. It's pretty cool.
We watched them destroy a gas station and a carnival. It was awesome. Of course, after watching the show, I would now like to destroy something with my bare hands. I don't know what yet, but I think it would be fun. Similarly, Kelley now wants to kick in a door... just so she can.
Perhaps someday, if I ever redo one (or both) of the sheds outside of our house, I can demolish the sheds "Pumphrey style". That would be awesome. And probably painful...
Speaking of which, Marc wanted in on the mac 'n cheese challenge with my friend (Hot Amy). Marc seems to think he'll beat both Hot Amy and I. I'm okay with losing to Marc, so long as I do not lose to Hot Amy... not that I ever will. I could probably put a dab of cheez whiz on a piece of pasta and I'd beat her... and then she'd cry out of her one good tear duct.
Trash talking aside, it was a pretty good night. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Kelley and I tested one of her libation recipes. Kelley even broke out the crystal bowl for the concoction. Luckily, we both had saved our long straws from the Imperial Terrace where we had shared a scorpion bowl. It was good.
Anyway, on the agenda for the night were a couple of episodes of Angel. The episodes that we watched were "Offspring" about Darla's return to Los Angeles as she still mysteriously carries Angel's baby; and "Quickening" about the return of the vampire hunter known as Holtz. Naturally, the episodes were good... in part because Darla was in them. (Blonde... shiny... yay!)
From there, we decided to catch a couple of episodes of the new season of Human Wrecking Balls. Now, I suck at Human Wrecking Balls.
(The video below is of the Human Wrecking Balls.)
For anyone curious, the premise of the show is very simple. The show follows two brothers (Paul and Craig Pumphrey), who are well-versed in martial arts, as they destroy certain things... with their body. It's pretty cool.
We watched them destroy a gas station and a carnival. It was awesome. Of course, after watching the show, I would now like to destroy something with my bare hands. I don't know what yet, but I think it would be fun. Similarly, Kelley now wants to kick in a door... just so she can.
Perhaps someday, if I ever redo one (or both) of the sheds outside of our house, I can demolish the sheds "Pumphrey style". That would be awesome. And probably painful...
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
I Suck At Target
With very little plans for the night, Karen and I decided to do some Christmas shopping. Granted, the shopping was mainly for ourselves. We ended up at Target, located in Hanover.
Now, I suck at Target. But, I must say, I do love the Target that is in Hanover. I probably do not love it as much as my friend (Kelley), but I do enjoy going there.
Anyway, a while ago Target had a folding table on sale in the circular. We had talked about getting a folding table for the longest time. Whenever we had needed a table, we always had to borrow one from my favorite sister-in-law (Janine), which is yet another reason why she is my favorite. So rather than continually borrow a folding table, we decided to get one ourselves. The problem was, when we went to buy one during the advertised circular, the store was all out of them. So we ended up with a rain check.
Several days ago, we had noticed that the folding tables were stocked in Target. (It is simply coincidence that we have been to Target two times within the past four days. We don't really go there that often.) So with no plans tonight, we decided to go to Target and pick up the table.
It turns out that the trip to Target was rather fun. Karen and I ran into my favorite brother-in-law (PJ) and my friend (Gretchen). PJ and Gretchen were doing some shopping of their own. It was a pleasant and fun surprise.
Oddly enough, Karen and I seem to run into people we know while at Target. We ran into my friends (Ron and Trinh) and their family not too long ago. We ran into PJ and Gretchen tonight. Heck, tonight Karen and PJ even ran into someone whom they both knew. Karen said she also thinks one of the customers behind us in line looked familiar too.
All in all, it was quite interesting and fun. And yes, Karen and I did end up getting the folding table.
Now, I suck at Target. But, I must say, I do love the Target that is in Hanover. I probably do not love it as much as my friend (Kelley), but I do enjoy going there.
Anyway, a while ago Target had a folding table on sale in the circular. We had talked about getting a folding table for the longest time. Whenever we had needed a table, we always had to borrow one from my favorite sister-in-law (Janine), which is yet another reason why she is my favorite. So rather than continually borrow a folding table, we decided to get one ourselves. The problem was, when we went to buy one during the advertised circular, the store was all out of them. So we ended up with a rain check.
Several days ago, we had noticed that the folding tables were stocked in Target. (It is simply coincidence that we have been to Target two times within the past four days. We don't really go there that often.) So with no plans tonight, we decided to go to Target and pick up the table.
It turns out that the trip to Target was rather fun. Karen and I ran into my favorite brother-in-law (PJ) and my friend (Gretchen). PJ and Gretchen were doing some shopping of their own. It was a pleasant and fun surprise.
Oddly enough, Karen and I seem to run into people we know while at Target. We ran into my friends (Ron and Trinh) and their family not too long ago. We ran into PJ and Gretchen tonight. Heck, tonight Karen and PJ even ran into someone whom they both knew. Karen said she also thinks one of the customers behind us in line looked familiar too.
All in all, it was quite interesting and fun. And yes, Karen and I did end up getting the folding table.
I Suck At Ultrasounds
Yesterday, I attended one of Karen's routine appointments with the maternal fetal medicine department at South Shore Hospital. Unlike the other routine appointments during Karen's pregnancy that I have attended thus far, this appointment was longer because more measurements of the baby had to be taken during the ultrasound.
Unfortunately, I suck at ultrasounds. Whenever the technician moves the ultrasound around, I initially have trouble making out the black and white blotches that appear on the screen. It is not until the technician identifies what is on the screen that I can make it out. Although I must say, I am getting better. I can at least make out the black and white blotches of the baby's head, face, arms, hands, legs, feet, spine, and heart. It's really the other black and white blotches that I have trouble with.
Anyway, I think it's truly amazing how the miracles of modern science can provide an in-depth view of the baby during pregnancy. I sometimes wonder what it was like when things like ultrasounds did not exist.
Regardless, yesterday was quite the thrill. The technician actually provided us with a three-dimensional view of the baby. It was the first time I had ever seen a three-dimensional ultrasound. I had heard of them before, but to actually see one with your own baby is quite remarkable.
(The picture below is a three-dimensional ultrasound of our little baby.)
Needless to say, I was quite excited about the baby... and quite stressed at the same time. I will probably feel less stressed in five months when the baby is due. As it is, in a little over a month the baby will be at the same point where our son (Braden) was born. Hopefully, the baby can make it past that point. Baby steps... literally.
Following the appointment, my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and my friend (Gretchen) stopped by. They had heard about the ultrasound and wanted to see the baby. It was fun hanging with them. I'm glad they stopped by.
Anyway, as Karen and I were both excited about the ultrasound, we decided to go out for dinner. I guess you could say it was a celebration of sorts. With the holiday season approaching, I have been thinking a lot about Braden. I still miss him. Last year there wasn't much to celebrate, but with Karen's pregnancy this year, it's making things a little easier. So it was nice to be excited about something.
We decided to go out to dinner at The Tinker's Son, which is located in Norwell. In fact, the restaurant is where the old Aerosmith restaurant known as Mount Blue used to be. The Tinker's Son is a relatively new place, having opened a little over a month ago. For anyone curious, the place is an Irish pub and restaurant. And for those who know me, they would know that I love all things Irish.
It was the first time that Karen or I had been to the Tinker's Son. We had heard about the place via an article about the chef opening the Irish restaurant. So we figured that we would give it a try.
The menu selection was small, but the food was good. I had the staple fish and chips dinner. It was quite delicious. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) It was a good time. Had we stayed longer, we could have participated in trivia night which happens every Monday night. The other nights are booked with bands and whatnot.
And for anyone curious, one of the songs that was played at the Tinker's Son was Fairytale of New York by the Pogues. The song was played in the background, which I thought was pretty cool. It's a catchy tune. Plus, I believe the song happens to my friend's (Marc) favorite Christmas tune.
(The video below is the video for the Fairytale of New York.)
Anyway, it was a good day yesterday. I would go back to the Tinker's Son.
Unfortunately, I suck at ultrasounds. Whenever the technician moves the ultrasound around, I initially have trouble making out the black and white blotches that appear on the screen. It is not until the technician identifies what is on the screen that I can make it out. Although I must say, I am getting better. I can at least make out the black and white blotches of the baby's head, face, arms, hands, legs, feet, spine, and heart. It's really the other black and white blotches that I have trouble with.
Anyway, I think it's truly amazing how the miracles of modern science can provide an in-depth view of the baby during pregnancy. I sometimes wonder what it was like when things like ultrasounds did not exist.
Regardless, yesterday was quite the thrill. The technician actually provided us with a three-dimensional view of the baby. It was the first time I had ever seen a three-dimensional ultrasound. I had heard of them before, but to actually see one with your own baby is quite remarkable.
(The picture below is a three-dimensional ultrasound of our little baby.)
Needless to say, I was quite excited about the baby... and quite stressed at the same time. I will probably feel less stressed in five months when the baby is due. As it is, in a little over a month the baby will be at the same point where our son (Braden) was born. Hopefully, the baby can make it past that point. Baby steps... literally.
Following the appointment, my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and my friend (Gretchen) stopped by. They had heard about the ultrasound and wanted to see the baby. It was fun hanging with them. I'm glad they stopped by.
Anyway, as Karen and I were both excited about the ultrasound, we decided to go out for dinner. I guess you could say it was a celebration of sorts. With the holiday season approaching, I have been thinking a lot about Braden. I still miss him. Last year there wasn't much to celebrate, but with Karen's pregnancy this year, it's making things a little easier. So it was nice to be excited about something.
We decided to go out to dinner at The Tinker's Son, which is located in Norwell. In fact, the restaurant is where the old Aerosmith restaurant known as Mount Blue used to be. The Tinker's Son is a relatively new place, having opened a little over a month ago. For anyone curious, the place is an Irish pub and restaurant. And for those who know me, they would know that I love all things Irish.
It was the first time that Karen or I had been to the Tinker's Son. We had heard about the place via an article about the chef opening the Irish restaurant. So we figured that we would give it a try.
The menu selection was small, but the food was good. I had the staple fish and chips dinner. It was quite delicious. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) It was a good time. Had we stayed longer, we could have participated in trivia night which happens every Monday night. The other nights are booked with bands and whatnot.
And for anyone curious, one of the songs that was played at the Tinker's Son was Fairytale of New York by the Pogues. The song was played in the background, which I thought was pretty cool. It's a catchy tune. Plus, I believe the song happens to my friend's (Marc) favorite Christmas tune.
(The video below is the video for the Fairytale of New York.)
Anyway, it was a good day yesterday. I would go back to the Tinker's Son.
Monday, November 30, 2009
I Suck At Sewing
Today was the ever popular Christmas parade in Quincy. Always the fan of parades, I do my darnedest to not attend.
Truth be told, I have nothing against parades. I think the last parade that I may have enjoyed the most was the St. Patrick's Day parade in Newport, Rhode Island several years ago. Granted, I was quite inebriated for most of the parade, but from what I remember it was a fun experience. As well, I seemed to have won a free t-shirt somehow during that parade... and nothing says fun more than a free t-shirt! Unfortunately, I don't think I will be attending the St. Patrick's Day parade in Newport for a while.
So apparently I just don't like Quincy parades. There's just something about the Quincy parades that scream pure cheese. I don't know if it is because I grew up in Quincy, or if I just hate driving through Quincy when there is a parade, or what. Although, if my friend (Cass) ever did become mayor of Quincy, I actually might want to attend a Quincy parade. Of course, I also might lobby hard that he eliminate parades in Quincy, in addition to getting rid of the oodles upon oodles of red traffic lights.
Regardless, Karen had plans to meet up with our friends (Jen, Kerry, Carlos, and Hot Amy) for the Quincy Christmas parade. Luckily, I had plans with my friends (Marc and Kelley). The ball of stress that I am, I actually considered going to the parade due to Karen's pregnancy. I simply didn't want her to walk that far and tire herself out, nor did I want her lugging around a chair in addition to her bag of snacks while being pregnant. But, she assured me that she would be okay.
So I got to hang out with Marc and Kelley instead which was fun. We basically hung out and watched football. Marc was gracious enough to make jambalaya for lunch. Kelley also made her famous muffins. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound!)
Following football and the parade, Karen and I had dinner with my parents. As usual, my parents were ecstatic to see me. They were even more excited to have us come over for dinner, which was very delicious and nothing at all like the meal from Imperial Terrace.
Afterwards, my mother decided to give both Karen and I a little quick lesson in sewing. Now, I suck at sewing.
For anyone curious, the reason why the topic of sewing even came up was because Karen needed some maternity pants hemmed. Always one to help out, my mother volunteered to hem the pants for Karen. And naturally, because I am a curious creature, I asked if my mother could also give us a quick lesson in sewing.
My mother actually knows how to sew. In fact, my late uncle knew how to sew. My uncle was a tailor in Hong Kong before he passed away. But from what I was told, my mother and uncle used to sew together.
Anyway, I remember my mother sewing a lot when I was a child. There would be times where I had to thread needles. It was neat.
Now, my mother sews only when the need arises. Many of her friends have asked her to hem pants here and there. Perhaps my mom should open a sewing business. So naturally, I was curious as to what was involved in hemming pants.
Needless to say, my mother gave Karen and I a quick demonstration. She did it very quickly too. There was a seam removed here... a needle stuck here... some scissors cutting here... the sewing machine there... more needles stuck here... stitching here... ironing there... and the next you know... voila! hemmed pant. It was rather interesting. I think I would like to learn this skill some more.
Truth be told, I have nothing against parades. I think the last parade that I may have enjoyed the most was the St. Patrick's Day parade in Newport, Rhode Island several years ago. Granted, I was quite inebriated for most of the parade, but from what I remember it was a fun experience. As well, I seemed to have won a free t-shirt somehow during that parade... and nothing says fun more than a free t-shirt! Unfortunately, I don't think I will be attending the St. Patrick's Day parade in Newport for a while.
So apparently I just don't like Quincy parades. There's just something about the Quincy parades that scream pure cheese. I don't know if it is because I grew up in Quincy, or if I just hate driving through Quincy when there is a parade, or what. Although, if my friend (Cass) ever did become mayor of Quincy, I actually might want to attend a Quincy parade. Of course, I also might lobby hard that he eliminate parades in Quincy, in addition to getting rid of the oodles upon oodles of red traffic lights.
Regardless, Karen had plans to meet up with our friends (Jen, Kerry, Carlos, and Hot Amy) for the Quincy Christmas parade. Luckily, I had plans with my friends (Marc and Kelley). The ball of stress that I am, I actually considered going to the parade due to Karen's pregnancy. I simply didn't want her to walk that far and tire herself out, nor did I want her lugging around a chair in addition to her bag of snacks while being pregnant. But, she assured me that she would be okay.
So I got to hang out with Marc and Kelley instead which was fun. We basically hung out and watched football. Marc was gracious enough to make jambalaya for lunch. Kelley also made her famous muffins. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound!)
Following football and the parade, Karen and I had dinner with my parents. As usual, my parents were ecstatic to see me. They were even more excited to have us come over for dinner, which was very delicious and nothing at all like the meal from Imperial Terrace.
Afterwards, my mother decided to give both Karen and I a little quick lesson in sewing. Now, I suck at sewing.
For anyone curious, the reason why the topic of sewing even came up was because Karen needed some maternity pants hemmed. Always one to help out, my mother volunteered to hem the pants for Karen. And naturally, because I am a curious creature, I asked if my mother could also give us a quick lesson in sewing.
My mother actually knows how to sew. In fact, my late uncle knew how to sew. My uncle was a tailor in Hong Kong before he passed away. But from what I was told, my mother and uncle used to sew together.
Anyway, I remember my mother sewing a lot when I was a child. There would be times where I had to thread needles. It was neat.
Now, my mother sews only when the need arises. Many of her friends have asked her to hem pants here and there. Perhaps my mom should open a sewing business. So naturally, I was curious as to what was involved in hemming pants.
Needless to say, my mother gave Karen and I a quick demonstration. She did it very quickly too. There was a seam removed here... a needle stuck here... some scissors cutting here... the sewing machine there... more needles stuck here... stitching here... ironing there... and the next you know... voila! hemmed pant. It was rather interesting. I think I would like to learn this skill some more.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
I Suck At Bohemian Rhapsody
On Saturday, Karen and I had a very uneventful day. Karen had an eye exam at Pearl, which is located near the Hanover mall. She had been meaning to get new glasses. So Saturday was a good day as any to get new glasses.
While waiting for her new glasses, we ended up doing a little shopping. I naturally couldn't resist the temptation of purchasing Miley Cyrus's EP "The Time of Our Lives". Normally, I am not a big fan of Walmart. Since the EP, however, is a Walmart exclusive... I had no choice. And damn that "Party in the U.S.A." song and it's catchy tune. For anyone curious, the EP was on sale at the time.
And yes, I still am not proud of the fact that I purchased a Miley Cyrus EP. Glee: The Music Volume 1, I have no shame in admitting that I purchased. For some reason, purchasing the album of a teeny popper... shameful.
Anyway, Karen and I also met my in-laws for lunch while we were waiting for her glasses. We ended up eating at Uno's, also located near the Hanover Mall. Lunch was good. The wait staff were not exactly that good, but the food was.
Eventually, Karen picked up her new glasses and we did what any couple would do on a Saturday night... we vegged in front of the television. Sadly, we had no plans. Among the interesting items that came up during out vegging was the Muppets viral rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody. Now, I suck at Bohemian Rhapsody.
(The video below is the Muppet rendition.)
Needless to say, the rendition cracked me up. Gotta love those Muppets!
The other interesting thing that happened on Saturday night was the surprise visit from Karen's friend (Dolores) and her boyfriend (Loser Tom). Dolores and Loser Tom were in the neighborhood, as they were going shopping at the Hanover Mall, and they thought they would stop by.
For anyone curious, I refer to Loser Tom as Loser Tom because when we first met him, he mentioned to Dolores that he was afraid that we would think he was a loser. He's not really a loser, but I like to call him Loser Tom nonetheless. It's my way of picking on Dolores, much like how I pick on my friend (Hot Amy) by claiming that her significant other works in the cloak and dagger world of janitorial services. And yes, I do sometimes wonder why both Dolores and Hot Amy are still my friends. (Of course, for all I know, they both could just tolerate me due to my connection with Karen.)
Anyway, it was good seeing Dolores and Loser Tom. Karen and I don't see them that often. In fact, Saturday was the first time that they have seen our house with the second floor addition. So, needless to say, we were glad that they were in the neighborhood and decided to stop on by. Hopefully, they will do it more often.
While waiting for her new glasses, we ended up doing a little shopping. I naturally couldn't resist the temptation of purchasing Miley Cyrus's EP "The Time of Our Lives". Normally, I am not a big fan of Walmart. Since the EP, however, is a Walmart exclusive... I had no choice. And damn that "Party in the U.S.A." song and it's catchy tune. For anyone curious, the EP was on sale at the time.
And yes, I still am not proud of the fact that I purchased a Miley Cyrus EP. Glee: The Music Volume 1, I have no shame in admitting that I purchased. For some reason, purchasing the album of a teeny popper... shameful.
Anyway, Karen and I also met my in-laws for lunch while we were waiting for her glasses. We ended up eating at Uno's, also located near the Hanover Mall. Lunch was good. The wait staff were not exactly that good, but the food was.
Eventually, Karen picked up her new glasses and we did what any couple would do on a Saturday night... we vegged in front of the television. Sadly, we had no plans. Among the interesting items that came up during out vegging was the Muppets viral rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody. Now, I suck at Bohemian Rhapsody.
(The video below is the Muppet rendition.)
Needless to say, the rendition cracked me up. Gotta love those Muppets!
The other interesting thing that happened on Saturday night was the surprise visit from Karen's friend (Dolores) and her boyfriend (Loser Tom). Dolores and Loser Tom were in the neighborhood, as they were going shopping at the Hanover Mall, and they thought they would stop by.
For anyone curious, I refer to Loser Tom as Loser Tom because when we first met him, he mentioned to Dolores that he was afraid that we would think he was a loser. He's not really a loser, but I like to call him Loser Tom nonetheless. It's my way of picking on Dolores, much like how I pick on my friend (Hot Amy) by claiming that her significant other works in the cloak and dagger world of janitorial services. And yes, I do sometimes wonder why both Dolores and Hot Amy are still my friends. (Of course, for all I know, they both could just tolerate me due to my connection with Karen.)
Anyway, it was good seeing Dolores and Loser Tom. Karen and I don't see them that often. In fact, Saturday was the first time that they have seen our house with the second floor addition. So, needless to say, we were glad that they were in the neighborhood and decided to stop on by. Hopefully, they will do it more often.
I Suck At Black Friday
The day after Thanksgiving, known by many as Black Friday as it marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season, was an interesting day. Now I suck at Black Friday.
I have always thought about partaking in the madness of Black Friday by waking up early and scrambling for a retail bargain. More often than naught, however, my laziness gets the better of me and I generally choose to sleep in on the day after Thanksgiving. Friday was no different.
So instead of waking up in the wee hours of night to stand in line at some retail store, I decided to sleep in. When I woke up, Karen and I actually put up our Christmas tree. Yes, we respected the turkey and waited for the day after Thanksgiving to put up the tree.
With our house now decorated for Christmas, Karen and I had dinner with my friends (Cass and Ellen). Every year, Cass and Ellen invite a bunch of friends over on the day after Thanksgiving to eat the leftovers from Thanksgiving. In my opinion, it's a great annual tradition with friends.
The annual tradition reminded me of the time when, during my high school years, a bunch of my friends celebrated Thanksgiving at my friend's (Garv) place. At least, I think it was for Thanksgiving. There were so many of us crammed in around the dinner table. It was comical. Just being with so many friends was a blast.
Plus, my friend's (Anna) boyfriend at the time made a surprise visit. Anna's boyfriend looked like he was 40 years old, which was light years for us high school kids. Truth be told, Anna's boyfriend was this little scrawny Asian guy... with this mustache. It was an awful mustache. (Of course, I may be jealous because I can't grow a mustache.) Regardless, Anna's boyfriend was also a bit controlling. He liked to keep tabs on Anna. And it so happened that he found out Anna was at Garv's.
Without getting into the nitty gritty details, Anna's boyfriend wanted Anna to leave the party. Obviously, none of us wanted Anna to go spend her time with her 40 year old, hairy lipped boyfriend. The result: my friend (Greg) who had the pleasure of answering the door when Anna's boyfriend arrived, cowered in the corner with fear when her boyfriend wanted to pick a fight. (Again, Anna's boyfriend was a twerp.)
Like I said... comical. Anna ended up leaving the party. We were young. But I look back at the time and remember how much fun it was to hang out with everyone.
Anyway, I associate Cass and Ellen's after Thanksgiving dinner with that feeling of hanging out with friends and it's something I look forward to since they started the tradition. And for anyone curious, yes... this is the same tradition where I had my choking incident involving steak.
Attending the festivities this year in addition to Karen, Cass, Ellen, and myself were my friends (Marc, Kelley, Meredith, Doug, Aimee and her daughter Amaya) and my BFF (Kerry). It was a fun.
Also for this year, Cass decided to make a feel rules for the annual tradition. The rules were as follows:
There may have been more rules, but those are the ones that I remember. In my own twisted thinking, I thought it would be cool to have an annual tradition to see what I could choke on. Needless to say, Karen did not like that idea.
Anyway, dinner was great. I particularly enjoyed hanging out with everyone and just having fun. We eventually ended up playing a game that Cass and Ellen had gotten, called "The Game of Things". Oh yes, for anyone curious, Cass and Ellen... and Aimee... had successful Black Friday shopping excursions.
"The Game of Things" was a riot. Without getting into too many details, the game regressed into sharting and Ryan Reynolds... and sometimes both.
All in all, the day after Thanksgiving was a blast.
I have always thought about partaking in the madness of Black Friday by waking up early and scrambling for a retail bargain. More often than naught, however, my laziness gets the better of me and I generally choose to sleep in on the day after Thanksgiving. Friday was no different.
So instead of waking up in the wee hours of night to stand in line at some retail store, I decided to sleep in. When I woke up, Karen and I actually put up our Christmas tree. Yes, we respected the turkey and waited for the day after Thanksgiving to put up the tree.
With our house now decorated for Christmas, Karen and I had dinner with my friends (Cass and Ellen). Every year, Cass and Ellen invite a bunch of friends over on the day after Thanksgiving to eat the leftovers from Thanksgiving. In my opinion, it's a great annual tradition with friends.
The annual tradition reminded me of the time when, during my high school years, a bunch of my friends celebrated Thanksgiving at my friend's (Garv) place. At least, I think it was for Thanksgiving. There were so many of us crammed in around the dinner table. It was comical. Just being with so many friends was a blast.
Plus, my friend's (Anna) boyfriend at the time made a surprise visit. Anna's boyfriend looked like he was 40 years old, which was light years for us high school kids. Truth be told, Anna's boyfriend was this little scrawny Asian guy... with this mustache. It was an awful mustache. (Of course, I may be jealous because I can't grow a mustache.) Regardless, Anna's boyfriend was also a bit controlling. He liked to keep tabs on Anna. And it so happened that he found out Anna was at Garv's.
Without getting into the nitty gritty details, Anna's boyfriend wanted Anna to leave the party. Obviously, none of us wanted Anna to go spend her time with her 40 year old, hairy lipped boyfriend. The result: my friend (Greg) who had the pleasure of answering the door when Anna's boyfriend arrived, cowered in the corner with fear when her boyfriend wanted to pick a fight. (Again, Anna's boyfriend was a twerp.)
Like I said... comical. Anna ended up leaving the party. We were young. But I look back at the time and remember how much fun it was to hang out with everyone.
Anyway, I associate Cass and Ellen's after Thanksgiving dinner with that feeling of hanging out with friends and it's something I look forward to since they started the tradition. And for anyone curious, yes... this is the same tradition where I had my choking incident involving steak.
Attending the festivities this year in addition to Karen, Cass, Ellen, and myself were my friends (Marc, Kelley, Meredith, Doug, Aimee and her daughter Amaya) and my BFF (Kerry). It was a fun.
Also for this year, Cass decided to make a feel rules for the annual tradition. The rules were as follows:
- Everyone must wear sweatpants, yoga pants, or pajamas.
- Everyone must pick out a shot glass whether they consume alcohol or not.
- The food will be served on the plates they came in.
- And the lazy susan at the dinner table can only rotate clockwise.
There may have been more rules, but those are the ones that I remember. In my own twisted thinking, I thought it would be cool to have an annual tradition to see what I could choke on. Needless to say, Karen did not like that idea.
Anyway, dinner was great. I particularly enjoyed hanging out with everyone and just having fun. We eventually ended up playing a game that Cass and Ellen had gotten, called "The Game of Things". Oh yes, for anyone curious, Cass and Ellen... and Aimee... had successful Black Friday shopping excursions.
"The Game of Things" was a riot. Without getting into too many details, the game regressed into sharting and Ryan Reynolds... and sometimes both.
All in all, the day after Thanksgiving was a blast.
I Suck At Thanksgiving
Thursday was turkey day. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Too bad I suck at Thanksgiving.
To start off the day of giving thanks, I got to practice my needle injection skills like the mad IV drug junkie that I am. Actually, I got to practice my mad skills on Karen.
For anyone curious, with the upcoming pregnancy, Karen has been prescribed progesterone. According to my friend, Wikipedia, "progesterone is sometimes called the 'hormone of pregnancy' and it has many roles relating to the development of the fetus." In particular, progesterone helps with preventing early child birth.
With everything that happened with our son (Braden) last year, the doctors recommended the use of progesterone as a precaution with this upcoming pregnancy. Better to be safe than sorry, that's for sure.
Anyway, Thanksgiving was the first time I ever used a syringe and injected someone. The actual process was not that bad. Sadly, the hardest part was figuring out how to fill the syringe with progesterone.
Luckily, I had a brief lesson with one of the nurses last week on what to do. And since Karen was nice to me, I did my best to inject the needle as gently as I could. For anyone curious, Karen could not do the injection herself because the shot needed to be intramuscular... into the butt.
Needless to say, the shot went off without a hitch. And now my drug use can run rampant. Just kidding.
Following the shot, Karen and I headed off to my in-laws for Thanksgiving dinner. Dinner was great. My parents were also invited to the dinner. Having both parents present made things easier for Thanksgiving in terms of making the rounds to see parents. As a plus, I think my parents enjoyed themselves. They seemed like they had a great time.
Thanksgiving was small, with it being my parents, my in-laws, Karen, and I, but it was nice. I had a good time. My mother-in-law thought it was funny because she had never seen me fall asleep before. I wish I could blame it on the legendary tryptophan excuse, but my tiredness was just sheer exhaustion as I had stayed up rather late the previous two nights.
Anyway, after dinner, my in-laws, Karen and I made a little quick visit to Karen's grandmother at the nursing home. It was nice seeing nana, especially on Thanksgiving. There was, of course, some interesting family issue with the upcoming holiday visit from some of the relatives. But that is just normal. I have learned to accept that "rigamaroles" are a part of the in-laws.
All in all, it was a good Thanksgiving.
To start off the day of giving thanks, I got to practice my needle injection skills like the mad IV drug junkie that I am. Actually, I got to practice my mad skills on Karen.
For anyone curious, with the upcoming pregnancy, Karen has been prescribed progesterone. According to my friend, Wikipedia, "progesterone is sometimes called the 'hormone of pregnancy' and it has many roles relating to the development of the fetus." In particular, progesterone helps with preventing early child birth.
With everything that happened with our son (Braden) last year, the doctors recommended the use of progesterone as a precaution with this upcoming pregnancy. Better to be safe than sorry, that's for sure.
Anyway, Thanksgiving was the first time I ever used a syringe and injected someone. The actual process was not that bad. Sadly, the hardest part was figuring out how to fill the syringe with progesterone.
Luckily, I had a brief lesson with one of the nurses last week on what to do. And since Karen was nice to me, I did my best to inject the needle as gently as I could. For anyone curious, Karen could not do the injection herself because the shot needed to be intramuscular... into the butt.
Needless to say, the shot went off without a hitch. And now my drug use can run rampant. Just kidding.
Following the shot, Karen and I headed off to my in-laws for Thanksgiving dinner. Dinner was great. My parents were also invited to the dinner. Having both parents present made things easier for Thanksgiving in terms of making the rounds to see parents. As a plus, I think my parents enjoyed themselves. They seemed like they had a great time.
Thanksgiving was small, with it being my parents, my in-laws, Karen, and I, but it was nice. I had a good time. My mother-in-law thought it was funny because she had never seen me fall asleep before. I wish I could blame it on the legendary tryptophan excuse, but my tiredness was just sheer exhaustion as I had stayed up rather late the previous two nights.
Anyway, after dinner, my in-laws, Karen and I made a little quick visit to Karen's grandmother at the nursing home. It was nice seeing nana, especially on Thanksgiving. There was, of course, some interesting family issue with the upcoming holiday visit from some of the relatives. But that is just normal. I have learned to accept that "rigamaroles" are a part of the in-laws.
All in all, it was a good Thanksgiving.
Friday, November 27, 2009
I Suck At Imperial Terrace
On Wednesday, my friend (Jen) organized a little pre-Thanksgiving get-together. The get-together consisted of dinner at the Imperial Terrace located in Quincy. Now, I suck at Imperial Terrace.
For anyone curious, the Imperial Terrace is a restaurant specializing in Chinese food, and not just any Chinese food. The place specializes in American Chinese food that consists of greasy... everything... that will eventually make you hungry again within the hour.
Truth be told, I don't particularly like Chinese food... at least not the type at so-called Chinese restaurants. I may have been spoiled growing up because my mother cooked real Chinese food that tasted great and was not at all greasy. Needless to say, the food at these other restaurants just never compared to my mother's cooking. Thus, I never particularly enjoyed eating at these restaurants.
Nevertheless, Jen was gracious enough to organize the shindig. Consequently, the Imperial Terrace was a great reason to simply hang out with friends and have a good time.
Making it to the shindig were my friends (Marc, Kelley, Carlos), Jen, her brother (Bill), a couple of Bill's friends, my friend (Hot Amy) and her sister (Terri), Karen and I. There were a bunch of us. Unfortunately, we sat at a rectangular table. And for anyone who knows me, they would know that I have a dislike of rectangular tables when it comes to large parties (because people at the ends of these tables are never included in the conversations at the other end of the table).
Although truth be told, it was probably good that we were at a rectangular table on Wednesday. As I had been a little inebriated beforehand with my drinking buddy (Kelley), I had the latest Miley Cyrus song stuck in my head.
(The video below is the Miley Cyrus song that was stuck in my head.)
I'm not proud of the fact that I enjoy the Miley Cyrus song. Sadly, the song is just so darn catchy. Regardless, in my inebriated state, I may have repeated lyrics from the song a few thousand times. I, of course, butchered the song because I do not actually know the lyrics. So I may have been making no sense whatsoever with my constant rendition of the song on Wednesday.
Anyway, I'm afraid I don't remember much from the Imperial Terrace... other than the scorpion bowl that Kelley and I shared... and Miley Cyrus. So like I said, it may have been better that we were seated at the end of the rectangular table.
Following dinner, a bunch of us headed back to Jen and Bill's place. It was fun to hang out with Jen, Hot Amy, and Carlos, whom I really haven't seen much of late. From what I can remember, Hot Amy challenged me to a macaroni and cheese throw down. I don't remember if we wagered anything or not. Of course, a wager would not matter much anyway. There is no doubt that I will beat Hot Amy. She is pre-disposed to losing. And luckily, she is a glutton for punishment which makes it fun.
As is my nature, I may have angered Hot Amy a little with my ribbing. I forget how the subject of her significant other (Mark) came up, but he did. Mark works for MIT's Lincoln Labs. For anyone curious, Lincoln Labs is federal funded by the government for the area of research and development. Due to the nature of his work, Mark cannot tell anyone what he actually does at MIT's Lincoln Labs. Naturally, I joked that Mark was the janitor there. For the record, I don't think there is anything wrong with being a janitor. I just happened to know that it would annoy Hot Amy.
Needless to say, Carlos enjoyed my joke a lot. He kept laughing at the thought. Yeah, I'm a stinker. But it was funny to get under Hot Amy's skin. She's a good sport about my jokes. I could definitely see that she was getting a little angry with me.
Speaking of Mark, my other friend (Marc) actually watched a little of Fox's Glee while at Jen's. Jen was recording the show which happened to be on while we were there. Sadly, Marc is not a big fan of Glee. It's too bad. I love Glee. The show is one of my guilty pleasures.
Go Quinn Fabray! Yes, I may be drawn to the show due to the blond cheerleader. It's not my fault. I'm attracted to shiny objects. And, I feel robbed of my high school cheerleading experience because the cheerleaders at my high school... definitely looked nothing like television. Sure, they may have had the attitude... just not the flexibility or cheer...
Anyway, it was definitely a fun night. I'm glad Jen organized the get-together. I had a great time.
For anyone curious, the Imperial Terrace is a restaurant specializing in Chinese food, and not just any Chinese food. The place specializes in American Chinese food that consists of greasy... everything... that will eventually make you hungry again within the hour.
Truth be told, I don't particularly like Chinese food... at least not the type at so-called Chinese restaurants. I may have been spoiled growing up because my mother cooked real Chinese food that tasted great and was not at all greasy. Needless to say, the food at these other restaurants just never compared to my mother's cooking. Thus, I never particularly enjoyed eating at these restaurants.
Nevertheless, Jen was gracious enough to organize the shindig. Consequently, the Imperial Terrace was a great reason to simply hang out with friends and have a good time.
Making it to the shindig were my friends (Marc, Kelley, Carlos), Jen, her brother (Bill), a couple of Bill's friends, my friend (Hot Amy) and her sister (Terri), Karen and I. There were a bunch of us. Unfortunately, we sat at a rectangular table. And for anyone who knows me, they would know that I have a dislike of rectangular tables when it comes to large parties (because people at the ends of these tables are never included in the conversations at the other end of the table).
Although truth be told, it was probably good that we were at a rectangular table on Wednesday. As I had been a little inebriated beforehand with my drinking buddy (Kelley), I had the latest Miley Cyrus song stuck in my head.
(The video below is the Miley Cyrus song that was stuck in my head.)
I'm not proud of the fact that I enjoy the Miley Cyrus song. Sadly, the song is just so darn catchy. Regardless, in my inebriated state, I may have repeated lyrics from the song a few thousand times. I, of course, butchered the song because I do not actually know the lyrics. So I may have been making no sense whatsoever with my constant rendition of the song on Wednesday.
Anyway, I'm afraid I don't remember much from the Imperial Terrace... other than the scorpion bowl that Kelley and I shared... and Miley Cyrus. So like I said, it may have been better that we were seated at the end of the rectangular table.
Following dinner, a bunch of us headed back to Jen and Bill's place. It was fun to hang out with Jen, Hot Amy, and Carlos, whom I really haven't seen much of late. From what I can remember, Hot Amy challenged me to a macaroni and cheese throw down. I don't remember if we wagered anything or not. Of course, a wager would not matter much anyway. There is no doubt that I will beat Hot Amy. She is pre-disposed to losing. And luckily, she is a glutton for punishment which makes it fun.
As is my nature, I may have angered Hot Amy a little with my ribbing. I forget how the subject of her significant other (Mark) came up, but he did. Mark works for MIT's Lincoln Labs. For anyone curious, Lincoln Labs is federal funded by the government for the area of research and development. Due to the nature of his work, Mark cannot tell anyone what he actually does at MIT's Lincoln Labs. Naturally, I joked that Mark was the janitor there. For the record, I don't think there is anything wrong with being a janitor. I just happened to know that it would annoy Hot Amy.
Needless to say, Carlos enjoyed my joke a lot. He kept laughing at the thought. Yeah, I'm a stinker. But it was funny to get under Hot Amy's skin. She's a good sport about my jokes. I could definitely see that she was getting a little angry with me.
Speaking of Mark, my other friend (Marc) actually watched a little of Fox's Glee while at Jen's. Jen was recording the show which happened to be on while we were there. Sadly, Marc is not a big fan of Glee. It's too bad. I love Glee. The show is one of my guilty pleasures.
Go Quinn Fabray! Yes, I may be drawn to the show due to the blond cheerleader. It's not my fault. I'm attracted to shiny objects. And, I feel robbed of my high school cheerleading experience because the cheerleaders at my high school... definitely looked nothing like television. Sure, they may have had the attitude... just not the flexibility or cheer...
Anyway, it was definitely a fun night. I'm glad Jen organized the get-together. I had a great time.
I Suck At Robot Chicken
On Tuesday, Karen and I hung out with my friends (Marc and Kelley). For dinner, Marc cooked up some turkey and veggie burgers. As usual, dinner was delicious. Kelley also made muffins which were also made it a great meal. I still think Kelley and my BFF (Kerry) should have a bake off. The competition would be fun... and judging it would be even better.
Anyway, on the agenda for the night was another episode of the greatest television show ever: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and a couple of episodes of Angel. The episode of Buffy that we watched was "Tabula Rasa", about Willow accidentally making everyone forget their own identity via magic. Guest starring in the episode was Michelle Branch, who sang her song "Goodbye to You" at the end of the episode during a montage of sad moments.
Following Buffy, we watched the following episodes of Angel: "Fredless" about Fred and her reunion with her parents; and "Billy" about the misogynistic Billy whose touch infects men, making them attack women. The most comical scene came in the Fredless episode where Cordelia and Wesley re-enact Angel and Buffy's relationship.
As usual, it was great to watch Buffy and Angel. To end the night, we decided to watch an episode of Robot Chicken. Now, I suck at Robot Chicken.
(The video below was a preview for the Robot Chicken episode.)
Of course, it was not just any episode of Robot Chicken. It was the Star Wars episode of Robot Chicken. Needless to say, the episode had me laughing in stitches. It was a great way to end the night.
All in all, it was another good night.
Anyway, on the agenda for the night was another episode of the greatest television show ever: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and a couple of episodes of Angel. The episode of Buffy that we watched was "Tabula Rasa", about Willow accidentally making everyone forget their own identity via magic. Guest starring in the episode was Michelle Branch, who sang her song "Goodbye to You" at the end of the episode during a montage of sad moments.
Following Buffy, we watched the following episodes of Angel: "Fredless" about Fred and her reunion with her parents; and "Billy" about the misogynistic Billy whose touch infects men, making them attack women. The most comical scene came in the Fredless episode where Cordelia and Wesley re-enact Angel and Buffy's relationship.
As usual, it was great to watch Buffy and Angel. To end the night, we decided to watch an episode of Robot Chicken. Now, I suck at Robot Chicken.
(The video below was a preview for the Robot Chicken episode.)
Of course, it was not just any episode of Robot Chicken. It was the Star Wars episode of Robot Chicken. Needless to say, the episode had me laughing in stitches. It was a great way to end the night.
All in all, it was another good night.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
I Suck At UFC
Yesterday turned out to be quite the busy day.
The morning began with my waffle making experience. Following breakfast, I ended up doing a little home improvement project at my favorite sister-in-law's (Janine).
For anyone curious, I helped my favorite brother-in-law (PJ) build a ramp for his shed so that he could fit his ride-on lawn mower into the shed. And yes, we were able to successfully build the ramp within the day... so the lawn mower is now in his shed and not the garage.
After that, Karen and I hung out with our friends (Marc and Kelley). Marc and Kelley organized a little get together for the UFC pay-per-view for the night. For anyone curious, the main event featured a rematch of Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin. There technically was another co-main event between Josh Koscheck and Anthony Johnson too, but I think Ortiz and Griffin were the bigger names. Anyway, I suck at UFC.
As the UFC pay-per-view was starting late, we decided to catch a couple of episodes of the greatest television show ever: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episodes that we watched were "All the Way", which was the Halloween episode about Dawn going out on Halloween and getting mixed up with a couple of vampires; and "Once More, with Feeling", which was the famous musical episode.
Interestingly enough, the "All the Way" episode starred Amber Tamblyn as Dawn's friend Janice. For anyone curious, Amber Tamblyn is one quarter of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. She played Tibby in the Sisterhood. Yes, it's sad that I even know that fact.
Needless to say, the musical episode "Once More, with Feeling" was awesome. The episode was very well done. It is probably the best episode of season six in my opinion.
Anyway, after Buffy the four of us watched the UFC pay-per-view. As we were watching, I thought it would be cool to see my friend's (Aimee) husband (Jim) fighting in the octagon for UFC. Yes, my mind does have tangent thoughts some time.
Jim, who I consider the "Deadliest Friend", teaches mixed martial arts. I would definitely not mess with him. Regardless, it would be cool to see him fight at a UFC pay-per-view. I would fight if I could. The only problem is... I don't want anyone to hurt my pretty face... and I definitely don't want to risk getting cauliflower ears. And most likely, I would bleed profusely from my nose because I have a sensitive nose. So maybe I can live vicariously and convince Jim to fight in the octagon ring for UFC. (I have a feeling that my chances of convincing Jim are similar to my chances of convincing my friend Cass to run for mayor of Quincy...)
Of course, Marc also had a great idea. We could just be in the entourage. Apparently, there does not seem to be much involved in being part of the fighter's entourage. Based on the pay-per-view, all a member of the entourage has to do is hug the fighter and attach a sign to the ring. Those tasks do not seem too difficult, even for a person who doesn't like to hug such as myself.
Anyway, I will still have to convince Jim. I'll work on that. All in all, the UFC pay-per-view was fun to watch. It was a great time hanging out as usual. I must admit, I am actually a little excited about the next UFC pay-per-view now.
The morning began with my waffle making experience. Following breakfast, I ended up doing a little home improvement project at my favorite sister-in-law's (Janine).
For anyone curious, I helped my favorite brother-in-law (PJ) build a ramp for his shed so that he could fit his ride-on lawn mower into the shed. And yes, we were able to successfully build the ramp within the day... so the lawn mower is now in his shed and not the garage.
After that, Karen and I hung out with our friends (Marc and Kelley). Marc and Kelley organized a little get together for the UFC pay-per-view for the night. For anyone curious, the main event featured a rematch of Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin. There technically was another co-main event between Josh Koscheck and Anthony Johnson too, but I think Ortiz and Griffin were the bigger names. Anyway, I suck at UFC.
As the UFC pay-per-view was starting late, we decided to catch a couple of episodes of the greatest television show ever: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episodes that we watched were "All the Way", which was the Halloween episode about Dawn going out on Halloween and getting mixed up with a couple of vampires; and "Once More, with Feeling", which was the famous musical episode.
Interestingly enough, the "All the Way" episode starred Amber Tamblyn as Dawn's friend Janice. For anyone curious, Amber Tamblyn is one quarter of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. She played Tibby in the Sisterhood. Yes, it's sad that I even know that fact.
Needless to say, the musical episode "Once More, with Feeling" was awesome. The episode was very well done. It is probably the best episode of season six in my opinion.
Anyway, after Buffy the four of us watched the UFC pay-per-view. As we were watching, I thought it would be cool to see my friend's (Aimee) husband (Jim) fighting in the octagon for UFC. Yes, my mind does have tangent thoughts some time.
Jim, who I consider the "Deadliest Friend", teaches mixed martial arts. I would definitely not mess with him. Regardless, it would be cool to see him fight at a UFC pay-per-view. I would fight if I could. The only problem is... I don't want anyone to hurt my pretty face... and I definitely don't want to risk getting cauliflower ears. And most likely, I would bleed profusely from my nose because I have a sensitive nose. So maybe I can live vicariously and convince Jim to fight in the octagon ring for UFC. (I have a feeling that my chances of convincing Jim are similar to my chances of convincing my friend Cass to run for mayor of Quincy...)
Of course, Marc also had a great idea. We could just be in the entourage. Apparently, there does not seem to be much involved in being part of the fighter's entourage. Based on the pay-per-view, all a member of the entourage has to do is hug the fighter and attach a sign to the ring. Those tasks do not seem too difficult, even for a person who doesn't like to hug such as myself.
Anyway, I will still have to convince Jim. I'll work on that. All in all, the UFC pay-per-view was fun to watch. It was a great time hanging out as usual. I must admit, I am actually a little excited about the next UFC pay-per-view now.
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