I Suck At...

I Suck At Being Sick

2012-02-10T09:19:00.009-05:00

Following our tour of Neeham (or more appropriately, Newton) on Saturday, things went physically downhill for me. Let's just say I may have worked a little too much over the previous two nights without getting the appropriate rest.

The previous two nights I spent doing a particular home improvement project. Yes, it's a shocker that I even did a home improvement project at all. I generally take forever when it comes to working on the house. It's not that I dislike doing home improvement projects. It's quite the contrary. But like working out, I recently have found myself looking for any reason to avoid actually completing any home improvement projects. But not this time. This, by far, was probably the quickest turnaround I ever had on a home improvement project.

The home improvement project involved running the necessary wires, as well as the mounting of a new television in our living room. The television was a result of the new furniture that we purchased for that room on Christmas. It's funny how purchasing new furniture leads to other projects. Anyway, with a twenty two month old (Briana), I worked on the project at night when Briana was fast asleep, sometimes into the wee hours of night.

Needless to say, I may have needed more rest because by Saturday afternoon, I was feeling a little rundown and sick. Too bad I suck at being sick. My friend (Hot Amy), however, is not. She is synonymous with being sick. And it just so happens that Hot Amy and my friend (Jen) stopped by for a visit Saturday afternoon.

Jen, in her quest for a license, decided to drive on down for a visit using Hot Amy's car. I think it was Jen's first time driving on the highway, so I'm happy she decided to take it to see Karen and I. Jen seemed pretty excited. In general, she seems pretty excited with this whole new fandango thing known as driving. Interestingly enough, she won't tell us when her driving test is, but I believe it is scheduled for sometime this month. I'm sure she'll do fine.

Anyway, my voice started going during their visit and it only got worse from there when my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) and my BFF (Kerry) came over. I think by the time the night was over, my voice was totally gone.

Sadly, I don't remember much from Saturday night aside from the fact that all of us watched an episode of "Face Off". The original plan was to watch the movie, "Inception" since Kerry never saw it, but none of us owned the movie. But at least everyone got to watch the episode of "Face Off" on the newly mounted television.

I guess that's not entirely true. I remember grabbing dinner from the Boston Pizza Company, which was very good. I think I actually had a tasting from everyone's plate, except Karen's. I remember that only because my BFF pointed out that fact. And I also remember Andrea joking with me about my being in emergency management. I'm not in emergency management, but I remember saying I should be for some reason... which then led to Andrea joking about how I shouldn't be in emergency management because I couldn't even decide on an item from the Boston Pizza Company menu.

Oh well. Like I said, my memory from Saturday night was a bit hazy. I just remember it was a lot of fun hanging out with everyone as usual. Damn you sickness.

I Suck At The Mall At Chestnut Hill

2012-02-08T16:41:00.015-05:00

This past Saturday, Karen, my twenty two month old daughter (Briana), and I had plans with Karen's Lowell-loving cousin (Karlene) and Karlene's husband (Tommy). After all, there is a lot to love about Lowell... or so they will have you believe.

Instead of actually having us drive all the way to Lowell, or vice versa for Karlene and Tommy to drive all the way to Norwell, Karen threw out the idea of meeting somewhere halfway in between. Apparently, the neutral ground of Switzerland was the city of Needham.

So for lunch, we met Karlene and Tommy at Acapulcos for some mexican food. As a side note, it turns out that the Mighty Subs located across the street from Acapulcos is highly recommended as well. I will have to remember that for the next time, except that Mighty Subs is not open on the weekends... or open after 4pm during the week.

Anyway, lunch was good. For anyone curious, I had the Asado burrito. Yum. It was good to see Karlene and Tommy. While thinking of ways to become a millionaire over lunch, I got to hear about Karlene's app idea. It was an interesting idea. I wonder if her idea already exists though. As well, I learned that Karlene and Tommy are currently into the show, "Alcatraz". I'll admit, it's a good show... and not just because there is a blonde in it.

Following lunch, we decided to see what was around the might city of Needham. Turns out... not much. We took a brief tour around the T. J. Maxx, which was in nearby Newton. It was the first time I heard Briana mention the word "run", and she actually ran... all throughout the store. I guess she wanted to get the max for the minimum. On the way to the store, I did get a kick out of Tommy's reaction to our heated car seat. He was a little surprised by the heat on his backside, which I can imagine would be cause for alarm.

As we explored around, we decided to go to the Mall at Chestnut Hill, also located in Newton. Now, I suck at the Mall at Chestnut Hill. I have never been there. And after Saturday's visit, I understand why. It's not that the mall is terrible or anything. The mall is very nice. There just aren't any stores at that mall that would entice me to go there. As a side note, there did not seem to be many young whipper snappers there at all either. It was peculiar.

All in all, it was good to spend the day with Karlene and Tommy. Briana equally enjoyed it as well, in part because she got to meet the celebrity from her "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" book by Bill Martin, Jr. Within the book, there is a picture of a teacher, whom I tell Briana is Karlene. And of course, ever since Saturday, Briana has been asking to call Tommy on the phone too.

I Suck At Pulled Pork

2012-01-30T13:33:00.009-05:00

On Saturday, my BFF (Kerry) invited my friends and I up to Salem. If seeing my BFF weren't a good enough reason, sweetening the deal was the fact that Kerry was making dinner for everyone. And everyone knows I sure do love to eat.

Anyway, one of Kerry's specialties, aside from grilled cheese and baking, is pulled pork. Now I suck at pulled pork. My friend (Marc) thoroughly enjoys her pulled pork. I'm not exactly sure how the plans got set into motion, but Kerry decided to invite a bunch of us to have a pulled pork dinner.

And it just so happens that my friend (Joanna) was also back in Massachusetts. Hooray! Joanna lives in Oregon. As she could not come back for Christmas, she chose to fly back this past weekend instead. It was actually a nice coincidence because the week before, Karen and I thought about Joanna because we saw her picture hanging at the 99 Restaurant in Quincy.

Anyway, Karen, my twenty two month old daughter (Briana) and I picked up Joanna and my friend (Jen) in Quincy. It made for a nice ride up to Salem because I don't get to see Jen or Joanna that much. And apparently, Briana seems to love Joanna. She kept playing with Joanna in the back seat. (She tried to steal her iPhone the last time too.)

Needless to say, it was good to hang out and see everyone on Saturday. In addition to us, my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) were also joining the shindig. Sadly, Kerry's friend (Sam) could not join the festivities. Sam "I love [insert food here]" was a little under the weather. I poke fun at Sam only because when I first met her, she said that she loved every single food that was being served, even the obscure ones like quinoa. I thought that was pretty funny.

The pulled pork dinner was good. Interestingly enough, Karen and I discovered that Trader Joe's makes a deliciously sweet corn bread. It was awesome as far as corn bread goes. Well, Karen and I enjoyed it. Of course, I enjoyed everything: the pork, the green beans, the mashed potatoes, etc. As a tidbit of information, I found out that Jen loves green beans. She was hoping that green beans would be served... and what do you know? They were!

Before we dove into the ice cream for dessert, we had fun just hanging out amid the free MMA fight that night. Among the topics of discussion that I remember: the SodaStream soda maker and strokes. For anyone curious, Jen's brother (Bill) got a fully operational popcorn maker. I think it was either the popcorn maker or the SodaStream... and popcorn won. As for strokes, that topic came about because it was a concern for Andrea. Andrea was afraid that she may be exhibiting warning signs for strokes. Of course, I think it's the booze that's causing her slurred speech, but that's just me. Just kidding.

All in all, it was a great night. Surprisingly enough, Briana was actually good for the entire night. I had my doubts, but she was good. Briana crashed on the ride home, but she didn't miss much... just a discussion about the Amazing Race and Jen's warm behind. The former was about how Joanna was my original choice as a partner for the show. One of the reasons was that Joanna knew how to drive standard. Sadly, I don't know how to drive standard. As for the latter, that had to do with the seat warming option in our car. Fun stuff.

I Suck At Wild Willy's Burgers

2012-01-27T09:08:00.010-05:00

On Prince Spaghetti Wednesday, Karen, my twenty two month old daughter (Briana) and I met up with our friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea). On the agenda for the night: Wild Willy's Burgers located in Quincy.

Now, I suck at Wild Willy's Burgers. I've never been. So based on Marc's suggestion, all of us decided to grab a bite to eat at Wild Willy's on Wednesday. For anyone curious, I had the "Buffalo Bill". And for any Silence of the Lambs fans out there, I did not tuck or do the dance.

Anyway, the "Buffalo Bill" is a burger made from... you guessed it... buffalo. It was good. Of course, I was starving, so anything probably would have tasted good to me that day. And yes, in addition to devouring the burger, I devoured the remains of Andrea's burger and Karen's burger... and their fries too. That's how hungry I was. Hey, I didn't get my current body shape from portion control.

Aside from Wild Willy's, I'm afraid I don't recall too much from the night. My twenty two month old daughter (Briana) was not exactly behaving well on Wednesday. Sure, she kept purposely spraying herself in the face with a spray bottle, but that's not what I meant about behaving badly. Briana just wasn't herself that night.

As a result, Karen and I actually had to cut the night short. We did, however, get to catch part of the Nerdist, in which Nathan Fillion of Castle/Dr. Horrible/Serenity fame appeared. The parts we saw were pretty comical.

All in all, it was good to see everyone while it lasted.

I Suck At The AFC Championships

2012-01-23T21:53:00.003-05:00

My Sunday began with a little visit to Nana. Karen's Nana resides in a nursing home in the mean streets of South Boston. As Karen has been ill for what seemed like forever, we did not get a chance to see Nana during the holidays. I joke with Karen saying that she had the case of the Amys... so named because my friend (Hot Amy) is notorious for being sick. Hot Amy is also notorious for being a bad dancer and being prone to losing competitions, but I have yet to figure out a way to use her name in those contexts.

Regardless, as Karen has seemingly gotten rid of her virus, we decided to visit Nana and bring her a little overdue Christmas present. The visit was good. I think our twenty two month old daughter (Briana) had a field day. She was the center of attention, not just from my mother-in-law, my father-in-law and nana, but a bunch of random elderly people, random staff members, you name it. She loved it. (She is so going to be in for a rude awakening when the next baby comes.)

After the visit, we decided to have lunch with my in-laws at the 99 Restaurant located in Quincy. My father-in-law originally planned to have pastrami at the nursing home, but apparently was overruled by my mother-in-law. Feeling bad, I suggested going out for lunch instead. Hence, we ended up at the 99 since my father-in-law likes the place.

Anyway, lunch was good. I had the fish and chips. But that really isn't the best part of the lunch. The best part of the lunch was that I got to see my friend (Joanna). I did not see her in person. The 99 is decorated with pictures of local high school sports teams hanging on its walls. It just so happens that Joanna's swim team from her senior year is pictured in the corner. Naturally, I got a kick out of it.

Karen used to be pictured at the same 99 for cross country. I remember that picture well because there was an autograph on it from one of her teammates which I thought was a riot. Someone actually signed their picture? Sadly, Karen's cross country picture has been removed. I'm still waiting for my picture to some day appear. Come on 99, what about the class of 1992?

After a busy day, I headed off to my friends' (Marc and Kelley) to watch the AFC Championship game. Also in attendance were my friend (Andrea) and my BFF (Kerry). It was a good day to be a New England Patriots fan on Sunday as they defeated the Baltimore Ravens 23-20. Too bad I suck at the AFC Championships. Although truthfully, I would say Billy Cundiff, the kicker for the Ravens probably feels like he sucks since he missed that easy chip shot of a field goal. And I must give kudos to Tom Brady for admitting on national television that he sucked too that day... because he did.

Nevertheless, it was fun to hang out with everyone especially my BFF. Among some of the topics I remember from Sunday were the troubles Kerry had attempting to scuba dive, her joy for zip lining, and her apparent desire to find a significant other who does not have any eating issues. I only remember the last one because I thought that was quite ironic since Kerry has a very limited palate. And of course, I could not forget that Marc had us watch a YouTube clip featuring movie lines to the song of Lionel Ritchie's "Hello".

(The video below is that aforementioned "Hello" video.)

"Hello. Is it me you're looking for? I can see it in your eyes..."

Classic. Anyway, it was a very enjoyable Sunday.

I Suck At Chinese New Year

2012-01-23T09:30:00.011-05:00

Saturday started off with a very nice treat. The day prior, my friend (Aimee) sent me a link about how Friendly's was offering free Fribbles as a sign of customer appreciation. The offer was too good to pass up. (Thanks Aimee!) Naturally, Karen and I decided to treat our twenty two month old daughter (Briana) as well.

So off we went to Friendly's for our Fribbles. Might I add, the Fribbles were very delicious. Briana even enjoyed hers. She looked happy as a clam sucking down her strawberry Fribble. I don't think I've ever seen her so content.

Anyway, later that night all of us went over to my parents for dinner. My parents hosted their annual Chinese New Year celebration dinner. Too bad I suck at Chinese New Year. For anyone curious, the Chinese new year is today. It's early this year. And it so happens to be the year of the Dragon, which is supposed to bring good fortune. I actually think this year is a water dragon, which means water will be powerful this year. So beware of floods.

My friends (Marc and Kelley) came to my parents' dinner this year. All this time, I never realized that Marc actually wanted to partake in the dinner. Consequently, I had never invited him and Kelley during the celebration of Chinese New Year. Oops! So this year was the first time they attended the dinner.

Also in attendance were my mother-in-law and father-in-law, my cousin (Betty) and her son (Marvin), and my friends (Andrea, Jen and Bill). Normally, as with most family gatherings, I get a little stressed particularly because I'm running around between helping my parents with the food and entertaining their guests. This year, however, was a much different story.

I was definitely more relaxed than in past dinners. I think probably the reason was Briana and her ability to entertain everyone while I helped my parents. Needless to say, I thought dinner was great. I enjoyed the food that my parents made. It was delicious and definitely better tasting than the food from Chinese restaurants. But of course, I could be biased.

I must say, however, that I feel like I did not get to socialize as much as I would have liked. Poor Bill spent a good chunk of time watching some awful Chinese soap opera with my cousin. I did, however, find out that Jen has already made an appointment for her driving test. She's taking the test some time in February, which is pretty exciting.

Anyway, like I said, it was a great night celebrating Chinese New Year with family and friends.

I Suck At Drinking Made Easy

2012-01-19T16:53:00.026-05:00

Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti night. Naturally, Karen, our twenty two month old daughter (Briana) and I did not eat spaghetti for dinner. We had pizza instead. But that is beside the point.

Yesterday, my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) came over to hang out. On the agenda for the night: Drinking Made Easy. Now, I suck at Drinking Made Easy.

For anyone curious, Drinking Made Easy is a show on HDNet. Last week, we had accidentally discovered the show (because who really knows that there is a station called HDNet?). The show stars Zane Lamprey, of Three Sheets fame. The premise of the show is that Zane and his friend, Steve, travel around the United States visiting local pubs. Essentially, it is a pub crawl show. Get paid to drink? Brilliant!

Needless to say, Andrea appears to be very taken with the show. She seemed awfully excited about visiting the show's website to purchase some schwag. In particular, I think she was quite intrigued by the baseball cap with the bottle opener built into the lid, which is an interesting concept.

Anyway, it was a fun night as usual. I think Kelley may have been a little disheartened though because she turned down her most recent job offer. The offer was not what she had expected. That is a bummer. Perhaps Andrea has the right idea: they should find a way to get paid to drink, much like Zane Lamprey... or even Hoda and Kathie Lee.

I always disliked job hunting. Although what probably drives me more insane is actually interviewing for a job, being offered the job, only to be told later that the job is no longer available due to budget constraints. Yes, that has happened to me. It's like the company was dangling a carrot out in front of me. And I think what is even more maddening is that I would probably still work for that company if they offered me the job again.

Regardless, it was good to hang out and laugh with everyone.

I Still Suck At Hanging Out With Friends

2012-01-19T09:04:00.027-05:00

This past Sunday, Karen, my twenty two month old daughter (Briana) and I hung out with my friends (Ron and Trinh) and their children. My friend (Aimee), not to be confused with Hot Amy or the other Amy I refer to as the Czar, also joined in on the festivities by bringing her kids as well. I guess you could say it was a play date of sorts.

Now, I still suck at hanging out with friends. I don't see Ron and Trinh as much as I would like to, which is sad because they only live a hop, skip and jump away from where I live. Okay, it's not that close, but it is close. For that matter, I don't see Aimee as much as I would like to either. I think our schedules just haven't meshed well of late, which is understandable when you have children.

Thankfully, Aimee decided to make plans to get together. So thanks Aimee! Needless to say, it was definitely good to see everyone on Sunday. It was definitely good to see Ron and Trinh's latest little addition to the family. Sure, their latest addition was seven months ago, but nonetheless it was good to finally meet her. (I did say I suck at hanging out with friends, didn't I?) Better to be late than never. At least I knew about Ron and Trinh's fourth child. My friend (Nhut) totally did not know until he received a photo Christmas card from them.

Anyway, I had a great time hanging out with Ron, Trinh, and Aimee. I thought the day absolutely flew by. Before I knew it, it was time for Briana's dinner. Briana, as well, seemed to enjoy the "play date" too, although probably not as much as Aimee's daughter who formed a quick bond with one of Ron and Trinh's daughters.

Following Ron and Trinh's, I spent the rest of Sunday at my friend's (Andrea). Andrea had invited my friends (Marc and Kelley) and I over to her place to watch some football. Karen and Briana did not end up going because they were both tired. Apparently, Marc, Kelley and Andrea were tired too because the three of them had taken a nap on the couch while watching football.

Luckily for me, they were awake when I showed up. With football over, we actually ended up watching the Golden Globes. Sadly, I never heard of any of the movies that were nominated. Oh well. But it was good to just hang out with Marc, Kelley and Andrea. All in all, it was a good fun day for me.

I Suck At Hanging Out With Friends

2012-01-11T22:51:00.009-05:00

Today is Wednesday, and Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day. Anthony! (In case anyone is curious, that was a reference to the commercial.) So naturally for dinner, I had fish. But that's not really what is important. Wednesdays happen to be the day that I generally hang out with my friends. Too bad I suck at hanging out with friends.

Usually, Karen and I get to hang out with my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea). Today, however, there was a special treat. My BFF (Kerry) happened to be in the neighborhood. And by "in the neighborhood", I mean nothing near the neighborhood of Norwell, or the South Shore for that matter. It was a very pleasant surprise and a nice treat. After all, the second F in BFF does stand for forever.

Anyway, there really was nothing on the agenda for today. No shows to watch. No movies. Nothing. Just hanging out and being silly which is what I do best.

Among the silly ideas thrown out tonight was purchasing my friend's (Garv) bar in Quincy. It's not that we want to own a bar. It was more to be silly and show up Garv by running the bar better than he did. Marc even threw out the idea of hiring Garv as a consultant to run the bar. For anyone curious, that joke only makes sense because Garv is a consultant and is notorious for tuning out ideas that are given to him.

Soon enough, we were talking about winning the lottery, the television show Grimm (which I am now all caught up with because Kelley has been pushing it), Kelley's possible job offer, Andrea's work, the abuse of people who supposedly "work from home" ruining things for those of us who actually do work from home, and a whole slew of other unrelated topics like what spices Kerry should put in her broth.

I believe while I was up changing my twenty one month old daughter's (Briana) diaper and getting her ready for bed, everyone discovered a new show: "Drinking Made Easy" on HDNet. I never even knew we had a channel called HDNet. From the bits that I did see of the show (ie. the two blondes), I would say it was an interesting show.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun today. I particularly enjoyed seeing Kerry's expression on her face when she learned about "Asian Kerry". Back in 2004, my friends and I went on a cruise from Boston to Bermuda. The cruise was a celebration for our 30th birthdays. In addition to spawning a child for my friends (Hugh and Jenny), that cruise also gave us memorable moments like Garv's famous quote of "I know where Cass is" and Asian Kerry (and Asian Jen).

This was back when Garv was single. While on the cruise, he met two Asians women, one of which he was interested in; the other one, not so much. Naturally serving as the wingman, I went with Garv and these two women to go parasailing. The parasailing was a blast, but that's beside the point. These two women were referred to as the Asian Jen and Kerry for no reason other than the fact that we needed a way to reference them. The two women were good friends and they were both single, much like Caucasian Jen and Kerry. I'm not sure if we ever got the women's names. So "Asian Jen and Kerry" it was. (I wonder if there is a Caucasian me somewhere...)

Ah, good times. I definitely need to go on a cruise again. Like I said, I had a lot of fun today just hanging out and being silly. It has definitely made my week.

I Suck At Bloody Noses

2012-01-09T22:14:00.006-05:00

The highlight (or lowlight) of Sunday may have been the fact my twenty one month old daughter (Briana) had her first bloody nose. Now, I suck at bloody noses. Okay, I really don't. I am prone to bloody noses. My nose is my Achilles heel.

I remember I was playing catch with my friends (Marc and Greg) in high school. As usual, I was being lackadaisical in my ball catching abilities. Needless to say, the ball went off my nose... and out came the blood. The blood just came gushing out and out and out. My nose was like a faucet that day. Why, I may have left a puddle of blood on the field where we were playing catch.

Anyway, I think Sunday was proof that my daughter is just like her daddy. I wish I could have said "If you think that's bad, look at the other twenty one month old that she got into a fight with". Sadly, that was not the case.

Karen and I were surprised to see Briana with dried blood around her nose and all over her sheets when we went to get her out of bed on Sunday. It was quite the sad sight. I'm not even sure Briana even knew she had a bloody nose. She seemed like nothing had happened.

For anyone curious, Briana is fine. I think the air in her room may have been a little too dry for her nose.

I Suck At Silly Swaps

2012-01-09T21:28:00.004-05:00

On Saturday, my friends and I participated in our annual traditional known as the silly swap. Too bad I suck at silly swaps.

The silly swap is just another name for the holiday party game known as the Yankee Swap. Interestingly enough, according to my friend, Wikipedia, there are other terms for a Yankee Swap: White Elephant Gift Exchange, Black Santa, Chinese Gift Exchange, Dirty Santa, Thieving Secret Santa, Parcel Pass, Christmas Swamp Thing, Greedfest, and Pollyanna. I think Dirty Santa and Chinese Gift Exchange are my favorite terms.

My friends and I have been doing the swap for some time now. We had started off doing a Secret Santa, but as time went on (and as we got older) we found that there were less and less things that any of us actually wanted for presents. Hence, we switched things up and started doing a silly swap.

I still remember my friend's (Cass's) expression when he opened the present he selected the first year we did the swap. The present was a picture of my friend (Garv) with his arm around none other than Taylor Swift. The joke only makes sense if you happen to know that Garv, who is old enough to be Taylor Swift's father, is a huge fan of Taylor Swift. (And I mean... huge.) For anyone curious, Cass did give the picture to Garv afterwards.

Anyway, the silly swap was held at my friend's (Garv and Leeann) in Newton to coincide with their January birthdays. So it was a celebration complete with silliness. As a side note, Garv did a great job of renovating his basement. His basement now includes a "man cave", complete with poker table, large screen television, couches, dart board, and a bar. Saturday was the first time that many of us actually got to see the new basement.

Joining in on this year's celebration were my friends (Marc, Kelley, Cass, Ellen, and Andrea) and my BFF (Kerry). For me, the first year of the silly swap was the silliest probably because it was new at the time. After all, what's not to like about a picture of Garv and Taylor Swift, as well as a framed shirtless picture of Ryan Reynolds? That is not to say subsequent swaps were not as good. All of them have been great. I think I'll just remember the first one the most.

This year, I actually felt not as involved as past swaps. I think part of that reason may have been because my twenty one month old daughter (Briana) was attached to my hip the entire night. Despite the help of many of my friends, Briana would just not do anything without me that night. She'd grab my hand and lead me to one room, then the next. Needless to say, I spent most of the night watching over Briana.

So I think I missed out on a lot of things on Saturday. Some of the things that I do remember were that Kelley thinks she'll get a job offer soon and that Kerry did in fact eat beans on the New Year as part of her resolution. I may have missed out on other conversations while tending to Briana.

As for the silly swap itself, I would say the best gift was the grilled Jesus toast maker. Again, Cass's reaction to it was comical. For anyone curious, I believe it was Ellen who ended up with the grilled Jesus. I would so make toast with Jesus on it just to say I could. Then of course, I would strike a Tim Tebow pose.

All in all, it was a good silly night. I need to start thinking about what could be used in next year's swap.

I Suck At Hanging Out With Friends

2012-01-04T22:22:00.002-05:00

I have a black cloud over my head today.

Today is Prince spaghetti night, which also means that it is the day my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) and I get to hang out together. I look forward to our weekly get together as it breaks up the week. For this week, we decided to hang out at Andrea's in Weymouth. Too bad I suck at hanging out with friends.

I can say I suck at hanging out because I feel like I really didn't get to do much of that tonight. Most of my time was spent watching over my twenty one month old daughter (Briana) and wreaking havoc at Andrea's.

As a side note, Andrea got a new refrigerator for her place. Apparently, the last one died on her. And unfortunately, Andrea had to get rid of most of her food because of it. That is a bummer. If only the fridge could have waited until today to die. That way, she could have put her food outside in the freezing cold weather. (Yes, it's very cold outside right now.)

Regardless, I should have known that today would be a bad day for me from the early get-go. Andrea was gracious enough to get Briana a Christmas present. Briana took some time to unwrap the present (as she pulled off sliver by sliver of the wrapping paper). When she was finished, she seemed pretty excited about the gift.

Naturally, I attempted to assemble the toy for Briana as quick as I could because she really wanted to play with it then and there. So there I was, taking apart the packaging from the toys. For anyone curious, toy manufacturers seem to securely fasten toys to packaging these days. It's crazy how long it takes to remove a toy from a package with all of its twist-ties and tape.

Anyway, I ended up doing a common guy thing: (no, not leaving the toilet seat up) not reading instructions. Mistake #1: do not assemble a toy without reading the instructions. In my haste, I snapped the pieces of the toy together. The problem is... the pieces had to be snapped together in a certain order. Trying to unsnap the toys... very difficult. Eventually, I was able to unsnap the pieces. Thank you directions.

Feeling good about not ruining post-Christmas, I decided to be a good environmentalist and break down the cardboard packaging. Go recycling! Mistake #2: watch your fingers when breaking down cardboard packaging. While breaking down the cardboard packaging, I ended up getting a pretty deep cardboard cut. Needless to say, it hurts. It still hurts while I type this post. I hate paper cuts.

Of course, my comedy of errors was not done just yet. Not to be outdone by a cardboard paper cut, I ended up shattering one of Andrea's glass cups. Mistake #3: watch out for glass. Truth be told, I have no idea how the glass cup even broke. The glass had a handle on it, much like a tea cup. In what seemed like a mere seconds, I remember Briana pushing the cup from my hand. The next thing I know, the glass shatters all across the floor. My pants get soaked along the way. (Good thing it was just flavored water in the glass.) And I am left holding only the handle to the glass cup.

I felt terrible. After a little help from Kelley during the clean up, Andrea's floor was good as new. I'd be lucky to be invited back any time soon, I'm sure.

Anyway, following all of the brewhaha, all of us did get to watch an episode of Saturday Night Live and eat some ice cream cake. Andrea had recorded the Christmas episode hosted by Jimmy Fallon. When I wasn't watching Briana (who was sweeping the floor with a broom in the kitchen), I got to watch the episode.

All in all, today was just not my night.

I Suck At Wahlburgers

2012-01-01T20:34:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year!

And what better way to start off the new year than with zombies!

Yes, it has been a slow start to the new year. As Karen and I had no plans for the day, my parents came over for lunch. In reality, I'm sure they actually came over to see their golden grandchild (Briana). Lunch was just a means to see her.

Needless to say, lunch was okay. My parents brought American Chinese food for lunch. It's shocking that they would bring that type of food because my mother always gives me the third degree whenever I dine out at Chinese restaurants. She always says she can cook it better (with less grease) and all of that. Hence, the irony of her bringing chicken wings and teriyaki for lunch. Like I said, I think it was just a ploy to see my twenty one month old daughter, Briana.

As a tangential side note, the term "third degree" comes from our friends, the Masons. There are three degrees of Freemasonry. The third degree, which is when the person becomes a master mason, involves a tough and grueling oral examination (so that Masons know their stuff). Thus, giving a person the "third degree".

Anyway, lunch with my parents was quick. Shortly afterwards, Briana had to take a nap. And once Briana went to nap, my parents left of course. Such is the life of a parent, I guess.

So with my parents gone, Karen decided to take a nap herself. And as I mentioned earlier, what better way to start off the new year than with zombies! By that, I mean I started playing Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition. I didn't get too far, but I already love it. (For anyone curious, Resident Evil 4 is still by far my favorite of the series.)

Eventually, I had to stop my zombie-killing ways because Briana and Karen woke up. Well, it was fun while it lasted. Anyway, we decided to start off the new year by dining out at a place we haven't eaten at before: Wahlburgers located in Hingham.

Now, I suck at Wahlburgers. For some time, I have heard buzz about the place, in part because the owners are none other than Hingham's own, Paul Wahlberg and his celebrity brothers, Mark and Donnie. Plus, my favorite brother-in-law (PJ) was also the project manager during the construction of the burger joint. PJ also was in charge of the construction of Paul's Alma Nove restaurant located directly across Wahlburgers.

Needless to say, I have heard a lot about Wahlburgers. I think my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) is still beaming that she met Donnie. "N K O T B S B Baby." "Cause just when I think we're through, the memories come flooding back. It's like instantly I love you like that.."

Anyway, I had a good experience at Wahlburgers. At first, it was a little confusing with one side of the place dedicated to being served and the other side for self-service. But after that, things went well. I ordered what was labeled as Mark's pick: the Thanksgiving Burger, with a side of sweet potato tots. The food was good.

Briana seemed to enjoy the place as well. Although she did not eat much of her burger and tots, she spent a great deal of time in awe of everything. She kept jumping up and down on her booster seat, watching everyone order their food. I also believe she may have left her tiny fingerprints all over the glass above where we were seated. Perhaps there was just too much for her to see.

But like I said, the food was good. As well, we happened to see my friend (Jeannette) and her family there when we were there. It was a nice coincidence because I hadn't seen Jeannette since the summer. Jeannette started a new job since then and appears to be loving it. For Jeannette and her family, it was also their first time going to Wahlburgers and they seemed to enjoy it as well.

Needless to say, seeing Jeannette was definitely a nice way to start off the new year. I think one of the things that I always say I want to do every year, in terms of resolutions, is be in touch with more of my friends. I definitely don't do it as much as I'd like to. And seeing Jeannette made me want to do just that. Of course, that then leads to using Facebook as a means to accomplish that end, and I am not sure I want to do that just yet since I'm not a big fan of Facebook. But we'll see.

Following Wahlburgers, we made a brief stop to Janine and PJ's. They were having a few people over, Janine's BFF (Gretchen) being one of them. We didn't stay long, but it was nice to see them. Well, it was nice to have Karen see them. I think I spent most of the time watching over Briana, with the occasional horseplay with my favorite niece (Kaleigh). That seems commonplace these days.

As another interesting coincidence, Gretchen and PJ ran into my friend (Andrea) at the supermarket prior to our arrival. I thought that was funny, especially since Janine and PJ thought Andrea was heading to our place. (Andrea wasn't.)

All in all, it was a good start to the new year. I'm definitely looking forward to good things. Happy new year everyone!

I Suck At New Year's Eve

2011-12-31T21:33:00.008-05:00

Today is the day Karen's cousin (Karlene) from Lowell ruined New Year's Eve. And they claim there is a lot to love about Lowell. I'm just kidding. I like to give Karlene a hard time. Essentially for the past decade or so, a tradition has been created between Karen, Karlene, Karlene's husband (Tommy) and I as we celebrate New Year's Eve.

That tradition was interrupted this year when Karlene made the executive decision to cancel our plans today. In all fairness, Tommy was sick. So it only made sense to cancel plans. Hopefully, Tommy is okay and does not have the virus that Karen has. Karen has been sick for what seems like forever (over three weeks). Get better, Tommy!

With the cancellation in plans this year, Karen and I had nothing to do on New Year's Eve. I guess you can say that I suck at New Year's Eve. My first reaction of course, aside from the "I hope Tommy feels better" thought, was to contact my BFF (Kerry). After all, for what seems like a decade, Kerry and my friend (Jen) have always hinted at wanting to spend New Year's Eve with us. And with the cancellation, today was the chance.

Luckily for me, Kerry happened to be around today. Having spent last night at my friend's (Marc and Kelley), she ended up going to Stars in Hingham for breakfast and Red Robin in Plymouth for lunch with her family. After her family fun, she was able to stop by and hang out.

Needless to say, I had a great time hanging out with Kerry. One thing that I will remember from today is my twenty one month old daughter (Briana) playing with Kerry. Briana, while playing with Kerry, purposely tossed her Winnie the Pooh taggy blanket up, over, and behind our new couch. So when Kerry went reaching over the back of the couch to grab the taggy blanket, Briana immediately started tickling both of Kerry's feet. I found that rather comical.

I'll probably remember that for a while, much like how I will remember the time Briana went to give my friend (Joanna) a hug only to slyly reach in and grab Joanna's iPhone from within her pocket. That little sneaky pickpocket.

Incidentally, Kerry was not the only person to visit us on New Year's Eve. My favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and her BFF (Gretchen) also stopped on over. Apparently, they had some time to kill as they waited for their Chinese food order for their New Year's Eve dinner. Sadly, I did not get to hang out with Janine and Gretchen that much. In terms of timing, I was in the process of making dinner for Briana when they came on by. It was probably just as well since I would have been the only guy in the room.

As it turns out, Gretchen will not partake in my dastardly plans to play a practical joke on Kerry the next time Kerry leaves her clothes outside of her mother's place. Gretchen told Kerry that she would not take her clothes. The good news, however, is that she did not mention anything about not letting me into the condo. So theoretically, I could still take the clothes myself. For anyone curious, Gretchen lives in the same condo complex as Kerry's mom, which is where the connection is.

Anyway, it was definitely a fun and interesting day today. It was great hanging out with Kerry. I feel like I don't do that as much as I'd like to. Although if I do see her more next year, it may involve seeing her eat beans. We'll see. And it was good to see Janine and Gretchen too. Janine is usually busy a lot with her own family stuff. So it's nice when I do get to see her.

All in all, it has been fun today. In case anyone is curious, I am DVRing the infamous ball dropping countdown for when we do eventually see Karlene and Tommy. It'll be like we were still having our "tradition"... just days and days later.

Regardless, have a happy new year everyone! May the new year bring good fortune to the new hopes, dreams, and aspirations of everyone.

I Suck At Celebrating Birthdays

2011-12-31T14:35:00.008-05:00

December is a busy month. In addition to the holidays (and holiday parties), December happens to be the month where a some of my friends, including myself, have birthdays. Too bad I suck at celebrating birthdays. In celebration of some of those December babies though, my friends (Marc and Kelley) graciously offered to host a party last night.

Attending the party were my friends (Cass, Ellen, Garv, Leeann, and Steve), Cass and Ellens baby daughter, and my BFF (Kerry). I was hoping that my friend (Andrea) could make the shindig because scheduled for the night (in addition to the fun of hanging out) was the UFC 141 pay per view. Since the pay per view runs late (meaning Karen and my twenty one month old daughter would not last), I was hoping to catch a ride home with Andrea after the fight, but sadly she could not make it.

Regardless, the party was fantastic. Marc and Kelley did an amazing job of hosting. As usual, I had a blast hanging out with my friends. Marc and Kelley prepared a taco dinner for everyone. The taco theme came compliments of fellow December birthday girl, Kerry. Plus, tacos made more sense since Kelley has gluten allergies.

Speaking of that cursed gluten, Kelley actually risked her intestinal health just for me, which was a very nice gesture. Knowing that I love her chocolate chip cookies, Kelley made a bunch of her famous cookies for the party. It was very nice. And might I add, the chocolate chip cookies were very delicious... just like how I remembered them being. Yum! I must have eaten half a dozen of them. Granted, a couple were used as the cookies surrounding the ice cream cake. (For anyone curious, we celebrated with a football-shaped ice cream cake because the cake was covered in chocolate sprinkles.) Everything was deliciously good!

Anyway, it was a fun time hanging out with everyone. One of the topics of discussion that I remember from the night was Kerry's resolution. Apparently, one of her many resolutions is to eat beans. Why beans? According to Kerry, they are healthy. Despite my efforts and Garv's efforts to tell her that there are many other foods that are also healthy to eat, beans it was. I'd be curious to see the bean-eating 2012 model of Kerry.

As for the UFC pay per view, I had a blast watching it. I sat next to Kelley and Garv during the pay per view and we were basically just goofing around the whole time. I was actually glad that I got to watch the Lesnar/Overeem bout. After all, shortly after his loss, Lesnar declared that he was retiring from MMA. I assume the reason for the retirement has to do with his own bout with diverticulitis. If it remains true, then it was good to see Lesnar's last MMA match.

All in all, it was a great night. Thanks Marc and Kelley! (And thank you, Marc for the ride home after the pay per view... even if you missed the exit.) And of course, I can't forget: Happy birthday Ellen! Happy birthday BFF!

I Suck At Starting A New Job

2011-12-28T22:41:00.007-05:00

I started my new job today. Too bad I suck at starting a new job.

Starting a new job is never fun. In the past companies that I have worked for, that generally means you are the "new guy" until a new hapless victim takes your place by joining the company.

I didn't mind being the "new guy" though. I was happy to be anywhere but at my previous employer. And usually, when that feeling of dread creeps in at work, it's definitely a sign that a change is needed. So off I went to a new job.

Truth be told, my days at my previous employer were limited once my manager left. My manager recruited me to work at the previous company located in Danvers. From where I live (in Norwell), that is quite the commute. Luckily for me, my manager was quite understandable about the grind of the long commute and allowed me to work from home several days a week for the three plus years that I was there. All of that changed when he left.

Once new management took over, I was asked (and by asked I mean ordered) to commute to the office more. Even though I agreed to come in more, I was labeled as "doing just enough to keep my job" by the new management. I can only assume that label is because I came in 3 of the 5 days, and not all 5 days like management originally wanted. As an interesting side note, I was actually more productive working at home than at the office, but what can you do? I couldn't change management's opinion regardless of how productive I was. Hearing that I was doing just enough to keep my job was quite insulting, especially considering how many hours I worked above and beyond for the company over the three plus years I was there.

Like I said, what can you do? When I first joined my previous employer, the company used to believe in balancing work life with personal life. It was a family friendly company which I didn't mind going above and beyond for. All of that changed when new management came in. And with it, my dread for working there started.

Luckily, I found a new company to work for; one that is much closer than Danvers. So far, the company seems like a good place to work at. But, it's still early. It's just my first day after all. And as luck would have it, my new boss was out today so I still don't exactly have too much information on what I will be doing.

Hopefully things will go well.

I Suck At Uno's

2011-12-28T22:00:00.011-05:00

Last night, Karen and I (and our twenty one month old daughter, Briana) were invited to dinner. My friend (Pam) and her family were up from Bon Jovi's home state of New Jersey for the holidays. As a result, she wanted to meet up for dinner at Uno's while she was in Massachusetts.

Too bad I suck at Uno's. It has been a while since I have been to the Uno's in Braintree. I had not even realized that Dave and Buster's took over the old Circuit City location. Or quite possibly, I did realize it but forgot about it. Damn you my selective memory. Just kidding.

As a side note, an interesting thing actually happened on the way to Uno's in Braintree. While we were leaving, I came upon a package left at my doorstep. As neither Karen nor I were expecting a package, we were curious as to the contents. It turns out, the package was from Circle Furniture.

Last week, our new furniture arrived from Circle Furniture. We were absolutely delighted by our experience with Circle Furniture. It turns out, Karen's aunt (Denise) also has had a great experience with Circle Furniture. Anyway, the package contained some gifts from the company accompanied with a tiny little note.

According to the note, Circle Furniture had read my post about my experience with them and decided to send me a little thank you present. The company was initially cautious about reading my post because the title of my post, like all of my posts, began with "I suck at..." Upon further reading, however, they knew it was not the case that they "suck". In fact, it was quite the contrary. Because of it, they wanted to thank me with a present.

Needless to say, Circle Furniture's thoughtful gift made my day. It was just a nice gesture from the company; one I'm sure to remember for years and years. Their service is definitely amazing. If only more companies were as great when in comes to service (and yes, I'm still referring to you Alba Restaurant in Quincy).

Anyway, the gift made my night. So thank you again, Circle Furniture! I was pretty happy as a clam when we arrived to meet Pam and her family. Also joining us for the dinner were my friends (Jen and Hot Amy).

Dinner went by pretty quickly. After all, with Briana and Pam's three children, time definitely passes at a quicker rate. For anyone curious, I had the Cabot aged cheddar and sauteed mushroom burger, while Briana practically devoured my fries. The burger was good. I also enjoyed the mango lemonade. Yum!

One of the topics of discussion that I remember from the dinner involved Jen. It turns out that 2012 may be the year she finally gets her driver's license. She seems dedicated and excited, more so than in previous years. So that was nice. Yay Jen. For anyone curious, she is planning to have a party when it happens. As an interesting side note, Pam failed her first driving test.

Anyway, it was a good day all around with the Circle Furniture gift and hanging out with friends.

I Suck At Not Your Average Joe's

2011-12-26T16:22:00.006-05:00

With nothing planned for today, I treated myself to a little lunch courtesy of Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. Now, I suck at Not Your Average Joe's. It has been a long time since Karen and I dined there. We used to eat there quite a lot in our hey days prior to the birth of our twenty one month old daughter (Briana). Oh how times have changed.

Anyway, Not Your Average Joe's was offering a promotion that I could not pass up: free entree and dessert! The only caveat was that the offer ended today. The free entree and dessert promotion was a result of this month being my birthday month. And since I am on the mailing list for Not Your Average Joe's, I received the coupon for the promotion this month. Hence, I made sure I treated myself to lunch today.

Needless to say, it was a delicious meal as usual. I have missed the food there a lot. Interestingly enough, this lunch was a butternut squash lunch. We ordered butternut squash ravioli for an appetizer (thinking Briana would enjoy it); Karen ordered a butternut squash pizza; and I ordered Caribbean mahi which just happened to come with butternut squash and spinach. For anyone curious, of all the butternut squash options, I think Briana enjoyed the side that came with my mahi. Our waitperson must have thought we were crazy ordering so much butternut squash.

Like I said, the food was absolutely delicious. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And as a plus, we got to take home an entire butternut squash pizza because one of the slices from the original pizza slipped off the plate when it was being served by the waitperson. So, Not Your Average Joe's made us an entirely new pizza because of it. (I must say, that is fantastic customer service especially since the manager came over to apologize for the mishap. If only more places had great customer service... Yes, I'm referring to you, Alba Restaurant in Quincy!)

And naturally, to finish off the lunch I had the peanut butter thing. Yum! Lunch was definitely great. And it was nice to treat myself to something. Yay, happy belated birthday to me.

I Suck At Christmas

2011-12-25T23:49:00.010-05:00

Happy birthday our lord and savior, Anna! For anyone curious, today happens to be my friend's (Anna) birthday. So happy birthday! I hope you have a great day! Coincidentally, today also happens to be Christmas. Too bad I suck at Christmas.

Karen and I started the day watching my twenty one month old daughter (Briana) open her presents from Santa. I don't think Briana has quite gotten the whole Santa concept just yet. She has, however, seemed to figure out that she gets presents and very much likes to open presents. And truthfully, who doesn't like getting presents? It was definitely fun being able to see Briana open her gifts.

Shortly afterwards, my parents came over for breakfast. Because I have a small family and Christmas day is usually spent at my favorite sister-in-law's (Janine), my parents come over in the morning for breakfast. And on the menu for breakfast: waffles! Someday, I'll have to experiment and make different types of waffles. The waffles I make are just too plain in my opinion. Maybe chocolate chip waffles next year? That sounds good. Although anything with chocolate sounds good.

Anyway, my parents enjoyed watching Briana open her presents from them. We even did the family thing by contacting my brother who lives in Texas to wish him a Merry Christmas (or Happy Annamas). My brother, who recently met Briana back in October, seemed to enjoy the fact that she said "Hi" and "Bye" to him. All in all, it was a good time with my family.

From there, I made some roasted potatoes to bring to Janine's. I don't know whether I should be offended or not because Janine was hesitant to ask me to make roasted potatoes. She did not want Karen to exert herself by making the potatoes. At the same time, she was afraid to ask me to make them because she was not sure if I knew how to.

Funny thing about being married to a dietitian: people seem to think that the dietitian does all the cooking. Oh how wrong that is. I can't remember the last time Karen made a meal. Part of that is because I have been home before Karen returns from her own job. And with Briana, I don't really have much of a choice but to figure out how to make something when it's time for her to eat.

Now granted, by no means am I chef. I can do some things. Roasting potatoes happen to be one the things I (and probably a lot of other people) can do. And really, if I did not know how to do it, I'd consult my trusty friend, Google. So I thought it was a little bizarre that Janine was hesitant to ask. Little does my favorite sister-in-law with the gluten allergy know, I put gluten in the roasted potatoes. I'm just kidding. The potatoes were gluten free.

Potatoes aside, Christmas at Janine's was great. My niece (Kaleigh) and nephew (PJ) had a great time. This year, I had the dubious distinction of saving Christmas for PJ. Apparently, we accidentally forgot to bring PJ's present. Stressed, Karen wanted to go home to get the present. Naturally, I volunteered. So Karen told me to get the present wrapped in silver. And by silver, she apparently meant blue. Luckily for me, I knew what we had gotten PJ because I probably would not have found the present based on Karen's description.

For me, one of the other more memorable parts of the night involved my dance off with Kaleigh. My favorite niece challenged me to a duel in Dance Party 3, which is a dancing video game if you could not tell by the name. Always up for a challenge, I accepted. After all, I bested the best. My friend (Hot Amy) who used to play tennis... beaten in a tennis match by yours truly who never played tennis. Hot Amy in anything... beaten. Okay, so maybe Hot Amy and her propensity for losing was not the "best".

So how hard could it be to take on a second grader in a video game? Well, I should have stopped after one dance off. After all, the first dance off challenge between Kaleigh and I went to me. And like any good uncle, I did some trash talking. From there, I just went downhill losing the next three. Despite the mounting losses, it was a riot playing against Kaleigh. She was just so serious and determined to win. It was fun... and quite the workout.

All in all, it was a great Christmas. I enjoyed the time with my family. I enjoyed the time with Karen's family. Since the passing of my son (Braden) over three years ago, I have come to cherish the time spent with family and friends because that time is so limited. So for me, today was quite rewarding.

Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone!

I Suck At Christmas Eve

2011-12-25T23:15:00.006-05:00

I suck at Christmas Eve. For a while, Karen and I have been hosting Christmas Eve dinner. Our family is pretty small. So the guests that usually attend are my parents and Karen's parents. My friends (Marc and Kelley) generally stop by later after dinner. And as a running joke, my BFF (Kerry) always says she will try to stop on by but never does. This year, she did not even bother saying she will try to stop on by.

Anyway, this year I had the enviable task of cooking the entire dinner. In addition to being pregnant, Karen has been sick for what seems like forever with this awful sounding cough. I think it has been over two weeks now, and she is still coughing like crazy. So rather than have her stress about Christmas Eve dinner, I decided to have her stress over my cooking of Christmas Eve dinner all by myself.

On the menu for the night was ham, green beans, rice pilaf, and rolls. Karen's parents were bringing meatballs. Truth be told, the menu was nothing fancy. I was particularly excited to cook the ham because I wanted to try a new mustard glaze. (For anyone curious, the glaze was okay. I thought it tasted okay.) That reminds me, I now have to figure out what to do with the glaze packet that actually came with the ham. Can the glaze be used for something else?

In the event anyone is curious as to why I just did not use the glaze packet that came with the ham, I like to experiment with things... and I like to control the ingredients of what I eat when I can. In particular, I like limiting the amount of high fructose corn syrup that I eat (and the glaze had high fructose corn syrup). I'm not totally against high fructose corn syrup. I try to avoid ingredients that I think are synthetic when I can.

After all, I believe that some of our current health issues are a result of what we have done to our own food supply. You read about girls getting their menstrual cycle at very earlier ages now. As well, there seems to be a lot of people that I know who have developed gluten allergies, something that seemed so uncommon in the past. While I can't prove that some of these things are due to the hormones and other synthetic things we have developed to improve food, I like to think that there may at least be some correlation. Hence, I like to limit the amount of things like high fructose corn syrup.

Regardless, I think Christmas Eve dinner went well. Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal. My parents, in particular, definitely enjoyed seeing our twenty one month old daughter (Briana). Briana was simply wound up. She ran around the house, laughing of course, like there was no tomorrow.

When she eventually crashed and went to bed, my parents and Karen's parents left... in like a span of minutes. It was funny because it was pretty much like our parents only came to see Briana (and not Karen and I). Once that entertainment was over, it was time to go. I guess that's the life of a parent these days.

But that was okay. It gave Karen and I some time to relax a little. And if anyone is curious, when Marc and Kelley arrived we just hung out and unfortunately ended up watching an episode of "Swamp People" because nothing else was on television. "Swamp People" is one bizarre show. The show aside, it was just good to just hang out with Marc and Kelley.

All in all, it was a good night.

I Suck At Stars (Again)

2011-12-25T22:41:00.006-05:00

On Christmas Eve, Karen, my twenty one month old daughter (Briana) and I continued an annual tradition and went out for breakfast. The location of that breakfast: Stars, located in Hingham. Now, I suck at Stars (again). After all, I had just eaten at Stars the night before because my friends (Marc and Kelley) organized a little outing. And it was not just any meal. It was dinner. So now I could return for breakfast!

Luckily for me, I was not the only one who had just been at Stars the night before. My BFF (Kerry) was also in attendance. The two of us just couldn't get enough of Stars. Also joining in on the annual tradition was my friend (Jen).

I'm not sure how the tradition started. I think the tradition began with just Karen, Kerry, Jen and my friend (Joanna) a long way back. I was fortunate to be invited the next year, and the rest is history. Sadly, Joanna could not come this year as airline tickets from Oregon, where she currently resides, to Boston are at an astronomical price right now. It's too bad because I definitely enjoy seeing Joanna. She just cracks me up with her stories. Perhaps that is also why I get a kick out of her brother's stories as well.

Anyway, Stars was delicious as usual. I ordered the chef's special pancakes, which were a surprise unless you really wanted to know what the surprise was before ordering. Needless to say, the pancakes were delicious. The surprise consisted of white and dark chocolate morsels with jimmies. Yum! Briana enjoyed them as well.

Speaking of my little minion, Briana, she got her first taste of video games at Stars. She did not actually play a video game. There is an old arcade game at Stars that has all of the old classics. The arcade game is complete with a joystick and a trackball. Essentially, you cycle through the classic games with the joystick and then play whichever game you choose.

Briana, in her infinitely curious nature, wanted to see what the arcade game was all about. So, I sat her on the chair in front of the game and let her cycle through the classic games using the joystick. I'll admit, there were some that I never even heard of. Needless to say, she enjoyed it. Daddy's girl!

Video game aside, that was the only thing I gave into with Briana much to the surprise of both Kerry and Jen. I get the feeling that everyone expects me to be wrapped around my little darling's finger. But nope.

Regardless, I had a fun time at Stars (again). Some of the topics of discussion included smokers and the propensity for the smell of smoke to get into clothes. Kerry, in particular, leaves her clothes outside when visiting her mother to avoid getting the smell of smoke in her clothes. Naturally, that got me thinking that I should play a practical joke on Kerry by asking my friend (Gretchen) to steal her clothes the next time she visits her mother. For anyone curious, Gretchen lives near Kerry's mother.

Anyway, Stars was a great time. The food was delicious and it was good to hang out with just Jen and Kerry.

I Suck At Stars

2011-12-23T22:55:00.007-05:00

Tonight, I had a long overdue night out with my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) and my BFF (Kerry). Don't get me wrong, I see most of them on a weekly basis. I just don't get many opportunities to hang out with them by myself. Luckily for me, tonight was one of those nights as Marc and Kelley planned a night out at Stars located in Hingham. (Stars has a gluten free menu.) Plus, my BFF would be there which is always a good thing.

Too bad I suck at Stars. Stars has a martini called "Mommy's night out". I decided to try it because they were out of their pumpkin pie martini. Bummer because I was looking forward to the pumpkin pie. Needless to say, "Mommy's night out" was an okay drink... as girly drinks go. I was actually wondering why it's called "Mommy" and not "Daddy"... or "Parent's"... because I do a heck of a lot of things for my twenty one month old daughter, even when Karen is not sick or pregnant or both. Parent discrimination. Why, I would even go so far as to say I do a heck of a lot of things for Karen. Yes ladies, I'm quite the catch. Just kidding.

Regardless, I had a blast tonight and not just because I was able to imbibe my friend known as alcohol. Like I said, it was good to see Kerry again. For Andrea and I, it was particularly gratifying because we both received gifts from Kerry. We each received Dillon High School Football t-shirts. Go Panthers! For anyone curious, the t-shirts are a reference to Friday Night Lights, which was a television show that the three of us watched.

Anyway, it was fun hanging out together. Among the things that came up in discussion were "Geek Love", a television show about geeks doing speed dating at the NYC comic con; "Community"; and new BFFs.

The speed dating geekfest at the comic con reminded me of my original suggestion to Kerry that she should attend one to find a guy. Granted, I originally suggested a Star Trek convention, but a comic book convention works even better since it's not so specific. Like I try to tell her, geeks will treat a woman right (unless you get that ubergeek who thinks he's above the other geeks).

Needless to say, Kerry was not so keen on the idea. Hence, the topic of finding a new BFF... after other topics of who she would dress up as for the comic book convention and all of that. Yeah, she wasn't going for the costume, especially when the costume involved fishnet stockings.

All in all, it was a fun time. I'm glad I had the opportunity to unwind tonight.

I Suck At Circle Furniture

2011-12-23T22:32:00.003-05:00

Today, my present to Karen (and her present to me) arrived. As scintillating a gift as it may be, Karen and I got ourselves furniture this year for Christmas. We had ordered the furniture from Circle Furniture located in Pembroke.

Now, I suck at Circle Furniture. We have never ordered furniture from there before. But I must say, it was a great experience. Of course, the free candy in the store (like Jolly Ranchers) may have swayed my decision. Although truthfully, Circle Furniture was the only place to actually have furniture that would fit the spot we were looking to add furniture to.

Karen was looking to add a sectional to our first floor living room with hopes of opening the area up in terms of seating, as well as giving our twenty one month old daughter (Briana) more room to play in. Prior to the sectional, the room only had two seats and a table. While that may be okay for just Karen and I, it wasn't going to work well when we had more than the two of us in the room. Hence, the sectional.

I actually thought it was a good idea, in part because adding the new sectional also meant that later on I could replace our television in the living room with a new flat panel television. Karen said the new television is all me. Woo hoo! I can't wait to make that purchase.

Anyway, the sectional arrived today and it looks great. Briana even seemed to enjoy it even though she may have gotten a concussion because of it. Sadly, Briana accidentally fell on her head while standing on the sectional (after repeated attempts by Karen to tell her sit instead of stand).

In what can best be described as a Charlie Brown flip, Briana seemed to spin 360 degrees in the air and land on her head. I actually only caught the dramatic part of the Charlie Brown spin (ie. the head meeting the floor part) because I was in the other room. Briana was with Karen at the time. I walked into the room... and plop. It was devastatingly sad. Luckily for us, Briana's melon is pliable. After a lot of tears, she was back to her regular self in no time and jumping back on the sectional.

Regardless, I think the furniture looks great. And I definitely can't wait to purchase that new television now.

I Suck At Sending Christmas Cards

2011-12-23T14:42:00.004-05:00

I have that nasty envelope glue taste in my mouth and I thought I would share. I finally finished addressing all of the envelopes for this year's Christmas cards. Sure, today is the day before Christmas Eve... but I suck at sending Christmas cards.

In my defense, the cards that we ordered online did not arrive on time. We ordered our cards through Vistaprint this year and just for some reason the actual delivery date was a little slower than the estimated delivery date. Oh well. Hopefully no one will mind that the cards are that late.

Someday when snail mail is totally a thing of the past, I'll never have to worry about sending out Christmas cards on time (or ever...). But until then, I'll have to make do with what I have.

I Suck At Community

2011-12-22T20:27:00.007-05:00

Yesterday, my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) came over. After all, it was Wednesday and Wednesdays are Prince Spaghetti night. Needless to say, it was a great night as usual hanging out with friends.

I was pleasantly surprised when Andrea brought along her famous peanut butter balls. Yum! I have already devoured almost all of them within a 24 hour period. I enjoy them that much. Not to be outdone, Marc and Kelley also brought treats from Harry and David. Those were equally delicious too. I have no idea what I ate from Harry and David, but it tasted good. (The only way I can describe it is that it was a chocolate thing...)

Anyway, on the agenda for the night: Community. Too bad I suck at Community. Technically speaking, NBC sucks at Community because the network should continue airing the show and not have it be on hiatus. I, as well as many other television viewers, enjoy the show a lot.

In fact, all of us were able to watch the remaining episodes of the third season (prior to the hiatus). So should the show return, we will be all caught up. Hooray!

As an interesting side note, I learned how to do the Troy and Abed handshake. The handshake is not particularly difficult to do, but having no one to practice with does put a damper on things. (I don't think I could convince Karen to practice it with me.) Luckily, Marc was able to practice the handshake with me.

All in all, it was a great night. Go Community! Hopefully NBC will bring the show back!

I Suck At Celebrating My Birthday

2011-12-19T23:02:00.006-05:00

Today I am another year older. As far as memorable birthdays go, I would definitely have to say this year's birthday celebration was quite low key. I guess you could say that I suck at celebrating my birthday. After all, today, more than any of my other birthdays in the past, seemed like just an ordinary day in my life.

The day began as usual with my doing chores around the house and my preparing food for my twenty month old daughter (Briana) before she actually woke up. When Briana woke up, that's when time exponentially transpired. A few diaper changes later (and watching her make a mess of breakfast), the next thing I knew it was almost noon.

By that time, my mom stopped for a visit. She wanted to celebrate my birthday by taking me out for lunch, which was great. We ended up going to the Abington Ale House. In what seems like a birthday tradition, I ordered the sirloin steak. Delicious! Being married to a dietitian, I don't get to eat steak all that often. So any time I can devour steak (and not choke on it) is good.

The Abington Ale House excursion was definitely the highlight of the day. Because afterwards, I really did not do much other than take care of Briana. It was nice seeing my mom. My dad, whose birthday also happens to be today, could not make the Abington Ale House luncheon. It would have been nice to see him today too, but I did the next best thing: I wished him happy birthday over the phone.

Incidentally, today also happens to be Hot Amy's father's birthday and a former co-worker's (Kristen) birthday too. So happy birthday to all of them too! Oh, and happy birthday Alyssa Milano! I can't forget her. I can never forget her. She's the only reason I watched Who's the Boss. (I realize that statement taken out of context could make me seem creepy, but in case anyone is curious... I am younger than Alyssa Milano. And at the time of Who's the Boss... I was a kid... she was a kid... it made sense in my distorted mind.)

Anyway, essentially that was my birthday celebration. Karen has been sick of late, so we didn't really do anything when she got home from work. Although, I suppose you can say we watched episodes of Community together. Well, I re-watched the episodes that I saw with my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) last week. In an attempt to get Karen caught up, I hooked up the computer to our television and just watched a bunch of episodes with her. Great show!

But that was pretty much it. I think one of the reasons why today seemed like more of an ordinary day to me in comparison to past birthdays is because there was no birthday cake. Granted, the Abington Ale House gave me a little cupcake... but it's not the same. I was actually tempted to buy myself an ice cream cake, but sadly ran out of time. Plus, that would have just seemed odd: buying myself a cake to celebrate my own birthday.

I Suck At Santa Visits

2011-12-18T14:44:00.008-05:00

Yesterday, my family had a special visit. A jolly o' soul with a white beard and red suit happened to visit my house yesterday. Too bad I suck at Santa visits.

In preparation for the event, Karen and I invited our friends (Cass, Ellen, and Meredith) to come on over and bring their respective children. Their children are all younger than our twenty one month old daughter (Briana). And of course, we invited my mother-in-law and father-in-law because they happened to be Santa's special helpers.

Needless to say, it was an interesting experience. This year, Briana seems to be afraid of good o' Santa. She cried uncontrollably to the point where she didn't want us near Santa when we visited Karen's relatives in Lowell. (Is there a lot to love about Lowell?) Whenever we've been walking around the mall, she would purposely avoid getting too close to Santa, preferring to watch him from afar instead.

I'm not sure when this fear developed. After all, she was okay last year. Then again, she was not even a year old the last time she saw Santa. I have a feeling that this may be a natural thing for babies: fear of Santa. The only reason I say that is because my niece and nephew behaved the same way when they were young. And as luck would have it, Cass and Ellen's daugher and Meredith's son also cried when they were in the presence of Santa yesterday. I bet it's the shoes. Just kidding.

Despite the tears, all of the children seemed to enjoy one particular aspect of the Santa visit: the receiving of gifts. Santa = tears. Presents = smile. After Santa left, all of the kids played with their toys. And might I add, having three kids in the house gets crazy.

All in all, I think everyone had a good time. And really, how can you not? Santa came to visit.

I Suck At Megamind

2011-12-18T14:22:00.007-05:00

On Friday, my friends (Marc and Kelley) were in the neighborhood. In an act of spontaneity, they contacted us to see if we were around. Lo' and behold, neither Karen nor I had any big plans for Friday. Such is the life of parents of a twenty month old (who is actually twenty one months old as of this posting).

Anyway, it was great seeing Marc and Kelley. We ordered takeout dinner from Uno's, which is located just up the street. On Marc's recommendation, I ordered the wild mushroom and Cabot cheddar artisan thin crust pizza. It was delicious. I devoured the entire pizza, which really is not a difficult feat for me if you know me.

From there, we just hung out and eventually ended up watching Megamind together. Now, I suck at Megamind. I had recorded the movie on my DVR months and months ago with the intent that some day Karen would be interested in having a family movie night. Marc and Kelley are essentially family, so it's good to know my plan worked.

(The following is a trailer for Megamind.)

All in all, the movie was very enjoyable. And as usual, it was fun hanging out with Marc and Kelley. Among some of the topics of discussion that came up were Mass Effect 2 (great game!) and the television show Grimm. Kelley has been trying to plug the show in an effort to get other people to watch it. I told her I'd give a go.

I Suck At Plumbing

2011-12-15T20:42:00.006-05:00

It only took about four years or so, but I can now cross off that one plumbing project from my to-do list. Yes, I suck at plumbing.

When Karen and I added a second floor to our house, the contractors installed a generic basic faucet in the second bathroom. Interestingly enough, we had a faucet already planned for the second bathroom. Back when the house was a shanty (although who am I kidding... the house is still a shanty), Karen and I purchased a contractor pack of faucets. The pack consisted of two faucets that we had planned to use at the time for our downstairs bathroom and our master bathroom.

Like most of my home improvement projects, at the time I only completed one of the tasks: the downstairs bathroom. I have since had to install the faucet again in the downstairs bathroom when we renovated that, but that is another story. (The bathroom had this god awful ugly green tub and water damage galore before the renovation.)

Anyway, with the second floor renovation, we decided to use the other faucet for the second bathroom as opposed to the master bathroom. The only problem: we forgot to give the other faucet to the contractors when they were hooking up the sink in the second bathroom.

And rather than have the contractors switch it back out, we decided that I would just make the switch at a later point in time. Who knew that later point in time would be over four years?

Anyway, I was able to switch out the faucets thanks in part to my parents who came down to take our twenty month old daughter (Briana) out to the mall. With Briana out of the house, that meant I had more time to dedicate to the home improvement project.

At first, things weren't looking too good for me. After I had removed the generic faucet and installed the desired faucet, I turned on the water. Everything was good, except that the water would not stop coming out of the cold water side of the faucet. So, I had to take apart the valve to see what was up. Turns out, the rubber washer was misaligned.

A few minutes later, voila! The water stopped when I twisted the faucet handle. The only problem: I had the open and the close reversed within the valve. So, I had to take apart the valve again and reset it correctly. Needless to say, I got the faucet to properly work.

Interestingly enough, after my initial gaffe, I immediately thought about my BFF (Kerry). The faucet in Kerry's bathroom is reversed in that you have to turn the handle in the opposite direction of what one would normally expect. It occurred to me that the reason for that may be the same thing I had just experienced.

Anyway, it felt pretty good to finally cross something off of the to-do list. Following my plumbing project, I made a brief visit to Karen's grandmother who lives in Hanover. I was explicitly asked by Karen's grandmother to help her with some technical issues. The technical issues involved cable television and the computer. Specifically, the issues were to switch out the cable box with a new one and figure out why she could not open an attached document in her email. Needless to say, the technical issues were resolved. Thank you OpenOffice.

I Suck At Community

2011-12-15T20:19:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was a good day, and not just because I finally completed Mass Effect 2 after 40+ hours. Who says you can't play video games when you're a parent? For anyone curious, Mass Effect 2 is a great game! I thoroughly enjoyed the game, even though the object of my desire, Yeoman Kelly Chambers, melted into tiny bits before my eyes. I'll have to replay it at some point to actually get a happier ending.

Mass Effect 2 aside, I had the opportunity to hang out with my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea). Unfortunately, Karen could not attend the shindig. She was still feeling the effects from her fever. Yes, it's almost a week now that she has been sick. And like any good husband and father of a twenty month old, I said to her "Later, chump" and made a mad dash out of the house for my brief minutes of freedom. Just kidding.

On the agenda for the night was starting season three of Community. Now, I suck at Community. All of us have been planning to start the third (and possibly last) season of the show for some time. Our schedules have been busy this month and it just seemed like we could never get everyone together. Needless to say, we started the third season yesterday. (And for anyone curious, Karen assured me that she would watch the episodes online so as to catch up with all of us.)

As usual, the episodes were hilarious. We actually made it through six episodes last night, meaning that by the end of our next get-together we should be all caught up with the series. Too bad the show is currently on hiatus. Damn you NBC!

In addition to Community, we also ordered food for dinner. Andrea was coming directly from work and consequently would not have the opportunity for make dinner at home. So all of us decided to order from the Fowler House. I ordered the burger. Even though I devoured my burger (and most of Andrea's), I would say that I was not that impressed by the Fowler House burger. I attribute my voracious eating more to my bottomless pit of a stomach, than to the great taste of the burgers.

All in all, it was a good night of just hanging out and having fun. And naturally, with my bizarre train of thought, I ended up thinking about which Community character all of us would be if my circle of friends were similar to those of the Community characters. Kelley and Andrea suggested Troy for me.

I Suck At Subway

2011-12-13T21:22:00.004-05:00

Sadly, the highlight of my Monday involved eating. On Monday, my mother and I grabbed a quick bite to eat from Subway. Now, I suck at Subway. I have not eaten at Subway in quite some time.

My parents were down visiting the golden child known as my twenty month old daughter (Briana). As I was ill-prepared to make lunch for the day, I offered to grab takeout. And by ill-prepared, I mean I was lazy. As a parent, there are just days that I want to take a break from things and Monday happened to be one of those days.

Anyway, my mother suggested grabbing food from Subway because she had heard about some promotion for $2 subs. It turns out, Subway is offering 6-inch meatball subs and 6-inch cold cut subs for $2 for the month of December. Always one for a deal, I said "sure, why not?"

Needless to say, I ordered 5 meatball subs. And interestingly enough, they were good. I devoured 3 of the 5 subs. In my defense, I was only planning on eating two. Karen was not hungry, so I ate hers. After all, subs don't reheat well.

It was definitely filling. If Subway keeps the promotion for all of next year, I may partake in the Jared diet. Just kidding.

Naturally in keeping with the food theme, I also decided to continue my devouring ways later that day and eat some gummy candy from
Sugar Plum Chocolates. My friends (Marc and Andrea) recently took a day trip to New York City. Among the things they brought back from their trip was this gummy Outrageous Alphabet by Sugar Plum Chocolates. In case anyone is curious, the gummy letter they got me was an M.

The gummy letter is huge. I think it actually may be bigger than the ginormous gummy bear that my friend (Aimee) gave me awhile back. If it's not bigger, it is just as large. Well, it didn't take me long to polish off the gummy letter. And might I add, I was completely stuffed after eating the gummy letter. Those 200 calories were worth it though.

I Suck At Pseudo Christmas

2011-12-12T23:06:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was the holiday tradition in Karen's family known as Pseudo Christmas. Now, I suck at Pseudo Christmas. I think Modern Family's "Express Christmas" has a better ring to it.

Pseudo Christmas is held in the lovely land of Lowell. There is a lot to like about Lowell or so the residents there will tell you. It just so happens to be where Karen's aunt, uncle, and cousins live.

Personally, as much as enjoy Lowell, I think Karen should have skipped her family tradition this year. She has been battling a fever this entire weekend. She actually almost cancelled going to my BFF's (Kerry) holiday party on Saturday due to her fever. So going out the following day, even if it's family tradition, probably isn't a good idea. But that's just my opinion. As I am posting this, she is still battling fever-like symptoms (and it's Monday). Oh what people do for "tradition".

Anyway, it was a nice Pseudo Christmas. With Karen being sick (and pregnant), I actually spent most of the day making sure our twenty month old daughter (Briana) was not getting into things. I actually missed out on the majority of the "silly swap" that Karen's family holds because Briana wanted to play elsewhere. Luckily for me, I drew an early number. So I could just pick a gift... leave to attend to Briana... and no one would miss me.

For me, probably the most memorable part of Pseudo Christmas was taking a break to go to a discount auto parts store with Karen's cousin's husband (Tommy) and my favorite brother-in-law (PJ). PJ needed to pick up some light bulbs for his trailer. We weren't gone that long, but the break from being a responsible parent was definitely nice.

One of the other things that I'll probably remember from Pseudo Christmas 2011 is Karen's grandmother's sister (Mary) and her love of apple pie. Suffice to say, Mary is mentally not all there. She is being taken care of by her son (Kevin), who interestingly enough told me a side story about how someone calls him "Mike" now because he was spotted wearing a jacket I brought to the silly swap of Pseudo Christmas 2010. I brought an old high school jacket with my name on the sleeve. Kevin (or Mary) was the lucky recipient of the jacket last year. As a result, Kevin uses it as his smoking jacket and apparently someone whom he vaguely knows greeted him with a "Hi Mike" the other day.

Anyway, Mary had a slice of apple pie for dessert. She wanted a second helping of the apple pie, but Kevin told her that there was none left. So back and forth they went over the apple pie and how she wanted another slice and how Kevin said there was none left. Of course, while this is going on PJ is egging Mary on about getting another slice of pie. It seemed like the discussion of the apple pie lasted forever. And truthfully, there were two slices of apple pie left. I happen to know that because I ate one of the remaining slices. Apple pie = yum! (Mary was right.)

I Suck At Holiday Parties

2011-12-12T22:27:00.003-05:00

Saturday was my BFF's (Kerry) annual holiday party. Too bad I suck at holiday parties. For the past ten years (I think), Kerry has been having a party North of Boston during the holidays.

This year, Kerry mentioned it may be her last holiday party. In essence, it would be her holiday party to end all holiday parties. So we'll see. Attending the possibly last holiday party North of Boston were my friends (Marc, Kelley, Andrea, Cass, and Ellen).

Early on, the party would be divided by geography. Kerry's friends from Massachusetts would be in one room; Kerry's friends from Rhode Island would be in the other; and never the twain shall meet. Logistically, it makes sense because people tend to go toward what they are comfortable with. Over the years, her friends from both states have started mingling together. And this past holiday party on Saturday was just that.

Although as an interesting side note, I think Kerry may now be attempting to keep some of her friends from mingling. Karen and I found out on Saturday that Kerry's friend, Sam, is also from the South Shore where most of her friends from Massachusetts reside. Sam lives in the mean streets of Weymouth to be exact. All of us have met Sam before, but that interesting tidbit somehow never came up.

I actually find Sam pretty funny and personable. When I first met her, she had a lot of love. She loved watermelon. She loved quinoa. And she told everyone with such enthusiasm. It was bizarre, yet funny. And of course, she didn't even bat an eye when seeing Marc in his skimpy mesh track shorts from high school that were way too small for him now. Now, my friend Garv on the other hand was blinded by the sight.

Anyway, it was nice seeing friends and hanging out with everyone. Karen and I actually did not stay too long because our twenty month old daughter (Briana) was not liking the fact that we were out and about without her.

One of the main topics of discussion from the night was the hierarchy of geeks, nerds and dorks... since most of the people in attendance were either geeks, nerds, or dorks. Cass didn't think he fit into any of the categories... and I'll agree with him. After all, he's going to be the future mayor of Quincy! Vote Cass for mayor!

Another topic that got me thinking was what superhero I would be. It only makes sense since the previous topic was about the hierarchy of geeks, nerds, and dorks. That thought (about what superhero I would be) entered my mind because Marc and Kelley suggested that Kerry could dress up as the Black Canary and attend a comic book conference. Much like my original suggestion from years back to Kerry about attending a Star Trek convention... the ratio of women to men is greatly skewed in her favor.

Naturally, when Marc and Kelley suggested that Black Canary was actually fitting for Kerry, that got me thinking about what superhero I would be... much like what actor would play me in the movie about me. I suppose if you combine the two, I can have an actor play me becoming a superhero in the movie about me...

I Suck At Little Duck

2011-12-12T22:10:00.004-05:00

On Thursday, Karen, my twenty month old daughter (Briana), and I had our weekly get together with friends. We ended up going to Quincy where my friends (Marc and Kelley) live. My friend (Andrea), who has since become Kelley's drinking buddy, was unfortunately not able to join us due to work-related issues. So for the second straight week, all of us were not in attendance. Someday, we'll get to season three of Community (such a great show!).

Anyway, it was great to hang out with Marc and Kelley. Kelley recently returned from her trip to Germany (Sprechen sie Deutsch?) and we were able to see all of her pictures.

Aside from that, we just hung out, laughed, and watched some things they had recorded on their DVR. One thing in particular was recorded just for Karen. It was an episode of the Daily Show which had Betty White on as a guest. Gotta love Betty White.

Oh, and we also did something we haven't done in a while: we ordered takeout from the Little Duck. Now, I suck at the Little Duck. I haven't eaten there in awhile, but since Karen was craving it (and really, who would deny a pregnant woman her craving?) we got dinner there. As usual, the food was delicious. Oh Little Duck, how I missed you so! Okay, so maybe I had a craving too...

All in all, it was a great night as usual hanging out with friends.

I Suck At Attending A Service For Remembrance

2011-12-11T08:37:00.008-05:00

It's good to know that I can still feel pain.

On Tuesday, Karen, my twenty month old daughter (Briana), and I attended the 19th Annual Service of Remembrance at the Old South Union Church located directly across from South Shore Hospital. The service is held for families who have lost children. Too bad, I suck at attending a service for remembrance.

I've been attending the service ever since our son (Braden) passed away in 2008. As a result, this year was the fourth annual service I've been to. It's amazing how quickly time goes by.

For anyone curious, the service in addition to remembering the lost loved ones allows for people to share encouraging stories with one another. And every year at the service, I always wonder what it is that I would say if I had that opportunity. I don't think there's really much I could say other than the experience sucks. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Luckily for everyone, I did not share that encouraging thought. Instead, I spent the entire service at the "crib room" complements of my loving daughter. My always curious daughter was definitely not going to sit patiently through the service. So off to the "crib room" we went... at the start of the service.

The crib room is essentially a play area to keep little children occupied during the service. The room also broadcasts the on-going service, so that you don't really miss out on anything that is said. Interestingly enough, Briana and I were not the only ones there. When we got there, a mother and two of her children were already in the room.

I generally think Briana is a handful. She's curious and on the go until she sleeps. Fortunately for me, Briana pales in comparison to one of the children I met in the crib room. The girl was slightly older than Briana and she literally ran non-stop circles around the room for the entire service. It was impressive... and insane at the same time.

Needless to say, despite the interesting experience in the crib room, I did get to hear Braden's name over the speakers. It was good to be able to dedicate a night to him, which is something I think I don't do as often as I'd like.

And as proof as to how soft I have become, I actually teared up in the crib room. It was not even for Braden. The grandmother of the other two children in the room was telling me how her daughter lost her son. To me, it was just an awful story about how the unborn child was near full term and just one day, the mother could not feel any movement. The baby simply had passed away. I think what struck me as the worst part of the story was that the mother had to deliver the deceased baby. I felt so sad when I heard that. Heck, I feel sad typing it right now.

Anyway, it was good to remember Braden. I still wonder what he would be like right now if he had survived. I miss you, Braden. Please don't forget that I'll always love you.

I Suck At Alba Restaurant

2011-12-04T15:29:00.010-05:00

In celebration of Karen's birthday, my friends and I went to the Alba Restaurant located in Quincy. Now, I suck at Alba Restaurant. I don't believe I have ever been to Alba's. My friend (Marc), however, seems to think I may have been there over three years ago when there was an incident involving him being doused in water by the waitstaff (accidentally, of course). If it is true, I sadly don't remember that incident and it just goes to show how terrible my memory really is.

Regardless, Karen has never been to Alba's. She wanted to try their breakfast as the Brioche French Toast was recommended to her by one of her friends. So off to the Alba Restaurant we went for breakfast on Sunday. Joining in on the celebration were Marc, my friends (Cass, Ellen, Garv, Leeann, Andrea), and my BFF (Kerry). Cass and Ellen's baby daughter also joined us as well, which gave my baby daughter (Briana) someone else to play with. And by play, I mean look at it.

Anyway, I ordered the Alba Special, which was an omelet with feta, tomato and spinach that came with potatoes and an English muffin. The meal was good. The problem, in my opinion, was the service.

We waited... and waited... and waited for our meals to arrive. There was never once a mention of the reason for the delay, or even an acknowledgement that they were taking longer than expected. When I say we waited, it was a ridiculous amount of time for things as easy as french toast and eggs. Other tables that had come in after us had already finished and left before we got served our food. Not to mention, when the food did arrive, the food came out in waves where a few of us received food while the rest of us had to watch and wait for a prolonged amount of time for for the next food item to arrive. It was terrible.

In my opinion, if Alba simply acknowledged they were having problems, I would have been okay with that. But nope. Nothing. It seems to me like that should be basic customer service 101. I also found out later from Karen, who was equally disappointed with the experience, that the bathrooms did not have any toilet paper. That struck me as equally terrible because we arrived for breakfast when the restaurant opened. To have no toilet paper in the bathroom during the opening hours is just a sign of bad management.

Needless to say, even though the food was decent, I probably would not recommend the Alba Restaurant in Quincy. The service was just that terrible. Sadly, the celebration was for Karen's birthday... which was back in October. But at least we got to hang out with all of our friends and enjoy our time together. So that part was nice.

I Suck At Jack Link's Premium Cuts Chicken Nuggets

2011-11-30T22:42:00.003-05:00

Okay. So it's been a little over a week since the last time I wrote a post. I'm trying to get back into the habit of writing posts. Writing this blog is like working out, just without the sweat. I always make excuses to put it off... but when I'm actually doing it, it's great. And if I do happen to sweat while writing this blog in front of my computer, then something is definitely not quite right with me.

Plus, I told my friend (Andrea) that I would post something today because she asked. Apparently, she has missed reading my blog posts. When I think about it, I guess that makes sense. With Facebook and social media all around us now, knowing what people are up to seems status quo. And since I don't regular check Facebook, I guess the only means for people to know what I am up to is through this blog. Perhaps some day I'll embrace Facebook and update my status based on my bowel movements like I had originally wanted. In the meantime, all of you can thank Andrea. So thanks Andrea!

Anyway, in case anyone is interested, here are the exciting events that have transpired since my last post:

1) Thanksgiving. Happy belated turkey day! I hope everyone took the time to give thanks, particularly to the Native Americans whose land we stole in return for booze and disease. Seems like a fair trade. Luckily, they are slowing getting us back by praying on our gambling vices. Good for them!

All in all, my Thanksgiving was quiet. Karen, our twenty month old daughter (Briana), and I spent the holiday with my parents and Karen's parents... at my in-law's. As usual, the food was delicious. At one point during the day, everyone was gathered around the dining room table looking at newspaper ads for Black Friday deals. I thought it was a comical sight.

Following Thanksgiving dinner, Karen, Briana, my in-laws, and I visited Karen's grandmother at the nursing home. We brought Nana a little turkey dinner. The interesting thing about the visit was that Nana actually mentioned Karen by name during the visit. In all of my previous visits with Nana, she had never called Karen by her name. So it was interesting, particularly for Karen. Luckily for me, Nana has no problem saying "Mike".

2) Black Friday. Every year, I look at the Black Friday ads and think about going out shopping in the wee hours of night. And every year, I stay snugly warm in my bed Friday morning. This year was no different.

I did not see any deals that jumped out at me this year. I'm still waiting for the day there are deals on Sony televisions. Maybe that will actually get me into the Black Friday shopping spirit of trampling people (or pepper spraying people as it may be this year) in the early hours of morning. Perhaps I'm too brand loyal.

Instead, Karen, Briana and I waited for the afternoon to go shopping. We actually had nothing to do, so we decided to just go shopping. And interestingly enough, we ran into Karen's parents while shopping. It was fun. For anyone curious, the highlight of my Black Friday shopping was purchasing a video game. It's not just any video game. It's Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition! Gotta go for the gold. There's a lot to like about zombies... like Lowell.

And as always, Black Friday night was spent at my friends' (Cass and Ellen) as they hosted the annual Black Friday potluck tradition. For anyone curious, the potluck involves everyone bringing their Thanksgiving leftovers. My like of potlucks aside, I have always thought the Black Friday tradition by Cass and Ellen was brilliant. What better way is there to get rid of leftovers?

Joining in on the potluck this year were my friends (Marc, Kelley, Garv, Leeann, Scott, Meredith, Andrea) and my BFF (Kerry). It was definitely a blast hanging out with everyone. Granted, having Briana around does make that difficult at times. If it's not me, it's Karen who will watch Briana run amok. So inevitably, one of us will most likely miss or hear only parts of a conversation. It's just how it is these days. This year, I spent some quality time with Ellen and Meredith (and Elyse and Xander).

As a side note, Garv gave Briana her first taste of a fruit roll-up. I mention this now because Garv will also be the first person to take Briana to a Taylor Swift concert. It will make his going to a Taylor Swift concert with his adult male friends less creepy.

3) Charming Petals Flower and Gift Shop. There's a lot to like about Lowell... like zombies. On Saturday, Karen, Briana and I headed up north to visit Karen's Lowell relatives (Denise, Paul, Matthew). Karen's Uncle Paul's mother recently passed away. As we could not attend the wake that was scheduled earlier in the week, we asked to stop by over the weekend. So off to the great white north we went.

It was actually an interesting visit, because we did not even stay in Lowell that long. All of us headed to the Charming Petals Flower and Gift Shop located in Dracut. On the agenda... Santa... and not just any Santa... Victorian Santa. Charming Petals was having a free picture with Santa day. Needless to say, Briana was not a fan of the man in the red suit. She cried... and cried... and cried.

Following the tear-filled outing, Karen's cousin (Karlene) and her husband (Tommy) met up with us. We essentially just hung out before all of them left for an alumni hockey game. It was good to see everyone. I don't think we've seen the... Lowellians? or is it Lowellites? in quite some time. So it was good.

Saturday night was also a nice rare event. Karen and I had a movie/date night on the couch when Briana went to bed. We haven't had a night to just ourselves since her birthday back in October. The movie for the night: "When In Rome". Like all chick flicks, this one was predictable. It was an enjoyable movie. How can it not be? It stars Kristen Bell of Veronica Mars fame.

4) Cookie Swap. Sunday was the infamous Christmas Parade in Quincy. For anyone who knows me, they know that I dislike parades. Unless I'm in on a float or marching in the parade... or even inebriated, I find them very boring. Naturally, I begrudgingly attended the Christmas Parade in Quincy this year. My reason for going, of course, was for my daughter. It so happens that I don't think Briana cared much for the parade either. Who is Daddy's girl?

Anyway, attending the parade were my mother-in-law, my favorite sister-in-law (Janine), Janine's family (PJ, PJ and Kaleigh), Janine's BFF (Gretchen), my friends (Jen, Bill, Terry, and Hot Amy), Jen and Bill's mother, Terry's family (Dave, Gianna, and David), Hot Amy's husband (Mark), and Terry and Hot Amy's parents. It was definitely a motley crew of sorts.

For me, the highlight of the parade were the bagpipers and the clydesdale horses. They win hands down all the time. Not even former Bruin, Rick Middleton, who appeared in the parade this year could beat the sweet sound of bagpipes and trotting horses.

Following the parade, all of us headed to Jen and Bill's for a cookie swap. Much like Karen, Jen is into traditions. So this happened to be the second annual cookie swap. Needless to say, the cookies were amazing. Unfortunately, I did not partake in the swapping of cookies this year like I did last year. If I had to choose a winner for this year though, I would go with Bill's cookies. Design-wise, Jen had the cutest cookie with her snowmen, but I enjoyed the taste of Bill's the most which may be sad news for my BFF's ears.

Anyway, after the cookie swap, Karen and I actually had another date/movie night. Back to back nights is unheard of! Interestingly enough, we kept the Kristen Bell theme going by watching "You Again". I must say, it was another cute enjoyable movie. Ooh, shiny!

And finally, that takes me to today. Today I hung out with my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea). It was our weekly get together, which Karen missed out on because she was feeling a little run down. And as the loving husband and father that I am, I immediately bolted out the door leaving a trail of dust behind me when she told me that she'd stay home and watch Briana.

For me, getting out by myself is few and far between these days. So I relish the opportunity to go out. Most of the time, I am watching Briana. And as much as I enjoy my daughter's company, I do occasionally need the break even if it's just to hang out for a couple of hours.

Sadly, nothing particularly happened on my thrilling night out. All of us just hung out, watched some episodes of Scare Tactics, Attack of the Show, and Man V. Food Nation. I may have devoured the majority of Andrea's booze-filled cupcakes. Speaking of food, I tried my first Jack Link's Premium Cuts Chicken Nugget. Now, I suck at Jack Link's Premium Cuts Chicken Nuggets. It was not exactly what I was expecting. The nugget was a little dryer than I thought it would be, but I guess that should have been expected since it is jerky after all.

Needless to say, I had a fun time tonight.

I Suck At Brant Rock Hop

2011-11-20T13:48:00.006-05:00

It's been quite some time since I blogged. Time seems to travel at lightning speed these days. Before I know it, a month has passed and I missed out on writing posts about the following:

1) Taza Chocolate. Karen and I took my nephew (PJ) on a tour of Taza Chocolate for his birthday. Not only was the tour informative, the free samples were absolutely delicious. And the best part, of course, was that PJ enjoyed it. He literally recounted everything that was told to him when he got home. I would definitely recommend the tour to anyone. (For anyone curious, Taza is located in the mean streets of Somerville.)

2) Tsang's Village Cafe. I had never eaten at Tsang's located in Hanover. I don't particularly eat out at Chinese restaurants, probably because I've eaten a lot of Chinese food growing up (being Chinese and all). It just so happens that Karen's father wanted to celebrate his birthday at Tsang's. Needless to say, Tsang's was very good. The waiter apparently seemed to enjoy playing with my twenty month old daughter (Briana). And I must say, the food was quite delicious. I'd definitely recommend Tsang's.

3) My friend (Aimee). I haven't seen Aimee in quite some time. She happened to be available one weekend so we decided to hang out and grab some lunch. We ended up ordering takeout from the Boston Pizza Company, which was very delicious. Needless to say, I had a great time just hanging out and chatting with Aim.

4) Karen's Grandfather's Memorial Mass. That same day, Karen and I attended a memorial mass for Karen's grandfather (on her father's side). Her grandfather on her father's side passed away last year around this time. I actually missed most of the mass because I spent the entire time chasing after Briana who thought it would be great to walk all around church. Yes, I got to see the entire church, including the Life Teen center located in the basement. Fun. Interestingly enough, a lot of the church-goers still thought Briana was adorable.

5) Butterfield's. Following the memorial mass, everyone in attendance went out to eat at Butterfield's located in Rockland. I have never been to Butterfield's. For anyone curious, Butterfield's is located near the Job Lot in Rockland. Prior to eating there, I have only seen the outside of the restaurant. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. The food was good. The portions were good. And they had milkshakes! Yum!

6) MMA. Apparently, that Saturday was a busy day. Following Aimee, the memorial mass, and Butterfield's, I got to hang out with my friends (Marc, Kelley and Andrea). On the agenda for the night, the MMA fight on Fox featuring the heavyweight championship title bout between Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos. Sadly, the fight was terrible because it only lasted about a minute. Fight aside, I had a great time because it was actually the first time in awhile that I got to do something by myself (without Briana and without Karen). Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my family. There are just times when I need a break.

7) Schoolhouse Pizza. Speaking of Marc, Kelley, and Andrea, all of us enjoyed dinner complements of Schoolhouse Pizza located in Quincy. It was part of our weekly get together. And of course, the food was delicious. Yum! Equally exciting was that we watched more episodes of Community. That is such a great show! Love it!

8) Virus. Due to genetics, I usually am the person Karen's family turns to when there is an issue with computers. It just so happens that one Sunday, after having dinner with Karen's parents, I was asked to take a look at her father's computer. It turns out, his computer was infected with a virus. Porn... gets you all the time. Just kidding. Needless to say, I had to take my father-in-law's computer home with me so that I could fix it. And fix it, I did. Fun.

Anyway, all of that finally leads me to today. Sure, I may still have forgotten a few things. It's tough to recall a month of activities. Today, Karen, Briana and I decided to go out for breakfast.

As sad as this sounds, this would be the first time that only the three of us went out for breakfast. We decided to have breakfast at the Brant Rock Hop located in Marshfield. Too bad I suck at Brant Rock Hop.

I had heard about the Brant Rock Hop after reading an article about the place in South Shore Living. The article mentioned how the owners of the restaurant had a food challenge because their children were avid viewers of Man V. Food. Hence, they created a challenge themselves involving a 13 egg omelet with stuff, a pound of home fries, and a milkshake. I thought the challenge sounded interesting, in part because I thought I could probably beat the challenge. The challenge lasts one hour and if you defeat the challenge, you would get a free t-shirt. (Things people will do for a free t-shirt...)

Today, I did not partake in the challenge (and interestingly enough, there is no mention of the challenge on their menu). I was actually more interested in the milkshake (as was Karen). So off we went to Marshfield. Needless to say, the food was delicious. I had the chunky chimp pancakes. Yum! Briana enjoyed them as well. And of course, Karen and I split a chocolate peanut butter milkshake. Oh, so good.

All in all, it was fun going out for breakfast as a family. I had a blast.

I Suck At Birthday Parties For Kids

2011-10-25T07:31:00.015-04:00

On Saturday, Karen, my nineteen month old daughter (Briana) and I headed off to the mean streets of Methuen. Our friends' (Kristine and Rick) son was celebrating his fourth birthday. I don't recall being invited the past three years of his life, but I guess that is what happens now when you have a nineteen month old daughter: you get invited to kid birthday parties. Too bad I suck at birthday parties for kids.

Needless to say, it was an interesting birthday party. Kristine and Rick were great. They rented a bouncy house. They invited friends and family. Their son's daycare friends were all there. Lots of kids. Lots of fun.

Of course, I couldn't help but wonder if this is how things are going to be now in that I'll have to rent a bouncy house and do all these elaborate things for my own daughter. I definitely wasn't planning on it.

And for anyone curious, Briana did not try the bouncy house. She preferred to look into the bouncy house and jump on the steps leading into the bouncy house, but not actually going into the bouncy house.

I Suck At Celebrating My Friend's Birthday

2011-10-16T22:55:00.003-04:00

Today, my friends, my BFF (Kerry), and I celebrated my friend's (Kelley) birthday. Happy birthday Kelley! Too bad I suck at celebrating my friend's birthday.

My friend (Andrea) actually hosted everyone for Kelley's birthday celebration. Andrea was gracious enough to make a chicken dinner for everyone in honor of Kelley. So joining in on the celebration were my friends (Marc, Steve, Cass, Ellen, Garv, and Leeann).

I was actually pleasantly surprised to be asked to carve up the chicken. I don't think anyone has ever asked me to carve up a chicken or turkey or any type of fowl before. I don't mind doing it. I've just never been asked to do it outside of my house. So I was pretty stoked to cut up the chicken. And for anyone curious, Andrea makes a pretty fine (and juicy) chicken. Her mashed potatoes are equally legendary. They are very white. There are actually a lot of things that Andrea makes that I enjoy.

Anyway, it was great to hang out with a bunch of friends over dinner and football. I learned that Garv and Leeann recently updated their basement, converting it into a man cave of sorts. Heck, I learned that they also drive a Subaru Forester. I don't see Garv and Leeann that much, so it's always good to catch up with them.

Cass and Ellen were pretty comical as usual. This weekend was Cass's brother's wedding. So we got to hear about the wedding and all of that.

All in all, it was great. And it's always a plus when your sixteen month old daughter (Briana) doesn't break anything at someone else's place. I had my doubts early on, but thankfully Briana did not break anything of Andrea's. Instead, her carnage for the day only included my eyeglasses... a result of her ninja like skills of grabbing them off of my face and chucking them across the floor.

I Suck At Where The Wild Things Are

2011-10-16T22:25:00.007-04:00

It's always good to feel wanted. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of helping out my local library with their library card registration event. In fact, the children's librarian (Nancy) specifically asked that I help out again since I did such a great job last year.

For anyone curious, last year I helped out the library by dressing up as Hedgie the Hedgehog, a character from children's book author Jan Brett. This year, my role was to be the Wild Thing, from Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Too bad I suck at Where the Wild Things Are. Wild Thing... you make my heart sing.

Needless to say, I had a great time. It's always a blast when you can make kids happy. The premise of the event is to get children involved with the local library by having them sign up to get library cards. In addition to the library card, there are other activities like face painting, coloring, pumpkin decorating, and of course... getting a picture taken with the Wild Thing.

Like I said, it was fun. There were three brothers there who absolutely loved the Wild Thing. In fact, one of them colored a scarecrow picture and gave it to me. I'm not sure, but he, if not one of his brothers, may have also decorated a pumpkin which was also given to me. I actually got a kick out of a comment one of them said to me... in that they were planning on taking me home with them. It was cute.

As the Wild Thing, I even got to get my picture taken for the local newspaper. I'm not sure, but that may be the first time I ever appeared in a newspaper. Sure, I was in costume... but at least I was in the paper.

Of course, the only drawback about the whole dressing up in costume thing was the heat. Wearing a big dome over your head can get mighty hot. I think the first bead of sweat that started pouring down my face happened after ten minutes. It was like a sauna in a suit.

All in all, it was a blast.

I Suck At Picking Relatives Up At The Airport

2011-10-04T23:41:00.008-04:00

I love my mom, but she can drive me crazy some times. Case in point: picking up my relatives at the airport. Although in her defense, Monday's comedy of errors wasn't totally all her fault.

During the day, my mom was gracious enough to help take care of my eighteen month old daughter (Briana) while I did some work around the house. I took this week off from work because my aunt from Hong Kong was coming for a visit. At the same time, my brother (Eugene) was also coming up from Texas to spend time with my parents and my aunt. So it was going to be a big family week. Hence, the vacation.

Anyway, I did accomplish a lot of home improvement tasks around the house thanks to my mom during the day. Unfortunately, it was after that where things got a little crazy.

Originally, the plan was for me to pick up my brother at the airport because he was arriving earlier than my aunt. That plan was soon changed because my brother apparently was meeting an old co-worker when he arrived in Boston. So in the typical Chinese fashion of asking (ie. telling) me, I was asked to pick up my aunt instead.

Sure, no problem. My aunt's arrival time was at 19:27pm. I had calculated that as 7:27pm... as did my mom when I had first inquired about my aunt's arrival time. Naturally, somehow during the day, the arrival time became 17:27pm because my mom said she had told me the wrong time.

Two hours isn't a major difference. Unfortunately, the time impacts Briana. At 7:27pm, Briana is usually asleep. 5:27pm... not so much. Plus, 5:27pm impacts Karen's time because she doesn't get home until around that time and I was originally planning on having her watch Briana while I went to the airport.

Due to the change in time, I then asked Karen to meet me at my parents' (instead of home) to pick up Briana while I go to the airport. First obstacle taken care of.

While waiting for Karen at my parents, my brother called asking to be picked up at the train station. My parents do not live far at all from the train station, but my mom told my brother that we'd pick him up. Apparently, my brother also then wanted to go to the airport to pick up my aunt.

By the time I picked up my brother, it was about 6pm. Yes, that is after 5:27pm. Luckily, picking up my brother was a good thing because it made my mom get my aunt's itinerary. Sure enough, my aunt's arrival time was 7:27pm. So all that running around to get Karen to pick up Briana... useless.

The fun doesn't stop there. With the extra time to kill, my brother, my mother and I decided to just wait at my parents'. So midway through Wheel of Fortune, which is aired at 7pm, my father tries to rush us out of the house saying we're going to be late in picking up my aunt. My brother, who was tracking my aunt's flight via his iPhone, said the plane had not even arrived in Boston yet.

When the plane did arrive according to my brother's iPhone, we headed off to the airport. Now, I suck at picking relatives up at the airport. As the driver, I was more than happy to tell my brother and my mother to give me a call when they found my aunt at the airport. So off I went to the cell phone parking lot after dropping them off at the terminal. And there I waited... and waited... and waited.

Well over an hour later, I came to learn the following from my brother:

1) My mom and my brother could not locate my aunt;
2) My mom thought everyone looked like my aunt;
3) My mom panicked thinking she lost my aunt;
4) My aunt's flight arrived on time;
5) My aunt, however, was not on the original flight;
6) My aunt was delayed due to Customs, thus missing her original flight;
7) My aunt sent a text message indicating her delay to my brother;
8) My aunt unfortunately sent the text message to the wrong number;
9) My brother, my mom, and my aunt had to wait a while at the baggage claim for my aunt's suitcase;
10) My aunt's suitcase was 5 feet from where they were waiting and had been there for quite some time;

Fun times. I'm glad I waited in the cell phone parking lot. But at least the good news is that everyone arrived safely.

I Suck At Wakes

2011-10-04T23:00:00.004-04:00

On Sunday, my eighteen month old daughter (Briana) had a play date. My friend (Meredith) brought over her son (Xander) who is about four months younger than Briana. To be honest, the play date went a lot better than I expected.

I think the last time Briana and Xander saw each other, Briana basically grabbed all of Xander's cheerios and ate them... in front of him. Not this time. This time, she actually shared some of her toys with him. It was definitely nice to see her share her toys.

It was also good to see Meredith again. I haven't seen her in some time. So it was good to catch up and hang out even if it was for a short period of time on Sunday.

Following the play date, Karen, Briana, and I ventured into the great white north known as Lowell. There's a lot to like about Lowell, or so the city would have you believe. Karen's Lowell-loving cousin's (Karlene) husband's (Tommy) mother had passed away and her wake was on Sunday.

Too bad I suck at wakes. I can't imagine what it must feel like to lose a parent. Losing my son (Braden) was heartbreaking enough. I dread the day that my parents pass away because I love them dearly even if they drive me insane at times. I wouldn't be who I am without them. So it's tough I'm sure to lose a parent.

Anyway, it was an interesting wake particularly because Briana was with us. Bringing an eighteen month old definitely seems to make people smile at a wake. Of course, it could be that Briana was hamming it up since she got a lot of attention from people and other strangers waiting in line.

Karen and I also got to hang out with Karlene and Tommy's friends (Kim and Rick). We have never hung out with just them before. It was interesting. Apparently, I introduced Karlene and her friends to the term "vagitarian". The topic came about because Kim and Rick own Subaru's, which is the type of car that Karen recently bought.

Jokingly, I mentioned to Karen that Kim and Rick are Lowell versions of us: Kim/Karen with the Subaru, me/Rick with the computer stuff. At least, I think Rick does stuff with computers. As a side note, a lot of Tommy's family (and Kim/Rick) thought Karen and Karlene could be sisters. That was weird.

I Suck At Apple Picking

2011-10-02T00:36:00.004-04:00

Today, Karen, our eighteen month old daughter (Briana) and I headed North. What's north? Well, if you are my BFF (Kerry)... apples... lots and lots of apples. Kerry was kind enough to organize a trip to go apple picking.

Unfortunately, I suck at apple picking. Among my finer memories of apple picking are the hour wait in line at Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stowe for a single bag of cider donuts. (And no, the wait was not worth it.) And of course, who could forget the blazing car on the highway that same day. By blazing, I don't mean the car was going at a fast speed. I mean the car was literally on fire. It was awesome.

Anyway, Kerry organized the trip to go to the Brooksby Farm located in Peabody, which was where we went last year. This time, joining us for the trip were my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea). Unfortunately, due to inclement weather, we actually decided against picking apples in the wet muddy orchards. We did, however, still go to the local store at the farm.

Andrea was a riot at the Brooksby Farm store. For anyone who has never been there, there are live animals there. It is a farm after all. There are llamas, emus, chickens, and pigs. Needless to say, the pigs... stink. Andrea was so grossed out by the smell of the pigs... or to be technical... the manure that the pigs seemed to be so comfortable around. She was so grossed out that she didn't think she could ever own a pet... or have a baby. I thought that was funny.

It turns out that the Brooksby Farm is actually quite close to where I work in Danvers. I only know this because after going to the farm, we headed to the local Target, which was at the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers. So next time I'm craving a bag full of apples, I can always stop on the way home from work.

Following Brooksby Farm and Target, all of us headed back to Kerry's in Salem where we had lunch at King's. For anyone curious, King's was delicious. I had their "Super Beef". Yum! And let me tell you, it is big... super even. I was also impressed with their chicken fingers. Those were good too.

All in all, it was a great day. Thank you BFF for planning a fun day. It was good to just hang out with friends.

I Suck At Chipotle

2011-10-02T00:21:00.004-04:00

By the end of the week, I am usually brain-drained. Work has been mentally exhausting for what seems like centuries. The last thing I want to do is think about what to make for dinner especially when our eighteen month old daughter (Briana) stands in front of you, rubs her tummy, and says "Yummy yummy". So on Friday, Karen and I decided to go to Chipotle for dinner.

Yep, I suck at Chipotle. Slowly, it appears that Chipotle is making it into our round of local haunts which currently includes Not Your Average Joe's and Sal's Pizza. As a side note, Karen and I were reminiscing recently about how we used to go to Chili's a lot when we were young whipper-snappers. How things have changed.

Anyway, Friday was also the first time I got to drive Karen's car, the Subaru Forester. Since Karen picked up the car on Monday from Planet Subaru in Hanover, she has been the sole driver of the vehicle... until now. Driving her car took some getting used to, but it was nice.

I Suck At Hearing Beeps

2011-10-01T23:58:00.003-04:00

For some time, Karen and I have been hearing this beeping sound from within our living room. The beeping is very faint. I am not sure if anyone has noticed the faint beeping other than Karen and I.

Regardless, the sound has been going on for a while. When we first heard the noise, we thought it was coming from outside of the house. We opened the window and listened for the noise. Nothing outside. We opened the door for a listen. No noise outside. I even ventured into our crawlspace. No sound from there either. The sound was coming from somewhere within the room.

Determined to figure out the source of the beeping, I shut down all of the electricity to our living room. No television. No cable. Nothing. We still heard the faint beeping noise. Thinking it was our fire alarm, I stood on a step stool and gave a listen. No beeping from the fire alarm.

Even more perplexed, I decided to step back for a while and give it some time. Luckily for me, my friend (Andrea) came over to hang out on Wednesday. She made some brownies and naturally we had to have ice cream with brownies! Yum! Anyway, because I suck at hearing beeps, I mentioned our dilemma to Andrea. Right away she suggested that it was possibly one of our daughter's (Briana) toys or something on her exersaucer.

And then, the light above my head went on. Why didn't I think of that? Needless to say, I filed Andrea's suggestion away for later. Why worry about it when ice cream and brownies were on the menu? It was actually a great night hanging out with Andrea. We ended up watching this new show together, called Suburgatory. It was actually a good show. I liked it.

Anyway, Thursday morning I took a long hard look at Briana's exersaucer. Sure enough, it was beeping. For anyone curious, it was the ladybug on the exersaucer that was beeping. Andrea is so smart.

I Suck At Planet Subaru

2011-09-28T00:50:00.003-04:00

A little over a week ago, the "check engine" light came on in Karen's car. After taking it to the local Firestone in Hingham, it was recommended that we no longer pour money into fixing the car as it would just not be worth it. So when we had time to spare, Karen and I looked into buying a car.

We actually worked rather quickly in finding a car. It almost reminded me of our initial Cape Cod vacation planning over three years ago which also had a very short window of opportunity to plan. I guess we just work well under tight deadlines.

Anyway, Karen wanted a car that was bigger than her original Saturn, but not too big. She wanted a car big enough to cart our eighteen month old daughter (Briana) around, along with her stuff. Plus, she wanted a car that could accommodate Briana's possible sibling. The only requirement: no minivan. Ultimately, we narrowed down our choices to two possibilities: the Honda CR-V or the Subaru Forester.

I was okay with either car because they both drove nicely. As Karen was going to be the primary driver, she decided upon the Subaru Forester. I think the heated seats may have influenced her decision.

Karen actually began the paperwork on Saturday to buy a Subaru Forester from Planet Subaru, which is located in Hanover. I had Briana duties and consequently couldn't make it. So because I suck at Planet Subaru, I had to complete the paperwork on Monday.

Needless to say, on Monday I completed the paperwork and we were finally able to pick up the Subaru Forester from Planet Subaru. It was nice to get rid of the old car. I think Karen was a little sad to trade in her Saturn. (For anyone curious, we do still have the photo that was taken at the Saturn dealership when Karen bought her Saturn. We looked so young.)

Anyway, it was a good day on Monday.

I Suck At Working On The House

2011-09-28T00:39:00.004-04:00

Sunday was basically spent working on the house. Too bad I suck at working on the house. Among the many home improvement projects still left on my "to-do" list is installing base molding.

Throughout our house there are rooms that still do not have any base molding installed. Among those rooms is the bedroom for my eighteen month old daughter (Briana). When Briana is awake, she is actively running around until she gets tired and naps. And when she naps, it's in her... bedroom. So being able to do any project in her room has been a little difficult.

On Sunday, Karen took Briana out for a little mother/daughter bonding. And by bonding, I mean attending my niece's (Kaleigh) hockey practice. So that gave me the opportunity to quickly do a few things in Briana's room involving a miter saw, wood, and a nail gun. To date, Briana's room is still not finished in terms of installed base molding, but at least it is closer to being complete.

I Suck At Getting New Glasses

2011-09-27T08:11:00.008-04:00

A few weeks ago, my eighteen month old ninja daughter (Briana) snatched the glasses off of my face. Within a matter of seconds, she managed to snap the part that goes over your ear off. Unfortunately, I do not have a spare set of eyeglasses. So since that time, I have been wearing those broken glasses, complete with a thick layer of duct tape holding the pieces together. (It's true. Duct tape solves everything.)

I guess you could say that I suck at getting new glasses. After all, the high-flying-ninja-eyeglass-breaking-event was over three weeks ago. All of that changed on Saturday when my new glasses finally arrived. And boy was I excited.

I was particularly excited, not because I wouldn't have to wear duct-taped glasses anymore (although there was some excitement for that), but because I was curious as to how the particular eyeglass would be like since I was ordering them online.

When Briana broke my eyeglasses, I started to think about the ROI involved with purchasing new glasses. For anyone curious, ROI stands for return on investment. ROI is a general financial term that describes the ratio of money gained/lossed to the money invested. And by no means am I a financial person.

Based on my memory (which is spotty at best), the cost of eyeglasses and frames could cost well over $300 at a retail store. So I started to think about what if, after buying a $300 pair of new glasses, my ninja daughter did the same thing again and broke those new glasses. (This is where I add the infamous quote: "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.")

Needless to say, it did not make sense to me to spend that much on eyeglasses especially with my curious daughter around. So I did some research into online stores for glasses. I ended up ordering glasses from Goggles4U, which was a reputable place.

And as luck would have it, I still had a copy of my prescription for the glasses that Briana broke. So after browsing through their website, I ordered a pair of glasses on sale for $13.98 ($8.99 plus $4.99 shipping). Sounds sketchy, right? After all, how could glasses be that cheap in comparison to retail stores?

Well, let me tell you... I was pleasantly surprised with the new glasses. I'd definitely order from them again. The new glasses came in a case, complete with a cleaning cloth and a screwdriver key chain. And to boot, the glasses actually looked nice. I was impressed.

Anyway, to celebrate the new glasses, Karen, Briana and I headed over to my favorite sister-in-law's (Janine) to celebrate. Okay, the reason was not to celebrate my glasses. Janine actually invited us over because she was having her BFF (Gretchen) over, as well as my friends (Jen and Bill). It was good seeing everyone. We even joked about fat pictures. It was funny.

I Suck At Deadliest Warrior

2011-09-21T23:42:00.005-04:00

Today, Karen, my eighteen month old daughter (Briana) and I had our weekly get together with my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea). For me, it was a welcomed break primarily because I have had a lot going on at work for what seems like an eternity. So any chance to focus on the finer things in life is good.

Marc and Kelley had recorded Deadliest Warrior for all of us to watch. Now, I suck at Deadliest Warrior. I'm afraid I haven't watched many, if any, of the match ups this season. Karen, especially, wanted to watch this particular match up because it was vampires versus zombies. I think she was more interested in who the show would use as their "experts". I think we were expecting a nerd fest.

And as a side note, I hope my BFF (Kerry) as well as the emergency management team of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts watched the episode. According to Kerry, who is into emergency management, there currently are no preparations for a zombie apocalypse in Massachusetts. So residents of the Commonwealth should beware in the event of a zombie apocalypse. There will be chaos.

Speaking of zombies, Marc and Kelley also got a new video game: Dead Island... about zombies. Zombie video games are always fun. As for the show, [SPOILER ALERT] the apex predators known as vampires won which I'm sure is sad news for the fans of zombie nation... and young teeny bopper girls who are members of Team Jacob.

Following the show, all of us also watched the season premiere of Tosh.0. The premiere was okay. There were some good chuckles in show. And as usual, it was good to hang out with everyone.

I Suck At Bertucci's

2011-09-21T00:18:00.013-04:00

Today has been a long day. Several days ago, the "check engine" light came on in Karen's car. After bringing the car to the local Firestone in Hingham, the mechanics essentially told us that the car was not worth fixing. In fact, they recommended that we begin looking for a new car. (As a side note, Firestone was very gracious in diagnosing the "check engine" light. They were fast and courteous and actually did not charge us for looking at the car. I would definitely recommend them to anyone.)

Anyway, today was the first day that I had to go to the office for work since Karen's car troubles. It would not have been so bad if it weren't for the fact that the office is located in Danvers whereas I live in Norwell. The commute is generally over an hour. It's a long commute as it is. And being essentially down to one car, we had to figure out a way to get me to and from work while also getting Karen to and from work.

Thankfully, my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) offered to drive Karen into work. I, however, would have to take a detour on my way home to pick Karen up at her place of employment in Boston. Needless to say, my commute home today took over two hours. And yes, my backside was a little numb from sitting in the car the whole time.

Following the commute, Karen and I dropped off my mother-in-law at Janine's. If you think I had a long day, my mother-in-law also had an equally long day. She watched over my eighteen month old (Briana) for about 10 hours. After that, she was scheduled to watch over my niece (Kaleigh) and nephew (PJ) for a couple of hours more while before Janine returned home.

All in all, I would say it was a long day all around. So what better way to end the day than to have dinner together with my in-laws? As suggested by my father-in-law, we ordered pizza from Bertucci's. Now, I suck at Bertucci's. I have not had pizza from Bertucci's in quite some time. And of course, the pizza was very delicious (as were the rolls).

Not having planned anything for dinner, pizza hit the spot. I must have devoured half of the pizza. I was tired. I was hungry. And it was good. Plus, I got to see my niece and nephew who I haven't seen in awhile. My bad influence for the day was teaching PJ that the best part of school... is leaving school.

I Suck At Supper

2011-09-21T00:17:00.004-04:00

On Sunday, Karen's parents invited us over for supper. Now, I suck at supper. I especially suck at calling supper... supper. After all, supper in Karen's family is generally at 1pm on a Sunday afternoon. I find it rather odd that Karen's family calls it "supper" because to me, a meal around 1pm seems more like "lunch" than "supper". Plus, I am guessing there is a reason why it's called Sunday brunch instead of Sunday brupper.

Anyway, "supper" was delicious. My mother-in-law roasted a chicken, complete with vegetables and cranberry sauce. My eighteen month old daughter (Briana) was quite the fan of cranberry sauce. Of course, I could probably devour a whole can by myself. Too bad there was high fructose corn syrup in it, because it tastes so yummy.

And for anyone curious, Sunday was actually the first time Briana had asparagus too. Interestingly enough, I did not notice any distinct smells while changing her wet diaper.

Regardless, it was a good time at my in-laws.

I Suck At CW Shows

2011-09-16T23:57:00.007-04:00

I'm a sucker for television. This week, the CW was premiering two new shows for the season: Ringer and The Secret Circle. Now, I suck at CW shows. I just couldn't resist watching the two new shows.

Ringer, which premiered on Tuesday, was a must watch for me. After all, the show was Sarah Michelle Gellar's return to network television since Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Being a fan of the greatest show ever on television, I naturally had to watch it... or at least give it a try. I must say, the show was intriguing.

The show is about a recovering addict who witnesses a murder. She flees witness protection to meet up with her twin sister to repair their broken relationship. Everything seems good until her sister mysteriously disappears during a boat trip. And naturally, the addict panics and assumes her sister's identity. From there, hilarity ensues. Just kidding. Actually, the addict soon finds out that her sister has been hiding some secrets of her own.

Like I said earlier, the show was interesting. I'll give it a shot. While watching the debut of Ringer, I got sucked into the CW commercials. The commercial that sucked me in... The Secret Circle.

So naturally, I had to watch The Secret Circle when it premiered on Thursday. The Secret Circle has some of my prerequisites for watching shows: 1) a blonde; and 2) high school. Just kidding.

Apparently, the show is based on the book series of the same name by L. J. Smith. The gist of the series is that a teenager moves to the tiny town of Chance Harbor, Washington to be raised by her grandmother after her mother passes away in an accidental fire. While in Chance Harbor, she quickly meets new friends and learns that her family, and her friends' family, have a secret... that they all come from a lineage of witches. And hilarity ensues. Just kidding again.

I thought the episode was pretty good. I'll most likely watch the rest of the season. One of the main reasons I was even interested in the show (aside from the prerequisites, of course) was that the show was created by Kevin Williamson, who was the person responsible for Scream and Dawson's Creek. (I'm still on the fence about the Vampire Diaries, which was developed by Kevin Williamson. That show is also based on a book series by L. J. Smith.)

All in all, it was a good week of television. Hopefully the rest of the season will be good.

I Suck At Sal's Pizza

2011-09-16T23:31:00.002-04:00

With our seemingly busy schedule, it has been some time since Karen and I ordered pizza from Sal's Pizza located in Norwell. I guess you can say I suck at Sal's Pizza.

Today, however, we decided to order pizza for dinner. For both Karen and I, it was a long day. And since both of us were feeling lazy in regards to cooking dinner, we decided to order take out.

Back in my heyday, I could probably polish off Sal's 19" pizza by myself. These days, I'd be lucky enough to eat even half of that now. Luckily, my parents just so happened to have been over today to watch over our seventeen month old daughter (Briana). So we invited them to stay for dinner as well.

Anyway, Sal's pizza was a great way to end the day. For anyone curious, we ordered the BBQ chicken pizza. It was good. The pizza was especially good because it was free! In my book, a free dinner is always a good dinner.

It turns out that Sal's made the wrong pizza for our takeout. Realizing that they made a mistake, the employee apologized and promptly made a new pizza. In addition, he realized that it would be a wait for the new pizza. As a result, he gave us the new pizza for free.

I was pretty excited to get the pizza for free. After all, these days it seems like the art of quality customer service is a thing of the past. So I was pleasantly surprised. It definitely makes me want to eat at Sal's from now on. Needless to say, it was a great way to end the long day.

I Suck At Cookouts

2011-09-11T22:53:00.008-04:00

Today, Karen, my seventeen month old daughter (Briana) and I went to Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin. On the agenda for today: a cookout. Now, I suck at cookouts. My friends (Renee and Jeff) have an annual cookout every September. Interestingly enough, I just found out the reason for the annual cookout today. Renee and Jeff have a cookout in September every year to celebrate their dog's birthday.

I don't remember the last time I visited Renee and Jeff in Lynn. Karen thinks it may have been over two years ago. I know I missed last year's cookout because the cookout was scheduled on my son's (Braden) birthday. So two years may be correct.

In addition to seeing Renee and Jeff, the cookout was also our first meeting of my friend's (Christine) new significant other. And naturally, Christine wanted her friends there for their opinion of the guy. Personally, I have always found the act of soliciting opinions about the new significant other ridiculous. For starters, it doesn't matter what I personally think because I am not the one dating the person. And secondly, even if I did not like the person, the person soliciting my opinion does not want to hear anything negative even if they say they do. So it's a rather pointless act in my opinion to ask.

Needless to say, the cookout was good. Christine's date was interesting. Briana, for the most part, was good during the cookout. So all in all, it was a good way to end the day. And for anyone curious, Lowe's did end up delivering our new washing machine in the morning. So I can wash clothes again. Yay!

I Suck At Celebrating My Friend's Birthday

2011-09-11T22:14:00.006-04:00

Yesterday, Karen and I celebrated my friend's (Marc) birthday. Unfortunately, I suck at celebrating my friend's birthday. Marc's birthday was actually earlier in the week, but we decided to celebrate it on Saturday. The theme for the celebration was Southern comfort food.

Partaking in the festivities for the night were my friends (Kelley, Andrea, Cass, Ellen, their baby daughter Elyse, Garv, Leeann, and Steve) and my BFF (Kerry). It was definitely good to see everyone again. Kelley, as usual, did a great job of cooking most of the comfort foods for the party. In my opinion, Kelley makes a lot of great tasting food. To this day, I still think she makes the best chocolate chip cookies of everyone I know. Bar none.

Anyway, there were a lot of laughs yesterday. Probably one of the most comical parts of the night was our conversation about grey hair. As my friends and I are getting older, it should come as no surprise that we are getting grey hairs. Apparently, however, some of us are getting them in places where the sun doesn't shine. Karen's reaction to the discussion was priceless.

Among other comical topics of conversation were body odor and the use of deodorant. It only seemed like a natural segueway since we were already talking about the human body anyway.

All in all, it was a great enjoyable night. The only blemish of the night was that Lowe's did not call us like they had told us they would. Prior to arriving at Marc and Kelley's, Karen and I purchased a new washer at Lowe's. As a result, Lowe's was supposed to call us to confirm delivery instructions.

Our previous washer just stopped working on Friday. Amazingly, that old washer lasted over nine years for us. Karen and I inherited that old washer from Karen's cousin (Karlene) and Karlene's husband (Tommy). I guess that is proof that there is a lot to like about Lowell. I actually have no idea how old the washer was before we inherited it, but it was solid. They definitely don't make them like they used to. That's for sure.

Washer aside, the night was great.

I Suck At Breaking Glasses

2011-09-07T21:36:00.003-04:00

I suck at breaking glasses. Luckily, my seventeen month daughter (Briana) is not so bad at it. After all, she broke my glasses today.

Like I am apt to do, I was holding Briana in my arms. Like a ninja, she snatched the glasses right off of my face. From there, she started bending the frame. The next thing I know... SNAP! It all happened in mere seconds.

The temple splintered off. For anyone curious, the temple is the part of the eyeglass that is attached to the hinge. It runs along the side of your head and connects to the temple tips which wraps around your ears.

I now have a pair of broken glasses. I considered taping the temple to the hinge with rolls upon rolls of tape, but I don't think it would hold. So I guess I'll be visiting an eyeglass store in the very near future. Laser corrective eye surgery is looking better and better now.

I Suck At Celebrating My Son's Birthday

2011-09-06T12:27:00.007-04:00

Monday was Labor day. In addition to honoring our workers, Monday also happened to be my son's (Braden) birthday. Too bad I suck at celebrating my son's birthday. Had Braden survived, he would have turned three on Monday. Happy birthday Braden!

I still miss Braden. In some ways, I suppose I should consider myself lucky. Although Braden only lived for a week, that time is more than some people get. So I'm thankful to have known my son for that one week.

My seventeen month old daughter (Briana) never got to meet Braden. Unfortunately, she will only know her brother through pictures and videos. It's too bad because I think Braden would have adored Briana (and vice versa). Or perhaps that may be a good thing. If Braden is anything like his sister, he'd be just as curious and then I'd have two mischievous little children running around the house and wreaking havoc everywhere instead of one.

Needless to say, I'll never know what life would be like raising Braden. I can only imagine the great things that he would have done had he survived.

Anyway for the past two years, Karen and I have been getting an ice cream cake to celebrate Braden's birthday. This year was no different. I think Briana may have thought the cake was for her because she seemed quite exited about the ice cream cake with three candles on it.

The ice cream cake was good. It was a nice way to end the low key day which consisted of a family outing to the cemetery and then to Norwell's 4th Annual Picnic on the Common. For anyone curious, the Picnic on the Common was actually fun. There was a magician who was great with the kids. There was a band. There were animals. There was free lemonade (Yum!). It was nice.

All things considered, it was a good day for celebrating Braden's birthday. Again, happy birthday Braden! Daddy still and will forever love you. I'll never forget you, Little B.

I Suck At Visiting My Friend

2011-09-06T11:31:00.039-04:00

I think I have become quite "South Shore" with my old age. I never used to be that way. Quincy just seems far these days for me, which is sad because Quincy is really not that far from where I live. For anyone curious, I live in Norwell. If Quincy seems far now, you can only imagine how far the city of Boston may seem to me.

In keeping up with the Boston-themed weekend (as I visited Karen's Nana at a nursing home in Boston on Saturday), my friend (Hot Amy) invited us over to her new place on Sunday. Hot Amy and her husband (Mark) live on Beacon Hill in Boston. Since getting married, they have been working on getting their apartment "ready" for visitors. So for the second straight day, Karen, my seventeen month old daughter (Briana), and I headed into Boston. Luckily, I suck at visiting my friend. And just so you know, carrying a seventeen month old while walking up a hill... not as easy as you think.

It was a good visit. I really haven't talked with Hot Amy in probably well over a year. Granted, I went to her wedding and the annual cookout that her parents have on the fourth of July, but those times were more of a salutatory conversation of "congratulations" or "hi" or something like that. I don't really remember the last time I hung around and just joked around with her.

And truthfully, I didn't get a chance to do much of that at her apartment. As is common these days, either Karen or I have to make sure Briana is not getting into things when she shouldn't. So one of us always has to keep an eye out for her. I've gotten pretty used to it from my weekly get together with my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea). Needless to say, I spent much of the time cooped up with Briana and Hot Amy's sister's (Terri) daughter in one of the rooms watching them as they screamed out to the pedestrians below.

When I did make it out of the room, though, it was nice to laugh it up with my friends (Jen and Andrea) who were also there. And I know some of you may be curious, Andrea has just completed the third season of Friday Night Lights. But all in all, it was a good time. I even got to see my "mom" (Shirley) again. There is a story to that, of course, but I'll divulge it at some other time.

I Suck At Celebrating Nana's Birthday

2011-09-06T07:55:00.022-04:00

Due to the tropical storm known as Irene last weekend, the celebration for Nana's birthday was pushed back to Saturday. I guess you could say I suck at celebrating Nana's birthday.

Nana seemed pleasantly surprised to see everyone on Saturday. After all, I'm sure she doesn't get too many visitors on a given Saturday at the nursing home. Nana was probably more excited to see her great grandchildren than the rest of us. Besides my seventeen month old daughter (Briana), my niece (Kaleigh) and nephew (PJ) were there to put a smile on her face.

And luckily, Briana was good during her outing to the nursing home. She definitely enjoys seeing her cousins and her favorite auntie (Janine) and uncle (PJ). I think she may have actually tried her first juice box too on Saturday complements of her auntie. I found that particularly interesting only because lately whenever Briana drinks anything whether it is from a cup or a straw... the liquid goes into her mouth... and shortly dribbles all out of her mouth. But nope, not the juice box. She sucked that juice down with no problem.

Needless to say, I think Nana had a good time. Happy birthday Nana!

I Suck At Richardson's Ice Cream

2011-09-02T09:49:00.008-04:00

Last night, my coworkers and I went to Richardson's Ice Cream, located in Middleboro. It was a non-sanctioned after work activity that my boss thought would be fun. I guess it was sort of a team building exercise. Too bad I suck at Richardson's Ice Cream.

For anyone curious, I had the apple crisp ice cream. It was good. I would have preferred a little more crisp, but all in all it was good. I would stay say, however, that my favorite ice cream is Kimball Farm in Westford.

Speaking of Kimball Farm, Richardson's also has other activities beside devouring delicious ice cream. Among the other activities at Richardson's was a mini golf course, a driving range, and batting cages. Oh, and cows! Live pungent cows.

One of my coworkers (Jeff) had the grand idea of having a home run derby at the batting cages. Thus, several of us (me included) headed off to the batting cages. I figured, why not? It's definitely been some time since I swung a bat. The last time was in college, which was well over fifteen years ago.

Needless to say, I'm old. For starters, I stopped wearing the batting helmet for fear of contagious diseases. I originally considered it until one of my other coworkers (Jonathan) jokingly mentioned lice. So no helmet it was.

My first time in the batting cage was not so memorable. I must have missed every single pitch that came flying over the plate. Granted, I was using a little league bat because the one adult bat that was there was being used by Jonathan. For anyone curious, swinging a little league bat is harder than one would think. The bat is a lot lighter and a lot shorter. It felt like swinging a fly swatter at the balls.

The first time in the cage was very humbling. I even ended up getting bruises on my hand from gripping the tiny little league bat. Things, however, did get a lot better when I switched bats with Jonathan for my last go around. In my opinion, Jonathan won bragging rights for the home run derby. I think it's the bat.

All in all, it was a great time. It was fun to hang out with my coworkers, which is something I don't normally do since I work from home a lot of the time.

I Suck At Oral-B Satin Floss

2011-08-31T15:59:00.009-04:00

This week at today's neighborhood drugstore (CVS), Oral-B Satin Floss is on sale. The floss is on sale for a whopping $1.99, with CVS providing $1 back in the form of an extra care buck (ECB). Now, I suck at Oral-B satin floss.

It just so happens that I have a $1 coupon for Oral-B loss that expires today. Using my genetic predisposition for mathematics, I figured that the floss would end up being free... and by free I mean the cost of Massachusetts sales tax on a taxable item worth $1.99. I like to use the term "free" instead of saying "state sales tax" because "free" is shorter and is only one syllable. I'm lazy that way.

Needless to say, hurray for free dental hygiene!

I Suck At Cocoa Puffs

2011-08-31T11:23:00.008-04:00

I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs! Just kidding. Truth be told, I suck at Cocoa Puffs. In fact, I very rarely eat sugar cereals anymore. Part of that reason of course happens to be because I am married to a dietitian.

Yesterday, however, Karen and I did the unthinkable. We got ourselves... not one, but two boxes of Cocoa Puffs cereal. Of course, there was a reason behind it. This week at Shaw's, there was a Box Tops for Education promotion. Granted, our daughter (Briana) is only seventeen months and is not even close to being ready for school. Briana hasn't even learned how to share yet. Plus, she's very pushy. (So we donate the Box Tops.)

Regardless, the promotion stated that if you purchased 10 advertised items that were also part of the Box Tops for Education, there would be an additional discount taken off the price of each item. The catch was that you had to buy 10 items. Luckily for us, we happened to have coupons for Cocoa Puffs which were part of the promotion.

Anyway, thanks to Shaw's and their coupon doubling policy for coupons under $1, each box of Cocoa Puffs cereal ended up being free. Hooray! At the time, Karen rolled her eyes at me when she saw me cutting those sugar cereal coupons. Who's rolling their eyes now? Just kidding.

Needless to say, Karen is still not a big fan of sugar cereals. She is, however, more apt to purchase them especially when they are free. Yay for me!

I Suck At Work

2011-08-30T08:52:00.018-04:00

I suck at work. During the normal course of the work day, I very rarely get to email or instant message anymore. And the instant messaging that I actually do is with other coworkers about certain projects. So it came as a surprise to me yesterday when one of my former coworkers (Mike) from my previous company sent me a message via instant messenger.

Mike and I used to work in town together. At the company, we were the one of the few people who shared the same first names; Dave being the other common first name. Anyway, I left that company over three years ago. Mike, apparently, remained there... until recently.

Anyway, the gist of Mike's message was that he was finally leaving that company in town. And he was quite excited to embark on his new endeavor. Naturally, I congratulated him on his new opportunity. I was then surprised when Mike thanked me for everything I had done for him.

I was particularly touched by his actions because... well, to be honest, I never gave much thought about how my actions at work impacted others. Apparently, Mike had considered me a mentor at one time and thanked me for helping him get where he was at the company, which he is currently leaving. In my opinion, I did not do anything. Mike got to where he was based on his own merits. I only showed him the possibilities.

Regardless, his actions got me thinking that perhaps I do more than I realize. After all, my friend (Carlos) referred to me as "the Doctor" at my previous employer. I never knew why Carlos called me that, but perhaps it may have to do with how I carry myself, not just at work but in life in general. The thought that I do make an impact, enough to receive an instant message out of the blue, actually brought a smile to my face yesterday.

I Suck At Friday Night Lights

2011-08-29T09:47:00.004-04:00

With all the hoopla about tropical storm Irene, I decided to stay home on Sunday. Sadly, I might have gone a little stir crazy.

After doing some house cleaning, I made the decision to watch Friday Night Lights until I lost power from the storm. Interestingly enough, I never lost power yesterday. So, it was one big Friday Night Lights marathon for me. Hence, I suck at Friday Night Lights.

Anyway, I have been watching Friday Night Lights at a good clip, especially considering that I was on the fifth and final season yesterday. Needless to say, I finished the series yesterday.

Truth be told, I did enjoy the series. I am not sure, however, that I would be as passionate about the show like my friend (Garv) and/or my BFF (Kerry). But yeah, it was an enjoyable show to watch, particularly watching it at times with Kerry and my friend (Andrea). I probably enjoyed that part the most.

I Suck At Celebrating My Friend's Birthday

2011-08-29T07:59:00.022-04:00

Within my circle of friends, August begins the birthday celebration cycle. The cycle generally runs from August to January. This past Saturday, Karen, our seventeen month old daughter (Briana), and I celebrated my friend's (Cass) birthday. Too bad I suck at celebrating my friend's birthday.

For his celebration, Cass wanted to have a peanut butter themed pot luck. For anyone curious, the previous year's theme was balls. I'll have to admit, I do look forward to these pot lucks. In particular, I look forward to Cass's themes because they are peculiar and interesting.

Needless to say, I had to turn to my friend Google for possible recipes involving peanut butter. What I ultimately decided upon was southern peanut soup. I figured the item was different. And to me, I was a bit curious myself as to how the soup would taste.

It turns out, Cass really enjoyed the soup, which was good since it was his birthday celebration after all. Also joining in on the festivities for the night were my friends (Ellen, Marc, Kelley, Andrea, Garv, Aimee and her two children) and my BFF (Kerry).

I had a good time hanging out with everyone. With Briana running around, it did make it difficult to fully participate in some conversations. Either Karen or I would have to make sure Briana was not doing things that she shouldn't have been doing. And naturally, that meant that one of us had to be with our curious daughter while the other one was hanging out. That seems to be commonplace these days.

One the conversations that I was privy to was about Verizon, in particular the union, because Ellen recently returned back from maternity leave to go back to Verizon shortly after the strike ended. For anyone curious, Ellen is not in the union. So it was good that she was able to return after the strike, as opposed to working long hours on her first few days back to work.

It should come as no surprise that I am not a big supporter of unions. I think in the past, unions did serve a purpose which was to stop the exploitation of workers. And yes, there are cases that workers were grossly mistreated in the past.

In today's society, however, I fail to see why unions are still needed. For example, I fail to see how the Verizon union whose members receive full medical benefits (ie. don't have to pay for health insurance) are being exploited. If they are being exploited, then I would say a good chunk of all of the workers in America are being exploited because they have to pay for health insurance. It makes no sense, unless of course you happen to be in a union.

On a side note, during the Verizon strike I remember seeing someone outside of a Verizon store picketing with a sign that read "We have families". I thought that was pretty selfish closed-minded thinking, because I thought that the people who have to cover the work while the union is on strike... also have families, I'm sure. Of course, I'm sure that reasoning would have been lost on that particular person who was picketing.

Needless to say, I am not a big fan of unions. Luckily, the other topics of conversation that I was a part of were not as political. Among them were Friday Night Lights, of course. Garv and Kerry seem to be hardcore fans of the show. Of course, Garv is a hardcore fan of Taylor Swift too, so take what you will from that.

All in all, it was a good time seeing everyone.

I Suck At VO5 Shampoo

2011-08-24T23:00:00.005-04:00

Before heading off to hang out with my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) for our usual weekly get together, Karen, our seventeen month old daughter (Briana), and I made a brief pit stop at today's neighborhood drugstore: CVS.

On the shopping list: VO5 Shampoo. Now, I suck at VO5 shampoo. Karen and I generally buy whatever shampoo or conditioner is on sale. I don't have a lot of hair as it is, so the brand of shampoo doesn't really matter much to me.

It just so happens that this week, VO5 shampoo is on sale at CVS for a whopping $0.77. That's not a bad price. Luckily for me, it also happens to be the case that we had a coupon, complements of CVS's own big "red machine", for $2 off when 2 shampoos or conditioners are purchased.

Needless to say, it didn't require any of my genetically predisposed mathematical skills to realize that this meant that the VO5 shampoo would be free this week. And as an added bonus, the coupon would result in an overage to be used on any other product. In our case, we used the overage on candy, of course! Yum!

All in all, it was a good shopping experience.

I Suck At Fixing The Toilet

2011-08-24T15:49:00.005-04:00

On Monday morning, Karen woke me up to tell me that she thought the toilet was leaking. Sure enough, there did seem to be water coming from beneath the toilet bowl. Too bad I suck at fixing the toilet.

Well, truth be told, I hate fixing toilets. It's not that I can't fix them. I just find plumbing in general to be dirty. And of course, when you're dealing with an instrument of human waste disposal, the thought of plumbing only becomes dirtier.

Anyway, fixing the toilet was not that bad. As the water was coming from beneath the toilet bowl, I figured the issue was that the wax ring needed replacing. So off to Home Depot I went to get the wax ring (with flange).

As a result, I turned off the water to the toilet, removed it from its current location, and scraped off the old wax ring that was on the flange. I hate removing the old wax ring. Visually, the wax ring is so not appealing. It's like a brown glob of wax. I don't even like touching it with gloves on. Perhaps I have texture issues.

When all was said and done, I reassembled the toilet on top of the new wax ring. So far, so good. After a few flushes there is no more leaks. Yay. Sadly, the toilet was the highlight of my day.

I Suck At The Cheesecake Factory

2011-08-23T08:08:00.010-04:00

Sunday was a day of seeing people who I haven't seen in awhile. The day began with lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Now, I suck at the Cheesecake Factory. I haven't been to the Cheesecake Factory in awhile. I would not have even gone Sunday were it not for the fact that Karen was meeting up with only my friend (Christine).

Normally, Karen meets up with her friends at the Cheesecake Factory in Burlington and have sort of a girls day out. But on Sunday, it was just Christine. As a result, I got the lucky invite to dine out at the Cheesecake Factory located in Braintree instead. Why go all the way to Burlington when you don't have to, right?

Needless to say, lunch at the Cheesecake Factory was delicious. In order to get my DHA, I had the Fish and Chips. Yum! It was definitely good to see Christine again. I don't remember the last time I saw her, proof that it has been a long while. Christine seemed happy. She was starting a new job. As well, she had a date later in the week. So lunch was a celebration of sorts.

Following lunch, all of us headed into the mall for some shopping. Interestingly enough, there was some commotion just as we were leaving because someone was having a seizure or stroke in the women's room. I have witnessed my shares of seizures. Well, I have only seen two, but they are definitely not fun to watch, especially since you really can't do anything for them other than to make sure the person doesn't hurt themselves.

Anyway, shopping went well. Christine ended up buying my daughter (Briana) a little ball from the Disney store. She said it was a birthday present since she missed Briana's birthday. In case anyone is curious, Briana is seventeen months old. So it has been at least over seven months that I have not seen Christine.

All in all, it was definitely good catching up with Christine. And of course, our shopping was not done after seeing Christine. Karen and I also went to pick up a potty for Briana from Babies R Us. Briana is gonna potty like it's 19-99...

And like I mentioned earlier, Sunday was a day of seeing people who I haven't seen in awhile. Continuing with that trend, Karen, Briana and I went to visit my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and my favorite brother-in-law (PJ) later that night.

As always, Briana had a blast seeing her auntie and uncle, and her cousins (PJ and Kaleigh). So all in all, it was a good way to end the day.

I Suck At Chores

2011-08-23T07:37:00.016-04:00

In addition to being my friend's (Hot Amy) birthday, Saturday was a day of chores. (Happy birthday Hot Amy!) For some time, my house has been a mess. I can usually let the house cleaning go for quite awhile. After all, I have a higher tolerance for chaos and disorder than Karen.

Unfortunately, Saturday I felt like I had to bring some order back into the house. After all, our lawn is overgrowing with weeds; Our vegetable garden is a tangled mess; Our dishes were dirty; We had loads of laundry; and with a seventeen month old (Briana) leaving crumbs everywhere, our entire house needed to be vacuumed; Too bad I suck at doing chores.

Needless to say, with a long list of to-do's, Karen and I started early. We can generally accomplish more when Briana is asleep. When Briana the Energizer bunny is awake, she gets into everything and keeps going and going and going... Hence, the disarray.

It turned out to be a very productive day. Everything on the to-do list was accomplished, which felt like a relief. Granted, the cleanliness did not last long as Briana ran amok when she was awake. But it was fun while it lasted.

And naturally, to unwind after everything, I began Friday Night Lights season 4. My friend (Andrea) was kind enough to drop off the dvds as she and Karen were going out for Hot Amy's birthday celebration.

I Suck At Hanging Pictures

2011-08-18T15:35:00.009-04:00

With my energizer bunny/seventeen month old daughter (Briana) running rampant around the house while she is awake, I don't really get to accomplish many home improvement projects. In general, I have to wait till she either takes a nap or goes to bed before I can begin any project.

As a result, I decided to hang some pictures around the house last night. Too bad I suck at hanging pictures. It's not that I can't hang pictures. I just get very meticulous when hanging them.

For Mother's Day, Karen received two black and white portraits of Briana. The pictures were taken by some fancy schmancy professional photographer in Hingham whose pictures have appeared in some magazine or something. The idea was obviously the brainchild of my favorite sister-in-law (Janine), who happens to live in Hingham.

Needless to say, Karen really enjoyed the pictures of Briana. And what is there not to enjoy when you think your own offspring/minion is the cutest thing in the world? Unfortunately, Karen wanted to wait on getting frames for the pictures because she wanted my input. And so we waited... and waited... and waited. Time just sort of passed by at a pretty quick rate, which seems commonplace when raising a seventeen month old.

The next thing we know, it's tax free weekend in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Figuring that we might as well save on the state sales tax, we remembered to go out and purchase frames for those Mother's Day pictures.

Tax free weekend was last weekend. Today is Thursday. So it took a few days to actually hang the pictures up. And naturally, with my meticulous nature, it took me quite some time to even assemble the frames last night and mark the spot on the walls to where the pictures were going to be hung.

So there I was last night, with mounds upon mounds of tools sprawled out across the floor after Briana went to bed. I had the laser level going. I had a regular torpedo level. Hammer. Nails. Pliers. Screwdriver. Tape measure. Pencil. And interestingly enough, I used them all. After all, attaching the mounting bracket to a frame is not as easy as you would think because those nails are tiny. Holding the tiny nails in place while you pound them in can be difficult.

Anyway, when all was said and done, the two black and white portraits of Briana were hung by our stairs. Briana was quite excited to see them this morning when I carried her down the stairs for breakfast. She gasped and looked at me with that surprised/excited expression. She's such a ham.

For that matter, Karen enjoyed the pictures too last night. Sure it only took a few months to actually get the pictures hanging, but it was worth it just to see Briana's expression.

I Suck At Not Your Average Joe's

2011-08-17T10:23:00.008-04:00

It has been quite some time since Karen and I (and our seventeen month old daughter, Briana) grabbed a bite to eat at Not Your Average Joe's. I love Not Your Average Joe's. In general, I find the food there very delicious.

I guess you could say that I suck at Not Your Average Joe's because I haven't been there in awhile. Yesterday to my surprise, Karen asked if we wanted to go out for dinner to Not Your Average Joe's. She didn't have to ask me twice.

Apparently, the occasion was due to the fact that Karen received a gift card from one of her friends (Shirley) and current boss of our friend (Hot Amy) for helping out with a family matter. It was very nice and very thoughtful of Shirley. So thank you, Shirley!

Anyway, it felt good to go to the restaurant again. Sadly, our favorite waitperson (Renee) was not working yesterday. It has been some time. So hopefully Renee still works there.

Nevertheless, I had a good time at Not Your Average Joe's and the food did not disappoint. One of the specials on the menu was "free form lasagna". Now I normally wouldn't order lasagna at a restaurant. Intrigued by the term "free form", I decided to give the lasagna a try.

The lasagna was absolutely delicious. I was expecting a big glob of lasagna ingredients on a plate. (Hence, the "free form".) For anyone curious, I had actually envisioned a high school lunch lady scooping a big heaping mound of slop and plopping it on a tray. But I was so wrong. The lasagna was actually shaped like a rectangle... on a rectangular plate. The free form lasagna almost reminded me of a crepe or wrap folded over. I thought it was quite visually appealing, and it tasted great. It was chock full of vegetables and spinach. Yum!

Briana even enjoyed parts of the lasagna. Of course, she seems to enjoy eating anything edible... or non-edible for that matter. Needless to say, I would definitely recommend the free from lasagna.

All in all, it was good to get out of the house and enjoy dinner at Not Your Average Joe's yesterday. Thank you again, Shirley!

I Suck At Buying A Grill

2011-08-15T14:29:00.016-04:00

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts had a tax free weekend this past weekend. In the past, Karen and I have generally waited for this weekend to make what is for us... a big ticket item purchase. This weekend was no different.

On the agenda for this weekend: buying a new grill. Now, I suck at buying a grill. Our previous grill had to be replaced because the knobs literally melted off. I have no idea how that happened. One fateful day last year, when I was cooking on the grill, I went to turn the knob that controlled the flame intensity... and the knob oozed right off. It was interesting.

Thankfully, my town recycles metal. In the meantime, I have been without a grill for what seems like an eternity. It has been especially difficult during this summer because Karen and I generally grill a lot of food.

Granted, I could have purchased a grill at any time since that knob incident. But for anyone who doesn't know me, I like to analyze things... sometimes a little bit too much. (Not to quote my favorite brother-in-law, but "that's what I do".) So naturally, I looked into various grills. And for anyone curious, my previous grill was a present, so I did not need to do any research for it.

For the longest time, I kept debating about getting a Weber grill. Every review I had come across mentioned Weber as being one of the best manufacturers of grills. The products are supposed to be well-built. The down side, of course, is cost. Weber grills are generally more expensive than other grills. I am guessing it is because of its quality brand.

And naturally, I kept my eyes open for any sales on Weber grills this past year. Unfortunately, I never found a deal. So with the upcoming tax free weekend, I decided to just bite the bullet and buy a Weber grill.

I decided to purchase the Weber grill at the local Curry Hardware only because they had the best deal going. They were giving an additional 6.25% discount on all items purchased during the tax free weekend. Plus, I had a $5 reward coupon that came in the mail. Thus, it only made sense to get the grill at Curry Hardware.

So off I went to purchase the Weber grill. Unfortunately, I came to learn that Curry Hardware actually assembles the grills on site. As a result, when you buy the grill, you take the grill right from the store already assembled. Normally, that's not a bad thing, because who really likes to waste time assembling a grill? For me, however, buying the grill already assembled was a problem because I drive a tiny car. As it turns out, even buying the grill in its original manufactured box would have been a problem for my tiny car.

Unable to find an able-bodied friend or relative who owned an SUV or a truck, I then debated about the Weber grill. I returned home to mull over the available options.

After much deliberation, I returned to Curry Hardware to get the smaller portable Weber grill known as the Q 200. The Q 200 may not have been the hulking stand alone behemoth like the other grills, but at least it fit in my car. And realistically, I don't grill for that many people. So the size of the Q 200 probably is enough for my family anyway.

And as it turns out, when I was putting the Weber Q 200 in the trunk of my car after the purchase, some random stranger approached me and complemented me on the grill. He was absolutely in love with the Q 200 and told me how great the product was. I thought it was pretty random, and nice at the same time. After all, it eased my mind to know that I was getting a quality product, even if it was not what I had originally set out to purchase. Of course, this random stranger could have been planted in the parking lot just for these occasions...

All in all, it was a good tax free weekend. And now I can grill again! Sweet!

I Suck At Storage Wars

2011-08-13T22:54:00.015-04:00

Friday was the final beach day of my Onset vacation. I have never been one for hanging out at the beach. This year was different because I wanted to enjoy every moment with my sixteen month old daughter (Briana) at the beach. As it was her first time at the beach, I wanted to be there for her.

Anyway, it was a good beach day. I don't think Briana has quite grasped the concept of the beach yet. She seemed more interested in the sea gulls, the life guard tower, and sand. I, of course, was more interested in catching fish, making sand angels, and building sand castles. It was mission accomplished for me. Interestingly enough, there were a group of children who visited the beach and they likewise had similar interests in catching fish and building sand castles. I don't know what that says about me. All in all though, I would say Briana enjoyed her week at the beach.

Following the beach, I got sucked into a television series thanks to my friend (Andrea). Andrea introduced the A&E show, Storage Wars to Karen and me. Now, I suck at Storage Wars. I have never watched an episode of the series. I had seen commercials for the show but was never really interested because I thought... it looked stupid. After all, how entertaining can a show be about people who bid on storage lockers?

To my surprise, the show sucked me right in. Of course, it didn't help that on Friday, there was a marathon of back to back episodes on. It was insane as to how hooked I was on the show. Granted, I may have been a little dehydrated and not thinking straight due to the sun, but I just sat there on the couch watching episode after episode of Storage Wars. Thanks Andrea!

I Suck At The Lobster Pot

2011-08-12T01:04:00.004-04:00

Thursday was a day of dining out.

In the morning, my friends (Marc, Kelley, Andrea), my BFF (Kerry), Karen, my sixteen month old daughter (Briana) and I went out for breakfast as a group. We haven't done breakfast together this week, so we figured that Thursday was as good a day as any.

The local place we went for breakfast was called Persy's Place. To be honest, I was not that impressed with Persy's Place. I had ordered the pancake sampler, choosing the blueberry pancake as my pancake. I thought the blueberry pancake just did not taste good. In fact, I enjoyed Karen's chocolate chip pancake much better. At first, I thought it was just me. But it turns out that Kerry was not too impressed either with her order, which was a short stack of blueberry pancakes. Maybe it's the blueberry pancakes. All in all, I was disappointed with Persy's Place.

Following breakfast, all of us basically headed off to the beach for some fun in the sun. Sadly, I think I may have had too much fun because I think I may have burned the top of my back. I have that stiff tight feeling around my shoulders. Bummer.

Anyway, Kerry's friend (Steve) was able to join us for some beach fun. Steve was able to come down after work and hang out. I think ever since the photo scavenger hunt that I organized last year, Marc, Kelley and Andrea have grown pretty fond of Steve. Nothing brings a group together like taking silly pictures, right?

Naturally, we decided to go out for dinner. Among the reasons for the group dinner was that Kelley had to get lobster. I'm not exactly sure how that tradition started, but I think it may have something to do with their Onset vacation from last year. So our quest for Kelley's lobster began.

Before we left of course, I called my friend (Cass) to wish him a happy birthday. So happy birthday Cass!

Anyway, the first place we tried was called Lindsey's Family Restaurant. The visit lasted for all of five minutes (from the car to the front of the building) because the place was absolutely packed. Rather than wait, we opted to try another place.

So next on the lobster tour was Barnacle Bill's Seafood. That visit lasted even shorter than Lindsey's as I drove into the parking lot and pretty much drove out of it. The consensus was that people in the other car did not want to eat in the car. There was a brief pause in the parking lot whereby a random stranger returning to her car from Barnacle Bill's told us that the Lobster Pot, which was also a nearby restaurant, had great food. Of course, I had to ask her the reason as to why if the Lobster Pot had such great food, why was she at Barnacle Bill's in the first place. (For anyone curious, she mentioned that it had to do with her kids tastes.)

Anyway, we finally ended up at The Lobster Pot. Now, I suck at the Lobster Pot. Luckily, all three restaurants were pretty close to one another.

I'm actually glad we ended up at the Lobster Pot because the food was delicious. I think I may have enjoyed Andrea's meal more than mine though. Andrea had fried scallops. I had a crab roll. But those scallops were amazing. They were not greasy at all. Karen had the "fish on a bun", which was basically a haddock sandwich. Briana apparently enjoyed the "fish on a bun" too, which was good considering her recent fickleness with protein. Go DHA!

All in all, I enjoyed the Lobster Pot. I can see why the Phantom Gourmet enjoyed it as well. For anyone curious, Kelley did end up with her lobster dinner. I thought it was funny how you could choose the lobster that you wanted to eat, much like how some steak places do that with steak. (And there were some big lobsters too.)

I Suck At The Cape Cod Baseball League

2011-08-12T00:24:00.005-04:00

On Wednesday, Karen and I decided to do something a little different besides hanging out at the beach. We decided to take a little ride to the Tihonet Village Market.

According to the company website, "The Tihonet Village Market is an old-fashioned country store specializing in locally grown and created items. Stop in for lunch at our deli, a fresh-baked treat, fresh local produce, and unique gifts. The Market is owned and operated by the A.D. Makepeace Company, a 150-year-old family-run company that has become the world's largest cranberry grower."

Karen happened upon an advertisement for the market while flipping through a local magazine. And since both Karen and I are fans of locally grown produce and all of that, we decided to take a road trip to the market.

Needless to say, the food there was absolutely delicious. Karen had the "Agawam" signature sandwich, while I had the "Screen House" on fresh home-made cranberry walnut bread. The sandwiches were huge and very delicious. I would recommend the Tihonet Village Market to anyone in Onset.

It's too bad our sixteen month old daughter (Briana) was asleep during the whole trip because she probably would have liked the sandwiches too. Well, that is assuming that she would have eaten it, or parts of it. Briana has been quite particular about meat lately. Perhaps next time she can experience it.

Anyway, following the Tihonet Village Market, we returned back to the beach house where we waited for our next meal: dinner. It turned out that this meal, by far, was the biggest grilled meal that my friends (Marc, Kelley, Andrea), my BFF (Kerry), Karen and I had together this week. At the rental house, I have mainly grilled all week, but I was happy to hand those duties off to Kelley on Wednesday.

After all, on the menu for the grill was steak tips and zucchini, with mashed potatoes and corn as sides. It was good. We actually ate fairly early because we had planned to go catch a Cape Cod Baseball League game.

Now, I suck at the Cape Cod Baseball League. I have never attended a Cape Cod Baseball League game. My only experience with the Cape Cod Baseball League was hearing about it from my college baseball coach who mentioned the league as one of the leagues he played in when he was young. So I was quite curious about attending the game.

The game happened to be between the Wareham Gatemen and the Falmouth Commodores. It was not just any regular game, it was the Western Division Finals. I must say, the game was great. The ballpark, which I assumed is used by the schools of Wareham, was amazing.

Anyway, the game was pretty memorable. I say that because we were able to take home a souvenir foul ball from the game. It just so happened that Karen, Briana, Marc and I were chatting behind one of the fences. As I had my back to the action, I heard the gasp of fans as one of the balls was popped foul. The next thing I know, Karen shields Briana, which is a good thing because the ball ricocheted off the back of her leg. And due to the kindness of strangers, the person who actually got the foul ball handed it to Briana. So Briana got to take home a souvenir from her first ever baseball game.

For anyone curious, the Wareham Gatemen ended up losing the game 3-1. I was quite surprised by that result because Wareham was leading 1-0 through 8 innings. We left after the 8th inning because Briana was tired (and it was late since the game was delayed by lightning). As well, the 8th inning was when the league did its raffle drawing. Marc, incidentally, won a raffle prize: a free Papa Gino's pizza.

Needless to say, it was a fun time. I'm glad we were able to go.

I Suck At Friday Night Lights

2011-08-12T00:14:00.004-04:00

Tuesday was my stark realization that I have eaten way too much protein this vacation week. That fact came to my attention when I looked at my fingernails. Whenever I eat too much protein (or meat, in particular), my fingernails seem to quickly grow.

And naturally, I am not a big fan of having my nails long. Call me old-fashioned. As a result, I had to immediately clip my nails after noticing how long they were.

Aside from that, Tuesday was pretty much a low key day at the beach. The only other highlight for Tuesday was that my friend (Andrea) and I completed watching season 2 of Friday Night Lights on dvd. Yes, I suck at Friday Night Lights.

Friday Night Lights has been like a drug this vacation week. I can't stop watching episode after episode, which explains how I was able to finish the entire second season (albeit a short season due to the writer's strike) within four days.

Anyway, it was definitely exhausting to watch the episodes into the wee hours of night, but it was fun especially when you can watch it with a friend.

I Suck At Nantucket

2011-08-10T02:18:00.005-04:00

The planned excursion for Monday was the island of Nantucket. Now, I suck at Nantucket. I have never been to Nantucket. The only thing I know about Nantucket was that it was the location for the 1990s NBC show "Wings".

Regardless, Karen and I decided to give Nantucket a try and hope that our sixteen month old daughter (Briana) would do well during the excursion. Plus, Monday also happened to be our friend's (Andrea) birthday. As Andrea wanted to go to Nantucket to celebrate her birthday, all of us including my friends (Marc, Kelley) and my BFF (Kerry) did our best to make her wishes come true.

In the morning, however, we did have a slight hiccup. We ended up taking the regular ferry over to Nantucket instead of the high speed ferry as originally planned. I personally didn't mind it. After all, it gave me time to work on my creative side. After all of us devoured an entire bag of Starburst candy, I decided to craft a necklace from the candy wrappers, complete with a Starburst wrapper charm. The Starburst bag itself was used to house the necklace (much like the box used when purchasing a necklace from a jewelry store). As it was Andrea's birthday, I gave her my creation. And to Andrea's credit, she did wear the necklace for the entire ride.

There was a lot of time to kill during the ferry ride. I still think it would have been cool to get everyone on the ferry to sing Happy Birthday to Andrea. Unfortunately, I could not convince anyone else to go along with my scheme.

Anyway, we split up once we arrived in Nantucket. Marc, Kelley, Andrea and Kerry headed off to the vineyard for some libations. Karen, Briana and I did the usual tourist activities. (For anyone curious, Marc, Kelley, Andrea and Kerry saw Seth Meyers of Saturday Night Live fame at the vineyard.)

Although probably not as exciting as seeing a celebrity, Karen and I did the family thing and took Briana to Brant Point in Nantucket to see the lighthouse. The lighthouse was pretty nice and the beach there was great. Briana actually took quite the nap while at the beach. When she did wake up from her nap, she amassed quite the collection of sea shells.

Needless to say, Brant Point was nice and relaxing. We eventually met back up with the rest of the group later in the day, grabbing a bite to eat at a restaurant called Cy's. The food was pretty good there. And since there was some time to kill before the next ferry departed, we decided to take a stroll around the square. And yes, things like clothes are ridiculously priced there in my opinion, which is understandable since it is an island after all. I got a kick out of the real estate listings. There was one house on sale for $21.5 million. I'm thinking that after the 21 million, is the extra half a million really a deal breaker?

Anyway, Nantucket was very scenic. I would have loved to explore more of the island. Perhaps next time if I do get to go again, I'd rent a bike so that I could explore more. It seems like everyone has bikes there. Bikes... and dogs. The place seems very family friendly. I wonder if most of the people from Nantucket are in good shape from all that biking.

Regardless, I had a great time at Nantucket with everyone. But all good things must come to an end. Consequently, we took the high speed ferry back, which was also my first time taking the high speed ferry. The pros about taking the high speed ferry: comfortable seats, air conditioning, time saved; The cons: not many places to walk around especially when you have a curious sixteen month old who wants to go exploring. I must have walked the entire ferry at least 20 times.

As a side note, a random stranger stopped me on the high speed ferry and complemented me on my t-shirt. Apparently, the stranger got a kick out of what was written on the front of the shirt. My t-shirt read "No I will not fix your computer" across the front. The t-shirt was a present from my mother-in-law because she knew I worked with computers and was prone to being asked to fix all things computer related in the family.

Interestingly enough, it was actually the second time during the day that my t-shirt came up. It just so happened that when Karen and I went to purchase the tickets for the high speed ferry that the employees for the ferry company (Hy-line) were complaining about the computers. Apparently after they were complaining about the computers, I walked in... with the t-shirt, which made the employees chuckle.

Anyway, it was a fun day. I hope Andrea enjoyed her birthday with all of us. I know I had fun.

I Suck At The Cape Cod Children's Museum

2011-08-10T01:53:00.004-04:00

With the downpour on Sunday, Karen and I decided to take our sixteen month old daughter (Briana) out to Mashpee. What is in Mashpee besides Native American culture? For anyone curious, according to Wikipedia "the town's name is an Anglicization of a native name, mass-nippe, where mass is 'great', or 'greater' (see Massachusetts), and nippe is 'water.' The name has been translated as 'the greater cove' or 'great pond' or 'land near great cove', where the water being referenced is Wakeby Lake, which is greater at one end."

It so happens that the Cape Cod Children's Museum is in Mashpee. So while Karen and I were on vacation, we decided to pay the museum a little visit during the downpour.

Now, I suck at the Cape Cod Children's Museum, but it was a good thing that we got there bright and early. Had we arrived any later, we would have had to wait in line to get in, which probably was not the best considering it was raining outside.

Like any children's museum, this place was chock full of children of all ages. There were plenty of activities to choose from. I'm not sure which activity Briana enjoyed the most. She seemed to enjoy getting her little hands on everything that she could. Heck, I even enjoyed getting my little hands on everything I could.

And naturally, there was the usual non-attentive parent at the museum who thought that just because the museum is a children's museum that it instantly means free day care. An announcement to find the parent of some child had to be made over the loud speaker because the parent was too busy reading an e-reader to pay any attention to his child. Interestingly enough, after the parent went to pick up his child, the same parent promptly went back to letting his kid run amok again while he returned to reading. I am thinking father of the year award.

Regardless, the children's museum was good. I think Briana enjoyed it, which is really what mattered the most to me. Karen seems to really get a kick out of the pirate picture that we took of Briana there too. She held Briana high enough so that her head stuck out through the pirate head cutout. It was cute.

I Suck At Onset

2011-08-07T02:35:00.005-04:00

Starting today, Karen, my sixteen month old daughter (Briana) and I will be in scenic Onset for the entire week. Yes, it's true. I suck at Onset. The last time Karen and I were in Onset was over two years ago.

At that time, it was just Karen and I along with our friend (Andrea) and my BFF (Kerry). I had a great time. After all, what could be better than hanging out with friends and having fun for a week... and eating as much ice cream as humanly possible within a one week period.

Well, fast forward two years. This time around, Kerry was able to get the two adjoining houses during the same week from the same renter she used two years ago (and last year as well). Thus, in one of the houses was Kerry and my friends (Marc and Kelley); In the other house was Karen, Briana, Andrea and I.

Apparently, this was the week to come to Onset. After all, the annual blues festival was being held today in Onset. For anyone curious, it was the 19th annual blues festival. At the same time, the Pan Mass Challenge was taking place in Onset. And who was riding this year in the Pan Mass Challenge? None other than the most famous cyclist in U.S. history, Lance Armstrong.

Needless to say, seeing Lance Armstrong ride down the streets of Onset made Kerry's day. (Kerry is a fan of all things Tour de France) Personally, I think all riders look the same.

Anyway, it was a good start to the vacation week. After grabbing a bite to eat at Marc Anthony's, we hung out at the beach. For Briana, this was her first time at the beach. So I was curious as to how she would react to the sand and all of that. She seemed to enjoy it well enough, especially the sand. And really, what's not to like with the sun and cool breeze on the beach?

And as an added bonus, the Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority happened to be on the beach. For anyone curious, sororities are nothing like television. Like television's depiction of cheerleaders, sorority girls are not what one would normally expect. Well, they are not what I would expect. I expect shiny objects. I was so wrong.

Following the veg out period at the beach, a few of us headed to the grocery store before grilling some burgers and hot dogs. And by grilling, I mean having the owner of our adjoining houses grill our burgers and dogs. It was pure coincidence that they were using the grill when we were getting hungry. So we were lucky enough to have them grill our food for us. What service!

After dinner, I spent the rest of the night at the house while everyone else went out for ice cream. I was actually glad that Karen got to go out with everyone. She doesn't get to go out with everyone when it's just her. So it was nice that she was able to do it tonight.

So while they were out getting ice cream, I did what any normal closet fan would do. I watched Friday Night Lights... season 2. I'm not sure if Briana quite likes the show since she was crying practically for the entire first episode. Granted, she was put down to go to bed before I started watching the dvd. Yes, my daughter does not like going to sleep. She will cry, wail and scream herself to sleep. Of course, I would never admit it, but it breaks my heart at times to hear her cry and scream.

But once she does go down, she is good. I sometimes think that Briana thinks she is missing out on what is going on by going to bed. If she only knew the truth... that her daddy is watching countless episodes of Friday Night Lights back to back. Oh well. I guess she is like me that way (since it's well past three in the morning and I am still up). She just likes to be up.

Anyway, today was a great day. It was a nice start to the vacation.

I Suck At Cookouts

2011-07-30T22:20:00.007-04:00

The city of Quincy, is to me, like what Weymouth is to my favorite sister-in-law (Janine): a place of dread. The main reason for my dislike of Quincy is that Quincy is chock full of traffic lights. Every intersection has a traffic light. What normally should take 5 minutes from point A to point B in Quincy takes half an hour. It can be ridiculous at times. Thus, I lovingly refer to Quincy as the City of Lights. And it is also why I like to plug my friend (Cass) as future mayor of Quincy so that he could be my puppet in removing all of the useless traffic lights.

On Saturday, Karen, our sixteen month old daughter (Briana) and I were lucky enough to be invited to a cookout in Quincy. Now, I suck at cookouts, especially in Quincy. Regardless of the location, I had a great time.

I consider myself blessed to have such great friends. Most of my friends I have known since childhood. I don't think that is exactly the norm. Most of my non-childhoood friends don't exactly still hang out with their childhood friends. I think my graduating class was different that way. After all, I know other people in my graduating class who also still hang out with their childhood friends. So perhaps my graduating class was odd that way.

Anyway, the cookout on Saturday was the brainchild of my friends (Cara and Jeannette). Apparently, they were talking one day about how there have been new additions and whatnot to families and thus wanted to do something to meet these new additions and catch up on old times.

Cara hosted the cookout and she did an amazing job, especially when you consider that there were 11 children at this cookout (12 if you include me). Needless to say, it was good to see everyone again. Joining in on the shindig were the future mayor of Quincy (Cass), and my friends (Ellen, Meredith, Nicole, John, John's wife Gilda, Hugh, Jenny, Liz and Cara's husband Eric).

All in all, I had a fun time. And Briana seemed to enjoy it too, albeit she spent most of the day interacting with the adults and not the other children.

I Suck At Friday Night Lights

2011-07-30T22:18:00.004-04:00

I originally was going to title this post "I Suck At Being Single" because Friday was supposed to be my last day of being single again. Every six months or so, Karen and I bring our wedding rings to the jewelry store for a cleaning/inspection as part of the warranty. In all the years I have been married, I never had an issue with my ring. But never say never because during the last inspection, the jewelry store discovered that one of my diamonds was chipped.

As a result, the jewelry store had to take my ring to replace the diamond. So I have been "single" ever since. I was supposed to receive my ring back on Friday. And might I add, the ring looked brand spanking new. It was quite shiny... and for those who know me, they know that I am attracted to shiny objects. Unfortunately, in fixing the loose stone in my ring, the jewelry store had to re-dip my ring back into metal. And in doing so, the original engraving on my ring was lost. They were supposed to re-engrave the ring, but unfortunately they had forgotten to. Consequently, my ring had to be sent off for engraving. So I'm still single.

Naturally, what does a "single" guy do on a Friday night? What else but watch Friday Night Lights. Too bad I suck at Friday Night Lights. I have no idea if the show is still on. I happened to borrow the first season on DVD from my friend (Andrea).

When the season first aired on television, I happened to catch the very first episode. I remember watching the first episode because it was shown on the plane when Karen and I were going to Hawaii a long long time ago. To be honest, I was not really impressed with the first episode. Of course, it may have been the fact that I was watching the episode on a tiny weeny screen.

It was not until recently that I decided to give the show another try. The show came up in conversation at my BFF's (Kerry) house because my friend (Garv) loves the show. Garv also talks glowingly about Taylor Swift, which is a little bizarre since he's almost twice her age. While Garv was talking about the show, however, it turned out that my friend (Andrea) and Kerry also enjoy the show. So I guess it couldn't have been that bad, right? For me, the selling point was that the show had high school cheerleaders.

High school cheerleading is like my kryptonite. I have no idea why, other than the fact that most of the time high school cheerleaders are generally gorgeous blondes in movies and television. Sadly, in reality (at least at my high school when I was in high school) the cheerleaders were not gorgeous, blonde, or cheerful for that matter.

Needless to say, I started watching season one of Friday Night Lights. And I must say, so far the show is pretty good. I'm enjoying it so far. (And in case anyone is curious, the cheerleader in the show... is not blonde.) Hopefully the rest of the season will be just as good.

I Suck At Zucchini Pie

2011-07-25T09:12:00.009-04:00

Karen and I have a vegetable garden. For the second straight year, we decided to grow zucchini since my parents gave us a couple of zucchini plants. Well, this year the zucchini seems like it is on steroids. The plants are huge and the zucchini bountiful.

Needless to say, we have been giving away zucchini to friends and family. And yesterday, we were invited to my in-laws for dinner. The main course: zucchini pie. Yes, our parents have been recipients of this years steroid-infused zucchini plant. Now, I suck at zucchini pie. Luckily for me, my in-laws make a great tasting pie.

Besides Karen, our sixteen month old daughter (Briana), and my in-laws, my friend (Jen) joined us for dinner. Jen happens to live near my in-laws. And it so happens that while Karen, Briana, and my mother-in-law were going for a walk, they stopped by Jen's place. The four of them then walked along the beach together.

I actually was not part of the walk. At that time, I was busy helping my own parents move furniture. My parents are having their floors redone and had asked for my assistance in moving things off the floor. And nothing says stress like trying to tell a 71 year old, known as my dad, to stop lifting heavy objects.

Needless to say, dinner at my in-laws was a welcomed break. And it was definitely good to see Jen. I haven't seen Jen in some time. All in all, dinner was good.

And as a side note, I forgot to mention that I finished reading my second book in three days. That is probably a reading record for me. The book I read was "If You Ask Me: (And of Course You Won't)" by Betty White. Karen is a big Betty White fan, thanks in part to Golden Girls of course. So naturally Karen wanted to read the book.

The book was actually pretty interesting. It was definitely a quick read. To me, it seemed like it was just a collection of her thoughts on various topics. In a way, it was like reading her blog, if Betty White had a blog. (For anyone curious, Betty is old school. She prefers to hand write things.)

I think the part that I will remember most is her outlook on loss. Apparently, when she was growing up, her parents explained death to her in such a way that I thought was quite interesting. Her parents told her that once someone passes away, that person now knows the "secret" to what actually happens when they leave this world. I thought it was a neat perspective, particularly having lost my son (Braden) over two years ago. Thanks Betty!

I Suck At The Tosh Tour On Ice

2011-07-23T00:14:00.007-04:00

Tonight was a fun night, and not because I received free feminine products courtesy of Rite Aid. U by Kotex liners were on sale for $1 this week at Rite Aid and it just so happened that I had a dollar coupon on them. Yay, free!

My friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) and I had tickets for the Tosh Tour On Ice. Now, I suck at the Tosh Tour On Ice. Nevertheless, the event made for some good laughs. For anyone curious, the Tosh Tour On Ice is not on ice. It's a comedy show featuring comedian Daniel Tosh at the Wang.

Opening for Tosh was comedian Tommy Johnagin of the Last Comic Standing fame. All in all, the jokes were pretty hilarious and definitely not suitable for the 11 year old sitting in the front row with his mother. The 11 year old kid was singled out in the crowd because he was 11. It's a good thing parents know what their kids are in to.

Anyway, it was a fun time. Incidentally, the last time I was at the Wang Theatre, Kevin Costner also happened to be there. This was back when Kevin Costner was still pretty famous. So it definitely has been a while.

Regardless, I had fun. Following the show, we capped off the night by having dinner at The Fours in Quincy. Surprisingly, it was fairly empty there for a Friday night, which was fine by me because they had 80s music playing in the background. All in all, it was a good way to end the night.

I Suck At Moonwalking With Einstein

2011-07-22T23:21:00.010-04:00

Last night I actually finished reading a book. The book I read was Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer. I have been wanting to read this book for some time.

I don't remember how I even came to hear about the book, which is only fitting. For those who know me, they would say that I have a terrible memory. My forgetting where I heard about the book in the first place only reinforces the notion that my memory is lacking. I guess you could say I suck at Moonwalking with Einstein.

Consequently, I was actually quite excited to learn some pointers about improving my memory from the author. Foer, for anyone curious, was a journalist who decided to participate in his own year long experiment to improve his memory. With the tutelage of the British Grand Master of Memory, Ed Cooke, Foer became the 2006 U.S. memory champion. Not too shabby.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. In fact, I would recommend the book to anyone wanting to improve their own memory. Heck, if my sixteen month daughter (Briana) were older, I'd have her learn the memory techniques. That's how impressed I was with the book. I'd become a "mental athlete" myself if I could dedicate enough time to it.

And for anyone curious, the technique used to improve memory was the PAO (person action object) system. I figured I'd write it down before I forgot.

I Suck At Installing A Towel Ring

2011-07-19T00:47:00.003-04:00

Among the many items on my "to-do" list is to install a towel ring in our first floor bathroom. Now, I suck at installing a towel ring. It's not that I can't physically install one. Like many of my other home improvement projects, the project remains on my list and remains there... for months if not years.

But not tonight. After a quick visit to Rite Aid, in which I only paid a whopping $0.32 for a chocolate covered cherry and a jumbo pack of Pamper diapers, I installed the towel ring. I guess I was riding the high of my shopping endeavor.

Interestingly enough, the associates at Rite Aid seem to know me now. I don't know if that is a good thing or not yet. When I walked in tonight, they immediately greeted me and asked if I were getting a good deal.

Anyway, the installation of the towel ring took no time at all. I think more time was spent cleaning up and bringing my tools back and forth from the garage. (I find that is generally the case.) But now, I can cross one item off of that home improvement "to-do" list. Too bad there are so many other items on it.

I Suck At Family Day

2011-07-19T00:10:00.002-04:00

Sunday turned out to be quite the family day. Too bad I suck at family day. By no means was the day planned to be a family day. It just sort of turned out that way.

The day started off with a call from Karen's mother asking if we would be interested in visiting Karen's grandmother at the nursing home. Naturally, we thought it was a great idea because we have not seen Nana in some time.

Since my son (Braden) passed away over two years ago, one of the things I have learned is that time is precious. To be more precise, I would say that time with loved ones is precious. And even though Nana is not like how she was before her accident, which led to her subsequent stay at the nursing home, I think it's important that we spend time with her.

Granted, Nana probably could care less about Karen or I. It seems like every time we go for the visit, all she wants to do is see her sixteen month old great granddaughter (Briana). Of course, that seems to be the going trend among my parents and my in-laws too.

Nevertheless, it was a good visit at the nursing home. Nana was actually quite alert. And she seemed to enjoy watching Briana walk around and getting into things. So following the visit, my in-laws decided to take us out for dinner.

We ended up at the 99 Restaurant in Quincy. I was hopeful to be seated near the picture of Karen at the 99, but it was not meant to be. For anyone curious, Karen appears (or at least she did at one time) in one of the group pictures hanging on the wall. If memory serves me right, I think the picture was actually signed by manother person in the group photo.

Dinner was good. By the time the food came around, I was actually starving. So I'm sure anything would have tasted good at that point. I devoured the All-Star Steakburger with reckless abandon. Yummy yummy, as my daughter says.

Anyway, while still in Quincy, Karen suggested that we make it a total family day and make the rounds to see my parents. So off to my parents we went. And like I mentioned earlier, my parents were positively thrilled by our visit because they got to see Briana. Truth to told, it was nice to know that we probably did just make their day by visiting them.

And of course, my parents had to give us something. They seem to always give us something or want to give us something whether it is food, plants or whatever whenever they see us. In general, it's food. This time was no different as we ended up with some celery plants from their garden.

All in all, it was a good spontaneous day with the family which is something I probably don't utter too often. But I think my in-laws and my parents totally enjoyed the time spent together and that makes me happy.

I Suck At Drinking Apple Juice

2011-07-16T21:21:00.004-04:00

Tonight, I got to spend some quality father/daughter bonding time with my fifteen month old daughter (Briana). Karen was having a girls night out. I think she's been looking forward to having a girls night out for some time. Plus, I'm a believer that people need individual time now and then. So I was thrilled that she was able to go out and enjoy a night on her own.

Anyway while she was out, I got to have Briana all to myself which is something I don't get to do normally. I'm not sure if I remember the last time I had Briana all to myself. It may have been shortly after she was born in which I took a week off to take care of her. She was such a peanut then. (Well, she's a peanut now.) Back then, she would just fall asleep in your arms.

Needless to say, Briana was definitely good tonight. Lately, Briana has been awful going to bed. Briana's recent routine reminds me of my niece (Kaleigh) who used to always cry "I'm not tired" whenever she had to go to bed. And yes, Kaleigh was tired when she went to bed. Similarly, Briana has started to cling on for dear life whenever Karen or I have put her to bed recently. It's definitely tough when your daughter has a stranglehold around your neck while you put her down.

But not tonight. Tonight, she went down like an angel. She did not even whimper. It was definitely a nice change from the stranglehold. So in celebration, I went wild and polished off the bottle of apple juice in the refrigerator. Yes, I suck at drinking apple juice.

Interestingly enough, that bottle of apple juice was free complements of Stop and Shop. I purchased the bottle last week for Briana while she was feverish and in need of fluids due to her reaction to her vaccination. Making sure the apple juice did not contain high fructose corn syrup, I purchased the bottle.

For anyone curious, I try to avoid foods with high fructose corn syrup as much as I can. My achille's heel, however, is soda. I think soda must be laced with nicotine or something because it just tastes so darn good and keeps you wanting more. Damn you soda for tasting so good. Some day, I'll break the habit. Some day!

Anyway, the bottle of apple juice rang up incorrectly. I debated about going to customer service because the difference was only twenty cents. As it turned out, it was a good thing that I did because they gave me the entire bottle for free. I had figured that they would refund the difference or something. But nope, free!

Needless to say, that bottle of apple juice tasted great as I drank its last drops. Yum! It was a good way to end the night.

I Suck At Being Single

2011-07-16T06:34:00.001-04:00

Last night marked the beginning of my swinging single days. And naturally, how do I kick off being single? Well, what else other than celebrating a birthday for my favorite brother-in-law (PJ).

Yesterday was PJ's birthday. It also wasn't until yesterday that Karen and I were invited to PJ and my favorite sister-in-law's (Janine) place for the celebration. I guess it was spur of the moment. Either that, or we were "Plan B" guests. Either way, it was good to see everyone before my little fifteen month old daughter (Briana) had a meltdown.

I don't get to see PJ's brother (Michael) that much. So it was good to see him. And I really haven't seen Janine or her BFF (Gretchen) in awhile either. All in all, it was a nice visit.

Karen and I were actually running a little late for the party because we had to make a quick pit stop at the mall. As part of our warranty on our jewelry, we have to get our jewelry inspected every six months or so. Luckily for us, we have this warranty.

It turns out that the diamonds on my wedding band, and also on Karen's wedding band, were loose. Mine was actually worse than Karen's because my stone was chipped. Apparently, my vigorous typing with my ring finger is detrimental to diamonds.

Needless to say, Karen and I had to have our wedding bands shipped to the company for repair. And I must say, it definitely does feel awkward not having that ring around my finger. My thumb keeps going to play with the ring, only to find that the ring is no longer there. It's weird.

So for the time being, I'm single again. Ladies beware! Too bad I suck at being single. At least Karen can still say she's engaged because that ring was okay.

I Suck At Being In A Movie

2011-07-11T09:31:00.010-04:00

It has been a long while since I've stumbled home at 4 in the morning. That, however, was precisely the case this past Saturday / early Sunday. Most likely, the reason for my venture out until the wee hours of night is not what you think. I attempted to be in a movie this past weekend. Too bad I suck at being in a movie.

Last week, I received an email about a particular movie filming in Boston that was in need of finding some extras to shoot a concert scene. I thought it was an interesting proposition, in part because I do enjoy all things movie-related. Heck, I watch bad movies just because I can. So if I could have a dream job, that dream job would be an actor, possibly followed by a screenwriter, or a combination of the two.

I thought the activity was pretty neat because to me, being part of a movie was something different. I like spontaneity. For anyone curious, that was why I originally started my scavenger hunt activity in the first place, because it was different.

Unfortunately, I couldn't just go out and be part of the movie. I have a fifteen month old daughter (Briana) to take care of, especially since she had a fever and rash following her MMR vaccination the previous week. But as luck would have it, Briana was feeling better on Saturday and Karen was absolutely not interested in being part of the movie.

Naturally, I didn't want to be the guy who showed up by himself to the event. So thanks to my friend (Andrea) and my BFF (Kerry), the three of us headed into town for the shooting of the movie. I was actually hesitant at first to ask any of my friends because the hours for the shooting were from 7pm to 3am. Those hours make for a long day (and the following day too). If it were just me it would have been okay, but I felt bad for asking them to do it. Luckily, I have great friends.

For anyone curious, the movie is called Ted. It stars Boston's own Mark (don't call me "Marky Mark") Wahlberg and is directed by Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy fame. It is actually Seth MacFarlane's directorial debut.

Anyway, it was definitely an interesting experience that I got to share with Andrea and Kerry. Most likely, none of us will be in the movie because we really weren't positioned in the most ideal spot. We were off to the far side. I don't think Kerry or Andrea particularly shared my desire to be in the movie. I think they just wanted to humor me by going.

Regardless, I did enjoy the night. Seth MacFarlane was pretty comical. Special guest Norah Jones was pretty good, although I must say that I am a little tired of hearing "Come away with me". Even Boston Bruin Shawn Thornton was funny. Yes, Shawn Thornton apparently has a cameo in the movie.

The only person who I thought wasn't funny was Mark Wahlberg, who seemed like he was half in the bag all of the time. He kept swearing; He tried to be funny with the crowds; but to me, he just wasn't. Now if he broke out and started singing "Good Vibrations", I would have a different opinion.

Of course, I may have been in the minority to think that of Boston's own. Everyone there seemed starstruck over Mark Wahlberg, particularly the women. I would say that was probably the worst part of the experience: the crowd. People were pushing and shoving to get to the front of the stage. People were trying to cram themselves into these itty bitty spots on the lawn just to be closer to the stage. Some people were making fun of some person, who to me seemed homeless, because he started singing a patriotic song while waiting for the camera crews to set up. There was even an obvious pimp with his "after party" sluts there. It was bizarre. (For anyone curious, pimps and hos are not like what you see in Hollywood. They are ugly in real life.)

All in all, I did have fun. I'd probably do it again depending on the movie. Plus, it was good to spend some time with Andrea and Kerry. They may not share my opinion of course, but I had a good time. And sadly, if having "Come away with me" stuck in my head weren't bad enough, I do feel compelled to actually watch "Ted" now just to see if any of us made it to the big screen.

I Suck At Gardening

2011-07-06T20:43:00.003-04:00

Karen and I have a vegetable garden. It was not until this year that we added a second vegetable garden because last year we found out that one garden was not enough. The vegetables just got too crowded last year.

So I guess you could say that I suck at gardening. And to be honest, I never really took to gardening until this year. I left the gardening mainly to Karen. This year, I'm still not really into gardening. I do, however, happen to be a little more involved in gardening when it comes to vegetables. After all, vegetable gardens seem to have more of a practical purpose than flower gardens.

And as luck would have it, today we harvested our first vegetable! We got our first zucchini! This year, we have a ginormous zucchini plant, which is possible proof that vegetables are like goldfish: they grow to fit their container.

Needless to say, it was pretty exciting today. And as a side note, we happened to see Karen's name while preparing to watch an episode of "My Yard Goes Disney". For anyone curious, "My Yard Goes Disney" is about people who get their backyards made over by Disney. But it was the show right before that which had Karen's name on it. Apparently Karen moonlights as a Post Audio during her free time. It was random, but it cracked me up.

I Suck At 4th Of July Cookouts

2011-07-05T07:01:00.012-04:00

Happy 4th of July!

In what seems to be yet another consecutive weekend spent north of Boston, Karen, my fifteen month old daughter (Briana), and I went to the All-America city known as Lowell. After all, there is a lot to like about Lowell, or so the city would have you believe.

Karen's cousin (Karlene) and Karlene's husband (Tommy) were hosting a 4th of July cookout. Too bad I suck at 4th of July cookouts. In previous years, Karen and I had gone to Lowell for the 4th of July via the town of Chelmsford. Why Chelmsford? Apparently, Chelmsford has an annual road race on the 4th of July, which is then followed by a parade. And for those people who know Karen, they know that she loves parades. Me, not so much.

As much as I would have loved to run the road race this year (or run in general for that matter), we met up with Karlene and Tommy for the cookout portion of the day. Karlene and Tommy's friends, some of whom attended the Chelmsford festivities, were also going to the cookout. It was nice because we had not seen them in quite some time.

Anyway, as usual it was a good time. Karlene and Tommy did a fantastic job as hosts despite the freakish showers. I was probably most impressed with Karlene and Tommy's friends' kids, who were so well behaved. They seemed to enjoy playing with Briana a lot. Of course, Briana does also tend to ham things up when she gets attention. So maybe that was why.

All in all, it was a fun time. I actually tried a belini for the first time, complements of Karlene and Tommy's friend (Kim). I normally don't like champagne, but the peach made it more interesting.

I Suck At Oral-B

2011-07-04T08:07:00.002-04:00

My age is starting to catch up to me. Of course, it could also be the fact that I have not done a home improvement project in some time. My body just feels sore today.

Yesterday, I continued my home improvement project on the back entrance to our house. Prior to our adding vinyl siding to the exterior of our house, there were signs of water damage on the drywall. (Knock on wood. There have been many downpours since and I have not seen any more water damage.) Needless to say, I removed the existing pieces of drywall that were water damaged and replaced them with new pieces.

I was lucky enough to finish the task before my daughter (Briana) woke up from her nap. It took her awhile though to recognize me behind the goggles and the mask. But she did.

Anyway, a nice clean shower later, I ended up going to Rite Aid for this week's deal: an Oral-B Pulsar toothbrush. Now, I suck at Oral-B. To me, a toothbrush is a toothbrush. I was shocked to see the retail value of this toothbrush being over $5. It's a toothbrush!

Regardless, Rite Aid was giving a rebate which would essentially make the cost of the toothbrush $0.50 after rebate. And of course, I had to get it. After all, it's essentially a "money maker" because Karen had a $2 coupon for the item. Yay Karen!

I'd be curious to see how well the toothbrush works. Apparently, the toothbrush uses a non-replaceable battery that is supposed to last for about 3 months. That seems pretty short to me, but we'll see how it goes.

After getting the toothbrush, Karen, Briana, and I headed off to Quincy where we attended my friend's (Hot Amy) family's annual 3rd of July party. Truth be told, things were looking a little grim for the party with the rain and all. Luckily the weather cooperated just enough.

It was good to see my friends (Jen, Andrea, Hot Amy) and my BFF (Kerry). In comparison to other years, this party was smaller than usual probably due to the weather. I got a kick out of our discussion about breasts becoming a "shelf".

And like most events that happen during the night, my fifteen month daughter could only last so long. Having already done a face plant that left an egg on the top of her head, she got tired before the night's festivities of fireworks. So it was a quick night.

I Suck At Home Improvement

2011-07-03T00:04:00.002-04:00

Today was the first time in awhile that I felt motivated to work on my house. I generally suck at home improvement. I have a long list of items planned as home improvement projects. Unfortunately, it has been very easy for me to procrastinate on those projects. And by procrastinate, I mean forget altogether.

Case in point, I have some free time right now. Granted, it's after midnight at this very moment, but I could spend this time working on my house as opposed to writing this post. In general, my free time seems to be during the wee hours of night after everything is done and Karen and my little daughter are fast asleep. I haven't quite found the rhythm yet of finding a consistent pattern during the normal course of the day.

My motivation for working on a home improvement project, although fleeting, was inspired by my friends (Cass and Ellen) who stopped by today with their baby daughter for a quick visit. Cass had asked to borrow some tools as he was planning to work on his own home improvement project. Naturally, that got me thinking. Sure, I started thinking about how lazy I have been, but it got me thinking at least.

Needless to say, when Cass, Ellen, and their daughter (Elyse) left, I thought about an easy home improvement project to tackle. I had to think of a project that could be done while my own daughter (Briana) napped. Briana's nap ranges from 45 minutes to 2 hours. You can never tell on some days.

The project I came up with: remove the old casing around the sliding door in our back entrance way. The back entrance has been mostly untouched since Karen and I got our house. We did seal up a wall in there because the layout in that area was a little bizarre. For anyone curious, the back entrance has another sliding door that leads to the kitchen. Prior to our sealing up the wall, there was a very narrow door that led to an adjoining bathroom. You had to be very thin to walk into that doorway.

We have since added a regular doorway to the bathroom that is accessible from the kitchen. But for the longest time, the back entrance way has remained unchanged with the exception of the drywall. Of course, it helped that we stored an old drawer in the back entrance for the longest time. Thank you Freecycle for finally taking it.

Anyway, the project was not too thrilling for sure, but I knew it could be done within the given time frame of 45 minutes to 2 hours. Baby steps. And I must say, it actually felt great to finally get something around the house accomplished. Raising a toddler, I sometimes feel like our house is in constant disarray regardless of how often I clean the place (which is quite often because Briana is in to throwing food lately). So feeling like I have done something to improve the place feels just wonderful.

I actually rode that high all the way to my friends' (Marc and Kelley) place where they hosted a UFC pay per view later that night. As usual, it was good to see them, along with my friends (Andrea, De and Carol) and my BFF (Kerry) and Cass again. Interestingly enough, I hadn't seen Cass in over a month, yet I saw him twice in one day. The pay per view was actually disappointing, despite the blood of one of the matches and the shiny ring girls, but it was a good way to end the night.

I Suck At Veet

2011-06-28T22:13:00.004-04:00

Today is feminine hygiene day, or at least it is if you happen to me. In an experiment to use coupons to save a boat load of moolah, I went to Rite Aid. As luck would have it, I had a $3 off a $15 purchase at Rite Aid, thanks to partaking in an online survey on a prior Rite Aid receipt.

So naturally, my goal was to buy just enough over the $15 mark to get the maximum saving. This week, certain feminine hygiene products are on sale for 2/$5. Thankfully, there is an online coupon for $1 off of 1 Carefree product.

For anyone curious, users are allowed to print 2 online coupons per item per computer. Because I am a tech geek, I have more than one computer. Consequently, I ended up printing 4 Carefree coupons.

I probably could have printed 6 coupons, but buying a quantity of 6 Carefree pads was overkill. Karen and I (although most likely Karen) would have to find some creative uses for that many pads.

As it was, I thought a quantity of 4 seemed like a lot. Consequently, I needed something else to get my order over $15. Enter Veet. Now, I suck at Veet. Naturally, Karen thought I was absolutely bonkers for even thinking about getting the hair removing product. Incidentally, "depilatory" was never in my vocabulary until now.

To me, Veet served as a means to an end. Rite Aid has an in-ad coupon for $2. There also happens to a $3 coupon for any Veet product compliments of Facebook. (I guess that is one of the few benefits of Facebook.) Although the price varies depending on the Veet product, I was able to find the cheapest Veet product: wax strips, which retailed for $4.49. At that price (including tax), and with the two coupons, I actually would get paid to buy that item.

So, throw in a candy bar or two (because the candy bar was buy one get one free this week), and I was able to get my purchase just over $15. When all was said and done, I paid a handful of change for my entire order. The actual final price came to a little over $3, but I had $3 in rewards to use. Hence, change.

And if you are curious, I also made $5 in loyalty rewards from the purchase. So I like to think that the $3 rewards that I put in to purchasing all those items was returned with $2 extra. Not bad if I do say so myself.

The associate at Rite Aid was amazed at my purchase, although she was probably more amazed that I bought the feminine products than the actual savings. She did say that my wife was "one lucky girl", because she said her husband would never have done that. As a side note, I had no idea there were so many types of pads. As well, pads are tax-free in the state of Massachusetts... another interesting note.

Anyway, so now I am a proud owner of Veet wax strips, a product that I will never use. Add that to my growing number of useless items (like the Got2B mousse). I will have my stockpile of useless items in no time. I will need to figure out how to pawn these items off onto my friends... although asking my female friends if they need to wax may be a little difficult...

I Suck At Got2B Fat-tastic

2011-06-26T22:51:00.002-04:00

During my hiatus from blogging, I decided to get into the seedy underworld known as couponing. My fancy started shortly after watching TLC's Extreme Couponing. Naturally with my curious nature, I wondered how difficult it would be to do something like that here in New England.

For those who have never seen the show, each week Extreme Couponing chronicles a couple of people who are considered "extreme couponers" because they can make purchases of thousands of retail items for over 90% off the price. Watching it being done on the show is simply amazing.

Granted, most of the people on the show seem to be hoarders or have some sort of compulsiveness because they have these stockpiles chock full of items that they themselves claim that they do not or will not use. For example, one woman has thousands of baby diapers in her stockpile, yet does not have a baby. Weird.

Regardless, I wanted to see about the feasibility of getting items for over 90% off the price here in New England. The major grocery stores here in Massachusetts seem to only double coupons under $1 up to a certain number. Once that limit is reached, the coupon is taken for face value.

Now, I'll admit. I am quite lazy. The majority of the extreme couponers featured on the television show find ways to get the weekly insert of coupons in the Sunday paper. To acquire these coupon inserts, they have gone dumpster diving, rummaged through other people's recycle bins, asked other people, etc. Like I said, I'm lazy. I don't want to do any of that. Instead, I'll stick to using the good o' internet for online coupons. (Of course, if someone were to offer me these coupon inserts, I would gladly accept them.)

Consequently, my chances for saving big on items seem pretty bleak. Today, however, I was able to get something close to free. All I had to pay was the state tax on the item. That item: Got2B Fat-tastic Mousse. Now, I suck at Got2B Fat-tastic. I have never used the item, probably because I have very little hair to style. And as luck would have it, Rite Aid was advertising the mousse this week as an item eligible for a full rebate.

Despite the fact that I never used (and probably will never use) the product due to my lack of hair, I decided to get the mousse. That doesn't make sense, right? But, I can now see why extreme couponers buy things they don't need. It seems to me that the act of buying these items are merely a means to an end. In my case, the reason why I purchased something I will never use is because of the fact that I would get a rebate of cold hard cash on the item.

That still doesn't make much sense until you discover that the method I had used to pay for the item in the first place was a coupon. Using a carry over from a previous week, I had accumulated enough Rite Aid +UP rewards (it's version of the store loyalty saving program) to pay for the mousse. So essentially, I was converting these additional rewards/coupons over into money. That was my reasoning.

Anyway, I was quite happy with my couponing excursion! Granted, it's not the greatest deal, but it's a step toward figuring out this whole couponing thing of getting items over 90% off. Baby steps.

By the way, if anyone is interested, they are always welcomed to the mousse.

I Suck At Kimball Farm

2011-06-25T23:09:00.002-04:00

It has been a long time, but today I felt like I had to post an entry. In doing so, I actually had to un-delete this blog. There were many reasons as to why I deleted the blog in the first place. The most important was the time commitment. Being the parent of a now fifteen month old, I found that I definitely had a very limited amount of time.

It's true when they say time flies when you have children. Most days, when I'm done doing my fatherly duties, it's already late at night before I can unwind and relax. And the next thing I know, I have to repeat the cycle all over again in a several hours.

In addition to my limited time, I also felt that no one wanted to read my blog because inevitably most of the entries would involve my daughter (Briana). In the past, I have tried to limit my posts involving my daughter, mostly because I feel like no one really wants to hear about what my child is doing. Unfortunately, that gets harder because she has become such a major part of my life now.

Consequently, I got a little burnt out with the entire process and deleted this blog. Interestingly enough, it was not until yesterday in which I actually reconsidered un-deleting the blog. My friend (Aimee) had noticed that my blog was deleted some time ago. After I mentioned my reasons for the deletion (as mentioned above), she noted that the blog would allow me to look back in time and reminisce on certain issues, particularly when it came to my son (Braden).

Sadly, I never gave that part much thought. My son, Braden, was born prematurely and survived for only a week. It was definitely a tough experience to go through. In fact, the entire year of 2009 (the year after Braden passed away) was a complete blur to me as I was simply, for lack of a better word, disconnected from grieving.

Thinking that perhaps it may make sense to read about what I managed to post in the year 2009 during my disconnected grief (as well as all my thoughts during the time I spent with Braden), I reconsidered un-deleting the blog. So thank you, Aimee. And it was not until today that I actually followed through on that thought because I was pleasantly surprised by today's turn of events.

The day started off with a quick shopping excursion to Babies 'R Us. On the shopping list was a new convertible car seat for my daughter. There is currently nothing wrong with the car seat she is using now. Karen and I were just planning ahead for when Briana outgrows it.

Until today, I never knew so much about car seats. I swear... the baby market is a lucrative market. Regardless, we ended up getting Briana a Graco Signature Series Smart Seat... not only because of the safety recommendations... but because it looked cool. And thankfully, it fit in the trunk of the car after we had to take it out of the packaging.

From there, we made a little trip to Milford, New Hampshire. I have never been to Milford, New Hampshire. (I'd say I suck at Milford, New Hampshire.) Karen has gone a few times because her college friend (Michelle) lives there. Michelle was having a birthday party for her twins. I have never met the twins, so what better time than when they turn 4 years old?

Needless to say, it was an interesting party. I think one of the other sets of parents at the party should send me a thank you letter because I probably saved their child's life, or at least his intestinal system. The child was eating a Lego piece while the parents were mingling. Normally, I'm not one to ask other people's children for things, but since this piece of Lego was in the child's mouth I figured it was a good time to start asking. Might I add, a piece of Lego covered in the saliva of some child who you do not know in the palm of your hand... fun.

Afterwards, Karen and I decided to be a little spontaneous on our way home following the party. We decided to take a detour to Kimball Farm in Westford. Unfortunately, I suck at Kimball Farm. Neither Karen nor I knew how to get there. All we knew was that it was located in Westford, which we were passing on the way home. So off the random highway exit we went.

I must say, it was a fun time. Barely into Westford, I stopped at the local gas station to ask for directions. The service attendant did not seem to speak very good English, so he suggested I ask one of the patrons at the pump. Apparently, the woman I asked used to be a French teacher for 35 years in Westford. (My immediate thought was "Parlez vous Francais?") She then mentioned that many of her students at one time or another had worked at Kimball's. And rather than tell me the directions, she offered to escort me there because she thought about getting ice cream too.

So there we were, following this woman as she drove through Westford. The ride took quite a bit of time. We thought either we were way off in picking the correct exit to Kimball's, or this woman was some serial killer leading us to some abandoned area of town to kill us. Luckily for us, it turned out to be the former.

Needless to say, I thought what this woman did was incredibly nice, especially since Karen and I were nowhere near Kimball's at the time. I was going to offer to buy this woman some ice cream for her efforts, but she did not stop at Kimball's like she had originally told me. So thank you, former French teacher... or Merci!

Anyway, from there things got increasingly better because ice cream makes the world a better place. We stayed at Kimball's for quite some time because shortly after Karen's aunt (Denise) and uncle (Paul) met up with us. Denise and Paul happened to be returning from their excursion around the same time and had heard we were at Kimball's. So they decided to meet up with us. It was good to see Denise and Paul.

From there, Karen and I (and a very tired daughter, Briana) headed home. All in all, it was a great day, primarily due to the generosity of this random woman who I will never know... and of course, the ice cream.

I Suck At Blogging

2011-01-20T14:52:00.008-05:00

Wow. It's been over a month since I last posted something. I guess it's true. I suck at blogging.

Anyway, my BFF (Kerry) along with some other friends have recently asked about this blog so I figured that I might as well post something about the blog and my hiatus.

It's not my intent to stop blogging altogether. I have been trying to find something else to blog or write about.

The whole thing came up awhile ago when I was having a conversation with my friend (Aimee). Both Aimee and I had caught parts of the live season finale to the show, The Biggest Loser. I did not watch this season (or many of the other seasons), but I always get a kick out of seeing the before and after pictures of these participants.

Needless to say, Aimee had mentioned that Jillian Michaels was leaving the show. Naturally, that got me curious. And as always, I consulted my friend... the Interwebs. After all, I was curious as to her reasons for leaving.

Anyway, I came upon a clip whereby a reporter had inquired as to her reasons for leaving the show. And interestingly enough, I actually felt somewhat inspired. I suppose it's hard not be inspired by Jillian Michaels since, as a trainer, she seems mean and yells a lot.

The gist of what her response, or at least what I took from her response, centered about doing something more meaningful. Now, I'm not saying that blogging about my mundane life has not been meaningful. It totally has, especially when I wanted to write about the passing of my son (Braden).

And as much as I have enjoyed writing about my late son, I don't think I have the interest anymore in writing about my boring life. Not to mention, taking care of my baby daughter (Briana) has definitely made time disappear in the blink of an eye. I have no idea where all my free time goes now because when I look at the time, the day is already over. It's definitely a weird feeling.

So rather than feel like I am tied down to a blog whereby I write about the daily happenings in my life, I have decided to do something more meaningful... or at least something that I would enjoy writing about without feeling that I had to do it during a particular day. Unfortunately, I have not found my new muse yet. I have been trying to think of a new and creative outlet for my writing, whether it is a new blog about creative writing or screenwriting or whatnot.

I just have not decided yet. But suffice to say, I am taking a hiatus while I figure things out.

I Suck At Tree Trimming

2010-12-13T03:06:00.005-05:00

Saturday started off pretty well.

My friends (Cass and Ellen) were in the neighborhood and decided to stop on by for lunch. Apparently, there is a company located near us that offers 3-D videos of your baby while you are pregnant. Suffice to say, it was definitely good to see Cass and Ellen. It appears that Cass has amassed quite a collection of Singamajigs already for their upcoming baby. (I think the Singamajigs may be more for Cass.)

Later than night, Karen and I attended a tree trimming. Unfortunately, I suck at tree trimming. And naturally, that is when things started to go downhill for me. Every year, my friends (Marc and Kelley) host a tree trimming party to celebrate the holidays. This year, in particular, their party coincided with a UFC fight. So, they were gracious enough to host the party and the UFC pay-per-view.

Anyway, I was pretty excited about the UFC fight. Sadly, things never really go according to plan. The tree trimming was great. My usual group of friends (Garv, Leeann, and Andrea) showed up. Cass was there. Marc's family were there. My BFF (Kerry) was there. My friends (Adam and Kim) were there. My friend (Amy, the Czar) was there. It was definitely good to hang out with everyone.

Unfortunately, it was probably due that I would mess things up. And as a general rule, when I mess things up... I mess things up. I think I've become "that guy". Needless to say, you know things are bad when you wake up the next day not knowing where you are.

And sadly, that is what happened. I woke up at 4 in the morning with one of Marc and Kelley's cat sitting in my lap, a bucket next to me, and the faint smell of vomit in the air. It didn't take too long for me to piece together that the smell of vomit must have been mine.

I say "must have", because unfortunately I have no memory about the incident. Quite frequently, I seem to suffer from alcohol-related amnesia. The last thing I remember was hanging out and chatting with Adam in the kitchen. I have since been told that I actually went to watch the UFC fight, only to never finish watching it due to my purge. I'm not exactly sure how much time elapsed since that moment in time in the kitchen to my inevitable purge.

Some people have an unhealthy relationship with food. I seem to have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol. No doubt, I have done physical damage to my liver and brain. I think what is probably the scariest part, aside from putting a strain on my relationship with my friends, is not remembering what happened at all. I could have probably murdered someone in my inebriated state and wouldn't even know it. Heck, I would be the perfect person to frame for a murder.

I think as I am getting older, my symptoms are getting worse. Earlier in my days, I could tell when things didn't feel quite right. I would get "huggy" as it may be. And I would perhaps sway a little. These days, there's just the swaying... and by that time, it's already too late. There are no signs that I'm passed that point.

After all, like I said, I remember talking with Adam in the kitchen. The best way I can describe the feeling is that it's almost like a switch that gets turned off. It feels that quick. And my memory seems to immediately shut down with it, which is pretty sad because my memory is poor to begin with. Throw in the vomit and well... perhaps that is a sign that my body just can't process alcohol like it used to.

Needless to say, I'm not too proud of my latest drunkenness. I feel awful for ruining Marc and Kelley's party. I'm not sure if there is anything I can do to make it up to them or anyone else at the party who had to witness or even help me. It's yet another in a long line of things that I am regretful for.

It's funny. One of the reasons why I titled my blog "I suck at..." is because of incidents like these. Granted, these incidents that I'm not proud of are not all alcohol-induced. Seeing Amy The Czar did bring back some memories where I wasn't exactly the nicest of nice, a fact only reinforced by my recent rummaging through of old high school crap that my mother brought over after cleaning out her attic.

It goes without saying that I am sorry for letting all of my friends down. I'm sorry that I'm a bad reflection on Karen. And right now, I'm even sorry that my baby daughter (Briana) has me as a father. At almost nine months, Briana thinks I'm like the greatest thing on the planet next to her milk. It's amazing how good I feel whenever Briana looks at me and smiles, because I know she simply adores me. Unfortunately, she doesn't know any better. I'm not even good at taking care of myself.

I Suck At Double Features

2010-12-13T02:38:00.003-05:00

On Friday, I fed my movie addiction by watching a double feature of movies. The two movies I watched were The Skulls and Avatar. I don't think there was any connection between the movies, other than they were simply on. Needless to say, I suck at double features.

The Skulls stars Joshua Jackson (of Dawson's Creek fame) as Ivy Leaguer who dreams of getting into a fictional secret society known as the Skulls because the society is well connected. (For anyone curious, the movie is based on theories about Yale and its own Skull and Bones society.) Things of course, aren't what he imagines once he becomes a member. Paul Walker also happens to be another member of the Skulls.

I wasn't really expecting much from the movie. So it's probably no surprise that I thought the movie was pretty blah. Interestingly enough, there are apparently direct to video sequels to this movie. Who knew? On a whole, the movie was not all that bad. I have seen worse.

After The Skulls, I ended up watching the much hyped movie, Avatar. The movie did get nominated for nine Academy Awards, one of which was Best Picture.

(The video below is a trailer for Avatar.)

Naturally, I had to see what the movie was about. And truth be told, the movie was good. It was definitely enjoyable. I'm not sure if I would consider the movie a Best Picture, but then again I don't agree with many of the choices for movies that make the Best Picture list. I remember seeing The English Patient and was perplexed as to why that would be a Best Picture movie. But like I said, that's just me.

Anyway, the double features were a nice way to kill time and be entertained.