last night, karen and i hung out with my friends (marc and kelley).
marc and kelley were gracious enough to make dinner for the night. on the menu: tacos... and some other mexican related side dishes. usually whenever marc and kelley make tacos, i throw everything into the taco shell... including the related side dishes. i don't really know why i do it. seeing as how i'm already eating the taco by hand, i suppose it just makes things easier to consume.
anyway, last night i actually tried something new: a tamale. now, i have never eaten a tamale. in fact, i didn't even know what a tamale was up until yesterday. don't get me wrong, i've eaten a hot tamale... but that was just candy. (and for anyone curious, a hot tamale candy and a regular tamale... do not taste the same.) i never really made the connection that a tamale... is well... food and not candy.
needless to say, for those like me who have never eaten a tamale, according my friend wikipedia:
"A tamale (Spanish tamal, from Nahuatl tamalli) is a traditional Latin American dish consisting of steam-cooked corn dough (masa) with or without a filling. Tamales can be filled with meats, cheese (post-colonial), and sliced chillis or any preparation according to taste. The tamale is generally wrapped in a corn husk or plantain(post-colonial) leaves before cooking, depending on the region from which they come.
Their essence is the corn meal dough made from hominy (called masa), or a masa mix such as Maseca, usually filled with sweet or savory filling, wrapped in plant leaves or corn husks, and cooked, usually by steaming, until firm. Tamales were developed as a portable ration for use by war parties in the ancient Americas, and were as ubiquitous and varied as the sandwich is today. The diversity of native languages in the pre-Hispanic America led to a number of local words for the tamal, many of which remain in use."
regardless, the tamale was good. (the peanut butter and jelly bars for dessert were also very good too. cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.)
needless to say, with the season of "lost" over, we decided to catch up on some episodes of angel. the episodes we watched included: "i've got you under my skin" about a child possessed by a demon; and "the prodigal" which provides some history about angel's past and his relationship with his father.
as those episodes of angel were the last ones on the disc, we decided to take a quick break and enjoy the show "deadliest warrior". deadliest warrior is a show that examines the weaponry from various people in the past and creates a computer simulation about who would win in a fictitious battle. it's an interesting show that marc and kelley got karen and i hooked on. the combatants in the episode for the night: william wallace versus shaka zulu.
the show almost reminds me of those discussions growing up like who would win in a fight: batman versus superman and things like that... except deadliest warrior actually does some scientific research. (for anyone curious, william wallace would win... freeeeeeeedommmmm! that was a reference to the mel gibson "braveheart" movie... back before mel gibson became drunk and started calling women sugar-tits...)
anyway, to add some frivolity to the mix, we ended the night watching the show "wipeout". now, i suck at wipeout. wipeout is basically mxc (most extreme elimination challenge)... only better.
(the video below is from wipeout.)
the premise of the show: make it through a bunch of obstacle courses and the winner at the end gets $50,000.
i never really watched the show in its entirety up until yesterday. last night, however, had all of us laughing in stitches. i can see now why my mom loves the show so much. when the show first aired, my mom kept telling me how funny the show was. who knew? mother knows best...
anyway, wipeout was definitely a good way to end the night. as usual, i had a blast last night.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
I Suck At The Wrentham Premium Outlets
monday was memorial day. happy memorial day!
earlier in the week, my bff (kerry) had contacted karen and i to see if we were available during the long weekend. kerry was interested in going to the wrentham premium outlets to do some clothes shopping. now, i suck at the wrentham premium outlets. i definitely have not been there in quite some time. in fact, the last time may have been with kerry.
anyway, to start off the day we met kerry in braintree at borders. awhile ago, i had received a gift card for christmas from my former boss to borders. as i'm generally illiterate, i don't feel the need to buy many books. (i apparently read buffy comic books and stupid twilight books.) so, i was looking to use up the rest of my gift card.
recently, karen and i have been talking about creating a vegetable garden. as well, we have discussed the possibility of creating a compost pile. so naturally, we decided to look for books about vegetable gardens.
it's interesting. i never would have thought in a million years that i would be interested in gardening. i considered gardening like yard work... dirty and an utter pain. it was not until i could see the benefits of gardening and growing your own foods free of pesticides and whatnot that i became a little intrigued by the idea. i guess we'll see how long my curiosity lasts.
anyway, after getting a book about vegetable gardens (and finally getting rid of my borders gift card), karen, kerry and i head off for some retail therapy: shopping. interestingly enough, we did not buy that many things at wrentham. i did not buy anything at all, but karen and kerry each got some stuff. nevertheless, it was just fun to hang out and spend some time with kerry.
for anyone curious, it turns out that kerry has become a country bumpkin. she has joined the bandwagon of enjoying country music... evident from the country music cd she created. i wonder if country music correlates with age... in that the older you get, the more you are likely to enjoy country music. i now know a bunch of people who like country music (besides karen): karen's cousin (karlene) and our friends (jen, pam) and now kerry. oh well.
regardless, we had fun at wrentham. we even enjoyed a little lunch at ruby tuesdays in wrentham. all in all, i had fun... even if i did spend most of the time standing around waiting outside the fitting room for karen and kerry.
and as an interesting tidbit of information, i spaced off again while driving home from wrentham... proof that i still may not have recovered from my staying up till the wee hours of night fixing a computer in lowell. and by spacing off... i mean big time... i had absolutely been on mental cruise control and was well past the exit before realizing what i had done.
so naturally, one would think that i would have crashed again and went to bed when i got home. nope. karen and i ended up building a raised bed for our eventual vegetable garden in the back yard... and then i crashed.
earlier in the week, my bff (kerry) had contacted karen and i to see if we were available during the long weekend. kerry was interested in going to the wrentham premium outlets to do some clothes shopping. now, i suck at the wrentham premium outlets. i definitely have not been there in quite some time. in fact, the last time may have been with kerry.
anyway, to start off the day we met kerry in braintree at borders. awhile ago, i had received a gift card for christmas from my former boss to borders. as i'm generally illiterate, i don't feel the need to buy many books. (i apparently read buffy comic books and stupid twilight books.) so, i was looking to use up the rest of my gift card.
recently, karen and i have been talking about creating a vegetable garden. as well, we have discussed the possibility of creating a compost pile. so naturally, we decided to look for books about vegetable gardens.
it's interesting. i never would have thought in a million years that i would be interested in gardening. i considered gardening like yard work... dirty and an utter pain. it was not until i could see the benefits of gardening and growing your own foods free of pesticides and whatnot that i became a little intrigued by the idea. i guess we'll see how long my curiosity lasts.
anyway, after getting a book about vegetable gardens (and finally getting rid of my borders gift card), karen, kerry and i head off for some retail therapy: shopping. interestingly enough, we did not buy that many things at wrentham. i did not buy anything at all, but karen and kerry each got some stuff. nevertheless, it was just fun to hang out and spend some time with kerry.
for anyone curious, it turns out that kerry has become a country bumpkin. she has joined the bandwagon of enjoying country music... evident from the country music cd she created. i wonder if country music correlates with age... in that the older you get, the more you are likely to enjoy country music. i now know a bunch of people who like country music (besides karen): karen's cousin (karlene) and our friends (jen, pam) and now kerry. oh well.
regardless, we had fun at wrentham. we even enjoyed a little lunch at ruby tuesdays in wrentham. all in all, i had fun... even if i did spend most of the time standing around waiting outside the fitting room for karen and kerry.
and as an interesting tidbit of information, i spaced off again while driving home from wrentham... proof that i still may not have recovered from my staying up till the wee hours of night fixing a computer in lowell. and by spacing off... i mean big time... i had absolutely been on mental cruise control and was well past the exit before realizing what i had done.
so naturally, one would think that i would have crashed again and went to bed when i got home. nope. karen and i ended up building a raised bed for our eventual vegetable garden in the back yard... and then i crashed.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
I Suck At Celebrating My Wedding Anniversary
sunday was my wedding anniversary. it was six years ago that i duped karen into thinking i was a wonderful guy worth spending the rest of her life with. little did she know...
anyway, what better way to start off our wedding anniversary than breakfast in lowell? supposedly, there is a lot to like about lowell... or so karen's cousins would have you believe. sure, i suck at celebrating my wedding anniversary.
karen and i spent the night at her cousins (karlene and tommy) who live in lowell. after all, we definitely were not going to head home after staying up till the wee hours (4am) the previous night. (as it was, i had some trouble driving home later that day... not that i was driving badly or anything. i had simply spaced off and missed our exit.)
nevertheless, the four of us got up bright and early for breakfast at vic's located in lowell. vic's is one of those places that remind me of the old school diner... probably because there is a row of seats at the counter.
anyway, the food was good. karen had cran-orange french toast, while i had blueberry pancakes. to my surprise, the blueberry pancakes were huge. karlene actually had an interesting breakfast as well. she ordered an almond joy pancake. i think it's a pancake with chocolate and coconut... interesting.
the blueberry pancakes at vic's were definitely filling. compared to the annual tradition last year, where i had ordered blueberry pancakes at this breakfast restaurant in lowell called "the owl", these pancakes were much better. of course, it was not too difficult to taste better than the blueberry pancakes i ordered last year because the blueberries were actually in the pancake this time around. (last year, i ordered blueberry pancakes... only to get regular pancakes with blueberries on the side.)
after breakfast, karen and i headed back home... where, as mentioned before, i missed our exit due to my lackadaisical state. once we got home, the first thing we did: assemble our dyson vacuum and take it for a test run. needless to say, we were giddy with excitement. heck, i still get giddy whenever i see the vacuum. (yes, we may be a little odd, but it's an awesome vacuum!)
shortly thereafter, we both crashed from exhaustion. when we finally did wake up, karen and i opened our presents to one another: candy galore. right now, our house is packed full of candy. yum! gummy bears... bouncing here and there and everywhere!
anyway, to celebrate our anniversary we decided to go to salsa's in hingham. salsa's was pretty empty when we arrived. interestingly enough, the paw sox were on television there. i didn't even know minor league baseball was even broadcasted. as usual, the food at salsa's was delicious. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.)
the delicious food was a great way to end the night. i still can't believe it has already been six years. it's interesting how quickly time goes by.
anyway, what better way to start off our wedding anniversary than breakfast in lowell? supposedly, there is a lot to like about lowell... or so karen's cousins would have you believe. sure, i suck at celebrating my wedding anniversary.
karen and i spent the night at her cousins (karlene and tommy) who live in lowell. after all, we definitely were not going to head home after staying up till the wee hours (4am) the previous night. (as it was, i had some trouble driving home later that day... not that i was driving badly or anything. i had simply spaced off and missed our exit.)
nevertheless, the four of us got up bright and early for breakfast at vic's located in lowell. vic's is one of those places that remind me of the old school diner... probably because there is a row of seats at the counter.
anyway, the food was good. karen had cran-orange french toast, while i had blueberry pancakes. to my surprise, the blueberry pancakes were huge. karlene actually had an interesting breakfast as well. she ordered an almond joy pancake. i think it's a pancake with chocolate and coconut... interesting.
the blueberry pancakes at vic's were definitely filling. compared to the annual tradition last year, where i had ordered blueberry pancakes at this breakfast restaurant in lowell called "the owl", these pancakes were much better. of course, it was not too difficult to taste better than the blueberry pancakes i ordered last year because the blueberries were actually in the pancake this time around. (last year, i ordered blueberry pancakes... only to get regular pancakes with blueberries on the side.)
after breakfast, karen and i headed back home... where, as mentioned before, i missed our exit due to my lackadaisical state. once we got home, the first thing we did: assemble our dyson vacuum and take it for a test run. needless to say, we were giddy with excitement. heck, i still get giddy whenever i see the vacuum. (yes, we may be a little odd, but it's an awesome vacuum!)
shortly thereafter, we both crashed from exhaustion. when we finally did wake up, karen and i opened our presents to one another: candy galore. right now, our house is packed full of candy. yum! gummy bears... bouncing here and there and everywhere!
anyway, to celebrate our anniversary we decided to go to salsa's in hingham. salsa's was pretty empty when we arrived. interestingly enough, the paw sox were on television there. i didn't even know minor league baseball was even broadcasted. as usual, the food at salsa's was delicious. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.)
the delicious food was a great way to end the night. i still can't believe it has already been six years. it's interesting how quickly time goes by.
I Suck At Hanging Out With Karlene And Tommy
saturday was quite the eventful day.
the day started off bright and early as my brother-in-law's (pj) brother (michael) stopped by for a quick visit. awhile ago, karen and i were talking to michael about air conditioning. in particular, we were asking if michael and his family would be interested in taking our old central air unit.
when the second floor was added to our house, karen and i asked the contractors to see if they could integrate the new duct work with our exisiting central air unit on the first floor. unfortunately, to have an efficient system the answer was no. thus, karen and i had a new central air unit installed to control both floors of the house.
as a result, the old original central air unit has been sitting in the garage ever since the second floor was added. and truth be told, the original central air unit was not even that old. it might have only been used one year. money well spent...
needless to say, karen and i were ecstatic when michael said he could use it. we were happy because 1) we did not have to throw a perfectly good central air unit away, which as fans of recycling were music to our ears; and 2) we have more room in the garage again.
anyway, michael and pj came bright and early to pick up the central air unit. (michael lives in the neighboring town of pembroke, so the transporting of the central air unit was not that far.) to our surprise, michael brought us blueberry bushes in return. it was a very nice gesture that he did not have to do.
following the central air unit pickup, karen and i went to get our big merchandise ticket for the day: a vacuum. for awhile, karen and i have been talking about getting a new vacuum. our old vacuum... aside from putting out a lot of heat... has not been picking up dirt that well.
i am guessing one of the reasons why the vacuum has not been picking up dirt that well is because the filter needs to be changed. every year around memorial day, karen and i would order a new filter for the vacuum. unfortunately, for the past few years, we have neglected to get a new filter. (that is how long we have talked about getting a new vacuum.)
the new filters were rather costly for the vacuum. in doing the math, we figured that it made no sense to continually purchase new filters because eventually the costs accrued for the filters would exceed purchasing a new vacuum altogether. hence, we had stopped buying filters for our old vacuum.
unfortunately, we kept talking about getting a new vacumm and never did... for years. we had even researched and looked into a specific vacuum. so one day, as i was browsing through the weekly ad for best buy, i noticed that the vacuum that we had looked into was on sale.
and thus, karen and i decided that enough was enough... and we made the executive decision to just purchase the new vacuum... before it would be another few years. anyway, we bought the new vacuum. it's a dyson. (for anyone curious, we love the vacuum. it's awesome!)
anyway, following our excursion to best buy, karen and i headed to lowell. (insert "there is a lot to like about lowell" tagline.) karen's cousins (karlene and tommy) live in lowell. i am not exactly sure how the "tradition" started... and karlene is big on traditions... but for some reason karen and i apparently head up to lowell on memorial day weekend. and this year was no different.
now, i suck at hanging out with karlene and tommy. the tradition generally includes visiting a garden store known as gath's and kimball's ice cream. in addition, this year's festivities would include the cleaning of karlene's craft room, and the fixing of their computer.
(pictured below is the sign for the garden store... and wally.)
as far as garden places go, gath's is great. the place is run by the gaths out of their home in dunstable. mr. gath is very helpful... and funny. he does a great job with his plants. karen... and apparently karlene... enjoy going to gath's to find plants for their respective gardens. (karen and i also picked up some things for the cemetery for our son.)
after gath's, we enjoyed kimball's ice cream in westford. as far as ice cream goes... kimball's is by far the best. for anyone curious, kimball's is another family run business. their home-made ice cream is simply delicious. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.) with their gigantic portion sizes, i would recommend kimball's ice cream to any ice cream connoisseur.
from there, karen, karlene, tommy and i went back to their place in lowell for a little cookout dinner. (yes, we had ice cream before dinner.) and then... the fun started.
karlene is a little sentimental. she keeps practically everything that is given to her. in addition, she purchases things to hold on to for future use. as admirable as those qualities may be, the result is a room full of stuff... lots and lots of stuff. as of late, karlene has been trying to de-clutter her craft room. i would guess that her wanting to de-clutter her room is somewhat related to the recent cleaning of her grandmother's place.
nevertheless, karlene asked for karen's help. and as weird as this sounds, karen loves helping to organize things... especially other people's things. so while karen and karlene tackled karlene's craft room, i got the enviable task of fixing their computer.
naturally, i get the computer-related task. that is my "thing" in the family... perhaps due to my genetics. just kidding. for some time, karlene and tommy's computer has been unable to read data from the disc drive. in fact, the disc drive does not even show up as an accessible drive.
before i started of course, tommy and i reviewed some of the applications on the computer. after my little schpiel about microsoft's internet explorer browser, i convinced tommy to forego internet explorer and use mozilla's web standard-compliant firefox browser. (go firefox!)
browsers aside, it took me awhile to diagnose the problem of the inaccessible disc drive. at first, i thought the problem was due to the installed driver for the piece of hardware. sadly, i was mistaken. after some tinkering... and a brief moment where i had rendered the computer completely inoperable... tommy and i discovered the problem: an older version of itunes.
truth be told, i never would have guessed there was a connection between itunes and an inaccessible disc drive. my guess is that because itunes has a disc burning feature, that somehow the older version of the application caused the disc drive to be inoperable. nevertheless, the easy solution turned out to be updating itunes to the current version offered by apple. once itunes was updated, the disc drive appeared. unfortunately, we did not discover this possible solution until the wee hours of night... and by wee hours... i mean 4 in the morning.
the day started off bright and early as my brother-in-law's (pj) brother (michael) stopped by for a quick visit. awhile ago, karen and i were talking to michael about air conditioning. in particular, we were asking if michael and his family would be interested in taking our old central air unit.
when the second floor was added to our house, karen and i asked the contractors to see if they could integrate the new duct work with our exisiting central air unit on the first floor. unfortunately, to have an efficient system the answer was no. thus, karen and i had a new central air unit installed to control both floors of the house.
as a result, the old original central air unit has been sitting in the garage ever since the second floor was added. and truth be told, the original central air unit was not even that old. it might have only been used one year. money well spent...
needless to say, karen and i were ecstatic when michael said he could use it. we were happy because 1) we did not have to throw a perfectly good central air unit away, which as fans of recycling were music to our ears; and 2) we have more room in the garage again.
anyway, michael and pj came bright and early to pick up the central air unit. (michael lives in the neighboring town of pembroke, so the transporting of the central air unit was not that far.) to our surprise, michael brought us blueberry bushes in return. it was a very nice gesture that he did not have to do.
following the central air unit pickup, karen and i went to get our big merchandise ticket for the day: a vacuum. for awhile, karen and i have been talking about getting a new vacuum. our old vacuum... aside from putting out a lot of heat... has not been picking up dirt that well.
i am guessing one of the reasons why the vacuum has not been picking up dirt that well is because the filter needs to be changed. every year around memorial day, karen and i would order a new filter for the vacuum. unfortunately, for the past few years, we have neglected to get a new filter. (that is how long we have talked about getting a new vacuum.)
the new filters were rather costly for the vacuum. in doing the math, we figured that it made no sense to continually purchase new filters because eventually the costs accrued for the filters would exceed purchasing a new vacuum altogether. hence, we had stopped buying filters for our old vacuum.
unfortunately, we kept talking about getting a new vacumm and never did... for years. we had even researched and looked into a specific vacuum. so one day, as i was browsing through the weekly ad for best buy, i noticed that the vacuum that we had looked into was on sale.
and thus, karen and i decided that enough was enough... and we made the executive decision to just purchase the new vacuum... before it would be another few years. anyway, we bought the new vacuum. it's a dyson. (for anyone curious, we love the vacuum. it's awesome!)
anyway, following our excursion to best buy, karen and i headed to lowell. (insert "there is a lot to like about lowell" tagline.) karen's cousins (karlene and tommy) live in lowell. i am not exactly sure how the "tradition" started... and karlene is big on traditions... but for some reason karen and i apparently head up to lowell on memorial day weekend. and this year was no different.
now, i suck at hanging out with karlene and tommy. the tradition generally includes visiting a garden store known as gath's and kimball's ice cream. in addition, this year's festivities would include the cleaning of karlene's craft room, and the fixing of their computer.
(pictured below is the sign for the garden store... and wally.)
as far as garden places go, gath's is great. the place is run by the gaths out of their home in dunstable. mr. gath is very helpful... and funny. he does a great job with his plants. karen... and apparently karlene... enjoy going to gath's to find plants for their respective gardens. (karen and i also picked up some things for the cemetery for our son.)
after gath's, we enjoyed kimball's ice cream in westford. as far as ice cream goes... kimball's is by far the best. for anyone curious, kimball's is another family run business. their home-made ice cream is simply delicious. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.) with their gigantic portion sizes, i would recommend kimball's ice cream to any ice cream connoisseur.
from there, karen, karlene, tommy and i went back to their place in lowell for a little cookout dinner. (yes, we had ice cream before dinner.) and then... the fun started.
karlene is a little sentimental. she keeps practically everything that is given to her. in addition, she purchases things to hold on to for future use. as admirable as those qualities may be, the result is a room full of stuff... lots and lots of stuff. as of late, karlene has been trying to de-clutter her craft room. i would guess that her wanting to de-clutter her room is somewhat related to the recent cleaning of her grandmother's place.
nevertheless, karlene asked for karen's help. and as weird as this sounds, karen loves helping to organize things... especially other people's things. so while karen and karlene tackled karlene's craft room, i got the enviable task of fixing their computer.
naturally, i get the computer-related task. that is my "thing" in the family... perhaps due to my genetics. just kidding. for some time, karlene and tommy's computer has been unable to read data from the disc drive. in fact, the disc drive does not even show up as an accessible drive.
before i started of course, tommy and i reviewed some of the applications on the computer. after my little schpiel about microsoft's internet explorer browser, i convinced tommy to forego internet explorer and use mozilla's web standard-compliant firefox browser. (go firefox!)
browsers aside, it took me awhile to diagnose the problem of the inaccessible disc drive. at first, i thought the problem was due to the installed driver for the piece of hardware. sadly, i was mistaken. after some tinkering... and a brief moment where i had rendered the computer completely inoperable... tommy and i discovered the problem: an older version of itunes.
truth be told, i never would have guessed there was a connection between itunes and an inaccessible disc drive. my guess is that because itunes has a disc burning feature, that somehow the older version of the application caused the disc drive to be inoperable. nevertheless, the easy solution turned out to be updating itunes to the current version offered by apple. once itunes was updated, the disc drive appeared. unfortunately, we did not discover this possible solution until the wee hours of night... and by wee hours... i mean 4 in the morning.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
I Suck At Trivia Night
last night, karen and i hung out with my friends (marc and kelley). with the season of "lost" over, we decided to do something a little bit different yesterday. we decided to try our hand at trivia night. now, i suck at trivia night. unfortunately last night, everyone else sucked too.
every wednesday, a company called stump! trivia has a team trivia contest at my friend's (garv) bar: blue 22 in quincy. marc and kelley were gracious enough to organize our team for the night. the team consisted of marc, kelley, karen, myself, and our friends (andrea, jen, and hot amy). the latter two, however, were simply there for the dinner portion of the night... not so much for the trivia.
speaking of dinner, i actually had to forego most of the eating last night. my company had a departmental barbeque earlier in the day. needless to say, i may have overeaten a little during that cookout. i practically ate a cow... if not a cow, then maybe a calf. the steak tips were just that good. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.) and sure, i'm probably paying for the mass consumption of beef now... but it sure did taste good.
anyway, our team did not really do too well. the good news was... we weren't last. the bad news... we only beat the teams that had quit for the night. sadly, the only question i was able to really help with had to do with the song "what hurts the most". the question was something along the lines of: what grammy-nominated country song in 2003 was remade by cascada?
by no means am i a country music fan. sure, there are some country tunes that i enjoy because the songs are quite catchy. the reason i knew the answer, however, was because i happen to own two of cascada's albums... and "what hurts the most" happens to be on one of those albums. (i'm technically asian... so i have to enjoy techno dance music, right?)
(the video below is cascada's version of "what hurts the most".)
that was about the highlight of my trivia night. in our defense, we have not done trivia in quite some time. andrea was relatively new to trivia as it was only her second time ever. as for the rest of us, we just needed to dust off the cobwebs.
despite our poor performance, i had a great time. should we attempt to do trivia again (and i have a funny suspicion that we will because andrea is quite competitive), we should perhaps start brushing up on the fairly common topics of tv, movies, and music.
all in all, i did have a good time. it was good to see everyone and hang out.
every wednesday, a company called stump! trivia has a team trivia contest at my friend's (garv) bar: blue 22 in quincy. marc and kelley were gracious enough to organize our team for the night. the team consisted of marc, kelley, karen, myself, and our friends (andrea, jen, and hot amy). the latter two, however, were simply there for the dinner portion of the night... not so much for the trivia.
speaking of dinner, i actually had to forego most of the eating last night. my company had a departmental barbeque earlier in the day. needless to say, i may have overeaten a little during that cookout. i practically ate a cow... if not a cow, then maybe a calf. the steak tips were just that good. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.) and sure, i'm probably paying for the mass consumption of beef now... but it sure did taste good.
anyway, our team did not really do too well. the good news was... we weren't last. the bad news... we only beat the teams that had quit for the night. sadly, the only question i was able to really help with had to do with the song "what hurts the most". the question was something along the lines of: what grammy-nominated country song in 2003 was remade by cascada?
by no means am i a country music fan. sure, there are some country tunes that i enjoy because the songs are quite catchy. the reason i knew the answer, however, was because i happen to own two of cascada's albums... and "what hurts the most" happens to be on one of those albums. (i'm technically asian... so i have to enjoy techno dance music, right?)
(the video below is cascada's version of "what hurts the most".)
that was about the highlight of my trivia night. in our defense, we have not done trivia in quite some time. andrea was relatively new to trivia as it was only her second time ever. as for the rest of us, we just needed to dust off the cobwebs.
despite our poor performance, i had a great time. should we attempt to do trivia again (and i have a funny suspicion that we will because andrea is quite competitive), we should perhaps start brushing up on the fairly common topics of tv, movies, and music.
all in all, i did have a good time. it was good to see everyone and hang out.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
I Suck At Glee
since getting verizon fios for our ginormous television, karen and i have been pretty much couch potatoes. we have a system... and by system i mean that i pretty much grab my lucky ralph lauren down comforter and watch television... all snuggled up. (security blanket? maybe.)
anyway, last night we decided to watch the premiere of fox's new show: glee. now, i suck at glee. at first, karen was not too keen on the idea of the show. truth be told, the beginning of the show was not too interesting.
nevertheless, i am a sucker for all things teeny-bopper-ish and high school-ish. i have, after all, gotten some ribbing for owning the collector's edition dvd of "bring it on". (for anyone curious, "bring it on" is the high school cheerleading movie with buffy's own... and massachusett's own... eliza dushku. and sure, kirsten dunst was in it too.)
(the video below is a promo for glee.)
anyway, the show "glee" turned out to be rather good. karen and i were hooked by the end of the show. of course, it didn't hurt that the glee club performed journey's "don't stop believing"... once the staple of all bars. (i don't think any woman can resist belting out the lyrics when the song comes on in the wee hours of night at a bar.)
that is not to say the show was original or anything. the show has its usual plot devices: popular football jock turned glee club member; girl likes boy; female teacher likes glee teacher; teen angst; underdog glee club members, etc. luckily for fox and "glee", i'm a sucker for movies and television. sure, the show will probably be very predictable, but karen and i can't wait now for the "glee" season to begin. too bad the show does not start until the fall.
needless to say, as i was singing "don't stop believing" myself... i started to wonder if we had a glee club growing up in high school... not that i would have joined it of course. it wasn't until karen reminded me that glee was called choir, that i remembered. and once i remembered that fact... then i definitely would not have joined. choir (at least my high school choir) = lame. just kidding.
anyway, karen and i enjoyed watching "glee" last night... cuddled up in the down comforter on our couch. it was a good way to unwind and veg out.
anyway, last night we decided to watch the premiere of fox's new show: glee. now, i suck at glee. at first, karen was not too keen on the idea of the show. truth be told, the beginning of the show was not too interesting.
nevertheless, i am a sucker for all things teeny-bopper-ish and high school-ish. i have, after all, gotten some ribbing for owning the collector's edition dvd of "bring it on". (for anyone curious, "bring it on" is the high school cheerleading movie with buffy's own... and massachusett's own... eliza dushku. and sure, kirsten dunst was in it too.)
(the video below is a promo for glee.)
anyway, the show "glee" turned out to be rather good. karen and i were hooked by the end of the show. of course, it didn't hurt that the glee club performed journey's "don't stop believing"... once the staple of all bars. (i don't think any woman can resist belting out the lyrics when the song comes on in the wee hours of night at a bar.)
that is not to say the show was original or anything. the show has its usual plot devices: popular football jock turned glee club member; girl likes boy; female teacher likes glee teacher; teen angst; underdog glee club members, etc. luckily for fox and "glee", i'm a sucker for movies and television. sure, the show will probably be very predictable, but karen and i can't wait now for the "glee" season to begin. too bad the show does not start until the fall.
needless to say, as i was singing "don't stop believing" myself... i started to wonder if we had a glee club growing up in high school... not that i would have joined it of course. it wasn't until karen reminded me that glee was called choir, that i remembered. and once i remembered that fact... then i definitely would not have joined. choir (at least my high school choir) = lame. just kidding.
anyway, karen and i enjoyed watching "glee" last night... cuddled up in the down comforter on our couch. it was a good way to unwind and veg out.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
I Suck At Staples
last night, i went looking for an anniversary present. after all, this sunday is karen and my wedding anniversary. even though it was six years ago, it seems like yesterday that i duped karen into marrying me.
with the exception of last year, karen and i generally exchange gifts based on the traditional theme for the given anniversary year. for example, the traditional gift for the first anniversary is paper. consequently, i got her a gift certificate to a salon, etc.
anyway, the traditional gift for the sixth anniversary is candy/iron. now, as much as i enjoy ferrous ions (iron), i opted for the candy option. after all, karen loves candy. heck, who doesn't love candy and all its sugary goodness?
needless to say, i rather enjoyed finding a present for karen this year. so last night, i went shopping for candy! yum! with the help of my friend (andrea), i was able to buy candy in bulk last night. andrea has a bj's card. previously, i had inquired if andrea would be using her card this week at bj's. as she wasn't, i asked if i could borrow her card with the intention of buying candy... lots and lots of candy. luckily for me, andrea wasn't going to use her card this week at bj's.
i ended up getting karen some of her favorites: a 1.5 lb container of sunkist fruit gems (naturally flavored soft fruit candy) and a box of 72 foil wrapped junior mints (deluxe dark chocolate). oh yes, her tummy will be full of candy come sunday. i'm pretty excited. come to think about it, i probably should have gotten some candy for our little vacation to the cape in july too. oh well, i'll worry about that later on.
anyway, following bj's, i made a little pit stop to staples. for anyone curious, the two stores are pretty close to one another in weymouth. now i suck at staples. (i had originally thought about titling this post "i suck at bj's"... but that just sounded all nasty and wrong.) nevertheless, i don't shop at staples that often. i generally go there to buy blank cds or whatnot.
some time ago on one of my random visits, i joined the staples reward club. for the longest time, i had no idea what the reward club offered. then one day, i inquired about the reward club and was told that one of the rewards involved getting a credit for old ink/toner cartridges.
naturally, i thought that was a great idea because i am a big proponent of recycling things... such as old ink/toner cartridges. the problem: i currently don't have a printer so there is no need for me to recycle old ink/toner cartridges.
luckily, karen told me about how her company lately has had problems recycling their old ink/toner cartridges because they were not receiving the proper materials to ship the old cartridges back to their vendors for recycling. so, karen asked if i would be interested in recycling the cartridges at staples seeing as how i had the reward club card. (for anyone curious, i would be more than happy to help anyone recycle their old ink/toner cartridges.)
thus, last night i brought three ink/toner cartridges from karen's work to staples for recycling after the excursion to bj's. for someone like me who occasionally goes to staples, it made the visit last night worthwhile. as lame as this sounds, i actually felt happy that i was a staples reward club member.
with the exception of last year, karen and i generally exchange gifts based on the traditional theme for the given anniversary year. for example, the traditional gift for the first anniversary is paper. consequently, i got her a gift certificate to a salon, etc.
anyway, the traditional gift for the sixth anniversary is candy/iron. now, as much as i enjoy ferrous ions (iron), i opted for the candy option. after all, karen loves candy. heck, who doesn't love candy and all its sugary goodness?
needless to say, i rather enjoyed finding a present for karen this year. so last night, i went shopping for candy! yum! with the help of my friend (andrea), i was able to buy candy in bulk last night. andrea has a bj's card. previously, i had inquired if andrea would be using her card this week at bj's. as she wasn't, i asked if i could borrow her card with the intention of buying candy... lots and lots of candy. luckily for me, andrea wasn't going to use her card this week at bj's.
i ended up getting karen some of her favorites: a 1.5 lb container of sunkist fruit gems (naturally flavored soft fruit candy) and a box of 72 foil wrapped junior mints (deluxe dark chocolate). oh yes, her tummy will be full of candy come sunday. i'm pretty excited. come to think about it, i probably should have gotten some candy for our little vacation to the cape in july too. oh well, i'll worry about that later on.
anyway, following bj's, i made a little pit stop to staples. for anyone curious, the two stores are pretty close to one another in weymouth. now i suck at staples. (i had originally thought about titling this post "i suck at bj's"... but that just sounded all nasty and wrong.) nevertheless, i don't shop at staples that often. i generally go there to buy blank cds or whatnot.
some time ago on one of my random visits, i joined the staples reward club. for the longest time, i had no idea what the reward club offered. then one day, i inquired about the reward club and was told that one of the rewards involved getting a credit for old ink/toner cartridges.
naturally, i thought that was a great idea because i am a big proponent of recycling things... such as old ink/toner cartridges. the problem: i currently don't have a printer so there is no need for me to recycle old ink/toner cartridges.
luckily, karen told me about how her company lately has had problems recycling their old ink/toner cartridges because they were not receiving the proper materials to ship the old cartridges back to their vendors for recycling. so, karen asked if i would be interested in recycling the cartridges at staples seeing as how i had the reward club card. (for anyone curious, i would be more than happy to help anyone recycle their old ink/toner cartridges.)
thus, last night i brought three ink/toner cartridges from karen's work to staples for recycling after the excursion to bj's. for someone like me who occasionally goes to staples, it made the visit last night worthwhile. as lame as this sounds, i actually felt happy that i was a staples reward club member.
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