Yep, I suck at blogging. I think it's been about two weeks since I last posted something. Without a doubt, time seems to pass by at an exponential rate when raising children. I remember other parents telling me that way back when when I had my two year old (Briana). It's so true. After taking care of the kids, writing a blog post seems like the last thing I want to do especially when there are other chores to do as a result of raising kids.
Anyway, I figured I'd chain myself to the laptop tonight to write something before it gets way too late. As it is, it's been about two weeks. So here is a recap of all the things I had sucked at for the past two weeks:
Wreck-It Ralph: Awesome movie. My friends (Marc and Kelley) organized a movie night to go see Wreck-It Ralph in the theaters in Randolph. My BFF (Kerry) and my friend (Andrea) also attended. I absolutely loved the movie.
UFC 154: That same night, Marc and Kelley invited us back to their place to watch the UFC pay per view. The pay per view featured the return of Georges St-Pierre (also known as GSP). The main event definitely did not disappoint. It was a great match between GSP and Carlos Condit. Of course, my measuring stick for matches correlates to the amount of blood spilled... and there was plenty of it. Blood aside, it really was a great match between the two. (For anyone curious, GSP won.)
Pre-Thanksgiving dinner: On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, my parents invited us to their place for a "pre-Thanksgiving dinner". In addition to Karen's parents, my cousin (Betty) and her son (Marvin) attended. It was good seeing Betty and Marvin. I still can't believe Marvin is a Junior in high school. I remember when he was a newborn baby, Karen and I took him and Betty to the airport. At the time, they were leaving for Hong Kong with hopes of returning in several years. They did return several years later, but it seems like yesterday that I recall going up the escalator with Betty and Marvin. As a side note, the food at my parents was delicious.
Thanksgiving: This year was the first year that Karen and I hosted Thanksgiving. Joining us for Thanksgiving were Karen's parents, Karen's grandmother, my parents, and my friends (Marc, Kelly, and Andrea). It was definitely a neat experience to cook a turkey. I had the pleasure of taking the innards out of the turkey. All in all, I think the day went very well. I think everyone enjoyed the turkey and the side dishes. I also made one of the side dishes (green beans), because Karen thought there should be at least one green dish. The only downside of the day was that I had a headache for most of the day. I hardly ever get headaches... or sick for that matter. I think, however, that stress may have been a contributing factor on Thanksgiving as I had such a headache with massive neck pain. And truth be told, I don't really stress that much... consciously anyway. I suppose subconsciously I do.
Black Friday: The day after Thanksgiving, Karen and I took our nine month old (Bridget) to get pictures done at Sears. Briana had pictures done when she was young. So in all fairness, and to avoid the neglected youngest child syndrome, we took Bridget for her pictures. Aside from that, the only real shopping that I did on Black Friday was to purchase an air compressor. I've been wanting one for quite some time now. I figured it was time to just bite the bullet and get one... with hopes of actually finishing some projects around the house. Of course, now I need the nail guns to go with the compressors. Baby steps.
6th Annual Black Friday Dinner: Black Friday would not be complete without dinner at our friends' (Cass and Ellen). This year, there were many attendees. In addition to Karen and I (and our kids), my friends (Adam, Aimee, Andrea, Marc, Kelley, Garv, Leeann, Scott, and Ofelia) and my BFF (Kerry) came. There were definitely a lot of laughs that night. As usual, it was a great time hanging out with everyone. Plus, it was a good way to get rid of our leftovers from Thanksgiving.
Memorial Mass: On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we attended an anniversary mass for Karen's grandfather (her father's father). Surprisingly, Briana and Bridget were very good during the mass. If not being Catholic were bad enough, I may have gotten some stares from parishioners for not standing up during the appropriate times, which normally isn't too bad but I happened to be in the very front pew. The way I look at it, I wasn't about to get up and down numerous times with a two year old draped all over me. So I opted to just remain seated. I guess that's my original sin working.
Quincy Parade: On Sunday, I begrudgingly attended Quincy's holiday parade. And nothing says fun like trekking a two year old and a nine month old out to stand in the freezing cold during a parade. To me, it almost seems like cruel torture to have kids stand outside in cold weather for a couple of hours. But it's crazy what people do for "tradition". Surprisingly, Briana loved it. I'm going to have to work on that.
Cookie Swap: Following the Quincy parade, my friends (Jen and Bill) had everyone who attended the parade back to their place for a cookie swap. I must say, some of the cookies were very delicious. Granted, I only tried three cookies there: Karen's, Kerry's, and Jen's aunt's. Needless to say, it was good to see Jen and Bill. All in all, it was interesting seeing everyone there.
And lastly, that brings me to today, where I attended a factory tour: My coworkers and I went to our neighbors in Norwell at Zildjian for a little tour. I must say, the tour was great (free t-shirts aside). The history of the company is quite fascinating. Zildjian (which roughly translates to son [ian ]of a cymbal [zil] maker [dj]) had its roots in alchemy. As well, Zildjian has ties to Quincy because one of the sons, who had worked for a candy factory in Quincy, said that he would take over the family business if the company came to the US. As a result, the first Zildjian factory was in Quincy. I thought it really was a great tour to see how the cymbals are made. Plus, Travis Barker's drums are there. Yay Blink-182!
So that's pretty much the highlights of everything the past two weeks. Hopefully it won't take another two weeks for another post.
Showing posts with label aimee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label aimee. Show all posts
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
I Suck At Open Houses
Instead of having a house warming, my friends (Marc and Kelley) decided to have an open house today. Too bad I suck at open houses.
The open house was good. Karen and I got to enjoy ourselves without having to worry about our children running amok. Well, we still had to worry about that. Just not directly as Karen's parents were watching our kids while we attended the open house. And as much as I love my kids, it was definitely a welcomed break.
Anyway, I had fun tonight even if Karen and I did not stay too long at the open house. (The "indirect" running amok thing.) I spent the majority of the time with my friends (Andrea, Ellen, Aimee, and Garv) and my BFF (Kerry).
Among the topics of conversation that came up were Kerry's new house, Andrea's possible career change, and Garv's podcast idea.
For anyone curious, Kerry is closing on her house this Monday. I remember the feeling of closing on our house. For me, it was both exhilarating and scary at the same time. The exhilarating part was because I had always wanted to own a home. It's the American dream, right? I had saved up after college to specifically achieve that goal. Of course, that was also the scary part: the financial aspect of it.
One of the more comical parts of the night involved Andrea's possible career change. Well, I should probably clarify it by saying her career change is not the comical part. The comical part was our discussion surrounding that topic. It turns out, Andrea has been contemplating a career change. Unfortunately, that new career is unknown to Andrea at the moment, but she would like something a little more balanced in terms of work/life. And with her upcoming birthday, she has set a goal to possibly implement this new change.
One of the possible career choices Andrea mentioned was journalism, to which Garv naturally provided his feedback on. Most of the time, Garv's ideas go in one ear and out the other... like the time he wanted to open a German bakery because his girlfriend at the time was German. Occasionally, he'll have a good idea. And tonight, I think he actually had a great idea: podcasting.
Even if the idea for Andrea doesn't work, podcasting would still be a fun activity to do with a bunch of friends. We'll see how it goes though.
The open house was good. Karen and I got to enjoy ourselves without having to worry about our children running amok. Well, we still had to worry about that. Just not directly as Karen's parents were watching our kids while we attended the open house. And as much as I love my kids, it was definitely a welcomed break.
Anyway, I had fun tonight even if Karen and I did not stay too long at the open house. (The "indirect" running amok thing.) I spent the majority of the time with my friends (Andrea, Ellen, Aimee, and Garv) and my BFF (Kerry).
Among the topics of conversation that came up were Kerry's new house, Andrea's possible career change, and Garv's podcast idea.
For anyone curious, Kerry is closing on her house this Monday. I remember the feeling of closing on our house. For me, it was both exhilarating and scary at the same time. The exhilarating part was because I had always wanted to own a home. It's the American dream, right? I had saved up after college to specifically achieve that goal. Of course, that was also the scary part: the financial aspect of it.
One of the more comical parts of the night involved Andrea's possible career change. Well, I should probably clarify it by saying her career change is not the comical part. The comical part was our discussion surrounding that topic. It turns out, Andrea has been contemplating a career change. Unfortunately, that new career is unknown to Andrea at the moment, but she would like something a little more balanced in terms of work/life. And with her upcoming birthday, she has set a goal to possibly implement this new change.
One of the possible career choices Andrea mentioned was journalism, to which Garv naturally provided his feedback on. Most of the time, Garv's ideas go in one ear and out the other... like the time he wanted to open a German bakery because his girlfriend at the time was German. Occasionally, he'll have a good idea. And tonight, I think he actually had a great idea: podcasting.
Even if the idea for Andrea doesn't work, podcasting would still be a fun activity to do with a bunch of friends. We'll see how it goes though.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
I Still Suck At Cookouts
On Memorial Day Monday, Karen, my two year old daughter (Briana), my three month old (Bridget) and I were invited to yet another cookout. Now, I still suck at cookouts. My friends (Ron and Trinh) invited us over since it has been a while since we last got together. Plus, it was a way for them to finally see Bridget. Having four kids of their own, Ron and Trinh's schedule has been quite busy.
Also partaking in the festivities were my friends (Garv, Aimee, Bill, and Alex), Aimee's husband (Jim), Aimee's kids, Bill's family and Alex's family. As always, it was a fun time. After all, I like to think of Ron and Trinh's place as my little vacation spa. Everything is always fun there.
I actually spent most of the time, of course, with Briana. When Briana wasn't playing with the slide, or watching the fish, or finding the turtle with the fish, she was... in the pool. Apparently, or maybe by design, Karen did not have any swimming attire for the day. Rather convenient, I know. Thus, I spent a good chunk of time in the pool with Briana, who seems rather fearless when it comes to water. At one point, she wanted to go into the deep end... with me carrying her of course.
By far, the funniest part of the day was when Garv was in the jacuzzi. The incident was just like my bachelor party in Las Vegas. Naturally, what happened there, stays there. But something that we occasionally joke about with Garv is his ear, or more specifically, when he gets water in his ear. When he got water in his ear in Vegas, he spent a good portion of time trying to get the water out. For anyone curious, Garv got water in his ear at the swimming pool in Vegas, and not by any seductive means.
Anyway, Garv has having some fun with some of the kids in the jacuzzi. In a matter of seconds, the kids started dumping pails upon pails over Garv's head. Ron's daughter (Elli) was too cute. She had this devilish grin on her face right before she took a squirt gun and started squirting Garv... directly in his ear. She aimed specifically for his ear. Funny. I was dying laughing. And yes, Garv got water in his ear on Monday.
As a side note, I learned that swimming diapers are only meant to contain poop. It makes perfect sense now that I think about it, but for some reason I thought swimming diapers also held pee. My line of thinking was that a swimming diaper was a full functioning diaper, just made so that kids can swim with them on. I learned this interesting fact while holding Briana and feeling a nice warm drizzle down my leg. Remember to remind me to never go into a public pool ever again.
All in all, I had a blast on Monday. It was a great way to end the long weekend, which I must say went by very quickly. The only downside about Monday was that I may have gotten sick. Oh well.
Also partaking in the festivities were my friends (Garv, Aimee, Bill, and Alex), Aimee's husband (Jim), Aimee's kids, Bill's family and Alex's family. As always, it was a fun time. After all, I like to think of Ron and Trinh's place as my little vacation spa. Everything is always fun there.
I actually spent most of the time, of course, with Briana. When Briana wasn't playing with the slide, or watching the fish, or finding the turtle with the fish, she was... in the pool. Apparently, or maybe by design, Karen did not have any swimming attire for the day. Rather convenient, I know. Thus, I spent a good chunk of time in the pool with Briana, who seems rather fearless when it comes to water. At one point, she wanted to go into the deep end... with me carrying her of course.
By far, the funniest part of the day was when Garv was in the jacuzzi. The incident was just like my bachelor party in Las Vegas. Naturally, what happened there, stays there. But something that we occasionally joke about with Garv is his ear, or more specifically, when he gets water in his ear. When he got water in his ear in Vegas, he spent a good portion of time trying to get the water out. For anyone curious, Garv got water in his ear at the swimming pool in Vegas, and not by any seductive means.
Anyway, Garv has having some fun with some of the kids in the jacuzzi. In a matter of seconds, the kids started dumping pails upon pails over Garv's head. Ron's daughter (Elli) was too cute. She had this devilish grin on her face right before she took a squirt gun and started squirting Garv... directly in his ear. She aimed specifically for his ear. Funny. I was dying laughing. And yes, Garv got water in his ear on Monday.
As a side note, I learned that swimming diapers are only meant to contain poop. It makes perfect sense now that I think about it, but for some reason I thought swimming diapers also held pee. My line of thinking was that a swimming diaper was a full functioning diaper, just made so that kids can swim with them on. I learned this interesting fact while holding Briana and feeling a nice warm drizzle down my leg. Remember to remind me to never go into a public pool ever again.
All in all, I had a blast on Monday. It was a great way to end the long weekend, which I must say went by very quickly. The only downside about Monday was that I may have gotten sick. Oh well.
I Suck At Cookouts
On Sunday, Karen, my two year old daughter (Briana), my three month old daughter (Bridget) and I were invited to a cookout. Now, I suck at cookouts. This particular cookout was hosted by my friends (Cass and Ellen) in Quincy. It was actually good to see them, as I haven't really seen them in quite some time. Joining in on the shindig were my friends (Marc, Kelley, Garv, Leeann, Andrea, Aimee, and Meredith), my BFF (Kerry), Aimee's children, and Meredith's son.
Luckily for Cass, he had finished his backyard project just in time for the cookout. He added a little patio in his yard, apparently with the use of a Dingo (not the dog, but the compact loader). I never heard of a Dingo until Sunday. I think though, I still want a Bobcat for my mechanized fun.
As is commonplace these days, I felt like I really didn't see much of any of my friends while I was at the cookout in part because I apparently had parenting duties that day. The highlights that I remember were talking to Leeann about being an elected official since she seemed a little too interested in being an elected official, and hearing about Kerry's house hunting exploits. Kerry apparently was house hunting Sunday morning and liked a house enough to contemplate making an offer.
Aside from that, I remember bits and pieces of other things like Andrea's desire to see Rock of Ages, devouring a whole slew of bacon wrapped string beans, and Aimee giving Briana some Capri Sun. I guess that's not totally true. While watching Briana, I did get a chance to see Cass and Ellen's remodeled bathroom. The new bathroom looks great.
All in all, it was definitely good to see everyone and have some fun.
Luckily for Cass, he had finished his backyard project just in time for the cookout. He added a little patio in his yard, apparently with the use of a Dingo (not the dog, but the compact loader). I never heard of a Dingo until Sunday. I think though, I still want a Bobcat for my mechanized fun.
As is commonplace these days, I felt like I really didn't see much of any of my friends while I was at the cookout in part because I apparently had parenting duties that day. The highlights that I remember were talking to Leeann about being an elected official since she seemed a little too interested in being an elected official, and hearing about Kerry's house hunting exploits. Kerry apparently was house hunting Sunday morning and liked a house enough to contemplate making an offer.
Aside from that, I remember bits and pieces of other things like Andrea's desire to see Rock of Ages, devouring a whole slew of bacon wrapped string beans, and Aimee giving Briana some Capri Sun. I guess that's not totally true. While watching Briana, I did get a chance to see Cass and Ellen's remodeled bathroom. The new bathroom looks great.
All in all, it was definitely good to see everyone and have some fun.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
I Suck At The Super Bowl
As far as football goes, there is not a lot I can say about the Super Bowl itself. You can say I suck at the Super Bowl, but truth of the matter is the New England Patriots suck at the Super Bowl. Sadly, the Patriots lost yet again to those New York Giants, this time by a score of 21-17. As a fan, it's disheartening to see the team come so close. One play could have been the difference between the victory and the loss. It just wasn't meant to be this year for the Patriots. Oh well.
Game aside, it was good to see my friends (Ron, Trinh, and Aimee) again. Ron and Trinh hosted a quasi-Super Bowl party/play date of sorts. The last time Ron, Aimee, and I got together, we set up tentative plans for the next time our children could play together. That date just happened to coincide with the Super Bowl.
Despite the Patriots loss, it was a great time as usual. One of Ron and Trinh's nieces was quite excited to play with our twenty two month old daughter (Briana). It was very cute. Ron's mother even told me how good Briana was that night. Briana has them all fooled. Just kidding.
Needless to say, I had a great time, as did Briana who surpisingly did not take a nap the entire day.
Game aside, it was good to see my friends (Ron, Trinh, and Aimee) again. Ron and Trinh hosted a quasi-Super Bowl party/play date of sorts. The last time Ron, Aimee, and I got together, we set up tentative plans for the next time our children could play together. That date just happened to coincide with the Super Bowl.
Despite the Patriots loss, it was a great time as usual. One of Ron and Trinh's nieces was quite excited to play with our twenty two month old daughter (Briana). It was very cute. Ron's mother even told me how good Briana was that night. Briana has them all fooled. Just kidding.
Needless to say, I had a great time, as did Briana who surpisingly did not take a nap the entire day.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
I Still Suck At Hanging Out With Friends
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
I Suck At Subway
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.
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.
Monday, August 29, 2011
I Suck At Celebrating My Friend's Birthday
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.
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.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
I Still Suck At Going Through Stuff
I had the pleasure of listening to Katy Perry's latest album: Teenage Dream. And as much as I hate to say it, I love the album. All the songs are just so catchy. Naturally, as I am apt to do, I have been listening to "Teenage Dream" over and over again. In fact, I think I may have listened to the song way too many times because my baby daughter (Briana) seems to crack a smile every time the chorus comes on now.
(The video below is "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry.)
Needless to say, I'm hooked on the album which is not surprising. And interestingly enough, while I was listening to the song on the continuous loop on Friday, I decided to go through box number 5 of junk that my mother has brought over while she cleans out her attic. It's interesting because the box of junk contained items I had kept from high school. And yes, I still suck at going through stuff.
On a side note, my mother cracks me up. Among the items that my mother brought over while she was cleaning out her attic was my old high school graduation gown. Knowing that I would most likely discard the garment (because what am I going to do with an old red graduation gown?), my mother asked to use it.
And no, my mother is not graduating from anything. My mother, who likes to sew, wants to create a bag, much like the ones used for grocery shopping, out of the graduation gown. I think she just wanted to see if she could create one. Personally, I thought that was a brilliant idea. And what cracked me up even more was that she asked to use my old high school varsity letter so that she could sew that onto the bag. Of course, I obliged. I am actually quite curious now to see if my mother can pull off this idea of hers.
Anyway, going through the box of old high school junk was a nice trip down memory lane. There were so many things that I had forgotten about. Heck, I even had old copies of our high school newspaper known as the North Star. Much like Jason Priestley's character from Beverly Hills 90210, I too used to write for the school newspaper. In fact, the school newspaper is where I first met the person whom I would eventually refer to as the Scourge of Evil.
Besides old copies of the school newspapers, I had some other random things like the student handbook, the school lunch menu, report cards, certificates, SAT and PSAT results, book covers, and of course some class notes which contained a lot of doodles. Apparently I doodled a lot in high school... especially in class.
As well, there were actually quite a lot of foreign language assignments in the box. If I knew French, which is an interesting statement since I was in the Foreign Language Honor Society, I probably could decipher those assignments.
This particular box also contained a lot of computer programming assignments, which I thought was interesting because the assignments were printed on those old dot matrix printers where there were perforations at the edges of the printed paper. I got a chuckle from seeing those simple programs, seeing as how it apparently laid the foundation to what I currently do today for a profession.
There were even some things in the box that I totally forgot that I did, like partake in the judging of Central Middle School's Science Fair. That was random. Although the most random of things may have been a mysterious locker number (4479) with the combination written on one of my book covers.
In fact, I thought the locker number was so random that I had to contact my friend (Aimee) about it to see if she remembered what it was for. Funny thing is... Aimee's memory is just about as bad as mine is these days. It turns out that the high school locker number belonged to my friend (Cass). And in case anyone is curious as to the combination, it was 15-5-44 at the time. As to how I came to acquire the locker combination, I have no idea.
And of course, the best part about the contents of this particular box were the notes that my friends and I used to pass to each other. I wonder if kids these days still fold their notes into tiny triangles. Truth be told, I'm not sure I could fold a note now into one of these triangles.
The notes cracked me up. The one note that actually had me chuckling the most of course was one that was not even written to me. The note was from Karen to my BFF (Kerry). Back in the day, Karen and Kerry were pretty inseparable. In the note, Karen was telling Kerry how cute I looked. And in typical high school fashion, Karen told Kerry not to tell anyone. Yet somehow, I ended up with the note. Classic.
All in all, I enjoyed reading the notes again. It made me happy to know that I had such great friends growing up.
(The video below is "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry.)
Needless to say, I'm hooked on the album which is not surprising. And interestingly enough, while I was listening to the song on the continuous loop on Friday, I decided to go through box number 5 of junk that my mother has brought over while she cleans out her attic. It's interesting because the box of junk contained items I had kept from high school. And yes, I still suck at going through stuff.
On a side note, my mother cracks me up. Among the items that my mother brought over while she was cleaning out her attic was my old high school graduation gown. Knowing that I would most likely discard the garment (because what am I going to do with an old red graduation gown?), my mother asked to use it.
And no, my mother is not graduating from anything. My mother, who likes to sew, wants to create a bag, much like the ones used for grocery shopping, out of the graduation gown. I think she just wanted to see if she could create one. Personally, I thought that was a brilliant idea. And what cracked me up even more was that she asked to use my old high school varsity letter so that she could sew that onto the bag. Of course, I obliged. I am actually quite curious now to see if my mother can pull off this idea of hers.
Anyway, going through the box of old high school junk was a nice trip down memory lane. There were so many things that I had forgotten about. Heck, I even had old copies of our high school newspaper known as the North Star. Much like Jason Priestley's character from Beverly Hills 90210, I too used to write for the school newspaper. In fact, the school newspaper is where I first met the person whom I would eventually refer to as the Scourge of Evil.
Besides old copies of the school newspapers, I had some other random things like the student handbook, the school lunch menu, report cards, certificates, SAT and PSAT results, book covers, and of course some class notes which contained a lot of doodles. Apparently I doodled a lot in high school... especially in class.
As well, there were actually quite a lot of foreign language assignments in the box. If I knew French, which is an interesting statement since I was in the Foreign Language Honor Society, I probably could decipher those assignments.
This particular box also contained a lot of computer programming assignments, which I thought was interesting because the assignments were printed on those old dot matrix printers where there were perforations at the edges of the printed paper. I got a chuckle from seeing those simple programs, seeing as how it apparently laid the foundation to what I currently do today for a profession.
There were even some things in the box that I totally forgot that I did, like partake in the judging of Central Middle School's Science Fair. That was random. Although the most random of things may have been a mysterious locker number (4479) with the combination written on one of my book covers.
In fact, I thought the locker number was so random that I had to contact my friend (Aimee) about it to see if she remembered what it was for. Funny thing is... Aimee's memory is just about as bad as mine is these days. It turns out that the high school locker number belonged to my friend (Cass). And in case anyone is curious as to the combination, it was 15-5-44 at the time. As to how I came to acquire the locker combination, I have no idea.
And of course, the best part about the contents of this particular box were the notes that my friends and I used to pass to each other. I wonder if kids these days still fold their notes into tiny triangles. Truth be told, I'm not sure I could fold a note now into one of these triangles.
The notes cracked me up. The one note that actually had me chuckling the most of course was one that was not even written to me. The note was from Karen to my BFF (Kerry). Back in the day, Karen and Kerry were pretty inseparable. In the note, Karen was telling Kerry how cute I looked. And in typical high school fashion, Karen told Kerry not to tell anyone. Yet somehow, I ended up with the note. Classic.
All in all, I enjoyed reading the notes again. It made me happy to know that I had such great friends growing up.
Monday, November 1, 2010
I Suck At Birthday Parties
On Saturday, Karen, our seven month old baby daughter (Briana) and I attended a birthday party. Now, I suck at birthday parties. The special occasion, however, was for my friend (Sam) and his two children.
Sam is in the armed forces. He and his wife (Tara), who normally live out of state, were making their semi-annual trip up to Massachusetts. It just so happens that in the month of October, their children were celebrating their birthdays. Sam and Tara have two twin boys (Alex and Ben). And the big birthday celebration was for their first birthday.
For Karen and I (and Briana), this was our first time meeting Alex and Ben. Because Sam and Tara live out of state, we have only seen pictures of their two boys. So it was good to meet their little ones on Saturday.
Interestingly enough, the birthday party for the twin babies was held at Blue-22 in Quincy. For anyone curious, Blue-22 is a bar. Normally, I would think that having a baby party at a bar is somewhat peculiar. It just so happens that all of us are childhood friends of one the owners of the bar (Garv). And since Sam and Tara live out of state, I can understand how the party ended up at Blue-22.
Regardless, it was a good time celebrating Alex and Ben's birthday at Blue-22. Joining in on the festivities were Sam and Tara's respective parents, Tara's sister, Garv, my friends (Marc, Kelley, Leeann, Cass, Ellen, Aimee, Jim, Aimee and Jim's children, Scott, Ofelia, Scott and Ofelia's son), the parent (Peggy) of one of my friends, and some of Tara's other relatives. It was a motley crew of sorts.
Sam and Tara got a little present for Briana, which was very thoughtful. Attached to the present was also a specially selected Little Mermaid PEZ dispenser in my honor, which I thought was pretty funny. Speaking of which, Aimee also cracked me up. She gave me this ginormous gummy bear from Yummies in Maine. The gummy bear was absolutely huge. It made me laugh. It is moments like that which make me thankful to have the friends that I do.
Needless to say, it was a fun time to hang out with everyone. Speaking of which, following the birthday party, Karen and I ended up at Marc and Kelley's house to meet their new cat, Jack/Jackson. The cat is very cute and very active. Also meeting the cat for the first time were our friends (Andrea and Steve) and my BFF (Kerry). Andrea, Steve, and Kerry were in town and met up with us after their own little excursion for the day.
All in all, it was a nice day of just hanging out with friends.
Sam is in the armed forces. He and his wife (Tara), who normally live out of state, were making their semi-annual trip up to Massachusetts. It just so happens that in the month of October, their children were celebrating their birthdays. Sam and Tara have two twin boys (Alex and Ben). And the big birthday celebration was for their first birthday.
For Karen and I (and Briana), this was our first time meeting Alex and Ben. Because Sam and Tara live out of state, we have only seen pictures of their two boys. So it was good to meet their little ones on Saturday.
Interestingly enough, the birthday party for the twin babies was held at Blue-22 in Quincy. For anyone curious, Blue-22 is a bar. Normally, I would think that having a baby party at a bar is somewhat peculiar. It just so happens that all of us are childhood friends of one the owners of the bar (Garv). And since Sam and Tara live out of state, I can understand how the party ended up at Blue-22.
Regardless, it was a good time celebrating Alex and Ben's birthday at Blue-22. Joining in on the festivities were Sam and Tara's respective parents, Tara's sister, Garv, my friends (Marc, Kelley, Leeann, Cass, Ellen, Aimee, Jim, Aimee and Jim's children, Scott, Ofelia, Scott and Ofelia's son), the parent (Peggy) of one of my friends, and some of Tara's other relatives. It was a motley crew of sorts.
Sam and Tara got a little present for Briana, which was very thoughtful. Attached to the present was also a specially selected Little Mermaid PEZ dispenser in my honor, which I thought was pretty funny. Speaking of which, Aimee also cracked me up. She gave me this ginormous gummy bear from Yummies in Maine. The gummy bear was absolutely huge. It made me laugh. It is moments like that which make me thankful to have the friends that I do.
Needless to say, it was a fun time to hang out with everyone. Speaking of which, following the birthday party, Karen and I ended up at Marc and Kelley's house to meet their new cat, Jack/Jackson. The cat is very cute and very active. Also meeting the cat for the first time were our friends (Andrea and Steve) and my BFF (Kerry). Andrea, Steve, and Kerry were in town and met up with us after their own little excursion for the day.
All in all, it was a nice day of just hanging out with friends.
Monday, August 16, 2010
I Suck At Milli Vanilli
As sad as this sounds, today I listened to an album that I have not heard in a long while. That album: Girl You Know It's True by none other than the famous lip syncing duo known as Milli Vanilli.
Now, I suck at Milli Vanilli, but listening to the album brought back memories of the 1980s where things were just downright silly. And as much as I hate to admit it, I actually found myself enjoying the album.
The whole Milli Vanilli topic came about thanks to my friend (Aimee). The last time I had seen Aimee, she randomly inquired about the Milli Vanilli album. Naturally, that got me thinking about the 80s. So, I decided to listen to the album.
For anyone curious, Milli Vanilli was a pop project fronted by Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. Apparently, the actual singers of Charles Shaw, John Davis, Brad Howell, and twin sisters Jodie and Linda Rocco were not marketable enough. As a result, Morvan and Pilatus, who were young models and dancers at the time, were recruited to be Milli Vanilli.
The downfall for Milli Vanilli came about when they had a little glitch while performing live on MTV. In what is similar to the Saturday Night Live Ashlee Simpson debacle of recent times, the song started to skip and repeat the lyrics of "Girl You Know It's True" over and over... and over. Unlike Simpson, however, there were no little jigs. Instead, Morvan and Pilatus ran off the stage.
Milli Vanilli were consequently exposed as frauds and the rest is history. In case anyone is curious, Pilatus died due to a mixture of pills and vodka in 1998. Whether he was Milli or Vanilli, I am not sure.
Needless to say, I listened to the album... a few of times... thanks to Aimee who planted the seed in my head. And surprisingly, I did find the album very catchy. "Blame it on the rain..." As it turns outs, Karen had actually owned the album growing up. I found that surprising because she has never really been much for music. But there we were, jamming to the album together... except that she knew most of the words to the songs whereas I just knew the chorus. (Typically, I only know the chorus to songs anyway...)
Regardless, it was a great trip down memory lane. I have since been on a recent 80s music kick. I think up next may be the soundtrack to one of my friend's (Andrea) favorite movies of all time: St. Elmo's Fire.
Now, I suck at Milli Vanilli, but listening to the album brought back memories of the 1980s where things were just downright silly. And as much as I hate to admit it, I actually found myself enjoying the album.
The whole Milli Vanilli topic came about thanks to my friend (Aimee). The last time I had seen Aimee, she randomly inquired about the Milli Vanilli album. Naturally, that got me thinking about the 80s. So, I decided to listen to the album.
For anyone curious, Milli Vanilli was a pop project fronted by Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. Apparently, the actual singers of Charles Shaw, John Davis, Brad Howell, and twin sisters Jodie and Linda Rocco were not marketable enough. As a result, Morvan and Pilatus, who were young models and dancers at the time, were recruited to be Milli Vanilli.
The downfall for Milli Vanilli came about when they had a little glitch while performing live on MTV. In what is similar to the Saturday Night Live Ashlee Simpson debacle of recent times, the song started to skip and repeat the lyrics of "Girl You Know It's True" over and over... and over. Unlike Simpson, however, there were no little jigs. Instead, Morvan and Pilatus ran off the stage.
Milli Vanilli were consequently exposed as frauds and the rest is history. In case anyone is curious, Pilatus died due to a mixture of pills and vodka in 1998. Whether he was Milli or Vanilli, I am not sure.
Needless to say, I listened to the album... a few of times... thanks to Aimee who planted the seed in my head. And surprisingly, I did find the album very catchy. "Blame it on the rain..." As it turns outs, Karen had actually owned the album growing up. I found that surprising because she has never really been much for music. But there we were, jamming to the album together... except that she knew most of the words to the songs whereas I just knew the chorus. (Typically, I only know the chorus to songs anyway...)
Regardless, it was a great trip down memory lane. I have since been on a recent 80s music kick. I think up next may be the soundtrack to one of my friend's (Andrea) favorite movies of all time: St. Elmo's Fire.
Monday, August 2, 2010
I Suck At Double Features
Aside from the milestone that our baby daughter (Briana) rolled over for the first time on her on own (while she was asleep), Saturday turned out to be quite the busy day.
The day started off with a visit from my friend (Aimee). Aimee has had some computer problems of late. And naturally, whenever someone I know is having computer problems, I like to joke and remind them to lay off the internet pornography for awhile. Anyway, she was having trouble starting her computer and had wondered if I had a boot disc that worked with her operating system.
It turns out, I did have a boot disc for her. Interestingly enough, I have a bunch of discs for various computer operating systems. I have no idea how I amassed such a collection, but I did. (Who am I kidding? I'm a geek so of course I have a collection of operating system discs.) Some day, I will have to go through my pile of randomly scattered discs and organize them a little better.
Needless to say, Aimee was thrilled to learn that I had the disc and consequently stopped on by to pick it up. It was good seeing Aimee again even if it were for a short period of time. It still seems, however, that my vision of being in her husband's (James) entourage while he embarks on a prolific mixed martial arts career will never happen... much like the vision of my friend (Cass) running for mayor of Quincy. Oh, the possibilities! If only I could convince them.
Following Aimee's visit, I did a quick little home improvement project. That project involved hanging a shelf in Briana's room. Truth be told, I was reluctant to hang the shelf for reasons which you'll read about. Unfortunately, I really did not have much of a say in the matter.
A while ago, Karen's parents gave her the shelf that hung in her room while she was growing up. Apparently, the shelf was made by her grandfather. Karen was quite excited about the shelf and thought about putting it in Briana's room. After all, Briana has gotten a lot of "stuff" since being born a little over four months ago. Having a shelf would then display all that "stuff". So naturally, Karen painted the shelf so that it would fit better in the room.
The painted shelf basically sat in Briana's room for a while... waiting... and waiting... to be hung on the wall. Thus, on Saturday I finally gave in and hung the shelf. For those who know me, they know that I may be a bit particular about things. I enjoy symmetry as much as the next guy.
So, you can imagine my reason for being hesitant to hang the shelf, because... well... the shelf was not exactly level (or square for that matter). The shelf consists of multiple horizontal rows and multiple vertical columns. And let's just say... the horizontal rows were not exactly parallel with one another.
Ever hang something that was not level to begin with? If you decide to hang the item based on a level reference point, the item will appear crooked. The other option is to hang the item on a crooked reference point to make the item look level. With a lot of hesitation, I opted for the latter so as to hide the crookedness of the shelf itself. Thinking about the shelf still makes me shake my head. I am hoping the shelf will have an "accident" someday.
Anyway, shortly after, my bff (Kerry) and my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) came over. It was a spur of the moment potluck dinner with a double feature of 80s flicks on the agenda. Needless to say, the potluck dinner was delicious.
Andrea marinaded chicken; Kerry made muffins and potato salad; Marc and Kelley made sangria and brownies; Karen made tomato and mozzarella... As for me? I took the easy way out and grilled. And sadly, I did not even do a good job of that as I had burned the chicken. (In my defense, our grill has been acting up of late.)
All in all, the potluck was delicious. Thanks again to everyone! We even came up with a new phrase: "frosting the brownie". Sounds so dirty, doesn't it? I do not exactly know how the term came about. I do know that Kerry had made homemade frosting and Kelley had made brownies. There was also talk about our friend's (Steve) line about "going straight for the pooper". The next thing you know, "frosting the brownie" was created. And in case anyone is curious, Andrea tried frosting the brownie (the food) and apparently was not too impressed with the taste.
Anyway, awhile ago there was a suggestion to have an 80s movie night. So we decided to have a double feature of 80s movies. Now, I suck at double features. But being a fan of the 80s (and movies in general), I loved the idea. Thus, we ended up watching Bull Durham and Road House.
(The video below is a scene from Bull Durham.)
(The video below is a trailer for Road House.)
Both movies were definitely fun to watch again. For Karen, it was her first time watching Bull Durham. Not having cable television growing up, she missed out on a lot of television.
Speaking of firsts, it was Kerry's first time watching the unedited version of Road House. I was surprised because the movie is one of her guilty pleasures. Luckily for Kerry, she got to watch the real version of the movie (and not the one shown on television) because Marc owns the movie. There's more skin... throat chunks included... in the unedited version. Marc is an avid fan of the movie. In fact, I think it ranks as one of his all time favorites.
Needless to say, it was a great night of hanging out. I'm looking forward to addition nights of 80s movies.
The day started off with a visit from my friend (Aimee). Aimee has had some computer problems of late. And naturally, whenever someone I know is having computer problems, I like to joke and remind them to lay off the internet pornography for awhile. Anyway, she was having trouble starting her computer and had wondered if I had a boot disc that worked with her operating system.
It turns out, I did have a boot disc for her. Interestingly enough, I have a bunch of discs for various computer operating systems. I have no idea how I amassed such a collection, but I did. (Who am I kidding? I'm a geek so of course I have a collection of operating system discs.) Some day, I will have to go through my pile of randomly scattered discs and organize them a little better.
Needless to say, Aimee was thrilled to learn that I had the disc and consequently stopped on by to pick it up. It was good seeing Aimee again even if it were for a short period of time. It still seems, however, that my vision of being in her husband's (James) entourage while he embarks on a prolific mixed martial arts career will never happen... much like the vision of my friend (Cass) running for mayor of Quincy. Oh, the possibilities! If only I could convince them.
Following Aimee's visit, I did a quick little home improvement project. That project involved hanging a shelf in Briana's room. Truth be told, I was reluctant to hang the shelf for reasons which you'll read about. Unfortunately, I really did not have much of a say in the matter.
A while ago, Karen's parents gave her the shelf that hung in her room while she was growing up. Apparently, the shelf was made by her grandfather. Karen was quite excited about the shelf and thought about putting it in Briana's room. After all, Briana has gotten a lot of "stuff" since being born a little over four months ago. Having a shelf would then display all that "stuff". So naturally, Karen painted the shelf so that it would fit better in the room.
The painted shelf basically sat in Briana's room for a while... waiting... and waiting... to be hung on the wall. Thus, on Saturday I finally gave in and hung the shelf. For those who know me, they know that I may be a bit particular about things. I enjoy symmetry as much as the next guy.
So, you can imagine my reason for being hesitant to hang the shelf, because... well... the shelf was not exactly level (or square for that matter). The shelf consists of multiple horizontal rows and multiple vertical columns. And let's just say... the horizontal rows were not exactly parallel with one another.
Ever hang something that was not level to begin with? If you decide to hang the item based on a level reference point, the item will appear crooked. The other option is to hang the item on a crooked reference point to make the item look level. With a lot of hesitation, I opted for the latter so as to hide the crookedness of the shelf itself. Thinking about the shelf still makes me shake my head. I am hoping the shelf will have an "accident" someday.
Anyway, shortly after, my bff (Kerry) and my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) came over. It was a spur of the moment potluck dinner with a double feature of 80s flicks on the agenda. Needless to say, the potluck dinner was delicious.
Andrea marinaded chicken; Kerry made muffins and potato salad; Marc and Kelley made sangria and brownies; Karen made tomato and mozzarella... As for me? I took the easy way out and grilled. And sadly, I did not even do a good job of that as I had burned the chicken. (In my defense, our grill has been acting up of late.)
All in all, the potluck was delicious. Thanks again to everyone! We even came up with a new phrase: "frosting the brownie". Sounds so dirty, doesn't it? I do not exactly know how the term came about. I do know that Kerry had made homemade frosting and Kelley had made brownies. There was also talk about our friend's (Steve) line about "going straight for the pooper". The next thing you know, "frosting the brownie" was created. And in case anyone is curious, Andrea tried frosting the brownie (the food) and apparently was not too impressed with the taste.
Anyway, awhile ago there was a suggestion to have an 80s movie night. So we decided to have a double feature of 80s movies. Now, I suck at double features. But being a fan of the 80s (and movies in general), I loved the idea. Thus, we ended up watching Bull Durham and Road House.
(The video below is a scene from Bull Durham.)
(The video below is a trailer for Road House.)
Both movies were definitely fun to watch again. For Karen, it was her first time watching Bull Durham. Not having cable television growing up, she missed out on a lot of television.
Speaking of firsts, it was Kerry's first time watching the unedited version of Road House. I was surprised because the movie is one of her guilty pleasures. Luckily for Kerry, she got to watch the real version of the movie (and not the one shown on television) because Marc owns the movie. There's more skin... throat chunks included... in the unedited version. Marc is an avid fan of the movie. In fact, I think it ranks as one of his all time favorites.
Needless to say, it was a great night of hanging out. I'm looking forward to addition nights of 80s movies.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
I Suck At Hanging Out With Aimee
Yesterday, my friend (Aimee) came by for a visit. Unfortunately, I actually had to go into the office in Marblehead to work yesterday. So I could not see Aimee. I guess you can say that I suck at hanging out with Aimee. It's probably just as well. I think she wanted to see our daughter (Briana) more than she wanted to see me anyway. That's pretty much how it is these days.
Actually, Aimee has a busy schedule with two children of her own. Since weekends don't really work for her, Tuesdays end up being the day she is available. And unfortunately, I tend to be in Marblehead on Tuesdays. From what I have been told, Aimee had a great visit. She got to hold and feed Briana. Sadly, Karen did not get a picture of Aimee holding Briana. So Aimee seems to be the lone elusive friend of mine who has held Briana without my getting a picture of the incident.
As an interesting side note, my boss actually called Karen yesterday thinking I was working from home. He had just arrived at the office himself and forgot that I was likewise in the office. He got a chuckle out of telling me the story.
Regardless, I missed hanging out with Aimee. I feel like I haven't seen her in some time. The last time was at the photo scavenger hunt that I organized back in February, and even then I didn't get to see her that long.
Following work, Karen, our newborn daughter (Briana), and I hung out with my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea). After all, it was Tuesday and Tuesdays are Lost nights. Truth be told, I thought last night's episode of Lost was rather blah (although I still enjoyed it a heck of a lot more than the stupid Bai Ling tattoo episode).
Anyway, Lost aside, the night was great. Andrea got to hold and feed Briana for much of the night. It's always a plus when you can pawn off feeding duties of your newborn daughter to your friends. I'm just kidding.
Actually, it was just fun to hang out. Andrea got to hear the story of our friend's (Cara) wedding where Marc got a little inebriated. That was also the wedding where Marc imbibed on some breast milk complements of my friend (Jeannette)... and that was before the rapid downward spiral of martinis. Yum. Martinis. I haven't had one in quite some time. Ah, the good old days.
Actually, Aimee has a busy schedule with two children of her own. Since weekends don't really work for her, Tuesdays end up being the day she is available. And unfortunately, I tend to be in Marblehead on Tuesdays. From what I have been told, Aimee had a great visit. She got to hold and feed Briana. Sadly, Karen did not get a picture of Aimee holding Briana. So Aimee seems to be the lone elusive friend of mine who has held Briana without my getting a picture of the incident.
As an interesting side note, my boss actually called Karen yesterday thinking I was working from home. He had just arrived at the office himself and forgot that I was likewise in the office. He got a chuckle out of telling me the story.
Regardless, I missed hanging out with Aimee. I feel like I haven't seen her in some time. The last time was at the photo scavenger hunt that I organized back in February, and even then I didn't get to see her that long.
Following work, Karen, our newborn daughter (Briana), and I hung out with my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea). After all, it was Tuesday and Tuesdays are Lost nights. Truth be told, I thought last night's episode of Lost was rather blah (although I still enjoyed it a heck of a lot more than the stupid Bai Ling tattoo episode).
Anyway, Lost aside, the night was great. Andrea got to hold and feed Briana for much of the night. It's always a plus when you can pawn off feeding duties of your newborn daughter to your friends. I'm just kidding.
Actually, it was just fun to hang out. Andrea got to hear the story of our friend's (Cara) wedding where Marc got a little inebriated. That was also the wedding where Marc imbibed on some breast milk complements of my friend (Jeannette)... and that was before the rapid downward spiral of martinis. Yum. Martinis. I haven't had one in quite some time. Ah, the good old days.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
I Suck At John Hughes Movies
Yesterday, my friends (Marc and Kelley) organized a little movie marathon. The theme for the movie marathon: John Hughes, the person responsible for many great memorable movies during our childhood. For anyone curious, John Hughes died of a heart attack on August 6th. So, the movie marathon was a tribute to late great writer/director/producer.
Unfortunately, I suck at John Hughes movies. On the agenda for the night: Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, and Pretty In Pink. All of those movies... classic!
(The video below is from Ferris Bueller.)
(The video below is a trailer for Sixteen Candles.)
(The video below is from Pretty In Pink.)
Joining in on the movie fun were my BFF (Kerry) and my friends (Andrea, Cass, and Ellen) My friend (Aimee) was also able to make a little brief pit stop with her children (Rio and Amaya).
The night started off with a blast. And by blast, I mean pink martinis! Kelley made pink martinis for the occasion which were absolutely delicious. As it was a celebration of sorts, I naturally imbibed. Needless to say, the pink martini was good.
Not to be outdone, Andrea also brought a special treat for the night. Andrea generally brings something good to a party. It just so happens that on Saturday Andrea brought pudding shots. Pudding shots are like Jell-o shots, just with pudding. The pudding shots were quite delicious. I could have eaten the entire tray if given enough time. There is, after all, always room for... pudding.
Anyway, it was a fun night to enjoy the movies with a bunch of friends. I always like watching movies to see actors and actresses before they were stars. Case in point: Kristy Swanson, the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Kristy Swanson appeared in Ferris Bueller as Simone, the girl who explained to Ben Stein why Ferris was out sick. As well, she also appeared in Pretty In Pink as the girl who ended up with the one and only Duckie.
In addition to seeing actors and actresses of years past, I like to see how well movies stand the test of time. Sixteen Candles was interesting because there were scenes of sexual harrassment that were supposed to be comedic. Oh those silly kids. Pretty In Pink was pretty funny too, just for the awful kissing scenes between Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy. (Their kissing scenes made Jake Lloyd's acting look good. Well, okay I won't go that far.)
Needless to say, I think everyone else had a good time because there is talk now of a regular 80's movie night. I'll admit... I'm pretty excited about it. Of course, I do tend to like all things 80's... even the big hair.
Unfortunately, I suck at John Hughes movies. On the agenda for the night: Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, and Pretty In Pink. All of those movies... classic!
(The video below is from Ferris Bueller.)
(The video below is a trailer for Sixteen Candles.)
(The video below is from Pretty In Pink.)
Joining in on the movie fun were my BFF (Kerry) and my friends (Andrea, Cass, and Ellen) My friend (Aimee) was also able to make a little brief pit stop with her children (Rio and Amaya).
The night started off with a blast. And by blast, I mean pink martinis! Kelley made pink martinis for the occasion which were absolutely delicious. As it was a celebration of sorts, I naturally imbibed. Needless to say, the pink martini was good.
Not to be outdone, Andrea also brought a special treat for the night. Andrea generally brings something good to a party. It just so happens that on Saturday Andrea brought pudding shots. Pudding shots are like Jell-o shots, just with pudding. The pudding shots were quite delicious. I could have eaten the entire tray if given enough time. There is, after all, always room for... pudding.
Anyway, it was a fun night to enjoy the movies with a bunch of friends. I always like watching movies to see actors and actresses before they were stars. Case in point: Kristy Swanson, the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Kristy Swanson appeared in Ferris Bueller as Simone, the girl who explained to Ben Stein why Ferris was out sick. As well, she also appeared in Pretty In Pink as the girl who ended up with the one and only Duckie.
In addition to seeing actors and actresses of years past, I like to see how well movies stand the test of time. Sixteen Candles was interesting because there were scenes of sexual harrassment that were supposed to be comedic. Oh those silly kids. Pretty In Pink was pretty funny too, just for the awful kissing scenes between Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy. (Their kissing scenes made Jake Lloyd's acting look good. Well, okay I won't go that far.)
Needless to say, I think everyone else had a good time because there is talk now of a regular 80's movie night. I'll admit... I'm pretty excited about it. Of course, I do tend to like all things 80's... even the big hair.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
I Suck At The Cedar Cafe
yesterday, karen and i met up with my friend (aimee).
the three of us decided to go out for a quick bite to eat at this place in hanover that aimee had heard of. that place: the cedar cafe.
now, i suck at the cedar cafe. i have never been to the cedar cafe. i have only seen the place in the food court area of what is known as merchant's row (the area where joe's american bar and grill is located).
apparently, aimee's friend (voula) knew the family that owns the cedar cafe. consequently, aimee met the family once or something like that. i must say... the food there is quite delicious. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.) i had the lamb gyro with the yogurt dressing. it was good.
anyway, it was good to see aimee. in my opinion, aimee was doing remarkably well with all things considered. she said she hasn't gotten much sleep, but that is understandable. i was just glad that i was able to be of some help to her.
yesterday turned out to be quite an interesting night. aimee asked for some assistance with the preparations for her mother's service. she had asked me because she knew i was handy with this thing called photoshop. (i'm really not that good with photoshop. the graphic designers who i know would put me to shame.)
needless to say, aimee brought over a printed document that she wanted to incorporate into the service. the problem: i don't own a scanner. so unfortunately, i could not scan the document into an electronic file.
the three of us ended up making a visit to my favorite sister-in-law (janine). there's a reason why she's my favorite. as it turned out, janine had a scanner. the next problem to arise, however, was that she never used the scanner. so basically what ensued was a mad scramble as we tried to figure out a way to scan the document. it took us quite some time to figure it out... and the only reason why we figured it out was because my favorite brother-in-law (pj) told us how to do it. (there's also a reason why he is my favorite.)
anyway, it was fun being at janine's. my niece (kaleigh) and nephew (pj) got to meet aimee for the first time. after finally figuring out how to use the scanner, the three of us headed back to our house... to which we did some image and text manipulation. hopefully, the finished product will turn out okay.
the three of us decided to go out for a quick bite to eat at this place in hanover that aimee had heard of. that place: the cedar cafe.
now, i suck at the cedar cafe. i have never been to the cedar cafe. i have only seen the place in the food court area of what is known as merchant's row (the area where joe's american bar and grill is located).
apparently, aimee's friend (voula) knew the family that owns the cedar cafe. consequently, aimee met the family once or something like that. i must say... the food there is quite delicious. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.) i had the lamb gyro with the yogurt dressing. it was good.
anyway, it was good to see aimee. in my opinion, aimee was doing remarkably well with all things considered. she said she hasn't gotten much sleep, but that is understandable. i was just glad that i was able to be of some help to her.
yesterday turned out to be quite an interesting night. aimee asked for some assistance with the preparations for her mother's service. she had asked me because she knew i was handy with this thing called photoshop. (i'm really not that good with photoshop. the graphic designers who i know would put me to shame.)
needless to say, aimee brought over a printed document that she wanted to incorporate into the service. the problem: i don't own a scanner. so unfortunately, i could not scan the document into an electronic file.
the three of us ended up making a visit to my favorite sister-in-law (janine). there's a reason why she's my favorite. as it turned out, janine had a scanner. the next problem to arise, however, was that she never used the scanner. so basically what ensued was a mad scramble as we tried to figure out a way to scan the document. it took us quite some time to figure it out... and the only reason why we figured it out was because my favorite brother-in-law (pj) told us how to do it. (there's also a reason why he is my favorite.)
anyway, it was fun being at janine's. my niece (kaleigh) and nephew (pj) got to meet aimee for the first time. after finally figuring out how to use the scanner, the three of us headed back to our house... to which we did some image and text manipulation. hopefully, the finished product will turn out okay.
Monday, June 15, 2009
I Suck At Goodbyes
on saturday, i learned about the unfortunate news about my friend's (aimee) mother who passed away in the early hours of morning. interestingly enough, it seemed like all my friends knew about the news well before me thanks to the social networking known as facebook. (for anyone curious, i am not a frequent user of facebook.)
needless to say, i was pretty surprised by the news because i had spoken with aimee a few days ago asking about her mom. at the time, aimee mentioned that her mom was doing great. so you can imagine my surprise when i received a text message from aimee with the unfortunate news.
losing someone is always tough. when i actually spoke with aimee on saturday, she seemed to be doing as well as she could... given the turn of unfortunate circumstances. i can not even imagine what it would be like to lose a parent. i have trouble as it is with losing a child.
anyway, i've never been good at saying goodbye. in fact, i suck at goodbyes. one of my fondest memories of aimee's mom is when i was younger. growing up, i used to call and talk on the phone with aimee a lot. we were both young and silly... well, i was silly... aimee was more devishly evil.
i think when we were younger, there may have been a time when aimee's mom hoped that aimee and i would end up together. if aimee and i had gotten together, that would have been weird... like brotherly-sisterly weird. whether aimee's mom did or not, i never really knew for sure. i just got that impression a few times when i was over their house.
regardless, there was this time when i ended up spending the night at aimee's parents. i had come over to hang out... and have some dinner. as it turned out, there was a snow storm. rather than head home in the dangerous driving conditions, i ended up staying over.
aimee's mom was great. she always treated me as though i were one of her own children. consequently, i joked around in return as though she were my mom. the night of the snow storm, i remember aimee's mom trying to dispense some words of wisdom to me.
her words of wisdom had to do with friendship. sadly, i don't remember what she said verbatim. the gist, however, had to do with the circle of friendship. basically, she said that when a person is younger, their circle of friendship is large. but as the person gets older, slowly but surely that circle of friendship gets smaller... whether it is from growing apart, death, whatever.
of course, at the time i was just yessing aimee's mother as she dispensed her words of wisdom. but for some reason, that memory has stuck in my mind probably because there is some truth in her words. hence, i have always been grateful, and still am grateful, to have such a large number of people in my life to call my friends (and i don't mean the facebook term). i actually consider myself quite lucky to have a bunch of friends, considering i instigate things.
naturally, the image of aimee's mother dispensing words of wisdom inevitably led me to joke with aimee a few months back. growing up, i used to joke a lot about aimee's vertically challenged base. well, if you have ever met aimee's mother, you would know that aimee's mother is equally challenged... vertically.
now, aimee's husband (jim) is... among being the deadliest warrior/friend... tall. jim also likes star wars. as a fan of star wars myself, i had joked with aimee that jim should throw aimee's mother on his back and run through the woods of dagobah. i had likened the image to the scene in "star wars: the empire strikes back"... where luke trains to be a jedi with master yoda on his back.
hence in this case, jim would be luke... and aimee's mom would be master yoda. it was a comical image to me, and it had aimee smiling. aimee even joked that she would tell her mom that i called her yoda. but to me, it made somewhat sense because jim was... well... a deadly warrior... and aimee's mom dispensed words of wisdom. plus, aimee's mom was tiny.
i don't know if aimee ever did tell her mom that i likened her to master yoda. i'm sure that is the farthest thing from aimee's mind right now. but if there is anything that i know, it is that friends are important because the circle does not last forever.
anyway, i will probably always remember that tidbit of wisdom. so thank you and goodbye master yoda.
needless to say, i was pretty surprised by the news because i had spoken with aimee a few days ago asking about her mom. at the time, aimee mentioned that her mom was doing great. so you can imagine my surprise when i received a text message from aimee with the unfortunate news.
losing someone is always tough. when i actually spoke with aimee on saturday, she seemed to be doing as well as she could... given the turn of unfortunate circumstances. i can not even imagine what it would be like to lose a parent. i have trouble as it is with losing a child.
anyway, i've never been good at saying goodbye. in fact, i suck at goodbyes. one of my fondest memories of aimee's mom is when i was younger. growing up, i used to call and talk on the phone with aimee a lot. we were both young and silly... well, i was silly... aimee was more devishly evil.
i think when we were younger, there may have been a time when aimee's mom hoped that aimee and i would end up together. if aimee and i had gotten together, that would have been weird... like brotherly-sisterly weird. whether aimee's mom did or not, i never really knew for sure. i just got that impression a few times when i was over their house.
regardless, there was this time when i ended up spending the night at aimee's parents. i had come over to hang out... and have some dinner. as it turned out, there was a snow storm. rather than head home in the dangerous driving conditions, i ended up staying over.
aimee's mom was great. she always treated me as though i were one of her own children. consequently, i joked around in return as though she were my mom. the night of the snow storm, i remember aimee's mom trying to dispense some words of wisdom to me.
her words of wisdom had to do with friendship. sadly, i don't remember what she said verbatim. the gist, however, had to do with the circle of friendship. basically, she said that when a person is younger, their circle of friendship is large. but as the person gets older, slowly but surely that circle of friendship gets smaller... whether it is from growing apart, death, whatever.
of course, at the time i was just yessing aimee's mother as she dispensed her words of wisdom. but for some reason, that memory has stuck in my mind probably because there is some truth in her words. hence, i have always been grateful, and still am grateful, to have such a large number of people in my life to call my friends (and i don't mean the facebook term). i actually consider myself quite lucky to have a bunch of friends, considering i instigate things.
naturally, the image of aimee's mother dispensing words of wisdom inevitably led me to joke with aimee a few months back. growing up, i used to joke a lot about aimee's vertically challenged base. well, if you have ever met aimee's mother, you would know that aimee's mother is equally challenged... vertically.
now, aimee's husband (jim) is... among being the deadliest warrior/friend... tall. jim also likes star wars. as a fan of star wars myself, i had joked with aimee that jim should throw aimee's mother on his back and run through the woods of dagobah. i had likened the image to the scene in "star wars: the empire strikes back"... where luke trains to be a jedi with master yoda on his back.
hence in this case, jim would be luke... and aimee's mom would be master yoda. it was a comical image to me, and it had aimee smiling. aimee even joked that she would tell her mom that i called her yoda. but to me, it made somewhat sense because jim was... well... a deadly warrior... and aimee's mom dispensed words of wisdom. plus, aimee's mom was tiny.
i don't know if aimee ever did tell her mom that i likened her to master yoda. i'm sure that is the farthest thing from aimee's mind right now. but if there is anything that i know, it is that friends are important because the circle does not last forever.
anyway, i will probably always remember that tidbit of wisdom. so thank you and goodbye master yoda.
Monday, June 1, 2009
I Suck At Minado
on saturday, karen and i met up with a few friends. my friend (aimee) had organized the little get together with everyone since she has not seen many of us in quite some time. from time to time, aimee will try to get everyone together just to keep everyone in touch. after all, friendship is important... especially when things look glum... so it's good to just hang out now and then with friends. (and i should know.)
anyway, aimee is great. i remember when we were in high school, aimee was in utter tears in our school cafeteria. we had gotten our yearbooks and were signing them like crazy. "have a wicked pissa summer"... "you're a great kid, don't change"... "keep in touch". at the time, i thought aimee was a little too emotional... being in tears because it was "the end" of our high school days. i figured, after all, that we would still keep in touch after high school. and for the most part, we have. and interestingly enough... every one of us have pretty much kept in touch... which is probably unusual for a high school.
needless to say, aimee got a bunch of us together to sample the fine cuisine of minado located in natick. now, i suck at minado. for anyone curious, minado is a japanese seafood buffet restaurant... aka sushi. (well, they have other things beside sushi...)
with the restaurant being located in natick, karen and i were able to car pool with my friends (marc, kelley and cass). the meeting point: cass's house. after getting stuck in line for a funeral procession in quincy literally one block away from cass's house, karen and i still managed to be at cass's on time. (yes, i find it odd that a funeral procession would drive through a residential neighborhood... but that's just me.)
speaking of driving, the car pool ride itself was actually quite comical. it seemed like we had hit every single red light in quincy... and believe me, there are a lot of red lights in quincy. there must be lights at every single intersection in quincy... and we hit them all... or at least it seemed that way. in the past, i've joked with cass before about how he should run for mayor of quincy so that he can abolish all that is unholy about the red lights at every intersection. and saturday definitely proved to be a good example of why the lights should be abolished because we ran late meeting everyone else at minado. (driving through quincy is awful.)
luckily, all of us in the car had a fun time. i sometimes enjoy the car rides more than the actual event because the things we talk about just crack me up. plus, in the car, all of us are a little more unfiltered in what we say. it's just more humorous. i'd divulge the topic of conversations that we have... but what is said in the car stays in the car. that is not to say all of us are filtered in public... after all, for some reason we generally are "that group". but i think we do try to tone it down a little.
anyway, because of quincy traffic, i had to call aimee to let her know we would be running a little late. when i called aimee, i thought aimee sounded a lot like her sister (angela). thinking nothing of it, i continued to tell her that we were running late. it wasn't until angela told me that she'd let aimee know that i chuckled... because it was in fact... angela who i was talking to.
needless to say, we finally arrived at minado... only about 15 minutes late, which is not bad considering. plus, as a whole, all of us are generally punctual if not early... so being late this once was not too bad. in addition to all of us in the car, my friends (garv, leeann) were there with aimee, angela, and aimee's children (rio and amaya).
and then... the feasting began! generally, sushi is not something i crave. don't get me wrong. i'll eat it. i'll eat anything. but as i was starving by the time we arrived, i consumed a few plates of sushi.
i think sushi gets a bad rap... or bad "wrap"... just kidding. like most things, i think people get put off by the idea of the meal, as opposed to actually tasting the meal. after all, the idea of eating raw fish does not sound too appetizing or safe for that matter. there are, however, other types of sushi that do not have raw fish... like california rolls, which are quite good. yet, i think people will swear sushi off all together just because of the idea.
needless to say, i had a good time at minado. it was fun to hang out with everyone... and even do some shopping afterwards... at... of all places, the christmas tree shop. i am generally not a big fan of the christmas tree shop, but being there with a group of friends definitely made the experience fun. garv was a sucker for the sham-wow ripoff: the sham-eze.
anyway, it was fun. i hope aimee and angela enjoyed the time as well.
anyway, aimee is great. i remember when we were in high school, aimee was in utter tears in our school cafeteria. we had gotten our yearbooks and were signing them like crazy. "have a wicked pissa summer"... "you're a great kid, don't change"... "keep in touch". at the time, i thought aimee was a little too emotional... being in tears because it was "the end" of our high school days. i figured, after all, that we would still keep in touch after high school. and for the most part, we have. and interestingly enough... every one of us have pretty much kept in touch... which is probably unusual for a high school.
needless to say, aimee got a bunch of us together to sample the fine cuisine of minado located in natick. now, i suck at minado. for anyone curious, minado is a japanese seafood buffet restaurant... aka sushi. (well, they have other things beside sushi...)
with the restaurant being located in natick, karen and i were able to car pool with my friends (marc, kelley and cass). the meeting point: cass's house. after getting stuck in line for a funeral procession in quincy literally one block away from cass's house, karen and i still managed to be at cass's on time. (yes, i find it odd that a funeral procession would drive through a residential neighborhood... but that's just me.)
speaking of driving, the car pool ride itself was actually quite comical. it seemed like we had hit every single red light in quincy... and believe me, there are a lot of red lights in quincy. there must be lights at every single intersection in quincy... and we hit them all... or at least it seemed that way. in the past, i've joked with cass before about how he should run for mayor of quincy so that he can abolish all that is unholy about the red lights at every intersection. and saturday definitely proved to be a good example of why the lights should be abolished because we ran late meeting everyone else at minado. (driving through quincy is awful.)
luckily, all of us in the car had a fun time. i sometimes enjoy the car rides more than the actual event because the things we talk about just crack me up. plus, in the car, all of us are a little more unfiltered in what we say. it's just more humorous. i'd divulge the topic of conversations that we have... but what is said in the car stays in the car. that is not to say all of us are filtered in public... after all, for some reason we generally are "that group". but i think we do try to tone it down a little.
anyway, because of quincy traffic, i had to call aimee to let her know we would be running a little late. when i called aimee, i thought aimee sounded a lot like her sister (angela). thinking nothing of it, i continued to tell her that we were running late. it wasn't until angela told me that she'd let aimee know that i chuckled... because it was in fact... angela who i was talking to.
needless to say, we finally arrived at minado... only about 15 minutes late, which is not bad considering. plus, as a whole, all of us are generally punctual if not early... so being late this once was not too bad. in addition to all of us in the car, my friends (garv, leeann) were there with aimee, angela, and aimee's children (rio and amaya).
and then... the feasting began! generally, sushi is not something i crave. don't get me wrong. i'll eat it. i'll eat anything. but as i was starving by the time we arrived, i consumed a few plates of sushi.
i think sushi gets a bad rap... or bad "wrap"... just kidding. like most things, i think people get put off by the idea of the meal, as opposed to actually tasting the meal. after all, the idea of eating raw fish does not sound too appetizing or safe for that matter. there are, however, other types of sushi that do not have raw fish... like california rolls, which are quite good. yet, i think people will swear sushi off all together just because of the idea.
needless to say, i had a good time at minado. it was fun to hang out with everyone... and even do some shopping afterwards... at... of all places, the christmas tree shop. i am generally not a big fan of the christmas tree shop, but being there with a group of friends definitely made the experience fun. garv was a sucker for the sham-wow ripoff: the sham-eze.
anyway, it was fun. i hope aimee and angela enjoyed the time as well.
Monday, December 8, 2008
I Suck At Hanging Out With Aimee
on saturday, i had the pleasure of hanging out with my friend (aimee). now, i suck at hanging out with aimee. i don't think i have seen aimee since the funeral service for my son (braden) which was almost three months ago. prior to that, i can't remember the previous time i was able to just hang out with her. it feels like it has been a while.
this weekend, aimee's mom was taking her kids to bon jovi's home state of new jersey. as her significant other (jim) was working on saturday, aimee had some available time. so, she thought it would be nice to catch up and hang out for a little while since we really have not seen each other in quite some time.
i must say, it was very nice to hang out with aimee again.
we had lunch at "not your average joe's" located in norwell. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.) for anyone curious, not your average joe's has become one of my favorite places to grab a bite at. i never used to like the restaurant chain, as i had only been to the location in randolph. yet, for some reason, after i ate at the norwell location... i found myself consistently going there (probably more than i go to the british beer company in pembroke). for some reason, not your average joe's in norwell... is just good. i think my bff (kerry) would agree to that statement as well... and she only likes certain restaurants.
it was aimee's first time at not your average joe's. (i guess you could say she's a... not your average virgin.) lucky for her, not your average joe's just changed their menu. she ended up getting their claim to fame, as the menu calls it... the mustard crusted chicken. karen ended up getting their new veggie burger. and i ended up with the chicken mole special. (that's mole as in sauce... not the furry animal.) all were very good. i had the pleasure of trying karen's veggie burger... with beets. i hope aimee enjoyed it as well... it being her first time and all.
after lunch, we simply hung out at my house. it was good to just laugh, talk... and listen to the new kids on the block. heck, we even were able to watch their "dirty dancing" video on youtube... a few times...
(here is the link to the video, dirty dancing. i could not embed the video into this post... and don't be surprised if the video is in german... that's how it is supposed to be.)
in addition to the new kids, karen and i got to actually hear the story about how aimee and jim met. i'm afraid i won't do the story justice by retelling it. all i can say is... it was a funny story... involving dating jim's friend... a silly grin... massaging aimee's hand to remove a stamp... numerous phone calls to aimee at star market... and aimee's sister (angela) asking aimee to please return jim's call so that he would stop calling.
anyway, i had a great time with aimee on saturday. i hope she likewise had a good time. i'm definitely glad that she wanted to spend her time with karen and me. perhaps now i am getting all soft and mushy for the holiday season like i generally do... because after saturday, i look back and think about how nice it is to be blessed with such good friends.
this weekend, aimee's mom was taking her kids to bon jovi's home state of new jersey. as her significant other (jim) was working on saturday, aimee had some available time. so, she thought it would be nice to catch up and hang out for a little while since we really have not seen each other in quite some time.
i must say, it was very nice to hang out with aimee again.
we had lunch at "not your average joe's" located in norwell. (cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.) for anyone curious, not your average joe's has become one of my favorite places to grab a bite at. i never used to like the restaurant chain, as i had only been to the location in randolph. yet, for some reason, after i ate at the norwell location... i found myself consistently going there (probably more than i go to the british beer company in pembroke). for some reason, not your average joe's in norwell... is just good. i think my bff (kerry) would agree to that statement as well... and she only likes certain restaurants.
it was aimee's first time at not your average joe's. (i guess you could say she's a... not your average virgin.) lucky for her, not your average joe's just changed their menu. she ended up getting their claim to fame, as the menu calls it... the mustard crusted chicken. karen ended up getting their new veggie burger. and i ended up with the chicken mole special. (that's mole as in sauce... not the furry animal.) all were very good. i had the pleasure of trying karen's veggie burger... with beets. i hope aimee enjoyed it as well... it being her first time and all.
after lunch, we simply hung out at my house. it was good to just laugh, talk... and listen to the new kids on the block. heck, we even were able to watch their "dirty dancing" video on youtube... a few times...
(here is the link to the video, dirty dancing. i could not embed the video into this post... and don't be surprised if the video is in german... that's how it is supposed to be.)
in addition to the new kids, karen and i got to actually hear the story about how aimee and jim met. i'm afraid i won't do the story justice by retelling it. all i can say is... it was a funny story... involving dating jim's friend... a silly grin... massaging aimee's hand to remove a stamp... numerous phone calls to aimee at star market... and aimee's sister (angela) asking aimee to please return jim's call so that he would stop calling.
anyway, i had a great time with aimee on saturday. i hope she likewise had a good time. i'm definitely glad that she wanted to spend her time with karen and me. perhaps now i am getting all soft and mushy for the holiday season like i generally do... because after saturday, i look back and think about how nice it is to be blessed with such good friends.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
I Still Suck At Casting
on wednesday, my bff (kerry) told me that she actually came up with an asian actress to play my friend (aimee) in the movie about all of us. kerry obviously read about my choice from my blog. i am guessing that she thinks i still suck at casting because she offered another actress to play aimee.
kerry's choice to play aimee is keiko agena of gilmore girls fame. since i have never seen gilmore girls, i never knew the actress even existed. keiko agena plays "lane kim" in the show.
(pictured below is keiko agena as aimee... according to kerry.)
anyway, at the the black friday dinner, i mentined to everyone kerry's choice to play aimee. i had mentioned it only because my friend (marc) had told me that he liked my casting choice for aimee. the general consensus is that keiko agena would also be a nice choice in addition to siu ta.
i just thought i would throw that tidbit of information out there. in the span of less than a week, i went from zero asian actresses to two to play aimee in the movie about all of us. that's pretty good. although, now that i am thinking about it... we could have one of the actresses play aimee and the other actress play her sister (angela). i don't know. that's just silly talk.
kerry's choice to play aimee is keiko agena of gilmore girls fame. since i have never seen gilmore girls, i never knew the actress even existed. keiko agena plays "lane kim" in the show.
(pictured below is keiko agena as aimee... according to kerry.)
anyway, at the the black friday dinner, i mentined to everyone kerry's choice to play aimee. i had mentioned it only because my friend (marc) had told me that he liked my casting choice for aimee. the general consensus is that keiko agena would also be a nice choice in addition to siu ta.
i just thought i would throw that tidbit of information out there. in the span of less than a week, i went from zero asian actresses to two to play aimee in the movie about all of us. that's pretty good. although, now that i am thinking about it... we could have one of the actresses play aimee and the other actress play her sister (angela). i don't know. that's just silly talk.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
I Still Suck At Casting
i had a quick conversation with my friend (aimee) yesterday about this whole casting thing about who would play you in the movie. sadly, i still suck at casting... but at least i'm still smart enough to not cast rosie o'donnell as any of my friends.
anyway, one of the problems i have had with casting certain actors or actresses for my friends happens to be the fact that there are just not that many asian actors or actresses in the american movie industry. normally, that would not be a problem... except that i have a number of asian friends. (if you can name a handful of asian actors off the top of your head who are not past their prime then i would be quite impressed.)
i have always tried to think of someone to cast for aimee, who seems to be one of the few commenting contributors to this blog. unfortunately, i could never think of an asian actress that would make a good choice to play her.
a while ago, it was first proposed to me that the actress in the movie, harold and kumar go to white castle, should play aimee. which actress you may ask? well, if you have seen the movie, the character is "cindy kim". in the movie, cindy is the princeton student who tries to get harold to attend asian-american student meetings because she thinks he is a "twinkie". (for the record, harold and kumar... great movie.)
naturally, i thought the original proposition was a result of our silliness. it was not until yesterday, however, that i decided to actually explore the idea. might i add, finding a picture of siu ta... very difficult.
as i started to look over the pictures of siu ta, i started to think... siu ta actually would not be a bad selection for aimee.
(pictured below is siu ta as aimee.)
so, for my casting call, i think i will go with siu ta to play aimee. of course, if siu ta were selected to play aimee, she would have to learn capoeira now too.
anyway, one of the problems i have had with casting certain actors or actresses for my friends happens to be the fact that there are just not that many asian actors or actresses in the american movie industry. normally, that would not be a problem... except that i have a number of asian friends. (if you can name a handful of asian actors off the top of your head who are not past their prime then i would be quite impressed.)
i have always tried to think of someone to cast for aimee, who seems to be one of the few commenting contributors to this blog. unfortunately, i could never think of an asian actress that would make a good choice to play her.
a while ago, it was first proposed to me that the actress in the movie, harold and kumar go to white castle, should play aimee. which actress you may ask? well, if you have seen the movie, the character is "cindy kim". in the movie, cindy is the princeton student who tries to get harold to attend asian-american student meetings because she thinks he is a "twinkie". (for the record, harold and kumar... great movie.)
naturally, i thought the original proposition was a result of our silliness. it was not until yesterday, however, that i decided to actually explore the idea. might i add, finding a picture of siu ta... very difficult.
as i started to look over the pictures of siu ta, i started to think... siu ta actually would not be a bad selection for aimee.
(pictured below is siu ta as aimee.)
so, for my casting call, i think i will go with siu ta to play aimee. of course, if siu ta were selected to play aimee, she would have to learn capoeira now too.
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