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 black friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label black friday. Show all posts
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Monday, November 29, 2010
I Suck At Black Friday
The day after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday. The day is traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Unfortunately, I suck at Black Friday.
It seems like every year, I get tempted with the idea of experiencing the Black Friday shopping frenzy just to see what it is like. This year was no exception, thanks in part to my friend (Aimee) who apparently loves a good deal herself and told me about some of the deals to be had. And of course like every year, I usually choose sanity and sleep over shopping (this year included). And sadly, I missed the Black Friday shopping experience yet again. Perhaps some day, I will get to experience the Black Friday madness.
It was probably just as well that I missed the shopping madness. After all, Friday was shaping up to be a busy day. Karen's grandfather recently passed away and his wake just so happened to be on Black Friday. For me, it was the first wake I ever attended from start to finish. And in case anyone is curious, it was also the first wake for my niece (Kaleigh) and nephew (PJ).
I must say, it was an interesting experience. The part I found most peculiar about the wake was how the priest randomly interrupted everything for a reading. People would be talking amongst themselves and then... BAM! The priest started reading aloud scripture. To me (a fellow non-Catholic), it seemed out of nowhere. Apparently, that is a common tradition.
As well, I had missed an interesting comment from one of Karen's relatives. While I was out picking up our baby daughter (Briana) and bringing her to the wake, I guess one of Karen's relatives mentioned to Karen how amazing it was to see the number of Karen's friends attending the wake.
I never really thought much about it, probably because I may have taken it for granted. But Karen and I are lucky to have a large number of amazing friends. It probably is unusual that both Karen and I still maintain friendships with our childhood friends. In comparison, my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) joked that she only had one friend. So I guess we are lucky to have such a large number of great friends.
Speaking of which, Karen, Briana and I headed to our friends' (Cass and Ellen) house following the wake. For awhile now, Cass and Ellen have been hosting a Black Friday party in which everyone in attendance would bring their Thanksgiving leftovers. I guess you could call it a potluck of Thanksgiving leftovers. And yes, it was on Black Friday where I had my famous steak-choking incident.
Needless to say, Karen and I were late to the party for obvious reasons. Cass and Ellen encouraged us to attend while at the wake, in the event Karen needed a break. And for Karen, I think it was a much needed break from the day. It was definitely good to see some friends.
As a side note, I forgot to mention that Cass and Ellen were an apparent hit at the wake because of the lovely floral arrangement that they sent for Karen's grandfather. Karen's relatives were raving about the flowers. This is proof yet again that parents love Cass... which is why he should run for mayor of Quincy.
Anyway, all of us just hung out at Cass and Ellen's. Also in attendance were our friends (Marc, Kelley, Kerry, Andrea, and Meredith) and Meredith's baby (Xander). Like I said, it was good to hang out... probably more for Karen. It was definitely a good way to end the night.
It seems like every year, I get tempted with the idea of experiencing the Black Friday shopping frenzy just to see what it is like. This year was no exception, thanks in part to my friend (Aimee) who apparently loves a good deal herself and told me about some of the deals to be had. And of course like every year, I usually choose sanity and sleep over shopping (this year included). And sadly, I missed the Black Friday shopping experience yet again. Perhaps some day, I will get to experience the Black Friday madness.
It was probably just as well that I missed the shopping madness. After all, Friday was shaping up to be a busy day. Karen's grandfather recently passed away and his wake just so happened to be on Black Friday. For me, it was the first wake I ever attended from start to finish. And in case anyone is curious, it was also the first wake for my niece (Kaleigh) and nephew (PJ).
I must say, it was an interesting experience. The part I found most peculiar about the wake was how the priest randomly interrupted everything for a reading. People would be talking amongst themselves and then... BAM! The priest started reading aloud scripture. To me (a fellow non-Catholic), it seemed out of nowhere. Apparently, that is a common tradition.
As well, I had missed an interesting comment from one of Karen's relatives. While I was out picking up our baby daughter (Briana) and bringing her to the wake, I guess one of Karen's relatives mentioned to Karen how amazing it was to see the number of Karen's friends attending the wake.
I never really thought much about it, probably because I may have taken it for granted. But Karen and I are lucky to have a large number of amazing friends. It probably is unusual that both Karen and I still maintain friendships with our childhood friends. In comparison, my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) joked that she only had one friend. So I guess we are lucky to have such a large number of great friends.
Speaking of which, Karen, Briana and I headed to our friends' (Cass and Ellen) house following the wake. For awhile now, Cass and Ellen have been hosting a Black Friday party in which everyone in attendance would bring their Thanksgiving leftovers. I guess you could call it a potluck of Thanksgiving leftovers. And yes, it was on Black Friday where I had my famous steak-choking incident.
Needless to say, Karen and I were late to the party for obvious reasons. Cass and Ellen encouraged us to attend while at the wake, in the event Karen needed a break. And for Karen, I think it was a much needed break from the day. It was definitely good to see some friends.
As a side note, I forgot to mention that Cass and Ellen were an apparent hit at the wake because of the lovely floral arrangement that they sent for Karen's grandfather. Karen's relatives were raving about the flowers. This is proof yet again that parents love Cass... which is why he should run for mayor of Quincy.
Anyway, all of us just hung out at Cass and Ellen's. Also in attendance were our friends (Marc, Kelley, Kerry, Andrea, and Meredith) and Meredith's baby (Xander). Like I said, it was good to hang out... probably more for Karen. It was definitely a good way to end the night.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
I Suck At Black Friday
The day after Thanksgiving, known by many as Black Friday as it marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season, was an interesting day. Now I suck at Black Friday.
I have always thought about partaking in the madness of Black Friday by waking up early and scrambling for a retail bargain. More often than naught, however, my laziness gets the better of me and I generally choose to sleep in on the day after Thanksgiving. Friday was no different.
So instead of waking up in the wee hours of night to stand in line at some retail store, I decided to sleep in. When I woke up, Karen and I actually put up our Christmas tree. Yes, we respected the turkey and waited for the day after Thanksgiving to put up the tree.
With our house now decorated for Christmas, Karen and I had dinner with my friends (Cass and Ellen). Every year, Cass and Ellen invite a bunch of friends over on the day after Thanksgiving to eat the leftovers from Thanksgiving. In my opinion, it's a great annual tradition with friends.
The annual tradition reminded me of the time when, during my high school years, a bunch of my friends celebrated Thanksgiving at my friend's (Garv) place. At least, I think it was for Thanksgiving. There were so many of us crammed in around the dinner table. It was comical. Just being with so many friends was a blast.
Plus, my friend's (Anna) boyfriend at the time made a surprise visit. Anna's boyfriend looked like he was 40 years old, which was light years for us high school kids. Truth be told, Anna's boyfriend was this little scrawny Asian guy... with this mustache. It was an awful mustache. (Of course, I may be jealous because I can't grow a mustache.) Regardless, Anna's boyfriend was also a bit controlling. He liked to keep tabs on Anna. And it so happened that he found out Anna was at Garv's.
Without getting into the nitty gritty details, Anna's boyfriend wanted Anna to leave the party. Obviously, none of us wanted Anna to go spend her time with her 40 year old, hairy lipped boyfriend. The result: my friend (Greg) who had the pleasure of answering the door when Anna's boyfriend arrived, cowered in the corner with fear when her boyfriend wanted to pick a fight. (Again, Anna's boyfriend was a twerp.)
Like I said... comical. Anna ended up leaving the party. We were young. But I look back at the time and remember how much fun it was to hang out with everyone.
Anyway, I associate Cass and Ellen's after Thanksgiving dinner with that feeling of hanging out with friends and it's something I look forward to since they started the tradition. And for anyone curious, yes... this is the same tradition where I had my choking incident involving steak.
Attending the festivities this year in addition to Karen, Cass, Ellen, and myself were my friends (Marc, Kelley, Meredith, Doug, Aimee and her daughter Amaya) and my BFF (Kerry). It was a fun.
Also for this year, Cass decided to make a feel rules for the annual tradition. The rules were as follows:
There may have been more rules, but those are the ones that I remember. In my own twisted thinking, I thought it would be cool to have an annual tradition to see what I could choke on. Needless to say, Karen did not like that idea.
Anyway, dinner was great. I particularly enjoyed hanging out with everyone and just having fun. We eventually ended up playing a game that Cass and Ellen had gotten, called "The Game of Things". Oh yes, for anyone curious, Cass and Ellen... and Aimee... had successful Black Friday shopping excursions.
"The Game of Things" was a riot. Without getting into too many details, the game regressed into sharting and Ryan Reynolds... and sometimes both.
All in all, the day after Thanksgiving was a blast.
I have always thought about partaking in the madness of Black Friday by waking up early and scrambling for a retail bargain. More often than naught, however, my laziness gets the better of me and I generally choose to sleep in on the day after Thanksgiving. Friday was no different.
So instead of waking up in the wee hours of night to stand in line at some retail store, I decided to sleep in. When I woke up, Karen and I actually put up our Christmas tree. Yes, we respected the turkey and waited for the day after Thanksgiving to put up the tree.
With our house now decorated for Christmas, Karen and I had dinner with my friends (Cass and Ellen). Every year, Cass and Ellen invite a bunch of friends over on the day after Thanksgiving to eat the leftovers from Thanksgiving. In my opinion, it's a great annual tradition with friends.
The annual tradition reminded me of the time when, during my high school years, a bunch of my friends celebrated Thanksgiving at my friend's (Garv) place. At least, I think it was for Thanksgiving. There were so many of us crammed in around the dinner table. It was comical. Just being with so many friends was a blast.
Plus, my friend's (Anna) boyfriend at the time made a surprise visit. Anna's boyfriend looked like he was 40 years old, which was light years for us high school kids. Truth be told, Anna's boyfriend was this little scrawny Asian guy... with this mustache. It was an awful mustache. (Of course, I may be jealous because I can't grow a mustache.) Regardless, Anna's boyfriend was also a bit controlling. He liked to keep tabs on Anna. And it so happened that he found out Anna was at Garv's.
Without getting into the nitty gritty details, Anna's boyfriend wanted Anna to leave the party. Obviously, none of us wanted Anna to go spend her time with her 40 year old, hairy lipped boyfriend. The result: my friend (Greg) who had the pleasure of answering the door when Anna's boyfriend arrived, cowered in the corner with fear when her boyfriend wanted to pick a fight. (Again, Anna's boyfriend was a twerp.)
Like I said... comical. Anna ended up leaving the party. We were young. But I look back at the time and remember how much fun it was to hang out with everyone.
Anyway, I associate Cass and Ellen's after Thanksgiving dinner with that feeling of hanging out with friends and it's something I look forward to since they started the tradition. And for anyone curious, yes... this is the same tradition where I had my choking incident involving steak.
Attending the festivities this year in addition to Karen, Cass, Ellen, and myself were my friends (Marc, Kelley, Meredith, Doug, Aimee and her daughter Amaya) and my BFF (Kerry). It was a fun.
Also for this year, Cass decided to make a feel rules for the annual tradition. The rules were as follows:
- Everyone must wear sweatpants, yoga pants, or pajamas.
- Everyone must pick out a shot glass whether they consume alcohol or not.
- The food will be served on the plates they came in.
- And the lazy susan at the dinner table can only rotate clockwise.
There may have been more rules, but those are the ones that I remember. In my own twisted thinking, I thought it would be cool to have an annual tradition to see what I could choke on. Needless to say, Karen did not like that idea.
Anyway, dinner was great. I particularly enjoyed hanging out with everyone and just having fun. We eventually ended up playing a game that Cass and Ellen had gotten, called "The Game of Things". Oh yes, for anyone curious, Cass and Ellen... and Aimee... had successful Black Friday shopping excursions.
"The Game of Things" was a riot. Without getting into too many details, the game regressed into sharting and Ryan Reynolds... and sometimes both.
All in all, the day after Thanksgiving was a blast.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
I Suck At Black Friday
yesterday was the infamous day known as black friday. black friday is supposed to be one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year... but that is not why i consider it a day of infamy. black friday is the day i potentially could have died. thus, i suck at black friday.
for a few years now, my friends (cass and ellen) have been having all of us over on the day after thanksgiving. the premise is simple: everyone brings their leftovers from thanksgiving and then all of us partake in those thanksgiving leftovers. i guess you could say it is sort of like a potluck of thanksgiving leftovers. cass and ellen began the tradition because they generally host thanksgiving at their place for all of cass's and ellen's family. so, in an effort to get rid of the leftovers, they came up with the idea of the black friday dinner.
it was on one of those fateful black friday dinners where my eyes were definitely larger than my stomach. i used to have a nasty habit of devouring food. (who am i kidding... i still do.) needless to say, i met my match when a dish containing strips of steak appeared. thinking nothing of it, i simply placed an entire strip of steak in my mouth. i figured that i could chew the steak apart with my molars of steel. unfortunately, the steak proved to be a little more resilient. the steak would not break apart in my mouth.
i don't remember what caused my attempt to swallow the piece of steak. i actually think that one of my friends made some sort of joke and i... naturally... giggled. i think when i giggled, the swallowing action was triggered and the piece of steak attempted to go down my throat. that was not good, considering the strip of steak had not been broken down in the slightest.
so unfortunately, i started to choke. when i realized that the piece of steak was lodged in my throat, i calmly tapped karen on the shoulder so as to not make a scene. karen was busy talking about something and initially ignored me. so, i tapped her on the shoulder again. this time, karen realized what was going on and quickly had me get up so that she could perform abdominal thrusts on me. truth be told, i would have perfomed abdominal thrusts on myself had i remembered what the procedure was when doing it to oneself. (as you can tell, like most things... i forgot my cpr training.)
luckily, the piece of steak came out. i actually wanted to take a picture of it as an old keepsake, but karen quickly disposed of the evidence. my friends joked that karen's face turned whiter than mine when i was choking. looking back, i can laugh at the whole incident.
for my friends (garv and leeann), it was probably an interesting night for them. leeann had only dated garv for a brief time during that black friday dinner. so as it was, she barely knew any of us. she had to leave early that night to meet her friends. so when she got up to leave... that was when the choking incident happened. when it turned out that i was okay, she must have thought all of us were crazy because we were all laughing and joking again as though the whole choking thing was commonplace. thankfully, she ended up marrying garv.
anyway, that was awhile ago. yesterday i did not have any life threatening moments. my favorite brother-in-law (pj) and i had lunch together at the 99 restaurant in rockland. (i believe it is considered in rockland. the restaurant is off of 228 on the hingham/norwell/rockwell line.) pj loves the 99, in part because his friend (dee) works there. lunch was good.
afterwards, karen and i went to the black friday dinner. in addition to the usual cast of characters this year (cass, ellen, marc, kelley, karen and i), my friends (meredith and doug, and hugh and jenny with their two children) came to partake in the festivities.
it was nice to meredith again. meredith always seems to be happy, especially now that she is planning her wedding for july 4th of next year. and doug... he's a riot. he's a great guy.
likewise, i have not seen jenny and hugh (or their children) in quite some time. it was good to see them as well.
anyway, there were no choking incidents this year. i made sure to cut up my food into really tiny pieces. as usual, i had a good time seeing everyone again. for this holiday, i probably should hang out with my friends more. it will probably provide a good distraction during the holiday season.
for a few years now, my friends (cass and ellen) have been having all of us over on the day after thanksgiving. the premise is simple: everyone brings their leftovers from thanksgiving and then all of us partake in those thanksgiving leftovers. i guess you could say it is sort of like a potluck of thanksgiving leftovers. cass and ellen began the tradition because they generally host thanksgiving at their place for all of cass's and ellen's family. so, in an effort to get rid of the leftovers, they came up with the idea of the black friday dinner.
it was on one of those fateful black friday dinners where my eyes were definitely larger than my stomach. i used to have a nasty habit of devouring food. (who am i kidding... i still do.) needless to say, i met my match when a dish containing strips of steak appeared. thinking nothing of it, i simply placed an entire strip of steak in my mouth. i figured that i could chew the steak apart with my molars of steel. unfortunately, the steak proved to be a little more resilient. the steak would not break apart in my mouth.
i don't remember what caused my attempt to swallow the piece of steak. i actually think that one of my friends made some sort of joke and i... naturally... giggled. i think when i giggled, the swallowing action was triggered and the piece of steak attempted to go down my throat. that was not good, considering the strip of steak had not been broken down in the slightest.
so unfortunately, i started to choke. when i realized that the piece of steak was lodged in my throat, i calmly tapped karen on the shoulder so as to not make a scene. karen was busy talking about something and initially ignored me. so, i tapped her on the shoulder again. this time, karen realized what was going on and quickly had me get up so that she could perform abdominal thrusts on me. truth be told, i would have perfomed abdominal thrusts on myself had i remembered what the procedure was when doing it to oneself. (as you can tell, like most things... i forgot my cpr training.)
luckily, the piece of steak came out. i actually wanted to take a picture of it as an old keepsake, but karen quickly disposed of the evidence. my friends joked that karen's face turned whiter than mine when i was choking. looking back, i can laugh at the whole incident.
for my friends (garv and leeann), it was probably an interesting night for them. leeann had only dated garv for a brief time during that black friday dinner. so as it was, she barely knew any of us. she had to leave early that night to meet her friends. so when she got up to leave... that was when the choking incident happened. when it turned out that i was okay, she must have thought all of us were crazy because we were all laughing and joking again as though the whole choking thing was commonplace. thankfully, she ended up marrying garv.
anyway, that was awhile ago. yesterday i did not have any life threatening moments. my favorite brother-in-law (pj) and i had lunch together at the 99 restaurant in rockland. (i believe it is considered in rockland. the restaurant is off of 228 on the hingham/norwell/rockwell line.) pj loves the 99, in part because his friend (dee) works there. lunch was good.
afterwards, karen and i went to the black friday dinner. in addition to the usual cast of characters this year (cass, ellen, marc, kelley, karen and i), my friends (meredith and doug, and hugh and jenny with their two children) came to partake in the festivities.
it was nice to meredith again. meredith always seems to be happy, especially now that she is planning her wedding for july 4th of next year. and doug... he's a riot. he's a great guy.
likewise, i have not seen jenny and hugh (or their children) in quite some time. it was good to see them as well.
anyway, there were no choking incidents this year. i made sure to cut up my food into really tiny pieces. as usual, i had a good time seeing everyone again. for this holiday, i probably should hang out with my friends more. it will probably provide a good distraction during the holiday season.
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