I Suck At Cookouts

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

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

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

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

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

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

I Suck At J.J. Mulligans

Saturday was looking pretty "crappy" for a while. In addition to having a bad home improvement day, Karen and I had a slight problem with the toilet drain in our master bathroom. (For anyone curious, while working on the plumbing of the first floor bathroom, my propane torch ran out of propane. Ever try to solder with little heat? It's tough, if not impossible.)

Adding to the plumbing woes was the clogged toilet in the master bathroom. Karen discovered that after she had flushed, the water was not completely going down the drain. Thankfully, some water did go down the drain. So at least the drain was not totally clogged. Already annoyed with running out of propane, I attempted to unclog the toilet with the trusty plunger.

Needless to say, I used the plunger... I flushed... I repeated when it did not work. I used the plunger... I flushed... I repeated. I tend to repeat things well past when I should stop, so it should come as no surprise that I must have used the plunger probably well over 10 times. (All that water wasted! Dangit!)

Eventually, I had to leave the clogged toilet... plunger and all... because Karen and I were meeting up with our friends (Hugh and Jenny). Hugh and Jenny were going to the movies. They went to watch "Shutter Island". So, we were just meeting up with them for dinner after the movie.

We ended up meeting them at J.J. Mulligans located in Braintree. Now I suck at J.J. Mulligans. For anyone curious, J.J. Mulligans has a burger and beer special for $6.95. What a deal! (There is also a cheese pizza and beer special for the same price.) The burger was quite delicious. I scarfed the burger down in no time... probably because I was extremely hungry by that point in the day.

Anyway, it was a good time at J.J. Mulligans. It turns out that Jenny is having her gall bladder removed on Tuesday. So, she could not really eat much... not that she would eat a variety of things if given the choice. Like some of my other friends, Jenny is quite picky about the foods she consumes.

Jenny is also having fun with the book club she started. Hugh jokingly thinks they don't really read books... opting instead for the boozing opportunity a book club provides. I don't remember what book Jenny was reading for the book club, but the book seemed a little far-fetched to me. The story was about some student who kills ten people in school with a crossbow.

I thought that plot was a stretch because a crossbow only fires one bolt at a time... and it takes quite some time for someone to reload the crossbow with another bolt because they have to pull the bow string back and set it. So killing 10 people with a crossbow seemed like a stretch because the student could have been subdued any time during the reloading process. That was my logic.

Of course, I suppose the student could have been using a crossbow like Scarlett from G.I. Joe... Regardless, it was interesting material for a book club. I actually thought Jenny would go the route of the harlequin romance.

Anyway, we eventually started talking about Karen's pregnancy. Hugh and Jenny were pretty excited for us. Interestingly enough, Jenny... like a lot of other people I know.. believes I will spoil the child. I have already told people that our child will get nothing... no video game console... no cool toys... nothing. The child will be lucky enough to have clothes... and a family of course. I get the feeling that no one thinks that I will not spoil our child. Oh well.

Needless to say, dinner was good. It was good to see Hugh and Jenny whom I haven't seen in quite some time. When Karen and I got home, I immediately went back to using the plunger on the toilet... to no avail. Eventually, I gave up and used some eco-friendly chemicals to unclog the drain. When you first pour the liquid into the toilet... it doesn't look too good. But heck, it seems to have worked!

I Suck At Five Guys

Tuesday was quite the busy day.

At work, my coworkers and I decided to go out for lunch. We ended up eating at Five Guys located in Swampscott. Now, I suck at Five Guys. I have never been to Five Guys but I have heard great things about their burgers. Since the Five Guys location in Swampscott was relatively new, we decided to give it a go.

Needless to say, the food was delicious. For anyone curious, the regular burger is a two-patty burger. Their "little" size is a one patty burger. Of course, I went for the two-patty burger with large cajun fries. It was very good. I was so stuffed following lunch. I would definitely go back to Five Guys.

After work, Karen and I ran a little errand at Target located in Hanover. We were looking for energy saving curtains. As well, I had my guilty pleasure moment of purchasing a new cd that was released on Tuesday. For anyone curious, that new cd was Glee: The Music, Volume 1. Glee is one of those new television shows that I enjoy watching this season. It just cracks me up.

Anyway, while leaving Target, Karen and I saw my friends (Ron and Trinh) and their family. Ron and Trinh, and their kids, were just arriving as we were leaving. It was nice to see them. And I must say, their kids are very cute. The middle child (Aree) was being dramatic and did not want to be buckled into the shopping carriage. It was cute.

Unfortunately, we could not chat that long with Ron and Trinh. We were actually running a little late for another get together with my friends (Hugh and Jenny) and their children. Jenny and Karen have been trying to find a time to get together. As well, Karen wanted to tell Jenny about her pregnancy. So, we were supposed to meet Jenny and Hugh at Friendly's in Hanover, which was just up the street from the Target.

It was nice seeing Hugh and Jenny again. Unfortunately, I was still a little stuffed from the Five Guys experience to eat that much at Friendly's. But, I had ice cream! It probably goes without saying that Hugh and Jenny were happy to hear the news.

All in all, it was nice busy day.

I Suck At Hanging Out With Hugh And Jenny

tonight, karen and i did something that we have not done in quite some time: visit my friends (hugh and jenny). now, i suck at hanging out with hugh and jenny. i really have not seen both of them in quite some time.

for anyone curious, hugh was the best man at my wedding. from what i have been told, hugh and jenny were instrumental in notifying the rest of my friends when karen and i went through the unexpected early birth of our son (braden). truth be told, that time was quite the whirlwind... with braden's birth... his fight for survival... and his unfortunate passing. whether that fact about hugh and jenny was true or not, i will probably always remember them for that. (so as to not overlook anyone, i actually remember what a lot of my friends and family did during that time with braden to help support us. i am grateful for everyone's support. i only mentioned hugh and jenny's support during that time because it was one of my more recent memories of them... proof that i have not seen them in quite some time.)

anyway, jenny had contacted karen one day to invite us over for dinner. the plan was to order pizza (from papa gino's) and just hang out at their place. it was actually quite fun. hugh and jenny have a daughter (allison) and a son (hugh jr.). i basically spent the entire time playing with allison and hugh jr. and by playing with allison and hugh jr., i mean whipping their butts in nintendo wii.

nothing boosts an ego like pulverizing a little kid in a video game. just kidding. and in case anyone was curious, i won at wii bowling. my friend (hot amy) should probably beware of my mad wii bowling skills now. all right, so maybe my wii bowling skills are not that great. allison and hugh jr. are actually quite good at playing with the wii.

there is a star wars game that was actually quite fun on the wii. you basically wield your control like a light saber. hugh jr., by the way, seems to be quite the fan of star wars. he had a ton of star wars toys. needless to say, he wanted to play star wars with me... and all of his toys. allison, on the other hand, wanted to race up and down the hallway against me... and talk about the jonas brothers. decisions decisions.

anyway, it made for an interesting night. i think i probably hung out more with allison and hugh jr. than i did with hugh and jenny. so sadly, i did not really get to catch up with everything that was going on in hugh and jenny's lives. i suppose karen will just have to fill me in on what i missed.

but yeah, things were good tonight.

I Suck At Hanging Out With Hugh

last night, i went out with my friend (hugh). now, i suck at hanging out with hugh.

i can't remember the last time i went out with just hugh. apparently, he has been feeling a little out of touch with his friends, so he contacted me to go out and catch up on a few things. (incidentally, hugh was my best man at my wedding.)

needless to say, it was an interesting night. i arrived at his place to pick him up. i actually had to wait around for my friend (jen, his wife) to return from target. the reason jen was at target was because their son got rid of his binky and they had promised him that he would get a toy when he got rid of his binky. thus, they were at target shopping for toys.

well, an hour or two later, jen returned and we were finally able to go out. from the look of things, it wasn't going to be a good night. we had started off going to a bar called warren's in weymouth which is located not too far from hugh and jen. unfortunately, the bar was packed (the place is rather tiny). so, we decided to go to a place in rockland called the players club. the players club, which is relatively new, was likewise packed... more so than warren's as there was no place to park.

thus... plan c... which was the main street grille (also in weymouth). this wasn't going to be our night as that place was likewise packed. three strikes! well, we finally ended up at a place called the cellar tavern in abington.

the cellar tavern is a tiny place. there is an old baseball scoreboard decoration above the bar area and a few t-shirts displayed saying "i ate the worm at the cellar tavern" or something like that. from what i was told, if you actually had a tequila shot and ate the worm, you would get the t-shirt. i was all gung-ho and ready to eat the worm. hugh, however, was not so much... so we did not attempt the tequila shot with the worm. too bad.

anyway, it was a fun night. hugh and i got to catch up on a few things. he talked mostly about his job and his passion for unions. i, on the other hand, just mentioned things about my job, my home improvement projects, and all that. plus, we got to watch the awful celtics perfomance in between.

it was good catching up with old friends. i should probably do it more often.