I Suck At Wahlburgers

Happy New Year!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I Suck At 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 Roasted Potatoes

On Saturday, Karen and I began our day with a memorial service in Hingham. The memorial service was for the spouse of my former friend's mother (Peggy). (I say former because my friend passed away.) I can imagine that it must be difficult for Peggy. After all, she has lost her only son and her husband all within five or six years.

Nevertheless, the service was good. The last time I was at the church (The Episcopal Parish of St. John the Evangelist) where the service was held was for the memorial of Peggy's son. And prior to that, it was for Peggy's wedding 14 years ago.

If there can be anything "interesting" from a memorial, it's seeing familiar teachers of yore. (Did I mention that Peggy was a teacher at the high school I attended?) Having not seen a teacher for quite some time... and then seeing then now... is an odd feeling. You sometimes wonder if those teachers remember you the way you remember them.

Anyway, a bunch of friends were at the service too. Attending were Sam (who flew in from Virginia), Jeannette and her son, Nicole, Meredith, Garv and Leeann, and my BFF (Kerry). I think Peggy was ecstatic to see all of us there, which was nice.

And for anyone curious, Jeannette's son (Sam) is very good for a four month old. He didn't cry, scream... anything during the service. He did manage to put three of my fingers in his mouth though. Other than that, he didn't make a peep. He was good... possibly the envy of all parents who have a four month old.

Following the service, Kerry headed back to our house. My friend (Andrea) had planned a little get together for the night. As we had time before the big shindig, the three of us decided to catch a couple of episodes of Veronica Mars. Slowly, we're making it through the third and final season. Too bad it takes us awhile to watch the episodes. Remembering what happened in previous episodes is sometimes tough. Nonetheless, it was fun.

Eventually, it was time for Andrea's shindig. Her get together consisted of her self proclaimed famous dinner: chicken and potatoes. Originally, she had debated about whether to make roasted potatoes or mashed potatoes. Rather than make one or the other, she made both. (She also made asparagus and rolls too... and a trifle for dessert.)

And might I add, this dinner was pretty hyped up by Andrea. For those who know me, they know about my feelings on hyped up things. With all the fanfare, there naturally is some lofty expectations. Needless to say, Andrea delivered. Her dinner was absolutely delicious. (I probably should not be surprised because everything that I have had from Andrea has been delicious.)

I think my favorite dish was the roasted potatoes. Too bad I suck at roasted potatoes. I must have eaten a whole lot of them. Truth be told, I probably could have eaten just the roasted potatoes and been happy.

Needless to say, dinner at Andrea's was great. Besides Karen, Kerry and I, my friends (Jen and Hot Amy), and Hot Amy's significant other (Mark) were able to attend the dinner. I think they enjoyed the dinner too.

I'm pretty sure Kerry enjoyed the "bread in a can". Speaking of Kerry, it turns out that her favorite U.S. currency is the quarter. That was an interesting fact that was discovered for the night. I did not know people had a favorite currency. Who knew? Among other interesting facts are that the favorite numbers of Andrea, Jen and Kerry are 8, 21 and 2 (or 5... hence the quarter) respectively. Favorite colors are red, blue and purple for Jen, Kerry, and Hot Amy respectively. And Mark apparently is not a sanitation engineer (or so he claims)... not that there is anything wrong with that.

Anyway, it was a fun time at Andrea's. Following dinner, Jen, Karen and I then headed off to Stars in Hingham. On Christmas Eve, the three of us and Kerry had discovered that Stars was having an ugly holiday sweater party. Everyone seemed pretty excited about the party (except for me). So we figured we'd give it a try.

(Picture below is Jen in her ugly sweater.)


Joining us at Stars were my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and my favorite brother-in-law (PJ). The place was packed... and cold. Nevertheless, it was a fun time. Jen even won a free t-shirt for having such an ugly sweater. And for anyone curious, I thought the band (The Smoking Jackets) was great. The band covered a bunch of songs that you wouldn't normally think would be covered at a bar... like Dancing Queen by ABBA... or the Safety Dance by Men Without Hats. Based on the turnout for the ugly holiday sweater party, I would probably suggest the idea to my friend (Garv) for his bar (Blue-22). But, I'm pretty sure he would pretend to jot the idea down in his hand, crumple the piece of paper, and toss it over his shoulder.