With no set plans for dinner on Thursday, Karen and I decided to take a gamble and take the kids out to eat. We decided to go to Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. Too bad I suck at Not Your Average Joe's.
As always, the food was absolutely delicious at Not Your Average Joe's. I had the Summer's Best Chicken Milanese... and it really was the best chicken Milanese I have ever had. Of course, I've never had chicken milanese up until Thursday night. But it was delicious nonetheless.
Unfortunately, it was a quick dinner as our kids were not exactly cooperating. So we had to leave before any possible meltdowns and become "that" family with the crying kids.
Showing posts with label not your average joes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label not your average joes. Show all posts
Monday, August 6, 2012
Monday, December 26, 2011
I Suck At Not Your Average Joe's
With nothing planned for today, I treated myself to a little lunch courtesy of Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. Now, I suck at Not Your Average Joe's. It has been a long time since Karen and I dined there. We used to eat there quite a lot in our hey days prior to the birth of our twenty one month old daughter (Briana). Oh how times have changed.
Anyway, Not Your Average Joe's was offering a promotion that I could not pass up: free entree and dessert! The only caveat was that the offer ended today. The free entree and dessert promotion was a result of this month being my birthday month. And since I am on the mailing list for Not Your Average Joe's, I received the coupon for the promotion this month. Hence, I made sure I treated myself to lunch today.
Needless to say, it was a delicious meal as usual. I have missed the food there a lot. Interestingly enough, this lunch was a butternut squash lunch. We ordered butternut squash ravioli for an appetizer (thinking Briana would enjoy it); Karen ordered a butternut squash pizza; and I ordered Caribbean mahi which just happened to come with butternut squash and spinach. For anyone curious, of all the butternut squash options, I think Briana enjoyed the side that came with my mahi. Our waitperson must have thought we were crazy ordering so much butternut squash.
Like I said, the food was absolutely delicious. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And as a plus, we got to take home an entire butternut squash pizza because one of the slices from the original pizza slipped off the plate when it was being served by the waitperson. So, Not Your Average Joe's made us an entirely new pizza because of it. (I must say, that is fantastic customer service especially since the manager came over to apologize for the mishap. If only more places had great customer service... Yes, I'm referring to you, Alba Restaurant in Quincy!)
And naturally, to finish off the lunch I had the peanut butter thing. Yum! Lunch was definitely great. And it was nice to treat myself to something. Yay, happy belated birthday to me.
Anyway, Not Your Average Joe's was offering a promotion that I could not pass up: free entree and dessert! The only caveat was that the offer ended today. The free entree and dessert promotion was a result of this month being my birthday month. And since I am on the mailing list for Not Your Average Joe's, I received the coupon for the promotion this month. Hence, I made sure I treated myself to lunch today.
Needless to say, it was a delicious meal as usual. I have missed the food there a lot. Interestingly enough, this lunch was a butternut squash lunch. We ordered butternut squash ravioli for an appetizer (thinking Briana would enjoy it); Karen ordered a butternut squash pizza; and I ordered Caribbean mahi which just happened to come with butternut squash and spinach. For anyone curious, of all the butternut squash options, I think Briana enjoyed the side that came with my mahi. Our waitperson must have thought we were crazy ordering so much butternut squash.
Like I said, the food was absolutely delicious. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And as a plus, we got to take home an entire butternut squash pizza because one of the slices from the original pizza slipped off the plate when it was being served by the waitperson. So, Not Your Average Joe's made us an entirely new pizza because of it. (I must say, that is fantastic customer service especially since the manager came over to apologize for the mishap. If only more places had great customer service... Yes, I'm referring to you, Alba Restaurant in Quincy!)
And naturally, to finish off the lunch I had the peanut butter thing. Yum! Lunch was definitely great. And it was nice to treat myself to something. Yay, happy belated birthday to me.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
I Suck At Not Your Average Joe's
It has been quite some time since Karen and I (and our seventeen month old daughter, Briana) grabbed a bite to eat at Not Your Average Joe's. I love Not Your Average Joe's. In general, I find the food there very delicious.
I guess you could say that I suck at Not Your Average Joe's because I haven't been there in awhile. Yesterday to my surprise, Karen asked if we wanted to go out for dinner to Not Your Average Joe's. She didn't have to ask me twice.
Apparently, the occasion was due to the fact that Karen received a gift card from one of her friends (Shirley) and current boss of our friend (Hot Amy) for helping out with a family matter. It was very nice and very thoughtful of Shirley. So thank you, Shirley!
Anyway, it felt good to go to the restaurant again. Sadly, our favorite waitperson (Renee) was not working yesterday. It has been some time. So hopefully Renee still works there.
Nevertheless, I had a good time at Not Your Average Joe's and the food did not disappoint. One of the specials on the menu was "free form lasagna". Now I normally wouldn't order lasagna at a restaurant. Intrigued by the term "free form", I decided to give the lasagna a try.
The lasagna was absolutely delicious. I was expecting a big glob of lasagna ingredients on a plate. (Hence, the "free form".) For anyone curious, I had actually envisioned a high school lunch lady scooping a big heaping mound of slop and plopping it on a tray. But I was so wrong. The lasagna was actually shaped like a rectangle... on a rectangular plate. The free form lasagna almost reminded me of a crepe or wrap folded over. I thought it was quite visually appealing, and it tasted great. It was chock full of vegetables and spinach. Yum!
Briana even enjoyed parts of the lasagna. Of course, she seems to enjoy eating anything edible... or non-edible for that matter. Needless to say, I would definitely recommend the free from lasagna.
All in all, it was good to get out of the house and enjoy dinner at Not Your Average Joe's yesterday. Thank you again, Shirley!
I guess you could say that I suck at Not Your Average Joe's because I haven't been there in awhile. Yesterday to my surprise, Karen asked if we wanted to go out for dinner to Not Your Average Joe's. She didn't have to ask me twice.
Apparently, the occasion was due to the fact that Karen received a gift card from one of her friends (Shirley) and current boss of our friend (Hot Amy) for helping out with a family matter. It was very nice and very thoughtful of Shirley. So thank you, Shirley!
Anyway, it felt good to go to the restaurant again. Sadly, our favorite waitperson (Renee) was not working yesterday. It has been some time. So hopefully Renee still works there.
Nevertheless, I had a good time at Not Your Average Joe's and the food did not disappoint. One of the specials on the menu was "free form lasagna". Now I normally wouldn't order lasagna at a restaurant. Intrigued by the term "free form", I decided to give the lasagna a try.
The lasagna was absolutely delicious. I was expecting a big glob of lasagna ingredients on a plate. (Hence, the "free form".) For anyone curious, I had actually envisioned a high school lunch lady scooping a big heaping mound of slop and plopping it on a tray. But I was so wrong. The lasagna was actually shaped like a rectangle... on a rectangular plate. The free form lasagna almost reminded me of a crepe or wrap folded over. I thought it was quite visually appealing, and it tasted great. It was chock full of vegetables and spinach. Yum!
Briana even enjoyed parts of the lasagna. Of course, she seems to enjoy eating anything edible... or non-edible for that matter. Needless to say, I would definitely recommend the free from lasagna.
All in all, it was good to get out of the house and enjoy dinner at Not Your Average Joe's yesterday. Thank you again, Shirley!
Monday, November 29, 2010
I Suck At Funerals
On Saturday, Karen's grandfather was being laid to rest. For me, this was my first funeral. To quote Karen's grandmother at the cemetery, "I don't do this that often." Sadly, I suck at funerals.
I thought the funeral mass for Karen's grandfather was nicely done. The church itself was nice. I think Karen's grandmother was almost embarrassed when Karen's cousin (Doreen) recounted the story of how their grandfather shot an enemy soldier in the butt during the war just because he grew tired of seeing him on patrol. (Karen's grandfather was a sniper during the second world war.) Needless to say, it was a comical story that I remembered him telling me one time.
If there were one thing that I thought was a little peculiar about the mass, it would have to have been the obviousness that some of the people in attendance were not everyday church-goers despite the Catholic label. I just found that pretty funny because I am by no means religious. Yet I seem to know more about things like how to take communion than say... someone who is Catholic and can actually take communion. Again, I attribute that to the growing list of things that make no sense with organized religion.
Regardless, the burial was nicely done. It's definitely not what you see on television, that's for sure. Based on television, I imagined that we would see the casket being lowered into the ground while Taps was playing. That was not the case. Nevertheless, it was still nice.
Following the funeral and the social gathering after the funeral, Karen simply crashed. It has definitely been a long week for her family. She was so exhausted that she did something that she doesn't get to do that often: take a nap.
When Karen finally woke up, she decided to go out with some of our friends for dinner. Prior to the unexpected passing of her grandfather, Karen and I had plans to go to the Cape this weekend. The idea at the time was to celebrate Karen's birthday (even though it was in October) with a bunch of friends. I think some of our friends just wanted to be there when Karen had her first taste of alcohol since the birth of our baby daughter (Briana).
Those plans were canceled due to obvious reasons. In its place, the dinner plan for the night involved going to Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell with our friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea), my BFF (Kerry) and Kerry's significant other (Pat). Naturally, I offered to watch Briana while Karen went out. After all, I think Karen needed the fun more than I. Plus, I don't think my friends were as interested in seeing me drink as they do her. But Karen wanted me to come along. So she asked my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) to watch Briana while we went out for the dinner.
Well, let's just say that idea did not go well with Briana. Janine contacted us shortly before our food was about to be served, notifying us that Briana was uncontrollably crying. I figured this would happen. I assume like most babies, Briana is going through a phase. This phase, unfortunately, happens to be a separation anxiety phase.
I must say, this is a frustrating phase. And without sounding like a crazy overprotective parent or anything, I am not so sure people who do not have children really understand what it feels like to have a child go through this phase. I can say that because... well... at one time, I was one of those people. I thought the simple solution was to get a babysitter. End of story. Sadly, that is so not the end of story.
In the case of Briana, she is all about her daddy right now. (And really, what's not to like about her daddy, right?) I have a feeling that some of my friends think I can simply go out and do things. Unfortunately, it's not that easy while our baby is in this phase. In fact, I have been getting recent flack about attending events (or possibly attending events). It's frustrating because it's not like I enjoy the feelings of being trapped. I don't really know who does. But whatever. I can only control what I can control.
Regardless, I had to leave Not Your Average Joe's to pick up Briana. I was, however, present long enough to see my BFF make a nice toast to Karen's afterbirth. And no, she was not inebriated. Yay afterbirth! (And yes, she meant something else.)
Anyway, Briana was fine once I arrived at Janine's. Janine's BFF (Gretchen) apparently knew I had arrived because she didn't hear the uncontrollably cries anymore. It was that quick. And after Briana calmed herself down even more, she was back to her usual self... smiling at Gretchen and whatnot. I felt terrible for Janine, PJ, and Gretchen because they looked exhausted over Briana. And nothing adds to that feeling more than eating a cold burger. Yum!
Eventually I took Briana back home. By that time, Karen and our friends had gone back to our house. Everyone was having fun watching Scare Tactics. I think Pat may have gotten a kick out of seeing old pictures of Kerry. It was all good. I think Karen had fun, which was the goal.
I thought the funeral mass for Karen's grandfather was nicely done. The church itself was nice. I think Karen's grandmother was almost embarrassed when Karen's cousin (Doreen) recounted the story of how their grandfather shot an enemy soldier in the butt during the war just because he grew tired of seeing him on patrol. (Karen's grandfather was a sniper during the second world war.) Needless to say, it was a comical story that I remembered him telling me one time.
If there were one thing that I thought was a little peculiar about the mass, it would have to have been the obviousness that some of the people in attendance were not everyday church-goers despite the Catholic label. I just found that pretty funny because I am by no means religious. Yet I seem to know more about things like how to take communion than say... someone who is Catholic and can actually take communion. Again, I attribute that to the growing list of things that make no sense with organized religion.
Regardless, the burial was nicely done. It's definitely not what you see on television, that's for sure. Based on television, I imagined that we would see the casket being lowered into the ground while Taps was playing. That was not the case. Nevertheless, it was still nice.
Following the funeral and the social gathering after the funeral, Karen simply crashed. It has definitely been a long week for her family. She was so exhausted that she did something that she doesn't get to do that often: take a nap.
When Karen finally woke up, she decided to go out with some of our friends for dinner. Prior to the unexpected passing of her grandfather, Karen and I had plans to go to the Cape this weekend. The idea at the time was to celebrate Karen's birthday (even though it was in October) with a bunch of friends. I think some of our friends just wanted to be there when Karen had her first taste of alcohol since the birth of our baby daughter (Briana).
Those plans were canceled due to obvious reasons. In its place, the dinner plan for the night involved going to Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell with our friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea), my BFF (Kerry) and Kerry's significant other (Pat). Naturally, I offered to watch Briana while Karen went out. After all, I think Karen needed the fun more than I. Plus, I don't think my friends were as interested in seeing me drink as they do her. But Karen wanted me to come along. So she asked my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) to watch Briana while we went out for the dinner.
Well, let's just say that idea did not go well with Briana. Janine contacted us shortly before our food was about to be served, notifying us that Briana was uncontrollably crying. I figured this would happen. I assume like most babies, Briana is going through a phase. This phase, unfortunately, happens to be a separation anxiety phase.
I must say, this is a frustrating phase. And without sounding like a crazy overprotective parent or anything, I am not so sure people who do not have children really understand what it feels like to have a child go through this phase. I can say that because... well... at one time, I was one of those people. I thought the simple solution was to get a babysitter. End of story. Sadly, that is so not the end of story.
In the case of Briana, she is all about her daddy right now. (And really, what's not to like about her daddy, right?) I have a feeling that some of my friends think I can simply go out and do things. Unfortunately, it's not that easy while our baby is in this phase. In fact, I have been getting recent flack about attending events (or possibly attending events). It's frustrating because it's not like I enjoy the feelings of being trapped. I don't really know who does. But whatever. I can only control what I can control.
Regardless, I had to leave Not Your Average Joe's to pick up Briana. I was, however, present long enough to see my BFF make a nice toast to Karen's afterbirth. And no, she was not inebriated. Yay afterbirth! (And yes, she meant something else.)
Anyway, Briana was fine once I arrived at Janine's. Janine's BFF (Gretchen) apparently knew I had arrived because she didn't hear the uncontrollably cries anymore. It was that quick. And after Briana calmed herself down even more, she was back to her usual self... smiling at Gretchen and whatnot. I felt terrible for Janine, PJ, and Gretchen because they looked exhausted over Briana. And nothing adds to that feeling more than eating a cold burger. Yum!
Eventually I took Briana back home. By that time, Karen and our friends had gone back to our house. Everyone was having fun watching Scare Tactics. I think Pat may have gotten a kick out of seeing old pictures of Kerry. It was all good. I think Karen had fun, which was the goal.
Friday, November 19, 2010
I Suck At Not Your Average Joe's
You know it's a slow day when the highlight of the night is getting takeout from a restaurant. For me, the highlight of Wednesday was grabbing a bite to eat from Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. Now, I suck at Not Your Average Joe's. Okay, perhaps that statement is misleading because I do frequent that restaurant a lot.
Even though it was a brief trip to grab takeout, I enjoyed the moment. For a while, I have been feeling like I have been somewhat in a rut. My routine has become very scheduled and consists mainly of waking up, doing chores, feeding our baby daughter (Briana), going to work, feeding Briana after work, making dinner, and doing other random chores in-between. And the cycle repeats the next day and the next. (I have a new appreciation of single parents because I do not know how they would do it.)
Interestingly enough, despite all the chores of cleaning and whatnot, our house is still a mess. It seems like the house is perpetually in disarray regardless of whatever I do. I guess that is what happens when you have a baby. My friends (Cass and Ellen) are having a baby this February. Since Cass is quite particular, I would be curious to see how the child rearing messiness interferes with his sense of order.
Regardless, for people who know me, they know that I do not like routines. Doing the same thing over and over again drives me nuts. Hence, my feelings of being in a rut.
As I was too tired to cook on Wednesday, Karen and I decided to grab takeout from Not Your Average Joe's. Needless to say, I was all for it. Besides enjoying the food, I thought Not Your Average Joe's was a welcomed break for me. Granted, it was only a brief moment because Karen and I do not live that far from the restaurant. Nevertheless, just getting out of the house was enough to break the routine to which I have been feeling enslaved by.
Even though it was a brief trip to grab takeout, I enjoyed the moment. For a while, I have been feeling like I have been somewhat in a rut. My routine has become very scheduled and consists mainly of waking up, doing chores, feeding our baby daughter (Briana), going to work, feeding Briana after work, making dinner, and doing other random chores in-between. And the cycle repeats the next day and the next. (I have a new appreciation of single parents because I do not know how they would do it.)
Interestingly enough, despite all the chores of cleaning and whatnot, our house is still a mess. It seems like the house is perpetually in disarray regardless of whatever I do. I guess that is what happens when you have a baby. My friends (Cass and Ellen) are having a baby this February. Since Cass is quite particular, I would be curious to see how the child rearing messiness interferes with his sense of order.
Regardless, for people who know me, they know that I do not like routines. Doing the same thing over and over again drives me nuts. Hence, my feelings of being in a rut.
As I was too tired to cook on Wednesday, Karen and I decided to grab takeout from Not Your Average Joe's. Needless to say, I was all for it. Besides enjoying the food, I thought Not Your Average Joe's was a welcomed break for me. Granted, it was only a brief moment because Karen and I do not live that far from the restaurant. Nevertheless, just getting out of the house was enough to break the routine to which I have been feeling enslaved by.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
I Suck At Celebrating Karen's Birthday
Friday was Karen's birthday. Happy birthday Karen! Unfortunately, I suck at celebrating Karen's birthday. Luckily for me, Karen has never been big on celebrating her birthday. To her, her birthday is just another day. Her humbleness is very admirable.
I, on the other hand, actually believe that birthdays are an important day. Our son (Braden) was born extremely premature in 2008 and survived for a week. Perhaps my inability with Braden to actually do the things that parents do with their children when they grow up (like celebrating birthdays) is one of the reasons that I believe birthdays are important. After all, I would have liked nothing more than to see Braden reach the age of one... or two... or three, etc.
Regardless, Karen, our baby daughter (Briana) and I celebrated Karen's birthday by dining out at Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. We were actually hesitant at first about dining out with Briana because we were not sure how she would react. It turns out, Briana was very good.
In fact, Briana ended up stealing her mommy's thunder at the restaurant. Many of the waitstaff came over and played with her. A few of them remarked about how beautiful she was (to which I take with a grain of salt because really... what person ever tells parents that their baby is ugly even if it were true?). Probably most surprising is the fact that Briana let a stranger hold her. That stranger: our favorite waitperson (Renee) at Not Your Average Joe's. Needless to say, Briana enjoyed all of it. All of this attention will go to Briana's head, I'm sure.
Anyway, for anyone curious, the meal at Not Your Average Joe's was delicious as usual. Karen and I even tried a dessert that we never had before. Even though we are frequenters of Not Your Average Joe's, we really do not have dessert because we are usually stuffed from the meal itself. This being a special occasion, we decided to give dessert a try. Needless to say, we tried hot apple cinnamon sticks for dessert. They were absolutely delicious. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.)
All in all, I think Karen enjoyed her birthday celebration which is good. And naturally when Karen and Briana went to bed, I decided to stay up for some alone time. Instead of feeding my movie addiction, however, I decided to switch things up and feed my video game addiction.
The video game that I ended up playing (and completing) was Darksiders. For anyone curious, Darksiders is an action adventure game whereby you play the role of War, one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The plot centers around War, who is accused of prematurely bringing about the Apocalypse. In an effort to clear his name, he finds the responsible parties and makes them pay to restore the balance between good and evil.
I had a great time playing the game. Mark Hamill (of Star Wars fame) lends his voice talents to one of the characters in the game. In my opinion, it was definitely a fun game. I would be curious to see how the sequel (due to be released in 2012) compares. As well, there has been rumored discussions of a possible comic book series and a movie adaptation of the game. Naturally, I would be intrigued by those options too.
Anyway, now that I have completed Darksiders, I can now move on to my next video game. Yay!
I, on the other hand, actually believe that birthdays are an important day. Our son (Braden) was born extremely premature in 2008 and survived for a week. Perhaps my inability with Braden to actually do the things that parents do with their children when they grow up (like celebrating birthdays) is one of the reasons that I believe birthdays are important. After all, I would have liked nothing more than to see Braden reach the age of one... or two... or three, etc.
Regardless, Karen, our baby daughter (Briana) and I celebrated Karen's birthday by dining out at Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. We were actually hesitant at first about dining out with Briana because we were not sure how she would react. It turns out, Briana was very good.
In fact, Briana ended up stealing her mommy's thunder at the restaurant. Many of the waitstaff came over and played with her. A few of them remarked about how beautiful she was (to which I take with a grain of salt because really... what person ever tells parents that their baby is ugly even if it were true?). Probably most surprising is the fact that Briana let a stranger hold her. That stranger: our favorite waitperson (Renee) at Not Your Average Joe's. Needless to say, Briana enjoyed all of it. All of this attention will go to Briana's head, I'm sure.
Anyway, for anyone curious, the meal at Not Your Average Joe's was delicious as usual. Karen and I even tried a dessert that we never had before. Even though we are frequenters of Not Your Average Joe's, we really do not have dessert because we are usually stuffed from the meal itself. This being a special occasion, we decided to give dessert a try. Needless to say, we tried hot apple cinnamon sticks for dessert. They were absolutely delicious. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.)
All in all, I think Karen enjoyed her birthday celebration which is good. And naturally when Karen and Briana went to bed, I decided to stay up for some alone time. Instead of feeding my movie addiction, however, I decided to switch things up and feed my video game addiction.
The video game that I ended up playing (and completing) was Darksiders. For anyone curious, Darksiders is an action adventure game whereby you play the role of War, one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The plot centers around War, who is accused of prematurely bringing about the Apocalypse. In an effort to clear his name, he finds the responsible parties and makes them pay to restore the balance between good and evil.
I had a great time playing the game. Mark Hamill (of Star Wars fame) lends his voice talents to one of the characters in the game. In my opinion, it was definitely a fun game. I would be curious to see how the sequel (due to be released in 2012) compares. As well, there has been rumored discussions of a possible comic book series and a movie adaptation of the game. Naturally, I would be intrigued by those options too.
Anyway, now that I have completed Darksiders, I can now move on to my next video game. Yay!
Friday, October 1, 2010
I Suck At From Hell
Last night, Karen and I ordered takeout from Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. We were probably going through withdrawal because we have not been there in some time. And needless to say, the food was delicious. I've missed their bread!
Anyway, I ended up watching another movie when Karen and our baby daughter went to bed. That movie: From Hell. Now, I suck at From Hell.
(The video below is a trailer for From Hell.)
Based on the movie title, you wouldn't know that the movie starring Johnny Depp and Heather Graham is about Jack the Ripper. In fact, the movie is loosely based on the graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell.
The story follows Police Inspector Frederick Abberline as he attempts to solve the Jack the Ripper murders in the Whitechapel district of London. The interesting spin on the whole Jack the Ripper thing is that the murders were part of a conspiracy that involved the British throne and Freemasons. It's always the shady Freemasons! Just kidding.
Anyway, the movie was okay.
Anyway, I ended up watching another movie when Karen and our baby daughter went to bed. That movie: From Hell. Now, I suck at From Hell.
(The video below is a trailer for From Hell.)
Based on the movie title, you wouldn't know that the movie starring Johnny Depp and Heather Graham is about Jack the Ripper. In fact, the movie is loosely based on the graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell.
The story follows Police Inspector Frederick Abberline as he attempts to solve the Jack the Ripper murders in the Whitechapel district of London. The interesting spin on the whole Jack the Ripper thing is that the murders were part of a conspiracy that involved the British throne and Freemasons. It's always the shady Freemasons! Just kidding.
Anyway, the movie was okay.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
I Suck At Celebrating My Son's Birthday
Sunday was my son's (Braden) birthday. Happy birthday Braden! Daddy still loves you! Unfortunately, I suck at celebrating my son's birthday. Had Braden survived from being born extremely premature, he would have been two years of age. Sadly, it just wasn't meant to be for Braden.
In a rather ironic twist, I started off my Sunday going to church. I say it's ironic because I am by no means religious. For all my rantings about the Catholic church, I'm surprised I wasn't struck by lightning when I entered.
Truth be told, the only reason why I even went to church was because Karen wanted the entire family to go in remembrance of Braden. Personally, I would have chosen to remember Braden in my own individual way, rather than listen to the useless rhetoric from the priest as he tells me how giving myself fully into God is the answer. I could give myself fully into God and that still wouldn't bring back my son. (To quote Michael from Lost, "I want my son".)
Needless to say, I attended the church mass for the betterment of Karen. And as much as I would have preferred to be alone that morning, it was nice that my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and her family attended the mass as well as Karen's cousin (Karlene) and her husband (Tommy) who had spent the previous night at our place. Karlene and Tommy considered it an honor to go, which was nice to know.
Anyway, following the mass, Karen, our baby daughter (Briana) and I headed over to the cemetery to see Braden and wish him a happy birthday. Karlene and Tommy had joined us too as they had a little present for Braden. As well, meeting us at the cemetery were my parents and Karen's parents, each with a present for Braden.
As selfish as this sounds, on Sunday morning all I wanted was to just be alone with Braden. I think it's great that everyone wants to be there to support us and I really do appreciate it. I also understand that my relatives and in-laws need to grieve in there own way as well. At the same time, when it comes to Braden, I don't have the energy to stress over things like going to church or planning to meet everyone at the cemetery after church. I just want my own time with my son.
Truth be told, I actually held up pretty well at the cemetery. I did not break down and cry until after everyone had left. I think the tears definitely made me feel better.
Anyway, following the cemetery, Karen and I decided to take a little day trip in honor of Braden. It would be just her, Briana and me. In fact, we actually considered making it an annual tradition of sorts: a vacation in honor of our son. Karen is thinking about Disney, but we'll see how that pans out next year.
Because we did not have much planned this year for Braden's memory, we decided to take a little day trip to Plymouth. In particular, we went to visit Plymouth Rock and introduce Briana to her first beach. For anyone curious, Briana missed seeing Plymouth Rock because she was asleep during that portion of the trip.
For Karen and I, it was definitely relaxing. With the nice weather, we walked around Plymouth. We hung around one of the gardens. It was a perfect way to spend the day in honor of our son. I had not been to historic Plymouth for quite some time. I think the last time I was there may have been with my friend (Jen) and my BFF (Kerry), which was the start of the whole idea about how great it would be to spend a vacationing week together with just friends. Of course, since that time Karen and I have only spent a week with our friends once, but it was still a great idea.
Anyway, as a fitting way to end the evening, we decided to dine out at our favorite restaurant, Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. For anyone curious, I ordered the Cobb salad which was very delicious. Of course, the meal also marked the third meal of the day in which I had eggs. I had scrambled eggs for breakfast with Karlene and Tommy; I had egg salad for lunch, which was my comfort food for the day; and I had the Cobb salad that had eggs in it. All in all, my cholesterol must have skyrocketed on Sunday.
Regardless, Sunday turned out to be a great day. I had a good time spending it with just Karen and Briana. Thank you and happy birthday Braden!
In a rather ironic twist, I started off my Sunday going to church. I say it's ironic because I am by no means religious. For all my rantings about the Catholic church, I'm surprised I wasn't struck by lightning when I entered.
Truth be told, the only reason why I even went to church was because Karen wanted the entire family to go in remembrance of Braden. Personally, I would have chosen to remember Braden in my own individual way, rather than listen to the useless rhetoric from the priest as he tells me how giving myself fully into God is the answer. I could give myself fully into God and that still wouldn't bring back my son. (To quote Michael from Lost, "I want my son".)
Needless to say, I attended the church mass for the betterment of Karen. And as much as I would have preferred to be alone that morning, it was nice that my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and her family attended the mass as well as Karen's cousin (Karlene) and her husband (Tommy) who had spent the previous night at our place. Karlene and Tommy considered it an honor to go, which was nice to know.
Anyway, following the mass, Karen, our baby daughter (Briana) and I headed over to the cemetery to see Braden and wish him a happy birthday. Karlene and Tommy had joined us too as they had a little present for Braden. As well, meeting us at the cemetery were my parents and Karen's parents, each with a present for Braden.
As selfish as this sounds, on Sunday morning all I wanted was to just be alone with Braden. I think it's great that everyone wants to be there to support us and I really do appreciate it. I also understand that my relatives and in-laws need to grieve in there own way as well. At the same time, when it comes to Braden, I don't have the energy to stress over things like going to church or planning to meet everyone at the cemetery after church. I just want my own time with my son.
Truth be told, I actually held up pretty well at the cemetery. I did not break down and cry until after everyone had left. I think the tears definitely made me feel better.
Anyway, following the cemetery, Karen and I decided to take a little day trip in honor of Braden. It would be just her, Briana and me. In fact, we actually considered making it an annual tradition of sorts: a vacation in honor of our son. Karen is thinking about Disney, but we'll see how that pans out next year.
Because we did not have much planned this year for Braden's memory, we decided to take a little day trip to Plymouth. In particular, we went to visit Plymouth Rock and introduce Briana to her first beach. For anyone curious, Briana missed seeing Plymouth Rock because she was asleep during that portion of the trip.
For Karen and I, it was definitely relaxing. With the nice weather, we walked around Plymouth. We hung around one of the gardens. It was a perfect way to spend the day in honor of our son. I had not been to historic Plymouth for quite some time. I think the last time I was there may have been with my friend (Jen) and my BFF (Kerry), which was the start of the whole idea about how great it would be to spend a vacationing week together with just friends. Of course, since that time Karen and I have only spent a week with our friends once, but it was still a great idea.
Anyway, as a fitting way to end the evening, we decided to dine out at our favorite restaurant, Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. For anyone curious, I ordered the Cobb salad which was very delicious. Of course, the meal also marked the third meal of the day in which I had eggs. I had scrambled eggs for breakfast with Karlene and Tommy; I had egg salad for lunch, which was my comfort food for the day; and I had the Cobb salad that had eggs in it. All in all, my cholesterol must have skyrocketed on Sunday.
Regardless, Sunday turned out to be a great day. I had a good time spending it with just Karen and Briana. Thank you and happy birthday Braden!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
I Suck At Celebrating My Mom's Birthday
Yesterday was my mother's birthday. Happy belated birthday, mom! Too bad I suck at celebrating my mom's birthday.
In celebration of my mother's birthday, Karen and I, and our baby daughter (Briana), took her out for dinner. Unfortunately, it was a late dinner because both Karen and I had to work late. Consequently, most of my mother's birthday was spent taking care of Briana, which I'm sure she was pretty ecstatic to do regardless.
For dinner, we ended up at our favorite restaurant, Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. My mother had never been there, so naturally we decided to take her there. It probably goes without saying that I enjoyed the meal. After all, it is my favorite restaurant.
And it just so happens that yesterday was one of the days benefiting the Norwell Public Library. For anyone curious, Not Your Average Joe's offers a means to raise funds for certain causes by donating 15% of every meal purchase on a given day, so long as the waitstaff know that the patrons want to participate in the cause. Tuesday happened to be one of those days (and apparently the best day thus far in terms of fund raising for the library according to the waitstaff).
All in all, I think my mother enjoyed the meal. She seemed to have a good time. She definitely enjoyed the bread.
In celebration of my mother's birthday, Karen and I, and our baby daughter (Briana), took her out for dinner. Unfortunately, it was a late dinner because both Karen and I had to work late. Consequently, most of my mother's birthday was spent taking care of Briana, which I'm sure she was pretty ecstatic to do regardless.
For dinner, we ended up at our favorite restaurant, Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. My mother had never been there, so naturally we decided to take her there. It probably goes without saying that I enjoyed the meal. After all, it is my favorite restaurant.
And it just so happens that yesterday was one of the days benefiting the Norwell Public Library. For anyone curious, Not Your Average Joe's offers a means to raise funds for certain causes by donating 15% of every meal purchase on a given day, so long as the waitstaff know that the patrons want to participate in the cause. Tuesday happened to be one of those days (and apparently the best day thus far in terms of fund raising for the library according to the waitstaff).
All in all, I think my mother enjoyed the meal. She seemed to have a good time. She definitely enjoyed the bread.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
I Suck At Not Your Average Joes
Yesterday, Karen and I went to Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. Now I suck at Not Your Average Joe's, but there's a reason why I enjoy it so much: I like the food... a lot.
Anyway, Karen and I decided to bring our baby daughter (Briana) there for dinner last night. Even though we are frequent patrons of the restaurant, we really have not dined there for some time. Recently, we have been mostly doing takeout. Truth be told, we've been hesitant to bring a four month old to any restaurant because we're not exactly sure how Briana would react to being in a restaurant.
Interestingly enough, Briana was great at the restaurant. She was a little serious at first. But after she got adjusted, she was all smiles again. And as luck would have it, we had a familiar waitperson (Renee).
Our waitperson was excited to see us come back. Apparently, she knew that we had been missing for awhile... signs that perhaps Karen and I do frequent Not Your Average Joe's a little too much. So she was quite happy to meet Briana.
In fact, she was so happy that she got the manager of the restaurant to come over. It's also pretty sad because the manager knew that we had not been there in some time.
Anyway, to celebrate Briana (as the manager put it), he gave us a free dessert with our meal that night. For Karen and I, that was definitely a new experience. Karen and I hardly ever have dessert at Not Your Average Joe's because we are usually stuffed from the meal... and the great tasting bread.
To now have dessert... that was exciting. To have it for free made it better. Karen and I ordered the Peanut Butter Thing. We did not think we would be able to finish the dessert (being stuffed and all). Boy, were we wrong. We scarfed that peanut butter thing down like there was no tomorrow. It was that good.
Needless to say, it was a great dining experience at Not Your Average Joe's last night. The manager and waitperson's kindness definitely made my day. Thank you again Not Your Average Joe's.
I'm starting to think that perhaps Karen and I should bring Briana to every place that we frequent now (not that we don't already) to see if we can get stuff. For instance, what would happen if I held her up for everyone to see at Home Depot or Lowes?
Anyway, Karen and I decided to bring our baby daughter (Briana) there for dinner last night. Even though we are frequent patrons of the restaurant, we really have not dined there for some time. Recently, we have been mostly doing takeout. Truth be told, we've been hesitant to bring a four month old to any restaurant because we're not exactly sure how Briana would react to being in a restaurant.
Interestingly enough, Briana was great at the restaurant. She was a little serious at first. But after she got adjusted, she was all smiles again. And as luck would have it, we had a familiar waitperson (Renee).
Our waitperson was excited to see us come back. Apparently, she knew that we had been missing for awhile... signs that perhaps Karen and I do frequent Not Your Average Joe's a little too much. So she was quite happy to meet Briana.
In fact, she was so happy that she got the manager of the restaurant to come over. It's also pretty sad because the manager knew that we had not been there in some time.
Anyway, to celebrate Briana (as the manager put it), he gave us a free dessert with our meal that night. For Karen and I, that was definitely a new experience. Karen and I hardly ever have dessert at Not Your Average Joe's because we are usually stuffed from the meal... and the great tasting bread.
To now have dessert... that was exciting. To have it for free made it better. Karen and I ordered the Peanut Butter Thing. We did not think we would be able to finish the dessert (being stuffed and all). Boy, were we wrong. We scarfed that peanut butter thing down like there was no tomorrow. It was that good.
Needless to say, it was a great dining experience at Not Your Average Joe's last night. The manager and waitperson's kindness definitely made my day. Thank you again Not Your Average Joe's.
I'm starting to think that perhaps Karen and I should bring Briana to every place that we frequent now (not that we don't already) to see if we can get stuff. For instance, what would happen if I held her up for everyone to see at Home Depot or Lowes?
Saturday, June 19, 2010
I Suck At Grocery Shopping
As far as Friday nights go, I must say I did not do anything thrilling, which is a sure sign that I am getting old. Seemingly gone are the days where I would hang out with my friends at a restaurant or bar... or if I were inebriated enough... a club. Instead, my Friday night consisted of ordering takeout from Not Your Average Joe's and going grocery shopping. Who needs the booze and the loud music from a bar when I can just break on down aisle five of the supermarket to the music overhead?
Sadly, that was how my Friday night was spent. Being a parent of a three month old baby daughter (Briana) is cramping my style. Just kidding. Truth be told, I'm not sure when the last time I went out on a Friday night was. Prior to the birth of my daughter, I was in the doldrums over the passing of my son (Braden). Like I have mentioned to Karen a few times, the year 2009 was a complete blur to me, which is bad considering I have a terrible memory as it is. So it has been quite a while I think that I have partied it up on a Friday night.
Anyway, dinner at Not Your Average Joe's was delicious as usual. I should invest in that company because Karen and I go there a lot. Maybe the bread there is laced with crack cocaine. That's how they keep you coming back for more. Just kidding.
Following dinner, I figured I'd let Karen unwind a little for the night. This was Karen's first week back to work since being on maternity leave. I think she's been struggling a little with the transition. After all, it definitely can be hard to leave your child for hours upon hours during the day. I'm lucky enough that I get to work from home most days of the week.
So figuring that Karen would want some quality bonding time with Briana, I decided to go grocery shopping. It was also a way to kill two birds with one stone because Karen has also been stressed about preparing for the upcoming Father's Day weekend. She has this list of to-do's in her head... one of which was going grocery shopping. Thus, I figured that my going to grocery store on Friday night would at least cross off one of those items from her list and help alleviate her stress.
Needless to say, I suck at grocery shopping. I must have looked like I was new to grocery shopping because I could not find a couple of things. I had to ask one of the employees where to find the items... twice (different items). Rice cake snacks and Softsoap... not where I would expect to find them. All in all, it was a fun time... even though it took me quite a while (we had an atypically large grocery list this week).
Anyway, following my shopping excursion, Karen and Briana went to bed. So, I did what any normal person would do on a Friday night with nothing to do... watch a couple of movies. I wasn't particularly tired. Hence... the double feature of movies.
I ended up having a little action packed double feature. The first movie I watched was Bangkok Dangerous.
(The video below is a trailer for Bangkok Dangerous.)
I'll admit. I had very low expectations for the movie. Aside from the lame title of the movie, seeing Nicholas Cage with long jet black hair acting as a badass was laughable. For anyone curious, Bangkok Dangerous is a remake of the 1999 film of the same name... by the same directors. Apparently, the same people decided to remake the movie with the star power of Nicholas Cage (because Nicholas Cage's production company bought the rights to the movie).
Needless to say, the movie was not all that bad. It was surprisingly entertaining even if the story was the same old story about a hitman who uncharacteristically gets emotionally attached to someone. (In my opinion, The Professional still did it the best.) But it was not all that bad.
Following Bangkok Dangerous, I decided to follow it up with another action movie. That movie: Jurassic Park III.
(The video below is a trailer for Jurassic Park III.)
The film completes the Jurassic Park trilogy (although I do believe a IV is in the works). Always one for completing things, I had to watch part III. I had already watched the first two (the second of which was absolutely terrible), so I figured that I had to watch the third movie. (It is this peculiarity of mine that will also have me watching the rest of the Twilight movies...)
Anyway, Jurassic Park III was okay. It was definitely better than the second sequel, which was not too hard to do. As a whole, the movie felt rushed. The plot consists of two parents (played by Tea Leoni and William H. Macy) who essentially enlist the aid of Dr. Grant (played by Sam Neill from the first movie) to help find their missing son on the second island of dinosaurs. Like I said, the movie felt very rushed. I'd be curious to see what the fourth installment will be like.
Sadly, that was how my Friday night was spent. Being a parent of a three month old baby daughter (Briana) is cramping my style. Just kidding. Truth be told, I'm not sure when the last time I went out on a Friday night was. Prior to the birth of my daughter, I was in the doldrums over the passing of my son (Braden). Like I have mentioned to Karen a few times, the year 2009 was a complete blur to me, which is bad considering I have a terrible memory as it is. So it has been quite a while I think that I have partied it up on a Friday night.
Anyway, dinner at Not Your Average Joe's was delicious as usual. I should invest in that company because Karen and I go there a lot. Maybe the bread there is laced with crack cocaine. That's how they keep you coming back for more. Just kidding.
Following dinner, I figured I'd let Karen unwind a little for the night. This was Karen's first week back to work since being on maternity leave. I think she's been struggling a little with the transition. After all, it definitely can be hard to leave your child for hours upon hours during the day. I'm lucky enough that I get to work from home most days of the week.
So figuring that Karen would want some quality bonding time with Briana, I decided to go grocery shopping. It was also a way to kill two birds with one stone because Karen has also been stressed about preparing for the upcoming Father's Day weekend. She has this list of to-do's in her head... one of which was going grocery shopping. Thus, I figured that my going to grocery store on Friday night would at least cross off one of those items from her list and help alleviate her stress.
Needless to say, I suck at grocery shopping. I must have looked like I was new to grocery shopping because I could not find a couple of things. I had to ask one of the employees where to find the items... twice (different items). Rice cake snacks and Softsoap... not where I would expect to find them. All in all, it was a fun time... even though it took me quite a while (we had an atypically large grocery list this week).
Anyway, following my shopping excursion, Karen and Briana went to bed. So, I did what any normal person would do on a Friday night with nothing to do... watch a couple of movies. I wasn't particularly tired. Hence... the double feature of movies.
I ended up having a little action packed double feature. The first movie I watched was Bangkok Dangerous.
(The video below is a trailer for Bangkok Dangerous.)
I'll admit. I had very low expectations for the movie. Aside from the lame title of the movie, seeing Nicholas Cage with long jet black hair acting as a badass was laughable. For anyone curious, Bangkok Dangerous is a remake of the 1999 film of the same name... by the same directors. Apparently, the same people decided to remake the movie with the star power of Nicholas Cage (because Nicholas Cage's production company bought the rights to the movie).
Needless to say, the movie was not all that bad. It was surprisingly entertaining even if the story was the same old story about a hitman who uncharacteristically gets emotionally attached to someone. (In my opinion, The Professional still did it the best.) But it was not all that bad.
Following Bangkok Dangerous, I decided to follow it up with another action movie. That movie: Jurassic Park III.
(The video below is a trailer for Jurassic Park III.)
The film completes the Jurassic Park trilogy (although I do believe a IV is in the works). Always one for completing things, I had to watch part III. I had already watched the first two (the second of which was absolutely terrible), so I figured that I had to watch the third movie. (It is this peculiarity of mine that will also have me watching the rest of the Twilight movies...)
Anyway, Jurassic Park III was okay. It was definitely better than the second sequel, which was not too hard to do. As a whole, the movie felt rushed. The plot consists of two parents (played by Tea Leoni and William H. Macy) who essentially enlist the aid of Dr. Grant (played by Sam Neill from the first movie) to help find their missing son on the second island of dinosaurs. Like I said, the movie felt very rushed. I'd be curious to see what the fourth installment will be like.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
I Suck At Babysitting
Today, Karen and I did something that we have not done in quite some time: we babysat my niece (Kaleigh) and nephew (PJ). Yes, I suck at babysitting. I can't remember the last time we were asked to watch over PJ and Kaleigh. It has to be at least over two months because I don't think we have been asked to babysit since our baby daughter (Briana) was born on St. Patrick's Day.
Needless to say, the babysitting gig was pretty easy. Despite my best efforts to get them all riled up (it's what uncles do, right?), PJ and Kaleigh are very well behaved when someone has to watch over them. And the both of them are extremely great whenever Briana has been around. Briana definitely has a pair of good cousins.
Anyway, the reason as to why Karen and I even ended up babysitting today is because my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and my favorite brother-in-law (PJ) were asked to attend a special dinner at Alma Nove, a restaurant located in the Hingham Shipyard that is due to open soon. Both Janine and PJ worked with the owner in getting the restaurant up and running. So as a token of appreciation, the owner invited all those who had helped to a special private dinner. It's a very nice thing for the owner to do.
From what I hear, the food was delicious at Alma Nove. The special dinner, however, was apparently spur of the moment, which is how Karen and I came to watch over PJ and Kaleigh. And again, neither Karen nor I would have minded anyway because PJ and Kaleigh are very good. Plus, it gave us a chance to catch up on things. For instance, we found out that PJ and Kaleigh now have a vegetable garden. Who knew?
Aside from babysitting, Karen and I did not have much going on for the night anyway. We had decided to eat dinner at our favorite restaurant, Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. If anyone is curious, they have half priced appetizers Monday to Friday from 3pm to 6pm. Karen and I had the firecracker chicken appetizer... so good. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) We also had the forno baked chicken quesadilla and the vegetable spring rolls too. Those two appetizers were also good, but the firecracker chicken was easily the best of the three.
And prior to dinner at Not Your Average Joe's, I may have done a little venting. So it was good to have dinner and the babysitting follow my venting incident. I'm normally a laid back person. One of my pet peeves, however, is prejudice.
As we were driving (to Not Your Average Joe's), we passed a couple of kids who would best be described as punks. I have no issues with punks unless they do something that ticks me off... and unwarranted prejudicial actions fits into that category. The punks were walking in the middle of the road when I approached in the car. Rather than run them over, I waited for them to move off to the side... which they did. It was not until after I had passed them that I looked in the rear view mirror to see one of the bigger-boned kids making slant eyed gestures with his fingers on his face.
In retrospect, I probably should have just ran the two kids over because I would not have gotten so annoyed. In comparing jail time to having a bout of annoyance, the venting won. I actually had considered stopping the car, throwing the car in reverse and confronting the two punks. But I didn't think that would do any good... especially with Karen and Briana in the car. Needless to say, racism just annoys me to no end.
I could never understand racism, especially when it was unwarranted. It's not like I called the kid "Tubbo" or "Lard-ass" (which technically could be described as genetic physical features of the punk much like the color of my skin) when I drove by. So for him to do the slant eyed gesture... that just ticks me off. (It ticks me off just writing about it now.)
In a way, it makes me worry about my baby daughter. After all, she'll have to grow up in the world and be exposed to such things as racism. As a parent, you never want your child to get hurt... and yeah racism hurts... maybe not always physically but mentally. I've experienced it growing up, especially since at the time my family was one of a select few minorities living in Quincy. (Now Quincy is like the second coming of Chinatown.) It's not a particularly good feeling to be singled out on something that is of no fault of your own.
It's very sad really to know that prejudice still exists and probably will for some time. I can only hope that I raise Briana well enough to deal with the idiotic intolerance of some people. Martial arts training can't come soon enough.
Needless to say, the babysitting gig was pretty easy. Despite my best efforts to get them all riled up (it's what uncles do, right?), PJ and Kaleigh are very well behaved when someone has to watch over them. And the both of them are extremely great whenever Briana has been around. Briana definitely has a pair of good cousins.
Anyway, the reason as to why Karen and I even ended up babysitting today is because my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and my favorite brother-in-law (PJ) were asked to attend a special dinner at Alma Nove, a restaurant located in the Hingham Shipyard that is due to open soon. Both Janine and PJ worked with the owner in getting the restaurant up and running. So as a token of appreciation, the owner invited all those who had helped to a special private dinner. It's a very nice thing for the owner to do.
From what I hear, the food was delicious at Alma Nove. The special dinner, however, was apparently spur of the moment, which is how Karen and I came to watch over PJ and Kaleigh. And again, neither Karen nor I would have minded anyway because PJ and Kaleigh are very good. Plus, it gave us a chance to catch up on things. For instance, we found out that PJ and Kaleigh now have a vegetable garden. Who knew?
Aside from babysitting, Karen and I did not have much going on for the night anyway. We had decided to eat dinner at our favorite restaurant, Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. If anyone is curious, they have half priced appetizers Monday to Friday from 3pm to 6pm. Karen and I had the firecracker chicken appetizer... so good. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) We also had the forno baked chicken quesadilla and the vegetable spring rolls too. Those two appetizers were also good, but the firecracker chicken was easily the best of the three.
And prior to dinner at Not Your Average Joe's, I may have done a little venting. So it was good to have dinner and the babysitting follow my venting incident. I'm normally a laid back person. One of my pet peeves, however, is prejudice.
As we were driving (to Not Your Average Joe's), we passed a couple of kids who would best be described as punks. I have no issues with punks unless they do something that ticks me off... and unwarranted prejudicial actions fits into that category. The punks were walking in the middle of the road when I approached in the car. Rather than run them over, I waited for them to move off to the side... which they did. It was not until after I had passed them that I looked in the rear view mirror to see one of the bigger-boned kids making slant eyed gestures with his fingers on his face.
In retrospect, I probably should have just ran the two kids over because I would not have gotten so annoyed. In comparing jail time to having a bout of annoyance, the venting won. I actually had considered stopping the car, throwing the car in reverse and confronting the two punks. But I didn't think that would do any good... especially with Karen and Briana in the car. Needless to say, racism just annoys me to no end.
I could never understand racism, especially when it was unwarranted. It's not like I called the kid "Tubbo" or "Lard-ass" (which technically could be described as genetic physical features of the punk much like the color of my skin) when I drove by. So for him to do the slant eyed gesture... that just ticks me off. (It ticks me off just writing about it now.)
In a way, it makes me worry about my baby daughter. After all, she'll have to grow up in the world and be exposed to such things as racism. As a parent, you never want your child to get hurt... and yeah racism hurts... maybe not always physically but mentally. I've experienced it growing up, especially since at the time my family was one of a select few minorities living in Quincy. (Now Quincy is like the second coming of Chinatown.) It's not a particularly good feeling to be singled out on something that is of no fault of your own.
It's very sad really to know that prejudice still exists and probably will for some time. I can only hope that I raise Briana well enough to deal with the idiotic intolerance of some people. Martial arts training can't come soon enough.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
I Suck At Visiting Nana
Yesterday, Karen and I took our newborn daughter on her longest road trip to date. That road trip was from Norwell to the mean streets of South Boston. So what is in South Boston besides a history of prejudice (thanks to South Boston's opposition to desegregation)? Karen's grandmother... also known as Nana.
Now I suck at visiting Nana. For Karen and I, it has been some time since we last visited Nana. Nana currently resides in the nursing home known as Marion Manor, which is located in South Boston. It's not that we did not want to visit Nana. Karen and I used to visit Nana a lot. Unfortunately, time management has been a little more difficult these days with a newborn daughter (Briana).
Karen has been itching to bring Briana in to see Nana. As it turns out, the visit made Nana's day. Nana was all smiles and as happy as could be when Karen, Briana and I arrived.
Interestingly enough, the hospital staff cautioned us against bringing Briana out during the first 4-6 weeks. Particularly, they were concerned about supermarkets because the elderly apparently love to swarm and touch babies at supermarkets. You may think I was kidding, but it was true. We were warned about supermarkets/elderly because the staff was afraid of Briana contracting germs and disease due to her underdeveloped health. (For anyone curious, Briana was born 7 weeks premature.)
Naturally, for those 4-6 weeks, I thought of the elderly like... well... zombies... which is something to avoid altogether. Instead of walking slowly and wanting to eat brains, the elderly walked around slowly and wanted to touch Briana. It was an easy association to make for someone as warped as myself who has played way too many Resident Evil video games. Regardless, the association worked. We avoided going to the supermarkets... and elderly nursing homes... with Briana until now.
Interestingly enough, there weren't that many elderly people who swarmed around Briana when we brought her in. Lucky for us, Karen's mother and father were already there and had brought Nana down from the general populace. So it essentially was just Karen, Karen's mother, Karen's father, Nana, Briana, and me... and some occasional stragglers in the lobby area.
Anyway, like I mentioned earlier, Nana was all smiles. I think we made her day, which is a nice feeling. As for Briana, she pooped like there was no tomorrow. Amazingly, the poop was contained entirely in the diaper.
Following the nursing home visit, we made a brief pit stop to see my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and my favorite brother-in-law (PJ). Janine's BFF (Gretchen) was also over helping out as PJ was getting ready for his mini-bachelor party for his younger brother.
As usual, it was great to see Janine, PJ, my favorite niece (Kaleigh), my favorite nephew (PJ), and Gretchen. We stayed as long as we could... or as long as I still had fine motor skills because I was on the brink of starvation. Neither Karen nor I had eaten dinner by that point and it was getting rather late. But thanks to our favorite restaurant (Not Your Average Joe's), I was fine. We ordered takeout from there, hurried home, and I immediately devoured my meal. And in case anyone is curious, Not Your Average Joe's does give you bread on your takeout order. I was pretty excited about that. Of course, I was just excited to eat at that point... which is another case that time management is so hard these days with a newborn baby.
Anyway, Not Your Average Joe's was a great way to end the day. The burger was delicious. The burger to me was like what brains are for zombies... or for the elderly.
Now I suck at visiting Nana. For Karen and I, it has been some time since we last visited Nana. Nana currently resides in the nursing home known as Marion Manor, which is located in South Boston. It's not that we did not want to visit Nana. Karen and I used to visit Nana a lot. Unfortunately, time management has been a little more difficult these days with a newborn daughter (Briana).
Karen has been itching to bring Briana in to see Nana. As it turns out, the visit made Nana's day. Nana was all smiles and as happy as could be when Karen, Briana and I arrived.
Interestingly enough, the hospital staff cautioned us against bringing Briana out during the first 4-6 weeks. Particularly, they were concerned about supermarkets because the elderly apparently love to swarm and touch babies at supermarkets. You may think I was kidding, but it was true. We were warned about supermarkets/elderly because the staff was afraid of Briana contracting germs and disease due to her underdeveloped health. (For anyone curious, Briana was born 7 weeks premature.)
Naturally, for those 4-6 weeks, I thought of the elderly like... well... zombies... which is something to avoid altogether. Instead of walking slowly and wanting to eat brains, the elderly walked around slowly and wanted to touch Briana. It was an easy association to make for someone as warped as myself who has played way too many Resident Evil video games. Regardless, the association worked. We avoided going to the supermarkets... and elderly nursing homes... with Briana until now.
Interestingly enough, there weren't that many elderly people who swarmed around Briana when we brought her in. Lucky for us, Karen's mother and father were already there and had brought Nana down from the general populace. So it essentially was just Karen, Karen's mother, Karen's father, Nana, Briana, and me... and some occasional stragglers in the lobby area.
Anyway, like I mentioned earlier, Nana was all smiles. I think we made her day, which is a nice feeling. As for Briana, she pooped like there was no tomorrow. Amazingly, the poop was contained entirely in the diaper.
Following the nursing home visit, we made a brief pit stop to see my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and my favorite brother-in-law (PJ). Janine's BFF (Gretchen) was also over helping out as PJ was getting ready for his mini-bachelor party for his younger brother.
As usual, it was great to see Janine, PJ, my favorite niece (Kaleigh), my favorite nephew (PJ), and Gretchen. We stayed as long as we could... or as long as I still had fine motor skills because I was on the brink of starvation. Neither Karen nor I had eaten dinner by that point and it was getting rather late. But thanks to our favorite restaurant (Not Your Average Joe's), I was fine. We ordered takeout from there, hurried home, and I immediately devoured my meal. And in case anyone is curious, Not Your Average Joe's does give you bread on your takeout order. I was pretty excited about that. Of course, I was just excited to eat at that point... which is another case that time management is so hard these days with a newborn baby.
Anyway, Not Your Average Joe's was a great way to end the day. The burger was delicious. The burger to me was like what brains are for zombies... or for the elderly.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
I Suck At Meetings
It's a good thing that I wake up very early these days thanks to our newborn daughter's (Briana) feedings.
On Monday, shortly after feeding Briana in the wee hours of the morning, I decided to start work a little early. For anyone curious, I have the luxury of working from home most days of the week. I do, however, have to go into the office which is located in Marblehead at least one day during the week. That day is usually Tuesday.
Thinking that things were business as usual, I figured Tuesday was my day in the office this week. It was not until one of my coworkers sent me an email asking about attending a meeting on Monday that I started to doubt my schedule.
Apparently, I suck at meetings. I have never been big on meetings. Throughout my professional career, the majority of the meetings I have attended were an inefficient waste of my time. My time could have been better spent on actual work as opposed to listening to someone reading from a document as they go over the subject matter for the meeting. (Why not just send me the document? It would be so much easier for me to read it myself as opposed to listening to someone else read it... only to have to read the document anyway.) Yes, I dislike meetings.
Monday's meeting, however, was a meeting that I actually do enjoy... the collaborative meeting type. Those collaborative meetings have exchanges of ideas between group members, which to me are great learning experiences because they provide an insight into another point of view.
Sure enough, I had to be in the office to collaborate during the meeting on Monday. And unfortunately, I missed my usual window of opportunity in terms of beating the morning traffic. D'oh! Under normal circumstances, I'd probably rush out the door and drive like a maniac up to Marblehead. That, however, would prove to be a futile endeavor due to the bumper to bumper traffic.
Anyway, two hours or so later, I made it just in time for the meeting... with about 5 minutes to spare. That was a relief. Needless to say, Monday night Karen and I (and Briana) went out for dinner at Not Your Average Joe's in Norwell. Karen thought it would be a nice way to unwind from the day's activities, and I could not have agreed more.
In an effort to try something different at Not Your Average Joe's, both Karen and I ordered something from the menu that we had never had before (which may have been a little difficult because we do frequently go there a lot). Needless to say, the food was delicious as usual. I had the sweet blue burger. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.)
On Monday, shortly after feeding Briana in the wee hours of the morning, I decided to start work a little early. For anyone curious, I have the luxury of working from home most days of the week. I do, however, have to go into the office which is located in Marblehead at least one day during the week. That day is usually Tuesday.
Thinking that things were business as usual, I figured Tuesday was my day in the office this week. It was not until one of my coworkers sent me an email asking about attending a meeting on Monday that I started to doubt my schedule.
Apparently, I suck at meetings. I have never been big on meetings. Throughout my professional career, the majority of the meetings I have attended were an inefficient waste of my time. My time could have been better spent on actual work as opposed to listening to someone reading from a document as they go over the subject matter for the meeting. (Why not just send me the document? It would be so much easier for me to read it myself as opposed to listening to someone else read it... only to have to read the document anyway.) Yes, I dislike meetings.
Monday's meeting, however, was a meeting that I actually do enjoy... the collaborative meeting type. Those collaborative meetings have exchanges of ideas between group members, which to me are great learning experiences because they provide an insight into another point of view.
Sure enough, I had to be in the office to collaborate during the meeting on Monday. And unfortunately, I missed my usual window of opportunity in terms of beating the morning traffic. D'oh! Under normal circumstances, I'd probably rush out the door and drive like a maniac up to Marblehead. That, however, would prove to be a futile endeavor due to the bumper to bumper traffic.
Anyway, two hours or so later, I made it just in time for the meeting... with about 5 minutes to spare. That was a relief. Needless to say, Monday night Karen and I (and Briana) went out for dinner at Not Your Average Joe's in Norwell. Karen thought it would be a nice way to unwind from the day's activities, and I could not have agreed more.
In an effort to try something different at Not Your Average Joe's, both Karen and I ordered something from the menu that we had never had before (which may have been a little difficult because we do frequently go there a lot). Needless to say, the food was delicious as usual. I had the sweet blue burger. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.)
Friday, April 23, 2010
I Suck At Not Your Average Joes
On Thursday, Karen and I reached another milestone since the birth of our daughter, Briana. That milestone: going out to eat as a family. Prior to Thursday, either Karen or I would go out to run an errand while the other one stayed at home to take care of Briana. Thanks to the doctors' orders of avoiding public places for a while, we would never all go out due to the Briana/germ factor.
That all changed Thursday because... well... both Karen and I got tired of the wait. Inevitably, the three of us would have to go out together at once. The list of errands to run was piling up a lot quicker than we could cross them off of our to-do list. So naturally, we decided to start with some baby steps.
We decided to head out as a family to Ace Curry Hardware located in Hanover. Ace was offering a free reusable tote sale. Any items that could be fit into the tote would be discounted by 20 percent. Naturally, I was all about the free reusable tote. Tote bags now are like those free promotional t-shirts that you get at liquor stores. In reality, you probably don't need another reusable tote... but you just want it because it seems cool.
Anyway, Karen and I thought Ace would be the perfect place to go as a family of three because there probably would not be that many people in the store. (And really, there weren't that many people in the store.) Regardless, the store was fantastic! Prior to Thursday, I had never been in the store. Well, the store was clean, well-organized... I thoroughly enjoyed the place. Sure, we did not purchase a lot of items (the sales associate was surprised by how little we had in the free tote), but it was nice to get out of the house as a family and check out the store.
So riding the wave of accomplishment, we decided to chance things and go out for dinner. Of course, we decided to go to Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. Now I suck at Not Your Average Joe's. Both Karen and I had been craving the food for some time. We had not been to the place for about over a month. I believe the last time we were there was the day before Briana came home. It was our celebratory dinner because the doctors had informed us that she would be going home the next day. And as it turned out, my friends (Cass and Ellen) had lunch there the other day. So the place was in our minds.
Needless to say, the food was delicious. Oh how I missed the food! It was definitely a great dinner. (I had the butternut squash pizza.) For both Karen and I, it was good to finally get out of the house and have a nice hot dinner... one that was not microwaved or processed or anything like that. It was good. And interestingly enough, Briana was absolutely great during the meal. Granted, she was passed out... asleep.
Topping off our spontaneous night, Karen and I then visited my favorite sister-in-law's (Janine). Janine, my favorite brother-in-law (PJ) and Janine's BFF (Gretchen) had gotten back from Las Vegas the night before. So we figured we'd stop by and hang out for a little while. And as luck would have it, Gretchen was there last night.
Anyway, it was a fun time to just hang out. Gretchen tried to pop PJ's pimple. Janine and PJ had a little disagreement over curtains. Karen and I seemed to have just added to the mayhem of the night by bringing Briana, but it was all good. For me, the most memorable part at Janine's was lining up all of my niece's (Kaleigh) dolls on the couch and placing Briana smack dab in the middle of the dolls. It was a picture moment that simply cracked me up. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera on me. Oh well.
That all changed Thursday because... well... both Karen and I got tired of the wait. Inevitably, the three of us would have to go out together at once. The list of errands to run was piling up a lot quicker than we could cross them off of our to-do list. So naturally, we decided to start with some baby steps.
We decided to head out as a family to Ace Curry Hardware located in Hanover. Ace was offering a free reusable tote sale. Any items that could be fit into the tote would be discounted by 20 percent. Naturally, I was all about the free reusable tote. Tote bags now are like those free promotional t-shirts that you get at liquor stores. In reality, you probably don't need another reusable tote... but you just want it because it seems cool.
Anyway, Karen and I thought Ace would be the perfect place to go as a family of three because there probably would not be that many people in the store. (And really, there weren't that many people in the store.) Regardless, the store was fantastic! Prior to Thursday, I had never been in the store. Well, the store was clean, well-organized... I thoroughly enjoyed the place. Sure, we did not purchase a lot of items (the sales associate was surprised by how little we had in the free tote), but it was nice to get out of the house as a family and check out the store.
So riding the wave of accomplishment, we decided to chance things and go out for dinner. Of course, we decided to go to Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. Now I suck at Not Your Average Joe's. Both Karen and I had been craving the food for some time. We had not been to the place for about over a month. I believe the last time we were there was the day before Briana came home. It was our celebratory dinner because the doctors had informed us that she would be going home the next day. And as it turned out, my friends (Cass and Ellen) had lunch there the other day. So the place was in our minds.
Needless to say, the food was delicious. Oh how I missed the food! It was definitely a great dinner. (I had the butternut squash pizza.) For both Karen and I, it was good to finally get out of the house and have a nice hot dinner... one that was not microwaved or processed or anything like that. It was good. And interestingly enough, Briana was absolutely great during the meal. Granted, she was passed out... asleep.
Topping off our spontaneous night, Karen and I then visited my favorite sister-in-law's (Janine). Janine, my favorite brother-in-law (PJ) and Janine's BFF (Gretchen) had gotten back from Las Vegas the night before. So we figured we'd stop by and hang out for a little while. And as luck would have it, Gretchen was there last night.
Anyway, it was a fun time to just hang out. Gretchen tried to pop PJ's pimple. Janine and PJ had a little disagreement over curtains. Karen and I seemed to have just added to the mayhem of the night by bringing Briana, but it was all good. For me, the most memorable part at Janine's was lining up all of my niece's (Kaleigh) dolls on the couch and placing Briana smack dab in the middle of the dolls. It was a picture moment that simply cracked me up. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera on me. Oh well.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
I Suck At Going Out
This past Thursday marked a major milestone for Karen and I. Sadly, that milestone was going out. Too bad I suck at going out.
Ever since our daughter (Briana) was born prematurely on St. Patty's Day, Karen and I have done nothing but shuttle ourselves to and from our house to the hospital for Briana's feeding. In between visits to the hospital, we have done nothing but eat (for Karen it's been more like eat, sleep, pump... and not necessarily in that order). And by the time we are done with our tasks at home, it's time to go back to the hospital and repeat the cycle.
Yes, it's a vicious cycle.
On Thursday, however, we decided to spice things up a little and go out in between Briana's feeding period. Granted, our going out consisted of a trip to Staples, Babies 'R Us, and dinner Not Your Average Joe's. It does seem like a lot was accomplished in such a short time frame. Luckily, two of the stores were right next to each other.
Always one for recycling, Karen and I stopped off at Staples to recycle our old Panasonic phone and a laser computer mouse. Staples took it with no problems. I love Staples for that. I wish more companies would recycle old electronic waste. In addition to the phone and mouse, Karen and I also recycled our old computer printer which Karen had gotten a long time ago while she was in college. The printer had been sitting in Briana's/my BFF's (Kerry) room for years. With the birth of Briana, we had decided that it was time to clean out the room.
And of course, with the recycling of the old printer, Karen and I decided to actually get a new printer that prints, scans, and copies. Sadly, the new printer does not fax, but since we hardly fax anything... we thought it would be okay.
As for Babies 'R Us, we stopped in to update our baby registry. The doctors and nurses at the hospital suggested that we get a car seat that can handle babies from 4 pounds (and not the standard 5 pounds) and up because Briana is... well... simply tiny. Thus, they thought that a car seat that could handle 4 pounds would be a better fit for Briana. As we had originally registered for a car seat (and stroller) that was for a 5 pound baby, we decided to pop in the store, look at the other options around, and update the registry.
And to top off the whole going out excursion, Karen and I then grabbed a bite to eat at Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. Having to trek back and forth to the hospital can sometimes make preparing meals difficult. So it was a nice break to actually not have to worry about making dinner and all of that for a while.
All in all, it was a good night out.
Ever since our daughter (Briana) was born prematurely on St. Patty's Day, Karen and I have done nothing but shuttle ourselves to and from our house to the hospital for Briana's feeding. In between visits to the hospital, we have done nothing but eat (for Karen it's been more like eat, sleep, pump... and not necessarily in that order). And by the time we are done with our tasks at home, it's time to go back to the hospital and repeat the cycle.
Yes, it's a vicious cycle.
On Thursday, however, we decided to spice things up a little and go out in between Briana's feeding period. Granted, our going out consisted of a trip to Staples, Babies 'R Us, and dinner Not Your Average Joe's. It does seem like a lot was accomplished in such a short time frame. Luckily, two of the stores were right next to each other.
Always one for recycling, Karen and I stopped off at Staples to recycle our old Panasonic phone and a laser computer mouse. Staples took it with no problems. I love Staples for that. I wish more companies would recycle old electronic waste. In addition to the phone and mouse, Karen and I also recycled our old computer printer which Karen had gotten a long time ago while she was in college. The printer had been sitting in Briana's/my BFF's (Kerry) room for years. With the birth of Briana, we had decided that it was time to clean out the room.
And of course, with the recycling of the old printer, Karen and I decided to actually get a new printer that prints, scans, and copies. Sadly, the new printer does not fax, but since we hardly fax anything... we thought it would be okay.
As for Babies 'R Us, we stopped in to update our baby registry. The doctors and nurses at the hospital suggested that we get a car seat that can handle babies from 4 pounds (and not the standard 5 pounds) and up because Briana is... well... simply tiny. Thus, they thought that a car seat that could handle 4 pounds would be a better fit for Briana. As we had originally registered for a car seat (and stroller) that was for a 5 pound baby, we decided to pop in the store, look at the other options around, and update the registry.
And to top off the whole going out excursion, Karen and I then grabbed a bite to eat at Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. Having to trek back and forth to the hospital can sometimes make preparing meals difficult. So it was a nice break to actually not have to worry about making dinner and all of that for a while.
All in all, it was a good night out.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
I Suck At Whiteout
Karen had to work late Monday night. So while I waited for her at the train station, I decided to read the graphic novel, Whiteout. Now, I suck at Whiteout.
I was curious about the graphic novel after watching the movie (based on the comic book) not too long ago. And truth be told, the movie was not exactly the greatest movie I have ever seen, but it was enjoyable. So needless to say, I decided to check out the graphic novel.
The graphic novel by Greg Rucka follows the fictitious U.S. Marshall, Carrie Stetko, as she tries to solve a series of murders in Antarctica. Although the basic plot was similar, the movie version of the comic book did take some creative liberties, especially since the movie had a character that was not even in the comic book.
For anyone curious, the movie had a male character named Robert Pryce, a U.N. operative, also helping to solve the series of murders. In the comic book, the he... is a she... and her name is Lily Sharpe. Although interestingly enough, according to the comic book, one of the reasons why Stetko is in Antarctica is because of a murderer named Price. (The murderer tried to kill Stetko, but she killed him instead... resulting in a suspension... which shortly happened before her husband passed away from cancer before their first anniversary. Yes, there's surprisingly a lot of detail that can be gleaned from a comic book.)
But all in all, the graphic novel was a very fast read. I was surprised at how quickly I was able to read through it while waiting for Karen. Of course, I did not finish the entire graphic novel before Karen arrived. I continued reading the comic book after picking her up at the train station... which also included a brief rendezvous at our seemingly favorite restaurant in Norwell, Not Your Average Joe's.
For anyone curious, Not Your Average Joe's does not appear to be having $10 entrees on Monday and Tuesday anymore. That was very sad news. The food, however, is still delicious. I had the Waldorf salad. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) And apparently, it turns out that we are starting to become recognizable regulars.
Our waitperson immediately recognized us and gave us a "passport" which is another promotion the company is currently doing. Apparently, you get a "passport" and a stamp for every entree ordered. If you total 4 entrees by the end of March, you get a gift card for $15. Essentially, it is comparable to a buy 4 get 1 free deal, which for Karen and I may make sense since we visit there a lot.
Anyway, it was a good night on Monday.
I was curious about the graphic novel after watching the movie (based on the comic book) not too long ago. And truth be told, the movie was not exactly the greatest movie I have ever seen, but it was enjoyable. So needless to say, I decided to check out the graphic novel.
The graphic novel by Greg Rucka follows the fictitious U.S. Marshall, Carrie Stetko, as she tries to solve a series of murders in Antarctica. Although the basic plot was similar, the movie version of the comic book did take some creative liberties, especially since the movie had a character that was not even in the comic book.
For anyone curious, the movie had a male character named Robert Pryce, a U.N. operative, also helping to solve the series of murders. In the comic book, the he... is a she... and her name is Lily Sharpe. Although interestingly enough, according to the comic book, one of the reasons why Stetko is in Antarctica is because of a murderer named Price. (The murderer tried to kill Stetko, but she killed him instead... resulting in a suspension... which shortly happened before her husband passed away from cancer before their first anniversary. Yes, there's surprisingly a lot of detail that can be gleaned from a comic book.)
But all in all, the graphic novel was a very fast read. I was surprised at how quickly I was able to read through it while waiting for Karen. Of course, I did not finish the entire graphic novel before Karen arrived. I continued reading the comic book after picking her up at the train station... which also included a brief rendezvous at our seemingly favorite restaurant in Norwell, Not Your Average Joe's.
For anyone curious, Not Your Average Joe's does not appear to be having $10 entrees on Monday and Tuesday anymore. That was very sad news. The food, however, is still delicious. I had the Waldorf salad. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) And apparently, it turns out that we are starting to become recognizable regulars.
Our waitperson immediately recognized us and gave us a "passport" which is another promotion the company is currently doing. Apparently, you get a "passport" and a stamp for every entree ordered. If you total 4 entrees by the end of March, you get a gift card for $15. Essentially, it is comparable to a buy 4 get 1 free deal, which for Karen and I may make sense since we visit there a lot.
Anyway, it was a good night on Monday.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
I Suck At X-Files: I Want To Believe
Today, I watched another movie from Karen's Netflix queue. That movie: X-Files: I Want to Believe. Now I suck at X-Files: I Want to Believe.
As Karen was never a fan of the X-Files, the movie was all my doing. Truth be told, I was never a big fan of the X-Files television show either. I watched a few episodes here and there every season, but was never really a dedicated fan.
(The video below is a trailer for X-Files: I Want to Believe.)
As a casual fan, the movie was good. After all, what is not to like about a movie that has Xzibit in it. Plus, I thought the movie was easy to follow even if you didn't know the main characters of Mulder and Sculley. All in all, I enjoyed the thriller. (Karen, however, did not watch the movie.)
And of course, it being Monday and all, Karen and I decided to go out for dinner afterwards. Probably to the dismay of my BFF (Kerry) and my friend (Andrea), we went out to Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. And yep, the restaurant is still having its 10 entrees for $10 each promotion. (And for anyone curious, yes I had the steak tips again.) The steak tips were delicious.
As Karen was never a fan of the X-Files, the movie was all my doing. Truth be told, I was never a big fan of the X-Files television show either. I watched a few episodes here and there every season, but was never really a dedicated fan.
(The video below is a trailer for X-Files: I Want to Believe.)
As a casual fan, the movie was good. After all, what is not to like about a movie that has Xzibit in it. Plus, I thought the movie was easy to follow even if you didn't know the main characters of Mulder and Sculley. All in all, I enjoyed the thriller. (Karen, however, did not watch the movie.)
And of course, it being Monday and all, Karen and I decided to go out for dinner afterwards. Probably to the dismay of my BFF (Kerry) and my friend (Andrea), we went out to Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell. And yep, the restaurant is still having its 10 entrees for $10 each promotion. (And for anyone curious, yes I had the steak tips again.) The steak tips were delicious.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
I Suck At Registering
Last night, Karen and I finally created a baby registry for our unborn child known as Hottie. Not to be confused with my friend (Hot Amy), Hottie is derived from week 26 of pregnancy where the baby is the length of a cucumber... and not just any cucumber... an English hothouse cucumber. Truth be told, I don't even know what an English hothouse cucumber looks like, but I thought Hottie had a good ring to it.
Anyway, I suck at registering. For me, I was very hesitant to create a baby registry. The last time Karen and I created a baby registry was the week before our son (Braden) was prematurely born. Unfortunately, Braden only survived a week after he was born.
Needless to say, that thought always remained in the back of my head during this current pregnancy. So I may have been dragging my feet in regards to creating another registry. But now at least, Karen and I have created a registry and added a small number of items for Hottie.
For anyone curious, we are currently registered at Babies 'R Us. The registry number is 44950876. Based on the registry suggestions from Babies 'R Us, we still have a bunch of items to add. You would think that creating a registry would be easier the second time around. Sadly, most of the items that we had registered for Braden are now gone. I guess a lot changes in two years, especially since last year was basically a blur to me.
Well, at least we've made some progress and created the registry. That's cause for a celebration of sorts. So it only made sense that we went to Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell for dinner. Interestingly enough, Karen and I had the same meal that we had the previous week. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.)
It was Monday after all and on Mondays and Tuesdays, Not Your Average Joe's has 10 entrees for $10 each. Some day we will meet up with my BFF (Kerry) for dinner. Needless to say, the meal was delicious. It was a good way to end the night.
Anyway, I suck at registering. For me, I was very hesitant to create a baby registry. The last time Karen and I created a baby registry was the week before our son (Braden) was prematurely born. Unfortunately, Braden only survived a week after he was born.
Needless to say, that thought always remained in the back of my head during this current pregnancy. So I may have been dragging my feet in regards to creating another registry. But now at least, Karen and I have created a registry and added a small number of items for Hottie.
For anyone curious, we are currently registered at Babies 'R Us. The registry number is 44950876. Based on the registry suggestions from Babies 'R Us, we still have a bunch of items to add. You would think that creating a registry would be easier the second time around. Sadly, most of the items that we had registered for Braden are now gone. I guess a lot changes in two years, especially since last year was basically a blur to me.
Well, at least we've made some progress and created the registry. That's cause for a celebration of sorts. So it only made sense that we went to Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell for dinner. Interestingly enough, Karen and I had the same meal that we had the previous week. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.)
It was Monday after all and on Mondays and Tuesdays, Not Your Average Joe's has 10 entrees for $10 each. Some day we will meet up with my BFF (Kerry) for dinner. Needless to say, the meal was delicious. It was a good way to end the night.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
I Suck At Not Your Average Joe's
Last night, Karen and I were feeling a little lazy in regards to dinner. So, we decided to go out. It should come as no surprise that we ended up Not Your Average Joe's located in Norwell.
Unfortunately, I suck at Not Your Average Joe's. In retrospect, yesterday actually would have been a good time to meet up with my BFF (Kerry) for dinner at Not Your Average Joe's. Kerry, a fan herself of the bread at Not Your Average Joe's, had mentioned some time ago that the restaurant was having a 10 entrees for $10 each promotion on Mondays and Tuesdays and that she would like to go.
With yesterday being Monday, 10 entrees for $10 each it was! And as usual, I thoroughly enjoyed the food. (Sorry Kerry!) I had the sirloin steak tips while Karen had the house-roasted classic turkey blt with cup of soup. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) The meal was very delicious. Truth be told, I don't think I have ever had a bad meal there. And Karen particularly liked our server (Debbie) who was just very friendly.
All in all, it was good. Following dinner, we headed home so that I could tackle renovating the first floor bathroom again. This would be my second attempt at using the Great Stuff insulation. The first time I used the spray insulation, I ran out because I had used so much of it around the window. This second time... not much better. But, I think I'm getting the hang of it. (I'll probably actually need another can of insulation.)
It was all about insulation last night. Sadly, I did not get to finish the insulation of the walls. In our efforts to be a little more greener, Karen and I had decided to use denim insulation for the renovation. Denim insulation, which is better than fiberglass in terms of the environment and cleaner particles and all that, is great! I can pick up the denim insulation, roll around naked in it (not that I would)... and I won't itch like I normally would with regular fiberglass insulation. I love it.
The only problem, however, is cutting the insulation. Usually, a utility knife does the trick for fiberglass insulation. Because the denim is thicker, the utility knife doesn't really do the job. I've been using a pair of scissor instead.
Anyway, I didn't get too far into the insulation. Nonetheless, I am proud that I have kept my focus on the renovation project... at least for now.
Unfortunately, I suck at Not Your Average Joe's. In retrospect, yesterday actually would have been a good time to meet up with my BFF (Kerry) for dinner at Not Your Average Joe's. Kerry, a fan herself of the bread at Not Your Average Joe's, had mentioned some time ago that the restaurant was having a 10 entrees for $10 each promotion on Mondays and Tuesdays and that she would like to go.
With yesterday being Monday, 10 entrees for $10 each it was! And as usual, I thoroughly enjoyed the food. (Sorry Kerry!) I had the sirloin steak tips while Karen had the house-roasted classic turkey blt with cup of soup. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) The meal was very delicious. Truth be told, I don't think I have ever had a bad meal there. And Karen particularly liked our server (Debbie) who was just very friendly.
All in all, it was good. Following dinner, we headed home so that I could tackle renovating the first floor bathroom again. This would be my second attempt at using the Great Stuff insulation. The first time I used the spray insulation, I ran out because I had used so much of it around the window. This second time... not much better. But, I think I'm getting the hang of it. (I'll probably actually need another can of insulation.)
It was all about insulation last night. Sadly, I did not get to finish the insulation of the walls. In our efforts to be a little more greener, Karen and I had decided to use denim insulation for the renovation. Denim insulation, which is better than fiberglass in terms of the environment and cleaner particles and all that, is great! I can pick up the denim insulation, roll around naked in it (not that I would)... and I won't itch like I normally would with regular fiberglass insulation. I love it.
The only problem, however, is cutting the insulation. Usually, a utility knife does the trick for fiberglass insulation. Because the denim is thicker, the utility knife doesn't really do the job. I've been using a pair of scissor instead.
Anyway, I didn't get too far into the insulation. Nonetheless, I am proud that I have kept my focus on the renovation project... at least for now.
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