I Suck At Wipeout

Last night, my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) came over. On the agenda for the night was another episode of Wipeout. Unfortunately, I suck at Wipeout. And as luck would have it, Tuesday's episode was the season finale of the show.

Before the night even got started, Karen attended a little meeting at our local library. She has been volunteering her services by becoming a member of the Friends of the Norwell Public Library, which is a volunteer group that helps raise funds to support the library. Things like the discount museum passes and many of the other services offered by the library are a result of volunteer fund-raising efforts, and not the town budget as many people think.

Apparently for all of her efforts, Karen has been elected Vice Chairman of the group. I'm sure it's a dubious distinction. And naturally, through my association with Karen, I was asked to partake in an upcoming activity. That activity involves dressing up in a hedgehog costume and posing for pictures with kids as they sign up for library cards. (For anyone curious, the costume is of Hedgie the Hedgehog, which is a character created by Jan Brett for children.) That activity should be interesting... I'm sure. So if anyone is around next Saturday, visit the Norwell Public Library and get your picture taken with me! I know... it's such an irresistible offer: me, hedgehog outfit, library... what else could you ask for?

Anyway, it was a good time to see and hang out with everyone during Wipeout. We definitely had some laughs over the show. Sadly, with the season finale of the show airing on Tuesday, all of us now are going to have to find a new show to watch together.

Kelley suggested finishing up our viewing of the Angel and Buffy series, because neither her nor Marc have seen the final season of Buffy. Karen has not either for that matter. I, of course, am totally in for watching the show. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is, after all, the greatest show ever on television. I do, however, feel somewhat bad that Andrea will join us near the end of the series.

Speaking of Andrea, it appears that she is one step closer to "un-coupling" from her current roommate. It's not that she dislikes her current roommate. Quite the contrary. She just thinks that it is time to move on to the next phase of her life and live independently. (They grow up so quickly...) But yep, Andrea has been looking for houses and may have finally found a townhouse to her liking. So that was good news to hear.

All in all, the night was definitely fun. I am so looking forward to continuing the Buffy series, if only to watch the return of Faith.

I Suck At Justin Bieber Hair

Last night, Karen, our baby daughter (Briana, and I hung out with our friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) as it was our weekly get together. We have not met on a Wednesday in quite awhile. Truth be told, I do miss the Prince Spaghetti Wednesday meetings as I think it breaks up the general work week better than a Tuesday.

Regardless, even though this week was a short work week due to Labor day, the week to me has felt like it has been dragging. So it was definitely nice to see everyone, hang out, and have some laughs.

The night began with a great start as Andrea brought the item known as "dough knots" from the Schoolhouse Pizza located in Quincy. Needless to say, the dough knots were delicious. I was full from my dinner, yet I couldn't resist devouring the dough knots. It was that good. (Of course, who am I kidding? I devour everything.)

As it had been a few days since I last saw Andrea, she was a little disappointed to see that I had gotten a haircut. I think Andrea really wanted to see, and perhaps even I was a little intrigued by the idea, if I could grow out my hair and have Justin Bieber hair for my friend's (Hot Amy) wedding. Too bad I suck at Justin Bieber hair.

I generally keep my hair very short... very short. The whole idea of growing out my hair to be like Justin Bieber's randomly started because I had let my hair grow out to Monchhichi proportions. (Monchhichi Monchhichi, oh so soft and cuddly!) For anyone curious, Monchhichi was a toy from the 80s.

(The video below is a commercial for Monchhchis.)


My Monchhichi hair was not exactly done on purpose. I just happened to forgo getting my hair cut for quite some time. As my hair was getting rather long, Andrea made the dare. Unfortunately, I just could not take the Monchhichi look anymore. (Truth of the matter is, having to wake up every morning with a severe case of bedhead was really annoying.) Hence, I got my hair cut over the weekend.

It's a good thing the Justin Bieber hair dare was not a competition with my friend (Hot Amy). I would definitely lose that one. Although, I'm sure she would lose that challenge as well. Hot Amy loses every challenge.

Speaking of Justin Bieber, all of us decided to catch an episode of Shaq Vs after our routine watching of Wipeout. The episode was intriguing to all of us because it was Shaq Vs Justin Bieber.

For me, this was the first time I had ever watched Shaq Vs. In fact, I had avoided watching anything with Shaq ever since his acting roles in Kazaam and Steel. (Both movies... terrible...) Plus, I never was a big fan of his on the basketball court. I always thought he was overrated because, as great as he was playing center, he could never shoot free throws well.

Of course, with Shaquille O'Neal now wearing Celtic green, I feel a little more compelled to root for him. And as it turns out, Shaq is really funny. I always knew he was a goofball, but his show was actually pretty comical.

Anyway, as usual I had a great time hanging out with everyone. It was definitely a fun time. And oh... the dough knots...

I Suck At Bert The Conqueror

Last night, Karen, our baby daughter (Briana), and I hung out with our friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea). It was definitely good to hang out with everyone again. The previous week we did not get together like we normally do. Consequently, the previous week seemed to have dragged and dragged. So it goes without saying that having our little get together definitely breaks up the busy week.

Anyway, on the agenda for the night was another episode of Wipeout. Truth be told, I don't even remember much about the episode. During the episode, I was tasked with changing Briana's diaper on a mat on Marc and Kelley's floor. While I was changing her diaper, the little bugger rolled over and off the changing mat and managed to get her legs underneath Marc and Kelley's couch. So their Briana was... butt naked... on her stomach... with her legs totally underneath the couch... and a pooped-filled diaper off to the side. It was an interesting sight; one reminiscent of bad father/baby movie. Luckily, I had cleaned off her bum before she skidded off the changing mat.

Aside from that, I tried my first pretzel M&M. Marc and Kelley got a bag to share with everyone. The pretzel M&M was pretty good. I had heard all the rave about it from some other people. So it was nice to finally be able to try it. I still think my favorite M&M is the peanut M&M though.

It was actually an all-around good food day as well. In addition to the pretzel M&M, I polished off Marc's pad thai meal. (Yum!) I have not eaten pad thai in awhile, so it was nice to remember what it tasted like. For anyone curious, Marc generously offered me the meal as he just did not feel like having it. If you ever need a food disposal, I am your man. (I didn't get to be the shape that I am from eating bread and water.)

Karen was also quite happy yesterday with the food selection because she got to eat a Wendy's Frosty. Karen and I were actually talking about Wendy's the other day because we have not been there in a long time. We don't eat fast food that often. In fact, we hardly eat fast food. If we were to eat fast food, however, it probably would be Wendy's because Karen enjoys Wendy's. So it was good that Karen got her Wendy's fix thanks to Andrea, who graciously stopped off at Wendy's after work.

Speaking of Andrea, Marc was quite surprised (and I was too for that matter) that Andrea would do the Las Vegas amusement ride known as the SkyJump. For those who are curious, the SkyJump is a new amusement ride at the Stratosphere Casino in Las Vegas. The ride is simply a freefall of over 800 feet from the top of the casino. And if you've ever been to the top of the Stratosphere, you would know that the building is pretty high.

For my bachelor party, my friends and I went to Vegas. We ended up doing the Big Shot ride at the Stratosphere. You know you are very high up when you can look down and see helicopters below you. Needless to say, that ride was awesome! (I may be biased, but I think my bachelor party was awesome.) If the Big Shot is terrifyingly high up, I can only imagine what the SkyJump must be like.

Anyway, the whole topic of Vegas and the SkyJump came about because Marc and Kelley are going to Vegas soon for Marc's birthday. Marc is not a big fan of heights. But I'll admit, Marc is a trooper. He did the Big Shot ride during my bachelor party. (I have photographic evidence.) In fact, a little girl laughed at how scared Marc was on the Big Shot.

Needless to say, the SkyJump does not seem to be in Marc's future. My drinking buddy, Kelley, who I believe is interested in the SkyJump, said she'd wait and do the ride with me. What a pal! Although I think if she were going to be out there anyway, she might as well do the ride without me. It will probably be awhile before I venture out of the state. (Curses to Briana for cramping my style. Just kidding.)

And interestingly enough, I had first learned about the SkyJump from watching an episode of Bert the Conqueror with Marc and Kelley. For anyone curious, the show is about Bert Kreisher, a comedian, who travels around the United States to experience and "conquer" various rides and sports. Now, I suck at Bert the Conqueror.

It just so happens that in addition to watching Wipeout yesterday, all of us ended up watching an episode of Bert the Conqueror. The reason that we were all intrigued with the episode is because the Bert came to Massachusetts. Bert had visited Six Flags New England located in Springfield. That actually was not the part we were anxiously waiting for. Nope. We were intent on seeing Bert visit Gloucester.

What is in Gloucester besides a lot of fish... and a one time place of summer residence for Whoopi Goldberg? The annual St. Peter Fiesta! And the main event at the St. Peter Fiesta? None other than the Greasy Pole. Based on the episode, the St. Peter Fiesta seems like nothing more than an Italian St. Patrick's Day celebration. Instead of a bunch of drunk Irish people, however, it's a bunch of drunk Italian people... with a greasy pole. (For anyone curious, the St. Peter Fiesta is sponsored by the local Italian-American community.)

Anyway, the premise of the Greasy Pole is simple: run across a horizontal telephone pole that hovers over the water to retrieve the flag at the other end. The only problem is that the pole is heavily greased. I definitely do not want the job of greasing the pole. Nasty.

Needless to say, it was definitely entertaining to watch. I might be interested now in attending the St. Peter Fiesta in Gloucester. (For anyone curious, the celebration happens during the end of June.) Of course, I say that after watching the show. I still think going to watch punkin chunkin would be cool too because I saw that once on television.

All in all, yesterday was a lot of fun.

I Suck At Wipeout

As if it weren't obvious that I am a geek, yesterday Karen and I cracked ourselves up over dinner. For dinner, Karen made pasta with vegetables. It was not just any pasta. It was bow-tie pasta.

Some of you might be wondering if the cause of our guffaw was that I had worn the bow-tie pasta like a regular bow-tie. As obvious as that sounds, I did not. (Although now that I think of it, I wonder how it would look.) Nope, our humor was lamer.

As everyone probably knows, the other name for bow-tie pasta is farfalle. Playing on the phonetic sound of the word, we started joking around by naming one of the pieces of bow-tie pasta after Karen's cousin's (Karlene) husband (Tommy). I had envisioned a pair of eyeballs sitting on top of the bow-tie pasta, much like the Geico wad of cash.

Needless to say, the idea cracked me up. I suppose Karlene for that matter, would also have the same last name. So in essence, she could have a bow-tie pasta representation of her as well. In fact, every member of Tommy's relatives could be represented within the box of pasta. Tommy does, after all, have a huge family.

Anyway, the idea made me chuckle. I guess there is a lot to like about Lowell after all... if you really enjoy pasta. (For anyone curious, both Karlene and Tommy are Lowellites. Or is it Lowellians?) And if anyone care, yes the dinner was good.

Despite my terrible sense of humor, yesterday was also the day that my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) came over. We had shifted our weekly get-together so that Karen and I could accommodate my mother's birthday the day before. Happy belated birthday again, mom!

On the agenda for the night was another episode of Wipeout. Now, I suck at Wipeout. But, I do love to watch the show. Something about watching people... wiping out... always brings a smile to my face. That, and probably Jill Wagner, which surprises me because she's not blonde.

Needless to say, it was a fun episode. The best part of it all, of course, is just hanging out with friends, laughing, and having a good time. Andrea is currently attempting to teach my baby daughter (Briana) how to get me to cave in and buy her things. It will never work...

I Suck At Wipeout

On Tuesday, my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) came over for our weekly get-together. On the agenda for the night was another episode of Wipeout. Now, I suck at Wipeout. I especially suck at Wipeout because it turns out this week was a repeat episode. D'oh!

Nevertheless, it was great just to hang out with everyone. In case anyone is curious, Andrea brought peanut butter balls. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O!" sound.) She had originally made the peanut butter balls for Marc, as payment for chauffeuring her to our house. As it turned out, however, she drove herself that day. But we still got to partake in the yummy deliciousness known as balls... peanut butter balls. It sounds so dirty, but tastes so good.

And if the double entendre imagery isn't bad enough, I have come to find out that my mother enjoys balls... the peanut butter balls. While taking care of our daughter (Briana), my mother tried a peanut butter ball and loved it. And apparently now, any dinner that my mom now organizes, she wants to invite Andrea because of those balls... not like she did not want to invite her before or anything.

Lesson learned: women enjoy balls. (Snicker.)

Aside from the balls, I also got to try a slice of pizza from Whole Foods. I couldn't resist when Andrea offered me a piece of hers. The slice of pizza was a regular slice of pepperoni pizza. The pepperoni, however, was on steroids... which is interesting considering Whole Foods has a reputation for being organic and all of that. The pepperoni slices were simply huge. So naturally, I had to try the jakked up pepperoni slices. It was good.

Anyway, like I said earlier, the night was fun just hanging out with everyone. And of course... the balls! It was all about the balls...

I Suck At Grouting

Today has been quite the productive day.

While taking care of Briana, I finally finished a book that my friend (Marc) had lent me. (By taking care of Briana, I mean while she was sleeping I finished reading the book.) The book is titled "What Were They Thinking? The 100 Dumbest Events in Television History" by David Hofstede.

It was an interesting book, especially for those who love television. I got a chuckle out of it because my favorite show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and its spinoff show Angel) actually made the list. Coming in at #98: "Brats in the Buffyverse". Basically, the writer points out how Dawn and Connor ruined their respective shows... which is so true.

I won't ruin the book by revealing what came in at #1. Needless to say, it was enjoyable to read about some of the television events that I remembered watching while growing up. Plus, it was definitely good to finally put a dent in my stack of borrowed books. So one down... three to go...

Anyway, since today was Tuesday, that meant it was a Wipeout night. Karen and I (and Briana) met up with Marc and our friends (Kelley and Andrea). Nothing makes a day more enjoyable than seeing crazy people... wiping out on an obstacle course.

We decided to order dinner from the Schoolhouse Pizza located in Quincy. I must say, the "Dough-Knots" as they are called... are very delicious... as is the pornographically named "Mailman Dan's Special Delivery" pizza.

Picture it: a young blond woman is alone in her home. The door bell rings. She answers the door only to find a young strapping bare chested postal worker holding a pizza box. He mugs for the camera and says "Special Delivery"... the cheesy music begins to play...

Regardless, it was a great time at Marc and Kelley's. I was so stuffed following dinner that I could not even put a dent in Andrea's signature dessert: trifle. Trifle is her thing. It's so yummy. I think I first discovered Andrea's dessert at my friend's (Hot Amy) cookout many years back. It's so good, I can't hype it enough.

When Karen, Briana, and I got home, I figured I'd be productive and work on the house. Of course, it could have been all the sugar in my blood from all the food I devoured. I simply was not tired. So, thinking that I would continue with renovating the first floor bathroom, I started to grout.

Unfortunately, I suck at grouting. The day before, I had finished installing the porcelain tile on the floor. Obviously, the next step then was to grout the floor. And by grout, I mean fill in the lines between the tiles with... grout.

Like tiling, grouting... is not fun. It is also a dirty job that I do not really care for. I'll do it, but I won't like it. There is just something about all those home improvement projects that involve mixing powder with water and spreading it over things and whatnot. The reason why I dislike those projects so much is because the powder mix with the water generally tends to dry out my skin.

As I type this right now, I can feel the skin in the palm of my hands tighten. They just feel so dry and stiff. I just am not a big fan of that feeling. I suppose the bright side is that unlike yesterday, I did not have an allergic reaction to the powder (in this case... the mortar mix). Apparently, grout mix... no reactions.

Thankfully, the grouting of the first floor bathroom is now complete. Of course, I'll still have to clean up the tiles a bit, but for the most part it's done. Now, I can move on to the more dirtier aspect of the project: plumbing in a crawlspace. Fun...

I Suck At Wipeout

Tuesday was a good day. The fussy behavior of my baby daughter (Briana) from the prior day had all but disappeared. So taking care of her during the day on Tuesday was really a piece of cake. I am lucky that Briana is generally a good baby. Her cycle of eat, sleep, and poop is pretty clockwork.

In fact, while she was napping, I got to kill some time. And what better way to kill a couple of hours than to watch a movie? In this case, I ended up watching the movie, Reign of Fire.

(The video below is a trailer for Reign of Fire.)


The 2002 movie stars Christian Bale (I'm Batman!) and Matthew McConaughey. Interestingly enough, Gerard Butler (This is Sparta!) also had a supporting role in the movie. Basically, the movie is a futuristic tale (and by future, I mean in 2008) whereby dragons are accidentally unearthed by some construction workers and are unleashed upon the world. (I bet that was not in their union contract...)

Needless to say, in 12 years (so 2020), the world has become a wasteland of destruction and fire thanks to the dragons. Christian Bale leads a group of British survivors hoping to outlast the dragons, while Matthew McConaughey plays the U.S. soldier leading a team to hunt down and kill the sole male dragon, thereby ending the species and its reign of fire.

Truth be told, I was not expecting much from the film because the majority of Matthew McConaughey movies that I have seen have been pretty lackluster. That said, this movie was entertaining. It did its job and killed some time for me while I waited for Briana to wake up again to eat.

Eventually, Karen came home from work and we had a bunch of our friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) over. After all, on the agenda for the night was the latest episode of Wipeout. Now, I suck at Wipeout. There is just something about the show that just makes me chuckle.

Anyway, it was good to see everyone, even if they were all pretty exhausted from the daily grind known as work. While we were hanging out, a discussion about Starburst fruit chews came up.

It seems that people generally gravitate toward eating a particular color of Starburst fruit chews. I tend to be in the minority in that action because I'm not picky. I eat everything. So out of sheer curiosity, Karen wondered if the Wrigley Company (a subsidiary of Mars) sold Starburst bags of a single color. In fact, she was so intrigued that she sent the company an email. (For anyone curious, it turns out that the answer is no, but Wrigley said that they will forward the email to their marketing department... most likely known as their trash folder.)

Naturally, I gave the topic some thought. Why wouldn't they sell bags of a single Starburst fruit chew flavor? It would make logical sense from a marketing standpoint to know which flavors the public enjoys and which flavors they don't. That's just my opinion of course.

And for anyone curious, according to my friend Wikipedia:

The Starburst brand was introduced by Mars in 1960 as Opal Fruits. The four original flavours were strawberry, lemon, orange, and lime. In the 1970s Opal Fruits were well known for their advertising tag line "Opal Fruits! Made to make your mouth water. Fresh with the tang of citrus. Orange! Lemon! Lime! Strawberry!" Opal Fruits were introduced in the United States in 1967 as Starburst. Originally, Starburst came in the same flavours as Opal Fruits and the first variant, "Sunshine Flavors," later renamed "Tropical Opal Fruits", was released thereafter. In Europe, lemon and lime were combined to become "lemon and lime" and to make room for a blackcurrant flavour. The brand name "Opal Fruits" was phased out in the UK, followed by Ireland in 1998 in order to standardize the product in a globalized marketplace, though some lament the loss of brand identity, leaving many people in the UK still referring to Starburst as Opal Fruits despite the name change. In 2008 the supermarket chain Asda revived the original Opal Fruits in the UK for a period of 12 weeks from 10 May 2008. On 6 October 2008, Mars acquired Wrigley, and transferred Mars non-chocolate candy brands, including Starburst, to the Wrigley subsidiary. In the US Starburst are manufactured in Waco, Texas.

Anyway, it was good fun night on Tuesday.

I Suck At Wipeout

On Tuesday, Karen and I... and our baby daughter (Briana)... hung out with my friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea). As always, it was a great night. And what is not to like when the night is filled with friends and watching people compete on a silly game show. That game show: Wipeout.

Now, I suck at Wipeout. Tuesday was the special blind date episode whereby two contestants are set up on a "blind date" and compete together throughout the Wipeout course. Needless to say, the episode was comical... if not for the wipeouts, then for the bizarre people on the show. (And might I add, I am guessing some of the contestants are single for a reason.)

All in all, it was a great night. From a purely devouring point of view, I was like... in heaven... with all the food: peach rings, starburst fruit chews, chocolate covered pretzels. I must have eaten... everything. I snacked on so much candy. Marc and Kelley even served ice cream. Yum! I had Ben and Jerry's Whirled Peace... so good.

Anyway, it was definitely a fun night of laughs.

I Suck At Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Tonight, Karen and I hung out with my friends (Marc and Kelley). On the agenda for the night were more episodes of season 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Now, I suck at Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I always have a great time hanging out with Marc and Kelley. For dinner, Marc made turkey burgers. They were quite delicious, especially since they had bacon on them. Kelley also made her famous chocolate chip cookies. I must have eaten a dozen of them. Her cookies are just that good.

Anyway, the episodes that we watched were: "Checkpoint" about Buffy preparing for a Watcher's Council test to get information about Glory; "Blood Ties" about Dawn's self discovery of being the key; "Crush" about Spike's unrequited crush on Buffy; and "I Was Made to Love You" about a robot searching for her creator, who happens to be Warren.

Of course, they were all good episodes. I probably enjoyed "Crush" the most because I enjoy the character known as Spike. Spike and Angel are throwbacks to when vampires used to be cool. Sadly, vampires are pretty lame now... thanks to the whole Twilight books and their ability to sparkle in the sun. (I have not seen the Trueblood series yet, so hopefully that show will return my faith in vampires.)

To end the night on a high note, we also watched the latest episode of Wipeout. Apparently, the episode of Wipeout took place down under... in Australia. As it turns out, the people down under are equally bizarre as the ones here.

Another one of the highlights for the night was Guitar Hero 5. Marc and Kelley recently got the video game. For anyone curious, Guitar Hero 5 is a game where you play guitar to certain songs. Heck, you can even play drums and sing in the game.

Marc tried to get Karen to sing vocals for Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl" while he played guitar. Unfortunately, Karen gave up too quickly... giving me the honors of doing my best Rick Springfield impersonation.

Normally, I don't like to do karaoke. After singing awful renditions of "Jessie's Girl" (and Blink-182's "The Rock Show"), I'm slowly warming up to performing karaoke. You would think with my genetic makeup that I would enjoy karaoke. Sadly, that is not the case. But the way I figure it now, who cares when you're with friends. If you can't be comfortable about yourself when you're with friends, then it's a little unfortunate.

Besides, it's always good to laugh at yourself once in a while. And with this week in particular, laughing at myself is always better than imbibing copious amounts of booze... not that there is anything wrong with that. I just needed to be silly for a little while.

I think Marc is looking forward to playing Guitar Hero 5 during the sleepover celebration for Kelley's birthday. That should be fun and interesting.

I Suck At Wendy's

Last night, Karen and I did something that we hardly do: we went out for fast food. Normally, going out for fast food is not a big deal... unless of course your spouse happens to be a registered dietitian. But occasionally, Karen does get a craving for fast food... and not just any fast food, mind you. The fast food that she will crave is Wendy's fast food. (And really, what's not to like about redheads?) Too bad I suck at Wendy's.

It also happened to be the case that my friend (Marc) was craving Wendy's. It's funny. Marc and Karen have a lot of similarities. In high school, an underclassman mistook Marc for being Karen's brother. It was pretty comical back then. I would divulge the unfortunate underclassman's name, but I can't say his name and do it justice anymore. I used to say his name with such a high pitched tone. Damn puberty!

Anyway, it is rather odd that Marc and Karen share some similar traits. Interestingly enough, my friend (Kelley) and I share some similar traits. Perhaps that is why the four of us get along so well. It's also probably why Kelley and I booze it up as drinking buddies when we can.

Needless to say, as it was our normal day to hang out with Marc and Kelley, the four of us went to Wendy's for dinner. Dinner was interesting. I can't really say much about fast food these days because I hardly go out for fast food. I did, however, feel somewhat nostalgic while at Wendy's because I remembered when Wendy's had the salad bar.

Back in the day... a bunch of my friends and I were going to hangout and play some football. We made a quick pit stop at Wendy's for lunch. At the time, the salad bar at Wendy's had strawberries lathered in red strawberry sauce. Needless to say, I must have eaten a gallon of strawberries and the sauce. The sugary goodness was hard to resist... oh the memories!

Anyway, besides Wendy's the four of us also went to Tedeschi's located on Adams Street in Quincy. I had never been to that Tedeschi's since the place became a Tedeschi's. Keeping with the nostalgic theme, I remembered the place being a Curtis Farms. (Man, I'm old.) But it was pretty nice inside.

Regardless, the four of us finally ended up back at Marc and Kelley's to watch a few episodes of Angel. The episodes that we watched were: "The Trial" about Angel's mission to save the now dying Darla through... a trial of challenges; "Reunion" about Darla's eventual rebirth as a vampire complements of Drusila; and "Redefinition" about Angel attempting to stop Darla and Drusila after firing Cordelia, Wes, and Gunn.

It's hard to say which episode I enjoyed the most out of those three because they were all good. Again, what's not to like about a blonde with fangs? Okay, so maybe I am attracted to shiny objects... Blonde... Shiny... Pretty... (Caveman voice.) Of course, the loads of chocolate chip cookies that I devoured during the episodes of Angel may also have contributed to my enjoyment of the show.

After Angel, we also watched the latest episode of Wipeout. Wipeout is always good for a laugh or two. All in all, I had a great time yesterday. It was fun.

I Suck At Deadliest Warrior

with it being wednesday yesterday, karen and i got to hang out with my friends (marc and kelley). karen recently acquired a recipe from one of her coworkers for beer bread. as it turns out, marc and kelley were interested in trying the beer bread. so last night, they came over for some beer bread... and chili to go with the bread. anyway, i think marc and kelley enjoyed the beer bread. (for anyone curious, the beer used in the making of the bread was blue moon.)

following dinner, the four of us watched the season finale of "deadliest warrior". now i suck at deadliest warrior. the show matches historical warriors against one another in a computer simulation based on various pieces of "scientific" data gathered in regards to weapons and all of that. (i use the term "science" loosely because there are inconsistencies in the weapon experiments.)

as a side note, karen and i caught an old "friends" show in which joey and monica were discussing who would win in a fight between some of their friends. "deadliest warrior" reminded me of that... except without the friends part. and for the record, i think my friend's (aimee) husband (jim) would kill every one of my friends. although, if i were to choose a female... i'd probably go with my bff (kerry) because i have seen her angry... really angry... just not at me... yet.

regardless, the matchup for the season finale of deadliest warrior was the ira (irish republican army) versus the taliban. truth be told, either terrorist group is hard to cheer for. i would probably say the least despicable is probably the ira... just because i have an affinity for all things irish. as it turned out, the ira won the computer simulation. naturally, that led all of us to think that the united states should have tried to send the ira over to afghanistan to get osama bin laden. it would have been easier...

as if one episode were not enough, we watched another episode of deadliest warrior afterwards. this matchup pitted a viking versus a samurai. for anyone curious, marc disagreed with the outcome of that battle.

anyway, with all the battling... we decided to watch another episode of television's greatest show: buffy the vampire slayer. the episode was titled "who are you?", and was about buffy and faith in each other's body after some magic had switched them. the episode marked the beginning of faith's road to redemption. (i have yet to ask karen or kelley about their opinions on faith after the episode... because neither of them liked that character too much.) i think one of the reasons why i like faith so much (beside the fact that she's cute) is because she is one of the more complicated characters on the show. she has all this power to do good. unfortunately, she doesn't really have her own identity living in the shadows of buffy. and she's angry with herself for what she has become. i just find the character interesting. but that's just me. and like i said, the cute factor may help too.

to end the night on a cheery note, we decided to also watch the latest episode of "wipeout". i think i may be addicted to wipeout. i can see why my mom and marc enjoy the show so much. the show is just funny to watch. the winner of last night's episode had the show-given moniker "deadbeat daughter" because she was 29 and still living with her parents. the moniker cracked me up.

anyway, it was a fun night... especially at the end when marc attempted to do a push-up on our floor using the push-up bars we have on our yoga mat. it was very amusing. that... and the labeling of his nether region with the word "testicles" that he created with karen's label maker. the label was a bit high for the anatomical area... unless of course the testicles really really did not descend... which made it more amusing.

I Suck At Wipeout

last night, karen and i hung out with my friends (marc and kelley).

marc and kelley were gracious enough to make dinner for the night. on the menu: tacos... and some other mexican related side dishes. usually whenever marc and kelley make tacos, i throw everything into the taco shell... including the related side dishes. i don't really know why i do it. seeing as how i'm already eating the taco by hand, i suppose it just makes things easier to consume.

anyway, last night i actually tried something new: a tamale. now, i have never eaten a tamale. in fact, i didn't even know what a tamale was up until yesterday. don't get me wrong, i've eaten a hot tamale... but that was just candy. (and for anyone curious, a hot tamale candy and a regular tamale... do not taste the same.) i never really made the connection that a tamale... is well... food and not candy.

needless to say, for those like me who have never eaten a tamale, according my friend wikipedia:

"A tamale (Spanish tamal, from Nahuatl tamalli) is a traditional Latin American dish consisting of steam-cooked corn dough (masa) with or without a filling. Tamales can be filled with meats, cheese (post-colonial), and sliced chillis or any preparation according to taste. The tamale is generally wrapped in a corn husk or plantain(post-colonial) leaves before cooking, depending on the region from which they come.

Their essence is the corn meal dough made from hominy (called masa), or a masa mix such as Maseca, usually filled with sweet or savory filling, wrapped in plant leaves or corn husks, and cooked, usually by steaming, until firm. Tamales were developed as a portable ration for use by war parties in the ancient Americas, and were as ubiquitous and varied as the sandwich is today. The diversity of native languages in the pre-Hispanic America led to a number of local words for the tamal, many of which remain in use."

regardless, the tamale was good. (the peanut butter and jelly bars for dessert were also very good too. cue rachael ray's "yum-o" sound.)

needless to say, with the season of "lost" over, we decided to catch up on some episodes of angel. the episodes we watched included: "i've got you under my skin" about a child possessed by a demon; and "the prodigal" which provides some history about angel's past and his relationship with his father.

as those episodes of angel were the last ones on the disc, we decided to take a quick break and enjoy the show "deadliest warrior". deadliest warrior is a show that examines the weaponry from various people in the past and creates a computer simulation about who would win in a fictitious battle. it's an interesting show that marc and kelley got karen and i hooked on. the combatants in the episode for the night: william wallace versus shaka zulu.

the show almost reminds me of those discussions growing up like who would win in a fight: batman versus superman and things like that... except deadliest warrior actually does some scientific research. (for anyone curious, william wallace would win... freeeeeeeedommmmm! that was a reference to the mel gibson "braveheart" movie... back before mel gibson became drunk and started calling women sugar-tits...)

anyway, to add some frivolity to the mix, we ended the night watching the show "wipeout". now, i suck at wipeout. wipeout is basically mxc (most extreme elimination challenge)... only better.

(the video below is from wipeout.)


the premise of the show: make it through a bunch of obstacle courses and the winner at the end gets $50,000.

i never really watched the show in its entirety up until yesterday. last night, however, had all of us laughing in stitches. i can see now why my mom loves the show so much. when the show first aired, my mom kept telling me how funny the show was. who knew? mother knows best...

anyway, wipeout was definitely a good way to end the night. as usual, i had a blast last night.