Holy crap, has it really been nearly 6 months since I last wrote? Anyways, I got a joke for you, via the old Truly Tasteless Jokes books that were popular in the 80s:

What's gross? Finding a dead squirrel in your yard.
What's grosser than gross? Finding just the tail the following week.

Thank you, you've been a great audience!

hehe, My last post was #69. Dude!
Not too much has been going on for me in the month of January, or so it seems. It started with a lame New Year's. Why lame? Knowing you have to work on New Year's Day really brings you down, even if you know that you weren't going to be doing anything anyway. Work did try to help by buying us lunch, but it was sandwiches from Panera. Not one of my favorites: too girly and everything is sneaky not so great for you. And freaking Chipotle wasn't even open!!! bastards.
I did fall for the first time on my bike ride to work. I knew there's a spot where it's always wet, and I knew the temperature was below freezing, I just didn't put it all together until I was already on the ice. Luckily, I slid more than fell with a thud so I just got a little dirty and sore. I didn't tear any clothes and I think my judo training helped me try to fall correctly (not put your hands out to catch you) Some guy in a truck was lucky enough to witness my daring do. I hope he enjoyed the show.
Perhaps the biggest news of the month is that my better half decided not to go to grad school. I have no doubt that she would have done very well there, I just wasn't sure if everything she would have learned was worth the time and money, and a lot of both of those. To celebrate, we enjoyed some fine food at the Melting Pot, the fondue chain that is probably overpriced, but BH enjoys it every time. I think we'd both be miserable if we went to a nice place that she didn't like. Me? I like everything, so that's not a problem.
I've managed to ride my bike about 200 miles this month. I still get people asking how I can do it. I dress in layers and keep moving so that I'm not outside for too long and I stay warm by not standing still. I put on a fender over the front tire to help keep water and gook off my legs and feet and made an attempt to replace my brake pads. Once we get a week with crappy weather, I'll bring in my ride for a tune up and have them make the adjustments, including truing up the wheels.
My parents came to town over MLK weekend. We had a good time, getting dinner at Big Fish Grille in Crofton on Saturday night. The food was pretty good, but a bit pricey. Sunday I took them to Eastern Market in Capitol Hill. I hadn't been there before either, but now I know where to go if I should need pig ears or tails!
That night, I made a roasted/broiled leg of lamb, courtesy of www.FoodNetwork.com. It turned out very well, and I got to eat lamb leftovers at least once a day for the next week and a half. I felt quite accomplished when I polished off the last of it.
This past weekend, we got together with 3 other couples, one of whom recently moved up to Philadelphia. The following morning, we got together at Silver Diner with my friend Jen and her husband Todd. They were in town for the anti-war protest. I had a great time as I had only seen Jen like once in the last 5+ years, at her wedding so I finally got to chat with Todd.
And the food wasn't even that bad!
One thing I've noticed recently is that I'm longing for the days of my middle teen years, when music really meant something to me. Between rock and my friends, I didn't really need anything else. I'm thinking of writing a lenthy blog about it, possibly involving saving drafts and editing and all that crap. I bet you can't wait. Maybe it's some kind of Early-Onset Midlife Crisis...
Oh, and I baked my first ziti last week. I think it was the easiest baked pasta I've made so far (macaroni & cheese, manicotti, & lasagna). I had leftovers today for lunch and dinner, and it was still good, possibly better than it was when I first made it.
Did I mention that I shampooed the carpet in the family room? Here's the before and after pics:
This one is what it looked like before.

Frankly, I'm not sure if you can tell much of a difference in these pics, but it made a HUGE difference.
I wound up having to rent 4 different shampooing machines from two different places because the first three and a half didn't work. After returning the first three, and having the guy at the store prove the fourth one worked, I finally got the thing to work. The only thing different I did was to use a different outlet. Now, I'm not as dumb as that sounds (really!). All four would turn on and make noise, but only with this other outlet did the soapy water start coming out and did the brush start doing stuff. Go figure.
In the "After" pic, it looks like I missed a few spots, but that's only the direct sunlight coming in from the window, the rest of the room is fairly dark.
I'm pretty sure I had some deep thoughts that were worth mentioning, but of course now I can't remember them. Fudge.
Oh well, this should keep you busy for a while.

TTFN

In case you hadn't heard, we went to Orlando just after Thanksgiving. My whole plan was to do anything that didn't cost over $10 to get in. So f you Mr. Disney and Mr. Shamu, and especially you, Mr. Universalstudios. Someone suggested that I go to Kennedy Space Center, which sounded intriguing, but then I found that it would take nearly the whole day, if not more, to see the whole place, it was about an hour away, and something like $30 to get in, so f you Tom Hanks and Mr. Nasa. I did find that I could drive up to Daytona in about an hour, and I found a coupon for admission to Daytona International Raceway (in case a Canadian showed up) so the total cost would only be $20. Sold!
It turned out to be just about all you can expect a race track to be. There were some displays, a history of how it was made and famous events. I took a few pictures:









Here I am celebrating my victory in the gift shop. It's not easy finding something reasonably priced in Nascar. I thought I had a better picture taken, but I was toting a lot of technology for those rednecks I rode with on the tram car ("Please watch...") I mean, I thought denim was cutting edge in 1850, but not with these guys. Yech.
Here I am cheering myself on. Everyone else was in the bathroom after drinking way too much of Jr.'s main sponsor: (That'd be Budwiser)You can see the cloud cover. It made the track a bit slick and we had some harrowing moments on the tram car. Since I didn't want to be labeled a narc or worse, possibly Canadian, I had to remove my shirt.
The next day, in addition to the celebrating you just saw, I blew off some steam at one of the many buffets on International Drive in Orlando. I wonder which weighs more: the food consumed in one day at all of the buffets in town, or Epcot Center. (Speaking of which, does anyone know what they keep in there? Is it storage for a wig outlet like the tower from the 1984 World Fair in Knoxville, TN?)

And here is what I left them with:


Note how I went back for seconds. THAT's how you blend in with rednecks: gorging. The buffet was at the aptly named Cici's Pizza. All that food cost me about $5!!!
I think I downloaded some pics from my trip that night to Cafe TuTu Tango but I don't know where they are.
Man, all this food talking is making me hungry. I think I'm going to have some beer and pretzels while watching the 2nd half of the International Bowl. That's right, the battle between Cincinnati and Western Michigan is too big to be contained within American borders. They had to send it to Toronto. Hopefully, the drunken Bearcat revelers won't start any international incidents. I don't know if the US will take anyone hiding from the Mounties like they did with our Vietnam draft skedaddlers. Someone should look in to that.

On a side note: It's early January and nearly 70 degrees and I don't have any plans on going outside today, except to bring our cardboard to be recycled, which I already did. I was thinking of going on a 44 mile bike ride with the Oxon Hill Bike Club but my better half talked my wuss self out of it. I could use the exercise. I broke 180lbs for the first time in a couple years last week, Damn you pork products. How lean is venison? Maybe I should've had some of that...

have a good weekend, I'll write more later.

My all time favorite holiday movies (in order):
1. Ernest Saves Christmas
2. Bad Santa
3. Christmas Vacation
4. Elf
5. Santa Does Dallas
6. Harold & Kumar go to christmas
7. Bill & Santa's Excellent Adventure

if I ever attain public office, I promise to mandate that anyone who wishes to use the self-scan thingy at the grocery store (or anywhere that has one) he must pass a test and get a license which must be updated on a regular basis, like every five years or so.

Porch sittin'
So it looks like the great Commonwealth (whatever that means) of Virginia will be banning same sex marriage. Good for them. I still don't get it. What's so important about keeping two people from doing what they want to?? What is there to be gained by keeping marriage strictly heterosexual? The sanctity of it? What a load of bullshit. how many marriages out there are shams? What about that Representative from Florida, whatshisname, Foley? Now there's a reason to keep gays from marrying. What the right is forgetting is that there isn't a marriage problem with him, because the objects of his affection aren't old enough to get legally married.
I've been happily married for over two years, thus giving me a soapbox to bitch from. I say if two people really want to get married, and if that involves being out of the closet and having to put up with more shit than any straight person can imagine, then let them. We've been allowing people to get married just for a green card for years, how is that any less a violation of the sanctity of marriage?

Random thought: I want some Chinese food.

and I'm back. Actually, that's about all I have to say. People are still allowed to carry guns around, how is that a more important liberty than being allowed to marry someone of the same sex??

Perhaps more importantly, the college basketball season officially starts tonight, and the mercurial Maryland team is really taking it to Hampdon in the first half 30-13. This should be an interesting year. For the first time since 2004, they have an actual point guard. Not just that, but they have TWO!!! Hopefully, coach Williams remembers what to do with them. They have 5 newcomers on the team, and most of the rest of the team wasn't around for their ACC championship. All I ask for is that their players play like they're supposed to. For 4 year we had to put up with Travis Garrison, a 6'9" forward repeatedly hand around the three-point line and hoist up jumpers. He was the only one who didn't seem to know that the team would have been better off if he set up in the paint. I think he learned his softness from Tahj Holden.
I'm trying to watch this movie called Crime & Punishment in Suburbia and I have no f'ing clue what is going on, aside from some girl whose parents have separated. She is quite good at showing off her chest. All I've figured out so far is that her boyfriend was in Detroit Rock City. I just read that this movie is loosely based on Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment" which I own, but have no intention on reading. From what I gather about Russian writers, I have no chance at being able to understand what is going on without being able to put forth an effort that I just don't have. you know what that's like, right?

Oh, and remind me to tell you about my riding in the Tour du Port.

ttfn

Porch sittin'
And on a related note: Countries I've been to:

Canada (Ontario & Quebec, a couple times each)
Tijuana, Mexico
Aruba
St. Lucia
England
Germany
and I almost went to Holland when I was about 7, but my grandmother passed away the night before : (
I feel like I'm missing one. I'm sure someone will let me know (I'm pretty sure New England doesn't count)

Porch sittin'
Ah, homeownership. Our town will vacuum up your leaves (I think that's how they do it) twice a year, usually once in November and once in December. They sent out the schedule a few weeeks ago and I made sure to put our street's dates into Outlook. For whatever reason, I thought the first suck-up was next week. When I got to work this morning, a reminder popped up that the sucking begins this Wednesday and all of our leaves are still strewn about the yard.
Sunset these days is just after 5pm, or right when I leave the office, and with my bike ride home (yes, still) it's good and dark by the time I get home. but still, we have a lot of leaves (and pine needles (EVERgreen my ass) and all I have to do is rake them down the hill to the curb. It sure beats raking everything into piles, putting it all into bags that I have to pay for, and then putting the bags into the garage and a few days later, carrying those same bags down to the curb to be picked up by the trashmen (not the Surfin' Bird band)
so today when i got home, I put on my sneakers and raked like the dickens, still in my bike clothes. I think I like raking in the dark. If I miss a spot, I probably won't know about it, I'm not going to miss a bunch of football, and it's cooler so I won't sweat up a storm, and maybe some of the annoying neighbors stay away from me, the eccentric Old Man Greene. Frankly, I don't see a downside.
And, I didn't miss out on forming the callous (sp??) on my thumb from my work gloves. Who needs all that skin anyways?

Porch sittin'
You know what I have decided is fun? Unnecessarily bidding on items on ebay. I just drove up the price of a cycling jacket from $10 to $30. Not only do you get to help the economy while still sitting in front of the tv, you get a little rush, just like playing low-stakes blackjack.
I could also feel this way after getting jilted on an auction on Friday night when I missed a bid in the last 5 seconds.
Now that you know this, don't bid against me, I'll find you.

Porch sittin'
Alec Baldwin quote: "The Italians have a saying, 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer, but they've never won a war or mass produced a decent car...'"

Random List:

States that I've been in for a significant amount of time:
1. New Jersey
2. New York
3. Massachussets
4. Connecticut
5. New Hampshire
6. Vermont
7. Maine
8. Rhode Island
9. Pennsylvania
10. Ohio
11. Maryland
12. Delaware
13. Virginia
14. West Virginia
15. Kentucky
16. Tennessee
17. Georgia
18. Florida
19. South Carolina
20. North Carolina
21. Louisiana
22. California
23. Oregon
24. Michigan


States that I've had a layover in but never left the airport: Illinois, Texas, Colorado....I think that's it. Texas will be getting bumped up to the big list next year when we go visit the in-laws.
Speaking of the in-laws: they apparently have a 'friendly' contest going to see who can visit the most states. My f-i-l drove up to Oklahoma for the day to cross one off earlier this year. Upon stopping at the Welcome Center, he was asked why he was visiting that day. His reply, "to beat my wife"

Porch sittin'
So what have I been up to this last fortnight? Not too damn much. My movie reviews of late:
Blue Juice - some British guy is living with Catherine Zeta Jones but would rather surf (in England) It was a completely unbelievable movie. Who would piss off your really hot girlfriend like that. He should take advice from Milhouse "Once she sees I'll do anything she says, she's bound to respect me"
Oh, Ewan MacGregor was in it, but I didn't recognize him until the last 15 minutes....maybe if I was paying attention.

Stick It was the much publicized gymnastics movie from the spring. It was watchable but lame and the whole time I felt like the Feds were waiting outside to bust me for renting it.

The Cooler with William H Macy and Dr. Delamico from Er was pretty good. He plays a casino employee whose job is to bring bad luck to people who are winning and how pathetic his life is.

Sadly, that about does it. I'm currently waiting out the Yankee rain delay by watching Flashdance. The boyfriend is now known as Dr. Roberts on the OC, fyi.
I know what you're saying "Flashdance?" with the same intonation as Jim Mora and his 'playoffs' quote. Watching it again, I think it was the whole Manhung song and dance that made me a man, at least it did more than any Bar Mitzvah ever did. Take that, Mr. Nachman!!!
It's nice have theMets & Yankees in the playoffs and that they're expected to go far. I'll have something to watch and read about while Fox delays their quality programming (OC, simpsons, Family Guy, that Woodcock show)
The only drawback is that my movie watching will go down.
This past weekend was pretty uneventful. I finally got around to buying paint for the dresser I came in to in college. I stripped off all the paint back then (99 or 2000) but never got around to repainting it. I got some bland neutral color for it. Hopefully I can still find the hardware that hasn't been on it for over five years.
I feel about about not having blogged since mid-September. I've noticed that several of the blogs I read on a daily basis are on hiatus or have ended all toghether. Now I need to find something else. Does anybody out there have any suggestions? I'm looking for something entertaining but not too serious.
Can someone explain to me how Byung Hung Kim is still pitching? Or is his role the guy you put in when you don't care if you lose, you just dont' want the game to go too late because you have to get out of town or have a day game tomorrow?

For those of you who might ask, yes I am still riding my bike to work most days. I missed a bunch of time in Sept due to a cold and several rainy days, but the last couple of weeks have been great. I'm starting to realize, however, that I should get some lights for when i'm riding in the morning and soon when I ride home, since sunset is getting closer to 6:00, and that's before the end of daylight savings.
Anyways, I'm gonna get shopping (on Amazon, natch) and then get Cara upstairs where she'll hopefully stop snoring. That Benadryl really knocks her out.

ttfn!

Couch Sittin
So it's the weekend and what are we doing? Bubkus.
Last night we went out for a small celebatory dinner because my better half made herself even MORE better. You didn't think she could do that, did you? Me either. We ate at TJ Elliot's on 197 in Bowie. I had the scallops scampi which was quite tasty. Cara got some kind of steak with sauteed peppers, onions, and garlic on top. For dessert, we split an a slice of apple pie a la mode.
We found out that my in-laws contracted on a house in Ft. Worth, so I spent the rest of the evening looking up restaurants in town and signing up for nearly a dozen e-mail lists at said eateries. Cara fell asleep early and I watched a bunch of crap on tv (Jimmy Kimmel show, some show about dogfights on History Channel, etc)
Today I got up early to pay some bills and stuff like that.
Cara and I both got a smile out of her disputing a charge on a new credit card, some kind of fee that we didn't initiate. I LOVE that she's on my side.
We got lunch (my breakfast) at the diner again (not a complaint) where we each got the turkey burger deluxe, mine with swiss. They were delicious.
I spent the rest of the day watching and sleeping through college football. I'm thrilled that UM beat notre dame.
What'd be really nice is if the Mets could beat the Pirates just once, a team they're ahead of by 30 games!
We had some steak for dinner and then Cara went off to a bachelorette party where she'll probably skip out on the line dancing portion of the evening. I can't really blame her, since she doesn't line dance and she doesn't know any of the girls. Still, it's a chance to drink a lot; if it was me, I'd probably take one for the team. However, I haven't heard from her yet, so maybe she got talked into going out with them...
Since I haven't had the chance to ride my bike in over a week, I got back on the treadmill, watching an episode of The Wire. To celebrate, I'm pounding the gin & tonics.
I got out of work early yesterday so I watched Mystery Men via Netflix. It was just plain awful. Ben Stiller just isn't funny and neither is Janine Garofolo. Don't bother wasting your time by watching this movie.
And if you haven't heard, the Booty administration has started in southern California.
tomorrow I plan on watching pro football all day.
Our big plans for the weekend are to go to the new Giant grocery store that opened up yesterday. I'm gonna make two different chili recipes. One is from Men's Health, but I'll let Cara have some if she wants to anyway.
I'll let y'all know how that goes.

ttfn

Porch sittin'
so I went to the new Nautilus Diner this morning with my Better Half and I must say: It's Goooooooooooooooooood!!!!!!!

We each had an omelet with coffee. The line was out the door but it moved quickly and the service was great. They even have mints near the register, though they're the not as good ones with the colored goo inside.
I'm thinking about going back tomorrow for lunch, but I shouldn't because we have plenty of stuff here.
We drove out to Falls Church to the house of our next friends to be married (October) where we watched football and ate and drank a lot. I got to watch the Jets while the other tv was showing the Browns/Saints game. The jets looked pretty good although they couldn't run the ball all day which helped lead to the titans coming back in the 4th.
I had a great time sharing a couch with Carlton and his attempts at predicting bad things happening to the Jets and we all made fun of Anne and her coupon-cutting but I think we're all kinda jealous of her discipline.
It looks like I'm going to lose my fantasy game unless Joseph Addai runs for like 4 tds in the last 4 minutes. Oh well, I do have a roster move to make, once yahoo lets me do it. I'll tell you all about it later, I don't want anyone in my league getting him before I do.

Couch Sittin
so it's officially fall, college football all day Saturday, pro all day Sunday followed by new Simpsons and Family Guy. Thankfully, we got our laptop back up and running. For some reason, every so often, we have to disconnect our internet and let everything reset.
The big news in the last month+ is that our AC broke, specifically the condenser. That alone costs $2G to replace. Since our HVAC and water heater are all 12 years old, we decided to go the Full Monty and have all of them replaced, which will be done on Monday. It's $7.5G to get it all done by a local company.
I was sitting home that Tuesday before Labor Day, watching movies, and I didn't really notice that the AC wasn't working. I knew it was warmer during the day but I didn't know by how much.
Luckily, the weather hasn't gotten much over 85 during the day so its been tolerable. I don't mind sweating but not when I don't want to, like when you first sit in a hot car, or just walking around outside.
On the plus side, I get to take a day off from work
and I plan on watching several movies (The commitments, Bachelor party, the Wire 2.3, something on cable) and to finally mow the lawn. I haven't done that in a month, since the day after I last donated blood, sometime in late July.

What else have I done? I just finished the Best August Ever. For the most part, it was pretty Augusty except this time I got to go to a Hog Roast, a Crab Feast, and the Yanks swept a five game series in Boston. I'm sure there was other stuff, but those are the highlights.
The hog roast was at my boyfriend-in-law's grandmother's farm in rural PA. Apparently, this is an annual thing so I will be buying a tent a a two-person sleeping bag for next year. They went through 4.5 kegs!!! I got to eat a piece of tongue, straight out of the mouth. It was a little dry, and Sam agrees that it wasn't as good as it could be. We had to leave early as the in-laws were back in town for the first time in a while and we had to see them.
The following weekend we were invited to Ann & Carlton's crab feast. Since it was our first one, we didn't know to show up right on time. We got there an hour after everyone else and most of the crabs were alredy gone. since I didn't eat too much, and Cara had even less, we went to Urban Barbecue with Brian & megan. Good stuff. Bonus: Jets beat the Redskins that night, too.
Labor Day weekend, although not in August was also good. It rained all day Friday which I don't mind because we don't have AC. I took a half day and we spent the afternoon eating pho and getting ready for our Friends Worthy of Fine China dinner. We had to remove a lot of bar code stickers from pricey dishes. Sam & Annie came down Saturday afternoon and everyone had a good time setting up and watching football. Everything worked out perfectly, we even got to use 3 coupons at Papa Johns on one order!
The next day, we all went up to Hanover as the in-laws were moving to Dallas two days later. Sam informed me in the moring that the annual Chili Cook Off was going on that day and we were both excited to go to that. I ate at least 3 dozen chilis and 4 beers. I also got a t-shirt and a metal chili cup that I can use at other competitions.
Tomorrow we're going to Falls Church for an NFL Opening Day get together. I'm going to my office to pick up my bike (I wasn't feeling well enough to ride home yesterday) and stop by the famer's market.
Big News: The Nautulus Diner on Rt. 3 in Crofton is finally open!!!! We're going tomorrow for breakfast when I'll have an omelet (maybe a western) w/ home fries and toast. I have waited for this day since the winter.
Wow, Tony Stewart is out of the Chase. I know of at least one person and an entire family who are quite despondent right now.
I do have some pictures to post from the Chili cook off and the FWoFC dinner, but they're upstairs and I'm not. Maybe when we get AC again I'll post them.

That's about it for now. I'm going to try to be more postable from now on, especially since our laptop in on-line again, I have no excuse.

ttfn!

Porch sittin'
I finally got our laptop up and working again. It needed a new AC adapter and of course as soon as my eBay transaction went through, Dean came up with the same thing but with a much better price: free.

Can't you tell how thrilled I am that the laptop is working again?

And here are some pictures from Jen's wedding in May:




If Mike and I look trashed, well there's a darn good reason for that.

Mike & Jen were two of my best friends for most of my life and it was great to have seen them both again. It had been way too long.

Wow, I haven't posted anything in a month!! I'm as shocked as you are...not that that means anything. The wife and I spent a week on the west coast with a couple of friends of hers from HS. It was supposed to be part of a 30th birthday celebration for all of us, but now that I think about it, we didn't have one piece of cake! Some celebration. I did get to do this:


I don't mean to brag, but I was able to identify this ride just from seeing the left front headlight. Take that, you black socks and sandals wearing mid-West tourists. Suck it!

I wasn't too keen on touring Hollywood, but I was outnumbered. Finding out that they have a John Wayne airport AND a Bob Hope airport really removed any credibility this town might have had to me. Bob Hope? What about Spielberg International, or Uncle Milty, or even Carmen Electra? I can think of at least 3 people who wouldn't mind taxiing on that landing strip.
We only spent one day in H-wood. I was pleasently surprised to find out that Charro's house has a basketball hoop.
The next day was spent returning one rental car, picking up another (don't ask) and then heading out to Venice Beach and Santa Monica. The beach was pretty nice until some sand got into my sandals. That's when I started getting some blisters on my feet. And the sand was rediculously hot.
Santa Monica was pretty nice, or at least the "Promenade" and the pier were. We didn't see the rest of the town, so who knows hot ghetto that place is?
We left LA early enough on Saturday to have lunch in San Francisco. I was pretty happy because I know how cold it usually is there so I dressed appropriately. The 3 women I was with? not so much. Ha ha.
Although my dreams of eating at Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles were dashed, I did get to eat at In n Out Burger near Ghiradelli Square. I asked the kid behind the counter to make it good, and his suggestion was to add onions. It was ok. I did like that the ingredients were all fresh (allegedly)
We spent the next day at the Jelly Belly factory which was a bit disappointing as they weren't making anything that month, plus, I don't need to eat that many jellybeans. We spent the afternoon sampling wine in Napa Valley and eating lunch. We stopped at this place called Market where I had a tasty prime rib sandwich:


Kim had herself a risotto that she absolutely loved. I think it had mushrooms in it


If I remember correctly, she freakin' loved it. (Does anyone know how I can get the pictures to show up where I have the cursor? It keeps putting the pic at the beginning of the post and I have to cut and paste the rest of the post above it. What a royal pain in the ass)
Anyways, I forgot that I also got this chop salad



If I remember correctly, the wife got some pan-fried chicken w/ mashed potatoes and Heather got a healthy portion of macaroni & cheese. I had a pint of some English sounding porter (whatever is similar to Guiness) but it still managed to taste kind of thin to me. We were all impressed with the little thingy in the can that controlled the foam.

Alright, this room is warm and the picture thing is starting to annoy me.

Ooh, I have a good reason as to why I haven't posted too much recently: apparently the AC adapter to our laptop has crapped out and the battery never lasted long to begin with. One of these days I'll get around to buying another one on Ebay (eBay?)

I found out this weekend that I am about to embark upon the greatest August in my lifetime, and perhaps everybody else's as well. The 2nd weekend of the month, we're headed up to PA as my boyfriend-in-law is hosting a hog roast (pig, to the lay person) Now, I've never been to anything like this and I'm not sure what to expect but I don't know how this can't be one of the top 10 events in my lifetime, up til now.
Then, the week after that, we're going to a crab feast. I've only had crabs one time in my life and found them to be a lot of work for the food, but it was fun and there was plenty of beer involved.
And that, is what leads to the greatest August ever. Previously, the month has only served as a beginning to any Labor Day countdown. Seriously, 31 days of 90-something degree heat with no holidays? Who's idea was that?? Yech.
And so now I'm stuck upstairs with only the MLB all-star game to listen to. I just watched two minutes while calling the wife and I think that is more than I've watched in the last five years combined.
Hmmm, what else is going on? Well, that's all I can think of, for now.
I'll get back to you with the story of the Oregon portion of our vacation and maybe some more pictures, if they don't piss me off too much.

Catching Up
I forgot to mention that we went to my friend Jen's wedding last month. When I was living at home in my early 20's, we were the best of friends. Once I left for YCP, we didn't talk anywhere near as much. I got to take off a Friday and we drove up to Bethlehem, PA, a town that I had driven through many times but never stopped. Apparently, I didn't miss too much.
The ceremony was very Catholic with a mass and everything. My buddy Mike showed up just in time to keep Jen from having second thoughts and walking out the front door "These things never start on time" hehe.
We had a good chuckle at the old couple in front of us to made their own monogrammed handkerchiefs: they wrote a big "A" on it in magic marker.
The reception was in downtown Bethlehem in the historic Hotel Bethlehem. It looks like it'd be a great place for a weekend getaway. Cara is so hot. Plenty of shopping and bars within a couple of blocks of the hotel.
The cocktail hour was nice with the open bar and hors d'oevres. (sp?) Cara was drinking big margaritas on the rocks, Mike was drinking Yuenglings, and I really don't remember what I was drinking. We also had some brie, fruit, crackers, and some kind of stuffed mushroom or stuffed puff pastry.
The dinner was on a once-open terrace that has since been enclosed by windows that made up two of the walls providing a nice view on the main street on one side, and a great view of the local landscape on another. Through the entrance to the terrace, we could watch some local high schoolers attending their prom.
We sat with Mike and his date/girlfriend Ale, an old friend Meredith and her fiancee, and some 'fabulous' guy who works with Jen. The women at our table were all smitten with this guy, not surprisingly. He must've talked for 10 minutes about the cigarette holder he bought.
Dinner was very nice. The buffet consisted of a pasta table where I had some penne with a garlic alfredo-type sauce and you could choose from a few throw-ins such as mushrooms, minced garlic, and bell peppers.
The next table had roast turkey and prime rib with mustard, horseradish, and some unnoteworthy sauce. Finally, and much to Cara's delight, they had a mashed potato station with various fixin's like bacon, chives, cheese, and roasted garlic. The only drawback was that the attention to each individual's order slowed down the line as there was only one mashed potato engineer working.
Dessert, natually, was wedding cake. Afterward they brought out a small tray of cold anti pasti. I had some pepperoni, olives, and some other stuff. We had a good laugh at Mike's expense. he spent nearly 5 minutes talking about how good he is at handling hot/spicy foods. he had one pepper and it caused him to cough, hiccup, and start sweating a bit. He couldn't finish anything else.
I did make his day at last call when I got him two more beers and a double scotch on the rocks for myself.
Somehow I managed to drive back to my folks place that night. We had tickets to the yankees-A's game that afternoon at the Stadium. We got there just in time for the overcast clouds to break and the sun came out. As a bonus, it was cap day!
We were lucky enough to see the last appearance for the year of Tanyon Sturtze. it's really something to hear 50,000+ people groan in unison.
After the game we headed up to Westchester to pick up my grandmother and we all went out for dinner as a birthday bash celebration for Cara and myself. We had a huge Italian dinner.
the following day, we started our drive home with a detour into central PA to wish Cara's mom a happy Mother's Day. It was a welcome surprise to her and it really made her day.
it was a tiring, yet very fun and satisfying weekend.
I had a great time seeing Mike and Jen. I don't think I'd seen my parents since Thanksgiving, and these days it's always great to see Oma.
On an unrelated note, I have to go to work tomorrow, but Cara has the day off. I'm going to drive so that I can come home for lunch to watch the US-Czech Republic soccer game and eat some more leftovers from Maggiano's.
That's all for now.

Porch sittin'

Man, has it been over a month since I last posted? I haven't completely forgotten about this blog, only when I've been near a computer. Let's recap:
My 30th birthday was a month and a half ago. I haven't really been bothered by the age, I kind of like knowing my auto insurance might go down.
My better wife threw a very nice surprise party for me, inviting several friends of ours and our spouses and their significant others. I knew she was up to something but I just figured it was dinner or something. Who knew she'd have everyone drive all the way up to Germantown just to go bowling. (Of course, she did drive all the way to PA twice a year to see a dentist for years; I guess I should have known)
I can't really remember the last birthday party thrown in my honor except for when Tu got me loaded at Murph's in york. I think that was in 2000.
Anyways, my brother and his wife were in town for the weekend from Brooklyn so naturally we spent all of Saturday watching the NFL draft. Eventually we went to downtown Annapolis for dinner to have a good yet underwhelming dinner a couple of blocks from the Academy.
They got me a bottle of single malt scotch that I haven't had enough of. It's pretty good, though I don't know how good it is compared to other single malts.
One thing that I have been meaning to blog about is that last year at passover, just before my 29th birthday, my aunt was nice enough to tell me that the body starts falling apart at 30. When i was 29 I had several migraines that resulted in me throwing up, I dislocated my shoulder again playing touch football (I didn't even touch anyone on that play) and I also got strep (who gets strep anymore??) with a fever of 103.
For those of you who are curious, this is what my

aunt

looks like:
(alright, I don't remember how to post a picture, but I'll do it once I figure it out.)
What else is new? I started biking to work a few weeks ago. It's about 8 or 9 miles and takes me no more than 45 minutes. I shower when I get to work and get to park in the garage every time (at the bike rack) so far it's only been real hot one day (mid-90's) so I guess I've been lucky. I brought my ride in for a tune up over Memorial Day weekend. Seems like since then, the shifting hasn't been as smooth as before. One day I'll get around to bringing it back, or maybe messing with it myself. It's great exercise, and I'm saving mileage on my car. The only problem is if I have to run an errand at lunch time. There arem't many places near my office at all, and I don't wanna break a big sweat and then have to be around people for the rest of the day...though I guess it'd be their problem to deal with.
movies I've watched recently: Mumford: ok, unspectacular with only a few people you've heard of in small roles
I finished the last season of Six Feet Under. I think I'm going to remember the final montage for a while.
Debs: VERY entertaining.
Hitch: not bad, whatshisname from King of Queens made the whole movie.
Melinda & melinda: pretty good, I seem to always enjoy Woody allen movies
Tin Men: I got it on advice from a co-worker. It did nothing for me
Love Stinks: very amusing if you can handle 90 minutes of that weird guy from 3rd Rock from the Sun.
Last picture Show: a classic that wasn't bad but I probably didn't give it enough attention.

We're leaving for LA on Wednesday. Cara and I are meeting two of her high school friends as part of a 30th birthday bash. We'll be in Hollywood til Saturday morning when we'll head north via rental car to San Francisco. Sunday we'll be in Napa to see a winery or seven and maybe see an olive oilery. From there we head to Ashland in southern Oregon for a day before ending in Portland where one of the girls lives. As far as I'm concerned, I'm only along for arm candy and lifting heavy things. I will try to stay out of the way exept to suggest place to eat. I think we have reservations at the Stinking Rose, where everything has garlic. I'd really like to try that chicken and Waffles chain, In n Out Burger, and maybe Fat Burger, too.
Also, my friend Stef from college lives out there somewhere so hopefully we'll get to see her at some point. I think I last saw her 5 years ago when I lived in Olney and my gerbils were still alive.
I think that's enough for now. Let that sink in and I'll get back to you.