Cookie Decorating...PARTY?!?!

Who doesn't like a good Christmas party? Who doesn't like a good Christmas cookie decorating party? Yep...you read that correctly - Christmas cookie decorating party (from now on just called CCDP)! Don't worry, when Amanda asked me to join her on Tuesday for the CCDP I was a little very skeptical. I mean how manly is that...decorating Christmas cookies when I could be at home playing some Dragon Age! Grrr! But in all seriousness it was a VERY fun night! Emma - Amanda's law school friend - held a very nice party. She had plenty of food to munch on throughout the evening and plenty to drink - our favorite was the coffee with a hint of gingerbread liqueur topped with whipped cream...amazing!

Here are some of the cookies that were decorated on Tuesday (all but 2 are mine). These are just a few of the cookies decorated on Tuesday...there had to be close to 100 or more cookies in total that we (i.e. everyone) decorated. Amanda and I left around 9:30 and there were still a good 40 cookies still to go. The best (or worst if you were Emma) was that Emma had an 8 hour final the next day! Yikes!

Enjoy!

Ok...so this was my attempt at Ironman. I KNOW Ironman doesn't have a big "I" on his chest, but I had to call him out somehow! Look at his glowing hands...just like Ironman! The frosting kind of dripped :( It looked amazing in my mind!

Second attempt - NINJA!!! Admit it...this is an AMAZING ninja! Look at the headband and throwing stars in his hands!

Keeping with the superhero theme I ATTEMPTED Batman...yeah the bat symbol didn't work out so I just squeezed some yellow frosting for belt. Again...it looked good in my mind.

These two were my favorite - you probably guessed...I didn't make these two :P Emma's sister made these two. Pirate and girl in a yellow polka dot bikini!

This was my "artistic" cookie. It is the sun within the moon! I know you like it...admit it!

These were made by Joe (Amanda's friend's boyfriend). I thought the Viking horn was very well done! Way to go, Joe! - said in the voice of Joe Mauer's mom.

My "Ho ho ho" heart. I thought this was one of my better cookies.

Comet had a little accident on one of his deliveries :( Don't worry we got him to the vet right away and he survived!

Christmas Time @ The Office

Worst part about Christmas time in the office - everyday leading up to the last day in the office before Christmas each department has their yearly holiday party. So no matter where I walk in the office it smells amazing and it makes me hungry...all day!

Casual Friday

I understand that everyone is excited for Christmas and taking vacation and all, but just because you are taking the rest of the week off doesn't mean you are allowed to wear jeans on Monday! The only days (other than Friday) we are supposed to wear jeans at work would be the day before a holiday - take this week for example...we get Thursday and Friday off for Christmas, so we are allowed to wear jeans on Wednesday instead of Friday. Makes sense, right?

Ugh, it just frustrates me, because it is always this one guy at work who does this. He is a manager of something...one of those guys with a big title that does squat. Well anyway, he has an ego and feels he can do whatever he wants. Last week he decided to wear jeans on Thursday...apparently because he wanted to. I am sorry, but this is a professional atmosphere and it would be nice if he treated it as such!

I hope the snow plow hits his mailbox today...lol!

Merry Christmas everyone! =)

To Quote a Coworker...

An older (60'ish) lady at work who is very blunt...

Re: Valentine's Day

"Can you believe somebody just asked me what I'll be doing on February 15th? I told her that I'll be full of chocolate and have rosebuds on my ass!"

A Fiery Thanksgiving!

I was originally going to post my Friday 5 today, but given the events that happened yesterday during Thanksgiving I must post about that instead!

Yesterday's Thanksgiving day celebrations were going along just as smooth and normal...like in previous years. Everyone arrived at The Mrs.' grandma's house around noon. Lunch was served - turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, coleslaw, rolls and of course desserts (pumpkin roll and strawberry cake). The pumpkin roll was amazing, btw!

After dinner we watched the Patriots beat up on the Lions and then proceeded to play some cards - Kings was the game of choice for the afternoon. Before you ask, yes...I did lose, but what else is new when it comes to cards? During one round of Kings we all noticed an odd smell in the air - smelled like smoke. At first we didn't think anything of it since it was very cold outside and it sort of smelled like a wood-burning furnace. The card game went on and then all of a sudden The Mrs.' aunt said something to the effect of "there is a fire in the backyard!" Now, luckily the fire was not in their backyard...it was in their neighbors' backyard.

This next part may not sound too weird if one were to be living in the country or something, but keep in mind that we were having Thanksgiving in a suburb of Minneapolis...anything but the country. So back to the fire...once we all heard there was a fire we jumped out of our seats to see what was going on and sure enough the fire had fully engulfed the neighbors meat smoker...yep, meat smoker. Apparently the Hmong neighbors like to smoke various meats in their backyard - from what we could gather it was either bear or deer that they were trying to smoke!!! I am going to go out on a limb here...but I am pretty sure that a homemade meat smoker in your backyard in the city is against fire code. So we all see this fire and immediately we call the fire department, because it is dangerously close to The Mrs.' grandma's garage. We get word that the fire department is on their way and so logically what do we all do??? We go outside to get a better look, of course! At this point the smoke smell turned into a nasty burning meat smell so we decided to move our vehicles to the street so the smell didn't get inside them. The police showed up first and then the fire department showed up and started to put out the fire. The best part of all of this was that the owners of the house with the burning smoker didn't even realize anything was on fire until the fire department showed up and had already dragged a fire hose through their backyard!

It was definitely a crazy afternoon and it was a Thanksgiving I will NEVER forget! Below are some pictures I captured on my phones camera - sorry for the poor quality, but I didn't have my regular camera. Hopefully everyone else had a fun and safe Thanksgiving!

Fire trucks arrive on the scene

"Get in here now!"

Fire dying down before firefighters arrive

Watching and waiting in the cold

Firefighters finally arrive...fire is pretty small now

Dousing the fire

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but work has been keeping me extremely busy these last few weeks. A lot has happened since I last posted...

Me & baby Mason

Last weekend I made my way up to LP to visit the family and also to take The Mrs. up for my younger sisters baby shower! The shower sounded like a lot of fun - the place was decorated nicely, the apparently played a few games and baby Mason was so cute! While the shower was going I headed over to Dad's place to watch a little football and have some lunch - lunch was great, but the football sucked...yep this was the 31-3 loss to the Packers :(

Since last Friday I have been training in a guy from India who will be taking over part of my current job since I will be rotating into my new position at work by the end of the year. Training in this guy has been both fun and stressful - our time line was short not to mention I had to work with him all day which left no time for me to do my other job duties...it was worth it though since now I will be able to focus more on learning my new position! So this India guy...this was his FIRST time out of his country and his FIRST time flying! Could you imagine never flying before and then taking your first flight from India to the US?!?! His flight was 24 hours! What if you got air sick and you didn't know?! Crazy! Not only that, but this guy had never experienced snow before. So not only did he get to experience our cold weather, but he got to see the snow from yesterday afternoon, but also the ice storm this past Sunday! He definitely got to experience it all!

Well...today is Thanksgiving so I need to start getting ready for the day and relax a bit! Have a great Thanksgiving everyone - I'll update tomorrow and get back to the Friday 5!

Thanksgiving Quiz

It is crazy to think that Thanksgiving is just over two weeks away! I found this fun little quiz last night and I was surprised to find that I apparently knew so little about turkey's and the Thanksgiving holiday.

Turkey Trivia Quiz

I scored 7 out of 20...if you take the quiz post below how well you do!

Too Early for Christmas Decorations?

Is the second week in November too early to put up your indoor Christmas decorations? Maybe, but apparently it isn't too early for Christmas music on the radio - that already started last weekend! The Mrs. and I wasted no time either! We put up our Christmas decorations this past Saturday! I know...I know...it isn't even Thanksgiving yet, but what else was I supposed to do Saturday morning during our massive snow storm while The Mrs. was studying? If you live in a cold-weather state (like Minnesota) then it makes to put your decorations up early before it snows - but fo' real don't turn them on until at least after Thanksgiving, homeboy! Now that is a little early IMHO - *cough* neighbors.

When do you usually put up your Christmas decorations? Oh and do you go all out with decorations - both indoor and outdoor? Right now we just do indoor since our apartment doesn't have outlets outside on the patio.

Friday 5 - Disney

So The Mrs. and I were watching the news this morning before work and we saw a commercial for Tangled - a new Disney movie coming out this fall/winter (I think). Anyway, on my drive into work today it got me thinking of my favorite Disney movies growing up as a kid.

Top 5 Favorite Disney Movies:

1 -  The Jungle Book: I absolutely loved this movie as a kid! Baloo and Bagheera were definitely my favorite characters! I watched this movie over and over as a kid! The TV spin-off Tale Spin based on Baloo was my favorite TV show as a kid...da da da Tale Spin!

2 -  Toy Story I: The original Toy Story was such a great movie! not only was the movie hilarious, but it also had a great story and great voice acting! Thank you Tom Hanks!

3 -  Aladdin: Aladdin is right up there with Toy Story & The Jungle Book in my opinion! Robin Williams was hilarious as the genie and what more could a kid want than an action-packed animated file that granted the hero wishes to defeat the evil Jafar?

4 -  The Lion King: Of course The Lion King made the list - I mean who honestly doesn't like this movie? If you don't you probably don't have a soul...might want to get that checked out :-/   Seriously though this movie was great! My favorite scene was when Simba was trapped in the gorge hanging from the tree as the wildebeests (?) stampeded below! Scary!!!

5 -  Robin Hood: Though not as well known of a Disney film such as Aladdin or Cinderella I still really liked the movie Robin Hood and I still like all Robin Hood movies to this date...yes, even the one with Kevin Costner and the new one with Russell Crowe.



What were your favorite Disney movies growing up?

I Love the Office

It is sad, really. :( You probably already heard, but this season will be Steve Carrell's last on The Office. Because I am in the mood...today's post will be some hilarious quotes from The Office - mainly from Dwight...he is so funny! Enjoy!

1 - Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject. So you know you are getting the best possible information. - Michael

2 - I keep various weaponry strategically placed around the office. I saved Jim’s life with a can of pepper spray I had velcro’d under my desk. People say, “oh, it’s dangerous to keep weapons in the home or the workplace”. Well I say, “it’s better to be hurt by someone you know accidentally than by a stranger on purpose.” - Dwight

3 -  Love this one!!! 

Jim: [dressed like Dwight] Question: What kind of bear is best?

Dwight: That’s a ridiculous question…

Jim: False. Black bear.

Dwight: That’s debatable, there are basically two schools of thought…

Jim: Fact: Bears eat beets. Bears, beets, Battlestar Galactica.

Dwight: Bears do not…what is going on?!? What are you doing?!? 

4 - In the wild, there is no health care. In the wild, health care is, 'Ow, I hurt my leg. I can't run. A lion eats me. I'm dead.' Well, I'm not dead. I'm the lion. You're dead. - Dwight

5 - Long one...
Dwight: Jim, Jim, Jim. Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim.
Jim: Oh, hey, Dwight.
Dwight: I’m going to be your new boss. It’s my greatest dream come true. Welcome to the Hotel Hell. Check-in time is now. Check-out time is never.
Jim: Does my room have cable?
Dwight: No. And the sheets are made of fire!
Jim: Can I change rooms?
Dwight: Sorry, we’re all booked up. Hell convention in town.
Jim: Can I have a late check-out?
Dwight: I’ll have to talk to the manager.
Jim: You’re not the manager? Even in your own fantasy?
Dwight: I’m the owner. The co-owner. With Satan.
Jim: Okay, just so I understand it. In your wildest fantasy, you are in hell. And you are co-running a bed and breakfast with the devil.
Dwight: Yeah, but I haven’t told you my salary yet.
Jim: Go.
Dwight: $80,000 a year.

Conan is Back!

For the past seven months, Conan O'Brien fans (Team Coco) have been waiting in anticipation for Monday's premiere of Conan's new show on TBS - Conan. Over the past month or two there has been an all out media blitz to advertise for Conan's new show...so unless you have been living under a rock you more than likely have seen one of Conan's hilarious commercial's! But was all the advertising and all the hype worth it? Will Conan's move to TBS and his battle with NBC pay out?

According to the TV ratings people Conan drew in 4.15 million viewers for his premiere Monday night. In comparison, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno regularly averages 3.5 million viewers and The Late Show with David Letterman follows with 3.4 million - and these are normal nights, not premiere nights.I highly doubt these numbers will continue for Conan, especially since his show is on basic cable and not a major network like NBC.

Numbers aside one question remains - was Conan funny? In my opinion, yes. Granted there were moments of slight boredom and I really question his choice for his first guest...no not the nutcracker lady, but in general the show felt more like the old Conan - he seemed more relaxed and the jokes seems less restricted.

The best part of the show was definitely the opening video and monologue. The pre-taped video of Conan getting fired from NBC and the "path" he took to get to TBS was hilarious! The best part of the video was when the NBC goons opened fire on him - good times. The interview segments were solid and funny, though I still question his choice for the first guest. His first interviewed guest was Seth Rogen and I thought this was a horrible choice! Don't get me wrong, Seth has some funn...well...he has some movies and I guess he is famous, but I think the show could have done better. With all the hype for the show I think they should have brought a bigger star for opening night - I mean Tom Hanks is on night #2 - he would have been better for opening night!

Other than Seth Rogen I thought the show was great! I hope everyone keeps watching and I hope the show stays true to Conan's humor! If you watched Monday night what did you think?

Go Conan!
Team Coco

Weekend in Rewind: 11/5 - 11/7

When a bear sh^*s in the woods...that pretty much sums up the entire weekend! Thanks for reading!

OK so that definitely does NOT sum up the entire weekend, but thanks to my brother, it was definitely the running joke all weekend! Apparently it is a real joke - similar to the "If a tree falls in the woods..." joke. This past weekend was great - it was relaxing, hilarious and it was great to spend time with the family!

Just thought it was hilarious!

Friday - Dinner on Friday was amazing, but then again it is hard to not have an amazing dinner when at Broadway Pizza! Not only is their pizza great, but the dessert is to die for --- large deep-dish chocolate chip cookie with ice cream, whipped topping and chocolate drizzle...makes me hungry just thinking about it! After dinner with The Mrs. I headed up to L.Pizzle for the weekend to do some deer hunting (man grunt). I was actually dreading the ride up to L.P. since traffic on Friday evenings is usually horrendous, but to my surprise it only took me the standard 1.5 hours! Woot! woot.com  <--- check it out! Everyone was at home this weekend - my sista's (holla), brother and his wife, Dad and AJ - it was a packed house! Friday night was spent playing cards (golf) until about 11:30 or so and surprise, surprise my sister won...and she was keeping score. Funny how that works, huh? Oh so my opening quote...During cards my brother randomly said "When a bear sh^*s in the woods..." without provocation and all of us just looked at each other not knowing what to say in response...so we all just laughed and started saying it throughout the weekend at random times. Honestly though...what do you say to something like that?

Saturday - It was an early morning on Saturday - apparently deer don't sleep in on the weekends...pfff! We all woke up around 6:00 or so to be sure we were all out in our deer stands by 6:30. I can honestly say this was the most boring deer hunt for me yet - not only was I cold, but I literally heard nothing and saw nothing all weekend...and no, blowing leaves do not count! Heck, I would have taken seeing squirrels like my sister did in her deer stand! Speaking of which, apparently she saw quite a few squirrels and one even hissed at her while she was out there!

Once everyone got back in the morning from sitting in the cold we had brunch and played some Settlers of Catan and a little Mario Brothers on the Wii until we went back out that evening. Playing the Wii was intense - my sister-in-law pretty much pwned us in the game - she is one aggressive Mario player; you honestly don't want to cross her in-game...she will kick you off the cliff - no lie. Again I saw and heard nothing when I went back out to the deer stand on Saturday night, but I was able to get a few games of Sudoku in before it got too cold :P

Sunday - Sunday morning I didn't go out to the stand on account of me being annoyed with the deer...I opted to sleep in instead. We went to Mom's for lunch and watched a little bit of the Vikings game - SKOL Vikings! I also tried my hand at putting up Mom's outside Christmas lights. I am sure it would have been a show watching me up on the roof, but if I do say so myself the lights turned out pretty good! It was worth the effort too...I got some sweet pickles for my efforts - score!

This weekend was great! It was relaxing, hilarious and very entertaining! I also got to see my very pregnant sister before she has her baby (she is due today) - I am guessing she has a boy! Hopefully everyone else had a great weekend!

Friday 5 - Deer Hunting

Some of you might not know this, but I do go deer hunting. I took a several year hiatus from hunting during college, but ever since graduation I have been getting back into it. I know some of you may not like deer hunting, but then again some of you probably don't like chocolate and well...that is weird!

Top 5 Reasons I Like Deer Hunting:

1 - Spending time with family: Hunting is not all about guys with guns dressed up like big orange pumpkins sitting out in the cold for hours on end --- it's all of that plus spending time with family, at least it is for our family. Deer hunting season is a great excuse for all of us to get together and spend some time together. I always enjoy coming back from sitting out in the deer stand and chatting or playing games with the family!

2 - Excuse to use a gun: It wouldn't be "hunting" without some sort of weapon - in this case it is a gun. Maybe this is some sort of macho manifestation, but there is just something about using a gun that is exhilarating! Ever since I was old enough and had proper firearm certification I have loved trap shooting with my Dad and brother. Since I don't have a gun in my apartment (for obvious reasons) and never get to trap shoot anymore, this is as close as I get to shooting anything all year!

3 - Experiencing nature: I personally think the best way to experience nature is to go to the beach - the ocean beach - sun, sand and water...what could be better! Since none of that exists in Minnesota the next best thing, in my opinion, is sitting out in a deer stand on a chilly November morning and soaking up Mother Nature. I remember growing up that I hated sitting in the deer stand in the morning! My feet would always get cold, my hands would freeze and I would always make too much noise to ever see a deer anyway! It is weird though...I grew up in the country and never really cared to "take in nature," but going home now for hunting I can't get enough!

4 - Relaxation: The nice thing about going deer hunting with Dad is that he always has everything set up for us when we get there! We don't have to worry about where we will be sitting since he already put up our deer stand for us! Not only that but the stands are actually very comfortable! There are times while listening to nature that I nearly doze off! No worries though...I have never fallen asleep in my stand!

5 - Catching up on Sudoku: That's right...on the off chance that I do get bored in the deer stand I make sure to bring my iPod with in case I want to play a game or two of Sudoku - assuming that my hands aren't cold. Last year I saw a deer while texting my wife, so I have concluded that deer are tech-savvy animals that just want to take a look at the latest gadgets!

Bad Things Come in Threes

I am not a superstitious person, but lately I have become a convert of the saying "Bad things come in threes." I know, I know...if you look hard enough in any given day you can probably find three bad things to fit this saying, but Monday of this week seriously fit the bill for me!

1 - I had an interview on Monday for an internal position. The interview was early in the day, which I really like - get it out of the way early so you don't have to think about it later! I made sure I had answers to all sorts of different interview questions, I wrote down several good questions to ask and I made sure to wear good interview clothes - a step up from normal business attire. When I got to work on Monday I was told the interview was postponed to Wednesday at 3:00! Ugh, not only did I use up my nice interview clothes for the week, but the interview was now in the afternoon!

2 - My pants ripped! No, they did not rip in a funny/awkward place like my bum as I bent over to pick up something. I came back from the restroom in the morning and as I put my hand in my right pocket I noticed that my finger snagged on something. I looked down and noticed that there was a small tear in the seam of my right pocket! The worst part about it was that these are newer pants!

3 - To top my Monday off in a good fashion I hear the news about the MN Vikings and how they are going to pieces...literally - look at Favre, his ankle is all messed up. Anyway, so my pants are ripped, I am mad about the interview being moved and now I hear that Moss is being waived to another team and somehow Childress didn't get fired! Ugh what a bad day! Favre is old, broken and bleh. Moss was a good receiver, but an idiot so he got let go and Childress has mismanaged this team into the ground yet escaped a firing!

OK, so these aren't the worst possible things that could happen to a person, but still...I am a true believer that bad things definitely do come in threes!

Be sure to check out the pole at the top of the page! :)

The Evolution of the Geek

I found this last night and I thought it was pretty funny! I give you The Evolution of the Geek!

Weekend in Rewind: 10/29 - 10/31

Oh man! This past weekend was great! I love Halloween and all of the fun stuff associated with it!

Friday - Friday night The Mrs. and I went to a birthday party for old-man Dan (:P) at Famous Dave's in Uptown. It is the once a year event where we get to hang out with Dan's work friends! We learned a lot about proper child rearing from one of Dan's co-workers, his rationale for still playing WoW as well as his philosophy on another *ehem* matter... After dinner we made our way to William's Peanut Bar just down the street for a drink or two and then we called it a night. If you haven't been to William's --- you must go! The beer selection is amazing! 

Saturday - Saturday started out rough with yet another embarrassing MN Gopher football loss, but the day ended on a high note with the Halloween party I attended! Saturday night I went to a zombie-themed Halloween party hosted by one of Dan's friends in Plymouth. The party itself was great - the house was decorated amazingly, the food was great and the people were a lot of fun! Everyone there was in a costume of some sort, but the overwhelming majority were dressed as zombies. I went as a zombie Twins fan (below). There was a zombie FBI agent, a mummy, Popeye, zombie Jack & Jill, zombie Wario and Waluigi, and a bunch more! I unfortunately had to leave the party earlier than I wanted, but you would be amazed how easily you get a headache when you can only use one eye...Oh and I was safe btw --- The Mrs. was kind enough to drive me to and from the party :)

Final makeup job - The Mrs. did a great job!

Just lookin' dead...no biggie

Sunday - Happy Halloween! Sunday was great! After lunch I watched yet another disappointment in MN football - the Vikings lost to the Patriots :( Seriously...they need something to turn around on that team......Since we get no trick or treaters at the apartment The Mrs. and I headed to her grandma's house around 5:00 to hand out Halloween candy. There were quite a few more kids this year than last and quite a few more rude kids than last year too! The candy we were handing out was full-sized candy bars, M&M bags, etc. and some of these kids were trying to take 2! We even had two little shysters come back to the house after they had already been there! How rude! Anyway...other than those few kids it was a lot of fun! We dressed up the dog in two costumes this year - a bumble bee and a chicken. The best part about dressing up the dog is that she doesn't fight it! We also brought over the pumpkins we had carved out earlier that afternoon to decorate the front steps.

Precious in her chicken costume

Precious in her bumble bee costume

My "silly" pumpkin

The Mrs.' "happy/hillbilly" pumpkin :)

I had a great Halloween weekend and I hope you did too! Did you dress up as anything this year? If so what was it? Oh and what did you do for Halloween?

Friday 5: Halloween Sweet Tooth

Halloween is just two days away and though I am a bit too old to go trick or treating it is still fun to think about my all-time favorite Halloween candies! Below is a list, starting with my favorite, of my top 5 favorite Halloween treats!

My 5 Favorite Halloween Treats!

1 – Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

2 – Twix

3 – Candy Corn Mixed With Peanuts

4 – Milky Way

5 – 3 Musketeer’s

What Halloween treats (candy or other) do you look forward to each year?

Snow Brings Out the Crazies!

I honestly don't know why I am still surprised...year after year after year the same cycle repeats - we get even the slightest amount of snow and the driving population in the Twin Cities goes absolutely bananas! This ^&%* is bananas - b-a-n-a-n-a-s! Um...what? Aaaanyway... Today the first snowflakes fell for the season and believe me it was not anything major - I have yet to see any accumulation on the ground. That doesn't sound so bad, huh? I didn't think so either, which is why I was so surprised on my way to work when I saw two fender benders and a traffic jam my entire way to work...my 15 minute drive this morning took me 45 minutes!

So, why do people become idiots when it snows? I could understand bad driving if it snowed in Texas, Mississippi, etc., but Minnesota?!?! Come on people we get snow EVERY YEAR! As I see it there are three types of winter drivers in the Twin Cities area:

1 - Normal, cautious people. These drivers drive according to the weather conditions. If there is just light snow like today, they may slow down 5-10 mph...just enough to be sure they can stop in time. They are the good defensive drivers - we want more of them!

2 - Uber-cautios nut jobs. The UCNJ's are just that...uber-cautious! On a day like today - no snow accumulation, just wet roads with snow falling, they drive 30-40 mph below the speed limit, because "OMG!!! The roads are wet and light snow is falling and I forgot my snow chains and studded tires!"

3 - The immortal driver. These are the "I have 4-wheel drive and I can drive how I want now get out of my way (floors it)!" These are the people who continue to drive 70 mph in a 55 mph zone even when the roads are wet and it is snowing! These are the people that get 1-2 feet behind the UCNJ drivers, which ultimately causes accidents, traffic jams and most importantly annoyance!

Fellow Twin Cities drivers - if you fall into or know someone who falls into category 2 or 3 please, please stop being such a pain in the neck on the roadway! Maybe a better option for you would be to ride a camel to work...slow, steady and you wouldn't be bothering me or the other normal drivers on the road!

Weekend in Rewind: 10/22 - 10/24

Compared to most weekends, this past weekend was relatively uneventful.

Friday - Friday night The Mrs. and I went for dinner and a movie. On the menu for Friday was El Rodeo - a Mexican restaurant. The food was great, as usual, but the restaurant was much busier than normal. Come to think of it I have never seen the restaurant so busy...maybe they are getting more word of mouth advertising - GO EAT AT EL RODEO! Though...I don't know who would do such a thing. After dinner we saw Paranormal Activity 2 which was actually quite scary. I won't spoil it for anyone, but seriously there was a scene where we literally jumped up (slightly) and we legitimately scared! If you saw the first movie then you need to see the second - much more scary!

Saturday - After we had finished blessing the apartment for demons Saturday turned out to be pretty laid back. We did a little shopping, a little cleaning (exciting, huh?) and watched some TV from this past week. We did get one surprise on Saturday that broke up our day - my Mom and like 9 other women stopped in Maple Grove on their way home from some Women of Faith conference and she took us out for dinner. So other than that our Saturday was pretty relaxed.

Sunday - Sunday was great! For lunch we went over to the wife's grandmas for a birthday celebration - her grandma's dogs birthday! :) Yep, Precious, the dog, has a birthday party! The party was a lot of fun - we got to see Precious, ate a great meal and we were able to spend some time with family. I do feel sort of bad for the dog though - she gets scared and runs into her "house" when the two small kids are around. After lunch, The Mrs. went back to studying and I went back to watching some football! Anyone else see the old man running, I mean hobbling, the Viking's offense?

Friday 5: On the Boards

For those of you who read yesterdays post - yes, I can see today! Woot! Today's Friday 5 may be a little out of date with the rise of computer and console gaming, but I still find myself drawn to board games. So, with that here are this week's Friday 5.

My 5 Favorite Board Games:

1 - The Settlers of Catan: One of my favorite types of games, board games or otherwise, is a strategy-based game and Settlers is just that. Settlers is a strategy game where each player has to strategically place each settlement, each road, etc. in order to gain resources, expand and ultimately defeat their enemy by being the first person to obtain 10 victory points. The best aspect about Settlers is that the game will never be the same...never simply because the board setup is always random. Settlers is truly a unique, fun and engaging game - I highly recommend you try it!

The New "Gladiator" Tiger

2 - Monopoly: No --- not the McDonald's version. If you are not familiar with Monopoly then I would question whether or not you are in fact a U.S. citizen...either that or you have literally been living under a rock your entire life. Monopoly is genuinely a great game...though I tend to have to be in a Monopoly mood in order to sit through the entire game. I think you all know what I mean.

3 - Catch Phrase: Though not a true board game in the sense that it has no physical board, Catch Phrase is still a great non-computer/-console game. Catch Phrase is a game where the player is given a word and the person has to try and describe the work to his/her teammates without saying the actual word while the team tries to guess the word. I find that Catch Phrase makes a great companion to a group of friends and a few drinks...am I right, Dan?  
Everyone: "Tiger, soup, donkey, computer!"       
Dan: "No, it's an airplane!"

4 - Trivial Pursuit: To be honest, I don't know why I like Trivial Pursuit so much. I am not inherently good at the game. I am not a trivia wiz and I am not a beacon of Jeopardy-type knowledge. However, there is just something about trivia games that I really, really like. Even when The Mrs. and I go to Dave & Busters we tend to spend most of our time at the big trivia game. Maybe this is just my way of letting my inner nerd have his fun.

5 - Scrabble: As if Trivial Pursuit wasn't a big enough nerd alert, right? So yeah, I like Scrabble too and no, I do not have the biggest vocabulary in the world, but I still enjoy the game! I like that Scrabble challenges me to use a different part of my brain than I would normally use in any given day.

Looking at the board games I have chosen as my favorites I see a pattern to my favorites - almost all of them are either strategy based or knowledge based. Not only do I enjoy board games, because it is a great way to hang out with family and friends, but it is also a great way to work your brain in a fun way!

What are your favorite board games? Don't worry - my inner nerd won't make fun!

To the Lucky Few

I realized today just how luck some of you people are...yes, you - the "I'm so luck that my eyes are perfect," the "oh, look at me I can see without glasses or contacts" and "hey, it's me...the guy that isn't blind as a bat - ha!" Ugh...today has been an interesting day for me from a vision point of view.

I work up this morning like I have for the past 20-odd years, tired, hungry and unofficially blind. My normal routine is to take a shower, put in my contacts, shave, etc. etc. Well today was different. When I put in my contacts they seemed blurry - nothing too alarming - so I put in a new pair, but still blurry. At this point I tried not to worry so I just put on my glasses for the day thinking that my eyes were just tired. Well, it is nearly 11:00 now and my eyes are still slightly blurry, but getting better...

It is because of times like these that you people who don't have to wear corrective lenses are so lucky! I mean seriously...do you ever have to worry about...

* Remembering to pack extra contacts for a trip
* Bringing your glasses every time you stay somewhere overnight
* Being able to see our way to the bathroom in the middle of the night
* Being able to see your computer monitor at work
* Getting attacked by a 3 foot 2 inch midget in the middle of the night and not being able to tell if the attacker is a small person or a large rodent?!?!

If you don't wear glasses you need to take this piece of advice - eat plenty of carrots...apparently they are supposed to be good for the eyes! Oh and keeping some rodent repellent around the house may not be a bad idea either - I am sure it works well on midgets too!

Now where did I put those glasses....

Fun Facts

I haven't had time to think of a good post for today so here are some random fun facts for your entertainment!

 ** The sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the English language

** Coca-Cola contained Coca (whose active ingredient is cocaine) from 1885 to 1903

** It’s estimated that at any one time around 0.7% of the world’s population is drunk

** A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down
continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top

** The Paomnnehal Pweor Of The Hmuan Mnid **
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch as Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.