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. 

Weekend in Rewind: 10/15 - 10/17

Yet another weekend come and gone :( Good thing it was a fun weekend!

Friday: This past Friday was pretty low-key. Before dinner The Mrs. was working at school on some homework and I was watching TV...I have it rough I tell ya! We went to dinner around 7:00 or so and then came home and watched some of our missed TV episodes from the week until we went to bed...talk about a lazy Friday night!

Saturday: Saturday was a bit more exciting compared to Friday...not like that was hard to do! The Mrs. and I had two of our friends over for dinner. We had a Mexican-themed dinner of chimichangas, chips and salsa and beer and wine. We topped it off with apple crisp with ice cream for dessert - not Mexican, but oh so good! After dinner we all played some Settlers of Catan (board game), which was really a lot of fun! After SoC we played another game called Balderdash, which was also a hoot! There is just something about donkeys, Ramoo and SPAAAAAAAIN! that brings out the best in all of us!

Sunday: The weekend wrapped up similar to most weekends...with a nice and relaxing Sunday! Most of my Sunday was spent watching football in order to see how badly my FF team was losing...I was really surprised last night when I saw that my team actually won! Speaking of things football realated here are a few highlights from this weekend - the Vikings won & Tim Brewster (Gophers head coach) was finally fired! Other than football I watched a few more episodes of a new TV show that Dan got me hooked on :) I think the Mrs. spent most of her Sunday in the bedroom studying - she really is so lucky - lol!

Oh I almost forgot - if you are thinking about getting a dog here is a little piece of advice - train it to do its duty quickly! We had to take out The Wife's Grandma's dog on Sunday to use the bathroom and that little turd took forever to get her job done...I am convinced she was purposefully taking her time!

Friday 5 - 10.15 --- Movies

It has been a while since my last trip to the movie theater and lately I have been getting movie fever! Below is my current list of movies that I want to see (some are not in the theater anymore). Enjoy!

5 Movies I Want to See:

1 - Red: Action - Comedy. Starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich & Helen Mirren. These four cast members used to be former top CIA agents with a vast knowledge of government secrets. These former agents are currently retired from the CIA, but are framed for an assassination and must reassemble their former team in order to discover who framed them. Once the team is assembled they attempt to break into CIA's headquarters to clear their name all while discovering a huge government conspiracy! In my opinion, the movie has a great cast, it looks genuinely funny and entertaining! I can't wait to see it!

2 - Salt: Action - Mystery - Thriller. Starring Angelina Jolie. While Evelyn Salt (Jolie), a current CIA agent, is interrogating a Russian operative she is accused for being an undercover Russian spy. The spy she was interrogating escapes from the facility causing the CIA to place suspicion on her and her credibility. Fearing capture, etc. Salt flees from the CIA in order to clear her name. Though the premise may sound similar to "Red" the two movies are actually quite different. "Salt" is a serious movie filled with action and suspense and I cannot wait to check it out!

3 - Robin Hood: Action - Adventure - Drama. Starring Russell Crowe. We all know the story of Robin Hood and we have probably all seen a version of the story sometime or another. The last Robin Hood movie I saw starred Kevin Costner. Now, I understand that some people really do not like Costner as an actor and thought he did a terrible job in the movie, but I kinda liked it. From the previews I have seen I feel like Crowe will bring a more action-packed and rugged feel to the merry old tale of men in tights! I think this new Robin Hood will be an improvement on its predecessor and I am hoping to not be disappointed!

4 - Due Date: Comedy. Starring Robert Downey Jr. & Zach Galifianakis. In the movie, father-to-be Peter Highman (Downey Jr.) is left without a car on his way to see his wife give birth. For some reason he in on a no-fly list so he is forced to hitch a ride with an aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay (Galifianakis) on a road trip in order to make it to his child's birth on time. The plot doesn't make the movie sound that great, but the previews look hilarious. If you enjoyed "The Hangover" I think you will enjoy this! Galigianakis plays a similar character as in "The Hangover" - sort of the village idiot type.

5 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1: Action - Adventure - Fantasy - Mystery. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint & Ralph Fiennes. Wait, wait, wait!!! Before you hit the close button on your internet browser hear me out! If you haven't seen these movies then you have no right to criticize. I know these movies are not everyone's favorite, but I assure you that the movies (and books) get much better after the first two. The movies get much more action-packed, serious and less kid-like. In short this movie is all about Harry finding certain items (Horcruxes) in order to defeat the man that killed his parents, devastated his world and has currently taken power over the wizarding government. I am glad to see that the franchise has kept the same director as the last few movies as I feel he has made the movies much more adult-friendly. The movies continue to get more serious, action-packed and simply more entertaining!

What movies are you looking forward to watching?

Facebook Awards

Today week a local radio station - 101.3 KDWB held their first annual Facebook Awards - categories included the following:

* Most annoying: self portrait in the mirror, pic after losing weight, pic with drink in hand, etc.
* Most annoying status updates
* Most annoying fan pages

In honor of the first FB awards, I have decided to post a few of my favorite FB status updates.

* "Nobody cares about your stupid farm!"
* "I do my best drinking when I'm drunk."
* "Looked at my unmade bed this morning and decided it was art in another medium and I should not destroy it"
* "____ is drinking 2% milk and wondering what in the heck the other 98% is."
* "____ is wondering why Facebook bothers to give the option of "liking" my own comment? Of course I like my own comments. I'm awesome."

Post any of your favorite, most annoying, etc. status updates or anything FB related below :)

What's Worse: Too Much Perfume or Horrendous BO?

Lets look at a scenario: You're on a bus, the light rail, a plane, at a movie theater or walking into work through a revolving door (my experience today), when lo and behold, your nose is attacked by someone's overpowering perfume or cologne - like when a 20-something college student smells like he bathed in Aqua di Gio. It's as if the person left a wake of odor meant to choke the life out of you, making your eyes water and your lungs burn.
 
But then again, it could be something else, something potentially worse! Yep, I'm talking about knock-you-down, makes-you-want-to-die, gag-o-rific, horrendous BO! It's a stench so strong you're pretty sure you're going to lose your breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Both scenarios are pretty miserable, but if you could only pick one, which nasty odor do you think is the worst?

My vote goes to the BO!

Weekend in Rewind: 10/8 - 10/10

Yet another fast-paced and fun weekend has come and gone! Aside from Sunday afternoon football there wasn't a whole lot of down time all weekend!

Friday: This past Friday started out low-key, but ended up being more exciting than I had planned. The Mrs. and I went to P.F. Chang's and had a very filling dinner - lettuce wraps, hot & sour soup (absolutely nasty - smelled like barn), a chicken entree and a small dessert! Great stuff. The plan after dinner was to go back home and catch up on some DVR'd shows from the week, but my friend, Matt, was having a bonfire at his house - see above actual photo of the event - Yes...that is Dan in the middle. The Mrs. opted to stay back and work on homework for the evening as she was a little behind from her busy week (such a fun Friday night), but I decided to go and have fun for both of us. The bonfire was a blast - it was great to catch up with friends and have a few drinks in the process!

Saturday: Saturday was family day! Woot! My Mom, sister (and her two kids) and brother & his wife all stopped up in the Grove for the afternoon. Since it was such a gorgeous day on Saturday we took the kids to the park to burn off some energy - probably could have stayed another hour or two to burn off some more! I cannot believe how much energy kids have...I wish I had half of it some days! Anyway, after the park we all came back to our place to cool off and relax a bit. We played a really fun board game - The Settlers of Catan, which is sort of a Risk-esk type game. We never did finish it since we had to go to dinner, but in hindsight it was probably a good thing since I was getting owned :(  Dinner on Saturday was at Broadway Pizza - they have such amazing pizza and an even better dessert - the deep dish cookie! Mmmmm! If you are ever in the Grove and craving pizza you have to go there...and invite me! After dinner we got to relax a bit and catch up on our TV from the week --- "The Event" (on NBC) is getting really, really good!

Sunday: Sunday was very typical for The Mrs. and I - she worked pretty much all day on homework and I watched football (I was hoping the Chiefs were going to upset the Colts) and putzed on my computer a bit. We took a few breaks and stopped out at Target and walked around Arbor Lakes for a little bit - it was so nice out again on Sunday that we had to enjoy the weather a little bit! Sunday evening, of course, we watched "The Amazing Race" and went to bed a little early since The Mrs. was feeling a little under the weather and I was getting frustrated at watching my Fantasy Football team lose...again :( Dang Sad Panda's beating up on my Swamp Donkeys!

Hopefully everyone was able to get out and enjoy the nice weather this past weekend!

Friday 5 - 10.8

Today's Friday 5 holds a very special spot in my heart...or should I say stomach! I based the below list on the following criteria - Food quality, food appearance, atmosphere & value (i.e. price for what you get) - values out of 10.

My 5 (current) favorite restaurants:

1 - The Cheesecake Factory (American/Misc). Yes...TCF is a chain restaurant, but I can honestly say that this is my favorite restaurant! TCF's menu truly caters to all tastes. Whether you are in the mood for pizza, a burger, pasta, fish/seafood, salad, Mexican, etc. there is always something on the menu worth trying! I am a person that likes to try new menu items and I can honestly say that I have never disliked anything at TCF! Not only is the regular food great, but their dessert cannot be beat! The Mrs. & I consider it a disrespect to leave TCF without a piece of cheesecake - even if this means having it later that evening or the next day; it is delicious!

Food Quality: 9

Food Appearance: 8

Atmosphere: 8

Value: 9
 
2 - Broder's Pasta Bar (Italian). The Mrs. and I experienced Broder's Pasta Bar this past Valentine's Day and I fell in love with the place! This small south Minneapolis restaurant was a great find! The restaurant name describes exactly what is on the menu - pasta! What I really enjoyed about this place was the atmosphere - we were seated in a bar-style section where we were able to observe the chef's cook right in front of us. Though the food was a little pricey the quality and flavor was great! This was a great find for a romantic evening!

Food Quality: 9

Food Appearance: 8

Atmosphere: 7

Value: 7 

3 - Big Bowl (Asian). Big Bowl is not your most fancy restaurant by any stretch of the word, but it is a great place to eat nonetheless! By far my favorite aspect of Big Bowl is the customization you have for your meal. At BB you can either have a standard menu item with all the ingredients already chosen for you, etc....like at a normal restaurant, but what makes BB stand out from the rest is the make your own stir fry bar! I love the fact that the make your own stir fry literally lets you choose everything you want in your mean from the meat and vegetables down to the sauce type. It truly is a unique experience!

Food Quality: 8

Food Appearance: 8

Atmosphere: 8

Value: 9

4 - Benihana's (Japanese). Another Asian restaurant dear to my stomach is Benihana's! Similar to other hibachi-style Japanese steakhouses, Benihana's food preparation and atmosphere are truly unique! Not only does the food taste great, but the manner in which it is prepared and served is amazing! Each table has their own personal chef preparing food right in front of them - check out the onion volcano! Bad chicken! Meow! 

Food Quality: 9

Food Appearance: 8

Atmosphere: 10

Value: 7 

5 - Taco Viá (Mexican). Those of you in Minnesota have probably not heard of Taco Viá, but I assure you it is a great place! Taco Viá is a small family-owned restaurant in Kansas City, MO. It is by no means fancy nor does it have high quality food like the restaurants listed above, but for some reason I love going there! The portion size is perfect, the people are great and I just really enjoy going when I am in Kansas City visiting my wife's family! 

Food Quality: 7

Food Appearance: 7

Atmosphere: 5 
Value: 9 


If price and location were not issues, what restaurant would you most like to visit and why?

New Pet Peeve - The "Handy" Cashier

I discovered a new pet peeve of mine yesterday afternoon - when a cashier insists on putting things on the counter instead of handing them to you!

My day had been going great yesterday! I was very busy & productive at work, the Twins were playing the Yankees in the playoffs & Randy Moss had officially joined the Vikings! I was as happy as anyone could be - for a Wednesday night. :P I arrived in The Grove and picked The Mrs. up at the transit station. We headed over to the liquor store to get [me] some beer for the Twins game (in case you didn't watch...they lost...again). It took me a while to decide what I wanted - I am a little indecisive at times, but I finally settled on Leinenkugel's Oktoberfest; it seemed like a fitting variety given the time of year.

I grabbed my case of beer and proceeded to the checkout line and it was here that I discovered my newest pet peeve. I nicely handed my ID and debit card to the cashier...in her hand! She did her 'cashierly' duty and made sure I wasn't some punk trying to buy booze under age. Seeing that she was nearly done comparing my photo ID with my face I extended my hand indicating that I wanted her to place my ID in my hand. To my surprise she placed my ID squarely underneath my hand. I shrugged this off thinking that she might not have seen my hand...She then ran my debit card in her machine. I again extended my hand to take my debit card. This time she looked straight at me, smiled and then again placed my debit card on the counter. I proceeded to sign my receipt and kindly asked for a copy. She then printed out my receipt and again placed it under my hand on the counter!

I am sure some of you are thinking that I am overreacting, but I assure you I am not! Whether you are a cashier, waiter/waitress, hotel greeter, etc., if you are in the hospitality or customer service business your #1 priority should be pleasing your customer. An angry customer = potential loss of business...that MGM liquor store down the street is looking mighty inviting right now!

Happy Thursday, everyone! =) What is your biggest pet peeve?

Fantasy (aka Nightmare) Football?

There is definitely a lot going on in the world of sports today...especially if you live in Minnesota. The Twins have their first playoff match vs. the Yankees (boo!) tonight at Target Field and Randy Moss may be coming back to the Vikings! Yes you heard that correctly, Moss may sport the purple and gold once again! Apparently there are talks between the Patriots and the Vikings to bring randy Moss back to MN! Ah yes...who can forget the famous Randy Moss moon stunt during a playoff game with Green Bay? Priceless.

Even more important than the Twins and Vikings news is that of my floundering Fantasy Football team - the Swamp Donkeys! Hee haw! I know what you are thinking..."with a team name like Swamp Donkeys, how are you not winning?" Simple, my opponents are racking up unprecedented scores for their teams. Take for example this last weeks match up. My Donks played my Dad's team. Going into Monday night I was leading by about 15 points. We each had one "player" left to play; I had my quarterback and he had his defense. Typically a quarterback will score you between 15 - 20 points and a defense will get you about 10-15 points. I slept well that night thinking I had this weeks match up in the bag. I awoke the next morning to disappointment, Dad had beaten my team...and handily!

Swamp Donkey team logo

When I logged on to ESPN that morning I honestly thought the website was wrong - it reported that his defense had scored 33 points! 33 points!!! After I realized that the score was wrong I acknowledged my defeat and headed into work. This loss put the Swamp Donkey's record at 1-3...the lowest in our FF league. To add insult to injury on my way to volleyball last night I get a call from Dad. Guess what he wanted? To console me on my loss? To give me words of encouragement for my next game? Oh no...he just wanted to rub it in my face a little bit :)

Mark my words: The Swamp Donkeys are going to break out this week and have a stellar rest of the season! We are moving out of the swamp and into the pond! Go Pond Donkeys?!?

Healthy Radio Addiction

At some point or another we have all had this happen to us...unless you don't listen to the radio. Imagine you are on your way somewhere. Maybe you are heading to work, to church, shopping, etc. On your way there you are listening to your favorite radio station and rockin' out to your favorite song..."Baby, baby, baby ohh! Like baby, baby, baby noo!" Err...umm. Yeah, so you are listening to your favorite song, you arrive at your destination and you realize that the song is only half done! Oh noes! So what do you do? "Obvi" (yeah, I used it) - you can't just get out of the car like a 'normal' person and go about your day...no, you must stay in your car and finish the song! Duh!

As you can probably imagine this happened to me today on my way into work. My "song" this morning wasn't actually a song though, it was a great conversation on KTLK about political polls. Wow...OK so I just re-read that last sentence and realized how dull that actually sounds - the Bieber song is starting to sound more exciting =(  For those of you who don't know KTLK is talk radio. Anyway...stop rolling your eyes plz...there was a good conversation about political polls and how you should question each of them regardless of the publisher. I have to say that I agree...I mean it is just like we are taught in statistics - when you are provided data, graphs, polls, etc. you should be skeptical as to where the data came from and who was sampled, etc.; there is always a way to skew the data to fit your needs.

So, have you ever been traveling somewhere and you stay in the car that extra minute or two just to finish that rockin' song, stimulating conversation or maybe that last Twins at bat?

"Baby, baby, baby ohh! Like baby, baby, baby noo! Like baby, baby, baby ohh! I thought you'd always be mine, mine (oh oh)" --- good luck getting this out of your head today :P

Weekend in Rewind: 10/1 - 10/3

Don't get me wrong, this weekend was a blast, but ¡ay caramba! was it busy! I managed to make it through my entire Friday 5...and then some!

Friday: Friday was great! The wife and I, along with our good friend Dan spent the evening at Gasthof's for their annual Oktoberfest celebration. We all enjoyed a nice cold beer, jumbo pretzel and some fun! Dan and I, along with some of Dan's other friends, played the nail game. The objective of the game was to see who could pound their nail completely into the log first...this is not as easy as it sounds as the hammer head was smaller than the nail head. Needless to say I lost and Dan won - must be all the recent remodeling he is doing! Dan the handy-man!

Dan and I playing the nail game - If you look close you will see how narrow the hammer head is!

Amanda and I sitting at a table inside one of the tents.

Saturday: Saturday was a very busy day as well! I was able to scratch two things off my Friday 5 list; cooking & sushi! Saturday morning I slept in until about 8:30 or so - it was glorious! I managed to fulfill my weekly cooking fix in two different ways - cooking and baking. I wasn't originally planning on baking anything, but we had no dessert in the apartment so I decided to make monster cookies! These were my favorite cookies growing up! Thanks for making these, Mom!

Cookies ready for the oven...mmm so good! *drool*

Maybe I was slightly sleep-deprived or a little out of my mind this early in the morning, but for some reason I decided to double the cookie batch. I figured we had the ingredients on hand...might as well go all out! Little did I know exactly how much a double batch would actually make. My 1 hour cookie baking turned into about 3 :( I didn't get an exact count, but I am pretty sure I made over 100 cookies!

These cookies filled the pumpkin jar plus two large tupperware containers! We're gonna need more milk!

So as if I didn't have enough cooking time I also made a nice lunch for The Wife and I - enchilada stuffed shells! These were really spicy, but really good! Oh, and they took a heck of a lot less time to prepare than the cookies! Woot!

Jalapeños, green chilies, cheese, ground beef, seasonings and pasta - amazing!

Later that evening The Wife and I went to a make-you-own sushi dinner with some of her law school friends and their significant others. It was a lot of fun meeting her friends and learning how to make sushi! Our sushi contained a combo of the following: salmon, fat tuna, yell-tail tuna, scallops, cucumber, avocado, some pickled melon and rice. I have to admit that now knowing how to make sushi it will be that much harder to pay for the expensive little fish rolls in restaurants! The sushi tasted amazing and I would definitely do it again!

Sunday: Like most of Minnesota, we awoke Sunday morning to frost! Not fun! So instead of staying in the warm bed I decided to go outside and take a picture of the frost...why? I have no idea! This week was confirmation Sunday at church and therefore at coffee hour we got cake! Nothing like having a small piece of cake and coffee at 10:15 in the morning :) Later that afternoon I made my way over to the Washburn Games to help out with volunteering and it was blast! The weather was great and it was a lot of fun hanging out with coworkers and helping the little kids bat at the baseball station! I am definitely planning on helping out next year, though I hope the organization can manage to get a lot more kids to attend. I there were only about 75 - 100 kids. And to cap off an already Amazing weekend The Wife and I were able to watch The Amazing Race later that evening!

I hope everyone else was able to get out and enjoy their weekend! Have a great week!

Friday 5 - 10.01

5 things I am looking forward to this weekend:

1 – Oktoberfest at Gasthof’s. For the past few years I guess you could say it has been a tradition that The Mrs. and I attend Oktoberfest at Gasthof’s! Now, although there is some pretty strong German heritage in my family I would not consider myself to be obsessed with all things German in nature. We like Oktoberfest at Gasthof’s because it is a great time! Beer, brats, a band, (das) boot and buddies!

2 – Saturday night sushi. Unlike Oktoberfest, Saturday night sushi is not a tradition (yet?). Earlier this week The Mrs. and I, along with some of her other friends and their spouses, were invited to one of her school friends’ house for make your own sushi! I have never made my own sushi, but it sounds fun and delicious!

3 – Volunteering at the Washburn Games. I am very excited for this Sunday because I will be volunteering – something I haven’t done in quite some time! Last month I signed up to volunteer at the Washburn Games with other coworkers of mine. I received my “assignment” email from the organization on Wednesday and it turns out that I will be helping in the Baseball sports area! I will be helping with the “Batter Up!” activity where I will assist kids with their swing, pitch some baseballs, retrieve some baseballs and keep score! I think it will be a lot of fun; I am just glad I did not get assigned to the cricket station…I don’t even know how to play cricket! I wonder if the kids do? 

4 – Cooking dinner. Now compared to the previous three, number four here seems a little lackluster, but I assure you it isn’t! The last couple of weekends since The Mrs. has gone back to school she has been busy all day…every day, which gives me loads of free time. Since I would go nuts playing my computer all day Saturday and all day Sunday I have started getting back into cooking! Two weekends ago I busted out the crock pot and this last weekend I made a great potato soup. I am not sure what is on the plate for this weekend, but I am sure it will be tasty!

5 – Coffee hour. No, it’s OK…your thought process was right --- hmmm…Coffee hour > Jason > acts like he is 40 sometimes > oh I guess that makes sense --- YEP! I am excited for coffee hour again this weekend! Now, I just read your thought process (see above) and ‘no’ I am not old! I just like coffee hour after church; it is a relaxing way to start Sunday! Plus, since I have been really cutting back on my coffee intake (i.e. none, except on Sunday’s) I get my coffee fix for the week!

Well that should be my weekend in a nutshell! Stay tuned on Monday for my weekend in rewind!

What is on your plate for this weekend?