Mysterious Monies

Water bill came in the other day. It is normally between $25 and $30. This time it was $113.79. Whoa Bob. (sorry Jen) This past month we had to do a good bit of watering so our wax-myrtles would not die, we drained and refilled Shelia, and ran the regular sprinklers once or twice. I didn't think we used THAT, much water, but I was willing to accept that we did.

Then, Friday night (or really Saturday Morning) Justin rolled in around 3am and found that the sprinklers were on. Apparenty they have been running in the night. Now the increase from 500 units of consumption to 2200 units seemed understandable. :-)

Hmmm...this weekend was pretty good. We went down and saw Lori, Jeremy, and Jamie. There was a tramatic experience for Gohan. We tested him with the invisible fence, except when he hit the shock point, he spun in circles instead of backing up. He would not leave the porch the rest of the time. We go to explore Jeremy's new house - still no power yet, but his furniture is in. Very nice! :-) Big TV too! Carved a pumpkin on Saturday night. It was darling. Forgot to take a pic though. I was suppose to carve some tonight, but have been to lazy.

Time change is confusing me. Feels like it should be 11:00 or something. It isn't though - only 9:00. Well, football is on. Good game. Have fantasy interest. Thanks for the trade dad!!! Love u!

Lata!

Premature Halloweenation

So, I am feeling better (emotionally) compared to the last post I made. Which is good. I think part of my higher spirits today have to do with the fact that we are celebrating Halloween in the office. Traditionally, we would do it on Halloween Proper, but we have to go make a pitch to the South Carolina Education Lottery so it was switched to today. The Pirate's Pub Crawl is also this evening, not taking part in that one though. Justin is heading that way however. So, the turkey costume is partially in play this year, as you can see. View all our Halloween 2005 photos if you wish. Jen has some great photos too.



Note, in this photo I am using the Flying Spaghetti Monster's Eye Stalks. Don't know what the flying spaghetti is, read about it here. I was originally going for Charlie Brown, from "The Great Pumpkin." You know, with all the extra holes in his sheet, well - at the last minute I decided to add my turkey nose to the costume. I guess you would call me "The Great Pumpkin Turkey Ghost," but that is a mouthful.

Justin is Master Shake this year. Master Shake is from the cartoon Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a show that comes on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. More info on Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Like I said, I am feeling better - just dog tired today because playing Mrs. Making Master Shake last night kept me up until after 1am. KInd of looking forward to Justin heading out this evening so I can lay around, play Animal Crossing, and sleep. Tomorrow we are heading down to Walterboro to visit Lori & Jeremy - we have not been down there in a long time, so it will be good to see them.

Must go though. Lata!

One of Those Days

Today is one of those days where I want to run away and hide. When I want revert to being back in high school because then I could rejoice in the comfort of knowing Mom & Dad would always be there with warm supper. Life was easier then, although I never believed I would say that. My success was measures on a report card - As long as I was getting A' & B's it was OK and as sad as it sounds, my big social plans consisted of going to the local shoneys after football games and band competitions. Everything was so clear-cut. Reminiscing about those times makes me sad, I should stop.

The other day, when I was drying my hair I had one of those, "holy crap, you're an adult revelations." I think I am at the age where I have those a lot. It is not that I am not happy with my life, I am completely, totally, 100% happy. I absolutely love Justin, our families are doing well, and in most cases our friends are groovy. I think I just need a vacation. Justin was fortunate enough to take off for his road trip this summer, but I have not been away from work for consecutive days since the few days I took at Christmas last year. I was suppose to take the week of October 14th, but with the potential move in the future I postponed that, thinking that I would take it around the move. Problem is that I feel a burn-out coming and now is not a good time. Justin and I are looking at going to Madison the week of Nov. 14th - do some personal scouting out and lead generation for GraySail - so that will pretty much be work too. I know Hoke is in dire need of a vacation, much more so than me – I reckon I should not feel bad.

Then there is the fact that fantasy football is stressing me out. There is controversy about a trade Justin and I did. I try not to think about it though because then it makes me want to just drop all my players and quit. That is not good though.

I think a bad thing about having a blog is the fact people can read it. Funny how you want to rant about stuff, but you can't because it 'isn't professional' or 'you'll offend someone' - that sucks. Maybe I just need to get a real journal, although part of the release of writing some things is knowing that those involved with the topic will read it and get the point.

The stress of today ran over into on the way home as well – Justin got a little pissy about fantasy football and I got pissy back. Such as life – we went to the new Aldi near the house and did some grocery shopping and then everything was OK. Food tends to placate us both. :-)

I have dinner in the oven, it is about ready so I better go. -- Keep it real.

Ghetto FABulous!

So, this weekend at sonic I saw one of the cleverest things. A group of about 5 African American boys somewhere between the ages of 13-15 rolled up on their bikes while we were at sonic. The clever part? They all had "rims" on their bikes made out of tin foil. I wish I would have taken a photo though, because theirs were much better than this, and this was the only photo Justin could find for me.



Photo courtesy of bunchofpant's flickr account.

Driver's License Photos

Yeah, it is funny to search for your friends and see their horrible photos. Be sure to search yours first. Click Here.

She might be in flames, but she brought a present

On Friday I had the hiccups REALLY bad. Not sure what triggered them, so I took a moment and used everyone's favorite graphics program, Microsoft Paint, and made a beautiful picture of Jen. Well, this morning when she came in she said, "Close your eyes I have you a present." I should have been afraid, but I closed my eyes and even opened my mouth because she often brings tasty candy to the office. Unfortunately I was not immediately presented with candy to taste, but she did give me candy. A most excellent box of chocolate turkey truffles!

They are made my Joseph Schmidt Confections out of San Francisco. The back of the label reads: CHOCOLATE TURKEYS - Joseph's Thanksgiving turkeys are great tasting, never dry and a fun adaptation to the always asked "light or dark?" Imagine biting into creamy truffle centers (made with Belgian chocolate and fresh cram) to find these flavors: Dark (Grand Marnier), Milk (Amaretto) and White (White Kirsch). Unfortunately I could not find these tiny critters on their Web site.

I have not yet tried one, as I think they are too adorable to eat, but lunch will be here soon and I am sure they will make a fantastic dessert!



 



THANKS JEN!

Sad, Sad Sunday Night

This weekend has been rather eventful, but I must say it is a sad night tonight. Because of the stupid World Series the NFL doesn't have a night game. The fact that The Packers lost against the vikings and I lost quite a few Yahoo! Canasta didnt help much. Such as life though.

Friday night Justin and I camped with Ben & Amelia at the Congaree National Swamp. It was the perfect temperature and we were fortunate enough to not have any rain. I killer looking lightenting storm went past though. It was awesome. Gohan seeemed to have an excellent time out there and Ben did well for his first time camping. They both enjoyed the hotdogs, athough Gohan preferred the ones that had been dropped in the dirt.

Saturday we woke up early, a little after 8, and packed it up. Since the game started at 3:30 we figured it was best to head home for a nap and shower before we had to head to the stadium. Did I mention that the worst thing about camping is sleeping? Well, it is. So, I probably slept from about 10:00 to 11:30 - Justin and I had lunch and then headed to Willaims Brice around 2:00. The game was good, close unfortunately, but a good competition. I hate to think that we are on the same level with Vandy, but that is just the way it is. After the game we met Jeremy at Sonic for a meal. Justin and I are doing our best to get him out, and I am glad he is getting to the angry stage because he ought to be angry. I still don't get why SJ broke it off, or exactly what she was thinking, but I doubt I ever will. Probably should not preserve many thoughts on this by writing them here tonight.

Today Justin and I slept in. :-) Threw the football some, watched NFL and NASCAR, then played some canasta. It was nice. I grilled flank steak for dinner it was SOOO good. Justin asked what I marinated it in because it was "on point." Unfortunately I had to respond with, "Well, it was a little brown sugar, salt, pepper, nutmeg, ginger, garlic, worcestershire, balsamic, evoo, & teriyaki. I have to agree with his observation of it being "on point."

The coming week will involve work, MNF, and a lonely Wednesday evening. Justin is going to gather Ben, Karl & others to take Jeremy out to pint night. IT is time to get him back on the market. The sooner he finds a rebound, the sooner he can get back on track. He will have to get a new car though. Justin has suggested he get a dog because it is a good "pick up tool." What if he got a bulldog? ha ha!!

Well, I am going to go ahead and wrap it up. May as well get to bed early. -- Lata!

Yeah...

so, yeah, you know who you are...



What ya wanna do about it? Hooka?

Whoa Bob

ONE -- I fixed fondue last night with the left over cheese from the chili festival. Brandon and Katie came over, we ate WAY too much. Katie put a plate of bananna pudding in front of me for dessert and I felt like saying, "Whoa Bob - I just can't eat ever again."

TWO -- Yesterday it felt like there was a knife stabbing me in the butt. It is only getting worse. It is just like what Justin had going on over the summer and is NOT COOL. Sciatica apparently. To this I say, "Whoa Bob - This is very uncool."

THREE -- Jen sent me this...

"Whoa Bob."

Ad Link Busted

I know, my link to the ad is busted. I doesn't take you to the turkey ad anymore. :( I reckon my "link pulling" skills were not optimal when I grabbed it. Just take my word for it though, the turkeys were prestigious!

Time to Be Honest

OK, so Justin and I have mentioned the Madison thing before. In order to explore options I created a Monster search agent for the Madison area. Well, it sends me notifications when new jobs come up and I happened to click on one and this ad came up. It is for LowerMyBills.com, which is really not a bad looking Web site.



I think the turkeys running fromt through the raindrops is great. If you move your mouse over the animation it changes angles too! :) View the Ad.

Yahoo Games on a New Level

Last night I noticed something new... Yahoo! Games has a new game, Miller Beer Run.

Yes, Miller Beer Run.


You can also visit MillerBeer.com

Catching Up

Been ridiculously busy for the past week or so. Just to recap - I have a new site design. THANKS JUSTIN! He has a new site design as well. I'm glad he has finally gotten a chance to use some of our photos from the Europe trip a few years ago.

So, what has been keeping me busy? Well, during the day work has had me pretty busy. It is suppose to be that way I reckon. One of my children (aka - projects) is in mid-launch. The core part of the new CERRA Web site is up and going. It is still missing some of the interactive functionality (the MyCERRA Portal). You can view the old CERRA Web site if you wish. The change is pretty dramatic. Geniese did the original design.

I have also just had a lot on my mind recently. With a potential move looming there is much to consider and do. Obviously, Justin and I cannot move if we do not have jobs in a new location (at this point the new location is Madison, WI, so that is the primary concern. I would be most comfortable still working for GraySail after moving to Madison, but I know that might not be the best for me. It is probably not the best for GraySail either. I am keeping options open, surfing the market, and seeing what happens. There are also some potentials that might keep us here in Columbia anyway. As soon as something is definite I will post about it, but until then - all of this is speculation and no one knows exactly what will happen.

This past weekend (weekend before last technically) and several days this past week were devoted to preparation for the 19th Annual Group Therapy Chili Cookoff. Justin & I spent time strategizing with my parents on things and making this years grand set. The cookoff was on Saturday and was a great success. Not as many teams competed this year, but I think attendance was up - and for us - sales were up too. We raised nearly $1000 for charity (Camp Kemo & The Hope Center of Charleston) and that earned us Runner-Up People's Choice. Nuclear Fusion (or something) one 1st, they won last year as well. The key for us was the Lemonade & "fixins" we also made twice as much chili as last year. Our guess is close to 450 servings of chili, and 300 cups of lemonade. Fixins were an additional $1 (or ticket) and included cheese and cornbread. Speaking of the cornbread - that is what Justin and I spent all Thursday and Friday evening baking. Earlier portions of the week were spent gathering necessary items. Thank you Mom & Dad for helping, being such excellent parents and overall good people. Thank you Jen & Tim for help serving - there is NO way we could have done it without you. Thanks Scott & Lisa from OTHR for hooking us up with sweet prices on ingredients. Here are Jen's Pictures from the event. Justin has some as well, they are here. Oh, and in case Justin did not edit his post - it was 40 lbs of turkey, not 440!

So - this is what is going on. I am sure I could write about more, but it is time to go home.

Love to all!

Keeping with food...

OK, so I cannot resist passing along this as well. I know few will find any of this non-sense interesting, but this is my blog and I will post what I want. So nyah...

I subscribe to Gervais & Vine's newsletters mainly because I love reading about their specials. You know, things like...Balsamic-grilled Choice Ribeye with Caramelized Onions and Whole Grain Mustard Demi-Glace - or - Curry-seared Jumbo Shrimp over Roasted Tomato and Asparagus Risotto with Saffrom Broth - oh it sounds so good.

Well, Kristian - the (from what I have heard) eccentric owners of Gervais & Vine, Mr. Friendlys and the new Solstice tapas & wine bar - often tells of his personal goings on in these newsletters. Last week I got a real kick out of this...

Yee-haw! The weekend is here and we're finally getting rain (which is making my hair 'fro out a bit). I'm not sure which makes me happier, but I DO know that my happiness is tempered by the fact that the Fair is in town. If you didn't already know, I am NOT a fan of the State Fair. I would be IF IT WAS HELD IN SOME OTHER CITY! It pains me to see so much of Columbia's hard-earned cash get shipped out to Nevada in the back of the pimped out motor homes of people that sell corndogs. Come on! You can buy the same frickin' corndogs at the grocery store! A whole box for the same price as ONE at the Fair. It should be called the State UNFair. I mean, please, WHO actually thinks an-brined, dried out pork chop on a stick is worth six bucks? It's like gnawing on your dog's rawhide chewy. AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGHHHH!

Then, today it was followed up with...

Gee, too bad about this weather, eh? Sure makes going to SC State Fair more difficult.

After my rant about the Fair, I felt a little bit bad since I know that at least a few of the vendors are from South Carolina. So, I called on our good friend Judy, who works at the Fair and had her round up a list of SC vendors that you can buy your overpriced corndogs from instead of giving your hard-earned clams to some dork from income tax-free Nevada that uses your money to pad the carpet in his 10,000 sq/ft home built with corndog money.

I know, I harp about corndogs, but please understand that I LOVE corndogs and use them only as an example. I find them to be as close to the perfect food as humanity has achieved in its brief stay on Earth. Protein (the hot dog, which can be made from a number of different ground up animals) encased in carbohydrates (the beautifully fried, lightly sweetened, cornmeal batter) on a stick (wooden, hence natural). Heck, I'm surprised Lance Armstrong doesn't have the people in the chase truck hand him one of these every once in a while during the Tour de France. It's a meal on a stick. A STICK! The oldest and most perfect eating utensil in the history of mankind, dating back to our ape-like ancestors holding hunks of wooly mammoth over an open flame. It still works! Unlike the Spork, which fails as BOTH a fork and a spoon. A Spife would be more useful (a spoon with a sharpened edge) although a bit more dangerous to one side of your mouth.

Okay, sorry, got off track a little. So, I only use corndogs as my reference because I KNOW that a foot-long corndog only costs around 79 cents, so it really ticks me off when I see them charging $3.50 or more for them and then heading over to their motorhome that costs more than most of our regular homes to count their profits. I also realize that funnel-cakes, elephant ears and mini donuts are also expensive considering their simple ingredients, but they aren't very easy to make at home. So, unless you want to get a really big deep-fryer and grease up your house making a few funnel cakes, they're worth every penny. You can, however, BUY State Fair brand corndogs at the grocery store, noit to mention hot dogs, Italian sausages, pork chops and the sticks to put them on. Anyway, here's a brief list of vendors we KNOW are from South Carolina:

Big John Broome’s, Summerville
Carolina Fresh Foods, Neeses
Carolina Wings & Rib House, Irmo
Carter’s Pizza, Columbia
Columbia Sertoma Club, Columbia
Daley’s Mobile Food Service, Hopkins
Elephant Ear Bakery, Branchville
Jamil Motor Patrol, Irmo
Richardson’s Corn Dogs & Pizza, Columbia
Tony Piccolo, Chapin
Turner Concessions, Boiling Springs
Vencill’s Concessions, Gaston
Cayce-West Columbia Jaycees, West Columbia
LaBrasca’s Pizza, Columbia

So - I happen to agree that we should support local merchants. And that is my6 2 cents.

All Because of Tots

So, Mom used to complain about these horrible lunch ladies that she had. They were mean to the kids, mean to the teachers and it was just not cool. Well, this year it is a lot better. I can't remember if it is the new cafeteria manager or what.

Well, Justin and I were in Florence this weekend, making preparations for the Group Therapy Chili Cookoff and I was looking at Mom's lunch options for the 10th. Three things stood out at me...

1 - Cheeseburger w/ Topping
What in the heck are toppings, ketchsup, mustard, lettuce, tomato?

2 - Baked Tropical Apples
Apples are not tropical

3 - Tater Tots
Yessssssssssss!

So, I asked Mom about each of these. She thinks "Toppings" are only ketchsup and mustard. Apparently they would specify if lettuce and tomato were included. "Tropical" apples are coated in brown sugar, and are quite dang tasty she says. And then I asked her to promise me she would eat some tots. She said she would.

Well, around 11:01 this morning I got this...

Well,

You will be delighted to know that I did eat tater tots from our cafeteria and they were hot and crunchy! I even had 2 packs of catsup to go with them! (We used to only get one!) Oh, and as a bonus, we now have a salt shaker as well!!!

Have good day,

Love you,

Mom


:) Yea! She had tots. So, after reading the e-mail I decide that this would make a topic for a post. I went to look for pics and associated stuff. Mainly I wanted a picture of a mean cafeteria lady. I couldn't find one, but I did find this article...

The Cafeteria Lady — You Can Learn a Lot From a Turkey
by Martha Bolton

Turkey Life 101 — taught by the star of the Thanksgiving holiday, the turkey.

Lesson 1: Looks Aren’t Everything
Let’s face it. The turkey isn’t the most beautiful creature on earth. He’s not as colorful as the peacock or as graceful as the flamingo. And it’s hard not to notice the baggy thing hanging from his nose. But does he let that stop him from having his face plastered all over the news, television cooking shows and magazines during the month of November? Absolutely not! He doesn’t shy away from the spotlight. He thrives in it. Baggy nose and all! ----MORE----

I also wanted to find tots...


And I did. :)