Not-so-Black Friday

Last year I embarked on my first real Black Friday experience, getting up around 3:30 to stand in line outside a Target store in order to get an Xbox 360.  It wasn't even one of the big sale items, but it did come with a $50 Target gift card, so I was worried they might sell out anyway.  My sister's husband and I waited in line for an hour and a half, braved the surging crowd to get inside once the store opened, and then calmly went about getting my Xbox and a couple other items on our lists.  It was a pretty good time and I enjoyed the cosmopolitan atmosphere, friendly crowds, and yes, the good prices.  Was it worth getting up so early?  No, probably not.  But it was a fun way to spend time with relatives and friends, so that probably makes up for it.

This year my wife and I refined our tactics a little bit, scouring the black Friday ads well in advance and taking note of a couple items we wanted to pick up.  Nothing more than $20, and all things we had talked about getting anyway, so it was a good way to keep our post-Thanksgiving shopping in check.  We woke up around 3:30 again, and she went with a friend and some of the women in our family to hit up the clothing stores and the local mall.  I spent the morning with my brother, whose wife went with my wife, going to a few hardware stores and a couple other places looking for my part of our short shopping list.  We actually braved the crowds at Best Buy which, despite the headlines and news stories people may have heard, were casual and easygoing and not at all violent or angry.  Even the employees at most stores were cheerful and happy to help when we needed it.  After a couple hours we headed back home and I met up with my wife and her friend for some Amigo's and a bit of Shopping Part Two before calling it a day.

Much of the weekend was spent in the company of friends and family, which is just about the best way to spend a holiday.  Aside from playing with the nieces and nephews, we boring old folks watched Nebraska beat Colorado on Friday, and then played some cards while OSU got shut down by Oklahoma on Saturday.  Earlier that afternoon we were at my brother Phil's to help him and his wife celebrate the first birthday of their son, and like he said, time sure goes by quickly.  Seems like just a few weeks ago little Noah was just a big pink raisin in a baby carrier, and now he's this close to walking.  Keep it up, little guy!

Me and my one-year-old nephew. Aww.

My brother Andy made this. It was some sort of recipe that
involved cooking a whole pumpkin.

Eagerly anticipating Thanksgiving dinner.

My brother Tom doing card tricks with the kids.

Grandpa and granddaughters, waking up with
a Mountain Dew and carrot cake.

Other highlights from the weekend:

• Thanksgiving dinner.  My mom makes some really good turkey!
• Going back to Russ's Market for the first time in about 5 years, and seeing some former co-workers who are still holding down the fort.
• Watching Mega Piranha with my brother, his wife, and a bunch of their friends on Friday night.
• Hanging out with our friends and 1.5-year-old daughter on Saturday afternoon. Wow, she loves to jump on the bed!
• Staying up late on Saturday with my buddy Gavin, watching speed runs of Super Metroid.
• Lunch at Valentino's on Highway 81 on the way home.

And so this Thanksgiving we were indeed giving thanks.  Thanks for family, for friends, and for a savior who loved us enough to die for us. May we find rest and peace in His arms this Christmas season.

Blame it on the Drain

It's too bad I didn't take any pictures today*, because it would have been a good day for it.  Things got off to an interesting start when I set out to tackle our first real plumbing challenge here at home.  We have lived in our house for just over a year without having to deal with a whole lot of plumbing issues, and in that respect I consider us fortunate.  In terms of house problems, water can be a biggie.  Anyway, a few days ago we shut off the water supply valves on our toilets in order to clean them, but discovered that one of them would not turn back on properly.  Along with that, the float inside the toilet tank was also not working right, which resulted in a slow but steady drip into the toilet tank for the past few days.  Not exactly the worst thing that could happen, but something that should be fixed nonetheless.

While I have tacked a handful of home repair projects before, plumbing is not one of my favorites.  If we mess up while painting, the worst that happens is we have to re-do something or clean up a spill.  But if something goes wrong with a plumbing operation, you're basically sunk.  Leaky pipes and dripping valves can cause all kinds of problems, and attempting to fix them can often make things even worse.  Nevertheless, I figured the toilet was something I could fix on my own, so armed with a couple video tutorials and a healthy dose of prayer, I set out to bring new life back to the ol' commode.

The hardest part of the whole operation was actually getting the house water supply shut off.  The valve outside was incredibly difficult to turn, and it took several tries over the course of at least 10 minutes to finally rotate it into the off position.  After that it was kind of a trial-and-error operation with the valve that involved a crescent wrench, channel lock, drip pan, and two trips to Lowe's to find a valve with the correct fitting diameters.  It actually wasn't that difficult to install the new valve, but it was kind of tricky figuring out just how to go about getting it done.  The intake line and new float were honestly a piece of cake, and soon enough the toilet was flushing and refilling properly without any leaks or drips.  Hooray!

The master shutoff valve for our house. See how close it
is to the sidewall? Yeah, that made it super hard to operate.

Our new high-tech $8 float shutoff. Whee!

New valve and intake line. To leak, or not to leak.
That is the question.

Only downside was I had no sooner fixed one toilet when we discovered basically the same problem with the toilet in our hallway bathroom too.  Thankfully I kind of knew what to do (and what parts to buy) so it wasn't too hard, but still...

Later in the day we went out to help one of my co-workers at her farm property a half hour north of here, and after doing some weed-whacking and shoveling, my wife and I got to feed a baby calf with a bottle. Having grown up firmly within the city limits there's a host of farm-type activities I have never done before, and it was fun helping the two-week-old calf with its dinner.  My co-worker's husband warned us about the calf's tendency to basically head-butt the bottle from time to time, so my wife had to wear these big puffy utility pants over her jeans to keep her clothes dry.  And yes, I may have to trade in a few points on my man card, but it was pretty cute when the tiny little cow let out a tiny little "moo."  :)

And so with a plumbing problem solved and some yard work finished, we capped off the day with an episode of Star Trek: Voyager and some ice cream.  Not a bad way to spend a Saturday (even if Nebraska lost their game against Texas...).

*I went and took some photos anyway, ex post facto, as I wrote this blog post.

One Fair Day

Yesterday was one of those days where the stuff we did in the morning seemed like a week ago by the time we finally made it to bed.  Just listing everything that happened would take quite a while, but there's a couple highlights I wanted to write about instead.  To start with, we spent the morning going around town to more than a dozen garage sales looking for nothing in particular except a good deal or two.  The thing with garage sale hunting is that you can't really plan ahead to look for specific items--it's really more like looking for coins on a beach.  Most of the time you'll find nothing but scrap or garbage, but every now and then you'll come across a quarter or even a half dollar, and so it is for garage sales.  For three hours we scoured the city, taking a pre-planned route we devised the night before in order to maximise efficiency yet deviating often when we saw additional signs for sales along the way, and even though we only made one purchase we had a good time nonetheless.  Our find?  A nice desk chair for my wife that we got at an estate sale.  It looks like it has hardly been used at all, and is so far making a very nice replacement for the IKEA chair we've had for a couple years.  But much in the same way that hunting for coins on a beach is enjoyable for the sights of the ocean, the feel of the sand, and the wind in your hair, going garage sale hunting is fun (for us, anyway) even if we don't land any huge deals.  Kind of a thrill-of-the-hunt sort of thing, I guess.  :)

These women were serious about the pie judging.
And even more serious about baking with
butter instead of margarine.

After we got back home a friend of ours called and invited us to the county fair, and even though neither my wife or I have been to a fair in years, we thought it would be fun to check out.  And boy, was it ever.  I recall going to the Minnesota State Fair in the summer of 2004 and not being particularly impressed because it was so crowded and sprawling.  But the county fair yesterday was just our style.  We wandered among the indoor booths and exhibits, and I had a great time talking to a guy with a sprawling N/HO/O scale model railroad and another who was manning a HAM radio booth.  The best part by far, though, was the pie contest judging.  It was an intense affair, with pies of all shapes and sizes being inspected, tested, tasted, and ingested.  The two judges were as serious as prison wardens, and left no flake of crust overlooked in their criticisms of the baked concoctions.  A first place ribbon in this contest was a hard-won and well-deserved honor, let me tell you.  After that, we went to see some of the animals and wandered among the chickens, rabbits, horses, and cows, but the goats and hogs were nowhere to be found.  Even though I grew up in Nebraska I have spent very little time around farm animals, and I still think it's cool to hear a rooster call out his famous cock-a-doodle-do cry, or a horse let out a giant neigh.  But the crème de la crème was the horse competition.  Not necessarily for what the riders were able to do with their horses, like maneuver in specific patterns or race around barrels, but the age of the riders.

Who knew a girl so small could ride a horse so big.

I was amazed at how young the people were and what they were able to do on the horses.  The barrel riding competition had an entire category for children ages eight and younger, and even though they weren't exactly equestrian masters, these kids were incredibly competent at horse riding.  I have ridden a horse maybe three times in my life, and the amount of skill it takes (for someone like me, anyway) to even get the big animal to go forward or turn from left to right is fairly high.  But these kids could command the horses to turn on a dime, sail around a barrel, and break into a sprint for the home stretch.  There were other age categories too, but it was these little kids who impressed me the most.  After that we strolled to the tractor museum and finally made our way back home.  Later on we looked at some paint samples for a couple rooms in our house, which we hope to get working on soon, and I finally replaced the faulty fluorescent light fixture above my workbench in the garage.

As for today, we're heading to church in an hour and then back to church this evening for a welcome-back event for the college students.  Should be fun.  :)

The seeds of summer

Before we bought a house we would often hear from friends and family about how much work they are to maintain. And as I have said before on this blog, this type of work isn't really that big of a deal to me as I kind of enjoy putting work into our house and yard. Between mowing, vacuuming, dusting, swiffering, and the occasional fix-it job, owning a house can be a lot of work but it always leaves me with a feeling of accomplishment. Last night after going on a walk we spent a while in the front yard performing the rather unglamorous task of...weeding. Not stylish to be sure, but a task that needs to be done from time to time. And even though we lifted a trash barrel full of leafy pests from the ground it feels like we hardly made a dent in ridding our yard of them. But there are several noticeable improvements already, and we're even thinking about getting our lawn treated next year. Yeah, it's a bow to suburban lifestyle that we would rather not take, but dude...it's tough keeping up with all the weeds. Who knows. :) We have also successfully re-caulked the bathtub in the past week, after an initial attempt that was foiled due to my use of expired caulking (which is no fun at all to get off once it's applied). Someday we'll get the back screen door replaced, the wallpaper taken down, the rooms painted, and a handful of other projects, but for now we're content with the small accomplishments. :)

A few days ago a giant weather system blew through town, which marked the first time as Oklahoma residents that we were subjected to the mercy of a big ol' tornado-spawning spring thunderstorm. Having grown up in Nebraska, on the northern end of Tornado Alley, we weren't exactly freaking out or anything--in fact, we spent most of the evening moving office furniture on the OSU campus. But when the sirens sounded it was nice to be able to head to a lecture hall in the basement of the building we were in, and wait out the storm with lots of good people and three LCD projector screens keeping us updated on weather conditions. Even though the tornadoes mostly passed our town without incident, it was another sobering reminder of the power of nature and the weakness of even the strongest buildings. Hopefully next time we will be just as fortunate!

This spring has also brought several visitors and mini-trips for us. Between out-of-town work conferences, friends from Nebraska coming down for a weekend, and a bridal shower that my wife put on for her friend back home, it's been a busy couple of weeks. (or has it been months? It all runs together...) We were going to have some family come for a visit this weekend too, but circumstances changed and they are postponing their trip for a few weeks. In a way it's nice to have a free weekend to just be around the house and take it easy if we so wish. And of course play some Xbox too. :)

Riverwalk?

Yesterday was a bit uncharacteristically cosmopolitan day for the two of us. We live in a fairly small (but vibrant and interesting) town, with two major cities an hour away. It's pretty nice, actually, because even though Stillwater isn't a bustling hub of urban activity, we prefer a more, shall we say, peaceful existence. It's nice living in a place where a five-minute drive can take you pretty much anywhere in town, but there are times when the big city amenities are nice to have. And that's when a short drive is in order to Tulsa or Oklahoma City. Yesterday one of my friends was in Tulsa to see some of his family, so my wife and I drove out to meet them all for lunch at a local Oklahoma chain called The Hideaway (basically some of the best pizza you can get around here). We had an outstanding time at lunch catching up on things, getting to know my friend's family members a little more, and talking a lot about movies. And yes, the food was delicious, especially the cheesey bread. Oh yeah. :)

After that we figured we would take a stroll down at the Riverwalk, an area down south of town that's kind of a combination of a small outdoor mall, some apartments, and a bike path. We ended up on the wrong side of the river on a separate path that kind of went away from the waterfront, and it was also a tad chilly and windy, but the three-mile walk ended up being a nice way to burn off some of the pizza from lunch. So in the end I'd call it a win. :) We met up with some other friends for coffee and dinner later on, and caught the Hull/Arsenal soccer game on TV too. I don't follow soccer at all, but one of the guys we were with sure does, so it was nice having him around to explain everything and help us know who to cheer for.

My brother Phil let me borrow The Orange Box a few months ago when I bought my 360, and it didn't take me long to join the legions of gamers enthralled with Valve's concept/tech demo/DigiPen Student Project/game Portal. I beat it and unlocked the Developer Commentary version, and I am currently about five minutes away from beating it again before giving the game back to my brother this coming weekend. All in all, one of the most clever and ingenious games I have ever played, and the only game I have ever played with commentary, which is an incredible bonus for anyone interested in peeling back the layers behind a project like this.

It's time to take one final sip of my strawberry milk, wrap this up, and head out for a walk to enjoy the extra hour that was given to us last night. Aw yeah. :)

Progressively Dining

Since getting an Xbox 360 a few months ago, our movie/tv/netflix habits haven't necessarily changed, but they have been enhanced to a surprising degree. And running the 360 to our new TV has made a good thing even better. Case in point: Netflix streaming has always been nice, but every time we wanted to watch something we had to plug my laptop into the TV by way of an adapter and two cords. No remote also meant every time we wanted to pause, rewind, or start something new meant a short trip from couch to laptop. Now, this is not a complaint: I grew up with no VCR until I was about nine years old, and fully realize that the modern conveniences we have, like the ability to watch movies instantly through Netflix, Hulu, and the like, wasn't even fathomable as recently as ten years ago. So when I say that I have to walk all the way from our couch to my laptop (a laptop! Ten years ago laptops could barely run video games, much less instantly stream movies from the internet) it's not a complaint. It's an observation, and nothing more. The point is that watching DVDs, Netflix streaming, and playing video games required a series of cords, cables, and button presses on Radio Shack switchboards in the days before our Xbox 360.

Now all that is possible through the game console, and in every case, improved by leaps and bounds. Netflix is amazing on the 360--we can sit back on the couch and with a flick of the remote, peruse our Queue and stream HD movies right to the TV. Video games on the 360 are awesome, and DVDs look better than ever thanks to the 360's upscaling capabilities. In short, Microsoft's little console has been a great addition to our living room...

...until it died last week. After humming along great for three months, the 360 stopped recognizing discs and I had to send it in for repairs. :( From the online repair tracking page it looks like things are going well and we might have it back in as little as a week or two from now, but in the meantime we're left back in the dark ages of regular old DVD players and playing video games on the Wii instead of the 1080p goodness of the 360. It's a perspective lesson, really, and in some ways I'm glad the 360 died. My evenings have been spent reading a book my wife got me for Valentine's day, working on Walking Taco and its new subsidiary Walking Taco Box Office, writing for my brother's video game web site Inside The Console, and tinkering on projects around the house. I'm sure we will enjoy having the 360 back, but in the meantime it's been kind of nice to put the brakes on things for a little while. :)

In a completely unrelated matter, last night we went to what I guess is called a "Progressive Dinner" through our church. Around 25 people met at the house of one of our congregation members for appetizers, and then we broke up into three smaller groups for the main course at three different host houses. After that we all met for dessert at the house of another congregation member on the north side of town. Even though we signed up a little late for the event, they made room for us and there was plenty of food at all the stops throughout the evening. We had a great time meeting new people, getting to know others better, and just hanging out with church people in a non-church setting. Not that going to Lenten dinners and post-worship meetings are bad (far from it, in fact), but it's nice to get to know people in a different environment too.

The dinner was also a nice way to get away from the rain, which has been coming down steadily for a few days now. And I gotta say, even though it's kind of dreary out, I kind of like it. Rainy days like today are a good excuse to say inside, bask in the glow of a good fire in the fireplace, and catch up on some blogging. :)

At the cabin

Last weekend was our annual trip to Camp Moses Merrill, and while in and of itself the trip might not be especially noteworthy, this year just happened to be the ten-year anniversary of our little outing. And in all those years only three people have been there every year: my friends Evan, Brian, and myself. That's not to say we will always be attending (Evan has a daughter, and everyone has new obligations and other considerations as they grow older), but it's cool that we have been able to make it every year so far. And this year was, like every year, a really good time and a great way to spend a cold January weekend.

We decided to do two things differently this go-round: we went from Friday evening to Sunday evening, and we also had actual meals instead of frozen pizzas by the dozen. While that might seem kind of insignificant, it actually helped immensely. A weekend of junk food and frozen pizzas can be nice, but knowing that actual meals were being prepared (Evan kind of doled out the food duties to various people, and everyone was responsible for a lunch or dinner) was a welcome change from simply wondering if anyone would want to split the last four-meat Red Baron after sledding. Als, in past years, most people left Sunday night and the handful who hung around until Monday morning were left with cleanup duties. This time, there were almost least a dozen of us still there on Sunday to do the cleanup, which made everything go a lot smoother.

New things aside, we had a great time watching movies, playing cards and board games, watching the Vikings/Cowboys game on Sunday, and of course much time was spent on the sledding hill (with more than a foot of snow on the ground!) even though most of the snow tubes were shredded by the end. So thanks to everyone who showed up again this time, and hopefully we can all make it again next year!

Before heading up to the cabin last Saturday I also got to go out to breakfast with some friends from college, and it was great to see them again. We keep in touch on facebook, but it's always nice to see people and catch up in person. So mega bonus on that. :)

Here at home things have been much warmer this past week, and today we will probably get to go for a walk without hats and gloves on, what with the high being forecast in the mid-50's. Not too bad, I say. :) Maybe we'll snag a garden hose at the hardware store and give our car a little wash, too. It sure could use it.

The Warm Side

Today, as I look out the window onto our front lawn, there is frost on the ground. I don't recall a day since moving here that this has happened. Just yesterday my wife and I were talking about how it doesn't really feel like Christmas yet, even though the celebration of the birth of Jesus is just five days away. I'm sure it will happen eventually, but right now living in Oklahoma where, for instance, the high today is supposed to be 60 degrees, it's just not the same as being surrounded by snow up in Minnesota. So yeah, another difference about living here that isn't necessarily good or bad, just notable.

Last night we had some friends over for cards, and I don't know about you, but spending an evening playing Spades, Pitch, 500, or even Hearts is a great way to pass the time. Sure I like me some video games, movies, going on walks with my wife, working on stuff around the house, and other things like that, but getting some friends together and playing some good old-fashioned card games is where it's at. I'm not into poker, because though I understand that the financial element of the game adds a certain level of intensity and engagement to the proceedings, it also elevates things just past the point to where the game is a little too much about competition as opposed to just having a good time. Last night our game of choice was Spades, which I used to play religiously on the weekends in college, and it was great to sit around the table, munching on junk food just playing some cards. In a few days we're heading up to Lincoln for Christmas (where there is snow, from what I'm told) and I'm sure there will be plenty of evenings that involve card games until the wee hours of the morning. Awesome. :)

We've been doing lots of little improvements around the house lately, and it's nice to not only have the sense of accomplishment that comes from a job well done, but it's just cool to be able to fix things up here and there. Even little things like the towel rack we put in on the bathroom wall, the mantle we installed above the fireplace, or a lamp that we fixed up with a new shade and new table to set it on, are nice to get done because each one makes this place feel a little more like home. I guess it could be that when we have more of ourselves personally invested in our surroundings, those surroundings begin to take on a more personal and familiar air. Next project is mounting our TV above the fireplace, and the mounting bracket should be here sometime this week, so let's hope that works out.

Warming trends

Some people think it's a bit trite to discuss the weather, but most of those people don't live in Minnesota. It's been CRAZY cold here in the past month, and only recently have things been above zero on a regular basis. Today I walked out of work and it was a downright balmy 30 degrees. My wife and I even went for a walk a week ago, and the best part of all this is, it's only going to get better from here on out. Sure we will get plenty of snow, cold mornings, and icy windshields, but at least the days are getting longer and Spring is in sight.

Last Saturday we went snow tubing at Afton Alps with a bunch of friends, and I wouldn't say it was necessarily better than Green Acres, but it was fun in a different sort of way. Their six well-manicured runs and cool conveyor belt-type of lift were a radical change from Green Acres' two runs and tow-rope lift, and they definitely had higher-quality tubes too. But I kind of like Green Acres' semi-shifty aesthetic, and their two hills are much wider, allowing for massive groups to go down at one time, all linked and tangled together. Still, it was fun going to Afton nonetheless, and after our first run the conveyor belt broke so we had to hoof it up the hill Moses Merril style, but we also got free passes to go again. And so we shall. :)

Ever since reading everyone's "25 things" posts on Facebook, I've been thinking about what I want to say on mine. Even though the fad has kind of passed by now ("25 things about yourself? Dude, that's so last week...") it might be cool anyway. And it's not like the lists are anything groundbreaking or life-changing, and nobody thinks about them for more than a minute after they read them, but still, I want mine to be good. Not better, necessarily, than anyone else's, but good enough that one of the things might actually be memorable or insightful. So, as my dad used to say, we'll have to see.

Speaking of my dad, I hope he's doing better after hurting his hand a few days ago. He broke one of his fingers and will have a splint/cast thing on for a few weeks, so Dad, if you're reading this, we are praying for you and hopefully you can still find a way to operate the welder with one hand. :)

And Sarah, if you're reading this, thanks for coming over with Jon last night. Sgt. Bilko was great, as was the delicious lasagne.

Ten Below

I can't remember the last time it was this cold. Probably sometime last year, but my brain likely froze and thus the memory was never seared into my cerebral cortex. At any rate, it's super duper cold, and there's a foot of snow on the ground. The bright side? For starters, our apartment doesn't charge us for heat. :) I used to have a Warm Mist humidifier in my bedroom back in kollij, and on nights like last night I would set it to 'max,' so I would wake up on mornings like this to a veritable tropical vacation. We don't quite do the same now, but it's still nice to have a cozy comfy place to live on morning like this. Last night we went out to eat with my cousin and his wife, and then came back here for some board games and Guitar Hero. All the while, we were waiting to hear from my cousing Jessie who was at the Airport in Atlanta, anxiously awaiting the boarding call of her flight up to the Cities. Her original flight was scheduled to depart at 1. It was cancelled, though, because there was too much snow up here for it to land. Major bummer.

She ended up waiting at the airport for almost the entire day, only to find out that her only option was to take a plane on Monday. Ouch. But, a few days late is better than crashing and burning on a frozen runway...

We are actually heading out for Montana in a few hours, where we will spend the week visiting family, eating too much junk food, and watching The West Wing. After that it's a trip to Lincoln for much of the same, but with the added benefit of seeing my two-and-a-half-year-old niece, as well as Amigo's and Valentino's. :)

Fishing Opener?

I enjoy fishing, but, though I live in Minnesota, I only go a few times a year, and mostly on vacation or with my friend Jon at his cabin. Yesterday, though, my cousin Matt invited me up to his house on a lake north of the Cities for this year's inaugural fishing expedition. And by expedition I mean that we, along with his wife and a few others, took his old pontoon out for an hour and threw grub worms and peanut shells at the tiny sunfish. Even though I only caught one fish, and between the five of us nothing we reeled in was longer than a few inches, we had a great time. Which, in my judgement, is the real point of fishing anyway. We also had some delicious burgers for dinner and capped the night with some Guitar Hero.

As I type this I have completed five separate projects for my fledgling video business, save for the printing of some DVD inserts. My little Pioneer 110D has been burning DVDs like crazy these past few weeks, and I'm optimistic about a few other jobs I have lined up this summer too. All in all, it should buy a new iMac by the end of the summer. Excellent.

This morning the weather has been astounding--crisp, fresh, and not a cloud in the sky. Minnesota in the springtime really is something else, man. But one thing we do not have, as readers of this blog are keenly aware, is a little slice of heaven in the form of a Nebraska-based taco chain known as Amigo's. And a half hour ago my brother Tom reminded me of this in a picture he sent to me showcasing the condiments he and his fiancée were employing to augment their already delicious taco lunch:



And that, as he said, is just for two people. Well done, Tom...well done.

Out like a lamb

So far it looks as though March will bid a fond farewell in rather kindly fashion, with temps in the 40s during the day, although the forecast keeps warning us of...snow. Weird. I hope it doesn't pan out, but if we do get another few inches, I suppose it will melt quickly and be good for the ground and lakes and whatnot, so that's good. But between the weather and the extra daylight...as Disco Stu would say, "Aaayy!"

Friday night we spent time with our restaurant- and movie-going friends Jon and Sarah, this time visiting the delicious Key's Cafe near our house and then attending our last-ever movie at the Roseville 4.



She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts. And the theatre owners had made a lot of special modifications, too:



The floors are a sight even Dave Barry would be proud of:



The movie in question was National Treasure: Book of Secrets, and while I was hoping for a little more grave-jumping action, it was a worthy follow-up to one of the more enjoyable adventure movies to come out in the last several years. I still wish Riley was played by Steve Zahn, though. Anyway, the cheapo movie house will close its doors forever in a matter of hours, so if you think of it, pour out a 40 of Pepsi, or a gallon tub of stale popcorn, for the fallen.

Last night my cousin and his wife came over and we spent the evening playing Guitar Hero 3 and (gasp!) Wii Play. I have always dismissed the latter as a terrible game, but I have to admit, for a bunch of casual gamers who just want to have a good time, it really was fun.

My wife and I are about to go on a walk--our first in many weeks--and while that may seem silly to blog about, if you lived up here and the weather was finally warm enough to do so, well, you would understand. :)

Winter, To

Last weekend I attended my first-ever hockey game, which may seems a bit countercultural in that someone of my age around here should have been to several of these events by now, but might I politely remind all you would-be naysayers that I attended UNL for five years and went to nary a Huskers game?

I will, thanks.

Anyway, the game was, as many of the spectators might have described it, "super fun." Far more interesting and exciting to watch than football, and far more mentally engaging than baseball. I hope to attend more of these in the coming months, and my brother Andy even offered to take me to a hockey game should I be in Lincoln when one is occurring.

After the game we made a trip to (where else?) The Brass Rail with (who else?) Jon and Sarah for some broastedey goodness, but an otherwise stellar trip to an outstanding eatery was marred by a dearth of cottage cheese and longer-than-usual service times. But nothing stops the Chicken Train once it gets going, and dinner was as belt-loosening as ever. Mmmm...tasty chicken...

Monday I tailgated with Jon as well as my cousin Matt and some others downtown near the Metrodome before the Vikes played Da Bearss. Two hours of standing in the cold with good company, excellent brats, and strange but fun sports fans wielding all manner of purple paraphernalia all amounted to a supremely fun time. Definitely worth checking out if you have not experienced it, but it is also, without question, a dude thing.

Last night some friends stopped by to drop off some Christmas cookies, which was an extremely pleasant surprise. We even made tentative plans to go snow tubing, as well as have a game night where we can all get together for some cards, board games, and a healthy dose of Vitamin Wii. One of my wife's friends is also in town for a visit and stopped by with her fiancee (sorry folks, I don't have time to look up the HTML code for the ASCII character that is an accented 'e') and we had some delicious pizza, followed by Guitar Hero and a few rounds of Password, a game my parents got for us last Christmas.

Why is it that so much of this blog revolves around food? :)

Friday it's off to Lincoln, and then to Montana next Thursday. Them's the holidays, folks!

You sent me a letter

When I woke up this morning, the air temperature was one degree. Below.

I just thought I would mention that.


Anyway, last night our friends Sarah and Jon came over for some good cooking, good laughs, and a good movie. The dinner was lasagne, homemade, using Sarah's recipe, with about twice as much cheese as it called for. The laughs were mostly from a Comedy Central special that Jon brought, of a guy whose name slips my mind, but who was, in what is rather singular in his business, funny but not very foul-mouthed. The movie? Robert Zemeckis' gift to nerds the world over: Back to the Future. As Jon said, why don't they make movies like that anymore? I don't know, but someone really should. We capped the night with a few rounds of Wii Bowling, during which I finally joined Sarah and my wife in the "Pro" club, which is attained when one reaches a score of 1000 in the bowling rankings. It takes quite a bit of work, and the reward, a sparkling bowling ball, is more than worth it.

Today, after sleeping in and then fiddling with the backup software on my computer, I made some calls to local stores and managed to locate one copy of Guitar Hero 3, which I have been attempting to find for some time now. I high-tailed it down to the GameStop on University Avenue where an employee named Colin (thanks, Colin, if you're reading this, the chances of which are highly unlikely. But it never hurts to try...) handed me their last copy, which he graciously held for me. Much of the day was spent trading the Les Paul between my wife and myself as we strummed virtually along, unlocking songs and battling opponents online and off. My wife's brothers introduced us to Guitar Hero 2 this summer, and we have both been awaiting the release of the series' third iteration ever since. Well, I have, at any rate, though my wife does enjoy the games a good deal also. :)

So yes, it is one degree out, but we have a roof over our heads, a heater that works, a pair of reliable automobiles, food in our fridge, clothes on our back...I suppose I could go on, but one does get the point. It's not the dark circle of winter on which I try to focus, but the bright spot in the center of the degree, the brilliant point the cold of winter is farthest from.

Dancing the Night Away

Several firsts, or at least notables, happened this weekend. Early Friday morning we left for Philadelphia (or, as the locals apparently call it, "Philly") for a wedding. I have never been to that part of the United States before, though I have spent time on other parts of the East Coast. We got in around 11am and took a shuttle over to the Hertz office to rent a car--also a first for me. My parents once rented a car when we flew to Florida in the 80s, but I have never done it myself, and neither had my wife. We pre-booked, or whatever it's called, a vehicle several weeks ago and even got a discount using our Costco card, and as we arrived at the counter we eagerly awaited our "Ford Focus or similar." What we ended up with was a 2008 Chevy Cobalt, which was, to be honest, not all that impressive of a vehicle. It was fun to drive around, though, and drive it we did, right to the mall for some lunch. We ate at a place called The Cheesecake Factory which, I found out, is more like a Green Mill than a dessert assembly line, as its name would imply. An hour and a half, and a quick stop at our Hotel to change, later, and we were on our way to Saint Philip of Nerie church for the ceremony.

All in all the wedding, and its subsequent reception, were very enjoyable. It was cool to see the bride and her family, and the people we sat with for dinner were really fun to talk to. I'm generally not a big fan of dancing, but the DJs were outstanding and the music was a great mix of oldies and current pop-ish tunes which lent themselves rather well to a wedding reception.

Once again, our friend Sarah picked us up from the airport and we spent the rest of the day with her and her boyfriend, playing Wii Sports, going to look for a movie to buy, and making delicious homemade calzones. Thanks for a great Saturday, you two. :)

Quick Recap

Highlights of the past few days...

• Changed the front-left headlight bulb in my car, which involved removing the battery as well as a few other minor parts. Thanks to my dad, who taught me years ago to not fear the underside of my car's hood, and to opt for prayer in lieu of swearing when doing auto maintenance and repair. I also topped off the air in my wife's car tires for good measure.

• Spent Friday evening with my cousin Beth and her boyfriend, which involved walking to a nearby coffee shop and playing some Wii Sports before turning in for the night.

• Heard the acoustic guitarist at said coffee shop play The Rainbow Connection. I haven't heard this song since Gavin played it on the keyboard back at Alpha Sigma Sigma.

• Picked my wife up from the airport this morning. I love it when she comes home from a trip.

• Went out to lunch with some friends (hey you two, is it OK if I use your names here?) at "Tasty Pizza," a restaurant that lives up to its namesake rather well. Lunch was followed by two games of bowling at the Brunswick bowling lane near the restaurant. We all stink at bowling, but that's not really the point now, is it?

• Made liberal use of our new space heater. Good golly it's nice. I'm also on my second cup of hot chocolate for the day as I write this. mmmm...

Heating Spaces

Last winter our heat went out for a week, and though it certainly wasn't unbearable, it was rather chilly in our apartment. I borrowed my friend Sarah's space heater midway through the heat outage, and though it was small, it certainly was a nice little workhorse. It kept the computer room nice and cozy, not to mention the living room, albeit with a little help from a nice blanket too. Well, this year we're heading into winter prepared as all get out, mostly thanks to a small heater we bought this afternoon. We looked at several different kinds, like oil-filled and ceramic and whatnot, and even called the fire department to see if there was a particular heater they recommended. The one we got was a micathermic heater which is supposed to be pretty good, but it also didn't hurt that Costco had it for way cheaper than anywhere else. Bring on Old Man Winter!

We went to Saint Cloud last night for my uncle Frank's 55th birthday, and as usual, it was a great time. Anytime a bunch of my family members get together is pretty much going to be enjoyable. No special highlights, really, other than watching some bright floating objects that appeared in the eastern sky soon after dusk, and seeing my uncle Pete who drove from Nebraska just for the birthday party.

And speaking of parties, today is my friend Joe's birthday. And yesterday my brother Phil celebrated his college graduation. Congratulations to both of you!

Time to check and see if the dryers are free. Laundry in an apartment can be kind of tricky that way. Ahoy!