Pork Paroxysm

Last weekend I had the pleasure of hosting my brother's bachelor party, and even though the phrase bachelor party probably conjures images of somewhat questionable conduct on the part of all involved, that sort of thing was not at all what this one involved. Mostly it consisted of a dozen or so guys watching the Huskers beat the snot out of Western Kentucky while eating far too much chips, salsa, bratwurst, popcorn, and the like.  Afterwards we played a few rounds of Rock Band and called it a night.  And while a good time was most certainly had by all, the highlight (or lowlight, depending on how you look at it) of the evening was our attempt to create and cook a Bacon Explosion.  Part meat, part spice, and part artwork, the Bacon Explosion was to be our Sistine Chapel--the piece de resistance on an altogether excellent night.  And while the final result was somewhat open for debate, at least we got a cool story out of the whole deal.

Things got going with the initial preparation of the Bacon Explosion itself, the foundation of which is a layer of woven bacon.  I actually wasn't present for the weaving of said bacon, but I must say, my brother Andy did a fine job if I do say so myself.  And I just did, so there.

After that came more layers of bacon, seasonings, sausage, cheese, and more that combined to form a gigantic roll of meaty meat-ness.  Like I mentioned earlier, I wouldn't exactly classify this whole thing as delicious, but it sure was an experience to put together.

After finishing all the preparations, we headed out to the grill to slow-cook the meaty monstrosity for a couple of hours.  Technically it should be prepared in a smoker, but absent that instrument of culinary confectionery, we resorted to the old standby of a propane grill.  And while I wouldn't say that idea didn't work, I would be hard-pressed to say it actually did work.  What we ended up with was part carbon, part meat, and part gooey cheesey meat-like substance in a malformed log shape.

Ready for grilling.  Mmm...delicious?

Several of the guys tried eating this, and a few actually succeeded in downing their portion.  Me, I was content to nibble on a scrap of bacon and call it good, as was my friend Evan.  It was a fun thing to try, but I think next time I'll stick to the plain ol' burgers and bratwurst that are more typical cookout staples.  At the end of the day, though, we all had a great time--especially my brother, which is really all that matters anyway.

My brother, the lucky bachelor, with his bacon trophy.

The Big Picture

Trip to Sedona was awesome. I've only been to Arizona once before (well, twice if you count the time we drove to Nevada and barely grazed the northwest corner of Arizona on I-15) and when I was there the first time we pretty much just hung out in Phoneix. Everyone said that Sedona was beautiful, though, and seriously...everyone was right. It was probably one of the most breathtaking locations I have visited in a long time, if not ever. From the house at which we stayed, just outside the edge of town, you could look out and see a vista that included massive rock formations touching the edge of the sky, skirted by green valleys that ran as far along the horizon as the eye could see. The best part was that almost everywhere we went, whether in town or not, included similar views of deep red peaks rising hundreds or even thousands of feet into the air. But aside from the scenery, it was just a really fun weekend with lots of good people to see and talk with. The bride is a longtime friend of my wife, and the two have known each other since freshman year of college, so it was really good to be there with her and her family to celebrate such a wonderful occasion.

But alas, the duties of a husband-of-a-bridesmaid are often not pressing, and so there was little to do while the ladyfolk were scurrying about, giddy with wedding preparations. So one afternoon some of the other guys and I took a trip to the Grand Canyon which, I gotta say, was pretty grand. Having never been there before, and only seeing pictures in books along with the occasional educational video, I was more or less unprepared scope the scope of the canyon. The drop was so deep, and the expanse so wide, that I had to just stare for several minutes before even realizing I was actually seeing a place on this island earth. It's phenomenal how huge this thing is, and the scale of it all is just overwhelming. We took turns sitting on a cliff edge that dropped a few thousand feet to a rocky slope below, and holding mortality in our own hand like that was an experience I will not soon forget.

The rest of the weekend--the natural wonders, the conversations, the dancing at the wedding reception, it was all a blast. So C and M, if either of you two are reading this, thanks for a great weekend and I wish both of you a blessed married life together.

Since getting back and slipping back into our more-or-less daily routine (which in many ways has yet to even be established, since we're still new to this town and this house) it's been nice to have a place of our own to hang our coats in the evening, and do our part to take care of it too. Yesterday my wife and I did some yard work, today I changed the oil in our car in our own garage, and we got the programmable thermostat figured out too. Always a nice bonus. :) Time to sign off for the night, though, and head for bed.

Moving Day

As of last Thursday we are officially homeowners, and I'm writing this post from the very comfy living room of our very own house near the edge of town. It's been a long time in coming, and like all home purchases this one was accompanied by its share of questions, anxiety, uncertainty, and ultimately elation as we moved closer to the actual date of purchase and then finally to the signing of the papers. We probably looked at close to 30 homes during our search (a big Thank You to our very patient realtor, btw) but this was the only one on which my wife and I were in wholehearted agreement. And so far it's great. We have a surprising amount of stuff unpacked already, and this afternoon our new washer and dryer were delivered, which marks one more item off the checklist of home ownership. My parents and big brother came down last weekend to help us move in, along with two of my coworkers, and this was also when we realized firsthand one of the nice things about a ranch-style house: the lack of stairs is of significant advantage when moving heavy pieces of furniture. :) We've got a list of small improvements to make, and a few long-term goals as well, but right now it's cool to know that we finally have a place to call our own.

The new house also means I have to find a new way of getting to work, since we only have one car and it's a little too far to walk now. But thankfully I discovered this morning that it's only a 15-minute bike ride to campus. Not having biked to work since my days of living in my parents' basement and working at Russ's Market, it's pretty cool to be able to revisit the tried-and-true method of human-powered two-wheel transportation once again. And the general absence of winter snowfall means I should be able to bike for most of the year. I've been trying to exercise more regularly too, and this will also help things in that respect. So yeah, major bonus. :)

This weekend we head to Sedona, Arizona, for a wedding, and I've heard it's really pretty up there. I also plan on loading up my GPS with several Geocaches to find when there's downtime, and hopefully I can locate some near the place we're staying. Right now, though, it's high time I got to bed. *yawn*

Praise the Lord. :)

Nine O'Clock and All's Well

What a week it's been.

Actually, what a week and a few days it's been.

Last Sunday at this time I was driving back from Lincoln, having gone down for my friend Rachel's wedding, and listening to some tunes and podcasts while tooling across the midwest on Highway 169. It was a great drive, and the perfect way to top off a good weekend. I got to town late Friday, spent Saturday working on my car in my dad's garage, going to Amigo's with friends and family, and then seeing lots of people at the wedding and reception. My brother Phil had the highlight of the evening, with a flawless recitation of White and Nerdy on the dance floor. Actually, Phil even let me be a guest on his weekly video game podcast, Inside the Console, and we discussed our Christmas Wish Lists and lots of other video game goodness. Good friends, good times...great weekend.

Last week I was at work for almost 80 hours, which kind of explains the lack of any new blog posts recently, but things are settling down this week and coming back to more of an equilibrium, which is always nice. In fact, this afternoon my wife and I went to church for an afternoon of board games, which was pretty fun. We started off by playing The Allowance Game with a little girl, her mom, and a few other ladies. Each player starts with $3.50 and the goal is to be the first person to reach $20, which is a lot harder than it seems. I challenged our pastor to several rounds of three-dimensional tic-tac-toe, most of which were won by him, and we finished off the afternoon with a game of Yahtzee. There were even door prizes, and my wife walked away with a box of Chex-Mix Snack Bars, and I got a box of chocolate Turtles.

Time to check the ol' Facebook account and head for bed.