Santa's Village

Nothing worse than an amusement park being MOBBED in late November. That's what happens when it's a beautiful day in Northern New Hampshire. We only got to go on a few rides because of the lines. The lines were shorter in August two years ago, for God's sake! And of course, I had let Erika wear my coat so I was chilly the whole day.

The rest of Vermont was nice, but again, it woulda been more fun if it were 30 degrees with six inches of snow on the ground. Then we'd have just been dealing with skiers, I suppose. Maybe Erika and I will retire up there, it's so purty all year around! And close to Dartmouth, that helps, too!

Vermont

I wonder if it's going to snow this weekend in Vermont while I'm there with mom, dad, Erika, and the girls. Last time we had Thanksgiving up there we got 10 inches of snow. This of course means extra clothes to pack in case there is a blizzard. Should be fun, as long as the house mom and dad are renting comes with cable to watch the games on.

I don't understand the allure of Detroit getting the Thanksgiving Day game every year, especially since they play indoors in such a sterile environment. If it were 40 degrees and raw and a little muddy out there, now THAT would be a cool tradition.

Bo knows....

I had no idea that Bo Schembechler coached under Woody Hayes. That's kinda jarring to read about...plus, I'm a little embarrassed not to have heard that SOMEWHERE once before.

I can only hope to see some of the game tomorrow, what with kid patrol and then going to drop off tables at my mother-in-law's in NY. I'm not even sure she has a TV. (gulp!) Also, she'd better come up with something good for dinner tomorrow!

6 days until turkey, baby! Turkey day in Vermont. That can only mean maple syrup in the gravy! (no?)

Theo be nimble, Theo be quick.....

Let's just hope Theo doesn't burn off his f-bombin' dick, with the negotiations for the new Dice Man in Boston.

I wonder why the small market teams don't just up and form their own league amongst themselves.....Pirates, Royals, Twins, etc. Yeah the Twins would romp probably, but good for them, at least they wouldn't feel the pressure to compete against the big spenders. And big spenders wouldn't feel like complete flops if they lose 100 games, because they'd be losing to other big spenders.

My thought is that no American city could stand the idea of being "relegated" without putting up a whiny lawsuit. Maybe the Red Sox, Dodgers, and Yankees will take their balls and go home, they just don't feel like playing with some of the other kids. Also, I wonder what percentage of a small team's gate for the year comes from those 3 sellouts a year when NY comes to town.

Fried cheddar cheese is good but oily and salty. Fried sprinkled parmesan is awesome, but not so common because I rarely fry stuff with parmesan cheese amidst the ingredients.

Apparently there are NO good college football teams this year. Every team with a good record did it by beating nobodies. And all the teams with losses got them from good teams.

Fried American cheese

ever have this? Take a non-stick pan, slap down a slice of cheese, and let it cook on medium heat for a couple of minutes...flip it over when it's orange enough to do. There's a restaurant in my hometown that serves its burgers with a mound of it coming out of the bun. But we always break it off and eat it separately. That stuff's actually dry, but if you undercook it a bit, it becomes chewier....much more satisfying.

Mercury crosses the sun

On Wednesday, according to reports.

I wish I'd noticed the Wednesday part. I actually looked out the window here at work and gave myself the sun spots in my vision....thinking I might see a dot on the sun if I glanced quickly enough.

It really IS just like looking at cleavage, I guess....you get a peek, and look away!

It was a lava flow

That was the drink in Hawaii...

Pats lost last night, thank goodness I missed it. Went to the statue of liberty in NYC Sunday...that required the early wake-up. I had no idea we couldn't actually go inside the statue. Talk about wanting a reason to commit a federal offense. Too bad it wouldn't be like, sneaking into a different movie theater, on the scale of criminal activity.

Truth be told, I've never done THAT either. I'm such a goody-goody it's sick, huh?

Still haven't ever been over the Brooklyn Bridge, we drove past the turn we needed and ended up leaving Manhattan up the west side. That sucked.

Started the gingerbread men puzzle I ordered from Springbok with the kids. I'm going to call them out on crappy workmanship AGAIN. This time the image has a big wrinkle in it, like they didn't apply it to the cardboard right. This sucks, springboks used to be freakin' awesome puzzles.

Snacks

I am pissed that Nabisco apparently discontinued Twigs. They don't even show up on their website any more. Sesame-cheese snack sticks, what's not to like??!!

Anyways, another comment here is about Bachman's Jax. They are more fun than Cheetos because they have varying textures from curl to curl. But today I found some cheese leftovers at the bottom of the bag. Like, just the cheese without the corn underneath it, in little packed clumps. Wow are they high in sodium that way. But extra-tangy!

Snyder's Buffalo pretzel bits are the bomb. Also their jalapeño ones, too. Those are good snacks. Erika and I are thinking of awarding internally a "food/beverage of the year". Last year's winner we realized was Coke Zero. This year we've already got some nominees.....Yoplait light thick-n-creamy key lime yogurt, for instance. There was a tropical drink we had in Hawaii at every restaurant, I forget what it's called now...is it a wave runner? It's frozen with yellow and red layers. The pumpkin ravioli from our wedding is certainly worthy of nomination, too.

Now I'm married....

Does anyone read this? Are tons of women disappointed yet? :)

Let's see....I ordered waaaay too much booze.
It poured all morning, the roof in our family room leaked and also water dripped down our chimney.
The appetizers were a little late and ran over into the arrival of the dinner....leading to lots of leftovers there.

And yet I wouldn't trade it for anything :)

Although I'd love to trade out of having trash duty this week.

Rain Saturday?

So that's the theory....pouring rain for our halloween party / wedding reception. What will this mean? Probably more people leaving early....it's pretty freakin' dark in my neighborhood at night. That of course means tons of leftovers.

Erika has asked for "Ironic" by Alanis in the music list. That's doable. She bought a Y-adaptor to hook her laptop to the downstairs stereo, so we can run the songs off iTunes. That's GOT to be every DJ's best friend.

Today is nice and sunny, hopefully I can get in some last-minute tennis tonight.

I understand the "cash bar" thing now...

Holy crap, booze is expensive.
I've bought
8 bottles of champagne
20 bottles of wine
2 30-packs of beer
MADE another 40 or so bottles of homebrew
plus big bottles of:
Jack
Grey Goose
Bacardi
Tequila (forgot what brand)
Bailey's

I still have to buy non-alcoholic stuff too.

All this for a party of 40-45 people.

Either we're going to run out, or we're going to have waaaay too much, and I can't figure out which.

At least if we have extra, we can have friends over to try to use it up at a subsequent party.

Last single weekend!

Okay, where to start....

Endy Chavez, what a freakin' catch. How did the Mets NOT have karma on their side after that? That never happens. Like Dewey Evans, only with a better throw back to the infield to start the double play. And how does Beltran not swing at that curve ball? Doesn't something in the back of your head say, oh crap! and you at least try to drag the bat through the zone with your arms?

I just ordered sheet music to learn to play that Maroon 5 album. Mostly to surprise Erika. I find it's easier to fake piano parts from guitar music, than it is to fake guitar parts from piano music. Guitar music is always written to be exact, that's probably why.

I can't put my beer in the fridge yet, because the yeast is still working on making the bubbles.

Off to the movies tonight, I think. Great, on a rainy night. Noooobody will be at the movies on a rainy Friday.

The IRS published its pension limits for 2007. To be an HCE in 2008, ya gotta make 100K in 2007. I can dream, can't I?

Pants are in

I've got my wedding pants all set!

I've got my beer bottled while watching the game last night. (Hideous Cards!)

Lunch at Boxcar Cantina in Greenwich. Not awesome. I get the feeling that beans and rice are the Mexican equivalent to French Fries....everything gets served with them as the standard side course. The pork enchilada with hot green chilies were good though.

Mint cholcolate Bailey's. That's a sweet treat....bought a bottle when I did my wine-shopping last night. Kinda weird, but in a good way.

Bobbing for garters

I thought this would be a good idea as a wedding reception / Halloween party game. I suppose the whole idea of random people all dipping their heads in water to eat the same apple is a bit passe with germophobes taking over the world....and getting a bunch of garters wet would probably ruin them...and getting them chewed on seems gross, too. So anyway, we'll put them in a dry black caldron and let people reach in for them, like The Price Is Right's "3 Strikes" game, I suppose.

Should be some good baseball to watch this weekend. No Red Sox, but no Yankees either. I can actually just watch impartially without begging for wins or losses one way or the other.

I plan to buy Moneyball this weekend in paperback, see if it's as good as advertised, in anticipation of Dan Shanoff's Varisty Letters series in NYC next month. All my reading seems to come in the form of magazines. I got my first SI last week, hadn't gotten that since the 80's. It seems skinnier than it used to. Between that, ESPN the Mag, and Entertainment Weekly, I sorta keep up my "cultural literacy" as needed. Another good read is the Ideas section of the Sunday Boston Globe. (Or is it Boston Sunday Globe, I'm not sure.....)

Clothes for the wedding

Okay, so there's a Men's Wearhouse a few miles down Route 1 from here, and that's who I've taken on to outfit me for the wedding later this month.

First trip down....shirt and tie. But I need to take the shirt home to make sure the color is right for the family room decor (which also matches the trim on the girls' flower-girl dresses).

Second trip....okay, the shirt and tie go, now I need pants and a sportscoat. Manager recommends some nice wool pants, so I get measured for them, and the salesman reminds me I may need shoes to go with them, since my work shoes are the wrong color and a bit scuffy and worn. I don't get the jacket yet, thinking I may have one at home that'll go, and I need to verify my belt selection at home.

Third trip (later today).....I don't have the right color belt at home, and I do need to get the sportscoat after all.

Fourth trip (next week)....pants should be all hemmed up and ready to pick up.

On the bright side....I should look *gooood* on the 28th! As long as I can get the creases out of the shirt!

It wasn't broccoli...

....that I was chopping. Nonetheless, taking an axe to a fallen tree is kinda fun. The drier wood split easy, the rotted wood even easier. Only the greener stuff was tough. Apparently the former homeowners left a partially chain-sawn tree or two in the back behind the driveway.

No apparent soreness from THAT, although tennis last night has me a little tight in the glutes again. 6-4, 6-8, and then lost the "super tie-breaker" 1-10. Ugh.

Today I go buy my suit for the wedding. Yee-hah! Erika's taken a cynical spin to it, suddenly my clothes are ready before hers!

And oh boo hoo, the Yankees are done. It's like a holiday in New England, a new annual rite. Although I'll say this, the Yankee fans in NY are less obnoxious than the Yankee fans in Connecticut. *Those* are the ones that have had smug, faux superiority complexes, all their lives. Perhaps Mets fans in NY experience it, instead?

Homemade pizza and ice cream

Now this should be a yummy weekend. Made apple pie Monday night, and I'm planning to incorporate it into ice cream. Maybe tonight, but probably tomorrow, as I forgot to put the ice cream maker in the freezer to prepare it. (It's not one of those rock salt kinds....you actually pre-freeze the unit a day ahead.)

That'll taste good after the first homemade pizzas of the year. Got a new pizza stone at the wedding shower, although I think we still need a peel. Oops. (Really....oops....how to get stuff onto the stone?!) Anyways, Hawaiian for me and Erika, and I'm sure just plain cheese for the girls. I didn't actually see "Hawaiian pizza" in Hawaii this summer. Maybe it was just called "pizza."

NY neophyte

Ah, there's nothing to make you feel stupid than walking down 1st avenue and seeing the UN building for the first time. How do you NOT come off like a tourist?

I loved just walking up and down the streets of Manhattan, except for the heel blisters.

I remember a news story on a zillion different "Ray's Pizza" joints in NYC. I tried a slice from one on Houston Street. And then I called Erika to apologize to her for me making fun of her unabashed love for city pizza. It was awesome! And isn't Huston Street the name of the A's closer?

Anyways, Dan Shanoff's Varsity Letters reading series was quite good last night. It didn't actually come with a "happy ending", unless I just left too early!

October is here!

Wow, 26 days to go of the single life.

Erika made some kick-ass dutch apple cheesecake Friday. Maybe someone would like to buy one! I'll put the price at $40, see who wants to order one. Ha! (Old school internet marketing, baby....)

Of course, I suppose I should check with her.

Let's see....Red Sox get a David Palmer-esque no-hitter (5 innings....this has nothing to do with the ex-president from "24") but end up NOT in 2nd place. Trot Nixon is as good as gone.....that's too bad, I will miss seeing a player that I, as a lefty, could get out most of the time.

Pats looked good....they're a wagon-circling club, it seems.

Hockey season starts this week! Only two months until ice actually forms outside, and that's in Connecticut. How soon until Tampa or Dallas or Phoenix gets.....oh never mind.

The Skull Splitter clone just got moved to the secondary fermentation tank.....should be good, not sure what adding oak chips will do, but that's what the recipe said to do.

I think Erika and I are having a contest to see who can outDio the other at Scrabble.

Idea for baseball...

7-inning games...

1) Games take too long. Well, multiply by 7/9ths to get 2:45 instead of 3:30.
2) Stats are juiced. Well, 73 homers times 7/9 is 57. Even Barry can't reach Maris now.
3) Pitch counts. Suddenly 105 pitches gets you a complete game.
4) Bad middle relief. Now you just need two closers and a starting staff.
5) No doubleheaders....well, I'm not sure this helps, because of the whole "separate gate" issue.