Babes and Beer |
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Drinking beer, being married, and raising kids.  A Nosuch affiliate. 
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Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Crickey. Right as I got home yesterday it started to snow here, and kept up for a few hours, then it got cold and everything iced over. The commute for some was *really* bad, I've heard of 4-8 hours to get home. Lucky me, I was already there. The Seahawks beat the Packers last night in the first snowy game at Qwest Field, Hasselbeck appears to be knocking the rust off after being out for 4 weeks, throwing 3 INTS in the first half and three TDs in the second. Not many people around at work today, too icy. Just about every school in western washington is closed today. Monday, November 27, 2006
Let's see, where was I? Wednesday evening we drove across the state, stopped off in Spokane at my brother-in-law's house for the extra Wii-mote and nunchuck controller, and headed out to my parent's place at Spirit Lake, Idaho. It was snowy from the border on, and very snowy up at the lake, at least 4" of snow. My brother #2 and his wife and kids were there, I stayed up until 1am talking and drinking beer with my brother. Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. My dad came, my oldest brother came with his family, all told we had 17 people there. We started drinking at 10am, but since we alternated real beer with mountain fresh spring water (aka cans of keystone light), and added a thanksgiving dinner worth of ballast, things were just fine. I wasn't even hung over the next morning. I helped the kids make a snowman (damn that's cold without gloves) and had a really nice day. On Friday morning we packed up and drove back to Spokane to Bridget's sister's house. I read "Day of the Triffids", it was pretty good, I was impressed. Well done and well aged for a 55 year old scifi novel. Firday night I went out with my oldest friend Nate (friends since the 4th grade). We helped his friend Josh pick up a Joust standup arcade game from a house up on 5-mile bluff and bring it back to his basement, and picked up some beer and a pizza on the way back. Fun playing Joust. Josh also owns a Capcom Bowling game, a Arkanoid, a Nintendo VS dual cab with ExciteBike and Golf, and one other 1941-esque shooter I forgot the name of, Harrier something I think. Fun, got home at 1am. Saturday we got up late (8:45am) and got on the road since the weather was clear and we wanted to get through the pass before the traffic got bad. Good thing we did, on Sunday the traffic was awful like always plus it was snowing with several hours of backup. Ugga. Saturday was also the day my newest niece was born, welcome to the world Ava Eleni! I am SUPER excited to be flying to Albequerque on Friday to see her! Not a whole lot happened on Sunday, I did get a lot of outdoor christmas lights up on Saturday and B got some christmas stuff up on Sunday. We'll get the tree in a week or so. Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Last night as we arrived at the library, I cut the curb too closely and ran up and over it. Harry laughed, clapped, and said, "Wee! Up and over! Momma does that all the time!". Ha! Busted! The kids didn't understand why I was laughing so hard I could barely breath. My initial Wii Sports "Fitness Age" is 62. I did OK in the home run derby, sucked at the "picking up bowling spares" challenge, and it was the first time I'd ever tried Wii Sports Tennis. I'll get better. I set my brother-in-law in Spokane on the task of finding me an extra WiiMote and Nunchuck controller, and he called today to say he scored. Wooo! Two-player will now be easier. Now I just need Madden '07, Zelda, and a composite video cable. Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Uff. I was still pretty worn out yesterday from the lack of sleep the day before. I did have fun playing Wii Sports bowling with the kids, Harry got 3 strikes in a row to come from behind and win the game. D'oh! I lost to a 4 year old. I started "Day of the Triffids", since I'm on a post-apocalyptic kick right now. I've got the 2nd book in the SM Stirling "Emberverse" trilogy (aka Dies the Fire), but my friend who has the recently-released hardback of the last book is in Japan until December 1st, so I don't want to finish tooo soon. Call of Duty 3 is pretty fun, but I sure can't wait to get ahold of a component video cable so I can do 480p, doubling the resolution should help a lot. I called the local stores trying to find more Wii controllers, but they are either out or they don't answer their phone (because they're out and sick of saying so). After some careful Froogle searching, I found that Walmart.com has the Wii-mote in stock, but they apparently don't carry the nunchuck controller. I ordered it, it won't be here in time for our trip across the state for Thanksgiving, but it's not looking like I have a better option right now. If I do find a set of controller plus nunchuck somewhere locally here or in Spokane, it would still be useful to have a third controller for bowling or golf. I think Nintendo has a smash hit on their hands. Remember, I don't buy console games, and I bought one. They've already grown the market by at least me. Once my friends and family play one, they'll want one too. Monday, November 20, 2006
Glub, the Seahawks played awful in their 14-20 loss to San Fran yesterday. Bad defense, bad offence, too many interceptions thrown. Ugga. Isabel had a birthday party to attend, the girls went to Build-a-Bear up at the mall. Isabel built a koala bear ballerina with wings and a cute dress. She loves it and introduced it to her previous Build-a-Bear (from another birthday party) named Coco. Last night after dinner B gave the kids baths while I played Call of Duty 3 on my Wii. (Fun but I'm still a spaz with the controls, and 480i aka PeasantVision sucks, I need to get component video cables to see 480p (twice the resolution) but they are all backordered into December.) After Isabel was done she came down and we played Wii Sports bowling together while Harry had his bath. He took too long, playing until 8 o'clock bedtime so he didn't get to play bowling with Dad and threw a fit. He was sad and crying while I was reading them stories, so Isabel said "Harry, do you want to hold my new bear?" What a sweet girl! He held the bear and was happy, and Isabel offered to let Harry sleep with the new bear too. She slept with her old one, with an eye towards her new bear in her brother's bed, but didn't complain about it at all. Such an amazing person. She sure loves her brother. I finished S.M. Stirling's "Dies the Fire", the first of his post-apocalyptic series that is an offshoot of his "Island in the Sea of Time" series. In "Island in the Sea of Time", Nantucket Island is mysteriously tossed 3000 years into the past and the people on there have to try to survive. In "Dies the Fire", the rest of the world that Nantucket left have had the laws of physics "Changed" on them so electricity doesn't work (but it does in nervous systems...) and gunpowder fizzes instead of explodes. Steam doesn't generate much pressure either. It's a contrived setup, sure, but the story is pretty good. I liked it a lot. Sunday, November 19, 2006
Woooo! My Huskies played another wild Apple Cup, and due to blocking a punt for a TD they won, 35-32. Tons of long plays, it was nuts. I was at a party with at least 5 Cougs, a bunch of Huskies, and a ton of kids. Very fun. The OSU-Michigan game was great as well. I went to sleep at 10pm, pretty worn out, and figuring I was doomed for a Wii. At 3:30am I woke up and was about to go back to sleep when my brain thought "Wii!". Shit. Now I knew I'd obsess about it and not get back to sleep, so I figured what the hell, I may as well obsess about it in line. First I checked Amazon.com and they didn't have any in stock. I drove over to Toys R Us, where they had 8 people in line and had told me they'd have 10 units. They didn't open until 10am, so I drove over to check out Target/Best Buy. Holy glub! They both had huge mobs, at least 40 people. Ugga. I drove back to Toys R Us and got in line. It quickly turned out there were actually 14 people ahead of me, but the guy at the head of the line had been there since the night before and said the manager who closed the store said they had 27 units not reserved. Woo! The weather was 40F and cloudy, but the mall didn't have their parking lot lights on so it was damn dark and I couldn't read. At 6am it started raining, and my new rain jacket worked great. The guy ahead of me in line took a piece of paper and wrote down everyone's name in line to head off any arguments, but he stopped after he had 35 names. By 7am there were over 60 people in line for 27 units. At 8am some bastard drove by waving his Wii out the window of his car. Classy! At 9am the manager came out and gave slips to us first 27 people, telling us they didn't open until 10am and we had until 11am to claim them or they'd be sold to the next person. I went into the mall, used the restroom, and got in line at the Starbucks to get a giant hot chocolate and an apple fritter using some starbucks cards I've had in my wallet for a few years. I used the cushy leather chairs at the Comcast HDTV kiosk to rest until 10am, and joined the huge line of people trying to pick up their Wiis. (The people from that morning with claim slips, the people who had pre-sale claim slips, and a bunch of people who didn't know you needed one or the other). I finally got mine and bought Call of Duty 3 for it, but they didn't have the component video cable or spare Wii-motes and Nunchucks. I drove home and set it up. Review: Super fun! B doesn't play *any* games and she loves it. Of course she knows how to bowl so she kicks ass at the bowling game. The golf and baseball are kinda hard, and lacking two controllers I didn't try the tennis or boxing. Isabel nearly beat me at bowling, i got 148 and she got 143. (B bowled something like 185). Both kids love it too. I've very happy. It's well worth it. Saturday, November 18, 2006
Heh, still no rain. Last night was the 3rd friday of the month, the second meeting of my new drinking club. We had a good time, staying out until 11pm. Basically the same crowd as last time. I didn't drink much since I've still got this damn lingering cold. Gah. This morning I called up Target to find out about their Wii launch tomorrow. She said they don't know how many they'll get, but she's heard somewhere between 15 and 50 units. There were 4 people already waiting in line outside, and they were giving out numbers at 7am. Gah! In other words, I'm seriously boned. I didn't even bother calling Best Buy. Today's the Apple Cup. My prediction is UW 6 WSU 42. If the Cougs win it will be their first 3 game winning streak in Apple Cup history. Friday, November 17, 2006
So of course, as soon as I buy a new rain jacket on a rainy day, the rain stops. We've had a record for rain for a November (closing in on wetting month in Seattle history) and we're only halfway through the month, and now we've had two days with no rain. Makes me laugh. Thursday, November 16, 2006
Last night B and I took advantage of our limited babysitting to go see "Flags of our Fathers", about the best of a bad situation for movies in theaters now. I had wanted to see "Flyboys" when it came out since I love First World War aircraft, but it came and went too fast while my mother-in-law was out of town. Before we went to the theater I'd been hurting for a rain jacket, so we stopped by REI and I bought a green REI "taku" waterproof breathable shell. It seems pretty awesome, very flexible. When we got to the Cinerama, we were 20 minutes early and the only ones in the theater. A few minutes before showtime three other couples straggled in, which is about even with the fewest people I've ever seen at a showing. I was going to be amazed if we were the only ones. Wednesday, November 15, 2006
At least the Seahawks squeaked out another win over division rival St Louis. Two game lead with seven games to go, and we should be getting our stars back over the next few weeks. Hopefully time for them to get hot for a playoff run! After watching this YouTube video of Call of Duty 3 on the Wii, I am totally interested in buying a Wii and CoD3 on sunday. WoooO! There are probably better ways of breaking the news to your wife that you want to spend $300 on a console video game than by her reading it in your blog, but c'est la vie. Last night I helped Isabel with some reading stuff on the excellent and free starfall.com web page. Great resource if you didn't know about it. On Sunday B wanted the kids to clean up the play room, and after deciding threats weren't the way to go, she offered a reward, if they cleaned it up on their own, we'd go buy the movie "Cars" on DVD and watch it. Harry is a huge Tow Mater fan, even having never seen the movie, so they jumped to it with a will and amazingly 45 minutes later the disaster was cleaned up. Not exactly everything sorted in their proper bin like B prefers, but at least you could see the floor for the first time in ages. The movie was a lot of fun, Pixar does good work. Sunday, November 12, 2006
Yesterday was by far the worst football game I have ever witnessed. The hapless Stanford Cardinal, winless this season, wracked by injuries, beaten by a Div II team, came into Husky Stadium on Senior Day and althought they only got 7 first downs, 226 total yards, and went 3 and out at least six times, they spanked the utterly lifeless and embarrassing Huskies 20-3. It was truly awful. Neither team did well at all, but Stanford deserved their win. I have zero desire to see the Apple Cup next week, I know the Cougs are going to win. This team just doesn't care. Right now I think Coach Willingham should just toss the entire junior class as well, and rebuild for two years. Saturday, November 11, 2006
Yesterday was the 231st birthday of my beloved Marine Corps. This year we had a record attendance by Marines, 5, but also a record attendance of 40% of them being gay. Heh. Don't ask don't tell Sir! The dinner went awesome. B had ordered an 8lb prime rib, but I figured that wasn't enough meat so I got a 2nd 4lb prime rib to cook with it. Almost all the meat was tossed down with 4 bottles of red wine, a liter of rum in 1775 Rum Punch (4 parts rum, 2 parts Roses Lime Juice, and 1 part maple syrup with a splash of grenadine for color), and lots of bourbon, scotch, and Captain Morgans rum as well. Uuuuuuggga. The kids had a sleepover with grandma. Since they don't all fit in her queen sized bed, they took her futon (which since college I've always called a flip-n-fuck) and are all sleeping on it sideways. Grandma had a chair holding up her feet, it's very sweet. I love my wife SO much. B is totally awesome. Thursday, November 09, 2006
One of Isabel's kindergarten friends started jumping rope, so Isabel got into it as well. In two weeks she's gone from not really being able to do it to being able to jump forwards, backwards, and turning a circle while jumping. She totally loves it, and practices constantly. Speaking of Isabel, we had our first teacher conference with her kindergarten teacher today. The teacher totally loves Isabel, saying that Isabel is a delight to have in the classroom, always warm, friendly, hard working, and smart. I was laid up in bed today, hopped up on goofballs trying to fight off this cold I've come down with. Gah! I better be in shape for my Marine Corps Birthday dinner party tomorrow night. Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Email from B: You still haven't blogged. I have no idea what has been happening in my Geez. Halloween was fun. My friend who lives 300' away has a wife who is nuts about the holiday and she went completely over the top decorating. The entire front yard was a cemetary with tombstone and a lifesize and lifelike zombie chewing on an arm. Lots of fog and blacklight stuff. Scared the crap out of Harry. I took the kids trick-or-treating. Nice friggin' neighborhood, but since there weren't that many kids out, most houses gave the kids two or three pieces of candy so they ended up with quite the haul. I didn't know I was on trick-or-treat detail so I didn't wear a coat, and I damn near froze in the 40F weather, fortunately my keg costume was foam and kept me from totally freezing. On our street I'd left my 1986 McDonalds Happy Meal "McBoo" bucket full of "candy" (B bought Smarties instead of chocolate, what the hell-balls?!?) on our porch with the lights on and jack-o-lanterns lit, but nobody took it all, and when the kids did a house down the street they took pictures saying it was their only trick-or-treater that night. Funny what a difference a block or two makes. On Friday I went to the Scotch Malt Whiskey Society's scotch tasting dinner. Damn, what a fun time. It wa at the Rainier Club, a hoity-toity oldschool member's only gentleman's club in a mansion in the middle of the financial district downtown. The place as a serious enormous Citizen Kane crew-served walk-in fireplace. The scotch tasting was like a beer tasting, except it was all-you-can-drink. No tickets, just a $105 entry fee, which included dinner. Lots of old expensive scotches to taste as well, I tell you it was scotch heaven. Very fun night. I got a ton of schwag, including three boxes of 3 cigars, a Laphraig polo shirt, a Dalmore hat, and a map of Scotland around Talisker. Afterwards we all walked down to the Metropolitan Grill to sit in the bar and drink more. On Saturday I watched my Huskies get totally blown out by Oregon, including a 94 yard 13 play drive with zero passes attempted. Gah! We have to win out to have a shot at a bowl game. Beating winless Stanford this week at home should be doable, but iffy. Beating WSU next week at WSU is going to be a lot tougher, but they just laid an egg vs crappy Arizona at home last week, so maybe they're more vulnerable than they looked in October. After the game B and I went to yet another Halloween party. The friends hosting it were late with the invites, so they bumped it a week to avoid conflicts. It was pretty fun as well, but I was pretty worn down from too much scotch the night before. On Sunday I took the kids to the Zoo and let B run some errands with her mom. The kids and I had a great time. B had a dinner party set up with 3 other couples and at least a zillion kids. She made pot roast, taking two large 7-bone roasts, wrapping them up tight in aluminum foil with a packet of onion soup mix and some carrots, and baking them for 5 hours at 300F. When I opened them up and grabbed one of the bones it just fell out of the meat. SO awesome! Monday my Seahawks redeemed themselves a little, blanking the horrible Oakland Raiders offense while still managing to score 16 points against the Raiders very good defence. Seneca Wallace looks like a good backup QB, and DAMN that boy is fast. The Hawks are 5-3, in a very bad division, if we can manage to beat the Rams at home next week we're got a great shot at the playoffs. Big IF, since I'm not confident in our defence. Last night B and I went out with some friends for one of those "25 for 25" deals they have here, 25 restaurants having $25 price-fixed dinners with appetizer, entree, and dessert. We went to Nishino, a nice Japanese restaurant in Madison Park. Very tasty dinner, I had seared tuna on seaweed for my appetizer, an assorted sushi platter for dinner, and ginger ice cream for dessert. |
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