Turkey Day and Weekend Recap

So I won't bore you with all the details, but needless to say we had a great Thanksgiving. The in-laws and brother in law came up to enjoy the feast, and what a feast it was. I made the turkey, and didn't mess it up. In fact it was actually very good. Took about four hours, two upside down, two right side up, and I basted it with butter every half hour or so. The wife made pretty much everything else. Carrots (i made), sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and home made cranberry sauce. Perfection really..

Friday night we had the family over for dessert. We had Morrissey hermits (similar to real hermits only not really and better), and the wife made ginger snaps and chocolate fondue. We also had the rest of the apple and pumpkin pies from the night before. I think after all the eating we've done this weekend I need to join a gym...

Saturday we put up the Christmas lights outside. We have a couple of additions from last year. Lights on the railings, three reindeer who's heads all move, lights around the bottom of the wall and six little light up snow men below the porch railing. I figure I'll add a little more each year. Next year I want something for the porch roof...

Pretty nice huh..

Apparently the imaginary friend of the 2 year old across the street lives in our house and he's just thrilled that his friend put all these lights up for him. It's funny, cuz my imaginary friend lives in his house.. weird huh..

We also finally got the gas fireplace working. The old one was unfixable, so we had to buy a new insert. Now most intelligent people would call a professional to install the insert... not me though. It actually kicks off a fair amount of heat, but it all rises right to the ceiling and out of the room. So today I took the ceiling fan out of the family room (which we never used) and switched it with the plain light we had in the office. Now when you turn on the fireplace, you just need to turn the ceiling fan on low and it'll push that warm air right back down...

Good weekend all around. And I'm already looking forward to the next one. Can you believe it's already December..

Happy Anniversary!

Yep, today is our fourth wedding anniversary. Can you believe it? Four years.. who would have thought she would have put up with me for this long huh...

Four years ago tonight, we were all at that fancy pants restaurant with the naked lady statues, enjoying a few adult beverages dancing the night away. Whenever I think about that night it brings a big ole smile to my face. It really was the best night of my life.. The one thing that really sticks with me though, is a piece of advice my brother gave me about ten minutes before the ceremony started. It's advice that is so wise, everyone should stop and take note...he said to me, "don't lock your knees when you're standing up there, keep them bent. if you lock them, you have a better chance of fainting, it restricts the blood flow." Now on your wedding day, is there better advice to receive? I think not... so thanks Matt...

Seriously though, without my lovely wife though, my life would be like a Kenny Chesnesy song.... I'd be on an island somewhere in the Caribbean, no woman in my life, just my friends, drink in my hand... Wait, that actually doesn't sound so bad..

So congrats to us Sarah, and here's to another four long years! I love you babe..

Tuesdayness

Boooo.. ABC canceling Pushing Daiseys
Yay... ABC announcing the start date for Scrubs! (Jan 6th)

A ranking recently came out naming Bangor the 8th safest city in the country. It's funny though, there are a lot of people up here who still think there are "bad" sections of the city. I wouldn't use the word bad.. maybe less good, but definitely not bad. Not once since I moved up here have I felt unsafe.

I don't know about all you out there, but I sure can't wait for some turkey Thursday. My only concern is that I'm cooking the turkey and I've never cooked one before. I really don't want to screw this up...

You've Gotta Respect The Turkey

So, Saturday, our neighbors went from Halloween to Christmas. They still had some of their Halloween decorations up outside their house. Scarecrow, pumpkins, things like that. I go to the store, come back a couple of hours later and suddenly the house is all decked out in Christmas lights. Now that's not cool. The obviously have no respect for the bestest holiday of them all, Thanksgiving...

When is it ok though, to decorate the house for Christmas. I want to get out there and put my lights up etc, as soon as possible, but I don't know when it's socially acceptable. The day after Thanksgiving? The first of December? When exactly?

Woke up this morning, drove half way down the street when I realized there was a funny noise coming from under my car. Pulled over, opened the door, and what did I see? Yep, a flat tire. Are you kidding me? So I turned around and left the car at home and took the fully functioning car to work.

Attempting to get the new gas fire place to work, but it doesn't want to. It's pretty simple really. Hook up gas line, ignite. Doesn't seem to want to work though. Gas line is hooked up, there's gas in the tank outside, so I don't know why it isn't working, but it's 10:15 at night so I'm not going to worry about it anymore tonight.. Maybe tomorrow I'll fix it..

Weekend

Friday night was kind of tame. Chinese food and watched War, Inc. with John Cusack thru NetFlix (using the xbox360, you can stream movies from NetFlix, thus eliminating the wait time for the dvd to arrive in the mail. not all the movies are available this way yet though). The movie was just off... like it's supposed to be a satire on the current Middle East situation (war, occupation of a country etc) but it just wasn't well written or well done at all..

Saturday morning we woke up and found this...

Didn't know it was supposed to snow, but apparently it did. It didn't really stick to the grass, but it did to the street. I'd say it was easily a half of an inch..

Saturday we didn't do squat though. Just one of those days were we hung out and did nothing all day. A great day really... Although Saturday night we hit a (relatively) new restaurant with my uncles. It's a South American restaurant, but then menu also had some American dishes on it. It was actually very good. Apps were great, dinners were great (and they offered them in 1/2 portions for the small stomached among us), desert was tasty and we even had a very good bottle of wine (a syrah). A touch on the expensive side, but that definitely wouldn't stop me from going back.. And I guess on Tuesday's they have tango dancers, which means I'll be going to check this out some Tuesday...

Today was spent at Lowes, then the supermarket picking up all we need to cook Thanksgiving dinner Thursday. Mmmmm turkey...

And of course the afternoon was spent in my chair watching the Celtics and Patriots games. Perfect day really.. followed by a roast beef dinner at my uncles house. Really, does life get any better...

Oh and I forgot to post this picture earlier in the week. I couldn't find a pan shaped like the number 3, so this is the best I could do for the wife's birthday..

Anyway, nice short week ahead of us, with the brother in law flying in Wednesday night and the wife's parents arriving early Thursday afternoon sometime for the weekend... Can't wait.. Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday. No pressure of gifts and all that, just family, football, food and drinks...

Ramblings..

• So we went to the store tonight.. had to get some new khakis. For some reason, I seem to wear through them really fast. A pair will last me six months or so before a hole appears somewhere or another. Anyway, while there, the wife made me buy some new underwear. Now like any guy, I avoid this as the ones I have do the trick and it's almost Christmas which means Santa will bring some for me. Plus, buying new underwear always makes me feel like less of of man. All these gym rat guys bulging out all over the place on the package... then there's me. The 5'8" irish kid with the beer gut...riiiight cuz by wearing their product, I'll look just like them...
• Yankee pitcher Mike Mussina announced today that he's going to retire. On the surface, it's not that big of a deal to 99% of the world right. The discussion of the day though is, is he a Hall of Famer. 270 career wins, which is 32nd all time. 3rd most wins all time for a pitcher who went to college (Clemens and Randy Johnson are 1-2).
  I say he doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame though. Hall of really good, sure. But the best of the best, I don't think so. Not once did I go to a Sox/Yankees or Sox/Orioles (his former team) game thinking, "man, I can't wait to see Mussina pitch today". His stats are impressive, and somewhat due to durability and longevity, but he was never a pitcher that you feared. You knew it would be a tough win, sure, but he was never one of those guys who just blew you away. Clemens (roids or not), Johnson, Maddux, Pedro... those guys you all feared. I'd put Mussina in the Tom Glavine (who will probably get in due to his 300 wins)/Dave Stewart/Jack Morris class. Above average, and when on his game very very good, but just not quite Hall of Fame level...
  In my opinion, the Hall of Fame should be for the best of the best of their era. Mussina was very good, just not the best...
• Thankfully, tomorrow is Friday. No major plans for the weekend either. I think we might actually start working on the nursery, which is good, cuz who knows how soon we'll need it. Although the one thing we have to do is to go shopping for Thanksgiving provisions. The wife and I are cooking dinner this year for the first time, so it should be interesting...
• Winter's here. It's been in the teens when I go to work in the morning and it hasn't been getting out of the 30's lately. I don't really mind the cold, as long as there's snow to go along with it. Sure, snow means lots of shoveling for me, but it also means snowmobiles...
• Off to get in my daily exercise...(also known as playing Wii)

Reason Number 12,321,987,324...

Why I pray I don't have a daughter...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Happy birthday to you...
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Sarah....
Happy birthday to you!!!

Happy birthday baby....

The End Of An Era

Today... November 17, 2008 represents the end of an era. My lovely wife, turns 30 tomorrow.. Say goodbye to your youth darlin', and welcome to being old..

On a lighter note.. a couple of months ago, our neighbor's kid came a knockin' at our door. Turns out the little tyke is a boy scout and he was selling stuff door to door to raise money. We really couldn't say no, so we picked the cheapest item in the catalog. And yesterday, our $17 tin of chocolate covered popcorn arrived. Now don't get me wrong, chocolate covered popcorn is pretty darn good, but $17 good? I think not... Next year when he shows up, we're hitting the lights and hiding...

So during the baseball playoffs, TBS showed (and still continue to show) a million and one ads for Frank TV. Yesterday afternoon I caught an episode. Didn't laugh once.. horrible stuff... I think they spent the entire funny budget on the ads, and forgot to order the jokes...

Target & I are breaking up

Target had a serious pricing oops last night, they listed two different Britax Marathon car seats at $42.99 and $59.99 causing a rush of parents and parents-to-be to place orders online. These are normally $279 items. Now, while I understand that maybe Target can't honor all the orders they accepted, but they can and should had acknowledged their mistake. Or even told their customer service people how to answer questions about the pricing snafu. They instead had customer service answering questions about the pricing with answers that varied from, "That is the correct price." to "Only the odd number orders will be honored." :-/

Target's way of dealing with the mistake was to delete all the orders that were placed at the advertised price and not actually alert the customers who ordered that they would not be receiving their order. Poor business practices, Target, very poor. I have already sent them a sternly worded email, that I am so sure will impact them greatly. What's the point of emailing a confirmation of the purchase when it isn't worth squat??

Weekend

So not much to really report on this weekend. I didn't get my satellite tv (as mentioned below), which is very sad. Just kind of a blah couple of days, ya know.

On a more amusing note... you know how a lot of athletes grow their "playoff" beards. Meaning they don't shave until they've lost and are then out of the playoffs.. well I'm doing something similar. I'm rockin the baby beard. We have no idea when we're going to get placed with a birthmother/baby, which stinks. So I figure to amuse myself, I'll grow out my beard. Plus, it gives me an excuse to see what I'll look like, as I've never grown any real facial hair before. Right now I'm on day 5, so it's still early on. I encourage all you gentlemen out there to follow suit and grow beards along with me. The day we get placed, is the day I'll shave...

The End Of The World?

Well, maybe not.. but close to it...

I can't get satellite tv. Apparently our neighbors trees are blocking the path of the signal. We could get standard definition and no local channels if we want, but I can get with rabbit ears. The guys said that the HD satellite is low on the horizon, so there's not much he can do. Our house is huge too, it's really tall, and it still didn't matter cuz of our backyard neighbors tress..

This makes me really sad. Now I have to continue to deal with Time Warner who is my new mortal enemy. Ooh well... whatcha gonna do, right?

Odds And Ends

• So I didn't get to watch the Patriots game the other night. I had to listen to it on the radio. Just like they did in olden times. The nice part was, that the local radio station was giving away a tin of popcorn during the game. So that was pretty sweet...
• Ahhh the power of a four year old...
• A buddy sent me this article. It's 100 things every man should be able to do. So far, I can do or have used 64 of the items. I still have a ways to go before I become a man huh..
• The nice man is coming in a half hour to install my new satellite dish. Very exciting stuff. More channels for less money and I never have to deal with the meat heads over at Time Warner again...
• Three days left until my wife becomes old....

I Hate Maine

Well, no, I really don't, but I totally could if I wanted to. Tomorrow nights Patriots game... yeah it won't be on local tv up here which means I won't be able to watch it unless I go to a bar. Can you believe that? Stupid NFL Network... they're called the NEW ENGLAND Patriots, not the Boston Patriots! Even though I'm almost in Canada, I'm still in New England, therefore I should get the game...

So Boston.com had this picture gallery today of people trying to break world records. This here, is one I could totally shatter if I put my mind to it. They watched 57 movies in 123 hours and 10 minutes. If there was a world record out there for me to break, this is it...

Can you believe it, it actually snowed yesterday. Ok, not really. But there was white stuff falling from the sky briefly. Get those snowmobiles ready!

I thought this was a pretty cool story on ESPN.com. It's about his little league field being torn down and made into an apartment building. Every time I drive to my parents house and drive past my little league field it brings back great memories. I think that was about the time I peaked athletically too...

So the New Jersey Nets are running a pretty cool promotion. If you send in your resume, they'll look it over to see if you fit what they're looking for, they'll pass it along to their business partners and they'll give you four tickets to a specific game. Pretty nice huh.

And finally... I did it, yep I finally did it. I got a satellite dish. Starting Saturday (after they install everything of course), I'll be a former cable customer. I'm actually pretty excited about it. I'm getting three times as many HD channels, pretty much the same amount of standard definition channels I get now with cable, and a drv for four tv's all for $20 less a month than I pay for cable and no money up front. So no more dealing with Time Warner Cable. I'm a happy happy man...

Quick Update And Then Some..

So we had the social worker by the house today. She showed us the rough draft of our home visit and everything seems to be in order. In the next couple of days, she'll send it to her boss for approval and we'll officially get the MAPS stamp of approval. So not only do we think we're fit to be parents, this agency does too, which is a nice feeling.

Next we'll present the agency with our profile, they'll make some or should I say, suggest some changes. Once that's done, we're in circulation. Its like the light at the end of the first tunnel is sooooo close now. All the research we did in deciding to adopt, all the work we put into picking the right agency, all the paperwork that it took to get this far... it'll all be done soon, and then the real waiting begins... finally...

A big happy birthday to the Maine Corps! On this day in 1775 a resolution was drafted in a tavern in Philadelphia signifying the beginning of the few and the proud. Remember, there are no ex marines, only former marines...

I heard a great joke the other day. How many Alanon members does it take to screw in a light bulb? None...they just lovingly let it go and watch it screw itself...hahaha.. c'mon, that's funny. And if you know me it's even funnier!

Great win by the Celtics tonight. They played like crap most of the night, settling for way too many jump shots, but the defense and Paul Pierce ended up carrying them into and thru the fourth quarter against a very good Toronto team. They're offense has yet to really click this year, which worries me some, but it's still really early. Did you know that by the end of November the Celtics will have already played 20% of their schedule. How insane is that??

So we've been using the crock pot some lately. Easy to use, fill it with the ingredients and walk away for four or so hours.. nice right. The wife made (yes, apparently she can cook) a yummy beef stew the other day (somewhere my mother is rolling her eyes. i never ate that as a kid, and i have no idea why. all the ingredients are so tasty), so we tried a pork roast today. The roast came out fine, it was just the weirdo sauce we made with it that wasn't so good. Let's just say it involved french dressing, cranberry sauce and onions. Not things that you would normally put together...

I've hit a rut of boringness lately, so I apologize to my few loyal readers out there. I'm sure something interesting and hopefully funny will happen to me sooner or later...

Quick Update and Links

• So I just thought I'd give everyone an update on the adoption front. We're a week away (according to our social worker) from being officially approved. The wife and I figured we'd get a jump on things and start the profile, but it's not as easy as one might think. I can write/talk with the best of them, but when it comes to writing about myself, I suddenly clam up. Weird huh? Especially since I'm such an amazingly talented, funny, compassionate, athletic guy. You'd think with all that in my corner, I'd be able to hammer out a couple paragraphs, but apparently not. Thankfully, the wife and I decided to work in conjunction on this one, so she'll write some, then I'll write some, we'll throw a couple of pictures in there and we'll be good to go. So it's looking like in the next two or three weeks we'll be "in circulation" as they say. Then the real waiting begins...
• So this made the front page of the local newspaper the other day. Lots and lots of big events to cover up here obviously...
• Homer Simpson would be proud. And yes, I need this...
• Could this be one of the best catches ever? And it took place in a high school game!
• I'm sooo thankful that 30 Rock is back...

Done!

So we just got back from voting and it went very smoothly. No lines along with multiple check in lines to speed things up made it quite easy. The voting was done via scan tron forms (you know, fill in the blank spot with the black marker). The only thing I didn't like was the guy staring at my ballot as I put it into the machine.

So now the waiting begins. Thankfully Discovery is showing a couple Dirty Jobs episodes we haven't seen yet so we'll have something to flick to during all that election coverage...

Vote!

• So tomorrow is the big day. I know a lot of people up here have already cast their vote, but for the rest of us, tomorrow is the day where we get to go stand in line, read confusing referendum questions and cast a vote for the next president of the United States. Most of you already know my politics, so I don't really need to rehash them, but I will say this. I'm an Obama guy, but I don't think he'll be as liberal as he's made out to be. Although at the same time, I don't think McCain will be as conservative. If McCain wins, I won't be moving to Canada, but that's mostly cuz I want to move south of where I am now, not north, somewhere warmer. There's a Senate race up that's going to be pretty close. The incumbent is a Republican (very middle of the road i guess though) and the challenger is a former state rep. Problem is, the sound of her voice is like nails on a chalkboard, and he reminds me of the creepy guy down the end of the block who stares at you a little too long when he says hi. What really bothers me though, is people who always vote republican or always vote democrat just because they think they're supposed to be one or the other. What, you can't look at both candidates and make an educated decision? You have to vote one way or the other just to keep the party line? No good I say. My parents gave me the half a brain I have and I intend to use it once every couple of years or so and tomorrow is the big day!
• Saw a couple of great license plates the other day. Ivbnbd & FRZN4. Maine is the king state of personalized plates. Seriously, they're everywhere. Next time you come up, just pay attention on the drive...
• Watched Die Hard With A Vengance on TBS the other. I'm a big big fan of those movies. Anyway, when the movie is on basic cable, they obviously have to edit out the bad words right. My favorite one... m*therf***er became melon farmer. How hysterical is that? If that's not an insult, I don't know what is...
• I love Oreo's. There I said it, it's out in the open. Problem is, I'm lactose intolerant, therefore I can't eat them with involving a mad dash to the little boys room. Thank god for Paul Newman though. His Newman-O's have no dairy in them! They're not as good as Oreo's, but they'll do the trick. A couple of those bad boys and some lactaid.. mm mm goood...
• Another show recommendation. Life On Mars. Harvey Keitel's character has become one of my favorite on all of tv. It's a BBC show that was recently redid for tv over here and it's about a cop who gets hit by a car and ends up in 1973. The idea is that he's in a coma or something and living all this in his subconscious (from time to time you can hear the respirator he's hooked up to, or someone talking to him at his bedside). If you're looking for a new show, I highly recommend it. Although I don't see how they can extend the premise for 2-3-4-5 years, but hey, it's still an entertaining cop show. And the best part? The fantastic/horrible 70's wardrobes...

Halloween And Then Some

Halloween... a great holiday, isn't it? As a matter of fact, I think there should be MORE costume parties! Everyone loves getting dressed up, so why not...

Last year, the wife and I got 4 groups of trick or treaters.. very disappointing. This year? Way too many to count! Lots and lots of kids in some great costumes (like six different kids dressed as Spider Man, innumerable princesses and a bunch of animals, i.e. alligator, cow etc). We got our first group around 5:30 and ended up turning out the light around 8:30 or so. We didn't feel like dealing with the older kids who don't bother to get dressed up but still expect candy. I don't care how old you are, if you put in the effort of getting dressed, you'll get candy, simple as that. Not costume = no candy. The funniest is watching the expressions on the real little kids.. who are like.. "whoa whoa whoa.. hold on a second, I come to your house, ring the doorbell, and you give me candy? This is the best thing ever!"

And of course, the wife and I got into the act and decided to get dressed up ourselves.. why not right...

I went with the pirate costume, a classic really (and a great excuse to say aaarrrrrrrr alot). And the wife went all undead bride.. very nice huh.

This is interpretation of the classic pirate/bride of Frankenstein prom picture...

And because I love him oh so much, but not enough to go out of my to not embarrass him, I present you with a picture of my brother.. aka Jackie Moon..

Ahhh the wonders of a camera phone....

On to the rest of the weekend... Saturday was a get stuff done around the house day followed by a couple of drinks with my aunt and uncle at our local water hole... Bugaboo Creek (as you can tell there's a very limited selection up here, but their Moose Juice is to die for, and yes I just used the phrase to die for and I'm not a 15 year old girl in 1986)

Sunday, raked leaves for a couple of hours, put away all the patio furniture, organized the shed, got a hair cut and went grocery shopping all before 1pm. Whenever I rake/shovel, I like to put on my iPod, it just helps pass the time... yet every time I wear it, the wife feels the need to start multiple conversations with me. I guess it's payback for all the times I've interrupted her while she's reading. The rest of the afternoon involved football, napping and blogging... the way a Sunday should be.