Bottling And A Bad Decision

Did I mention that I'm going to be a god father? Did you happen to pick on the fact that I'm just a tiny bit excited?

Ok... so tonight... an interesting night to say the least. The wife and I headed out to Petco to buy some more cat food. Uneventful, boring, I know. While in the car trying to figure out what to have for dinner the following suggestion was thrown out. Arby's. I know what you're thinking, GROSS, right? Well neither of us had ever been there, and it was right around the corner from Petco so we figured what the heck why not. The first sign that this was a bad idea, should have been the complete lack of cars in the parking lot. Not one. Zero.. not even employee cars. Did this stop us from going in? Unfortunately not.

The second sign that this wasn't the best of ideas should have been the fact that all the "rejects from the funny farm" (as my lovely wife put it) were working there. Seriously it was weird, like you know those kids who were in "romper room" in high school (same age and iq as everyone else, just really didn't want to try so they got to do puzzles and annoy the teacher all day), they're all working at Arby's now.

Third sign that this wasn't the best of ideas, the bill. $17 for fast food! Are you kidding me?!?! A chicken sandwich, two drinks, a roast beef sandwich (comes with nothing on it) and two fries. This would be like $8 at McDonald's (assuming McDonald's suddenly decided to carry roast beef and curly fries of course).

The lesson here... as always... I'm an idiot. Food wasn't horrible, neither of us got sick, but it sure as heck wasn't good.

On a happy note, I bottled my beer tonight too. So the inaugural batch of McGinty IPA should be ready for consumption in two weeks. And on a very happy note, it came out at 9.8% apv. Pretty strong stuff. And completely accidental, I have no idea how that happened. I tasted a bit during the bottling, and it was actually pretty good. We'll see what happens in two weeks though.

Randomness

• Today is the best day ever. My cousin Lisa asked me to be the god father to their soon to be born, new baby. Short of having my own child, this is best thing ever. Finally, I'll have a baby I can spoil and the wife can't tell me to stop :) The word honor doesn't even begin to describe how I feel. So thanks Lisa.. I promise I won't disappoint.
• Switched kitty litters. From the old school stuff to a new environmentally friendly stuff. It looks like something that would be in a barn (hay shavings almost), but it does the trick and is quite a bit cheaper than the old stuff. So it's good for the environment and cheaper!
• We went to a friend of the wife's (from school) 21st birthday party tonight. And it was the most tame 21st party I've ever been to. Although one good thing did come of it, we tried a new bar/restaurant, and I can't wait to go back and try the food. (fantastic drink menu and large beer selection. mmmm Alagash White)
• Ok, so I now know I'm old. At the aforementioned party, there were a bunch of college kids and all I kept thinking was " GET A HAIRCUT!!". All these guys with mops on their heads. Man.. I'm getting old...ooh wait, not old.. distinguished..
• For all those interested, this weekend is the Brimfield Fair. Anyone that wants to come, just let us know.

Weekend Goings On..

Well let's see. It was a highly productive and lazy weekend all at the same time. Friday night was spent at the movies. It was my week to choose, so Iron Man won out. Now when I was a wee lad, I was a huge Iron Man fan, it was one of my favorite comics. The movie.. well.. it was good, but it was too long, and they spent way too much time on the back story (which was modernized). I'd say it wasn't as good as Spider Man, but it was better than the new Superman.

After the movie we hit Chili's for some dinner and drinks. No more eating at Chili's. The food was fine I guess, but we always get stuck with the same waitress, who is soooo slow. I'm convinced its cuz she takes a smoke break like every three minutes. Every time she comes over to the table, she reeks like cigarettes. She's been our waitress every time we've been in there. They do however have $2 Miller Light drafts which is nice, and HUGE tasty margaritas which the wife loves.

It was a miserable day Saturday, so we basically just hung around the house. Didn't do much of anything, and I really don't want to even discuss the Celtics game, so we'll just move on to Sunday. There was one amusing thing though. Saturday night, we went to the grocery store at like 7pm to get something for dinner. Apparently all the local riff raff shop on Saturday night, cuz it was meathead/burnout central. Everyone in there looked like they just finished a three week bender. We saw these two guys buying nothing but Fluff, burrito shells and Mountain Dew. Although when we saw them in the parking lot, they were pulling stuff out from under their shirts and pants. Sketchy...

Busy day today. Cleaned the house (first floor at least), brought out the patio furniture, put together the new outdoor heater, fixed some pipes in the basement (who doesn't love using a blowtorch!), cleaned my grill top to bottom, got in nine holes, went to Lowe's twice and finished the wall. Yeah, we're exhausted. I've posted one last picture of the wall, I know you're all probably sick of seeing it by now. But we added one more layer and the top stone. I think it was the right decision and it really looks great. The funny part is, all our neighbors keep stopping by to say hi (we hadn't spoken to any of them previously) and I keep joking that we're just doing our part to raise the property values on the street.

Hopefully this week we'll get to plant some plants/flowers etc to really spice it up. You know, its funny.. when I was a kid, my parents would constantly be outside doing stuff to the house and I'd think, what the heck are they always doing. Now I know. And I now appreciate the effort that goes into having a house, but I love it. Both the wife and I really enjoy getting our hands dirty and doing things ourselves. For some reason, paying someone to do things just leaves a bad taste in my mouth (I'm sure that'll change once I'm rich). The next project we're tackling will be our upstairs bathroom, which we'll do Memorial Day weekend. After that, we really don't have much planned, but you know as well as I do that the misses and I will find something else to occupy our time.

Oh, before I forget... 99% of you reading this blog haven't come up to visit us yet and that's simply unacceptable! C'mon people, no more being lazy.. no more excuses... just pick a weekend and come on up. We love having the company!

Jason??? More Like Mason!

So everyone has a calling in life right? I think, at the ripe old age of 31, I may have just found mine. We finished 75% of the retaining wall in front of the house, so I thought I'd post some pictures. Apparently I'm pretty good at this masonry thing. You can judge for yourself...


This is the before. Notice the tiny beautiful woman in the corner wearing leather gloves. Yes, the day we started she thought it was chilly out so she wore her leather gloves to work outside, not her work gloves. I think she just wanted an excuse to buy new gloves next winter.
We started by the stairs and curved it along the front of the house. It took forever to dig out the trench and level it. But if that's level, then everything else will slide right into place.
The pallets of stone blocks were at the top of the driveway. So we took turns setting the stones and getting them. The wife did two at a time, I did six, but that's just cuz I'm wicked strong like that.
And here's the final picture, taken today. The wall curves by the stairs and fades into the hilly driveway. We're going to extend it another five feet or so up the driveway and extend it 14 feet off the other side of the stairs. After its done, we have a top stone that sits on top to give it that finished look. We're thinking of going one brick higher, but we haven't decided yet. Eventually, when there are plants/flowers, etc. planted there, it'll give the outside a more finished look. I'm actually quite proud of the job we did. Perfect, no, but for our first time doing this I think we did a really great job. In person, it really looks great. (you can't really tell in the picture, but the wall is about 20 inches high. The bottom of the porch is about 26 inches high, so if we add one more block, that'll bring the wall up to 24 inches. we'll see)

On an entirely unrelated note... good win for the Celtics last night. Neither team really deserved to win though. Very tough defensive battle and it seemed like the refs called a lot of fouls, never allowing a rhythm to set in during the game, which I think contributed to the low score. Although he shot well, I'm not a fan of how much Cassell played last night. I'd look for James, Pierce and Allen to all bounce back tomorrow night and for both teams to score another 20 points each, easily.

Anyone out there like the Ellen Show? Even if you don't, you have to watch this clip of Sean Combs on her show the other day. Hysterical stuff...

Good article about how they're upgrading one of the local courses. This is the one that my uncle and I have been playing. Wide open, only two water hazards, but there are bunkers everywhere, which is no fun for me. Overall a very nice course though (or at least it will be when its done)

And finally, the wife asked me to post picture she took the other day, in honor of Cinco de Mayo.. or as she now calls it, Cinco de Meow.

Look at the ashamed look on her face, like she knows she shouldn't be in the liquor cabinet (ok, in our case, the liquor closet). She's only like nine months old, they start so young now, don't they. And right next to her, yeah, that's the wine fridge. Apparently the tequila didn't quite do the trick so she had to move on to the good stuff...

Halftime

Quick post while the Celtics-Cavs game is at halftime...

• We went to Home Depot (the root of all evil) and ended up buying pretty much everything we need to redo the bathroom. We need a sink and toilet, but everything else is taken care of. The HD near us, as I've said before, is closing (opening up a newer bigger one) so we got some great deals, which makes me feel better.
• Why couldn't I have thought of this?
• Do you think this clip is real? If so, what a shot!!
• Has anyone out there received their rebate check from the government yet? We're supposed to get it this week, but so far nothing. I love how everyone thinks that they're getting $600 or $1200 or whatever. Its actually up to $600 or $1200
• I tried the new Bud Light with lime. Actually wasn't all that bad. Tasted very similar to a Corona. I could see myself getting another six pack as the summer progresses.
• So it looks like Obama will win NC and Clinton's going to win Indiana, which means nothing has changed and we'll have another couple of months of listening to the two of them go at it while McCain flies under the radar unscathed.
• Good dinner tonight. Chicken marinated in Ken's light caesar dressing (baked), acorn squash (with brown sugar), crescent rolls, and a couple of glasses of vino verde wine (rough day at work). Very tasty and very filling.

Weekend Report

So lets see...
Friday, usually Friday is movie night, but I bribed the wife (with her favorite, a surprise lobster roll for lunch) to trade Friday for Saturday so I could stay in and watch the Celtics game. As it turns out, it really didn't matter as it was a very frustrating game to watch. No way they should have lost that game. Needless to say, it took me like two hours to wind down after the game, before I actually fell asleep.

Saturday.. good day. The day started off with us going to Home Depot, which I will never go to again. We've had like three fights since we've been married and I'm pretty sure they've all taken place there. That place just brings out the worst in us. Paint color, how to complete a project, whatever it is, I'm blaming Home Depot (although we never have these disagreements at Lowes, go figure) So after we figured out that HD didn't have what we needed anyway (yes, the wife was right, I was wrong) we went over to Lowes, picked up what we needed and headed home. We dropped the stuff off, and off to my uncle's house we went to see the new foal (baby horse) He's only like a week old, so he's still trying to figure things out. Remember that scene in Bambi where he (wait... was Bambi a he or a she. For some reason i say he, but you don't name a dude Bambi. well.. unless you want him working at Lucky Changs on the weekend. I've never been, but the wife has and says it's fantastic) Ok, so back to Bambi, that scene where he walks on the ice, and can't really get his legs under him... yeah, that's how the foal looks.
I had to take the pictures from outside the pen as the mother horse is really protective of her baby and I really didn't feel like getting kicked or bit. Next time we're over there, we'll take some pictures of the baby out in the arena so you can see him better.

Saturday day, was spent doing work around the house or more specifically the retaining wall in front of the house. We worked on it for like 5 hours, but then the rain started (and its still raining now) so we haven't finished it yet. We have like half of it done and it looks fantastic. Once its done, I'll post lots and lots of pictures and a step by step how we did it. Oh, and if anyone has any tips on how to cut the stones to a smaller size (they're 4"x12"x7"), we'd really appreciate it. Scoring them didn't really work...

Saturday night.. movie night.... the wife's pick. So no Iron Man for us. Nope, I got to see Made of Honor, or as I like to call it, Made of Crap. The wife, my cousin B and I all went, and they definitely liked it more than I did. Premise of the movie is that guy and girl are friends for ten years, she meets another dude and is going to marry him and asks guy friend to be the maid of honor. Guy friend decides he wants to marry her and tries to break up the wedding from the inside. Here's my issue. How or why would I feel sympathy for the Patrick Dempsey character (how looked very tired, very not interested. like he was getting paid in cash for the movie) when he had ten years to make his move and didn't. Sorry dude, your loss. The DAY I found out the wife broke up with her former boyfriend I asked her out. No waiting around for someone else to swoop in.. so I had no sympathy for the guy in the movie. Ooh, and it wasn't funny at all. Dwayne Wayne had the three funny lines, so whenever he came on screen I paid attention, but otherwise not.

Sunday was spent just hanging around the house. Chilly, rainy day makes for a perfect day in the recliner watching an extremely dominant win by the Celtics. Good to see the exclamation point win, but the three previous losses still concern me. While hanging out, the wife and I had the following exchange:

Wife: Will you judge me on what I have for dinner?

Me: No, you can go have ice cream, I won't tell anyone.

Wife: Damn! How did you know! We've been married waaay too long.

Actually no, I'm just omniscient...

So all in all it was a great weekend.. only five more days until the next one!!!

Man I Can't Wait For The Weekend..

What a crappy week. Well, at least work wise.. busy busy busy... Can't wait for the weekend. We're building that wall outside the house and I really need to catch up on some sleep.

Too much good tv on tonight, must blog early. Eight to Eleven, a solid three hours of tv. Earl, Scrubs, Office, 30 Rock and Lost then bed. Throw in a pizza and its the perfect night.

Anyway..so did you see Exxon announced its first quarter profits? Yeah, they only brought in ELEVEN BILLION DOLLARS, up a mere SEVENTEEN PERCENT from last year. Thus ensuring I will never buy gas at an Exxon again. My prices are at $3.70 a gallon, and they're making money! And not just money, ELEVEN BILLION DOLLARS!!!! jerks...

So I went and got a hair cut today. Those of you who know me, know I go fairly often, basically once every two weeks or so. Ridiculous, I know, but it's what I do. When I hit Powerball (its up to $190 million now) I'm going to get my hair cut every day, just cuz I can. But I got to thinking... why is it they put that little piece of tissue around your neck? It doesn't do anything, nothing at all. It's supposed to stop hair from going down the back of your shirt I guess, but it never does. Its like the barber gets a kick out of making me wear a tiny tissue ascot. And why is it they always use black smocks? Some of us have dry skin and don't need to look down at the smock and see it! Also, they always cut off my sideburns without asking. I need my sideburns, they're part of my look! (insert 90210 joke here) Granted they grow back in a day or two (my head is like an effin chia pet), but that's not the point. Ask before cutting them off.

Great win by the Celtics last night. Its funny, even though they were up by 10-15 points most of the game, I kept waiting for Atlanta to make that run to get right back into the game. It seems like Doc remembered how to use his bench, although I'm still not a fan of Cassell. He comes into the game, dribbles too much and throws up too many shots. Sure, last night he had a good night, but that's a rarity lately. Distribute the ball, play some defense and just hold down the fort while Rajon gets a rest, simple as that. I've been a big Leon Powe guy the past two years, and he's really been playing well lately. Lots of hustle, doing the dirty work. Sure he misses a defensive assignment or switch here or there, but I can live wit that. Perkins will be needed later in the playoffs against the bigger centers, but against the young, quick, athletic Hawks, Powe matches up better. Game six tomorrow night, can't wait!