Band Names

Wow!  What a holiday time.  I usually don't get into the holiday spirit like others, but when you have friends and family like mine, one can come around.

I received so many great gifts, some highly practical (down slippers which feel like a sleeping bag on your foot), some odd (an ancient coin of the Magi), and a few that are one of a kind.

Those included:

A sequence of pictures of me doing the Haka, then jumping into the cold-as pond on a camping trip last summer (and me running out)

A song composed and performed by The Brothers Ulmer (They need a better band name, like Wani's Ulmers, perhaps?) about me and my adventures. Kenji has come along way in his guitar playing.

And a Guru Josh calendar done by Morgan, with help from the "Cream of the Hutt."  (Another good band name!)  All the months accompany a portrait of people from NZ with the Guru Josh record I stole from the Pacific Inn Pub/Gave to Morgan.  Add to that the fact that all the individuals have the same stupid pose, and include some appropriate frame of reference to how I knew them in a former life.  Excellent.

I love you all, thank you very much.  I feel loved and that's the greatest thing.

Speaking of love, I'm working the breakfast shift at work (6am start) and my soups this week rock 'em hard:

Wed- SW Black Bean with Cilantro Crema

Thurs- Braised Pork with White Beans, Fennel, Mustard Greens and Smoke Spanish Paprika.

Fri- Matzoh Ball.  I've made my own matzoh.  Really.

Too bad there's no one around to eat them....

X-Mas.

Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays (don't forget boxing day either)

I'll be in Olympia for the majority of the next few days.

Have fun!

GeoSkillz

I was listening to PRI/BBC world's show "The World" and this was on there:

A Traveller IQ Challenge.

See how good your geography skills are.  I got to level 10.

I'm going to......Memphis?!?

I had a date last night with Angie where we went to the used bookstore down the way, and looked at travel guides to gain a better sense of what we wanted to do.

So I went straight for The Onion's Atlas. I figured it would be a fine place to start to appreciate the lesser known factoids of a prospective country of terminus. Not really, but Peru's sub-header was "Always with the damn pan-flutes!" I think it genius for some reason.

Then I had the great idea of just going to the airport on the 1st day of our vacation off. We could go to the ticket counter, and tell them we'd be willing to fill in available seats for cheap. 2 tickets to Memphis, Egypt?! No, Memphis, Tennessee. Errrr.....

We made a choice, and it's secret. I will tell you this: It's not Memphis. (damn)

And then we had Italian food at Bizzaro. It was bizzare indeed. It was an oddly decorated hole in the wall that specializes in fresh pasta, and it was fine. It hit all my pre-conceived expectations.

I leave you with this:
Apparently, there's to be a nails feature at a party in NZ, and all I have to say is this: No costumes or using "tournament of death" to describe it. Those ideas are patent pending!

Sunnier Climes

Hey, my tough holiday season is over.  It was really quite a breeze- mostly just showing up was what was required of the alligator.

I'm going to wrap presents now, then run, then I have a date with Angie to look at possible vacation destinations.  A truly sad statement of mine: we cannot make it to New Zealand in the spring of 2008.  It's too far to go/too much money spent on the ticket for only a couple weeks' time....

I do get to go someplace new, tropical and sandy though....that's not bad.

And there won't be any sandflies.

Crazy like a Fox.

I hurt my back tonight at work, and can't figure when it happened. I was going to run, but now I want to sit. And even that feels moderately uncomfortable.

I have a story from the other night I want to share:
I had picked Angie and her friend up from the airport late (back from Costa Rica). Dropped off said friend, and was near her house by the fisherman's terminal, when we got flagged down by a guy. He ran over to the car, visibly upset, and said, "call the cops! My mom has been kidnapped!"
I called 911, and the explained my position to the dispatcher, who wanted to talk to the dude. He was right by the car, telling his story, which kinda was convoluted, and then when the dispatcher asked him where he was, he ran away with my phone. So I ran after him, leaving Angie in the car, in the road with the flashers on. After a couple more minutes of him talking to the dispatcher, I got the phone back, and the 1t thing she asked was "is this guy a little off his rocker?"
I replied, "perhaps, but the cops need to come here regardless." He was a little crazy....

So they were on there way and so were we.....

____
How do I keep Angie blocked from commenting? The Calery kids really have bad netiquette.

Gone Bottling

I'm busy right now!

Super secret project stuff!

WTF

uh....Mister Splashy Pants? Really? Come on.

Surprise Pockets (Not as tasty as Hot Pockets)

I got woken up this morning by someone calling, then as soon as I answered, they hung up. I think that's the worst. The only thing that got them off the hook, was that even if I had remembered to turn off my cell phone, I would've been woken by the recycle trucks lumbering through the alley below my house. Glass breaking is the best alarm clock.....

I might be in the thick of the work/holiday calendar, but it's emerged it's quite easy this year. It's like we didn't get tons of parties booked- a sign of the downward economy? I think it might be, since not going out is one of the things I do when I'm short on cash. Anyways, it's really a matter of showing up and trying to fit all the food into our closet/walk-in fridge.

And lastly for this post, I surprised myself last night, when I was watching a DVD. Apparently, there was an episode of SG-1 I hadn't seen yet. It was like wearing a jacket you haven't worn in a while, and finding $10 in the pocket.

I'm gonna go check my pockets!

Adults Like Snow-Based Beverages!

It snowed today. A whiteout, which is pretty rare here in Seattle.

It all started shortly after I arrived at work, staring down a day of sprinting to get things done. We did get things done, but then as soon as food needed to go out, shite hit the fan, so to speak. Too many new people in the front of house, and too few in the kitchen....always the problem.

But the snow- I was really bummed I wasn't outside sledding with the Snow Dogz. I think I have to take a trip to the pass and sled this winter.
And by the time I left, at 11, it was raining/melting. On my lawn, I collected snow for a few snowballs, and a glassful. I now am having a cocktail, Whiskey and Snow. It's like shaved ice, with bourbon flavour!