My Waist Is Size XX-XL

Not much doing this weekend. Friday low key and Saturday we ran up to Sheboygan to get Jocelyn's car fixed at my brother's. We didn't stay overnight though and after a stop at the Golden Chopsticks buffet and Piggly Wiggly we were back in MKE by seven. Sunday was action packed with my third annual Super Bowl party. Chappy, Katie, Adam, Stacy, Todd and Steph were the party goers at Apt 54's XL party. I spent Saturday night doing some of the food prep work. Sunday morning I woke up early to get all the food made. This year's menu included BBQ Pork on Sheboygan hard rolls, chicken wings, potato skins, cole slaw, taco dip, French onion dip, and black bean dip. As is tradition I made way too much food. Everyone rolled in right before kickoff and I immediately started shoving food down their throats. The game was probably the most boring Super Bowl that I have ever seen in my life. The Steelers beat the Seahawks by a final score of something to something. Even though the game stunk we had a lot of fun. Everyone enjoyed the food and it's always fun to get together with friends for some revelry. Steph made a Steelers football cake that looked very professional. I wouldn't allow anyone to stop eating after the cake though, I had wings to get rid of. Even after the force feeding of my guests I still had a ton left overs. After the game everyone headed home and we cleaned up. It was another good time to add to the book of good times.

He’s An Island Boy

Another wonderful vacation in a tropical paradise. This Tuesday we left for St. Thomas to spend the week. We flew out of O'Hare at seven in the morning so we woke at four to drive from Milwaukee. We flew from Chicago to Charlotte to St. Thomas. St. Thomas is two hours ahead so we ended up getting in at about four in the afternoon. Jocleyn's sister Marissa lives on the island so she came to pick us up at the airport. The airport was pretty rickety but they really know how to welcome you. In Hawaii you may get a lei but in St. Thomas you get Cruzan rum punch, what a welcome. We collected our bags and got in the car for my first death defying introduction to the roadways of the islands. They drive on the left side of the road in the VI so that is the first thing that that you need to get used to. The second is that the roads are a lane and half wide without emergency lanes. If you go off the side of the road you're pretty much going to roll down the mountain. Well, the only way I can put it is all the drivers are nuts and the roads are nuts. The inclines are somewhere in thirty plus degree range with convenient stops on the tops of these hills. Then from the stop you have to navigate the one hundred eighty degree switchbacks and ninety degree turns that are one lane wide with two cars trying to use the turn. An explanation really doesn't do it justice. It's something that you really have to experience to fully understand the craziness. After a forty-five minute roller coaster ride we made it to the Ritz where we were staying. One of the reasons that we went to St. Thomas is because we got free lodging at the Ritz thanks to Jocelyn's mom and her fiancé Craig. Not only did we get a free place to stay but the place was absolutely amazing. It was a three bedroom, four bath condo with an amazing view and great amenities. We really were extremely spoiled and can't thank Craig and Jenni enough for letting us stay with them. We weren't the only ones taking advantage of the lodging situation. Jocelyn's aunt and uncle were also on vacation and staying in the condo as well. It was cloudy when we got into St. Thomas but as soon as we sat on the balcony overlooking the bay the sun came out and two gorgeous rainbows came out. It was a sign that this would be a great vacation. We sat on the balcony, had some rum, and enjoyed the weather. Once dinner rolled around we motivated ourselves to get ready and get some food. We went to Duffy's Love Shack the first night. When they say shack, they mean shack. This bar and grill was nothing more than a garage in the middle of a parking…

Too Much Weekend Work

I skipped last week's entry because I did absolutely nothing. Nada, zip, zero. The only thing I did is watch a lot of football. This weekend was a little more exciting but not much. Friday I went out after work for a going away party at the Ale House. I stayed there for a couple hours and then headed home. Once at home I ate and watched some movies. Saturday I had to wake up early to go work on L's network. I should have stayed home because I messed up some of the network permissions. I got a little accomplished but not nearly as much as I wanted to get done. I got home about one, at a burrito and watch the next playoff game. After that game was over it was time to get ready for the ASQ holiday party. I probably wouldn't have gone but it was two blocks away from here at the Astor hotel. I figured why stay home and have frozen pizza when I can go a block and get a real meal for free. J and I headed over there a little before seven for the cocktail hour. We had our free drink and mingled with some of my colleagues. At 7:30 it was time for dinner. For dinner we both had the sun dried tomato chicken. The food was pretty good, nothing overly special. I was probably the first one done and the first one out of the ballroom and to the bar. The second football game was on and there was no way I was going to miss it for a work related function. After a couple minutes some other people started to trickle out to the bar. I sat and watched the game with J and some work folk. After the game was over the place started to clear out. A couple of the friendlier people from work were going to County Claire for a couple more drinks. So we went the block to the CC. J was pretty tired so she headed home after about ten minutes. I was having a good time so I stayed out a bit longer. I had another Guinness and headed home about midnight. Pretty low key year up to this point. No drama thus far though so that a bonus. Next weekend probably won't be too special either but next week I head off to St. Thomas! Oh yea!

Not A Productive Year, So Far

Happy New Year all! This was a wild New Year. This past week I had that nasty cold/flu bug that has been going around. I tried my hardest to get rid of it in time for the New Year weekend. Friday I took it easy and started to get things ready for the New Year dinner that I was throwing. I was feeling significantly better so that was a good thing. A couple people asked if I wanted to go out but I didn't want to have a relapse. So Friday night I took it easy and got ready for the last day of the year. Saturday I woke up feeling about 85% to 90%. That was enough healing to get excited to have a good time. Jocelyn and I didn't feel like standing around at a party so we decided to have Todd and Steph over for a nice dinner and then go out after that if we felt like it. I spent almost all day Saturday cooking. The menu was bruschetta, salt and horseradish encrusted prime rib with horseradish sauce, quintessential roasted vegetables, roasted potatoes, creamed spinach, champagne Jell-O, and tapioca pudding. Todd and Steph arrived at about five. We had some drinks and the bruschetta and waited for the prime rib to finish up. We dug into the good stuff at about seven. Everything turned out great. The prime rib ended up being a little salty due to the salt paste that was rubbed on it but it meat inside was wonderful. After dinner we had our champagne Jell-O which ended up having a little more kick too it then we expected. Due to that little kick things started picking up and getting fun. Luedke and Anna came over to join us in our celebration. We turned on the tunes and played Cranium. It was the first time I played the game but it was very fun. It's a cross between Pictionary, charades and Trivial Pursuit. Jocelyn and I ended up having beginner's luck and pulling out the victory. After that we watched a bit of the New Year's celebrations on TV and waited for our countdown. The New Year came in with some picture on the Canon and some more champagne. After that we got a call from a motley crew coming downtown from the other party. They stopped in by us and we managed to find room for ten more people in our little place. The tunes were pumping and we were having a great time. The party started to thin out as people headed home. There was a pretty good size core group left though that wanted to head out. So some time after two we headed to the bars. We went to My Office and spent a good amount of time there. At about four thirty we decided that we had had enough and headed home. On the way home were needlessly sidetracked and ended up going to another bar. We went to…

Ba Hum-flu-bug

Ah, Christmas vacation. My mom came to down to Milwaukee to pick me up on the 23rd. Jocelyn went to Illinois to spend the holidays with her family and since she took the car I had to get a ride. On the way home we stopped by my Aunt Linda's to drop off an iPod I had to pick up for her. We were there for a couple hours and sampled some of the holiday food that she was making. After that I dropped my mom off and headed to Falls. I stopped by Randy before going out to drop off all the Christmas presents. I got a hold of Marti and met him and Pyrek and their significant others at The Other Place. We were there for a drink and then we headed back over to the O. I spent the rest of the night there. I ran in to Kotnik who I hadn't seen in a while so I talk to him for the remainder of the night. Christmas Eve day was on the couch by Rich's. About five I was finally able to pry myself off the couch and get ready. It was the usual Christmas Eve routine this year. We headed over to my uncle Jimmy's for a little Christmas Eve festivities. My godmother Terri gave me my usual gift of Bloody Mary mix. I used to love drinking the stuff as a kid, and I still do, so Terri makes sure I get my yearly fix. She also bought me a very nice baseball display case for the foul balls that I caught. The rack is huge though so I'm going to need to get about fifteen more balls somehow. I guess I'll have to go to forty Brewers games this year. After watching some Christmas Story, eating some dips and meatballs it was time for midnight mass. Mass was nice as usual and it really gets you in the spirit of the holidays. After church my mom dropped me off at Rich's and I got to bed immediately so Santa would come and visit. I didn't do much on Christmas day. I had Randy pick me up at about three for our family gathering. I must have been a bad boy this year because I got a lump of coal in the form of an awful Green Bay Packer team losing yet another game. After the bitter loss I washed the taste away with some Christmas wine. Dinner was very good. We had prime rib and a whole bunch of other side dishes. After that we exchanged gifts. It was the normal craziness of paper flying everywhere and toys being strewn all over the living room. After the gifts we headed home. It was pretty early, about ten, but I needed some sleep so I decided to just call it a night instead of find something to do. The day after Christmas I had some work to do so I had to get back…