Happy New Years and Birthday

Sorry I have been MIA lately but I was sick for a few days and didn't feel like moving from the cocoon I created in my bed.

Luckily though, I was able to make it out for NYE celebrations and so far have had a great 2009. I also want to say Happy 30th Birthday to my sister.

That's really all I got for right now since I am running on fumes today because of a fun movie night. Maybe I'll put together some kind of list of resolutions or goals or something like that. I really want to find some kind of continuity with this blog since I have strayed from my original intention of focusing on my house ... but the description does say anything is fair game.

My Christmas

Is it considered a tangent when you start with it?? Anyways ... here is a package I received in the mail from Hawaii (Click to make it bigger and read the bottom). Thanks Uncle Lance & Aunt Karen, it's hanging on my chimney until I have a complete house:



After the adventures of searching for lunch ... this is how the rest of my day went:

• Watched program on how beer is losing market share in the alcoholic beverage industry and what brewers are doing to combat this with my Mom and sister
• Watched "Prince Caspian (2nd chapter of the Narnia stories), again with Mom and sis
• Aunt and Dad got home; Aunt went to nap, Dad left to let a dog out somewhere
• Started cooking roast (not me), finished Caspian movie
• Dad got back, started "Nightmare Before Christmas" after unsuccessfully finding something interesting to watch on TV
• Opened gifts (we only do stockings and got/gave mostly giftcards so it didn't take long)
• Ate dinner
• Sis' BF showed up
• Started playing Loaded Questions (more below)
• Finished playing Loaded Questions (Dad won)
• Went home (with a stop at Blockbuster)
• Watched Mummy movie (third one, with Jet Li) while hanging laundry and cleaning up
• Passed out

Loaded Questions is an awesome game but I have to warn against playing it with family. The basic idea of the game is that everyone writes down their answer to a question and the person whose turn it is has to attribute each answer to one of the players. There are also reversals where everyone has to write down what they think the person whose turn it is will answer. The game is great when you have a lot of creative people or are aided in creativity through some fluid means (not that I know what that means). "Why the warning," you ask? One of the questions was, "What is the most expensive item you have stolen?" ... my dad was guessing among answers like, "an office stapler" and "a binder." Shit, I am not going to answer that question honestly ... I was in college ... and a teenager growing up in boring ass Columbia ... now, I'm not saying I am (or was) a kleptomaniac at any point, but I won't deny acquiring a keg or 2 through unscrupulous means over the years or maybe some other random things like 5 gallon tubs of ice cream from the school cafeteria or one of those newspaper things on the street corner (OK, that wasn't me ... but when I showed up at DT and Snuggles' apartment ON CAMPUS and was able to get the Sunday paper in their living room ... it was pretty funny) or just something more significant than office supplies. [See, I can go on a tangent at the beginning and end of a post] Just remember, you've been warned about playing with family ... otherwise, it's an awesome game.

My Thanksgiving (gotta love family)

OK ... so here is a quick warning ... if you are a member of my family, stop reading now (or don't hold anything I write against me). Everyone else, since I can't express myself very well in my writing ... good luck following along and prepare for a bazillion tangents.

My family had our Thanksgiving 2 Sundays ago since schedules are pretty out of the ordinary and it's difficult to get everyone together. I guess I need to provide an overview of my family structure to be able to explain everything. Let's make use of a bulleted list.

• Mom and Dad split amicably 3 years ago
• 2 older sisters (+2 and +4 years, let's call them Lisa(+2) and Maggie(+4))
• Aunt on Dad's side with 2 dogs lives nearby (Selma)
• Mom's siblings (Bro w/ family, Sis w/ family) live up north (Red Sox nation)
• Grandparents on Dad's side no longer with us
• Grandparents on Mom's side unable to travel (I need to visit them; far north)
• Dad's been dating Betty for over a year
• Mom's been dating Fred for under a year
• Lisa has been dating Milhouse for over a year
• Maggie has been dating Nelson for over a year
• Betty has 3 children, one that is still in school (we'll go with Bamm)
• I don't (or at least apparently shouldn't) date [more on this in a later post]

With that background information you should now have the key to unlocking the following puzzle. That puzzle being my Thanksgiving dinner.

Family gatherings are really a bittersweet experience for me and have been since college. It's rare that everyone gets together and I really love my family so it is always something I look forward to, but at the same time we all have conflicting personalities that seem to get stronger every year. When I say our personalities conflict I don't mean on an individual level, it's just something about all of us together that brings forth the aspects of those personalities that don't blend well. I get along great with all of them when it is just a couple of us (i.e. me, Lisa and Milhouse or me, dad and Betty) but I just can't take all of them together at the same time for very long.

For example, whenever I am getting together with Maggie, I know to tell her about 30 minutes before when I actually expect to see her. She is notoriously late to everything (except work, like ever). This is fine when it's just us or a small group, but when the whole family is waiting to eat and she was supposed to be there over an hour prior, it can get a little aggravating. I can't really think of anything Lisa does that gets on my nerves except that she is really nice and tries too hard to keep everything civil ... if I want to be mad at Maggie, damn it let me express that. As for Selma, I have never really gotten along with her (except when I was really young and we went to lots of hockey games, she was the "cool Aunt") and I don't know why. She just frustrates me beyond belief, and I won't even go into the grudge I hold against her (and my dad to a certain extent) over my dog from college (maybe I will, just not today). My parents are great, they have little quirks that tend to bother me (and I let them know about these), but for the most part we have never really fought about anything significant. Everyone's significant others are also high up on my list, with one slight exception that doesn't really fit in.

Finally, onto the actual day. I love my Thanksgiving because it shows how awesome my family is. We have the dinner at my mom's house and the table is filled with 11 people (10 and the 11th came mid-way through), none of which are married. There are a total 6 different last names among us. The main thing to consider here is that only 5 of these people are my immediate family, everyone else sports a different last name. Everyone contributes some dish (Lisa's green-bean casserole is the best; I brought beer since my stove/oven was still dirty from house work) and we all have a good time. I think this was the first time most of the family met Betty's son Bamm (I met him last year on a trip to Hershey Park with Dad, Betty, Bamm, his friend, and one of my Ex's) and I felt bad since I was supposed to bring Rock Band but completely forgot. I was only there for about 4 hours (had to leave for a volleyball match) but had a great time and am already looking forward to Christmas. Now what to do tomorrow since everyone else has their own Thanksgiving plans (I was invited to be the third wheel at no less than 3 Thanksgivings but figure I can use the day to work on my house and write some of these reports for work)?

Ho Co General Hospital

First, I want to commend myself on being the most awesome brother in the world (at least for 5 or so hours today).

That being said, I spent 4+ hours in the hospital with my sister tonight and now I am tired as hell. Thankfully it was nothing serious and she is at my mom's sleeping and seemed to be doing better when I dropped her off (after getting her some Wendy's since she hadn't been able to eat all day and I think she has been addicted to their Frosty since childhood ... really, when she gets one it's like she's getting a fix after going through the early stages of withdrawal).

Now onto more self-promoting; I went to my mom's after work to clean out the suburban I used for tailgating at the MD football game this weekend and to watch Heroes from her DVR (which didn't record :-( so I'll be watching it on NBC.com on my small laptop) when I got the call old sis was in the hospital (the call was from her cell but when I answered it was her bf so I knew something was up). Old sis bf asked me if I knew where mom was cause they weren't able to get in touch with her ... score points for the reliable brother. Luckily, I knew where mom was so I called her repeatedly until I finally got a call back and let her know the deal (after having to call back old sis bf because I didn't ask for any details at first and just thought to call mom). We all got to the hospital and hung out for a long time while they periodically had a nurse over to do nursey stuff. Anyways, after several hours (and knowing it wasn't serious) my mom headed home instructing me to call when we were leaving. Another hour or so later old sis roommate needs to leave (she was with her the entire time and this was the first time I met her so it was a good first impression). There I am, the only one left with my ailing sister in the hospital ... score points for the dedicated brother. I drove her to my mom's so someone would be there in case she got sick again (old sis roommate was house sitting for her 'rents and wouldn't be at the condo) then I drove home to my house, and now here I am typing this.

Anyways, long story short I really just wanted to say how clean Howard County General Hospital is. I have a tendency to get sick in hospitals ever since I was a kid visiting my G'ma before she died but have never had that feeling the few times I have been to HCGH.

BTW, sorry for all the "old sis bf" and other IM speak, just makes it easier. And an fyi, I have an old sis and a mid sis. I am the youngest and was subjected to the torture of having two older sisters. Luckily, I was taller than them by 3rd grade or there abouts so the torture was fairly subdued after that.

Labor Day Weekend Wrap-up

My friend Vanessa came down to visit me this weekend because apparently the neighborhood she where she lives in Brooklyn is on the edge of the Caribbean section and the was a big parade/festival thing going on that gets pretty out of hand and she didn't want to be there. Saturday she spent all day shopping and lounging around while I was at the Maryland-Delaware football game. On Sunday she and I went out to brunch with my dad and his girlfriend. We went to Eggspectation in Columbia ... one of the best breakfast places there is. I had a waffle with fresh blueberries and she had their strawberry and banana crepes ... the crepes are so good my dad and gf ended up splitting an order as a dessert.

I was tired from the previous day's activities and headed back downtown to take a nap before dinner. Vanessa's bday was earlier this month so I took her to a nice dinner at Flemming's in Harbor East as a belated gift. We had the "Wicked Cajun Barbecue Shrimp" as an appetizer, they were really good but not spicy as the waitress made them out to be. We both ordered the filet mignon (she got the petite) and split a bunch of a la carte sides; a baked potato, chipotle cheddar macaroni and cheese, and grill asparagus. I had a couple glasses of wine (a Cabernet and a Cab-Merlot blend), she left her ID in NYC and isn't a big drinker anyways. She ended it with chocolate lava cake, no desert for me (not a big fan of chocolate or cakes).

Some of each of the sides and my filet

Does it look like I got some sun at the Terps game? (Keep in mind I generally have a traditional Irish (pale) complexion.

After dinner we walked across the street to the Landmark Theater and saw Pineapple Express. Good movie and a lot more violent than I expected. Reminds me of when James Franco and Seth Rogan were on Freaks & Geeks (great show, everyone should see it)

I dropped Vanessa of at the train Monday afternoon and went to my mom's in Columbia for her bday celebration (it was last Thursday). My friend and former roommate Ali came and we had a great time. Basically this was a weekend of great meals .. better than the ones I had in Vegas the previous weekend (except maybe the Wynn's buffet). My mom's bf made steamed mussels from his "secret" recipe (we have these whenever there is a big dinner at my mom's and they are amazing). My dad and his gf (yes, my mom and her bf and my dad and his gf all had dinner for my mom's bday at my mom's house; my dad's sister was there too) brought the drinks, white sangria with lots of fresh fruit in it mixed with a splash of ginger ale. Both my sisters were there and one brought her bf (the other's bf was hosting a dinner of his own so she came for dinner than left to go back to his cookout). We had steaks from the Laurel Meat Market (one of the best butcher's in the area) cooked on the grill by my dad and seasoned to perfection. There were left-over grilled mixed veggies from my tailgating that we re-heated (on the grill) and added to fresh ones that I grilled at the time. Desert was angel food cake with fresh strawberries, raspberries and blueberries topped with whipped cream. I know what I said about deserts and cake, but there is something about angel food cake that I like, maybe how light it is ... i don't know. My mom opened her cards and gifts and then we all went our separate ways. It was a great end to a great weekend.